A method for optimizing a pattern generation program used in a signal generator comprising a generator for generating a signal pattern based on a pattern generation program, a memory for storing the signal pattern, and an output for outputting on a predetermined cycle the signal pattern stored by the memory, this optimizing method comprising an evaluation step for evaluating for each command of the pattern generation program whether it is necessary to develop the command in question of the program and a development step for developing the command.

It is often the case with semiconductors, circuit boards, and other digital circuitry having digital signal processing functions that digital signals of a predetermined pattern are input from the outside and the operation of the circuit is controlled or output signals are detected and function tests are conducted. By means of this type of control and testing, a plurality of signal pattern types are often needed for the signals that are input from the outside, and it becomes necessary to flexibly change the signal pattern in accordance with changes in control conditions or testing conditions. Therefore, attention is being focused on systems with which a signal pattern is generated by executing a program in which the signal pattern to be generated is entered by a processor as a signal generator for generating digital signal patterns.
A typical conventional signal generator is shown in FIG. 2. A signal generator 26 consists of a memory 20, a processor 23 connected to memory 20, and a signal output circuit 24 to which the output of processor 23 is connected. A pattern generation program 21 in which the signal pattern is entered and pattern data 22 that serve as the basic signal pattern are stored in memory 20. An example of pattern generating program 21 and pattern data 22 is shown in FIGS. 3(a) and (b), respectively. Processor 23 executes pattern generation program 21 in synchronization with clock signals and generates a signal pattern. Signal output circuit 24 converts the signal pattern generated by processor 23 to electrical signals on the signal level of a device 25, which is the object under control or test, and outputs these signals to device 25.
Next, the operation of signal generator 26 in FIG. 2 will be described taking as an example operation during execution of the pattern generating program in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a drawing representing the execution commands for each clock signal, and the clock by which the signal pattern is output to device 25 is underlined. It should be noted that the DATA command in the program in FIG. 3(a) is the command to generate pattern data represented by the argument taken from pattern data 22. The LOOP command is the command for repeated execution of commands, from the LOOP command to the LOOP END command, by the number of arguments. The JSR command is the command to execute the subroutine of the argument. The STOP command is the command to stop the program.
When the pattern generation program is being executed, the DATA command of step 30 is executed at the first clock (clock 1) to generate signal pattern "0000" that is stored by processor 23 as DATA0 of pattern data 22. Next, the next clock (clock 2) is set such that the LOOP command of step 31 is executed and the step from the LOOP command (step 31) to LOOP END command (step 34) is repeated three times. The JSR command of step 32 is executed at clock 3 and subroutine SUB1 (steps 36 and 37) is called. The DATA command of step 36 is executed at clock 4 by calling this subroutine to generate signal pattern "1010" stored as DATA1 of pattern data 22. The RTN command of step 37 is executed at clock 5 and the system returns from the subroutine to the main routine.
The same operation is performed for subroutine SUB2 from clocks 6 through 8 to generate signal pattern "1111" that is stored as DATA2 of pattern data 22. An evaluation of loop frequency and loop processing are conducted by the LOOP END command at clock 9. Steps 31 through 34 have only been executed once at this point; therefore, [the system] returns to step 32 and executes the details of the second repetition. The second loop is performed at clocks 10 through 16 and when a third repetition has been completed at clocks 17 through 23, the pattern generation program is ended by the STOP command at clock 24.
As is clear from FIG. 4, the time of 24 clocks is necessary to execute the pattern generation program in FIG. 3(a). During this time, a signal pattern is generated at underlined clocks 1, 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, and 21. Therefore, when the timing by which each signal pattern is generated is taken into consideration, the time interval from when the signal pattern of clock 1 is generated to when the signal pattern of clock 4 is generated is three clocks, while the time interval from when the signal pattern of clock 7 is generated to when the signal pattern of clock 11 is generated is four clocks. Thus, there is a problem in that when the pattern generation program in FIG. 3 is executed by signal generator 26 in FIG. 2, the pattern generation intervals are not consistent.
The method whereby the pattern generation interval is held constant by entering pattern generation program 21 by the DATA command only as shown in FIG. 5 is a potential method for solving this problem. By means of this method, it is not necessary to process the other commands in between the DATA commands; therefore, signal patterns can be output at the same time interval as the DATA command processing time (one clock). However, there is a problem in that pattern generation program 21 becomes longer in proportion to the length of the signal patterns; therefore, the pattern generation program becomes extremely long and a large memory 20 becomes necessary when the same signal pattern is repeated several times.
Moreover, there is a technology such as that described in Patent Reference 1 whereby the signal pattern generation cycle is held constant by an appropriate placement in the program of the no-operation command (NOP command) for a predetermined time. However, the time needed for execution of the command varies with the type of pattern generation program 21 compiler or processor 23; therefore, a pattern generation program 21 that corresponds to the properties of signal generator 26 must be created for each device. In addition, programming must be performed while referring to the signal generation timing and high-performance programming technology therefore becomes necessary. Furthermore, there is a problem with this method in that residual signal pattern generation timing is combined with timing having the longest signal generation time interval, and the maximum frequency of the signal pattern therefore becomes from ⅓ to 1/30 of the clock signal frequency.
Therefore, there is a method wherein a FIFO memory 62 is used at the output, as with a signal generator 60 in FIG. 6. The signal generator 60 and the signal generator 26 in FIG. 2 differ in that FIFO memory 62 is disposed between the output of processor 61 and the signal output circuit 24 of signal generator 60 and this signal generator has the function of stopping the operation of processor 61 when FIFO memory 62 is full. However, the operation of the other structural elements is the same.
Prior to outputting signal patterns to device 25, signal generator 60 generates signal patterns and then outputs signal patterns in succession once a predetermined number of signal patterns have been stored in FIFO memory 62. When the output speed from FIFO memory 62 is faster than the signal generation speed of processor 61, signals are generated without restopping processor 61. However, if the DATA command continues and FIFO memory 62 becomes full, processor 61 is stopped until FIFO memory 62 again has free capacity.
Thus, by means of signal generator 60 in FIG. 6, signal patterns generated by processor 61 are stored in FIFO memory 62 and are then output from FIFO memory 62 to device 25 at predetermined cycles; therefore, it is not necessary to take the signal generation timing into consideration when creating the pattern generation program 21. Moreover, the signal output starts after a signal pattern has been prestored in FIFO memory 62; therefore, it is possible to output signal patterns at a faster frequency than with signal generator 26 in FIG. 2.
However, the capacity of FIFO memory 62 is finite; therefore, when pattern generation program 21 with a complex structure is executed, long FIFO memory 62 becomes empty during the execution of the signal pattern generation program and the signal patterns cannot be output at a predetermined cycle (default). If a FIFO memory 62, which large enough to prevent default, is loaded, the device will inevitably become larger, more complex, and more expensive. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize pattern generation program 21 in accordance with the FIFO memory 62 capacity and the ratio of the speed of pattern generation and pattern output, and with other system properties.

Method for optimizing a pattern generation program, a program, and a signal generator


The present invention relates to an improved flexible loading system which provides fluid communication between a subsea pipeline and a surface vessel including a hose extending from the subsea pipeline to a first buoyancy tank, a second hose extending from the first buoyancy tank to a central buoyancy tank, a second buoyancy tank, means connecting said second buoyancy tank to the sea floor and to the central buoyancy tank whereby the forces exerted on said central buoyant tank by said second hose and said connecting means are balanced to cause said central buoyancy tank to maintain a preselected position, a riser section extending upwardly from said central buoyancy tank and means on the upper termination for engagement by a vessel on the surface to raise said upper termination onto the vessel to complete the communication for moving fluids between the subsea pipeline and the vessel. In one form the means for connecting between the sea floor to the second buoyancy tank includes an anchor on the sea floor and lines extending from the anchor to the second buoyancy tank and from the second buoyancy tank to the central buoyancy tank. In another form of the invention the means for connecting is a third hose extending from a second subsea pipeline to the second buoyancy tank and a fourth hose extending from the second buoyancy tank to the central buoyancy tank. The central buoyancy tank is preferred to be maintained at a level below the water surface which allows full movement of the vessel while connected to the riser section. A swivel may be positioned in the riser section and a pressure relief system may be included in the loading system to protect it from sudden excess pressures.

