Disclosed herein are an animal training apparatus for locating a collar transceiver using a Global Positioning System (GPS), and a method of controlling the the same. The animal training apparatus includes a portable device, and a collar transceiver. The portable device includes a portable device GPS reception unit, a key input unit, a portable device control unit, a display unit, and a portable device wireless communication unit. The collar transceiver includes a collar wireless communication unit, a collar GPS reception unit, a photodetector, a light output unit, a beep tone output unit, and a collar control unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an animal training apparatus for locating a collar transceiver using a Global Positioning System (GPS) and a method of controlling the animal training apparatus and, more particularly, to an animal training apparatus for locating a collar transceiver using a GPS, wherein GPS receivers are installed in a portable device and a collar transceiver, respectively, and the collar transceiver receives an automatic mode signal from the portable device, receives the location signals of the portable device, and generates a beep tone at a bright location and light at a dark location when the portable device approaches a location at which the beep tone generated from the collar transceiver can be heard or light can be observed so that the collar transceiver can be located by the portable device, and a method of controlling the animal training apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
GPS is an artificial satellite navigation system which receives location signals from GPS satellites and calculates the current location of a user. Global Positioning Systems (GPSs) are chiefly used in navigation devices for aircraft, ships, and vehicles. GPSs are recently used even in animal training apparatuses which train animals, such as hounds, from remote locations.
In such an animal training apparatus for locating a remote dog (receiver) using GPS signals (coordinate signals), when a location is detected using only GPS signals, a transmitter indicates that the location of the receiver has been detected due to a common tolerance when the distance between the portable device and the receiver is several tens of meters.
The transmitter indicates that the location of the receiver has been detected, but it is difficult to accurately locate it with the naked eye within several tens of meters because the range of visibility is short in deep mountains.
A system for providing notification that a pet has lost its way when the pet becomes lost is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,018.
The major elements of the lost pet notification system include a pet collar 1, a portable unit 5, and a base station 7. The collar 1 includes a housing which supports an alarm device including a speaker 1a. The pet collar 1 generates a loud sound or one or more rays of light using Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) 1c.
The portable unit 5 is a handheld device which generates polling signals to be transmitted to the pet collar 1 over a communication link. The pet collar 1 replys to the portable unit 5 by sending a reply signal to the portable unit 5 whenever the pet collar 1 receives a polling signal. This operation continues while the pet collar 1 stays within the transmissible range of the portable unit 5.
When the pet moves out of the transmissible range, the pet collar 1 cannot receive the polling signal anymore. If the pet collar 1 does not detect the polling signal for a predetermined period of time, the pet collar 1 automatically enters an alarm state.
Likewise, if the portable unit 5 does not receive a reply signal after sending a predetermined number of polling signals, the portable unit 5 automatically enters an alarm state.
When the alarm state is entered, the pet collar 1 generates a high pitched noise using the speaker 1a and generates rays of light using the LEDs 1c in order to warn passengers near the pet that the pet has lost its way.
In addition to the actuation of the alarm device, the portable unit 5 automatically transmits a notification signal to the base station 7. The base station 7 automatically makes a phone call to a remote telephone 8 over a telephone network in response to the notification signal.
Once a user answers the phone call, the base station 7 displays a message, providing notification that the pet has wandered out of the range of transmission, to the owner of the pet. The base station 7 repeats this processing and displays the message a stored number of times. The portable unit 5 may use wireless communication when it is not located within the coverage of the base station 7.
When the notification signal is received, the base station 7 automatically makes at least one phone call and displays a previously stored message. The message is transferred over a telephone network via a conventional telephone office 9. A telephone number and a related message are respectively selected from among a number of telephone numbers and related messages stored in the base station.
The conventional system is problematic in that although notification that a pet is lost can be provided, it does not inform the user of the location of a pet wearing a receiver in an area where the range of visibility is narrow, such as deep in the mountains.

Animal training apparatus for locating collar transceiver using GPS and method of controlling the same


Provided are artificial muscle patches, which are adapted to be implanted adjacent a patient""s heart, and artificial sphincter cuffs, which are adapted to be implanted around a body lumen, such as the urethra, the anal canal, or the lower esophagus. The devices of the present invention comprise: (a) one or more electroactive polymer actuators; and (b) a control unit for electrically controlling the one or more electroactive polymer actuators to expand or contract the devices.

