Method and apparatus for enhancing diversity in spread spectrum type communication systems by creating pseudo-multipath conditions or links for certain communication signals. The invention provides alternative or additional signal paths, for signals being transferred between gateways and communication system users through one or more a satellite repeaters. These additional paths are used to establish and maintain adequate signal diversity as well as certain signal links by remote subscribers in heavy urban areas. In further aspects of the invention, diversity enhancers can employ high gain parabolic antennas and tracking mechanisms, or passive reflective surfaces. Signals can be relayed to subscriber units in canyon type blocked areas or within structures.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multiple access communication systems, such as wireless data or telephone systems, and satellite repeater type spread spectrum communication systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for establishing or maintaining signal diversity and improving signal acquisition for communication system subscribers in an urban environment by producing pseudo-multipath signals and indirect signal paths.
II. Description of the Related Art
A variety of multiple access communication systems have been developed for transferring information among a large number of system users. Techniques employed by such multiple access communication systems include time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), and AM modulation schemes, the basics of which are well known in the art. However, spread spectrum modulation techniques, such as code division multiple access (CDMA) spread spectrum techniques, provide significant advantages over other modulation schemes, especially when providing service for a large number of communication system users. The use of CDMA techniques in communication systems is disclosed in the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, which issued Feb. 13, 1990 under the title "Spread Spectrum Multiple Access Communication System Using Satellite Or Terrestrial Repeaters," and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/368,570, filed under the title "Method And Apparatus For Using Full Spectrum Transmitted Power In A Spread Spectrum Communication System For Tracking Individual Recipient Phase Time And Energy," both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference.
These patents disclose communication systems in which a large number of generally mobile or remote system users or subscriber units employ transceivers to communicate with other system users, or desired signal recipients such as through a public telephone switching network. Communication signals are transferred through satellite repeaters and gateways or terrestrial base stations (also sometimes referred to as cell-sites or cells) using code division multiple access (CDMA) spread spectrum type communication signals.
Using wide band CDMA techniques permits problems such as multipath fading to be more readily overcome, especially for terrestrial repeaters. CDMA signal processing provides a relatively high signal gain which allows spectrally similar communication signals to be more quickly differentiated. This allows signals traversing different propagation paths to be readily distinguished from each other, provided their respective path length differential causes relative propagation delays in excess of the chip period of the spreading code sequence used. Generally path length differentials of approximately 1 microsecond or more are easily distinguished, and typical urban environments provide differential paths delays of 10-20 microseconds.
The ability to discriminate between multipath signals greatly reduces the severity of multipath fading but typically does not totally eliminate it because of occasional paths with very small delay differentials. The existence of low delay paths is more especially true for satellite repeater based communication systems where multipath reflections from buildings and other terrestrial surfaces is reduced. Therefore, it is desirable to provide some form of signal diversity to reduce the deleterious effects of fading and additional problems associated with relative user, or repeater, movement.
Generally, three types of diversity are used in spread spectrum communication systems, and they are time, frequency, and space diversity. Time diversity is obtainable using data repetition, and time interleaving of data or signal components. A form of frequency diversity is inherently provided by CDMA in which the signal energy is spread over a wide bandwidth. Therefore, frequency selective fading affects only a small part of the CDMA signal bandwidth.
Space or path diversity is obtained by providing multiple signal paths through simultaneous links with a mobile or remote user through two or more base stations or antennas, for terrestrial-based repeater systems; or two or more satellite beams or individual satellites, for space-based repeater systems. That is, in the satellite communication environment or for indoor wireless communication systems, path diversity may be obtained by deliberately transmitting or receiving over multiple signal paths using multiple repeaters or transceivers. Furthermore, path diversity may be obtained by exploiting a natural multipath environment by allowing a signal arriving over different paths, each with a different propagation delay, to be received and processed separately for each path.
Examples of using path diversity in multiple access communication systems are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,501 entitled "Soft Handoff In A CDMA Cellular Telephone System," issued Mar. 31, 1992, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,390 entitled "Diversity Receiver In A CDMA Cellular Telephone System," issued Apr. 28, 1992, both assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated herein by reference.
Communication systems using satellites often maintain communication links for a mobile user through two or more satellites at any time to provide robust signal diversity. As disclosed above, such signal diversity helps combat problems with multipath fading which is intensified when operating in heavily industrial or high density urban environments. While signal diversity can overcome much of this problem, the situation is complicated by the fact that only one satellite may be "in view" of a subscriber unit or user in some circumstances.
Many modern urban areas have a large number of multi-story buildings or tall structures that might block signals from being received by or from one or more satellites that are normally "in view" of subscribers, but for the blockage. When these structures are grouped closely together, they form what is often referred to as "urban canyons". It can be seen that such urban canyons, or even single buildings, not only contribute greatly to multipath fading because of reflections, but also severely attenuate or completely block some signal paths to subscriber units. This prevents an appropriate use of multiple satellite beam signal diversity in some situations, greatly degrading system performance relative to certain users. In addition, some canyons might even totally block all direct `line-of-sight` paths to satellites.
Even when there appears to be a general line-of-sight communication path, there is also the matter of related structural interference. That is, users trying to establish either diversity or direct path communication links also have to deal with interference or severe signal attenuation from building materials when positioned interior to buildings, or from suspended building decorations, etc.
What is needed is a technique or apparatus that maintains or enhances signal diversity in urban environments that are prone to signal blockage. It is also desirable that such a technique require little complexity and control on the part of gateways, and can be directed to reach building interiors as well.

Method and apparatus for diversity enhancement using pseudo-multipath signals


The pedal drive mechanism comprises a pedal arm immovably affixed across the secant of a drive gear, with the drive gear and attached pedal arm rotating through a partial revolution during operation. The drive gear meshes with a smaller pinion gear installed concentrically on the drive wheel axle. The pedal arm extends generally upwardly in its initial position prior to actuation of the mechanism, with operation requiring a rearward and downward kick or push. This is a natural motion for the operator of a scooter type vehicle, and the downward force also transfers a greater force to the drive wheel(s) for better traction during starting and operation. A return spring rotates the pedal arm, drive gear, and pinion gear back to their original starting positions when pressure is released on the pedal, with a one-way clutch disengaging the pinion gear from the drive wheel(s) during the pedal return stroke.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to reciprocating drive mechanisms for rotating a wheel. More specifically, the present invention comprises a pedal with a spring return, which drives a one-way clutch to rotate a wheel. The device is particularly well suited for installation and use in scooters and similar lightweight, two or three wheeled vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Small, unpowered scooters and similar wheeled vehicles are a very popular form of basic and recreational transportation. While the basic principle has been known for decades, various refinements and embellishments have been developed over the years. Many of these embellishments are directed to some means of driving at least one of the wheels of the device, using power provided by the operator of the vehicle. Most such systems use one or two pedals which is/are pumped upwardly and downwardly by the operator of the device to drive the wheel(s). The pedal(s) generally drive(s) a roller chain and/or gear train to transfer the pedal motion from a location and travel which is ergonomically comfortable for the operator, and/or to provide a rotary speed increase to the drive wheel for greater speed.
The present inventor is aware of a few such devices, as exemplified in various foreign patent publications. An example of such is found in German Patent No. 10,208,700, published on Sep. 11, 2003, which describes (according to the drawings and English abstract) a two-wheeled scooter having a double pedal drive mechanism. Each pedal is pivoted at its forward end and has a gear segment at its rearward end, with the gear segments driving opposed pinion gears on opposite sides of the single rear drive wheel. Free-wheel couplings are provided between the pinions and the rear drive wheel.
German Patent No. 10,215,278, published on Oct. 16, 2003, describes (according to the drawings and English abstract) another dual pedal drive scooter, with each pedal driving an elongate toothed rack, which engages a pinion gear to each side of the rear wheel hub. The pedal motion is generally vertical about a rearwardly disposed lateral shaft.
Finally, German Patent No. 10,312,878, published on Oct. 21, 2004, describes (according to the drawings and English abstract) a dual pedal drive system having pedals pivoted at their forward ends, and moving primarily up and down about their forward pivots. While the English abstract indicates that the pedals drive the two forward wheels of the device, the drawings appear to show a chain and gear train mechanism from the pedals to the single rear drive wheel.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, a pedal drive mechanism solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


A connecting pin for fastening a first furniture part to a second furniture part, includes a fastening portion for fastening the connecting pin to the first furniture part, and a holding portion for connecting the connecting pin to the second furniture part. The holding portion of the connecting pin includes a connecting portion facing the fastening portion, the connecting portion being a protrusion or a recess for connecting the second furniture part to the connecting pin in a form-locking manner. A head portion is spaced from the connecting portion along a longitudinal direction of the connecting pin by a neck portion. In a condition in which the connecting pin is fixed to the first furniture part via the fastening portion, at least two different second furniture parts can be alternatively connected to the connecting pin by the connecting portion in a form-locking manner and/or by the head portion in a force-locking manner.

