Methods and apparatus for handling positioning information by sending a positioning result, which can include uncertainty information, in at least one of a graphical format and a text-encoded graphical format. Positioning result accuracy, which can be important for emergency services, is improved by avoiding conversion between positioning result formats. Positioning results can be flexibly delivered, without concern for the particular radio access technology used in a communication network. The graphical format can be a vector graphics format, such as Scalable Vector Graphics and Wireless Vector Graphics. The text-encoded graphical format can be based on the extensible Markup Language, the positioning information in the graphical and/or text-encoded graphical format can be signaled by a messaging service.

Wireless device positioning is a process of determining a device's coordinates in space. Once the coordinates are determined, they can be mapped to a certain place or address. Mapping and delivery of positioning information on request are parts of a location service that can be required for many purposes, such as basic emergency services.
Emergency services based on non-voice communication, e.g., Short Message Service (SMS) messaging, is under discussion in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and in North America at the regulatory level. Non-voice communication can make emergency services feasible for people with speech disabilities or in threatening situations when voice communication with Public Safety Answer Point (PSAP) agents is not possible.
Of course, different services can have different positioning accuracy requirements. For example, positioning accuracy requirements for basic emergency services are typically defined by government regulatory agencies, such as the United States Federal Communications Commission, which regulates in the area of telecommunications.
A number of problems have been identified with prior solutions to providing positioning results for emergency services and other purposes. For example, it may not be possible to transfer a positioning result directly to a network element (e.g., a PSAP) because the receiving element may not support the format of the positioning result as it is reported. In such cases, the positioning result has to be converted from the unsupported format to a format that is supported, which can introduce unacceptable position error.
In the United States for example, applicable emergency call reporting standards, such as American National Standard for Telecommunications, "Emergency calling service", T.1 628.2000 (R2005), and ANSI/J-STD-036-B, "Enhanced Wireless 9-1-1 Phase II" (May 2007), require the format of a positioning result delivered to PSAP equipment to be one of an ellipsoid point, an ellipsoid point with an uncertainty circle, and an ellipsoid point with an altitude and an uncertainty circle. Those three formats are only three of the seven formats used in communication networks specified by the 3GPP, and so the positioning result format conversion typically must be used for emergency services.
Shape conversion for positioning aims at transforming a positioning result from a given format (e.g., a Geographical Area Description (GAD) shape specified in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 23.032) to either a supported format (e.g., a format required by a PSAP) or a requested format at a required confidence level (e.g., typically 95% for a PSAP) such that the confidence of the transformed positioning result is at the required level. In practice, guaranteeing the same uncertainty at the same confidence before and after transformation is not possible in most of the cases, which is to say that the uncertainty of the transformed result is typically greater than that of the original result.
For example, an AECID positioning method described below typically delivers a positioning result and uncertainty in a polygon format, which must be converted to a circle covering the polygon in the best way before it is delivered to a PSAP or similar user. The AECID positioning result could be describing a long street between buildings, and so after format conversion, the positioning result could be transformed into a large circle covering both the street and the inside of the buildings.
Methods of transforming a positioning result from an ellipsoid arc format, an ellipsoid point with an uncertainty ellipse format, or an ellipsoid point with an altitude and uncertainty ellipsoid format to an ellipsoid point with an uncertainty circle format are described in T. Wigren et al., "Emergency Call Delivery Standards Impair Cellular Positioning Accuracy", IEEE ICC 2010, May 2010. The conversion methodology described there seeks to minimize the radius of the uncertainty circle, subject to the constraint that the original positioning shape (e.g., an ellipsoid arc) is covered by the uncertainty circle. Thus, a circle circumscribing the original positioning shape is to be found.
FIG. 1A depicts an example of the conversion methodology in Wigren et al., showing orthogonal distances from a radio base station (RBS) on the horizontal and vertical axes. In FIG. 1A, the position of the RBS is plotted as a star 101, and for a positioning ellipsoid arc 103, the center of the circumscribed uncertainty circle 105 is plotted as a point 107. The possibility of errors introduced by transforming a positioning result in the ellipsoid arc format to a positioning result in an ellipsoid point with an uncertainty circle format should be clear from FIG. 1A.
FIGS. 1B, 1C illustrate quantitative estimates of accuracy loss introduced by transforming a positioning result from one format to another. FIG. 1B is a plot of accuracy loss as a ratio of the areas of an uncertainty circle and a circumscribed ellipsoid arc with respect to distance from an RBS, for urban, suburban, and rural cells with radii of 500 m, 5 km, and 50 km, respectively. FIG. 1C is a plot of accuracy loss as a ratio of the areas of an uncertainty circle and a circumscribed ellipse with respect to a ratio of the semi-major and semi-minor axes of the ellipse. In both cases, the accuracy loss increases with the aspect ratio of the ellipse.
Moreover for different formats with different uncertainty information, different statistical models for describing positioning results within an area typically apply, e.g., a uniform distribution for polygons and ellipsoid arcs, but a two-dimensional (2-D) Gaussian probability distribution for uncertainty ellipses. Hence, even if the distributions could be taken into account when converting one format to another, the conversion would still cause information loss and introduce additional positioning errors.
Other problem areas that require positioning result format conversion include that currently it is not possible to send positioning results to a PSAP in native civic address formats and to signal the results directly from a PSAP to field agents (e.g., police officers and fire fighters). PSAPs typically do not dispatch emergency personnel to geographical coordinates but rather provide them with a street address. It is possible that a positioning result is already in a human-readable format, e.g., a civic address format, but the human-readable format may not be supported by the communication network, or the human-readable format may not be supported by the PSAP. Thus, transformation to an acceptable format and then back to a human-readable format is necessary for communicating the information to PSAP agents, introducing positioning errors.
Another problem area is that not all 3GPP positioning result formats include positioning uncertainty information. For example, a polygon format supported by 3GPP networks provides uncertainty information only implicitly, and so for such formats, there is no way to signal the positioning uncertainty information when necessary. Currently standardized positioning result formats, e.g., a polygon limited to fifteen vertices, can also be insufficient for hybrid positioning methods, which are expected to become important in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication networks. Hybrid positioning methods can yield positioning results that may be combinations of arcs, ellipses, polygons, etc. In most cases, such a result could not be represented by just one of any of the standardized GAD shapes. To comply with the standard, a polygon with more vertices representing more accurate positioning information could have to be converted to a polygon with the required fewer vertices, which in most cases means accuracy loss.
There is also currently no simple solution for communicating a positioning result, including uncertainty information, by device-to-device communication, e.g., mobilephone-to-mobilephone communication. Commercial examples where such communication would be useful include friend-finding and tracking the whereabouts of children, e.g., for safety reasons.
The Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) is a third-generation (3G) mobile communication technology designed to succeed GSM. LTE is a UMTS successor that improves the UMTS in terms of higher data rates, improved efficiency, and lowered costs, among others. A Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is the radio access network of a UMTS, and an Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) is the radio access network (RAN) of an LTE system.
FIG. 2A depicts a communication network 200 with an E-UTRAN, in which a user equipment (UE) 210, such as a mobile telephone or other wireless communication device, is wirelessly connected to an RBS 220a, which in LTE is commonly called an evolved NodeB (eNodeB). The E-UTRAN shown in FIG. 2A has three eNodeBs 220a, 220b, 220c, each of which serves one or more areas, or cells, 230a, 230b, 230c, and is connected to a core network of the network 200. In an LTE network, the eNodeBs 220a-c are connected to a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 240 in the core network.
In this application, the UE 210 can be a mobile telephone; a pager; a headset; a tablet, netbook, or laptop computer; a small radio node or base station, such as for a home; a relay node; a sensor; etc., which as a device or node being positioned can also be called a Location Service (LCS) target.
Each eNodeB 220a, 220b, 220c serves a respective geographical area that is divided into one or more cells. An eNodeB can use one or more antennas at one or more sites to transmit information into its cell(s), and different antennas can transmit respective, different pilot, position reference, and other signals. Neighboring eNodeBs may be coupled to each other by an X2-protocol interface that supports active-mode mobility of the UEs. An eNodeB controls various radio network functions, including for example single-cell radio resource management (RRM), such as radio access bearer setup, handover, UE uplink/downlink scheduling, etc. Multi-cell RRM functions can also use the X2-protocol interfaces. Each eNodeB also carries out the Layer-1 functions of coding, decoding, modulating, demodulating, interleaving, de-interleaving, etc., and the Layer-2 retransmission mechanisms, such as hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ).
In FIG. 2A, the MME 240 is connected to a positioning node 250, which can also be called a location server. The positioning node is a physical or logical entity that manages positioning for an LCS target, such as the UE 210. In a control-plane architecture, the positioning node 250 can be called an Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC). As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the E-SMLC can be a separate core network node, but it can also be a functionality integrated in another network node. In a user-plane architecture, the positioning node 250 can be called a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
The LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) and LTE Positioning Protocol annex (LPPa) are protocols used for carrying out positioning in the control-plane architecture in LTE. The LPP is also used in the user-plane architecture, and the LPPa can be used to support user-plane positioning. There can also be LPP extensions, e.g., LPPe, which can be included in LPP messages. Upon receiving a positioning request, the E-SMLC can receive positioning-related parameters from an eNodeB via the LPPa. The E-SMLC then assembles and sends assistance data and the request for the positioning or positioning measurements to the target wireless device, e.g., a UE, via the LPP.
FIG. 2B depicts an example of a control-plane architecture and protocols and FIG. 2C depicts an example of a user-plane architecture and protocols of a positioning system in an LTE network 200. In the control plane, a UE communicates with the E-SMLC 250 transparently via an eNodeB and an MME over the LPP, and the eNodeB communicates with the E-SMLC transparently via the MME over the LPPa. In the user plane, the LPPa protocol is not used, although the 3GPP allows for the possibility of inter-working between the control- and user-plane positioning architectures. There may or may not be an interface between the E-SMLC and the SLP. In the user-plane positioning architecture, the SUPL service, which is a lower layer for the LPP, uses established data-bearing channels (i.e., the LTE user plane) and positioning protocols (i.e., LPP) for exchanging positioning information between a LCS target (e.g., a UE) and a LCS server (e.g., a SLP). In the user-plane architecture, the UE 210 can be more precisely called a SUPL-enabled terminal (SET).
