A voltage-controlled oscillator includes (i) a first variable-capacity element, (ii) a resonance circuit whose resonance frequency changes in accordance with a control voltage applied to the first variable-capacity element, (iii) a second variable-capacity element connected in parallel with the first variable-capacity element, (iv) resonance frequency range switching means which switches the variation range of the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit by switching the capacity of the second variable-capacity element, and (v) a resonance frequency correction circuit which corrects the resonance frequency in such a manner as to prevent the ratio between resonance frequencies before and after the switching of the variation range from depending on the control voltage.

In recent years voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), which can control oscillating frequencies by applying a control voltage, have widely been used for, for example, local oscillators of wireless transmitter-receivers. Such a voltage-controlled oscillator is required to be highly stable, have low phase noise, generate low noise, or the like. However, since the range of oscillating frequencies of a wireless transmitter-receiver is wide, the aforesaid requirements cannot be satisfied by a single voltage-controlled oscillator. Taking into account of this, a plurality of voltage-controlled oscillators with different variation ranges of oscillating frequencies are provided on one integrated circuit, in order to cover a required oscillating frequency range.
In case where a plurality of voltage-controlled oscillators are provided on an integrated circuit, the chip size increases on account of an area for those oscillators, so that the cost is high. Taking account of this problem, there is a voltage-controlled oscillator which can cover a required oscillating frequency range as if different voltage-controlled oscillators are provided. In this voltage-controlled oscillator, variation ranges of oscillating frequencies are switched by switching the inductance of a resonance circuit.
FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram which outlines a voltage-controlled oscillator 500 with the inductance switching capability. This voltage-controlled oscillator 500 is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-229718 (published on Aug. 15, 2003; corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,954,111). As illustrated in FIG. 5, the voltage-controlled oscillator 500 includes a pair of variable-capacity elements C501 whose capacity control terminals are connected to a control voltage input terminal 501. To this control voltage input terminal 501, a control voltage is applied from the outside. With this, the capacities of the variable-capacity elements C501 are changed, so that the resonance frequency of a resonance circuit including inductors L501 and variable-capacity elements C50-1 is controlled. Moreover, the voltage-controlled oscillator 500 includes switches SW501 by which a power source 502 is connected to either terminals of the inductors L501 or intermediate parts of the inductors L501. In this voltage-controlled oscillator 500, the inductance of the resonance circuit is varied by switching the switches SW501, with the result that the variation range of oscillating frequencies is switched.
FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram which outlines another voltage-controlled oscillator 600 having the inductance switching capability. This oscillator 600 is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-151953 (published on May 24, 2002). As illustrated in FIG. 6, the voltage-controlled oscillator 600 includes a pair of variable-capacity elements C601 whose capacity control terminals are connected to a control voltage input terminal 601. A control voltage is applied to the control voltage input terminal 601 from the outside, so that the capacities of the variable-capacity elements C601 are varied. In doing so, the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit including inductors L601 and the variable-capacity elements C601 is controlled. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, each main inductor L601 is provided with an auxiliary inductor L602 which is magnetically coupled with the main inductor L601. On this account, in the voltage-controlled oscillator 600, the inductance of the resonance circuit is changed by switching on/off the switches SW601 which are connected to the closed circuit including the auxiliary inductors L602, so that the variation range of the oscillating frequencies is switched.
However, the conventional voltage-controlled oscillator in which the variation range of the oscillating frequencies is switched by switching the inductance of the resonance circuit has the following problem.
That is, in the voltage-controlled oscillator 500, the switches SW501 and the inductors L501 are connected in series. On this account, the currents passing through the switches SW501 and the inductors L501 are susceptible to a parasitic capacity and noise, and hence the phase noise characteristic is deteriorated and noise is increased.
In the meanwhile, in the voltage-controlled oscillator 600, the auxiliary inductors L602 by which mutual magnetic induction with the main inductors L601 is generated are required, in addition to the main inductors L601. For this reason, the voltage-controlled oscillator 600 requires an area where the inductors L601 and L602 are provided, and hence the chip size is large. To solve this problem, there has been a proposal to provide two or more wiring layers where those inductors are formed. In this case, however, it is necessary to provide, between the neighboring wiring layers, a ground layer (termed ground shield) made of polysilicon or the like. This increases manufacturing costs.
In consideration of the above, there has been a voltage-controlled oscillator in which the variation range of the oscillating frequencies is switched by switching the capacity of the resonance circuit. FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram which outlines a voltage-controlled oscillator 700 having a capability of switching the capacity of a resonance circuit. As shown in this figure, the voltage-controlled oscillator 700 includes a pair of variable-capacity elements C701 whose capacity control terminals are connected to a control voltage input terminal 701. As the control voltage input terminal 701 receives a control voltage, the capacities of the variable-capacity elements C701 are changed, so that the resonance frequency of the resonance circuit including inductors L701 and the variable-capacity elements C701 is controlled. Furthermore, the voltage-controlled oscillator 700 is also provided with another pair of variable-capacity elements C702. The capacity control terminal of each of the variable-capacity elements C702 is connected to either the GND or the power source, via the switch SW701. With this arrangement, the capacities of the variable-capacity elements C702 are switched by a switch SW701, so that the variation range of the oscillating frequencies is switched.
The voltage-controlled oscillator 700 does not require an inductor for switching the variation range of the oscillating frequencies. For this reason, the voltage-controlled oscillator has a good phase noise characteristic can be easily downsized.
The voltage-controlled oscillator, in which the variation range of the oscillating frequencies is switched by switching the capacity of the resonance circuit, has a good phase noise characteristic and can be easily downsized, but has a problem such that the ratio between the oscillating frequencies before and after the switching of the variation range of the resonance frequency is not constant, because of the dependency on the control voltage. When such a voltage-controlled oscillator is used as a local oscillator of a transmitter or a receiver, the transmitter or the receiver requires complicated circuitry, and hence is costly.
The above-mentioned problem is specifically described as below, taking the voltage-controlled oscillator 700 shown in FIG. 7 as an example.
The resonance circuit of the voltage-controlled oscillator 700 is constituted by inductors L701, variable-capacity elements C701 which are connected in parallel with the inductors L701, and other variable-capacity elements C702. The total capacity C of the resonance circuit is therefore equal to CV+CX, which is the sum total of (i) the capacity CV of the variable-capacity elements C701, which is determined by a control voltage Vc applied to a control voltage input terminal 701 and (ii) the capacity CX of the variable-capacity elements C702.
As described above, the capacity CX of the variable-capacity elements C702 is switchable using the switch SW701. That is, in case where the capacity control terminal of the variable-capacity elements C702 is grounded, the capacity of the variable-capacity elements C702 is CA. On the other hand, in case where the capacity control terminal of the variable-capacity elements C702 is connected to the power source, the capacity of the variable-capacity elements C702 is CB(CA>CB).
The oscillating frequency of the voltage-controller oscillator, i.e. the resonance frequency f of the resonance circuit is determined as below, by the total capacity C of the resonance circuit and the inductance L of the resonance circuit:
  f  =      1          2                                      π                                                        L          ·          C
Therefore, when the capacity of the variable-capacity elements C702 is CA, the resonance frequency fA of the voltage-controlled oscillator 700 is determined as below:
      f    A    =      1          2                                      π                                                                    L            ·                          (                                                C                  V                                +                                  C                  A                                            )
In the meanwhile, when the capacity of the variable-capacity element is CB, the resonance frequency fB of the voltage-controlled oscillator 700 is determined as below:
      f    B    =      1          2                                      π                                                        L          ·                      (                                          C                V                            +                              C                B                                      )
In the equations above, indicated by L is the inductance of the inductors L701.
When the variation range of the resonance frequency is switched while the control voltage Vc is kept constant, the ratio between the resonance frequencies fA/fB before and after the switching is represented as below.
            f      A              f      B        =                              C          V                +                  C          B                                      C          V                +                  C          A
In this manner, the ratio between the resonance frequencies before and after the switching of the resonance frequency range depends on the capacity CV, i.e. the control voltage Vc. The ratio is therefore inconstant.
The present invention was done to solve the above-described problem. The objective of the present invention is to provide a voltage-controlled oscillator (i) which has a good phase noise characteristic, (ii) which can be easily downsized, and (iii) whose ratio of oscillating frequencies before and after the switching of the variation range of a resonance frequency does not depend on a control voltage.

