A voice gateway is used to transmit voice signals through the Internet. Upon receiving a connection request, the gateway calculates an end-to-end delay time and selects a proper route according to the calculated delay time to improve the quality of voice transmission. A gateway (10) on the caller side multicasts a connection request to gateways (20) on the receiver side. Each of the receiver gateways returns a response to the caller gateway. According to the response, the caller gateway calculates a compression/decompression allowance and selects a route that employs a compression rule whose compression or decompression time is shorter than the compression/decompression allowance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of transmitting voice signals through an IP (internet protocol) network by selecting a route according to an allowable delay time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional voice transmission using a circuit switching network guarantees a bandwidth and a delay time. Voice transmission using an IP network, however, does not guarantee a bandwidth or a maximum delay time, and therefore, causes a problem of the quality of transmitted voice. It is known in the IP network voice transmission that an available bandwidth and a delay time vary depending on the delays in routers and gateways for relaying IP packets and on the congestion in transmission lines. Unlike general data transmission, voice or video transmission allows only a short delay time because voice or video data requires real-time transmission.
FIG. 1 shows static route selection in an internet telephone system. The system includes a gateway 10 serving the caller side to transmit voice, gateway 20 serving the receiver side to receive the voice, a circuit switching network 30, and route selection data 11 used by the gateway 10 on the caller side. A transmission terminal (not shown) makes a call. The call is received by the gateway 10, which relays the call to one of the gateways 20. When relaying the call to a destination telephone, the gateway 10 selects a route according to an IP address related to a destination phone number. At this time, the gateway 10 refers to the route selection data 11 that contains some routes provided with priority. If a route of the first priority is unavailable, the gateway 10 selects a route of the second priority, and so on. For example, the gateway 10 first selects a route (a) of the first priority from the route selection data 11 and relays the call to the gateway 20 as indicated with {circumflex over (1)}. If a return message from the gateway 20, passed as indicated by {circumflex over (2)}, indicates that a bandwidth is unavailable, the gateway 10 selects a route (b) of the second priority and relays the call to another gateway 20 as indicated with {circumflex over (3)}. If a return message from the gateway 20, passed as indicated by {circumflex over (4)}, indicates that a bandwidth is available, a call connection process will be completed.
Thereafter, the gateways 10 and 20 exchange voice compression rules available for the IP address related to the call, and the gateway 20 selects one of the rules. The selected rule is used between the gateway 10 on the caller side and the gateway 20 on the receiver side to compress and decompress voice data.
This prior art fixes IP addresses and routes for phone numbers in advance, and therefore, is unable to dynamically change routes from one to another. Namely, the prior art is unable to determine a route depending on a change in a delay time in an IP network 50, which will be explained later with reference to FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows dynamic route selection in an internet telephone system.
A gatekeeper 40 is provided for gateways 10 and 20. The gateways 10 and 20 periodically inform the gatekeeper 40 of bandwidth data. Upon receiving a call, the gateway 10 refers to the gatekeeper 40 as well as route selection data 11 and determines a route that involves an available bandwidth. Namely, the gateway 10 selects a route depending on dynamic changes in the conditions of the IP network 50.
The gateways 10 and 20 have each an address conversion function and a voice compression-decompression function. The address conversion function is used to relate a phone number in a circuit switching network 30 to an IP address in the IP network 50. The voice compression-decompression function effectively uses the bandwidths of the IP network according to voice compression rules shown. in Table 1.
Table 1 shows voice compression rules (part) standardized by ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector). There are voice signal bandwidths of 5/6 Kbps, 8 Kbps, 16 Kbps, 48/56/64 Kbps, and 128 Kbps or over. A compression time becomes longer as the voice signal bandwidth becomes lower. Namely, if a long delay time is allowed, a route that involves a compression rule for a high compression rate can be selected.
FIG. 3 shows voice compression rules according to an H.323 protocol of ITU-T.
For a better understanding of the present invention, the H.323 protocol will be roughly explained. The details of the H.323 protocol are described in the eighth section xe2x80x9cCall Signaling Proceduresxe2x80x9d in pages 45 to 78 of ITU-T H.323 recommendation, September 1997.
The H.323 protocol is a title standard including a plurality of protocols as shown in FIG. 3. These protocols will be explained.
G.711 and G.723.1 are voice encoding protocols.
G.711 relates to PCM (pulse code modulation) and samples voice at 8 KHz to form encoded data of 64 Kbps.
G.723.1 forms encoded data of 5.3.Kbps (ACELP) or 6.3 Kbps (MP-MLQ).
H.261 is a protocol for encoding video data for a videoconference. There are CIF (common interface format) (288xc3x97352) and QCIF (quarter CIF).
H.225.0(RTP) (real time protocol) forms packets from voice and video streams and carries out synchronization based on time stamps.
H.225.0(RTCP) (real time control protocol) controls the RTP.
H.225.0(RAS) is a signal protocol between a terminal and a gatekeeper. According to this signal protocol, the gatekeeper certifies a connection request from the terminal.
H.225.0(Q.931) is a call control signal protocol based on Q.931.
H.245 transfers control signals between terminals. The control signals represent, for example, the performance of the terminals.
Each message has a logic channel and is described in ASN.1 syntax.
FIG. 4 shows basic H.323 protocol phases. Phase A is a call setup, phase B carries out initial communication and capability exchange, phase C establishes audiovisual communication, phase D is a call service, and phase E is a call termination.
a) Phase A: Setup
FIG. 5 shows call control messages based on H.225.0 exchanged between end points 1 and 2 in the call setup of the phase A. The end point 1 transmits a message with an IP address to the end point 2. The end point 2 returns a call proc. message, an alert message, or a connect message each containing an H.245 control channel address used for H.245 signaling to the end point 1. Then, the phase A ends.
b) Phase B: Initial Communication and Capability
The phase B sets an H.245 control channel. The H.245 control channel is used to open a media channel and exchange transmission capabilities between the end points 1 and 2. As an option, the end point 2 on the receiver side may set an H.245 control channel when receiving a setup message, or the end point 1 on the caller side may set an H.245 control channel when receiving the alerting or call proc. message. Basic messages will be explained.
An H.245 TerminalCapabilitySet message is used to exchange capabilities between terminals.
An H.245 MasterSlaveDetermination message is used to determine a master between two terminals according to a random number.
According to the H.323 protocol, a caller terminal sends a TerminalCapabilitySet message to a receiver terminal to inform the receiver terminal of a terminal capability. If the terminal capability is acceptable, the receiver terminal returns a TerminalCapabilityAck message to the caller terminal. The exchange of terminal capabilities may be carried out any time. For this purpose, a TCP channel for an H.245 control channel must be set in advance.
c) Phase C: Establishment of Audiovisual Communication
The phase C sets logic channels for various pieces of data after the transmission capability exchange and master/slave determination. Voice and video data are transmitted according to a TSAP ID (transport layer service access point ID, i.e., a UDP port number) by using the channel set in the H.245 setup phase. The attributes of the channels can be changed during communication as follows:
(1) Mode change
The structure, capability, reception mode, etc., of a channel are changeable.
(2) Media stream address distribution
There are messages used to transmit addresses for setting logic channels between terminals. These messages will be explained.
An H.245 openLogicalChannel message carries a caller logical channel number and a channel setting request.
An H.245 openLogicalChannelAck message carries a receiver logical channel number.
d) Phase D: Call Service
The phase D provides bandwidth change and status services. These services will be explained.
i) Bandwidth change
A bandwidth is changeable according to a request from an H.323 terminal. There are sequences for a channel change on the caller side and a channel change on the receiver side. The destination of the request is a gatekeeper.
An H.225.0 BRQ (bandwidth change request) message is used to make a request to a gatekeeper for a bandwidth change.
An H.225.0 BRJ (bandwidth change reject) message is used by the gatekeeper to reject the bandwidth change request.
An H.225.0 BCF (bandwidth change confirm) message is used by the gatekeeper to accept the bandwidth change request.
An H.245 CloseLogicalChannel message is used to discard a logic channel before a bandwidth change.
An H.245 OpenLogicalChannel message is used to set a logic channel of a requested bandwidth.
An H.245 OpenLogicalChannelAck message is used to inform of a result of resetting a logic channel.
An H.245 FlowControlCommand message is used to make a receiver set a logic channel whose bandwidth is changed.
ii) Status
There are messages used by a gatekeeper to monitor the operating states and failures of terminals.
An H.225.0 information request message is used by a gatekeeper to request the statuses of terminals.
An H.225.0 information request response message is used to return the bandwidth and type of a terminal in response to a request from a gatekeeper.
e) Phase E: Call Termination
The phase E is a call termination sequence. It closes video, data, and voice channels in this order. If there is a gatekeeper, a caller uses an H.245 EndSessionCommand message. If there is no gatekeeper, an H.225 release complete message is transmitted to terminate a call.
As explained above, the longer a delay time, the lower the quality of the transmitted voice. The present invention finds an end-to-end delay time and, according to the delay time, selects a proper route to improve the quality of voice to be transmitted.
FIG. 6 shows an end-to-end delay time in an internet telephone system. The delay time mainly consists of a network delay time, a device delay time, and a voice compression or decompression delay time. The total of the three delay times is a total delay time or an end-to-end delay time. A route A involves a total delay time that exceeds an allowable delay time, and therefore, is not selectable as a route for transmitting voice. A route B involves a compression or decompression delay time that is shorter than that of the route A and a total delay time that is within the allowable delay time. Accordingly, the route B can be used as a route for transmitting voice. A route that has a total delay time within the allowable delay time can be found by calculating the total delay time according to a voice compression rule employed by the route.
The gatekeeper 40 of FIG. 2 receives bandwidth data from each of the gateways 10 and 20 at regular intervals. The collecting the bandwidth data at regular intervals, however, is not in real time. As a result, data used by the gatekeeper 40 to handle a connection request deviates from actual data. For example, a bandwidth that seems to be available may actually be unavailable. When selecting a route, the prior art of FIG. 2 only compares a bandwidth required for transmitting compressed voice with available bandwidths. Namely, the prior art pays no attention to an end-to-end delay including compression and decompression delays. As a result, the end-to-end delay sometimes exceeds an allowable delay set for a call. In this case, even if the call is successfully connected, voice packets related to the call will be intermittently discarded due to the delay exceeding the allowable delay time, to deteriorate the quality of the transmitted voice.
An object of the present invention is to provide a gateway having a function of measuring a total delay time, selecting a voice compression rule accordingly, and selecting a route accordingly. In the following explanation, xe2x80x9ccompression/decompression allowancexe2x80x9d means an allowable compression or decompression time.
In order to accomplish the object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a method of selecting a route for transmitting voice through gateways connected to the Internet. The method includes the steps of multicasting a connection request from a caller gateway to receiver gateways along routes that run through the caller and receiver gateways, receiving at the caller gateway responses to the connection request from the receiver gateways, calculating, at the caller gateway, a compression/decompression allowance of each of the receiver gateways according to the responses, and selecting one of the routes that employs a compression rule whose compression or decompression time is shorter than the compression/decompression allowance of the corresponding receiver gateway.
Based on the method of the first aspect, a second aspect of the present invention includes the steps of finding a network delay time and a device delay time of each of the receiver gateways according to the responses, calculating the sum of the network delay time and device delay time of each receiver gateway, and calculating the compression/decompression allowance of each receiver gateway by subtracting the calculated sum from a preset allowable delay time.
Based on the method of the first and second aspects, a third aspect of the present invention includes the step of selecting one of the routes that employs a compression rule whose compression or decompression time is shorter than the corresponding compression/decompression allowance and provides the best transmission quality.
Based on the method of the first to third aspects, a fourth aspect of the present invention includes the steps of calculating a maximum delay time of each of the routes according to the responses and not carrying out a connection if none of the maximum delay times is below a threshold.
A fifth aspect of the present invention provides a gateway apparatus for transmitting voice through an IP network. The apparatus has a unit for multicasting a connection request to receiver gateways along routes running through the receiver gateways, a unit for receiving responses to the connection request from the receiver gateways, a unit for finding a network delay time and a device delay time of each of the receiver gateways according to the responses, calculating the sum of the network delay time and device delay time of each receiver gateway, and calculating a compression or decompression time of each receiver gateway by subtracting the calculated sum from a preset allowable delay time, and a unit for selecting one of the routes that employs a compression rule whose compression or decompression time is shorter than the calculated compression or decompression time of the corresponding receiver gateway.
Based on the gateway apparatus of the fifth aspect, a sixth aspect of the present invention does not carry out a connection if there is no receiver gateway whose sum of the network delay time, device delay time, and compression or decompression time is below a threshold.
Based on the gateway apparatus of the fifth and sixth aspects, a seventh aspect of the present invention selects a route that employs a compression rule whose compression or decompression time is shorter than the compression or decompression time of the corresponding receiver gateway and provides the best transmission quality.
The ITU-T does not clearly standardize individual processing times of compression and decompression, and therefore, the present invention considers that the compression and decompression times are substantially equal to each other. If they differ from each other, a longer one is employed as a compression or decompression time. Consequently, there are a network delay time, a device delay time, and a compression or decompression delay time as shown in FIG. 6.
With these methods and apparatuses, the present invention solves the problems of the prior arts.


