A system and method for managing access to the Internet substantially reduces connection time between an Internet service provider (ISP) server and a user by processing user logon and information requests through signaling links or channels of an intelligent telecommunications network, such as Signaling System 7 (SS7). An ISP access manager receives logon and information requests from the user through the signaling link (e.g., ISDN D channel), and instructs the ISP server to process the requests. Once the server processes a information request by retrieving requested information from a World Wide Web (WWW) site, the ISP access manager causes the ISP server to be connected to the user's computer through a transmission link or channel (e.g., ISDN B channel), and the server downloads the retrieved information to the user. The ISP access manager causes the transmission link to be disconnected if the user does not request additional information within a predetermined time interval after information has been downloaded for a previous request. As soon as the user requests additional information, the ISP access manager causes the transmission link to be reestablished when the server is ready to download the requested information to the user. This arrangement eliminates transmission link connect time during logon processing, retrieval of requested information by the server from remote sites, and when a user is reviewing previously downloaded information, thus substantially reducing the transmission link connect time during the user's session.

The present invention relates in general to a system and method for providing user access to the Internet which maximize efficiency in the use of telecommunications resources.
Access to the Internet is generally accomplished through an Internet access service provided by an organization called an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The ISP provides the network interface and computer service functions which enable the user or subscriber to establish a connection to the Internet, and request and receive information from Internet World Wide Web (WWW) sites.
The rapid increase in use and popularity of the Internet has created a problem in the telecommunications network. In particular, the present telecommunications infrastructure is not engineered for the long holding times of telephone calls which interconnect the users to the ISP. These calls tie up telephone subscriber lines, central office switch resources and network trunk lines for durations which are many times greater than the average durations for which the infrastructure was designed. According to industry reports, the increasing volume of Internet access calls results in a degradation of service to other telephone system users.
Some solutions have been recommended which would require a completely new network overlaid over the present telephone network to handle Internet access calls separately from other telephone calls. Unfortunately, such solutions are not particularly attractive or feasible because they would require a large capital investment in new telecommunications network infrastructure.

System using signaling channel to transmit internet connection request to internet service provider server for initiating and internet session


The present invention comprises an illuminated fiber ornament which can be interconnected to like ornaments to form a multitude of shapes. The ornament has stiffened optic fibers which provides rigidity not found in the prior art while retaining flexibility and resilience. The ornament can be made in specific, permanent shapes, such as a child's toy stuffed teddy bear. The ornament can also be provided as modular units which can be assembled and modified to provide personalized designs. The light transmission and light dispersion patterns of the ornament may be varied by the inclusion of light altering material in the ornament and by deforming the ends of the optic fibers. Preferred materials include synthetic polymers for a central solid member, and polystyrene filament for optic fibers. The preferred stiffener for the optic fibers is acrylic coating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illuminated fiber ornament which comprises a complete, self-contained ornament or which can be joined in modular fashion to like ornaments to form a multitude of shapes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lighted ornaments delight the public, as exemplified by fictitious figures such as Santa Claus, popularly displayed during the Christmas season, and other items, such as illuminated stars mounted atop Christmas trees. Fiber optic materials are useful to add aesthetic delight to such ornaments. As currently practiced, the shapes of current fiber optic decorative devices are sprays, as dictated by current construction in light of the force of gravity. As with any ornamental device, the availability of one, and only one, configuration is a drawback. The popularity of the simple spray dwindles as the novelty of its appearance wears off.
Fiber optic filaments may lack rigidity, since they are made from a material selected to provide a compromise between rigidity and efficiency of light transmission. Typical fiber optic ornaments bind the fiber optic filaments together at one end and leave the opposite end unrestrained. This type of construction results in a fiber optic ornament of spray shape, wherein the unrestrained end portions of the fiber optic filaments droop responsive to gravity.
Introducing rigidity to individual optic fiber filaments would allow for the creation of optic fiber ornaments of permanent and specific shape, wherein the collective ends of radiating optic filaments define the outer boundary, and hence the shape, of the ornament. With such construction, the number of possible shapes to be created becomes virtually infinite.
Exemplary of such fiber optic sprays are U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,385, issued Nov. 30, 1971 to Lamar J. Wall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,186, issued Mar. 5, 1991 to Lorraine Cocca, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,410, issued Mar. 4, 1969 to B. J. Dolan et al. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,376, issued Oct. 16, 1973 to Sadacca et al, discloses a Christmas tree illuminated by a multiplicity of optic sprays. Further effects are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,917, issued Jun. 27, 1978 to Robert E. McCaslin, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,495, issued Jun. 3, 1980 to Robert E. McCaslin, these patents disclosing, respectively, a fiber optic spray device which is rotated and a fiber optic spray device in which the optic spray fibers reciprocate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,045, issued Mar. 21, 1978 to Nakatsubo et al, discloses bundling of a plurality of flexible optic fibers to provide strength against bending. Nakatsubo et al. also discloses coating the bundle of flexible optic fibers with an opaque coating, preferably a resin coating, the purpose relating to limiting escape of light from the fiber. Flexibility of the bundle and rigidity of individual fibers are unaffected by the opaque coating.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


A base station receives GPS signals from GPS satellites and transmits a combined differential GPS (DGPS) signal and a command signal. At least one pseudolite receives the DGPS and command signals and combines the DGPS and command signals with a pseudo-GPS signal. A GPS receiver on a mobile machine receives GPS signals from GPS satellites, and the combined signal from the pseudolite. The position signals are delivered to a machine position processor to generate a machine position signal. The command signals are delivered to a machine control processor to generate a machine control signal. The machine position signal and the machine control signal are delivered to a machine navigator to control the mobile machine.

The communications needs of mobile machines, particularly mobile machines in working environments, are becoming increasingly more complex as the work related expectations of the machines increase. For example, in the construction and mining industries, mobile machines must receive command related information, and position related information that needs to be increasingly more precise. This information may then be used to control actions of the mobile machine. If the mobile machine is autonomous, the information that is received by the mobile machine is even more important for proper operation of the machine.
The need to receive this diversity of information requires several pieces of communications equipment. The position related information may require a GPS antenna and receiver for receiving GPS signals, a differential GPS (DGPS) antenna and receiver for receiving a DGPS signal, and an antenna and receiver for receiving signals from pseudolites. The command related information may require additional antennas and receivers for receiving this data.
Attempts have been made to design and build antennas that package more than one antenna into a single unit. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,726, Nichols et al. disclose an antenna combination that incorporates a GPS antenna and a DGPS antenna into one enclosure. However, additional antennas may still be required for receiving command information and pseudolite signals. In addition, even though the GPS and DGPS antennas are packaged into one enclosure, they are still two separate antennas and require separate preamplifiers and tuning networks, as well as diplexers to combine the two received signals.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,363, Spilker discloses a system in which message signals are tramsmitted via a satellite uplink to available GPS satellites using the L3 transmission channel that is available. The messages are then transmitted by the GPS satellites back to earth, where they can be received by equipment that is in the propagation path of the transmitting satellites. This system may work well for specific applications, such as relaying data to receivers at geographically distant locations, provided the original transmitter and the intended receivers are both in view of the same GPS satellites. However, the system requires expensive satellite uplink equipment which must be directed toward the intended satellite relays. Additionally, many applications, e.g., work at a mining or construction site, is confined to a small geographic area, and does not require a system designed to send signals over vast portions of the earth.
The use of pseudolites has become increasingly popular at sites where precise and uninterrupted position signals are required. For example, at a mining site, the rough terrain caused by digging deep into the earth results in areas that are shadowed from GPS satellite signals. The proper placement of pseudolites to cover these shadowed areas is necessary to insure constant and precise position determinations of the mobile machines at the site. Sheynblat et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,630, discloses a network of pseudolites used to provide the required minimum of four GPS signals to enable precise position determination of mobile machines. These pseudolites, as disclosed by Sheynblat et al., operate at the same frequency as GPS, and use signals that are compatible with GPS antennas and receivers. Therefore, the pseudolites do not require any equipment for reception other than the receivers used to receive the actual GPS signals. However, the mobile machines at the site must still use additional antennas and receivers to receive command related signals.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.

Apparatus and method for receiving position and control signals by a mobile machine


A submersible pump assembly may be radially oriented for pumping well fluid in a deviated or horizontal well. The submersible pump assembly has an instrument housing having a longitudinal axis and incorporated onto the pump assembly. An electrical contact is mounted within the housing and an electrical contact probe, moveable relative to the housing and biased upwards toward an upper side of the housing when the pump assembly is inclined, is provided. The housing and the electrical contact are rotatable about the longitudinal axis relative to the electrical contact probe, such that an electrical circuit is completed when the electrical contact is rotated into engagement with the electrical contact probe, generating a signal from the completed electrical circuit. The electrical contact is at a known circumferential position relative to the fixed reference point, which may be the intake port of the pump.

