Disclosed are lighting fixtures and lighting systems for controlling lighting based on a combination of inputs. The lighting fixtures may comprise a light source, inputs electrically connectable to sensors for sensing daylight, occupancy and environmental conditions, inputs electrically connectable to a group lighting controller output, a memory, and a lighting controller for controlling the dimming state of light sources based on received inputs. The lighting systems may comprise lighting fixtures with dimmable light sources and controllers in electrical communication with the light sources. The controllers may determine dimming states of the light sources based on group inputs and local inputs indicative of light levels, occupancy statuses, and environmental conditions near the lighting fixtures.

Digital lighting technologies, i.e. illumination based on semiconductor light sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), offer a viable alternative to traditional fluorescent, HID, and incandescent lamps. Functional advantages and benefits of LEDs include high energy conversion and optical efficiency, durability, lower operating costs, and many others. Recent advances in LED technology have provided efficient and robust full-spectrum lighting sources that enable a variety of lighting effects in many applications.
In lighting systems, such as those that include LED-based light sources, it is desirable to have control over one or more light sources of the lighting system. For example, it may be desirable to have control of which of a plurality of light sources are illuminated and/or to have control of one or more lighting parameters of one or more of the light sources. For example, it may be desirable to control the dimming state of light output provided by one or more LED-based lighting fixtures. Control of the dimming state of a lighting fixture may enable energy savings by preventing over-lighting of an area illuminated by the lighting fixture during certain time periods. For example, control of the dimming state of a lighting fixture may enable dimming of the lighting fixture to a low light output level or a no light output level during time periods when users are not present near the lighting fixture. Also, for example, control of the dimming state of a lighting fixture may additionally and/or alternatively enable dimming of the lighting fixture to a lower light output level when natural daylight (alone or in combination with the light output provided by the lighting fixture) is sufficient to illuminate the area illuminated by the lighting fixture to a desired level. Control of the dimming state of a lighting fixture may additionally and/or alternatively enable a high level of light output to be provided by the lighting fixture during certain time periods, such as during emergencies and/or during cleaning.
Some lighting systems utilize a group lighting controller to control the dimming state of a plurality of lighting fixtures controlled by the group lighting controller. For example, the group lighting controller may receive input from a group daylight sensor and control the dimming state of all lighting fixtures controlled by the group lighting controller based on the received input. For example, in response to input from the group daylight sensor indicating an over-lighting condition, the group lighting controller may provide a control command to all controlled lighting fixtures to cause the light output level of all controlled lighting fixtures to be decreased based on the control command. Also, for example, in response to input from the group daylight sensor indicating an under-lighting condition, the group lighting controller may provide a control command to all controlled lighting fixtures to cause the light output level of all controlled lighting fixtures to be increased based on the control command.
However, such group control of a group of lighting fixtures provides the same control signals to all controlled lighting fixtures, thereby resulting in increases and/or decreases of the light output level of all controlled lighting fixtures in accordance with the control signals. Controls utilizing the mains wiring are popular for office renovation. However, the grouping of the lighting fixtures is inherently pre-determined by the already existing mains wiring of the lighting fixtures in the ceiling. Accordingly, in response to an under-lighting condition indicated by a group daylight sensor, a first lighting fixture located immediately adjacent a window and a second lighting fixture in a window-less corner of the room may both receive the same control command that dictates an increase in light output levels. However, it may be the case that an increase in a light output level at the first lighting fixture in accordance with the group control signals would result in an over-lighting condition at an area illuminated by the first lighting fixture. For example, the daylight contribution via the window immediately adjacent the first lighting fixture may be sufficient to achieve a desired lighting level at the area illuminated by the first lighting fixture, and increasing the light output level of the lighting fixture would actually create an over-lighting condition. It is known that over-lighting is undesirable, as the lux level of the lighting deviates from the optimal level required for specific tasks by the end-user. For instance, it is known that an optimal level for computer aided drafting work may require a lower light level than an optimal level for work that mainly involves reading paper (not on a computer). In addition, over-lighting may result in undesired energy waste. Likewise, it may be the case that an increase in a light output level at the second lighting fixture in accordance with the group control signals would result in an under-lighting condition at an area illuminated by the second lighting fixture. For example, the group daylight sensor may be located in an area that receives more daylight than the second lighting fixture and the increase in light output level at the second lighting fixture based on the control commands may be insufficient to remedy the under-lighting condition at the area illuminated by the second lighting fixture. Individual calibration of lighting fixtures to fine-tune response to received control commands may assist in minimizing such issues. However, individual calibration is cumbersome and prone to user error. Moreover, such lighting systems lack the ability to enable a lighting controller of an individual lighting fixture to receive both individual sensor input and group control input and autonomously determine an appropriate dimming state based on such multiple inputs. Additional and/or alternative drawbacks of such lighting systems may be presented.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide methods and apparatus that enable control of one or more properties of light output of a lighting fixture based on local input (based on local sensor readings) and group input (provided to the lighting fixture and additional lighting fixtures).

Systems and apparatus for controlling lighting based on combination of inputs


A mechanical swivel apparatus which has a first upper body portion threadably attached to the lower end of a side entry sub apparatus, and a second lower portion which is threadably attached to a section of drill pipe, the apparatus positionable above the rotary table on the rig floor, and having a continuous bore therethrough for running wireline or the like. The upper body portion includes a counterbore for receiving the upper end of a mandrel, so that the mandrel is able to move within the counterbore of the upper body portion. The lower portion comprises an open-ended cap member which threadable engages the upper body portion, and has a shoulder portion which engages a flange around the body of the mandrel so that the mandrel is allowed to move within the upper body portion but cannot be slidably removed therefrom. On its upper end, the mandrel portion further includes a plurality of outwardly extending teeth which define spaces therebetween, so that a pair of pin members extending into the counterbore in the upper body portion, at a first position, engage the teeth so that the mandrel portion is locked in place with the body portion. In a second position, the teeth on the mandrel are moved out of position from the pins, allowing the mandrel, and the drill string below the mandrel to move freely. In operation, the pins are engaged within the inner spaces between the teeth so that when the upper body portion is rotated, the mandrel is rotated and in a second position when the body portion moves to a down position, the pins are disengaged from the teeth so that the lower mandrel portion can remain stationary while the upper body portion is rotated.

1. Field of the Invention
The apparatus of the present invention relates to locking swivels. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mechanical locking swivel positionable above the rig floor for allowing the reorientation of a bent sub during a directional drilling without having to withdraw a wireline that has been located within the drill string from above the rig floor.
2. General Background of the Invention
In the drilling of oil wells, one of the more frequent types of wells that are drilled are directional wells. Rather than have to drill a well vertically, often times because of the location of the pocket of hydrocarbons, or for other reasons, the direction of the well has to be altered or done in a direction off of the vertical and is termed a directional well. This is accomplished with the use of a type of a bent sub which is placed on the lower end of the drill string and the drill bit is rotated downhole via a motor known as a dynadrill. The bent sub, when it is oriented in a particular pre-determined orientation, will have the bit drill travel in that particular orientation as a directional well.
Quite often in the drilling process, the direction of the drill bit has been mis-oriented and has to be adjusted slightly in order to reorient the bit in the proper direction. In most cases, this can easily be accomplished by setting the drill string via the slips, and rotating the rotary table slightly so that the entire drill string is re-oriented and then drilling can resume at that orientation. However, in the instance when there is a wireline which has been fed down into the drill string, because the wireline is usually fed through a side entry sub apparatus, the string cannot be rotated due to the fact that would put stress on the wireline itself, which may result in the wireline being cut and the tool at the end of the wireline could be lost within the well bore, which would result in the tool having to be retrieved if possible. This is time consuming and expensive and requires that the well be shut down in order to do so. However, in the current state of the art, in order to reorient the drill bit while a wireline is downhole, the tool at the end of the wireline has to be retrieved from the well. Next, the drill string has to be reoriented in the proper direction and then the wireline would be re-fed down into the drill string for undertaking its work downhole. Again, this is time consuming and results in loss of rig time. There are also devices known in the industry which attempt to provide a means by which the drill string can be oriented without having to orient the upper portion of the drill string above the rig floor where the wireline is being fed. These types of tools are known as swivels, and to some extent are successful to a certain point.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a tool that can be easily engaged and disengaged at that point between the side entry sub from where the wireline is being fed and the lower drill string, so that the orientation of the drill bit can be changed without placing stress on the wireline.


A net oil and gas well test system for a set of oil and gas wells includes at least two net oil and gas measurement systems and a plurality of valves that are in fluid communication with the individual wells in the set and independently configurable between a first state, in which the valve routes flow to a first net oil and gas measurement system, and a second state, in which the valve routes flow to a second net oil and gas measurement system. Each net oil and gas measurement system suitably has the capability to measure a multiphase flow including oil, gas, and water without separation. For example, each measurement system can include a multiphase Coriolis meter and a water cut meter. Each measurement system suitably includes the capability to provide dynamic uncertainty estimates related to measurement of the multiphase flow.

