Author: claimsbot

1. A temperature probe for use in fluid-filled transformers, comprising an optical fiber, a temperature sensitive member, and a protective sheath, the optical fiber and the sensitive member being located in the protective sheath, the sheath defining at least one substantially longitudinal slit so as to allow fluid to flow into the sheath.
2. A temperature probe as defined in claim 1, wherein the sheath is tubular.
3. A temperature probe as defined in claim 1, wherein the slit is a single continuous slit.
4. A temperature probe as defined in claim 3, wherein the continuous slit extends substantially a length of the protective sheath.
5. A temperature probe as defined in claim 1, wherein the optical fiber is mounted in the sheath using a bonding material.
6. A temperature probe as defined in claim 5, wherein the optical fiber is mounted with the bonding material at a distance from the sheath.
7. A temperature probe as defined in claim 1, wherein the sensitive member is mounted to the optical fiber.
8. A temperature probe as defined in claim 7, wherein the sensitive member is mounted substantially at a distal end of the optical fiber and at a distance from the sheath.
9. A temperature probe comprising an optical fiber, a temperature sensitive member, and a protective sheath, the optical fiber and the sensitive member being located in the protective sheath.
10. A temperature probe as defined in claim 9, wherein the sensitive member is mounted to the optical fiber within the sheath.
11. A temperature probe as defined in claim 10, wherein the sensitive member is mounted substantially at a distal end of the optical fiber.
12. A temperature probe as defined in claim 10, wherein the sensitive member is spaced from the sheath.
13. A temperature probe as defined in claim 10, wherein the sensitive member is mounted to the optical fiber with an adhesive.
14. A temperature probe as defined in claim 9, wherein the optical fiber is mounted to the sheath using a bonding material and at a distance from the sheath.
15. A temperature probe comprising an optical fiber, a temperature sensitive member, and a protective sheath, the sensitive member being mounted to the optical fiber and the optical fiber being mounted to the protective sheath.
16. A temperature probe as defined in claim 15, wherein the optical fiber is mounted in the sheath using a bonding material.
17. A temperature probe as defined in claim 16, wherein the optical fiber is mounted with the bonding material at a distance from the sheath.
18. A temperature probe as defined in claim 15, wherein the sensitive member is spaced from the sheath.
19. A temperature probe as defined in claim 15, wherein an inside surface of the sheath is treated for better adherence of the bonding material thereto.
20. A temperature probe as defined in claim 19, wherein the inside surface of the sheath is at least one of chemically-etched and mechanically-modified.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. An encoding method for the compression of a video sequence divided in groups of frames decomposed by means of a three-dimensional (3D) wavelet transform leading to a given number of successive resolution levels corresponding to the decomposition levels of said transform, said method being based on a hierarchical subband encoding process leading from the original set of picture elements (pixels) of each group of frames to transform coefficients constituting a hierarchical pyramid, and a spatio-temporal orientation tree \u2014in which the roots are formed with the pixels of the approximation subband resulting from the 3D wavelet transform and the offspring of each of these pixels is formed with the pixels of the higher subbands corresponding to the image volume defined by these root pixels\u2014defining the spatio-temporal relationship inside said hierarchical pyramid, said encoding method comprising the steps of:
(A) preserving the initial subband structure of the 3D wavelet transform by scanning the subbands one after the other in an order that respects the parent-offspring dependencies formed in said spatio-temporal tree;
(B) adding \u201coffon\u201d flags to each coefficient of the spatio-temporal tree in view of a progressive transmission of the most significant bits of the coefficients, these flags being such that at least one of them describes the state of significance of a set of pixels and at least another one describes the state of significance of a single pixel, wherein two flags describe the state of significance of a set of pixels and are, for each coefficient (x,y,z) of said spatio-temporal tree:
FS1 if D(x,y,z) is still insignificant;
FS2 if L(x,y,z) is still insignificant;
where D(x,y,z) is the set of coordinates of all the descendants of the node (x,y,z) and L(x,y,z)=D(x,y,z)\u2212O(x,y,z), with O(x,y,z) is the set of coordinates of the direct offspring of the node (x,y,z), and
two flags describe the state of significance of a single pixel and are:
FP3 if the current pixel is significant;
FP4 if it is not significant or if its significance is to be analyzed.