The present invention relates to a connecting pin for fastening a first furniture part to a second furniture part. The connecting pin includes a fastening portion for fastening the connecting pin to the first furniture part, and a holding portion for connecting the connecting pin to the second furniture part.
The invention further relates to an arrangement including a first furniture part in the form of a front panel and/or a second furniture part in the form of a drawer strut and/or a drawer wall and/or a wall element set onto the drawer wall, and a connecting pin of the type to be described.
Moreover, the invention relates a drawer set including a connecting pin, a first drawer wall and/or a drawer strut and/or a second drawer wall having a height being less than a height of the first drawer wall, in which a wall element is set onto the second drawer wall.
DE 20 2016 101 285 U1 to the applicant shows a device for mounting a furniture fitting to a furniture part, in which a pin is configured to be pre-mounted to the furniture part and the furniture fitting is configured to be locked to the pre-mounted pin by a locking device.
DE 102 29 300 B3 discloses a connecting system for furniture parts, and the connecting system includes a socket, a dowel to be releasably connected to the socket, and an expansion body for expanding the dowel. The socket is thereby to be inserted into a first bore of a first furniture part, and a tapered neck portion of the dowel can be pushed into a recess of the socket, whereby the socket can be arrested in the first bore. Moreover, the dowel can be introduced into a second bore of the second furniture part and can be expanded in that second bore by the expanding dowel, so that altogether a fixed connection between the two furniture parts can be established.


Wearable music holders provide a portable lyre. A collar having a curved portion and two collar side supports is joined to a brace having a brace crossmember and two brace side supports by threaded extensions inserted through collar adjustment holes and brace adjustment holes in the collar side supports and brace side supports, respectively. Wing nuts releasably secure the threaded extensions in place. A crossmember joins the threaded extensions and has the bottom edge of a lyre attached to its middle. A fur collar sleeve encircles the curved portion of the collar, and a fur brace sleeve encircles the brace crossmember. The brace crossmember is sinuous, and except for the sleeves, the wearable music holder is fabricated from aluminum bar stock. The collar's curved portion rests around the wearer's neck, and the brace crossmember rests against the wearer's abdomen in use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wearable music holder for use in connection with sheet music holders. The wearable music holder has particular utility in connection with providing a portable lyre.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wearable music holders are desirable for providing a portable lyre. Musicians frequently encounter occasions where conventional music stands are unsuitable because of their size and lack of mobility, such as marching in parades, riding on parade floats, or sitting in stadium bleachers. Conventional solutions to this problem include instrument-mounted or arm-mounted lyres. These have the disadvantage of increasing the amount of weight the performer's arm or arms must support, which may be impossible for those suffering from arthritis or other musculoskeletal ailments. They also have a tendency to slip in use, requiring frequent adjustment.
The use of adjustable book holders is known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,973 to Navarin et al. discloses an adjustable book holder. However, the Navarin et al. '973 patent does not fit around the wearer's neck, and has further drawbacks of requiring straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,302 to Anderson et al. discloses a guitar mounted music holder that holds and displays sheet music or other material adjacent an acoustic-type guitar or other musical instrument. However, the Anderson et al. '302 patent does not fit around the wearer's neck, and additionally does not function without a guitar.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,016 to Bette discloses a chest mounted book holder that carries a field guide or other reading matter while hiking or observing nature. However, the Bette '016 patent does not fit around the wearer's neck, and has the further disadvantage of requiring straps.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,375 to Plonk discloses a body supported holder for electronic devices that is for use with hand-held computers used in the field of utility meter reading. However, the Plonk '375 patent does not have a brace, and also does not have a lyre.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,125,825 to Gaudette discloses a portable table that supports writing and reading material. However, the Gaudette '825 patent does not fit around the wearer's neck, and further lacks the ability to be worn without a belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,828,576 to Fismen discloses a music holder for marching bandsmen that supports music on the arm of a marching bandsman. However, the Fismen '576 patent does not fit around the wearer's neck, and has the additional deficiency of requiring a strap.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,863,256 to Hegarty discloses a combined support and receptacle for books and the like that attaches to the body of a person. However, the Hegarty '256 patent does not fit around the wearer's neck, and has the additional deficiency of requiring straps.
While the above-described devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a wearable music holder that allows providing a portable lyre.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved wearable music holder that can be used for providing a portable lyre. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need. In this respect, the wearable music holder according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a portable lyre.


A gas generator for an airbag, including a gas-generating material which is based on an azide, an ignition device and at least a single ply or layer consisting of a sieve-netting or mesh fabric. The gas-generating material or compound together with the ignition device are arranged in either a gas-tight and heat-resistant, flexible or elastic, non-fragmenting high-pressure component with gas pressure-dependently opening rupturing or breaking locations, such as a high-pressure bag or pouch constituted from a pressure-and tear-resistant fabric, or from a high-pressure container, and wherein the rupturing or breaking locations of the high-pressure component communicate with a low-pressure bag or pouch constituted from a tear-resistant fabric with outflow or discharge apertures or windows.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas generator for an airbag, including a gas-generating material which is based on an azide, an ignition device and at least a single ply or layer consisting of a sieve-netting or mesh fabric.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
From the disclosure of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/888,874, filed May 26, 1992, the latter of which is assigned to the common assignees of the present application, there has become known a gas generator for an airbag in which a multi-layered sieve-netting or mesh fabric is arranged encompassingly about a gas-generating material.
The damping or retarding action which is encountered due to the mesh fabric does not permit the taking place of the necessarily rapid igniting of the gas-generating material; in essence, the burning down of this material is too slow in time. Moreover, in the utilization of this arrangement it is not possible to filter out gaseous health-endangering or toxic products.


A tube coupling includes a coupling body (10) having an open ended throughway (11) to receive a tube (16). A collet (20) is located in the open end of the throughway having a ring (21) and a plurality of flexible arms (22) extending into the throughway. The throughway has a tapered cam surface (25) convergent towards the open end and the collet arms have heads (23) at their distal ends for engaging both the cam surface and a tube extending through the collet into the throughway to be compressed against the tube by the cam surface with outward movement of the collet with respect to the throughway to secure the tube in the throughway. A collet lock (27) is rotatably mounted on the coupling body having one rotary position in which the lock holds the collet (20) and another rotary position in which the collet can move axially.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tube couplings for providing tube connections in lines of tube or pipe for conducting fluids in the form of gases or liquids.
2. The Relevant Technology
In our UK Patent Specification No. 1520742 we describe and illustrate a tube coupling comprising a coupling body having an open ended throughway to receive a tube. A collet is located in the open end of the throughway having a ring and a plurality of flexible arms extend generally of the ring into the throughway.
The throughway has a tapered cam surface convergent towards said open end of the throughway and the collet arms having heads at their distal ends for engaging both the cam surface and a tube extending through the collet into the throughway. The head on the collet arms are compressed against the tube by the cam surface with movement of the collet towards the open end of the throughway to secure the tube in the throughway. The collet ring extends out of the throughway and has an out-turned flange or head to facilitate manipulation of the collet by a tool or by hand to lock and release a tube in the coupling body. A "C" shaped locking clip may be provided for engagement between the head or flange of the collet and the adjacent end of the coupling body to hold the collet in an outwardly extended position in which the tube is locked in the coupling body by the collet to prevent accidental release of the collet. The provision of a separate component for the locking function can result in a collet being left unlocked if a clip is not available for a coupling body or the installer simply overlooks applying the clip to the collet.


The image forming apparatus includes a plurality of rotation members for bearing respective images, a plurality of motors for driving and rotating the plurality of rotation members, respectively, a phase detector for detecting phases of the plurality of rotation members, and a phase adjusting device for carrying out adjustment so that phase differences among the plurality of rotation members have a predetermined relationship, in which the phase adjusting device carries out the adjustment before the motor in rotation is stopped, and stops the motor after completion of the adjustment. Accordingly, a first print time can be shortened without executing an unnecessary phase adjustment sequence after activating motors. Alternatively, after executing and completing the phase adjustment, the motors are stopped.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an apparatus and a method for forming an image, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic process and a controller therefor.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 12 shows a color image forming apparatus 10 including image forming means for four colors, yellow Y, magenta M, cyan C and black K. Note that symbols a, b, c and d which are added to respective reference numerals in the figure correspond to yellow Y, magenta M, cyan C and black K, respectively. The color image forming apparatus 10 includes photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d for forming respective electrostatic latent images, and motors 6a, 6b, 6c and 6d for driving the respective photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d.
Laser scanners 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d for carrying out exposure in correspondence to an image signal to form electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d are disposed above the photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d, respectively. In addition, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a conveyance belt 3 for successively conveying a sheet to image forming parts for the respective colors, drive rollers 4 connected to drive means having a motor, a gear and the like in order to drive the conveyance belt 3, a motor 6e for driving the drive rollers 4, and a fixing device 5 for melting and fixing toner transferred onto a sheet.
Data of an image to be printed is transmitted from a personal computer (PC) to a printer. When the image formation corresponding to a system of a printer engine is completed, and then an operation state becomes a state where the printing can be carried out, a sheet is fed from a sheet cassette. When the sheet arrives at the conveyance belt 3, the sheet is successively conveyed to the image forming parts for the respective colors by the conveyance belt 3. Image signals of the respective colors are sent to the respective laser scanners 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d in correspondence to a timing at which the sheet is conveyed by the conveyance belt 3 to form electrostatic latent images onto the respective photosensitive drums 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d. The electrostatic latent images are then developed with toners by developing devices (not shown) to be transferred onto the sheet in transferring parts (not shown), respectively. In the figure, the images are formed on the sheet in order of yellow Y, magenta M, cyan C and black K. Thereafter, the sheet is separated from the conveyance belt 3, and the toner image is then fixed onto the sheet by the heat in a fixing device to be discharged to the outside.
Incidentally, in the multi-color image forming apparatus constructed as described above, differences in the image formation positions of the respective colors appears as misregistration in the image to cause degradation of the image quality. The misregistration can be roughly classified into a stationary misregistration generated due to the position shift when assembling the developing devices of the respective colors (hereinafter referred to as "D.C. misregistration"), and a periodic misregistration generated due to the deviation of shafts of rotation members (hereinafter referred to as "A.C. misregistration").
As for measures taken to cope with the A.C. color drift, there is known a method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-022147. Thus, a technique for individually controlling rotation phases of the rotation members of the respective colors is known. However, the above-mentioned method has the following disadvantages. That is, a first print time becomes long all the more since a phase adjustment sequence is necessarily carried out whenever the motors are activated.