Submersible pumping systems, such as electrical submersible pumps (ESP) are often used in hydrocarbon producing wells for pumping fluids from within the well bore to the surface. ESP systems may also be used in subsea applications for transferring fluids, for example, in horizontal conduits or vertical caissons arranged along the sea floor.
Pumps become less efficient when significant amounts of gas from the well fluid flow into the intakes. In a horizontal or highly deviated well, any gas in the well fluid tends to migrate to the upper side of the casing, forming a pocket of free gas. The gas tends to flow into a portion of the intake on the higher side of the pump intake.
Current solutions to this problem include gas restrictors, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,556, and gas separators, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,270,178. While the prior art types may be workable, they often have multiple moving parts which make them more complicated than necessary, increasing production costs and increasing the likelihood of mechanical failure. Another current prior art alternative would be to drill a sump with multilaterals but this method can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to drilling and production costs.

System, method and apparatus for downhole orientation probe sensor


Polyvinyl-alcohol-stabilized redispersible powders which have plasticizing properties are obtained by drying polyvinyl-alcohol-stabilized aqueous dispersions of polymers of one or more monomers from the group of vinyl esters of optionally branched C1-18 alkylcarboxylic acids, (meth)acrylic esters of optionally branched C1-15 alcohols, dienes, olefins, vinylaromatics and vinylhalides,    in the presence of a copolymer formed from            a) one or more monomers from the group of ethylenically unsaturated monocarboxylic acids, ethylenically unsaturated dicarboxylic acids and their anhydrides, each having 4 to 8 carbon atoms, and salts thereof,        b) one or more ethylenically unsaturated compounds containing sulfonic, sulfuric, and/or phosphonic acid groups, and salts thereof, and        c) one or more monomers from the group consisting of vinyl esters of optionally branched C1-18 alkylcarboxylic acids and (meth)acrylic esters of optionally branched C1-15 alcohols.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to polyvinyl-alcohol-stabilized redispersible powders having plasticizing properties, to processes for preparing them, and to their use in chemical products for the construction industry.
2. Background Art
Polymer powders stabilized with protective colloid which are redispersible in water (redispersible powders) are employed as additives in construction compositions, based for example on cement or gypsum, in order to improve strength and abrasion resistance, or in the case of construction adhesives, to improve adhesive tensile strength. The protective colloid used is frequently polyvinyl alcohol, since this colloid contributes to improved strength, in comparison to polymers stabilized with low molecular weight emulsifiers.
Redispersible powders of this kind are obtainable by drying the corresponding protective-colloid-stabilized polymer dispersions, with the addition during drying of so-called drying assistants (spraying aids), in order to prevent the formation of agglomerates. In EP-A 467103 water-soluble copolymers with carboxyl-functional comonomer units are used as drying assistants. DE-A 19707746 describes the use of copolymers of ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids and their hydroxyalkyl esters as drying assistants. EP-A 629650 discloses copolymers containing acrylamidomethylpropanesulfonic acid units as a spraying aid. EP-A 671435 recommends spray drying in the presence of copolymers containing hydrophilic, water-soluble, and salt-forming monomers.
In many cases modification of construction compositions such as mortar or concrete with redispersible powders decreases fluidity. In the case of fluid mortars such as self-leveling fillers or screeds, however, a liquid consistency which exhibits little change during processing, is essential. Consequently, in these applications, additives known as cement plasticizers are employed. For example, EP-A 549280 describes plasticizers based on graft copolymers containing four different comonomer units: (meth)acrylic acid units, hydroxyalkyl (meth)acrylate units, (meth)acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, and (meth)acrylates containing EO groups. JP-A 59/162161 describes water-soluble copolymers containing hydroxyalkyl esters of an ethylenically unsaturated monocarboxylic acid and ethylenically unsaturated monocarboxylic or dicarboxylic acid units. EP-A 407889 discloses redispersible powders which employ phenolsulfonic acid-formaldehyde condensation products in order to improve their fluidity when used in hydraulic binders. EP-A 812872 describes processes for preparing polymer powders with the addition of drying assistants having a plasticizing effect.

Polyvinyl-alcohol-stabilized redispersible powders with plasticizing properties


The invention concerns a vessel (1) for storing and/or producing hydrocarbons and a buoyant turret buoy (6) to be connected to the vessel (1). The outer surface of the bow (2) of the vessel (1) comprises a receiving structure (5) for connecting a buoyant turret buoy (6) to the bow (2). The main part of the receiving structure (5) protrudes from the lower part (4) of the bow (2) in the vessel's (1) direction of travel and an interface of the receiving structure (5) is complementary to an interface of a connecting section (17) of the buoyant turret buoy (6). Further the lower part (4) of the bow (2) is below the water line (w) during connection of the buoyant turret buoy (6) at sea. The invention also concerns a method for connecting the buoyant turret buoy (6) to receiving structure (5) of the vessel (1).

The function of a turret is to moor a weathervaning vessel to a seabed without creating excessive forces on the mooring lines. This is achieved by use of a swivel and bearings that keeps the turret geostationary during vessel rotations. Turrets on storage or production vessels must also provide space for pipelines extending along an axial center of the turret. The swivel enables the transfer of fluid flows, communication signals, hydraulics and any power between the geostationary turret and the weathervaning vessel.
A turret mooring system often comprises a turret arrangement integrated in a vessel and permanently moored to the seabed. The turret arrangement comprises a bearing system allowing the vessel to rotate/weathervane around a fixed geostatic part of the turret arrangement without creating excessive forces on the mooring lines. Such integrated installation requires complex structural mounting arrangements attached to a suitable load bearing portion of the bow. Also, since the turret assembly is permanently installed, considerable work is required to remove the turret assembly. Further, due to the fact that the turret is permanently fixed to the vessel, it will be exposed to any weather conditions such as hurricanes which may cause damages.
As an example, patent publication GB1189758A discloses a conventional turret extending between the deck and the keel of a vessel. The turret is kept geostationary by a deck positioned rotatable table. A more recent example of a turret is disclosed in patent publication WO 98/56650, where a relatively small sized turret is located near the keel level of the vessel.
A vessel having a turret arrangement comprising a disconnectable turret buoy for mooring and/or risers for transferring of petroleum products is known. Such turret buoys are internally connected to a vessel inside the hull. The turret buoy allows relative rotation between 1) the seabed and associated risers and 2) the vessel, allowing the vessel to weathervane. Risers and mooring lines can be attached to the turret buoy also when the turret buoy is disconnected from the vessel.
A vessel having a disconnectable turret buoy for mooring and/or transferring of petroleum products is known for example from WO 93/11031 A and WO 93/24732 A.
The turret buoy has an outer buoyancy member arranged for introduction and releasable fastening in a submerged, downwardly open receiving space inside the hull of the vessel. Since the receiving space is situated inside the hull of the vessel, the water gathered above the turret buoy must be drained out to connect the risers within the turret buoy with the swivel. Further, the inventions requires rebuilding of vessels, such as shuttle tankers, for transition to production vessels, and the installation and operation of the turret buoy and the connection and inspection of risers is complicated.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,225,732 B1 discloses a solution where a tanker is converted to a floating production ship by a vertical opening being cut in the hull. A cassette composed of plate elements is inserted into this opening, and a turret is mounted into the cassette. Another example of a disconnectable turret is found in Korean patent publication KR101512692 disclosing a turret being mounted on a dedicated turret support structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,431 A discloses a disconnectable transfer structure that can be connected to a bifurcated mooring structure situated under the water line at the bow of a dedicated vessel. However, this setup does not allow easy maintenance during operation.
Thus, there is an object of the invention is to provide a turret assembly for mooring a production vessel to a seabed and for transferring fluids from a subsea flowline to the vessel, which mitigate at least some of the above mentioned short-comings.
A particular object of the present invention is to provide a vessel that requires few modifications of the vessel, as well as a simple configuration of the receiving structure for receiving a disconnectable turret buoy.
A second object of the present invention is to obtain a simplified installation and operation of the turret buoy, and a simplified inspection of risers, compared to the prior art.
A third object of the present invention is to enable the use of existing winches on for example a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for buoy pull-in, mooring line hook-up, riser connection, swivel handling etc.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a simplified mechanism for locking the turret buoy to the vessel, and a simplified inspection and maintenance of the locking arrangement compared to the prior art.
A fifth object of the present invention is to obtain a swivel system located in a dry and protected area, allowing safe and simple connection to the processing plant/risers/umbilicals on the vessel.
A sixth object of the present invention is to allow the vessel to weathervane while maintaining a continuous flow path for production fluids from the subsea well to the vessel.
A seventh object of the present invention is to provide an easy and quick disconnection of the turret buoy from the vessel.
An eights object of the present invention is to provide a protecting and tight fit between the vessel and the buoyant turret buoy.


A notebook type of computer of one embodiment includes a display unit, a housing to which the display unit is pivotally attached, an angle sensor which detects an opening angle between the display unit and the housing, a sensor driver which A/D converts an output from the angle sensor and passes the result to a power management driver, and an angle comparison module which reads a setting value as to the opening angle and determines whether the opening angle is within a range of a predetermined angle. If the opening angle is within the predetermined range, a user is presumed to be using the notebook computer on a lap and the power management operation is performed per that presumption.