A method and apparatus for performing a block squeeze cementing job. The invention provides for perforating the wellbore above and below the desired well formation on a single wireline trip and setting a lower packer on a wireline above the lower perforations. A stinger is positioned in the lower packer, and secondary packer elements on an upper packer are set above the upper perforations. Cementing of the lower perforations is carried out through the lower packer. The secondary packer elements are unset, and the stinger is repositioned adjacent to the upper perforations. Primary packer elements on the upper packer are then set, and the cementing of the upper perforations is carried out through the upper packer and stinger. Setting of the secondary packer elements requires only vertical movement of the tubing string and no rotation. Both cementing steps are carried out on a single tubing trip. The upper packer is retrievable, and the lower packer is of a drillable type. Hydraulic slips may be provided on the upper packer to prevent movement thereof during either cementing operation.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for performing block squeeze cementing jobs on oil wells, and more particularly, to a packer apparatus and method of use which eliminates one wireline trip and one tubing trip.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
It is sometimes desirable in production of oil wells to place cement through perforations in the casing of the well both below and above the oil producing formation or zone. This cementing is carried out to prevent water and/or gas from migrating to the wellbore along with the oil. The intent is to leave the water and gas in the formations adjacent to the oil producing zone so that the water and gas will drive the oil to the wellbore, thereby increasing recovery of oil.
Current procedures for accomplishing this comprise making a lower set of perforations and then squeezing cement into the zone below the oil producing zone. Typically used is a drillable squeeze packer, such as Halliburton's EZ Drill.RTM. SV Squeeze Packer, which is similar to that illustrated in U. S Pat. No. 4,151,875 to Sullaway, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The packer is set above the lower set of perforations, and cement is squeezed into this lower perforated zone.
In this prior art procedure, a set of upper perforations is then made above the oil producing zone, and cement is squeezed into the formation above the oil producing zone using a retrievable packer, such as the Halliburton RTTS.RTM. Retrievable Packer.
This prior art process works well. However, making the upper and lower perforations and setting of the drillable packer are conducted on a wireline. The lower perforations are made first, and the drillable packer is set. Then, the wireline company personnel must remain at the location until the first cementing job is done before they can make the second set of perforations. The result is an additional wireline trip with increased expense in the entire block squeeze cementing job. Therefore, there is a need for a cementing job which can reduce the number of trips into the wellbore, and particularly one which does not require wireline company personnel waiting on other operations.
The present invention meets this need by providing an apparatus and method for block squeeze cementing which allows both sets of perforations to be made during one wireline trip into the well. The drillable packer is then set, and the wireline company personnel can leave. The present invention also eliminates one trip in the well with a well tubing string by permitting both squeeze cementing jobs to be done on the same tubing trip.

Method and apparatus for performing a block squeeze cementing job


A disk brake in which a cylinder bore of a caliper is decentered toward the exit side in the rotational direction of a disk with respect to friction pads, and claw portions of the caliper are also decentered toward the exit side with respect to the friction pads. The entrance-side and exit-side claw portions have approximately the same wall thickness in the circumferential direction of the disk. When the brake is activated, the claw portions exhibit approximately the same rigidity so that the surface pressure of each claw portion pressing the outer friction pad can is kept uniform, and non-uniform.

The present invention relates to a disk brake suitably used to apply braking force to a vehicle, for example.
A generally known disk brake includes a caliper having a bridge portion extending over the outer periphery of a disk. A cylinder bore is formed at one side of the bridge portion. An outer leg portion is formed at the other side of the bridge portion. The outer leg portion has at least a pair of claw portions. The disk brake further includes inner and outer friction pads extending in the circumferential direction of the disk at respective positions on both sides of the disk. The friction pads are adapted to be pressed against both sides of the disk by the caliper.
In this type of disk brake, when the brake is activated, a piston provided in the cylinder bore of the caliper is caused to slide toward the disk by a fluid pressure supplied externally so as to press the friction pads against both sides of the disk in cooperation with the claw portions of the outer leg portion, thereby applying braking force to the disk.
When the vehicle is braked by the disk brake, braking torque from the disk that is transmitted through the friction pads undesirably acts as a bending moment on the caliper. Accordingly, the inner friction pad has such a tendency that the surface pressure applied to the disk is relatively high at the entrance side in the rotational direction of the disk and relatively low at the exit side. Consequently, the inner friction pad is likely to wear non-uniformly at the entrance side.
Therefore, according to the conventional technique, the cylinder bore is decentered (i.e., the center axis is shifted) toward the exit side in the rotational direction of the disk with respect to the friction pads. Consequently, the surface pressure of the inner friction pad applied to the disk is reduced at the entrance side, and thus non-uniform wear of the friction pad is suppressed.
Incidentally, the disk brake according to the above-described conventional technique is arranged such that, among the cylinder bore, the bridge portion and the outer leg portion that constitute the caliper, the cylinder bore is decentered toward the exit side in the rotational direction of the disk with respect to the longitudinal center position of the friction pads.
However, the claw portions of the outer leg portion are formed such that the space therebetween is defined as a recess for machining the cylinder bore. Therefore, the recess is usually decentered toward the exit side in the rotational direction of the disk with respect to the friction pads in accordance with the amount that the cylinder bore has been decentered (i.e., decentration of the cylinder bore). As a result of decentering the recess of the outer leg portion toward the exit side in the rotational direction of the disk, the entrance-side claw portion as viewed in the rotational direction of the disk has a large wall thickness in the circumferential direction of the disk in comparison to the exit-side claw portion.
Consequently, when the brake is activated, there is a difference in rigidity between the claw portions. The rigidity difference may cause the claw portions pressing the outer friction pad in particular to differ in the surface pressure from each other. In such a case, the friction pad is worn non-uniformly, and it becomes likely that brake noise, judder and so forth will occur owing to the non-uniform wear of the friction pad.


