The present invention relates to deblocking filtering, which may be advantageously applied for block-wise encoding and decoding of image or video signal. In particular, the present invention relates to performing an efficient and accurate decision on whether or not to apply deblocking filtering on an image block. The efficient and accurate decision is achieved by performing individual decisions on whether or not to apply deblocking filtering for segments of a boundary between adjacent image blocks, wherein the individual decision are based on pixels comprised in a subset of the pixel lines that the image blocks are composed of.

At present, the majority of standardized video coding algorithms are based on hybrid video coding. Hybrid video coding methods typically combine several different lossless and lossy compression schemes in order to achieve the desired compression gain. Hybrid video coding is also the basis for ITU-T standards (H.26x standards such as H.261, H.263) as well as ISO/IEC standards (MPEG-X standards such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4). The most recent and advanced video coding standard is currently the standard denoted as H.264/MPEG-4 advanced video coding (AVC) which is a result of standardization efforts by joint video team (JVT), a joint team of ITU-T and ISO/IEC MPEG groups. This codec is being further developed by Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) under a name High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), aiming, in particular at improvements of efficiency regarding the high-resolution video coding.
A video signal input to an encoder is a sequence of images called frames, each frame being a two-dimensional matrix of pixels. All the above-mentioned standards based on hybrid video coding include subdividing each individual video frame into smaller blocks consisting of a plurality of pixels. The size of the blocks may vary, for instance, in accordance with the content of the image. The way of coding may be typically varied on a per block basis. The largest possible size for such a block, for instance in HEVC, is 64×64 pixels. It is then called the largest coding unit (LCU). In H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, a macroblock (usually denoting a block of 16×16 pixels) was the basic image element, for which the encoding is performed, with a possibility to further divide it in smaller subblocks to which some of the coding/decoding steps were applied.
Typically, the encoding steps of a hybrid video coding include a spatial and/or a temporal prediction. Accordingly, each block to be encoded is first predicted using either the blocks in its spatial neighborhood or blocks from its temporal neighborhood, i.e. from previously encoded video frames. A block of differences between the block to be encoded and its prediction, also called block of prediction residuals, is then calculated. Another encoding step is a transformation of a block of residuals from the spatial (pixel) domain into a frequency domain. The transformation aims at reducing the correlation of the input block. Further encoding step is quantization of the transform coefficients. In this step the actual lossy (irreversible) compression takes place. Usually, the compressed transform coefficient values are further compacted (losslessly compressed) by means of an entropy coding. In addition, side information necessary for reconstruction of the encoded video signal is encoded and provided together with the encoded video signal. This is for example information about the spatial and/or temporal prediction, amount of quantization, etc.
FIG. 1 is an example of a state of the art hybrid coder 100, as for example a typical H.264/MPEG-4 AVC and/or HEVC video encoder. A subtractor 105 first determines differences e between a current block to be encoded of an input video image (input signal s) and a corresponding prediction block ŝ, which is used as a prediction of the current block to be encoded. The prediction signal may be obtained by a temporal or by a spatial prediction 180. The type of prediction can be varied on a per frame basis or on a per block basis. Blocks and/or frames predicted using temporal prediction are called "inter"-encoded and blocks and/or frames predicted using spatial prediction are called "intra"-encoded. Prediction signal using temporal prediction is derived from the previously encoded images, which are stored in a memory. The prediction signal using spatial prediction is derived from the values of boundary pixels in the neighboring blocks, which have been previously encoded, decoded, and stored in the memory. The difference e between the input signal and the prediction signal, denoted prediction error or residual, is transformed 110 resulting in coefficients, which are quantized 120. Entropy encoder 190 is then applied to the quantized coefficients in order to further reduce the amount of data to be stored and/or transmitted in a lossless way. This is mainly achieved by applying a code with code words of variable length wherein the length of a code word is chosen based on the probability of its occurrence.
Within the video encoder 100, a decoding unit is incorporated for obtaining a decoded (reconstructed) video signal s′. In compliance with the encoding steps, the decoding steps include dequantization and inverse transformation 130. The so obtained prediction error signal e′ differs from the original prediction error signal due to the quantization error, called also quantization noise. A reconstructed image signal s′ is then obtained by adding 140 the decoded prediction error signal e′ to the prediction signal ŝ. In order to maintain the compatibility between the encoder side and the decoder side, the prediction signals is obtained based on the encoded and subsequently decoded video signal which is known at both sides the encoder and the decoder.
Due to the quantization, quantization noise is superposed to the reconstructed video signal. Due to the block-wise coding, the superposed noise often has blocking characteristics, which result, in particular for strong quantization, in visible block boundaries in the decoded image. Such blocking artifacts have a negative effect upon human visual perception. In order to reduce these artifacts, a deblocking filter 150 is applied to every reconstructed image block. The deblocking filter is applied to the reconstructed signal s′. Deblocking filter generally smoothes the block edges leading to an improved subjective quality of the decoded images. Moreover, since the filtered part of an image is used for the motion compensated prediction of further images, the filtering also reduces the prediction errors, and thus enables improvement of coding efficiency.
After a deblocking filter, an adaptive loop filter 160 may be applied to the image including the already deblocked signal s″ for improving the pixel wise fidelity ("objective" quality). The adaptive loop filter (ALF) is used to compensate image distortion caused by compression. Typically, the adaptive loop filter is a Wiener Filter, as shown in FIG. 1, with filter coefficiency determined such that the mean square error (MSE) between the reconstructed s′, and source images s. is minimized. The coefficients of ALF may be calculated and transmitted on a frame basis. ALF can be applied to the entire frame (image of the video sequence) or the local areas (blocks). An additional side information indicating which areas are to be filtered may be transmitted (block-based, frame-based or quadtree-based).
In order to be decoded, inter-encoded blocks require also storing the previously encoded and subsequently decoded portions of image(s) in a reference frame buffer (not shown). An inter-encoded block is predicted 180 by employing motion compensated prediction. First, a best-matching block is found for the current block within the previously encoded and decoded video frames by a motion estimator. The best-matching block then becomes a prediction signal and the relative displacement (motion) between the current block and its best match is then signalized as motion data in the form of three-dimensional motion vectors within the side information provided together with the encoded video data. The three dimensions consist of two spatial dimensions and one temporal dimension. In order to optimize the prediction accuracy, motion vectors may be determined with a spatial sub-pixel resolution e.g. half pixel or quarter pixel resolution. A motion vector with spatial sub-pixel resolution may point to a spatial position within an already decoded frame where no real pixel value is available, i.e. a sub-pixel position. Hence, spatial interpolation of such pixel values is needed in order to perform motion compensated prediction. This may be achieved by an interpolation filter (in FIG. 1 integrated within Prediction block 180).
For both, the intra- and the inter-encoding modes, the differences e between the current input signal and the prediction signal are transformed 110 and quantized 120, resulting in the quantized coefficients. Generally, an orthogonal transformation such as a two-dimensional discrete cosine transformation (DCT) or an integer version thereof is employed since it reduces the correlation of the natural video images efficiently. After the transformation, lower frequency components are usually more important for image quality then high frequency components so that more bits can be spent for coding the low frequency components than the high frequency components. In the entropy coder, the two-dimensional matrix of quantized coefficients is converted into a one-dimensional array. Typically, this conversion is performed by a so-called zig-zag scanning, which starts with the DC-coefficient in the upper left corner of the two-dimensional array and scans the two-dimensional array in a predetermined sequence ending with an AC coefficient in the lower right corner. As the energy is typically concentrated in the left upper part of the two-dimensional matrix of coefficients, corresponding to the lower frequencies, the zig-zag scanning results in an array where usually the last values are zero. This allows for efficient encoding using run-length codes as a part of/before the actual entropy coding.
FIG. 2 illustrates a state of the art decoder 200 according to the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC or HEVC video coding standard. The encoded video signal (input signal to the decoder) first passes to entropy decoder 990, which decodes the quantized coefficients, the information elements necessary for decoding such as motion data, mode of prediction etc. The quantized coefficients are inversely scanned in order to obtain a two-dimensional matrix, which is then fed to inverse quantization and inverse transformation 230. After inverse quantization and inverse transformation 230, a decoded (quantized) prediction error signal e′ is obtained, which corresponds to the differences obtained by subtracting the prediction signal from the signal input to the encoder in the case no quantization noise is introduced and no error occurred.
The prediction signal is obtained from either a temporal or a spatial prediction 280. The decoded information elements usually further include the information necessary for the prediction such as prediction type in the case of intra-prediction and motion data in the case of motion compensated prediction. The quantized prediction error signal in the spatial domain is then added with an adder 240 to the prediction signal obtained either from the motion compensated prediction or intra-frame prediction 280. The reconstructed image s′ may be passed through a deblocking filter 250, sample adaptive offset processing, and an adaptive loop filter 260 and the resulting decoded signal is stored in the memory 270 to be applied for temporal or spatial prediction of the following blocks/images
When compressing and decompressing an image, the blocking artifacts are typically the most annoying artifacts for the user. The deblocking filtering helps to improve the perceptual experience of the user by smoothing the edges between the blocks in the reconstructed image. One of the difficulties in deblocking filtering is to correctly decide between an edge caused by blocking due to the application of a quantizer and between edges which are part of the coded signal. Application of the deblocking filter is only desirable if the edge on the block boundary is due to compression artifacts. In other cases, by applying the deblocking filter, the reconstructed signal may be despaired, distorted. Another difficulty is the selection of an appropriate filter for deblocking filtering. Typically, the decision is made between several low pass filters with different frequency responses resulting in strong or weak low pass filtering. In order to decide whether deblocking filtering is to be applied and to select an appropriate filter, image data in the proximity of the boundary of two blocks are considered.
To summarize, state of the art hybrid video coders, see e.g. FIG. 1, apply block-wise prediction and block-wise prediction error coding. The prediction error coding includes a quantization step. Due to this block-wise processing, so called blocking artifacts occur, especially in the case of coarse quantization. A blocking artifact is associated with a large signal change at a block edge. These blocking artifacts are very annoying for the viewer. In order to reduce these blocking artifacts, deblocking filtering is applied, e.g. in the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video coding standard or in the HM, which is the test model of the HEVC video coding standardization activity. Deblocking filters decide for each sample at a block boundary if it is filtered or not and apply a low pass filter in the case it is decided to filter. The aim of this decision is to filter only those samples, for which the large signal change at the block boundary results from the quantization applied in the block-wise processing. The result of this filtering is a smoothed signal at the block boundary. The smoothed signal suppresses or reduces the blocking artifacts. Those samples, for which the large signal change at the block boundary belongs to the original signal to be coded, should not be filtered in order to keep high frequencies and thus the visual sharpness. In the case of wrong decisions, the image is either unnecessarily smoothened or remains blocky.
According to the above, it is desirable to reliably judge whether a deblocking filtering needs to be applied at a block boundary between adjacent image blocks or not. The H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard provides decision operations for the deblocking filtering on a block basis for the pixels close to the boundary in each individual pixel line, i.e., pixel row or pixel column respectively, at a block boundary. In general, the block size of the image blocks for which deblocking filtering processing is conducted in the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard is an 8 by 8 pixel block. It is noted, that for other purposes the smallest block size may be different, as, for example, prediction is supporting 4 by 4 blocks.
FIG. 3 illustrates the decisions for horizontal filtering of a vertical boundary/edge for each individual pixel line according to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. FIG. 3 depicts four 8 by 8 pixel image blocks, the previously processed blocks 310, 320, 340 and the current block 330. At the vertical boundary between previously processed block 340 and current block 330 it is decided, whether deblocking filtering is applied or not. The pixel values of the pixel lines running perpendicular to the vertical boundary serve as a basis for decision for each individual pixel line. In particular, the pixel values in the marked area of each pixel line, as for instance the marked area 350 of the 5th pixel line, are the basis for the filtering decision.
Similarly, as shown in FIG. 4, decisions for vertical filtering of a horizontal boundary/edge are performed for each individual column of pixels. For instance, for the fifth column of the current block 430, the decision on whether to filter or not, the pixels of this column close to the boundary to the previously processed block 420 is performed based on the pixels marked by a dashed rectangle 450.