The present invention relates to an offshore tanker loading system. Prior to the present invention, single point mooring (SPM) terminals have been used. These terminals were normally in relatively unsheltered waters and allowed the tanker to be aligned with the main weather direction much like a weather vane. The mooring hawser plays a key part in the above-described situation, as this element effectively ties the tanker to the SPM terminal while carrying all the environmental loads and allowing for all wave induced motions of the vessel. Further, for all intents and purposes, the tanker has, while it remains moored, become a "dead" ship
Modern technology has made it possible for many ships to stay on a specific offshore location by means of their propulsive systems. These propulsive systems have to meet certain requirements, such as output thrust and power should be continuously variable in magnitude and direction. Also, the propulsive system is tied to a data acquisition system which monitors and measures the magnitude and direction of wind, current and waves, as well as the actual position of the ship. The direction and magnitude of the propulsive thrust is adjusted on a continuous basis to counter the continuously varying environmental forces which act on the ship and which would normally urge it to move off its desired location. Ships fitted with such a propulsive system are referred to as Dynamically Positioned (DP) ships.
In the offshore oil industry, such ships are of great importance because they allow a quick turn-around time in loading or unloading their cargo, as no SPM operation needs to be performed. These SPM operations are time consuming and sometimes, due to weather, even impossible. The DP tanker, however, requires a flexible loading system for its cargo and the present invention is directed to such loading system.
An example of such loading system is disclosed in the paper OTC 5747 given at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, May 2-5, 1988 by K. Mork, Ugland Engineering A/S and entitled "Stratfjord `A` Offshore Loading System (UKOLS) " This system has been used but has a number of disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that, once the tanker loading operation is completed, the hose has to be laid back onto the sea floor. If the hose termination normally attached to the tanker were left afloat, the overall geometry of the system could lead to entanglement of the various parts Subsea swivels could alleviate some of this risk. Another disadvantage is the fact that the "operating area" of the tanker, when it is connected to the UKOLS, is described by a ring-shaped area. The center area of the ring is a "no-go" area for the tanker, as it would mean that the portion of the hose connected to the tanker would be in continuous contact with the subsea buoy. This contact results in chafing of the hose portion contacting the buoy. One other disadvantage to the ring-shaped operating area, when compared with a full-circle operating area, is that when wind or current change direction, more energy is required to keep the ship within the operating area. This is due to the fact that not only a change of the ships heading has to be achieved, but also a lateral displacement. If the operating area is a full circle, one could position the tanker in the center and merely change the heading when current and wind dictate such change.
Another mooring system is described in the patent application in Great Britain GB 2.239.441A. This system requires the use of a powered turntable on the tanker in order to overcome internal friction loads in the fluid swivel arrangement. Also, the complexity of the hook-up operation, which requires the load to be transferred from an initial pull-in line to a final hook-up line, is considered to be a difficult and hazardous operation to personnel.


The present invention provides minimally invasive devices and methods for accessing the sinuses and their surrounding structures for surgery and other treatments. The anterior ethmoid and maxillary sinuses are accessed and treated under minimal anesthesia with little or no postoperative limitation of activity or adverse symptoms. Direct visual verification of the sinuses and their natural ostia is utilized. Other paranasal sinuses may be treated by this method as well. The sinuses, in particular the maxillary and anterior ethmoid, are accessed via a direct anterior to posterior axis and the natural ostia of those sinuses is directly visualized for placement of a guide-free dilator, in the desired location within the natural ostia. That access to the maxillary ostium is accomplished by the anterior transuncinate “keyhole” approach in which a hole is punched in the uncinate process with the described devices according to the described methods. The properly placed dilator is expanded to allow drainage of the inflamed sinus and then withdrawn. An analogous ethmoid bulla “keyhole” approach and subsequent dilation are used for the anterior ethmoid sinus ostia. Pharmaceutical agents may be placed at desired locations in the sinuses using the same access technique.