The present disclosure provides a method and device for image coding and a method and device for image decoding, and the method includes: a representative pixel set of a coding block is constructed, and information for constructing the representative pixel set is determined; predicted values of pixel samples in the coding block are constructed, a generation manner for the predicted values including: constructing the predicted values of the pixel samples according to reconstructed pixel samples in an image region outside the coding block and pixel values of the representative pixel set; and the information for constructing the representative pixel set and information for constructing the predicted values are coded and written into a video bitstream.

In related art, along with development of a television and a display into resolutions of super-high definition (4K) and extra super-high definition (8K) and development and popularization of a new-generation cloud computing and information processing mode and platform adopting a remote desktop as a typical representation form, a video image data compression requirement is also made for a higher-resolution composite image including an image shot by a camera and a computer screen image. An ultrahigh-compression rate and extremely high-quality data compression technology for video images becomes indispensable.
Performing ultrahigh-efficiency compression on the video images by fully utilizing characteristics of 4K/8K images and computer screen images is also a main objective of a latest international video compression standard High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) under formulation and a plurality of other international standards, national standards and industrial standards.
A natural form of a digital video signal of each image is a sequence of the image. A frame of image is usually a rectangular region formed by a plurality of pixels. And a digital video signal is a video image sequence, which is also called as a video sequence or a sequence sometimes for short, formed by dozens of and even hundreds of thousands of frames of images. Coding the digital video signal is to code each frame of image. At any time, a frame of image which is being coded is called as a current coding image. Similarly, decoding a video bitstream (called as a bitstream for short, also called as a bit stream) obtained by compressing the digital video signal is to decode a bitstream of each frame of image. At any time, a frame of image which is being decoded is called as a current decoding image. The current coding image and the current decoding image are collectively called as a current image.
In almost all international standards for video image coding such as Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG-1/2/4) H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC) and HEVC, when a frame of image is coded (and correspondingly decoded), the frame of image is divided into a plurality of sub-images with M×M pixels, called as coding blocks (which are decoding blocks from the point of decoding, collectively called as coding and decoding blocks) or "Coding Units (CUs)". And the blocks of the image are coded one by one by taking a CU as a basic coding unit. M is usually 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. Therefore, coding a video image sequence is to sequentially code each CU of each frame of image. At any time, a CU which is being coded is called as a current coding CU. Similarly, decoding a bitstream of a video image sequence is to sequentially decode each CU of each frame of image to finally reconstruct the whole video image sequence. At any time, a CU which is being decoded is called as a current decoding CU. The current coding CU and the current decoding CU are collectively called as a current CU.
In order to achieve adaptability to differences of image contents and properties of each part in a frame of image and pertinently and most effectively perform coding, sizes of each CU in the image are different, some being 8×8, some being 64×64 and the like. In order to seamlessly splice CUs with different sizes, a frame of image is usually divided into "Largest Coding Units (LCUs)" with completely the same size and N×N pixels at first. And then each LCU is further divided into multiple tree-structured CUs of which sizes may not be the same. Therefore, the LCUs are also called as "Coding Tree Units (CTUs)". For example, a frame of image is divided into LCUs with completely the same size and 64×64 pixels (N=64) at first, and a certain LCU is formed by three CUs with 32×32 pixels and four CUs with 16×16 pixels. And in such a manner, the seven tree-structured CUs form a CTU. The other LCU is formed by two CUs with 32×32 pixels, three CUs with 16×16 pixels and twenty CUs with 8×8 pixels. In such a manner, the 25 tree-structured CUs form the other CTU. Coding a frame of image is to sequentially code each CU in each CTU. In an international standard HEVC, LCU and CTU are synonyms.
A CU is further divided into a plurality of sub-regions. The sub-regions include, but not limited to, a Prediction Unit (PU), a Transform Unit (TU) and an Asymmetric Multi-Processing (AMP) region.
A colour pixel usually consists of three components. Two most common pixel colour formats include a Green, Blue and Red (GBR) colour format consisting of a green component, a blue component and a red component and a YUV colour format, consisting of a luma component and two chroma components, and colour formats collectively called as YUV actually include multiple colour formats, such as a YCbCr colour format. Therefore, when a CU is coded, the CU is divided into three component planes (a G plane, a B plane and an R plane or a Y plane, a U plane and a V plane). And the three component planes are coded respectively. And three components of each pixel are also bundled and combined into a triple, and the whole CU formed by these triples is coded. The former pixel and component arrangement manner is called as a planar format of an image (and its CUs), and the latter pixel and component arrangement manner is called as a packed format of the image (and its CUs). A GBR colour format and YUV colour format of a pixel are both three-component representation formats of the pixel.
Besides a three-component representation format of a pixel, another common representation format of the pixel in a conventional art is a palette index representation format. In the palette index representation format, a numerical value of a pixel is represented by an index of a palette. There are stored numerical values or approximate numerical values of three components of the pixel to be represented in a palette space, and an address of the palette is called as an index of the pixel stored in the address. An index represents a component of a pixel, and an index also represents three components of a pixel. There are one or more palettes. Under the condition that there are multiple palettes, a complete index is actually formed by two parts, i.e. a palette number and an index of the palette with the palette number. An index representation format of a pixel is to represent the pixel with an index. The index representation format of the pixel is also called as an indexed color or pseudo color representation format of the pixel in the conventional art, or is usually directly called as an indexed pixel or a pseudo pixel or a pixel index or an index. An index is also called as an exponent sometimes. Representing a pixel in an index representation format is also called as indexing or exponentiating.
Other common pixel representation formats in the conventional art include a CMYK representation format and a grayscale representation format.
A YUV colour format is also subdivided into a plurality of sub-formats according to whether to perform down-sampling on a chroma component or not: a YUV4:4:4 pixel colour format under which a pixel is formed by a Y component, a U component and a V component; a YUV4:2:2 pixel colour format under which two left and right adjacent pixels are formed by two Y components, a U component and a V component; and a YUV4:2:0 pixel colour format under which four left, right, upper and lower adjacent pixels arranged according to 2×2 spatial positions are formed by four Y components, a U component and a V component. A component is usually represented by a number with 8-16 bits. The YUV4:2:2 pixel colour format and the YUV4:2:0 pixel colour format are both obtained by executing chroma component down-sampling on the YUV4:4:4 pixel colour format. A pixel component is also called as a pixel sample, or is simply called as a sample.
A most basic element during coding or decoding is a pixel, is also a pixel component, and is further a pixel index (i.e. indexed pixel). A pixel or pixel component or indexed pixel adopted as the most basic element for coding or decoding is collectively called as a pixel sample, and is also collectively called as a pixel value sometimes or simply called as a sample.
In an application document of the present disclosure, "pixel sample", "pixel value", "sample", "indexed pixel" and "pixel index" are synonyms, and according to the context, it is clear that whether a "pixel" is represented or "a pixel component" is represented or an "indexed pixel" is represented or any one of the three is simultaneously represented. If it cannot get clear from the context, any one of the three is simultaneously represented.
In the application document of the present disclosure, a coding block or a decoding block (collectively called as a coding and decoding block) is a region formed by a plurality of pixels. A shape of the coding and decoding block is a rectangle, a square, a parallelogram, a trapezoid, a polygon, a round, an ellipse, a string and any other shape. The rectangle also includes a rectangle of which a width or height is a pixel value and which is degenerated into a line (i.e. a line segment or a line shape). In a frame of image, each coding and decoding block has a different shape and size. In the frame of image, some or all of coding and decoding blocks have mutually overlapped parts, and all of the coding and decoding blocks are also not overlapped. A coding and decoding block is formed by one of "pixels", "components of the pixels" and "indexed pixels", or is also formed by mixing the three or mixing any two of the three. From a point of video image coding or decoding, a coding and decoding block refers to a region which is coded or decoded in a frame of image, including, but not limited to, at least one of: an LCU, a CTU, a CU, a sub-region of the CU, a PU, a TU, a string of pixels and a group of pixels.
A video image compression technology in the related art includes: a prediction manner (including, but not limited to, intraframe prediction and interframe prediction) and a copying manner (including, but not limited to, block copying, index copying, micro-block copying, strip copying, string copying, rectangular copying and point copying). Here, "copying" refers to copying an optimal matched pixel found by a coder. Therefore, from a point of a coder, the copying manner is also called as a matching manner (including, but not limited to, block matching, index matching, micro-block matching, strip matching, string matching, rectangular matching and point matching).
An important characteristic of the prediction manner and the copying manner is that reconstructed pixel samples (including at least one of completely reconstructed pixel samples and pixel samples which are partially reconstructed to different extents), called as predicted values (also called as reference values) of current coding or decoding pixel samples (called as current pixel samples for short), in an image region outside a current coding and decoding block (called as a current block for short) are copied and the predicted values are assigned to the current pixel samples as the reconstructed pixel samples of the current pixel samples.
In the prediction manner and copying manner in the related art, predicted values are obtained from reconstructed pixel samples in an image region outside a current block, and have no direct relation with pixel samples of the current block, so that there exists a problem that a mutual correlation is weaker and compression efficiency is lower if distances between positions of these reconstructed pixels and the current block are longer.
For the problem that the mutual correlation is weaker and compression efficiency is lower if distances between positions of these reconstructed pixels for obtaining predicted values and the current block are longer in the related art, no effective solution has been provided yet.