The present invention relates to power management in an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an information processing apparatus that automatically detects that a portable information processing apparatus is in a state of laptop use to perform power management thereto, a power management method of the information processing apparatus, and program for executing the above.
In recent years, high-performance components such as a central processing unit (CPU), a hard disk, a CD-RW and the like are incorporated in a notebook type information processing apparatus. For this reason, a heating value of the notebook type information processing apparatus tends to increase more and more. The generated amount of heat is released to the outside of a housing through a cooling mechanism, such as a fan, a heat sink or the like in order to suppress a housing temperature to be less than or equal to a predetermined temperature. Nonetheless, in a portable information processing apparatus such as, in particular, a notebook type personal computer for example, since a bottom of the housing does not have an enough thermal diffusion efficiency, it tends to get hotter compared with other portions.
Moreover, as the downsizing of the information processing apparatus has been achieved, the information processing apparatus has been increasingly brought with a user and used on a user's lap in many cases. When the user uses the information processing apparatus on the lap, if the CPU or the like is operated at full power, the bottom of the housing gets hotter, and it is assumed, in some cases, to provide discomfort to the user. Accordingly, it has been required to detect in what kind of environment the information processing apparatus is used by the user and to perform the power management processing based on the result.
Until now, various power management methods have been proposed. For example, in JP11-296128A (Patent Document 1), there is provided a disclosure of a technique by which a trigger for reducing a frequency of a video clock is detected in association with a kind of an application, the frequency of the video clock is subsequently reduced to a predetermined frequency during a vertical retrace line of the display unit using the video clock, and the frequency is kept until the user changes the application.
Moreover, in JP2003-345465A (Patent Document 2), there is provided a disclosure of a technique by which a sensor arranged at a bottom of a laptop computer detects a temperature at the bottom of the housing of the laptop computer, and a signal for starting an auxiliary cooling action for reducing the temperature of the housing is generated. According to this technique, a temperature at a position of the worst thermal diffusion efficiency caused by a touch with the laptop computer is detected to adjust the power consumption of the laptop computer. According to this technique, however, the power consumption control is not initiated until the temperature is increased, thereby leading the user to receive a thermal stimulation from the bottom at that moment.
Furthermore, as a technique of feeding back a detected vibration result to a control of the information processing apparatus, for example in JP2004-146036A (Patent Document 3), there is provided a disclosure of a computer system for processing of evacuating a magnetic head by employing a sensor for detecting environment changes of a magnetic disk unit to predict a physical shock with reference to past records.
These systems are configured to reduce the temperature of the housing by either reducing the video clock rate according to a type of software product currently used, or directly measuring the temperature of the bottom of the housing to initiate the auxiliary cooling action. There is also provided a disclosure of a technique for detecting a vibration provided to the computer system to execute the processing based on the past records. Moreover, a method and a system for controlling the temperature are disclosed in JP2002-163038A (Patent Document 4). Also in this case, the computer is controlled by detecting the temperature, and a relative relationship between the user and the information processing apparatus is not taken into consideration. There is provided a disclosure of the techniques for reducing the temperature of the housing and detecting the vibration to be used for the control, but there is not provided a disclosure of all the techniques for determining the relative relationship between the information processing apparatus and the user from an ergonomic viewpoint, and performing a power management in response to the environments and arrangements under which the user uses the information processing apparatus.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H11-296128
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2003-345465
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2004-146036
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-163038

Managing laptop power based on display angle


The present invention provides thiadiazolyl and oxadiazolyl phenyl oxzolidinone compounds of formula I ##STR1## wherein Q is thiadiazolyl or oxadiazolyl; wherein X.sup.1 and X.sup.2 are independently hydrogen, fluorine or chlorine; and. wherein R.sup.1 is, for example, --COCH.sub.3 or --COCH.sub.2 CH.sub.3.. These compounds are useful antimicrobial agents, effective against a number of human and veterinary pathogens, including gram-positive and gram-negative aerobic bacteria.

The subject invention discloses thiadiazolyl and oxadiazolyl phenyl oxazolidinone derivatives. The compounds are useful antimicrobial agents, effective against a number of human and veterinary pathogens, including gram-positive aerobic bacteria such as multiply-resistant staphylococci, streptococci and enterococci, as well as anaerobic organisms such as Bacteroides spp., and acid-fast organisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Piperazine-containing oxazolidinonesare disclosed in International Publication No. WO93/23384, Nov. 25, 1987 (PCT/US93/03570). International Publication No. WO95/14684, Jun. 1, 1995 (PCT/US94/10582) discloses esters of the oxazolidinone, piperazine ring structures disclosed in the above PCT application. International Publication No. WO95/07271, Mar. 16, 1995 (PCT/US94/08904) discloses oxazolidinones although containing morpholine and thiomorpholine instead of the subject piperazine.
Other earlier publications in the area of oxazolidiiunes are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,801,600; 4,921,869; EPA 0352781 (Jan. 31, 1989); and EPA 0316594 (May 24, 1989) all assigned to E. I. DuPont De Nemours and Company, which are cited here to exemplify the state of the art.

Thiadiazolyl and oxadiazolyl phenyl oxazolidinone antibacterial agents


Methods and training programs for improving the level of quality of care within a healthcare plan. The methods include obtaining medical data from a population of patients within the plan, storing such data in electronic medical records embodied on a computer readable medium, evaluating at least one metric within the data via a computer capable of interpreting said electronic medical records, and presenting a notification if the metric is found to be below a standard for the metric. The training includes evaluating the healthcare plan's current practices, training the healthcare provider in improved practices, providing a system for recording medical documents, and training the healthcare provider in use of the system.

The present invention is directed toward improved systems and methods for improving and/or maintaining a high level of performance for healthcare plans. More particularly, the present invention comprises training programs and software systems useful by healthcare plans to improve their Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Five-Star Quality Rating.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rates the relative quality of the private plans that are offered to beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage programs. CMS rates Medicare Advantage plans on a one to five star scale, with five stars representing the highest quality.
The summary score provides an overall measure of a plan's quality, and is a cumulative indicator of the quality of care, access to care, responsiveness, and beneficiary satisfaction of services provided by the plan.
The ratings are posted on the CMS website to provide beneficiaries with additional information to help them select the best Medicare Advantage plan for them from the plans offered in their service area. The quality rating results are also used by CMS to evaluate a plan's performance and is a method for CMS to reward the high-quality plans for performance excellence. Starting in 2012, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act introduces Medicare Advantage bonuses and rebate levels ties to the CMS five-star quality rating. As such, there is a need for healthcare plans to maximize, and maintain, a high quality rating.
CMS defines the star ratings as five stars being excellent performance, four stars being above average performance, three stars being average performance, two stars being below average performance, and one star being poor performance. Healthcare plans receive both a summary score and an overall score. The summary score for Medicare Advantage plans: 1) is used under the health reform law to provide quality-based payments; 2) provides an overall measure of a plan's quality, based on indicators of the quality of care, access to care, responsiveness, beneficiary satisfaction, and customer service; and 3) does not include the plan's Part D (prescription drug plan) ratings. In contrast, the overall score for Medicare Advantage plans differs from the summary score because it combines a plan's summary score with its Part D rating. CMS uses the overall score for the 2011 ratings, and proposes to use the overall score into the future.
The five-star quality scores for Medicare Advantage plans are based on 36 standard performance measures that are derived from four sources: 1) the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS); 2) the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS); 3) the Health Outcomes Survey (HOS); and 4) the CMS administrative data, including information about beneficiaries' satisfaction, plans' appeals processes, audit results, and customer service.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a program designed to train and support healthcare plans to identify areas of deficiency, thereby finding and driving specific behaviors to improve their star rating and/or to maintain a high star rating.

Health plan rating system improvement program


In a spark plug for use for an internal combustion engine, an elongated insulator is provided in which a center electrode is supported. A cylindrical metal shell is provided in which the insulator is supported, and a ground electrode extends from the metal shell to form a spark gap with a front end of the center electrode. The front end of the center electrode has a tapered-off step section whose front end surface has a spark erosion resistant portion, and having a boundary between a columnar portion of the center electrode and the tapered-off step section. The boundary of the tapered-off step section is located within a front end surface of the insulator, and a front end surface of the tapered-off step section is positioned outside of the front end surface of the insulator. The front end of the center electrode forms a conoidal configuration having an apex angle formed at the center of the center electrode, circumscribing a front periphery of the insulator while maintaining an apex angle of 110 degrees or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a spark plug improved so as to effectively prevent flashover from occurring behind a front end surface of an insulator when applying a high voltage across electrodes at the time of ignition.
2. Description of Prior Art
In a spark plug in which spark discharges are induced within an air-fuel mixture gas, an elongated center electrode is placed in a tubular insulator, and a metal shell which supports the insulator, and a front end portion of the center electrode faces a front end of an outer electrode to induce spark discharges across a spark gap provided therebetween.
In this type of the spark plug as represented by FIG. 7, the center electrode has a columnar section 100 on which a semi-frusto-cone shaped step section 101 is provided which is tapered off toward a front end of the center electrode in order to improve an ignitability. On a front end surface of the step section 101, a small columnar portion 102 is provided to reach a front end of the center electrode. It is well-known that the small columnar portion 102 is made of a noble metal material such as a Pt--Ir alloy or the like.
As foreign prior art references relevant to the present invention, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,914,344 and 4,845,400 are thus far introduced.
However, in the case in which a boundary 103 between the columnar section 100 and the the step section 101 is protracted outside of a front end surface 104 of the insulator as shown in FIG. 7, equi-potential curves concentrate on the front end surface of the insulator so as to likely invite the flashover from the boundary 103 toward a shoulder portion 84 of the insulator as shown at (Fo) in FIG. 7, instead of normally inducing spark discharges across a spark gap between the center electrode and the ground electrode.
This is all the more true for a spark plug which is incorporated into a gas engine which uses gaseous fuel such as natural gas, synthetic gas, LPG or the like. Because this type of the spark plug employs a shorter leg portion of the insulator with a high compression ratio so that a high spark voltage is required to likely invite the flashover.
In the prior art reference of U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,344, a boundary positions inside a front end surface of an insulator 3. However, the structure is such as to induce capacitor discharges between a forward end 41 of third electrode 4 and a front end of the center electrode 1 by way of an auxiliary gap S2, thus likely to invite the flashover behind a front end surface of the insulator.
In the prior art reference of U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,400, a boundary and a taper portion 31 itself are located inside a front end surface of the insulator 2. This provides a wide space between the taper portion 31 and a front inner wall of the insulator 2. The structure is such that a greater amount of heat is retain within the wide space, thus quickly deteriorating a front end of a center electrode.
Therefore, it is a main object of the invention to provide a spark plug which is capable of positively preventing the flashover from occurring behind the front end surface of the insulator, thereby normally inducing spark discharges in the air-fuel mixture gas within a wide range of operating conditions.