Optical amplifier transient control methods and apparatus which limit the extent of cumulative transient gain errors in the rapid control of multiple optical amplifiers in a communication system. In an exemplary embodiment, if the input power to an optical amplifier drops below a predetermined threshold, the gain of the amplifier is set to clamp the output power of the amplifier to its initial level less the threshold, thereby preventing the continuous growth of gain error. This is based on the assumption that once the input power goes below the threshold, it should no longer go above the threshold until the transient condition is corrected. The present invention can operate to handle down-as well as up-transient events and is not amplifier technology dependent.

In a typical path of an optical communication system, an optical signal will be amplified by multiple optical amplifiers along the path. Optical amplifiers in communication systems are typically operated such that the gain of each amplifier is held constant using a control loop operating in accordance with a control algorithm. The control algorithms that have been used in various implementations follow several different approaches. For example, one approach is to operate at a constant gain unless the power change at the amplifier input exceeds some threshold value, at which point a rapid response algorithm is implemented. This helps overcome the lagging response of the amplifier to very rapid and large power changes that might occur, for example, due to a fiber break. For rapid adjustments, most algorithms respond with limited information based upon measurements of the total optical power input and/or output of the amplifier.
In wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical transmission systems, the input power to optical amplifiers can change due to a wide variety of events such as the loss of WDM channels, faulty components, and upstream network power adjustments, among others. It is desirable in such systems for each WDM channel to maintain a particular target power and therefore the gain profile of the optical amplifiers is set to a value that depends on the number of WDM channels and their target powers. This is typically achieved by directly setting the amplifier to achieve the target output or by maintaining a fixed gain in the amplifier using a variety of different algorithms. At random times in the network operation, however, channels can be lost due to events such as, for example, an upstream fiber break. When channels are lost, the amplifiers must be adjusted down in power to the level appropriate for the new channel configuration. During this process, there can be error in the power setting and this gain error can potentially grow as the signals are transmitted through the network. This is particularly true when abrupt changes occur making it difficult for the system to rapidly adjust. During such rapid changes, it may not be possible to determine the actual power of each WDM channel at an amplifier input. Each amplifier must adjust its gain, therefore, based upon the total input and/or output power changes or other indicators and not directly using actual channel powers. This results in a greater likelihood of error.
Moreover, optical amplifiers may be distributed, with an amplifier's input and output located at two different geographic locations. When a failure occurs, the amplifier control mechanism must respond using information about only the output power. Because the control mechanism does not know the input power, it is impossible for it to maintain constant gain. Depending on the pre- and post-transient channel powers, it may be possible to reduce the total gain error, however, it is very difficult to have zero gain error for all possible channel configurations.
The rapid nature of transient events and the errors involved in responding thereto means that it is often impossible to communicate control information (e.g., channel powers) between different nodes when such events occur.

Optical amplifier transient control with gain error limits


A method, system, and device are provided for transmitting emergency calls by means of a mobile device via a speech channel and a data channel. The data channel serves to transmit location information. The location information may be transmitted in encoded form. The information also may be transmitted via the speech channel. The information may then be compared for consistency in the service center.

An emergency call with exact location information (e.g., from GPS—Global Positioning System) from a mobile telephone network uses a data channel (e.g., SMS or GPRS) and a speech channel in order to transmit the entirety of the emergency call information (e.g., location, cause of the accident, identity of the caller) to an emergency call center. The data supplied via the data channel must be synchronized with the speech channel in order that all the emergency information can be passed on together to the rescue center. The synchronization of incoming speech calls and the data (e.g., via SMS) takes place nowadays within the context of location-related services via the call number of the customer (MSISDN—Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number) with support from ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) systems and CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) functions. The MSISDN (call number) is contained within the signaling data or the data themselves. For the speech connection, the MSISDN is usually transmitted to the telecommunication system at the service center (e.g., call center), when the customer has switched on the CLIP (Calling Line Identification Presentation) or has accessed the speech connection of the service center via the CLIR Overwrite (Calling Line Identification Restriction) feature (the suppressed CLI is nevertheless displayed). The synchronization then takes place in such a manner that this MSISDN is made known to the system for speech processing (e.g., the client workstation of a call center agent). The data belonging to this speech call with this MSISDN is meanwhile present in a database with the identification feature MSISDN from the data transmission and can therefore be assigned to the speech channel.

Method and device for synchronization of speech and data concerning location information for location-related services


An example implementation includes identifying a cluster of associated users that includes a plurality of unregistered users based at least in part on message-related information related to a first user. The unregistered users are users that have not been registered to use a social networking service. An invitation is sent to each of the plurality of unregistered users to join the social networking service and two or more requests to join the social networking service are received from two or more interested users, respectively, the two or more interested users being included in the plurality of unregistered users. Each of the two or more interested users is registered to use the social networking service based at least in part on a join criterion.

The present disclosure relates to seeding user connections in a social network.
In recent years, online social networking services have become a popular mechanism for interaction between users over the Internet. For example, users can use the functionality of a social network to interact with friends and relatives by posting thoughts, news articles, photos, and videos, about oneself or others, meet others with similar interests, and network with colleagues. Users often join a social network knowing their friends are also using the service.
However, a new social networking service can have difficulty attracting users to join. In some cases, this difficulty is due to a causality dilemma where the value of the new service cannot be demonstrated until a critical mass of users join, and where users who are not members are reluctant to join the new service because the value of doing so has not been made clear to them. For example, those who are not members of the new service may be reluctant to join because they believe that none of their friends are using it, and those friends who are using it may enjoy the features of the service but may have difficulty demonstrating the value of those features to their non-member friends until those friends join.

Seeding user connections in a social network


The example embodiments are directed to refinement process for generating an accurate image segmentation map. A refinement network may enhance an initially generated segmentation map using a model that is trained using synthetic images. In one example, the method may include storing an image of content which includes a plurality of categories of data, receiving an initial segmentation map of the image, the initial segmentation map comprising pixel probability values with respect to the plurality of categories, executing a refinement predictive model on the initial segmentation map and the image to generate a refined segmentation map, wherein the predictive model is trained using synthetic images of the plurality of categories of data, and generating a segmented image based on the refined segmentation map.

Image segmentation is the process of partitioning a digital image into multiple segments (i.e., pixel sets). Image segmentation can simplify and/or change the representation of an image into something that is more meaningful and easier to analyze. Image segmentation is typically used to locate objects and boundaries such as lines, shape boundaries, objects, etc., in images. An image may contain thousands (or even millions) of pixels. Image segmentation is the process of assigning a label to every pixel in an image such that pixels with the same label share certain characteristics.
The result of image segmentation is a set of segments which can collectively cover the entire image. Each of the pixels in a region are similar with respect to some characteristic or computed property, such as color, intensity, or texture. Adjacent regions are significantly different with respect to the same characteristics.
In many computer vision tasks such as inspection and process control, there is a need to accurately segment certain image parts (e.g., materials, etc.) which appear in the image. While deep learning methods have proven successful in semantic segmentation tasks there is a challenge in obtaining highly accurate segmentation maps. In some cases, sub-pixel accuracy is required. One of the difficulties is the need for large amounts of accurately (often subpixel) labeled data for training a machine learning algorithm. Accordingly, what is needed is an improved mechanism for image segmentation.