The decision process for each sample of either each individual pixel column or each individual pixel line, at the boundary is performed by utilizing pixel values of the adjacent blocks as shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, block p represents the previously processed block 340 or 440 as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 with the pixel values p0, p1 and p2 of one line (row or column). Block q represents the current block 330 or 430, as in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4, with the pixel values q0, q1 and q2 in the same line. Pixel q0 is the pixel in the line closest to the boundary with the block q. Pixel q1 is the pixel in the same line, second closest to the boundary with the block q, etc. In particular, the pixels values p0 and q0 of the pixel line are filtered, if the following conditions are satisfied:|p0−q0|<α(QP+OffsetA),|p1−p0|<β(QP+OffsetB), and|q1−q0|<β(QP+OffsetB),
wherein, QP is a quantization parameter, OffsetA and OffsetB are slice level offsets, and β is chosen to be smaller than α. Further, pixel p1 of the line is filtered, if additionally|p2−p0|<β(QP+OffsetB).
Further, the pixel of a pixel line or pixel column corresponding to the pixel value q1 is filtered if additionally|q2−q0|<β(QP+OffsetB).
According to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, for each individual pixel line (row or column for the respective horizontal and vertical deblocking filtering), decision operations as above are performed. The filtering can be switched on/off for each individual pixel line which is associated with a high accuracy for the deblocking decision. However, this approach is also associated with a high computational expense.
A decision process for application of a deblocking filtering with a lower computational expense as for the above mentioned H.264/MPG-4 AVC standard, is suggested in "High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) text specification Working Draft 1" (HM deblocking filter, JCTVC-C403), freely available under http://wftp3.itu.int/av-arch/jctvc-site/2010_10_C_Guangzhou/, which is incorporated herein by reference. Here, one deblocking filtering on/off decision is applied for the entire block boundary between two adjacent image blocks based only on information of pixel lines in the block. Also here the block size of the image blocks for which deblocking filtering processing is conducted is an 8 by 8 pixel.
The decision for horizontal filtering of a vertical edge/boundary according to JCTVC-C403 is described in the following by referring to FIGS. 6, 8 and 9. FIG. 6 depicts four 8 by 8 pixel blocks, the previously processed blocks 610, 620, 640 and the current block 630. The vertical boundary between the previous block 640 and the current block 630 is the boundary for which it is decided, whether deblocking filtering is to be applied or not. The vertical boundary extends over a boundary segment corresponding to 8 lines (rows) 660. The 3rd and the 6th pixel line, which are oriented perpendicular to the vertical boundary, serve as a basis for a deblocking filtering decision. In particular, the pixel values in the marked area 650 of the 3rd and the 6th pixel line are used as a basis for the filtering decision. Hence, the filtering decision of the entire boundary corresponding to the segment of 8 lines 660, will be based on only a subset of two out of 8 pixel lines of the block.
Similarly, referring to FIG. 7, the decision for vertical filtering of a horizontal edge/boundary according to JCTVC-C403 is based on the pixel values of only two pixel columns 760 out of the segment of 8 columns 750, which constitutes the horizontal boundary.
FIG. 8 shows a matrix of pixel values, which corresponds to parts of the previous block 640 and the current block 630 of FIG. 6. The pixel values in the matrix are pi,j and qi,j,, with i being an index varying perpendicular to the boundary between the blocks and with j being an index varying along to the boundary between the blocks. Index i in FIG. 8 varies only in the range from 0 to 3, corresponding to the pixel positions within a line to be filtered, which are employed for the decision and/or filtering. The remaining pixel positions of the previous and the current block are not shown. Index j in FIG. 8 varies in the range from 0 to 7, corresponding to the 8 pixel rows in the block, the vertical boundary of which is to be filtered. The two pixel lines 820 with indexes j=2 and j=5, which correspond to the respective 3rd and the 6th pixel lines, are used as a basis for the filtering decision (on/off decision) for the entire block boundary and are marked with dashed lines. In order to decide whether the segment of 8 pixel lines, which correspond to the entire boundary, is filtered, the following condition is evaluated:|p22−2·p12+p02|+|q22−2·q12+q02|+|p25−2·p15+p05|+|q25−2·q15+q05|<β,
wherein β is a threshold value. If the above condition is true, it is decided that the filtering is to be applied to all 8 lines of the boundary.
This decision process is further depicted in FIG. 9. When the upper equation is separated into a term d1,v, containing only pixel values of the pixel line with index j=2 and a term d2,v, containing only pixel values of the line with index j=5, the decision for filtering can be rewritten as:d1,v+d2,v<β,whereind1,v=|p22−2·p12+p02|+|q22−2·q12+q02|andd2,v=|p25−2·p15+p05|+|q25−2·q15+q05|.
Hence, by use of the two values d1,v and d2,v, it is decided by the threshold operation whether the entire vertical boundary is to be filtered or not. The index v is used herein to indicate that a decision for a vertical boundary is assessed.
FIG. 8 shows a matrix of pixel values forming boundary portions of two neighbouring blocks A and B. It is noted that this boundary may also be a horizontal boundary, so that the block A is a previously processed block and block B is the current block, block A being the top neighbour of block B. This arrangement corresponds to parts of the previous block 720 and the current block 730 in FIG. 7. The pixel values in the matrix are pi,j and qi,j,, with i being an index varying perpendicular to the boundary between the blocks, the index i ranging from 0 to 3 in this example corresponding to only the part of the block A and B shown, and with the index j varying along the boundary between the blocks A and B, ranging from 0 to 7 corresponding to the number of lines (in third case columns) to be processed by deblocking filtering. In this context, "processing" or "deblocking processing" includes deciding whether deblocking filtering is to be applied or not and/or selection of the filter type. The type of filter here refers to a weak, strong or no filter for filtering pixels around the boundary in a particular line of the block. The derivation process of boundary filtering strength is described, for instance, in section 8.1.6 of the above mentioned "High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) text specification Working Draft 1". In particular, when it is decided that the block is to be filtered, an individual decision is performed for each line for deciding whether a strong filter or a weak filter is to be applied. If it is decided that a weak filter is to be applied, it is tested whether it is to be applied to the line at all. A strong filter in this sense is applied to more pixels around the boundary in the pixel line than the weak filter. In general, a strong filter is a filter with a narrower pass-band than the weak filter.
The two pixel columns 820 with indexes j=2 and j=5, which correspond to the 3rd and the 6th pixel column, are used as a basis for the filtering decision and are marked with dashed lines. The horizontal boundary is filtered if|p22−2·p12+p02|+|q22−2·q12+q02|+|p25−2·p15+p05|+|q25−2·q15+q05|<β,
wherein β is again a threshold value. If the above decision is true, filtering is applied to all 8 columns of the horizontal boundary, which corresponds to entire boundary. This decision process is further depicted in FIG. 10. When the upper equation is separated into a term d1,h containing only pixel values of the pixel column with index j=2 and a term d2,h, containing only pixel values of the pixel column with index j=5, the decision for filtering can be rewritten as:d1,h+d2,h<β,whereind1,h=|p22−2·p12+p02|+|q22−2·q12+q02|andd2,h=|p25−2·p15+p05|+|q25−2·q15+q05|.
Hence, by the use of the two values d1,h and d2,h, it is decided by the threshold operation if the entire horizontal boundary is filtered or not. The index h is hereby used to indicate that a decision for a horizontal boundary is assessed.
To summarize, according to JVCT-D403, the filtering can be switched on/off for the entire boundary based on only two pixel lines or pixel columns perpendicular to that boundary. For only two positions of each segment of 8 lines/columns, a decision process is performed. The filtering can be switched on/off for each segment of 8 lines/columns, corresponding to the entire block. This is associated with a lower computational expense but also with a lower accuracy of the decisions.
In contribution JCTVC-D263, "Parallel deblocking Filter", Daegu, January 2011, freely available at http://wftp3.itu.int/av-arch/jctvc-site/2011_01_D_Daegu/ which is incorporated herein by reference, the decision operations for deblocking filtering of a block are performed similarly to JCTVC-C403: One deblocking filtering on/off decision is applied for the entire block boundary based only on pixel values of two pixel rows, or pixel columns respectively, of the two vertically or horizontally adjacent image blocks. However, the difference between the two approaches is that the pixel rows, or pixel columns respectively, which are used as a basis for the decision whether the boundary is filtered or not, have a different position in the block.
The decision for horizontal filtering of a vertical boundary/edge according to JCTVC-D263 is briefly described in the following by referring to FIGS. 11 and 13. In FIG. 11, the pixel lines used as a basis for deciding on whether to filter or not, are the 4th and 5th lines 1160 at the boundary between the previous 1140 and the current block 1130. The entire vertical boundary corresponds to a segment of 8 lines 1150.
FIG. 13 shows a matrix of pixel values forming parts of the blocks A and B around a common boundary. The blocks A and B correspond to the previous block 1140 and the current block 1130 of FIG. 11, respectively. The pixel values in the matrix are pi,j and qi,j,, with i being an index varying perpendicular to the boundary between the blocks and ranging from 0 to 3, and with j being an index varying along to the boundary between the blocks and ranging from 0 to 7. The two pixel lines 1320 with indexes j=3 and j=4, which correspond to the 4th and the 5th pixel line, are used as a basis for the filtering decision(s) and are marked with dashed lines. The following condition is evaluated in order to judge whether to filter or not the pixels close to the boundary in the current block:|p23−2·p13+p03|+|q23−2·q13+q03|+|p24−2·p14+p04|+|q24−2·q14+q04|<β,
wherein β is a threshold value. If the above decision is true, filtering and/or further decision is performed for all lines of the boundary which corresponds to a segment comprising 8 lines. When the upper equation is separated into a term d1,v, containing only pixel values of the pixel line with index j=3 and a term d2,v, containing only pixel values of the line with index j=4, the decision for filtering can be rewritten as:d1,v+d2,v<β,whereind1,v=|p23−2·p13+p03|+|q23−2·q13+q03|andd2,v=|p24−2·p14+p04|+|q24−2·q14+q04|.
Hence, by the use of the two values d1,v, and d2,v, it is decided by the threshold operation if all 8 lines of the corresponding segment are filtered or not. The index v is hereby used to indicate that a decision for a vertical boundary is assessed.
Similarly, as shown in FIG. 12, the decision for vertical filtering of a horizontal edge/boundary between a current block 1230 and a previous block 1220 according to JCTVC-D263 is based on the pixel values of only two columns 1260 out of the segment 1250 of pixels from 8 columns which constitutes the horizontal boundary between the blocks 1230 and 1220.
FIG. 13 may be also seen as corresponding to parts of the previous block 1220 and the current block 1230 of FIG. 12. The pixel values in the matrix are pi,j and qi,j,, with i being an index varying perpendicular to the boundary between the blocks, ranging from 0 to 3 and with j being an index varying along to the boundary between the blocks, ranging from 0 to 7. The two pixel columns 1320 with indexes j=3 and j=4, which in this example correspond to the 4th and the 5th pixel column, are used as a basis for the filtering decision and are marked with dashed lines. Accordingly, the horizontal boundary is filtered when|p23−2·p13+p03|+|q23−2·q13+q03|+|p24−2·p14+p04|+|q24−2·q14+q04|<β,
wherein β is a threshold value. If the above condition is true, filtering is applied to all columns of the boundary corresponding to one segment which is composed of 8 columns. When the upper equation is separated into a term d1,h, containing only pixel values of the column with index j=3 and a term d2,h, containing only pixel values of the column with index j=4, the decision for filtering can be rewritten as:d1,h+d2,h<β,whereind1,h=|p23−2·p13+p03|+|q23−2·q13+q03|andd2,h=|p24−2·p14+p04|+|q24−2·q14+q04|.
Hence, by using the two values d1,h and d2,h, it is decided by the threshold operation whether all 8 columns of the segment 1010 are filtered or not. The index h is hereby used to indicate that a decision for a horizontal boundary is assessed.
To summarize, similarly to the JVCT-C403, according to JVCT-D263, the filtering can be switched on/off for the entire boundary segment based on only two pixel lines or pixel columns from this segment. For only two positions of each segment of 8 lines (rows or columns), a decision process is performed. Thus, the filtering can be switched on/off for each segment of 8 lines/columns. This is associated with a low computational expense but also with a low accuracy of the decisions. An advantage of JCTVC-D263 over JCTVC-C403 is that the use of other samples allows a higher degree of a parallel processing. However, both approaches JCTVC-C403 and JCTVC-D263 provide a lower accuracy of decisions in comparison with, for example, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC.
In H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, the decisions are performed as shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 5. At each pixel position at a block boundary, individual values are calculated using samples adjacent to the block boundary. Based on these individual values, individual decision operations are performed at each position of (for each line perpendicular to) the block boundary. This is associated with a high computational expense while providing a high accuracy of the decisions. In JCTVC-C403, pixels at the block edges form segments of 8 lines/columns (corresponding to the smallest block size used for the deblocking filtering) as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. For each segment of 8 lines/columns, values are calculated only for a subset of positions, in the examples above for only two positions rather than for all 8 positions. Based on these values, one single decision is performed whether to filter all 8 lines/columns of the segment or not. Compared to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC the computational expense is reduced since less values are calculated. The term value refers to the measure based on values of the pixels in a line close to the boundary such as d1,v and d2,v or d1,h or d2,h as shown above. In addition, the memory bandwidth is reduced since for the calculation of values, less samples need to be accessed from the memory. However, also the accuracy of the decisions is reduced compared to the accuracy of the decisions in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. In JCTVC-D263, the calculation of values and the decision operations are performed similar to the JCTVC-C403. The difference is that samples at other positions of the segments of 8 lines/columns are used to calculate the values. The use of these other samples allows a higher degree a parallel processing. Compared to JCTVC-C403, the computational expense as well as the memory bandwidth is the same. However, the accuracy of the decisions is further reduced. Details are explained in FIG. 11 to FIG. 13. Thus, the known approaches are either associated with a high computational expense and high memory bandwidth or with a low accuracy of the decisions. A low accuracy of the decisions, on the other hand, may result to a low coding efficiency. High computational expense and high memory bandwidth may both lead to high implementation costs.