Voltage-controlled oscillator, transmitter, and receiver


Compositions and methods for delivering GDNF to skeletal muscles to result in a therapeutic effect are disclosed. The compositions and methods use adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene delivery systems. The methods are useful for treating motoneuron diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Motoneuron neurodegenerative diseases present major public health issues. For example, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a relentlessly progressive lethal disease that involves selective annihilation of motoneurons. Approximately 20% of familial ALS is linked to mutations in the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) gene (Julien, J. P., Cell (2001) 104:581–591). Transgenic mice overexpressing this mutant gene (mSOD1G93A) develop a dominantly inherited adult-onset paralytic disorder that has many of the clinical and pathological features of familial ALS (Gurney et al., Science (1994) 264:1772–1775). However, to date, the molecular mechanisms leading to motoneuron degeneration in ALS and most motor neuron diseases remain poorly understood. Because the mechanism leading to motoneuron degeneration in ALS is not known, there is currently no therapy available to prevent or cure ALS.
Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has been shown to be the most potent neurotrophic factor for the proliferation, differentiation, and survival of spinal motoneurons. GDNF and GDNF mRNA levels have been reported to be up-regulated in denervated muscles as found in ALS, polymyostits (PM) and muscular dystrophy (MD), or after peripheral nerve lesion and the like (Trupp et al., J. Cell Biol. (1995) 130:137–148; Lie and Weis, Neurosci. Lett. (1998) 250: 87–90; Yamamoto et al., Neurochem. Res. (1999) 24:785–790). GDNF has been proposed as a therapeutic agent to treat motor neuron disease (Henderson et al., Science (1994) 266:1062–1064; Oppenheim et al., Nature (1995) 373:344–346; Yan et al., Nature (1995) 373:341–344; Sagot et al., J. Neurosci. (1996) 16: 2335–2341; Bohn, M. C., Biochem. Pharmacol. (1999) 57:135–142; Mohajeri et al., Hum. Gene Ther. (1999) 10:1853–1866). Neurotrophic factors such as GDNF have been shown to slow motoneuron degeneration and to restore the function of non-functional motoneurons that are still alive (Trupp et al., J. Cell Biol. (1995) 130:137–148; Sagot et al., J. Neurosci. (1998) 18: 1132–1141; Lie and Weis, Neurosci. Lett. (1998) 250: 87–90; Baumgartner and Shine, J. Neurosci. Res. (1998) 54: 766–777; Yamamoto et al., Neurochem. Res. (1999) 24:785–790; Biesch and Tuszynski, J. Comp. Neurol. (2001) 436:399–410; Keller-Peck et al., J. Neurosci. (2001) 21:6136–6146.
To date, however, clinical trials using repeated administration of recombinant GDNF, as well as other neurotrophic factors such as ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), have shown limited or no promise and/or have resulted in severe side-effects (Yuen, E. C., Phys. Med. Rehabil. Clin. N. Am. (2001) 12:293–306). In particular, these proteins have a short in vivo plasma half-life, have poor access to spinal cord motoneurons, and cause inflammatory reactions that prevent administration at an adequate dose (Haase et al., Nat. Med. (1997) 3:429–436; Alisky and Davidson, Hum. Gene Ther. (2000) 11:2315–2329). These limitations, together with the chronicity and progressive nature of most motoneuron degenerative diseases, underscore the necessity to develop innovative strategies that offer more effective and long-term delivery of neurotrophic factors to motoneurons. In an attempt to overcome the above-described problems, experimenters have studied gene-therapy approaches for treating ALS (Alisky and Davidson, Hum. Gene Ther. (2000) 11:2315–2329). Genetically modified myoblast-based GDNF gene delivery in muscles prevented loss of spinal motoneurons and delayed the onset of the disease in a transgenic mouse familial ALS model (Mohajeri et al., Hum. Gene Ther. (1999) 10:1853–1866). However, the level of GDNF protein in treated muscle was undetectable.
Adeno-associated virus (AAV) has shown promise for delivering genes for gene therapy in clinical trials in humans (see, e.g., Kay et al., Nat. Genet. (2000) 24:257–261). As the only viral vector system based on a nonpathogenic and replication-defective virus, recombinant AAV virions have been successfully used to establish efficient and sustained gene transfer of both proliferating and terminally differentiated cells in a variety of tissues (Bueler, H., Biol. Chem. (1999) 380:613–622). Notwithstanding these successes, AAV-mediated GDNF gene therapy for treating motor neuron disease, such as ALS, has not been demonstrated.
The AAV genome is a linear, single-stranded DNA molecule containing about 4681 nucleotides. The AAV genome generally comprises an internal nonrepeating genome flanked on each end by inverted terminal repeats (ITRs). The ITRs are approximately 145 base pairs (bp) in length. The ITRs have multiple functions, including as origins of DNA replication, and as packaging signals for the viral genome. The internal nonrepeated portion of the genome includes two large open reading frames, known as the AAV replication (rep) and capsid (cap) genes. The rep and cap genes code for viral proteins that allow the virus to replicate and package into a virion. In particular, a family of at least four viral proteins are expressed from the AAV rep region, Rep 78, Rep 68, Rep 52, and Rep 40, named according to their apparent molecular weight. The AAV cap region encodes at least three proteins, VP1, VP2, and VP3.
AAV has been engineered to deliver genes of interest by deleting the internal nonrepeating portion of the AAV genome (i.e., the rep and cap genes) and inserting a heterologous gene between the ITRs. The heterologous gene is typically functionally linked to a heterologous promoter (constitutive, cell-specific, or inducible) capable of driving gene expression in the patient's target cells under appropriate conditions. Termination signals, such as polyadenylation sites, can also be included.
AAV is a helper-dependent virus; that is, it requires coinfection with a helper virus (e.g., adenovirus, herpesvirus or vaccinia), in order to form AAV virions. In the absence of coinfection with a helper virus, AAV establishes a latent state in which the viral genome inserts into a host cell chromosome, but infectious virions are not produced. Subsequent infection by a helper virus "rescues" the integrated genome, allowing it to replicate and package its genome into an infectious AAV virion. While AAV can infect cells from different species, the helper virus must be of the same species as the host cell. Thus, for example, human AAV will replicate in canine cells coinfected with a canine adenovirus.
However, prior to the present invention, AAV-mediated delivery of GDNF for the treatment of motoneuron diseases, such as ALS, has not been successfully achieved.

Adeno-associated virus-mediated delivery of GDNF to skeletal muscles


Various embodiments disclosed herein are directed to automatically making an initial claim assignment. The systems include information collection subsystems, skills assessment subsystems and assignment recommendation subsystems that provide a customer service representative with a recommendation for the best-suited available claim handler. The customer service representative may accept or override the recommendation in making the claim handler assignment. The determination of the best-suited available claim handler is made by correlating these skills required for handling a particular claim, the skills of the claim handlers, and an algorithm takes into account the claim handler's current loss assignment count, number of hours spent, and future availability.