Thus, the LPP is a point-to-point protocol between an LCS server, such as the E-SMLC, and an LCS target, such as the UE, that is used to position the target. Transmitted LPP messages are transparent to the MME, and use radio resource control (RRC) protocol messages for transport over an LTE-Uu interface between the UE and the eNodeB, and then 51 application protocol (S1AP) messages over an S1-MME interface between the eNodeB and the MME, and then LCS-AP messages over an SLs interface between the MME and the E-SMLC. LPP is defined in 3GPP TS 36.355 V9.2.1, LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) (Release 9) (June 2010), for example.
The LPPa is a protocol for the interface between an eNodeB and the positioning node, such as the E-SMLC. LPPa messages are also transparent to the MME, which routes LPPa message packets over the S1-MME and SLs interfaces without knowledge of the involved LPPa transactions. The eNodeB may also be unaware of the information carried by an LPPa message or the corresponding UE, although the eNodeB may be aware of the fact that there is a transaction as the message can be received and forwarded. With interworking between the control and user planes, LPPa can assist the user plane by querying eNodeBs for information and eNodeB measurements not related to a UE connection. LPPa is defined in 3GPP TS 36.455 V9.2.0, LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) (Release 9) (June 2010), for example.
Positioning Methods and Positioning Results
An LTE network can implement a variety of complementary positioning methods that have different performances in different environments. Depending on where positioning measurements are made and the final positioning result that is calculated, the methods can be UE-based, UE-assisted, or network-based, and each has its own advantages.
In some environments, a positioning result can be accurately determined by using positioning methods based on a Global Positioning System (GPS). Nowadays, networks often are also able to assist a UE in order to improve the device's receiver sensitivity and GPS start-up performance, as in, for example an Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) positioning method. Another terrestrial positioning method, called Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA), has been standardized by the 3GPP to remedy some of the problems with GPS and A-GPS.
In addition to UE-assisted OTDOA, the 3GPP LTE network specifications also define methods, procedures, and signaling support for Cell Identity (CID); UE-assisted and network-based Enhanced CID (E-CID); and UE-based and UE-assisted Assisted-Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS), including A-GPS. Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (UTDOA) is also under consideration for LTE networks.
CID Positioning
Given the cell ID of a UE's serving cell, the UE position corresponds to the cell coverage area, which can be described, for example, by a pre-stored polygon, where the cell boundary is modeled by a set of non-intersecting polygon segments connecting all the corners.
E-CID Positioning
E-CID positioning exploits four sources of positioning information: the CID and the corresponding geographical description of the serving cell, the round trip time (RTT) with respect to the serving cell (measured, for example, by a timing advance (TA) of the serving cell and/or receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measured at either the UE or the RBS), the CIDs and corresponding signal measurements of other cells (up to 32 cells in LTE, including the serving cell), as well as network-based angle of arrival (AoA) measurements.
UE received-signal measurements that can be utilized for E-CID in LTE include carrier Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), and UE receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. The E-UTRAN measurements available for E-CID are eNodeB Rx-Tx time difference, TA Type 1 corresponding to (eNodeB Rx-Tx time difference)+(UE Rx-Tx time difference), TA Type 2 corresponding to eNodeB Rx-Tx time difference, and uplink (UL) AoA. UE Rx-Tx measurements are typically used for the serving cell, and for example RSRP and RSRQ as well as AoA can be utilized for any cell and can also be conducted on a frequency different from that of the serving cell. UE E-CID measurements are reported by the UE to the positioning server over the LPP, and the E-UTRAN E-CID measurements are reported by the eNodeB to the positioning node over the LPPa.
Three common E-CID positioning methods include: CID+RTT, CID+signal strength, and AoA+RTT. Measurements from multiple cells can also be used with E-CID. The positioning result of CID+RTT includes a positioning shape that is typically an ellipsoid arc describing the intersection of the cell polygon and a circle corresponding to the RTT. A typical result of the signal-strength based E-CID positioning includes a positioning shape that is a polygon since the signal strength is subject to fading effects, for example, and therefore often does not scale exactly with the distance. A typical positioning shape of AoA+RTT positioning is an ellipsoid arc describing the intersection of a sector limited by AoA measurements and a circle from the RTT-like measurements.
OTDOA Positioning
With OTDOA, an LCS target such as a UE measures timing differences for downlink reference signals received from multiple distinct locations. For each measured neighbor cell, the UE measures Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) which is the relative timing difference between a neighbor cell and the reference cell. The UE positioning result is then found as the intersection of hyperbolas corresponding to the measured RSTDs. At least three measurements from geographically separated RBSs with a good geometry are needed to solve for two coordinates of the UE. In order to find the UE position, knowledge of RBS locations and transmit timing offsets is needed. The positioning calculations can be conducted, for example, by the positioning node, such as the E-SMLC or the SLP in LTE, or by the UE. The former approach corresponds to UE-assisted positioning, and the latter corresponds to UE-based positioning.
In UTRAN Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), system frame number (SFN) measurements can be used for positioning. In particular, an SFN-SFN type 2 measurement performed by the UE can be used for OTDOA positioning. That measurement is the relative timing difference between cells based on the primary Common Pilot Channel (CPICH) transmitted by the cells. The UE-reported SFN-SFN type 2 can be used by the network to determine the UE position.
Other Positioning
Hybrid positioning, fingerprinting positioning, and assisted E-CID (AECID) do not require additional standardization by 3GPP and are therefore also possible in an LTE network. Furthermore, there can also be UE-based versions of the methods described above, e.g., UE-based GNSS (e.g., GPS) or UE-based OTDOA, etc. There can also be alternative positioning methods, such as civic-address-based positioning, which is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/871,984 filed on Aug. 31, 2010, although it can be noted that messaging supporting civic-address-based positioning is not yet standardized by 3GPP.
In fingerprinting and AECID positioning, the typical format of a positioning result is a polygon because both methods typically involve received signal measurements, CID, etc. In TDOA-based and TOA-based methods (e.g., OTDOA, UTDOA, and GNSS/A-GNSS), a typical format of the positioning result is an ellipsoid point with uncertainty circle/ellipse/ellipsoid, which is the result of intersection of multiple hyperbolas/hyperbolic arcs (e.g., OTDOA) or circles/arcs (e.g., UTDOA, GNSS, and A-GNSS).
A hybrid positioning method is any combination of the positioning methods described above, and so the positioning result can typically have any shape or format. Nevertheless, the positioning result of a hybrid positioning method in many cases is likely to have a polygon as the positioning shape.
It will be appreciated that other networks, e.g., UMTS, GSM, and cdma2000 networks, also typically support a variety of positioning methods that are equivalent to those described above.
Positioning Result Formats
Table 1 shows the positioning result formats that are included in the 3GPP network specifications. Each format is associated with a GAD shape, such as one of the seven GAD shapes specified in 3GPP TS 23.032, for example, Section 5 of 3GPP TS 23.032 V8.0.0, Universal Geographical Area Description (GAD) (Release 8) (December 2008). The shapes/formats in Table 1 apply for LTE, UMTS, and GSM networks, and equivalent formats can be used in other networks.
TABLE 1Positioning result reporting formats in 3GPPPositioning IncludesIncludesresult formatDescriptionuncertaintyconfidencePolygonThe polygon format is describedYes*Noby a list of 3-15 latitude, longitudecorners, encoded in WGS 84 co-ordinates. This format may beobtained by application of cell IDpositioning in LTE.Ellipsoid The ellipsoid arc is described by a YesYesarccenter point (eNodeB antennaposition), encoded as latitude,longitude in WGS 84 co-ordinates.Furthermore, the format containsan inner radius of the arc, athickness of the arc as well as theoffset angle (clockwise from north)and the included angle (openingangle). Together, theseparameters define a circularsector, with a thickness and withleft and right angles. This formatis e.g. produced by cell ID + TApositioning in LTE.Ellipsoid The ellipsoid point format isNoNopointdescribed by a center point,encoded as latitude, longitude inWGS 84 co-ordinates.Ellipsoid The ellipsoid point withYesNopoint withuncertainty circle format consistsuncertainty of a center point, encoded ascirclelatitude, longitude in WGS 84 co-ordinates, in combination with anencoded radial uncertainty radius.Ellipsoid The ellipsoid point withYesYespoint withuncertainty ellipse format consistsuncertainty of a center point, encoded asellipselatitude, longitude in WGS 84 co-ordinates. The uncertainty ellipseis encoded as a semi-major axis,a semi-minor axis and an anglerelative to north, countedclockwise from the semi-majoraxis. This format is typicallyproduced by OTDOA and A-GPSpositioning in LTE.Ellipsoid The ellipsoid point with altitudeNoNopointformat is encoded as an ellipsoidwith altitudepoint, together with an encodedaltitude.Ellipsoid This is the format commonlyYesYespoint received from A-GPS capablewith altitude terminals. It consists of anandellipsoid point with altitude and anuncertainty uncertainty ellipsoid, the latterellipsoidencoded with a semi-major axis, asemi-minor axis, an angle relativeto north, counted clockwise fromthe semi-major axis, together withan uncertainty altitude. Thisformat is typically produced by A-GPS positioning in LTE.*uncertainty information for polygon format is included implicitly, but not explicitly, as with the arc, for example, where there are two radii, and hence it is not clear whether the polygon is large due to a large uncertainty or the positioning result itself gives a large polygon
The civic address format described above organizes civic address information identifying the physical geographical location of a network node, described with at least some of the conventional fields such as street, city, postal code, etc. An example of a civic address format is depicted in the following Table 2, where in practice each field typically is also associated with a short name or label. Other formats of representing the address information can, of course, be used. For multi-network compatibility, the address message format in 3GPP or 3GPP2 can also follow, for example, the format defined by IETF, or have a conversion interface to it.
TABLE 2Civic Address Information FormatField PresenceDefaultField DescriptionField Type(optional/mandatory)valueApartment/office/suite16OptionalNo datanumber/floor number alpha/numericStreet number16OptionalNo dataalpha/numericStreet name32OptionalNo dataalpha/numericCity name32OptionalNo dataalpha/numericState/province name32OptionalNo dataalpha/numericPostal code16OptionalNo dataalpha/numericRoad8OptionalNo dataalpha/numericComment (for64OptionalNo dataexample: "northeast alpha/numericcorner outside Mainconference room")
In Table 2, at least some of the Information Elements (IEs) defining the civic address format are hierarchical, with "lower" levels of hierarchy defining location with greater specificity, and "higher" levels of hierarchy defining location more generally, or with greater uncertainty. For example, a city is a more specific location than a state; a street name is more specific than a city; a street number with the street name is more specific still; etc. In this sense, the hierarchical level of an IE in the civic address format inherently carries uncertainty information. A positioning request can be tailored to a specific level of accuracy by specifying the IEs, or the highest hierarchical level IE, to be provided. This allows applications to tailor positioning requests to the level of accuracy desired, and reduces unnecessary signalling since the full civic address (i.e., any hierarchical level higher than that requested) need not be transmitted, or propagated through the network.
Similar to other positioning result formats, the positioning information in a civic address format can be complemented with at least one of the uncertainty and the confidence information, where in one embodiment the uncertainty information can be represented by a polygon format (e.g., one of the GAD shapes).

