阅读说明：本技术 一种球囊式药液注射器 (Ball bag type liquid medicine injector ) 是由 李知熹 于 2020-08-24 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种球囊式药液注射器,用于持续向患者体内注入微量药液,更具体地,球囊式药液注射器,其不仅组装容易,而且在注入药液而膨胀的状态下不出现不必要的死角(Dead Space),实现小型化,当在固定管的外侧设置管体时,将管体两端分别折叠到固定管两端的内侧并嵌入,从而消除嵌入到壳体状态时的死角。另外在管体两端嵌入到固定管两端内侧并折叠的状态下,用于注入药液的注射装置或塞子装置对向内侧折叠的管体进行加压的同时与之结合,因此无需使用单独的垫料,且能够保持气密性。另外所述注射装置和塞子装置使用一个锁紧装置从壳体外部穿过塞子装置连接并固定到注射装置上,从而不仅固定注射装置和塞子装置,而且与壳体之间的固定也能同步实现。(The present invention relates to a balloon type medical fluid injector for continuously injecting a trace amount of medical fluid into a patient, and more particularly, to a balloon type medical fluid injector which is easy to assemble, does not have an unnecessary Dead Space (Dead Space) in an expanded state in which medical fluid is injected, and is miniaturized, and when a tube body is disposed at the outer side of a fixed tube, both ends of the tube body are respectively folded to the inner sides of both ends of the fixed tube and are inserted, thereby eliminating the Dead Space in a state of being inserted into a housing. In addition, in a state where both ends of the tube body are inserted into the inner sides of both ends of the fixed tube and folded, the injection device or the stopper device for injecting the liquid medicine is coupled to the tube body folded inside while pressurizing the tube body, so that it is possible to maintain airtightness without using a separate packing. Furthermore, the injection device and the bung device are coupled and secured to the injection device from outside the housing through the bung device using a locking device, whereby not only the securing of the injection device and the bung device, but also the securing with the housing is achieved simultaneously.)

1. A balloon type liquid medicine injector is characterized by comprising:

a fixed pipe (100) having a flow passage hole formed in an outer wall thereof in a penetrating state,

a tube body (200) having a length longer than that of the fixing tube,

the pipe body (200) surrounds and is combined with the fixed pipe (100) while being expanded, both ends of the pipe body (200) extend further from both ends of the fixed pipe (100) to form exposed ends (210),

the exposed end (210) is folded and inserted into the inner side of the fixed tube (100), and an injection device and a stopper device are installed at both ends thereof in a state of being closely attached to the inner wall (101) of the fixed tube to form a balloon body.

2. The balloon-type liquid medicine syringe according to claim 1,

in a state where the exposed ends (210) of both ends of the tube body (200) are fitted into the inner sides of both ends of the fixed tube (100) and folded, the injection device (300) or the stopper device (400) for injecting the chemical liquid is coupled to the exposed ends of the tube body folded inwardly to be closely attached to the inner wall of the fixed tube while pressurizing the same, so that it is not necessary to use separate packing materials for both ends of the fixed tube, and airtightness can be maintained in a state where the injection device (300) or the stopper device (400) is coupled.

3. A balloon-type medical liquid syringe according to claim 1 or 2,

in order to prevent any detachment in a state where the injection device and the stopper device are coupled to both ends of the fixing tube, a locking device (500) is used to be fixed to the housing (20), and the injection device (300) and the stopper device (400) are coupled and fixed.

4. A balloon-type medical liquid syringe according to claim 3,

the locking device (500) is composed of a flange (510) and a locking shaft (520),

a spiral part (521) is arranged at the front end of the locking shaft (520),

an insertion hole (21) having a size that the locking shaft (520) can be inserted into is formed at one end of the housing (20),

so that the locking shaft (520) of the locking device (500) is inserted through the insertion hole (21) and penetrates the stopper device (400) to be fixedly connected to the injection device (300), thereby not only fixing the injection device and the stopper device, but also fixing with the housing can be synchronously realized.