The evolution of automation of business tasks continues to expand at a dramatic pace. The business case for such automation is clear. Enterprises that can use automated systems to improve responsiveness to the customer can often gain a competitive advantage. It has been shown that for most processes, 90% of process time is attributed to information transfer time and 10% to the actual performance of the tasks. This need to allocate more time to the actual performance of tasks has led to significant effort to improve the automation of workflow.
Workflow relates to the movement of documents and/or tasks through a work process. The concept of Workflow incorporates the operational aspect of a work procedure, including the structure of the tasks, the actors who will perform the tasks, the order in which the tasks are performed, synchronization of the tasks, the information flow necessary to support the tasks and tracking of the status of the tasks.
Workflow Management is increasingly being exploited by businesses in a variety of industries. The objective of workflow management is the automation of processes involving combinations of human and machine-based activities, particularly those involving interaction with information technology. Heavy users of workflow management technology include industries such as insurance, banking, legal and general administration.
One of the challenges of effectively implementing a workflow management system, particularly in a service organization, is to automate the initial assignment of tasks once a service request has been received. The fundamental difficulty is one of matching the task to be performed with the individual having the requisite skills and availability to perform the task. In a typical approach to assigning a task to a service provider, a customer requests service (e.g. makes a claim under his/her insurance) from a customer representative. This may occur by way of a telephone call to a call center. The customer representative will typically collect information about the service being requested. In the case of an automobile insurance claim, the information may include the name of the insured, details about the accident, the vehicles involved, where the accident took place, the other party involved, the other party's insurance company, etc. The customer representative would collect the information and send it to a queue for further processing by the work unit that will accomplish the task. A work unit manager would review the requests for service in the queue and assign a service provider to handle the task. The assignment would go into the individual service provider queue. The individual service provider would then provide this service when he/she is ready to accomplish the request in his/her queue. One drawback of the typical process is that there is a significant time lag between the interaction with the customer by the customer representative and the actual assignment of the task to an individual service provider. Ideally, the customer would like to know the identity of the individual who will provide the service as soon as possible.
In the insurance industry, the assignment of a claim to a claim handler or claim adjuster is recognized as a significant bottleneck in delivering customer service. In many insurance companies auto and property claims (loss reports) are taken by claims representatives and assigned to a claim handler code associated with a work queue rather than a person. A group of designated representatives must then manually transfer the claim (loss) from the work queue to the claim handler code associated with the primary claims adjuster. In order to do this, they must manually classify the claim, manually determine which location and skill level of adjusters are appropriate to handle the claim, and manually determine which adjuster is next in line to receive an assignment.
A number of technology vendors market workflow systems (e.g. the Siebel 7.8 insurance module) that decompose a claim into segments while optimizing the assignment of these claim segments to claims adjusters and service providers. A "Score-Based Assignment" is used to automate the assignment of the claim to the claim adjuster and service providers based on a broad range of criteria, including skills or expertise, region, language, and workload. Another commercially available application, "Guidewire ClaimCenter," is described as providing automated, rules-driven segmentation and assignment of claims and exposures based on any attributes of the claim or the claims organization. Although many companies today claim to have automated segmentation and assignment processes, they lack the flexibility to support ever-changing business needs. Many of today's workflow management systems as implemented in the insurance industry have a problem dealing with the unavailability of claim handler's as a result of vacation, illness, overloading and the like. The result is that claims may be offered to too few, too many, or the wrong claim handlers.
In view of the above, it is desirable to provide a workflow system that is user-friendly and provides the flexibility to support evolving business needs. It is desirable to provide a workflow system that provides a recommendation of an individual who will handle a task to a customer service representative interacting with a customer. It is further desirable to provide the customer service representative with the ability to accept or override the recommendation. It is further desirable for the customer service representative to be able to tell the customer, at the initial customer interaction, the name and phone number of the person to whom the task has been assigned.

System and method for automating initial claim assignment

United Services Automobile Association (USAA)


An improved laryngoscope blade for use with a conventional laryngoscope handle and conventional means for illumination. The improvements to the blade include a small reverse curve at the tip of the blade to better visualize the depth of insertion of the blade, include a greater width of the portion of the blade proximal to the handle to provide improved means for controlling the tongue, and include a more gradual curvature of the blade to better conform to the shape of the airway opening when the patient is properly positioned for laryngoscopy. The blade may also include a vertical wall which may be thickened to serve as a bite block, and raised areas to define grooves on the surface of the blade for insertion of an endotracheal tube and/or a suction catheter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to laryngoscopes, and particularly to an improved blade for a laryngoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
While a laryngoscope may be used to visually examine the larynx, its more important function is to aid in endotracheal intubation. The need for intubation may arise during a controlled situation, such as surgery, or in a crisis situation when the patient is unable to breathe adequately and requires a resuscitation bag or mechanical ventilation. During intubation, a flexible tube is inserted through the nasal or oral cavity, passed through the larynx, and into the trachea for the administration of gases. The larynx may be viewed as a chamber bounded superiorly by the epiglottis, inferiorly by the vocal cords which cover the opening to the trachea, anteriorly by the thyroid cartilage or Adam's apple, and posteriorly by a portion of the pharynx. The epiglottis is a lamella or leaf-like plate of cartilage which extends dorsally like a loose lid over the larynx, helping to protect the trachea by preventing food from entering the trachea during swallowing.
In order to intubate the patient, the intubator (either a physician or paramedic) must visualize the epiglottis and the vocal cords to watch the tube go past the vocal cords of the patient. The laryngoscope generally comprises a handle, a blade which is used to move the patient's tongue out of the way and to lift the epiglottis to expose the vocal cords, and a light source to illuminate the glottis and vocal cords.
The two most widely used blades in the current state of the art are known as the Miller blade and the Macintosh blade. The Miller blade is a substantially straight blade with a curved tip, the curve commencing approximate 2 inches from the end of the blade. The Macintosh blade is a blade which is curved for substantially its entire length (U.S. Pat. No. 2,354,471 issued Jul. 25, 1944). In use the Miller blade is inserted along the longitudinal axis of the larynx past the epiglottis to lift it enough to visualize the vocal cords and slip the tube through the cords into the trachea. The Macintosh blade is inserted on a combination of the axis of the oral cavity and the longitudinal axis of the larynx, the tip being placed in the vallecula, which are shallow depressions in the membranous folds and tissue between the epiglottis and the root of the tongue. By applying an upward pressure at the vallecula, the epiglottis is raised enough to visualize the vocal cords.
While intubation may be done with the existing blades, several shortcomings in the existing blades have prompted various efforts to improve the blades. Efforts to improve the curvature of the blade are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,962, issued Apr. 2, 1991 to Choi, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,941 issued Apr. 18, 1995 to Roberts. Choi describes a blade having three straight segments, the second segment at a 20 degree angle to the first, and the third at a 30 degree angle to the second. The Roberts patent describes a flat, flexible blade, having a cam attached to one side of the blade so the curvature may be adjusted by rotating the cam. U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,001 issued to O. C. Phillips Dec. 24, 1974 describes a Jackson or straight blade having a U-shaped cross-section and a tip similar to the Miller blade, curving about 2 inches from its end.
Efforts to improve the tip are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,451, issued Mar. 4, 1986 to Bauman, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,688 issued Feb. 18, 1997 to Upsher. The Bauman patent describes a blade made of plastic or metal, thinned or hinged at the tip, with a push rod and a ratchet to change the angle of the tip. Upsher's patent shows a blade having a hollow tube in the blade for insertion of the endotracheal tube, with an extension of one side of the tip to prevent the natural curve of the endotracheal tube from causing the end of the endotracheal tube to leave the field of vision after exiting the hollow tube in the blade.
Efforts to improve the illumination of the larynx and vocal cords are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,644 issued Feb. 1, 1972 to Reick, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,514 issued Nov. 13, 1973 to Huffman, et al. The Reick patent shows a light bulb in the handle with a plastic light conduit extending through the blade. The Huffman patent shows a one-piece handle and blade, the blade having a prism mounted thereon for reflecting and diffusing the light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,835 issued Aug. 6, 1991 to Filli describes a blade which slides to adjust the length of the blade. U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,738 describes a sheath fitting over the blade to protect the patient's teeth, gums, oral mucosa and epiglottis from damage during insertion of the laryngoscope.
Various patents show a disposable blade, including European Patent 0184588 published Jun. 18, 1986, describing a disposable blade with a light source in the handle; International Patent 94/03101 published Feb. 17, 1994, describing a disposable blade with the light source in the blade; and International Patent 97/17885 published May 22, 1997, showing a disposable blade with a channel in the blade for the passage of fluids.
Construction techniques for incorporating a channel or path for a bulb and light cable or guide are shown in U.K. Patent 2,102,294 published Feb. 2, 1983, describing two L-shaped members put together in overlapping fashion to form a channel for the light and cable, and U.K. Patent 2,102,679 describing a blade made by placing a fiber optic bundle in an injection mold and forming a plastic blade by injecting the mold with plastic.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus an improved laryngoscope blade solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The present invention exploits the principle used by health care providers to widen the airway in preparation of intubation. When the head is in the normal anatomic position, the airway is narrow. It is therefore recommended that the intubator align the laryngeal and pharyngeal axes; unlike the present invention, in this position neither the Miller blade nor the Macintosh blade present the optimum angle for viewing and intubating the patient. Although the Macintosh blade is curved, the curvature is greater than the curvature of the airway, hence it does not permit optimal visualization of the vocal cords because the intubator can't see around the curvature of the blade. Moreover, with both the Miller blade and the Macintosh blade, the intubator has difficulty visualizing the tip of the blade, again due to the shape of the blade and the shape of the airway. Consequently the intubator has difficulty determining when the tip is in proper position.


Integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits are provided. In an embodiment, a method for fabricating an integrated circuit includes providing a semiconductor substrate and forming fins over the semiconductor substrate. Each fin is formed with sidewalls. The method further includes conformally depositing a metal film stack on the sidewalls of each fin. In the method, the metal film stack is annealed to form a metal silicide film over the sidewalls of each fin.

Non-planar structures such as finFETs are being implemented in integrated circuit fabrication at the fourteen nanometer technology node. One important challenge with the implementation of non-planar structures is the formation of contacts to the non-planar (fin) source/drain regions. There are two approaches for contact formation: formation of contacts to merged fins and formation of contacts to unmerged fins.
For merged fins, a layer of epitaxial silicon is grown on fins. As a result of the epitaxial growth, adjacent fins become merged. The resulting contact area is large and lacks topographical variation. Therefore, conventional silicide processes can be used to successfully form silicide contacts to the top surface of the merged fins. Conventional silicide processes include the formation of an intermetallic silicide material on the active silicon. Current fabrication processes typically use nickel-platinum silicide (NiPtSi), nickel silicide (NiSi) or titanium silicide (TiSi) as the silicide material.
Unmerged fins are required, for example, for Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) devices. Unmerged fins permit the design of SRAM cells with tighter pitch, taking less area of the Si for the SRAM and making the overall chip layout smaller. Typically, SRAM cells are large in today's integrated circuits. It is well known that interface resistivity (Rs) is a significant factor in the overall contact resistance of an integrated circuit. A plurality of unmerged fins provides a large number of small contacts, each of which adds resistance. The total of the resistance from the contacts can be significantly larger than that of a merged set of fins, which has a large contact area and lower resistance. Lowering the contact resistance of the many small unmerged fins can make a significant difference in circuit performance. However, contacting unmerged fins let alone in a manner with low contact resistance is particularly challenging. For example, for finFETs at the ten nanometer technology node, the fins are extremely narrow and the use of silicidation to form contacts risks the complete consumption of the fin by the silicide reaction.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits with silicide contacts on unmerged non-planar transistors. In addition, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits which provide for contact formation on sidewalls of non-planar structures. Also, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits which consumes a low amount of silicon of a non-planar structure to avoid complete consumption of the non-planar structure during contact formation through silicidation. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits with silicide contacts on non-planar structures


A method of embedding copyright management information in AV (audio visual) content that is distributed in a downloadable file format. In a MP4 file format, which is a format for distributing downloadable files, content data is separated by code into a general stream and an IPMP (intellectual property management and protection) controlled media stream. A box for embedding data required for IPMP initialization and a box for embedding data required to interpret IPMP and related parameters are rendered in a first box that is rendered in a control data box.

The present invention relates to a method of embedding copyright management information in AV content that is distributed in a downloadable file format. More particularly, the present invention relates to MPEG-4 Intellectual Property Management and Protection (IPMP) for MPEG-4 media streams distributed in the MP4 file format.
There are two basic methods of distributing AV content, in streams or as downloadable files. In the stream distribution method the content supplier transmits AV content data in a stream that is reproduced as it is received on the receiver (player) side. The distributed content can therefore be reproduced with only a short wait after transmission begins. In the downloadable file model, however, the content supplier transmits the AV content data as a file. The receiver (player) can therefore start playback only after all AV content data has been received, and playback cannot start until all of the AV content data has been transferred to the receiver.
The present invention relates to a downloadable file format, and is described herein using the MP4 file format by way of example as a downloadable file format.
The MP4 file format is defined as a part of the MPEG-4 System specification. More specifically, however, the MP4 file format is a specific use of the more general ISO Base Media File Format. The MP4 file format is a generic file format enabling easy local manipulation of media data, and maintains streaming protocol independence. Media data in the MP4 file format is stored in its most natural format and is thus not fragmented.
The MPEG-4 System specification also defines the IPMP Extension specification as the mechanism for protecting media streams in the MPEG-4 System context. It defines, for example, how to protect a protected MP4 file format that is protected by encryption. In the IPMP mechanism an IPMP descriptor is stored in the MP4 file in addition to the protected media stream to enable determining which stream is protected and how. More precisely, the IPMP descriptor is stored in an object descriptor which contains other MPEG-4 System information as well. FIG. 1 shows the general architecture of the MPEG-4 IPMP protection scheme.
An MPEG-4 System compatible terminal can read object descriptors from an MP4 file, and can parse the descriptor further to read any IPMP descriptors stored in the object descriptors. The IPMP descriptor provides content information relating to how the associated media streams are protected and which IPMP tool should be used for further processing. This prior art is disclosed in non-patent reference 1.
Because the MP4 file format enables easy local manipulation of media data, many specifications other than MPEG-4, such as ISMA and 3GPP, also use the MP4 file format as their own default file format. Furthermore, for practical purposes, these specifications have the same requirement as the MPEG-4 System to protect the media stream by, for example, encryption. However, due to the lack of full MPEG-4 System support, it is not possible for these specifications to use already defined IPMP solutions to directly protect their own media stream. Given an MP4 file which contains IPMP protected streams, receivers compatible only with these specifications cannot recognize either the Object Descriptor or IPMP Descriptor. Furthermore, because the conversion information is only stored in the IPMP descriptors, these receivers have no means of determining if a received media stream is unrestricted or is protected. An alternative mechanism is therefore needed to enable these terminals to handle MP4 files in a protected media stream.
Non-patent reference 1: ISO/IEC14496-1/FDAM3 (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 N5282)

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for distributing AV content in a downloadable file format


The present invention relates to a transfer arrangement for transferring sausage-shaped products, like sausages, to a rod-like element, like a smoking rod, provided in a loading position in a hanging line, each of the sausage-shaped products contain a flowable filling material in a tubular or bag-shaped packaging casing provided with a suspension element, like a suspension loop, through which the sausage-shaped products can be suspended on the rod-like element. The transfer arrangement comprises an infeed device having an infeed conveyor and a guide bar along which the suspension elements of the sausage-shaped products are guided in an infeed direction to the rod-like element, a transport device which is arranged above the rod-like element and the guide bar and which has a conveyor device with transportation elements for transporting the sausage-shaped products along the guide bar towards the rod-like element, and a drive device for driving the conveyor device, and an indexing device for supporting the guide bar. The indexing device includes at least two pairs of indexing pins configured to be reversibly moved pairwise and alternately into an engagement position for engaging with the guide bar for supporting the guide bar and into a release position for disengaging with the guide bar for allowing the passage of a suspension element of a sausage-shaped product to be suspended on the rod-like element in the loading position, wherein the indexing pins of each pair of indexing pins are arranged on opposite sides of the guide bar and at least substantially opposite to each other, and a transmission arrangement for driving and controlling the movement of the indexing pins. The transmission arrangement is driven by the transport device.