Methods and apparatus for communicating location information for enhancing emergency positioning


Packet flow rate control techniques are enhanced by the interactive and early invocation of packet queuing to control short flows of packets and to eliminate undershoot and overshoot of a targeted flow rate. Packet queuing involves the scheduled release of packets in accordance with flow policies (priorities) to achieve a pre-selected outgoing target flow rate. The combination of controlled packet queuing and packet flow rate control with appropriate mechanisms for favoring one over the other improves the efficiency of data transmission.

This invention relates to digital packet telecommunications, and particularly to management of flow of data, that is, the volume of data per unit of time across heterogeneous network boundaries. It is particularly useful in a digitally-switched packet telecommunications environment normally not subject to data flow rate control. The present invention is intended to work in an environment having a metered-release of acknowledgements and a window control mechanism.
This invention represents an augmentation of the capabilities disclosed in the work of Robert Packer, as for example described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,018,516; 5,802,106; 6,038,216; 6,046,980; 6,205,120; 6,285,658; 6,298,041 and 6,115,357. The Packer packet flow rate control mechanisms taught therein controlled size of the sliding window, amount of acknowledged data and timing of acknowledgement delivery.
The ubiquitous TCP/IP protocol suite intentionally omits explicit supervision of the rate of data transport over the various media which comprise a network. While there are certain perceived advantages, this characteristic of TCP/IP has the consequence of juxtaposing very high-speed packet flows and very low-speed packet flows in potential conflict for network resources, which results in inefficiencies. Certain pathological loading conditions can result in instability, overload and data transfer stoppage. Therefore, it is desirable to provide some mechanism to optimize efficiency of data transfer while minimizing the risk of data loss. Data flow rate capacity information is a key factor for use in resource allocation decisions.
The technology of interest is based largely on the TCP/IP protocol suite, where IP, or Internet Protocol, is the network layer protocol and TCP, or Transmission Control Protocol, is the transport layer protocol. At the network level, IP provides a "datagram" delivery service. By contrast, TCP builds a transport level service over the datagram service to provide guaranteed, sequential delivery of a byte stream between two IP hosts.
Conventional TCP flow control mechanisms operate exclusively at the end stations to limit the rate at which TCP endpoints emit data. However, TCP lacks explicit data rate control. In fact, until the work of Packer, there was no concept of coordination of data rates among multiple flows.
The basic TCP flow control mechanism is a sliding window superimposed on a range of bytes beyond the last explicitly-acknowledged byte. Its sliding operation limits the amount of unacknowledged transmissible data that a TCP endpoint can emit.
The sliding window flow control mechanism works in conjunction with the Retransmit Timeout Mechanism (RTO), which is a timeout to prompt a retransmission of unacknowledged data. The timeout length is based on a running average of the Round Trip Time (RTT) for acknowledgment receipt, i.e., if an acknowledgment is not received within (typically) the smoothed RTT+4*mean deviation, then packet loss is inferred and the data pending acknowledgment is retransmitted.
Data rate flow control mechanisms which are operative end-to-end without explicit data rate control draw a strong inference of congestion from packet loss (inferred, typically, by RTO). TCP end systems, for example, will 'back-off', i.e., inhibit transmission in increasing multiples of the base RTT average as a reaction to consecutive packet loss.
While TCP rate control has significant advantages, there are certain conditions where the response time needed to adjust rate control mechanisms is less than can be provided by Packer packet flow rate control techniques.

Method and apparatus for controlling transmission flow using explicit rate control and queuing without data rate supervision


The analgesic effectiveness of a narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesic is significantly potentiated by administering a narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesic together with at least one nontoxic NMDA receptor antagonist.

This invention relates to an analgesic composition and method for alleviating pain. More particularly, this invention is concerned with alleviating pain by administering to a mammal exhibiting pain (a) an analgesia-effective amount of at least one narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesic; and, (b) a narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesic-potentiating amount of at least one nontoxic antagonist, or blocker, for the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor.
Narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesics are known. In general, narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesics constitute a distinct subclass of opioids and are differentiated from the latter by their mixed actions, meaning, they are not full agonists at all opioid receptors, e.g., .mu., .delta., .kappa., etc. receptors. Instead, narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesics are believed to either exert their analgesic action by working as agonists at some opioid receptors and antagonists or very weak agonists at other opioid receptors, i.e., mixed narcotic agonist-antagonists, or exert their analgesic action by working as agonists at some opioid receptors, i.e., partial agonists. Mixed narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesics will typically be the combination of .mu. antagonism coupled with .kappa. agonism. Partial agonist analgesics will typically be .mu. agonism.
Heretofore, there has been no recognition or appreciation that the analgesic effectiveness of a narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesic can be appreciably potentiated, or enhanced, by administration of a narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesic prior to, with or following the administration of a narcotic agonist-antagonist analgesic-potentiating amount of a nontoxic NMDA receptor antagonist.

Analgesic composition and method for treating pain


A method for navigation includes storing map data on a server, the map data including vector information delineating roads in a map. A portion of the vector information corresponding to an area in which a user of a mobile client device is traveling is downloaded from the server to the client device. Approximate position coordinates of the user are found using a location providing device associated with the client device and are corrected in the client device, using the downloaded vector information, so as to determine a location of the user on one of the roads in the map. A navigation aid is provided to the user of the client device based on the determined location.