Various different flowmeters are used in the oil and gas industry to provide information about the fluids produced by oil and gas wells. One such flowmeter is a Coriolis flowmeter. As is known to those skilled in the art, a Coriolis flowmeter includes a vibrating flowtube through which the process fluid passes and an electronic transmitter. The transmitter maintains flowtube vibration by sending a drive signal to one or more drivers and performs measurement calculations based on signals from two sensors. The physics of the device dictates that Coriolis forces act along the measurement section between sensors, resulting in a phase difference between the sinusoidal sensor signals. This phase difference is essentially proportional to the mass flow rate of the fluid passing through the measurement section. Thus, the phase difference provides a basis for a mass flow measurement of fluid flowing through the flowtube. The frequency of oscillation of the flowtube of a Coriolis meter varies with the density of the process fluid in the flowtube. The frequency value can be extracted from the sensor signals (for example by calculating the time delay between consecutive zero crossings) so that the density of the fluid can be obtained. The flowtube temperature is also monitored to enable compensation for variations in flowtube stiffness that may affect the oscillation frequency.
Coriolis meters are widely used throughout various different industries. The direct measurement of mass flow is frequently preferred over volumetric-based metering, for whereas the density and/or volume of a material may vary with temperature and/or pressure, mass remains unaffected. This is particularly important in the oil and gas industry, where energy content and hence product value is a function of mass.
A Coriolis meter measuring two parameters—mass flow and density—is theoretically able to resolve a two-phase (liquid/gas) mixture. However, unless simplifying assumptions are made, a Coriolis meter cannot on its own resolve the general three-phase oil/water/gas mixture that characterizes most oil well production. Including a third measurement of the fluid flow, such as water cut, (the proportion of water in the liquid mixture, typically scaled between 0% and 100%), enables true three-phase metering to be achieved. The term 'Net Oil' is used in the upstream oil and gas industry to describe the oil flow rate within a three-phase or a liquid (oil/water) stream. A common objective in the oil and gas industry is to determine the net oil produced by each well in a plurality of wells because this information can be important when making decisions affecting production from an oil and gas field and/or for optimizing production from an oil and gas field.
A conventional oil and gas well test system is shown in FIG. 1. In this well test system, one well from a plurality of wells (i.e., a cluster of N wells) is introduced into a test separator at any one time, while the remaining wells (i.e., N−1) are combined for transport to the production facility. The output of the selected well is separated in order to derive volumetric flow rates of the oil and gas being outputted from the selected well. The gas-liquid test separator flow path may be substantially different from that of the same well using the "bypass" route. Therefore, the well production in the test separator flow path may not be truly representative of its production the majority of the time when it is following the bypass route.
The present inventors have made various improvements, which will be described in detail below, applicable to the field of Coriolis flowmeters and applicable to the field of net oil and gas testing.


The invention provides methods for regulating the transport of vitamin C across membranes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transcellular transport or cellular uptake of vitamin C (L-ascorbate), and in particular to compositions encoding transport proteins for vitamin C and methods for its preparation and use.
2. Background Information
Vitamin C is an essential multi-functional micronutrient required in its reduced form (L-ascorbic acid) for many enzymatic reactions and as a scavenger of free radicals generated from numerous physiological and pathological processes. It has been known for more than 70 years that vitamin C is essential to the human body, and the disease scurvy, caused by an extreme deficiency of vitamin C, has been known for hundreds of years. But surprisingly, little has heretofore been discovered about how the body actually absorbs vitamin C, and how the vitamin is distributed to the many organs at appropriate concentrations to ensure crucial enzymatic reactions (e.g., collagen synthesis) and to protect tissues and organs from oxidative damage.
Several facilitative hexose transporters (of the GLUT family) are known to transport dehydroascorbic acid (but not L-ascorbic acid) in vitro. Although the oxidized form of the vitamin has the same oral bioactivity as L-ascorbic acid, the GLUT-type transporters are unlikely to account for significant absorption of the vitamin as long as glucose is present in the lumen. Whereas several human cell types have been shown to possess high capacity dehydroascorbic acid transport activity in vitro, these systems may have only limited physiological significance because vitamin C is present in human plasma essentially only in its reduced form, so the GLUT systems would not be expected to participate in the cellular uptake of the vitamin. The exception is in the "recycling" of the oxidized vitamin, e.g., in activated neutrophils or erythrocytes, under conditions in which the extracellular dehydroascorbic acid concentration may be locally high.
There are numerous suggestions in the literature regarding the involvement of vitamin C in a variety of human diseases. Studies indicate that vitamin C levels are reduced in the elderly, smokers, and cancer patients, and that defective serum antioxidant status contributes to the increased oxidative stress associated with many diseases. For example, oxidative stress in the central nervous system (CNS) may cause oxidation of lipoprotein, which can itself initiate the neuronal cell death leading to the manifestation of neurodegenerative diseases. Epidemiological research suggests that dietary vitamin C supplementation is effective in the prevention of various types of cancer, including bladder, breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, lung, pancreatic, prostate, salivary gland, stomach, leukemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Vitamin C may also play a protective role in atherogenesis, since epidemiological studies indicate that plasma ascorbic acid levels are inversely related to mortality due to coronary heart disease.