An electrosurgical instrument and method is provided for transecting an organ. The electrosurgical instrument includes an introducer having a channel therein, and a conductive wire positioned in and deployable from the channel. A deployment device on the introducer is capable of moving the conductive wire between an undeployed position wherein it is substantially positioned within the channel, and a deployed position wherein a portion is deployed from and positioned outside of the channel and has a substantially looped configuration. A capture element at the distal end of the introducer can secure the distal end of the wire to the introducer, and the deployment device can subsequently move the wire toward the undeployed position to thereby cinch the conductive wire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrosurgical instruments, and more particularly to electrosurgical instruments having particular application for transecting organs, such as the cervix during a supracervical hysterectomy.
2. Background Discussion
There are approximately 650,000 hysterectomies performed each year in the United States, with 75% of these being abdominal hysterectomies and only 25% being vaginal hysterectomies. An abdominal hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus with or without the ovaries through an incision in the abdomen. A vaginal hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus with or without the ovaries through an incision in the vaginal area. Laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy (LSH) is one alternative to total abdominal hysterectomy. In an LSH procedure, the uterus is removed using a laparoscope, but unlike in a total laparoscopic hysterectomy, the cervix is left in place.
Some of the potential advantages of laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy include a shorter operation time, fewer complications, and an earlier return to normal activity, including sexual activity. A difficult part of the procedure, however, is the amputation or transection of the uterine cervix from the fundus, as the uterus is quite mobile and difficult to stabilize. The uterus does not provide much resistance to pressure during amputation, and, therefore, requires some type of traction during resection. Further, conditions are often far from optimal due to the angle of approach with the cutting electrode or scissors, and the proximity of neighboring crucial structures that are sometimes difficult to keep at a distance. Because of these difficulties, amputation of the cervix often takes from 30–45 minutes, or nearly half of the time of the entire procedure. The difficulty and length of time associated with performing this part of the procedure has caused reluctance among many physicians to adopt the procedure.
Current methods and devices used for transecting the cervix during an LSH procedure include bipolar needles, cutting diathermy, morcellator knife, laser energy, blunt scissors, monopolar energy with scissors, harmonic scalpel (ultrasonic excision), and reverse cervical conization. All of these known devices and methods suffer from similar drawbacks in that they do not provide a means for rapid and effective transection. This is primarily due to the fact that the cervix is more fibrous than tissues typically encountered, and thus is difficult to cut. Further, due to the mobility of the uterus, these devices and methods do not enable the surgeon to reliably and effectively maintain a transverse cutting plane at the desired location during resection. This is important because if the transection is made too high (too close to the uterus), some endometrium may remain, causing the patient to have a menstrual period even though her uterus has been removed.
Another known device and method for transecting the cervix during an LSH procedure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,858. The '858 patent describes a monopolar electrosurgical cutting instrument having a conducting wire that forms a loop around the organ to be amputated, and subsequently amputates the organ by applying high frequency monopolar current through the wire. The disclosed cutting apparatus includes insulated portions at each end of the wire that both must be grasped by a grasper. The graspers must be manually moved to manipulate the wire around the cervical neck to thereby encircle it. Then, the energized wire is pulled through the cervical neck by pulling on the grasper, which in turn pulls on the wire loop. One of the drawbacks of this device is that it utilizes monopolar energy, which requires careful attention to insulating all but the cutting portion of the wire from surrounding tissue, and therefore, requires a complicated insulated tube and introducer mechanism. Further, the use of monopolar energy does not adequately control the dispersion of energy in and around the device. Another drawback of this device is that to achieve amputation, pressure must be exerted by the wire on the organ and the wire displaced or moved in the cutting direction to transect the cervix. In other words, the wire must be pulled in a single direction against the resistance of the cervical neck to transect it. Thus, unnecessary movement of the organs and tissue occurs, which potentially can lead to inadvertent damage of these structures. In addition, such movement is particularly problematic given the mobility of, and need to stabilize the uterus as described above. The device of the '858 patent exerts significant unidirectional force on the cervical neck, and provides no means to stabilize the organs.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method for performing organ transection. There is a particular need for a surgical instrument and method for performing an LSH procedure that reduces surgical time and that is safer and easier to perform.