In the production of sausage-shaped products, like sausages, a filling material is fed by a filling machine through a filling tube of the clipping machine into a tubular casing material stored on said filling tube. After a predetermined volume of filling material has been filled into said tubular casing material, the clipping machine closes the rear end of the sausage-shaped product via closing means, like closure clips, which are attached by respective closing tools. A suspension element, like a suspension loop, may also be attached to said rear end of said sausage-shaped product, enabling the sausage-shaped product to be hung up or suspended e.g. on a smoking rod or the like. Afterwards, the sausage-shaped product just produced is separated from the remaining casing material by a cutting device of the clipping machine and is transferred or discharged out of the clipping machine to a handling device for the next treatment step or a storage device by a respective discharge device.
For suspending the sausage-shaped product on a smoking rod provided in a loading position of a hanging line, the suspension element is grabbed or picked up by a transport device which removes the sausage-shaped product from a take-up position formed for example by an infeed device, and which may include a conveyor chain having suspension hooks. The sausage-shaped product, while hanging on the suspension hook, is than guided with its suspension element over the smoking rod and placed on a desired storage place on the smoking rod. When the smoking rod in the loading position is completely loaded, it is moved out of the loading position and an empty smoking rod is placed to be filled next.
From DE patent application 34 37 830, a device for suspending sausages on a smoking rod is known. The sausages provided with suspension loops are transported by means of their suspension loops along a sword and onto a conveyor chain. The smoking rod embraces the lower run of the conveyor chain and is rotated about its longitudinal axis for transferring the suspension loops from the conveyor chain onto the smoking rod. The sword is supported by pairs of bolts which can reversibly come into engagement with holes in the sword by piston/cylinder drives and which may successively be retracted by said piston/cylinder drives for enabling passage of the suspension loops of the sausages.
A further known hanging line for suspending sausages is disclosed in EP patent application 1 891 859. The sausages which are produced in a known clipping machine include a suspension loop that is guided along a sword towards a smoking rod. A chain conveyor is partially arranged above the sword and engages the loops by means of hooks arranged at the conveyor chain such that the respective sausage hangs on said hook by its loop. The sword is supported by bolts coming reversibly into engagement with respective holes in the side surfaces of said sword. Additionally, for transporting the sausages along the sword, chain conveyors with latches are provided which engage respective grooves in the side surfaces of the sword. By driving the conveyor chains, the latches move the sausages by their loops along the sword.
In these known hanging lines, several drives are provided for moving the various components of the hanging line, particularly, the different chain drives for the conveyor chains, the discharge conveyors or the bolts for supporting the sword. A mismatch between these components would lead to an incorrect transfer of the sausage-shaped products onto the rod-like element, or to production losses by sausage-shaped products falling off from one of the components of these hanging lines. Accordingly, an increased control effort is necessary to guarantee a correct synchronisation of the various components of these known hanging lines.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks, and to provide a transfer arrangement for transferring sausage-shaped products to a rod-like element that is operable with a reduced control amount.


Otic compositions are disclosed. The compositions contain an otic drug and a carrier comprising a low molecular weight compound. The compositions do not drain out of the ear after administration.

This invention relates to pharmaceutical compositions. In particular, this invention relates to the use of carriers containing low molecular weight compounds that reversibly change from solid to liquid at approximately 32-37° C. in compositions for otic use.
Otic compositions designed for topical application to the external ear are typically aqueous compositions. Such compositions can be formulated as simple aqueous solutions or suspensions. Alternatively, such compositions may be formulated as an oil-in-water emulsion, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,269. Still another possibility for use in topical otic compositions is a polymeric ingredient. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,061, which describes suspension formulations of the steroid loteprednol etabonate for treating the ear, eye or nose. Gel-forming compositions and gel compositions are also used for delivering otic drugs. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,011, which describes certain thermal responsive hydrogels suitable for administering a pharmaceutical agent across otic membranes. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,272, which describes thermo-irreversible gel vehicles that may be used to deliver otic drugs, wherein the vehicle contains a polyoxyalkylene polymer and an ionic polysaccharide and the vehicle is a liquid before administration to the body and transform, upon contact with the body, into "a semi-solid gel having a very high viscosity" (Col. 2, line 64-Col. 3, line 1). The compositions of the '272 patent may be formulated as homogeneous, polyphase systems and, in addition to the polyoxyalkylene polymer and the ionic polysaccharide, optionally contain "such additives as water insoluble high molecular weight fatty acids and alcohols, fixed oils, volatile oils and waxes, mono-, di-, and triglycerides, and synthetic, water insoluble polymers without altering the functionality of the system" (Col. 3, lines 16-21).

Pharmaceutical compositions for otic use


A structure includes an electrically conductive material possessing spontaneous magnetization (“free magnet”) not in contact with an electrically resistive material possessing spontaneous magnetization (“pinned magnet”), and a spacer having free electrons to transfer spin between the electrically resistive material and the electrically conductive material. During operation, an existing direction of magnetization of the free magnet is changed to a new direction of magnetization, by a spin current generated by transfer of heat between at least the spacer and the pinned magnet. Thereafter, the new direction of magnetization of the free magnet is sensed. Many such structures are fabricated to have an easy axis of magnetic anisotropy in the free magnet, to implement memories that write data by transferring heat. Several such structures are fabricated to have an easy plane of magnetic anisotropy in the free magnet, to implement oscillators that generate an oscillating signal, on transfer of heat.

Spintronics relates to use of spin of electrons in various types of devices, such as oscillators and random access memory (RAM). Several such prior art devices use an electrically resistive layer between two layers of metallic magnets, to form a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). One of the just-described two metallic magnets has its magnetization fixable into one of two directions in a plane of the layer of the magnet, depending on a direction of electric current. The magnetization of the other of the two metallic magnets can rotate in the plane of the layer. Passage of an electric current through the fixable-magnetization layer generates a spin current, whose absorption in the rotatable-magnetization layer gives rise to a spin transfer torque that changes the direction of magnetization of the rotatable-magnetization layer.
For additional details on such a three layered structure, see an article entitled "Magnetic-field Tunnel-sensor" by J. C. Slonczewski published in the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin. vol. 19. No. 6. Nov. 1976. pp. 2331-2332, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety as background.
In several devices of the prior art, electric current flows through an electrically conducting polarizing magnet, to generate a spin current whose absorption gives rise to a torque in a free magnet. As additional background, the following patents are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety:
(a) U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,864 granted to Slonczewski on Dec. 9, 1997, and entitled "Electronic device using magnetic components";
(b) U.S. Pat. No. 7,149,106 granted to Mancoff, et al. on Dec. 12, 2006, and entitled "Spin-transfer based MRAM using angular-dependent selectivity";
(c) U.S. Pat. No. 7,808,330 granted to Fukuzawa, et al. on Oct. 5, 2010 and entitled "High-frequency oscillator";
(d) U.S. Pat. No. 6,771,534 granted to Stipe on Aug. 3, 2004, and entitled "Thermally-assisted magnetic writing using an oxide layer and current-induced heating."
As further background, the following articles are also incorporated by reference herein in their entirety:
(f) Hatami et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 066603 (2007) "Thermal Spin-Transfer Torque in Magnetoelectronic Devices"; and
(g) Yu et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 146601 (2010) "Evidence of thermal spin-transfer torque."