An efficient streamlined coherent protocol for a multi-processor multi-cache computing system. Each subsystem includes at least one processor and an associated cache and directory. The subsystems are coupled to a global interconnect via global interfaces. In one embodiment, each global interface includes a request agent (RA), a directory agent (DA) and a slave agent (SA). The RA provides a subsystem with a mechanism for sending read and write request to the DA of another subsystem. The DA is responsible for accessing and updating its home directory. The SA is responsible for responding to requests from the DA of another subsystem. Each subsystem also includes a blocker coupled to a DA and associated with a home directory. All requests for a cache line are screened by the blocker associated with each home directory. Blockers are responsible for blocking new request(s) for a cache line until an outstanding request for that cache line has been serviced. A "locked" state managed by the blocker greatly reduces corner cases and simplifies solutions in the few remaining corner cases.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to caches. In particular, this invention relates to a cache coherency scheme for multiple caches in a multiprocessor system.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the shift of computing technology to the "network is the computer" paradigm, the need for a shared global memory address space and a coherent caching system in a networked computing system becomes increasingly important. FIG. 1A is a block diagram showing one such networked computer system 100 with a conventional non-uniform memory architecture (NUMA). System 100 includes a plurality of subsystems 110, 120, . . . 180, coupled to each other via a global interconnect 190. Each subsystem is assigned a unique network node address. Each subsystem includes one or more processors, a corresponding number of memory management units (MMUs) and caches, a main memory assigned with a portion of a global memory address space, a global interface and a local subsystem interconnect. For example, subsystem 110 includes processors 111a, 111b . . . 111i, MMUs 112a, 112b, . . . 112i, caches 113a, 113b, . . . 113i, main memory 114, global interface 115 and subsystem interconnect 119.
Data from main memories 114, 124, . . . 184 may be stored in one or more of caches 113a . . . 113i, 123a . . . 123i, and 183a . . . 183i. Thus, cache coherency among caches 113a . . . 113i, 123a . . . 123i, and 183a . . . 183i is maintained in order for system 100 to execute shared-memory programs correctly.
In order to support a conventional directory-based cache coherency scheme, subsystems 110, 120, . . . 180 also include directories 116, 126, . . . 186 coupled to global interfaces 115, 125, . . . 185, respectively. Referring now to FIG. 1B, each global interface, e.g., interface 115 includes a slave agent ("SA"), a request agent ("RA") and a directory agent ("DA"), e.g, SA 115a, RA 115b and DA 115c. Each DA is responsible for updating its associated directory with the status of all cached copies of its (home) main memory, including copies cached in other subsystems.
The status of cached copies in each node are recorded in directories 116, 126, . . . 186 as one of four states per node. An invalid ("I") state indicates that the node, i.e., subsystem, does not have a copy of the data line of interest. A shared ("S") state indicates that the node has an S copy, and that possibly other nodes may have S copies. An owned ("O") state indicates that the node has an O copy, and that possibly other nodes may have S copies. Note that the node with the O copy is required to perform a write-back upon replacement. Finally, a modified ("M") state indicates that the node is the sole owner of the data line, i.e., there are no S copies in the other nodes.
A RA provides a subsystem with a mechanism for sending read and write requests to the other subsystems. A DA provides access to and is responsible for updating its associated home directory. An SA is responsible for responding to requests from the DA of another subsystem.
Requests for data and responses are exchanged by the respective agents between subsystems 110, 120, . . . 180 in the form of data/control packets, thereby enabling subsystems to keep track of the states of their caches 113a . . . 113i, 123a . . . 123i, and 183a . . . 183i in directories 116, 126, . . . 186, respectively. These data/control packets are transported between subsystems via global interconnect 190. Unfortunately, since global interconnect 190 may be based on any one of a number of conventional networking protocols, e.g., a collision sense multiple access (CSMA) protocol, from the timing viewpoint, subsystems 110, 120, . . . 180 may be loosely coupled to each other at the network layer of the protocol. As such, while the arrival of packets end-to-end is guaranteed, the order of arrival of the packets is not necessarily guaranteed. The out-of-order arrival of packets at subsystems 110, 120, . . . 180 is problematic because they can result in "corner cases" which, if not detected and resolved, can disrupt cache coherency.
One such corner case is illustrated by FIGS. 2A-2D in which a data packet associated with an earlier-in-time read-to-share request (RTS.sub.-- req) arrives after the cache line is prematurely invalidated as a result of the arrival of a later-in-time read-to-own request (RTO.sub.-- req) initiated by another subsystem. In this example, initially, subsystem 110, subsystem 120 and a fourth subsystem (not shown in FIG. 1A) have shared ("S") copies of a data line from the memory space of subsystem 180.
Referring first to FIG. 2A, RA1 of global interface 115 of subsystem 110 sends a RTS.sub.-- req packet to DA8 of global interface 185 of subsystem 180. As shown in FIG. 2B, DA8 responds by initiating the transfer of a data packet to the requesting RA1.
Next, as shown in FIG. 2C, before the data packet arrives at RA1, RA2 of global interface 125 of subsystem 120 sends a read-to-own request (RTO.sub.-- req) packet to DA8.
FIG. 2D shows DA8 respond by initiating the transfer of a data packet to RA2. In addition, DA8 sends invalidate (Invld) packets to SA1 and SA4, the slave agents of subsystem 110 and the fourth subsystem, respectively.
Unfortunately, the later-in-time Invld packet arrives at SA1 before the earlier-in-time data packet arrives at RA1. As a result, SA1 receives the Invld packet first and proceeds to invalidate the old S copy of the data line of interest. Subsequently, RA1 receives the data packet, but is unable to update the value of its S copy because it has been erroneously and prematurely marked Invld.
Several conventional brute-force handshaking protocols for resolving corner cases do exist. FIGS. 3A-3F illustrate one prior art solution to the corner case described above. Again, using the same starting conditions as the example illustrated by FIGS. 2A-2D, subsystem 110, subsystem 120 and the fourth subsystem have S copies of a data line from the memory space of subsystem 180.
Referring first to FIG. 3A, RA1 of subsystem 110 sends a RTS.sub.-- req packet to DA8 of subsystem 180.
As shown in FIG. 3B, DA8 responds by initiating the transfer of a data packet to the requesting RA1. DA8 then idles while waiting for a read-acknowledgment (RTS.sub.-- ack) packet from RA1.
Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, RA2 sends a RTO.sub.-- req packet to DA8. However, DA8 is idle because it is waiting for a RTS.sub.-- ack packet from RA1 to arrive, and hence is unresponsive.
As shown in FIG. 3D, after receiving the RTS.sub.-- ack packet from RA1, DA8 is no longer idle and is now able to respond to the RTO.sub.-- req packet from RA2.
Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3E, DA8 sends Invld packet(s) to any SAs of subsystems with S copies of the data line of interest. In this example, DA8 sends Invld packets to SA1 and SA4. DA8 is also responsible for sending a data packet together with the #.sub.-- Invld to RA2.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3F, RA2 counts the number of incoming Invld.sub.-- ack from SA1 and SA4 thereby avoiding the corner case illustrated by FIGS. 2A-2D.
Unfortunately, the above-described brute-force hand-shaking solution for handling and/or reducing corner cases is inefficient because of the excessive number of handshaking control packets. These extra control packets substantially increase the network traffic. In other words, the "cure" for the infrequent but disastrous corner cases substantially degrade the efficiency of the network.
Hence, there is a need for a simple and streamlined cache coherency protocol which handles and/or reduces corner cases without substantially increasing network traffic. Advantages of the present invention include reduction of complicated race conditions resulting from the corner cases, ease of formal verification of the protocol due to the reduction of the race conditions, and increased reliability of the resulting cache coherent computer system.

Deterministic distributed multi-cache coherence method and system


A method of forming a composite informational item having information regarding a pharmaceutical product printed thereon from a first informational item, such as a bidirectionally folded outsert or a booklet, and a second informational item, such as a bidirectionally folded outsert or a booklet, may comprise (a) forming the first informational item; (b) automatically conveying the first informational item from a location in a first feed apparatus to a bonding location; (c) providing a plurality of the second informational items in a second feed apparatus different than the first feed apparatus; (d) automatically depositing a releasable adhesive on a face of one of the informational items; (e) automatically conveying one of the second informational items from a location in the second feed apparatus to the bonding location; and (f) causing a face of the first informational item to make contact with a face of the second informational item so that the first informational item and the one second informational item are releasably bonded together via the releasable adhesive applied to the face of one of the informational items.

The present invention is directed to a method of bonding together at least two informational items carrying distinct sets or types of information to form a composite informational item.
The government requires informational items to be included with many pharmaceutical products. The informational items are typically provided as a printed product, such as a folded outsert, a folded insert, a booklet, or a label.
An outsert is an informational item formed from a sheet of paper which is folded in two perpendicular directions. The sheet of paper has information printed thereon, which is typically information relating to a pharmaceutical product or drug. The outsert may be adhesively attached to the top or side of a pharmaceutical container, such as a bottle of pills. Alternatively, the outsert may be inserted loosely into a cardboard box in which a pharmaceutical container is disposed. After purchase of the pharmaceutical product by a consumer, the outsert may be unfolded so that the consumer may read the information printed thereon.
A booklet is similar to an outsert in that a sheet of paper having information printed thereon is folded in two perpendicular directions. Prior to folding, however, adhesive is deposited along a centerline of the sheet so that, after folding in a first direction, central portions of each sheet panel are adhered together. When the sheet is folded in the perpendicular direction, the adhered sheet portions form a spine of the booklet. Side edges of the folded booklet are removed so that the sheet panels form individual pages of the booklet that are secured only at the spine. The booklet may be further folded to resemble a conventional outsert.
There are a number of patents which disclose methods of and machines for forming outserts and booklets. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,815 to Michael Vijuk discloses an automatic stacking and folding apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,195 to Michael Vijuk discloses various methods and apparatus for forming outserts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,931 to Robert Vijuk discloses a method and apparatus for forming a folded leaflet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,873 to Michael Vijuk discloses an apparatus for stacking folded sheets on edge. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,458,374, 5,813,700 and 5,909,899 disclose various methods of forming outserts. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,411 discloses various methods and apparatus for forming booklets.
Many products require two or more distinct informational items to be provided with the product. For example, a first informational item may be directed to the pharmacist and/or physician, while a second informational item may be directed to the patient. The information provided in the first and second informational items may be quite different. Consequently, pharmaceutical suppliers must take steps to ensure that each type of informational item is provided with the product.
Furthermore, recent federal regulations mandate that pharmaceutical suppliers electronically verify each informational item before it is applied to a pharmaceutical product. Because each informational item is typically produced by a designated folding machine, pharmaceutical suppliers employ manual labor to transfer the items from the folding machine to an assembly area, where the items may be grouped together for a given product. Manually handling of the informational items significantly increases the possibility of human error, which may complicate the task of electronically verifying each informational item before application to the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,689 discloses a multiple leaflet literature assembly having a first leaflet detachably secured to an assembly of leaflets including a plurality of integrally formed second leaflets. The first leaflet has a first identifier while the assembly of leaflets has a second identifier. Because the second leaflets of the assembly of leaflets are integrally formed and detachably secured to one another, the second identifier is used to identify all of the second leaflets.

Method of forming composite informational item


An airspeed and direction indicating system for an aircraft of the rotary wing type includes a vertical accelerometer for monitoring the up and down movement of an outer portion or tip of the rotary wing. The vertical accelerometer produces a generally sinusoidal signal in response to the up and down movement of the wing tip as it rotates about an axis. The amplitude of the signal corresponds to the airspeed and the phase angle indicates direction. Suitable readouts display the information for consideration by a pilot.

