The image output system of the invention collects a preset number of adjacent pixels to one pixel group to divide a number of pixels constituting an image into multiple pixel groups and specifies a pixel group tone value as a representative tone value of each pixel group. The image output system refers to a conversion table to generate dot number data of each pixel group. The conversion table stores dot number data, which represents number of dots to be created in one pixel group, in relation to a combination of a pixel group classification number allocated to each pixel group and the specified pixel group tone value of the pixel group. The image output system then refers to a priority order of pixels representing potentials of dot creation in respective pixels of one pixel group, determines the positions of dot-on pixels in each pixel group according to the generated dot number data of the pixel group, and actually creates dots according to the determined positions of the dot-on pixels. The dot number data does not include information on the positions of the dot-on pixels and has a small data volume, thus enabling high-speed data transfer. The dot number data is readily obtained by simply referring to the conversion table. This leads to high-speed output of high-quality image data. The technique of the invention thus enables easy and high-speed output of a high-quality image.

Image output devices that create dots on various output media, such as printing media and liquid crystal screens, to output images have been used widely as output devices of diverse imaging devices. The image output device processes each image as a collection of very small areas called pixels and creates dots in these pixels. Each pixel individually take only one of two dot states, that is, dot-on state and dot-off state. The density of dot creation may be varied in a relatively wide image area. The varying dot creation density enables output of a multi-tone image. For example, in the case of creation of black ink dots on printing paper, areas of dense dot creation are darker and areas of sparse dot creation are brighter. In the case of creation of dots as bright points on a liquid crystal screen, areas of dense dot creation are brighter and areas of sparse dot creation are darker. The adequate regulation of the dot creation density enables output of a multi-tone image. An object image to be output goes through a preset series of image processing to give control data for creation of dots at adequate densities.
The latest requirements for these image output devices are size enlargement and enhanced picture quality of output images. Division of an image into smaller pixels is an effective measure for the enhanced picture quality requirement. The smaller pixels make the respective dots created in the pixels inconspicuous and thereby improve the picture quality. Increasing the number of pixels is an effective measure for the size enlargement requirement. The increased dimensions of the respective pixels naturally enlarge an output image but undesirably lower the picture quality of the output image. The increased number of pixels is thus effective for the size enlargement of the output image.
The increased number of pixels constituting an image, however, undesirably extends the time of image processing and interferes with high-speed image output. Various techniques have accordingly been proposed to attain high-speed image processing (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 2002-185789).
The high-speed image processing alone is, however, not sufficient to attain the high-speed image output. Another requirement is thus high-speed transfer of original image data and processed image data.
With the wide spread of digital cameras, there is a requirement of direct supply of image data taken with a digital camera to a printing device or another image output device for immediate image output. In such cases, a personal computer or another image processing device of high throughput is not usable for the required image processing. The image processing should thus be simplified to be executable by one or both of an imaging device, such as a digital camera, and an image output device, which are generally of relatively low throughput.

Image output system for outputting image based on information of number of dots to be formed in predetermined area


Systems and methods that provide antenna selection in multi-antenna-element communication systems are provided. In one embodiment, a system that selects N antenna elements in an M-antenna-element transmitter or an M-antenna-element receiver, in which N is less than M, may include, for example, M antenna elements in the M-antenna-element transmitter or the M-antenna-element receiver; N RF chains; and a switch coupled to the N RF chains. The M-antenna-element receiver may determine a bit error rate for each possible N antenna element subset of the M antenna elements. The M-antenna-element receiver may determine the particular N antenna element subset with a lowest bit error rate. In response to the determination of the particular N antenna element subset with the lowest bit error rate, the switch may couple the N RF chains to the particular N antenna element subset with the lowest bit error rate.

Most current wireless communication systems are composed of nodes configured with a single transmit and receive antenna. However, for a wide range of wireless communication systems, it has been predicted that the performance, including capacity, may be substantially improved through the use of multiple transmit and/or multiple receive antennas. Such configurations form the basis of "smart" antenna techniques. Smart antenna techniques, coupled with space-time signal processing, can be utilized both to combat the deleterious effects of multipath fading of a desired incoming signal and to suppress interfering signals. In this way both the performance and capacity of digital wireless systems in existence or being deployed (e.g., CDMA-based systems, TDMA-based systems, WLAN systems, and OFDM-based systems such as IEEE 802.11a/g) maybe improved.
At least some of the impairments to the performance of wireless systems of the type described above may be at least partially ameliorated by using multi-element antenna systems designed to introduce a diversity gain and suppress interference within the signal reception process. This has been described, for example, in "The Impact of Antenna Diversity On the Capacity of Wireless Communication Systems", by J. H. Winters et al., IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 42, no. 2/3/4, pages 1740-1751, February 1994. Such diversity gains improve system performance by mitigating multipath for more uniform coverage, increasing received signal-to-noise ratio for greater range or reduced required transmit power, and providing more robustness against interference or permitting greater frequency reuse for higher capacity.
Within communication systems incorporating multi-antenna receivers, a set of M receive antennas may be capable of nulling up to M-1 interferers. Accordingly, N signals may be simultaneously transmitted in the same bandwidth using N transmit antennas, with the transmitted signal then being separated into N respective signals by way of a set of N antennas deployed at the receiver. Systems of this type are generally referred to as multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems, and have been studied extensively. See, for example, "Optimum combining for indoor radio systems with multiple users", by J. H. Winters, IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. COM-35, no. 11, November 1987; "Capacity of Multi-Antenna Array Systems In Indoor Wireless Environment", by C. Chuah et al., Proceedings of Globecom '98 Sydney, Australia, IEEE 1998, pages 1894-1899 November 1998; and "Fading Correlation and Its Effect on the Capacity of Multi-Element Antenna Systems" by D. Shiu et al., IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 48, no. 3, pages 502-513, March 2000.
Some multi-element antenna arrangements (e.g., some MIMOs) provide system capacity enhancements that can be achieved using the above-referenced configurations. Under the assumption of perfect estimates of the applicable channel at the receiver, in a MIMO system the received signal decomposes to M "spatially-multiplexed" independent channels. This results in an M-fold capacity increase relative to single-antenna systems. For a fixed overall transmitted power, the capacity offered by MIMOs scales linearly with the number of antenna elements. Specifically, it has been shown that with N transmit and N receive antennas an N-fold increase in the data rate over a single antenna system can be achieved without any increase in the total bandwidth or total transmit power. See, e.g., "On Limits of Wireless Communications in a Fading Environment When Using Multiple Antennas", by G. J. Foschini et al., Wireless Personal Communications, Kluwer Academic Publishers, vol. 6, no. 3, pages 311-335, March 1998. In experimental MIMO systems predicated upon N-fold spatial multiplexing, more than N antennas are often deployed at a given transmitter or receiver. This is because each additional antenna adds to the diversity gain and antenna gain and interference suppression applicable to all N spatially-multiplexed signals. See, e.g., "Simplified processing for high spectral efficiency wireless communication employing multi-element arrays", by G. J. Foschini et al., IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 17, issue 11, November 1999, pages 1841-1852.
Although increasing the number of transmit and/or receive antennas enhances various aspects of the performance of MIMO systems, the provision of a separate RF chain for each transmit and receive antenna increases costs. Each RF chain is generally comprised a low noise amplifier, filter, downconverter, and analog-to-digital converter (A/D), with the latter three devices typically being responsible for most of the cost of the RF chain. In certain existing single-antenna wireless receivers, the single required RF chain may account for in excess of 30% of the receiver's total cost. It is thus apparent that as the number of transmit and receive antennas increases, overall system cost and power consumption may dramatically increase.
Some attempts to address these shortcomings may be found, for example, in United States Patent Publication No. 20020102950 entitled "Method and apparatus for selection and use of optimal antennas in wireless systems"; "Capacity of MIMO systems with antenna selection", by A. Molisch et al., Proceedings of IEEE ICC, Helsinki, Finland, June 2001, vol. 2, pp. 570-574; and "On optimum MIMO with antenna selection", by R. S. Blum et al., IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 6, issue 8, August 2002, pages 322-324, in which a subset of transmit/receive antennas are selected from a larger number of antennas. Since with N-fold spatial multiplexing, at least N RF chains must be used, typically N out of M total antennas would be chosen at the receiver and/or N out of nT total antennas would be chosen at the transmitter, with M>N and nT>N.
The performance of a system with antenna selection depends, for example, on the criteria used in the selection process. Different criteria used even under the same channel condition may well result in a different selected subset of antennas, thereby yielding different performances. Some of the above-reference documents advocate the maximum capacity criterion to select the antenna subset. However, capacity is an idealized quantity that may be an unachievable bound because it may necessitate perfect coding and/or equalization and/or continuous modulation. In practice, the equalizer is not ideal, limited coding (or even no coding) and quantized modulation is used.


