An ink cartridge serving as a liquid container, comprises a liquid sensor having a piezoelectric element which detects a consumption state of the liquid contained in the container, and a consumption data memory as a memory means. The consumption data memory is a rewritable memory which stores consumption related data which are related to the detection of the consumption state using the liquid sensor. The consumption related data are, for example, consumption state data as a result of the detection. Even when the ink cartridge is removed, the consumption state data can still be utilized. The consumption related data may be a detection characteristic detected depending on the consumption state of the liquid. Based on this detection characteristic, the consumption state is detected utilizing the liquid sensor. The consumption state can be detected irrespective of individual differences of the ink cartridges.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container and a liquid consumption. More particularly, the present invention relates to an ink cartridge to which a piezoelectric device detecting an ink consumption state inside an ink cartridge supplying the liquid to a printing head is mounted and to which a memory means that stores ink consumption data detected by the piezoelectric device is mounted.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ink-jet recording apparatus, a carriage thereof is comprised of a pressure generating means which pressurizes a pressure generating chamber and a nozzle opening which discharges the pressurized ink therefrom as ink droplets. The ink-jet recording apparatus is structured such that ink from the ink tank is being supplied to a recording head via a passage, so as to continuously perform a printing operation. The ink tank is structured as a cartridge in a detachable manner so that a user can replace it when ink is consumed out.
Conventionally, as a method of controlling the ink consumption of the ink cartridge, a method is known of controlling the ink consumption by means of a calculation in which the counted number of ink droplets discharged by the recording head and the amount of ink sucked in a maintenance process of the printing head are integrated by software, and another method of controlling the ink consumption in which the time at which the ink is actually consumed is detected by directly mounting to the ink cartridge the electrodes for use in detecting the liquid surface, and so forth.
Moreover, in the calculation-based method of controlling the ink consumption by integrating the discharged number of ink droplets and the amount of ink or the like by the software, there is a problem where the ink consumption amount inside the ink cartridge can not be detected. As for the method of controlling by electrodes the time at which the ink is consumed, there remain problems such as limitation to the types of ink and the complicated sealing structure of the electrodes and so on though a structure for detecting the ink consumption may be somehow proposed.
However, in the calculation-based method of controlling the ink consumption by integrating the discharged number of ink droplets and the amount of ink or the like by the software, there are problems where an error occurs due to a printing mode and so on at a user's side and another unwanted error occurs when the same cartridge is mounted again. Moreover, the pressure inside the ink cartridge and the viscosity of the ink change depending on usage environment such as ambient temperature and humidity, elapsed time after an ink cartridge has been opened for use, and usage frequency at a user side. Thus, a problem is caused where a considerable error occurs between the calculated ink consumption and the actual ink consumption.
On the other hand, in the method of controlling by electrodes the time at which the ink is consumed, as disclosed for example in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei8-34123, whether or not the ink is present can be controlled with high reliability since the liquid surface of ink can be actually detected. actual ink consumption can be detected at one point. However, since detecting the liquid surface of ink relies on the ink conductivity, there are problems in that types of ink which can be detected might be limited and a sealing structure of the electrodes becomes complicated. Moreover, since precious metal is usually used as the electrode material, which is highly conductive and erosive, manufacturing costs of the ink cartridge increases thereby. Moreover, since it is necessary to attach the two electrodes to two separate positions of the ink cartridge, the manufacturing process increases, thus causing a problem which increases the manufacturing costs.
Moreover, when the ink cartridge scans together with the recording head of the ink-jet recording apparatus, there are occasions where undulated waves are caused and bubbles generated. The bubbles may cause erroneous operation in the course of detecting whether or not the ink is present. In particular, in apparatus which directly detects the ink consumption amount using the electrodes to control the point at which the ink is consumed, the erroneous operation due to bubbles are significant.
There is an occasion where a cavity is provided in an ink detecting portion inside the cartridge, in apparatus which directly detects the ink consumption amount using the electrodes to control the point at which the ink is consumed. That there exists ink in the cavity may cause erroneous detection.

Liquid cotainer having a liquid consumption detecting device therein


An image retrieval apparatus comprises: a memory unit that stores image feature values; an acquisition unit that acquires a first image feature value for a retrieval target image; a retrieval unit that retrieves an image feature value that is similar to the first image feature value from the image feature values, based on the first image feature value; a determining unit that determines a linear conversion parameter to be used for linear conversion out of a group of linear conversion parameters based on image feature values for images of the same photographic subject obtained under conditions, based on the first image feature value and image feature values for said photographic subject; a conversion unit that converts the first image feature value by the linear conversion parameter, and converts the image feature value using said linear conversion parameter; and an output unit that outputs the conversion results.

The present invention relates to an image retrieval apparatus that retrieves an image, an image retrieval method, and a recording medium.
A plurality of images of the same photographic subject with taken from different directions or under different illumination conditions have image feature values differing from each other. Such variations in image feature value arise from the shape of the photographic subject, and therefore differ among respective photographic subjects. In other words, if approximated with the Gaussian distribution, the major axis varies depending on the photographic subject. When a partial vector space that is less likely to be affected by the variations in major axis direction, which is caused by a difference in photographic subject, is to be extracted, it is necessary to extract a partial space with a distribution that is as isotropic as possible by correcting the variations in major axis among different photographic subjects.
In the facial recognition system and method disclosed in JP 2005-512201 A, a pair of an input facial image and a reference facial image is projected from an input space to a higher dimension feature space, thereby obtaining more typical features of the facial image. A kernel-based Fisher face of the input facial image and the reference facial image is calculated. The input facial image and the reference facial image are indicated as points in the facial image space, and using the distance between the point of the inputted face and the point of each reference facial image, the resemblance of the input facial image to a specific facial image of the reference facial image is determined.
JP 2005-512201 A described above, however, uses non-linear conversion, and therefore has a problem of taking a long time to process. When obtained images are saved in a database in succession, for example, because non-linear conversion is conducted every time, it takes a long time to register the images, which limits the number of registration per unit time. Also, when non-linear conversion is conducted on the obtained images, image feature values, which are used to indicate the degree of similarity between images, cannot be obtained.

Image retrieval apparatus, image retrieval method, and recording medium


To suppress influence of a rounding error and acquire a more highly precise filter processing result, by performing convolution processing in order from a divided filter having a smaller sum of filter coefficient among divided filters, shifting a position of the decimal point of a filter processing result in a fixed-point format to generate an intermediate image, integrating the filter processing result having a larger bit width of a decimal part, and substantially reflecting a processing result of the decimal part.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device, an image processing method, and a program suitably used to perform filter processing especially with a small-scale circuit.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a method for realizing filter processing of a multi-tap with a small-scale calculator, a method for dividing a filter of the multi-tap into a plurality of filters having a smaller number of taps, and performing the filter processing has been discussed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-145615 discusses a method for dividing a filter, to which predetermined filter coefficients are allocated, into sub-filters of a predetermined size or less, and performing the filter processing for each sub-filter. According to this method, a filter processing result of each sub-filter is added in units of pixels, so that a result similar to a result of a case where the filter processing is performed with the predetermined filter coefficients can be acquired.

Image processing device, image processing method, and program


This invention concerns virtual rooms for communicating information about specific topics. The virtual room comprises an identification code to identify the address of each virtual room, and a web site to enable communication between users of a virtual room and to receive and publish information relating to the specific topic. The identification code includes a telephonic prefix and a telephonic subscriber number the later which corresponds to a subject category in a bibliographic classification convention. The virtual room further comprises a data repository to store information relating to the specific topic including communication between users of the virtual room. The data repository is organised according to learning objects and users search an index of the bibliographic classification convention to locate a virtual room related to a specific topic. The invention further concerns an information system for sharing information.

Users searching for specific pieces of information or knowledge may begin by accessing the World Wide Web to take advantage of the wealth of information that is available online. Typically, information on the Internet is discovered by using a search engine, for example, http://www.google.com. This requires the user to enter key words into the search engine. Search engines return a list of web pages that contain key words or Metadata descriptors abiding by conventions such as Dublin Core. Key words on their own are without context, however by entering more key words, a list of web sites may be massaged into a rough context. Some key words entered by users may return data sets that lead them away from useful information. Inexperienced or parochial users are usually unaware of culturally appropriate key words such as acronyms, abbreviations or project names. Researchers must continually inspect the contents of very large data sets returned from search engines in order to attempt to discover a datum's relevance and/or significance to their interest, enquiry or project.
Generally, most users obtain a pressing piece of information by calling telephone help lines. A typical scenario is that a user dials, connects and then responds to an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) unit to navigate through a menu until they are directed to a content manager in an appropriate area. Increasingly, they are directed to general web sites to begin their enquiry again or to specific web pages to read a script or learn about an application.
Frequently, users are bounced from operator to operator and web site to web site. This is done in a vain attempt to have users understand the limitations of products and services that are perceived by them as being useful in achieving their group's private goals and their community's social ends.
Although human operators are trained to help users in a special technical or product area, they rarely possess an understanding of their department's or agency's context in relation to organised operations or the knowledge to resolve or direct a customer's enquiry. Reciprocally, no media structure or form of education exists that could assist operators to answer, in an ordered way, the same Frequently Asked Questions from different enquirers at the one time.