There are a substantial number of people with sinus inflammatory disease—sinusitis—that could benefit from sinus surgery. Patients with sinusitis can be grouped according to the severity of their sinusitis into those with mild and those with severe anatomic evidence of sinusitis. The latter category includes those patients with significant anatomic anomalies, patients previously operated on who have substantial postoperative defects in the diseased areas, and those with significant paranasal sinus polyps. The remaining group with mild anatomic evidence of inflammation, which makes up the largest portion of those suffering from sinusitis, may nonetheless have significant and persistent symptoms despite undergoing medical therapies. Many patients are understandably resistant to traditional surgery, such as functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS), in particular if their symptoms are mild. Thus, that is the target group for non-invasive treatments. The goal is a procedure that is reliable, long lasting, pain free, safe, has no tissue removal, and allows an immediate return to full activities.
Development of non-invasive procedures requires an understanding of the anatomical features of the sinuses and the nasal cavity as well as an appreciation of the mucus drainage pathways. Clinically, there are five major groups of sinuses in a human patient: frontal, anterior ethmoid, posterior ethmoid, maxillary, and sphenoid. The ethmoid is divided into anterior and posterior portions to account for the clinical observation that sinus cells anterior to the basal lamella (the lateral attachment of the middle turbinate) have a separate mucus drainage pathway from those posterior to the basal lamella. The maxillary, anterior ethmoid and frontal sinuses often are affected by inflammatory disease in unison. That tendency is believed by some to be due to a shared common drainage location; in any case, current dogma holds that inflammation in the anterior ethmoid is an indication of inflammation in the maxillary and frontal sinuses. For the maxillary sinus, the drainage site is the ethmoid infundibulum, the very narrow space between the uncinate process medially and the orbit laterally. For drainage of the anterior ethmoid sinuses, there are multiple sites, usually including the ethmoid infundibulum for a small portion, and relying on the hiatus semilunaris superior for most of the cells. That anatomic observation is not universally known to routine practitioners of the current art. For the frontal sinus, the ostium usually just posteromedial to the superior end of the uncinate (or just external to the ethmoid infundibulum proper), but sometimes is lateral to the uncinate, and therefore within the infundibulum. That slight anatomic separation coheres with the clinical observation that the maxillary and anterior ethmoid are very frequently inflamed in unison, with the frontal sinus also inflamed somewhat less often.
The posterior ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses are believed to have individual drainage sites posterior to the basal lamella. For the sphenoid, it is indisputable—the ostium can be easily seen at the sphenoid rostrum in nearly every patient if proper exposure can be obtained. For the posterior ethmoid, the putative drainage sites are not so explicit. There is some sharing of inflammatory disease by the sphenoid and posterior ethmoid sinuses. Analogous to the maxillary/anterior ethmoid/frontal system, it is believed that there is a shared pathway for the posterior ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses in the sphenoethmoid recess, the space just anterior to the sphenoid rostrum (where, as noted above, the sphenoid ostium is found) and extending laterally. (Stammberger, H. Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery. Mosby (St. Louis) 1991. See pp. 49-67.)
The vast majority of the patient group with mild anatomic sinusitis, regardless of symptom severity, has maxillary or anterior ethmoid inflammation, which also is referred to as limited maxillary and anterior ethmoid disease. If a minimally invasive treatment is to be effective for a majority of patients, it must be effective for patients with maxillary or anterior ethmoid inflammation.
The Maxillary Sinus
The maxillary sinus is a large air space, filling essentially the entire cheekbone in the typical patient. From the transnasal aspect, that air space lies just lateral to the entire lower half of the lateral wall of the nose. From the oral/sublabial aspect, it lies just superior to the tooth roots from the canine to the last molar and extends to the orbit. The maxillary sinus is relatively large and most of it is relatively far from the eye, which is the most important structure in that area. Traditional access to the maxillary sinus involved either forcing a trocar through the low lateral nasal wall or sublabially through the anterior wall of the sinus just lateral to the canine root or both, followed by the enlargement of the resulting hole via removal of bone to drain the sinus and remove any diseased tissue. Those approaches were developed to best avoid damaging the eye, yielding a suitable surgical margin of error for that purpose. At the end of the procedure, one sought to preserve the intranasal hole in the belief that the sinus would continue to drain through it for the rest of the patient's life, an assumption later realized to be incorrect.
A seminal development in sinus surgery was Messerklinger's work in the 1960's (and applied clinically in the 1980's) on the physiology of sinus clearance of mucus, and its rather rigid connection to sinus microanatomy. (Messerklinger, W., multiple references quoted in Stammberger, ibid., pp. 27-28.) Among other observations, Messerklinger's work involved placing traceable, visible granules into the maxillary sinuses. Using a high resolution endoscope, he observed that the granules would migrate along the lining in a very specific path, exiting the maxillary sinus through an ostium near the anterior superior extreme of the sinus, lateral to the uncinate process, and following an explicit and narrow stream just above the inferior attachment of the uncinate to the lateral wall, before exiting that narrow space posteriorly. Of crucial interest, that pathway was preserved independent of any other, even larger, holes that might exist, naturally or surgically, in the medial wall of the sinus. In effect, the cilia always push sinus mucus in the direction of the so-called natural ostium, whether or not other ostia exist or are created. That observation suggested that the previously-held belief in the benefit of surgically-created sinus ostia was misplaced. The new paradigm was to become surgical enlargement of the natural ostium explicitly, finally gaining wide adoption in the early 1990's with utilization of functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS), particularly among new trainees and professors. That strategy subsequently has been validated clinically. Placement of ostia elsewhere was too often found to be useless or injurious and, crucially, those problems could be reliably corrected only by addressing the natural ostium in an appropriate way. That principle continues to be important, beneficially if honored, detrimentally if neglected.
In state-of-the-art endoscopic maxillary sinus surgery today, the uncinate process first is removed from its posterior margin back to its anterior maxillary attachment, revealing the (often small) natural ostium just posterior to the anterior maxillary attachment. The natural ostium is assessed. If deemed too small to effectively permit long-term drainage from the sinus (an arbitrary decision), it is enlarged posteriorly. In approximately one-third of patients, there is a naturally occurring accessory ostium posterior to the natural ostium. In those patients, the surgeon enlarges the natural ostium to broadly connect with and encompass the accessory ostium to avoid having mucus recirculate; i.e., to prevent mucus that is exiting the sinus via the augmented natural ostium from reentering via the accessory ostium. It is not clear how often that pathway is utilized for recirculation, if ever. A problem results, however, if a surgeon creates a new ostium posterior to the natural ostium, which often does cause recirculation, or if a surgeon enlarges an accessory ostium thinking it to be the natural one, which will not achieve the objective and might, as discussed above, cause recirculation. If those errors occur, they usually can be corrected by finding the natural ostium and connecting it with the accessory ostium to create a single large ostium.
The minimally invasive balloon sinuplasty surgical method for application to the maxillary sinus, as exemplified by the transnasal approach of U.S. Pat. No. 7,500,971, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, involves placing a curved, tubular guide into the posterior slit-like opening of the infundibulum, between the posterior margin of the uncinate medially and the orbital wall laterally. A guide wire is then fed through the lumen of the tube and into the infundibulum. The wire is gently manipulated until it, by trial and error, drops into the ostium. The tip can be verified to be in the sinus by X-ray fluoroscopy or more commonly by light from the wire tip seen to transilluminate the cheek. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,559,925. Both X-ray fluoroscopy and transillumination are cumbersome to a degree, fluoroscopy especially so as it requires large machines that are not normally present at sinus surgery and get in the way of easy, interruption-free operating. The wire transillumination method is more convenient, but requires the surgeon to juggle instruments in his/her hands and creates tangles on an operative field already wound with a variety of suction hoses and cords. Fluoroscopy and transillumination can assist the surgeon in determining if the instrument is in the sinus, but do not indicate whether the instrument is in the natural ostium. Thus, they are not substitutes for direct visualization. The balloon catheter is passed through the lumen of the tubular guide over the wire until it is believed to be spanning the ostium at which point it is expanded, putatively stretching the ostium and spreading the space between the orbit and uncinate by stretching the uncinate medially. As noted above, that action may instead result in dilation of an accessory ostium.
Another minimally invasive sinuplasty method, as exemplified by the canine fossa approach of U.S. Pat. No. 7,520,876, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, utilizes the older sublabial approach to the maxillary sinus (described above), which requires puncturing the bone of the alveolus just above the tooth roots in the canine fossa region. The anterior wall of the maxillary sinus is punctured a bit lateral to the canine root. A miniature endoscope is passed coaxially through a tubular guide and advanced into the sinus and the natural ostium is directly visualized from this lateral aspect. The balloon catheter is passed into the ostium by manipulation of the guide according to what is visualized with the endoscope and the balloon is expanded.
Both the transnasal and canine fossa approaches have disadvantages. In the transnasal approach, the advance to the infundibulum is awkward. Surgical instrumentation—including the guides, balloon catheter, endoscope and guide wire—is introduced into the nose from anterior to posterior, but the infundibulum is entered posteriorly and the wire advanced anteriorly from that point. Those two maneuvers necessitate a 180 degree turn of the guide, guide wire and balloon catheter that is difficult to execute atraumatically in the tight spaces involved.
Another substantial problem with the transnasal approach is that the method is performed blindly because the surgeon's view of the natural ostium and any intervening accessory ostia is blocked by the more medial uncinate. The instrumentation is rounded and made flexible to avoid inadvertent introduction into the eye. However, that does not prevent inadvertent introduction into and cannulation of an accessory ostium, rather than the natural ostium, caused by the surgeon's inability to see the position of the instrument. In fact, in the significant number of cases that an accessory ostium is present (estimated at about one third of all patients), the accessory ostium is encountered first by the guide wire, as it is more posteriorly placed, and is probably more likely to be dilated than the natural ostium. In such cases, the surgeon mistakenly enlarges the accessory ostium rather than the natural ostium. As discussed above, that is not helpful and often harmful. Protecting against that eventuality is difficult. It is common, therefore, for surgeons to resort to a "hybrid" invasive/non-invasive procedure in which the lower uncinate is surgically removed to visualize the natural ostium in the usual fashion. Performed appropriately by a competent surgeon, the "hybrid" approach solves the problem, but necessitates reverting to an essentially standard approach that is more than minimally invasive. Using a balloon to dilate the now visible natural ostium is of questionable benefit compared to the standard surgical approach of trimming the posterior margin of the ostium—likely a mere victory of style over substance. Surgeons that would prefer a minimally invasive method will often revert to the unsatisfactory "hybrid" procedure because of frustration with the awkward approach to the natural ostium or because of concern that they will inadvertently and unknowingly dilate the wrong (accessory) ostium.
The canine fossa approach offers the advantage that the surgeon accesses the maxillary sinus and views the ostia from inside the sinus, from which they can be seen unobstructed. If more than one ostium exists, the natural ostium will be the anterior one, so verification of the natural ostium and avoidance of the accessory ostium is possible. The route also is direct. It does not require a 180 degree turn. Proponents of the canine fossa approach of U.S. Pat. No. 7,520,876 further represent that the balloon dilation succeeds in also enlarging the ethmoid infundibulum in that it stretches the uncinate medially, and it certainly seems that it does so. They claim that balloon dilation of the ethmoid infundibulum, in addition to treating the maxillary sinus, results in treating the primary ethmoid drainage, which apparently is believed to be located in the ethmoid infundibulum. The anatomic evidence, however, is overwhelmingly against that possibility.
Nonetheless, the problems with the canine fossa approach are substantial. It requires a separate incision and access for a trocar under the lip. Thus, it is not easily and naturally combined with intranasal procedures. Moreover, it is more difficult or impossible to access the ethmoid, frontal, and sphenoid sinuses from the canine fossa access site. Access to the anterior ethmoid is possible, but cumbersome. Access to the frontal sinus is quite difficult, and access to the posterior ethmoid and sphenoid is virtually impossible. Surgeons must utilize another "hybrid" invasive/non-invasive procedure for those sinuses that require a second incision site and a cumbersome combination of nasal and oral procedures. The primary incision required by the canine fossa approach might be undesirable to patients seeking less rather than more surgery. Surgeons likewise might hesitate to embrace it.
The canine fossa procedure also utilizes a miniature endoscope. The image quality of the miniature endoscopes that are commercially available are suboptimal due to the very fine fiberoptic thread transmitting the image. The endoscope is understandably fragile with a short (25 procedures) life and therefore carries a rather high cost per use.
In sum, there is a need for a minimally invasive method to access and dilate the natural ostium of the maxillary sinus, preferably via transnasal access, without commonly resorting to traditional resection as a "hybrid" rescue during the procedure. Access to the natural ostium should be direct and not awkward so as to not frustrate the surgeon and to avoid trauma, should be verifiable, and should be easy to combine with minimally invasive approaches to the other sinuses.
The Anterior Ethmoid
The drainage pathways of the anterior ethmoid sinus are less explicitly defined than in the maxillary sinus. The ethmoid sinuses, anterior and posterior, are often referred to as a labyrinth. Unlike the maxillary sinus, the ethmoid is partitioned into many small contiguous cells, with the anterior cells draining anterior to the basal lamella (and containing more and smaller chambers) and the posterior cells draining posterior to the basal lamella (and containing one to three or so larger chambers). The labyrinth occupies roughly the upper half of the nose, is bounded superiorly by the rather thin skull base (and brain beyond), and laterally by the orbit. Landmarks are less explicit and more variable than those in the maxillary sinus area. Consequently, serious injuries to the eye and brain during sinus surgery can occur in approaches to the ethmoid.
Traditional invasive ethmoid surgery utilized an incision between the eye and the nose and a puncture of the medial wall of the orbit to access the ethmoid. The surgeon penetrated the ethmoid sinuses below the frontoethmoid suture line (which lies roughly at the equator of the orbit at the level of the corner of the eye) to avoid the brain while removing pieces of ethmoid bone and nasal lining. That approach was rendered obsolete for most cases in the 1990's with the maturation of endoscopic sinus surgery.
In the current standard of endoscopic surgery of the anterior ethmoid, the largest and most prominent cell of the anterior ethmoid, the ethmoid bulla, is opened and its walls and those of adjacent cells are removed until opened "enough" (an arbitrary designation). Experience has shown that the opening of the ethmoid bulla and those adjacent cells fixes mild sinusitis satisfactorily in most cases.
Minimally invasive methods for ethmoid surgery have not progressed as far as those methods for maxillary surgery. This deficiency is likely due to the significant anatomic variation of the anterior ethmoid anatomy and confusion within the field as to the location of its mucus outlets. The accepted minimally invasive paradigm would require that one identify and open those outlets, an objective only partially accomplished (usually without specific identification) in the routine art by resecting most of the septations of the anterior ethmoid, and not yet addressed in the prior balloon-dilation art.
One relatively new method in the minimally invasive realm avoids the anatomic variation problem entirely by circumventing the paradigm of dilating natural ostia. Instead, in this method, the ethmoid bulla is engaged with a trocar that is pushed through its anterior and posterior walls, into the posterior ethmoid. A reservoir is then passed into the tunnel to rest in the anterior and posterior ethmoid. The reservoir contains steroid that elutes into the sinus over days-to-weeks, decreasing inflammation.
It is reasonable to speculate that application of targeted pharmacotherapeutic agents, as in the above method, will be a helpful adjunct to the treatment of sinusitis. In the current routine sinus art, topical steroid spray is a mainstay of treatment, and topical antibiotics and antifungals are occasionally used to treat select patients. The benefits from these topical agents, however, have been limited. There is reason to suspect that the limitation is due to an inability to direct the agents to the diseased areas of intact sinuses in sufficient concentrations to be effective, rather than to some more fundamental shortcoming. In an analogous situation, acute and chronic infections and inflammation of the ear canal skin are much more rapidly and effectively treated with topical agents than with oral ones. Topical medications probably result in local pharmaceutical concentrations that are several orders of magnitude greater than those safely achievable in oral administration. Obviously, the ear canal is more easily targeted with repeated administration of concentrated therapeutic agents than the more hidden recesses of the paranasal sinuses.
The aforementioned placement of a pharmaceutical-eluting implantable device seeks to surmount that largely anatomic challenge, and has achieved some promising early results. There are certainly some drawbacks to this method, however. The placement of the device alters anterior ethmoid anatomy without explicit attention to the natural drainage pathways thereof, possibly, although not necessarily, compromising mucus clearance in the long-term. Taken together, the cost of the device and the nature of its placement do not lend themselves to repeated use in an office setting; rather, they are more suited to a single treatment or very occasional treatments in a surgical setting. As many patients have some degree of ongoing medical sinus disease, this is a significant drawback. Ideally, one would prefer that targeted pharmacotherapy be a viable alternative to oral therapy for many patients, necessitating a more convenient and inexpensive option. Lastly, the method by which the trocar is directed into the sinuses is of some concern. One would prefer, if possible, a more precise and less traumatic means of accessing the ethmoid sinuses. A reliable means to treat the maxillary sinus with targeted pharmacotherapy would also be desirable, an option lacking in the prior art. This gap in current treatment options is largely because of the presence of the uncinate, which prevents direct atraumatic access to the maxillary sinus, frustrating the guide-based system currently used.
In sum, there is a need for a minimally invasive method for accessing and treating the anterior ethmoid that augments flow through natural drainage pathways of the anterior ethmoid. There further is a need for a minimally invasive means to introduce targeted pharmacotherapeutic agents to the maxillary and anterior ethmoid sinuses (as well as others) in a more cost-effective and atraumatic manner than in the current art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Devices and methods for minimally invasive access to sinuses and treatment of sinusitis