An antenna includes first and second radiating elements and a conductive arm. The second radiating element has opposite feeding and grounding end portions, each of which is coupled to a respective one of feeding and grounding end portions of the first radiating element. The conductive arm is coupled to the feeding end portion of the second radiating element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an antenna, more particularly to an ultra-wideband antenna.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional antenna, such as a monopole antenna or a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA), which is applicable to a wireless personal area network (WPAN) and which is operable in a Bluetooth frequency range from 2402 MHz to 2480 MHz and an ultra-wideband (UWB) Band I frequency range from 3168 MHz to 4752 MHz, is well known in the art.
The aforementioned conventional antenna is disadvantageous in that it deviates easily from the Bluetooth and the UWB Band I frequency ranges even with a small inaccuracy in the positioning thereof on a circuit board, which may occur during installation thereof on the circuit board.


Described herein are guiding instruments for use in surgical procedures involving the positioning of a bone plate. Furthermore methods for the manufacture of such instruments and methods for positioning a bone plate are also provided.

Field of the Invention
Described herein are guiding instruments for use in surgical procedures involving the positioning of a bone plate. Furthermore methods for the manufacture of such guiding instruments and methods for positioning a bone plate are also provided.
Description of the Related Technology
In complex surgeries like corrective osteotomies or acute trauma surgeries, the surgeon wants to correct a malunion, a congenital deformity or the like, to relieve pain or to improve the functionality of a part of the patient anatomy. The quality of the end result highly depends on the accuracy achieved during the surgical procedure.
For a number of years, the combination of virtual pre-operative planning and patient-specific surgical instruments has been available for performing complex orthopedic surgeries. This combination allows the surgeon to meticulously plan the surgery in advance on a virtual 3D model, and then execute this planning in the operating room by using patient-specific surgical instruments, which are unique to the patient and the planned surgery. The patient-specific instruments typically fit on a part of the patient anatomy and guide the surgeon in making osteotomies, in drilling and placing pins and screws.
For corrective osteotomies, the patient-specific instruments typically allow the surgeon to accurately pre-drill holes for the screws that will hold an osteosynthesis plate and to accurately make the osteotomy according to the pre-operative planning. The reduction of the bone fragments is then performed by attaching the osteosynthesis plate using the pre-drilled screw holes. Various types of osteosynthesis plates are available, such as standard compression plates, patient-specific plates and locking plates.
When using standard compression plates, the pre-operative planning should be made such that the plate contacts the bone. However, in the case of corrective osteotomies, one is typically dealing with abnormal anatomy, such that a stable contact between the plate and the bone fragments cannot always be guaranteed.
An alternative is to use a patient-specific plate. Such a plate can be designed to fit the patient anatomy in a stable manner. However, patient-specific implants are expensive to engineer and manufacture. Moreover, the plate can cause bone necrosis if the fit is too snug.
For these reasons, many surgeons prefer using locking plates and screws. In such systems, the screw holes provided on the plate and the screw heads are threaded, such that the screws can interlock with the plate. This allows attachment of the osteosynthesis plate without it making full or even any contact with the bone. However, the use of locking plates also has certain disadvantages. For example, without a stable contact between plate and bone, it is impossible for the surgeon to guarantee the same relative end positions of plate and bone fragments that were planned pre-operatively. Moreover, it is difficult to position the screws in the pre-operatively planned direction, even with pre-drilled holes for the screws. Indeed, although pre-drilling allows the surgeon to accurately find the correct entry point through the cortical bone, screws can easily divert from the pre-drilled tunnel in the trabecular bone. This is particularly problematic for angularly stable locking plates.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods for performing a corrective osteotomy, and for positioning of bone plates in general.


A plasma display panel having a dielectric with a stepped structure and a method for manufacturing the same are disclosed. The plasma display panel includes a first panel comprising a plurality of electrode pairs each including a scan electrode and a sustain electrode, and a dielectric layer formed over the electrode pairs, a second panel comprising a plurality of address electrodes arranged to cross the plurality of electrode pairs, and barrier ribs formed on the second substrate, to define discharge cells. The dielectric layer includes recesses respectively arranged between two electrodes arranged in each discharge cell and between two electrodes arranged adjacent to each other at opposite sides of each barrier rib.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a plasma display panel having a dielectric with a stepped structure and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In accordance with the advent of an age of multimedia, development of a display device capable of more finely rendering colors more approximate to natural colors while having a larger size is being required.
However, the current cathode ray tubes (CRTs) have a limitation in realizing a large screen of 40 inches or more. For this reason, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), and projection televisions (TVs) are being rapidly developed so that the applications thereof can be extended to a high-quality image field.
PDPs are known as an electronic appliance to display an image, using plasma discharge. In such a PDP, a certain voltage is applied between electrodes in a discharge space defined in the PDP, to generate plasma discharge in the discharge space. A phosphor layer having a certain pattern is excited by vacuum ultraviolet rays (VUVs) generated during the plasma discharge, to produce an image.
Generally, such a PDP, which operates in the above-mentioned manner, has a long gap structure, in which a scan electrode and a sustain electrode are spaced apart from each other by a long distance, in order to increase a discharge area.
However, where the distance between the scan electrode and the sustain electrode is long, there may be problems of an increase in discharge initiation voltage and unstable discharge. Furthermore, self erase may occur during a sustain discharge operation.

Plasma display panel and method for manufacturing the same


Getter multilayer structures are disclosed, embodiments of which include at least a layer of a non-evaporable getter alloy having a low activation temperature over a layer of a different non-evaporable getter material having high specific surface area, both preferably obtained by cathodic deposition. The multilayer NEG structures exhibit better gas sorbing characteristics and lower activation temperature lower than those of deposits made up of a single material. A process for manufacturing such structures includes depositing a first, high surface area NEG film on a support, and then depositing a thin over layer of low activation NEG film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to getter materials, and more particularly to multilayer deposits including an over layer of low activation temperature getter alloy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Non-evaporable getter materials, also known in the art as NEG materials, include transition metals such as Zr, Ti, Nb, Ta, V, and alloys or compounds thereof with one or more elements selected from Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Al ,Y, La and other rare earth elements. Such alloys include binary alloys such as Ti—V, Zr—Al, Zr—V, Zr—Fe and Zr—Ni, ternary alloys such as Zr—V—Fe and Zr—Co-rare earth elements, and other multi-component alloys. They can also include metal compounds (e.g. metal oxides), non-metal, organics, etc. NEG materials are scavengers, removing selected species, typically gaseous, depending upon their composition and operating conditions.
NEG materials are, for example, capable of reversibly sorbing hydrogen and irreversibly sorbing gases such as oxygen, water, carbon oxides and, in some cases, nitrogen. These materials are used for maintaining vacuum, as in, for example, evacuated interspaces for thermal insulation. Getter materials are also used to remove the above-mentioned species from inert gases, primarily noble gases and nitrogen, for example in gas-filled lamps or in the manufacture of ultrapure gases such as used in the microelectronics industry.
NEG materials can be employed in various forms, such as, for example, sintered pills or powders of the material within suitable containers. In some applications, for reasons of available space or for simplicity of construction, NEG materials are provided in the form of thin layers, generally tens or hundreds of microns (μm) in thickness, on an inner surface of an apparatus. Examples of uses of thin layers of NEG material are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,659, which describes Field Emission Displays (known in the art as FEDs), wherein discrete and thin deposits of NEG material are formed among electron-emitting cathodes on the anodic plate of a display. U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,043 describes coating of the inner surface of pipes defining the chamber of a particle accelerator with a NEG layer. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,701,008 and 6,499,354 describe, respectively, the use of getter materials in micromechanical devices and in miniaturized IR radiation detectors. Micromechanical or microoptoelectronic devices are known in the art as "micromachines" or MEMs (microelectromechanics). In all of these applications, the NEG deposit (after activation) is employed at room temperature.
The functioning of NEG materials is based on reaction between the NEG metal atoms and the above-mentioned gaseous species. As a result of such reaction, oxide, nitride and/or carbide species are formed on the NEG surface at room temperature, resulting eventually in the formation of a passivating layer that prevents further gas sorbing. This passivating layer can form rapidly in the presence of large amounts of gas, for example at the first exposure to the atmosphere of the freshly produced NEG material, or during certain "dirty" manufacturing steps of the devices in which the material is contained. The layer forms, although more slowly, over time as a result of the normal functioning of the NEG in sorbing gaseous species.
At the beginning of its operating life, a NEG typically undergoes a thermal activation treatment, normally under vacuum, whose object is the migration of passivating layer species towards the inside of the material structure, thereby exposing a fresh and active metallic surface for gas sorption. The activation may be complete, providing, for example, a material surface essentially entirely made up of metal, or partial, providing, for example, a "mixed" surface, made up of areas of oxide-type species (or the like) and metallic areas. An activation degree can be defined, corresponding to the fraction of "free" surface sites, i.e. metals in the elemental state and consequently available for reaction with gases. In some cases, the activation treatment can be periodically repeated during a device's operating life, in a process called reactivation, to restore the initial NEG gas sorbing properties.
In theory, complete activation of an NEG would generally be desirable, but it can be unfeasible in the manufacture of certain devices, due to restrictions on manufacturing times and/or heat sensitivity of the particular device. Accordingly, partial activation is used for such devices, even though this results in lower gas sorbing properties and shorter NEG operating life.
The level of activation is dependent on process temperature and time; for example, an activation degree of 70% of a given material can be reached by treatment for 30 minutes at 350° C. or for 10 hours at 250° C., with the effect of temperature being greater than that of time. The conditions of activation also vary according to the physicochemical characteristics of the given material. For some materials, complete activation can require very high temperatures. For example, complete activation of an 84:16 Zr:Al alloy requires temperatures of at least 700° C. and preferably about 900° C., unless extremely long times, typically unacceptable in industrial production, are used. Other alloys, such as some ternary Zr—V—Fe alloys, require much lower activation temperatures and can be completely activated at about 350° C. in about one hour. As used herein, a "low activation temperature" material refers to a material (metal, intermetallic compound or alloy) which can be activated to a high degree (e.g. about at least 90%) by a treatment of one hour at a maximum required temperature of 300° C.
NEG deposits made up of a single metal (and particularly those of titanium, which are the most commonly used) can be easily manufactured by sputtering with open or porous morphology, which increases the effective surface area and consequently the initial gas sorption rate. For an effective activation (or reactivation), however, pure metals require comparatively high temperatures, generally higher than 450° C. In miniaturized devices such as FEDs or MEMs, wherein the NEG material is quite close to functional or structural parts of the device, the activation treatment can damage these parts. For example, in the case of FEDs, in which the NEG is generally placed at the peripheric region, heating at 400° C. can compromise the tightness of sealing between the two glass parts forming the display, which are made up of a low-melting glass paste. Similarly, exposure to these temperatures can compromise sealings between silicon components of MEMs, which are often composed of brazing alloys such as silver-based alloys or gold-tin or gold-indium alloys.
Certain NEG intermetallic compounds or alloys have low activation temperatures, for example about 300° C. or lower. However, the present inventors have determined that these materials, when deposited by sputtering, give rise to thin layers having extremely compact morphology and consequently a very reduced effective surface area, generally equivalent to only a few times the deposit geometrical area. This characteristic limits considerably the deposit sorbing properties at room temperature, particularly its initial sorption rate and its capacity. Such materials would require frequent reactivation, which may be impractical or impossible in certain applications.
Accordingly, currently known NEG deposits obtained by sputtering either have poor sorbing characteristics at room temperature (in particular, a low sorption rate) or require high activation temperatures incompatible with some applications, particularly in miniaturized devices. It would therefore be desirable to provide NEG materials which are characterized by low activation temperature and a large surface area.