2. The encoding method according to claim 1, wherein for each bitplane, the tree scanning is spatially oriented, all the temporal resolutions being successively scanned inside each spatial scale and resolution flags being introduced between any two spatial scales.
3. The encoding method according to claim 1, wherein for each bitplane, the tree scanning is temporally oriented, all the spatial resolutions being successively scanned inside each temporal scale and resolution flags being introduced between any two temporal scales.
4. The encoding method according to claim 1, wherein for each bitplane, an intermediate tree scanning is performed, all the temporal and spatial resolutions of the same scale being jointly scanned and resolution flags being introduced between any two spatialtemporal scales.
5. The encoding method according to claim 1, wherein the exploration of the spatio-temporal tree, implemented in said scanning order, includes, after an initialization step where the flag FP4 is put to all the coefficients of the lowest spatio-temporal subband and the flag FS1 to 7 over 8 coefficients of said lowest spatio-temporal subband, and the maximum significance level MSL is calculated, the following steps, carried out from the bitplane n =MSL down to the bitplane n =0 and from the lowest subband resolution down to the highest one:
(a) a first set of tests related to the set significance;
(1) if the flag FS1 is \u201con\u201d, then output Sn (D(x,y,z)):
if Sn (D(x,y,z)) = 1, then:
for each (x\u2032,y\u2032,z\u2032) in O(x,y,z), put flag FP4;
remove flag FS1 from (x,y,z);
if L(x,y,z) not empty, then put flag FS2.
(2) if flag FS2 is \u201con\u201d, then output Sn (L(x,y,z)):
if Sn (L(x,y,z)) = 1, then:
for each (x\u2032,y\u2032,z\u2032) in O(x,y,z), put flag FS1;
remove flag FS2 from (x,y,z).
(b) a second set of tests related to the pixel significance:
(1) if the flag FP3 is \u201con\u201d, then output = the n-th bit of
(x,y,z);
(2) if the flag FP4 is \u201con\u201d, then output Sn (x,y,z):
if Sn(x,y,z) = 1, then:
put flag FP3 \u201con\u201d;
output sign (x,y,z);
and remove flag FP4.
6. The encoding method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of:
partially decoding the bitstream between two resolution flags, leading to a lower resolutionframe rate reconstructed video sequence.
7. The encoding method according to claim 6, wherein the context used for the encoding of each bit related to the set significance in an arithmetic coding module is built using the bits of the same bitplane of the last scanned neighboring wavelet coefficients in the same spatio-temporal subband, these bits being the bits output during the first set of tests related to the set significance.
8. The encoding method according to claim 6, wherein the context used for the encoding of each bit related to the pixel significance in an arithmetic coding module is built using the bits of the same bitplane of the last scanned neighboring wavelet coefficients in the same spatio-temporal subband, these bits being 1 if the neighboring coefficients are marked by an FP3 flag and 0 if not.