Method and device for image coding and method and device for image decoding


A method of applying leg elastics to absorbent garments involves optimizing the spacing between multiple elastic members. The elastic members are bonded to a substrate with variable spacing along the length of the leg opening. More particularly, narrower spacing is provided in the crotch area, thereby providing higher gasketing pressure, while wider spacing is provided in areas outside the crotch area for lower gasketing pressure and greater comfort. Alternatively, narrower spacing can be applied to the back portion of the leg, with medium spacing in the crotch area and wider spacing in the front portion or the leg, or conversely, wider spacing in the back portion with medium spacing in the crotch area and narrower spacing in the front portion, depending on the wearer""s needs. The resulting garments have optimized comfort, fit and containment about the leg openings.

This invention is directed to a method of optimizing spacing between elastic members, thereby optimizing gasketing pressure distribution, in the application of leg elastics to a garment. The method involves adjusting pivot arm alignment and elastic guide location.
Pant-like absorbent garments, such as diapers and training pants, typically include a pair of leg openings having an elastic portion around each leg opening. The elastic portions are intended to fit snugly around a wearer""s legs to prevent leakage from the garment. However, more gasketing pressure is required in certain areas around the leg, such as in the crotch area, than in other areas around the leg, such as in the dwell areas away from the crotch.
Various technologies are known for applying leg elastics to such articles. For example, some technologies involve increasing spacing between elastic members at the crotch area around each leg opening. This type of spacing results in low gasketing pressure in the crotch area and higher gasketing pressure in the areas away from the crotch. This type of spacing is the normal process fallout due to the correspondence between the angle of application and the spacing between the elastic members.
More particularly, when the elastic members are applied to a garment in a machine direction, variations in the angle of application result in variations in spacing. When a device used to apply the elastic members aligns the elastic members in the crotch area in a row substantially perpendicular to the machine direction, as the elastic members are guided away from the crotch area, the angle between the row and the machine direction is closer to 0xc2x0, thereby resulting in wider spacing in the crotch area and narrower spacing in the area away from the crotch. Other technologies boast consistent spacing between elastic members around the entire leg opening. Some of the technologies mentioned, and others, include consistent gasketing pressure around the entire leg opening.
There is a need or desire for a process for optimizing spacing among elastic members around the leg openings of pant-like absorbent garments to provide enhanced comfort, fit and containment about the leg openings of such garments.
It has been found that variations in spacing among elastic members, other than the normal process fallout, are factors that can be optimized to provide enhanced comfort, fit and containment about the leg openings.
The present invention is directed to a method of applying leg elastics to pant-like absorbent garments using variable spacing among the elastic members. More specifically, gasketing pressure distribution around a wearer""s legs is optimized by changing the spacing between the elastic members, and curving the leg elastics at the same time to optimize the performance of the leg elastics for enhanced comfort, fit and containment.
In one embodiment of the invention, a pivot arm parallel to a substrate as the substrate is fed through a pair of nip rolls is used to carry out the method of the invention. Furthermore, the pivot arm includes elastic guides spaced at different radii from a pivot point on the pivot arm. This invention can provide customized higher gasketing pressure anywhere in the leg area for higher gasketing, and lower gasketing pressure over any area in the leg area for better comfort. These areas can be customized in any shape on the product which would offer an ideal fit all the way around the leg. For example, a resulting absorbent garment can have narrow spacing over a back part of the leg, medium spacing in the crotch area, and wide spacing over a front part of the leg away from the crotch area.
In another embodiment of the invention, a pivot arm which is perpendicular to a substrate as the substrate is fed through a pair of nip rolls is used to carry out the method of the invention. In this embodiment, the pivot arm also includes elastic guides spaced at different radii from a pivot point on the pivot arm. A resulting absorbent garment can have narrow spacing in the crotch area and wide spacing in the area away from the crotch.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, a linear arm which is perpendicular to a substrate as the substrate is fed through a pair of nip rolls, with elastic guides on a rotating pivot guide on the arm, is used to carry out the method of the invention. In this case, a resulting absorbent garment can also have narrow spacing in the crotch area and wide spacing in the area away from the crotch.
With the foregoing in mind, it is a feature and advantage of the invention to provide a method of applying leg elastics to an absorbent garment resulting in optimized performance of the leg elastics in terms of comfort, fit and containment.
It is another feature and advantage of the invention to provide a method of tailoring leg elastic spacing in an absorbent garment to optimize gasketing pressure to fit a wearer""s body.

Method of optimizing spacing between elastic members in applying leg elastics


Disclosed are a photographic method which including optically dividing the picture plane of a great-size original into two areas and photographing said areas with a specified combination of a lens having a narrow angle of view with two or three pairs of mirrors to form the images of the original on the same plane, and a photosensitive material printing apparatus utilizing the above photographing method.

In producing press plates for printing books or the like, it has so far been carried out to print together a plurality of originals corresponding to, in general, from 8 to 32 pages on one sheet of press plate from the standpoints of printing efficiency and printing cost (See FIG. 1, wherein numeral numbers stand for the page numbers to be printed respectively).
In such a case, press plates of A-size (625 mm.times.880 mm) or B-size (766 mm.times.1085 mm) are produced corresponding respectively to whether the size of an intended print is included in the A-series or B-series sizes.
If the photographing of such a great-size picture is intended with an apparatus miniaturized to the greatest possible extent, it is required to use a lens having a wide angle of view and ensuring the highest possible extent of-image reproduction in not only the center part of the picture to be photographed but also the peripheral area thereof. As well known, however, it causes various types of aberration problems to leave a lens as it is small in diameter, notwithstanding the increase in picture area to be photographed with said lens. Therefore, it is requested to use a lens having a great diameter. In case the diameter of a lens is increased, on the other hand, the production cost of the lens rises steeply. Accordingly, it is quite natural from the economical point of view that there is a limit in the diameter of a lens applicable to the photographing apparatus. Under these circumstances, sacrifices of resolution and reproducibility of images have so far been made.
In the meantime, it has hitherto been considered that the greatest possible reduction in size of a picture to be photographed and the use of a lens having a focal length long enough to cover the whole area of the picture was desirable for the purpose of heightening image resolving power and image reproducibility, as described in Japanese Jikko Hei 6-22836 (the term "Jikko" as used herein means an "examined utility model publication"). This measure however has disadvantages in that it is difficult to miniaturize the photographing apparatus and the apparatus cannot help rising in price.
As a result of our intensive studies of the above-described problems, it has been found out that when there is adopted a method which comprises arranging two separate mirrors so that they may reflect respectively thereon the reflected rays coming separately from the left half and the right half of an original and making the rays reflected by the separate mirrors irradiate the front and the back sides of one convex lens respectively, a lens having a focal length reduced to one-half that of the lens required conventionally for the photographing of a picture with a given size can cover a picture increased in size by a factor of two to result in realization of a miniaturized photographing apparatus of high resolving power, thereby achieving the present invention.

Photographing method and photosensitive material printing apparatus utilizing the same


A vehicle headlamp assembly is provided including a reflector housing having a forward face and a rearward face intersected by a bore, the rearward face having a generally annular flat with a series of depressions; a bulb providing a source of illumination positioned generally adjacent the reflector housing forward face; a bulb housing providing an electrical connection for the bulb and for mounting the bulb, the bulb housing having a first portion inserted within the housing bore and a second portion positioned generally adjacent to the reflector housing rear face annular flat contacting the same; a generally annular retainer having a first portion extending through the reflector housing bore and a second portion contacting the rear face of the reflector housing within the depressions of the rear face, the retainer also having an interlocking flange spaced from the second portion with biasing tabs for retaining the bulb housing within the reflector housing bore and urging the bulb housing against the reflector housing rear face; a shield for blocking a portion of the illumination generated by the bulb, the shield having a main body portion connected with legs which are in turn connected with an annular ring, the annular ring contacting a forward face of the reflector housing; and a connecting subarrangement connecting the first portion of the retainer with the shield annular ring, thereby affixing the retainer and the shield to the reflector housing.