Multilayer getter structures and methods for making same


An adjustable article has an area of overlapping fabric with facing surfaces and a zipper on one of the surfaces. A zipper slider with fastener moves along two rows of teeth of the zipper to cause them to be separated in one direction and interdigitate in an opposite direction. A connector at the other surface and at one end of a distance of a dimension to be adjusted is engaged to the fastener so that a degree of overlap of the overlapping fabric surfaces changes as the slider moves along the rows of teeth to change the dimension.

The present invention relates generally to the field of clothing, and in particular to a new and useful clothing adjusting zipper arrangement that is used to adjust at least one dimension of a cloth or fabric item, for example, the size of a garment.
Zippers have long been used as closures for cloth and fabric items, including garments, apparel, upholstery and furniture coverings, camping gear like tents, sleeping bags or other shelters, textiles and sporting goods. For ease of reference, all such cloth or fabric items are here referred to generally as clothing items.
Zippers include a pair of tapes, often but not always of cloth, that are attached, for example by sewing, to opposite edges of a closure. Two chains or rows of teeth on facing edges of the tapes are capable of meshing with each other by being caused to interdigitate as a zipper slider that embraces both rows past the teeth. A zipper pull is attached to the slider to be held by a person opening or closing the zipper.


Communication networks and methods are disclosed for providing a message restriction process used to control the transmission of Diameter messages. The communication network includes a Diameter server operable to serve a plurality of Diameter clients. The Diameter server detects a triggering event for initiating the message restriction process, such as detecting an overload condition. The Diameter server then generates control information that defines the Diameter messages that the Diameter clients are authorized to transmit during the message restriction process. The Diameter server generates a message restriction instruction that includes the control information, and transmits the message restriction instruction to one or more of the Diameter clients to initiate the message restriction process based on the control information.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of communication networks, and in particular, to implementing a message restriction process to control the transmission of messages from Diameter clients to Diameter servers.
2. Statement of the Problem
The Diameter protocol is defined by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) as a base protocol intended to provide an Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) framework for applications such as network access or IP mobility. The Diameter protocol has been used in 3GPP IMS standards for authentication, accounting, and policy management. A message in Diameter protocol includes, among other things, a version field, a message length field, a command flag field, a command code field, an application identifier field, and a plurality of Attribute Value Pairs (AVPs). There are a variety of AVPs that are defined by the IETF to provide a variety of functions.
In its most generalized form, a communication network implementing the Diameter protocol includes one or more Diameter clients that are being served by a Diameter server. A Diameter server receives Diameter Request messages from the Diameter clients, and responds to the clients with Diameter Response messages. For example, in an IMS network, a Diameter server may be represented by an Application Server (AS), a Policy Decision Function (PDF), a Resource Admission Control Subsystem (RACS), a AAA server, a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), a Charging Collector Function (CCF), a Charging Data Function (CDF), an Online Charging System (OCS), etc. A Diameter server could be one element, or multiple elements (a cluster). Any IMS network elements in an IMS network or other legacy or 2G networks may be Diameter clients which interface with the Diameter servers via Diameter protocol. A Diameter client may also be represented by a Diameter router implemented between IMS network elements and the Diameter servers.
The Diameter traffic flows in a communication network need to be controlled and balanced to guarantee system performance and reliability, including network element availability and geographical redundancy. Because a typical communication network includes a large number of Diameter servers and Diameter clients, it is presently a problem for the communication network to balance the load and traffic among the servers and clients. One traditional solution is to place load balance switches (LBS) in the communication network. The load balance switches monitor the traffic and load among all the Diameter servers, and attempt to distribute the traffic evenly among the servers. Unfortunately, the load balance switches can only distribute the traffic, but if the traffic volume is high, the Diameter servers may still get overloaded.
An overload condition in a Diameter server can cause significant problems in a communication network. When a Diameter client transmits a Diameter Request message to a Diameter server, the client sets a time interval during which the client expects to receive a Response message from the server. If the Diameter server is overloaded, then the server either will not respond to the Request message or will have a delayed response to the client. If the Diameter client does not receive a Response message within the time interval, then the Diameter client initiates a retry of the Request message. This process continues until the maximum number of retries in the client is reached. The process of having the client retry transmission of messages to the Diameter server can exacerbate the overload condition of the server by bombarding the server with even more messages.

Message restriction for diameter servers


The compositions and methods disclosed herein provide heterobifunctional programmable genotoxic compounds that can be designed to kill selected cells present in a heterogenous cell population. The present compounds comprise a first agent that inflicts damage on cellular DNA, and a second agent that attracts a macromolecular cell component such as a protein, which in turn shields genomic lesions from repair. Unrepaired lesions therefore persist in the cellular genome and contribute to the death of selected cells. In contrast, lesions formed in nonselected cells, which lack the cell component, are unshielded and thus are repaired. As a result, compounds described herein are less toxic to nonselected cells. Compounds of this invention can be designed to cause the selective killing of transformed cells, viral-infected cells and the like.