5. The balloon-type liquid medicine syringe according to claim 4,

when the injection device (300) and the stopper device (400) are combined with both ends of the fixing tube (100), the length of the insertion tube (310, 410) having a certain length is greater than the length of the exposed end (210) of the folded tube body so as to be in press-fit with the tube body folded in a state where the injection device or the stopper device is inserted into both ends of the fixing tube and to allow the injected medical fluid to be easily delivered to the tube body,

an insertion groove 311 is provided inside an insertion tube 310 of the injection device, and a flow path hole 312 is provided at the tip end thereof so as to be able to communicate with a flow path hole 110 provided in a fixed tube 100.

6. A balloon-type medical liquid injector according to claim 5,

the flow path hole (110) of the fixed pipe and the flow path hole (312) provided at the front end of the insertion groove of the insertion pipe are positioned on the same line with each other,

since the insertion groove side 313 is provided on the cylinder provided with the flow path hole 312 at the distal end of the insertion tube 310, when the injection medical fluid or the medical fluid flows out, even if the flow path hole 312 of the insertion tube and the flow path hole 110 of the fixed tube are not connected to each other, that is, are staggered with each other, the injection medical fluid or the medical fluid can easily flow out to the flow path hole 110 of the fixed tube 100 through the insertion groove side 313.

7. A balloon-type medical liquid injector according to claim 6,

a spiral groove (320) forming a spiral part (321) is arranged at the front end of the embedded pipe (310) at the inner side and is used for being meshed with a spiral part (521) arranged at the front end of a locking shaft (520) of the locking device, so that the embedded pipe is meshed with the spiral part (521) arranged at the front end of the locking shaft (520) of the locking device (500) and is fixed.

8. A balloon-type medical liquid injector according to claim 5,

an insertion tube (410) is also provided on the plug device (400), the length of the insertion tube (410) is also greater than the length of the folded exposed end (210), a through-hole (411) is provided on the inner side of the insertion tube (410), and a locking shaft (520) of a locking device is inserted into the spiral groove (320) of the injection device (300) in a through state, and is engaged with the spiral portion (321), and is connected and coupled to the plug device (400) and the injection device (300), thereby being capable of fixing the fixation tube and the tube body in a manner of maintaining airtightness.

9. The balloon-type liquid medicine syringe according to claim 8,

cover parts (330, 420) are respectively arranged on the injection device and the plug device and are used for closing and fixing two ends of the tube under the state that embedded tubes (310, 410) with certain lengths are arranged,

the outer diameters of the cover parts (330, 420) are required to be larger than the outer diameters of the cover parts in a state of being combined with a pipe body (200) which surrounds and is combined with the fixed pipe (100), so that both ends of the fixed pipe (100) surrounded by the pipe body can be sealed.

10. The balloon-type liquid medicine syringe according to claim 1,

when the exposed end (210) of the tube body is folded to the inner sides of the two ends of the fixed tube (100) and is tightly attached to the inner wall, the short platforms (120) are arranged on the inner sides of the two ends of the fixed tube (100) to eliminate the phenomenon that the liquid medicine is remained due to the short platforms on the inner wall of the fixed tube caused by the thickness of the tube body, so that the exposed end (210) of the tube body is placed on the exposed short platforms (120) in the state of being folded inwards to form a horizontal plane.

11. A balloon-type medical liquid injector according to claim 6,

the front end of the embedded pipe is provided with a flow path hole arranged at the embedded groove side, and the rear end of the embedded pipe is provided with a slimming groove side (340) for preventing the embedded pipe from deforming during injection molding.

12. The balloon-type medical liquid syringe as claimed in claim 11,

in order to reduce the residual amount due to the slimming groove sides (340), rib-shaped ribs (341) are provided at certain intervals on the slimming groove sides, thereby minimizing the residual amount.

13. A balloon-type medical liquid syringe according to claim 3,

when the balloon portion (10) is inserted into the housing (20) and fixedly combined therewith, a flange (332) extending outward is provided on a cap portion (330) of the injection device of the fixing tube of the balloon portion (10),

a mounting edge (22) is provided at one side of the housing to mount the flange (332),

on the other side of the housing, a receiving portion is provided so that when locked by the locking device (500) in a state where the insertion hole (21) is provided, a flange of the locking device can be received so that a portion blocked to the outside of the housing does not occur in a combined state.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a balloon type medical fluid injector for continuously injecting a minute amount of medical fluid into a patient, and more particularly, to a balloon type medical fluid injector which is easily assembled and does not have an unnecessary Dead Space (Dead Space) in an inflated state in which medical fluid is injected, thereby being miniaturized.