A retarding device for an exerciser includes a tubular housing, a drive shaft extending axially into the tubular housing and being movable axially therein, and a friction unit secured in the tubular housing and in contact with the drive shaft so as to resist axial movement of the drive shaft in the tubular housing. The tightness of contact between the friction unit and the drive shaft can be varied so as to vary correspondingly resistance to axial movement of the drive shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a retarding device for an exerciser, more particularly to a retarding device which can replace conventional hydraulic cylinders used in exercisers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional exercisers usually incorporate a hydraulic cylinder unit to serve as a retarding device therefor. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional hydraulic stepper is shown to comprise an L-shaped frame (1) and two pedal units (2) hinged respectively on two sides of the frame (1). A hydraulic cylinder (3, 4) is provided on top of each of the pedal units (2). Each of the hydraulic cylinders (3, 4) has one end hinged to the frame (1) and a piston shaft (3a, 4a) connected to the respective pedal unit (2). A fluid path (6) interconnects the hydraulic cylinders (3, 4). When pressure is applied so as to move a first one of the pedal units (2) downward, the first one of the pedal units (2) pivots about a pin (la) on the frame (1), thereby pushing the piston shaft (3a) of the corresponding hydraulic cylinder (3) further into the cylinder body, as best illustrated in FIG. 2. Hydraulic oil (5) in the hydraulic cylinder (3) flows out of the latter and is transferred to the other hydraulic cylinder (4) via the fluid path (6). The piston shaft (4a) of the other hydraulic cylinder (4) is pushed downward, thereby causing a second one of the pedal units (2) to pivot upwardly. This illustrates how reciprocating movement of the pedal units (2) is achieved in the conventional hydraulic stepper.
The main drawbacks of using hydraulic cylinder units as the retarding device in an exerciser are as follows:
1. Leakage of hydraulic oil from the hydraulic cylinder units can easily occur, thus hindering the proper operation of the exerciser.
2. The hydraulic cylinder units are relatively expensive, thereby increasing the cost of the exerciser.


A contact center analysis system can receive various types of communications from customers, such as audio from telephone calls, voicemails, or video conferences; text from speech-to-text translations, emails, live chat transcripts, text messages, and the like; and other media or multimedia. The system can segment the communication data using temporal, lexical, semantic, syntactic, prosodic, user, and/or other features of the segments. The system can cluster the segments according to one or more similarity measures of the segments. The system can use the clusters to train a machine learning classifier to identify one or more of the clusters as waypoints (e.g., portions of the communications of particular relevance to a user training the classifier). The system can automatically classify new communications using the classifier and facilitate various analyses of the communications using the waypoints.

Many businesses and other organizations provide call centers in which customer service representatives (CSRs) field telephone calls from customers regarding information about products or services, orders for the products or services, account and payment information, customer feedback, and the like. These interactions between customers and a company's call center often form the most important impressions about the company in the minds of customers. Organizational success may depend on efficiently handling and diligently satisfying customer inquiries flowing through the call center. Improving call center performance can thus lead to greater retention of existing business and creation of new business opportunities through word of mouth and good will.
An initial step in improving the operations of a call center is determining how to evaluate the quality of CSRs' communications with customers. One difficulty in evaluating CSR performance is the scale or volume of communications between CSRs and customers, which can number in the thousands, millions, or greater per day for some companies. Automated tools can address some of the problems of scale but these tools are often limited to rudimentary analysis, such as time-to-answer, average call handle time, number of call drops, number of call-backs, and other easily quantifiable metrics. Successful interactions between CSRs and customers oftentimes depend on criteria that are not so easily identifiable and quantifiable. Another shortcoming of conventional call center management systems is their limited scope. Customers communicate with businesses using many different channels, such as emails, instant messages, Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, live chats, social network messages, voicemails, and videos, among other types of media, but conventional systems do not account for these various types of communications.
In addition to lacking breadth for failing to provide a more complete assessment of communications and for failing to support multiple channels of communications, conventional call center management systems can also suffer from lack of depth or detail. On occasions when an individual communication requires closer scrutiny, an administrator of the conventional system may have to review a substantial amount or the entirety of the communication. This problem is exacerbated when the administrator needs to analyze multiple communications along the same vein.

Waypoint detection for a contact center analysis system


A database view of a database is created which provides a transaction-consistent view of an existing database at a previous time. Each database view contains all the information needed to, along with the primary database, determine the contents of the primary database at a previous time. The database view consists of a side file corresponding to each data file in the primary database. The side files contain a copy of all data from the corresponding data file which has been changed since the database view was created. Sparse files may be used for the side files in order to conserve space. Page table data is kept in order to allow a quick determination as to whether the page from the primary database has been modified and the old version stored in the database view side file.

Databases and database products are in common use today. A database stores information in objects, such as records, tables, and indexes. In addition to a current version of the information stored in a database, previous versions of the information may be useful to a user.
One way to provide information on previous versions of data is to make a complete copy of the database at a point in time which may be of interest to a user. When this occurs, all files associated with the database are stored. However, this technique is space intensive, because for a database which is stored in a certain amount of storage space, each copy will also require that amount of storage space. This approach may also be time consuming, as the copy itself involves movement of lots of data.
A disk volume snapshot may be provided using a copy-on-write mechanism that stores only a copy of the changed data. Each time a change is made to the original database, the previously stored data is written to the copy of the changed data. However, this volume snapshot is not transactionally consistent. That is, the changes stored may be part of a transaction in progress, and thus the volume snapshot may include partial information regarding a transaction. Special hooks are necessary for applications to use the volume snapshot because of this possible transaction inconsistency. A volume snapshot created in this way may also be structurally inconsistent due to incomplete structural modifications of indices and tables which have been stored. Additionally, in a volume snapshot, the granulatity of the copy is at the volume level. Non-database data may also be copied, which is unnecessary, wasting time and resources.
Versioning of databases has also been provided by making available the data accessed by a particular transaction. Only this data is stored for a given transaction, and thus if data regarding what was accessed by a given transaction is needed, the data accessed (before any changes made by the transaction) may be provided to the user who initiated the transaction. However, this data is not accessible by multiple transactions or users. Where multiple transactions or users attempt to access the same data, the data may be different for these different accesses. Additionally, such versioning is not persistent after a database server restart.
Thus, there is a need for a way to view a database which can be created quickly, is transaction-consistent, provides consistent information to multiple transactions or users, and is persistent after a database server restart.