Frequently, a need arises in biological investigations and clinical or veterinary practice for selectively killing a subpopulation of cells in a heterogenous cell population. For example, to attain a strain or culture of cells having desirable characteristics, available in vitro techniques can be applied for selectively killing a subpopulation of cells in a heterogenous cell population that comprises cells that possess a desired characteristic. In this manner, cells that have undesirable characteristics can be eliminated from the population. Hybridoma cell lines producing desired monoclonal antibodies and stable genetic transfectant cell lines expressing the products of heterologous cloned genes are customarily established in this manner. See generally, Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (2d ed. 1989). A mixed population of cells comprising the desired hybridoma or transfectant is maintained in culture for a period of time in the presence of one or more genotoxic drugs, such as aminopterin or methotrexate. The desired cells are resistant to the genotoxic effects of the drug employed. In contrast, other cells in the population are susceptible to the drug and fail to survive. These techniques rest on the creation of cells having a defined phenotype that confers resistance to a particular, preselected genotoxic drug. Thus, although significant advances in biology and biotechnology have been achieved through the use of these techniques, limits remain to their flexibility.
Another general context in which practitioners desire to kill cells selectively involves heterogenous cell populations comprising cells of two or more phylogenetically different species of organisms. Here, it may be desirable to destroy selectively the cells of one species while preserving viability of another. In this manner, a desired species can be enriched in the population or an offensive species, such as an infectious agent, can be removed. Here again, the desired objective is often accomplished by treating the cell population with a drug, such as an antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal or antiparasitic drug, to which the undesired species is susceptible. Cells of the undesired species succumb to the effects of the drug and die. Conversely, the desired species (e.g., a human or other host animal) must have the capacity to resist the chosen drug. Although a wide choice of drugs useful for such purposes has historically been available, recent reports have documented the appearance of drug resistance in undesirable species. For example, resistant strains of the organisms responsible for septic wound infections, hospital-acquired infections, tuberculosis, malaria, dysentery and a host of other contagious diseases have arisen in recent years. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Part 5 Infectious Diseases, Ch. 78, 79, and 83-88 (12th ed. 1991). The emergence of such strains greatly complicates the treatment of infection, and limits choices available to the practitioner.
The need to manage or alleviate cancer provides yet another general setting in which practitioners require means for selectively killing cells in a heterogenous cell population. Here, the population comprises normal and neoplastic (malignant or transformed) cells in an individual's tissues. Cancer arises when a normal cell undergoes neoplastic transformation and becomes a malignant cell. Transformed (malignant) cells escape normal physiologic controls specifying cell phenotype and restraining cell proliferation. Transformed cells in an individual's body thus proliferate, forming a tumor (also referred to as a neoplasm). When a neoplasm is found, the clinical objective is to destroy malignant cells selectively while mitigating any harm caused to normal cells in the individual undergoing treatment. Currently, three major genotoxic approaches are followed for the clinical management of cancer in humans and other animals. Surgical resection of solid tumors, malignant nodules and or entire organs may be appropriate for certain types of neoplasia. For other types, e.g., those manifested as soluble (ascites) tumors, hematopoeitic malignancies such as leukemia, or where metastasis of a primary tumor to another site in the body is suspected, radiation or chemotherapy may be appropriate. Either of these techniques is also commonly used as an adjunct to surgery. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Part 11 Hematology and Oncology, Ch. 296, 297 and 300-308 (12th ed. 1989).
Chemotherapy is based on the use of drugs that are selectively toxic to cancer cells. Id. at Ch. 301. Several general classes of chemotherapeutic drugs have been developed, including drugs that interfere with nucleic acid synthesis, protein synthesis, and other vital metabolic processes. These are generally referred to as antimetabolite drugs. Treatment regimes typically attempt to ensure inactivation of a particular pathway in cancer cell metabolism by coadministering two or more suitable antimetabolite drugs. Other classes of chemotherapeutic drugs inflict damage on cellular DNA. Drugs of these classes are generally referred to as genotoxic. The repair of damage to cellular DNA is an important biological process carried out by a cell's enzymatic DNA repair machinery. Unrepaired lesions in a cell's genome can impede DNA replication or impair the replication fidelity of newly synthesized DNA. Thus, genotoxic drugs are generally considered more toxic to actively dividing cells that engage in DNA synthesis than to quiescent, nondividing cells. In many body tissues, normal cells are quiescent and divide infrequently. Thus, greater time between rounds of cell division is afforded for the repair of damage to cellular DNA in normal cells. In this manner, practitioners can achieve some selectivity for the killing of cancer cells. Many treatment regimes reflect attempts to improve selectivity for cancer cells by coadministering chemotherapeutic drugs belonging to two or more of these general classes.
In some tissues, however, normal cells divide continuously. Thus, skin, hair follicles, buccal mucosa and other tissues of the gut lining, sperm and blood-forming tissues of the bone marrow remain vulnerable to the action of genotoxic drugs. These and other classes of chemotherapeutic drugs can also cause severe adverse side effects in drug-sensitive organs, such as the liver and kidneys. These and other adverse side effects seriously constrain the dosage levels and lengths of treatment regimens that can be prescribed for individuals in need of cancer chemotherapy. Id. at Ch. 301. See also Loehrer and Einhorn (1984), 100 Ann. Int. Med. 704-714 and Jones et al. (1985), 52 Lab. Invest. 363-374. Such constraints can prejudice the effectiveness of clinical treatment. For example, the drug or drug combination administered must contact and affect cancer cells at times appropriate to impair cell survival. Genotoxic drugs are most effective for killing cancer cells that are actively dividing when chemotherapeutic treatment is applied. Conversely, such drugs are relatively ineffective for the treatment of slow growing neoplasms. Carcinoma cells of the breast, lung and colorectal tissues, for example, typically double as slowly as once every 100 days. Id. at Table 301-1. Such slowly growing neoplasms present difficult chemotherapeutic targets.
Moreover, as with the emergence of resistant strains of pathogenic organisms, transformed cells can undergo further phenotypic changes that increase their resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Cancer cells can acquire resistance to genotoxic drugs through diminished uptake or other changes in drug metabolism, such as those that occur upon drug-induced gene amplification or expression of a cellular gene for multiple drug resistance (MDR). Id. at Ch. 301. Resistance to genotoxic drugs can also be acquired by activation or enhanced expression of enzymes in the cancer cell's enzymatic DNA repair machinery. Therapies that employ combinations of drugs, or drugs and radiation, attempt to overcome these limitations. The pharmacokinetic profile of each chemotherapeutic drug in such a combinatorial regime, however, will differ. In particular, permeability of neoplastic tissue for each drug will be different. Thus, it can be difficult to achieve genotoxically effective concentrations of multiple chemotherapeutic drugs in target tissues.
Needs remain for drugs that can selectively destroy cells in a heterogenous cell population. Particular needs remain for drugs, including genotoxic drugs, that can selectively destroy cells of a pathogenic or undesired organism while preserving relatively unimpaired the viability of cells of a host or desired organism. Still more poignant needs remain for chemotherapeutic drugs, including genotoxic drugs, that can selectively destroy neoplastic or virally infected cells yet not significantly impair the viability of normal healthy cells in the body of an individual afflicted with cancer or a viral disease.