A plastic coupling for joining two metal pipe sections end-to-end to form a pipe assembly. A first plastic spigot cuff is formed along the periphery of the end of the first pipe and a mating second plastic bell cuff is formed along the periphery of the end of the second pipe, such that the first and second cuffs form a bell and spigot joint with the first, spigot cuff inserted into and joined to the second, bell cuff.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to couplings for joining pipe ends and in particular to couplings for metal pipes.
2. Description of the Related Art
As used here, the word "coupling" and the phrase "pipe coupling" refer to components for joining pipe or tube sections, especially sections of metal pipe or tube, typically for the purpose of forming an extended length of pipe. The requirements for such pipe couplings include a tight, preferably leak-proof seal between the adjoining pipe ends and corrosion protection for the bare metal of the pipe ends.


A method for generating image data of a virtual space viewed from a predetermined view point, comprises: determining a boundary of a predetermined plane area in the virtual space; providing a line object having one boundary line portion which is at least one portion of the boundary and a predetermined width in a direction of an inside of the plane area; and changing the width of the line object with fixing the one boundary line portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method, an apparatus, a storage medium and a program for generating image data of a virtual space, and in particular, a game space.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there are some games wherein players play ball in a court (predetermined area) provided in a three dimensional game space, among ball games, for example, a tennis game and so on. In the games, there is a problem that lines (white lines) forming the court are not seen easily or disappear according to an eyes direction of a virtual camera.
The above-described problem is a phenomenon which extremely occurs mainly as an angle between the eyes direction of the virtual camera and a normal vector of each of polygons (line polygons) representing the lines is vertical. Further, the phenomenon can also occur in case the virtual camera and each of the lines separate from each other.

Method, apparatus, storage medium and program for generating image data of virtual space


An integrated circuit device is provided with user-programmable power-down means for disabling a particular circuit in the device under control of a user-specified state of an input signal supplied to the device. In particular, for PLDs a power-down feature of this kind is simple to implement, requiring no additional I/O pins on the device, considerably reduces power consumption and renders the device more versatile than prior art devices.

Power-down means in integrated circuit devices is a feature for reducing an item such as power consumption or electro-magnetic radiation by disabling the circuit in the device. The circuit is kept disabled as long as a pre-determined power-down condition prevails. When the power-down condition is removed, the circuit is re-enabled.
For example, a memory circuit chip powers down when the CE signal (chip enable) is negated and powers back up again when the CE signal is reasserted. Toshiba MOS Memory Products 1989 Databook, page D.3, shows a memory chip that is powered down in response to a fixed combination of values of CE.sub.1 and CE.sub.2 signals. Note that the prior art shows a predetermined character of the input signals required to trigger the powering down of the circuit. This predetermined character or fixed combination is built into the device during manufacturing.

Integrated circuit device with user-programmable conditional power-down means


A verification system for verifying a user's location within a predefined geographic area to allow remote access to a sports book system. The system includes a transmitter; one or more pagers for communicating with the transmitter; a control center for receiving a telephone call requesting remote access to a betting system; upon receipt of the telephone call, the control center forwards an authorization number to the transmitter which forwards the authorization number to the user pager. The user pager receives the authorization number only when within the predefined geographical area. Also, the system includes a communication channel by which the user returns to the control center, the authorization number after receipt by the user pager. Upon receiving the authorization number, the control center allows the user to remotely access the betting system.

The present invention relates generally to the field of gaming systems and more specifically to system for user authentication for verifying that a gambler is located within a geographical area in order to allow remote access to a casino betting system.
Conventional systems for user authentication are generally well known. A user authentication system verifies whether a person or device attempting to access or perform a transaction with a host computer system is a person or device entitled to access, most host computer systems require the person or device to provide information confirming identity.
Conventional user authentication techniques have been based on, for example, on requesting information the user knows, an object the user possesses, and a personal characteristics, the most common being information known only to the user. Examples of such information include passwords (or pass-phrases) and personal identification numbers (PINS). Cryptographic methods for authentication (including one-time passwords and challenge response protocols) also fall into this category when implemented in software or hardware. Here, the information possessed by the user is either a code key, or more likely, a PIN or password that provides access to the key (which is typically a user unfriendly random bit stream). For example, the keys used with Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) are stored in files encrypted under user-selected pass phrases.
Examples of authentication using objects the user possesses include access tokens, physical keys, smart cards, PCMCIA cards and other hardware devices, including cryptographic devices and one-time password generators. Dial-back mechanisms also fall within this category. With dial back mechanisms, the possessed object is a phone line with a specific number. Cryptographic devices are typically used with PINs to control activation of the devices. For example, the Fortezze PCMCIA cryptographic card requires a 4-digit PIN for activation.
Examples of personal characteristics include biometric characteristics including finger and thumb prints, hand geometry, voice prints, retinal scans and keystroke patterns. Handwritten signatures fall into this category, although they might also be used viewed as based on information the user knows.
One conventional technique utilizes the client's geodetic location (latitude, longitude and height) as the basis for initial registration of the client and for subsequent log-in authorizations for access to a host computer network or other protected enclave. Disadvantageously, such conventional user authentication techniques do not allow or provide for authorization when such authorization is based upon the client's location within a predefined geographical area in order to remotely access a sports book. More specifically, this issue arises gambling geographical areas such as the State of Nevada. Many Nevada casinos include sports books where gamblers may place bets on various sporting events and other types of events. Many sports books allow gamblers to place bets via telephones. However, the laws generally require the telephone calls to be made within the legal jurisdiction of the casino.
Recently, the Nevada Gaming Control Board mandated that all new and existing systems must now include a method for ensuring that all telephone wagers take place within the state of Nevada. Telephone-only based systems for allowing the placement of bets is no option since such system cannot determine the location of the user. Even if the location of users can be determined, it is relatively easy to defeat such systems. In addition, the aforementioned authentication methods generally will not be helpful in ensuring that the gambler is placing a telephone call from within the state of Nevada.
Therefore there is a need to resolve the aforementioned disadvantages of conventional authentication systems particularly with regard to remote access to gambling systems and the present invention meets this need.

Paging system and location verification for remote access to wagering systems


Described herein are novel indicator molecules of general formula (1):