Current U.S. Government regulations require vehicle headlamps that permit the use of replaceable bulbs to have bulb retainers capable of accepting and retaining such bulbs. In order to comply with these regulations, it is also common for vehicle manufacturers to use a bulb shield to reduce the light emitted from these bulbs so as to reduce headlamp glare (uncontrolled light) to thereby meet U.S. Government specifications regarding light output from the headlamp assembly. Examples of headlamp assemblies using the above arrangements may be found by a review of Liverance et al U.S. Pat Nos. 4,926,301 and 4,882,606, commonly assigned.
In some cases, it is preferred to preassemble the bulb retainer and bulb shield together, and at a later time assemble this subassembly to the headlamp reflector by inserting the shield from the rear of the reflector, through an opening (or central bore) of the reflector. This concept of preassembling the shield to the retainer for later assembly through the central bore in the housing from the rear of the reflector has implications on vehicle headlamp design and performance. One area affected is that of the central bore. With this concept, the size of the central bore restricts the size of the bulb shield to a size smaller than the central bore of the reflector housing. Regarding the central bore size, if it is too large in size, this can create problems, some of which are bulb positioning (loss of light output from bulb mispositioning), loss of reflector surface (loss of light output), opportunities for dirt entry, and other factors. If the central bore is too small, there can be a restriction in bulb shield size. Restriction of the bulb shield size can adversely affect a number of vehicle headlamp areas including shield tolerances and effectiveness, temperature buildup around the bulb, bulb life, mounting of ornamental or decorative caps to the shield, light output, headlamp quality rating, and other factors. Also, in most headlamp assemblies which use a shield and a bulb retaining device, the shield and/or bulb retainer must be affixed to the headlamp reflector with one or more fasteners.


A detection device includes an X-axis magnetic sensor, a Y-axis magnetic sensor, and a Z-axis magnetic sensor each having a sensing axis for detecting a geomagnetic azimuth and a sensor controlling semiconductor. The magnetic sensors are selected from those fabricated from the same wafer, each having the same structure, and directly mounted on the circuit substrate by directing the respective sensing axes of the magnetic sensors at different predetermined angles. Electrodes of the magnetic sensors for conducting the sensor controlling semiconductor are located in a parallel row at one side of the sensing surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensor chip with at least one sensing axis, a detection device provided with the sensor chip, and a method of manufacturing the detection device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Besides the GPS (Global Posting System), the use of such detection device as the magnetic direction detector for providing the azimuth information with excellent sensitivity for the terminal device such as the mobile phone and the on-board car navigation device has been the recent trend.
A generally employed magnetic direction detector is provided with an X-axis magnetic sensor for detecting an X-axis geomagnetism, a Y-axis magnetic sensor for detecting a Y-axis geomagnetism, and a Z-axis magnetic sensor for detecting a Z-axis geomagnetism so as to allow detection of each geomagnetism at three axes, that is, X, Y and Z axes.
The magnetic direction detector has three magnetic sensors and a sensor controlling semiconductor mounted on a surface of a circuit substrate. The respective magnetic sensors and the sensor controlling semiconductor are integrated by sealing with a sealing member formed of such material as an insulating resin (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-233630).
Each magnetic sensor includes a sensing axis for detecting the geomagnetism. Among those magnetic sensors, the X-axis magnetic sensor is mounted on a main circuit substrate by directing the sensing axis at the angle to detect the geomagnetism in any one of a front-to-rear direction and a left-to-right direction of the magnetic direction detector. The Y-axis magnetic sensor is mounted on the main circuit substrate by directing the sensing axis at the angle to detect the geomagnetism in the other of the front-to-rear direction and the left-to-right direction. The Z-axis magnetic sensor is mounted on a sub-circuit substrate. The sub-circuit substrate with the Z-axis magnetic sensor is designed to stand on the main circuit substrate. The Z-axis magnetic sensor is mounted on the main circuit substrate by directing the sensing axis at the angle to detect the geomagnetism in an up-and-down direction of the magnetic direction detector via the sub-circuit substrate.
Electrodes for conductively connecting the respective magnetic sensors to the sensor controlling semiconductor are formed at each circumferential edge of one surface of the magnetic sensor with a rectangular box shape, and at each circumferential edge of one surface of the sensor controlling semiconductors. Each of the respective electrodes is conductively connected to the electrode of the sensor controlling semiconductor via the lead wire, respectively.
Those X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis magnetic sensors are manufactured from different wafers exclusively for the respective sensors. That is, each of the resultant magnetic sensors mounted on the magnetic direction detector is fabricated from the different wafer.
The generally employed magnetic direction detector provided with the respective magnetic sensors each formed of the different wafer may vary the magnetic property among the magnetic sensors. Upon detection of the geomagnetism by the aforementioned magnetic direction detector, an error in the detection sensitivity with respect to the geomagnetism detected by the respective magnetic sensors may be observed. As a result, the aforementioned magnetic direction detector may have a risk of failing to detect the accurate geomagnetism.
In the generally employed magnetic direction detector, the Z-axis magnetic sensor is mounted on the main circuit substrate via the sub-circuit substrate. So there may be an error in the detection sensitivity with respect to the geomagnetism between the Z-axis magnetic sensor and the other magnetic sensors. Accordingly, the aforementioned magnetic direction detector may fail to accurately detect the geomagnetism. As the sub-circuit substrate stands on the main circuit substrate, the thickness of the magnetic direction detector may be increased depending on the size of the sub-circuit substrate. The resultant structure fails to satisfy the down-sizing requirement of the magnetic direction detector.

Sensor chip, detection device and method of manufacturing detection device


A closure assembly is disclosed in which a first layer matches a side element in shape, and a spacer is fitted to establish a space for containing glue.

This invention relates to decorative boxes in particular to a decorative box and a method of making a decorative box of the type made from paper products.
Typically such decorative boxes are made of a paper board material and are covered with decorative paper. They are formed with bends, corners and curves and have bottoms, sides and covers. Covers when used may be fully removable or hinged in some manner such as by a paper hinge. The boxes vary in durability and purpose; the strength of the materials and the construction method used varies depending on the desired durability and purpose. To form corners, the structural element may be scored and bent. Usually the ends of a continuous side element will meet at a place where there is to be a corner or sharp turn in the shape. To form curves the structural element is bent.
Typically the structural elements will be glued together; although it is also possible to join the elements by means of a decorative paper cover element extending from one structural element to the other. Sometimes both means are used, together.
In a large box of this type, greater strength is needed in joining the structural elements such as the side element and the bottom element together. Also, some box shapes have portions of the side element bent inwardly convexly or concavely to form the shape. This bending inwardly creates a tendency to straighten, that is to unbend. Therefore, there is a need to have a construction and method which will strongly hold all the parts together against the tendency to straighten.


A switch valve for a hydraulic unit, in particular a quick-acting valve for a hydraulic unit of a hydraulically variable valve gear of a reciprocating internal combustion engine, having a valve body, which is guided in an axially movable manner in a housing part and which is sealed with respect to the housing part by a seal, wherein the seal is designed as a flat seal element, which encloses the valve body in a sealing manner and which is operatively connected to an axial surface of the housing part in a sealing manner.

A hydraulic unit comprising a switch valve of a generic type is known from DE 10 2009 011 983 A1. In the field of such so-called pressure-compensated switch valves, it is common knowledge to provide a groove in the housing part in which seal a sealing ring that serves to seal the valve body is inserted. Sealing rings of different types and shapes are known form the catalogue of the company of Kölbel Vertriebs GmbH, 93055 Regensburg published in the year 2010.


A data reproducing apparatus includes a receiver receiving the content and outputting the received content to an image display apparatus prepared in advance, and a transmitter transmitting the content to the receiver when authentication of the receiver is successful. Before transmitting the content, the transmitter transmits a request to start authentication to the receiver and executes an authentication process after a predetermined time. When the receiver cannot be authenticated, the transmission of the request to start authentication and the execution of the authentication process are repeated. Here, the predetermined time is variably set according to the number of times the request to start authentication is transmitted and the authentication is executed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data reproducing apparatus and a transmitter, and particularly to a data reproducing apparatus and a transmitter for transmitting audio data and/or video data from a transmitting side to a receiving side and reproducing the received data by the receiving side.
2. Description of the Background Art
Various standards have been proposed as interfaces used to transfer digital AV (Audio and Visual) data by communication. In the case where content data is to be transferred, it is important to prevent copy. In order to prevent such copy, authentication is performed in some cases where content data is transferred.
Conventionally, products have been proposed that have capabilities complying with HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) or DVI (Digital Visual Interface) that is an interface standard for the above-described authentication. Such products must have capabilities complying with HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) system used for encryption for copyright protection.
In the case where the authentication is performed using HDCP, the result of authentication may not be successful or OK depending on the timing of starting the authentication. Thus, in some cases, the transmitter cannot transfer data while the receiver cannot receive the data and accordingly video cannot be displayed. In order to overcome such a problem, the authentication is conventionally started at the timing adjusted appropriately for a receiver model for which it takes the longest time to succeed in authentication (the result of authentication is OK).
However, while many receiver models have the ability causing no problem even if the timing of starting authentication is advanced, it is a problem that the wasteful waiting time is generated before the video can be output.
A technique improving the above-described authentication capability is disclosed for example in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-163585. According to the publication, failure of authentication is prevented in the following way. As a receiving apparatus starts a power-down mode, a predetermined command is given after the power down mode is thereafter cancelled, so as to allow a transmitting apparatus to resume transmission of an authentication code. Further, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-051558 discloses a technique of facilitating extension of a cable while preventing deformation of the waveform of a transmission signal by reducing the load capacity of a DDC (Display Data Channel) of DVI.
None of the above-described publications, however, provides a configuration to adjust the timing of starting authentication appropriately for the ability of the receiver of the partner. Therefore, problems due to the fact that the same authentication start timing is uniformly employed for all receivers have not been solved.