Multi-stage segmentation using synthetic images


A gas detecting apparatus including: a heating resistor exposed to a detected atmosphere, and a control circuit for controlling the heating resistor at two different temperatures, wherein each output voltage from the heating resistor corresponding to the different temperatures is detected when the heating resistor is controlled to the different temperatures, and a state of a gas is obtained based on the detected output voltage. For example, two different offset voltages are set, each potential difference obtained by subtracting each of the offset voltages from corresponding detected output voltages is amplified and the state of the gas is obtained using the amplified potential differences.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas detecting apparatus capable of being used in detection of a state of a gas, for example, concentration measurement or leak detection of a combustible gas present in a detected atmosphere, or detection of the humidity of the detected atmosphere.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a gas detecting apparatus, for example, a heat conductivity humidity sensor is known in the related art. Such a heat conductivity humidity sensor is a sensor for measuring humidity using a change in thermal radiation from a temperature measurement resistor heated by a heating element for self-heating by Joule heat.
As this kind of heat conductivity humidity sensor, a technique for switching and controlling a heating resistor at two temperatures using a Wheatstone bridge circuit and obtaining humidity from a voltage applied to a heater at that time has been disclosed in recent years (see Patent Reference 1).    [Patent Reference 1] JP-A-H09-5284
3. Problems to be Solved by the Invention
However, in the related-art technique described above, an output voltage from both ends of the heating resistor is directly inputted to an arithmetic circuit (microcomputer), so that there is a problem that a resolution of the output voltage (measured voltage) is limited by an input resolution of the arithmetic circuit.
That is, in the heat conductivity humidity sensor using the heating resistor, since it is necessary to detect a very small change in voltage, there is a problem that measurement accuracy becomes low when the resolution of the measured voltage is low.
As a countermeasure, it is contemplated to use an arithmetic circuit having high resolution, but there is generally a problem that the high resolution also increases the price of the arithmetic circuit.
It is contemplated to amplify the measured voltage by an amplifier. However, since it is necessary to set the voltage after amplification at a power supply voltage or less, an amplification factor cannot be increased too much. This results in a problem that high measurement accuracy cannot be obtained.

Gas detecting apparatus and gas detecting method


Faster shifting operation and reduced shift shock in response to a braking operation during a lift-foot-up shifting may be achieved when an automatic transmission is controlled by a method for compensating a hydraulic pressure that includes: determining whether a lift-foot-up shifting of the automatic transmission is under control; calculating a vehicle speed of a vehicle; calculating a deceleration rate of the vehicle; calculating a compensation hydraulic pressure to be applied to a friction member of the transmission, based on the deceleration rate; calculating a on-coming pressure based on the calculated compensation hydraulic pressure; and applying the calculated on-coming pressure to the friction member.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for compensating a hydraulic pressure of an automatic transmission. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for compensating a hydraulic pressure of an automatic transmission that reduces shift shock and increase shifting speed.
(b) Description of the Related Art
When a brake is operated while a lift-foot-up shift is performed, a time required for a turbine speed of an automatic transmission to reach a synchronization speed is increased. Therefore, a shifting time is increased.
In this case, a shift shock may increase, and a delay may occur in response to a re-acceleration.
FIG. 4 illustrates a conventional scheme of a method for compensating a hydraulic pressure of an automatic transmission.
Several terms relating to shifting control is explained below
When it is determined that a shift is required on the basis of a vehicle speed and throttle valve opening, a transmission control unit (TCU) starts a required shift control by starting control of a solenoid valve in the AT, which is usually called "shift-start point" and is abbreviated as "SS point".
By starting of the solenoid valve control, after a certain period, an off-going friction member begins releasing its hydraulic pressure, and an on-coming element begins to be supplied with a hydraulic pressure, which is usually called "shift-begin point" and is abbreviated as "SB point". The period after the SS point to the SB point becomes a delay period which is not used for an actual shifting operation of the automatic transmission ("AT").
So, an actual shifting period (also called an inertia phase) of the AT begins at the SB point and finishes at a time point at which the off-going element is fully disengaged and the on-coming element is fully engaged. Such a time point at which the off-going element is fully disengaged and the on-coming element is fully engaged is usually called "shift-finish point" and is abbreviated as "SF point".
As shown in FIG. 4, an opening of a throttle valve Th is zero percent (0%) at the shift-start (SS) point, since the accelerator pedal is in a lift-foot-up state. At this time if a brake is operated, the shifting operation is performed as follows.
A turbine speed Nt gradually decrease from the shift-start point SS, and it is abruptly synchronized to a synchronization speed near the shift-finish point SF1.
An output shaft rotation speed No decreases after when a brake is operated, since the vehicle speed decreases by the braking operation. Then, a conventional on-coming hydraulic pressure Pr that is supplied to an on-coming friction member (e.g., a clutch or a brake) in the automatic transmission linearly increases with a first-order slope hydraulic pressure Pg for a predetermined period before the shift-finish point SF1. The on-coming hydraulic pressure Pr is controlled to abruptly increase at the shift-finish point SF1.
However, according to the above conventional shifting operation, the time for the turbine speed Nt to reach the synchronization speed Ns is long, since the gradient of the conventional on-coming pressure Pr applied to the friction member is applied the same till the shift-finish point SF1. In addition, a large shift shock may occur since the turbine speed Nt may be abruptly changed to the synchronization speed Ns at the shift-finish point SF1.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method for compensating hydraulic pressure of automatic transmission


In cases when a called participant is not registered on a packet oriented network, a call-back request made by a calling subscriber is transmitted automatically to a substitutional device which is disposed in a network and assigned to the called subscriber. Preferably, the callback request is stored in a separate database. As soon as the called subscriber is registered in the network, the callback request is transmitted to the called subscriber.

From the product publication "Sonderausgabe telcom report und Siemens Magazin Com: ISDN im Büro—HICOM" [Special edition of telcom report and Siemens' Com magazine: ISDN in the Office—HICOM], Siemens AG, Berlin and Munich, 1985, in particular from pages 14 to 31, a communication system designed for information switching, in particular for voice data switching, is known which supports a large number of features such as automatic callback, call pickup, call forwarding, etc. It is furthermore known from the 1991 product publication "HICOM 300 Networking", reference number A31001-W-A30, issued by the company Siemens AG, how to link up communication systems into a—generally private—communication network and make features that are available locally on one communication system available throughout the network. The features are usually implemented across the network by a networking protocol, specific to the communication system, that is based on a timeslot-oriented transmission protocol.
This gives each subscriber of a communication system the possibility of activating or deactivating features, such as an automatic callback, on a network-wide basis. To do this the subscriber dials, for example, a feature-specific service code and the directory number of the terminal for which the relevant feature is to be activated or deactivated.
ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union) Recommendation H.450.9 describes a method for an implementation of the known "automatic callback" feature in packet-oriented networks according to the H.323 standard. Analogously to timeslot-oriented communication networks, a distinction is made here between two different cases:
1) automatic callback in the event of a "busy" destination subscriber (CCBS) and
2) automatic callback in the event of a "free" destination subscriber (CCNR).
A requirement of both variants is for the subscribers to be registered on the network via their respective terminals. Besides the two statuses "busy" and "free", in packet-oriented networks employing the Internet Protocol—IP for short—there is another status in which the subscriber is neither "busy" nor "free" but is "not registered". This is the case, for example, when an application implemented on the relevant terminal has not been launched or the terminal is inactive.

Automatic callback method for a packet-oriented network

Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG


A device having a winch spool, a torque sensor that measures torque of the winch spool, a first angle sensor that detects a first angle of a winch line relative to a central axis of the winch spool, and a second angle sensor that detects a second angle of the winch line coming from a coil of line on the spool relative to a surface of the coil of line is disclosed.

It is often helpful to know how much a winch or similar device is lifting or pulling. To find this, theoretically, the torque applied by the winch is divided by the distance between the center axis of the winch or similar device and the location where the rope exits the winch or similar device. The equation for this is F=T/X, where F is the weight of the load (or line pull), T the output torque and X is the distance from the center axis of the winch or similar device perpendicular to the point where the rope exits the winch or similar device. In actuality, this calculation is more complicated. The rope rarely winds perfectly onto the drum. Much of the time the line is allowed to wind onto the drum or similar device in a random fashion, creating peaks and valleys for the line to rise and fall into as it changes layers. This means that the X mentioned above is constantly changing.

System and method for calculating winch line pull


Compositions for treating fabric articles, especially articles of clothing, linens and drapery, wherein the compositions provide improved cleaning of soils from and/or care of and/or treatment of fabric articles, especially while providing superior garment care for articles sensitive to water as compared to conventional fabric article treating compositions, are provided.

For the cleaning of fabric articles consumers currently have the choice of conventional laundry cleaning or dry cleaning.
Conventional laundry cleaning is carried out with relatively large amounts of water, typically in a washing machine at the consumer's home, or in a dedicated place such as a coin laundry. Although washing machines and laundry detergents have become quite sophisticated, the conventional laundry process still exposes the fabric articles to a risk of dye transfer and shrinkage. Significant portions of fabric articles used by consumers are not suitable for cleaning in a conventional laundry process. Even fabric articles that are considered "washing machine safe" frequently come out of the laundry process badly wrinkled and require ironing.
Dry cleaning processes rely on non-aqueous solvents for cleaning. By avoiding water these processes minimize the risk of shrinkage and wrinkling; however, cleaning of soils, particularly water-based and alcohol-based soils, is very limited with these processes. Typically, the dry-cleaner removes such soils by hand prior to the dry-cleaning process. These methods are complex, requiring a wide range of compositions to address the variety of stains encountered, very labor intensive and often result in some localized damage to the treated article.
Accordingly there is an unmet need, in commercial laundry, in dry-cleaning and in the home, for fabric article treating compositions, which simultaneously provide acceptable cleaning of across a variety of soils while remaining safe for a wide range of fabric articles.