Spark plug in use for an internal combustion engine


A converting circuit has a memory of a capacity of at least n.times.b.sub.max pixels when b.sub.max is set to the number of valid pixels in a frequency mode providing a largest number of valid pixels for one horizontal period with respect to a plurality of frequency modes. A memory controller has a read only memory (ROM) table for storing an address generating order in advance in the frequency mode of the number b.sub.max of valid pixels. In the memory controller, an address is generated in accordance with address generating order stored in the ROM table when line data in another frequency mode are stored in the memory. Data of n.times.b valid pixels are stored in the memory every n horizontal periods when the number of valid pixels for one horizontal period in the other frequency mode is set to b. In the memory controller, data of invalid pixels are store in the memory at the remaining n.times.b.sub.max -n.times.b addresses. A data mask inhibits data of (b.sub.max /n)-(b/n) invalid pixel blocks every n horizontal periods with respect to block data read and converted at a reading time from being outputted to the next stage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit for converting line data to block data and a circuit for converting block data to line data in an image compressing system utilizing a discrete cosine transformation (DCT). In the following description, these converting circuits are called a line data-block converting circuit as a unified converting circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an image is generally compressed by utilizing a discrete cosine transformation (DCT), no DCT processing can be performed with respect to a brightness signal and a color difference dot sequential signal as they are before balance modulation of these signals is performed by a subcarrier, especially, in a standard television system, concretely, in a National Television System Committee (NTSC) system and a Phase Alternation by Line (PAL) system. Namely, it is necessary to convert each of these signals to a block signal of longitudinal number n.times.transversal number n. In general, image data are received in the shape of line data so that it is necessary to convert data once blocked to line data. In this case, it is desirable to use a line data-block data converting circuit which all of plural operating modes of system clock frequencies different from each other can be set in both the NTSC and PAL system.
As shown in the following Table 1, there are four kinds of modes of the different system clock frequencies in the NTSC and PAL systems.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ clock systems frequencies NTSC PAL ______________________________________ 13.5 MHz 720 720 858 864 14.3 MHz 768 910 14.1875 MHz 752 908 ______________________________________
For example, when a system clock frequency is set to 4.times.f.sub.SC =14.3 MHz (in this case, a frequency f.sub.SC of the subcarrier is equal to 3.58 MHz) in the NTSC system, the number of horizontal valid pixels on the screen is shown by an upper number in a corresponding column in Table 1 and is equal to 768. The total number of horizontal sampling pixels including a blanking area is shown by a lower number in the corresponding column in Table 1 and is equal to 910. Similarly, in a frequency mode of 13.5 MHz in the NTSC system, the number of horizontal valid pixels is equal to 720 and the total number of horizontal sampling pixels is equal to 858. In a frequency mode of 14.1875 MHz in the PAL system, the number of horizontal valid pixels is equal to 752 and the total number of horizontal sampling pixels is equal to 908. In a frequency mode of 13.5 MHz in the PAL system, the number of horizontal valid pixels is equal to 720 and the total number of horizontal sampling pixels is equal to 864.
In each of these various kinds of frequency modes, line data sequentially transmitted in rear time are converted to a block signal of longitudinal number n.times.transversal number n and are transmitted to a DCT section at the next stage in real time. To perform these converting and transmitting operations, the line data-block data converting circuit has a high speed static RAM (SRAM) and a memory controller for performing a writing operation of data while a reading operation of the data is performed. When the number of horizontal valid pixels on the screen in each of the frequency modes is set to b, the number of pixel blocks transmitted as a block of longitudinal number n.times.transversal number n for one horizontal period (H) is equal to b/(n.times.n). In this case, the memory controller transmits an initial address value represented by the following first general formula to the SRAM as address information every n horizontal periods (which are shown by nH in the following description). ##EQU1##
The memory controller accumulatively adds the initial address value every n pixels. When this added value is equal to or greater than the number b, it is necessary to subtract the number b from this added value and add one to this subtracted value. It is necessary to transmit this final added value as address information. In contrast to this, when the above accumulatively added value is smaller than the number b, it is necessary to transmit this accumulatively added value to the SRAM as address information as it is.
When block data are converted to line data, operations reverse to the above operations are performed. At this time, an initial address value every n horizontal periods (nH) is represented by the following second general formula. ##EQU2##
In this second general formula, BA.sub.(o) designates the number of valid pixels for one horizontal period and P designates BA.sub.(o) /n.
However, to realize a converting circuit represented by the above first and second formulas, it is necessary to dispose a divisional circuit and a modulo arithmetic (remaining) circuit so that the converting circuit is complicated. A method for storing calculated results in advance to a ROM table disposed in the memory controller has been considered to realize the converting circuit by a simplified circuit structure. However, in this method, it is necessary to dispose three ROM tables since the respective frequency modes are set by using the ROM tables. Therefore, the converting circuit is large-sized.


A system for integrating access to separate and physically partitioned networks from a single client device is described. The system is interposed between the client device and the networks to allow communication between the client device and the networks, such that data remains partitioned between networks. The system includes a scrambler configured to mix portions of data of variable bit lengths. Typically, the scrambler receives the portions of data from each of the plurality of networks, intermixes the portions of data from the networks, then selects different paths for transporting the intermixed portions of data to the client device. Each of the different paths for transporting the intermixed portions of data are physically and/or logically partitioned from each other. Only when the data arrives on the client device is it able to be reassembled, and then only in particular partitioned locations on the client device corresponding to the particular network from which the data originated.

The United States Department of Defense currently uses three separate networks to communicate information between users: (1) JWICS (Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications Systems); (2) SIPRNet (Secret Internet Protocol Router Network); and (3) NIPRNet (the Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Network). Each of these networks are used to transmit different types of information based the level of security associated with the content of the information. That is, information that is deemed "top secret" may only be communicated or exist on the JWICS network, Information that is deemed "classified," up to and including information deemed secret, may only be communicated or exist on the SIPRNet. Finally, information that is deemed unclassified may only be present on the NIPRNet. Additionally, access to the public Internet may only be obtained through the NIPRNet.
As separate and independent networks JWICS. NIPRNet, and SIPRNet operate in parallel. There is no inter-access between networks. Intermingling of data between networks is deemed a catastrophic security risk, as there is a potential to gain access to either the top secret or classified information from a lower-level network or even the Internet, if the networks were physically interconnected. Accordingly, each network includes its own set of storage, routers, and end-user computer platforms operating in parallel.
One major downside with having three separate and parallel networks are the increased costs associated with thrice duplicating the overhead of three parallel systems. Accordingly, the U.S. Department of Defense spends a substantial amount of money to design, deploy, manage and maintain a parallel network infrastructure. The three separate networks are designed to maximize security by reducing vulnerabilities associated with there being potential access to a high-security-level network from one or more lower-security-level networks deemed or public networks (e.g., the Internet).
Furthermore, having three sets of independent networks presents logistical problems and inconveniences. For example, in order for the end-user to communicate with each network simultaneously, the end-user may have to use more than one computer platform. For example, an individual with a "top secret" security level clearance typically has three separate computers operating on their desk to communicate on each network. To accomplish tasks, it is often necessary for higher-clearance personnel to constantly switch back and forth between multiple computer platforms. This need to switch between computer platforms and networks according to security level is time consuming, tedious, and unproductive.
Furthermore, when high-clearance personnel deploy in a combat zone, such personnel have the burden of accessing three separate networks through multiple computer platforms, which must be transported to the combat zone. In a combat environment, this requirement presents a logistical burden, requiring the transportation of redundant sets of hardware to a site, along with additional personnel to handle the demand of administering and often deploying triplicate sets of equipment.