Data reproducing apparatus and transmitter authenticating data reproducing apparatus


The present invention relates to use of a composition for maintenance of bone and/or cartilage health or prevention, alleviation and/or treatment of bone and/or cartilage disorders.

Bone mass evolves throughout life and is regulated by genetic, mechanical and hormonal mechanisms. Bone mineral acquisition occurs during childhood and peak bone mass is achieved around 20 years of age. During this period, bone formation exceeds bone resorption. Later in life, and particularly around the time of the menopause, or in the elderly population, bone mass and quality are impaired due to a higher bone turnover with excessive bone resorption leading to a gradual loss of bone mass, microarchitecture, structure and strength.
To maintain bone, it is important to restore the balance between bone formation and bone resorption. This bone remodelling process is regulated at the bone cell level involving a tight interaction between bone forming cells (osteoblasts) and bone resorbing cells (osteoclasts).
In a healthy adult, man or animal, the joint action of the osteoblasts and osteoclasts makes possible the maintenance of the bone mass over time and simultaneously ensures remodelling of bone tissue by resorption and de novo synthesis of bone.
In a healthy adult, the rate of formation of the osteoclasts and osteoblasts is such that a balance is struck between bone formation and bone resorption. However, in osteoporotic individuals, an imbalance in the process of bone remodelling is produced which culminates in a loss of bone which proceeds at a more rapid rate than the rate of formation. Although this imbalance exists to a certain extent in most individuals as they age, it is much more severe and occurs at a younger age in osteoporotic individuals.
Thus, in man and other mammals a great variety of disorders are related to abnormal metabolism of bone resorption and bone formation, leading to an imbalance in metabolism or bone remodelling.
Moreover, in man and animals, there are many conditions characterised by the need to increase bone formation. For example, in the case of bone fractures, it is necessary to stimulate bone growth in order to accelerate complete repair of the bone. This need is also present in the periodontal diseases, the metastatic diseases of bone, the osteolytic diseases and the conditions under which repair of the connective tissue is required, for example for the cicatrisation or regeneration of defects or traumatisms of cartilage. The stimulation of bone growth is also required in the case of primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism, as well as in osteoporosis associated with diabetes and in osteoporosis associated with glucocorticoids.
Although there exists today a large variety of active compounds for stimulating bone formation and/or inhibiting bone resorption, there is a constant need for new active compounds, in particular owing to the limited success of the current treatments.
Another joint disorder is osteoarthritis, which is a first cause of disability in the elderly. Currently, no cure exists for osteoarthritis and therapy is only palliative aiming at improving symptoms.

Compositions for use in stimulating bone growth


Bidirectional flow control device for attachment to a tubular member including a nozzle insert comprising a first sealable surface, the nozzle insert comprising a nozzle passage, and a second sealable surface for mating with the first sealable surface, and a first biasing member seat; a cover plate positioned adjacent the first end of the nozzle insert, the cover plate comprising a production orifice and a plurality of stimulation orifices in fluid communication with a plurality of stimulation passages, the cover plate further comprising a second biasing member seat and a biasing member positioned between the first biasing member seat and the second biasing member seat, the biasing member to exert a biasing force to place first sealable surface and second sealable surface in sealing engagement when internal tubular pressure is below a set-point value.

In oil and gas wells, fluids and gases are entering the well along the completion interval based on reservoir pressure and permeability distribution, which often is quite non-uniform. Hence the inflow rate at certain sections of the completion can vary greatly, spatially. For reservoir depletion purposes and well integrity issues, it is desirable to create uniform inflow profiles along the well to provide a more even depletion of the reservoir, or to choke back certain high permeability streaks, which otherwise could draw in early water or gas.
To achieve this, the well completion can be divided into compartments, which may be annularly isolated with packers (e.g. swell packers, etc.). The compartment locations and sizes may be chosen based on reservoir pressure and permeability non-uniformities. Inflow Control Devices (ICD) may be employed in those compartments, forcing the incoming flow through a restriction (e.g. nozzle, tubing or tortuous flow path), thereby creating an additional velocity and fluid density dependent pressure drop that will slow down the flow to create the inflow profile desired.
In certain completions, it also may be desirable to perform one or more stimulation operations to stimulate the subterranean formation and increase a potential for production of the reservoir fluid therefrom. These stimulation operations may include providing a stimulant fluid to specific, or target, regions of the subterranean formation and often utilize stimulation ports within the casing string to provide the stimulant fluid from the casing conduit to the target region of the subterranean formation.
Following stimulation operations, it also may be desirable to control a flow rate of the reservoir fluid into the casing conduit during production of the reservoir fluid from the casing conduit. Typically, a desired flow rate of the reservoir fluid into the casing conduit during production from the subterranean formation is significantly lower than a desired flow rate of the stimulant fluid during stimulation of the subterranean formation. Thus, it may be desirable to decrease and/or restrict a flow rate of the reservoir fluid from the subterranean formation into the casing conduit through the stimulation ports.
As such, a challenge with ICDs is that the size of the flow restriction is fixed during the installation process; hence the ICD is optimized for a certain fluid type and narrow production rate range. This can result in issues should the well require stimulation or be treated for scale (e.g. temporary injection of stimulation/scale prevention fluids), or when a production well is converted into an injection well later in its life. The stimulation rates, can be several times higher than the initial production rates, which a) can cause structural failure of the ICDs and b) change the injection profile to a non-uniform or an undesired profile. A possible solution to this problem is to have the ability to provide a certain flow capability during production flow, and a larger flow capability during stimulation/injection.
Currently there are several possibilities in the industry to achieve this. One is the use of controllable inflow devices (ICV) that can be triggered to change their flow area based on operator input from the surface via hydraulic lines, electric lines or even radio-frequency control tags pumped into the well. Another option is to equip the completion with ICDs, but also have sliding sleeves joints which can be opened (in general, mechanically through a downhole setting tool) for stimulation or injection. Both options require the operator to have well intervention accessibility through a coiled tubing tool, electric or hydraulic lines or radio-frequency controlled tags that require the downhole equipment to have batteries.
Another option is to equip the well completion with ICDs for production, but also have additional check valve style devices that allow flow from one direction (e.g. injection), and close them when the well is being put on production. The downside of this approach is the increased risk of mechanical failure due to having a large number of individual components (e.g. ICDs and valves) in the well. As may be appreciated, if some of those check valves do not close after the stimulation/injection process, then the production inflow profile can be greatly compromised.
As such, there exists a need to address the aforementioned problems and issues. Therefore, what is needed is a simple, cost-effective apparatus that provides one integrated device having a certain flow restriction during production, and another flow restriction when the flow direction is reversed.

Bidirectional flow control device for facilitating stimulation treatments in a subterranean formation


Finger sheaths provide individual finger coverings. The individual finger coverings prevent the transfer of germs, dirt, and other residual and harmful elements onto the user's fingers when contacting exposed surfaces or items as well as their transfer from the user's fingers to the user's mouth while eating finger foods. The individual finger coverings further prevent the transfer of residual elements from the finger food onto the user's fingers. The finger sheaths have a non-permeable organic composition that does no impart undesired tastes. The finger sheaths can be incorporated with antimicrobial, antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties about the outside surface and a sanitizing gel on the inside surface. The finger sheaths can be incorporated with custom flavorings and imprinted with digestible dyes to present custom patterns.