Fabric care compositions for lipophilic fluid systems incorporating an antimicrobial agent


Nisin-subtilin mutant and chimeric pre-peptides were constructed and expressed in a Bacillus subtilis strain that possesses all of the cellular machinery for making subtilin, except for the pre-subtilin gene. The chimera S.sub.L -Nis.sub.1-11 -Sub.sub.12-32 was prepared. This pre-peptide has the subtilin leader sequence (S.sub.L), the N-terminal portion of the structural region derived from nisin and the C-terminal portion of the structural region derived from subtilin. This chimera was accurately and efficiently converted to the mature lantibiotic, as demonstrated by a variety of physical and biological activity assays. In contrast, a S.sub.L -Sub.sub.1-11 -Nis.sub.12-34 chimera was processed into a heterogeneous mixture of products, none of which appeared to be the correct chimeric lantibiotic. The mixture did, however, contain an active minor component with a biological activity that exceeded nisin itself.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns lantibiotic mutants and chimeras of enhanced stability and activity, leader sequences for such lantibiotic mutants and chimeras, genes encoding such lantibiotic mutants and chimeras (both with and without the leader sequences), and methods of producing and using the same.
2. Discussion of the Background
Nisin (a 34-residue long peptide produced by Lactococcus lactis) and subtilin (a 32-residue long peptide produced by Bacillus subtilis) are the most thoroughly-studied examples of lantibiotics. Lantibiotics are ribosomally-synthesized antimicrobial peptides characterized by the presence of unusual lanthio and dehydro amino acid residues. The structures of nisin and subtilin are shown in FIG. 1. Their biosynthesis involves several post-translational modifications; e.g., dehydration of serines and threonines, formation of thioether crosslinkages between dehydro residues and cysteines, translocation, removal of a leader sequence, and/or release of the mature antimicrobial peptide into the extracellular medium (reviewed in refs. 1-3 below).
Gene-encoded antimicrobial peptides constitute a family of natural products whose known members are expanding rapidly in number and diversity, and are produced by many kinds of organisms, ranging from bacteria to eukaryotes, including mammals (1, 4-6). The ubiquity of anti-microbial peptides among widely diverged organisms implies that the peptides have been subject to many different strategies for achieving their antimicrobial properties, some of which are quite different from the properties and corresponding mechanisms of classical antibiotics such as penicillin. It may therefore be possible to supplement the arsenal of therapeutic antimicrobial agents that has been depleted as a result of the evolution of resistance among microbes.
An advantage unique to gene-encoded antimicrobial peptides is that their structures can be readily manipulated by mutagenesis, which provides a facile means for constructing and producing the large numbers of structural analogs needed for structure-function studies and rational design. Whereas this advantage is shared by all gene-encoded antimicrobial peptides, the lantibiotics are unique in possessing the unusual dehydro and lanthio amino acid residues, which are absent from magainins (7-9), defensins (10-13), or cecropins (14, 15). This means that the lantibiotics offer chemical and physical properties, and hence biological activities, that are not attainable by polypeptides that lack these residues.
For example, the dehydro residues (dehydroalanine, or "Dha," and dehydrobutyrine, or "Dhb") are electrophiles, whereas none of the 20 common natural amino acids is electrophilic. The thioether crosslinkages of lantibiotics are more resistant to cleavage or breakage than the more common disulfide bridge of proteins lacking lanthio residues. For example, a thioether crosslinkage can survive reducing conditions and extremes of pH and temperature better than a disulfide bridge (16).
A concern when making mutants of lantibiotics is the effect of the mutations on the post-translational modification process, because a mutation that disrupts processing makes the biosynthesis of the corresponding mature lantibiotic peptide impossible. All known lantibiotic prepeptides contain an N-terminal region that is cleaved during maturation. For the Type A lantibiotics (e.g. nisin, subtilin, epidermin), this leader region is highly conserved (17). Participation of the leader sequence in the orchestration of post-translational modification and secretion has been proposed (17, 18).
Certain mutations in the leader region of the nisin prepeptide have rendered the cell incapable of nisin production (19), whereas many mutations in the structural region of several lantibiotics do not disrupt processing (e.g., U.S. application Ser. No. 07/981,525 and refs. 20 and 21)). When the complete nisin prepeptide consisting of the nisin leader region and the nisin structural region (N.sub.L -Nis.sub.1-34) was expressed in a subtilin-producing cell, no nisin-related peptide products were detectable (22, 23). However, when a chimera consisting of the subtilin leader region and the nisin structural region (S.sub.L - Nis.sub.1-34) was expressed in a subtilin-producing cell, an inactive nisin-like peptide was produced in which the leader region had been correctly cleaved and which contained a full complement of unusual amino acids (22). The lack of activity was attributed to the formation of incorrect thioether crosslinkages (22).
Similarly, when a prepeptide consisting of a subtilin leader region and a nisin structural region was expressed in a nisin-producing cell, the nisin structural region contained the unusual amino acids, but the leader was not cleaved (24). It has also been reported that expression of a prepeptide consisting of the nisin structural region fused to a subtilin-nisin chimeric leader region, S.sub.L(1-7) -N.sub.L(8-23) -Nis.sub.(1-34), forms active nisin when expressed in a subtilin-producing cell (23).
These results imply that subtilin processing strains such as B. subtilis are not capable of recognizing the nisin prepeptide (which is ordinarily expressed in Lactococcus lactis) and converting it to nisin. However, the subtilin processing machinery will perform modification reactions on the nisin structural peptide if it is attached to a subtilin leader region, although the modifications seem to be misdirected so that active nisin is not always produced. Finally, the subtilin processing machinery will produce active nisin if the leader region is an appropriate combination of subtilin leader and nisin leader sequences.
Lantibiotics are known to be useful bacteriocides and food preservatives. Methods of producing lantibiotics are also known. Lantibiotics offer the advantages of peptide products, in that they are more easily digested, tolerated and/or secreted by humans, other mammals and other animals which may ingest the same than are some so-called "small molecule" preservatives. Therefore, a need is felt for new lantibiotics having improved chemical, physical and/or biological properties and for improved methods of producing the same.

Lantibiotic mutants and chimeras of enhanced stability and activity, leader sequences therefor, genes encoding the same, and methods of producing and using the same


A DC voltage distribution arrangement and method of controlling a DC voltage distribution system, the DC voltage distribution system including a DC voltage bus, a fuel cell electrically connected to the DC voltage bus, an energy storage and an energy storage converter, wherein the input of the energy storage converter is connected to the energy storage and the output of the energy storage converter is connected to the DC bus. The method comprises providing a DC voltage reference for the energy storage converter, the energy storage converter controlling the voltage of the DC voltage bus by providing power from the energy storage or to the energy storage, detecting power flow of the energy storage converter, and changing the DC voltage reference on the basis of the detected power flow to change the power taken from the fuel cell.

In certain environments and uses DC voltage distribution system has been found to be an efficient structure. For example, when power is fed to multiple of loads in an isolated system, a DC voltage bus may be a suitable solution. In such a case DC power is fed to a DC voltage bus from a power source, and the loads are fed from the DC voltage bus using separate converter devices, such as inverters.
Typically the DC bus voltage is kept fixed at preset value apart from a small voltage droop for load sharing between conventional electric generators and/or energy storage devices. Varying the voltage is usually not desired because devices connected to the DC bus are designed to operate optimally at a certain voltage level. Varying the DC bus voltage would cause extra heating in certain equipment, for example passive filters. The extra heating in passive components occurs due to current ripple from the power converters. The higher the DC bus voltage is compared to converter output voltage, the higher is the ripple current. However, to keep the voltage steady at the fixed value, either power generators are required to operate at constant voltage or active rectifiers are required.
With conventional electric generators powered by combustion engines, terminal voltage can be regulated through generator field current. This makes voltage regulation simple without the need of extra expensive devices. However, with fuel cells, the output voltage on fuel cell terminals varies based on its loading and it cannot be controlled without devices for active voltage regulation, such as DC to DC power converters. Due to considerably variation in fuel cell voltage, the operation of common DC bus with a fixed voltage causes significant disadvantages. Main disadvantages of fuel cells operated with fixed DC bus voltage through DC to DC converters is extra cost and footprint due to over-dimensioning of DC to DC converters and current chokes, losses and noise caused by high frequency switching. Over-dimensioning occurs because power converter needs to be dimensioned to both maximum current and maximum voltage. However, when fuel cell is operating at maximum current, its voltage can be down to 50% of maximum voltage.
In conventional systems which employ fuel cells, a DC to DC converter is used to boost the voltage of the fuel cell. This means that the maximum output voltage of the fuel cell must be lower than the fixed DC voltage. As the fuel cell output voltage is at the highest at low loads, the output voltage is significantly lower at full power. Therefore, to get high power out of the fuel cells, the voltage drop has to be compensated with higher current.
One problem of the known devices operated with fuel cells is that the DC to DC converter causes losses to the system as the converter is operated constantly.