Programmable genotoxic agents and uses therefor


An improved scheduling mechanism usable for a data transmission in a packet based network is provided. A plurality of connections is detected, and for each of the connections, a buffer occupancy level is determined. Then, the connections having a smaller buffer occupancy level are prioritized in comparison to the other connections, and packets of the plurality of connections are scheduled on the basis of the result of the prioritizing. The scheduling mechanism is implemented in a network element of the packet based network or in a sender and receiver.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method of transmitting data in a packet based network, and/or to a device for controlling a transmission of data in a packet based network, and/or to a communication network system using a corresponding device, and or to a corresponding computer program product. The following specification is in particular directed to a queuing/scheduling mechanism used in a transmission of packets of data for optimizing transmission performance in communication networks.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
In the last years, an increasingly extension of data transmission networks, such as the Internet, and communication networks, such as wire based communication networks like the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), or wireless communication networks like cdma2000 (code division multiple access) system, Universal. Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the General Packet Radio System (GPRS), or other wireless communication system, such as the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), took place all over the world. Various organizations, for example the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the like, are working on standards for telecommunication network and multiple access environments.
In general, the system structure of such a network is on a client/server basis. In case of a communication network, a subscriber's user equipment, such as a mobile station, a mobile phone, a fixed phone, a personal computer (PC), a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or the like, is connected via respective transceivers and interfaces, such as an air interface, a wired interface or the like, to an access network subsystem. The access network subsystem controls the communication connection to and from the user equipment and is connected via an interface to a corresponding core or backbone network subsystem. The core (or backbone) network subsystem switches the data transmitted via the communication connection to a destination, such as another user equipment, a service provider (server/proxy), or another communication network. It is to be noted that the core network subsystem may be connected to a plurality of access network subsystems. Depending on the used communication network, the actual network structure may vary, as known for those skilled in the art and defined in respective specifications, for example, for UMTS, GSM, WLAN and the like. Generally, for properly establishing and handling a connection between network elements such as the user equipment and another user terminal, a database, a server, etc., one or more intermediate network elements such as support nodes or service nodes are involved.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is a network protocol used on, for example, LANs, WANs and the Internet. With the increasing amount of packet services on wireless systems, the use of TCP on a wireless system increases and in the near future it is believed that a considerable amount of the traffic on a wireless system is based on TCP. Currently a major part of all Internet traffic is based on TCP/IP. In TCP, data is split into what the protocol considers the optimum size chunks to transmit. The chunks are denominated segments and their size must not exceed a maximum constant value (Maximum Segment Size or MSS).
TCP is an end-to-end protocol. Generally, TCP has no advance knowledge of the network characteristics. Thus, it is adapted to adjust the transmission behavior according to the present network conditions. One important feature is the so-called congestion control. Congestion can occur, for example, when data arrives at a network node on a big pipe (fast link) and is to be sent out on a smaller pipe (slower link). Congestion may also occur when multiple input streams arrive at a router or the like whose output capacity is smaller than the total amount of the inputs. In such a case, the incoming data are buffered, for example, in a buffer means of the router or of another network element.
Whenever a segment is transmitted by a server it has to reach a client which acknowledges the transmitted segment. The elapsed time when the server transmits the segment until it receives the corresponding acknowledgment is commonly known as Round Trip Time (RTT). This is shown in FIG. 6 for a segment or packet 1 transmitted from the server to the client and an acknowledgment ACK 1 transmitted from the client to the server. The TCP server holds a variable used to calculate an estimation of a maximum allowed RTT. This variable is called Retransmission Time-Out (RTO). Moreover, the server has a timer that counts the elapsed time since the segment was transmitted. If the corresponding acknowledgment does not arrive at the server before the timer reaches the value of the RTO estimator, the server considers that congestion has occurred in the network and starts congestion avoidance actions.
TCP tries to adapt the transmission rate to the load and capacity of the links of the network. This is done by several mechanisms, like slow start, retransmission timeout, fast retransmission, etc. (see, for example, IETF RFC 2001, "TCP Slow Start, Congestion Avoidance, Fast Retransmit, and Fast Recovery Algorithms", by W. Stevens, January 1997). Fast retransmission and retransmission timeout cause retransmission of TCP/IP packets, when they are lost or delayed more than a dynamic timer RTO. Slow start starts the data transmission slowly and increases the window size gradually in order to adjust the size of the sending window to match the current ability of the network to deliver segments (or packets). Slow start is generally used at the start of a connection, at the expiry of the retransmission timer, and/or after a long passive TCP phase.
In the following, TCP performance in cellular networks is contemplated. As mentioned above, TCP is a transport layer protocol that uses rate of arrival of ACKs to gradually utilize network capacity. In addition, TCP starts with a very low throughput during its slow-start period, which occurs at the start of the connections and sometimes, during the connection. In cellular networks, due to low bandwidth and high bit error rates on the radio interface, the rate at which ACKs are received is extremely slow. This means that a TCP sender will require a long time to reach a reasonable throughput during the slow-start period.
One typical implantation for networks using TCP is to use a so-called first-in first-out (FIFO) algorithm for transmitting TCP data and ACK packets in the network. In cellular networks, due to the low link data rate, the network queues may become large. In such cases, the network behavior caused by the FIFO processing may excessively delay the transmission of the ACK so that a TCP sender is prevented from reaching a sufficient throughput in a reasonable time.
As described above, TCP slow start may occur at the start of the connection and whenever there is a timer timeout. The goal of slow start is to start with a small data rate to make sure that the network can accommodate at least a very little amount of data. This is done in order to avoid network congestion. TCP then relies on the rate of arrival of ACKs to gradually increase its data rate until it reaches a reasonable throughput.
In cellular networks, however, due to small bandwidth and high bit error rate, often the round trip time (RTT) of the connection is large. This means that the rate at which ACKs are received is very slow since after sending a window of data the sending side needs to wait one RTT until it receives any acknowledgement. Due to this, the TCP sender may waste a long time in slow-start mode before it can reach a reasonable throughput. This may be experienced by a user as degraded service experience. It is to be noted that in the network all packets of a connection received by a network node which has to forward the data arrived via the connection are queued in (or enqueued) with all packets/data received from other connections arriving at this network node. This means that the RTT during slow start has a strong component of the queuing delay coming from other connections.
There have been made several attempts for solving the problem of accelerating the data transmission rate of connections. In general, either the intention has been to increase the data rate at the start of the connection or to reduce the RTT of a connection.
With regard to the slow start condition of a connection, in order to reduce the time taken by the slow start on long delay paths, it is tried, for example, to change the window increase algorithm of TCP. One example for this is to use a larger window than one packet at the beginning of slow start, wherein an initial window of maximum 4 packets has been proposed. Another example is defined as packet spacing, e.g. Rate Based Spacing, where the source transmits directly at a large window without overloading the network. A further approach on the network side is to establish many parallel TCP connections for the same transfer, which however is problematic when only a limited transfer capacity is available, and which also increases the overall load of the network.
There has been proposed a scheduling/queuing algorithm called Queue Length based Weighted Fair Queuing (QLWFQ) Algorithm. Generally, by means of a weighted fair queuing algorithm, data to be transmitted by one network node and coming from different sources are priorized in order to ensure that each connection is treated in a fair way, i.e. that data of each connection are transmitted in a reasonable time period. In case of the QLWFQ, the packets are scheduled (allocated to a priority) so that the longest queue gets a higher priority. However, the weighted fair queuing is generally independent of connection level information so that changes in a TCP connection are not considered.

Expedited data transmission in packet based network


A method and apparatus for processing video information for a vehicle. A number of prior images is selected from images generated by the vehicle. An object is seen in the number of prior images. A model of the vehicle is displayed in the number of prior images in a current position of the vehicle and with a size that is based on the current position of the vehicle relative to the object in the number of prior images.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to vehicles and, in particular, to operating vehicles. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for providing navigation information to operate an unmanned vehicle.
2. Background
Unmanned vehicles are used for a number of different functions. Remote sensing is one use for unmanned vehicles. For example, unmanned aerial vehicles may be used to perform geophysical surveys, surveillance, generate images of terrain for maps, generate images of objects, track movement of objects, monitor fires, carry and deliver payloads, and other suitable functions.
Some unmanned vehicles may follow preset paths or fly within predefined areas without the need for input from a human operator. Other unmanned aerial vehicles are operated by a human operator located at a remote location to perform these different functions.
In one method of controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle, the human operator sees images sent back by the unmanned aerial vehicle for use in operating the unmanned aerial vehicle. These images typically take the form of video data streams that provide the operator with a point of view from the unmanned aerial vehicle. Additionally, the operator also may rely on a global positioning system receiver, a star tracker, an inertial navigation system (INS), or other systems on the unmanned aerial vehicle to provide a location of the unmanned aerial vehicle.
Flying an unmanned aerial vehicle may be challenging in some environments. For example, inclement weather, other aircraft, and/or terrain at lower altitudes may make flying an unmanned aerial vehicle more challenging as compared to an open airspace that has no obstacles.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as other possible issues.

Time phased imagery for an artificial point of view


A coating system comprising an epoxy resin prepolymer, a hardener, wherein the hardener comprises a polyamide, and at least three pounds per gallon copper/nickel alloy particles. The coating system is prepared by mixing the components, spraying a thin film onto a surface, and allowing that film to cure. The coating is suitable for use as a marine anti-foulant coating and for other non-marine exterior surfaces.

Copper, copper complexes, and copper/nickel alloys are known to have marine anti-foulant properties. In particular, bottom paints for boat hulls have been developed that include copper complexes in a semi-water permeable paint. The copper complexes leach out of the paint into the surrounding water layer during use. While effective at inhibiting marine bio-fouling, these paints also are a source of undesirable toxic contamination for surrounding waters.
Copper/nickel alloy boat hulls have also been constructed on an experimental basis, and have been found to be effective in prohibiting fouling. However, such hulls are prohibitively expensive to produce.
Improved bottom-paint coatings have been developed and tested in recent years that include copper/nickel alloy particles suspended in a two-part epoxy resin mixture. These copper/nickel-epoxy mixtures have been found effective as potentially inhibiting marine bio-fouling, and also serve as a corrosion inhibitor and mechanical protective coating. However, such coatings have utilized epoxy systems that include an epoxy resin prepolymer and a polyamine hardener, i.e., crosslinking agent, to cure the prepolymer. These polyamine-based epoxy-copper/nickel coating systems have not met with large commercial success because of difficulties in handling the resin. Epoxies generally exhibit exothermic cure cycles, and thus cure most rapidly in large quantities due to the increased thermal mass.
As a practical effect, the "pot-life" of conventional polyamine-based epoxy coatings has been found to be unsatisfactorily short. As used herein, "pot-life" refers to the duration of time during which the mixed resin (i.e., mixed resin prepolymer and hardener) remains workable, having a satisfactory viscosity for spray application. The mixed resin tends to rapidly increase in viscosity and may cure while still within the mixing container before application is complete. When the resin is dispersed by spraying, the resin may cure within the spray gun, resulting in the loss of expensive equipment. A further drawback of polyamine-based systems is that once the liquid resin has been applied as a film, curing of the resin film proceeds at a much slower pace. This is due to the decreased thermal mass of the sprayed film and conductive and convective heat losses. Because of the slow cure in the thin film stage, the thickness of film that can be applied is limited. Film substantially thicker than 10 mils tend to sag or sheet while still liquid during cure, resulting in an inconsistent final coating thickness.