The present invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly to artificial sphincters and artificial muscle patches that are based on electroactive polymers.
Millions of Americans are incontinent. Incontinence is the second most common reason for institutionalization of the elderly, generating costs of several billion dollars per year. Incontinence commonly arises from malfunction of the urethral sphincter. The urethral sphincter is an external sphincter formed about the urethra in both males and females which, when functioning normally, constricts the urethra and prevents flow of urine from the bladder, except when the bladder is voided during normal urination. Unfortunately, a spectrum of medical conditions can result in improper functioning of the urethral sphincter and lead to incontinence, including surgical injury following transurethral resection or radical prostatectomy, neurologic injury, or direct injury to the sphincter itself.
There are numerous prior art prosthetic sphincters for selectively closing and opening the urethra to prevent incontinence. These devices typically incorporate an inflatable cuff which surrounds the urethra, and which is inflated to restrict urine flow in the urethra. Examples of such prosthetic sphincters are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,222,377, and 5,562,598. These patents describe devices having an inflatable urethral cuff, a balloon reservoir/pressure source, and a pump. The cuff is typically implanted around the bladder neck in women, and around the bulbous urethra in most men. The implanted cuff functions similarly to a blood pressure cuff.
Fecal incontinence, like urinary incontinence is a debilitating condition affecting tens of thousands of Americans. Fecal incontinence in both men and women is typically caused by neurological or muscular dysfunction of the anal sphincter, and is commonly the result of trauma.
As with urinary incontinence, prosthetic sphincters for selectively closing and opening the anal canal to prevent fecal incontinence have been developed. One such sphincter, which is approved for use by the FDA, is available from American Medical Systems under the name Acticon(trademark) Neosphincter. As with the above artificial sphincters for urinary incontinence, these devices incorporate an inflatable cuff that functions similar to a blood pressure cuff and is inflated to restrict fecal flow. These devices also include a balloon reservoir/pressure source and a pump.
The above artificial urethral and anal sphincters, however, are cumbersome and limited, and complications occur in a high percentage of patents. Moreover, because the system is a pressurized system, it is vulnerable to leakage of the pressurized fluid.
These and other drawbacks of prior art artificial urethral and anal sphincters are addressed by a first aspect of the present invention, in which an artificial sphincter is provided that is based on electroactive polymers under electronic control.
Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition characterized by the reflux of stomach contents, including stomach acid, into the esophagus. Approximately 5 million people in the United States alone experience chronic GERD. Of these, approximately 60-65% suffer from lower esophageal sphincter dysfunction, which is typically characterized by a weakening of the lower esophageal sphincter.
The lower esophageal sphincter is a ring of smooth muscle at the bottom few centimeters of the esophagus. In its resting state, the lower esophageal sphincter creates a region of high pressure at the orifice to the stomach. This pressure is critical to the proper operation of the lower esophageal sphincter.
The lower esophageal sphincter opens in response to the peristaltic motion that is triggered when food or beverage enters the esophagus. After food passes into the stomach, the peristaltic motion ceases, and the lower esophageal sphincter returns to its normal resting state to prevent reflux of the stomach contents, including stomach acid, back into the esophagus.
Current treatment options for GERD include various endoscopic, laproscopic and pharmaceutically-based therapies, such as fundoplication, RF ballooning, and powerful acid suppressing pharmaceuticals such as Zantac(copyright) (ranitidine), Tagamet(copyright) (cimetidine) and Pepcid(copyright) (famotidine). While these options offer a highly focused therapeutic potential, they fail in providing a long-term cure, and are not conducive to patient comfort.
As such, the need for a more dynamic and versatile option for the long-term treatment of GERD is apparent. To that end, in another aspect of the present invention, an artificial lower esophageal sphincter is provided, which is based on electroactive polymers that are under electronic control.
Congestive heart failure is a progressive and debilitating illness. The disease is characterized by a progressive enlargement of the heart. As the heart enlarges, it is required to perform an increasing amount of work in order to pump blood with each heartbeat. In time, the heart becomes so enlarged that it cannot adequately supply blood. An afflicted patient is fatigued, unable to perform even simple exerting tasks, and experiences pain and discomfort.
Millions of Americans suffer from congestive heart failure, with economic costs of the disease having been estimated at tens of billions of dollars annually.
Patients suffering from congestive heart failure are commonly grouped into four classes (i.e., Classes I, II, III and IV). In the early stages (e.g., Classes I and II), drug therapy is the most commonly prescribed treatment. Drug therapy treats the symptoms of the disease and may slow the progression of the disease. Unfortunately, there is presently no cure for congestive heart failure. Even with drug therapy, the disease will progress. Further, the drugs may have adverse side effects.
One treatment for late-stage congestive heart failure is heart transplant. However, even if the patient qualifies for transplant and a heart is available for transplant, it is noted that heart transplant procedures are very risky, invasive, expensive and only shortly extend a patient""s life. For example, prior to transplant, a Class IV patient may have a life expectancy of 6 months to one-year. Heart transplant may improve the expectancy to about five years. Similar risks and difficulties exist for mechanical heart transplants as well.
Another technique for the treatment for late stage congestive heart failure is a cardiomyoplasty procedure. In this procedure, the latissimus dorsi muscle (taken from the patient""s shoulder) is wrapped around the heart and electrically paced synchronously with ventricular systole. Pacing of the muscle results in muscle contraction to assist the contraction of the heart during systole. However, even though cardiomyoplasty has demonstrated symptomatic improvement, studies suggest the procedure only minimally improves cardiac performance. Moreover, the procedure is highly invasive, expensive and complex, requiring harvesting a patient""s muscle and an open chest approach (i.e., sternotomy) to access the heart.
Recently, a new surgical procedure, referred to as the Batista procedure, has been developed. The procedure includes dissecting and removing portions of the heart in order to reduce heart volume. However, the benefits of this surgery are controversial, the procedure is highly invasive, risky and expensive, and the procedure commonly includes other expensive procedures (such as a concurrent heart valve replacement). Also, if the procedure fails, emergency heart transplant is essentially the only available option.
Others have used external constraints such as jackets, girdles, fabric slings or clamps to constrain and remodel the heart and reduce heart volume. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,906 (citing numerous references including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,343 and 5,800,528) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,968. In accordance with an example from the above ""906 patent, a cardiac constraint device can be placed on an enlarged heart and fitted snug during diastole; for example, a knit jacket device can be loosely slipped on the heart, the material of the jacket can be gathered to adjust the device to a desired tension, and the gathered material can be sutured or otherwise fixed to maintain the tensioning.
As an improvement upon the above and in accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, an artificial muscle patch is provided, which is based on electroactive polymers that are under electronic control. The artificial muscle patch provides cardiac constraint and, if desired, can be electrically paced (e.g., synchronously with ventricular systole) to improve cardiac performance.
According to a first aspect of the invention, an artificial sphincter is provided, which comprises: (a) a cuff that is adapted for placement around a body lumen, which cuff comprises one or more electroactive polymer actuators; and (b) a control unit for electrically controlling the one or more electroactive polymer actuators to expand or contract the cuff.
The one or more electroactive polymer actuators of the artificial sphincter can beneficially comprise (a) one or more active members, (b) a counter-electrode, and (c) an electrolyte disposed between the active member and the counter-electrode.
In some preferred embodiments, the active members are disposed upon one or more substrate layers. The active members can be provided in numerous configurations on the substrate layer(s), including nonlinear configurations that are capable of exerting force vectors along at last two axes, for instance, an S-shaped configuration. The substrate layer(s) can be insulating or conductive in nature. Where insulating, it may be preferred to provide conductive lines on the substrate layer(s) to allow electrical communication between active members and the power source.
In certain embodiments, the cuff will further comprise a barrier layer and/or a mesh layer.
The action of the artificial sphincter of the present invention can be controlled using a variety of control units, for example, (a) power source and a simple switch or (b) power source and a logic/control device such as a computer.
In some embodiments, the cuff is provided with a restoring force to bring it into an expanded or a contracted state, preferably by including at least one elastic structural element within the cuff to supply such a restoring force. For example, the artificial sphincter cuff can be provided with an elastic annular tube structure whose length increases upon a decrease in its cross-sectional diameter.
The artificial sphincters of the present invention can also comprise a sensing system (such as a system comprising strain gauges) for sensing the degree of contraction of the electroactive polymer actuators.
Opposing ends of the artificial sphincter cuffs of the present invention may be provided with fasteners for securing the cuff around the body lumen.
The artificial sphincter cuffs of the present invention may be adapted for placement around a number of body lumens, including the urethra, the anal canal, and the lower esophagus.
A lower esophageal sphincter in accordance with the present invention can be provided, for example, with sensing system that detects when food or beverage enters the esophagus, or with a sensing system that detects when the stomach is attempting to regurgitate its contents.
Other embodiments are directed to the treatment of fecal incontinence, urinary incontinence or gastro-esophageal reflux disease by implanting into a patient an artificial sphincter in accordance with the present invention.
One advantage of this aspect of the present invention is that artificial sphincters are provided, which address fecal or urinary incontinence in a patient.
This aspect of the present invention is also advantageous in that an apparatus is provided, which offers a relatively instantaneous way to empty the bladder/lower bowel.
This aspect of the present invention is further advantageous in that artificial urethral and anal sphincters are provided, which are based on electroactive polymers under electronic control. As a result, a pressurized system such as that used in the prior art, with concomitant vulnerability to leakage of the pressurized fluid, is avoided.
Another advantage of this aspect of the present invention is that an artificial lower esophageal sphincter is provided, which compensates for lower esophageal sphincter dysfunction in a patient.
Another advantage this aspect of the present invention is that a long-term cure for GERD is provided.
A further advantage of this aspect of the present invention is that an artificial lower esophageal sphincter is provided, which is based on electroactive polymers under electronic control.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an artificial muscle patch is provided, which is adapted to be implanted adjacent a patient""s heart. The artificial muscle patch comprises: (a) one or more electroactive polymer actuators; and (b) a control unit for electrically controlling the one or more electroactive polymer actuators to expand or contract the artificial muscle patch.
As above, the one or more electroactive polymer actuators of the artificial muscle patch can beneficially comprise (a) one or more active members, (b) a counter-electrode, and (c) an electrolyte disposed between the active member and the counter-electrode. In some preferred embodiments, the active members are disposed upon one or more substrate layers. The active members can be provided in numerous configurations on the substrate layer(s), including nonlinear configurations that are capable of exerting force vectors along at last two axes, for example, an S-shaped configuration. The substrate layer(s) can be insulating or conductive in nature. Where insulating, it may be preferred to provide conductive lines on the substrate layer(s) to allow electrical communication between active members and the power source. In certain embodiments, the patch will also further comprise a barrier layer and/or a mesh layer.
The action of the artificial muscle patch of the present invention can be controlled using a variety of control units, for example, (a) a power source and a simple switch or (b) power source and a logic/control device such as a computer.
The artificial muscle patch can further comprise a sensing system for detecting a patient""s heartbeat, in which case the control unit preferably paces the contraction and expansion of the electroactive polymer actuators with the heartbeat.
Alternatively, the control unit can pace both the heart as well as the contraction and expansion of said electroactive polymer actuators.
Other embodiments are directed to the treatment of congestive heart failure by implanting into a patient an artificial muscle patch in accordance with the present invention.
One advantage of this aspect of the present invention is that an artificial muscle patch is provided, which is based on electroactive polymers under electronic control.
Another advantage of this aspect of the present invention is that a device is provided, which can supply cardiac constraint and, if desired, can be electrically paced to improve cardiac performance.
A further advantage of this aspect of the present invention is that a device is provided, which can supply cardiac constraint via a procedure that is considerably less invasive and more simplified that many prior art techniques for surgically addressing congestive heart failure.
These and other embodiments and advantages will become immediately apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the Detailed Description and claims to follow.

Electroactive polymer based artificial sphincters and artificial muscle patches


A method of creating a statistical model for use in predicting vision correction prescriptions for patients is disclosed. The method comprises obtaining a plurality of wavefront aberration measurements from a plurality of patient's eyes, obtaining a plurality of visual acuity measurements from the plurality of patients, applying values associated with the plurality of wavefront measurements to an input layer of a statistical model, applying values associated with the plurality of visual acuity measurements to an output layer of the statistical model, and generating a plurality of weight values associated with respective nodes of the statistical model based on the applied values associated with the plurality of wavefront measurements and corresponding values associated with the plurality of visual acuity measurements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for correcting aberrations of the human eye. More particularly, the invention relates to method and system for statistically correlating objective measurements of aberrations associated with the human eye with subjective measurements of visual acuity to create a statistical model that can be used to predict vision correction prescriptions based at least in part on objectively measured aberrations of a patient's eye.
2. Description of the Related Art
The human eye, namely the cornea and lens, can exhibit a variety of optical aberrations that diminish the optical performance of the eye, resulting in blurred vision. The correction of blurred vision by lenses has typically been limited to correction of low order aberrations only, such as defocus and astigmatism. Traditionally, high order aberrations, e.g. those describable with Zernike polynomials of the third order or higher, could not be corrected using lenses. In addition, due to lens manufacturing limitations and expenses, defocus and astigmatism are typically only corrected in discrete steps, with any correction being made to the nearest one quarter (¼) diopter. Unfortunately, the resolution of one quarter (¼) diopter results in incomplete vision corrections and limits the performance of the patient's eye.
Recently, systems employing wavefront aberrometry, such as described in the co-pending patent applications incorporated herein, have enabled the high order aberrations in a patient's eyes to be measured objectively, accurately, and rapidly. When coupled with a custom aberrator that is adapted to correct some or all of the high order aberrations in a patient's eyes, such as also described in the co-pending patent applications incorporated herein, a patient's visual acuity may be improved to as well as 20/10.

