A system and method are disclosed for providing an equalized ultrasound echo signal for the rendering intravascular images. The system includes an ultrasound catheter including an ultrasound transducer probe. An intravascular ultrasound console receives an ultrasound echo signal corresponding to reflections of an ultrasound signal by backscatterers. An ultrasound echo signal time-gain compensation equalizer compensates the ultrasound echo signal according to sub-bands within a frequency response spectrum of the ultrasound echo signal. After applying selective amplifier gains on the sub-bands, the sub-band signals are combined to create an equalized ultrasound echo signal.

The development of new medical technologies has provided an increasing number of options available to doctors for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The availability of such equipment has improved the ability of doctors and surgeons to detect/diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease. Intravascular imaging technologies have enabled doctors to create and view a variety of images generated by a sensor inserted within a vasculature. Such images complement traditional radiological imaging techniques such as angiography by providing images of the tissue and/or blood flow within vessels rather than showing a two dimensional lumen image such as the type rendered by an angiogram.
Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) analysis finds particular application to a system and method for quantitative component identification within a vascular object including characterization of tissue as well as identification of fluid flow in a particular cross-section of a lumen. It should be appreciated that while the exemplary embodiment is described in terms of an ultrasonic device, or more particularly the use of IVUS data (or a transformation thereof) to render images of a vascular object, the present disclosure is not so limited. Thus, for example, using backscattered data (or a transformation thereof) based on ultrasound waves or even electromagnetic radiation (e.g., light waves in non-visible ranges such as Optical Coherence Tomography, X-Ray CT, etc.) to render images of any tissue type or composition (not limited to vasculature, but including other human as well as non-human structures) is within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
Imaging portions of a patient's body provides a useful tool in various areas of medical practice for determining the best type and course of treatment. Imaging of the coronary vessels of a patient by techniques involving insertion of a catheter-mounted probe (e.g., an ultrasound transducer array) can provide physicians with valuable information. For example, the image data indicates the extent of a stenosis in a patient, reveals progression of disease, and helps determine whether procedures such as angioplasty or atherectomy are indicated or whether more invasive procedures are warranted.
In an intravascular ultrasound imaging system, an ultrasonic transducer probe is attached to a distal end of a catheter that is carefully maneuvered through a patient's body to a point of interest such as within a coronary artery. The transducer probe in known systems comprises piezoelectric crystal, PVDF or a Capacitative Micro Ultrasound Transducer (CMUT). The transducer probe in known systems is either a single element that is mechanically scanned or rotated back and forth to cover a sector over a selected angular range. Acoustic signals are transmitted and echoes (or backscatter) from these acoustic signals are received. The backscatter data is used to identify the type or density of a scanned tissue. As the probe is swept through the sector, many acoustic lines (emanating from the probe) are processed to build up a sector-shaped cross-section image of tissue within the patient. After the data is collected, an image of the blood vessel (i.e., an IVUS image) is reconstructed using well-known techniques. This image is then visually analyzed by a cardiologist to assess the vessel components, blood-flow cross-sectional area, and plaque content. Other known systems acquire ultrasound echo data using a probe comprising an array of transducer elements that are mechanically and/or electronically scanned to cover a sector over a selected angular range.
In a particular application of IVUS imaging, ultrasound data is used to characterize tissue within a vasculature and produce images graphically depicting the content of the tissue making up imaged portions of a vessel. Examples of such imaging techniques for performing spectral analysis on ultrasound echoes to render a color-coded tissue map are presented in Nair et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,074,188 entitled "System and Method of Characterizing Vascular Tissue" and Vince et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,268 entitled "Vascular Plaque Characterization", the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, including any references contained therein. Such systems analyze response characteristics of ultrasound backscatter (reflected sound wave) data to identify a variety of tissue types found in partially occluded vessels including: fibrous tissue, fibro-fatty, necrotic core, and dense calcium. An example of a known plaque characterization imaging technique is referred to as "virtual histology" (VH).
When characterizing the response of tissue that has been subjected to ultrasound waves, parameter values are considered at a data point in an imaged field. Based upon response characteristics (e.g., power spectra) of known tissue types, tissue at the data point is assigned to a particular tissue type (e.g. necrotic core). Known systems utilize an integrated backscatter parameter that represents a power response over a frequency band. The integrated backscatter parameter generally represents a measure of total reflected ultrasound power at a particular point within a vasculature over a specified frequency band.
As a transmitted ultrasound signal travels through space within a body, several factors (e.g., spreading (beam diffraction), scattering, absorption, etc.) cause attenuation of the originally transmitted signal. Previously, a time-gain compensation (TGC) signal processing stage (step) in an IVUS echo signal processing chain amplified all frequencies at a given time of receipt (corresponding to a particular range/distance from the transducer element) equally.

System and method for equalizing received intravascular ultrasound echo signals


An optical sensor chip device and a corresponding production method. The optical sensor chip device includes a substrate having a front side and a rear side; at least one first optical sensor chip for acquiring a first optical spectral range, the chip being attached to the substrate; and a first sealed cavern fashioned above an upper side of the first optical sensor chip. The first optical sensor chip is situated on a first side of the first cavern, and a first optical device is situated on an opposite, second side of the first cavern.

Today there are commercially available products, such as thermography cameras, that enable imaging both in the visible wavelength range (VIS) and in the long-wavelength infrared range (FIR). By data fusion of both signals, it is possible to represent recorded exposures in the visible and in the infrared range in superposed fashion. In the corresponding devices, two light paths are correspondingly installed, usually on circuit boards, having corresponding optical equipment and detectors.
U.S. Published Application No. 2010/0046577 A1 describes a device for use in a thermal measuring instrument. The device contains an infrared camera module, and can also contain a camera module for acquiring visible light. Here, various temperature sensors are installed on an integrated circuit board.
U.S. Published Application No. 2007/0289771 A1 describes a multi-chip semiconductor device in which a plurality of chips are bonded onto a substrate, and the chips are electrically connected to one another via through-platings, and are electrically connected to further lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,362,496 B1 describes an optical module packet unit having a light-emitting chip and a light sensor chip that are attached in recesses of a plastic cover on a substrate, and are surrounded by fixedly adherent packaging structures.

Optical sensor chip device and corresponding production method


Systems and methods described herein are directed to solutions for NoC interconnects that provide congestion avoidance and end-to-end uniform and weighted-fair allocation of resource bandwidths among various contenders in a mesh or torus interconnect. The example implementations are fully distributed and involve using explicit congestion notification messages or local congestion identification for congestion detection. Based on the congestion level detected, the injection rates of traffic at various agents are regulated that avoids congestion and also provides end-to-end QoS. Alternative example implementations may also utilize end-to-end credit based flow control between communicating agents for resource and bandwidth allocation of the destination between the contending sources. The resource allocation is performed so that both the weighted and strict bandwidth allocation QoS policies are satisfied.