Background

Generally, a patient who has undergone an urgent operation such as cancer or leukemia continues to apply a drug solution such as an antibiotic or an analgesic after the operation to eliminate inflammation and relieve pain.

Although these medical liquids vary from patient to patient, depending on the patient, if the amount exceeds or falls short of an appropriate amount, another dangerous situation may be brought to the patient.

Therefore, in order to solve such problems, a separate injection device is used to continuously inject a minute amount, but such an injection device is very expensive and occupies much space, and is inconvenient to move, so that it cannot be provided to all patients.

Therefore, recently, a balloon type medical liquid injection syringe, which can be used in a personal type, is convenient to move, is inexpensive, and can be continuously injected, is used.

As shown in fig. 1, a balloon type medical fluid injector 100 currently used is equipped with: a tube body 110 which is expanded when filled with a medical fluid and returns to its original position in the expanded state while discharging the injected medical fluid; and a fixing tube having a flow path for the chemical liquid formed at a predetermined position inside the tube body so as to allow the tube body to perform the above-described operation, wherein when the tube body surrounding the fixing tube contracts and expands, an upper end and a lower end of the fixing tube are fixed to the outside of the tube body surrounding the fixing tube by using a fixing device so as to fix the tube body, and the fixing tube and the tube body can be fixed to each other in an airtight manner.

Therefore, when the upper and lower ends of the fixing tube are fixed using the fixing device, a special method is taken for the fixing tube or the fixing device to firmly fix the fixing device.

For example, when the pipe body is expanded in a state of being fixed by the fixing device, in order to prevent the fixing device from being pushed, the following method is used: the outer wall of the fixed pipe is provided with a lock groove edge, or the fixing device is provided with a device for preventing the fixing device from being pushed, or the fixing device is pulled away from the upper end and the lower end of the fixed pipe at a certain distance.

Therefore, this use is such that the fixing position of the fixing means is located at a lower portion spaced apart from the upper and lower ends of the fixing tube for fixing, and thus needs to be combined with a housing used for protecting the tube body, and thus a dead space is inevitably present in this case.

In this case, an injection device for injecting the medical fluid is attached to one end of the fixed tube, and a stopper device for maintaining airtightness is attached to the other end of the fixed tube, so that the injected medical fluid moves only through the flow path of the fixed tube, and the tube body is expanded like a balloon or returns to its original position by receiving the pressure of the expanded balloon, thereby enabling the injection of the medical fluid.

However, fixing the injection device or the plug device to the fixing tube while maintaining airtightness requires the use of another spacer device or the like, which causes another problem of defects or various difficulties in assembling and fixing by using such a spacer device or the like.

[ Prior art documents ]

[ patent document ]

(patent document 0001) KR 10-1535947B 1

(patent document 0002) KR 10-1125478B 1

(patent document 0003) KR 10-1278492B 1

Disclosure of Invention

[ problem to be solved ]

The present invention is therefore directed to eliminating such a dead angle to achieve miniaturization, and at the same time, to achieve ease of assembly and eliminate defects after assembly.

[ solution ]

For this reason, in the present invention, when the pipe body is provided outside the fixed pipe, both ends of the pipe body are folded to the inside of both ends of the fixed pipe, respectively, and embedded, thereby eliminating a dead angle in a state of being embedded in the housing.

In addition, in the balloon type liquid medicine syringe according to the present invention, in a state where both ends of the tube body are fitted into the inner sides of both ends of the fixed tube and folded, the injection device or the stopper device for injecting the liquid medicine is pressed against the tube body folded inside and coupled thereto, so that it is possible to maintain airtightness without using a separate packing.

In addition, according to the present invention, the injection device and the stopper device are coupled and fixed to the injection device by passing the stopper device through the outside of the housing using one locking means, so that not only the fixation of the injection device and the stopper device but also the fixation with the housing can be simultaneously performed.

In addition, when the tube body is folded and embedded into the inner sides of the two ends of the fixed tube, the inner sides of the two ends of the fixed tube are provided with short platforms, so that the phenomenon that the liquid medicine is remained due to the short platforms generated by the thickness of the tube body is eliminated.