Transaction consistent copy-on-write database


Disclosed are ethylene and butadiene copolymers and a catalytic system usable for the synthesis of these copolymers. The copolymers have a molar content of units resulting from butadiene of ≧8%, said units comprising trans-1,2 cyclohexane linkages, and a number-average molecular mass Mn of ≧40,000 g/mol. The catalytic system includes:                (i) an organometallic complex represented by one of the following formulae A or B:

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to copolymers of ethylene and butadiene, to a catalytic system usable for the synthesis of these copolymers and to a process for synthesising these copolymers by means of this catalytic system.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to use catalytic systems based on halogenated complexes of transition metals such as titanium for copolymerising ethylene and a conjugated diene.
Japanese patent specifications JP-A-10 237 131, JP-A-09 316 118 and JP-A-11 171 930 disclose copolymers of ethylene and butadiene in which the butadiene may be inserted in the form of cis-1,4, trans-1,4, -1,2, cis-cyclopentyl and trans-cyclopentyl linkages. These copolymers are obtained by means of a catalytic system comprising dimethylsilyl(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)(t-butylamide)titanium dichloride and methylalumoxane.
It is also known to use catalytic systems based on halogenated lanthanide complexes in order to copolymerise ethylene and a conjugated diene.
In particular, patent specification EP-A-1 092 731 and the article "Macromolecules, vol. 33, no. 23, pp. 8521–8523 (2000)" teach in their copolymerization tests that associating a co-catalyst selected from among a group comprising an alkylmagnesium, an alkyllithium, an alkylaluminium, a Grignard reagent or a mixture of these constituents, with an organometallic complex represented by one of the following generic formulae A or B:
                where Ln represents a lanthanide metal having an atomic number which may range from 57 to 71,        where X represents a halogen which may be chlorine, fluorine, bromine or iodine,        where, in the formula A, two identical or different ligand molecules Cp1, Cp2, each consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted cyclopentadienyl or fluorenyl group, are attached to Ln        where, in the formula B, a ligand molecule consisting of two cyclopentadienyl or fluorenyl groups Cp1 and Cp2, which are substituted or unsubstituted and are linked together by a bridge P satisfying the formula MR2, where M is an element of column IVa of Mendeleyev's periodic table and where R is an alkyl group with 1 to 20 carbon atoms, is attached to said metal Ln,        where the (co-catalyst/organometallic complex) ratio is equal to 20, makes it possible to synthesize copolymers of ethylene and a conjugated diene with a satisfactory polymerisation yield.
In said document EP-A-1 092 731, it would seem that the copolymers obtained comprise units resulting from the butadiene which, depending upon the catalytic system used, may or may not comprise linkages in the form of trans-1,2 cyclohexane. Furthermore, the copolymers obtained in said document exhibit, when they have a molar content of units resulting from butadiene of at least 8%, a number-average molecular mass Mn, measured by the polystyrene equivalent size exclusion chromatography technique (SEC technique described in the attached appendix), which is low, always being distinctly below 40,000 g/mol.

Ethylene/butadiene copolymers, catalytic system and process for the synthesis thereof

Abstract: where Ln represents a lanthanide and X a halogen, where, in the formula A, two ligand molecules Cp1 and Cp2 each consisting of a fluorenyl group, are attached to Ln, where, in the formula B, a ligand molecule consisting of two fluorenyl groups Cp1 and Cp2, joined together by a bridge P of formula MR2, where M is an element of column IVa and R is an alkyl with 1 to 20 carbon atoms, is attached to Ln, and        (ii) a co-catalyst selected from an alkylmagnesium, an alkyllithium, an alkylaluminium, a Grignard reagent, or a mixture of these constituents. The (co-catalyst/organometallic complex) molar ratio falls within a range of from 1 to 8.


The four-pole synchronous motor comprises a stator core having first magnetic pole cores formed at both ends of a connection body part of crisscrossed connection body parts and second magnetic pole cores formed at both ends of the connection body part. The first magnetic pole cores include magnetic flux acting surface parts extended toward both sides thereof in a circumferential direction. A shape of each magnetic flux acting surface part on one side of a longitudinal centerline of the first magnetic pole cores is different from that on the other side so as to be magnetically asymmetrical with respect to the longitudinal centerline.

These days, DC or AC fan motors for cooling are equipped with office automation apparatuses, especially four-pole AC fan motors are suitably used at high rotational speed.
The AC fan motor is a synchronous motor comprising armature coils, a rectifying circuit including diodes, brushes and a commutator, an AC current is rectified so as to rotate a magnet rotor as a DC motor until a rotational speed of the magnet rotor reaches a synchronous speed, then the commutator is mechanically disconnected from the rectifying circuit so as to perform synchronous operation driven by an AC power (see Japanese Patent Gazettes No. 9-84316 and 9-135559).
Further, another synchronous motor has a microcomputer controlling power distribution, directions of a rectified current running through A-coils and B-coils of a starting circuit is alternately changed to start the motor, or a rectified current alternately running through armature coils is switched while the current is inverted so as to start the motor with restraining the current on the inverting side, and an operation switch turns on a synchronous drive circuit to perform synchronous operation when a rotational speed of a magnet rotor, which is detected by a photo sensor, reaches a synchronous speed (see Japanese Patent Gazettes No. 2000-125580 and 2000-166287).
In the above described synchronous motors, bobbins made of insulating resin are fitted in groove sections of stator cores (layered cores), and a wire is wound on the bobbins as armature coils. The wire is wound on the bobbins, by an automatic winder, and their winding numbers and winding directions are based on rotational directions of the motors.
In the above described synchronous motors, the rotational directions of the magnet rotors are not stable when the motors are started, and magnetic poles of the rotors and the stators mutually draw when the currents run through the coils, so that the motors have rotational dead points, at which the magnet rotors is stopped.
It is difficult to automate the steps of fitting the bobbins to the stator core and winding the wire on the bobbins, so that the steps of manufacturing the motor must be increased and efficiency of manufacturing the motor must be lower.
When the wire is wound on the bobbins, it is difficult to regular-wind the coils due to flexure and deformation of the bobbins. Therefore, space factor of the coils must be lower, and motor efficiency must be lower, too. Further, off-coil wires must be wired in narrow spaces encased by the magnet rotors, so it is difficult to wire the off-coil wires without interfering with the magnet rotors, and reliability of connecting sections of external wires must be lowered by tensile force, heat generated in the coils, etc.


A panel mounted low profile rotary switch (100) contains a detent mechanism (120) mounted in a bushing (110). In a preferred class of embodiments, the detent sub-assembly comprises a single spring (220) positioned in parallel within the vertical extending shaft (130). The force exerted by the spring is manually adjusted by a set screw (210) to provide the desired downward applied vertical force on a plunger (230). The plunger, preferably a pointed cylinder, applies pressure to detent balls (240) causing the detent balls to move radially outward and engage rotor cams located on the inner surface of the detent mechanism.

A rotary electromechanical switch is generally defined as a device that has a rotating shaft connected to one terminal capable of making or breaking a connection to one or more other terminals. A rotary electromechanical encoder includes the overall characteristics of a rotary switch, but has additional mechanical movements. In any case, a user typically manipulates the switch to manually select a circuit.
Rotary switches and encoders are often mounted upon panels and other supporting structures in order that a user may control an electrical device. It is common for a portion of the switch to be on one side of the panel (the user side) and another portion of the switch to be on the other side of the panel (the inside). In many instances, the only portion of a switch that is on the user's side of the panel is a section of the shaft and a knob or other actuating means. Generally, the bulk of the switch is on the inside of the panel. For many years this type of configuration was sufficient, but over time the size of electrical devices has become increasingly smaller and there has become a need to reduce the size of the switch—especially that portion on the inside of the panel.
In order to meet the needs of smaller devices having less room under the panel, the size of the components of the switches have also become smaller. Yet, because these switches are comprised in part of mechanical components, there remained a practical limit as to how small they could become while still remaining useful. There became a need for different designs rather than just a reduction in the size of the components. One such design is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,391 to Olsson (June 1984). Olsson describes a low profile dip switch used on an integrated circuit board in which the actuating member of the dip switch is set within the body of the switch. By reducing the vertical profile of the switch, a lower overall footprint may be achieved for a board. The switch design taught by Olsson, however, does not address design problems related to panel mounted switches. Another patent which addresses problems in the design of switches is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,312,288 to Genz et al. (November 2001). Genz teaches a low profile combination switch and connector assembly. While the switch described by Genz may have resulted in a lower overall profile of the combined components, this switch still does not address problems of panel mounted switches, specifically those problems due to limited space under the panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,043,855 to Grave (March 2000) is directed toward switches that mount on a bezel surrounding an LCD which is located on an avionics panel in an aircraft. The '855 patent teaches a design in which the detent is at least partially positioned in the knob of the switch. Still, the design of the '855 patent has its shortcomings: the detent is housed by the knob such that if the knob were to be displaced, the switch would not function or would function improperly; the detent is not entirely within the knob; the design requires two springs; and the springs are mounted vertically adding to the overall vertical profile of the knob.
As electronic devices become even smaller, there is a need for more compact and efficient designs.

Low profile rotary switch with detent in the bushing


Methods and systems are provided for a valve bridge of an internal combustion engine. In one example, a valve bridge comprises a first arm, a longitudinally opposing second arm, and one or more interior walls forming a passage extending laterally through at least a portion of the valve bridge, the passage disposed between the first arm and second arm and forming a first main opening and an opposing, second main opening. A central support structure is disposed within the passage and is formed by the one or more interior walls.