Technical Field
Methods and example implementations described herein are generally directed to interconnect architecture, and more specifically, to weight assignment and weighted arbitration of node channels in a Network on Chip (NoC) system interconnect architecture.
Related Art
The number of components on a chip is rapidly growing due to increasing levels of integration, system complexity and shrinking transistor geometry. Complex System-on-Chips (SoCs) may involve a variety of components e.g., processor cores, DSPs, hardware accelerators, memory and I/O, while Chip Multi-Processors (CMPs) may involve a large number of homogenous processor cores, memory and I/O subsystems. In both systems the on-chip interconnect plays a role in providing high-performance communication between the various components. Due to scalability limitations of traditional buses and crossbar based interconnects, Network-on-Chip (NoC) has emerged as a paradigm to interconnect a large number of components on the chip. NoC is a global shared communication infrastructure made up of several routing nodes interconnected with each other using point-to-point physical links.
Messages are injected by the source and are routed from the source node to the destination over multiple intermediate nodes and physical links. The destination node then ejects the message and provides the message to the destination. For the remainder of this application, the terms 'components', 'blocks', 'hosts' or 'cores' will be used interchangeably to refer to the various system components which are interconnected using a NoC. Terms 'routers' and 'nodes' will also be used interchangeably. Without loss of generalization, the system with multiple interconnected components will itself be referred to as a 'multi-core system'.
There are several topologies in which the routers can connect to one another to create the system network. Bi-directional rings (as shown in FIG. 1(a)), 2-D (two dimensional) mesh (as shown in FIGS. 1(b)) and 2-D Torus (as shown in FIG. 1(c)) are examples of topologies in the related art. Mesh and Torus can also be extended to 2.5-D (two and half dimensional) or 3-D (three dimensional) organizations. FIG. 1(d) shows a 3D mesh NoC, where there are three layers of 3×3 2D mesh NoC shown over each other. The NoC routers have up to two additional ports, one connecting to the router in the higher layer, and another connecting to the router in the lower layer. Router 111 in the middle layer of the example has both ports used one connecting to the router at the top layer and another connecting to the router at the bottom layer. Routers 110 and 112 are at the bottom and top mesh layers respectively, therefore they have only the upper facing and lower facing ports of the two additional ports used. The inter-layer ports or channels between these three routers are 113 and 114.
Packets are message transport units for intercommunication between various components. Routing involves identifying a path composed of a set of routers and physical links of the network over which packets are sent from a source to a destination. Components are connected to one or multiple ports of one or multiple routers, with each such port having a unique ID. Packets carry the destination's router and port ID for use by the intermediate routers to route the packet to the destination component.
Examples of routing techniques include deterministic routing, which involves choosing the same path from A to B for every packet. This form of routing is independent from the state of the network and does not load balance across path diversities, which might exist in the underlying network. However, such deterministic routing may be implemented in hardware, maintains packet ordering and may be rendered free of network level deadlocks. Shortest path routing may minimize the latency as such routing reduces the number of hops from the source to the destination. For this reason, the shortest path may also be the lowest power path for communication between the two components. Dimension-order routing is a form of deterministic shortest path routing in 2-D, 2.5-D, and 3-D mesh networks. In this routing scheme, messages are routed along each coordinates in a particular sequence until the message reaches the final destination. For example in a 3-D mesh network, one may first route along the X dimension until it reaches a router whose X-coordinate is equal to the X-coordinate of the destination router. Next, the message takes a turn and is routed in along Y dimension and finally takes another turn and moves along the Z dimension until the message reaches the final destination router. Dimension ordered routing is often minimal turn and shortest path routing.
FIG. 2 pictorially illustrates an example of XY routing in a two dimensional mesh. More specifically, FIG. 2 illustrates XY routing from node '34' to node '00'. In the example of FIG. 2, each component is connected to only one port of one router. A packet is first routed over the x-axis till the packet reaches node '04' where the x-coordinate of the node is the same as the x-coordinate of the destination node. The packet is next routed over the y-axis until the packet reaches the destination node.
In heterogeneous mesh topology in which one or more routers or one or more links are absent, dimension order routing may not be feasible between certain source and destination nodes, and alternative paths may have to be taken. The alternative paths may not be shortest or minimum turn.
Source routing and routing using tables are other routing options used in NoC. Adaptive routing can dynamically change the path taken between two points on the network based on the state of the network. This form of routing may be complex to analyze and implement.
A NoC interconnect may contain multiple physical networks. Over each physical network, there may exist multiple virtual networks, wherein different message types are transmitted over different virtual networks. In this case, at each physical link or channel, there are multiple virtual channels; each virtual channel may have dedicated buffers at both end points. In any given clock cycle, only one virtual channel can transmit data on the physical channel.
NoC interconnects may employ wormhole routing, wherein, a large message or packet is broken into small pieces known as flits (also referred to as flow control digits). The first flit is the header flit, which holds information about this packet's route and key message level info along with payload data and sets up the routing behavior for all subsequent flits associated with the message. Optionally, one or more body flits follows the head flit, containing the remaining payload of data. The final flit is the tail flit, which in addition to containing the last payload also performs some bookkeeping to close the connection for the message. In wormhole flow control, virtual channels are often implemented.
The physical channels are time sliced into a number of independent logical channels called virtual channels (VCs). VCs provide multiple independent paths to route packets, however they are time-multiplexed on the physical channels. A virtual channel holds the state needed to coordinate the handling of the flits of a packet over a channel. At a minimum, this state identifies the output channel of the current node for the next hop of the route and the state of the virtual channel (idle, waiting for resources, or active). The virtual channel may also include pointers to the flits of the packet that are buffered on the current node and the number of flit buffers available on the next node.
The term "wormhole" plays on the way messages are transmitted over the channels: the output port at the next router can be so short that received data can be translated in the head flit before the full message arrives. This allows the router to quickly set up the route upon arrival of the head flit and then opt out from the rest of the conversation. Since a message is transmitted flit by flit, the message may occupy several flit buffers along its path at different routers, creating a worm-like image.
Based upon the traffic between various end points, and the routes and physical networks that are used for various messages, different physical channels of the NoC interconnect may experience different levels of load and congestion. During congestion, when multiple sources transmit messages to the same destination, their messages may contend with each other and with the cross-traffic for the bandwidth. Therefore, the effective destination bandwidth received by each source will depend on their positions in the network, how their routes overlap with each other, cross-traffic along their routes to the destination, and the arbitration policies deployed at various routers where arbitration is needed. In spite of uniformly fair arbitration policies at all routers, depending on location of various sources there may be a substantial difference in the destination bandwidth received.
Consider a section of a NoC interconnect shown in FIG. 3, wherein four components (source 1, source 2, source 3, and source 4) transmit messages to one component (destination). In this example, the maximum data transmit bandwidth of the four source components is equal to the maximum data receive bandwidth of the destination component. Each of the five components are connected to a local router node, and the router nodes are connected with each other using point to point channels as shown in FIG. 3. In the example of FIG. 3, each of the channels have a receive bandwidth of the destination component equal to a transmit bandwidth of the source component.
In the system shown in FIG. 3, if all four source components attempt to transmit data at their peak transmit rate and if the destination component is ready to accept data at its peak receive rate, then messages from the four source components will contend with each other within the NoC interconnect.
In FIG. 4, the routers and components are separated for clarity, and the channels that connect components with their local routers are illustrated.
At router 41 in FIG. 4, messages arriving at the left input port (e.g., from router 42) and the bottom input port (e.g., from source 4) will contend for the right output port (e.g., to router 40). If routers implement uniformly fair arbitration policy to arbitrate between incoming messages at different input ports contending for an output port, then the output port's bandwidth will be equally split between the two input ports as shown. Each input port will receive 50% of the destination bandwidth—source 4 therefore will receive half of the destination bandwidth.
At router 42 in FIG. 4, messages arriving at the left input port (e.g. from router 43) and bottom input port (e.g., from source 3) will contend for the right output port. If routers implement uniformly fair arbitration policy to arbitrate between incoming messages at different input ports contending for an output port, then the 50% output port's bandwidth (computed in the above step) will be equally split between the two input ports as shown. Each input port will receive 25% of the destination bandwidth—source 3 therefore will receive a quarter of the destination bandwidth.
At router 43 in FIG. 4, messages arriving at the left input port (e.g., from router 44) and bottom input port (e.g., from source 2) will contend for the right output port (e.g., to router 42). If routers implement uniformly fair arbitration policy to arbitrate between incoming messages at different input ports contending for an output port, then the 25% output port's bandwidth (computed in the above step) will be equally split between the two input ports as shown. Each input port will receive 12.5% of the destination bandwidth—source 2 therefore will receive 12.5% of the destination bandwidth. The remaining 12.5% bandwidth will be received by source 1.
The example of FIG. 4 illustrates that even though each router employs a uniformly fair arbitration policy wherein the router gives fair share of output port bandwidth among all input port contenders, the four sources receive vastly different shares of the destination bandwidth. In a complex network with additional cross-traffic, the bandwidth allocated to various source components when they content for various destinations may vary substantially. This may be undesirable in many applications, wherein fair or equal allocation of various resources among all contenders may be important to achieve a high system performance. In many systems, weighted allocation is desired, so that the various resource bandwidths are allocated among various contenders in a pre-specified ratio.
There are several techniques in the related art to provide uniform or weighted fair arbitration within a single router, wherein the output port bandwidth is allocated to contending input ports based on the weight specification. Weighted round-robin, deficit round-robin, weighted fair queuing, etc. are a few techniques that are used in the related art. Guaranteeing weighted or uniform allocation of various resources among contenders in a distributed NoC interconnect with resources and contenders connected at arbitrary positions in the NoC interconnect is challenging. A few techniques that are used in the related art are described below.
Rate limiting the sources: Each source contending for a resource destination is allowed to send data at a pre-specified rate based on its fair share. This technique is independent of the state of other sources, whether the other sources are contending for the resource or not. Therefore, based upon the pre-specified rates of sources, rate limiting of the sources can either lead to under-utilization of resource bandwidth, or unfair allocation.
Age based arbitration: Every message injected by various components carries timestamp information, which describes the age of the message. Within the NoC interconnect, routers give higher preference to older messages over newer messages, whenever multiple messages content for an output port. This technique can provide end-to-end uniform fairness, however it is unable to provide weighted fairness. Furthermore, age based arbitration comes at a high implementation cost of additional bits needed to carry the age information and complex circuitry at every router to determine the oldest message.
Weight based arbitration: Weights for various channels in a network on chip (NoC) is computed based on the bandwidth requirements of the traffic flows at the channels. Subsequently these weights are used to perform weighted arbitration between channels at each router in the NoC to provide Quality of Service (QoS). Advanced implementations may dynamically adjust the weights by monitoring the activity of flows at the channels to avoid unfair allocations, and perform weighted arbitration using the newly computed channel weights. This is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 13/745,696, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Using this scheme, an example assignment of weights to various channels of the NoC illustrated in FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 5. There are four flows from four sources which are contending for the destination's bandwidth. Assume that each flow needs to share the bandwidth equally. At node 40, the bandwidth at the incoming channel and the outgoing channel is same, therefore after normalization their weights are 1. At node 41, the bandwidth requirement of the incoming channel from left is three times the bandwidth requirement of the incoming channel at the bottom, as there are three flows being carried on the former channel versus only one flow at the latter. Therefore the weights are 3 and 1 respectively. Similarly, weights of the left and bottom incoming channels at node 42 are 2 and 1 respectively and at node 43 are 1 and 1 respectively. With this weight assignment, if weighted arbitration is performed at all nodes then fair allocation of destination bandwidth may be provided to all sources. If certain sources are inactive and are not participating in the arbitration then this weighted scheme may become unfair. For example if source 2 and source 3 are not participating then, source 1 may receive three-fold higher bandwidth than source 1.