Rotary winged aircraft or helicopters as they are more commonly known comprise a generally vertical rotor or must having a lower end held within a fuselage. They also include a plurality of wings or blades which rotate with the rotor. These rotating wings cause the aircraft to travel vertically, forward, backward and sideways. The action of the blades upon the air result in a movement downward therefrom of a turbulent column of air which engulfs the fuselage as well as any Pitot and static tubes which are placed thereon to give airspeed indications.
It is also known in the art of sensing aircraft speed and direction to place a pressure sensor at the end of a rotating wing and to interpret the pressure variations which occur as a result of aircraft movement through an air mass to provide airspeed and direction signals. For example, a U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,282 of D. F. Daw discloses a pressure sensor probe at the tip of one of the helicopter's rotor blades. As the blade rotates, the amplitude of the cyclic variation of the blade tip pressure per revolution is a function of the translational speed of the helicopter. The cyclic variation is converted into an electrical signal which is passed through an inductive coupling using a pair of coils. By positioning the coils at right angles with respect to one another and in a known position with respect to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, any component of the translation speed may be determined and from component measurements, the resultant translational direction with respect to the aircraft's axis can be derived.
A more recent patent of Onksen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,888 discloses an omni-directional airspeed system which calculates airspeed from a differential pressure signal. The differential pressure signal is indicative of the pressure difference between two rotating pitot-type sensors which are mounted at the ends of the hollow tubular arms. At airspeed other than zero, the velocity of the air through the sensors varies sinusoidally, with maximum difference when the sensor arms are aligned perpendicular to the wind. At that instant, the velocity of the sensor advancing into the wind is equal to the tip speed plus the airspeed, and the velocity of the air in the sensor retreating from the wind is equal to the tip speed minus the airspeed. The resultant pressure in the two hollow tubes are then different and the transducer outputs a voltage proportional to the differential pressure and proportional airspeed. Then, when the arms are aligned parallel to the wind, the wind velocity in the sensors are equal and the differential pressure output equals zero. The resultant wave form from the differential transducer is sinusoidal, with amplitude related to airspeed and phase related to direction.
An improvement in the aforementioned devices is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,261 of Flint III, et al. As disclosed therein, aircraft speed and direction are determined by sampling the sinusoidal-like pressure variations at the end of a rotor and performing a Fourier analysis on the pressure samples.
It is presently believed that there is a relatively large commercial market for an improved airspeed and direction indicating system for rotary winged aircraft. It is believed that there is a demand for such systems which eliminates pressure sensor and pressure transducers, are highly reliable, relatively easy to install and service and which can be manufactured and sold at a competitive price. It is also believed that the airspeed and direction indicating system in accordance with the present invention provides all of the aforementioned benefits and more as will become evidence from the following description.

Air speed and direction indicating system for rotary winged aircraft


A recorder provides to a recorder/player via a high-speed bus content-related information such as a digital audio signal as information, a content ID being identification information on the digital audio signal and a standard playing time of the digital audio signal. The recorder/player has a controller which stores the content ID into a copy-history information management memory when the same content ID is not existent in the memory. The content ID is held for a period measured by a timer. For this period, the recording function of the recorder/player is limited so that the same digital audio signal cannot be copied at a high speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for limited copying or recording of an information signal such as audio signal, video signal, etc., a system for controlled copying or recording of information signal, using the method, and an information signal recording apparatus also using the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as the digital content service by the Internet, compact disc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), etc. has become popular, illegal copying of a digital content has become a serious matter of piracy. To cope with this problem, it has been proposed to add, to a digital content, copy-controlling information used to prevent the digital content from illegally being copied.
The systems having so far been proposed to prevent such illegal copying mainly include a system for disabling copying of any digital content supplied from a specified information source, a system for enabling to copy a digital content once while disabling further copying of the digital content once copied (generation-managing copy control system). The former system is applied for an original software produced and sold by a content maker, such as a digital data recorded in a DVD-ROM. The latter system (generation-managing copy control system) is applied for information to be broadcast in a broadcasting medium, for example.
The generation-managing copy control systems should desirably be able to effectively manage the copy generation. The copy control systems adapted to manage the copy generation include SCMS (Serial Copy Management System) for audio signals, and CGMS (Copy Generation Management System) for video signals.
The SCMS system is such that a copy disable/enable flag transmitted together with a digital audio signal, and a category code indicative of a digital audio source such as a compact disc (CD), digital audio tape (DAT) or the like, are used to provide a serial-copy control for enabling to copy a digital audio signal only once.
More specifically, the SCMS system controls the copy generation of a digital audio signal using SCMS information including a copy disable/enable flag and category code which are transmitted along with the digital audio signal to enable copying of the digital audio signal only at one generation while disabling further copying of the digital audio signal copied at the previous generation.
The CGMS system is such that for transmission of an analog video signal for example, additional information of 2 bits for control of copying are superposed on the analog video signal in a predetermined horizontal zone of the vertical blanking interval thereof, while for transmission of a digital video, additional information of 2 bits for control of copying is added to the digital video data.
The 2-bit information used in the CGMS system (will be referred to as "CGMS information" hereinafter) takes any of the following states:
[00] . . . Copying is enabled.
[10] . . . Copying is enabled for one generation alone.
[11] . . . Copying is disabled.
When the CGMS information added to a video signal takes the status [10], a recording apparatus adopting the CGMS system will decide that the video signal can be copied, and record the video signal which will however have added thereto the CGMS information changed to the status [11] when recorded. When the CGMS information added to a video signal the recording apparatus is going to record is in the state [11], the recording apparatus will be disabled from copying the video signal.
As in the above, the generation-managing copy control systems such as the SCMS and CGMS are adopted to manage the copy generation and enable to copy an information signal such as an audio signal, video signal, etc. only for a private use. Namely, further copying of an information signal once copied can be disabled and thus such a once-copied information signal will not further be copied repeatedly. Therefore, the due profits for the copyrighter of the information signal will not be caused to lessen by any illegal or fraudulent copying of the information signal, and also his or her copyright for the information signal will not be infringed by any such fraudulent copying.
When the SCMS or CGMS system is used to manage the copy generation for copy of an information signal, it is possible to disable further copying into another recording medium of the information signal once copied. Namely, it is disabled to make a second-generation copy from a first-generation copy. However, there is a problem that many copies can be made of the first-generation copy. That is, an original information signal served as recorded in a CD or DVD, for example, from a content maker can be copied limitlessly from the recording media
Also, with use of the so-called high-speed copying technique, an audio or video signal can be copied at a high speed, namely, for a shorter time than the standard reproduction or playing time for the signal. In this case, however since a desired information signal can be copied for a short time, many copies of the information signal can be made for the first generation even if the SCMS or CGMS system is adopted to manage the copy generation and thus many recording media each having an information signal copied thereto can be produced for a relatively short time. If many copies are made of an information signal using the high-speed copying technique, that is, if recording media each having the information signal copied thereto are illegally produced sold by any other person than the author of the information signal or person entitled to have the copyright of the information signal, the author or the entitled person will lose his or her due profits from the information signal to a large extent.
To avoid the above, a copy limiting system has been proposed which allows each of recording apparatuses to hold identification (ID) information on a copied information signal and disables each recording apparatus from copying any information signal having the same ID information as the ID information already held therein. That is, the copy limiting system enables each recording apparatus to copy each information signal only once.
The copy limiting system disables the recording apparatus from further copying any information signal once copied. Therefore, since the above-mentioned high-speed copying technique cannot be used to make many copies of the same information signal when the copy limiting system is adopted, it is possible to positively prevent any fraudulent copying of an information signal and thus protect the copyrighter's due profits which would be lost or reduced due to such fraudulent copying of the information signal.
In this case, however, since the once-copied information signal cannot further be copied using the same recording apparatus by which the information signal has been copied once, copying of the information signal within a range of private use will be limited, which will cause the user not to conveniently use the information signal as the case may be.
Also, the copy limiting system enabling to copy the same information signal only once in each of recording apparatuses, makes it necessary to provide in each recording apparatus a memory capable of storing ID information on all copied information signals, and manage all the ID information stored in the memory. Thus, the load to the recording apparatus will be larger.

Method for limited recording of an information signal, system for controlled recording of an information signal, and information signal recording apparatus


A vehicle window antenna comprises a grid of conductive frit material affixed to the inner side of a window glass in a confined area above a window heating element comprising a grid of similar material similarly affixed and covering most of the window viewing area. The window glass is retained in a channel surrounding an aperture edge of the vehicle body by a mounting and sealing member comprising a strip of a urethane material which is electrically conductive with a low impedance at radio frequencies. At least one electrically conducting ground element, made of the same frit material, is affixed to the inner side of the window glass and electrically coupled at radio frequencies through the mounting and sealing member to the vehicle body. The ground element is provided at the point where the antenna element most closely approaches the mounting and sealing member and aperture edge and has an inner edge extending sufficiently close to the antenna element, as compared with the mounting and sealing element, to replace the latter in defining the closest distance between the ground plane and the antenna element and thus provides a predetermined antenna impedance or other antenna parameter regardless of variations in position, configuration and dimension of the mounting and sealing element. The ground element may be located at one of the upper corners of the antenna element and may comprise a generally L shaped element between the antenna element and the upper corner with a horizontal portion and a vertical portion, the latter extending along the side of the antenna element. The antenna may also comprise a similar ground element adjacent the other upper corner of the antenna element.