Internal combustion engines often include multiple intake air valves and exhaust gas valves configured to flow gases into and out of one or more combustion chambers. A single combustion chamber of an engine may receive intake gases via a corresponding pair of intake valves and/or may exhaust combustion gases via a corresponding pair of exhaust valves. Pairs of intake valves and/or exhaust valves may be linked together via corresponding valve bridges such that the valves of each pair may be synchronously opened and/or closed.
During operation of an engine, a valve bridge may frequently be subjected to various forces during opening and closing of the corresponding valves coupled to the valve bridge. The valve bridge is often in motion and contributes to an overall load of the engine. Due to the high number of opening and closing cycles of the valves, the valve bridge may have an increased likelihood of wear relative to other engine components that are less prone to frequent movements. In some embodiments, the valve bridge may be configured to include replaceable components.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Method and systems for a valve bridge for an engine


A connection module for connecting an external plug includes a body, a plurality of internal terminals and a holding device. The holding device is disposed in the body and includes a plate, a first support and a second support. When the external plug is fitted in the connection module, the external plug can be securely fixed in the corresponding connection module.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connection module, and in particular to a connection module for receiving an external plug.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the evolution of CPUs and popularization of internet, high performance and efficient data calculation can be obtained; thus, different kinds of information services can be provided.
Connectors and hubs are usually used for connecting electronic devices, e.g., a PC or a notebook, to the internet. For example, an RJ-45 jack and an RJ-45 plug are popular and useful elements coupled each other to transmit signals from a PC to the internet. Traditionally, the size of an opening of the jack is generally larger than that of the plug to facilitate the coupling between the jack and the plug. However, this kind of connection way would easily cause the plug to shake in the jack, due to the larger opening of the jack, which will decrease the stability of signal transmission, increase the impedance between the jack and the plug, and thus, slow the signal transmission speed.


A pressure vessel for storing a fluid is disclosed. The pressure vessel including a vessel liner having a substantially smooth outer surface including a flange portion with an aperture formed therein and an end cap coupled to the vessel liner to substantially enclose the flange portion within the resultant pressure vessel.

A pressure vessel for storing a fluid medium (such as hydrogen) typically includes a pressure chamber which contains the pressurized fluid medium that is moved in a controlled manner in or out of the vessel. In certain designs, the pressure vessel includes an inner plastic liner with two metal mouthpieces (bosses) arranged on opposite ends, and a filament wound outer shell to support the inner vessel liner.
Typically, the vessel liner is manufactured using a conventional injection molding, blow molding, rotational molding process, or thermoforming process. For example, the following patent documents describe a vessel liner (WO 1999/039896 Dulisse, JMK; WO 2007/079971 Wilier, Xperion; DE 19526154 Lange, Mannesmann etc.; and WO 1999/013263 Jensen, Raufoss), each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
To permit controlled movement of fluids in or out of the pressure chamber, the vessel is typically configured with a pressure chamber orifice and a boss is fitted in the orifice. The boss is threaded or otherwise shaped for connection to nozzles, valves, gauges, tubes, and similar fixtures which direct and control fluid flow. Accordingly, the boss is formed of a metal or another conventional material having desired properties.
The boss typically includes a cylindrical neck with a longitudinal passage that provides fluid communication between the pressure chamber and the environment outside the vessel. In certain designs, the boss includes a shoulder portion secured to one end of the neck. The shoulder portion, which is larger than the pressure chamber orifice, is secured to the liner of the pressure vessel to militate against relative movement between the boss and the liner.
In application, a composite structure of the pressure vessel has to bear all forces. It is important to provide a smooth outer surface on the liner of the pressure vessel to guarantee the performance of the composite structure.
It would be desirable to develop a vessel liner and a method for manufacturing the vessel liner, wherein the vessel liner is formed having a substantially smooth outer surface.


A propulsion system. An illustrative embodiment of the propulsion system includes a drive shaft, a flywheel drivingly engaged by the drive shaft, a turbine unit having a plurality of turbine blades drivingly engaging the drive shaft and an air manifold having a plurality of air manifold nozzles directed toward the plurality of turbine blades, and an air tank reservoir pneumatically connected to the air manifold.

Efforts to conserve vehicle fuel have become increasingly intense in recent years due to the rising cost of gasoline. Gasoline-operated internal combustion engines are the most widely-used type of engine for automobiles and are also relatively inefficient. Therefore, recent fuel conservation efforts have included designing engines which are capable of consuming alternative types of fuels.


A vacuum accessory may include a head including a head body defining an inlet and a fitting interface, the head body extending from a fitting interface to a base and enclosing a cavity. A fitting includes a fitting body symmetrically disposed about a longitudinal axis of the fitting. The fitting body defines a fitting inlet, an outlet, and a flow path connecting the fitting inlet and the outlet. The fitting is connected to the head at the fitting interface and a fluid flow path fluidly connects the inlet and the outlet. A blade is removably coupled to the head and at least partially disposed within the cavity of the head. The blade includes a flat blade body that is coplanar with a reference plane dividing the fitting body and containing the longitudinal axis of the fitting.

A vacuum cleaner generally includes a suction generating apparatus, such as a suction fan, which communicates with an intake orifice to apply suction force to a target area. The intake orifice may be altered when coupled to a vacuum accessory or tool. For example, different vacuum accessories are adapted for use with a vacuum cleaner to address particular cleaning needs and environments. For example, a hand-held vacuum cleaner may be installed in a vehicle sized to be stored when not in use and allow for convenient cleaning.
Generally, vacuum cleaners used in vehicles are limited in suction surface area and suction force due to the size limitations of the vacuum. The vacuums are designed to reach between seats, under seats, in narrow cleaning spaces and fit into a compartment in the car for storage. To reach narrow areas, such as beneath seats, the vacuum may include a narrow accessory or tool with a small suction surface that is adapted to squeeze into narrow spaces and other target cleaning areas. The small suction surface area combined with a smaller vacuum motor may limit the ability of the vehicle vacuum cleaner to clean dirt and pet hair caked into the interior carpeting of the vehicle.


A programmable multispeed communication apparatus includes a plurality of identical media access control (MAC) units for use with a programmable data processing system. The MAC units when multiplexed and connected to a communication media achieve a transmission speed nxc2x7s where n is the number of MAC units and s is the speed of the individual MACs. If one or more but not all of the MAC units fail, the apparatus will operate in degraded mode with the remaining active MAC units. User frames are sequentially numbered, partitioned into sequentially numbered partitions which are assigned to one or more MAC""s. Each of the partitions includes a prefix which includes the sequential frame number, the sequential partition number and an indicator for distinguishing the last partition of a frame from the other partitions of that frame.

Communication adapters typically act as an interface between a data processing device and a communication media such as employed in Token Ring and Ethernet for example. Initially these adapters handled only a singe protocol and a single transmission speed. More recently multispeed (4/16 Token Ring and 10/100 Ethernet) adapters have been introduced. The advent of the multispeed adapters has resulted in substantial savings in distribution and support expense, however, additional substantial savings could be realized in manufacturing if programmable adapters with a wide range of speeds were available which used common modular components to achieve the wide range of speeds.
The invention contemplates programmable multispeed communication adapters constructed from common or identical modular components which will also provide degraded performance in the presence of failure in one or more but not all of the common modular components. More specifically, the invention contemplates the use of two or more identical or common Media Access Control (MAC) devices to achieve a range of speeds (n.s) where n is the number of common MAC devices utilized and s is the speed of the identical MAC devices used. A data stream (or user frame of data) from a sending user program is partitioned by a device driver and selectively assigned to the n MAC units. The individual MAC units move assigned data from storage buffers into a multiplexer where it is transmitted over the transmission medium. The device driver inserts unique information in the buffered partitions of the user frame which enables a receiving device driver to reassemble the user frame in its original form for delivery to the destination user.

Apparatus including a scalable multiprotocol communications adapter using modular components and a method for transmitting data frames via scalable multiprotocol communication adapters

International Business Machines Corporation


An alloy resistant to carburization and high temperature oxidation. The alloy consists essentially of, by weight percent, 27 to 35 chromium, 0 to 7 iron, about 3 to 4.4 aluminum, 0 to 0.4 titanium, 0.2 to 3 niobium, 0.12 to 0.5 carbon, 0 to 0.05 zirconium, 0.002 to 0.05 total cerium and yttrium, 0 to I manganese, 0 to I silicon, 0 to 0.5 calcium plus magnesium, 0 to 0.1 boron and balance nickel plus incidental impurities.

Nickel-chromium alloys are known for their capability to afford various degrees of resistance to a myriad of both low temperature and high temperature corrosion environments. For this reason, these alloys are employed in a wide range of industrial and aerospace applications. Of particular utility is the use of nickel-chromium alloys in the thermal processing, chemical and petrochemical applications where high temperatures are essential for technical reasons and economy of operation. Such examples include furnace rollers in annealing furnaces and ceramic kilns, radiant tubes in heating furnaces, conveyor belts in sintering furnaces, muffles and retorts in furnaces and chemical process equipment, tubes for oxidizing titanium compounds to titanium dioxide paint pigment, thermocouple protection tubes and hardware for glass manufacture and glass verification of nuclear wastes.
By reason of their strength and corrosion resistance in such environments, alloys such as INCONEL.RTM. alloys 601, 617 and 690 (INCONEL is a trademark of Inco Alloys International, Inc.) and alloy 602CA are typically used in applications subject to high temperature oxidation. However, the trend towards increasing temperatures, more aggressive environments and the need for longer service life has stretched these alloys beyond their capabilities.
It is an object of this invention to provide an alloy having an improved combination of strength and general corrosion resistance for longer service lives than of existing commercial alloys.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an alloy with excellent carburization and oxidation resistance at elevated temperatures.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an alloy with excellent carburization and oxidation resistance under isothermal and cyclic conditions.