System and method for providing a secure book device using cryptographically secure communications across secure networks


A single hand operated ratchet clamp comprises a finger ring lever and a typical ratchet clamp having a slide rail, a sliding arm, a fixed arm, and a lever element with pressure plate. The finger ring lever is pivoted to the free end of the lever element so that the ratchet clamp can be operated with one hand only.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a class of ratchet clamp or lever clamp in general, and particularly to single hand operated ratchet clamp. A finger ring lever is attached to the free end of the lever element of the ratchet clamp for inserting one of operator's fingers so that the ratchet clamp can be operated to clamp workpiece(s) with one hand.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical ratchet clamp comprises a slide rail, a fixed arm, a sliding arm which is free to slide over the slide rail, a lever element which is mounted in a pivotable manner on the sliding arm and a pressure plate which is mounted on the sliding arm and can be displaced transversely to the sliding arm pushing the workpiece against the fixed arm by the turning of the lever element. However, this clamping action on a workpiece usually requires two hands of an operator, with one hand holding the slide rail and the other hand operating the lever element due to the distance between the slide rail and the free end of the lever element. In this case, one may need a helping hand from other person to hold the workpiece(s) so that the clamping job can be completed. The present invention is devised to solve this problem.


Embodiments of the invention provide a coupler for use in a closed transfer system configured to selectively engage a container seated in fluid communication with the coupler. The coupler has a body with a slot having an axial component, and an outlet. A probe extends from a first end portion to a second end portion and is at least partially received within the body, the probe is configured to be movable relative to the body between a first position and a second position to selectively control a flow of fluid through the outlet. A probe tip with a cylindrical bore is configured to engage the second end portion of the probe, and a handle is coupled to the probe and configured to interface with the slot. Axial movement of the handle along the slot moves the probe between the first position and the second position.

The invention relates to closed transfer systems and methods. Specifically, the invention relates to closed transfer systems and methods incorporating a coupling system, a cleaning system, and a transfer system that can be used in connection with a closed transfer system.
Hazardous chemicals are frequently used in various applications, such as agriculture. While the hazardous chemicals may be effective when applied properly (e.g., pesticides applied to crops), overexposure may be undesirable. Therefore, regulations often govern the types of vessels and containers that can be used to store and transfer chemicals.
Hazardous chemicals are removed or transferred from their containers in the course of being used for their ultimate application. Because the chemicals may have undesirable impacts if improperly used or applied, spills and leaks during chemical transfer is preferably avoided. A closed transfer system (CTS) can be used to efficiently transport chemicals from within their chemical containers toward other receptacles or dispensing mechanisms. Chemical containers can be coupled to a CTS, which can use a pressure differential to motivate chemicals out of the container.

Coupler for use in a closed transfer system


Embodiments herein include a method that receives a previously created variable data print file. The method iterates through pages of the variable data print file to identify reused objects and decomposes the variable data print file into a decomposed document template, comprising the reused objects, and into a decomposed (factored) variable data file, comprising objects other than the reused objects. In some embodiments the method can further decompose the reused object into image and graphic objects, and into non-image and non-graphic objects. This allows the image and graphic objects, the non-image and non-graphic objects, and/or the decomposed variable data file to be edited without needing to go back to the application that-originally generated the variable print data file.

Embodiments herein generally relate to electrostatographic printers and copiers or reproduction machines, and more particularly, concerns deriving templates from variable data print files.
The details regarding variable documents are well-known to those ordinarily skilled in the art and a redundant discussion of the same is avoided herein. For example, U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 2002/0191219, 2005/0141035, and 2005/0180648, the complete disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, discuss the operation variable documents in detail.
Variable data print files are typically the result of applying a data set to a document template and a set of rules for merging the data with the template. Once the print file is created, the logical document template no longer exists within the print file. If any changes need to be made to this file, they must be done on every page on which the instance of the change needs to be made; otherwise, the editor must go back to the originating application, make the change, and regenerate the print file. This can be very time consuming and prohibitively expensive.

Document template derived from variable data print file


Faults, dimensions and other characteristics of a material or structure are sensed by a coherent beam's reflection from the material during ultrasonic or very fast vibration. The reflected beam acquires a phase substantially different from its original phase and from the phase of a reference beam split from the common source beam. The reflected beam and the reference beam are superimposed by diffraction in a multiple quantum well adaptive holographic beamsplitter, and the superimposed beams are detected by a photodetector capable of detecting small interference changes from ultrasonic surface displacements or perturbations. An apparatus and method defining an improved homodyne interferometer for performing the method is described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of detecting faults and other characteristics in materials, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for detecting faults and other characteristics in ultrasonically vibrated test material using homodyne interferometers.
2. Background of the Invention
Laser ultrasonic receivers based on optical homodyne interferometers have been investigated for some years. Such receivers have been used and proposed for the examination of materials, such as, for example, investigating transient body transformations, inspecting materials such as metals and ceramics at high temperatures for process and quality control, detecting flaws as soon as they are created, measuring production parameters such as thickness and temperature, and determining microstructural properties on-line such as grain size, porosity and the like. In early research, it was realized that a homodyne interferometer could not operate effectively with the speckled beams that result from reflecting from rough surfaces. Furthermore, such early homodyne interferometers could not compensate for aberrations in the signal beam wavefront resulting from slow, dynamic environmental disturbances.
Time-delay or self-referencing interferometers have been developed, such as the confocal Fabry-Perot which allow the processing of light scattered from rough surfaces with a large field of view. Usually, a phase modulated signal beam is derived from a probe beam scattered or reflected from a vibrating test surface. This beam is demodulated by the slope of the transfer function, which is the transmission versus frequency, of the confocal Fabry-Perot. As a self-referencing or time-delay interferometer, the confocal Fabry-Perot has the ability to process speckled beams from imperfect surfaces. In addition, the particular mirror curvature of the confocal Fabry-Perot provides a much larger field of view than a Fabry-Perot with flat mirrors. The operation of the confocal Fabry-Perot is described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,224. However, the confocal Fabry-Perot requires stabilization of the interferometer length to a fraction of an optical wavelength, thereby adding complexity and cost to the receiver.
The transmitted signal from a confocal Fabry-Perot is proportional to the amplitude of the Doppler shift of the signal beam frequency upon scattering from a vibrating surface. For constant displacement, the Doppler shift decreases with frequency. As a result, the confocal Fabry-Perot does not work well at low ultrasonic frequencies below approximately one megahertz (1 MHz). Solutions to such problems and limitations have been proposed. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,748 to Monchalin and Ing, where the beam that probes the vibrating surface is caused to interfere inside a photorefractive material with a reference or pump beam, resulting in these two beams diffracting in each other's direction with a common path and a common wavefront. An electrical signal dependent on phase excursions or perturbations in the reflected or scattered beam produced by the surface vibration is then obtained by a photodetector in one of these paths. For the correct static phase difference between the wavefronts of the two interfering beams, the electrical signal is linearly proportional to the phase excursion and thus to the surface deflection. The photorefractive material acts in effect as a real-time hologram providing an exact overlap of the reference beam with the signal beam for later coherent detection and it compensates for low frequency dynamic environmental distortions in the signal wavefront. However, most materials used previously do not have both a fast response time and a large diffraction efficiency which is desired for uses in many applications. Such systems also do not operate well at low signal beam light levels produced when scattering from a rough surface, as is typical for many workpieces.
It is still desired to obtain a homodyne interferometer that is characterized by a very fast response time, on the order of microseconds (at intensities on the order of 10-100 milliwatts per square centimeter (mW/cm.sup.2)), while maintaining high diffraction efficiency. It is still desired further to provide a homodyne interferometer that will have the capability of processing speckled returns from the workpiece with a high field-of-view or etendue. It is desired yet further to obtain a homodyne interferometer having an adaptive holographic beamsplitter which can be fabricated more easily, with greater flexibility and is capable of being fabricated (or grown) more rapidly and at lower cost.

Homodyne interferometer and method of sensing material


The invention relates to a method of modifying data in an encoded data signal 125 corresponding to successive pictures divided into sub-pictures, for providing an output modified data signal 126. In particular, this invention can be used for the insertion of an additional data signal 127 into a compressed video signal 125. The proposed schemes according to the invention are based on a transcoder arrangement including at least partial decoding means and partial re-encoding means. This method leads to a cost-effective solution compared to the prior art comprising a minimum number of functional sub-steps, in particular including a unique motion compensation sub-step 205, taking advantage of simplifications and combinations between different sub-steps.