Congestion control and QoS in NoC by regulating the injection traffic


A signal supplying unit includes a plurality of terminals, a plurality of signal sources, each of the plurality of signal sources outputting a signal, a detecting circuit for detecting whether or not at least the one of the plurality of terminals is coupled to a terminal of an external unit, and a selecting circuit for selecting signals to be supplied to the plurality of terminals from signals output from the plurality of signal sources in accordance with a detecting result obtained by the detecting circuit. In addition, a signal supplying unit includes a first terminal, a second terminal, a first signal source for outputting a first signal, a second signal source for outputting a second signal, a third signal source for outputting a third signal, a detecting circuit for detecting whether or not the first terminal is coupled to a terminal of an external unit and for outputting a detecting signal, and a selecting circuit for selectively supplying either the second signal output from the second signal source or the third signal output from the third signal source to the second terminal in accordance with the detecting signal output from the detecting circuit.

The present invention generally relates to a signal supplying unit, and more particularly to a signal supplying unit which is coupled to an external unit through terminals.
For example, a video tape recorder (hereinafter simply referred to as a VTR), which is a type of signal supply unit, generates a video signal. The video signal has a brightness signal (hereinafter referred to as a y-signal) and a chrominance signal (hereinafter referred to as a c-signal). The VTR usually outputs a video signal in which the y-signal and the c-signal are mixed through a coaxial line to a display unit which is a type of external unit. Recently, a VTR which respectively outputs the y-signal and the c-signal also has been proposed. Due to this type of VTR, it is possible to improve the quality of the image displayed on the display unit.
Thus, in the VTR which is able to output the y-signal, the c-signal and the mixture signal in which the y-signal and the c-signal are mixed, it is necessary to provide an independent terminal through which each of these three signals is output. In another case, two terminals corresponding to the y-signal and the c-signal are provided, and then by use of a manual switch, the mixture signal may be output through one of the two terminals.
In the conventional signal supplying unit which outputs a plurality of signals, it is necessary to provide an independent terminal corresponding to each of the signals, or to provide a manual switch for selecting one of the signals to be output through one terminal. However, in the case where the independent terminal corresponding to each of the signals, or to a switch, is provided, a special space must be provided for the terminal, or the manual switch, thus it is difficult to miniaturize the signal supplying unit. In addition, in the case where the manual switch is provided, it is necessary to specially operate the manual switch.

Signal supplying unit having means for selecting signal in accordance with terminal connection


A method and apparatus are provided for processing movement information relating to a regular image of a sequence of images. The method includes: a step of building a list including at least one expected piece of movement information and at least one unexpected piece of movement information; a first step of associating expected movement information with movement information according to a first rule for optimizing the cost of encoding the movement information to be encoded; a second step of associating each unexpected piece of movement information not associated during the first association step with movement information to be encoded, identified among the pieces of movement information of the list, according to a second rule which aims to ensure that each piece of movement information is associated with a single piece of movement information to be encoded.

Here below, referring to FIG. 1, we describe the prior art as regards image prediction in the field of the encoding or decoding of image sequences using the encoding of motion vectors for blocks of an image sub-divided into macroblocks which are then sub-divided into blocks. A block consists of a set of dots or pixels, where the block can have a square, rectangular, triangular or any other geometrical shape.
Thus, according to the H.264 technique for example, the encoder, for a current block to be encoded, computes a motion residual, also called a motion residue, by subtracting a predictor p from the current motion vector mv:εmv=mv−p,
with εmv being the value of the motion information to be encoded, called a residue, my being the motion vector coming from motion estimation ("M Estimation" in FIG. 1) selected by the encoder and p being the computed predictor. The predictor corresponds for example to a modified median value of the motion vectors of the neighboring blocks of the current block considered. This residue is sent in an entropic encoder (for example of the "Context-adaptive Huffman variable-length coding" or CAVLC type) or an arithmetic encoder (for example of the "Context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding" or CABAC type).
Although the encoders present in H.264 are context-adaptive, i.e. although the current residue can be encoded differently as a function of the neighboring vectors (the code words are different), they do not make it possible to consider a goal of low-cost encoding of the motion information when computing this information.
To try and overcome this drawback, a prior-art technique described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,265 seeks to compress the motion information to be encoded by encoding only the motion vectors selected as being relevant according to predetermined criteria and therefore reducing the number of motion information items to be encoded.
However, one drawback of this technique lies in the loss of information related to the selecting of the motion vectors to be encoded.
There is therefore a need for a novel technique for optimizing the encoding in terms of encoding tasks without lowering encoding performance.

Method for processing a motion information item, encoding and decoding methods, corresponding devices, signal and computer program


To realize efficient transmission control of reception quality information which flexibly treats the information amount and the transmission frequency of the reception quality information. A base station apparatus 100 for controlling transmission operation of the reception quality information with respect to a mobile station apparatus includes: a scheduler unit 110 receiving simultaneous transmission permission information for instructing the mobile station apparatus to simultaneously transmit the reception quality information and the uplink data that the mobile station apparatus generates, and an uplink data transmission permission signal, and serving to perform scheduling that includes the simultaneous transmission permission information in the uplink data transmission permission signal, and transmission parts 101 to 105 that transmit, to the mobile station apparatus, the uplink data transmission permission signal including the simultaneous transmission permission information.

In recent years, in mobile communication systems, there is increased demand of data communication and there are proposed various technologies in which high spectrum efficiency responding to an increase of transmission data following the increased demand. As one of technologies for enhancing the spectrum efficiency, there is OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access). This OFDMA relates to a technology of modulation method in performing communication by using the same frequency at all cells within communication area composed of cells and can realize high speed data communication.
In scheduling of transmission packets in the OFDMA system, there is known a method in which mobile station apparatuses transmit, to the base station apparatus, CQI (Channel Quality Indicator) which is information indicating reception quality of a downlink state for subcarriers in wideband, and the base station apparatus performs scheduling of the packet on the basis of the CQI of subcarriers in wideband transmitted from the each mobile station apparatuses.
Moreover, in scheduling of transmission packets in an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) system using plural subcarriers, there is also known a technology in which mobile station apparatuses evaluate each channel states of a downlink (frequency characteristics, i.e., characteristics of transmission loss, etc., depending on frequency) and transmit information obtained by quantizing each channel states to the base station apparatus, and the base station apparatus determines subcarriers assigned to each mobile station apparatuses on the basis of the transmitted information (Patent Literature 1).
FIG. 18 is a view for illustrating a conventional communication method between the base station apparatus and the mobile station apparatus. Having received downlink information of the downlink used for reception quality measurement from the base station apparatus, the mobile station apparatus measures the reception quality of each channel on the basis of the downlink information to create a channel profile of propagation path.
The channel profile the mobile station apparatus has created is transmitted from the mobile station apparatus to the base station apparatus as reception quality information using an uplink. The base station apparatus performs processing of adaptive modulation and coding or frequency selective scheduling on a signal to be transmitted from the base station apparatus to the mobile station apparatus on the base of the reception quality information.
In regard to transmission of the reception quality information to the base station apparatus by the mobile station apparatus, in evolution of the third-generation radio access (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access) being studied by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) which is the International Standardization Project, it is studied that the reception quality information is transmitted from the mobile station apparatus to the base station apparatus using a dedicated uplink control channel (hereinafter referred to as PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel), or an uplink data channel (hereinafter refereed to as PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel).
For example, in the non Patent Literature 1, there is proposed a method to transmit, in transmitting the reception quality information from the mobile station apparatus to the base station apparatus, the reception quality information using the PUCCH or the PUSCH depending on a kind of services different in required the reception quality information.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2005-130491    Non-Patent literature 1: "CQI handling during DRX", 3GPP, TSG RAN WG2 Meeting #58, R2-071901, May 2007

Scheduling of reception quality information transmission for mobile stations


A transformed yeast is disclosed, comprising at least one gene encoding neutral trehalase or trehalose-6-phosphate synthase which gene has been modified such that it differs from a corresponding wild-type gene encoding neutral trehalase or trehalose-6-phosphate synthase, the yeast having as a result a different trehalose content from the untransformed parent yeast. The sugar resistance and drying resistance of the yeast compared to those of the untransformed strain are thereby improved.

It is well known that yeast strains belonging to the genus Saccharomyces are capable of fermenting sugars to approximately equal amounts of carbon dioxide and ethanol under anaerobic conditions. The leavening activity of yeast in dough is a result of this activity. The rate of carbon dioxide and ethanol evolution in dough is dependent upon, besides the activity of enzymes involved, the sensitivity of the yeast against the amount of sugar present in the dough. In sugar-rich doughs the leavening activity of the yeast may be much lower than in lean (nonsugared) doughs, caused by a higher osmotic pressure related to the presence of the sugar.
The commercial product baker's yeast is produced in several formulations comprising fresh yeast, dried yeast and frozen yeast. Fresh yeast is available as compressed yeast (27-33% dry matter content) and cream yeast (17-23% dry matter content). Dried yeast is available as active dry yeast (ADY) and as instant dry yeast (IDY) with moisture contents of 6-8% and 3-6%, respectively. Improving the fermentative power of yeast is an ongoing research effort. Both the dried yeast and the moist yeast may be improved to increase their carbon dioxide producing ability in lean (non-sugared) as well as in rich (sugared) doughs so as to reduce leavening time and/or enable the use of less yeast, a considerable cost factor in baking.