Many of the foods we eat are finger foods. These foods involve using our hands and fingers instead of utensils when placing the foods in our mouths. Some common finger foods include hamburgers, sandwiches, pizza, french fries, chicken wings, chicken fingers, barbeque, ribs, tacos, nachos, fruit, etc. that are best eaten using hands and fingers. Finger foods are especially common at events or large gatherings. Finger foods also make up many of the snacking items we consume. Chips, cheese puffs, candies, snack bars, trail mix, and the like involve using our hands and fingers in consumption.
The convenience, comfort, and portability of finger foods do however come at the cost of hygiene and cleanliness. People may not wash their hands prior to eating finger foods, because of a lack of facilities, simple oversight, or lack of concern. Germs, bacteria, and other harmful elements (e.g., microorganisms, viruses, chemicals, etc.) on our hands and fingers can then make their way into the body as the fingers contact saliva and other parts of the mouth. The after effects of finger foods, though not as harmful, can be undesirable as well. Sauces, sugars, flavorings, oils, etc. can become residual elements that remain on the fingers after consumption. These residual elements can stain clothes, scent the hands and fingers, and cause the hands and fingers to become sticky or greasy. Washing or wiping with napkins or moist towelettes is needed to remove these residual elements.
There is therefore a need to provide a way with which to consume finger foods as intended without the accompanying hygiene and cleanliness issues. Specifically, there is a need to allow consumers the ability to use their fingers when eating finger foods without having to wash their hands before eating because of concern for ingesting harmful elements, and also after eating because residual elements transferred from the finger foods to consumer's fingers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A reliable SAW device has excellent reflection and a small size, which is achieved by reducing the number of fingers defining reflectors, such that losses due to a large electromechanical coupling coefficient are small and the film thickness of electrodes has much less effect on frequencies of the device. In the SAW device having pluralities of first fingers and second fingers, disposed on a quartz substrate, constituting an IDT for exciting SH waves and reflectors for reflecting the SH waves, respectively, the first and second fingers made mainly from Al are disposed on the ST-cut 90° X-propagation quartz substrate with the Euler angles (0°, θ, 90°±2°), wherein the angle θ is within the range of about 110° to about 150°, and a normalized film thickness (H/λ) of the fingers is within in the range of about 0.025 to about 0.135.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surface acoustic wave devices (hereinafter, the term "surface acoustic wave" is abbreviated as SAW) such as SAW resonators, SAW filters, and duplexers, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a SAW device using shear-horizontal waves (hereinafter, abbreviated as SH waves).
2. Description of the Related Art
SAW filters have been widely used for band-pass filters of mobile communication devices and other electronic apparatuses. Such known SAW filters include SAW resonator filters and transversal filters.
An exemplary known SAW resonator filter is configured such that an ST-cut 0° X-propagation quartz substrate having excellent temperature characteristics has an interdigital transducer (hereinafter, abbreviated as an IDT) and reflectors disposed thereon. The IDT and the reflectors are both made from an Al electrode material, and use Rayleigh waves produced by excitation of the IDT.
Another exemplary known SAW filter is configured such that an ST-cut 90° X-propagation quartz substrate has an IDT and reflectors disposed thereon. The IDT and the reflectors are both made from an electrode material such as Ta, W, and Au, and use SH waves produced by excitation of the IDT (refer to Japanese Patent Unexamined Application Publication No. 2000-323956, for example).
The former of the two SAW resonator filters described above, which is provided with Al electrodes on an ST-cut 0° X-propagation quartz substrate and which uses Rayleigh waves, causes the following problems:    (1) difficulty in reducing the filter size because of a small reflection coefficient, resulting in the need for a large number of fingers for reflectors in the SAW resonator filter and in a device such as a SAW resonator; and    (2) large losses due to a small electromechanical coupling coefficient.
On the other hand, the latter of the two foregoing SAW resonator filters, which is provided with electrodes made from a heavy metal such as Ta, W, and Au disposed on an ST-cut 90° X-propagation quartz substrate and which uses SH waves, has the advantages of a large electromechanical coupling coefficient and a large reflection coefficient, and thus the advantage of a reduced filter size.
However, using the latter filter, which is provided with electrodes made from a heavy metal such as Ta, W, and Au, gives rise to problems such as a large variation in the central frequencies of the filter caused by a variation in the width and thickness of the electrodes, and consequently the reject ratio is large. That is to say, since the heavier the metals for the electrodes are, the more sharply the acoustic speeds in the metals vary with respect to a change in the film thickness thereof compared to that in light Al, the latter filter has a problem of a large variation in the central frequencies even when the electrodes made from the heavy metal material have substantially the same variations in width and thickness as those of the corresponding light Al electrodes.
One way to reduce such a variation in the central frequencies is to increase the thickness of the light Al to such a degree that SH waves can be excited. However, it is difficult to increase the film thickness of an IDT film to a degree where SH waves are excited because of the limited thickness of the resist film and a strain in the resist film caused by heat with current thin-film forming technologies.

Surface acoustic wave device and electronic device using the same


An optical coherence tomography imaging system includes a Fourier domain optical coherence tomography sensor system, a signal processing system configured to communicate with the Fourier domain optical coherence tomography sensor system to receive detection signals therefrom and to provide imaging signals, and an image display system configured to communicate with the signal processing system to receive the imaging signals. The signal processing system includes a parallel processor configured to calculate structure information and Doppler information from the detection signals in real time such that the imaging signals provide a real time display of combined structure and flow of an object under observation.

1. Field of Invention
The field of the currently claimed embodiments of this invention relates to optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems, and more particularly to real-time 3D and 4D Fourier domain Doppler optical coherence tomography systems.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a well-established, non-invasive optical imaging technology that can provide high-speed, high-resolution, three-dimensional images of biological samples. Since its invention in the early 1990s, OCT has been widely used for diagnosis, therapy monitoring, and ranging [1]. In vivo non-invasive imaging of both microcirculation and tissue structure is a hot area that has attracted significant amounts of interest since it is an indicator of biological functionality and abnormality of tissues. Pioneering work by Z. P. Chen et al. combining the Doppler principle with OCT has enabled high resolution tissue structure and blood flow imaging [2]. Since then, OCT-based flow imaging techniques have evolved into two different approaches: optical coherence angiography (OCA) to detect microvasculature [3-7] and Doppler tomography (ODT) to quantitatively measure blood flow [8-15]. In spectral domain ODT, the magnitude of Fourier transformation of the spectral interference fringes is used to reconstruct cross-sectional, structural image of the tissue sample, while the phase difference between adjacent A-scans is used to extract the velocity information of the flow within the tissue sample [2,8].
Real-time imaging of tissue structure and flow information is always desirable and is becoming more urgent as fast diagnosis, therapeutic response, and intraoperative OCT image-guided intervention become established medical practices. Due to the large amount of raw data generated by an OCT engine during a high-speed imaging process and heavy computation task for computer systems, real-time display is highly challenging. A graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated signal-processing method is a logical solution to this problem due to the way OCT data are acquired and due to the fact that they can be processed in parallel. Although researchers have reported a number of studies using GPU to real-time process and display OCT images [16-25], reports of real-time functional OCT imaging based on GPU processing—which is highly demanding and would be of great value for medical and clinical applications—have been uncommon. GPU-based speckle variance swept-source OCT (SS-OCT) [24] and 2D spectral domain Doppler OCT (SD-DOCT) [25] have recently been reported. There thus remains a need for improved OCT systems.

Real-time 3D and 4D fourier domain doppler optical coherence tomography system


An optical connector for device to fiber coupling is disclosed comprising a connector housing having waveguide channels formed therethrough. The connector housing is injection molded from a plastic material. These waveguide channels each include a first end and a second end. Attachment apparatus for an optical fiber is included at each of the first ends of the waveguide channels, and attachment apparatus for an optical device is included at each of the second ends of the waveguide channels. Waveguide core portions, positioned within the waveguide channels, are made from an optical plastic material.

The invention relates to optical connectors for coupling optical fibers to opto-electronic devices, and more particularly to injection molded connectors.
Data transmission over optical fibers offers many significant advantages over metallic conductors including: long distance transmission without the need for repeaters, immunity from external electromagnetic interference, cross-talk and ground loop, high bandwidth capabilities, small size and weight, high degree of intercept security and dielectric isolation, and long term cost reduction. These desirable features of optical fiber technology have strongly stimulated efforts both in fiber optics and in supporting technologies such as optical fiber to optical device connectors.
Optical fiber connections to opto-electronic devices have often employed adhesive means such as epoxy to secure a fiber end directly to an optoelectronic device. Illustrative devices include an optical source and/or an optical detector. The connectors typically include a ferrule or the like adapted for fiber insertion therein. Another fiber to device connection comprises an optical lens such as a spherical lens or a graded refractive index (GRIN) lens positioned between the device and the end of the fiber to improve the coupling efficiency. The fiber end is typically secured in the ferrule to aid in its positioning. Some devices include the lens within the device housing and therefore do not need additional optical equipment between the fiber and device.
The above-described means for connecting an optical fiber to an opto-electronic device require active alignment of the fiber to the device to ensure proper light transmission and minimal loss due to the coupling. Active alignment may include the steps of: performing a preliminary alignment of the fiber and the device in both the axial and radial directions, performing transmission tests between the fiber and device to determine power transmission characteristics and coupling efficiency, and varying the relative orientation between fiber and device in both the axial and radial directions to maximize power transmission and coupling efficiency. After alignment, the fiber is first secured by an adhesive means such as epoxy or optical glue, followed by a curing step to set the epoxy, and then followed by a burn-in process to identify substandard connections. This procedure is time-consuming as well as inaccurate, and requires a second alignment test to ensure proper alignment in the event that small disturbances adversely affected the initial alignment.
It is advantageous to couple a duplex fiber cable to both a source and a detector. A duplex fiber cable includes two optical fibers, each surrounded by appropriate cladding and shielding necessary to eliminate light and/or electromagnetic interference or noise transmission from one fiber to the neighboring fiber. Typically, one of such fibers operates as an output transmission line and is connected to a source, while the other operates as an input transmission line and is connected to a detector. In such a duplex case, active alignment must be performed between one of the two fibers in the duplex fiber cable and the source, and also between the other fiber in the duplex fiber cable and the detector, thus resulting in an even greater possibility of misalignment and lower coupling efficiency.
Additionally, the source and detector are typically positioned directly adjacent one another to accommodate the close proximity of the fibers in the duplex fiber cable. Optical fibers in a standard duplex fiber cable are separated by 2-3 mm. The relative close positioning of source and detector in conventional devices creates a significant electromagnetic interference problem between the two devices because the source emits a level of electromagnetic energy that is significantly greater than the level of electromagnetic energy typically received by the detector. This problem worsens as the data transmission rate is increased. Additionally, the close proximity of the two fibers in the vicinity of the devices can create additional electromagnetic interference.