In addition, the present invention provides a balloon-type medical fluid injector in which, when an injection device and a stopper device are fitted into a fixed tube, the length of the fitting tube is longer than the length of the folded tube body so as to be pressed against the folded tube body in a fitted state and to facilitate the delivery of the injected medical fluid to the tube body, and a long fitting groove is provided in the inner side of the fitting tube, and a flow path hole is provided at the tip end of the fitting tube so as to be continuous with the flow path hole provided in the fixed tube.

In addition, the front end of the embedding tube is provided with a spiral part which can be locked with the locking device, so that the embedding tube is occluded with the spiral part of the locking device and is fixed.

In addition, the present invention provides a balloon type medical solution injector in which an insertion groove is formed in a cylinder having a flow passage hole of an insertion tube, so that the injection medical solution or the medical solution can be easily connected to and penetrated through the flow passage hole of a fixed tube when the injection medical solution or the medical solution flows out.

In addition, according to the balloon type medical fluid injector of the present invention, the outer diameters of the injection device and the stopper device provided at one end of the insertion tube are as large as possible, in a state where the tube body is coupled to the fixing tube, so that both ends of the fixing tube can be sealed.

In addition, the balloon type liquid medicine injector of the present invention is provided with a flange on the injection device so that the fixing tube can be tightly coupled with the housing through the flange when the fixing tube is coupled with the housing.

[ Effect of the invention ]

Therefore, the tube body positioned at the outer side of the fixed tube of the balloon type liquid medicine injector surrounds the whole outer diameter of the fixed tube, and the front end of the tube body is folded and installed towards the inner side of the fixed tube,

when the liquid medicine is filled, the tube body is contracted or expanded in a state of surrounding the entire outer diameter of the fixing tube, so that an unnecessary dead space does not occur in the inside of the housing, thereby reducing the volume and weight, and thus enabling to provide a compact liquid medicine syringe.

Meanwhile, the present invention not only minimizes the amount of the residual expensive chemical solution due to the protruding edge formed inside the mounting hole, but also facilitates the assembly without keeping the flow hole of the fixed tube and the connection hole connected and penetrated when the connection tube is mounted or assembled.

In addition, in the present invention, even if the flow path and the compartment formed inside the connection pipe are provided in different sizes, the flow path and the compartment are not deformed by a difference in cooling rate during injection molding because the insert side is formed outside the connection pipe.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is an external view of a conventional balloon-type medical fluid injector;

FIG. 2 is an overall exterior perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is one embodiment of the tube body of the present invention mounted on a stationary tube;

FIG. 4 is another embodiment of the present invention in which the tubular body is mounted on a stationary tube;

FIG. 5 is an exposed face of the tube of the present invention secured in a folded condition by one embodiment of the injection device and stopper device;

FIG. 6 is a view of the forward ends of the injection device and stopper device of the present invention engaged with one another;

FIG. 7 is one embodiment of an injection device of the present invention having an inset groove edge;

fig. 8 is an embodiment of the present invention in which ribs are provided on the sides of the slimming groove;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the assembled state of the present invention;

FIGS. 10 and 11 are views showing the state where the liquid medicine injected by the fitting groove of the present invention flows into the flow passage hole of the fixed pipe;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment showing various dimensions of the mounting tube and tube body;

FIG. 13 is a sectional perspective view of the assembled state of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the assembly of the tube body of the present invention on a mounting tube through an injection device and a stopper device.

Reference numerals:

1. a liquid medicine injector;

10. a balloon portion;

20. a housing; 21. an insertion hole; 22. installing edges;

100. a fixed tube; 101. an inner wall;

110. a flow path hole;

120. a short platform;

200. a pipe body; 210. exposing the end; 211. an edge;

300. an injection device; 310. an insert tube; 311. a groove is embedded; 312. a flow path hole; 313. embedding the groove edge; 320. a helical groove; 321. a spiral portion; 330. a cover portion; 331. pressing and pressing the edges; 332. a flange; 340. a slimming groove edge; 341. rib-shaped;

400. a plug means; 410. an insert tube; 411. a through hole; 420. a cover portion; 421 pressing and pressing;

500. a locking device; 510. a flange; 520. a locking shaft; 521. screw part

Detailed Description

First, the terms used in the specification and claims of the present invention should not be construed in a limited sense in a dictionary meaning, and the terms of the present invention should be construed in a sense and concept conforming to the technical idea of the present invention on the basis of the principle that the inventor can properly define the concept of the terms in order to explain his invention through the best method.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention, and do not represent all the technical ideas of the present invention, and therefore it should be understood that various equivalents and modifications may be substituted for them at the node of the present invention.