Normal cells must coordinate the activities of a number of cellular processes and pathways. One of the most important mechanisms by which this is accomplished is transcriptional regulation. Microarray hybridization experiments have identified many transcripts that are dysregulated in response to a given challenge or disease (1, 2). The identity of these dysregulated transcripts often permits an insight into the molecular nature of the process in question. These transcripts may also serve as important diagnostic and/or prognostic markers.
Once specific disease markers have been identified, it is important to develop rapid and reliable tests for detecting them. The applications for such tests are wide ranging. They can be used in clinical laboratories, to guide treatment decisions, or they can be used remotely, for the rapid detection of biological weapon dissemination. Real-time PCR is a method ideally suited for this purpose because of its exquisite sensitivity and speed. However, while there are a number of methods for quantifying PCR in real-time, each suffers from limitations.
In the past, transcript quantification was accomplished with northern blots, which are time consuming and typically rely on radio-isotopic methods of detection. Northern blots provide information on the length of a mRNA as well as its abundance but are generally limited to the study of 1 or 2 different mRNAs. Dot blots allow slightly more mRNAs to be analyzed but do not provide any information about transcript length or integrity.
One problem associated with preparing probes for Northern, Southern and dot blot analysis is that the failure to remove unincorporated label can result in unacceptably high background signals. Labels can be removed via any one of a number of approaches but this is an extra step requiring fluid handling steps that are difficult to automate.
The more recently developed microarray technologies allow one to quantify thousands of different RNA species in parallel. One limitation of microarrays is that only 1 or 2 different samples may be analyzed per array. This limitation results from the number of compatible fluorescent labels that may be used in a single hybridization experiment and the hybridization characteristics of the features on the array.
The number of samples that can be processed for microarray analysis in a given amount of time is also limited. The sample must be denatured to allow primers to anneal and a reverse transcriptase must be added to synthesize cDNA. The sample must be reverse transcribed in the presence of a fluorescently-labeled deoxynucleobase triphosphate so that it can be visualized on the array. Prior to applying the cDNA to the array however, unincorporated fluorescent nucleotides must be removed from the sample. This process involves multiple fluid handling steps, is difficult to automate, and adds significantly to the cost of an experiment. These difficulties are not unique to microarray experiments as any hybridization based detection method requires the separation of unincorporated label prior to applying a hybridization probe. Failure to do so often results in unacceptable background signal.
Ideally, one would like to increase the power of transcript analysis by analyzing thousands of mRNAs in thousands of different samples. This can be accomplished by increasing the throughput of microarfay experiments or by extending real-time PCR techniques to permit the analysis of more transcripts in parallel. Real-time PCR is an attractive alternative to microarrays as it can be used to analyze a few genes in a large number of samples. However, quantifying PCR in real-time is challenging, expensive, and limited to a few genes at a time.
Currently, there are three major types of "probes" used for quantifying PCR in real-time. They include double stranded DNA (dsDNA) binding dyes, such as ethidium bromide (EtBr) (3); the Taqman™ probe (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,723,591); and molecular beacons™ such as described in U.S. Pat. No 6,037,130. While each have certain advantages, none are ideally suited for monitoring the progress of many nucleic acid amplification reactions in real-time. For example, dsDNA binding dyes enjoy a substantial increase in fluorescence upon binding to dsDNA and can be included in a PCR to monitor the appearance of dsDNA, presumably due to PCR amplification. Their popularity results from their ease of use in that no probe design or oligonucleotide synthesis is necessary. However, these dyes cannot distinguish amplicon dsDNA from template dsDNA. Although this is not a problem when minute amounts of template are used, it can become a problem when complex template preparations, such as cellular DNA and whole blood, are used or when considerable amounts of template DNA are required (e.g., allele specific PCR (3, 4)). If 500,000 cells served as the starting material (as might be required for the detection of rare polymorphisms) then there would be micrograms of DNA template in the PCR. dsDNA binding dyes will generate a strong signal in the presence of this amount of template DNA, irrespective of the progress of the PCR. Accordingly, they cannot be used to monitor the progress of the PCR reaction.
dsDNA binding dyes bind to DNA non-specifically; thus, no nucleotide specificity is obtained. One must perform a melting curve after the amplification reaction to verify that the amplicon has the expected melting temperature. In practice, the melting curve requirement adds time to the procedure and limits amplicon size to approximately 300 bp. Linearity of the fluorescence signal becomes compromised when amplicons greater than 300 bp are studied. Furthermore, temperatures that denature DNA are encountered during each cycle of the PCR. During the time that the DNA is denatured, no signal can be measured using dsDNA binding dyes. This restricts fluorescence measurements to a period of time when the temperature of the reaction mixture is less than the melting temperature of the amplicon of interest.
Moreover, since these dyes must be present at a significant concentration in the amplification reaction, they add to its cost. High concentrations of dye may also impair polymerase fidelity and processivity (5). Finally, because they are mutagenic, the cloned products of a PCR monitored with these dyes may not be faithful copies of the starting material.
The Taqman™ probe is a short oligonucleotide that contains a fluorophore and a quencher. The fluorophore emission is mitigated by the quencher via energy transfer. During PCR, the probe anneals to the amplicon and is hydrolyzed by the 5′ to 3′ exonuclease activity of the polymerase. An increase in fluorescence signal is inferred to be due to an increase in the amount of amplicon present.
Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) efficiency decreases with the inverse sixth power of the distance between the reporter and the quencher. In practice, this limits the distance between the reporter and the quencher to less than 70 Angstroms (Å). This is a serious drawback of the Taqman™ assay. On one hand one wishes to design a longer probe to enhance hybridization specificity. However, a long probe will not permit efficient quenching of the reporter molecule by the quencher. Derivatizing the oligonucleotides with minor groove binding antibiotics improves its hybridization properties without increasing probe lengths (6). However, such modifications are expensive and requires special synthetic techniques.
Additional constraints on Taqman™ probe design exist and are problematic. For example, the probes must contain a modified nucleotide at their 3′ terminus to prevent extension by the polymerase. Taqman™ probes also cannot have a guanosine residue at their 5′ terminus or the fluorophore will be excessively quenched even after the oligonucleotide has been hydrolyzed. Homopolymeric runs of greater than four guanosines in a row are also not allowed and no more than 2 of the final 5 bases may be guanosine.
Furthermore, to be compatible with Taqman™ probes, the DNA polymerase used in the amplification reaction must have a 5′ to 3′ exonuclease activity (7). Thermophilic DNA polymerases commonly used for PCR including Vent™, Pfu™, and Tfu™ lack this activity and are therefore incompatible with the use of Taqman™ probes. This is problematic because, unlike Taq, these polymerases have the desirable property of high fidelity amplification. Thus far, only Taq DNA polymerase has been used successfully with Taqman™ probes.
Finally, Taqman™ probes require thermal denaturation in order to detect an amplicon, and are not capable of monitoring isothermal amplification methods such as Rolling Circle Amplification (RCA), Nucleic Acid Sequence Based Amplification (NASBA) and 3SR (8–10). The products of the detection process, fluorescent nucleobase monophosphates, can diffuse from their site of synthesis and as such, the Taqman™ assay is unsuitable for in situ applications.
Regarding, molecular beacons™, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,130, like the Taqman™ probe, they also consists of an oligonucleotide derivatized with a fluorophore and a quencher. The molecular beacon™ probe has internal complementarity and forms a stem loop in the absence of a target sequence. Stem loop formation brings the fluorophore and quencher into proximity and reduces the fluorescence emission. In a PCR, the molecular beacon™ hybridizes to an amplicon and its fluorescence emission increases.
However, molecular beacons™ also have a number of problems associated with them, many of which are similar to those described above in connection with the Taqman™ probes. Like Taqman™ probes, the design of molecular beacon™ oligonucleotide probes remains challenging. They must have a region of internal complementarity that is stable enough to remain in a stem loop in the absence of an amplicon but not so stable that its hybridization to the amplicon is compromised. Efforts to increase the hybridization efficiency by increasing the concentration of molecular beacon™ probe will result in decreased amplification efficiency, since the DNA polymerase must displace hybridized beacons™ during the reaction which decreases the rate of polymerization (an excess of probe also increases background fluorescence). Only a few thermophilic DNA polymerases possess the strand displacement activity required to displace a hybridized molecular beacon™.
Furthermore, as the reaction temperature rises during the PCR, molecular beacon™ probes denature and the observed fluorescent signal increases independent of the progress of the amplification reaction. Like dsDNA binding dyes, this restricts fluorescence measurements to a period of time when the temperature of the reaction mixture is less than that of the molecularbeacon™ probe.
Finally, the hybridization of either a Taqman™ or molecular beacon™ oligonucleotide probe to the target amplicon is quite sensitive to the primary sequence of the amplicon. As a result, innocent polymorphisms near the region being interrogated by the probe can render the probe completely ineffective as a reporter of amplicon concentration. While dsDNA binding dyes do not suffer from this limitation, they are incompatible with the complex templates commonly encountered in clinical and research labs. The molecules of the present invention are the only type of real-time PCR probe that can overcome this problem.
Thus, there is a clear need for a reagent that not only addresses the above-noted problems but combines the sensitivity of oligonucleotide probes with the convenience of dsDNA binding dyes. This need will become increasingly apparent as more ambitious expression profiling projects are undertaken. For example, there is currently great interest in performing thousands of PCRs in parallel in small, isolated chambers. One might want to rapidly analyze transcript levels in a very small amount of a particular tissue source. This type of approach, in which several dozen genes are analyzed simultaneously, has shown great promise in the early detection of biological weapon exposure (11). While the instrumentation for performing thousands of PCRs in parallel exists, there are considerable problems associated with monitoring these reactions simultaneously. Also, baseline expression levels of the genes of interest can vary greatly, as can the window in which real-time quantification will be in the linear range.
A large scale, real-time PCR approach necessitates that each chamber receive an equal amount of template. This amount must be sufficiently large for rare transcripts to be represented. However, this poses a problem for the use of dsDNA binding dyes as probes of these reactions since they will non specifically bind to the template and generate a background signal. This problem is exaggerated when a rare transcript is analyzed because more template is required. Taqman™ probes and molecular beacons™ are also not acceptable for a large scale, real-time PCR based approach for a number of reasons, not the least of which is cost. Probe design for both is problematic and this experiment potentially requires thousands of quality controlled oligonucleotide probes. Even if probes could be successfully designed with 90% efficiency, there would still be hundreds of probes requiring re-design and re-synthesis.
With respect to biological weapon (BW) detection, it is essential that any detection method used be robust enough to detect those agents that have been designed precisely to make detection more difficult. For example, if a weapons producer knew the sequence of the Taqman™ or molecular beacon probe being used for detection, it would be trivial to modify the sequence of the BW agent such that it is no longer detectable. This leads to an ever escalating process of BW agent modification to avoid detection and new probe design and synthesis to detect the modified agent. The ultimate outcome of this process is that one must perform a test with hundreds and possibly thousands of probe combinations to be assured that a modified agent has not been used. This is especially problematic when purified template is in limiting supply, as it so often is.
Thus, while it is clear that various real-time approaches to expression profiling will be used in the future, it is equally clear that the existing methods of quantification are inadequate for the experiments currently under consideration. Each of the approaches to cDNA labeling and real-time PCR analysis described herein, while solving some of the problems associated with traditional methods, introduces several problems of its own. In general, most of these methods are expensive, require extensive sample preparation, and require extensive fluid handling steps to separate incorporated from unincorporated labels. Therefore, new methods of quantification that do not suffer from these limitations are needed.
In sum, a need currently exists for sensitive and inexpensive methods for labeling nucleic acids that 1) do not require the separation of unincorporated label prior to downstream applications, 2) can be used to monitor nucleic acid amplification in real-time and 3) can be used to detect the presence of a polymerase. The present invention provides a method and reagents for accomplishing these and other goals.