Optical connector with waveguides for device to fiber coupling


The display processing system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include: at least one receiving module, configured to receive source three-dimensional (3D) display data for a source 3D display mode and transmitted in a source data transmission format; a first converting module, configured to convert the source 3D display data into source RGB data; a second converting module, configured to convert the source RGB data into target RGB data for a target 3D display mode; a third converting module, configured to convert the target RGB data into target 3D display data in a target data transmission format; and a transmitting module, configured to transmit the target 3D display data in the target data transmission format to a data driving circuit connected with a display panel.

Three dimensional (3D) displaying has been widely recognized as perfect displaying technology and a large number of enterprises and institutes have been involved in this field. In particular, many developed countries, such as Japan, USA, Europe and Korea, have been working in the 3D displaying field ever since 1980s, and achieved a great deal of developments, greater or smaller, from 1990s. At present, two main 3D display technologies, including the one with wearing 3D glasses and the one without wearing 3D glasses, have been developed.
Even though there are a great number of 3D displaying technologies, their basic theories are quite similar. Specifically, different images are viewed by the left-eye and the right-eye respectively, and then the human brain may regenerate a new image by overlapping the information on the different images viewed by the left-eye and the right-eye, so as to obtain an image having a 3D effect.
The 3D displaying technology with wearing 3D glasses is subdivided into two kinds of 3D technologies, including polarized-light 3D technology and shutter 3D technology as well known. On one hand, the polarized-light 3D technology is based on the theory that light has a polarized direction and is achieved by dividing the original images. Specifically the images can be divided into two sets of images including vertically polarized light images and horizontally polarized light images by the polarized-light 3D technology. And the left-eye glass and the right-eye glass adopt polarized light lens having different polarization directions respectively. In this way, left-eye and right-eye of a human can receive different images, so as to achieve a 3D display. On the other hand, the shutter 3D display technology is realized by displaying the images for the left-eye and the images for the right-eye alternately, while refreshing the 3D glasses simultaneously, so as to enable left-eye and right-eye of a human to observe corresponding images for the left-eye and the right-eye alternately, thereby stereo images.
It can be seen from the above, due to different data arrangements, a conventional electronic device which only originally supports one kind of 3D display mode can hardly be used for a user to view 3D video images with another kind of 3D display modes.

Display processing system, display processing method, and electronic device

K-TRONICS (SU ZHOU) TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An antenna having a radiator comprising a conduct in a closed path driven by a plurality of microstrips connecting the radiator to a common, single feed and to a ground plane, with the radiator lying in a plane parallel to that of the ground plane. The radiator may be annular, with the feed located in its center. The relative location of the feed on the microstrips allows a lower input impedance to be leveraged to match a higher load impedance of the radiator. A single ended input drives all points of the radiator substantially in phase. In another embodiment, the antenna comprises a cylindrical choke one-quarter wavelength in length placed around the coax feed and connected to the underside of the ground plane.

Antennas are used in a variety of applications for transmission and receipt of information via electromagnetic waves. The direction at which an antenna radiates or receives power can be optimized by the shape and structure of the antenna, as well as the method of driving it. In some applications, a highly directional antenna is desired, while in others an omnidirectional antenna is desired. In the transmission mode, an input signal connects to a feed on the antenna and drives a radiator. The electrical signal of the input is converted to electromagnetic radiation that propagates from the radiator in accordance with its directivity. The process basically works in reverse when an antenna is receiving a, signal.
In addition, for maximum efficiency, the load presented by the antenna itself, or more specifically, by the radiator of the antenna, should be matched to the input impedance of the feed. This minimizes loss due to reflections and standing waves created by impedance mismatching.
Space considerations also play a role in antenna design. For example, an elongated antenna (such as a traditional dipole) may provide an ideal power distribution pattern for a given application; however, the device or product of which the antenna is a part, or the application in which the antenna is used, may not permit the use of a long, somewhat fragile antenna such as a traditional dipole.
For terrestrially based applications, in which the device receiving signals from or transmitting to an antenna is positioned away from the antenna at relatively small angle from horizontal, it is desirable that the antenna's power distribution be directed primarily outward (or horizontally), rather than vertically. A traditional dipole antenna provides such a radiation pattern but often proves too large or fragile for a given application. One use of antennas includes transmitting from a location located at or near ground level to receivers located on power or telephone poles, or buildings, which may be located in any direction from the antenna. In such locations, the size of the antenna is a key consideration, as well as the likelihood that the antenna will inevitably come into contact with persons or objects.
When a dipole, ring, yagi, or similar type antenna is fed with a coax connection, the coaxial cable may act as a radiator, in addition to the radiator of the antenna itself. To isolate the antenna radiator from the coax feed cable, and prevent coax cable from radiating, a choke balm may be added between the antenna and the feed line. This is prior art. These types of antennas, however, do not have a ground plane. Some circular antennas include a ground plane having concentric circular grooves formed in it, effectively leaving a series of concentric circular walls. In these devices, the choke is "above" the ground plane, with respect to the feed line.
For antennas with a radiator positioned over a ground plane, such as a patch antenna, prior art designs assume that that the ground plane isolates the radiator from the feed line (which is connected from below the ground plane), such that the feed line does not affect or interfere with the radiation pattern of the antenna. It has been discovered, however, that the ground plane does not provide adequate isolation and a coaxial feed cable can interfere with radiation patterns of antenna, even where the antenna radiator is separated from the coaxial cable by the ground plane.
Thus, there is a need for a relatively compact antenna that provides a substantially omnidirectional power distribution oriented primarily horizontally, rather than vertically. There is also a need for an antenna that is structurally resistant to bumps and knocks that may be experienced in a terrestrial installation. There is also a need for further isolating the radiation patterns of an antenna in which the radiator is separated from a feed, such as coaxial feed line, by a ground plane.


A stain machine including a rotatable drum enclosing a plurality of perforated splint-receiving chambers. The drum is selectively moveable from a soak, or stain-engaging position to a higher spin position, located above the level of the stain in a stain tank. The drum rotates at a first slower speed in its soak position and at a second higher speed in its spin position.

This application relates generally to a device for staining strips of wood veneer. Although this invention has particular utility in the staining of wood veneer splints used as colored accents in handwoven wooden baskets, it also may be useful in staining other small wooden items, such as furniture accents, household items, and children's toys and their components.
Colored accents are a popular feature of certain handwoven wooden baskets. Most commonly, the color of these accents has been created by dyeing the wooden splints. This typically involves immersing the splints in household-type fabric dyes dissolved in hot water. The splints are worked and agitated in the dye solution for a specified time to achieve the most uniform color. The agitation is accomplished manually. Typically, it takes from about 30 minutes to 6 hours for one operator to dye a single standard splint unit. This process is time-consuming and inefficient. The hot water temperature and high humidity associated with this process also can make this operation unpleasant, which may adversely affect retention of employees in this process area.
The color of the dyed splints is affected by dye-lot variations, which are well known in the art. Considerable time is lost and production and disposal costs are increased when a particular lot of dye will not yield the desired color. The color of the dyed splints also may be affected by the water content of the wood, the air temperature, and other variable process conditions. As a result, it is difficult to produce dyed splints having a consistent color.
The household-type dyes also are subject to rapid fading upon exposure to sunlight or fluorescent light. Thus, dyed splints that have been stored in a lighted area for as little as four weeks may differ in appearance from those that are freshly dyed. Deep blues, greens and reds are particularly susceptible to fading. This leads to both waste and production planning problems, as all of the colored splints for a particular product generally must be produced, not only at about the same time, but also close in time to the time when the splints will be needed for production. Any quality problems encountered during the dyeing run may therefore affect production schedules.
Finally, dyed splints have drawbacks in the production of stained baskets, that is, where the entire basket is stained after weaving is completed. Typically, the baskets are stained a medium brown color using a water-based stain, referred to as an overstain. Some overstain color is absorbed by the dyed splints, which may darken and dull the color that was originally present in the dyed splints. As a practical matter, this has limited the accent color selection available for use in stained wooden baskets, because some colors simply are not aesthetically pleasing after they have been overstained. Some dye colors also run when they are re-wet with overstain, causing damage to finished baskets.
Baskets may be left unstained, of course, so that the color of the accent splints remains unaltered by an overstain. However, surface soiling resulting from use is likely to be more apparent on these "natural," or unstained, baskets. The transfer of color from dyed splints to natural splints during the weaving process (which occurs, for example, when a weaver slides horizontal weave strips into position along the vertical basket splints), also is more likely to detract from the appearance of a natural rather than a stained basket. Stained splints are much less susceptible to such color transfer.
It is possible to overcome some shortcomings of dyed basket splints by staining the wooden splints instead. The stained splints may have brighter colors and increased resistance to color transfer during weaving. However, no effective mechanized method of staining splints has been available. Thus, color accent splints generally have been produced by hand rolling the stain onto the splints or hand dipping the splints into a container of stain.
Even with these labor-intensive hand staining methods, care must be taken in prevent spots and drips from forming on the stained splints. The splints may develop spots if they are not separated individually for drying. They also may stick together if excess stain remains on them. Generally, avoidance of these problems requires wiping down the stained splints or hanging them individually to dry. Both processes are time-consuming, and neither is completely effective in preventing spots and drips.