System and method for analyzing wavefront aberrations


Measuring a shape of an optical surface (14) of a test object (12) includes: providing an interferometric measuring device (16) generating a measurement wave (18); arranging the measuring device (16) and the test object (12) consecutively at different measurement positions relative to each other, such that different regions (20) of the optical surface (14) are illuminated by the measurement wave (18); measuring positional coordinates of the measuring device (16) at the different measurement positions in relation to the test object (12); obtaining surface region measurements by interferometrically measuring the wavefront of the measurement wave (18) after interaction with the respective region (20) of the optical surface (14) using the measuring device (16) in each of the measurement positions; and determining the actual shape of the optical surface (14) by computationally combining the surface region measurements based on the measured positional coordinates of the measuring device (16) at each of the measurement positions.

The present invention relates to the technical field of manufacturing optical elements and testing of optical elements using a measuring apparatus like, for example, an interferometer. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of measuring a shape of an optical surface of a test object, an interferometric measuring device configured for measuring a shape of an optical surface of a test object, a method of qualifying a wave shaping element having a wave shaping surface and an optical element manufactured using the above method or the above interferometric measuring device.
The optical element can for example be an optical lens or an optical mirror used in an optical system, such as a telescope used in astronomy or a projection optical system used for imaging structures, such as structures disposed on a mask or reticle, onto a radiation sensitive substrate, such as a resist on a wafer, in a microlithographic method. The performance of such an optical system largely depends on the accuracy with which the optical surface can be processed or manufactured to have a target shape determined by a designer of the optical system. In such manufacture it is necessary to compare the shape of the processed optical surface with its target shape, and to determine differences between the processed surface and the target surface. The optical surface may then be further processed at those portions at which differences between the machined and target surfaces exceed for example predefined thresholds.
In a conventional method, an optical test surface, which can be of aspherical shape, is disposed in a beam path of incoming measuring light of an interferometer. The interferometer comprises a wave shaping element, also called compensation system, that shapes the beam of the measuring light such that the measuring light is substantially orthogonally incident on the optical surface at each location thereof. Thus, the wavefront of the measuring light has substantially the same shape as the surface shape of the optical surface, on which the measuring light is orthogonally incident. Compensation systems are also referred to as null-lenses, null-lens systems, K-systems and null-correctors. Background information relating to such compensating systems is available for example from chapter 12 of the text book of Daniel Malacara "Optical Shop Testing", 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1992.
For testing complex aspheres often computer generated holograms (CGHs) are used as compensation systems. For obtaining a highly precise measurement of the shape of the optical test surface all manufacturing errors of the elements in the cavity of the measuring interferometer have to be known precisely. Alternatively, a calibration asphere can be used for calibrating such errors. Often, however, such a calibration asphere is not available. Sometimes a CGH operated in transmission followed by a mirror is used as a calibration object for calibrating the interferometer. The accuracy of the calibration CGH, however, is not better than the accuracy of the compensation system. It is further necessary, to align the calibration CGH to the mirror, which is another source of errors.
Mid-spatial-frequency deviations of the wave front generated by a compensation system in form of a CGH can be caused e.g. by the electron beam writing process. Single writing fields are shifted relative to each other, such that the CGH-structure deviates from section to section laterally from its target position. Further reasons can be local manufacturing errors of the CGH, e.g. protruding structural parts, modified shoulder angles, foreign particles or other defects.

Method of measuring a shape of an optical surface based on computationally combined surface region measurements and interferometric measuring device


The invention relates to a process for preparing gel-type cation exchangers of high stability by sulfonation of crosslinked (meth)acrylic ester-containing bead polymers with sulfuric acid having a concentration of 90 to 95% in the absence of a swelling agent.

The invention relates to a process for preparing strongly acidic gel-type cation exchangers of high stability by sulfonation, without a swelling agent, of (meth)acrylic ester-containing bead polymers.
Cation exchangers may be obtained by functionalizing crosslinked styrene bead polymers. In the functionalization, by reacting aromatic units of the polymer backbone with a sulfonating agent, for example, sulfuric acid, covalently bound sulfonic acid groups are produced.
Because of the differing polarity of the bead polymer and the sulfonating agent, the reaction of the bead polymer with the sulfonating agent is inhibited or greatly retarded. For this reason, generally, a swelling agent is added to improve the reaction kinetics. Suitable swelling agents in this context are primarily chlorinated swelling agents, such as dichloromethane, dichloroethane, or dichloropropane.
The use of chlorinated compounds as swelling agents in sulfonation is undesirable for economic reasons and particularly for ecological reasons.
There has been no lack of attempts to provide bead polymers that can be sulfonated to give strongly acid cation exchangers without addition of swelling agents. Thus, DE-AS 1,233,143, DE-AS 1,227,431, and GB 997,290 describe acrylonitrile-containing bead polymers for sulfonation free of swelling agent. The use of acrylonitrile as comonomer, however, is less expedient for ecological and toxicological reasons.
Other methods for preparing sulfonated beads are known, such as disclosed in copending application Ser. No. 10/059,650. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,652 discloses a process for preparing cation exchangers in which the polymerized suspensions of styrene, divinylbenzene, and (meth)acrylic acid or alkyl (meth)acrylate are sulfonated without swelling agent. However, the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,652 requires as sulfonating agent sulfuric acid at a concentration of 95 to 100%. The use of sulfuric acid at this high concentration is inexpedient, because the reuse of the waste sulfuric acid produced in the sulfonation, which inherently has a lower concentration, is greatly limited. A further disadvantage is the isothermal temperature profile of, for example, 5 hours at 100xc2x0 C., which requires high expenditure on control technology and high energy consumption. In addition, the proportion of broken beads in products according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,652 at 5 to 10% is considerable.
A problem in known cation exchangers is their sometimes inadequate stability under stress. Thus, cation exchange beads can fracture due to mechanical or osmotic forces. For all applications of cation exchangers it is necessary that in the bead shape they must retain their habit and must not be partially or completely broken down in use or disintegrate into fragments. Fragments and bead polymer splinters can, during purification, pass into the solutions to be purified and themselves contaminate these solutions. In addition, the presence of damaged polymer beads is inexpedient for the functioning of the cation exchangers themselves when used in column processes. Splinters lead to an increased pressure drop over the column system and thus decrease the throughput through the column of liquid to be purified.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a simple, robust, and economic process for preparing gel-type cation exchangers of high stability.
The object is achieved by, and the present invention relates to, a process for preparing gel-type cation exchangers of high stability comprising sulfonating (meth)acrylic ester-containing crosslinked bead polymers in the absence of a swelling agent using sulfuric acid having a concentration of from 90 to 95% by weight, wherein the temperature during the sulfonation is increased by the heat of reaction and/or heat of dilution that occurs during the process up to an end temperature of 150 to 170xc2x0 C.
Suitable (meth)acrylic ester-containing crosslinked bead polymers according to the invention are copolymers of styrene, divinylbenzene, and (meth)acrylic esters.
(Meth)acrylic esters, for the purposes of the present invention, are the esters of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid. Those which are preferred according to the invention are C1-C4-alkyl or C1-C4-hydroxyalkyl esters. Particularly preferred (meth)acrylic esters are methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, n-propyl acrylate, isopropyl acrylate, hydroxyethyl acrylate, hydroxypropyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and hydroxypropyl methacrylate. Methyl acrylate is particularly preferably used.
The copolymerized divinylbenzene content in the bead polymer is 2 to 20% by weight, preferably 4 to 12% by weight, particularly preferably 6 to 10% by weight. Technical-grade qualities of divinylbenzene can be used to prepare the bead polymer that, in addition to the isomers of divinylbenzene, contain customary by-products such as ethylvinylbenzene. According to the invention, technical-grade qualities having divinylbenzene contents of 55 to 85% by weight are particularly highly suitable.
(Meth)acrylic ester is present in the bead polymer in copolymerized form in amounts of 1 to 8% by weight, preferably 2 to 6% by weight.
The bead polymers that are suitable according to the invention are prepared by the known method of suspension polymerization. In this case, to a mixture of styrene, divinylbenzene, and (meth)acrylic ester is added at least one free-radical former in an aqueous phase that contains a dispersant, and the mixture is divided into droplets with stirring and cured at elevated temperature.
A particular embodiment of the present invention uses a bead polymer in the preparation of which a mixture of free-radical initiators of differing decomposition temperatures was used. Those which are highly suitable are, for example, mixtures of dibenzoyl peroxide or tert-butyl peroxybenzoate or mixtures of tert-butyl peroxy-2-ethylhexanoate and tert-butyl peroxybenzoate. It is particularly advantageous to increase the polymerization temperature with advancing polymerization conversion rate, for example, from an initial temperature of 60 to 70xc2x0 C. to a final temperature of 90 to 150xc2x0 C.
A further particular embodiment of the present invention uses a bead polymer in the preparation of which a water-soluble cellulose derivative is used as dispersant. Those which are highly suitable are cellulose esters or cellulose ethers, such as carboxymethyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, or hydroxyethyl methyl cellulose. The initial amount of cellulose derivative is generally 0.05 to 1%, based on the water phase, preferably 0.1 to 0.5%.
The particle size of the bead polymer is 100 to 1000 xcexcm, preferably 200 to 500 xcexcm. Not only bead polymers having a wide particle size distribution, but also those having a narrow particle size distributionxe2x80x94or monodisperse bead polymersxe2x80x94can be used. Monodisperse in the context of the present invention means that the quotient of the 90% value and the 10% value of the volume distribution function is less than 2, preferably less than 1.5, particularly preferably less than 1.25.
The bead polymers to be used as starting material according to the invention can have a substantially homogeneous network structure. Those which are preferably suitable according to the invention are also bead polymers having what is termed an IPN structure (InterPenetrating Network), which may be produced by the seed/feed process known from the prior art.
The crosslinked bead polymers are converted to cation exchangers by sulfonation. The sulfonating agent is a sulfuric acid having a concentration of 90 to 95%. It is advantageous to adjust the required acid concentration by admixing sulfuric acid of a higher and a lower concentration, in which case the sulfuric acid of lower concentration that is used is recovered sulfuric acid from earlier sulfonation reactions. The sulfuric acid is preferably mixed in the sulfonation reactor in the presence of the bead polymer to be sulfonated, so that the heat of mixing that occurs is used to heat the reaction mixture.
Surprisingly, it has been found that the temperature profile during the sulfonation is critically important to achieve the inventive effect. In the inventive process, therefore, the sulfonation is initiated at temperatures of 40 to 120xc2x0 C. (preferably 50 to 150xc2x0 C.) and increased, by exploiting the heat of mixing and/or heat of reaction, to 150 to 170xc2x0 C. (preferably to 155 to 165xc2x0 C.).
The ratio of sulfuric acid to bead polymer is 2.5 to 5 ml/g, preferably 2.6 to 4 ml/g, particularly preferably 2.8 to 3.5 ml/g.
In the sulfonation, the reaction mixture is stirred. For this, various agitator types, such as blade, anchor, gate, or turbine agitators, can be used.
After sulfonation, the reaction mixture of sulfonation product and residual acid is cooled to room temperature and diluted first with sulfuric acids of decreasing concentration and then with water.
If desired, the cation exchanger obtained according to the invention can be treated with deionized water in the H form for purification at temperatures of 70 to 180xc2x0 C. (preferably 105 to 130xc2x0 C.).
For many applications it is expedient to convert the inventively prepared cation exchanger from the acid form to the sodium form. This conversion is performed using sodium hydroxide solution at a concentration of 2 to 60% by weight (preferably 4 to 10% by weight) or with aqueous sodium chloride solutions that are 1 to 25% strength by weight (preferably 4 to 10% strength by weight) sodium chloride.
After the conversion, the cation exchangers, for further purification, can be treated with deionized water or aqueous salt solutions, for example, with sodium chloride or sodium sulfate solutions. It has been found here that the treatment at 70 to 150xc2x0 C. (preferably 120 to 135xc2x0 C.) is particularly effective and does not reduce the capacity of the cation exchanger.
However, the present invention also relates to gel-type cation exchangers of high stability obtainable by sulfonation of (meth)acrylic ester-containing crosslinked bead polymers in the absence of swelling agents using a sulfuric acid having a concentration of 90 to 95%, during which sulfonation the temperature is increased by the heat of reaction and/or heat of dilution that occurs during the process up to a final temperature of 150 to 170xc2x0 C.
The cation exchangers obtained by the inventive process are distinguished by particularly high stability. Even after relatively long-term use and repeated regeneration they display no defects on the ion-exchange spheres.
The inventive cation exchangers can be used in a multiplicity of different applications. Thus, for example, they can be used in drinking water treatment, in the production of power station water and ultrapure water (necessary in production of microchips for the computer industry), for the chromatographic separation of sugars (preferably of glucose or fructose), and as catalysts for various chemical reactions (for example, in the preparation of bisphenol A from phenol and acetone).
The following examples further illustrate details for the process of this invention. The invention, which is set forth in the foregoing disclosure, is not to be limited either in spirit or scope by these examples. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that known variations of the conditions of the following procedures can be used. Unless otherwise noted, all temperatures are degrees Celsius and all percentages are percentages by weight.