Reagents for monitoring nucleic acid amplification and methods of using same

Abstract: wherein Q, F, N, Nuc, X1 and X2 are as defined herein, including their tautomeric forms and their additive salts. The present invention also concerns methods for the use of these molecules to monitor nucleic acid amplification in real time and their applications as diagnostics.


We disclose compositions and processes for enhancing transposon mediated integration of a nucleic acid molecule into another target nucleic acid molecule. Integration by an integrator complex is enhanced by cationic reagents.

DNA transposition is an important mechanism in the rearrangement of genomes and horizontal gene transfer in prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic cells. Transposons were initially discovered by Barbara McClintock in maize and members of the Tc1/mariner family of transposable elements have been found in organisms that range from protozoans to humans. A transposable element has short inverted repeats flanking the DNA sequence which typically encodes a transposase (or integrase in retroviruses). The transposase binds these elements to excise the transposon from one location in the DNA and insert it into another. A characteristic of integration by transposable elements is the duplication of a short segment of genomic sequence flanking the insertion sites. After the transposon has inserted into the target site, host enzymes duplicate the target site sequence to repair the DNA. These duplications are characteristic for each transposon: for Tn5 they are 9 bp, for murine leukemia virus 4 bp, and for the Tc1/mariner family duplications are 2 bp.
Transposition systems are well established as in vivo tools for genetics and genome analysis. Transposition in eukaryotic cells occurs naturally through retroviral infection and via Tc1/mariner type elements. Integration capabilities of retroviral vectors and adeno-associated viral vectors have been studied as candidates for gene transfer.
Cell-free systems for intermolecular transposition (for DNA sequencing, to create deletions or insertions into genes, for studying protein domain functions) have been developed from Tn5 [Goryshin and Reznikoff 1998; Epicentre, Madison, Wis.], Tn7 [Gwinn et al. 1997], Mu [Haapa et al. 1999], and the yeast Ty1 virus-like particles [Devine and Boeke 1994].
Mechanisms involved in Tn5 transposition have been carefully characterized by Reznikoff and colleagues. The transposon has two pairs of 19 bp elements that are utilized by the transposase: outer elements (OE) and inner elements (IE). After a monomer is bound to each end of the transposon, the two monomers dimerize, forming a synapse. Tn5 then transposes by a cut-and-paste mechanism. Tn5 transposes with a relaxed target site selection [Goryshin and Reznikoff 1998] and can insert into multiple locations within a single gene.
The frequency of transposition is very low for most transposons. The natural down regulation of Tn5 transposition was overcome by selection of hyperactive transposase and by optimizing the transposase-binding elements [Goryshin and Reznikoff 1998, Zhou et al. 1998]. This hyperactive transposase, combined with optimized transposon sequence elements, transposes with high efficiency [Goryshin and Reznikoff 1998, Braam et al. 1999].

Enhancing intermolecular integration of nucleic acids using integrator complexes


A variable optical power telescopic sight with adjustable focus control includes a tubular housing having a longitudinal axis, an interior and exterior, and first and second ends. The housing holds an eyepiece positioned at the second end and an erector positioned in the interior of the housing medially of the first end and the eyepiece. To enable side focus control in the telescopic sight, an objective lens system includes a stationary portion positioned in the interior of the housing near the first end and a movable portion positioned in the interior of the housing between the stationary portion and the erector for movement generally along the longitudinal axis to adjust the focus of the telescopic sight. A manually adjustable focus control device projects outwardly from the exterior of the housing in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis and is connected to the movable portion of the objective lens system. The side mounted focus control device allows a marksman to change the position of the movable portion of the objective lens along the longitudinal axis to adjust the focus of the telescopic sight. A slidable lens carrier, positioned within the housing and coupled to the focus control device, holds the movable portion of the objective lens system for movement along the longitudinal axis of the housing. In an alternative embodiment, the movable portion of the objective lens system is operably connected to a pivotable erector lens system for increasing a windage and holdover adjustment of the telescopic sight.

Telescopic sights for rifles typically include eyepiece and objective lenses positioned at opposite ends of a tubular housing. Conventional variable optical power telescopic sights also include an erector lens positioned medially of the eyepiece and objective lenses and movable along a central longitudinal axis of the housing for adjustment of the optical power.
In these sights, an image focus adjustment compensating for variations in the distance from the marksman to the target is typically accomplished by longitudinal movement of either the eyepiece or objective lens. One prevalent image focus adjustment implementation uses a threaded mounting ring that is coupled to the housing for rotation about the eyepiece end or objective end of the housing. The marksman rotates the mounting ring to adjust the position of a focusing element of the eyepiece or the objective lens along the longitudinal axis of the housing.
This implementation is prone to image distortion caused by tilting of the objective or eyepiece lens during focus adjustment and makes it difficult to seal the ends of the housing to maintain within the telescopic sight a nitrogen gas charge necessary to prevent fogging and condensation on internal lens surfaces. This implementation also requires the marksman to stop viewing the target through the telescopic sight, move the rifle out of shooting position, and rotate the rifle to read markings on the outside of the housing or focusing ring which indicate the amount of focus adjustment. After viewing the focus ring adjustment indicator markings, the marksman then must reacquire the target.
A technique for varying the optical power of a telescopic sight is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,058,391 of Leupold. This telescopic sight has an erector lens positioned between an objective lens and an eyepiece lens and adjustable along the longitudinal axis of the housing. It includes a field lens or collector lens located between the objective and the erector and movable in conjunction with and relative to movement of the power varying erector to compensate for focus effects resulting from movement of the erector. Movement of the collector and erector lenses to maintain focus during adjustment of the optical power of the telescopic sight is accomplished by turning a single adjustment ring connected to a cam sleeve mechanism within the interior of the sight housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,542 of Gibson describes a fixed optical power telescopic sight with a focus adjustment that is accomplished by longitudinal movement of an erector lens. In this telescopic sight, a focus knob mounted laterally on the outer side of the sight housing controls the erector movement. This telescopic sight has objective and eyepiece lenses that are fixedly mounted within the housing to form an air tight seal and maintain nitrogen gas charge within the housing. This design does not, however, provide adjustment of the optical power of the telescopic sight.
Because bullet trajectory, wind conditions, and distance to the target can vary depending upon shooting conditions, quality rifle scopes typically provide compensation for variations in these parameters by allowing the marksman to make small adjustments to the optical characteristics or the aiming of the sight relative to the rifle on which it is mounted. These adjustments are known as windage and holdover and are typically accomplished by lateral movement of the reticle within the telescopic sight, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,058,391 of Leupold, or pivotal movement of lenses mounted to a pivot tube within the housing to divert the optical path of the observed light before it reaches the reticle, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,297,389 and 4,408,842 of Gibson. In these designs, a marksman accomplishes adjustment of windage and holdover by turning a laterally protruding knob or screw that is operatively connected to the reticle or pivot tube. The range of adjustment for windage and holdover in these designs is limited by the space available within the housing for lateral movement of the reticle or pivotal movement of the pivot tube.