9. An encoding system for the compression of a video sequence divided in groups of frames decomposed by means of a three-dimensional (3D) wavelet transform leading to a given number of successive resolution levels corresponding to the decomposition levels of said transform, said method being based on a hierarchical subband encoding process leading from the original set of picture elements (pixels) of each group of frames to transform coefficients constituting a hierarchical pyramid, and a spatio-temporal orientation tree \u2014in which the roots are formed with the pixels of the approximation subband resulting from the 3D wavelet transform and the offspring of each of these pixels is formed with the pixels of the higher subbands corresponding to the image volume defined by these root pixels defining the spatio-temporal relationship inside said hierarchical pyramid, said encoding system comprising:
a processor in communication with a memory, said processor executing code for:
(A) preserving the initial subband structure of the 3D wavelet transform by scanning the subbands one after the other in an order that respects the parent-offspring dependencies formed in said spatio-temporal tree; and
(B) adding \u201coffon\u201d flags to each coefficient of the spatio-temporal tree in view of a progressive transmission of the most significant bits of the coefficients, these flags being such that at least one of them describes the state of significance of a set of pixels and at least another one describes the state of significance of a single pixel, wherein two flags describe the state of significance of a set of pixels and are, for each coefficient (x,y,z) of said spatio-temporal tree:
FS1 if D(x,y,z) is still insignificant;
FS2 if L(x,y,z) is still insignificant;
where D(x,y,z) is the set of coordinates of all the descendants of the node (x,y,z) and L(x,y,z) =D(x,y,z) \u2212O(x,y,z), with O(x,y,z) is the set of coordinates of the direct offspring of the node (x,y,z), and
two flags describe the state of significance of a single pixel and are:
FP3 if the current pixel is significant;
FP4 if it is not significant or if its significance is to be analyzed.
10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein said code is stored in said memory.
11. The system as recited in claim 9, further comprising:
an inputoutput device in communication with said processor and said memory.

1. A communication apparatus located on-board a mobile asset having a plurality of eventdata recorders (EDRs), the apparatus comprising:
a memory adapted to store communication protocols of each of the plurality of eventdata recorders;
a processor adapted to dynamically select one of the communication protocols to be used by an EDR interface; and
the EDR interface adapted to communicate with one of the plurality of eventdata recorders using said one of the communication protocols selected by the processor.
2. The communication apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transmitter adapted to transmit data from said one of the plurality of eventdata recorders to a remote computer.
3. The communication apparatus of claim 2, wherein the transmitter is a wireless transmitter adapted to transmit data to the remote computer in a wireless manner.
4. The communication apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a client interface adapted to communicate data from the one of the plurality of EDRs to a remote computer and to communicate commands from the remote computer to the EDR interface.
5. The communication apparatus of claim 4, further adapted to:
receive a request from the remote computer at the client interface to communicate with one of the plurality of EDRs using a first communication protocol;
interrupt communication between the EDR interface and said one of the plurality of EDRs;
reconfigure the EDR interface and the client interface to operate in a pass-through mode; and
operate the client interface and the EDR interface in the pass- through mode.
6. The communication apparatus of claim 5, further adapted to:
monitor the client interface for any communication from the remote computer; and
discontinue operating the client interface and the EDR interface in the pass-through mode if the remote computer is not active at the client interface.
7. The communication apparatus of claim 6, wherein the client interface is a wireless interface and the remote computer is a wireless transceiver.
8. The communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory includes communication protocols used to communicate using at least one of: (1) RS232 protocol; (2) Ethernet protocol; (3) RS485 protocol; (4) RS422 protocol; (5) controller area network (CAN) protocol; and (6) universal serial bus (USB) protocol.
9. The communication apparatus of claim 1, further adapted to synchronize the time of the communication apparatus to universal time and to communicate the synchronized time to each of the plurality of EDRs.
10. The communication apparatus of claim 1, further adapted to:
synchronize the time of the communication apparatus to universal time;
request local EDR times from each of the plurality of EDRs;
compare local EDR times with the synchronized time; and
send a command to one or more of the plurality of EDRs to adjust their local EDR times to the synchronized time.
11. The communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory is further adapted to store a data processing program to process event data received from the plurality of EDR(s), the data processing program comprising:
a first routine to receive data from the EDR in a format generated by the EDR;
a second routine to convert the data received from the EDR into a format presentable via an Internet browser; and
a third routine to communicate the converted data using the client interface.
12. The communication apparatus of claim 11, wherein the memory is further adapted to store format specifications for data generated by a plurality of EDRs and wherein the second routine uses the format specifications to convert the data received from the EDR.