Process for preparing gel-type cation exchangers


An atomic force microscope (AFM) having a hollowed cantilever ending in a hollowed tip is described, wherein the end of the tip is immersed in a liquid. The AFM includes a gas source that provides and controls the flow of gas into the hollowed tip. The flow rate of the gas is regulated to form and sustain a static bubble at the end of the hollowed tip. The formation of the static bubble is verified optically. A gas control manifold allows an easy switch of gasses that are fed into the probe tip. The gas that is introduced acts like a chemically modified tip, and is selected to increase the deflection signal for the material of interest. The tip of the present invention is a highly versatile AFM tool that is easily adjusted to provide optimized imaging for a wide variety of materials, in contrast with standard AFMs that require a plethora of chemically modified tips to obtain equivalent results. Moreover, there is a much lower propensity for the tip to damage the sample or to be damaged from inadvertent contact with the surface of the sample.

The invention is generally related to an atomic force microscope probe, and more particularly to an AFM probe terminated in a chemically modified tip to amplify forces exerted on the tip due to a stronger attractive or repulsive force between the tip and the surface of a sample.
Atomic force microscopy is extensively used in microelectronics as a characterization tool. Atomic force microscopes (hereinafter AFM) are essentially surface profilometers which use sharp tips and very low forces between the tip and the sample. They also operate in a mode in which the force is attractive and the tip does not touch the surface. Typically, in the microscope, a sharp tip is placed on a flexible lever in contact with the surface. The height of the tip is detected by the tunneling microscope, and this height measurement is used in a feedback loop to move the lever up and down to keep the bending of the lever, and therefore the force on the sample to remain constant.
A prior art representation of an AFM probe is shown in FIG. 1. The AFM cantilever 102 is positioned very close to the surface 103 and is rastered by an x,y translator. During this rastering process, the deflection of the tip of the AFM is detected by means of an interferometric detector 101. With this setup, the tip can be placed directly in contact with the surface (contact mode) or can be placed at a position where the attractive forces between the tip and the surface are at a maximum (non-contact mode).
AFMs generally provide high resolution information about surface contours. Vertical movement of the sensing probe in response to a raster scanning procedure of the sensing probe across the target surface is used for determining the target surface contour. The implementation of the AFM devices is based on the interaction of forces that include atomic, electrical potential, magnetic, capacitive or chemical potential to maintain a constant probe to target surface gap or distance.
In addition to imaging surface contours, AFMs are also used to measure a variety of physical or chemical properties with detail over a range from a few Angstroms to hundreds of microns. For these applications, AFMs provide a lateral and vertical resolution that is not obtainable from any type of device. Examples of applications include imaging or measuring the contour properties of transistors, silicon chips, disk surfaces, crystal, cells and the like.
Generally, in order to provide for an optimal operation of the AFM, the scanning probe is positioned over the target surface at a distance within the same order of magnitude as molecular geometries. That is, a distance of one or two atoms, or an order of magnitude of tens of Angstroms.
Standard atomic force microscopy relies on the hard sphere interactions between a very small probe tip with the sample to be analyzed. The two common AFM modes of operation are contact and non-contact mode. In a contact mode, the tip is in direct contact with the surface while in the non-contact mode the tip remains within nanometers of the sample. The AFM tip brought to within nanometer distances of the surface and scanned in an x,y translational stage, changes in the tip position in the z-direction generates an interaction between the tip and the surface that induces a deflection which is sensed and measured by an interferometric detector. This mode of operation will be referred hereinafter as a 'non-contact mode'.
In contrast, when the top contacts the surface and rides across the surface, the surface morphologies induce deflection of the tip which is sensed by the detector, as previously stated and which will be referred hereinafter as a 'contact mode'. There are two main interactions that occur between the tip and the surface. One interaction is repulsive and the other is attractive. The repulsive force increases as the tip approaches the surface. This force can be explained by the hard sphere repulsions of the tip and the surface. The attractive force is due to a van der Waals type attraction between two species.
To increase the sensitivity between different species that may exist on the sample to be analyzed, probe tips have been manufactured that enhance the interaction between the tip and that material. These tips fall under the general classification of Chemically Modified AFM Tips. They are generally made in many different ways but the net result is that the chemical modification allows for better differentiation between two materials that appear to be the same under normal AFM imaging. In spite of its versatility, the amplification of a signal is achieved only on a small range of materials. Moreover, when different materials are imaged, different tip coatings are typically required. The problem is compounded by the fact that AFM tips are easily damaged due to the close proximity of the tip to the surface of the sample. Since tips are expensive, the cost of replacement becomes significant.
The goal for any imaging technique is to be able to image materials with a greater signal to noise ratio. Regarding AFM imaging, it is known that in order to increase the signal to noise ratio, chemically modified tips are preferably used to amplify the forces exerted on the tip due to stronger attractive or repulsive forces between the tip and the surface of the sample. Chemical modified tips are selected to provide certain functional groups to the end of the tip in order to accentuate the interaction between the tip and the sample. If the functional groups on the surface that is to be analyzed are polar in nature, applying a coating on a tip that is polar will be more beneficial than a non-polar functional group. If the material at the surface changes, the degree of enhancement given by the modification may or may not assist in giving an acceptable image. To attain a higher degree of image quality, quite possibly a new tip with a different tip modification would have to be needed. This becomes costly when the analyst has to routinely handle a wide range of materials.
Moreover, two problems exist with AFM and chemically modified AFM tips. One problem is that since the tips traverse the sample at a very close range, and the potential for the tip to hit the surface and damage the tip and possibly the surface is real. If the tip is significantly damaged, it needs to be replaced because the imaging quality will degrade. Another problem is directly related to the localized benefit that one achieves with chemically modified AFM tips. The tips are modified to increase the sensitivity to small amounts of materials. Basically, amplification is only achieved with materials that have similar chemical characteristics. If a new material that does not fall in that region is to be imaged, a new AFM tip needs to be created or purchased. To create the tip is not a trivial operation and the cost of the new AFM tip is significant, even if one actually exists.
A typical force for a standard AFM is an attractive van der Waals (R−6) force when it operates in a non-contact mode. The repulsive (R−12) force, on the other hand, is of the order of (R−12) when in contact mode. It has been determined that a chemical modification has the potential of contributing an additional (R−4) force to the stated interaction.
Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a plot of the arbitrary energy as a function of the distance between species. As two objects approach each other, an attractive R−6 potential exerts an attractive force between the objects. This attractive force increases as the distance decreases. When the distance becomes sufficiently small, a repulsive hard sphere potential with a radial dependence of R−12 exerts a repulsive force between the objects. In a real situation, the attractive force continues to draw the objects together up to a maximum force shown as the bottom of the curve. At this point, the repulsive potential starts to dampen the attractive force. If the attractive force had a stronger radial dependence, for instance, R−4, then the attractive force at the bottom of the curve will increase significantly. This increased force will generate a much larger deflection of the AFM tip which will be noted strongly by the interferometric detector. This enhanced deflection also gives a better signal to noise ratio since the signal is amplified and the noise remains the same, the noise being, of course, strongly dependent on the interferometer and not on the tip.