Variable optical power telescopic sight with side focus control


A method for producing an ink jet recording head comprising the following steps, a step which forms the photosensitive water-repellent processing layer in the ink discharge port face, a step which irradiates light onto the water-repellent forming region and hydrophilic forming region in the water-repellent processing layer, to cure the layer, a step which irradiates light selectively onto the hydrophilic forming region to reduce water repellency of the water-repellent processing layer and to impart hydrophilicity to the hydrophilic forming region, and a step which forms an opening, which constitutes part of the ink discharge port, in the water-repellent processing layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink jet recording head, which effects recording with fine droplets of a recording solution, generally known as ink, discharged from a fine port and ejected onto a record face to be attached thereto, and more particularly to a method for producing an ink jet recording head finished so as to be water-repellent in such a way to have a hydrophilic section around the ink discharge port, and to an ink jet recording head produced by the same method.
2. Related Background Art
An ink jet recording head is generally equipped with a fine ink discharge port, liquid passage, and discharge energy generating section provided in part of the liquid passage. It is known that discharge stability is generally enhanced by making the head water-repellent around the ink discharge port.
However, printing quality is sometimes degraded, when an ink discharge port is finished so as to be water-repellent at its face front. It is found that this phenomenon results from poor discharge caused by that when a large quantity of ink is present on the ink discharge port face, it moves to the discharge port.
Therefore, the face that is finished so as to be water-repellent is partly provided with a hydrophilic section, which holds ink to prevent its migration.
Such a hydrophilic section is formed by various methods, e.g., laser ablation in which a water-repellent processed layer formed is partly irradiated with laser beams to remove the part, and another method known as photolithography process in which a water-repellent light-sensitive resin layer, formed on the ink discharge port face, is selectively exposed to light and developed.
The above methods to form the hydrophilic section involve the following problems;
(1) an expensive irradiation is needed,
(2) another step is needed for the water-repellent finishing, needing a changeover of setup,
(3) adjustment of the irradiation is complicated, or
(4) irregularities are formed on the ink discharge port surface, possibly holding waste in the cavities to cause wiping problems.
The present invention is made in view of the above problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing an ink jet recording head, which is free from the above problems, produced by an inexpensive system, and excellent in discharge stability. It is another object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording head produced by the same method.
The above problems can be solved, and the objects can be achieved by the present invention described in detail below.
The present invention provides a method for producing an ink jet recording head equipped with an ink discharge port from which the ink is discharged, an ink discharge port face on which the ink discharge port is set and an discharge energy generating element which generates energy necessary to discharge the ink, and is finished so as to be water-repellent in such a way to make the ink discharge port face partly hydrophilic around the ink discharge port, comprising the following steps:
a step which forms the photosensitive water-repellent processing layer on the ink discharge port face,
a step which irradiates light onto the water-repellent forming region and hydrophilic forming region in the water-repellent processing layer, to cure the layer,
a step which further irradiates light selectively onto the hydrophilic forming region to reduce water repellency of the water-repellent processing layer and to impart hydrophilicity to the hydrophilic forming region, and
a step which forms an opening, which constitutes a part of the ink discharge port, in the water-repellent processing layer.
The present invention also provides the ink jet recording head produced by the above method.
The present invention also provides a method for producing an ink jet recording head equipped with an ink discharge port from which the ink is discharged, an ink discharge port face on which the ink discharge port is set and a discharge energy generating element which generates energy necessary to discharge the ink, and is finished so as to be water-repellent in such a way to make the ink discharge port face partly hydrophilic around the ink discharge port, comprising the following steps:
a step which forms the photosensitive water-repellent processing layer on the ink discharge port face,
a step which irradiates light onto the water-repellent forming region in the water-repellent processing layer, to cure the layer,
a step which irradiates light in a quantity in excess of the level required for curing the water-repellent processing layer onto the hydrophilic forming region to reduce the water repellency of the water-repellent processing layer and to impart hydrophilicity to the hydrophilic forming region, and
a step which forms an opening, which constitutes a part of the ink discharge port, in the water-repellent processing layer.
The present invention also provides the ink jet recording head produced by the above method.

Method for producing ink jet recording head, and ink jet recording head produced by the same method


A new and distinct variety of grapevine is provided which abundantly forms attractive medium-to-large seedless berries having a rose-pink skin coloration in medium-to-large substantially uniform clusters. The fruit displays a sweet crisp flavor and is firm in texture. The fruit commonly is ready for harvest during late October or early November in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California, U.S.A., and displays significant crispness and good eating qualities as a table grape. The fruit firmness renders the fruit well amenable for handling, shipping, and storage. The fruit commonly is more elongated and less round and lighter in coloration than that of the ‘Mara Seedless’ variety (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,599).

New grapevine varieties are being sought which display a combination of outstanding characteristics in areas such as vigor, seedlessness, productivity, and resistance to diseases and pests. Characteristics such as fruit size, coloration, flavor and taste also are of prime importance when evaluating new varieties of grape plants.
The new variety of Vitis vinifera was created by artificial pollination during the course of a grapevine breeding program wherein two parents were crossed which previously had been studied in the hope that they would contribute the desired characteristics. Such breeding program was initiated during 1992 near Delano in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California, U.S.A. The cross that resulted in the creation of the new variety of the present invention was made in 1993. Both parents of the new variety were grape varieties being grown commercially in the United States. The female parent (i.e. the seed parent) of the new variety was the 'Red Globe' seeded grape variety (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,787). The male parent (i.e. the pollen parent) of the new variety was the 'Crimson' seedless grape variety (non-patented in the United States). The 'Crimson' male parent was released by the U.S.D.A. at Fresno, Calif., U.S.A., during 1989, and was formed by the cross of the 'Emperor' variety (non-patented in the United States) and an unreleased seedling named 'C33-1-99' (non-patented in the United States).
The parentage of the new variety can be summarized as follows:'Red Globe'בCrimson'.
The seeds resulting from the above pollination were sown and 125 small seedling plants were obtained which were physically and biologically different from each other. The resulting seedling plants were evaluated in detail and the new variety of the present invention was selected and was initially designated as 22-93, with the mother plant being Vine No. 173 of Row No. 80.
It was found that the new grapevine of the present invention possesses the following combination of characteristics:                (a) forms attractive medium-to-large seedless berries having a rose-pink skin coloration in medium-to-large substantially uniform clusters which display a sweet crisp flavor,        (b) commonly bears fruit during late October or early November in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California, U.S.A., and        (c) bears fruit that is crisp and firm and is well amenable for storage, handling, and shipping.
The fruit of the new variety is considered to be seedless. However, occasionally a few very small traces of seeds have been observed.
The new variety during observations to date has displayed no visible disease, and has displayed an ability to well resist cold, drought, heat and wind. The fruit of the new variety has been found to display excellent handling and shipping qualities combined with desirable dessert eating qualities.
The new variety of the present invention can be readily distinguished from its ancestors. More specifically, the 'Red Globe' parent forms large clusters of berries having a different shape which possess seeds and which mature approximately one month earlier than the new variety, and the 'Crimson' variety forms smaller berries which display lesser rose pink coloration in a less uniform in its presentation.
The typical ripening date of the new variety is later than that of the 'Mara Seedless' variety (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,599). Also, the fruit of the 'Mara Seedless' variety commonly is darker in coloration, possesses a softer internal flesh, and is more round and less elongated.
The new variety of the present invention has been found to undergo asexual propagation beginning in 1998 near Delano in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California, U.S.A. by grafting on mature 'Thompson Seedless' rootstock (non-patented in the United States). Such asexual propagation has been conducted thereafter in successive years through 2006, and has shown that the characteristics of the new variety are strictly transmissible from one generation to another. Accordingly, the new variety undergoes asexual propagation in a true-to-type manner.
The new variety has been named 'Roma Seedless'.


A method and apparatus are described for flow control for digital signal processing to support data stream operations. According to an embodiment of the invention, a method comprises setting a buffer number to an initial value; receiving a first data packet for processing during a first part of a first time frame, the data packet having a first data size; increasing the buffer number by an amount of data that can be passed to a coder; comparing the buffer number to a minimum amount of data for the coder; and setting a second data size to be received based on the comparison between the buffer number and the minimum amount of data for the coder.

In signal processing, data is often delivered in signal packets, with packets being sent in particular time blocks. For example, a parametric coder generally works on a set of samples or data, with the data arriving frame by frame and being decoded as the frames arrive. While the transfer and processing of data in such manner has advantages, this process can complicate certain operations.
In one example, signal processing may involve the processing of audio data, such as voice data for a voice mail or voice messaging system. The processing of such data by a parametric coder makes certain speed functions difficult. For example, it can be difficult to support functionality that would allow one to skip ahead in a voice message or to modify the speed of playback while not compromising the processing of the data or the quality of the output that is provided.