Electrosurgical instrument and method for transecting an organ


The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for executing scripts (a sequence of declarative operations) on large data sets. Some implementations store descriptions of previously-executed operations and associated input and output data sets. When executing similar operations on the same, a subset of, a superset of, or any fragment of data subsequently, some implementations detect duplication of operations and access previously-stored output data sets in order to re-use data and reduce the amount of execution, thus avoiding time-consuming duplicative computations.

Shared large data sources, e.g., on a cloud, can be subject to various operations being applied repeatedly on them for different purposes. Sometimes, regenerating results for certain operations on large data is more costly than storing them for later retrieval in terms of time and storage costs. Existing systems can support one-off runs of analytics on data. In such systems, data reuse must be manually determined by a user, and it is difficult to accomplish data re-use between multiple users.

Systems and methods for managing duplication of operations


A clamping device (100) for clamping a digital camera module (300) includes a base (12) and two legs (14). Two legs extend from two sides of the base. Each leg has at least one foot (18). The at least one foot defines an arcuate surface (180). The arcuate surfaces cooperatively define a space for receiving the digital camera module.

With the development of wireless communication technologies, increasing numbers of mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) now include digital cameras as a special feature.
Generally, digital cameras modules need to be mounted in printed circuited boards (PCBs) of portable electronic devices. In order to secure a stable connection, a digital camera module needs to be assembled in a socket connector of a PCB. A typical socket connector 40 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The socket connector 40 is substantially a cube with an open end. The socket connector 40 has a peripheral wall 42 and a bottom portion 43, cooperatively surrounding a cavity for receiving a digital camera module. Four latches 44 are positioned at a respective corner of the inner surface of the peripheral wall 42. Each latch 44 extends from the bottom portion 43, and is bent to have a wave-like configuration. Opposite to each latch 44, the inner surface of the peripheral wall 42 defines a corresponding groove 46. When the latches 44 are pressed towards the peripheral wall 42, each latch 44 may be tilted towards a corresponding groove 46. A plurality of conductive terminals 48 are mounted in the outer surface of the peripheral wall 42 for electrically connecting with a PCB of a portable electronic device.
In assembly, referring to FIG. 2, when a digital camera module 50 is placed in the socket connector 40, the digital camera module 50 may be caused to be inclined because of non-uniform forces for the latches 44. Therefore, the digital camera module 50 might not be successfully secured into the socket connector 40. More seriously, the digital camera 50 or the socket connector 40 may become damaged or destroyed. In addition, after the digital camera module 50 is put into the socket connector 40, the digital camera module 50 is not easy to take out owing to the pressing force from the latches 44 if a good device is not provided. In order to assemble the digital camera module 50 in the socket connector 40, professional tools are needed for different socket connectors 40. Therefore, the costs are relatively high.
Therefore, a new clamping device is desired in order to overcome the above-described shortcomings.