Gas filled reactive atomic force microscope probe

International Business Machines Corporation


An electronically active glass has the composition (TxOy)z-(MuOv)w—(Na/LiBO2)t wherein    T is a transition metal selected from V and Mo,    M is a metal selected from Ni, Co, Na, Al, Mn, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ti and mixtures thereof,    x, y, u, and v are the stoichiometric coefficients resulting in a neutral compound, i.e. x=2y/(oxidation state of T) and u=2v/(oxidation state of M),    z, w and t are weight-%, wherein    z is 70-80,    w is 0-20    t is 10-30, and    the sum of z, w and t is 100 weight-%, in particular V2O5—LiBO2 and V2O5—NiO—LiBO2.

At present, Li-ion batteries have mostly LiMO2 (M=Co, Ni, Mn, or combination of these transition metals) cathodes and graphite based anodes. The use of such oxide materials as cathode materials is a setback because of aspects like high cost, low stored energy density and stability. In recent years, LiFePO4 was introduced as a cathode material. This material provided a major improvement and was regarded as the solution for the large scale applications of Li-ion batteries. LiFePO4 operates at 3.5 V with the theoretical capacity of 170 Ah/kg. The PO43− units comprised therein are fixing oxygen in the structure thereby stabilizing the structure. Lacking stability is a problem for LiMO2 cathodes acting as strong oxidizing agents for organic electrolytes. LiFePO4 became a very interesting and popular material, as approx. 1000 papers were published about LiFePO4 in the last five years, and a number of companies started to produce and commercialize LiFePO4 and its composites. However, there is still a large energy density demand required for several applications, like for electric vehicles, and current cathode materials are away from satisfying this demand. Materials with higher specific energy and capacity need to be developed to enable e.g. the large scale use of plug-in electric vehicles.
V2O5 based compounds could be good alternatives for the current cathode materials, and there has been extensive research on V2O5 as a cathode material synthesized by various methods resulting in different morphologies and properties [1-3]. V2O5 theoretically should deliver a capacity of approx. 440 Ah/kg [2] for exchange of three lithium. However, the bulk material is limited by low ionic and electronic conductivity [4], and the major problem for both bulk and nano-V2O5 is irreversible capacity loss upon cycling.
As V2O5 partially transforms into ω-phase (Li3V2O5) upon cycling (LixV2O5 phases are depending on the amount of lithium inserted, α-phase (x<0.01), ε-phase (0.35<x<0.7), δ-phase (x=1), γ-phase (1<x<3) and ω-phase (x=3)) [1,2], an irreversible capacity loss occurs already in the first discharge and the theoretical capacity cannot be reached in subsequent cycles, i.e. once the ω-phase is formed this phase remains even upon withdrawal of the lithium. These problems could be reduced with amorphous-glass V2O5 systems, as some researchers already tried with V2O5—P2O5 glass as a cathode material [5]. Also for boron trioxide (B2O3) based binary, ternary, quaternary V2O5 glass systems, there had been research on vibrational, mechanical, thermal and electrical properties [6-9]. However, the own experiments with boron trioxide revealed that no glass could be obtained at up to 30 wt-% B2O3. Therefore it was the aim of the present invention to provide a boron based glass comprising a low amount of glass forming material or a high amount of cationic active material, respectively.

V2O5—LiBO2, V2O5—NiO—LiBO2 glasses and their composites obtained by nitrogen doping and reduced graphite oxide blending as cathode active materials


A writing instrument including a stick-shaped material propelling mechanism which is capable of propelling a stick-shaped material without relatively rotating the stick-shaped material with a small number of components is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a writing instrument including a stick-shaped material propelling mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as this kind of writing instrument, for example, the ones described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-45513 and in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-25499 are known.
In a propelling pencil described In Japanese Utility model Publication No. 5-45513, a writing shaft body is disposed in an outer barrel, a spiral groove is provided in an inner surface of a rear part of a cylindrical cap, and a rear portion of a cylindrical body is attached to the cylindrical cap so as to be relatively rotatable, a slit is provided at a rear portion of the cylindrical body, an eraser bearer is slidably fitted into the slit, a projection provided at the eraser bearer is screwed into the spiral groove, and a front portion of the cylindrical body is attachable and detachable to and from the outer barrel, relatively unrotatable and movable in an axial direction.
In the propelling pencil described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-25499, a writing body is disposed in an outer barrel, a projection is formed on an inner peripheral surface of a rear end of a lead tank of the writing body, a long groove which is engaged with the projection and a threaded groove are formed on a holder as an eraser bearing, a thread projection mated with the threaded groove of the holder is formed on an inner peripheral surface of a rotary sleeve, and the rotary sleeve is mounted on a rear end portion of the lead tank so as to be relatively rotatable.
In each of the above documents, the eraser held by the eraser bearer is capable of projecting and retracting from the rear end of the rear barrel by relative rotation between the outer barrel and the rear barrel.
However, in the former document, the number of components is large, and in both the documents, the eraser bearer and the rear barrel are screwed in each other, and the eraser held in the eraser bearer is propelled while relatively rotating with respect to the rear barrel, and therefore, there arises the problem that a distance along which the eraser slides in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the rear barrel is long with respect to the propelling amount of the eraser, and therefore, the operation efficiency is low.

Writing instrument including stick-shaped material propelling mechanism

Abstract: The writing instrument includes an outer barrel, a lead feeding mechanism disposed in the outer barrel, and a stick-shaped material propelling mechanism connected to a rear portion of the lead feeding mechanism, a female thread is formed on an inner peripheral surface of a rear portion of a lead tank of the lead feeding mechanism. The stick-shaped material propelling mechanism includes a knock cap connected to the lead feeding mechanism to be relatively rotatable, and a stick-shaped material bearer which is slidable and unrotatable relative to the knock cap and for holding a stick-shaped material, and a male thread which is screwed into the female thread of the lead tank is integrally formed at the stick-shaped bearer.


Polypeptides and polynucleotides useful for detecting, diagnosing, staging, monitoring, prognosticating, in vivo imaging, preventing or treating, or determining the predisposition of an individual to diseases and conditions of the urinary tract, such as urinary cancer, are described. These sequences are derived from keratin/cytokeratin, CAS, or mat-8 polypeptides and polynucleotides. Also provided are antibodies which specifically bind to keratin/cytokeratin, CAS, or mat-8-encoded polypeptides or proteins, which molecules are useful for the therapeutic treatment of urinary tract diseases, tumors or metastases.