Control of DC voltage distribution system


Codon-optimized nucleic acids, polypeptides, and antibodies are described herein.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is an emerging infectious illness with a tendency for rapid spread from person to person (MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, 52 (12): 255-6, 2003; MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, 52 (12): 241-6, 248, 2003; Lee N et al., N Engl J Med, 348(20):1986-94, 2003; Poutanen S M et al., N Engl J Med, 348(20):1995-2005, 2003). A newly identified coronavirus is now established as the etiologic agent (Drosten C et al., N Engl J Med, 348(20):1967-76, 2003; Ksiazek T G et al., N Engl J Med, N Engl J Med, 348(20):1953-66, 2003). Coronaviruses have characteristic surface peplomer spikes formed by oligomers of the surface S-glycoprotein. The S-glycoproteins are believed to bind receptors on target cells. The S-proteins are the principal targets for neutralizing antibodies (Saif L J, Vet Microbiol, 37 (3-4): 285-97, 1993). The protective efficacy of humoral immunity has been demonstrated in several animal models of coronavirus disease (e.g., avian infectious bronchitis virus disease and respiratory bovine coronavirus disease) (Lin X et al., Clin Diagn Lab Immunol, 8 (2): 357-62, 2001; Mondal S P, and Naqi S A, Vet Immunol Immunopathol, 79 (1-2): 31-40, 2001; Wang X et al., Avian Dis, 46 (4): 831-8, 2002.18).
The recently published sequence of the human SARS corona virus (human SARS-CoV) reveals that it represents a new strain (Drosten C et al., N Engl J Med, 348(20):1967-76, 2003; Ksiazek T G et al., N Engl J Med, 348(20):1953-66, 2003). While it is seroreactive with some antisera and monoclonal antibodies to group 1 coronaviruses, it appears to be best classified as a fourth serogroup given its sequence divergence from other strains. Neutralization with available antibodies has not been reported. With the rapid spread of the SARS epidemic and a mortality rate of 5%, it is crucial to develop therapeutic and prophylactic agents. The most severe clinical outcomes of this infection have been associated with prolonged viremia (Drosten C et al., N Engl J Med, 348(20):1967-76, 2003).
Laboratory analyses of convalescent serum samples from individuals with SARS have shown high levels of specific reactivity with infected cells and conversion from negative to positive reactivity or diagnostic rises in the indirect fluorescence antibody test (Ksiazek T G et al., N Engl J Med, 348(20):1953-66, 2003). In contrast, sera from United States blood donors and persons with known HCV 229E or OC43 infection were negative for antibodies to this novel coronavirus. These results indicate that this virus has not been widely circulated in human populations (Ksiazek T G et al., N Engl J Med, 348(20):1953-66, 2003).

SARS nucleic acids, proteins, antibodies, and uses thereof


A hardhat personal fan of the present invention comprises a fan with duct delivery system designed to be mounted externally onto the rim of any hardhat requiring no modification to the hat. This allows for easy installation, use and un-installation. The design is small, sleek, light weight and attractive. The system provides constant cooling airflow to the lower face, neck, shoulders and upper body. Heat is expelled before it travels to the head, promoting cooling there also. The cooling airflow alleviates the potential for heat stroke, reduces fatigue, and increases a worker's endurance, dexterity, mental acuity, concentration and morale.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air cooling device mounted on the hardhat and a hardhat incorporating said air cooling device, and more particularly to a removable hardhat mounted personal fan which includes a fan and duct delivery system installed along the rim of the hardhat to provide cooling airflow to a user's lower face, neck, shoulders and upper body. The present invention also relates to a hardhat incorporating said personal fan.
2. Description of Related Art
Environmental, Safety and Health (ES&H) has historically been regarded as a high priority by companies concerning their workers in the United States and abroad. This invention has been developed to enhance worker comfort, create a healthier working environment and increase safety. A few ideas have been advanced to implement cooling apparatuses located inside a hardhat or that require some modification to a hardhat.
More specifically, by way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,773 to Katz discloses a ventilated hardhat having an interior cavity and a plurality of vent holes therethrough. A fan is mounted to the hardhat in the interior cavity. A motor is also mounted to the hardhat in the interior cavity for rotating the fan to draw air through the vent holes into the interior cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,760,925 to Maxwell discloses an air-conditioned hardhats which includes a motor and fan attached to the top of the interior of a hardhat to blow air over a coolant reservoir onto the wearer's head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,106 to Wang discloses an engineering safety cap for providing both security and ventilation. The cap includes a cylindrical cover having a motor driven fan mounted therein and is pivotably mounted at one edge thereof to the cap such that the cover can be positioned inside the cap opening.
The installation of those devices is cumbersome and unappealing. The installation of those devices may be permanent, and when there is no need or desire for using those devices which could be troublesome. Moreover, those devices focus primarily on cooling the top of the head, forehead and face. Although the head releases much heat, other parts of the body absorb most of the heat. Previous designs largely omit cooling to these other parts of the body and thus the air is not being efficiently used. Furthermore, the air may cause discomfort to wear's eyes if the air is blown directly to the head and forehead. Therefore, there exist needs to have a hardhat mounted personal fan that can provide cooling air to other parts of the body. Moreover the hardhat mounted personal fan should be easy to install, use and un-install.


The present invention relates to processes for the manufacture of suspensions comprising one or more water soluble or water insoluble pharmaceutical or nutraceutical active ingredients with a particle size in the range of from 0.01 to 10 micron. More specifically, suspensions prepared by this process can be used to formulate pharmaceutical compositions, especially in liquid fill capsules.

The oral absorption and bioavailability of drug molecules, particularly poorly water-soluble (e.g., hydrophobic and/or lipophilic) drug molecules is a significant challenge for the pharmaceutical industry. Bioavailability of a drug is important as it affects the drug's adsorption into the body, for example, across the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. One strategy involves reducing the particle size of drug crystals to form micron or sub-micron sized drug particles, the latter being termed nanocrystals. By reducing the particle size of the drug the surface area is increased which results in an increased dissolution rate and therefore improved oral absorption. For example, the delivery of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and particularly those with low aqueous solubility, by both the oral and parenteral route has been achieved by formulating APIs as micron and sub-micron sized particles suspended in water or oil based formulations. Formulations intended for the oral route are usually suspensions of the API in water. Formulations intended for parenteral use are usually formulated as either aqueous suspensions or oil based suspensions.
Such formulations are technically challenging as illustrated in International Journal of Current Pharmaceutical Research, Vol 2, Issue 3, 2010, which noted that formulations for both aqueous and oil based formulations are multi-component and typically require flocculating or suspending agents, wetting agents, stabilizers, solvent systems and preservatives. Such formulations often suffer from lack of chemical and physical stability (i.e., control of settling and caking). For example particle interaction and aggregation increases as particle size decreases which can lead to agglomeration of the particles, settling of suspended particles and poor physical stability. Ostwald ripening, where small particles dissolve and re-crystallise to form larger particles can also be an issue. To overcome these problems nanocrystals are usually generated in the presence of stabilisers, for example surfactants or polymers, which stabilise the nanocrystals by creating a steric barrier. The nanocrystals may then be recovered from the aqueous suspension for incorporation into oral dosage forms such as capsules or tablets. Nanocrystals may be produced by breaking down larger crystals. Preferably, the nanocrystals are produced by milling or ablation.
One approach to overcoming these challenges is to modify the surface of particles in both aqueous and non-aqueous media. U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,376 discloses the production of an aerosol formulation where particles are surface modified using membrane forming phospholipids and a surfactant, and subsequently these particles are dispersed in non-aqueous fluorinated propellent. Such particles may also be suspended in water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions. However, these are complicated systems requiring surface modification of the particles to ensure stability of the drug and the emulsion system.
Another approach described in WO01/21154 is to surface modify sub-micron and micron sized particles of water insoluble biologically active substances from a carrier system comprising a non-aqueous medium, one or more surfactant(s) and optionally a hydrophilic component that self disperses on exposure to an aqueous environment. Three methods are used to produce the compositions of surface modified particles. Method I utilises a particle size reduction process to form aqueous suspensions of surface modified particles. An aqueous premix of the API and the surfactant system is prepared and particle sized reduced. A suspension of surface modified small particles ranging from 0.01 to 10 micron is obtained. This suspension is subjected to a drying process (spray drying or lyophilisation) to yield a dry powder of particles which is then mixed or homogenised with the non-aqueous media and optionally additional components of the surfactant system. Method II uses an anti-solvent precipitated surface stabilised API in a non-aqueous carrier. In this process the surfactant system is dissolved with the API in a solvent and then precipitated with an anti-solvent. Particles are then dried as in method I and combined with a non-aqueous medium. In a third embodiment the API is particle size reduced in the presence of the surfactant system and the non-aqueous medium. In all three cases the methods involve the combination of API with a surfactant system and the non-aqueous media. However, WO 01/21154 is entirely speculative as to the physical stability of the formulations described therein. Moreover, preparation of the formulations described in the art involves complicated manufacturing steps.
Alternative methods for formulating the capsules may be used. The drug crystals can be milled in a non-aqueous liquid (lipid or non-lipid) medium, rather than an aqueous medium, to create a suspension of nanocrystals in the non-aqueous liquid.