Copper/nickel epoxy coating and application process as antifouling agent


A system and method for mixing a first grade of fuel with a second grade of fuel to create a third, intermediate grade of fuel includes a blend valve and a novel shut-off system for stopping fuel from flowing from the blend valve to a dispensing meter when either the first grade of fuel of the second grade of fuel is not being supplied to the blend valve.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fuel dispensing systems of the type which are commonly deployed at automobile service stations. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved system for mixing a first grade of fuel with a second grade of fuel to create a third, intermediate grade of fuel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Service stations and other retailers of fuel for automotive vehicles find themselves in an increasingly competitive market. Consumers, when deciding where to purchase such fuel, take selection, pricing and other factors into account.
Most of the service stations which are constructed today have three underground tanks for storing gasoline. The tanks, respectively, are most often used to store low octane, high octane and intermediate grade octane grades of gasoline. As more modern stations are built, consumers are becoming used to selecting from between three grades.
However, many older service stations are provided with only two below ground tanks for storing gasoline. In addition, many of the service stations which are have three below ground tanks would prefer to use the third tank for storing another type of fuel, such as diesel fuel or gasohol, rather than to store a third grade of gasoline. It is difficult for such stations to provide consumers with the expected selection of fuels that they have come to expect.
Installing an additional tank for storing fuel is an expensive proposition. In many instances, there are other factors such as zoning regulations and insurance considerations which preclude the installation of an additional tank.
One major retailer of gasoline has successfully implemented a system which blends a high octane grade of gasoline with a low octane grade to present a selection of several different intermediate grades. This system, however, is rather sophisticated and expensive, and would require replacement of much of the pumping and metering equipment to be installed at an existing service station.
It would seem that a simple, inexpensive way to provide an intermediate grade of gasoline would be to mix a regular grade with a premium grade by using a blend valve. However, most state regulatory agencies would not permit such an arrangement, since it might result in regular gasoline being sold at the price of intermediate grade gasoline, in the event that the premium grade gasoline stops being supplied to the blend valve. This could occur when the tank which holds the premium grade gasoline becomes empty, or in the event of a pump malfunction.
It is clear that there has existed a long and unfilled need in the prior art for a simple, inexpensive system and method for providing an intermediate grade gasoline which can readily be installed in an existing service station, and which will ensure that any fuel dispensed as intermediate is in fact a mixture of higher and lower octane grades.

Ensign Petroleum Equipment Company, Inc.


In order to efficiently process image data in a circuit dividing single image data into a plurality of data and processing the data with a plurality of MPUs in parallel with each other, the MPUs process image data input through an input image data in parallel with each other. An address bus inputs addresses of the image data, and address memories provided on the MPUs store the addresses of the image data processed by the MPUs respectively. When the image data are completely processed, the image data are output through an output image bus while the addresses of the image data are output through the address bus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processor, and more particularly, it relates to an image processor comprising a plurality of processors processing input image data in parallel and outputting the processed image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 23A and 23B are block diagrams showing the structure of an image processor provided on a conventional digital copying machine. Referring to FIG. 23A, the image processor is formed by a CCD 901, an A-D conversion part 903, a shading correction and LOG conversion part 905, a variable power part 907, an MTF correction part 909, a γ correction part 911 and a binarization processing part 913.
The A-D conversion part 903 converts image data subjected to optical/electrical conversion by the CCD 901 to digital data. Thereafter the image data is sequentially subjected to image processing and then output to a printer or the like. The blocks 905 to 913 for the image processing perform synchronous pipeline processing to operate with the same clock.
FIG. 23B is a block diagram showing the structure of an image processor performing image processing with an MPU 917. This image processor employs the MPU 917 in place of the image processing blocks 905 to 913 shown in FIG. 23A. Such a device is capable of rewriting an image processing program at any time and hence has a high degree of freedom, although the same is inferior to the device employing synchronous pipeline processing in consideration of the operating speed. The processing time for each pixel varies with the load of processing due to asynchronous processing with the MPU 917. Therefore, this device requires an input memory 915 and an output memory 919 for the MPU 917, for the purpose of synchronization with an input unit and an output unit.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-177961 (1991) discloses a multiprocessor control unit, which processes image data for one frame in block units with a plurality of MPUs of a parallel structure.
FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing the structure of such a multiprocessor control unit. The multiprocessor control unit is formed by a data flow control part 952, a feedback frame memory 951, a status register 953, MPU1 to MPU4, a feedback bus, an output image bus and an input image bus.
The data flow control part 952 monitors values of the status register 953 storing processing states of the MPU1 to MPU4 and busy conditions of the buses. The data flow control part 952 instructs each MPU to operate. In other words, the data flow control part 952 allocates a new block of image data to an MPU terminating processing. A free MPU sequentially processes image data sequentially input in a serial manner, so that the image data are output at random regardless of the input sequence.
When requiring a result of processing of a preceding frame, each MPU captures feedback data of a required area from the feedback frame memory 951 through the feedback bus.
In the device shown in FIG. 24 processing and outputting subsequent input data from the MPU terminating processing through the data flow control part 952, the MPU has no idling standby time. In this device outputting image data regardless of the sequence of input data, however, the output data must be rearranged.
In order to eliminate the necessity for such rearrangement of the output data, the data output timings of the MPUs may be adjusted. Such a method is now described.
FIG. 25 shows a state of image data of one frame divided into 4 by 6 (=24) blocks. In this case, the MPU1 to MPU4 process the blocks of columns L1 to L4 respectively. Referring to FIG. 26, data of blocks D00, D01, D02 and D03 are input in the multiprocessor control unit at a time T1, so that the MPU1 to MPU4 process the data of the blocks D00 to D03 respectively. At a time t2 when the MPU (MPU3 in FIG. 26) having the lowest processing speed terminates the processing, processed data Q00 to Q03 are sequentially output. At the same time, data of new blocks D11 to D13 are input at the time t2 and processed by the MPU1 to MPU4 respectively.
Thus, the data can be output along the sequence of the blocks due to such processing, to require no rearrangement.
In the method shown in FIG. 26, however, the MPUs have idling standby times although no rearrangement of the output data is necessary. Thus, the image processing cannot be performed at a high speed.

Image processor processing image data in parallel with a plurality of processors


A method and associated system for efficiently firing mapping and transform rules during a bidirectional synchronization of two or more systems. A processor loads a set of mapping and transform synchronization rules and a set of cross-reference tables. When an event message received from a source system identifies a revision to an element of the source system's data, the processor parses the message to identify the revised source-system data. The processor uses the cross-references to identify synchronization rules that are associated with the revised data element. If any of the identified rules requires an additional source-system data element or an extrinsic data element located at an external source, the processor retrieves those further identified data elements. The processor then looks up the synchronization procedure of the identified rules, packages it into a synchronization message, and sends the message to the target system.

Implementing or deploying a new software, hardware, communications, or other type of electronic system may comprise a transition phase during which one or more legacy systems and one or more new systems are concurrently, simultaneously, or in parallel. A pair of systems may also be run concurrently, simultaneously, or in parallel for other reasons, such as when comparing the accuracy of two or more systems or when measuring relative efficiency of systems that comprise different methods.
It may be necessary in such cases to ensure that the systems are monitored by a synchronization means that may perform functions like resolving differences between a pair of data models that each represent one or more data structures (each of which comprise one or more logical data elements) comprised by one of the systems, resolving inconsistencies between each system's repository of production data, or ensuring that, when fed identical or analogous input, a component of a first system and an analogous component of a second system correctly produce identical, similar, or analogous output.
A synchronization means may comprise a mechanism by which a monitoring entity detects a revision to production data stored by a first system or detects a revision to a data model or other data structure that represents an organization of the production data. This monitoring entity may be a hardware or software component of one of the systems being synchronized or it may be a distinct "intermediary" hardware or software entity.
Such a monitoring entity may respond to a detection of a first revision or set of revisions to a first system by making a second revision or set of revisions to a second system, in order to synchronize an operation, a data model, or an element of production data of the first system with an operation, a data model, or an element of production data of the second system.
In some cases, the monitoring entity may determine how to perform the second revision or set of revisions by referring to instructions described by one or more synchronization rules, wherein each rule describes how to respond to a particular type of revision. In this document, we may refer to an act of performing a set of instructions described by a synchronization rule as an act of "firing" the rule.
A synchronization rule may, for example, instruct the monitoring entity to respond to an update of a data model of a first system by performing an analogous update to a data model of a second system. Another rule may instruct the monitoring entity to respond to a user's entry of data into a database of the first system by updating an analogous database of the second system.
In some cases, a simple "mapping" rule may perform a mapping function that identifies which data elements of the second system correspond to analogous elements of the first system. But in other cases, a more complex "transform" rule may describe a multi-instruction logical procedure, algorithm, or data transformation necessary to perform more nuanced synchronization tasks.
Every time a system component or an element of stored data is added, removed, updated, or otherwise modified, the mechanism must be able to quickly identify the rules needed to respond to the modification. In many cases, the synchronization must be able to operate bidirectionally, in order to both respond to a revision to a first system by resynchronizing the second system; and to respond to a revision to the second system by resynchronizing the first system. In other cases, the synchronization mechanism may need to augment a synchronization procedure by identifying and retrieving additional, unmodified, data items from one of the systems or from external third-party repositories.
In real-world implementations, where such a synchronization mechanism system may comprise very large numbers of rules, the tasks of identifying and performing synchronization procedures may thus be prohibitively resource-intensive and prone to error.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Efficiently firing mapping and transform rules during bidirectional synchronization