Specific details for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 2 is a view of a tube body constituting a balloon portion of a medical fluid syringe according to an embodiment of the present invention mounted on a fixing tube, fig. 3 is a view of a projected edge formed at both folded side ends of the tube body on the inner side of the folded fixing tube, and fig. 4 is a view showing an assembling process of the balloon and the medical fluid syringe.

Reference is made to this for the following description: the medical fluid injector 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes, in a penetrating state: a fixed pipe 100 having a flow path hole formed in an outer wall thereof; a balloon portion 10 in which one end of the fixing tube is closed by a stopper device and the other end is hermetically attached to both ends of the fixing tube by injection devices for injecting a drug solution, in a state in which a penetrating tube body 200 closely surrounding and coupling the outside of the fixing tube in a close contact manner is closely attached, and the tube body is expanded through a passage hole of the fixing tube when the drug solution is injected by the injection devices, and the expanded tube body is contracted and the drug solution is injected through the passage hole when the injected drug solution is injected; the housing 20 integrally accommodates the balloon portion 10, and in view of economy or workability, the fixing tube 100 constituting the balloon portion 10 and the housing 20 surrounding the balloon portion 10 may be generally formed by injection molding or blow molding using plastic, and the tube body 200 may be formed using silicone or plastic, rubber, or the like, which is harmless to the human body.

As shown in fig. 4, the length of the pipe body 200 of the present invention is longer than that of the fixing pipe 100, and in this state, both ends of the pipe body 200 extend further from both ends of the fixing pipe 100 to form exposed ends 210 in a state where the pipe body 200 surrounds and is combined with the fixing pipe 100.

At this time, the exposed end 210 is folded toward the inside of the fixing tube 100 and inserted, thereby closely adhering to the inner wall 101 of the fixing tube.

In addition, in a state where the exposed ends 210 of both ends of the tube body 200 are inserted into the inner sides of both ends of the fixed tube 100 and folded, the injection device 300 or the stopper device 400 for injecting the medical solution is coupled to the exposed end of the tube body folded inwardly to be closely attached to the inner wall of the fixed tube while being pressurized, and thus, it is not necessary to use separate packing materials for both ends of the fixed tube and it is possible to maintain airtightness in a state where the injection device 300 or the stopper device 400 is coupled.

Therefore, when the tubular body surrounding the fixed pipe is expanded, since the tubular body is expanded from the front ends of both ends of the fixed pipe, there is no dead space in a state of being fitted into the housing.

In addition, in a state where the injection device and the stopper device are coupled to both ends of the fixing tube, in order to prevent any detachment, a locking device 500 is used to be fixed to the housing 20, and the injection device 300 and the stopper device 400 are coupled and fixed.

For this, the locking device 500 is composed of a flange 510 and a locking shaft 520, a screw 521 is provided on the front end of the locking shaft 520, and an insertion hole 21 having a size into which the locking shaft 520 is inserted is provided on one end of the housing 20, so that the locking shaft 520 of the locking device 500 is inserted through the insertion hole 21 and passes through the stopper device 400 to be coupled and fixed to the injection device 300, thereby not only fixing the injection device and the stopper device but also fixing with the housing can be simultaneously performed.

At this time, when the injection device 300 and the stopper device 400 are coupled to both ends of the fixed tube 100, the length of the insertion tubes 310 and 410 having a certain length is greater than the length of the exposed end 210 of the folded tube body so as to be pressed and engaged with the folded tube body in a state where the injection device or the stopper device is inserted into both ends of the fixed tube and to easily deliver the injected medical fluid to the tube body, and the insertion groove 311 having a long insertion length is provided inside the insertion tube 310 of the injection device and the flow path hole 312 is provided at the front end thereof so as to be connected to and penetrated through the flow path hole 110 provided in the fixed tube 100.