A variety of systems are known in the art for providing drivers with in-vehicle electronic routing maps and navigation aids. These systems are commonly coupled to a location-finding device in the vehicle, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. The GPS receiver automatically determines the current location of the vehicle, to be displayed on the map and used in determining routing instructions.
In-vehicle navigation systems fall into two general categories: "on-board" systems, in which the map data are stored electronically in the vehicle (typically on optical or magnetic media); and "off-board" systems, in which the map data are furnished by a remote map server. These systems typically use a client program running on a smart cellular telephone or personal digital assistant (PDA) in the vehicle to retrieve information from the server over a wireless link, and to display maps and provide navigation instructions to the driver.
Various off-board navigation systems are described in the patent literature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,535, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes improvements required to convert a portable radiotelephone into a mobile terminal capable of functioning as a navigational aid system. Itinerary requests of the mobile terminal are transmitted to a centralized server by a radio relay link. The server calculates the itinerary requested, and transmits the itinerary to the mobile terminal in the form of data concerning straight lines and arc segments constituting the itinerary. The server also evaluates the possibility of the vehicle deviating from its course and transmits data concerning segments of possible deviation itineraries in an area of proximity to the main itinerary.
Other off-board navigation systems are described in PCT Publications WO 01/01370 and WO 01/27812; in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,038,559, 6,107,944, 6,233,518, 6,282,489, 6,320,518, 6,347,278, 6,381,535, 6,462,676, 6,43,630 and 6,526,284; and in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2001/0045949. The disclosures of all these patents and publications are incorporated herein by reference.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for image registration in the gradient domain. A method is provided including receiving a first image and second image; and registering the first and second images in a gradient domain. The registration of the first and second images in the gradient domain includes applying an energy minimization function based on total variation.

There is a large disparity between composite images based on image registration. The composite images may have significantly different appearances due to intensity variation of the images used to generate the composite images. For example, satellite and aerial images taken of the same object may have markedly different intensities, at different times of day, different seasons of the year, different image angles, different altitudes, different image captures systems, or the like. In some fields such as medical imaging or biometrics, image alignment is critical for diagnosis and identification. However, images of the same object when examined at a detailed level may not be properly aligned due to intrinsic and extrinsic variation.
Image registration aims to find the geometrical transformation to align two or more images into the same coordinate system. Geometric transformations have typically been estimated as rigid, piecewise-rigid, or non-rigid. Non-rigid is the most complex. Some existing methods of image registration can be classified based on the variables used in non-rigid registration, into feature-based registration and intensity-based registration.
Many non-rigid techniques have been proposed, most of which are based on minimizing an energy function containing a distance, or similarity, measure and a regularization term. The regularization may encourage certain types of transformations related to different applications and the minimum distance may correspond to a correct spatial alignment.
One type of distance measure is based on mutual information (MI) of images. However, in many applications, the intensity fields of the images may differ significantly. For example, slow varying intensity bias fields often exist in brain magnetic resonance images; while in temporal registration of retina images, the images may contain severe intensity artifacts. As a result, many of the existing intensity based distance measures are not robust to these intensity distortions. There are also methods for simultaneous registration and intensity correction, but they may involve much high computational complexity and suffer from multiple local minima.
In another image registration method, a similarity measure called residual complexity (RC) has been used, where the discrete cosine transform (DCT) is used to code the residual image. RC may be more accurate and robust than MI, for dealing with intensity distortions requiring several parameters, such as regularization, to effect the computation.

Method and apparatus for image registration in the gradient domain


A method of signalling in an AIN, in which in an SSP, the initial message of a new transaction is addressed to a Service Global Title (SGT). The SSP translates that SGT to a first address of the first choice SCP. The SCP responds with an acknowledgement message which has a second address of the SCP as its source address, and includes the Nodal Global Title (NGT) of that SCP. The SSP sends subsequent messages for that transaction addressed to that NGT, and the SSP translates that NGT to the second address of the SCP. When the SCP is taken out of service, the first address is made unavailable, so the SSP sends new initial messages to the second choice SCP, but subsequent messages for existing transactions may still be sent to the second address of the first choice SCP. When all existing transactions have ceased, the SCP is taken out of service.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to maintenance of network units, and particularly, but not exclusively, to graceful shutdown of units in intelligent networks, particularly intelligent networks known in the art as Advanced Intelligent Networks (AINs).
2. Related Art
In an AIN, when it is decided to take a service control point (SCP) out of service, the known methods cause that SCP instantly to disable its message input/output subsystem, with the result that transactions that are currently being processed by that SCP, and their associated service switching points (SSPs), cannot complete their normal message sequences, and are left to timeout in the absence of expected response messages.
Not only are SCPs involved in relatively short-term transactions for, e.g. Number Translation services, where an SSP sends dialled digits to an SCP and requests translation to a network destination number, but they are also involved in relatively long-term transactions of many minutes. In the example of queuing of calls to agents at a call centre when all agents are busy, for each new call made to the call centre, the SCP requests the SSP to connect that call to a voice response unit (VRU), which plays out music. Such a call connected to the VRU is given a new transaction and the SCP requests the SSP to arm for "Disconnect, Notify and continue", as is known in the art, so that the SCP will be told if the caller clears and thus be able to terminate the corresponding transaction and delete that call from its list of queued calls. When an agent becomes free the SSP notifies the SCP and that transaction ends. The SCP then selects a queued call and requests the SSP to disconnect the caller from the VRU and connect that call to the free agent. The transaction for that call remains open until the call ends. Thus for calls to a large call centre the SCP could be maintaining many tens of transactions in respect of queued calls at any one time. In another example, the SCP maintains transactions after call establishment, for calls where the parties can invoke one or more special services, such as call transfer.
Thus, for those known methods, not only will there be failure of calls where, e.g. an SCP is managing a queue, but special service requests would fail. There is thud considerable potential for annoyance to many customers.


The present disclosure relates to a steel for pressure vessels used in a hydrogen sulfide atmosphere, and relates to a steel material for pressure vessels having excellent resistance to hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) and a manufacturing method thereof.