A vehicle window antenna currently in use on motor vehicles, as seen in FIG. 1, has an antenna element 2 comprising a grid of electrically conductive frit material affixed to the inner side of a vehicle rear window glass 3 and an electrically conductive rear defogger or heating element 4 comprising a grid made of the same electrically conductive frit material and affixed to the inner side of the rear window glass below the antenna element. The window glass is retained on a vehicle body 5 to cover a window aperture defined by an aperture edge 6 of body 10, which edge is overlapped by window glass 3. The antenna and heater elements are not directly connected to each other but are spaced from each other such that the defogger element is coupled to the antenna element to be driven thereby as a parasitic antenna element. Since the heating element covers most of the viewing area of the window glass, the antenna element is confined to a small upper portion of the window glass adjacent the top and upper side portions of aperture edge 6.
Window glass 3 is held on body 10 by a mounting and sealing member, not shown, which is laid in a recessed channel formed in the vehicle body adjacent the aperture edge. The member comprises a strip of urethane material having electrically conducting properties at radio frequencies due to its dielectric constant and to electrically conductive particles included therein to provide a black color. At least a portion of the active antenna element must be sufficiently near a ground plane provided by the vehicle body to be coupled therewith; and this is accomplished in the prior art by providing a portion of the active antenna element on the inner side of the window glass near the top and upper side edges of the vehicle body aperture. Due to the facts that the mounting and sealing member (1) is very near the aperture edge in the vehicle body, (2) separates the plane of the antenna element on the window glass from that of the aperture edge, and (3) is electrically conductive at radio frequencies, it generally provides a low impedance extension of the vehicle body ground plane and comprises the closest portion of the ground plane to the antenna.
The distance between the antenna element and ground plane significantly affects the antenna impedance; and the smallest distance between the antenna element and the ground plane dominates that affect. It is thus important to control the smallest distance between the antenna and the ground plane precisely to maintain a predetermined antenna impedance. However, the mounting and sealing member is subject to a plurality of variables during the vehicle assembly process which can lead to a variation of this distance. It is generally applied by laying a bead of the urethane material in a strip around the aperture edge; and the precise path of the bead and amount of material per unit distance can vary around a single window as well as from vehicle to vehicle. The bead is easily deformable until cured; and the window glass is laid in the channel and pressed down on the mounting and sealing member, which causes the bead of material to flatten and widen. The pressure applied to the window glass may vary, which results in a variable width and height of the member. The window glass may be laid slightly out of position and moved sideways into a better position, in which case the bead may be distorted into a slanted cross-sectional shape as the top is moved by its contact with the window glass sideways with respect to the bottom. It is thus difficult in a mass assembly environment to control the final position and configuration of the mounting and sealing member with the precision required to guarantee that the closest distance between the antenna element and the vehicle body ground plane, as extended by the mounting and sealing member, will not vary from that designed to provide the predetermined antenna impedance.


A method and a device for processing geological information is disclosed. The method for processing the geological information includes acquiring multiple geological image graphs, determining the relation between the image coordinate and the ground coordinate of each of the multiple geological image graphs by an imaging mode of geological images, and joining the multiple geological image graphs together according to the relation between the image coordinate and the ground coordinate of each of the multiple geological image graphs. Accordingly, large-scale ground images can be acquired by processing the geological images.

Geological data is important basis for planning, design, construction, running and transformation of electrical networks, and not only engineering construction cost, but also safety of electrical network construction and running are influenced by geological conditions. Requirements for electric power construction to respond to changes of geological conditions are continually increasing as geological conditions and construction standards change constantly. The construction efficiency of electrical networks is increasingly influenced by the traditional map board pattern and the pattern of separated management of engineering geological data according to projects. Construction of a system for managing geological information for electric facility engineering is needed urgently and processing of geological images is an important part to reflect geological conditions.
Large-scale ground images can be hardly acquired through processing of geological images in the prior art, which causes much inconvenience in acquisition of geological data.

Method and device for processing geological information

BEIJING ELECTRIC POWER ECONOMIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE

STATE GRID BEIJING ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY


A double-sided USB connector structure includes an insulating body, a plurality of first terminals, a plurality of second terminals, a metal housing, and a spring mechanism. Said first terminals are disposed on the insulating body, several first contact portions are provided on the first terminals respectively, and the first contact portions are exposed on a first surface of the insulating body. Said second terminals are disposed on the insulating body, several second contact portions are provided on the second terminals respectively, and the second contact portions are exposed on a second surface of the insulating body. A containing space is provided within the metal housing, an opening is provided on one end of the metal housing, and the insulating body is floatingly suspended within the containing space through the spring mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a USB connector structure; in particular, to a double-sided US connector structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional USB connectors are connector devices used for electrically connecting cables, circuit boards and other circuit units, and are widely applied in electronic products such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, PDAs, etc. A conventional USB connector includes an insulating body and a plurality of terminals disposed on the insulating body. When coupling to another connector, the USB connector must be correctly oriented in order to achieve mating.
Hence, the present inventor believes the above mentioned disadvantages can be overcome, and through devoted research combined with application of theory, finally proposes the present disclosure which has a reasonable design and effectively improves upon the above mentioned disadvantages.

Double-sided USB connector structure having a spring mechanism supporting an insulating body with plurality of terminals on two surfaces of the insulating body


A computer implemented method to detect a data breach in a network-connected computing system including generating, at a trusted secure computing device, a copy of data distributed across a network; the computing device accessing sensitive information for the network-connected computer system and searching for at least part of the sensitive information in the copy of the data; in response to an identification of sensitive information in the copy of the data identifying the sensitive information as compromised sensitive information.

Secure data such as sensitive, protected, private or confidential data stored in or by a network-connected computer system is susceptible to access and/or disclosure to an untrusted environment such as the public internet. Such access or disclosure can occur intentionally or unintentionally and is known as a data breach, information disclosure, data leak or data spill. A data breach may not be identified by a data owner or other entity responsible for or interested in the data and appropriate protective, remediative or responsive actions will generally not take place until a data breach is detected, leading to periods of exposure where data that is thought to be secure actually is not.

British Telecommunications Public Limited Company


The invention relates to a thrust washer (28) for an electric machine (10, 12) intended to be arranged on a shaft (16) between a bearing (18) and a rotor (14), preferably a rotating electrical contact element (24) impacted by brushes (38), and/or a disk pack (36) of the rotor (14). The thrust washer (28) is provided with an area for sealing having two end faces (32, 34). On each end face (32, 34), at least one radial abutment section (50, 52) for the bearing (18), or the rotor (14), is provided. The thrust washer (28) according to the invention is characterized in that it is made of at least one hard component (54) and one soft component (56), wherein the part of the radial abutment section (50, 52) abutting the rotor (14) and/or the bearing (18) is formed by the soft component (56).

The invention relates to a thrust washer for an electric machine for arranging on a shaft between a bearing and a rotor, preferably a rotating electric contact element, which is influenced by brushes, or rather a laminate stack of the rotor, wherein the thrust washer comprises a region for providing a sealing arrangement with two end faces, and at least one radial contacting section for the bearing and the rotor respectively is provided on each end face. A thrust washer of this type for an electric machine can be arranged on a shaft between a bearing and a rotor, in particular between a rotating electrical contact element, which is influenced by brushes, or rather a laminate stack of the rotor. The thrust washer comprises a region for providing a sealing arrangement with two end faces and has on each end face at least one contacting section for the bearing and/or the rotor.
Electric motors such as those generally used for heating and air-conditioning motors are required to fulfill stringent requirements with regard to noise. The noise level of said electric motors is greatly influenced by the so-called longitudinal oscillation of the armature that is excited by way of the longitudinal play of generally a few one-tenth millimeters that occurs in the electric motor during operation. So-called thrust washers are located in the electric motor and are arranged between the non-moving bush bearings and the rotating armature or rotor and said thrust washers by virtue of their material characteristics such as wear-resistance, surface, serviceable life etc.—reduce the friction. As a result of the likewise high requirements for a long serviceable life, in other words good wear resistance, the material, generally an elastic synthetic material, for example polyester elastomer, has a comparatively small amount of intrinsic elasticity. It is also known to install corrugated washers or corrugated rings. However, corrugated washers or corrugated rings only function when in contact between the non-moving parts and the rotating parts.
It is possible by means of skillful selection of the elasticity and damping of the thrust washer to modify the excitation of the axial oscillation to such an extent that said axial oscillation is damped during operation and thus does not cause any noise production. DE 10 2004 044 340 A1 discloses for example a thrust washer of the type mentioned above for an electric machine, in which the contacting sections of the two end faces are mutually connected by way of resilient sections that are embodied on the thrust washer.