International Business Machines Corporation


A source-matching service may gather information from one or more interest resources, then process the information to generate a set of keywords corresponding to an item or type of item in which users of a network-based service may be interested. Optionally, the source-matching service may identify a source to provide an item described by the interest keywords through the network-based service, and offer the source the opportunity to provide the item described by the interest keywords through the network-based service.

Generally described, computing devices and communication networks facilitate network-based commerce. For example, a user may employ his or her computing device to access a network-based service, such as a retail website, for the purchase of items and services (collectively and individually referred to as "items") such as music, books, and electronics, just to name a few. These items may be offered for purchase or "listed" on the network-based service. For example, a user may purchase a listed item directly from the network-based service. A user may also purchase a listed item from another source affiliated with the network-based service.
In some instances, a user may be interested in an item not offered by the network-based service or by any affiliated sources, also called an "unlisted" item. For example, the user may search for the item on the network-based service and its affiliated sources, but fail to find the item. Since the user could not find the item on the network-based service, he or she may seek another provider for the item, costing the network-based service and/or its affiliates a potential sale. In another example, the user may be interested in an item offered by the network-based service, but may deem the price too high or deem shipping to take an unacceptably long time, and may take his or her business elsewhere.
Adding unlisted items and/or unlisted sources to the network-based service may mitigate or prevent these outcomes, while advantageously providing users with more items from which to choose and/or lower prices for items. It may be challenging to determine which items interest users, however. For example, the network-based service may not have any purchase history data to determine which items may interest a user. Additionally, it may be difficult to select a source to provide unlisted items, as many sources may offer unlisted items for sale. The network-based service may bear an unacceptably high risk in offering an item through a new source without knowing which items to offer or without knowing which sources may offer interesting items.


An electric power semiconductor device includes a power module and a heat dissipating member connected to the power module through a heat-conductive insulating resin sheet in which a mold resin part included in the power module has a protruding part in its peripheral part to prevent the heat-conductive insulating resin sheet from expanding in a planar direction. The heat-conductive insulating resin sheet is slightly thicker than the protruding part and has a resin exuding part exuded from a small gap between the protruding part and the heat dissipating member while the power module and the heat dissipating member are heated and pressurized to be bonded.

A heat-conductive resin is interposed in a connecting part between a heat generating part and a heat dissipating member in an electric device or an electronic device in many cases to preferably transfer heat from the heat generating part to the heat dissipating member. The heat-conductive resin is required to have high heat conductivity, insulating properties, and adhesive properties, so that a heat-conductive resin composition in which an inorganic filler is added to a thermosetting resin is used.
As for a power module having a power semiconductor element generating a large amount of heat, a heat-conductive resin layer is provided in a connection part between it and a heat sink serving as the heat dissipating member, in an electric power semiconductor device. As this heat-conductive resin layer, a thermosetting resin or a coated film containing the inorganic filler is used. The heat-conductive resin layer bonds the power module and the heat sink while a metal wiring member mounting the power semiconductor element is partially heated and pressurized only to the extent that the power semiconductor element is not damaged (Patent Document 1).

Electric power semiconductor device and method for producing same


The method of producing bioethanol by sugarcane fermentation is improved by using a polyalkylene glycol with a hydroxyl functionality of greater than 2 as a foam controlling agent.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to foam control. In one aspect, the invention relates to foam control in an aqueous, alcoholic fermentation process while in another aspect, the invention relates to foam control in an aqueous, alcoholic fermentation process using a polyalkylene glycol with high functionality.
2. Description of the Related Art
Foam generation is a major problem in the production of alcohol-based fuels produced through fermentation, e.g., sugarcane bioethanol. Propylene oxide (PO)/ethylene oxide (EO) diols have been used as foam control agents in these applications for many years. These antifoam agents, however, often exhibit low persistency which requires their repeated addition to the fermentation broth to keeping foaming under control. As such, a continuing interest exists for antifoam agents with higher persistency which means, in turn, that they can be used in less frequently thus simplifying the process and, possibly, lowering costs.

Foam control of alcoholic fermentation processes


An improved image sensing module disclosed herein has particular applications in imaging systems, such as image scanners, copy machines and facsimile machines, that optically convert an object to a signal or image before other processes can be proceeded. In one embodiment, the image sensing module employs a control signal circuitry that is integrated in an image sensor. The control signal circuitry receives a predetermined period for the light integration process of the image sensor and produces a sensor control signal that includes a time parameter that ensures that the light integration process lasts exactly for the predetermined time regardless how long an illumination source is kept on.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to imaging systems and more particularly relates to an adaptive timing control of the light integration process of one-dimensional CMOS image sensors used in the imaging systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many applications that need an imaging system to convert an object to an electronic format that can be subsequently analyzed, printed, distributed and archived. The electronic format is generally a black-and-white or color pixel image of the object. A typical example of the imaging system is a scanner and the object is generally a picture or a sheet of paper from an article. Through the scanner, an electronic or digital image of the picture or paper is generated and may be used to design World Wide Web pages.
An imaging system includes a sensing module that converts an object optically into an electronic image. Key components in the sensing module include an illumination source, an optical system and an image sensor. The illumination source provides illumination to the object being imaged. The optical system is used to collect and focus the incident light from the object onto the image sensor. The image sensor comprising a large number of photodetectors produces proportional electronic signals in response to the incident light. To reproduce colors of an object, it is known that at least three primary colors, typically red, green and blue, are needed. Analogously, colored lights such as red, green and blue lights are used in the illumination source of the sensing module. The three colored lights are turned on independently and successively so that the image sensor generates three intensity images, each with reference to one of the three colored lights.
The sensitivity (spectral response) of the image sensor to the colored lights, however, is not uniform. For example, a Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor has a low sensitivity to the blue light but is highly sensitive to the red light. In addition, the luminance intensity of the green light is much stronger than the other two colored lights. Hence equal illumination parameters applied to all three colored lights have rarely considered because that would otherwise result in color biased images.
There have been many efforts to control the illumination parameters. A typical approach is to designate a set of different illumination timing parameters. For example, the illumination time for the blue light is made longer than that for the green light so that the image sensor gets exposed under the blue illumination longer than under the green illumination to produce equally strong intensity signals. Another typical approach is to have a set of different voltages (powers) applied to the three colored lights. For example, a weaker voltage is applied to the green light so as to produce a light to which the image sensor would have the same sensitivity as to the blue light. Besides using the different illumination parameters, some imaging systems further incorporate a compensation circuit or process to neutralize the resultant images due to the uneven sensitivity of the image sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,361 to Suggs and Moayer discloses a combination of first providing a coarse adjustment by varying both the power provided to the lights (emitters) and the duration of the emitters/detector exposure time, and then providing a fine adjustment by storing a correction value for each of the photodetector elements. The method uses essentially a set of well controlled different illumination parameters to compensate the uneven sensitivity of an image sensor.
Having a set of controlled different illumination parameters typically demands a supporting circuitry to produce a number of illumination control signals with different characteristics, each controlling one of the lights. Besides the supporting circuitry could be complicated depending on the lights and other control factors, the set of controlled different illumination parameters often requires the image sensor to work precisely with the lights, which can be difficult under a shared bus environment. The bus, such as a PCI bus in a host computer, is a shared resource (bus) which many components and peripheral devices are coupled to for communications with the host computer. These components and peripheral devices then must arbitrate for the mastership of the bus, which inevitably introduces latency associated with the image data being transmitted over the bus. With the controlled different illumination parameters, the latency can cause the image sensor overexposed due to excessive illumination resulting from the delay of the bus. There is therefore a great need for an approach that results in a simple control of the lights and, more importantly, an adaptive timing control of the light integration process in the image sensor to produce balanced images in any conditions.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above described problems and needs and has particular applications in imaging systems, such as image scanners, copy machines and facsimile machines, that optically convert an object to a signal or image before other processes can be proceeded.
An imaging system includes a sensing module that converts an object optically into an electronic image. Key components in the sensing module include an illumination source, an optical system and an image sensor. According to one aspect of the present invention, the illumination source comprises a high intensity light source that may be a fluorescent light or a light pipe excited by one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and is typically turned on all the time for stabilization of the light for high-speed imaging applications. To avoid the image sensor being overexposed, a sensor control signal traditionally controlling the operation of the image sensor includes additional adjustable timing. parameters that ensure a light integration process in the image sensor is proceeded only for a predefined time regardless how long the image sensor is exposed to the illumination source. This guarantees that images generated are not subject to irregular imaging cycles due to various delays in the imaging system.
In the case of color imaging, the illumination source comprises at least three colored light groups, each preferably having one primary colored lights. According to the invention, a control signals circuitry provides illumination control signals with illumination parameters independent of the sensitivity of the image sensor, each controlling one of the colored light groups. The illumination-parameters may include predetermined exposure time intervals and powers. Each of the predetermined exposure time periods (intervals) controls the exposing time for which a colored light group applied by one of the powers is kept on. Those skilled in the art may appreciate that the use of illumination control signals with predetermined but non-controlled illumination parameters is a radical shift from the prior art systems using controlled illumination parameters to compensate for non-uniform spectral responses of the image sensor. Using predetermined but non-controlled illumination parameters significantly simplifies designs related to the illumination controls.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention uses one sensor control signal to control the operation of the image sensor and particularly each of the light integration processes thereof so as to compensate for non-uniform spectral responses of the image sensor. This is achieved by using a sensor control signal comprising sequential sensing signals, each responsible for one light integration process under one colored light group. Further each of the sensing signals has a dynamically adjustable timing parameter adaptively to the spectral responses of the image sensor under a specified colored illumination so that the respective light integration process is always proceeded for a predefined time.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the timing parameters for the sensing signals in the sensor control signal are determined or obtained by recursively comparing a set of test signals with a reference using adjusted timing parameters in the respective light integration processes. In this way, the commonly seen color biased problems in color imaging are minimized.
There are numerous benefits and advantages of having a sensor control signal to control the light integration process of a sensor and illumination control signals with predetermined pararmeters. Accordingly, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide an approach that results in a simple control of the illumination source and, more importantly, an adaptive timing control of the light integration process in the image sensor to produce balanced images in many irregular conditions.
Other benefits and advantages, together with the foregoing are attained in the exercise of the invention in the following description and resulting in the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Adaptive timing control of light integration process in one-dimensional CMOS image sensors