Recombinant DNA encoding neutral trehalase


A rotary capacitor electrical test system for providing a power source to a capacitor under electrical test can include at least one programmable voltage source, at least one programmable current source, and a controller for programming the voltage and current sources. Random access, non-volatile, memory can be provided for storing information and for providing read/write capability for the controller. At least one digital/analog converter can communicate between the controller and the programmable voltage and current sources. A diagnostic program is operable through the controller for testing internal integrity of basic input/output functions of at least some subsystems. A circuit health monitoring program can operate through the controller for periodically testing and determining internal integrity of at least some subsystems. A self test program can operate through the controller for determining if at least some internal subsystems are working properly on a test/fail basis.

Devices for automatically ascertaining capacitance, dissipation factor and insulation resistance of a plurality of capacitors to be tested are generally known, for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,721. A known rotary capacitor electrical test system includes an instrument that provides the voltage source to a capacitor under electrical test. The instrument contains two groups of four different types of circuit boards that plug vertically into a card cage. The boards can be inserted and removed independently. These boards work together to provide the voltage source, current source, and output voltage measurement capability. The circuitry is split into four separate circuit boards because it is not feasible to fit all of this circuitry into the available form factor. When assembling a system for the first time, in-circuit verification can take place on the individual circuit boards, and a test fixture can be made to test each board. However, the group of boards cannot be tested together until they are all installed in the system, and a system test procedure is run. When there is a failure in this group of boards, it is not immediately apparent which board in the group has failed. Therefore, all four boards must be checked for problems.
When boards do fail, it is not known how long the board has been in operation, what its output conditions were, and what temperatures the board has been subjected to. This data would be useful in determining the lifetime of the circuitry and understanding the failure modes and vulnerabilities.
Some failures might be able to be prevented if it were possible to monitor sensitive circuitry and shut it down or flag an error when certain limits are reached. Without onboard intelligence, this is more difficult to do.
Another problem is warranty tracking of these circuit boards. If a customer takes a board from a spare system to get a failed system running again, this is a violation of warranty policy. However, there is no way to track this event aside from a handwritten serial number written on the Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
Individual boards can be tested separately in many different ways to ensure they were built properly. However, they eventually need to be plugged into a system to verify that they are working with each other, so an in-system test must be run. If a failure is detected, it must be diagnosed in-system.
Existing electrical capacitor test instruments do not use a modular approach. Limited internal read back capability is present in the existing systems, so a number of external meters must be used to troubleshoot and calibrate the boards in-system. Serialization is handled with handwritten numbers on the PCB, and is not known to the hardware.

Self test, monitoring, and diagnostics in grouped circuitry modules


Apparatus and methods for manufacturing operations are disclosed. In one embodiment, a vacuum cup assembly includes a housing having a vacuum generator formed therein, and a compliant sealing member coupled to the housing. The vacuum generator is coupleable to a source of pressurized fluid and is adapted to generate a reduced pressure region. The sealing member forms an enclosable region in fluid communication with the reduced pressure region. In another embodiment, a method of performing a manufacturing operation includes installing a coordinating pin into an indexing hole, the coordinating pin including a quantum of indexing information. The quantum of indexing information is sensed, and a manufacturing operation is performed based at least partially on the quantum of indexing information.

Manufacturing operations in many fields typically require accurate positioning of manufacturing tools over a workpiece. The manufacturing environment and the structural details of the workpiece often make it difficult to properly position the manufacturing tool relative to the workpiece to achieve the desired manufacturing operation with the necessary degree of accuracy. This is particularly true in the field of aircraft manufacturing, wherein a large number of manufacturing operations are typically needed on a variety of contoured surfaces. Similar difficulties may be encountered, for example, in the manufacture of ships, railcars, missiles, sheet metal buildings, and other similar structures.
It is known that a support assembly that supports a manufacturing tool may be temporarily attached to a surface of the workpiece in order to facilitate manufacturing operations on the workpiece. Some conventional support assemblies utilize one or more elongated rails equipped with vacuum cup assemblies for temporarily attaching the support assembly to the workpiece, including, for example, those assemblies generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,385 B1 issued to Buttrick et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,084 B1 issued to Banks et al. In such conventional support assemblies, the rails may be coupled to the workpiece using the vacuum cup assemblies over a desired section of the workpiece, and then a manufacturing tool may be mounted on a carriage that is moveable along the rails. The carriage may then be traversed along the rails in a manual or automated fashion, and the desired manufacturing operations may be performed.
Vacuum for the vacuum cup assemblies of such conventional support assemblies is typically generated externally from the point-of-use, such as by a vacuum pump or other suitable source. The vacuum is then routed to each vacuum cup assembly by one or more vacuum lines. In order to isolate one vacuum circuit from another it is usually necessary to run separate, multiple lines to each vacuum cup assembly, or incorporate a valve network to isolate one line from another. Because the pressure differential along the length of each vacuum line is at most one atmosphere, care must be taken to avoid line losses which may degrade the degree of vacuum provided to the vacuum cup assemblies. One conventional approach to solving this line-loss problem is to provide a portable vacuum pump that may be transported along with the vacuum assembly in order to reduce the lengths of the vacuum lines between the vacuum pump and the vacuum cup assemblies.
Traditional hard tooling and indexing systems for large-scale manufacturing operations typically involve the construction of large, "monument like" equipment that provides support and indexing during manufacturing operations on a workpiece. Such structures are typically very expensive to design, build, and maintain. For example, the tooling for a new airplane manufacturing operation may comprise a substantial percentage of the initial investment cost of the manufacturing facilities needed to produce the aircraft.
Although desirable results have been achieved using the prior art manufacturing methods and apparatus, there is still room for improvement. Namely, it may yet be possible to improve the operating efficiency, cost, and performance of such manufacturing operations.


A solid state laser comprises a housing having a body portion for enclosing optical components thereof. A mounting means is provided for mounting the optical components directly to the housing. The housing has stiffness sufficient for spatial and angular positioning of the optical components. A cooling means transfers heat from the optical components to the housing by circulation of a preselected gas therewithin.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to laser systems for medical, machining and military applications; and more particularly to solid state lasers which are compact, reliable for long term use and easily replaced in the field.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Solid state lasers are those in which the gain medium is a solid material usually having the form of an elongated cylindrical rod. Typically, the rod is composed of crystalline material, a glass or a plastic doped with an active ion such as Nd.sup.3+ or Cr.sup.3+, which provides lasing action in a laser resonator defined by a pair of mirrors. In such lasers, the solid state laser rod reaches an active state ready to provide laser gain upon exposure to the light from a flashlamp.
Solid state lasers of the type described are subject to several problems. One of the problems is the difficulty of maintaining accurate alignment of the optics and components of the laser resonator. Oftentimes, lasers that have worked in a mechanically and thermally stable laboratory fail to operate properly when brought to a machine shop floor or a doctor's office, wherein physical jarring or even temperature changes cause the optics to go out of alignment. Another problem with solid state lasers is the relatively high cost thereof. Contributing to the high cost of solid state lasers are (1) the need for a heavy frame to keep the optics aligned, (2) a separate housing which protects against some dust, but is not usually air tight, and (3) an expensive heat exchanger/heat removal system. Heat is usually removed from the laser by water which circulates around the flashlamp and around the solid state laser rod. This water must be kept clean using filters which add to the expense of the system. A further problem presented by the use of water around the laser rod is the lengthy time required to heat the water to operating conditions. Alternative arrangements for removing heat from the laser rod operate by putting the rod in thermal contact with a solid material. These alternative arrangements also require a large mass to be heated to operating temperature and, consequently, cause the heat removal to be nonuniform, thereby creating optical distortions in the laser rod.

Solid state laser having closed cycle gas cooled construction


Methods for detecting and correcting data errors in an RF data link include identifying valid data frames and corrupted data frames by measuring a data corruption level for each transmitted data frame, comparing the measured data corruption level for each corrupted data frame to a data corruption threshold, reconstructing the corrupted data frames having a data corruption level below the data corruption threshold, reconstructing the data block using data from valid and reconstructed data frames, and/or verifying the data in the reconstructed data block.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to RF data links in which data is sent from one or more RF transmitters to one or more RF receivers in a data format utilizing data frames and blocks. More particularly, this invention pertains to methods of improving the quality of data sent across an RF data link as used in a remote tire pressure monitoring systems and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Remote tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) are used in motor vehicles to provide accurate tire pressure information to the driver in real time. A typical TPMS will have a pressure sensor mounted in each wheel, with an RF transmitter coupled to each sensor. The transmitter receives pressure data from its corresponding sensor and sends the data to a receiver. The receiver is under the control of a processor which then decodes the data and communicates the tire pressure information to the driver.
Preferably, the RF data link between the transmitter and receiver is configured to send digital data. Thus, each RF signal is formatted as a data frame. Each frame of data transmitted by a wheel sensor/transmitter in a remote tire pressure monitoring system includes a sequence of bits sometimes referred to as a data record, word or character. The frame may contain information corresponding to the tire/wheel identifier which uniquely identifies the sensor/transmitter combination, and tire data, such as data corresponding to the measured tire pressure of the tire. This data is sometimes referred to as the "payload." Other information, such as a frame header or synchronization data may be transmitted as part of the frame. Multiple frames of data forming a data block may be transmitted during respective time periods. For example, a data block may contain eight frames of data sent during eight time periods. Data blocks are preferably repeated in the TPMS at an update frequency. The update frequency may be selected to be on the order of seconds, minutes or hours, or any other suitable rate. Also, the update frequency may be varied depending on the mode of operation such as when the wheel is stationary or rolling.
A frame or block of data is conventionally subjected to some type of error detection by the processor in the TPMS. For example, a checksum step is a basic error-detection technique in which each transmitted frame or block includes a numerical value based on a number of set bits in the frame or block as determined by a checksum algorithm (e.g., CRC) in the transmitter. The receiver then applies the same checksum algorithm to the received frame or block to determine if the numerical value calculated from the received data matches the transmitted numerical value. If it does not, the processor can assume that the received data has been corrupted.
The RF data link in a TPMS must operate in a harsh environment that is electrically noisy. The strength of the transmitted signal can be degraded by ambient conditions. Accordingly, it is common for the transmitted data to be corrupted or garbled. Data bits can be dropped or incorrectly sent, resulting in invalid data, no data, and/or slow processing time at the receiving end. Certain invalid data is sometimes referred to as "implausible" because its value falls outside a range of what could reasonably be expected during normal operation of the system.
Attempts have been made in the prior art to improve the quality of the RF data link in TPMS. These have included hardware changes to either the TPMS wheel transmitter or TPMS receiver to improve the RF signal quality of the RF link itself. Other efforts have focused on providing more protection in the transmitter against spurious readings of temperature and pressure (EMC, ASIC filtering, etc). Unfortunately, these solutions have not been entirely satisfactory and any solution that adds hardware to the system will increase the cost of the system.