Alloys for high temperature service in aggressive environments


A sequence converting section 104 interchanges high-order bits where an error does not easily occur and low-order bits where an error easily occurs that are used by an M-ary modulating section 105 for each retransmission. The M-ary modulating section 105 performs M-ary modulation using the high-order bits and low-order bits interchanged for each retransmission. An M-ary modulated symbol is interleaved with an interleave pattern being different for each retransmission, and multicarrier transmitted via an OFDM transmitting section 109.

Conventionally, there is proposed a multicarrier communication system that combines a packet obtained at initial transmission with a retransmitted packet to decode, thereby improving an error rate characteristic caused at a decoding time on a receiving side. Then, conventionally, for the purpose of improving the throughput of data, various kinds of contrivances have been proposed to achieve a desired error rate with a small number of retransmissions.
Particularly, in the multicarrier communication system, a reception level differs for each subcarrier because of frequency-selective fading. Accordingly, the reception level of a signal on which a subcarrier with a certain frequency is superimposed becomes high but the reception level of the signal on which another subcarrier is superimposed becomes low. As a result, the error rate of the signal on which a subcarrier with a low reception level does not easily achieve a desired value, so that the number of retransmissions increases.
In consideration of this point, there are methods disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2001-60934 and 2000-269929. In these methods, an interleave pattern is changed for each retransmission to vary a subcarrier that locates a symbol for each retransmission. As a result, the signal level of each symbol can be unified at a packet combining time to make it possible to improve the error rate characteristic.
By the way, according to the conventionally proposed method that changes the interleave pattern for each retransmission, since variations in transmission symbols can be, indeed, made greater by interleave processing, a symbol with an extremely low error rate can be reduced to enable to improve the throughput of data effectively.
However, in recent years, it has been demanded that a large capacity of data such as image data is transmitted at high speed, and in order to achieve this, it is needed to further improve the error rate characteristic to reduce the number of retransmission times, thereby much more improving the throughput.

Multicarrier communication apparatus and multicarrier communication method


A golf ball, typically its core, is manufactured by molding and vulcanizing a rubber composition comprising a base rubber, an unsaturated carboxylic acid or a metal salt thereof, an inorganic filler, an organic peroxide, and an organosulfur compound. The base rubber contains a polybutadiene having a Mw of 60–150×104 and a Mw/Mn of up to 2.0 and containing at least 98% of cis-1,4 bonds and up to 1.5% of trans-1,4 bonds. The composition is easy to mold and work, and the golf ball has good rebound and improved flight performance.

For the purpose of endowing golf balls with better rebound, efforts have been made to ameliorate the formulation of polybutadiene used as the rubber base.
For example, JP-A 2000-313710 aims to develop a polymer having high thermal properties (e.g., thermal stability) and mechanical properties (e.g., tensile modulus and flexural modulus), and discloses a catalyst composition which enables to produce a conjugated diene polymer having a high content of cis-1,4 units in the micro-structure and a narrow molecular weight distribution. JP-A 2002-282393 and JP-A 2002-338737 describe solid golf balls having improved flight performance in which the solid core is formed mainly from a polybutadiene rubber obtained using the catalyst composition of JP-A 2000-313710.
For these golf balls, however, there is still left a room for further improvement in rebound and the property of molding and working.


System and method for estimating data transmitted by a plurality of transmit elements across a communications channel. The system comprises a plurality of receive interfaces, each operative to receive a signal via the channel and output a respective sequence of received data elements. The system also comprises a space matched filter connected to the plurality of receive interfaces and operative to (i) assemble the received data elements into sets of received data elements, each the set of received data elements including at least one received data element from each sequence of received data elements; and (ii) jointly process each set of received data elements with each of a plurality of channel data elements to produce a corresponding plurality of filtered data elements, each filtered data element being associated with one of the transmit elements, each channel data element being representative of a portion of the channel between an associated one of the transmit elements and the plurality of receive interfaces. Finally, the system comprises a detector connected to the space matched filter and operative to process each filtered data element to produce a corresponding decision data set therefor.

Reliable wireless transmission is difficult to achieve, since the time varying nature of multipath fading channels makes it a challenge when compared to communication over optical fibre, coaxial cable and copper twisted pair. Although an improvement in bit error rate (BER) can be achieved by increasing the power or bandwidth of transmitted signals, this would be contrary to the efficiency requirements of next generation wireless systems. Diversity schemes, based on multiple transmissions/receptions of data packets, have therefore been proposed as techniques to mitigate fading without increasing the transmitted power.
Prior diversity schemes have included frequency and time diversity. However, these approaches have the disadvantage that additional spectrum or time slots are used, thus reducing the overall system efficiency. On the other hand, space diversity, in which multiple transmit and receive antennas allow separation of received signals using spatial processing techniques, remains a possible alternative allowing improved overall economy and efficiency of a digital cellular system. Space diversity techniques based on multiple transmit and receive antennas are commonly referred to as MIMO (multi-input, multi-output) systems.
However, the various MIMO systems in existence typically trade off implementational simplicity against total achievable data rate. In other words, prior MIMO systems either achieve a high data rate at the expense of either high power consumption or high hardware complexity, or maintain low transmit power but provide a correspondingly low data rate. In either case, co-antenna interference (CAI) is the dominant limiting factor in achieving high data rates. This trade off is a drawback when designing for wireless transmission, since low power consumption and high data rate are both desirable. Hence, there is a need in the industry to provide a high-rate transmission and detection scheme, which can be implemented with relatively low complexity both at the transmitter and the receiver.

System and method for data communication over multi-input, multi-output channels


Improved digital projection systems and methods are disclosed. Exemplary systems and methods embody a digital data source and a white light source. Light output of the white light source is coupled to a two-position digital micro-mirror device that separates black and colored pixels. The reflected color pixels output of the two-position digital micro-mirror device are coupled to a diffraction micro-lens array that diffracts the colored pixels to produce partial spectrum color bands. The diffracted partial spectrum color bands output of the diffraction micro-lens array is coupled to a three-position digital micro-mirror device that produces hue of each pixel. Micro-mirrors of the two- and three-position digital micro-mirror devices are controlled by the digital output of the digital data source. The output of the three-position digital micro-mirror device is coupled to projection optics that combines the partial spectrum color bands and projects an image.

The present invention relates to digital projection systems and methods.
The current state-of-the-art relating to digital projection systems employs digital micro-mirror device (DMD) technology, white light illumination, and sequenced primary color filtering. The DMD technology is an implementation of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology on silicon. The DMD is comprised of an array of hinged mirrors independently actuated into a deformed state by the application of voltage across a circuit that includes the mirror. The deformed mirror reflects the filtered white light to a projecting lens assembly. Each mirror of the array represents a single pixel of the projected image and is actuated in synchronization with the primary color of the pixel in the current frame. Color blending is achieved by actuating the mirror to the on position in more than one color more frequently than the human eye detection rate. This implies that the light filtering is also more rapid than the minimum micro-mirror actuation rate. The light filtering sequence is accomplished by a rotating wheel of segmented filters between the white light source and the mirrors. The synchronization of the spinning wheel and the micro-mirror actuations are a critical parameter in the creation of the intended image.
Another method for digital projection uses three micro-mirror arrays and a set of dichroic mirrors to separate the illumination source into three spectral colors, red, green, and blue, focused on each of the micro-mirror arrays. The three micro-mirror arrays must be synchronized to blend the primary colors appropriately for each pixel. The series of dichroic mirrors are also less efficient at separating the white light from the illumination source into the primary colors than a single diffracting lens. This approach benefits over the previously-discussed solution by improving the intensity of projected lighting by continuously projecting each pixel, except to achieve black pixels. The three micro-mirror arrays are channeled to a common refocusing lens for the projection. The light path for each lens is matched in length to retain the pixel synchronization.
The use of a binary modulation scheme to actuate the mirror limits each pixel to two operational states, on and off, and requires the projected image to discretely sequence through the three filtered colors to achieve a perceived smooth color projected image. The cycling of the image through the color spectrum dilutes the original white light illumination significantly, up to 67% per pixel. The physical filtering also reduces the illumination.
The three micro-mirror approach is solid state and offers advantages that are similar to that of the present invention from that perspective. However, the inherent tolerances for optics alignment and synchronization make it amenable only for fixed installation projection systems and not feasible for portable projection systems. The series of dichroic filters is a less efficient use of the illumination source than the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,125 issued Oct. 3, 2000 to Gericke, et al. discloses that a "digital projector comprises an array of light modulators displaying the image information. An optical system is arranged downstream of the light modulators and is made up of mirrors and/or prisms, with the mirrors and/or prisms being arranged such that the light beams coming from the individual light modulators are combined in front of a projection lens. For simplification of the optical system the light modulators are arranged in checkerboard formation." [see Abstract]
WIPO publication number WO9533343A1 entitled "High Resolution Subtractive Color Projection System" discloses a "color projector for forming a high resolution image through a plurality of stacked display panels. The projector employs subtractive color technology to project a real or virtual color image. In order to provide a highly focused image free from parallax effects, a dichroic mirror assembly is provided to reflect the light exiting the display panels and compensate for differences in optical path lengths between display panels while maintaining high resolution focusing capability. Light output averaging means are provided to eliminate additional parallax effects. High resolution optics are provided between the dichroic mirror assembly and the projection screen in order to provide focus for the image." [see Abstract]