Flow control for digital signal processing to support data stream operations


A computing system connected to a remote e-mail server through a network and a network adapter includes a basic input/output system (“BIOS”). The computing system accesses e-mail information by the BIOS accessing the remote e-mail server through the network during the booting of the computing system using the network adapter and downloading, during the booting of the computing system, e-mail headers from the remote e-mail server on the network. The BIOS parses the e-mail headers during the booting of the computing system and extracts an e-mail count for a user. The BIOS displays the e-mail count for the user in a defined format during the booting of the computing system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to checking e-mail information during computing system booting.
2. Related Art
A basic input/output system ("BIOS") is a program, usually stored in an erasable programmable read only memory ("EPROM") in the hardware of a computer system, that carries out a sequence of operations (referred to herein as "booting") for starting up the computer system when the system is switched on. BIOS is an integral part of a personal computing system and typically comes installed on the system. In contrast, an operating system ("OS") is typically either preinstalled by the manufacturer or vendor, or installed by a user. Booting, which is under control of the BIOS, includes determining a configuration for the computer system, verifying some of the hardware, and loading at least an OS loader, if not the whole OS itself, into the computing system's random access memory ("RAM") from a storage device, such as a hard disk.
The BIOS frees up the OS and its applications from having to understand exact details such as hardware addresses about attached input/output devices. When device details change, only the BIOS program needs to be changed. Sometimes this change can be made during system setup. In any case, neither the OS nor applications used need to be changed if BIOS keeps track of changes in attached device details. The BIOS may also manage initial data flow between the computing system's OS and certain attached devices such as a hard disk, video adapter, keyboard, mouse, and printer. In many systems, once the OS loader is loaded it takes over and controls loading of the OS.
A computer system is ready to perform useful tasks only after these basic activities of booting and loading the OS have been completed. Exchanging e-mail over a network is one such useful task that is extremely popular for computing systems.
Ethernet is a widely installed local area network ("LAN") technology and is specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ("IEEE") 802.3 standard. In general, 802.3 specifies the physical media and the working characteristics of Ethernet. The original Ethernet supports a data rate of 10 megabits per second ("Mbps") and specifies numerous possible physical media. An Ethernet LAN typically uses coaxial cable or special grades of twisted pair wires. Ethernet is also used in wireless LANs. The most commonly installed Ethernet systems are called 10BASE-T and provide transmission speeds up to 10 Mbps. Devices are connected to the cable and compete for access using a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection ("CSMA/CD") protocol. Fast Ethernet or 100BASE-T provides transmission speeds up to 100 megabits per second and is typically used for LAN backbone systems, supporting workstations with 10BASE-T cards. Gigabit Ethernet provides an even higher level of backbone support at 1000 megabits per second (1 gigabit or 1 billion bits per second). 10-Gigabit Ethernet provides up to 10 billion bits per second.
Personal computing systems and workstations on a LAN typically contain a network interface card ("NIC"), also referred to herein as a network adapter, specifically designed for the LAN transmission technology, such as Ethernet or Token Ring. An NIC may provide a dedicated, full-time connection to a network. A wireless LAN is one in which a mobile user can connect to the LAN via a radio frequency signal. A standard, IEEE 802.11, specifies technologies for wireless LANs.
The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol ("TCP/IP") standard, also specified by IEEE 802.3, is commonly used for communication on such a network. TCP/IP is a basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (either an intranet or an extranet). When set up with direct access to the Internet, a computing system is provided with a copy of the TCP/IP program. TCP/IP is a two-layer program. The higher layer, Transmission Control Protocol, manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are transmitted over the Internet and received by a TCP layer that reassembles the packets into the original message. The lower layer, Internet Protocol, handles the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right destination. Each gateway computing system on the network checks this address to see where to forward the message. Even though some packets from the same message are routed differently than others, they'll be reassembled at the destination.
TCP/IP uses the client/server model of communication in which a computing system user (a client) requests and is provided a service (such as sending a Web page) by another computing system (a server) in the network. TCP/IP communication is primarily point-to-point, meaning each communication is from one point (or host computing system) in the network to another point or host computing system. TCP/IP and the higher-level applications that use it are collectively said to be "stateless" because each client request is considered a new request unrelated to any previous one (unlike ordinary phone conversations that require a dedicated connection for the call duration). Being stateless frees network paths so that everyone can use them continuously. (Note that the TCP layer itself is not stateless as far as any one message is concerned. Its connection remains in place until all packets in a message have been received.)
Higher layer application protocols use TCP/IP to get to the Internet. These include the World Wide Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol ("HTTP"), the File Transfer Protocol ("FTP"), Telnet which lets a user logon to remote computing systems, and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol ("SMTP"). These and other protocols are often packaged together with TCP/IP as a "suite." Personal computing system users with an analog phone modem connection to the Internet usually get to the Internet through the Serial Line Internet Protocol ("SLIP") or the Point-to-Point Protocol ("PPP"). These protocols encapsulate the IP packets so that they can be sent over the dial-up phone connection to an access provider's modem. Other protocols related to TCP/IP include the User Datagram Protocol ("UDP"), which is used instead of TCP for special purposes. Other protocols are used by network host computing systems for exchanging router information. These include the Internet Control Message Protocol ("ICMP"), the Interior Gateway Protocol ("IGP"), the Exterior Gateway Protocol ("EGP"), and the Border Gateway Protocol ("BGP").
An e-mail communication protocol is often included with the TCP/IP suite of protocols. One such e-mail protocol for sending e-mail is Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, and a popular protocol for receiving e-mail is POP3. Both Netscape and Microsoft include an e-mail utility with their Web browsers.
Conventionally, e-mail tasks are performed by an e-mail application program that starts up after booting of a computer system. For a user interested primarily in merely knowing a received e-mail count, a significant amount of time may be spent waiting for the system to boot and then load the e-mail application. Many users, especially those traveling frequently, need to keep in constant touch with their incoming mail. This requires frequent accessing of the e-mail application on the computing system. Since a computing system has to be booted, and since in a typical mode of operating an e-mail application has to be loaded to check e-mail each time the computing system is turned on, the waiting time to get e-mail information such as the e-mail count becomes significant, particularly with increased frequency of e-mail checking.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method, apparatus and computer program product to check e-mail count at boot time in computing systems

International Business Machines Corporation


In a display assistant device, a speaker is mounted in a waveguide structure which is at least partially disposed beneath a display screen. The waveguide structure is mounted in an exterior housing which includes speaker grills distributed on a plurality of surfaces of the exterior housing, permitting sound waves from the speaker to be projected outside the exterior housing. A cover structure is disposed on top of the waveguide structure to conceal the waveguide structure and speaker within the exterior housing. The cover structure has a tilted bottom surface configured to be suspended above the waveguide structure and to be separated by a first space. Sound waves projected from an upper portion of the speaker are reflected by the tilted bottom surface and are guided through the first space to exit the device from a speaker grill portion located on a rear side of the exterior housing.

Electronic devices integrated with microphones have been widely used to collect voice inputs from users and implement different voice-activated functions according to the voice inputs. These electronic devices, when made at a low cost and with relatively simple structures, are disposed at different locations in a smart home environment, so that they can be used as user interface devices to listen to the ambient environment and follow a user constantly without disturbing regular activities of the user. The electronic devices disposed at different locations in a smart home environment could be subject to restricted footprints, especially in areas such as a cluttered kitchen countertop or bedroom nightstand. As such, it would be beneficial to pack a number of mechanical and electronic parts into a small package in order to accommodate a smaller footprint. This, however, can potentially cause unintended consequences such as muffled sound due to the speaker being obscured underneath other components, such as a display screen. Further, it would be beneficial in designing a smaller footprint for the overall design to be substantially vertical. However, the more vertical the design, the greater the potential for falling over during physical user interactions due to a higher center of mass. It would be beneficial to incorporate one or more space saving designs that do not negatively affect sound quality, and further allow for a vertically oriented device to maintain a lower center of mass.