Method for detecting and correcting data errors in an RF data link


A measure expression may include a relationship between measures defined by an arithmetic operation. A query may request a calculation of the measure expression over a selected range of attributes. The request may be processed by retrieving all rows comprising data within the selected range of attributes for each measure in the expression through a single access to an associated table.

Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a key part of many data warehouse and business analysis systems. OLAP services provide for fast analysis of multidimensional information. For this purpose, OLAP services provide for multidimensional access and navigation of data in an intuitive and natural way, providing a global view of data that can be drilled down into particular data of interest. Speed and response time are important attributes of OLAP services that allow users to browse and analyze data online in an efficient manner. Further, OLAP services typically provide analytical tools to rank, aggregate, and calculate lead and lag indicators for the data under analysis.
In this context, an OLAP cube may be modeled according to a user's perception of the data. A cube may organize a data type according to dimensions, each dimension modeled according to an attribute of the data type. For example, a cube may organize "Sales" data according to the dimensions "Customer", "Location" and "Time." Typically, there is a hierarchy associated with each dimension. The hierarchy includes levels of granularity. For example, the time dimension can consist of years subdivided into quarters subdivided into months subdivided into weeks subdivided into days. The years level is the broadest level of granularity, while the days level is the finest level of granularity. Dimension members act as indices for identifying a particular cell or range of cells within the cube. The cube may also have measures, which measure a data type according to its attributes. For example, the "Sales" cube may have a measure "Sales Amount", which is the amount of sales made in source currencies of a corresponding location.
OLAP services are often used to analytically model data that is stored in a relational database such as, for example, an Online Transactional Processing (OLTP) database. Data stored in such a relational database may be organized according to multiple tables. Each such table may organize a data type according to columns corresponding to attributes and measures. For example, the "Sales" cube may be modeled according to a "Sales" table with columns corresponding to attributes "Customer", "Location", and "Time" and measure "Sales Amount". Furthermore, an "Exchange" table may include columns corresponding to attributes "Location" and "Time" and measure "Exchange Rate", with "Exchange Rate" being the rate of conversion of a source currency of a corresponding location into US currency.
It is often desirable to calculate relationships between different measures. For example, it may be desirable to calculate the product of the "Sales Amount" measure from the "Sales" table and the "Exchange Rate" measure of the "Exchange" table to convert sales from a source currency into US currency. Such a relationship between measures is first calculated at the finest level of granularity for which data is available, and then the calculated results are subsequently aggregated to produce results for a broader selected range. For example, if the finest level of granularity for both "Sales" data and the "Exchange" data is the month level, then a request to convert Mexican and Canadian currency sales into US currency sales for a quarter is calculated for each of the two source currencies in each of the three months of the quarter, resulting in six separate calculations. The six calculations are subsequently aggregated to provide total Mexican and Canadian sales in US currency for the entire quarter.
In conventional OLAP systems, data for each measure must be separately accessed for each calculation from each table on a row by row basis. For example, to convert Mexican and Canadian sales for the quarter, the "Sales" table and the "Exchange" table must each be separately accessed six times for each of the six rows involved in the calculation. Such separate access on a row by row basis may significantly prolong the amount of time required to perform complex calculations. Thus, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for calculating a relationship between measures in which the relationship is not calculated on a row by row basis.

System and method for expressing and calculating a relationship between measures


An antenna coupling apparatus, an external-antenna connecting apparatus, and an onboard external-antenna connecting apparatus which inhibits unnecessary power emissions, reduces transmission loss, and offers high durability and high ease of operation. has an electromagnetic coupling element consisting of a conductor that is not in contact with a first antenna with respect to DC components and a ground conductor element consisting of a conductor that is not in contact with the first antenna with respect to DC components and in contact with a ground conductor with respect to DC components and reflecting the power transmitted or received by the first antenna toward the electromagnetic coupling element. An external-antenna connecting apparatus and an onboard external-antenna connecting apparatus have an electromagnetic coupling circuit in their bodies that electromagnetically couples the antenna of a portable radio terminal and an external antenna, with the external-antenna connecting apparatus and the onboard external-antenna connecting apparatus, being not in contact with the portable radio terminal with respect to DC components, when the portable radio terminal is secured in the bodies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna coupling apparatus, an external-antenna connecting apparatus, and an onboard external-antenna connecting apparatus, which are suitable for electromagnetically coupling an antenna installed to a portable radio terminal and an external antenna installed to an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
An antenna coupling apparatus using electromagnetic coupling, called a coupler, has widely been used for onboard antenna kits to couple the antenna installed to a portable radio terminal, such as a portable phone, with an external antenna installed to an automobile.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the antenna coupling apparatus. An antenna coupling apparatus 1 comprises an electromagnetic coupling element 2 and a transmission cable 3. The electromagnetic coupling element 2 of the antenna coupling apparatus 1, which element is ring-shaped, is connected to the core of the transmission cable 3 (in some cases, the element is connected to a ground conductor 4 through a nonconducting member as shown in FIG. 1). Inserting the antenna 6 fitted with a nonconducting cover and disposed on a portable radio terminal 5 into the ring-shaped electromagnetic coupling element 2 allows the power received from an external antenna 2′ to be transmitted through the electromagnetic coupling element 2 to the portable radio terminal 5 and the power transmitted by the portable radio terminal 5 to be transferred to the external antenna without contact with respect to DC components.
FIG. 2 shows an example of an external-antenna connecting apparatus connecting an external antenna and the antenna of a portable radio terminal together. The external-antenna connecting apparatus 10 comprises a curled cord 11 and a connector 12 that connect the external antenna and an external power supply (not shown). Connecting the connector 12 of the antenna connecting apparatus 10 to a connector terminal 14 in the lower part of a portable radio terminal 13 allows the terminal 13 to receive power from the external power supply and transmit a radio frequency (RF) signal to, or receive it from, the external antenna through the curled cord 11 and the connector 12.
As shown in FIG. 3, an external antenna connecting apparatus 15 comprises an electromagnetic coupling circuit 18, fitted with a nonconducting cover, and a transmission cable 19. The electromagnetic coupling circuit 18 is provided with a hole corresponding to the antenna 17 to install the antenna 17, fitted with a nonconducting cover, of a portable radio terminal 16. For the external-antenna connecting apparatus 15, fitting the electromagnetic coupling circuit 18 over the antenna 17 in the direction indicated by an arrow allows the antenna 17 and the electromagnetic coupling circuit 18 to be electromagnetically coupled together and thus an RF signal to be transmitted to, or received from, the external antenna.
An antenna coupling apparatus incorporating an electromagnetic coupling element electrically connects a portable radio terminal and an external antenna together, using electromagnetic coupling.
It is difficult for the conventional antenna coupling apparatus 1, of FIG. 1 to receive all the power emitted from the antenna 6, using only the electromagnetic coupling element 2, so that unnecessary power emissions occur. Thus the apparatus 1 poses a problem of heavy loss which occurs when power is transmitted.
In the external-antenna connecting apparatus 10 of FIG. 2, a cable for transmitting an RF signal from an antenna power supply (not shown) installed on the portable radio terminal to the connector terminal 14 must be installed in the portable radio terminal 13 to enable an RF signal to be transmitted to, or received from, the external antenna.
The cable however, may cause the performance of the portable radio terminal 13 to be deteriorated when the terminal 13 is used independently. What is worse, installing the cable inside the portable radio terminal may causes the portable radio terminal to be difficult to reduce in size.
The external-antenna connecting apparatus 15 in FIG. 3 has the disadvantage in that the electromagnetic coupling circuit 18 is not easy to fit over the antenna 17 of the portable radio terminal 16.
Poor adhesion between the electromagnetic coupling circuit 18 and the antenna 17 causes the circuit 18 to shift, resulting in an unstable coupling with the antenna 17.
Thus increasing adhesion between the electromagnetic coupling circuit 18 and the antenna 17 causes the portable radio terminal 16 to be more frequently used by a user, so that the antenna 17 is more often installed in, or removed from, the electromagnetic connecting circuit. Since the nonconducting covers for the antenna 17 and the electromagnetic coupling circuits 18 are overloaded due to friction, their durability may be lowered. If the antenna 17 is of a threaded type, it may come off the body of the portable radio terminal 16 as the antenna connecting apparatus 15 is installed or removed.