The invention relates generally to detecting diseases of the urinary tract. Furthermore, the invention also relates to reagents and methods for detecting diseases of the urinary tract. More particularly, the present invention relates to reagents such as polynucleotide sequences and the polypeptide sequences encoded thereby, as well as methods which utilize these sequences. The polynucleotide and polypeptide sequences are useful for detecting, diagnosing, staging, monitoring, prognosticating, in vivo imaging, preventing or treating, or determining predisposition to diseases or conditions of the urinary tract such as urinary tract cancers.
The organs of the urinary tract include the bladder, kidneys, and ureter. The incidence of urinary tract cancers in the United States is projected to be 86,300 cases diagnosed and 24,700 related deaths to occur during 1998. The most prevalent of the urinary tract cancers is bladder cancer, with projections of 54,400 new cases diagnosed and 12,500 related deaths to occur during 1998 (American Cancer Society statistics). Bladder tumors are heterogeneous in their ability to progress and are characterized by a high rate of recurrence. Hence, bladder cancer patients are monitored closely following their initial treatment.
Diseases such as bladder cancer traditionally have been diagnosed by appearance of blood in urine (hematuria) and confirmed by more detailed visualization of cells in biopsy samples under a microscope by highly trained personnel. The standard surveillance technique to detect recurrent bladder cancer is cystoscopy. Flexible cystoscopes have made cystoscopy more acceptable to patients but the method remains invasive. Efforts to replace cystoscopy by examining voided urine for tumor cells have included cytopathology and flow cytometry but the sensitivities are not high enough to detect the majority of recurrence, particularly those that are well or moderately differentiated. Cost also limits their use as adjuncts to cystoscopy. Other urinary markers that might be useful for diagnosing recurrences are being developed, including nonspecific markers, such as various growth factors, immune complexes and tumor-related proteins. However, to date, no single test has proved reliable enough to gain widespread acceptance. In particular, no test to date has sufficient simplicity, sensitivity, specificity and cost effectiveness to warrant pre-symptomatic screening.
Following is a more detailed summary of methods and markers in urine that have been used for detection of bladder tumors, and their limitations: Hematuria is found in up to 20% of a target population (Mariani A J, Mariani M C, Macchioni C, Stams U K, Hariharan A, Moriera A. J Urol 141:350-355, 1989; Messing E M, Young T B, Hunt V B, Roecker E B, Vailiancourt A M, Hisgen W J, Greenberg E B, Kuglitsch M E, Wegenke, J D: J Urol 148:289-292, 1992; and Britton J P, Dowell A C, Whelan P, Harris C M. J Urol 148:788-790, 1992), and 4-9% of those will have malignancy. In one of the most recent studies, the BTA (basement membrane complexes) test showed sensitivity of 40%, 96% specificity for healthy volunteers and 80-90% specificity for patients with non-malignant genitourinary disease (Sarosdy M F, deVere White R W, Soloway M S, Sheinfeld J, Hudson M A, Schelihammer P F, Jarowenko M V, Adams G, Blumenstein B A: J Urol 154:379-384, 1995). Urinary basement membrane antigens have been found higher in invasive cancer, with sensitivity 58% and specificity 96% (Abou Farha K M M, Janknegt R A, Kester A D M, Arendt J W: Urol Int 50 133-140, 1993). The Aura-Tek FDP dipstick showed 69% sensitivity with a patient population and 96% specificity with a healthy population (Schmetter B S, Habicht K K, Lamm D L, Morales A, Grossman H B, Bander N, Hanna M G, Butman BR : J Urol 155:492A, 1996). Nuclear matrix protein NMP22 showed considerable overlap between patients with tumors and benign urological conditions (Carpinita G A, Stadler W M, Briggman J V, Chodak G W, Church P A, Lamm D L, Lange P H, Messing E M, Pasciak R M, Reservitz G B, Ross R N, Rukstalis D B, Sarosday M F, Soloway M S, Thiel R P, Vogelzang N, Hayden C L: J Urol 156:1280-1285, 1996). Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) has been shown to occur in urine of some patients with bladder cancer, but the potential diagnostic utility is unclear (Wahren B, Edsmyr F: Urol Res 6:221-224, 1978). High levels of autocrine motility factor (AMF) have been detected in urine of patients with bladder cancer, showing correlation with stage and grade, but the clinical utility has not been established (Guirguis R, Schiffman E, Liu B, Birbeck D, Engel J, Liotta L: J Nat Cancer Inst 80:1203-1211, 1988). Similarly, high levels of fibroblast growth factors (FGF) have been found in urine of some bladder cancer patients (O'Brien T S, Smith K, Cranston D, Fuggle S, Bicknell R, Harods A L: Brit J Urol 76:311-314, 1995; Nguyen M, Watanabe H, Budson E, Richie J P, Folkman J: J Nat Cancer Inst 85:241-242, 1993; Chopin D K, Caruelle J-P, Colmbel M, Pallcy S, Ravery V, Caruelle D, Abbout C C, Bardtault D: J Urol 160:1126-1130, 1991). Further, high urinary levels of Scatter Factor/Hepatocyte Growth Factor (SF/HGF) have been reported in patients with bladder cancer, but the data is as yet unconfirmed (Joseph A, Weiss G H, Lin L, Fuchs A, Chowdhury S, O'Shaugnessy P, Goldbert I D, Rosen E M: J Nat Cancer Inst 87:372-377, 1995). In one unconfirmed report, urinary type IV collagenase has been found to be higher in urine from patients with invasive cancers (Margulies I M K, Hoyhtya M, Evans C, Stracke M L, Liotaa L A, Stetler-Stevenson W G: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 1:467-474, 1992). Hyaluronic acid has recently been proposed as a 93% specific and 92% sensitive marker (Lokeshwar V B, Obeck C, Soloway M S, Block N L: Cancer res 57, 774-777, 1997), but the data remains to be confirmed by larger studies. Patent application EP 0678744A2 describes a urinary tumor associated protein which is characterized by being immunogenic in cancer patients. The antigen was not characterized in detail, and is unlikely to be a member of the keratin/cytokeratin family, since these are not known to be immunogenic in cancer patients. There is thus a great effort to discover specific urinary markers, but none have become routinely established.
Assays for urinary tumor markers based on proteins of the keratin/cytokeratin family have been described. Some of these assays use uncharacterized antibodies while others use antibodies with defined specificity. As suggested below, the basis of these assays appears to be selective release of soluble peptide fragments by tumorous cells. Furthermore, the literature suggests that keratins and cytokeratins are characteristic of the differentiated state of cells, and, where present, are indicative of the normal cellular origin of the tumor, not of the state of de-differentiation. Indeed, Nagle [Cancer & Metastasis Rev. 15:473-482 (1996)] states that intermediate filaments in general, including the cytokeratins as a class, are valuable markers for distinguishing the cellular origin of various undifferentiated neoplasms.
Sundstrom and Stigbrand (International Journal of Biological markers, 9, 102-108, 1994) state that cytokeratin markers are characteristic of the expression patterns of normal epithelial cells and the retention of the pattern is a useful means for classifying tumors. These authors also describe Tissue Polypeptide Antigen (TPA) as a complex of cytokeratins 8, 18 and 19. Carbin, Eckman and Eneroth (Urol Res 17, 269-272, 1989) state that TPA in serum and urine is the result of increased turnover and autolysis of malignant cells. Because of the poly-specificity of the TPA assays, any selectivity due to de novo synthesis would not be apparent, and, should only be detectable with specificity using probes or antibodies to epitopes which are unique for the specific keratin/cytokeratins which are up-regulated in the cancerous tissue. U.S. Pat. No. 533,832 describes a monoclonal antibody with reactivity to cytokeratins 8, 18 and 19, which they suggest might be useful for diagnosing cancer. There is no discussion of up-regulated proteins indicative of bladder cancer.
Attempts have been made to improve the specificity of assays by using TPA in combination with other markers (Halim A B, El-Amahdy O, Hamza S, Aboul-Ela M, Oehr P: International Journal of Biological markers, 7, 234-239, 1992; Casetta G, Piana P, Cavallini A, Vottero M, Tizzani A: Brit J Urol 72, 60-64, 1993). The specificity is still inadequate since false positives due to urinary tract infections may occur. Further, a diagnostic test based on a single marker is preferable to an assay using three markers. There have also been attempts to improve the TPA assay by the use of monoclonal antibodies (Sundstrom B E, d'Amico Y, Brundell J: Int J Biol Markers, 10, 166-173, 1995). However, these monoclonal antibodies were used only in an attempto mimic the oligo-specificity of the polyclonal antibody assay, and not to improve the specificity by looking at specific peptides up-regulated in the cancerous tissue.
Keratin 18 has been proposed for use as a target in more specific assays (Baker W C, White R D, Rossito P V, Min B H, Cardiff R D: J Urol 140, 436-439, 1988). However, the monoclonal antibodies used had cross-reactivity with keratin 8 (Rossito P V, Chan R, Strand M A, Miller C H, Baker W C, Deitsch A D, Devere White R, Cardiff R D: J Urol 140, 431-435, 1988). Furthermore, limited sensitivity and specificity was noted. Patent application PCT 95/31728 describes specific epitopes characteristic of cytokeratin 18 and detectable amounts of these epitopes in the serum of bladder cancer patients. However, the utility using these specific epitopes may be limited because of the specificity of the epitopes described. Further there is no suggestion of a general approach to look for keratins/cytokeratins up-regulated in bladder tumors. A commercial kit is available for cytokeratin 19, under the name Cyfra 21-1. With that kit, problems occur due to the occurrence of cells and cell debris in urine which must be first removed in order to determine soluble fragments (Dittado R, Bariolli P, Gion M, Mione R, Barichello M, Capitanio G, Cocco G, Cazzolato G, de Biasi F, Praturlon F, Antinozzi R, Gianneo E: Clin Chem 42, 1634-1638, 1996). False positives were obtained in patients with cystitis (Senga Y, Kimura G, Hattori T, Yoshida K: Urology 48, 703-710, 1996). None of the above works determined the merits of markers which are specifically up-regulated in bladder tumors. In a comprehensive study, Moll et al (Moll R, Achtstatter T, Balcarova-Stander J, Ittensohn M and Franke WW: Amer J Pathol 132, 123-144, 1988) showed that cytokeratins 7, 8, 13, 19 are present in normal urothelium, and that 13 was greatly reduced in grade three transitional cell carcinoma. No mention was made of any species being present in increased amounts in the cancer.
Brinkman et al (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1995 October 24;92(22): 10427-10431) have discovered a gene referred to as CAS (cellular apoptosis susceptibility). They have also observed that this gene is amplified and has increased expression in certain tumorous cell lines from leukemia, colon and breast cancer (Genome Res 1996 March; 6(3): 187-194). See, also, PCT Publication No. WO 9640713.
Morrison et al (Oncogene 1994, vol 9 pp 3417-3426, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol 270, pp 2176-2182) have described a class of proteins which are expressed in tumors initiated by the oncogene neu but absent from those initiated by c-myc. One of these, a chloride channel protein, mat-8, was proposed as having diagnostic utility for breast cancer (PCT application WO96/05322).
However, to date, there has been no suggestion for using the above proteins as diagnostic markers for urinary tract diseases.