Speaker assembly in a display assistant device


An image forming apparatus Gk of a data output system includes a data output time calculation function unit that calculates a predicted output time necessary for outputting data to be output in a specified output form by a data output function unit which outputs the data to be output in the specified output form, and a control function unit that compares the predicted output time with a predetermined threshold time and controls displaying of display data, which is stored in a storage function unit, onto a display function unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data output apparatus, a data output system, and a data output control method and specifically relates to a data output apparatus, a data output system, and a data output control method which prevent leakage of personal information and utilize a waiting time for data output effectively.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a printer apparatus, a copying apparatus, or a composite apparatus, when copy processing or print processing is performed, there is a case where a user waits for completion of printing in front of the image forming apparatus to prevent leakage of confidential information due to a printed material being taken away.
Also, recently, the image forming apparatus is connected to a network and performs print output, on paper, of data received from a host apparatus such as a computer through the network.
An image forming apparatus connected to such a network generally includes an image accumulation memory such as a hard disk and performs print output after temporarily accumulating received data into the image accumulation memory. Then, in respect to data which requires confidentiality (hereinafter, arbitrarily referred to as confidential data), conventionally, the image forming apparatus adds, as user identification information, a user ID, a PIN code, or the like to the confidential data and accumulates the confidential data into the image accumulation memory of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus requests input of the user identification information in respect to print output of the confidential data. When input user identification information matches the user identification information added to the confidential data or matches user identification information of a registered user registered as a user in the image forming apparatus in advance, the image forming apparatus performs print output of the confidential data.
Then, as described above, when print output of the confidential data is performed in the image forming apparatus, a user needs to wait for completion of the print output in front of the image forming apparatus and has to waste a waiting time.
Then, conventionally, an image forming apparatus including: a data transmission/reception unit configured to receive display data associated with either or both of user information and image data to be printed; a storage unit configured to store received display data while associating the received display data with the user information or the image data; an input unit configured to input a print request and user information; a display unit configured to display the display data; and a control unit configured to read, when printing image data to be printed according to the input print request, display data associated with the printed image data, or display data associated with the input user information from the storage unit and to display the read display data on the display unit has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2011-28437).
That is, the related technology tries to utilize effectively a waiting time by displaying, on the display unit, display data related to image data being currently printed or a user during the printing.

Data output apparatus, data output system, and data output control method for preventing leakage of personal information


A delivery device can be provided with a low outer profile and high flexibility for navigating tortuous anatomy. An inner lumen defined by a shaft of the delivery device provides adequate space for delivery devices to target anatomy. Additionally, the delivery device maintains the patency of its lumen even when positioned within tortuous anatomy. The turns of filar(s) forming a coil of the shaft adjust their axial spacing relative to each other to avoiding buckling that would otherwise result in a narrowing of the inner lumen.

A variety of delivery devices can be used to deliver other interventional devices to a desired treatment location within a patient. Examples of such delivery devices include catheters that travel within body vessels and provide a lumen for travel by interventional devices to reach a target location for treatment. Catheters can travel intravascularly within blood vessels of a patient to facilitate treatment at the target locations therein. Interventional devices for use with such catheters can include guidewires, stents, implants, balloon devices, crossing devices, and the like.
The description provided in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely because it is mentioned in or associated with the background section. The background section may include information that describes one or more aspects of the subject technology.
In one or more implementations, not all of the depicted components in each figure may be required, and one or more implementations may include additional components not shown in a figure. Variations in the arrangement and type of the components may be made without departing from the scope of the subject disclosure. Additional components, different components, or fewer components may be utilized within the scope of the subject disclosure.


An integrated circuits package or a chip carrier having an integrated circuits chip sealed therein comprises layers of ceramic substrates, and terminal steps which are connected to inner pads in contact with the integrated circuits chip and which are provided on the bottom surface of at least one layer of the package, preferably the lowermost layer. The terminal steps are provided in a lattice arrangement, with so many rows of terminal steps as equals the number of terminal steps in one row, thus enabling connection of all of the terminals of the chip to outside wirings, such as wirings of a mother board.

The present invention is directed to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to an integrated circuit package (IC package) or a chip carrier which encases a semiconductor device, such as large scale integrated (LSI) circuits, and in which improvements are offered concerning an array of terminal pads for connecting the chip carrier to a mother board.
In the art of electronic packaging to which the present invention pertains a, dual in-line package (DIP), flat package (FP) and plug in type package (PIP) have been widely used. In FIG. 1, front and side views of a typical DIP are shown on top and in the middle. This DIP exhibits significant performance in packaging hybrid integrated circuits and varieties of IC chips. As is generally known, a cavity shown in the front view of FIG. 1 by the dotted line is provided to an insulator body 1 made of alumina ceramic to receive an IC chip. After the chip is secured in the cavity, lead wires are bonded by a known wire bonding technique to electrodes in the periphery or edge of the chip to connect the electrodes to a metallized layer of the ceramic substrate of body 1 which is brazed to radially arranged terminals 2 made of ferro-nickel alloy, for example, to be led to outside wirings. DIP is characterized by two rows of terminals 2 of substantially L-shape configuration as shown in the side view of FIG. 1. The number of terminals and the centerline spacing depend on the packing density and the function of the IC, but an array of 40 terminals with the centerline spacing of 1.27 mm or 2.54 mm is commonly used. Mounting to a printed circuit board is done by means of wave soldering or flow soldering. In the lower part of FIG. 1, there are shown in side-views two modifications of a DIP also used in the industry.
FIG. 2 shows on top a front view of a flat package (FP) used to encase a small sized chip such as a LSI chip. A flat and substantially square ceramic body 1 is formed with a cavity, shown by the dotted line, for the chip. The ceramic substrate is formed with a wiring pattern prepared by a screen print which is brazed to terminals 2 for the purpose of connecting the electrodes of the chip to the outside wiring. A flat package (FP) is distinguished from DIP by the fact that FP is more miniaturized than DIP, and consequently the resistance of wires in the substrate is accordingly low. In the middle of FIG. 2 is shown a side-view of the FP, and at the bottom, a modified FP in side-view. In addition to DIP and FP, there is a plug in package (PIP), not shown, but appearing in Table I below. Whereas terminals extend horizontally from the ceramic body of FP, terminals of PIP are formed by an array of pins of circular cross-section which extend vertically from the bottom of the ceramic body encasing a chip.
Known packages described so far are more or less standardized in their design and dimensions of terminals considering the design requirement of the system using IC packages, the ease in the mounting of the package and circuit assembly. However, the number of terminals per package in the order of 64 is small to meet the current demand. Where a large number of terminals are required as is the case with LSI chips which integrate a large number of logics, the consequence of using known packages described so far is that either it becomes difficult to encase an LSI chip or operational functions of an encased LSI cannot fully be exhibited. In other words, the performance of a DIP is governed primarily by the number of terminals required and not by the size of the LSI. Further, where side notches are formed on four edges of the package with a centerline spacing of 40 to 50 mil, there is a danger of solder bridging when the terminals are soldered.
Multi-layer ceramics or ceramic chip carriers are replacing DIP, FP and PIP where LSI chips are involved. The chip carrier is a substantially square package for integrated circuits. It is made with practically the same materials and processes that have been used in making ceramic DIP's. The chip carrier may be understood as the center portion of the DIP with the two rows of metal leads replaced by contact pads on all four sides thereof. The design of the chip carrier requires a high density interconnection at the substrate level. In a typical multi-layer ceramic substrate, top layers are used to distribute the signal lines from the chip pad grid, first to the top surface then to the internal wiring grid. The center layers of the substrate contain X-Y wiring planes. The bottom layers are used for power distribution and signal redistribution. Via holes between layers allow true three dimensional wiring. An array of pins is formed on the bottom for connecting the carrier to a mother board.
The chip carrier was designed as a leadless package to be connected to a mother board by soldering. The solder makes electrical contact to the chip carrier mechanically holds the package in position. Good alignment of the chip carrier and the mother board is possible when solder pads on the chip carrier and mother board are of the same size and location, more so when a thick solder layer is used. Solder is usually applied to the mother board as a screen printed paste. The wet solder paste holds the chip carrier in approximate position until the solder melts and floats the chip carrier into place. Chip carriers may be soldered to a mother board while other components are attached. For attaching the chip carrier to the mother board, a furnace or belt soldering equipment is used. Infrared heat may be used in reflow soldering. Side notches or via holes are formed on four sides of the chip carrier in many applications for connecting the chip carrier to the mother board. The number of these side notches determines the extent of the function of a semiconductor chip, and with an LSI chip, a problem arises in increasing the number of side notches.
A typical three layer chip carrier is shown in FIG. 3A in substrate fragments. These substrates are laminated to form a chip carrier 11 shown in FIG. 3B. A top layer 12 is a seal ring having a seal pattern 13 of gold-tin-solder, for mounting a top or cover, not shown. Via holes or side notches 14 are formed on four sides of the seal ring. A second layer 12' shown below the seal ring is formed with a die cavity 15, and side notches 14 on its four sides. Bonding pads 16 are formed to surround the die cavity, and are connected to side notches 14 through traces 17. Bonding pads and traces are made in accordance with a conventional metallization process. The bottom layer 12" is provided with a die pad 18 to which a chip is secured. The bottom layer 12" is also provided with side notches 14 which will be connected to a mother board, not shown.
In addition to the foregoing, flip chips have been developed. In a flip chip which is, for example, a transistor chip not encased in any package, bumps are formed by solder on the top surface of the chip. In mounting such a chip to a mother board, the chip is bonded with the top surface down, heat is applied to melt the solder bumps to bond the chip to the mother board.
While the flip chip dispenses with the package, a difficult problem is experienced in aligning the bumps on the chip which are minutely small to terminal pads on the mother board. Further, the mounted chip is unprotected and exposed, thus reducing reliability of the device into which the flip chip has been incorporated.