At this time, the flow path hole 110 of the fixed tube and the flow path hole 312 provided at the front end of the insertion groove of the insertion tube are positioned on the same line with each other, which is advantageous in that the injection of the liquid medicine and the outflow of the liquid medicine are facilitated.

Further, a spiral groove 320 forming a spiral portion 321 is provided at the inner side of the front end of the insertion tube 310 to engage with a spiral portion 521 provided at the front end of the locking shaft 520 of the locking device, and to engage with and fix the spiral portion 521 provided at the front end of the locking shaft 520 of the locking device 500.

At this time, the plugging device 400 is also provided with the insertion tube 410, the insertion tube 410 is also longer than the folded exposed end 210, and the insertion tube 410 is provided with a through hole 411 therein, so that the locking shaft 520 of the locking device is inserted into the spiral groove 320 of the injection device 300 in a through state, and engaged with the spiral part 321, and coupled to the plugging device 400 and the injection device 300, thereby being fixed in a manner of maintaining airtightness between the fixed tube and the tube body.

In addition, cap parts 330 and 420 are provided on the injection device and the stopper device, respectively, to close both ends of the fixing tube in a state where the insertion tubes 310 and 410 having a certain length are provided, and the outer diameters of the cap parts 330 and 420 are required to be larger than the outer diameters in a state where they are coupled with the tube body 200 surrounding the fixing tube 100 and coupled, so that both ends of the fixing tube 100 surrounded by the tube body can be sealed.

That is, as described above, since the locking is performed and fixed by the locking device 500, the pressing sides 331 and 421 having diameters larger than the diameters of the cover portions 330 and 420 of the insertion pipes 310 and 410 are respectively pressed against the sides 211 of the exposed end 210 exposed in a state where the inner sides of both ends of the insertion fixing pipe are folded and fitted to the inner wall, and thus the airtightness between the fixing pipe and the pipe body can be maintained.

Further, since the fitting groove side 313 is provided on the cylinder having the flow path hole 312 at the distal end of the fitting tube 310, when the injection drug solution or the drug solution is discharged, even when the flow path hole 312 of the fitting tube and the flow path hole 110 of the fixed tube are not connected to each other, that is, are staggered with each other, the injection drug solution or the drug solution can be easily discharged to the flow path hole 110 of the fixed tube 100 through the fitting groove side 313.

In addition, when the exposed end 210 of the tube body is folded to the inner sides of both ends of the fixing tube 100 and is closely attached to the inner wall, the short platforms 120 are disposed at the inner sides of both ends of the fixing tube 100 to eliminate the phenomenon that the liquid medicine remains due to the short platforms appearing on the inner wall of the fixing tube due to the thickness of the tube body, so that the exposed end 210 of the tube body is placed on the exposed short platforms 120 in the inwardly folded state to form a horizontal plane.

For this reason, the depth of the short mesa and the thickness of the exposed end are generally made large.

In addition, in the state that the front end of the insert pipe has a flow path hole arranged at the edge of the insert groove, and the rear end is provided with a slimming groove edge 340 for preventing the insert pipe from deforming during injection molding, which is intended to prevent the insert pipe from deforming, in order to reduce the residual quantity of the insert pipe caused by the slimming groove edge 340, the rib-shaped 341 is arranged at a certain interval at the edge of the slimming groove, thereby reducing the residual quantity to the maximum extent.

In addition, when the balloon portion 10 is inserted into and fixedly coupled with the housing 20, a flange 332 extending outward is provided at the cover portion 330 of the injection means of the fixing tube of the balloon portion 10, and a seating rim 22 is provided at one side of the housing to seat the flange 332, and at the other side of the housing, as described above, a seating portion is provided to seat the flange of the locking means when locked by the locking means 500 in a state where the insertion hole 21 is provided, so that a portion blocked to the outside of the housing does not occur in a coupled state.

The present invention has been described so far with reference to the accompanying drawings, but this is merely an exemplary description, and it is to be understood that those skilled in the art can make various modifications thereto and can easily carry out the same based on the theory of equivalents. Therefore, the true technical scope of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.