In recent years, steel for pressure vessels used in petrochemical production facilities, storage tanks, and the like, have been faced with an increase in facility size and steel thickness caused by the increase in operation times, and there is a trend for lowering the carbon equivalent (Ceq) of steel and extremely controlling impurities included in steel so as to guarantee the structural stability of base metals and weld portions when manufacturing large structures.
In addition, due to the increased production of crude oil containing a large amount of H2S, it is more difficult to guarantee quality because of hydrogen induced cracking (HIC).
Particularly, steel used in industrial facilities for mining, processing, transporting, and storing low-quality crude oil are necessarily required to have a property of suppressing the formation of cracks caused by wet hydrogen sulfide contained in crude oil.
In addition, environmental pollution has become a global issue in the case of plant facility accidents, and astronomical costs may be incurred in recovery from such accidents. Therefore, HIC resistance requirements in steel materials have become stricter in the energy industry.
HIC occurs in steel by the following principle.
As the steel sheet comes into contact with the wet hydrogen sulfide contained in crude oil, corrosion occurs, and hydrogen atoms generated by this corrosion penetrate and diffuse into the steel and exist in an atomic state in the steel. Thereafter, the hydrogen atoms are molecularized in a form of hydrogen gas in the steel, thereby generating gas pressure, causing brittle cracks in weak structures (for example, inclusions, segregation zones, internal voids, and the like.) of the steel. When such cracks gradually grow, and if the growth continues to the extent beyond the strength of the steel, fracturing occurs.
Thus, the following techniques have been proposed as methods for improving the HIC resistance of steel used in a hydrogen sulfide atmosphere.
First, a method of adding an element such as copper (Cu) has been proposed. Secondly, there has been proposed a method of significantly reducing or controlling a shape of hard structures (for example, a pearlite phase, or the like) in which cracks easily occur and propagate. Thirdly, there has been proposed a method of improving resistance to crack initiation by changing a processing process to form a hard structure such as tempered martensite, tempered bainite, or the like, as a matrix through a water treatment such as normalizing accelerated cooling tempering (NACT), QT, DOT, or the like. Fourthly, there has been proposed a method of controlling internal defects such as internal inclusions and voids that may act as sites of hydrogen concentration and crack initiation.
The technique of adding copper (Cu) is effective in improving resistance to HIC by forming a stable CuS film on the surface of a material in a weakly acidic atmosphere and thus reducing the penetration of hydrogen into the material. However, it is known that the effect of copper (Cu) addition is not significant in a strongly acidic atmosphere, and moreover, the addition of copper (Cu) may cause high-temperature cracking and surface cracking in steel sheets and may thus increase process costs because of the addition of, for example, a surface polishing process.
The method of significantly reducing the hard structure or controlling the shape is mainly for delaying propagation of cracks by reducing a band index (B.I.) of a band structure occurring on a matrix after normalizing heat treatment.
With regard thereto, Patent Document 1 discloses steel having a tensile strength grade of 500 MPa and high HIC resistance may be obtained by forming a ferrite+pearlite microstructure having a banding index of 0.25 or less by controlling an alloy composition of a slab and processing the slab through a heating process, a hot rolling process, and air cooling process at room temperature, a heating process in a transformation point from Ac1 to Ac3, and then a slow cooling process on the slab.
However, in the case of thin materials having a thickness of 25 mmt or less, an amount of rolling from the slab to a final product thickness is greatly increased, and thus, a Mn-rich layer in the slab present in the slab state is arranged in a form of a strip in a direction parallel to a direction of rolling after a hot rolling process. In addition, although a structure at a normalizing temperature is composed of an austenite single phase, but since the shape and concentration of the Mn-rich layer are not changed, a hard banded structure is reformed during the air cooling process after heat treatment.
The third method is a method of constructing the base phase structure as a hard phase such as acicular ferrite, bainite, martensite, or the like, instead of ferrite+pearlite through a water treatment process such as TMCP, or the like.
With regard thereto, Patent Document 2 discloses that HIC characteristics may be improved by heating a slab controlling an alloy composition, performing finish rolling at 700 to 850° C., then performing accelerated cooling at a temperature of Ar3-30° C. or higher, and finishing accelerated cooling at 350 to 550° C.
Patent Document 2 as described above discloses that an amount of reduction is increased during rolling in a non-recrystallization region, and a general TMCP process is performed to obtain a bainite or acicular ferrite structure through accelerated cooling, and HIC resistance is improved by avoiding a structure vulnerable for propagating cracks such as band structures.
However, when the alloy composition and the control rolling and cooling conditions disclosed in Patent Document 2 are applied, it is difficult to secure proper strength after a post weld heat treatment which is usually applied to steel for pressure vessels. In addition, due to high density potential generated when a low-temperature phase is generated, it may be vulnerable to crack initiation in area region before PWHT is applied or PWHT is not applied, and in particular, HIC characteristics of pipe materials are further deteriorated by raising a work hardening rate generated in the a pipe-making process of the pressure vessels.
Therefore, the conventional methods described above have a limitation in manufacturing a steel material for pressure vessels having hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) characteristics with a tensile strength grade of 550 MPa steel after the PWHT application.
The fourth method is to increase HIC characteristics by increasing cleanliness by significantly reducing inclusions in a slab.
For example, Patent Document 3 discloses that a steel material having high HIC resistance may be manufactured by adjusting a content of calcium (Ca) to satisfy a relationship 0.1≤(T.[Ca]−(17/18)×T.[O]−1.25×S)/T[O]≤0.5) when adding calcium (Ca) to molten steel.
The calcium (Ca) may improve HIC resistance to some degree because calcium (Ca) spheroidizes the shape of MnS inclusions that may become the starting points of HIC and forms CaS by reacting with sulfur (S) included in steel. However, if an excessively large amount of calcium (Ca) is added or a ratio of Ca to Al2O3 is not proper, in particular, if a ratio of CaO is high, HIC resistance characteristics may be deteriorated. Furthermore, in the case of thin materials, coarse oxide inclusions may be fractured according to the composition and shape of the coarse oxide inclusions due to a large accumulated amount of reduction in a rolling process, and at the end, the inclusions may be lengthily scattered in a direction of rolling. In this case, a degree of stress concentration is very high at ends of the scattered inclusions because of partial pressure of hydrogen, and thus HIC resistance characteristics decrease.
To date, in order to improve the hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) performance, as disclosed in Patent Document 3, a Ca treatment technique has been developed such that the content of sulfur in the steel for suppressing the formation of MnS is reduced to an extreme limit of 0.001 wt % and a remaining S does not form MnS during solidification. MnS, sulfide, has a characteristic of elongation in a direction of rolling during a rolling process. Since hydrogen is accumulated in a cutting edge of the starting and ending portions of MnS in which elongation is finished to cause cracking, MnS was changed to CaS so as to suppress the formation, thereby suppressing hydrogen induced cracking by MnS. In the case of CaS, a spherical shape is maintained without being elongated during the rolling process, such that a position in which hydrogen is accumulated is dispersed and a generation of hydrogen induced cracking is suppressed. However, a Ca—Al—O complex oxide including both Ca and Al due to a reaction of Al2O3 inclusions which necessarily occur during the control of the content of sulfur in the steel to 0.001 wt % or less and CaO generated by oxidation of Ca due to a side effect due to Ca treatment are formed.
Meanwhile, Patent Document 4 discloses that a technique of improving the hydrogen induced cracking performance by controlling the CaO composition in the Ca—Al—O complex oxide. Patent Document 4 discloses a manufacturing method of improving a hydrogen induced cracking characteristic by controlling CaO composition of inclusions.
However, the above-described methods of the related art have the following problems, and it has been difficult to stably manufacture hydrogen induced cracking steel corresponding to a performance required for high strength of a base material.
The most important task is to suppress fracture of the Ca—Al—O complex oxide containing both Ca and Al remaining in the molten steel. As a result of the Ca treatment, a portion of the spherical Ca—Al—O complex oxide manufactured in the molten steel remains in the molten steel, such that a shape of the cast slab remains spherical.
However, when the slab is rolled, the spherical Ca—Al both-containing complex oxide is fractured and becomes an oxide extending to a point, and hydrogen is deposited in the fractured micropores. This causes hydrogen induced cracking in a product. Therefore, it is important to remove as much of the Ca—Al both-containing complex oxide as possible, to control the size of the Ca—Al both-containing complex oxide remaining in the base material to be small and be spheroidized and to suppress fracturing of the Ca—Al both-containing complex oxide, however, it was not sufficiently suppressed in the related art.
Further, an important task is to improve cleanliness of the base material from which the total oxide is removed as much as possible. There was no countermeasure for an effective removing method of the large Al2O3 oxide before the Ca treatment and a removing method of the Ca—Al both-containing complex oxide remaining in the base material after the Ca treatment. That is, according to the technique in the related art, inclusions were not actively and effectively removed and high degree of cleanliness was not stably obtained.
As described above, although the Ca treatment technique in the related art may suppress the formation of MnS, in response mainly to an increase in yield rate and reduction of S concentration at the time of Ca addition, but it is not possible to suppress fracture of the coarse Ca—Al both-containing complex oxide remaining in the base material, and it was not possible to manufacture hydrogen induced cracking steel having strength as high as that of the related art corresponding to a severe performance evaluation test such as NACE, which is a hydrogen induced cracking acceleration test, having been recently conducted.

Steel for pressure vessels having excellent resistance to hydrogen induced cracking and manufacturing method thereof


A sunvisor for automobiles has the following elements. A one-piece casing composed of a plastic material. A retaining spring has a housing for retaining a pivot pin of a support attached to an automobile structure, so that the retaining ring may snugly rotate about the pin. The retaining spring and the pivot pin have mechanical means allowing a rest position of the sunvisor to be set. A hanging bridge is engageable with a support attached to the automobile structure and an external covering is formed as a sheath. The retaining spring is a one-piece member and is arranged in an interior of the casing totally covered by he casing and held firmly in a required position. The retaining spring is accessible from outside of the casing through a single orifice formed in the casing so that it may snugly slide for coupling with a pivot pin of the bent support attached to the automobile structure. The casing has an inner volume which, with the exception of a space occupied by the retaining spring, is completely full with a plastic material so as to form a structural reinforcement of the casing. The casing is formed, close to an end opposite to a position occupied by the retaining spring, with a through aperture defining a hanging bridge which can be snugly rotatably coupled to the support.

The present invention relates to a sunvisor for automobiles.
More particularly, the present invention relates to sunvisors which are formed on an integral plastics material casing.
Sunvisors comprising a structure based on a plastics materials casing formed by blow molding of these materials are known. These sunvisors have a contour adapted to the configuration of the vehicle passenger compartment and may comprise the so-called vanity mirror, normally arranged in the passenger side sunvisor and superimposed on the surface of said sunvisor or mounted in the body thereof.
Sunvisors comprise a retaining spring which is generally formed from high spring steel and may be attached to the corresponding pivot pin of the bent support attached to the automobile structure. With this coupling, the sunvisor may rotate about itself and about the bent support and occupy, among the positions of regular use, any position defined by the user. The retaining spring grips the pivot pin so as to ensure, under normal conditions of use, that the sunvisor position selected by the user position is not modified by the vibrations caused by the vehicle running. In the majority of known embodiments, the said retaining spring and bent support pivot pin are provided, also, with means for holding the sunvisor in at least one position generally the rest position, with greater force.
Sunvisors are normally known to comprise a hanging bridge which is arranged at the opposite end to the one occupied by the retaining spring. This hanging bridge may be coupled to a support arranged on the automobile structure for providing the sunvisor with an auxiliary point of support, once the hanging bridge is hooked onto the support. This prevents mechanical overloads which the coupling of the sunvisor to the bent support would otherwise have to withstand.
The known sunvisors comprising a casing formed by blow molding of plastics materials have the drawback, derived from the very nature of the said casing, of a limited mechanical strength. Thereby, under normal conditions of use, they are easily deformable. A further drawback is that the retaining spring and/or the hanging bridge require to be incorporated in the sunvisor after the casing thereof has been formed, involving the need of using additional assembly members and operations.
The above drawbacks have a notable effect with regard, on the one hand, to the operative reliability of these sunvisors, particularly since the large number of components thereof imply a greater number of faults and/or breakages and, on the other hand, to the incorporation of the retaining spring and/or hanging bridge, during the corresponding assembly stages, to the sunvisor casing, which makes the production process and, therefore, the finished product, notably more expensive.