Pharmaceutical composition comprising nanocrystals


A check valve for use in a Y-site in an infusion system comprises a fixation portion configured to retain the check valve in a common lumen of the Y-site, and a flap member extending axially from the fixation portion. The flap member has an outer surface, at least a portion of which is configured to engage an internal wall of the common lumen overlying an inlet from a main lumen. In one embodiment, the flap member comprises a pocket surrounding the hole and any burr extending from the wall adjacent the hole. In some embodiments, the flap member is resiliently biased towards a sealed position, and can flex to allow fluid flow from the main lumen to the common lumen.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to the field of medical fluid connectors, and in particular to a check valve for use in a medical Y-site connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Intravenous delivery of fluids has become an important aspect of modern medicine. Infusion systems are used to deliver hydrating and nourishing fluids, antibiotics, anesthetics, and other medications to patients. Infusion systems typically include a bag of fluid joined to a fluid line which is connected to an IV needle or catheter inserted into a patient's blood vein, thereby allowing the fluid to be dripped from the bag and into the patient.
In many infusion systems, Y-sites are placed in the fluid line, between the fluid bag and the needle or catheter, to provide a second path through which other fluids or drugs can be injected into the infusion system. Standard Y-sites are so named because a fork is created between a main lumen having an input port for introducing infusion liquid and a secondary lumen with an injection port for injecting medication therethrough. The main lumen typically is configured to handle a constant or near-constant flow, and the secondary lumen is configured to handle an intermittent or periodic flow. The common lumen and the secondary lumen are typically coaxial, and thus the boundary between the common and secondary lumens is the region of confluence between the fluids flowing through the main and secondary lumens. An outlet in the Y-site is located at a distal end of the common lumen.
In some cases, the distally directed fluid flow in the common lumen is slower than a periodic burst of fluid introduced into the secondary lumen. This may create fluid pressure in the region where all three lumens are joined that is greater than the fluid pressure in the main lumen upstream of this juncture, causing a volume of fluid (e.g. medication) that has been injected through the secondary lumen to flow upwardly through the main lumen towards (and possibly into) an IV bag or another medical implement. This retrograde flow can dilute and delay delivery of the full dose of medication to the patient. While all of the medication may eventually reach the patient, it may not do so as quickly as might be desired.


The present invention defines and illustrates a method for extending the life of road, bridge, parking and aviation pavement. The material is combination of: A—a latex polymer emulsion; B—a dry blend to Type 1 Portland cement and specially sieved washed mason sand; C—a special non-skid aggregate; and water. This composite formula offers pavement resistance to destructive environmental conditions; enhanced pavement skid resistance, and provides a rapid service turn-around. The method is a combination of three variables: a) extensive surface preparation and repair techniques for different pavement types, b) high-capacity bulk mixing system and placement machine; and c) a blended polymer modified cement material composition for repair and resurfacing of a variety of transportation pavement types.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a pavement life extension method that combines a material, repair methods and equipment to accomplish the overall goal of extending the useful life of different types of transportation and vehicular pavement.
2. Background
In the case of other systems that use non-asphaltic combinations to overlay pavements, the material that is used requires far too much water which dilutes the latex emulsion beyond its limits thereby destroying the latex's binding and adhesive qualities. Another known product uses a cement/sand blend with too much cement. This product blends two parts 80 to 100 mesh mason sand with one part Type I Portland cement. This blend is far too rich in cement which in turn bleeds lime for an extended period of time and is also far too brittle (low plasticity) due to the large quantity of cement and not enough aggregate (sand). Other systems use equipment that is not proven in the marketplace or that is specifically designed for asphalt/petroleum based products. This renders a finished product that is aesthetically unacceptable and physically unstable.
Examples of Past Polymer Composition Pavement Overlays:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,304 Is directed to a paving composition including a cement binder, a dispersible latex polymer binder and a mineral aggregate filler such as sand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,463 discloses a flexible acrylic polymer Portland cement coating composition having unusual shear bond (adhesive) characteristics and unusually high abrasion and heat resistance which incorporates sand, Portland cement, acrylic polymer, propylene glycol and a defoamer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,507 sets forth a surface coating agent and method for applying the coating to a road surface. The surface coating agent comprises a principal ingredient consisting mostly of cement silicon dioxide, generally in the form of silica sand, iron oxide, zinc oxide, and glycine and a composite polymer emulsion composed mainly of carboxy-modified styrene-butadiene polymer, wherein the ratio of principal ingredient to the composite polymer is 2.0 to 6.0:1.
In addition, owing to the high cost of fossil fuels, a number of pavement maintenance products have become not only unsafe with respect to the environment, but have also become very expensive for many end users. Especially with respect to the usable life expectancy of these antiquated petroleum based materials, many end users, predominantly Federal, State and Aviation agencies, have been forced to investigate other products that would not only meet their budgetary constraints but also meet many other requirements centered around environmental issues, Solar Heat Reflectivity, comparable durability and rapid re-access to the assets with which the materials are placed. With regards to asphalt pavement; water, UV, hydrocarbons and extended spans between repaving or re-sealing has caused severe oxidation and raveling to many roads, bridges, aviation pavement/operating surfaces, parking lots and vehicular service areas to a point to where expensive reconstruction is the only option that for the foreseeable future is unaffordable. Once the sun begins to evaporate the fine oils that hold the binder together, the small aggregate and sand begin to loosen and gravitate to the road shoulder or curb. At that point all that is exposed is the ¼ to ½ inch polished rock and larger aggregate that decreases the coefficient of friction. This condition combined with wet weather and oils that naturally leak from passing vehicles can cause an extremely dangerous vehicular situation.
Coal Tar, a by-product of the coal industry, is a very well known and effective topical deterrent to asphalt oxidation, exposure to UV and water as well as fuel and chemicals. However, the negative aspects of its use has begun to outweigh its advantages. The product is considered to be very hazardous to human and animal exposure and animate and inanimate objects. Coal Tar sealers have a significant "tracking" effect that destroys interior flooring to buildings and businesses. Coal Tar also possesses a very strong odor that remains with the surface for weeks at a time. With regards to human exposure, applicators are exposed to caustic fumes that cause chemical skin burns and has also been believed to cause cancer in certain studies. Coal Tar has been banned from usage in a number of states due to PAH's, a chemical by-product of coal tar that is extremely harmful to humans, animals and the overall environment. Its continued use in a number of other states is based on the low cost of the material and its placement.
Another asphalt-based product that has seen a wide range of usefulness is a paving concept called Chip Seal or Chip Sealing. This pavement concept is widely used on county roads due to the low cost and low level of commercial traffic. The chip seal method is constructed of a heavy hot liquid asphalt tack material that is sprayed and sometimes spread with a slurry placement machine. The heavy hot asphalt tack material is then covered with limestone ranging in sizes from No. 88 (⅛″) to No. 57 (1.5″) and a blend of both and all between from a tandem dump truck and spread with a tractor or motor grader. The composition is then rolled with a 14 ton vibratory roller and allowed to cool and harden. Once hard and set, the road is then broomed several times with a commercial street sweeper to remove any loose aggregate. The main deficiency with this pavement maintenance technique is that within a very short time the aggregate begins to loosen and dislodge from the asphalt tack material. As vehicles ride over the surface more stones dislodge and are thrown up into oncoming or following vehicular traffic. This causes an exponential number of cracked and broken windshields and in many cases accidents caused by a build up or concentration of loose aggregate in the road center or edges. As most county roads are only 18 feet to 20 feet wide, there is very little margin for error once this condition evolves into reality. However, due to the growing concerns and hazardous events surrounding this concept, most counties have been forced to overlay this type of surface with a 1.5″ asphalt overlay to rectify the liability chip seal roads create.
Concrete on the other hand, has predominantly been a very expensive alternative to asphaltic pavement construction. When crude oil prices were around $20.00 to $30.00 a barrel, asphalt remained the sub-base and surface of choice for public and private roads, parking lots and other transportation wearing surfaces. Concrete for the first time in its history has become less expensive than asphalt for the construction of many transportation related surfaces. Its durability, strength and resistance to UV, water, fuel and chemical spillage is incomparable to asphalt. However, full-depth concrete also suffers from a number of issues related to structural conditions, extreme chemical exposure and ride-ability. First of all, concrete is not as smooth a riding surface as asphalt. The construction process is very time consuming causing driver anxiety. Concrete tends to heave in a true plane in expansive soil regions causing vertical separations at each expansion joint. (Asphalt, on the other hand, tends to roll with the heaving soil and crack when its tensile strength is breached). This is a very dangerous traffic condition for both surfaces which requires planing of the uneven joint to smooth the transition from one panel to the next or the expensive process of panel replacement. Over an extended period of time the top ¼″ "cream" of the concrete wearing surface begins to erode due to traffic, water and basic deterioration. At this point the aggregate becomes exposed which in turn substantially lowers the coefficient of friction for not only concrete roads but bridge decks. The transition from one type of pavement surface to a worn bridge deck surface can be extremely dangerous in wet weather. In severe cold weather conditions, depending on the aggregate used in the mix design, the aggregate can freeze in the top 1″ of the concrete profile and cause the aggregate to burst due to the microscopic water polyps inside the concrete aggregate. This condition is referred to as "pop-outs" that can range from ½″ to 2″ in diameter which in turn can and will begin an erosion and concurrent spalling process. As for concrete bridge decks, there has historically been only one alternative for repairing many of the problems that plague old bridge decks . . . reconstruction. This reconstruction process is not only time consuming but also very expensive to State DOT (Dept. of Transportation), budgets. Many of the problems that are systemic with older concrete bridge decks are loss of friction due to exposure of the polished rock aggregate, concrete spalling and substantial aggregate pop-outs. These conditions are responsible for a large number of vehicular accidents in many states that suffer DOT budgetary problems because funds are not available for total reconstruction. Also, older bridge decks, especially those with wood/timber pilings, (characteristic of county roads), cannot withstand the additional weight load of full depth concrete overlays to repair and improve the ride-ability of these older bridge decks.
In an effort to resolve the weaknesses of these pavement materials and structural deficiencies, there have been a number of products that have been introduced to the market to try and minimize, slow down and ultimately stop the conditions and problems that these pavement commodities create with limited to moderate success. With this background synopsis it can be observed that there is a need for a highly evolved polymer modified cement micro overlay formulation, installation and repair method which overcomes the weaknesses of asphalt degradation, chip seal deterioration, coal tar sealer hazards and concrete road and bridge deck spalling, pop-out and joint repair. These evolutionary developments in addition to a rapid turn-around with minimal interruption to vehicular traffic are the essence of this invention.