Reagents and methods useful for detecting diseases of the urinary tract


A method including generating, by a terminal, a creation request containing game information, sending, by the terminal, the creation request to a game server, receiving, by the terminal, a graphic information code generated by a management server according to the game information, and displaying the graphic information code on the terminal.

Virtual electronic games provided through computers, handheld devices, or other electronic devices are very common. These games provide users with convenient and efficient ways of recreation.
Various gaming platforms are provided to satisfy different user needs. A conventional game platform, such as a game hall, allows various users who are interested in a same game to play together. For example, in card games, by providing, e.g., a "room number" and a "table number," multiple users can be brought together to play games.
With conventional technologies, even if two users stay together and use a same game hall, once one user creates a game, it is still necessary for him/her to provide the other user with the identification and address of the game, by for example verbal notice or instant messages, such that the other user can find the created game by manual search or by entering the game address in the corresponding game directory. The conventional methods require manual operation, and are relatively time-consuming.

Game accessing method and processing method, server, terminal, and system

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer readable media may be configured to facilitate prioritization of vehicle navigation. One or more vehicles in an environment of a priority vehicle may be identified. Priorities of the vehicle(s) and the priority vehicle may be determined. A desired navigation of the priority vehicle in the environment may be determined based on the priorities of the vehicle(s) and the priority vehicle. An instruction may be provided to at least one of the vehicle(s) based on the desired navigation of the priority vehicle in the environment. The instruction may characterize one or more maneuvers to be performed by the at least one of the vehicle(s) to facilitate the desired navigation of the priority vehicle.

Under conventional approaches, autonomous vehicles may be managed in a collective manner to provide for efficient use of resources. For example, autonomous vehicles may be maneuvered based on traffic conditions to minimize collective travel times for the autonomous vehicles. However, such collective management of autonomous vehicles may not account for the urgency with which one or more of the autonomous vehicles may have to travel. Moreover, presence of non-autonomous vehicles on the road may interfere with collective management of autonomous vehicles on the road.


The present disclosure is related to multidimensional contiguous memory allocation. Multidimensional contiguous memory allocation can include receiving an allocation request for an amount of memory that is contiguous in a multiple dimensions of the memory and determining whether the memory includes a region corresponding to the requested amount that is a candidate as being unallocated based on information indicating a maximum number of contiguous unallocated allocable portions of the memory. In response to determining that the memory includes the candidate region, the method can include determining whether the candidate region is unallocated based on a subset of information indicating whether each allocable portion of the memory is allocated. The subset of information corresponds to the candidate region only.

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in computing systems or other electronic devices. There are many different types of memory including volatile and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory can require power to maintain its data (e.g., user data, error data, etc.) and includes random-access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), among others. Non-volatile memory can provide persistent data by retaining stored data when not powered and can include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, read only memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), and resistance variable memory such as phase change random access memory (PCRAM), resistive random access memory (RRAM), and magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), such as spin torque transfer random access memory (STT RAM), among others.
Computing systems often include a number of processing resources (e.g., one or more processors), which may retrieve and execute instructions and store the results of the executed instructions to a suitable location. A processing resource can comprise a number of functional units (e.g., herein referred to as functional unit circuitry (FUC)) such as arithmetic logic unit (ALU) circuitry, floating point unit (FPU) circuitry, and/or a combinatorial logic block, for example, which can execute instructions to perform logical operations such as AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, and XOR logical operations on data (e.g., one or more operands).
A number of components in a computing system may be involved in providing instructions to the functional unit circuitry for execution. The instructions may be generated, for instance, by a processing resource such as a controller and/or host processing resource. Data (e.g., the operands on which the instructions will be executed to perform the logical operations) may be stored in a memory array that is accessible by the FUC. The instructions and/or data may be retrieved from the memory array and sequenced and/or buffered before the FUC begins to execute instructions on the data. Furthermore, as different types of operations may be executed in one or multiple clock cycles through the FUC, intermediate results of the operations and/or data may also be sequenced and/or buffered. In many instances, the processing resources (e.g., processor and/or associated FUC) may be external to the memory array, and data can be accessed (e.g., via a bus between the processing resources and the memory array to execute instructions). Data can be moved from the memory array to registers external to the memory array via a bus.
Virtual memory is a memory mapping technique that is implemented using both hardware and software. It maps memory addresses used by a program, called virtual addresses, into physical addresses in physical memory. The memory space, as seen by a process or task, appears as contiguous address space or a collection of contiguous segments. An operating system manages virtual address spaces and the assignment of physical memory to virtual memory. Software within the operating system may extent these capabilities to provide a virtual address space that can exceed the capacity of real memory and thus reference more than is physically present. Some benefits of virtual memory include freeing applications from having to manage a shared memory space, increased security due to memory isolation, and being able to conceptually use more memory than might be physically available.