An integrated optical component includes at least one input waveguide, at least one output waveguide; a first slab waveguide having a first refractive index, n1. The first slab waveguide may be disposed between at least one of the input waveguides and at least one of the output waveguides. The integrated optical component may further include a second slab waveguide having a second refractive index, n2. The integrated optical component may also include a third cladding slab having a third refractive index, n3. The third cladding slab may be disposed between the first slab and the second slab. The thickness of the second slab waveguide and the thickness of the third slab waveguide are adjustable to reduce a birefringence of the integrated optical component.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described herein are not prior art to the claims in the present application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Waveguide-based optical devices in silicon (Si) photonics may be highly birefringent due to a high confinement of light in the waveguide. An example of a waveguide-based optical device that may be highly birefringent may include a wavelength division de-multiplexer (WDM demux) which may be used at a receiver of an integrated Si photonic integrated circuit (PIC). A transfer function of the WDM demux may be different for transverse-electrical (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) polarizations, which may lead to a relatively large (e.g., 30-40 nm) wavelength shift between the two transfer functions for the TE and TM polarizations. This difference in wavelength associated with the TE and TM polarizations may result in channel cross-talk when an optical signal with an unknown or mixed polarization is demultiplexed by a WDM demux with a polarization-dependent filter function.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some implementations described herein may be practiced.

Polarization independent multiplexer / demultiplexer


The invention provides a human cornichon protein (CORN) and polynucleotides which identify and encode CORN. The invention also provides expression vectors, host cells, agonists, antibodies and antagonists. The invention also provides methods for treating and preventing disorders associated with expression of CORN.

Differentiation of tissues and determination of body plan in metazoans appears to be rooted in the synthesis of critical extracellular and intracellular proteins during oogenesis and embryogenesis. Determination of body plan is encrypted within embryonic cell lineages, and the fate of specific embryonic cell lineages is determined before fertilization, during oogenesis.
Oogenesis and embryogenesis are regulated by interactions between environmental, extracellular, and intracellular signals. Changes in signaling pathways caused by genetic mutation or biochemical modification can affect oogenesis and embryogenesis in a number of ways. Specifically, these changes may result in the failure of spermatozoa to fertilize the egg, in the premature death of the embryo, and in morphological changes during embryogenesis and during ontogeny.
Signaling pathways have been extensively studied during oogenes and embryogenesis of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Soon after fertilization, the Drosophila embryo has two axes of polarity, the anterior-posterior axis and the dorsal-ventral axis. These axes of polarity have been observed in all other metazoan embryos thus far studied. The shape of the Drosophila egg shows dorsal-ventral polarity at the time it is laid. Genetic studies have shown that three sequential signaling pathways establish the dorsal-ventral axis in the Drosophila embryo. The first of these signaling pathways takes place during oogenesis, when the germline-derived oocyte is surrounded by an epithelium of somatically-derived follicle cells. The follicle cells later secrete components of the eggshell. The oocyte produces a dorsalizing signaling ligand that is received by receptors on neighboring follicle cells and defines the polarity of both the embryo and the eggshell. The proposed ligand and receptor in this pathway are encoded by the genes gurken and torpedo, which are members of the transforming growth factor-.alpha. and the epidermal growth factor-receptor families, respectively. Spatial localization of the signal is achieved by localizing gurken mRNA to the dorsal anterior side of the oocyte. This is proximal to the asymmetrically positioned dorsal-anterior-localized oocyte nucleus (Morisato, D. and Anderson, K. V. (1995) Annu. Rev. Genet. 29:371-399).
A number of other genes are also required to ensure correct dorsalization of the oocyte. One of the eight which has been identified is cornichon (Morisato and Anderson (supra)). The predicted cornichon translation product is a 144 amino acid residue hydrophobic protein. Hydrophobic residues are clustered at three distinct regions: the N-terminus, the central region, and the C-terminus of the molecule. There are no putative transmembrane or signal sequences (Roth, S. et al. (1995) Cell 81:967-978). cornichon is thought to be involved in the membrane localization or proper activation of the gurken protein (Morisato and Anderson, supra).
Additional evidence suggests that cornichon is also absolutely required for the induction of the anterior-posterior axis. Mutations in cornichon prevent the formation of correctly polarized microtubule cytoskeleton. The microtubule cytoskeleton is required for proper localization of the anterior and posterior determinant genes bicoid and oskar and for the asymmetric positioning of the oocyte nucleus (Roth et al., supra).
cornichon mRNA is expressed in the Drosophila ovary germarium, without a specific localization pattern. In early stages of oogenesis, it is present in the nurse cell oocyte cluster and is highly expressed in stage 1-6 egg chambers. Expression ceases during stage 7, but during stage 10, is reexpressed in the nurse cells (Roth, et al., supra).
The discovery of a new human cornichon protein and the polynucleotides encoding it satisfies a need in the art by providing new compositions which are useful in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of developmental, reproductive, immunological, and neoplastic disorders.


The efficiency of transmitting lower priority data traffic along with higher priority traffic is improved by segmenting a data packet in such a way so as to reduce transmission delay of the higher priority traffic. The data packet is segmented so that all its segments, including the last segment, are approximately the same size. The segment size is set smaller than a maximum permitted segment size. Indeed, it is desirable (though not necessary) to set the segment size as small as design parameters, (e.g., minimize segment header overhead), allow in order to reduce transmission delay of the higher priority traffic. Because the last segment is set at the same size or a larger size than the other segments, delay in transmitting the data packet is also reduced. The last segment may be sized as large as practical to minimize the transmission delay of the data packet. Once segmented, the data packet segments are transmitted along with the higher priority traffic.

The Internet is a collection of interconnected networks, all of which use the Internet Protocol (IP). The connections between these networks can be used to support a wide range of applications including, for example, electronic mail, file transfer, electronic commerce, downloading of web site information, and voice over IP. Different types of IP services may require different qualities of service. Quality of service (QoS) is the level of assurance that the network can meet a particular application's service requirements. From a technical perspective, quality of service can be characterized by several performance criteria such as availability, throughput, setup time, percentage of successful transmissions, etc., and can be measured in terms of bandwidth, packet loss, delay, and jitter. In an IP header, one of the fields typically corresponds to a traffic class, which enables different types/classes of traffic to be differentiated from others. A higher level traffic class corresponding to a higher quality of service may be given a higher priority than a lower level traffic class with a lower QoS. For example, real-time applications such as voice might be given a higher priority than other non-real-time applications such as e-mail.
In IP networks that support multiple quality of service classes, there may be situations when one traffic class with stricter delay requirements is multiplexed with another traffic class with less strict delay requirements. For example, voice traffic has strict delay requirements while certain types of data traffic typically has less strict delay requirements. In such a situation, even though the voice traffic has priority over the data traffic, the delay of voice packets is nonetheless influenced by the size of the data packets. At the start of transmission of a large data packet, a voice packet cannot be sent until transmission of that large data packet is finished. For example, if the size of the data packet is one kilobyte and the transmission rate is 64 kbps, the next voice packet to be transmitted in the multiplexed transmission may be delayed by as much as 125 milliseconds.
Accordingly, the way in which IP packets are sized or the way in which IP packets are fragmented/segmented for transmission may affect delay and other service parameters. One example algorithm for fragmenting packets is the point-to-point protocol (PPP) multilink protocol (MP) described in an IETF RFC written in 1990 by K. Sklower et al. entitled, "The PPP Multilik Protocol W)." The RFC indicates that systems implementing the multilink procedure are not required to segment packets, although segmentation may be performed. Segmenting longer, lower priority data packets may prevent transmission delays of a voice packet on a multiplexed transmission link. However, no segmenting algorithm is described in the RFC.
One simple approach to segmenting data packets for multilink procedures, (as well as for other procedures), is to divide the packet into segments of equal size, with all of the segments having the maximum segmentation size possible. More than likely, some portion of the packet smaller than the maximum segmentation size will make up the last packet segment. Unfortunately, this relatively simple segmentation procedure does not take into account how it impacts transmission delays for both the voice and data.
Consider the example in FIG. 1 which shows the output of a voice buffer or queue when there is no data traffic to be transmitted over a multiplexed link A first voice burst includes four packets separated by a very brief idle period from a second voice burst that contains five voice packets. A considerably longer idle period separates the second and third voice bursts, the third voice burst having five data packets, etc. FIG. 2 illustrates a situation where data traffic is interspersed in the transmission with the voice traffic. The timing of transmission of the original voice burst when there is no data traffic is illustrated in dotted blocks for comparison to the multiplexed transmission. The data packet is segmented into four segments, with segments 1, 2, and 3 having the same segment size, and the last segment 4 having a much smaller size.
As can be seen in FIG. 2A, the five packets in the second voice burst are uniformly delayed by the time it takes to transmit the first data packet segment minus the duration of the first idle period. If the idle period were longer, the delay in transmitting the voice packets in the second burst would be shorter. Segment 1 of the data packet could have increased the delay of the corresponding burst by a value uniformly distributed between 0 and the segment size. This is the case for all other segments. In other words, large data segments are more likely to cause longer voice delays.
To better understand how segmentation affects the delay of the segmented packet, examine two other segmentation options. FIG. 2B shows a situation where the size of Segment 3 is increased and the size of Segment 2 is decreased by the same amount of bytes. Although the delay of the third voice burst is reduced, the overall delay of the data packet remains the same. FIG. 2C shows that when the size of the last segment is increased, the delay of the data packet decreases. Thus, the delay of the last segment corresponds to the delay of the complete packet and depends on the size of the last segment, assuming the packet size does not change. Accordingly, in to achieve lower delay for the data packet, the last segment should be as large as possible. For lower voice delay, the largest data packet segments should be as small as possible.
FIG. 3 shows a graph where the size of the last segment and the size of the largest segment for a 1013-byte data packet is plotted as a function of maximum segmentation size in the case where a maximum segmentation algorithm is used. Using this maximum segmentation algorithm is not optimal because the last segment ends up being smaller than the maximum size. Indeed, in some situations, the last segment is very small which corresponds to a longer, "worst case" delay of data packets.
More formally, if the size of the last segment is denoted by L, the packet size by P, and the bit rate of the multiplexed link by C, the time needed to transmit the last data packet segment is L/C. The time needed for transmission of the data packet is (T1+T2), where T1 is the time when the sum of idle times between voice bursts is equal to (P−L)/C, and T2=L/C. Therefore, the delay of the data packet is minimal if the size of last segment is maximized.
Based on these recognitions, two general rules are employed to characterize how the segmentation size of data packets influences delays in the voice/data multiplex transmission. First, a worst case delay increase of higher priority voice packets is reduced when the size of the largest data segment is reduced. Second, the delay of low priority data packets is reduced when the size of the last data segment, (not the size of the largest segment), is increased relative to the size of the other segments of the data packet.
The efficiency of transmitting lower priority data traffic along with higher priority traffic is improved by segmenting a data packet in such a way so as to reduce transmission delay of the higher priority traffic. The data packet is segmented so that all its segments, including the last segment, are approximately the same size. The segment size is set smaller than a maximum permitted segment size. However, there may be reasons not to set that size too small. For example, because each includes a protocol header, the total "overhead" of the data packet transmission is proportional to the number of segments. To reduce such overhead, the number of segments should preferably be kept to the minimum number allowed by the maximum permitted segment size. Thus, it is desirable (though not necessary) to set the segment size as small as design parameters allow in order to reduce transmission delay of the higher priority traffic but at the same time not increase overhead associated with segment headers. Because the last segment is set at the same size or a larger size than the other segments, delay in transmitting the data packet is also reduced. The last segment may be sized as large as practical to minimize the transmission delay of the data packet. Once segmented, the data packet segments are transmitted along with the higher priority traffic.
One example, non-limiting implementation employs a relatively simple algorithm. Initially, an overall size of the data packet to be transmitted is determined. First and second segment sizes are determined for the data packet. The first and second segment sizes are determined to reduce the delay in transmitting the higher priority traffic, transmitting the data packet, or both. The data packet is segmented into plural segments at the first segment size and a last segment at the second segment size. The higher priority traffic is multiplexed along with the data packet segments. The first segment size is smaller than the maximum allowed segment size, and all of the data packet segments except the last segment are the same first segment size. Although the last segment may be the same size as the first segment size, the second segment size is preferably larger than the first segment size.
The examples above, described with two priority levels of traffic, may be applied to multiplexed transmissions with three or more traffic priority levels. Two detailed, non-limiting, examples of how to implement the basic segmenting algorithm are described below. In general, the first example emphasizes delay reduction for higher priority traffic, while the second example emphasizes delay reduction for the lower priority data packet segments. However, both the first and second segmentation examples achieve delay reductions for both the high priority and data packet traffic.