The present invention provides deleted adenovirus vectors. The inventive adenovirus vectors carry one or more deletions in the IVa2, 100K, polymerase and/or preterminal protein sequences of the adenovirus genome. The adenoviruses may additionally contain other deletions, mutations or other modifications as well. In particular preferred embodiments, the adenovirus genome is multiply deleted, i.e., carries two or more deletions therein. The deleted adenoviruses of the invention are “propagation-defective” in that the virus cannot replicate and produce new virions in the absence of complementing function(s). Preferred adenovirus vectors of the invention carry a heterologous nucleotide sequence encoding a protein or peptide associated with a metabolic disorder, more preferably a protein or peptide associated with a lysosomal or glycogen storage disease, most preferably, a lysosomal acid α-glucosidase. Further provided are methods for producing the inventive deleted adenovirus vectors. Further provided are methods of administering the deleted adenovirus vectors to a cell in vitro or in vivo.

The basis of gene therapy is to deliver a functional gene to tissues where the respective gene activity is missing or defective. Among the approaches to accomplishing gene therapy has been the use of recombinant viral vectors which have been genetically engineered to carry a desired transgene. These viral-based vectors have advantageous characteristics, such as the natural ability to infect the target tissue. However, implementation of existing viral vectors are impeded by several limitations as well.
For example, retrovirus-based vectors must integrate into the genome of the target tissue to allow for transgene expression (with the potential to activate resident oncogenes) while vector titers produced in such systems are significantly less than in some other systems. Because of the requirement for integration into the subject genome, the retrovirus vector can only be used to transduce actively dividing tissues. Further, many retroviruses have limited host tissue specificity and cannot be employed to transduce more than a few specific tissues of the subject.
Adenovirus vectors hold great promise for gene therapy. Adenovirus vectors can transduce multiple types of tissues in vivo, including nondividing, differentiated cells such as those found in liver, kidney, muscle (skeletal and cardiac), respiratory, and nervous system tissues. See, e.g., Askari et al., Gene Ther. 3:381-388 (1996); Barr et al., Gene Ther. 1:51-58 (1994); Engelhardt et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 4:759-769 (1993). Using transcomplementing packaging cell lines, first generation Adenovirus vectors can be grown and concentrated to high titers (>1013), which contributes to their ability to transduce large numbers of target cells after in vivo administration. Ragot, et al., Nature 361:647-50 (1993).
First generation adenovirus vectors also have a comparatively large carrying capacity (i.e., up to about 8.0 kb). The ability of first generation Adenovirus vectors to allow expression of transduced genes episomally for extended periods of time in immune-incompetent and sometimes immune-competent animals without the need for integration into the vector genome (Vincent, et al., Nat Genet 5:130-34 (1993); Tripathy, et al., Nature Medicine 2:545-50 (1996)) allows them to transduce mitotically quiescent cells as well as actively dividing cells. Finally, live Adenovirus preparations have been used for the vaccination of military recruits, and Ad strains 2 and 5 (most commonly used for vector development) are not associated with severe disease.
Despite the advantages discussed above, first generation, E1-deleted adenovirus virus vectors are limited in potential therapeutic use for several reasons. First, due to the size of the E1 deletion and to physical virus packaging constraints, first generation adenovirus vectors are limited to carrying approximately 8.0 kb of transgene genetic material. While this compares favorably with other viral vector systems, it limits the usefulness of the vector where a larger transgene is required. Second, infection of the E1 deleted first generation vector into packaging cell lines leads to the generation of some replication competent adenovirus particles, because only a single recombination event between the E1 sequences resident in the packaging cell line and the adenovirus vector genome can generate a wild-type virus. Therefore, first-generation adenovirus vectors pose a significant threat of contamination of the adenovirus vector stocks with significant quantities of replication competent wild-type virus particles, which may result in toxic side effects if administered to a gene therapy subject.
The most difficult problem with adenovirus vectors is their inability to sustain long-term transgene expression, secondary to immune responses that eliminate virally transduced cells in immune-competent animals. Gilgenkrantz et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 6:1265-1274 (1995); Yang et al., J. Virol. 69:2004-2015 (1995); Yang et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91:4407-4411 (1994); Yang et al., J. Immunol. 155: 2565-2570 (1995). While immune responses have been demonstrated against the transgene-encoded protein product (Tripathy et al., Nat. Med. 2; 545-550 (1996)), it has also been demonstrated that adenovirus vector epitopes are major factors in triggering the host immune response. Gilgenkrantz et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 6:1265-1274 (1995); Yang et al., J. Virol. 70: 7209-7212 (1996). It has been repeatedly demonstrated that transgene such as the bacterial β-galactosidase gene are highly immunogenic when transduced by adenovirus vectors, in contrast to other delivery systems (e.g., direct DNA injection or adeno-associated virus administration), where an immune response against the immunogenic transgene is lacking and transgene expression persists. Wolff et al., Hum. Mol. Genet. 1:363-369 (1992); Xiao et al., J. Virol. 70:8098-8108 (1996).
In addition, E1−1 vectors have also been reported to express the adenovirus early genes, undergo genome replication and express the L1-L5 encoded structural genes when utilized in vivo. E.g., Yang, et al., Immunity 1: 433-442 (1994). Because only a single recombination event is required to produce an entirely replication competent virus from the E-1 deletion, the exaggerated immune response may also be due in some instances to the contaminating presence of wild type adenovirus virus in the vector preparation. E.g., Rich, Hum. Gene. Ther. 4: 461476 (1993). Either (or both) of these phenomena result in the production and presence of viral proteins in the transduced cells, possibly creating a higher antigenic profile than other gene therapy vector systems. The presence of these adenovirus viral gene products may contribute to the short duration of transgene expression in cells infected by first generation adenovirus vectors by accelerating the detection and elimination of adenovirus vector infected cells by the host immune system.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for improved adenovirus vector systems that address the limitations of existing systems.

Deleted adenovirus vectors and methods of making and administering the same