A motion vector searching system and method estimates a motion vector during image compression by acquiring a present image frame and at least one previous image frame, generating low-resolution images of the present and previous frames in multiple stages, determining areas in one of the stages in which pixel searches are to be performed, locating at least two areas which overlap, and then merging the overlapping areas if a merge condition is satisfied. The search areas are determined by identifying candidate points in the low-resolution image which have low pixel absolute difference values, and the merge condition may correspond to a certain minimum distance between centers of the overlapping areas. A motion vector estimator is used to perform additional searching in the merged and non-merged areas to generate a motion vector associated with the present and previous image frames. Through at least the merging step, the motion vector searching system and method are able to achieve improved performance in terms of computational efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image compression, and more particularly to a motion vector searching method using plural search areas.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, the core technique of multimedia is to compress information such as an image, sound, voice, text, general data, etc., in accordance with characteristics of the respective information. If the information is not compressed, it is difficult to transmit or store the information due to its excessive amount of data.
In compressing the image, the compression ratio can be heightened by allowing errors to go uncorrected that a human eye or ear can hardly perceive. Information compressed in this manner may be somewhat different from the original values during its restoration, but it does not matter if the difference is not detected by the human eye or ear.
Image compression is performed through removal of duplication imminent in the image data. The duplication imminent in the image data is briefly classified into three kinds. First, pictures of two adjacent frames are very similar to each other in the event that several frames are produced per second, and backgrounds of the pictures are the same except for a portion where motion exists. This is a temporal duplication existing between the pictures. Also, values of adjacent pixels in the picture are very similar to each other, and this is a spatial duplication existing between the pixels. The remaining one is a statistical duplication.
Generally, a motion vector search is used as an element that influences the performance of a moving image compressor. In case of performing a full area search, an extremely large amount of computations is consumed. Thus, diverse methods for high-speed motion searching have been introduced, and a motion searching section has been implemented by hardware.
As shown in FIG. 1, the core element of any motion estimation section has typical inputs and outputs irrespective of the hardware implementation, software implementation, and high-speed searching method.
A motion estimator of FIG. 1 receives pixel values (i.e., original data) O(k,l) of the present frame, pixel values P(k,l) of the previous frame restored from the compression, ranges of search areas (M0,N0) and (M1,N1), and block size (BS) as its inputs, determines a motion vector between the present frame and the previous frame and sum of absolute difference (SAD) among the search areas according to the relationship among the inputs, and outputs determined values.
The core of the motion vector search is to search the most similar area to a search area of the present frame from the previous frame, and can be expressed by the following Equation 1.
                                          SAD                                      (                              i                ,                j                            )                                =                                    ∑                              k                =                0                                            BS                -                1                                                                                ∑                                  l                  =                  0                                                  BS                  -                  1                                                                                                                                O                                                              (                                              k                        ,                        l                                            )                                                        -                                      P                                                              (                                                                        k                          +                          i                                                ,                                                  l                          +                          j                                                                    )                                                                                                                                                      MV            =                          arg                                                              min                                      (                                          i                      ,                      j                                        )                                                                                (                                      SAD                                                              (                                              i                        ,                        j                                            )                                                        )                                                              ,                      M0            ≤            i            ≤            M1                    ,                      N0            ≤            j            ≤            N1                                              [Equation  1]
In Equation 1, the sum of absolute difference—(SAD) denotes a degree of similarity that is an index for measuring the similarity among the areas, and BS denotes the size of the block. (M0,N0) and (M1,N1) denote a tetragonal search area in the restored previous frame. Specifically, (M0,N0) denotes a left upper coordinate in the tetragonal search area, and (M1,N1) denotes a right lower coordinate in the tetragonal search area. Also, O(k,l) denotes pixel values of the present frame to be searched, and P(k,l) denotes pixel values of the restored previous frame.
Equation 1 is used for searching a motion vector from the pixel values O(k,l) of the present frame, the pixel values P(k,l) of the restored previous frame, and in the tetragonal ranges of the search areas (M0,N0) and (M1,N1).
The sum of absolute difference (SAD) that is an index for measuring the similarity among the areas is obtained as follows.
First, the pixel value P(k,l) of the restored previous frame is subtracted from the pixel value O(k,l) of the present frame to be searched using the search area ranges (M0,N0) and (M1,N1). This subtraction is performed with respect to all the pixels. Then, absolute values of the subtracted values are obtained, respectively, and then added together. The added value is the sum of absolute difference (SAD).
Thereafter, (i,j) corresponding to a minimum SAD value among the SAD values obtained with respect to the respective (i,j) is determined as the motion vector (MV) of the present frame. For example, it is assumed that the block size (BS) is 16, the left upper coordinate of the search area is (M0,N0)=(−16,−16), and the right lower coordinate of the search area is (M1,N1)=(15,15).
If an image having a firstly given resolution is supplied to the motion vector estimator 10 on the basis of the original point (0,0), a full motion vector search with respect to a macro block of MPEG-4 or H.263 begins. The full search has a good performance, but has a too much amount of computation.