Method and apparatus for segmenting a data packet


In an example, a supply retainer may include a carton having a spout opening extending to a base edge of the carton. The spout opening may receive a spout of a supply bladder, in some implementations. The supply retainer may also include a retention clip having a retention opening extending to a leading edge of the retention clip to receive and retain the spout. The retention clip may also include a carton slot to slidably engage with a dividing wall of the carton so as to align the spout opening and the retention opening such that the spout may extend through the spout opening and the retention opening.

Imaging devices may perform imaging operations on or with media or print media. Imaging devices may use an imaging substance to perform such imaging operations. The imaging substance may be disposed in an imaging device supply. Such imaging device supplies may be contained within the imaging device, attached to the imaging device, and in some situations, may be disposed remotely relative to the imaging device. Further, such imaging device supplies may be replaced periodically to refresh or refill the imaging substance within.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Digital camera color correction with a linear transformation having coefficients computed from an optimization with preservation of gray levels. This preserves white balance despite differing exposures for images from a target sensor and reference colors.

The present invention relates to digital video signal processing, and more particularly to architectures and methods for digital camera image pipeline.
Imaging and video capabilities have become the trend in consumer electronics. Digital cameras, digital camcorders, and video cellular phones are common, and many other new gadgets are evolving in the market. Advances in large resolution CCD/CMOS sensors coupled with the availability of low-power digital signal processors (DSPs) has led to the development of digital cameras with both high resolution image and short audio/visual clip capabilities. The high resolution (e.g., sensor with a 2560×1920 pixel array) provides quality offered by traditional film cameras.
FIG. 2a is a typical functional block diagram for digital camera control and image processing (the "image pipeline"). The automatic focus, automatic exposure, and automatic white balancing are referred to as the 3A functions; and the image processing includes functions such as color filter array (CFA) interpolation, gamma correction, white balancing, color space correction and conversion, and JPEG/MPEG compression/decompression (JPEG for single images and MPEG for video clips). Typical digital cameras provide a capture mode with full resolution image or audio/visual clip processing plus compression and storage, a preview mode with lower resolution processing for immediate display, and a playback mode for displaying stored images or audio/visual clips.
The usual camera has a color CCD or CMOS sensor which includes a rectangular array of photosites (pixels) with each photosite covered by a filter (the color filter array, or CFA). The filter colors may be red, green, or blue (RGB). In the commonly-used Bayer pattern CFA one-half of the photosites are green, one-quarter are red, and one-quarter are blue.
However, the RGB color values obtained from a camera sensor are device-dependent. Thus there is a need to characterize these values in a device-independent fashion and provide a color correction (RGB-to-RGB color correction). For simplicity, common methods presume a linear transformation to perform the color correction:
      [                                        R            ′                                                            G            ′                                                            B            ′                                ]    =                    [                                                            M                11                                                                    M                12                                                                    M                13                                                                                M                21                                                                    M                22                                                                    M                23                                                                                M                31                                                                    M                32                                                                    M                33                                                    ]                          [                                            R                                                          G                                                          B                                      ]              +          [                                                  O              1                                                                          O              2                                                                          O              3                                          ]
The problem translates to finding the transformation matrix (Mi,j) and the offset vector (Oj). Note that the diagonal matrix elements, Mkk, are typically in the range from 0.5 to 2.0, and that the off-diagonal elements are typically in the range −0.5 to +0.5.
One known approach performs a least-squares optimization without any constraint; see Vrhel, M. J. and Trussell, H. J., Optimal Scanning Filters Using Spectral Reflectance Information, Proc. SPIE Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. 1913, pp. 404-412 (1993). This approach treats all colors equally, and the resulting transform usually loses white balance. However, human eyes are very sensitive to white balance in a color image.
Another known approach uses a white-preserving constraint in the optimization; see Finlayson, G. D. and Drew, M. S., Constrained Least-Squares Regression in Color Spaces, Journal of Electronic Imaging 6(4), pp. 484-493 (1997). This approach keeps white balance and the white point remains unchanged after the transform. This requires that source data and reference data have the same exposure values. However, source data and reference data usually have different exposure values, and exposure information is either unavailable or inaccurate. An exposure value difference leads to larger color errors.
Thus there is a problem with known color correction methods, and with camera tuning tools which incorporate color correction/conversion.

Method and apparatus obtaining color values for a digital camera


A landing gear crank handle for raising and lowering vehicle landing gear is provided that includes a first hand hold that is horizontal when the handle is in a full extended position, a second hand hold connected to the first hand hold by a central portion, and an arm connected to the first hand hold; and a jaw connector attached to the arm and adapted to connect the crank handle to a landing gear crank mechanism and adapted to allow the crank handle to lock into a collapsed position, a partially extended position, and a full extended position.

The present invention relates to crank handles for trailer landing gear assemblies.
Landing gear assemblies for semitrailers and the like use a cranking system with a handle which can be locked either in a storage position or in an extended standard position whereby the handle can be used to crank the landing gear up or down. The handle displayed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,518 is indicative of the kind of handle that has been used with landing gear cranking systems for a number of years. Although this type of handle works very well for the low-speed, high-torque situation when the trailer contains a heavy load, it does not allow the user to maximize the high-speed gear when extending and retracting the legs from the stored (retracted) position to the extended position (when the foot makes contact with the ground). The user is restricted because of the distance the handle must travel to make a single revolution.
Many landing gear crank systems today for semitrailers or the like use a two-speed system, with a high speed for lower weight load and a low speed for higher torque with a heavy load. Such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,632,086. Again, the handle previously used does not allow maximum cranking speed under no load, even when the high-speed gear is used.
Accordingly, it is a desire of the semitrailer industry to have a handle that permits faster cranking speed when the crank is used under no load to maximize use of the high-speed gear in landing gear crank systems.