Modifying data in an encoded data signal has become a vital function in studio editing environments. A possible solution has been proposed in the international patent application WO 99/51033 (PHF98546). This patent application describes a method and its corresponding device for modifying data in an encoded data signal. This method allows an additional data signal insertion, e.g. a logo inserting, into an MPEG-2 bitstream thanks to bit rate transcoding. Logo insertion comes as an extension of the bit rate transcoder. The corresponding diagram, depicted in FIG. 1, comprises a transcoding module 101 and a logo addition branch 102. The general outline of the transcoding module 101, well known to a person skilled in the art, comprises:                a residue decoding branch 118 for receiving the input signal 125 and providing a decoded data signal Error_I(n). This branch comprises in series a variable length decoding 107, an inverse quantization 108 followed by an inverse discrete cosine transform 109.        a re-encoding/decoding branch 120 for providing the output signal 126 and its decoded version respectively. The re-encoding part, for providing said output signal, comprises in series a discrete cosine transform 110, a quantization 111, a variable length coding 112 followed by a buffer 113, and regulation means 114 ensuring a constant picture quality of the output signal 126, and a first subtracter 122 generating a coding error. The decoding part comprises in series an inverse quantization 115 followed by an inverse discrete cosine transform 116.        an intermediate branch 119 comprising a motion compensation 105 using motion vectors V(n) of the input signal, its associated memory 106 storing a previous signal, and a second subtracter 123. This branch, also called prediction loop, avoids the quality drift in the output signal by applying a motion compensation to said coding error generated during the re-encoding step.The logo addition branch 102 is implemented thanks to a residue addition to the decoded signal Error_I(n), by means of the adding sub-step 121. This residue is formed by subtracting an additional data signal Logo(n) referenced 127 with a motion-compensated logo prediction referenced 129, obtained by means of the motion compensation sub-step 103, which is based on reference pictures containing logo previously stored in memory 104 and which uses the same vectors V(n) as the main input signal.
In the prior art diagram depicted in FIG. 1, two motion compensations are performed: a first one 105, well known and provided for correcting the quality drift on P and B pictures introduced by the quantization sub-step 111, and a second one 103 on an additional data signal 127. This motion compensation 103 generates said motion compensated signal PRED(Logo(n−1), V(n)) referenced 129 which is subtracted from said signal 127. Said motion-compensated signal is indeed essential since it cancels undesired parts of the signal relative to signal 127, previously motion-compensated by 105, in the input signal of the re-encoding step. Moreover, as a motion compensation always requires a storage of a previous signal, two memories 104 and 106 are also needed. Then, with these two motion compensation operations and two memory blocks, this solution remains not only complex as regards the CPU burden, but also expensive as regards storage memory.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pixel-based data modifying method and device


A porcelain enameled steel sheet comprises an aluminum/zinc alloy-plated steel sheet and a porcelain enamel coating layer as the upper most layer of the steel sheet, wherein an interstitial layer having good adhesion to the plating layer and the enamel coating layer is sandwiched between these two layers. The intermediate layer is preferably a member selected from the group consisting of: (1) the surface layer on the aluminum/zinc alloy-plating layer, whose aluminum content is not less than 96% by weight; (2) the surface layer on the aluminum-zinc alloy-plating layer, which comprises aluminum, nickel and not more than 1% by weight of zinc; (3) a coating layer comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co, Mo, Mn, Ni--P, Ni--Co--P and Co--P; (4) a chromate layer; and (5) a coating layer comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of zinc phosphate, manganese phosphate and aluminum phosphate. The porcelain enameled steel sheet is excellent in both corrosion resistance and enamel-adhesive properties and can thus be used in various fields, in particular, in the field wherein it is post-processed through bending.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a porcelain-enameled steel sheet which is excellent, in particular, in porcelain enamel-adhesive properties and which can be used as a marker board, a chalk board, an interior material for tunnel and construction and an exterior finishing material for construction and in particular to a porcelain-enameled steel sheet excellent in the enamel-adhesive properties during and after bending which, in turn, permits the use of the sheet as an interior material for construction after preliminarily burning the porcelain enamel coat and then processing and shaping, chemical durability (chemical resistance), corrosion resistance (end face-rusting inhibitory properties) and glossiness. The present invention also relates to porcelain enamel frits for steel sheets which can be burnt at a low temperature and can impart the foregoing characteristic properties to a porcelain-enameled product after burning.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
There have been known painting and porcelain-enameling methods, as means for imparting various functions such as corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, weatherability and decorative effects to a steel sheet and for improving the lifetime thereof. A porcelain-enameled steel sheet is excellent in, for instance, hardness, weatherability, recovery properties by cleaning, heat resistance and incombustibility as compared with the painted steel sheet, but suffers from a problem in that the forming product is expensive and it may cause peeling of the enamel layer. Therefore, the porcelain-enameled product is in general a so-called post-coated article produced by processing a steel sheet and then porcelain-enameling and the production cost thereof is very high as compared with the so-called pre-coated article which is produced by continuously coil-coating a steel sheet and then subjecting the sheet to fabrication after porcelain-enameling and burning. On the other hand, the film of the painted steel sheet is tolerant, to some extent, to post-processing. Therefore, lightly processed articles may be produced from a pre-coated steel sheet, the production cost can thus be reduced and accordingly, the painted steel sheets have widely been used. In other words, the difference in price between the enameled and painted articles would prevent the expansion of the fields of applications of the enameling technique. However, enameled articles have widely been used in, for instance, hospitals because of their high contamination-inhibitory effects and chemical resistance due to the excellent recovery properties by cleaning. For this reason, there has been desired for the development of a porcelain-enameled steel sheet whose enamel layer is never peeled off even when it is subjected to working through bending after burning the enamel coat as an interior material, in particular, for buildings represented by hospitals wherein sanitation must be considered seriously. In addition, there has also been desired for the development of a porcelain-enameled steel sheet exhibiting resistance to acid rain, i.e., acid resistance and thus capable of being used as an exterior material.
The thickness of the enameled steel sheet is in general not less than 0.3 mm and therefore, the enameled surface thereof undergoes a tensile elongation of not less than 10% during working through bending. The enamel layer is a vitreous one whose rate of elongation is low and thus cannot be saved from any cracking of the enamel layer. Therefore, the enameled steel sheet can withstand working through bending only when it satisfies such essential requirements that the enamel layer is firmly adhered to the steel sheet even if the layer is cracked and that the cracked portions do not gather any rust at all.
Moreover, the baking temperature (burning temperature) for the conventional enamel layer is high on the order of 800 to 900.degree. C. and therefore, the following problems arise: (1) any desired dimensional stability of a product cannot be ensured because of a large extent of heat-deformation when a porcelain enamel film is burnt onto a thin steel sheet and (2) when a plated steel sheet is used as a substrate, the plated layer is melted and flows down because of such a high baking temperature.
Japanese Examined Patent Publication (hereinafter referred to as "J.P. KOKOKU") No. Hei 6-43257 proposes a porcelain-enameled steel sheet capable of being processed through bending after the enamel coating. This sheet is an enameled steel sheet comprising a metal sheet whose surface portion consists of aluminum and which is provided thereon with a porcelain enamel coating layer (hereinafter simply referred to as "enamel layer") whose composition and thickness are specified. If the enameled steel sheet is subjected to severe processing through bending like the processing applied to the painted steel sheet, however, the cracks of the enamel layer arrive even at the underlying aluminum-plating layer although the enamel layer is not fallen off and the plating layer is thus cracked. The aluminum is excellent in corrosion resistance in itself, but in general it does not show any sacrificial corrosion resistance with regard to iron in the air and thus a problem of red rust formation arises as an inevitable consequence, when the plating layer is cracked. In case of processed enameled steel sheets, the steel material is naturally exposed to the air on the end faces and accordingly, the steel sheets suffer from a problem in that the end faces inevitably gather red rust if the underlying plating comprises aluminum.
On the other hand, J.P. KOKOKU No. Hei 5-71667 discloses an enameled steel sheet provided with a layer of a corrosion-resistant material as an undercoat for the enamel layer. This sheet is an enameled steel sheet wherein the enamel layer is applied onto a plated layer of an aluminum-zinc alloy and this steel sheet inhibits the generation of any red rust gathered at, for instance, pinhole portions on the enamel layer by coating, with an enamel, a plated layer containing zinc which has sacrificial corrosion resistance. However, the zinc component present in the aluminum-zinc alloy plating layer is insufficient in the adhesion to the enamel layer and thus the steel sheet suffers from an essential problem such that the enamel layer is peeled off when the sheet is processed through bending after burning the enamel layer. For this reason, any product (pre-coated article) obtained by post-processing, through bending, of a preliminarily enameled steel sheet cannot be produced from the enameled steel sheet of this patent. More specifically, any enameled steel sheet usable in the post-processing through bending cannot be obtained, at all, by carrying out the method disclosed in J.P. KOKOKU No. Hei 5-71667 by itself. Moreover, in this patent, the composition of the porcelain enamel is not fully investigated and accordingly, the resulting enamel layer does not have satisfactory adhesive properties. In addition, the patent does not fully investigate factors affecting the adhesion between the plated layer and the enamel layer. In this respect, the reason why the adhesion of zinc to the enamel layer is insufficient has not yet been clearly elucidated, but J.P. KOKOKU No. Hei 5-71667 discloses as follows: it would be assumed that zinc is severely oxidized with an inorganic oxide (enamel) because of high susceptibility of zinc to oxidation, this accordingly makes, brittle, the reactive layer at the boundary which would contribute to the adhesion and thus the steel sheet of this patent suffers from a problem of the adhesion between the plated layer and the enamel layer and the resistance of the enamel layer per se to peeling off during processing.
Incidentally, the conventional frits for enameling are insufficient in chemical resistance required for porcelain-enameled articles such as acid resistance, alkali resistance and resistance to weathering due to the reaction with moisture. Moreover, these frits suffer from a problem in that they require the use of a relatively high burning temperature.
For instance, J.P. KOKOKU Nos. Hei 6-43256 and Hei 6-43257 propose an enameled article, i.e., an aluminum plated steel sheet produced by burning at a relatively low temperature ranging from 500 to 540.degree. C. using, as frits for enameling, P.sub.2 O.sub.5 type one which are suitable for low temperature burning.
The foregoing frits for enameling can be burnt at a low temperature, but they are likewise insufficient in chemical resistance required for porcelain-enameled articles, such as acid resistance, alkali resistance and resistance to weathering due to the reaction with moisture.