Creating spin-transfer torque in oscillators and memories


In some embodiments, techniques for processing an alert may include creating or receiving an alert, determining a first current location, associating the first current location with the alert if not already so associated, determining a second current location, determining that the second current location matches the first current location, and presenting information relating to the alert.

Technology for determining location has become small and inexpensive, facilitating the creation of location-aware devices. Frequently, a reminder to perform a task or a reminder of an opportunity relating to a current location would be helpful to have in the future. Current devices and computer software contain various forms of alerting, such as calendar programs, to-do lists, etc. However, current technologies for reminders and scheduling do not permit association with a current location. This results in the inability of users to create alerts that will trigger at a time at which they are likely to be most useful.
Accordingly, it would be useful to have alerting capabilities that can take into account the location at which an alert is created.


Provided is a semiconductor device including a transistor with large on-state current even when it is miniaturized. The transistor includes a pair of first conductive films over an insulating surface; a semiconductor film over the pair of first conductive films; a pair of second conductive films, with one of the pair of second conductive films and the other of the pair of second conductive films being connected to one of the pair of first conductive films and the other of the pair of first conductive films, respectively; an insulating film over the semiconductor film; and a third conductive film provided in a position overlapping with the semiconductor film over the insulating film. Further, over the semiconductor film, the third conductive film is interposed between the pair of second conductive films and away from the pair of second conductive films.

In recent years, a metal oxide having semiconductor characteristics, which is called an oxide semiconductor, has attracted attention as a novel semiconductor material having high mobility as in the case of polysilicon or microcrystalline silicon and having uniform element characteristics as in the case of amorphous silicon. The metal oxide is used for various applications. For example, indium oxide is a well-known metal oxide and used as a material of a transparent electrode included in a liquid crystal display device or the like. Examples of such metal oxides having semiconductor characteristics include tungsten oxide, tin oxide, indium oxide, and zinc oxide. Transistors in which a channel formation region is formed using such a metal oxide having semiconductor characteristics have been known (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


In a feeder line drawing structure of a motor for a ship propeller, a guide portion detachably retaining a feeder line drawn out from a grommet in a drawing direction is provided in a lower end side of a housing in accordance with an integral molding, a bracket connected to a lower end of a housing formed as a close-top tube shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feed wire drawing structure of a motor for a ship propeller which is preferably used in a power trim tilt apparatus such as an outboard motor or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
(A) Conventionally, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 6-165435 (patent document 1), it is necessary to draw out a feeder line so as to make a protruding amount of the feeder line to a periphery of a motor small in such a manner as to prevent the feeder line drawn out from the motor from generating any interference with a wall of a hull and a movable portion of an outboard motor, when mounting a power trim tilt apparatus of the outboard motor to the hull. Further, it is necessary to prevent water such as sea water or the like from making an intrusion into the drawn portion of the motor.
Accordingly, in the feeder line drawing structure of the motor described in the patent document 1, a bracket is connected to a lower end of a housing formed as a closed-top tube shape. A grommet is inserted and attached to an insertion hole provided in the bracket. The feeder line is drawn to an outer side while passing through the grommet in a direction which is orthogonal to an axis of the housing, and the feeder line bent in a direction which is along the axis of the housing in an outer side of the grommet is extended upward along an outer surface of the housing. Further, a retaining member retaining the feeder line drawn out from the grommet and extending along the outer surface of the housing is pinched between mating faces of the housing and the bracket.
The following problems exist in the patent document 1.
(1) After the feeder line passes through the grommet inserted and attached to the bracket in the direction which is orthogonal to the axis of the housing so as to be drawn out to the outer side, the feeder line is bent in the direction which is along the axis of the housing. Accordingly, there is a risk that the bent feeder line applies its restoration behavior force of a deflection to the grommet so as to deform the grommet, thereby deteriorating a sealing function achieved by the grommet in the drawn portion of the feeder line from the bracket.
(2) It is necessary to use an adhesive agent as a means for inexpensively fixing the grommet to the insertion hole of the bracket, and it is necessary to provide equipment for drying the adhesive agent, so that the structure is complicated.
(3) Further, in order to retain the feeder line extending along the outer surface of the housing, the retaining member serving as a peculiar part is pinched between the mating faces of the housing and the bracket. Accordingly, the number of the parts retaining the feeder line is increased, and it is necessary to attach and detach the retaining member when repeatedly attaching and detaching the feeder line to and from the motor, whereby an assembling and dissembling characteristic of the motor is deteriorated, and an auxiliary retaining member is necessary for maintaining and replacing.
(B) Further, as a conventional motor, as described in JP-A No. 2004-297896 (patent document 2), there is a structure in which a bracket is connected to a lower end of a housing formed as a closed-top tube shape. A magnet is fixed to an inner periphery of the housing, each of both end portions of a rotor arranged on a center axis of the housing is supported to a top surface portion of the housing and the bracket. A commutator is provided close to the bracket in the rotor. A position surrounding the commutator of the bracket is provided with a brush holder holding a brush, and a fixing groove holding a brush lead wire connected to the brush. The brush lead wire is prevented from being librated by oscillation by inserting the brush lead wire to the fixed groove so as to retain, thereby excluding an adverse effect applied to a motor control such as an electric current ripple or the like.
In the motor described in the patent document 2, the brush lead wire is simply inserted into the groove from an opening of the fixed groove so as to be retained, and the fixed groove is open toward the outer side even after the brush lead wire is inserted. Accordingly, there is a risk that the brush lead wire deflects out from the opening of the fixed groove.

Feeder line drawing structure of motor for ship propeller


The present invention relates to a chimeric chemokine receptor comprising two components: a first sequence comprising the N terminus through the last residue of the seven helix TM region of a first chemokine receptor joined with a second sequence comprising the C terminus of a second chemokine receptor extending from the first intracellular residue of the chemokine receptor to the last residue of the chemokine receptor. The chimeric chemokine receptor can be employed in various applications, such as ligand binding and screening assays and signalling assays. The chimeric chemokine receptor can also form a component of a chemokine receptor modulator design program.