Antenna coupling apparatus, external antenna connecting apparatus, and onboard external-antenna connecting apparatus


A needle guide (5) is composed of a first guide wall (5a) and a second guide wall (5b) arranged at a distance x from each other. Each of these guide walls is formed with through holes through which needles penetrate and which extends parallel to the longitudinal direction of a needle bunch, the through holes of the first guide wall and the second guide wall for one needle is shifted from each other in the convergence direction of the needles with a shift amount δn determined by the distance x and a convergence angle θn of the needle.

A print head (FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D) of a dot printer comprises a plurality of needles 1 (1-1 to 1-9 as illustrated), and uses a drive unit such as a solenoid to project necessary needles 1-n selectively for printing, thereby forming dots on a paper 2 to print it.
A plurality of needles 1 have their respective proximal ends on the drive side arranged on a circumference C and are converged so that their tip ends for forming dots are arranged straight in a dotting position p, thus forming a cone-shaped needle bunch 3 (FIG. 1A). This needle bunch is kept in the cone-shaped configuration by an intermediate needle guide 4 located halfway in its longitudinal direction and a tip needle guide 5 at its tip end portion. In some cases, there may exist a plurality of intermediate needle guides 4.
Since a clearance d is defined between the tip needle guide 5 and a surface of the paper 2 (FIG. 1B), needle holes in the tip needle guide 5 are not arranged straight in this region but are apparently arranged in zigzag (FIG. 1D). Further, an angle between each needle 1 that constitutes the cone-shaped needle bunch 3 and a horizontal plane HP (plane perpendicular to the surface of the paper 2) will be referred to as a convergence angle (θn), and a direction from the proximal end of the needle 1 toward the tip end, as viewed from the front (viewed from the bottom of the cone of the needle guide toward its vertex), as a convergence direction (FIG. 2A). The intermediate needle guide and the tip needle guide will be referred to simply as a needle guide, in general.
The structure for guiding the needles 1 in the print head of the dot printer is essential to the maintenance of the accuracy of printing. The construction and material of the needle guide itself and a structure for its attachment to a head body have been repeatedly improved in various manners.
In a print head described in Japanese Utility Model Application Registered No. 2582809, for example, a plurality of intermediate needle guides are constructed separately, and the intermediate needle guides are arranged for movement with respect to a nose (head body) in the axial direction of the needles. Thus, the needles are prevented from being partially distributed when all the needles are set. In a tip wire bearing structure described in Japanese Patent Application Examined No. 61-8794, moreover, a hollow bearing structure is constructed having a front wall and a rear wall, and it is penetrated by the respective tip end portions of print wires in a direction perpendicular to the opposite walls.
For miniaturization and reduction in weight, conventional print heads are designed so that the guide wall thickness of the needle guide is thinned, and are formed of synthetic resin or other materials that are low-priced and light in weight. However, a print head of a dot printer requires durability such that the needles 1 can reciprocate about one hundred million times, and the needle guide naturally requires equal durability. On the other hand, the synthetic resin easily wears, and the guide wall thickness should be increased in some measure. Besides, it costs high to form through holes for the needles 1 in a direction such that the needles 1 are inclined as they penetrate the holes.
More specifically, the needles 1 of the needle bunch 3 have their respective different convergence angles (θn), and it is very hard to form slanting holes adapted to their respective convergence angles, in guide walls. Even if those holes can be formed, it is difficult to locate the needle guide in an accurate position in a body case when the needles 1 are passed and incorporated into the head body. Some of the needles 1 suffer "rubbing" between a plurality of needle guides, and a load on the needles becomes too heavy for high-accuracy printing.
Normally, therefore, the through holes for the needles 1 are simply formed in a direction perpendicular to the obverse and reverse surfaces of the guide walls, while the intermediate needle guides are mounted for movement in the longitudinal direction toward the head body. In this case, the needles 1 have the convergence angles (θn) for the through holes, so that the through holes should be lengthened in the convergence direction of the needles, depending on the guide wall thickness. Thereupon, if the guide wall thickness is increased to improve the durability of the needle guide, the length of the through holes in the convergence direction increases correspondingly, so that the operation of the needles 1 becomes unstable. Further, the durability fails to be improved despite the increase of the wall thickness.
This tendency is further enhanced if the inclination (convergence angle) of the needles is increased to reduce the longitudinal length of the print head. Thus, since the convergence angle of the needles is widened, the length of the needle holes in the convergence direction further increases, so that the through holes are enlarged (FIG. 2B).
The bearing structure described in Japanese Patent Application Examined No. 61-8794 is the hollow structure having the front wall and the rear wall. However, the print wires are passed through both the walls at right angles to them, and the wires have no angles equivalent to the convergence angles (θn) in the position of the bearing structure. Although this bearing structure has the first wall and the rear wall separate from each other, the same effect can be obtained when the longitudinal thickness is increased.
The tip needle guide suffers another problem that is aroused when the convergence angle (θn) varies. More specifically, the through holes of the needles 1 are inevitably enlarged, so that a plurality of through holes are located too close to each other to secure necessary spaces for molding, and some of the through holes communicate with each other (FIG. 2C). If this is done, the strength of the needle guide itself lowers. Further, projections at the junctions easily wear, and the through holes inevitably communicate with each other, so that guiding the tip end portions of the needles tends to be unstable. Thus, high-accuracy printing cannot be enjoyed with ease.


This invention is directed to heterocyclyl-substituted anilino phospholipase C inhibitor compounds useful in treating or ameliorating an inflammatory disorders and/or restenosis of the general formula (I):

Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C class enzymes are involved in many signaling pathways in which a cellular response (such as proliferation or secretion) is produced consequent to an extracellular stimulus. Distinct isozymes of PLC have been isolated, purified, and/or molecularly cloned from a variety of mammalian tissues. Classified on the basis of their deduced amino acid sequence, the distinct types of PLC isozymes have been identified as PLC-beta, PLC-gamma and PLC-delta (four distinct types of PLC isozymes were originally isolated and identified as PLC-alpha, PLC-beta, PLC-gamma and PLC-delta; the subtypes within the groups were named using Arabic numerals: PLC-β1, PLC-β2, PLC-β3 and PLC-β4 (Rhee, S. G., Suh, P., Ryu, S. & Lee, S. Y., Studies of Inositol Phosphalipid-Specific Phospholipase C, Science, 1989, 244:546-50). PLC-alpha was later determined to be in the PLC-delta class (Rhee S. G. & Choi, K. D., Regulation of Inositol Phospholipid-Specific Phospholipase C Isozymes, Journal of biological Chemistry, 1992, 267:12393-96).
The subtypes differ in their ability to hydrolyze phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PIP) or phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) and in their dependence on Ca2+. PIP2 is the main source of phospholipid second messengers and is stored in the inner leaflet of the plasma membrane. PIP2 is derived from PI by a series of kinases. PI is synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum and is transferred to the inner plasma membrane. PI can also be further phosphorylated by PI-4-kinase, which is membrane associated in most tissues, to give PIP. Finally, PIP can also be phosphorylated by PI(4)P-5-kinases to generate PIP2 (Rhee S. G., Regulation of Phosphoinositide-Specific Phospholipase C, Ann. Rev. Biochem., 2001, 70:221-312, Majerus, Philip W., Inositol Phosphate Biochemistry, Annual Review of Biochemistry, 1992, 61:225-50).
Recruitment and activation of leukocytes are essential components of the inflammatory response. The inflammatory response is primarily controlled by two groups of proteins known as chemokines (e.g. MCP-1 (monocyte chemotactic protein-1)) and cytokines (e.g. tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α] or interleukin-1 [IL-1]) (Feng L., Role of Chemokines in Inflammation and Immunoregulation, Immunol. Res., 2000, 21:203-210). Resident tissue cells secrete chemokines and cytokines following tissue injury and/or the detection of the presence of an infectious agent (Gerard C., Rolling B., Chemokines and Disease, Nat. Immunol., 2000, 2:108-115).
Several cytokines (e.g., IL-1 and TNF-α) stimulate vascular endothelial cells to upregulate their expression of adhesion molecules for circulating leukocytes, while chemokines direct the movement of the leukocytes through the endothelial barrier to the site of inflammation and activate such cells once they have migrated into the lesion (Keane M. P., Strieter R. M., Chemokine Signaling in Inflammation, Crit. Care Med., 2000, 28:Suppl 4, N13-N26). Although inflammation plays a critical role in host defense to microorganisms, a poorly-regulated inflammatory response is a primary factor in the pathophysiology of several prevalent autoimmune diseases, has been implicated in the recruitment and activation of mononuclear cells in the synovial membrane in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and appears to stimulate cartilage and bone destruction. For example, the concentrations of MCP-1 (MCP-1 stimulates the upregulation of adhesion molecules on the surface of monocytes, thereby enhancing their ability to adhere to vascular endothelium, their migratory capacity and their production of superoxide anion, an essential factor in the process of killing phagocytized bacteria (Keane , 2000), MIP-1α, (macrophage inflammatory protein-1α), TNF-α and other chemokines and cytokines are increased in the inflamed joints of patients with RA, with higher levels correlating with increased severity of the disease in both man and experimental animals (Ellingsen T., et al, Plasma MCP-1 is a Marker for Joint Inflammation in Rheumatoid Arthritis, J. Rheumatol., 2001, 28:41-46; Hjelmstrom P., et al, Lymphoid Tissue Homing Chemokines are Expressed in Chronic Inflammation, Am. J. Pathol., 2000, 156:1133-1138; and, Kasama T., et al, Interleukin-10 Expression and Chemokine Regulation During the Evolution of Murine Type ii Collagen-Induced Arthritis, J. Clin. Invest., 1995, 95:2868-2876).
Chemokines also appear to be important mediators in multiple sclerosis (MS). Chemokine concentrations are elevated in the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) of MS patients, and central nervous system T-cells in MS patients are highly enriched for certain chemokine receptors (Sorensen T. L., et al, Expression of Specific Chemokines and Chemokine Receptors in the Central Nervous System of Multiple Sclerosis Patients, J. Clin. Invest., 1999, 103:807-815). Mice deficient in MCP-1 or CCR2 (the cell-surface receptor for MCP-1) are resistant to the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a well-characterized animal model of MS (Fife B. T., et al, CC Chemokine Receptor 2 is Critical for Induction of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis, J. Exp. Med., 2002, 192:899-905; and Huang D., et al, Absence of Monocyte Chemoattractant-1 in Mice Leads to Decreased Local Macrophage Recruitment and Antigen-Specific T Helper Cell Type 1 Immune Response in Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis, J. Exp. Med., 2000, 193:713-725).
Many chemokines (eg interleukin-8 [IL-8]) interact with cell-surface receptors to stimulate PLCβ2 via receptor-linked G-proteins (guanine-nucleotide binding proteins) (Kriz D., et al, Ciba Found, Symp., 1990, 150:112-117). Activation of PLC-β2 by the receptor-linked G-protein catalyzes the hydrolysis of PIP2 to release the second messengers 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG) and 1,4,5-inositol trisphosphate (IP3). IP3 stimulates intracellular Ca2+ release, while hydrophobic DAG remains in the plasma membrane where it mediates the activation of members of the protein kinase C ("PKC") family. PLC-β2 is found primarily in hematopoietic cells and can be activated by both the Gα subunits of the Gq class and by the βγ subunits generated by a number of different G-proteins (Park D., et al, Cloning, Sequencing, Expression and Gq-Independent Activation of Phospholipase C-β2, J. Biol. Chem., 1992, 267:16048-16055).
Cotransfection experiments in COS-7 and HEK 293 cells demonstrate clearly that PLC-β2 functions downstream of several chemokine receptors (Wu D., Roles of Phospholipid Signaling in Chemoattractant-Induced Responses, J. Cell Sci., 2000, 113:2935-2940; Huping J., et al, Role of Phospholipase C-β2 in Chemoattractant-Elicited Responses, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 1997, 94:7971-7975).
For example, experiments with cells expressing transfected receptors for complement component C5a, fMet-Leu-Phe (fMLP) (Sigma, catalog no. F-3506), IL-8 or MCP-1 have shown that each of these receptors activates PLC-β2 through a pertussis toxin (PTx)-sensitive mechanism to release βγ subunits from the Gi class of heterotrimeric G-proteins (Jiang H, et al, Pertussis Toxin-Sensitive Activation of Phospholipase C by the C5a and fMet-Leu-Phe Receptors, J. Biol. Chem., 1996, 271:13430-13434). Additional evidence for the involvement of PLC-β2 in signaling through chemokine receptors comes from experiments in knockout (KO) mice deficient in expression of the PLC-β2 protein. Although hematopoeisis is not affected in these mice, cells from the mice have decreased responsiveness to chemokines as measured by Ca2+ fluxes, generation of inositol phosphates, upregulation of adhesion molecules, phosphorylation of MAP kinases and production of superoxide anion (Wu D., 2000; Huping J., 1997). Surprisingly, however, leukocytes from those mice were reported to have normal or even enhanced chemotactic responses to various chemokines (Park D., 2000; Wu D., 2000; Huping J., 1997). Inhibitors of PLC-β2 enzymatic activity inhibit chemotactic responses to various chemotactic factors, suggesting that a compensatory mechanism may exist in the PLC-β2 KO mice which overcomes the congenital absence of the enzyme to allow normal or enhanced migratory responsiveness to chemokines (Park D., 2000; Wu D., 2000; Huping J., 1997).
References to a number of substituted piperazine and piperidine compounds include those disclosing use as an inhibitor of the NHE1 isoform of the sodium/hydrogen exchanger (Lorrain, J., et al; Pharmacological Profile of SL 591227, A Novel Inhibitor of the Sodium/Hydrogen Exchanger, Brit. J. Pharm., 2000, 131:1188-1194), as platelet aggregation inhibitors (acting as fibrinogen receptor antagonists) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,893), as tachykinin receptor antagonists (U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,936), as 5HT2C antagonists (U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,937), as 5HT1D receptor antagonists (U.S. Pat. No. 5,905,080), as enzyme acyl coenzyme A: cholesterol acyltransferase inhibitors (U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,358), as protein isoprenyl tranferase (such as protein farnesyltransferase and protein geranylgeranyltransferase) inhibitors (U.S. Pat. No. 6,310,095), as cardiovascular agents (U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,966) and as antiviral agents (European Patent EP0548798). PCT application WO 93/30322 discloses thiourea compounds for treating AIDS and/or HIV.
The PLC class of enzymes play important roles in inflammatory responses. Therefore, inhibitors of PLC may be useful in treating or ameliorating inflammatory disorders. The present invention provides novel heterocyclyl-substituted anilino compounds which function as PLC inhibitors, thereby providing a means for the treatment and/or amelioration of disorders and conditions mediated by PLC-β2, including inflammatory and related disorders.

Phospholipase C inhibitors for use in treating inflammatory disorders

Abstract: and enantiomers, diastereomers and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. The present invention is further directed to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds of the present invention and to methods for treating conditions affected by phospholipase modulation.


An array reading or addressing circuit which enables the signals stored in an array of electrical elements to be individually read and which reduces the number of connections to the array of electrical elements. The circuit includes a plurality of terminals 32, each terminal being connected to a signal reading device 30 or address signal generating device 31 through a respective switch S. The elements 12 of the array are each connected to a unique combination of the terminals, and when a combination of switches S are in a conducting state, electrical signals of a combination of electrical elements are fed to the signal reading device 30, or addressed by the address signal. The output signals for different switch combinations, which each represent combinations of pixel values, are processed to enable the signal from each electrical element to be determined.

This invention relates to the addressing of arrays of electrical elements and concerns a multiplexer circuit for reading the signals from elements of such an array or addressing those elements. In particular, the invention concerns a multiplexer circuit for reading or addressing an array of device elements formed with thin-film circuitry. The device elements may be image sensor elements (for example photosensitive diodes) of a large area image sensor, or display elements of a flat panel display (for example a liquid crystal display), or several other types of device element.
Addressing an array of device elements in rows and columns on a large area circuit requires each element to be connected to a unique pair of row and column conductors. In the case of an image sensor, a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) may be required so that for an A4 large area image sensor, 2,500 and 3,500 rows and columns are required respectively (with the rows parallel to the long side of the A4 page). Problems therefore arise in forming the interconnections to the large area circuit and the use of multiplexer circuits which are integrated with the large area circuit is desired, so as to reduce the number of connections to the integrated circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,030 discloses a photon counting type radiation image detecting apparatus having a reading circuit which enables the number of lead wires from the pixel sensing array to an image display device to be reduced. When a pixel detects the presence of a photon, an associated circuit generates a binary word which represents that pixel, and the circuit also outputs a signal indicating the level of energy of the incident photon. Thus, an output for each pixel is no longer required in order to determine which pixel is active. Instead, only as many outputs are required as there are digits in the binary word representing each pixel. However, the circuit of U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,030 does not enable addressing of each pixel of the array and also relies upon the fact that photons are only incident upon one pixel at any time.


In some embodiments of the present invention, frequently occurring inverse linear transform results are calculated and stored in look-up-tables. In real time, incoming blocks of linear transform coefficients are divided into two or more groups. A numerical code is determined for each group and checked against a look-up-table for that group to see whether it corresponds to a pre-calculated inverse linear transform result.

In order to reduce the huge amount of data required for accurate description of images, audio and video, various compression techniques have been developed. Many of these compression techniques involve linear transformations. For example, in the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standards, the discrete cosine transform (DCT) is used. Decoding video encoded by an MPEG encoder involves, among other things, performing inverse discrete cosine transformations (IDCT). Similarly, data compressed with linear transformations will be decompressed using inverse linear transformations.
Algorithms to perform inverse linear transformations can be time-consuming and may place a burden on the data system. Therefore, it would be beneficial to reduce the amount of time spent on such calculations.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

Method and apparatus for accelerating variable length coding (VLC) decoding in the process of inverse discrete cosine transformation (IDCT)


Embodiments of valve apparatuses are described.