A wet type image forming apparatus forms an image in accordance with an electrophotographic imaging process using a developing solution containing a toner in a carrier solution. The image forming apparatus includes a developing roller that holds the developing solution thereon, the developing roller being electrically charged to attract a toner contained in the developing solution toward its surface, a photoconductive drum on which a latent image to be developed is formed, the photoconductive roller being arranged to contact the developing roller, a scraping blade disposed in contact with the developing roller, the scraping blade scraping off the developing solution that has not been consumed for developing from the surface of the developing roller, and a toner separator that separates the toner that has not been consumed for developing from the surface of the developing solution carrier before the developing solution is scraped off by the scraping blade.

The present invention relates to a wet type image forming apparatus that forms an image with a developing solution containing a toner in a carrier solution.
Apparatuses that transfer a toner to a recording paper to thereby form an image include, for example, a dry type image forming apparatus, which applies a powder toner to a surface of a developing roller (also called a "developer carrier") to form an image, and a wet type image forming apparatus, which applies a developing solution containing a toner in a carrier solution to a surface of a developing roller to form an image, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. P2002-214920A. The toner employed in the latter apparatus is finer than that employed in the former. Accordingly, the latter provides an image of a higher quality.
In the wet type image forming apparatus according to the above publication, a cleaning blade disposed in contact with the surface of a developing roller scrapes off the developing solution that has not been consumed for a developing process on a photoconductive drum. However, the toner contained in the developing solution is very fine, and can stick to the surface of the developing roller. Therefore, a portion of the toner may pass through the thin gap between the developing roller surface and the cleaning blade, or be deposited in a region close to the cleaning blade. The toner that passes through the gap is especially problematic, since such toner is unevenly deposited in grooves on an anilox roller, thereby creating an uneven developing result.


The present invention relates to methods and assays for detecting bacteriophage MS2 in a sample.

Proliferation of biological weapons throughout the world has made accurate monitoring and detection of pathogenic biological agents ever more critical. Many of the biological detection systems currently in service and under development routinely require testing and retesting to ensure proper operation under field and laboratory conditions. Appreciating the risks of handling actual biological agents, non-pathogenic agents that possess similar detection characteristics or features are preferably used as a safer alternative for testing such systems.
One non-pathogenic biological agent, Enterobacterio phage MS2, referred herein as "bacteriophage MS2", has been found to be well suited for simulating pathogenic biological agents particularly viral pathogens that are extremely harmful to humans and animals. Bacteriophage MS2 is a very small virus having a genome composed of ribonucleic acid (RNA). Current bacteriophage MS2 test assays typically experience low sensitivity and precision, and slow data acquisition and analysis. Moreover, the current test assays have poor specificity to the bacteriophage producing frequent false positives and high background noise. Test assays currently used are also complicated and require extensive sample processing, resulting in increased labor and costs.
Accordingly, there is a need for an assay and a method of detecting bacteriophage MS2 that is rapid, accurate and cost effective to implement. It would be also desirable to provide novel nucleic acid probes and primers useful for providing rapid and specific detection of bacteriophage MS2 in samples. There is a further need to develop assays for the detection of the non-pathogenic agent bacteriophage MS2 as a reliable prognosticator of the presence of pathogens having a sufficiently similar genetic profile.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


The present invention relates to a piezoelectric resonator having adherent or non-adherent electrodes, the piezoelectric crystal comprising a central portion and a peripheral portion forming a ring that surrounds the central portion and that is connected thereto by an intermediate portion in which a slot is formed, the peripheral portion being connected to the central portion by a single connection bridge constituted by a non-slotted portion of said intermediate portion that extends over a small fraction of the periphery of said intermediate portion. The central portion constitutes the active vibrating portion of the crystal and the peripheral portion is held in the box by fastening means disposed in such a manner as to be thermally as remote as possible from the single connection bridge. The secured portion and the bridge constitute means for suspending the crystal.

Various kinds of piezoelectric resonator are known.
In a conventional first example, a resonator crystal is constituted by a bi-planar, planar-convex, or bi-convex quartz slab of circular outline, with metal electrodes referred to as "adherent" electrodes deposited directly on the main faces thereof.
In another embodiment, the quartz slab with adherent electrodes is externally delimited by a ring of quartz serving as a support for the resonator crystal.
In yet another embodiment, the resonator crystal is connected to a ring of quartz via bridges cut-out in a solid crystal. The electrodes may be adherent or non-adherent. When non-adherent, the electrodes are deposited on quartz slabs having the same cut as the crystal and a similar shape, and only the rings of the electrode-supporting slabs come into contact with the ring of the vibrating crystal.
In this disposition where the crystal is self-suspended without any metal diffusion, thermal compression, or fixing means associated with the active portion of the crystal, it is possible to obtain excellent frequency stability and also better resistance to shock.
However, such frequency stability requires accurate temperature control and the slightest fluctuation in temperature has an effect on the frequency of oscillation of the resonator crystal. That is why it is usual for the resonator to be placed in a very high accuracy thermostat for limiting such fluctuations, but which unfortunately consumes a non-negligible amount of power.

Resonator for a thermostatically-controlled oscillator having low power consumption and rapid heating

Ecole Nationale Superieure de Mecanique et Des Microtechniques


A full-band antenna includes a dielectric layer, and a first and a second patterned conductive layer provided on the dielectric layer. The first patterned conductive layer includes a feed portion and a loop portion outwardly extended from the feed portion. The loop portion defines a plurality of radiation sections, between which a multi-coupling effect is created to form at least one variable frequency. The second patterned conductive layer includes a conductive portion and a short-circuit portion. The conductive portion forms at least one fixed frequency. The at least one variable frequency of the loop portion can be adjusted in its frequency distribution and frequency range by changing a width of the radiation sections and a spacing distance between the radiation sections.

In the new era of wireless communication, various kinds of high technological communication devices have been constantly introduced into the market to create prosperous development in the business of communication products. Among others, mobile devices have the advantages of being portable and convenient for use and therefore have become the major communication devices among consumers. Further, to meet the consumers' demand for multifunction, the conventional dual-frequency mobile communication devices have also been replaced by the new multi-frequency mobile communication devices.
An antenna is a microwave device that is particularly designed for propagating electromagnetic energy in a specific direction. The antenna is mainly used to effectively radiate a signal from a transmitter into a free space or to effectively couple a remotely transmitted electric signal to a receiver. Therefore, an antenna is considered a transducer. Currently, the antennas built in common mobile devices include the following several types: monopole antenna, dipole antenna, planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA), and loop antenna.
The monopole antenna and the dipolar antenna are characterized in their considerably good transmitting and receiving power. However, they have the problem with SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) test and often fail to satisfy the electromagnetic wave energy absorption rate test.
The planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) is advantageous for use in a product having very limited internal space and can be built in the mechanism to give the product a beautiful appearance. However, it often has relatively short transmission range when being used in some complicated space.
The loop antenna is usually used in high-frequency signal transmission. However, it has high input impedance and therefore can not be applied to small-sized communication devices.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art full-band internal antenna developed for mobile communication devices. This type of full-band internal antenna is provided on a dielectric layer 10 and includes a first radiation section 11 and a second radiation section 12. The first radiation section 11 has an end being extended to form a branch section 13 for electrically connecting to a short-circuit portion 14. The branch section 13 further includes an adjustment section 15. The second radiation section 12 is rightward extended to form an extended section 16, and is leftward extended to form a long arm portion 17, which is parallel to the first radiation section 11. To comply with the relevant telecommunication codes, the currently designed antennas generally have two types of relatively large sizes, that is, 80×13×0.4 mm and 70×13×0.4 mm. However, antennas with these two types of sizes could no longer match the nowadays multifunctional and miniaturized mobile devices.
It is therefore necessary to provide an internal antenna structure that employs a spiral design and a multi-coupling mechanism to enable miniaturized antenna size and receipt of multiple frequencies while complying with relevant telecommunication codes.

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