Clamping device for digital camera module


This disclosure provides tyrosine kinase protein and nucleic acid variants, particularly FGFR2 variants, which are linked to drug resistance. The disclosure further provides methods of diagnosis and theranosis, using these molecules and fragments thereof, and kits for employing these methods and compositions.

Endometrial cancer includes all forms and subtypes of the disease, including for example, serous, mucinous, and endometrioid histological subtypes or any other cancer that starts in the endometrium, which includes the lining of the uterus. Particularly, cancer of the endometrium is the most common gynecologic malignancy and accounts for 6% of all cancers in women. It is estimated there were ˜46,000 new cases diagnosed and ˜8,000 women dying from this disease in 2011 in the USA. Although early diagnosis largely explains the relatively good overall long-term survival of EC, the 5-year survival rates for women with regional or distant metastatic disease at diagnosis is only ˜70% and ˜25% respectively. Worse is the outcome for patients with early stage cancers that subsequently recur (5 year survival of ˜13%).
Members of the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) tyrosine kinase family have been shown to be amplified or mutationally activated in endometrial cancer and a variety of other cancer types, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, gastric cancer, bladder cancer, glioblastoma and rhabdomyosarcoma, making FGFRs an attractive potential therapeutic target. Targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have shown success in cancer treatment. However, the long-term efficacy of these TKIs is frequently limited by development of resistance to the TKIs. The resistance developed to TKIs can be due to mutation of the target kinase. It has been shown that shRNA knockdown and kinase inhibition with PD173074 (research only pan-FGFR inhibitor) induced G1 growth arrest and cell death in two FGFR-mutant EC lines (AN3CA and MFE280). Preclinical studies have demonstrated that FGFR inhibition is a viable therapeutic strategy in not only EC, but also a range of malignancies driven by FGFR amplification or mutation, which include breast, endometrial and gastric cancers. However, the remarkable success of small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the clinic, such as imatinib, has been tempered by the presence of both primary resistance in a subset of patients and the emergence of secondary resistance (acquired resistance) in some, if not all, patients.
Despite the importance of FGFRs as cancer drug targets, little is known about the repertoire of mutations in FGFRs that confer resistance to current FGFR inhibitors. Therefore, there is a need to determine specific resistance profiles for each particular compound by discovering relevant mutation(s) in FGFR. With such a resistance profile, it is possible to identify the drug most likely to benefit patients not only broadly, but also based on their individual spectrum of potential intrinsic resistance, rather than merely the best anti-FGFR agent. Such FGFR mutation(s) can be used to screen for new generations of FGFR inhibitor, whether it is an FGFR-specific inhibitor, or a multi-targeted protein kinase inhibitor, or a combination of selective antagonists, as in an anti-tumor or anti-cancer drug, and subject a patient to a specific treatment that would be responsive.

Susceptibility of tumors to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and treatment thereof

THE TRANSLATIONAL GENOMICS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A communication terminal receives acceptance data for gas cock opening created by a server, performs selection based on the received acceptance data, reads a two-dimensional barcode, and compares two-dimensional barcode data and target data stored in a storage device of the communication terminal; the sever sends the communication terminal a gas inspection item in which the target data is reflected; the communication terminal receives the inspection item in which the target data is reflected, checks an inspection result item created for the inspection item, and sends the checked inspection result item to the server; and the server gives permission for the gas cock opening based on the sent inspection result item, and sends a result of the permission to the communication terminal.

LP gas cock opening and closing starts when any one of a customer/consumer, a management company or a real estate manager of a facility applies for the gas cock opening or closing by telephone, a cell phone, the Web or by directly visiting a sales office of a gas supply company. The gas cock opening refers to installing a gas meter, a gas cylinder, and other components, and connecting them in order to supply gas, generated by vaporizing the LP gas, to the consumer through a pipeline. The sales office receives the application for opening/closing the gas cock. In the gas cock opening, a worker of the sales office or a worker of a construction company ordered by the sales office visits the consumer to attach the meter and install the gas cylinder and equipment required for gas supply. Moreover, a staff of the sales office in charge performs inspection before the gas cock opening, and determines whether to open the gas cock based on the result of the inspection.
When opening/closing the gas cock opening or closing, the sales staff performs required inspection and creates documents related to the inspection such as a contract document or a disconnection document. Then, the sales staff performs work associated with a gas contract or gas disconnection, such as the gas cock opening or closing work, creation of a form related to the gas cock opening or closing work, negotiation for newly installing a gas facility, and negotiation for gas switching. The inspection in the gas cock opening is required for the gas cock opening and performed by the sales staff before the gas cock opening. For example, the sales staff determines whether safety is ensured in supplying the gas, and whether the meter is not in an expired state and makes similar determinations. When the result indicates that the meter is expired, the meter is replaced with a new one.
However, there are problems in sales staff' creation of the contract document, the disconnection document, and the documents related to the inspection in the gas cock opening. Since the sales staff creates the documents by handwriting on paper or inputs document contents into a system at the sales office after returning from a site, a delay problem may occur to update customer data, or a work error may occur in an inspection method and inspection contents which vary depending on facility information and a gas supply mode.

Management system for gas cock opening and closing


A single- or multiple-head embroidery machine has stitch-forming tools which are formed in each case by a thread-guiding needle that interacts with a double-lock-stitch gripper to form stitches, and also has a feed device for obtaining relative movements between the embroidery material and the stitch-forming tools. The relative movements occur depending on the movements of the needle. In order to avoid a temporal overlap between the stitch-forming phase and the feed movement of the embroidery material, the double-lock-stitch gripper rotates at a rotational speed which corresponds to n times the rotational speed of the machine main shaft, wherein “n” is an integer greater than the number “2”.

The double-lock-stitch gripper which is predominantly used in this case is a rotating gripper that executes two complete rotations per stitch-forming period, as is employed hundreds of thousands of times as a "standard looper" in sewing machines and has proved very successful here too. This double-lock-stitch gripper requires a particular amount of thread tension for stitch forming, in particular for stitch insertion.
The use of a double lock stitch looper performing two full rotations per stitch-formation cycle and thus rotating two times per stitch formation is known in sewing machines, for example, through DE 42 17 848 C1.
The sewing machine disclosed here has, as is well known, a base plate, a column and an arm, which ends in a head. In the arm is mounted an arm shaft, which is in drive connection with a needle bar carrying a thread-guiding needle that is movable up and down in the head.
As is well known, a thread lever, which cooperates with the needle, which performs an up and down movement and which is likewise driven by the arm shaft, is also mounted in the head. However, the arm shaft is in drive connection via a belt drive or via a mechanical drive with a looper drive shaft mounted in the base plate of the sewing machine and drives same at a ratio of 1:2, so that the looper performs two rotations per each stitch-formation cycle, whereby the respective first rotation is used for detecting and expanding the needle thread loop, while the respective second rotation represents an "empty rotation," which has no effect on the stitch formation.
The different purposes of a sewn seam on the one hand and an embroidered seam on the other are the basis for a substantial difference between the requirements of a sewing machine and those of an embroidery machine. Whereas a sewn seam represents essentially a connecting or fastening seam, with which the usually two or more parts are connected firmly together, an embroidered seam represents a decoration (decorative seam) applied to the embroidery cloth, and transmits no forces at all.
The strength of the fastening seam is achieved in this case in that the thread loop dropped by the gripper is pulled by the thread lever with a relatively great force towards the top side of the article to be sewn so that the knotting of the needle thread and the gripper thread comes to lie centrally in the layers of material to be sewn together. The thread force of the gripper thread should also be calculated accordingly.
The conditions in the formation of an embroidered seam are completely different. Since in this case the needle thread (=embroidery thread) is only intended to lie cleanly on the top side of the embroidery material in order to obtain decorative effects, during the embroidery process the thread tension is kept as low as possible such that, while the embroidery thread is secured sufficiently in position on the embroidery cloth, no loose thread components arise and the knotting between the needle thread and the gripper thread always comes to lie on the underside of the embroidery cloth.
For this reason, a much lower tension of the needle thread is desired for embroidery machines compared with sewing machines.
Since, when the double-lock-stitch gripper that executes two rotations per stitch-forming period was transferred into the embroidery machine, the kinematics of said double-lock-stitch gripper were not adapted in an appropriate manner, even in current embroidery machines the feed movement for the embroidery cloth commences at a point in time at which the stitch-forming process has not yet been completed. This is very disadvantageous because as a result, when the thread lever starts to pull in the thread, the embroidery cloth has already moved by a considerable amount with respect to its position when the needle is inserted into the embroidery cloth. Consequently, the limb of the thread loop leading from the stitch hole to the thread store experiences in each case an additional deflection both when it emerges from the stitch hole and immediately after it passes through the embroidery cloth. The two deflections cause additional resistance when the thread is pulled in by the thread lever, and this additional resistance inevitably leads to an undesired increase in the minimum amount of thread tension.
This situation has a particularly disadvantageous effect in embroidery machines overall because, compared with sewing machines, they generally operate both with much greater stitch lengths and also with feed directions that extend in different directions.