System and method for improved digital projection


A convergence correction circuit for use in a projection CRT of the electrostatic focusing type, including a neck portion provided with a sub-deflection yoke for convergence correction. A coupling correction filter and an eddy current correction filter are interposed between a path of a convergence correction signal. The coupling correction filter corrects a change in correction frequency characteristic due to an influence of coupling of a sub-deflection yoke and a deflection yoke, and the eddy current correction filter corrects a change in correction frequency characteristic due to an influence of an eddy current caused in an electrostatic convergence electrode by a magnetic field generated in the sub-deflection yoke. When a coil of the sub-deflection yoke is supplied with a current proportional to an output of the correction filter, convergence correction is performed. There is obtained correction frequency characteristic which is flat, so that a motion of an image on a fluorescent screen of the cathode-ray tube coincides with a wave form of a correction signal. Therefore, high-precision convergence correction can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a convergence correction circuit and a three tube type projector including the convergence correction circuit. More particularly, the present invention relates to a convergence correction circuit which can perform high-precision convergence correction by interposing a correction filter for correcting a change in the correction frequency characteristic caused by an influence of coupling of a sub-deflecting yoke with a deflecting yoke, between a path of a correction signal supplied to the sub-deflecting yoke for convergence correction, and to a three tube type projector including the convergence correction circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a three tube type projector including projection cathode-ray tubes (projection CRT) for red, green and blue color images. As shown in FIG. 1, the tree tube type projector is constructed so that respective color images displayed on each fluorescent screen of projection cathode-ray tubes 1R, 1G and 1B for red, green and blue color images are individually projected on a screen 3 through respective projection lenses 2R, 2G and 2B, and an enlarged color image is produced on the screen 3.
In order to converge red, green and blue color images on the screen 3, a convergence correction circuit is used. More specifically, a neck portion of respective cathode-ray tubes 1R, 1G and 1B is provided with a sub-deflection yoke for convergence correction separately from the deflection yoke, and a correction signal is supplied to the sub-deflection yoke to perform convergence correction, thus red, green and blue color images are converged on the screen 3.
FIG. 2 shows a positional relationship between a main deflection yoke and a sub-deflection yoke in an electrostatic focusing (unipotential gun type) cathode-ray tube. A focusing electron lens is composed of a third grid electrode G3 functioning as an acceleration electrode, a fourth grid electrode G4 functioning as a focusing electrode and a fifth grid electrode G5 functioning as an acceleration electrode. The sub-deflection yoke 5 (horizontal sub-deflection yoke 5H, vertical sub-deflection yoke 5V) is arranged in a neck portion 6 of the cathode-ray tube and situated on the cathode side closer than the deflection yoke 4. For instance, the sub-deflection yoke 5 is arranged oppositely to the fourth and fifth grid electrodes G4 and G5.
FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a convergence correction circuit (sub-deflection output circuit) for supplying a correction current to a coil constituting a horizontal deflection yoke 5H or vertical deflection yoke 5V. As shown in FIG. 3, an input terminal 11 is led from a noninverting input terminal of an operational amplifier 12, and a convergence correction signal Scp is supplied to the input terminal 11. On the other hand, an output terminal of the operational amplifier 12 is connected to an inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 12 through a parallel circuit which consists of a coil 13 constituting a sub-deflection yoke and a resistor 14. Also, the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier 12 is grounded through a resistor 15. In the convergence correction circuit having a configuration as described above, when the convergence correction signal Scp is supplied to the input terminal 11, the coil 13 constituting a sub-deflection yoke is supplied with a current icp proportional to the correction signal Scp, and thus, convergence correction is performed.
In the case where the convergence correction circuit as shown in FIG. 3 supplies a current icp proportional to a correction signal Scp to the coil 13 constituting a sub-deflection yoke to carry out convergence correction, the motion of image on a screen does not coincide with a wave form of the correction signal Scp in the convergence correction; for this reason, there has arisen a problem in that high-precise convergence correction does not come true. For instance, when the correction signal Scp as shown in FIG. 4A is supplied to the input terminal 11 of the convergence circuit for a vertical sub-deflection yoke 5V, the motion of image on a screen is as indicated by a solid line "a" shown in FIG. 4B, and does not coincide with a wave form of the correction signal Scp.

Convergence correction circuit and three tube type projector having the same


An air intake noise suppression device comprises a housing defining a passage having a relatively small height, preferably no greater than one-half inch, and a length defined by the expression ##EQU1## where H is the height of the passage and f is the desired noise frequency to be suppressed. The width of the passage is selected to be large enough to provide an adequate supply of intake air to the engine. With the passage essentially defining a relatively narrow slot, it is filled with acoustic boundary layers that accentuate noise significantly over a relatively wide frequency range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an air intake silencer device for a two-stroke engine and, more particularly to an air intake silencer device which by virtue of its construction has the capability of silencing air intake of a two-stroke engine to a degree far greater than previously known silencer devices and which can readily fit within a small space of an engine's overall geometry.
2. Description of the Related Art
Two-stroke engines of the type used in the marine, recreational, construction and lawn maintenance industries, for example, characteristically exhibit high noise levels due in large part to air intake function. In an outboard motor, as an example, which is running at open throttle conditions, a noise level of at least 90 dB can be experienced proximate the motor. Approximately one-half of this noise is generally attributable to the function of the motor's air intake system.
Devices are known for suppressing air intake noise in two-stroke engines. A common form of such a device is simply a chamber through which the intake air passes before being distributed to the engine carburetors, or air throttle bodies in the case of a fuel injected engine. While these devices serve to attenuate some air intake noise, they are generally not completely effective in suppressing the high levels of noise that can be experienced in two-stroke engines. Further, to be effective to some degree they must necessarily be constructed to be rather large in size which is disadvantageous where minimum size overall engine geometry is preferred.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an air intake silencer for a two-stroke engine wherein the silencer exhibits a relatively high degree of noise suppression. It is further desirable to provide such a silencer which is capable of occupying a relatively small amount of space and can fit compactly into an engine's overall geometry. Still further, it is desirable to provide such a silencer which is readily constructed by conventional manufacturing methods.

Air intake silencer for a two-stroke engine


A system for extracting heat from an electronic device is provided. The system includes heat dissipation means positioned within a printed circuit board to form an in-board heat sink structure and a fluid heat transfer medium disposed in the heat dissipation means. The medium circulates through the heat dissipation means carrying heat away from the electronic device.

This invention relates generally to extracting heat from an electronic system, and more particularly, to extracting heat from a printed circuit board (PCB) using a heat transfer system embedded in the PCB.
Embedded computer systems contain very high power electrical components, typically associated with but not limited to central processing units (CPUs), in a volumetrically constrained environment. The volumes typically do not change as the power dissipation of the components increases, presenting significant challenges in the management of component temperatures. Active and passive heat-sinks comprised of highly thermally conducting materials such as aluminum and copper have been used to cool the components. As the power dissipation of the components increases, hotspots on the PCB develop which further complicates thermal management. One way of controlling hotspots is to facilitate the movement of heat from the hotspot to a more advantageously located heat-sink. This is traditionally done using heat-pipes. Heat-pipes are liquid filled tubes for transferring heat from one end of the tube to the other end of the tube. Hotspots may also be controlled by distributing the heat across more surface area of the PCB. This is done by dedicating layers of copper in the PCB for conducting heat from the component and throughout the PCB. The copper layers are also the electrical ground plane for the electronic circuits on the PCB and the heat is conducted to this layer of copper from the electrical component by way of vias. Unfortunately, as power dissipation increases, additional layers of copper are required for conducting heat from the component, leaving less area for trace routing for electrical signals in the design.
Existing systems for removing heat from a device on a PCB and spreading it across the PCB or moving it to a heat-sink located elsewhere on the PCB have disadvantages. These systems have to dedicate portions of the available volume for heat-pipe mechanisms. They also require direct contact of the device to a heat-sink, sometimes through cut-outs in the PCB, reducing available PCB area. Further, they require using copper planes for conducting heat which consumes PCB routing areas.

Method and system for extracting heat from electrical components

GE Intelligent Platforms Embedded Systems, Inc.


Embodiments relate to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a session context handling method, a network element, and a terminal device. A method includes: receiving, by a session management network element, a first message that is from a mobility management network element and that is used to request to establish a session for a terminal device, where the first message carries an identifier of a data network; obtaining, by the session management network element, capability information of the data network based on the identifier of the data network; and when the capability information of the data network is that the data network supports a non-IP session, generating, by the session management network element, a non-IP session context based on an Ethernet or unstructured session context of the terminal device.

That a 5th generation (5G) network can support four types of packet data unit (PDU) sessions, including an IPv4 type, an IPv6 type, an Ethernet type, and an unstructured type is defined in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard. However, a 4th generation (4G) network can support two types of packet data unit sessions, including an IP type and a non-IP type.
The 3GPP standard currently specifies that in a scenario of handover from the 5G network to the 4G network, if a terminal device establishes an Ethernet PDU session in the 5G network, when the terminal device is handed over to the 4G network due to a reason such as movement, the Ethernet session needs to be converted into a non-IP session.
However, in a research process, a person of ordinary skill in the art finds that when an SMF converts an Ethernet session context into a non-IP session context, and delivers the non-IP session context to an MME and an SGW in a 4G system to establish the non-IP session, because the terminal device or a 3GPP external network may not support establishment of the non-IP session, the non-IP session cannot be established. This wastes resources.

Session context handling method, network element, and terminal device