Motion vector searching method using plural search areas


An asynchronous transfer mode switching network can be made to look like a synchronous tandem switch to end offices connected to the network by establishing a permanent virtual path through the network that carries information between the end offices. Individual channels to be switched are assigned ATM VCI addresses at both ends that correspond to the time slot channel being sent and a time slot channel being received.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication systems and communication networks. In particular, the present invention relates to asynchronous transfer mode communication networks and other communication networks that support virtual paths and virtual channels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many of the telecommunication networks in use today are synchronous digital networks. Digitized voice and other digital communications signals are transmitted synchronously (clocked) across these networks at a fixed rate, 1.544 million bits per second for instance. When they are used to carry only voice signals, synchronous networks work quite well. Discrete time periods known as time slots are packed with the digital information for a particular call. Digital information for many calls is sequentially packed together, forming what is known in the art as a time division multiplexed (TDM) data stream, and transmitted serially, in the same sequence such that when the serial bit stream is recovered at a destination, the digital information in the discrete time intervals is extracted and used to reconstruct the original signal.
Currently, voice, data and/or video are generally carried on separate networks each having capabilities that permit the transmission of these signals. In addition, high-rate digital signals are difficult to switch through current synchronous networks; they might require the concatenation of multiple 64 kilobit signal streams for example and be carried on separate communications networks that are capable of switching high-rate data.
A relatively new technology known as asynchronous transfer mode switching, or ATM, provides a method by which voice, data, video, or other information, (hereafter "data") at differing data rates, can be carried on a single network.
Asynchronous transfer mode is exactly what its name suggests: it's asynchronous. Packets of information, also known as ATM "cells" comprised of 53, 8-bit bytes that can represent video, audio, data or other information, are switched at high speeds through asynchronous transfer mode switches, asynchronously with respect to other cells. The first 5 bytes of an ATM cell contain address and other information used to route the ATM cell to a destination and is known as a header. By convention, particular bytes of the 5-byte header are designated to contain predetermined types of information. FIG. 1 is a chart showing the structure of an ATM cell header block. In general, an ATM cell header block comprises at least two addresses: a VCI address and a VPI address. The address fields of the 5-byte header are used by ATM switches to route an ATM cell to a desired destination, i.e., the intended recipient of the remaining 48 bytes of the ATM cell.
The 48 bytes of an ATM cell following the header carry information of interest, such as video and audio. While the individual bits that make up the 53 bytes of an ATM cell are synchronous with respect to each other, thereby permitting information recovery therefrom, ATM cells are asynchronous with respect to each other. ATM transmission rates are also typically much higher that most synchronous networks, thus an ATM network can accommodate a variety of different-rate data sources by blending ATM cells from a variety of data sources into an ATM network.
Today, ATM switching networks consisting of ATM switches linked together through various transmission media such as fiber optic cable, coax, or twisted wire pairs, receive incoming ATM cells and re-send or re-transmit ATM cells to other ATM switches. ATM switches use the VPI and VCI addresses and other information in the header, (as shown in FIG. 1) to route incoming ATM cells to appropriate outbound channels that direct the ATM cell to its intended destination. In the process of switching an ATM cell, an ATM switch can rewrite the 5-byte header block with new VPI and VCI data. The newly written 5-byte header is used by subsequent ATM switches to route the cell through to other ATM switches or to an end office where an asynchronous-to-synchronous converter (also known as a SAC) coupling an end office to the ATM network can convert the information in the 48-byte information block to the signal or information of interest, e.g., a video conference image or voice of a telephone call. ATM switches coupled together can effectively route calls anywhere if the switches are programmed (provisioned) to know where incoming ATM cells that come in to a switch are supposed to go to and how the outgoing ATM cells are to be addressed for the next ATM switch.
As set forth above, data transfer rates of ATM networks are typically much higher than on synchronous networks giving an advantage to an ATM network when the information to be switched is high rate, such as digitized video. While ATM networks can handle varying data rate information sources and have a speed advantage over synchronous networks, ATM switches in a network that are carrying a signal from a source to a destination must all be programmed to route cells correctly through the network. This programming creates an operating overhead that takes the form of programming to each switch.
FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a prior art asynchronous transfer mode switching network (200) known as a "permanent virtual circuit" network (200) or "PVC" the purpose of which is to route a call from a first end office (202) to a second end office (204). Such a connection would be required for a typical phone call. End office switch 202 is a telephone end office into which telephone calls are received from end users or customers of the phone company and from which time-division-multiplexed trunk groups (218) carry synchronously encoded digital information destined to another end office 204. End office 204 typically has other customers or telephones connected to it.
In the PVC network (200) shown in FIG. 2, a path or route is set up, maintained, and exists for every possible end office 204 that end office 202 can be connected to by programming intervening ATM switches (214, 215, 216 and 217) with information needed by each switch to enable it to "know" where incoming information is coming from and where to route it to. A problem with the PVC networks (200) shown in FIG. 2 is that they require infrastructures in the form of physical trunks to exist between each and every end office and an ATM switch. Those skilled in the art will recognize that to an end office (202) switch, a PVC network (200) looks like direct connections to other switches. Each trunk that originates from an end office is routed through ATM switches (214 and 216) using paths that are set up (provisioned) and which are infrequently changed. In implementation, reference numeral 218 identifies multiple trunk groups, each one of which typically carries synchronous communication signals destined to a different end office switch.
In order to be switched through an ATM network, synchronous signals on the trunk groups 218 must be converted to an asynchronous transfer mode format which is the function of the synchronous to asynchronous converter, or SAC, (210). The synchronous-to-asynchronous converter (210) receives synchronous information and assembles blocks of asynchronous transfer mode information, each of which has a header block appended to it that is an address that routes the cell across at least one ATM switch (214) toward a destination ATM switch (216). It is also well-known in the art that the information in the 5-byte ATM cell header block typically gets the cell across only one switch (214), the traversal of which by the cell is accompanied by new data being written into the header. In the permanent virtual circuit shown in FIG. 2, a permanent path is set up through particular switches and channels thereof. The synchronous-to-asynchronous converter (210) converts the synchronous information to an ATM cell and in the process, effectively maps the destination of the formerly synchronous information of each trunk of trunk groups (218) to a particular end office on a trunk-by-trunk and switch-by-switch basis by way of the information it programs or writes into the 5-byte header it creates for ATM cells it formats.
The output of the SAC (210) is a plurality of asynchronous transfer mode cells or packets each of which is 53 bytes in length. As set forth above, the first five bytes being effectively the address of the destination, the following 48 bytes being the information from the customer or source coupled to the originating end office switch (202). ATM cells or packets from a particular trunk in trunk group 218 destined to a particular office, are addressed with the effective address of an ATM switch (216) to which the packets are sent. This second ATM switch (216) routes the ATM cell to the appropriate end office through an asynchronous-to-synchronous converter (212) that is coupled to the destination end office (204) for the information originating at the sending end office (202).
FIG. 1 shows the format of an ATM header block. It contains an address that effectively identifies an ATM switch to which the packet is to be sent as well as other routing information necessary to route the cell through the network (221) shown in FIG. 2. Each ATM switch (214 and 216) in the network (221) includes tables that are each preprogrammed with information necessary for the switches (214 and 216) to resend ATM cells rewritten with address data required to route the cells through the next switch in the network (221).
The ATM switches shown in FIG. 2 (214 and 216) are well-known ATM permanent virtual circuit switches (ATM-PVC). Each of these switches themselves have addresses for ATM cells addressed to them; decode address information in the ATM header cells and route ATM cells to an asynchronous-to-synchronous converter (212) the function of which is to recreate a time division multiplexed signal, i.e., a synchronous signal from the asynchronous ATM cell. The terminating end SAC (212) reconstructs the synchronous time division multiplexed (TDM) data stream originally output from the end office switch 202. End office switch 204 receives synchronous TDM information from the asynchronous-to-synchronous converter (212) (also known as a synchronous-to-asynchronous converter or SAC) and routes the call to the appropriate end user using signaling information (228) it receives from the originating end office signaling transfer point or STP (206) and its own local STP (208) when the call is first set up.
The embodiment shown in FIG. 2 generally switches calls through the asynchronous transfer mode network 221 at a relatively high speed because each route from an end office switch 202 to an end office switch 204 is established and, as is known in the art, is pre-provisioned. The connection between an end office switch 202 and 204 is established with signaling information for the call between the two end offices (202 and 204) being carried on an interoffice signaling network comprising in part signaling transfer points or STPs 206 and 208.
A drawback of the architecture of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is the need to have a network connection for each possible connection that an end office (202) may have to other end offices (204). In urban environments, for example, where there may be numerous end office switches, there must be a trunk group (218), a synchronous-to-asynchronous converter (210), an asynchronous-to-synchronous converter (212) for every conceivable end office to end office connection that is possible.
An alternate embodiment for asynchronous transfer mode switching is shown in FIG. 3 known as switched virtual circuit or SVC (300). In FIG. 3 a network (301) of asynchronous transfer mode switches (306, 308, 309) perform the switching and routing of ATM cells that originate from the synchronous to asynchronous converters (314) coupled to the end office switches 302. Stated alternatively, the end office switch 302 has a single trunk group (310) coupled to a synchronous-to-asynchronous converter (314).
The synchronous-to-asynchronous converter, i.e., SAC (314) assigns VPI and VCI addresses to ATM cells it assembles based upon signaling information received from the narrow-band to broad-band signaling interface circuit (324), which receives signaling information from the originating end office (302). These VPI and VCI addresses are used to route the cells to only the next ATM switch (306) in the ATM network (301) that receives the ATM cells from the SAC (314). The identity of the particular ATM switch in the ATM network (301) to receive ATM cells carrying the call from the SAC (314) is also established by the narrow-band to broad-band signaling interface circuit (324). The ATM switch in the ATM network that receives ATM cells from the SAC (314) decodes the VPI and VCI addresses and switches the cells out to another ATM switch after rewriting the VPI and VCI addresses again. VPI and VCI addresses assigned by subsequent ATM switches in the network (301) that route the ATM cells through the network, are established using signaling information from the originating end office that is sent to the narrow-band to broad-band signaling interface circuit (324), when the call is first set up. The narrow-band to broad-band signaling interface circuit (324) sends a broad-band signaling message to the first switch (306) of the network (301) to set up the call across the network (301). The last switch (308) in the network (301) to route the call then sends another broad-band signaling message to the narrow-band to broad-band signaling interface circuit, NB-BB interface circuit (326) for the destination end office (304). Upon the reception of the broad band signaling message from this last switch (308) the NB-BB interface circuit (326) formats a narrow band signaling message and picks an available time slot that can be constructed by the local SAC (316) and sends an appropriate narrow band signaling message to the destination end office (304) that identifies the time slot from the SAC (316) where the call from the originating end office (302) can be located.
In operation, the ATM cells are assigned new addresses by switches they are routed through. This routing information with the signaling information on the interoffice signaling channel (326, 324, 328) allows ATM cells to be properly routed through the SVC network of FIG. 3.
A problem with the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is that for a particular call to be routed between end office switch 302 and end office switch 304, a path must be established through each ATM switch as the call set up progresses through the network. Accordingly, the call setup time from end to end for the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 exceeds that for the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 and varies as a function of the number of ATM switches traversed from one end of the network shown in FIG. 3 (300) to the other. On the other hand, for the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the infrastructure overhead comprising the trunk groups 310 and 312 is reduced because each end office must be coupled only to a synchronous-to-asynchronous and an asynchronous-to-synchronous converter which are then coupled to the asynchronous transfer mode switching network.
An advantage of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is that the call setup time is reduced at the expense of communication media or infrastructure. An advantage of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 is that the infrastructure is reduced but the call setup time is increased.
An asynchronous transfer mode communication network that combines the advantages of the architectures shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 without the disadvantages of either would be an improvement over the prior art.
An object of the invention is to provide an asynchronous transfer mode communications network having minimized call setup time and minimized telecommunications infrastructure.

Asynchronous transfer mode switching system


We describe methods and compositions for treating a patient suffering from a hyperproliferative disorder or photoageing. Our methods involve blocking the activity of a retinol binding protein receptor (RBPr) in cells of the patient, and/or administering to the patient an antagonist of a retinol binding protein receptor (RBPr) and/or lowering the endogenous level of retinoic acid (RA) in cells of said patient.

A number of diseases are associated with hyperproliferation of cells, including psoriasis, the ichthyoses, cancer and cutaneous viral infections. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterised by hyperproliferation and impaired differentiation of keratinocytes. Currently, the symptoms of psoriasis are treated in a number of ways, including topical administration of retinoids to the patient. Other diseases such as acne vulgaris and photoageing also respond to retinoid therapy and are believed to involve additional retinoid-mediated mechanisms.
Retinoids have also been used for both treatment and prevention of the development of cancers (e.g. treatment of acute promyelocytic leukaemia and prevention of the development of cutaneous malignancies in renal transplant patients).
Current retinoid therapy is based upon the effect of carboxylic acid derivatives of vitamin A (in particular, retinoic acid, the endogenously active compound) which are able to transcriptionally regulate target genes. Exposure to retinoic acid and retinoids results in proliferating cells withdrawing from the cell cycle and differentiating in response to retinoic acid-induced transcription of a possible excess of 300 target genes. This is a "forced" differentiation that represents a reprogramming of the normal cell fate and can be considered as an instructive differentiation. Treatment with retinoids has been found to be effective in controlling psoriasis, tumours and in relieving the symptoms of photoageing.
However, despite the beneficial effects of retinoid treatment, its benefits are limited by potentially serious adverse effects including hepatotoxicity, hyperlipidaemia, inhibition of bone growth, cutaneous irritation, photosensitivity, alopecia and teratogenicity (Kemmett and Hunter, 1988, Hospital Update. March 1988, pp 1301-1313). These effects are related to the pharmacological dosages needed to achieve a therapeutic response. To date, the search for alternative retinoids and methods to use retinoids has produced only marginal reductions in the cutaneous adverse effects.
It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide for a method of treatment of hyperproliferative diseases and diseases associated with photoageing which avoids the adverse effects of retinoid administration.