Traditional fluid valves operate by moving solid objects to obstruct the flow path. This typically requires sealing against a valve seat and leads to complicated geometries. While valves can be very reliable on the macroscopic scale, on the Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) scale, a number of issues can arise, including producing a valve seat that will seal with acceptably low leak rates, and dealing with contamination and small actuation forces. Moreover, such valves may have complicated geometries with large dead volumes.


A football includes an elongated bladder and a plurality of longitudinally extending rubber strips which are secured to the bladder. Each of the rubber strips has a longitudinally extending groove. A plurality of cover panels surround the bladder and the rubber strips. Each of the cover panels has a pair of longitudinally extending tapered edges which extend into grooves in the rubber strips and which abut against edges of adjacent cover panels.

This invention relates to footballs, and, more particularly, to a football which simulates a football with a sewn leather cover.
The invention is an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,518. As described in that patent, footballs with sewn leather covers have a shape and feel which are preferred by many players for official competition. However, such footballs are expensive, and buyers of footballs often choose to purchase footballs with rubber or synthetic covers which are not sewn.
The '518 patent describes an attempt to make a football with a non-sewn cover which simulates the shape and feel of a sewn leather football. However, the football of the '518 patent has cover panels which are spaced apart and which expose simulated seams. The simulated seams are provided by raised portions on side panels underneath the cover panels. The simulated seams do not have the appearance or feel of the seams of a traditional sewn leather football.


A snowmobile includes a side panel that is mounted to the snowmobile's frame about a generally vertically extending side panel axis. In a closed position, the side panel protects and encloses a lateral side of the snowmobile's engine. In an open position, the side panel facilitates easy access to the engine. The side panel includes a lower leg support that includes a knee rest, a lower front leg support, and an inner leg support. The lower leg support improves the rider's comfort and ability to actively position himself on the snowmobile. The snowmobile also includes a rewind starter operatively connected to the engine. The rewind starter is accessible through a hole formed in the side panel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fairings, engine covers, and rider supports of vehicles such as snowmobiles.
2. Description of Related Art
Unless otherwise expressly stated, all dimensions for snowmobile riders are based on a standard rider, who is defined by a 50th-percentile United States human male who weighs 78 kilograms (174.8 lb.) and has the dimensions shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. As would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, the dimensions illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 are in centimeters with the middle values representing the 50th-percentile U.S. human male. Similarly, all positioning of the riders is based on the positioning of a standard rider on a snowmobile in a standard position. In the standard position, the rider is seated on the seat, is holding the steering device with his hands, and has his feet on the footrest. Accordingly, the rider has the position shown in the Figures (i.e., in the approximate position of a rider a few seconds after starting the vehicle, heading straight ahead on a flat terrain).
As illustrated in FIG. 9, conventional snowmobiles 10 share a common construction: they combine features and elements so that the snowmobile rider 20 sits in a generally upright position on a seat 30 in a location toward the rear of the snowmobile 10. When the rider 30 is seated in this generally-relaxed fashion, the seat 30, a footrest 40, and a steering device (such as a handlebar) 50 support all of the forces that the rider 30 exerts on the snowmobile 10.
The snowmobile 10 includes a frame 60 that supports a motor 70 (e.g., an internal combustion engine, etc.). The motor 70 is operatively connected to an endless drive track 80 that is also supported by the frame 60. Two steering skis 90 are operatively connected to the steering device 50 to enable the rider 20 to steer the snowmobile 10.
An engine cover 100 (or fairing) pivotally mounts to the frame 60 about a laterally extending engine cover axis 110. The engine cover 100 is selectively movable between a closed position (FIG. 9) that encloses and protects the motor 70 and an open or raised position (FIG. 10) that allows access to the motor 70 and/or other interior compartments of the snowmobile 10.
When the motor cover 100 is closed, its lower edges mate with upper edges of a motor pan 120 that protects and encloses a lower portion of the motor 70. Whenever maintenance is to be performed to the engine or the components inside the motor pan 120, the user must bend over the upward extending side portions of the motor pan 120. Also, since the motor pan is not removable, the access to the side portions of the engine is very cumbersome due to the limited space between the engine and the side portions of the motor pan 120.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and a device for controlling a sensorless, field-oriented asynchronous machine, wherein a manipulated variable space vector and a stator frequency are calculated, by means of a two-component current control system, from which control signals are generated using a space vector modulation process. A PI controller of an EMF control system for the d-component of a calculated EMR space vector of the field-oriented control system is deactivated and its output signal set to zero at a stator frequency, determined as a function of a calculated d-component of a calculated EMF space vector and a calculated stator frequency, that is less than or equal to a first limit frequency. Thus, the method may be used for speed control of a sensorless, field-oriented asynchronous machine down to a full stop.

International Application No. WO 9503649 describes a two-component current controller with a space vector modulator for an induction machine supplied by a pulse-controlled inverter. This field-oriented control system includes an input transformer system, an EMF computer, a pre-control network, a current control circuit, an active current controller, and an output-side coordinate converter. The input-side transformer is supplied with two measured phase currents from which orthogonal field-oriented actual current components are generated using a flux angle. These actual current components are sent both to the current control circuit and to the EMF computer. The EMF computer also receives the setpoint voltage components, the parameters of the induction machine (stator resistance R.sub.s and leakage inductance L.sub..sigma.), and the stator frequency .omega..sub.s. The output of the EMF computer is coupled with the actual-value input of the active current controller, so that a field-oriented, torque-forming setpoint current component appears at the setpoint-value input of this control system. The output signal of this active current control system is used as a speed-correction for a calculated slip frequency, which is added to a measured actual rpm value to form the stator frequency. The current-control circuit contains a comparator with a downstream controller for each field-oriented current component, so that an output signal of the input-side transformer exists at each inverting input, and a field-oriented setpoint current component exists at each non-inverting input. The outputs of this current-control circuit are connected to the outputs of the pre-control network; the setpoint current values, the "stator resistance," "leakage inductance," and "magnetizing inductance" parameters are fed to the input of the pre-control network. The sum signal, consisting of field-oriented pre-control values and controller manipulated variables, also known as field-oriented manipulated variables, is fed to the output-side coordinate converter, which converts these orthogonal components into polar components. These polar manipulated variable components, also called voltage components, and the stator frequency are fed to the space vector modulator, at whose outputs control signals for the pulse-controlled inverter are formed.
For this field-oriented control system with a sensor, active current control is used to correct the slip frequency and to adjust parameters (rotor resistance). The slip frequency is calculated from the torque-forming setpoint current component and a quotient of the rotor resistance and setpoint flux. These two signals are multiplied, and the product is equal to the slip frequency. Since the "rotor resistance" parameter is temperature-dependent, the slip frequency changes in proportion to the "rotor resistance" parameter. Using this active current control method, the correct slip frequency may be determined, allowing maximum torque to be developed.
This control structure has also proved effective for a sensorless induction machine. In a field-oriented controller system without a sensor, an EMF control system is used instead of active current control. The actual input value of the EMF system is coupled with a d-component output of an EMF computer of the field-oriented control system. The integral portion of the PI controller for this EMF control system represents the rotational speed, including the slip frequency correction. The absolute value of slip frequency correction is practically negligible at lower speeds. In this manner, the EMF control system delivers a good estimated value for the speed at medium and higher speeds.
The EMF computer, which computes an EMF actual space vector as a function of the actual current component, the setpoint voltage component, and the machine parameters uses the so-called "voltage model." Since this voltage model is very inaccurate at low frequencies because of the low absolute value of the motor voltage, field-oriented operation at speeds approaching zero is not easily accomplished. At zero frequency, this process is no longer useable. In particular, reversing without undesired changes in torque is very difficult. Also, strategies for starting up from rest, and for decelerating to rest, must be found.
There are various conventional methods of implementing sensorless operation of asynchronous machines. At medium and higher speeds, sensorless operation using the conventional methods of field-oriented control may be used satisfactorily. There are various approaches for lower frequencies.
A method for sensorless field-orientation of rotating-field machines down to frequency zero is described in the article "Feldorientierung der geberlosen Drehfeldmaschine," (Field-orientation for sensorless rotating-field machines) which appeared in the German periodical "etz", issue 21, 1995, pages 14-23. In this method, dynamic current signals are injected into the flux-forming current component of the stator current. This injection has little dynamic influence on the torque produced. In stationary operation, the model works perfectly. The effect of this excitation is evaluated in the measured machine voltages and currents. The position of the rotor flux axis may be estimated using the saturation characteristics of the rotor leakage, which assures field-orientation. This procedure must be replaced by an appropriate field-oriented control system in the upper rotational speed ranges, since it can only be used in the saturation range of the rotor leakage, and it also requires a sufficient voltage reserve to supply the test signal. The machine used must have a distinct rotor current saturation characteristic. The implementation of this method is very expensive and computation-intensive because of the required vector transformation.
The article "High-dynamic AC machine control without speed or position sensor," ETEP, vol. 6, #1, January-February 1996, pp. 47-51, describes a method in which the voltage model of the machine is supported by the current model at low frequencies. The dynamics of this model are limited by the rotor time constant of the machine. Additionally, the current model does not produce the proper flux angle necessary for orientation, but rather only the rotor flux amplitude. Because of this, it is suitable, for this application, only as an observer of parameter compliance for the voltage model. Using this method, it is possible, in principle, to approach zero rpm and eliminate the effects of thermally-caused fluctuations in the stator resistance.

Method and device for controlling a sensorless field-oriented asynchronous machine