Single- or multiple-head embroidery machine having a double-lock-stitch rotating gripper


A structure and a method for forming cells in power line areas between macro cell in a macro block area. In a power line level, a pin is formed between VSS and VDD lines. The pin is connected to the buffer cell. Next a signal line layer is formed and the signal line is connected to the pin and to a driver. In a first embodiment the driver is formed in a standard cell area. In a second embodiment the driver is formed in a micro cell. A signal line is connected to the pin and the driver.

1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fabrication of semiconductor devices having macro cells, power lines and repeater cells and more particularly to the layout and method form placing repeater cell in between macro cells and modifying the power lines to place a Pin to the repeater cells in the power line areas between macro cells. Furthermore, the invention relates generally to fabrication and design of semiconductor devices and more particularly to the fabrication and design of power routing (VDD and VSS) and the location of buffer cells in macro cell areas.
2) Description of the Prior Art
The cells of a standard cell area normally contain a simple logic function, such as an inverter, a NAND gate, or a D-flip flop. The transistors in these cells are specifically designed for the drive requirements of the particular cell, and spacing of these transistors depends upon such factors as the location of contacts within the cells.
The spacing, or pitch, between rows of cells is determined by (a) the number of interconnect lines fabricated from METAL and (b) the cell height. The cell height, in turn, depends upon the transistor configuration within the cells.
The interconnect lines fabricated from METAL are typically laid out by an automated device, or computer program, called a xe2x80x9crouter,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cauto-router.xe2x80x9d Different routers have different algorithms for laying out the lines, so that different routers will produce different interconnect patterns, even though the end result of the connections may be the same.
Thus, in general, the row pitch is determined by (a) the router used to interconnect the cells in the standard cell array and (b) the height of the individual cells.
It is very important to efficiently arrange the wiring in an IC because, in general, the wiring running from transistor-to-transistor consumes more space than the transistors themselves. (The wiring consists of traces fabricated from the METAL layers) Restated, the size of the IC is generally determined by how efficiently the wiring can be routed and compacted, and not by how many transistors the IC contains.
Embedding MACROs into Standard Cell Arrays Uses Space
MACROs are frequently incorporated into ICs containing standard cell arrays. A MACRO is a block of transistors which have been optimized to perform a specific function. In a MACRO, the layout of the individual transistors, their operating characteristics, and their interconnections may have all been matched to each other for optimum performance. Thus, typically, a MACRO is constructed from different sizes of transistors, which are embedded into the standard cell array.
Since, in general, the ROW PITCH of the MACRO is different from that of the standard cell array, the power busses Vdd and Vss will be interrupted. To accommodate this interruption, the power busses are re-designed into a ring that surrounds a macro.
Power routing in today""s SOC chips consumes a lot of chip area, especially for designs including many macro blocks such as SRAM, Flash and Mixed-Signal blocks. Usually a power ring needs to be routed around each of the macros in order to connect to all power pins of the macro. The result is that the area around the macros will be occupied by the power ring and no standard cells can be placed in that area.
For designs containing many macros the macros are often placed next to each other in groups. The spaces between the macros are used for power routing. The result is that the macro""s and their surrounding power rings will form big areas on the chip in which no standard cells can be placed. Long nets which needs to be routed over these areas must therefore travel long distance without additional buffering (repeater), causing extensive signal delays.
The options available today are:
1) Create extra space between each macro to allow for standard cell rows to be placed. The buffer cells are then placed in these standard cell rows. This solution will sacrifice some area.
2) Route the net around the macro""s. This will make it possible to insert additional buffers since the net will be routed over standard cell area. However, the net will be longer than routing across the macro""s.
3) Use very high drive cells on the driver end of the net. This will improve net delay, but will have limited effect when the net reach a certain length.
The importance of overcoming the various deficiencies noted above is evidenced by the extensive technological development directed to the subject, as documented by the relevant patent and technical literature. The closest and apparently more relevant technical developments in the patent literature can be gleaned by considering U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,059(Gheewala) teaches a power routing (e.g., M1 M2- Vdd and Vss) that do not cross over macro cells.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,079(Brazen et al.) shows a gate array with flexible routing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,900(Crafts) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,058(Shiffer, II) show related layouts and routings.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating and a design for power routing for semiconductor chips having macro areas
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for fabricating and a design for power routing for semiconductor chips having macro areas where the buffer cells are inserted between the power lines over macro cell areas.
To accomplish the above objectives, the present invention provides a structure and method for forming buffer cells in power line areas between macro cell in a macro block area on a substrate. In a power line level, a pin is formed between VSS and VDD lines. The pin is connected to the buffer cell. Next a signal line layer is formed and the signal line is connected to the pin and to a driver. In a first embodiment the driver is formed in a standard cell area on the substrate. In a second embodiment, the driver is formed in a macro cell on a substrate.
The preferred first embodiment of the invention provides a method of fabrication of buffer cells in power line areas between macro cells in a macro area in a semiconductor device. The invention""s buffer cell is in a power line area 32 within a macro area. A key feature of the first embodiment is the placement of the buffer cell in the power line area within a macro area. In contrast, normally, buffer cells are located in the standard cell area or in the macro cell areas.
The second embodiment has a weak driver in a macro cell. Like the first embodiment, the buffer cell is in the power line area. The pin is electrically connected to the buffer cell. The signal line is connected to the drive and the pin this is connected to the buffer cell.
The two embodiments of the present invention provide the following benefits.
1. A way of utilizing power routing area for buffer insertion
2. A way of saving total chip area
3. A way of decreasing signal delays for long nets
4. A way of generating special cell layout fit to be placed under power lines.
5. A way of placing cells under power lines.
By using the invention""s special buffer cells, which are laid out so that it can be placed under the power lines and by placing, these buffer cells in the power line area between the macros, signals that travel long distance across macro areas can repeated. This will decrease the signal delay for long wires crossing macro areas and improve overall design performance without sacrificing area.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the append claims.

Utilization of macro power routing area for buffer insertion

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company


The tank opening-closing device is realized with a simple constitution of the opening-closing mechanism equipped with a pressure adjustment valve for regulating the internal pressure of the fuel tank. The opening-closing mechanism is equipped with a gasket provided on the opening peripheral edge part of the inlet of the tank opening forming member, the valve opening-closing mechanism for opening and closing the inlet and also regulating the internal pressure of the fuel tank, and a retraction mechanism that selectively moves the valve opening-closing mechanism to the closing position and the fueling position in conjunction with the fueling gun, The valve opening-closing mechanism has a closing position for opening and closing the inlet and a fueling position retracted from the inlet for which it is possible to supply fuel.

The inlet of the inlet pipe for fueling an automobile is typically sealed by a fuel cap that is attached and detached by a rotation operation. This kind of fuel cap not only has poor operability because a plurality of rotation operations is required when fueling, but there was also the problem that when removed, it was necessary to come up with a means for remembering the place one left it or for preventing loss. To address this kind of problem, arts for which a flap valve mechanism is provided on the fuel cap are known such as in JP-A 2001-47876. The flap valve mechanism closes the inlet of the inlet pipe using the flap valve and also seals it by biasing using a spring, and during fueling, the inlet opens by pressing the flap valve in resistance to the biasing force of the spring using the fueling gun. Also, a pressure adjustment valve for regulating the internal pressure of the fuel tank is attached to the flap valve mechanism. However, with the flap valve mechanism, when the pressure adjustment valve is attached to the flap valve, not only does the mechanism become complex, but there was also the problem that the number of parts becomes high.


In one aspect the application relates to a computing system for providing data for modelling a human brain comprises a database including a plurality of datasets (or allow access to a plurality of datasets), each dataset including at least a dynamical model of the brain including at least one node and a neurodataset of a neuroimaging modality input. The at least one node include a representation of a local dynamic model and a parameter set of the local dynamic model.