Porcelain-enameled steel sheets and frits for enameling

Kawasaki Steel Metal Products & Engineering Inc.


In various examples, motifs, watermarks, and/or signature inputs are applied to a deep neural network (DNN) to detect faults in underlying hardware and/or software executing the DNN. Information corresponding to the motifs, watermarks, and/or signatures may be compared to the outputs of the DNN generated using the motifs, watermarks and/or signatures. When a the accuracy of the predictions are below a threshold, or do not correspond to the expected predictions of the DNN, the hardware and/or software may be determined to have a fault—such as a transient, an intermittent, or a permanent fault. Where a fault is determined, portions of the system that rely on the computations of the DNN may be shut down, or redundant systems may be used in place of the primary system. Where no fault is determined, the computations of the DNN may be relied upon by the system.

Autonomous driving systems and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) may leverage sensors (such as cameras) to perform various tasks—such as without limitation, lane keeping, lane changing, lane assignment, lane detection, object detection, path planning, camera calibration, and localization. To perform many of these tasks, machine learning models—and specifically deep neural networks (DNNs)—may be used to perform at least some of the processing. As a result, for these systems to operate with a level of safety required for autonomous or semi-autonomous driving functionality, the machine learning models need to execute as intended over the life of their implementation.
However, software and/or hardware used to execute these DNNs may be compromised by a variety of sources—resulting in transient faults and/or permanent faults—that may lead to inaccurate predictions that may potentially compromise the effectiveness of the DNNs. As examples, potential causes of faults in DNNs may include hardware faults in processing units executing the DNNs, and/or software faults of the underlying DNN. As such, the ability to robustly and accurately detect faults associated with the DNNs may allow the autonomous and/or ADAS systems to make critical decisions in real-time or near real time—such as to suggest or implement corrective measures for effective and safe driving. For example, accurately, efficiently, and timely identifying DNN faults may allow a system to identify when operations of the system that rely on predictions of the DNN are impaired and, as a result, allow the system to perform corrective operations, such as handing control back to a human driver or executing a safety maneuver (e.g., pulling to the side of the road).
In conventional systems, resilience and/or fault coverage of a DNN may be determined by redundant execution of the DNN. For example, two or more instances of a DNN may be executed on the same input data, and the outputs of the two or more instances may be compared to one another to determine if any discrepancies exist. However, running multiple instances of a DNN is both memory and processing intensive, also requiring—in some scenarios—additional hardware utilization for running the concurrent instances. In addition, these conventional systems require that the outputs of the two or more instances of the DNN be compared, often at each iteration, further adding to the computational expense. Due to the computational burden of these conventional approaches on the underlying system, executing these processes may prevent real-time or near real-time fault detection capabilities.

Using neural networks to perform fault detection in autonomous driving applications


Methods for increasing the efficiency of .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K imaging of biological tissue are provided. For maximum efficiency, the receiver bandwidth is set equal to or less than the quantity N.sub.ro /T*2. Methods for assessing cardiac tissue viability using .sup.23 Na imaging are also provided.

In many clinical situations, it is critical to determine whether a given tissue is viable following an ischemic episode. For example, in cardiology the decision to intervene by thrombolytics, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is made largely on the assumption that the affected myocardium is viable and therefore will benefit from the procedure (Bonow, R. O. Identification of viable myocardium. Circulation 94:2674-2680, (1996), Hendel, R. C. and Bonow, Ro. O. Disparity in coronary perfusion and regional wall motion: effect on clinical assessment of viability. Coron. Art Disease 4(6):512-520, (1993)). Similarly, treatment of stroke patients is strongly influenced by available information regarding tissue viability Shimizu, T., Naritomi, H., Kuriyama, Y. and Sawada, T. Sequential changes if sodium magnetic resonance images after cerebral hemorrhage. Neuroradiology 34(4):301-304 (1992)). Thus, one of the most important issues regarding the management of patients with cardiovascular disease is knowledge of the location and extent of injured but viable tissue.
Extensive clinical experience has demonstrated that one of the best approaches for determining viability is to test for normal cell membrane function (Bonow, R. O. Identification of viable myocardium. Circulation 94:2674-2680, (1996), Hendel, R. C. and Bonow, R. O. Disparity in coronary perfusion and regional wall motion: effect on clinical assessment of viability. Coron. Art Disease 4(6):512-520, (1993)), i.e. to test for continued function of the Na.sup.+ -K.sup.+ pump. The most abundant natural isotopes of Na and K, .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K, can be detected by magnetic resonance. In principle, it should be possible to use .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K MRI to non-invasively examine cell membrane function and therefore viability. Specifically, we have recently shown in an animal model that .sup.23 Na image intensity is approximately 100% higher in non-viable compared to viable regions following reperfused myocardial infarction (Kim, R. J., Lima, J. A. C., Chen, E-L., Reeder, S. B., Klocke, F. J., Zerhouni, E. A. and Judd, R. M. Fast 23Na magnetic resonance imaging of acute reperfused myocardial infarction:potential to assess myocardial viability. Circulation in press:(1997)). Unfortunately, however, the in vivo .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K MR signals are very small. The MR sensitivities for .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K are only 9.2 and 0.051% of the .sup.1 H MR sensitivity and that the in vivo concentrations of these nuclei are approximately 1,000 times lower than the in vivo water proton concentration. The combination of these factors results in .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K MR signals which are approximately 22,000 (1/4.63.times.10.sup.-5) and 2.1 million (1/4.73.times.10.sup.-7) times smaller than the standard .sup.1 H signal, respectively.
Despite the small MR signal, several groups have succeeded in producing in vivo .sup.23 Na images of humans Shimizu, T., Naritomi, H., Kuriyama, Y. and Sawada, T. Sequential changes if sodium magnetic resonance images after cerebral hemorrhage. Neuroradiology 34(4):301-304, (1992))-, Ra, J. B., Hilal, S. K., Oh, C. H. and Mun, I. K. In vivo magnetic resonance imaging of sodium in the human body. Magn. Reson. Med. 7:11-22, (1988), Granot, J. Sodium imaging by gradient reversal. J. Magn. Reson. 68:575-581, (1986); Granot, J. Sodium imaging of human body organs and extremities in vivo. Radiology 167:547-550, (1988), Katz, J. and Cannon, P. J. Use of sodium-23 for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. In: Cardiac imaging, edited by Marcus, M. L., Skorton, D. L., Schelbert, H. R. and Wold, G. L. Philadelphia: W. B. Suanders Co., 1991, p. 828-840; Perman, W. H., Turski, P. A., Houston, L. W., Glover, G. H. and Hayes, C. E. Methodology of in vivo humans sodium imaging at 1.5 T. Radiology 160:811-820, (1986), Hilal, S. K., Maudsley, A. A., Ra, J. B., Simon, H. E., Roschmann, P., Wittekoek, S., Cho, Z. H. and Mun, S. K. In vivo NMR imaging of sodium-23 in the human head. J. Comp. Assist. Tomog. 9(1):1-7, (1985), Winkler, S. S. Sodium-23 magnetic resonance brain imaging. Neuroradiology 32:416-420, (1990)). However, most of these groups have not attempted to apply recently-developed high speed gradient-echo imaging techniques to the .sup.23 Na or .sup.39 K nuclei. One reason for the lack of high-speed imaging studies of .sup.23 Na may be that many groups are interested in quantifying intracellular Na.sup.+ concentrations, for which long TR's to ensure full relaxation are desirable. In addition, high-speed imaging of nuclei like .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K is very demanding on gradient hardware due to the low gyromagnetic ratios. Recent advances in gradient technology, however, may make this issue less significant.
Because the T.sub.1 and T.sub.2 relaxation times of .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K are much shorter than those of .sup.1 H data taken from (Wolf, G. L. Contrast agents for cardiac MRI. In: Cardiac imaging, edited by Marcus, M. L., Skorton, D. L., Schelbert, H. R. and Wold, G. L. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1991, p. 794-810), (Kim, R. J., Lima, J. A. C., Chen, E-L., Reeder, S. B., Klocke, F. J., Zerhouni, E. A. and Judd, R. M. Fast 23Na magnetic resonance imaging of acute reperfused myocardial infarction:potential to assess myocardial viability. Circulation in press:(1997), and (Burstein, D., Litt, H. I. and Fossel, E. T. NMR characteristics of "visible" intracellular myocardial potassium in perfused rat hearts. Magn. Reson. Med. 9:66-78, (1989)) for .sup.1 H, .sup.23 Na, and .sup.39 K, respectively!, it is unlikely that direct application of fast imaging concepts derived from experience with proton imaging would result in optimal imaging parameters for .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K imaging. There continues to be a need in the art, therefore, for improved methods for .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K imaging.
The present invention provides numerically simulated various imaging strategies to maximize .sup.23 Na and .sup.39 K signal acquisition per unit time to understand the effect of the short relaxation parameters on the data collection. Then using the simulation results as a guide, in vivo 3D .sup.23 Na images of the human heart were acquired in 15 minutes on a modified 1.5 T clinical scanner. The results show that the application of high-speed gradient-echo imaging techniques combined with recent advances in gradient technology make .sup.23 Na imaging of the human heart practical.