13. A method of communicating with an eventdata recorder (EDR), the method comprising:
determining the configuration of the EDR;
selecting a communication protocol based on the configuration of the EDR;
configuring an EDR interface to communicate with the EDR using the selected communication protocol; and
communicating with the EDR via the EDR interface.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the EDR is one of a plurality of EDRs, each of the plurality of EDRs communicating using a different communication protocol.
15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:
receiving EDR data from the EDR;
selecting an EDR data format based on the configuration of the EDR;
interpreting the EDR data based on the EDR data format; and
storing the EDR data on a memory of an onboard hardware platform.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:
converting the EDR data into a format readable by an Internet browser software; and
communicating the converted EDR data to a remote computer.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein communicating the converted data to a remote computer comprises wirelessly communicating the converted data to a remote computer.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:
synchronizing time of the onboard hardware platform with universal time;
receiving the local time on the EDR;
comparing the EDR time with the universal time; and
if the EDR time is different than the universal time, sending a request to the EDR to update its local time.
19. A method of communicating data from an EDR to a remote client using an onboard platform system having an EDR interface communicatively connected to the EDR and a remote client interface communicatively connected to the remote client, the method comprising:
receiving at the remote client interface a request from the remote client for data from the EDR;
determining remote client communication protocol required to communicate with the remote client;
interrupting any existing communication with the EDR at the EDR interface;
reconfiguring the EDR interface to communicate with the EDR using the remote client communication protocol;
reconfiguring the EDR interface and the remote client interface to communicate with each other in a pass-through mode; and
communicating data from the EDR to the remote client using the EDR interface and the remote client interface communicating in the pass-through mode.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the remote client communicates with the remote client interface in a wireless manner.
21. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing time adjustment to the EDR to adjust the EDR time to universal time.
22. The method of claim 19, wherein communicating data from the EDR to the remote client further comprises converting data from the EDR into a format presentable via an Internet browser using at least one of: (1) a data conversion routine stored on the EDR; and (2) a data conversion routine stored on the remote client.
23. A communication apparatus located on-board a mobile asset having an eventdata recorder (EDR), the apparatus comprising:
an EDR interface adapted to communicate with the EDR;
a memory adapted to store a plurality of EDR communication protocols;
a processor adapted to dynamically select one of the plurality of EDR communication protocols to be used by the EDR interface; and
the EDR interface adapted to communicate with the EDR using said one of the communication protocols selected by the processor.
24. The communication apparatus of claim 23, further comprising a client interface adapted to communicate with a client using at least one of: (1) a wireless communication protocol; and (2) a wired communication protocol.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A biopsy device, comprising:
a vacuum source;
an elongate member having a proximal end, a distal end, a lumen in fluid communication with the vacuum source, a longitudinal axis extending between the proximal end and the distal end, and a sample receiving notch, the sample receiving notch having a proximal hole, a distal end wall, and a floor, the distal end wall being located between the distal end and the proximal hole, the proximal hole being separated from the distal end wall along the longitudinal axis, the proximal hole being in fluid communication with the lumen; and
a tissue anchor having a cantilever portion with a free end, the cantilever portion configured to extend in a direction from the distal end wall toward the proximal hole, the free end having a tip portion configured to extend toward the floor of the sample receiving notch, the tissue anchor and the proximal hole collectively configured to place tissue received in the sample receiving notch in a state of tension between the tip portion and the proximal hole when a vacuum is applied by the vacuum source to the proximal hole via the lumen.
2-18. (canceled)
19. The biopsy device of claim 1, wherein the sample receiving notch has a proximal end wall longitudinally spaced from the distal end wall, the proximal hole being formed in the proximal end wall.
20. The biopsy device of claim 1, wherein the tip portion of the cantilever portion has a sharp tip and a planar face, wherein a plane of the planar face is oriented substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
21. The biopsy device of claim 1, wherein the elongate member is a cylindrical tube, the floor is a first portion of a side wall of said cylindrical tube, and the tissue anchor is formed from a second portion of the side wall of the cylindrical tube.