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are the most widely targeted proteins for therapeutic purposes. Structurally, this class of proteins comprises an extracellular N terminal region and an intracellular C terminal region, which are joined by a transmembrane (TM) region comprising seven alpha-helical domains that traverse the cellular membrane bilayer.
The function of each domain (the N terminus and the C terminus) of the GPCRs has been elucidated. Each of the domains of a GPCR has a distinct function. More particularly, GPCRs retain all of their known ligand binding regions within the extracellular regions and TM domains 2 through 7 (e.g., Ling et al., (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96:7922-7927; Gardella & Juppner, (2001) Trends Endocrin. Metab. 12(5):210-217; Vaidehi et al., (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99:12622-12627), while the intracellular regions regulate the cell signalling and receptor internalization functions (Trejo et al., (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95:13698-13702; Heding et al., (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273(19):11472-11477; Trejo &. Coughlin, (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274(4):2216-2224; Castro-Fernandez & Conn, (2002) Mol. Cell. Endocrinol. 191:149-156). G-protein coupled receptors, including chemokine receptors, have a wide range of specificities in terms of the signals they receive and those they transduce. As described further herein, these observations have been applied to the present invention in the form of chemokine receptor chimeras that retain ligand binding ability as well as G-protein-mediated signalling activity.
The chemokine receptor family of G-protein coupled receptors represents the largest group of peptide-binding GPCRs described to date (Onuffer & Horuk, (2002) Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 23(10):459-467). In this capacity, the bound peptides are chemokines for the chemokine receptor (the GPCR) (see, e.g., Yoshie et al., (2001) Adv. Immunol. 78:57). Chemokines are about 4 to about 14 kDa in size and comprise four conserved cysteine residues. They are broadly grouped into two groups: a major group comprising the CC and CXC subgroups in which two cysteines are adjacent or separated by one residue, and a minor group comprising the C and CXXXC subgroups in which the second cysteine is absent or is separated from the first cysteine by three residues (see, e.g., Horuk, (2003) Methods 29:369-375; Horuk, (2001) Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 12:313-335). The classification scheme depends on the number and position of the first two conserved cysteine residues (Horuk, (2003) Methods 29:369-375).
At least 18 chemokine receptors have been identified, including 10 CC-type chemokine receptors (CCR1 (Neote et al., (1993) Cell 72:415-425; Gao et al., (1993) J. Exp. Med. 177:1421-1427), CCR2 (Charo et al., (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91:2752-56), CCR3 (Combadiere et al., (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270:16491-16494; Combadiere et al., (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270:30235; Daugherty et al., (1996) J. Exp. Med. 183:2349-2354; Ponath et al., (1996) J. Clin. Invest. 97:604-612), CCR4 (Power et al., (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270:19495-19500), CCR5 (Samson et al., (1996) Biochem. 35:3362-3367; Combadiere et al., (1996) J. Leukocyte Biol. 60:147-152), CCR6 (Baba et al., (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272:14893-14898), CCR7 (Yoshida et al., (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272:13803-13809), CCR8 (Tiffany et al., (1997) J. Exp. Med. 186:165-170; Roos et al., (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272:17251-17254; Horuk et al., (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273:386-391; Goya et al., (1998) J. Immunol. 160:1975-1981), CCR9 (Zaballos et al., (1999) J. Immunol. 162:5671-5675), CCR10 (Homey et al., (2000) J. Immunol. 164:3465-3470; Jarmin et al., (2000) J. Immunol. 164:3460-3464)) and 8 of the CXC, CXXXC and XC types (CXCR1 (Holmes et al., (1991) Science 253:1278-1280), CXCR2 (Murphy & Tiffany, (1991) Science 253:1280-1283), CXCR3 (Marchese et al., (1995) Genomics 29:335-344; Loetscher et al., (1996) J. Exp. Med. 184:963-969), CXCR4 (Nomura et al., (1993) Int. Immunol. 5:1239-1249; Federspiel et al., (1993) Genomics 16:707-712; Jazin et al., (1993) Regul. Pep. 47:247-258; Herzog et al., (1993) DNA Cell Biol. 12:465-471; Loetscher et al., (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 269:232-237), CXCR5 (Legler et al., (1998) J. Exp. Med. 187:655-660), CXCR6 (Matloubian et al., (2000) Nature Immunol. 1:298-304), CXXXCR1 (Combadiere et al., (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273:23799-23804) and XCR1 (Yoshida et al., (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273:16551-16554)). See, e.g., Horuk, (2001) Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 12:313-335 for a review of chemokine receptors.
The nucleic acid sequences encoding the known chemokine receptors (which can be employed in the present invention and are incorporated herein by reference) are publicly available from the GenBank database and have the following accession numbers:
Table of GenBank AccessionsCCR1L10918, L09230, D10925CCR2U03905, U80924, D29984, U03882, U80924CCR3U28694, U51241, U49727CCR4X85740CCR5U54994, X91492, U57840CCR6U60000, U45984, U68032, Z79782CCR7X84702, L31581, L31584, L08176CCR8U45983, Z79782, U62556, Y08456CCR9U45982CCR10U13667CXCR1L19591, U11870, X65858, L19592, M68932CXCR2L19593, M94582, U11869, M73969, M99412CXCR3X95876, U32674CXCR4X71635, D10924, M99293, L01639, L06797CXCR5X68149, X68829CXCR6U73531CX3CR1U20350, U28934XCR1L36149
A function of the chemokine receptor/chemokine combination is to attract and activate cells involved in a variety of immune responses (see, e.g., Yoshie et al., (2001) Adv. Immunol. 78:57; Rollins, (1997) Blood 90:909; Baggiolini, (1998) Nature 392:565; Nagasawa et al., (1996) Nature 382:635). Depending on the cellular distribution and patterns of expression/production of these pairs of proteins, the coordination of extremely complex biological, notably immunological, phenomena can be accomplished (Horuk, (2001) Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 12:313-335; Baggiolini, (1998) Nature 392:565-68). Because multiple chemokine receptors are often expressed in a single cell type, and because many chemokine receptors are capable of binding multiple chemokines, the complexity of possible interactions is enormous.
The only known receptor for the chemokine eotaxin is CCR3; however, CCR3, (the eotaxin receptor) is also capable of binding other chemokines including eotaxin-2, RANTES, MCP-2, MCP-3 and MCP-4 (see, e.g., Horuk, (2001) Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 12:313-335; Baggiolini, (1998) Nature 392:565-68). In the case of CCR3 and its peptide ligand, eotaxin, the distribution and expression patterns of these two proteins suggest a role in an inflammatory process related to asthma (Baggiolini et al., (1997) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 15:675-705) and to contact dermatitis (Taha et al., (2000) J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 105:1002-1007; Yawalkar et al., (1999) J. Invest. Dermatol. 113:43-48; Ying et al., (1999) J. Immunol. 163:3976-3984). In one example of such a process, following functional binding, CCR3 ligands stimulate calcium flux, actin reorganization, integrin upregulation, receptor internalization, activation of signal transduction pathways and cell migration (Adachi et al., (2001) J. Immunol. 167:4609-4615; El-Shazly et al., (1999) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 264(1):163-170; Elsner et al., (1996) Eur. J. Immunol. 26:1919-1925; Elsner et al., (1998) Eur. J. Immunol. 28:2152-2158; Kampen et al., (2000) Blood 95:1911-1917; Lundahl et al., (1998) Inflammation 22:123-135; Tachimoto et al., (2002) Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 26: 645-649; Tenscher et al., (1996) Blood 88: 3195-3199; Woo et al., (2000) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 298: 392-397; Zimmerman et al., (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274: 12611-12618). The eotaxin receptor is known to be restricted in expression primarily to eosinophils, T-helper cells of the TH2 variety (Sallusto et al., (1997) Science 277:2005-2007), basophils (Uguccioni et al., (1997) J. Clin. Invest. 100:1137-43), mast cells, platelets, dendritic cells and based upon worked described herein, also monocytes. For the most part these cell types are known to be associated with a variety of acute and chronic allergic reactions including resistance to certain parasitic infections.
Continuing, it is known that anti-CCR3 antibody administered to mice by both intraperitoneal, and intra-nasal routes abrogates the eosinophil recruitment into the lung following intra-nasal allergen challenge (Justice et al., (2003) Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell Mol. Physiol. 284:L169-L178). The antibody also eliminates airway hyper-responsiveness to methacholine challenge. CCR3 knockout mice exhibit markedly reduced eosinophil recruitment to the lung and skin following allergen challenge (Humbles et al., (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99(3): 1479-84; Ma et al., (2002) J. Clin. Invest. 109(5):621-28). The effect on airway hyper-responsiveness, however, depends on the route of antigen sensitization. Mice sensitized by intraperitoneal injection show a slightly enhanced hyper-responsiveness (Humbles et al., (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99(3): 1479-84), whereas those sensitized by epi-cutaneous application of antigen show a near-complete reduction of hyper-responsiveness.
CCR2 exists in two isoforms, CCR2A and CCR2B (Charo et al., (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91:2752-56). In contrast to CCR3, which is primarily expressed in eosinophils, CCR2 (also referred to as MCP-1R) is predominantly expressed in the monocyte/macrophage lineage and its primary peptide ligand, MCP-1, is thought to act to recruit monocytes to sites of inflammation (Taub et al., (1993) Science 260:355; Roth et al., (1995) Eur. J. Immunol. 25:3482). In addition to MCP-1(α nd β), chemokine ligands known to interact with CCR2 include MCP-2, MCP-3, MCP-4 and MCP-5. Expression of CCR2 has also been described on basophils, NK cells, memory T cells, eosinophils and dendritic cells. Following functional binding, CCR2 ligands stimulate calcium flux, actin reorganization, integrin upregulation, receptor internalization, activation of signal transduction pathways and cell migration. Based upon the cellular distribution and activity of CCR2 and its ligands, therapeutic potential of CCR2 inhibitors may exist for chronic inflammatory conditions, such as atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
In the case of CCR2A (GenBank Accession No. AF545480), it is predicted that residues 1-42 of SEQ ID NO:2 comprise the N terminal region, that residues 310-374 of SEQ ID NO:2 comprise the C terminal region and that residues 43-309 of SEQ ID NO:2 comprise the TM region. In the case of CCR2B (GenBank Accession No. U03905), it is predicted that residues 1-42 of SEQ ID NO:4 comprise the N terminal region, that residues 310-360 of SEQ ID NO:4 comprise the C terminal region and that residues 43-309 of SEQ ID NO:4 comprise the TM region. With respect to CCR3 (GenBank Accession No. U28694), it is predicted that residues 1-34 of SEQ ID NO:6 comprise the N terminal region, that residues 306-355 of SEQ ID NO:6 comprise the C terminal region and that residues 35-305 of SEQ ID NO:6 comprise the TM region. The TM region creates extensive intracellular and extracellular loops of protein that confer specific biological reactivity and function. GPCRs are capable of responding to a wide variety of stimuli including light, odorants, ions, lipids, peptides and globular proteins.
The present invention relates to chimeric chemokine receptors. Several particular chimeric chemokine receptors have previously been generated. For example, Peiper et al. report the generation of (1) a chimera comprising the N terminal region of DARC, which was joined with the remaining portion of CCR1; and (2) a chimera comprising the N terminal region of CCR1, which was joined with the remaining portion of DARC (Peiper et al., (1997) Method Enzymol. 288:57-71). The chimeras of Peiper et al., however, only incorporated the extracellular N terminal region of CCR1 and DARC. Further, Alkhatib et al. (Alkhatib et al., (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 33:20420-26) and Pease et al. (Pease et al., (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273(32):19972-76) prepared various CCR1/CCR3 chimeras. The chimeras of Alkhatib and Pease, however, also include only the extracellular N terminus of a CCR1 or CCR3 receptor joined with the remainder of a CCR3 or CCR1 receptor, respectively. Hill et al. prepared chimeras comprising the N terminal domain of CCR1, CCR2 and CXCR4 and the remaining portion of CCR5, but again, these chimeras did not incorporate a contiguous N terminus/seven TM helix element (Hill et al., (1998) Virol. 248:357-71). Similarly, Rucker et al. prepared CCR2B/CCR5 chimeras (Rucker et al., (1996) Cell 87:437-46), but these chimeras did not incorporate an intact N terminus/seven TM helix element from a single receptor. Chimeras comprising non-chemokine receptor components have also been prepared (CCR2/CD8; Monteclaro & Charo, (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272(37):23186-90) as well as chimeras formed between orthologs of the same protein (human/macaque CCR3; Sol et al., (1998) Virol. 240:213-20), but neither of these chimeras incorporated an intact N terminus/seven TM helix element from a single receptor.
Although at least the above described chimeric receptors have been generated, these chimeras do not comprise a contiguous N terminus/seven TM helix element in general, nor do they comprise a region of a CCR3 receptor joined with a region of a CCR2 receptor in particular. Therefore these chimeras do not fully exhibit the properties of both of the CCRs that were used to construct the chimera (i.e., the properties of the N terminal and TM region of a first CCR, such as CCR3 and the intracellular C terminus of a second CCR, such as CCR2). Notably, these previously-generated chimeras do not include the TM region of the N terminal component of the chimera.
An impetus for generating the chimeric receptors of the present invention was the need for a receptor capable of high-affinity binding to the cognate ligand while retaining at least some of the downstream signalling capabilities associated with the native receptor. Such a chimera could be employed in a screening assay to identify chemokines that bind to a chemokine receptor and/or induce signalling. Prior to the present invention, such a chimeric receptor was lacking in the art.
Thus, what is needed is a chimeric chemokine receptor comprising the N-terminus through at least the last residue of the seventh transmembrane region of a first CCR (e.g., CCR3 or CCR2) joined to all or a portion of the C-terminus of a second CCR (e.g., CCR2 or CCR3, respectively). Such a receptor would facilitate a number of different assays, such as more accurate chemokine ligand binding, and signalling assays than can be achieved by employing the chimeras known in the art. Further, by modifying just the cytoplasmic tail of a chemokine receptor it may also be possible to generate alternative signalling pathways upon binding of the cognate ligand. These alternative pathways might prove to be easier to describe and/or quantify than those pathways associated with the wild-type receptor. The chimeric chemokine receptor would also be useful in modulator design efforts. The present invention solves these and other problems.