Brain function is thought to emerge from the interactions of large numbers of neurons. One aspect of difficulty in the research of brain function is the inability to directly observe brain dynamics. It would be useful to provide an abstract mathematical model of modelled brain dynamics that exhibit a lower complexity than actual brain dynamics. Such a model may be limited to only a few selected aspects of brain dynamics that are of interest. Further model complexity or detail may be added to the model to alter a different range of modelled brain dynamics. Clinical assessment and research may accordingly be conducted on the model to both investigate conditions and test theories.
Besides insights into mechanisms of how brain dynamics emerge, such models allow for the exploration of the consequences of pathological changes in the system, enabling identification of pathological changes and subsequent treatment.
In an aspect, there is a need for a method and apparatus that assists in modelling brain dynamics.
In an aspect, there is a need for a method and apparatus—that enables model-based inference of neurophysiological mechanisms on different brain scales that underlie the generation of macroscopic neuroimaging signals.

Method and computing system for modelling a primate brain

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Zur Förderung Der Wissenschaften e.V.


An apparatus including a private branch exchange (PBX) switch, a residential gateway to receive channel associated signals (CAS) from the PBX switch, and a programmable CAS module to convert the CAS signals into internet protocol (IP) signals is disclosed.

Conventional networks route telephone signals over an internet protocol (IP) network by converting channel associated signals (CAS) into IP signals using a CAS device. The CAS device serves as a type of gateway between the public branch exchange (PBX) telephone system and the IP network. The CAS device is connected to one or more PBX systems through a line such as a T1 line, for example. The T1 line may connect the CAS device to multiple PBX telephone systems. Each PBX system may have its own specific CAS protocol. However, only one CAS protocol can be used with the line. In order to change the line's CAS protocol, the line must be taken out of service. Alternatively, the CAS module must be able to support a large number of CAS protocols.
It is extremely difficult to support many, if not all, CAS protocols using a single CAS module. Furthermore, if a given protocol is upgraded, the CAS module must be upgraded by taking the corresponding telephone lines out of service.

Programmable FSM engine using a new CAS application language


An ink jet print head includes a print element substrate having an ink ejection energy generator, a support substrate to support the print element substrate, and an ultraviolet light and heat combination setting adhesive bonding the print element substrate to the support substrate. A bonding surface of the support substrate on which the print element substrate is supported is formed with an ultraviolet light reflection prevention surface that prevents a reflection of ultraviolet light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet print head and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an ink jet print head comprises a print element substrate and a support substrate. The print element substrate has ejection energy generation means, such as electrothermal transducers, ink ejection openings (or nozzles) and an ink introducing port. The support substrate is formed with an ink supply port.
The print element substrate and the support substrate are positioned and bonded together by an adhesive, which hardens by ultraviolet light and heat (hereinafter referred to simply as an adhesive), so that the ink supply port communicates with the ink introducing port. The adhesive used has a coupling agent, such as silane coupling agent, added thereto to enhance an intimate contact between the support substrate and the print element substrate.
If the coupling agent is not added to the boding agent, a high level of intimate contact cannot be obtained between the support substrate and the print element substrate during the hardening of the adhesive. Therefore, after the adhesive hardens, a part of the adhesive may flake off with elapse of time, causing problems, such as ink leaking out to an outer circumference of the print element substrate.
Further, if the adhesive that is hardened by ultraviolet light and heat is not used and a thermosetting adhesive that is hardened only by heat is used, the print element substrate must be held immovable in its place with high accuracy until the adhesive begins to exhibit enough adhesive force to fix the print element substrate in its position. This deteriorates a workability in a production process and therefore a mass producing performance.
For these reasons, it is effective to use the adhesive that hardens by ultraviolet light and heat. That is, the adhesive is first hardened in a short time by ultraviolet light to temporarily fix the position of the print element substrate with high accuracy. Then, those portions of adhesive that the ultraviolet light cannot reach is hardened by heat.
Since a part of such an ultraviolet light/heat setting adhesive hardens by ultraviolet light in a short time, the function of the coupling agent added to the adhesive may be lost in that part. That is, for the portion that has hardened in a short time by ultraviolet light, an improved intimate contact expected of the coupling agent cannot be realized. It is therefore desirable that the portion of the adhesive that is hardened by ultraviolet light be kept as small as possible on the condition that the print element substrate can be secured temporarily on the support substrate.
Because of its irregular reflections, the ultraviolet light that has struck the surface of the support substrate may reach those portions of adhesive that are not intended for direct exposure to the ultraviolet light, initiating their hardening. In such a case, those portions of adhesive that are supposed to harden by heat may also undesirably harden in a short time, deteriorating the reactivity of the coupling agent.

Ink jet print head and manufacturing method thereof


A method (300) for monitoring a data processing system is proposed. The method involves the determination (306–360) of an indicator of the severity of any critical condition being detected in the system (for example, though the use of fuzzy-logic rules). In this way, it is possible to associate (366–381) a desired intensity to a corrective action corresponding to the critical condition; for example, this operation is performed by setting (366) an intensity parameter to the severity indicator, and then updating (369–381) it according to predefined policies, a power factor selected manually, and the feedback of any previous application of the corrective action. The corrective action is then applied (384) by modulating its effects according to the desired intensity.

Applications for monitoring data processing systems play a key role in their management. For example, those applications are used to detect any critical condition in the system (so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken in an attempt to remedy the situation). Typically, the essential information relating to the critical conditions being detected is logged; the information is then available for off-line analysis through data warehousing techniques.
For this purpose, selected performance parameters of the system (such as a processing power consumption, a memory space usage, a bandwidth occupation, and the like) are measured periodically. The information so obtained is then interpreted (for example, according to a decision tree) so as to identify any critical condition of the system. For example, the occurrence of a low response time of the system can be inferred when both the processing power consumption and the memory space usage exceeds corresponding threshold values. The monitoring applications known in the art are configured with predefined corrective actions, which are launched in response to the detection of corresponding critical conditions.
A drawback of the solution described above is that they can only be used to recover the correct operation of the system. Indeed, the corrective actions are executed when any problem has become severe and the system cannot continue working properly. Therefore, those solutions are completely ineffective in preventing the occurrence of the problems in the system.
Moreover, the corrective actions typically try to reset the system to its initial condition preceding the occurrence of the problem. However, this strategy is often ineffective in eliminating the problem on a long-term basis (with the same problem that is likely to appear again in the future).
In any case, the corrective actions must be quite aggressive to be effective in solving the problems; for example, the corrective actions can involve restarting the system, deleting temporary files or eliminating jobs from a queue. Therefore, the corrective actions typically have detrimental side effects. For example, the application of the corrective actions can cause an abrupt decrease of performance of the system (and then of any application running thereon). Moreover, most corrective actions have a potential high impact on the business relating to operation of the system; for example, the corrective actions can cause a service interruption or a loss of valuable data. Therefore, those corrective actions must be used very carefully; as a consequence, most system administrators are reluctant to enable the above-mentioned functionality of the monitoring applications.

Monitoring method and system with corrective actions having dynamic intensities

International Business Machines Corporation


An wireless access selection capability is disclosed. In at least some embodiments, the wireless access selection capability enables a wireless user terminal to determine, via interaction with a mobility network (e.g., a 3G cellular network, a 4G cellular network, and the like), whether to remain connected via the mobility network or to connect via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). The interaction may be in the form of two queries initiated by the wireless user terminal, including a first query for determining whether the wireless user terminal should perform a scan for identifying WLANs available for providing wireless access to the wireless user terminal and a second for determining whether the wireless user terminal should switch from being connected to the mobility network to being connected to an identified WLAN identified during a scan initiated by the wireless user terminal.

Many mobile user devices are configured to make real-time decisions to select between mobility networks (e.g., Third Generation (3G) Partnership Project (3GPP) networks, 3GPP2 networks, and the like) and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs); however, the decision by a mobile user device as to whether to select a mobility network or a WLAN is typically based on static information that is available on the mobile user device.

