Transverse emittance measurement and preservation in the LHC chain

The beam transverse emittance control and preservation in all the acceleration chain from the proton source to the 7TeV colliding beams is fundamental for ensuring high luminosity runs at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This paper aims at discussing the emittance measurement methods and present status in the acceleration stages from the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) injection at p=50Mev/c to the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) beam extraction to the LHC at p=450Gev/c. This includes acceleration in the Proton Synchrotron (PS) and all the beam transfers from one accelerator to the other. A short description and status of the LHC diagnostics and methods is covered.