Treatment of hyperproliferative diseases


Bioactive agents consisting of one or more lactoferrin-compounds selected from the group consisting of Zn-, Cu- and Mn-lactoferrin and having selective biological activities, i.e. growth-inhibitory activity against certain harmful microorganisms on one hand and growth-promoting activity upon certain useful microorganisms on the other hand; as well as compositions, products or materials therefor comprising the bioactive agents consisting of one or more lactoferrin-compounds selected from the group; and a method for treating materials, which are edible for human beings or animals or which are applicable to a portion of body of human beings or animals, with the bioactive agents consisting of one or more lactoferrin-compounds selected from the group consisting of Zn-, Cu- and Mn-lactoferrin or the compositions comprising the bioactive agent consisting of one or more lactoferrin-compounds selected from the group consisting of Zn-, Cu- and Mn-lactoferrin as an effective component.

Lactoferrin is known as an iron-binding protein occurring, in vivo, in lacrima, saliva, peripheral blood and milk and the like of animals inclusive of human beings. It is said that the lactoferrin content in cow's milk is 1/10 of that in human milk. It is also known that bovine lactoferrin has antibacterial activity to certain harmful microorganisms belonging to the genuses of Escherichia, Candida and Clostridium and the like [cf: Welsh, J. K. and J. T. May; Journal of Pediatrics; Vol. 94; Page 1; 1979].
It has been also reported that bovine apolactoferrin, which is obtainable by unbinding iron from lactoferrin originating from cow's milk, may inhibit proliferation of certain harmful microorganisms belonging to the genuses of Escherichia, Staphylococcus and Enterococcus and the like in synthetic culture medium with a concentration of 0.5-30 mg apolactoferrin per ml media [Nonnecke, B. J. and K. L. Smith; Journal of Dairy Science; Vol. 67; Page 606; 1984].
It has been considered in general that apolactoferrin may act to inhibit proliferation of microorganisms, which require iron strongly, due to chelation of iron with apolactoferrin in the environment thereof. A considerable quantity of apolactoferrin is needed, however, when apolactoferrin is utilized alone, to show its antibacterial activity. Consequently, there was a limitation of its usefulness.
It has been attempted to increase the antibacterial activity of apolactoferrin. For example, it is proposed to use lactoferrin together with lysozyme [Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Gazette No. 62(1987)249931]. It has been also reported that copresence of lactoferrin and secretory IgA may augment antibacterial activity [Stephens, S., J. M. Dolby, J. Montreuil and G. Spik; Immunology; Vol. 41; Page 597; 1980]. However, these prior art disclosures have defects in that they need additional effective components which are difficult to obtain in a quantity of industrial scale in a reasonable cost.
On the other hand, it has been known that human lactoferrin occurring in human milk may promote proliferation of Bifidobacteria which are typical and useful microorganisms found in the human intestine [Kodama; Nihon Shounika Gakukaihou (The Journal of Japanese Pediatric Society); Vol. 87; Page 1000; 1983]. However, it is difficult to obtain human lactoferrin in a quantity of industrial scale in a reasonable cost.

Bioactive agents and compositions for materials comprising the bioactive agent and a method for treating materials therewith


A method for preparing a carbon dioxide absorbent based on natural biomass, and a carbon dioxide absorbent based on natural biomass that is prepared by the method. The method utilizes alkali metal or alkaline earth metal components, such as Ca, Ma and K, inherent to a natural plant biomass material. The method can provide a carbon dioxide absorbent with improved performance in an environmentally friendly manner at greatly reduced cost.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for preparing a carbon dioxide absorbent based on natural biomass, and a carbon dioxide absorbent based on natural biomass that is prepared by the method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for preparing a carbon dioxide absorbent that utilizes alkali metal or alkaline earth metal components, such as Ca, Ma and K, inherent to a natural plant biomass material, thus enabling the preparation of a highly efficient carbon dioxide absorbent at low cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
Carbon dioxide is a major cause of global warming and its concentration in the atmosphere has been sharply increasing since the Industrial Revolution. The carbon dioxide issue is considered a global problem through the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and the Kyoto Protocol, and solutions to solve this problem have been actively studied.
Carbon dioxide sources are usually flue gases released from the burning of fossil fuels, synthetic gases produced during coal gasification, and synthetic gases produced during natural gas processing. Many methods for removing carbon dioxide are known, for example, wet chemical absorption, adsorption, membrane separation and low temperature distillation. However, these methods incur high costs and are thus difficult to commercialize.
According to a known method for removing carbon dioxide from a gas stream using a dry sorbent, an active component present in the solid sorbent is allowed to chemically react with carbon dioxide to produce a carbonate or bicarbonate. The sorbent can be regenerated and reused after heating in a regeneration reactor. The dry sorbent should meet the following requirements: 1) inexpensive materials, 2) easy regeneration, 3) applicability to low energy absorption processes, and 4) the ability to remove carbon dioxide present at a very low concentration. Other requirements for the dry sorbent are environmental friendliness, good absorptivity for carbon dioxide, and high reaction rate. Further, the dry sorbent should be made of a physically or chemically durable material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,337 issued to the United States Department of Energy (DOE) suggests a method for preparing a dry sorbent using an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal compound deposited on a support. Further, Korean Patent No. 620546 discloses the preparation of a dry sorbent that uses an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal compound as an active component to increase the removal efficiency of carbon dioxide. According to this patent, the dry sorbent is prepared by dispersing a sorbent composition essentially composed of an active component, a support and an inorganic binder in water to prepare a slurry, molding the slurry in a spray dryer to prepare a granular absorbent, and calcining the absorbent. However, the above patents are based on the ability of alkali metals and alkaline earth metals to absorb carbon dioxide and are associated with artificial addition of the corresponding components for the dry carbon dioxide absorbents. No study has been, to our knowledge, reported on a technology for removing carbon dioxide utilizing alkali metals and alkaline earth metals inherent to natural biomass materials.
Thus, the present inventors have continued to investigate a method for preparing a high performance carbon dioxide absorbent in an environmentally friendly and economical manner without artificial addition of alkali metals and alkaline earth metals. As a result, the present inventors have succeeded in developing a method for preparing a high performance carbon dioxide absorbent that utilizes natural alkali and alkaline earth metals inherent to a natural biomass material, contributing to cost reduction.

Method for preparing carbon dioxide absorbent based on natural biomass and carbon dioxide absorbent based on natural biomass prepared by the same


Described is a new process for producing the immunosuppressant, L-682,993, a C-31 demethylated derivative of L-679,934 (FK-506), produced under fermentation conditions utilizing the new mutant microorganism Streptomyces sp. (Merck Culture Collection MA 7017) ATCC No. 55334, being a blocked second generation mutant of Streptomyces sp. (MA 6858) ATCC No. 55098. The macrolide immunosuppressant is useful in preventing human host rejection of foreign organ transplants, e.g. bone marrow and heart transplants.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel process for producing the immunosuppressant agent L-682,993, also described as 31-desmethoxy-31-hydroxy-FK-506, using the new mutant microorganism Streptomyces sp. (MA 7017) ATCC No. 55334, being a blocked second generation mutant of Streptomyces sp. MA 6858. The process involves culturing the new microorganism under aerobic fermentation conditions in an aqueous carbohydrate medium containing a nitrogen nutrient.
2. Brief Description of Disclosures in the Art
In 1983, the US FDA approved Cyclosporin A, an extremely effective anti-rejection drug that revolutionized the field of organ transplant surgery. The drug acts by inhibiting the body's immune system from mobilizing its vast arsenal of natural protecting agents to reject the transplant's foreign protein.
As effective as the drug is in fighting transplantation rejection, it suffers drawbacks in causing kidney failure, liver damage, and ulcers which in many cases can be severe.
EPO Publication No. 0184162 to Fujisawa, hereby incorporated by reference, describes a new macrolide immunosuppressant FK-506 (FR-900506) which is reputed to be 100 times more effective than cyclosporin A. The macrolide is produced by fermentation of a particular strain of Streptomyces tsukubaensis. Also described is the closely related macrolide immunosupressant FK-520 (FR-900520), produced by S. hygroscopicus subsp. yakushimaensis.
EPO 0 349 049 (assigned to Merck & Co., Inc.) published Jan. 3, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,792, describes a biotransformation process for producing C-31 desmethyl FK-506, utilizing the microorganism ATCC No. 53711 in the presence of L-679,934 (FK-506) to effect a biotransformation of L-679,934. However a direct fermentation process for producing C-31 desmethyl FK-506 is not described.
EPO 0 388 152 (assigned to Merck & Co., Inc.) published Sep. 19, 1990, describes a new process for the direct fermentation production of C-31 demethylated FK-520 (FR-900520) utilizing the microorganism ATCC No. 53855. However the process is not applicable for the fermentation of C-31 demethylated FK-506.
PCT WO 89/05304 to Fisons, published Jun. 15, 1989, also discloses C-31 desmethyl FK-506, but does not describe or suggest a method of preparation.
Processes for producing C-31 desmethyl FK-506 directly by fermentation of a microorganism, rather than a biotransformation requiring FK-506 as a substrate, are highly desired in the field.

Process for producing immunosuppressant agent