The present invention provides a method and a device for data transmission. The method includes: according to a preconfigured second table, selecting a TBS value, where the second table is used for describing a corresponding relationship among a TBS value, the number of RBs and a TBS index, the number of RBs corresponding to the selected TBS value is smaller than or equal to a specific value, a modulation mode corresponding to a TBS index which corresponds to the selected TBS value is QPSK, and the selected TBS value is capable of satisfying the rate requirement required during transmission time interval TTI bundling transmission; and according to the selected TBS value, transmitting data carried by a PUSCH using bundled TTIs. The embodiments of the present invention can improve the coverage at a PUSCH medium data rate.

In order to save costs and make network deployment more conveniently, operators hope that a long term evolution (LTE) could use a same site as an existing universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), and in order to guarantee the communication quality of a cell edge user, it is required that the LTE could achieve a same coverage as the UMTS system. The LTE divides different channels over a physical layer to carry different information, it is required to evaluate a coverage of each channel of the LTE, identify a coverage-limited channel, and finally consider a method capable of enhancing the coverage of the channel.
It is possible to evaluate the coverage of each channel of the LTE according to a maximum coupling loss (MCL) value, the smaller the MCL value, it indicates that the smaller the coverage of a corresponding channel. A physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is used to transmit uplink data services, when the PUSCH is used for data service transmission at a medium rate (hereinafter referred to as a PUSCH medium data rate), its MCL value is the smallest compared with MCL values of other channels, the coverage is the worst, and its coverage is required to be improved. Where, the PUSCH medium data rate refers to a rate between 128 kbps and 384 kbps generally.
In order to improve the coverage, a transmission time interval (TTI) bundling (TTI bundling) method can be used, the TTI bundling in the prior art can only be applied in a scenario of a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation with the number of resource blocks (RB) being less than or equal to 3. In this scenario, the maximum value of a transport block size (TBS) is 504 bits. Then, even if initial transmission is 100% correct at this time, when four sub-frames are bundled, the maximum data rate is only 5044 ms=126 kbps, whereas the PUSCH medium data rate is in the range of 128 kbps to 384 kbps generally, the rate requirement for the PUSCH medium data rate cannot be achieved after using the TTI bundling. That is to say, the existing TTI bundling scheme cannot be applied in the scenario of the PUSCH medium data rate directly, a solution to improve the coverage at the PUSCH medium data rate requires to be considered.

Data transmission method and device for reducing loss of information bits


Presented herein are systems and methods that provide for automated analysis of three-dimensional (3D) medical images of a subject in order to automatically identify specific 3D volumes within the 3D images that correspond to specific organs and/or tissue. In certain embodiments, the accurate identification of one or more such volumes can be used to determine quantitative metrics that measure uptake of radiopharmaceuticals in particular organs and/or tissue regions. These uptake metrics can be used to assess disease state in a subject, determine a prognosis for a subject, and/or determine efficacy of a treatment modality.

Targeted image analysis involves the use of radiolabeled small molecules that bind to specific receptors, enzymes and proteins in the body that are altered during the evolution of disease. After administration to a patient, these molecules circulate in the blood until they find their intended target. The bound radiopharmaceutical remains at the site of disease, while the rest of the agent clears from the body. The radioactive portion of the molecule serves as a beacon so that an image may be obtained depicting the disease location and concentration using commonly available nuclear medicine cameras, known as single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET) cameras, found in most hospitals throughout the world. Physicians can then use this information to determine the presence and the extent of disease in a patient. The physician can use this information to provide a recommended course of treatment to the patient and to track the progression of disease.
There are a variety of software-based analytical techniques available for analysis and enhancement of PET and SPECT images that can be used by a radiologist or physician. There are also a number of radiopharmaceuticals available for imaging particular kinds of cancer. For example, the small molecule diagnostic 1404 targets the extracellular domain of prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein amplified on the surface of >95% of prostate cancer cells and a validated target for the detection of primary and metastatic prostate cancer. 1404 is labeled with technetium-99m, a gamma-emitter isotope that is widely available, relatively inexpensive, facilitates efficient preparation, and has spectrum characteristics attractive for nuclear medicine imaging applications.
Another example radiopharmaceutical is PyL™ (also known as [18F]DCFPyL), which is a clinical-stage, fluorinated PSMA-targeted PET imaging agent for prostate cancer. A proof-of-concept study published in the April 2015 issue of the Journal of Molecular Imaging and Biology demonstrated that PET imaging with PyL™ showed high levels of PyL™ uptake in sites of putative metastatic disease and primary tumors, suggesting the potential for high sensitivity and specificity in detecting prostate cancer.
An oncologist may use images from a targeted PET or SPECT study of a patient as input in her assessment of whether the patient has a particular disease, e.g., prostate cancer, what stage of the disease is evident, what the recommended course of treatment (if any) would be, whether surgical intervention is indicated, and likely prognosis. The oncologist may use a radiologist report in this assessment. A radiologist report is a technical evaluation of the PET or SPECT images prepared by a radiologist for a physician who requested the imaging study and includes, for example, the type of study performed, the clinical history, a comparison between images, the technique used to perform the study, the radiologist's observations and findings, as well as overall impressions and recommendations the radiologist may have based on the imaging study results. A signed radiologist report is sent to the physician ordering the study for the physician's review, followed by a discussion between the physician and patient about the results and recommendations for treatment.
Thus, the process involves having a radiologist perform an imaging study on the patient, analyzing the images obtained, creating a radiologist report, forwarding the report to the requesting physician, having the physician formulate an assessment and treatment recommendation, and having the physician communicate the results, recommendations, and risks to the patient. The process may also involve repeating the imaging study due to inconclusive results, or ordering further tests based on initial results.
If an imaging study shows that the patient has a particular disease or condition (e.g., cancer), the physician discusses various treatment options, including surgery, as well as risks of doing nothing or adopting a watchful waiting or active surveillance approach, rather than having surgery.
There are limitations associated with this process, both from the perspective of the physician and from the perspective of the patient. While the radiologist's report is certainly helpful, the physician must ultimately rely on her experience in formulating an assessment and recommendation for her patient. Furthermore, the patient must place a great deal of trust in his physician. The physician may show the patient his PET/SPECT images and may tell the patient a numerical risk associated with various treatment options or likelihood of a particular prognosis, but the patient may very well struggle to make sense of this information. Moreover, the patient's family will likely have questions, particularly if cancer is diagnosed but the patient opts not to have surgery. The patient and/or his family members may search online for supplemental information and may become misinformed about risks of the diagnosed condition. A difficult ordeal may become more traumatic.
Thus, there remains a need for systems and methods for improved analysis of medical imaging studies and communication of those results, diagnoses, prognoses, treatment recommendations, and associated risks to a patient.

Systems and methods for rapid neural network-based image segmentation and radiopharmaceutical uptake determination


An information processing apparatus for performing a plurality of functions includes an auxiliary memory for receiving document data, a main memory for storing the document data received by the auxiliary memory, and a display for displaying the document data stored in the main memory. Icons for designating various edit operations for the document data displayed on the display. A CPU performs edit processing of the document data stored in the main memory in accordance with designation made by the icons.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multifunctional information processing apparatus integrally including a telephone set, a facsimile (fax) machine, a personal computer, and the like.
2. Related Background Art
A conventional apparatus integrally including a telephone set, a facsimile machine, a personal computer, and the like is disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 269,733 titled "Multifunctional Information Processing Apparatus" and filed Nov. 10, 1988 by Furuya et al. now abandoned. When the apparatus serves as a fax machine, print output on a roll of sheets is started upon reception of data by the apparatus as in a normal fax machine. However, when the printer cannot be used or a confidential fax is sent, fax data is stored in an auxiliary memory as a file. The details of the above operations are described in FIG. 18 of the above U.S. application.
However, in the above prior art, since all fax documents are printed and output on sheets, (1) an amount of sheets used during reception is greatly increased, (2) even a fax document which is not required to be printed on an output sheet, i.e., which need only be temporarily checked on a screen because this document is not so important, and (3) fax data cannot be preserved or edited on a screen, and edited data cannot be transmitted to other fax machines.
Some "personal computer/fax machines" each integrally including a personal computer and a fax machine can eliminate the above drawbacks (1) to (3). In this case, an apparatus results in a large system because it must be connected to a personal computer, a fax board, a printer, and an image reader. These units are connected through a general purpose interface such as RS232C or centronics. The processing time is inevitably prolonged due to data transfer speeds between the units. The personal computer/fax machine primarily aims at transmitting data such as a word processing document drafted by the personal computer to a destination without outputting it on paper.