Methods and apparatus (systems) are set forth for enabling bingo (and similar games of chance, referred to hereinafter collectively as "bingo") to be played in real time at locations which are remote (geographically separated in a physical sense) from the location where the numbers (or more generally symbols) used to play a bingo type of game are being selected. The disclosed methods and apparatus are directed to both passive and interactive systems which allow bingo to be played from the aforementioned remote locations.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to games of chance such as bingo and the like. More particularly, one aspect of the invention relates to methods and apparatus for enabling bingo (and similar games of chance, referred to hereinafter collectively as "bingo") to be played in real time at locations which are remote (geographically separated in a physical sense) from the location where the numbers (or more generally symbols) used to play a bingo type of game are being selected. Being able to play bingo in real time, at the aforementioned remote locations, is defined herein as the ability to play bingo over a "wide geographic area". A further aspect of the invention is directed to interactive systems which support playing bingo over a wide geographic area.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In bingo and similar games of chance the basic elements of the game are a gaming board (or card) and a random number (or symbol) generating device. The gaming board can be a square array of symbols (with the term "symbol" being defined herein to include numbers), usually a 5.times.5 numerical array, with the centermost location being blank or termed a "free space". The game is generally played with either 75 or 90 numbers. Each column in the array is usually limited to only one-fifth of the numbers, e.g., the first column numbers are taken from the group 1 to 15 in the event 75 numbers are used, and 1 to 18 if 90 numbers are used; the second column numbers are taken from the group 16 to 30 or 19 to 36, and so on. Further, duplicate numbers cannot appear on a gaming card.
When the game is being played, the game operator specifies a shape or pattern to be formed on the gaming card by randomly generated numbers (or other legal symbols), and then proceeds to call the symbols generated at random (such as, for example, the numbers between 1 and 75, or 1 and 90, etc.). If a symbol called coincides with one on a player's board, the player marks the symbol in some fashion on his board. The object of the game is to be the first player to have a set of randomly called symbols coincide with the marked symbols on the player's board so as to form the specified shape or pattern.
The specified shape or pattern may be an X, T, L, a diagonal line, five symbols horizontally or vertically, and so on. Several of these games, usually between twelve and eighteen, constitute a bingo program or session which is played during the course of an evening over several hours. The games are played consecutively and essentially without any major interruption except possibly for intermissions.
These games have long been played at churches, in schools, at bingo halls on Indian reservations, and at other centralized facilities, to raise money for charity or to profit the institution sponsoring the gaming session where gambling is legal.
The participants typically go to the central facility where the gaming session is to be held, pay an admission charge and purchase one or more game boards each having at least one fixed numerical array printed thereon.
In some instances it is difficult or impossible for individuals who would like to participate in a game of bingo to go to central facility where the bingo session is scheduled to be played. For example, there are instances where individuals are unable to secure transportation to the facility. In some cases, people who are confined to a hospital or nursing home cannot physically attend a bingo session. In still other situations, individuals are not able to leave their homes due to illness or other responsibilities and although they desire to participate in a bingo session, support a charitable event, engage in a participatory form of entertainment, etc., they are presently unable to do so. These problems exist because no methods and apparatus (systems) are presently known which support the playing of bingo like games over a wide geographic area.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus for enabling bingo to be played in real time at locations which are remote from the location where the numbers (or other symbols) used to play a bingo type of game are being selected.
A further problem exists with the type of bingo games currently played at centralized facilities. These games have long been played with boards which have a fixed printed numerical array. Players select from a large number of preprinted boards and, therefore, are unable to create and play an array of their own choosing and determination.
While some games have been played with blank paper boards that are filled in with numbers (or other symbols) of the player's own choosing, the cards are limited in size and can essentially be used only once since the player marks out the numbers (or other symbols) called with an ink dauber or like, means. This type of random array selection results in an inefficiency of operation for playing consecutive games on a minimum interruption basis.
This inefficiency affects not only the game operator, who must find and check a copy of the marked paper boards which are collected to avoid an unauthorized change in the numbers (or other symbols) once the game has started, but also the player, who must prepare a new board prior to each game. These actions require time and detract from the desired even, and essentially uninterrupted, flow of a successful bingo program. It is mainly for these reasons that the blank board approach has been used only for single games and then generally only for the first game of the bingo program.
Another important consideration when playing bingo at either a central facility or from remote locations is to provide a gaming board which cannot be changed without the knowledge of the game operator, which provides an indication that it was acquired for use in the particular program being conducted, and which can be checked quickly in the event a winning combination occurs on a board.
Furthermore, during a typical bingo program, the shape of the winning array generally varies from one game to the next and players having several cards to "mark" may loose track of numbers (or other symbols) called of may not be responsive enough in their marking effort to keep up with the progress of the game. Therefore, it may be desirable for the player to be provided with an automatic indication of when a match of the pattern being played for has occurred in one of the game arrays that have been sold.
Recently, electronic gaming boards have been developed which permit a player to select his own numbers and to display the shape of a winning array. These boards signal the player when a winning array has been achieved on his board. An electronic gaming board of this type is more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,810, issued to John Richardson on Dec. 28, 1982. Other advantageous electronic gaming systems and components thereof are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,848,771, 5,007,649 and 5,043,887, all issued in the name of John Richardson; and 5,072,381, issued in the name of Richardson et al. These patents are all hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,771, to Richardson, entitled "Gaming System With Session Master And Gaming Boards", issued Jul. 18, 1989, describes an automatic gaming system for games of chance, employing electronic game boards in conjunction with a system base station for downloading game card arrays into the electronic game board units, and validation units.
The game card arrays are downloaded into the electronic game boards during an initialization process in which the base station creates a gaming schedule, including win pattern definitions, pay out levels, etc. The validation units are also initialized by the base station and are used to check win claims by physically coupling a validation unit to an electronic game board and checking a validation code originally downloaded to both units by the base station.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,649, to Richardson, entitled "Gaming System With System Base Station And Gaming Boards", issued Apr. 16, 1991, describes an electronic gaming system that includes a base station capable of downloading game card arrays into an electronic game board. The game cards are stored in the base station as a gaming card library. The 24 numbers (or symbols) for each array, ranging from 1 to 75 (or 1 to 90), are packed into 12 bytes. In a total of 600,000 bytes, 50,000 gaming cards are stored, each 12 bytes long.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,887, to Richardson, entitled "Automatic Downloading Of Bingo Cards", issued Aug. 27, 1991, describes a gaming system that employs a base station, including game card array production means, and a plurality of gaming boards designed to exchange information with the system base station (via a cable connection to a communications port physically included as part of the base station means), store game card arrays downloaded from the base station, and means for actually playing the game as numbers are selected.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,381, to Richardson et al., entitled "Automatic Downloading Of Bingo Cards With Algorithm For Generating Bingo Cards", issued Dec. 10, 1991, describes an electronic gaming system including a base station which stores game card arrays in individual records as a gaming card library, and which employs an algorithm to generate cards which ensures that numerical arrays of consecutive adjacent gaming arrays in the library, differ by more than one array entry.
None of the aforementioned patents is directed to methods and apparatus which permit a bingo like game to be played over a wide geographic area. In fact, all of the aforementioned patents teach away from such a system. It should be noted, for example, that the initialization and win verification procedures described in the incorporated references require that the electronic game boards, the verification units and the system base station means, all (at different times) be physically coupled to one another via detachable cable connections made at the central facility where the bingo session is being held. This is necessary so that these units can be operated in accordance with the teachings set forth in the incorporated reference.
For example, a cable must be attached to each electronic game board and must be plugged into the system base station, for the electronic game board to accept game card arrays and instructions downloaded from the system base station; the verification units must be physically coupled via a cable to each winning electronic game board (after a win is signalled) to verify that a genuine winning array has been sold, etc.
Furthermore, the electronic bingo system contemplated by the incorporated references requires the use of expensive components, such as the electronic game boards and verification units per se, which because of their cost do not lend themselves to being safely and securely removed from the central facility. Such units would be expensive to replace if lost, stolen or damaged.
Still further, the electronic bingo system components taught in the incorporated references would be expensive for the average game participant to purchase if used in playing bingo from, for example, a participant's home, assuming the communications and security problems associated with using such equipment to play bingo over a wide geographic area could be solved. These problems include, for example, competition for communications resources when downloading information to the electronic game boards, keeping track of inputs to a centralized base station by participants as a game is being played, detecting tampering of the data in or electronics associated with a given electronic game board, physically performing the win verification functions suggested by the incorporated references over a wide geographic area, etc.
For all of the aforementioned reasons, the type of systems described in the incorporated references, although illustrating the state of the art and teaching the components of an electronic bingo system (including electronic game boards, win verification units and centralized base station means capable of sequencing through a bingo game session, creating and storing game card arrays, downloading such arrays upon request, etc.), do not teach methods or apparatus suitable for playing bingo over a wide geographic area.
The present state of the art regarding games of chance which can be played from remote locations on an interactive basis may be illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,760,527, and 4,926,327, both to Sidley, entitled "System For Interactively Playing Poker With A Plurality Of Players" (issued Jul. 26, 1988), and "Computerized Gaming System" (issued May 15, 1990), respectively. These patents, hereby incorporated by reference, describe an electronic system for playing a card game of poker which permits interactive wagering among a plurality of players.
The system taught by Sidley exemplifies an interactive network which allows a plurality of players to compete against one another. However, only a limited number of players are allowed to compete at any one time (52 in total), and the teachings of Sidley require that all players be interconnected via a plurality of consoles (one for each player) which are all coupled to a central computer unit. The communications problems inherent in physically interconnecting a large number of players (hundreds or even thousands of players) to compete in real time, are serious; particularly if all the players compete for system resources within a short time window, such as the time interval between when numbers (or other symbols) are called during a bingo game.
Furthermore, the interactive systems taught in the Sidley references do not support the playing of a bingo like game per se.
For these reasons, although Sidley describes an interactive gaming system, the system is not suitable for supporting the playing of bingo over a wide geographic area on either a passive or interactive basis.
Finally, it should be noted that commercially available point of sale units for selling games of chance from remote locations presently exist, such as those manufactured by General Instrument Corporation, and are suitable for engaging in on-line communications with a centralized computing system that maintains records of a game of chance, in particular lottery games.
Using such on-line point of sale terminals, lottery tickets are commonly sold for playing "numbers" type games, such as picking a 3 digit number out of the 1,000 possible combinations of three digits, picking 6 out of 40 numbers, etc. The various combinations and permutations of selected numbers chosen by lottery players constitute bets which result in both either fixed or computed pay out levels usually determined by the number of tickets sold.
While such remote terminals are well known for procuring lottery tickets and offering such tickets to participants in a lottery drawing on either a "quick pick" basis (i.e., where the computer to which the terminal is coupled randomly generates the sequence of numbers to appear on the lottery ticket), and a "purchaser choice" basis (i.e., where the purchaser specifies the set of numbers that he or she is interested in playing); there is no known use of such a point of sale terminal to sell a bingo type game over a wide geographic area.
Accordingly, in addition to the other desirable aspects of methods and apparatus for playing bingo type games as set forth hereinabove, it would be desirable to provide a system (including methods and apparatus to perform the desired functions of such a system) that supports the playing of bingo type games, over a wide geographic area, which combines techniques and equipment for generating bingo game card arrays in response to a player's request for one or more game cards, with techniques and equipment used for the on-line generation of gaming tickets at a plurality of locations.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide a system that combines the aforementioned techniques and equipment for generating game card arrays in response to user requests, with techniques and equipment for keeping track of all arrays sold; and to further combine in such a system, methods and apparatus for sequencing through a bingo schedule (playing a set of bingo games), and for communicating the random symbols generated for each game in progress over a wide geographic area. Such a combined system would enable the participation in bingo games of people situated at locations other than the actual location where the symbols are being generated.
Still further, it would be desirable to provide at least one version of a system for supporting the playing of bingo over a wide geographic area, which is an "interactive" system. Such a system would contemplate user inputs while a bingo session is in progress. Furthermore, an interactive system would enhance the users overall entertainment from and participation in a game of bingo being played, particularly when compared to other passive types of games of chance, such as a lottery.
Further yet, it would be desirable to provide a system for playing bingo over a wide geographic area that enables players to play by subscription, i.e., where advance orders for game card arrays could be easily accommodated, along with sales from the aforementioned on-line point of sale terminals.
Yet another desirable aspect of a system that supports playing bingo over a wide geographic area would be a feature that allows an electronic version of the game to be played. That is, a system that utilizes the aforementioned electronic game boards, home computer terminals or cable television "boxes", and the like, for allowing game card array purchases to be made from remote locations and/or for playing bingo at such locations without having to utilize printed game cards. Such a system, combined with the aforementioned interactive type of system contemplated by one embodiment of the invention, could even be designed to facilitate the exchange of game card arrays during the progress of a game.

Methods and apparatus for playing bingo over a wide geographic area