.sup.23 NA and .sup.39 K imaging of the heart


The present relates to a surfactant concentrate comprising at least 75% of an essentially completely neutralized anionic sulphated surfactant and 5% to 25% carboxylic acid, of which 4% to 96% of the carboxylic acid is in its free acid form, the process for making it and a detergent composition containing it.

Detergent manufacturers constantly seek to improve their product performance, process flexibility and more recently, the environmental impact or sustainability of their products. It has therefore been a desire for some time to produce and sell compact formulae that use less water and require less packaging whilst maintaining, and preferably improving, product performance.
Anionic surfactants, especially sulphated surfactants are pre-processed, prior to inclusion into a product composition, into a processable surfactant concentrate. Typically water is used to control the viscosity of the concentrate. However, this presents a problem when formulating for compact formulae as discussed above, as it is the general aim to reduce the water content of the product composition. This problem is particularly relevant when the product composition is to be sold as a unit dose of a liquid composition within a water-soluble or dispersible pouch. In this latter situation, the product is not stable when the composition comprises greater than 20% water. Hence it is the aim of the formulator, to reduce the level of water being brought into the final product through the raw materials.
Furthermore, when manufacturing sulphated surfactant concentrates it is essential that the surfactant concentrate can be processed, shipped, stored, pumped and ultimately used in its designated application throughout the life time of the concentrate. Typical issues that arise are either, a viscosity of the concentrate that is too high to process effectively or the instability of its key active, an anionic sulphated surfactant, over time. If not stabilised, the sulphated anionic surfactant either physically or chemically disintegrates into its constituent parts or other degradation products. It is essential therefore, that the concentrate firstly provides sufficient stability over time from point of making, until the point of its application. This stability must be achievable at all temperatures at which the surfactant concentrate is processed, shipped, stored, pumped and applied. Secondly, the surfactant concentrate must also have a pumpable viscosity throughout its lifetime.
EP 507 402 (Unilever) relates to a continuous process for preparing a liquid detergent composition comprising anionic surfactant and nonionic surfactant. The detergent composition has a low water content. In this process, equimolar amounts of neutralizing agent and a liquid acid precursor of the anionic surfactant are blended simultaneously in the presence of nonionic surfactant. EP 507 402 describes the presence of fatty acid, but requires that the fatty acid be present in the free acid form.
EP 1 272 605 (Unilever) relates to a continuous process for preparing a fluid detergent composition comprising anionic surfactant. Said process comprises mixing, in a first mixer, an anionic surfactant precursor with sufficient neutralization agent to achieve 25-75% neutralization of the anionic surfactant precursor, then mixing the result with sufficient further neutralization agent in a second mixer to achieve 100% neutralization. EP 1 272 605 mentions the presence of soap, meaning the salt thereof, and describes the benefits of using a salt in this context.
It is the object of the present invention to develop an anionic sulphated surfactant concentrate that does not require the use of water for process ability and an efficient, continuous process for making said concentrate. It has been a further aim of the present invention to develop a highly efficient anionic sulphated surfactant concentrate wherein the high efficiency of the surfactant means that less surfactant is required in the finished product. Such a highly efficient surfactant system permits formula flexibility, reduces the environmental impact and irritancy of the concentrate or final product composition.


There are provided methods and apparatus for synchronized stream packing of packets that differ contextually between A/V streams in a parallel presentation. A method includes the step of identifying sub-picture/subtitle packets and/or audio packets having arrival timestamps and/or presentation timestamps that match an arrival timestamp and/or a presentation timestamp, respectively, of video packets. The method also includes the step of packing a Video Object Unit (VOBU) and/or a Transport Stream (TS) with the identified sub-picture/subtitle and audio packets and the video packets having the matching timestamps.

The DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray specifications currently define mechanisms for seamlessly switching among multiple parallel A/V streams. However, in each case, the audio and sub-picture content of the streams is restricted to be bit-for-bit identical among all of the streams. This prevents any potential damage to audio speakers that could result from signal spikes caused by differences in the audio data from one A/V stream to another, and also reduces the restrictions regarding organization of such data within each multiplexed A/V stream. However, these restrictions also greatly limit the range of applications for which the seamless multi-angle feature may be used.
The development of the DVD followed the development of the Compact Disk (CD) in an effort to achieve sufficient storage capacity for large video files to enable a single disc to carry a full length motion picture, albeit compressed using a compression technique such as the Moving Picture Expert Group compression (MPEG) technique. Since its first introduction in the mid 1990s, the DVD has proliferated, becoming the preferred medium of choice for wide scale distribution of motion picture and video content to consumers. Similar optical disc formats for delivery of higher quality and greater amounts of audiovisual content have been developed as planned successors to DVD. Two of the most prominent formats are known as HD DVD and BD.
Present day DVDs, HD DVDS, and BDs typically include at least one, and usually several A/V streams in parallel synchronism to each other. Often such A/V streams include different recordings of the same scene shot from a different angle. Hence, such different A/V streams are often referred to as "angles". Selection of different angles (i.e., different streams) occurs through a process known as "multi-angle navigation" whereby a viewer selects a desired angle by selecting an associated icon on a display screen. The DVD, HD DVD, and BD specifications adopted by the manufacturers of these discs and associated playback devices define a process known as "multi-angle video" whereby a content author can define as many as nine concurrent A/V streams, any one of which can appear on a display screen at any time. During playback, the viewer can switch seamlessly among a set of synchronized A/V streams by actuating a command via a button on a DVD, HD DVD, or BD player or on the remote control device for such player; this form of multi-angle navigation is known as seamless multi-angle. However, under known format specifications and implementations of currently available DVD, HD DVD, and BD authoring tools, audio and sub-picture data stored in each A/V stream remains identical. That is, only different video data is allowed between angles. Sub-picture data describes the rendering of buttons, subtitles, and other graphical elements displayed over video. This results both in an inability to automatically present different audio and sub-picture content when a parallel A/V stream is selected and also leads to redundant copies of audio and sub-picture data being stored on the delivery medium, limiting space for other content.
A/V streams are constituted at a basic level of data packets for the sub-streams (audio, video, and sub-picture) which are joined together in short units which, when read sequentially, comprise the presented stream. In DVD-Video, these fundamental data units are known as Video Object Units, or VOBUs, and each include about 0.4 to 1 second of presentation data. In HD DVD-Video, these are known as EVOBUs. The terms VOBUs and EVOBUs may be used interchangeably herein for illustrative purposes. When multiple A/V streams are presented in parallel, each stream collects one or more VOBUs into an Interleave Unit, or ILVU, which are synchronized with ILVUs for other parallel A/V streams based on the video presentation time. Thus, when a new stream is selected, the data from the current ILVU plays until the end of the ILVU and the ILVU for the new stream is presented seamlessly at that time. In this way, seamless presentation of video is assured.
BD refers to a similar combination of packets using different terminology, namely Transport Stream (TS). BD does not limit the duration of presentation data in the unit, using instead of ILVUs, angle change points in each TS to mark points at which streams can be changed while ensuring video continuity.
Audio, video, and sub-picture packets in VOBUs, TS, RTP or other packetized multimedia formats are all typically marked with a first type of timestamp indicating when they should be delivered for decoding and a second type of timestamp indicating when they should be presented. In the case of VOBUs, the delivery timestamps are encoded in the "system_clock_reference" as defined in ISO/IEC13818-1. In the case of Transport Streams (TSs), delivery timestamps are typically called "arrival_timestamps" as defined in some of the specifications derived from ISO/IEC 13818-1. As used herein, the term "arrival_timestamp" collectively refers to the delivery timestamp in VOBUs and TSs. The presentation timestamps are the usual PTSs as defined in ISO/IEC13818-1.
Due to different buffering models and decoder designs, non-video packets in a single VOBU (or at an angle change point marker in a TS) may not all refer to similar presentation times. For example, an audio packet may refer to presentation time 8, whereas a video packet may refer to presentation time 4, the audio packet for presentation time 4 having been delivered from a previous VOBU. When audio and sub-picture/subtitle data are identical between VOBUs in ILVUs (or between TSs) for different A/V streams in a parallel presentation, switching ILVUs or TSs has no effect on audio, sub-picture/subtitle, and video synchronization or correspondence/synchronization. However, when audio and sub-picture data packets differ between VOBUs or TSs for different A/V streams, a case could occur where audio or sub-picture/subtitle packets corresponding to the presentation time of the video from the new VOBU or TS have already been delivered from a previous VOBU or TS, resulting in audio or sub-picture/subtitle presentation that, while presented at the proper time, is out of correspondence/synchronization with the current context.
Thus, there exists a need for a method of storing data in a way that audio and sub-picture data are contextually different in parallel, synchronized A/V streams playing from any one of these optical disc formats and also maintain stream continuity as well as synchronization with video data as the viewer interactively selects different A/V streams during the presentation.