Pavement life extension product and method


In a a semiconductor device having a vertical npn transistor, a vertical pnp transistor and an IIL which are integrated on the same substrate, grooves that reach an n.sup.+ -type buried layer 5 serving as an emitter of the IIL and an n.sup.+ -type buried layer 4 serving as a collector of the vertical npn transistor are formed at the same time, and an oxide film 101 is formed only on the sidewall of each groove; in the grooves, n.sup.+ -type polycrystalline silicon films 103 and 102 are formed, which are made to serve as an emitter lead-out portion of the IIL and a collector wall of the vertical npn transistor, respectively; a p-type diffused layer 17 serving as an injector of the IIL and a p-type diffused layer 18 and p.sup.- -type diffused layer 12 serving as the base thereof are respectively so formed as to be adjoining to the oxide film 101 of the emitter lead-out portion of the IIL; and a p-type diffused layer 16 serving as the base of the vertical npn transistor is so formed as to be adjoining to the oxide film 101 of the collecter wall. The semiconductor device can achieve a smaller cell size, a decrease in parasitic capacitance and an increase in operating speed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device comprising an IIL (or I.sup.2 L, intergrated injection logic) integrated with a vertical npn transistor and a vertical pnp transistor, and a method for its fabrication.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional semiconductor devices can be exemplified by what is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 59-141261.
In FIG. 9, reference numeral 1 denotes a p-type semiconductor substrate; and 5, part of the emitter region of the IIL, which is an n.sup.+ -type buried layer formed at the same time as a collector buried layer (not shown) of a vertical npn transistor. Reference numeral 6 denotes part of a separating region, which is a p.sup.30 -type buried layer formed at the same time as a collector buried layer (not shown) of a vertical pnp transistor. Reference numeral 9 denotes an n.sup.- -type epitaxial layer formed on the p-type semiconductor substrate 1 embracing the n.sup.30 -type buried layer and the p.sup.+ -type buried layer 6, and 10 and 12 denote part of the separating region and part of the base region of the IIL, respectively, which are p.sup.- -type diffused layers formed at the same time as the collector region (not shown) of the vertical pnp transistor. Reference numeral 14 denotes an n.sup.+ -type diffused layer that constitutes an emitter lead-out portion of the IIL, and 17 and 18 denote an injector and part of the base region, respectively, of the IIL, which are p-type diffused layers formed at the same time as the base region (not shown) of the vertical npn transistor. Reference numerals 20 and 100 denote a collector and part of the emitter region, respectively, of the IIL, which are n-type diffused layers formed at the same time as the base region (not shown) of the vertical pnp transistor. Reference numeral 23 denotes a collector contact region of the IIL, which is an n.sup.+ -type diffused layer formed at the same time as the emitter region (not shown) of the vertical npn transistor.
In the conventional semiconductor device constituted in this way, the p.sup.- -type diffused layer 12 serving as the base of the IIL is a diffused layer with a low impurity density formed at the same time as the collector region of the vertical pnp transistor, and hence an emitter injection efficiency can be made higher and current gain can be made greater.
Other conventional semiconductor devices in which a highly integrated high-speed vertical npn transistor and an IIL are set up together are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 62-111461. FIG. 10 illustrates a cross section of the structure of this conventional semiconductor device.
In FIG. 10, reference numeral 1 denotes a p-type semiconductor substrate; and 5, part of the emitter region of the IIL, which is an n.sup.+ -type buried layer formed at the same time as a collector buried layer (not shown) of a vertical npn transistor. Reference numeral 9 denotes an n.sup.- -type epitaxial layer formed on the p-type semiconductor substrate 1. Reference numeral 301 denotes a groove formed at an emitter lead-out portion of the IIL; and 306, an n.sup.+ -type diffused layer that constitutes part of an emitter lead-out portion, formed by diffusing impurities from the bottom of the groove. Reference numeral 302 denotes an SiO.sub.2 film formed on the surface of the n.sup.- -type epitaxial layer 9. Reference numeral 303 denotes a p-type diffused layer serving as an injector of the IIL; 304, a p-type diffused layer serving as the base of the IIL; and 305, an n.sup.+ type diffused layer serving as a collector of the IIL.
In the conventional semiconductor device constituted in this way, the n.sup.+ -type diffused layer 306 is formed self-matchingly to the formation of the groove 301, and hence the emitter lead-out portion can be made narrower than in the case when an n.sup.+ -type diffused layer is formed at an emitter lead-out portion using a resist mask. Thus a semiconductor device in which a highly integrated high-speed vertical npn transistor and an IIL are set up together can be obtained.
However, in such conventional semiconductor devices, for example, the semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 59-141261, the n-type diffused layer 100 is formed between the injector p-type diffused layer 17 and the emitter lead-out portion n-type diffused layer 14 and also between the base p-type diffused layer 18 and the separating region p-type diffused layer 10 so that breakdown voltage can be ensured between these diffused layers. Hence, this semiconductor device has had the problem that the cell size of the IIL is necessarily large. In addition, the presence of a parasitic capacitance between the regions formed by the n-type epitaxial layer 9 has brought about the problem that the operating speed of the IIL can not be increased with ease.
In the semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 62-111461, the emitter lead-out portion of the IIL is formed of the groove 301 and the n.sup.+ -type diffused layer 306 located right beneath it, so that a difference in level may occur at this portion. Thus, this semiconductor device has been involved in the problem that disconnection or short of Al wiring tends to occur at this portion.

Semiconductor device including integrated injection logic and vertical NPN and PNP transistors

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An image compression scheme is disclosed which models the human visual perception system. Using quantization of image error values, according to a visually-lossless scheme, an image can be compressed such that it is visually indistinguishable to the naked eye from the original image. To aid in image compression on portable devices such as a digital camera, the quantization can be precoupled into a look-up table.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of digital imaging and computer graphics. More specifically, the invention relates to methods for performing digital image processing and compression.
2. Description of the Related Art
In small, portable devices such as digital still cameras, image compression schemes should be suited to reduce the storage requirements and processing time of captured sensor images still maintaining acceptable picture quality even after compression and decompression. When storage requirements and processing time are reduced, the overall power consumption of the device is also reduced since the VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) chip performing the processing is more compact. The reduction of the bit rate for transmission or storage of still image and motion video will also speed the process of capturing images and thus, speed the downloading of them to a PC (personal computer) or other more complex data processing systems. Quick capture and compression of an image will allow such cameras to transition to the next image, i.e., to the next click of the camera speedily.
Image compression, whether performed by hardware such as VLSI chip or by software, can be classified as either "lossy" or "lossless". With lossless compression, the original image prior to compression can be retrieved exactly when the compressed image is decompressed. Consequently, lossless techniques, whose compression ratios depend greatly upon the entropy of an image, do not achieve high compression ratios and, since they preserve a high percentage of original image information, are computationally expensive. By contrast, lossy compression provides only an approximation of the original image. Thus, with lossy compression, greater compression ratios can be achieved but traditionally with lower image quality compared to lossless techniques. One such lossy technique, referred to as "predictive coding" (also called Digital Pulse Code Modulation (DPCM), well-known in the art), predicts the value of a successive pixel by linearly combining the properties of already processed neighboring pixels. An error pixel is defined as the difference between the original image pixel and the corresponding predicted pixel. The error pixel, represented as a color value, is quantized and then binary encoded. Traditionally, the quantization has been performed distinct from the encoding, which lends to complexity in the processing circuitry.
Even with lossy compression schemes, the process of quantization and encoding is often very compute intensive. Thus, it would be desirable to reduce or eliminate the computing of quantization and encoding within a small device such as a digital camera. Doing so would reduce the circuitry or chip area required and also, the power consumption.
With lossy techniques, as traditionally employed, image quality suffers. It would also be desirable in situations where captured image quality is important, such as a digital camera, to employ a compression scheme that is "visually-lossless". A "visually-lossless" scheme would technically be lossy, but due to certain properties would model the human visual system. To the naked eye, images compressed using a "visually-lossless" scheme would appear approximately identical to the original image.
The implementation of such computationally intensive techniques demands more VLSI circuitry than is suitable for digital cameras and portable, small devices desiring image compression. Thus, there is a need for a more efficient process to perform techniques while conserving power. Also, there is a need to preserve image quality as it relates to the human visual system such that a lossy image appears to the unaided eye as "lossless".

Efficient table-lookup based visually-lossless image compression scheme