Method and apparatus for controlling wireless access selection


A method and apparatus for performing Reed-Solomon (R-S) coding in a mobile communication system supporting a broadcast and multicast (BCMC) service are provided, where a determination is made as to whether a change in a broadcast overhead message (BOM) exist including information with parameters used for the BCMC service. A position of data in a new channel encoder buffer is calculated at a time when the BOM is changed. The channel encoder buffer is filled with predetermined data in an interval ranging from a start point of a buffer comprising data in the change point of the BOM to a point preceding a point of data first transmitted according to the changed BOM.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a channel coding method and apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for preventing a performance loss of a Reed-Solomon (R-S) code caused when a time division multiplexing point serviced between a transmitter and a receiver is changed in a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile communication system using R-S codes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile communication system has evolved from an early system that provides voice service into an advanced system capable of providing data service. The mobile communication system has now developed into a system that can provide broadcast service together with various data services. The system providing broadcast service is under standardization in a 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) group. Broadcast service proposed in the 3GPP2 group is called "Broadcast and Multicast (BCMC) Service" in a CDMA2000 1x Rev. D standard. In addition to the CDMA2000 1x Rev. D standard, a High Rate Broadcast-Multicast Packet Data (HRPD) Rev. A standard for the synchronous CDMA system also provides BCMC Service.
In the following description, BCMC service proposed in both the CDMA2000 1x Rev. D standard and the HRPD Rev. A standard for the CDMA system will be referred to as "broadcast service."
The broadcast service is provided in which broadcast data based on a frame having a period of, for example, 20 ms is transmitted by Time Division Multiplexing (TDM). For channel coding, the broadcast service can use an R-S code, which is an error correction code, well known as an outer code, aside from an inner code such as a convolutional code or a turbo code. Accordingly, if the TDM scheme is used in transmitting broadcast data, a receiver selectively receives a minimum number of frames, contributing to improvement in the receiver's reception performance. However, in order to prevent possible consecutive transmission errors of broadcast data, the broadcast service uses the R-S code as currently proposed in the CDMA2000 1x Rev. D standard. An exemplary implementation of the present invention relates to a channel coding method. The channel coding method improves positions of information data sequentially input to an encoder when some of channel coded bits are defective, thereby preventing a loss of the information data and improving the performance. In particular, the present invention relates to a physical channel format used for transmission based on a cdma2000 High Rate Broadcast-Multicast Packet Data (HRPD) standard for the synchronous CDMA mobile communication system, and efficiently encodes the R-S code used for Broadcast/Multicast Service (BCMCS), thereby to prevent a performance loss of the R-S code caused when a time division multiplexing point serviced between a transmitter and a receiver is changed. This technology is not limited only to the CDMA2000 HRPD standard for the synchronous CDMA mobile communication system, but can be generally applied when a portion of channel coded data cannot be transmitted. A description will be made based on the CDMA2000 High Rate Broadcast-Multicast Packet Data (HRPD) standard (in this specification, it will be referred to as "BCMC" unless stated otherwise).
A general BCMC transmitter has an R-S error control block buffer for each individual logical channel. For a plurality of logical channel bits input to the R-S error control block buffer, R-S coded symbols for each individual channel are output to a TDM multiplexer. The TDM multiplexer TDM-multiplexes the input symbols for each individual logical channel. The channel symbols generated by the TDM multiplexer undergo additional transmission coding and modulation processes through an inner encoder before being transmitted.
A general BCMC receiver includes a process of demodulating the data transmitted by the TDM multiplexer of the BCMC transmitter, and an R-S decoding process of performing inner decoding on the demodulated data and then inputting a desired logical channel to its R-S error control block buffer using a logical channel selector. With reference to FIG. 1, a description will now be made of a transmission method based on the BCMC standard.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary TDM transmission method according to the BCMC standard. The TDM transmission method is classified according to interlace, which each interlace is allocated Multiplex and BurstLength. The term "interlace" refers to a slot of a physical channel that is transmitted in units of time slots in a 1x EV-DO network, and the term "multiplex" refers to an index obtained by logically dividing the interlace. In addition, the term "BurstLength" refers to the number of repeated transmissions for a logical broadcast channel created with the interlace and the multiplex. Each interlace is transmitted in units of slots, and numerals under the interlace represent corresponding slot indexes. In addition, alphabets A, B, C, . . . shown in FIG. 1 represent logical channels. In FIG. 1, an interlace-0 100 includes 4 multiplexed channels A, B, C and D; an interlace-1 102 includes 4 multiplexed channels E, F, G and H; an interlace-2 104 includes 4 multiplexed channels A, K, L and M; and an interlace-3 106 includes 4 multiplexed channels O, P, Q and R. A length of each multiplexed channel included in the interlace-0 100 is set to BurstLength0[i] (where i={0, 1, 2, 3}). TotalBurstLength is a sum of all BurstLengths in each individual interlace.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of an R-S error control block buffer for one logical channel when an R-S code, which is an outer code, is used in BCMC.
In FIG. 2, N (200) denotes a length of an R-S code, K (202) denotes a length of an information symbol, and R (204) denotes a length of a parity symbol. In addition, M (206) denotes a value corresponding to a size of a horizontal axis of the block, where M={1, 2, . . . , 16}. In FIG. 2, the actual data before R-S coding has a size of K×M, and a parity portion created after the R-S coding has a size of R×M.
Broadcast security packets 208 are transmitted to a receiver over one logical channel in order of arrival at the R-S error control block buffer (not shown), and the broadcast security packets 208 positions in the logical channel are shown in FIG. 1. A relationship between positions of the broadcast security packets in the R-S error control block buffer and their actual transmission time points in one logical channel is defined as follows.
1) Assuming that an absolute time 0 (for example, 1980.01.01) is defined, the current structure of a TDM logical channel has been continuously maintained from the absolute time 0 to the present time.
2) For a logical channel desired to be sent, a first broadcast security packet in the R-S error control block buffer starts transmitting at a slot first allocated after the absolute time 0.
3) Assuming that the transmission started by the foregoing operation has continued up to the present time, the data in a position of a broadcast security packet in the R-S error control block buffer, which must be sent at the present time, is transmitted in a corresponding slot interval.
Several parameters for the BCMC transmission are delivered by a Broadcast Overhead Message (BOM). A description of the BOM will be made below with reference to FIG. 3.
In the BCMC service, a base station previously provides position information of broadcast data to a receiver through a BOM. The base station should necessarily transmit a control channel to the receiver every 256 slots, and transmit a BOM every 7 slots. The BOM includes BurstLength and TotalBurstLength.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a transmission time of a BOM which is additional information used for providing BCMC. The BOM, as shown in FIG. 3, is delivered basically at intervals of 7 BroadcastOverheadPeriods×256 slots=3 seconds. The BCMC can perform allocation, deallocation and position-shifting on each logical channel by modifying the BOM.
In the BCMC standard, the BOM is delivered as shown in FIG. 3. The BOM is repeatedly transmitted with the same value as long as TDM information is maintained. However, if the TDM information is changed, the BOM is transmitted with a value different from the value transmitted in the previous interval. Accordingly, when the TDM information is changed by the BOM, an R-S decoder cannot perform R-S decoding.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an R-S error control block transmission problem caused by a change in BOM format according to conventional art.
Transmission points of the data in an R-S error control block buffer are determined on the assumption that first transmission always starts after the absolute time 0. Referring to FIG. 4, based on the format defined in a received BOM, a receiver determines which position of the R-S error control block buffer the received data is located. Therefore, if the BOM is changed from BOMA 400 to BOMB 402, a position of the data last transmitted according to the format defined in the BOMA 400, which is a BOM before the change, in the R-S error control block buffer, and a position of the data first transmitted according to the format defined in the BOMB 402, which is a BOM after the change, in the R-S error control block buffer, may not be consecutive to each other in block 404. In FIG. 4, a 'last' packet 406 represents the packet last transmitted according to the format defined in the BOMA 400, and a 'first' packet 408 represents the packet first transmitted according to the format defined in the BOMB 402. However, if a transmitter transmits data after encoding the data such that data packets in R-S error control blocks before and after the change in BOM are consecutive, the receiver may lose the packets transmitted by the transmitter in a loss interval 404. That is, if the transmitter fills the loss interval 404 with data, the data in the loss interval 404 is not delivered to the receiver because the data is not actually transmitted.
In the conventional art, the change in the additional information causes a loss interval 404 of loss0˜loss12, in which data is not transmitted. As a result, performance is deteriorated because the receiver loses the data in this interval and cannot perform outer decoding even on the remaining data area of FIG. 4.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus that prevents loss of information data transmitted and improves performance in a mobile communication system.

Method and apparatus for performing data buffering for Reed-Solomon (R-S) coding/decoding in a mobile communication system