22. The biopsy device of claim 1, wherein the tissue anchor includes a plurality of cantilever portions, each cantilever portion of the plurality of cantilever portions having a curved end, with a tip of the curved end configured to extend toward the floor of the sample receiving notch.
23. A biopsy probe mechanism configured for connection to a vacuum source, comprising:
a frame;
a cutting cannula; and
an elongate member arranged coaxially with the cutting cannula, the cutting cannula and the elongate member being coupled to the frame,
the elongate member having a proximal end, a distal end, a lumen configured for fluid communication with the vacuum source, a longitudinal axis extending between the proximal end and the distal end, and a sample receiving notch, the sample receiving notch having a proximal hole, a distal end wall, and a floor, the distal end wall being located between the distal end and the proximal hole, the proximal hole being separated from the distal end wall along the longitudinal axis, the proximal hole being in fluid communication with the lumen; and
a tissue anchor having a cantilever portion with a free end, the cantilever portion configured to extend in a direction from the distal end wall toward the proximal hole, the free end having a tip portion configured to extend toward the floor of the sample receiving notch, the tissue anchor and the proximal hole collectively configured to place tissue received in the sample receiving notch in a state of tension between the tip portion and the proximal hole when a vacuum is applied by the vacuum source to the proximal hole via the lumen.
24. The biopsy probe mechanism of claim 23, wherein the sample receiving notch has a proximal end wall longitudinally spaced from the distal end wall, the proximal hole being formed in the proximal end wall.
25. The biopsy probe mechanism of claim 23, wherein the tip portion of the cantilever portion has a sharp tip and a planar face, wherein a plane of the planar face is oriented substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
26. The biopsy probe mechanism of claim 23, wherein the elongate member is a cylindrical tube, the floor is a first portion of a side wall of said cylindrical tube, and the tissue anchor is formed from a second portion of the side wall of the cylindrical tube.
27. The biopsy probe mechanism of claim 23, wherein the tissue anchor includes a plurality of cantilever portions, each cantilever portion of the plurality of cantilever portions having a curved end, with a tip of the curved end configured to extend toward the floor of the sample receiving notch.
28. A biopsy apparatus, comprising:
a driver assembly having a housing configured to be grasped by a user;
a vacuum source;
a biopsy probe mechanism drivably coupled to said driver assembly, the biopsy probe mechanism including:
a cutting cannula; and
an elongate member arranged coaxially with the cutting cannula,
the elongate member having a proximal end, a distal end, a lumen in fluid communication with the vacuum source, a longitudinal axis extending between the proximal end and the distal end, and a sample receiving notch, the sample receiving notch having a proximal hole, a distal end wall, and a floor, the distal end wall being located between the distal end and the proximal hole, the proximal hole being separated from the distal end wall along the longitudinal axis, the proximal hole being in fluid communication with the lumen; and
a tissue anchor having a cantilever portion with a free end, the cantilever portion configured to extend in a direction from the distal end wall toward the proximal hole, the free end having a tip portion configured to extend toward the floor of the sample receiving notch, the tissue anchor and the proximal hole collectively configured to place tissue received in the sample receiving notch in a state of tension between the tip portion and the proximal hole when a vacuum is applied by the vacuum source to the proximal hole via the lumen.
29. The biopsy apparatus of claim 28, wherein the sample receiving notch has a proximal end wall longitudinally spaced from the distal end wall, the proximal hole being formed in the proximal end wall.
30. The biopsy apparatus of claim 28, wherein the tip portion of the cantilever portion has a sharp tip and a planar face, wherein a plane of the planar face is oriented substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
31. The biopsy apparatus of claim 28, wherein the elongate member is a cylindrical tube, the floor is a first portion of a side wall of said cylindrical tube, and the tissue anchor is formed from a second portion of the side wall of the cylindrical tube.
32. The biopsy apparatus of claim 28, wherein the tissue anchor includes a plurality of cantilever portions, each cantilever portion of the plurality of cantilever portions having a curved end, with a tip of the curved end configured to extend toward the floor of the sample receiving notch.