Polynucleotides encoding chimeric chemokine receptors


Described herein is a technology for in the realm of digital video broadcast technology or other such technology. One implementation, described herein, relates to broadcasting web content to client devices in a DVB (digital video broadcast) environment using rotational sequences of data modules (e.g., DSMCC carousels). One implementation, described herein, relates to emulating an interactive browsing experience of web content over a broadcast channel. One implementation, described herein, relates to the client device “smartly” caching select portions of the web content being broadcast. The scope of the present invention is pointed out in the appending claims.

In a digital video broadcasting (DVB) setting, a client device receives a digital broadcast of video and other data from a server device across a broadcast network. A client device may also be called a broadcast receiver, a set-top box, and the like. The server device may also be called a broadcaster or content distributor.
DVB standards and other digital video compression/transmission schemes (such as MPEG-2) include a protocol for broadcasting rotational sequences of data modules, which may be called "carousels." An example of one such protocol is DSMCC (Digital Storage Media Command and Control).
Broadcasting Carousels
A carousel is a mechanism for delivering blocks of data over a one-way (e.g., broadcast) network. The blocks of data are called modules. These modules are repeatedly rebroadcast over and over again. Hence, the term "carousel." A carousel may also be called a rotational sequence of modules.
Primarily, DSMCC is a protocol for controlling a video-on-demand (VOD) server and providing data and object carousels. It designed for receivers (e.g., clients) to fetch select data received from a sender (e.g., server).
Clients are, in general, devices such as set top boxes that consume multi-media content. Servers are entities that provide multi-media content and services. A Server may be a distributed system and contain multiple computing platforms, some functionally specialized e.g. video pumps to provide video-on-demand service.
The DSMCC carousel protocol makes use of non-flow-controlled download messages to provide periodic broadcast of data to a set of receivers. A download control message provides a list of available modules from a particular data carousel so that each receiver can identify which modules it wishes to capture. Since for the data carousel case, no reverse channel from receiver to sender is present, it is assumed that all data transfer parameters have been agreed upon a priori, and that the receiver knows on which broadcast channel to start listening for download control and data messages.
Object carousels, specifically, are a more structured form of the DSMCC data carousels. The content of the modules of an object carousel are identified to the broadcast receiver. Examples of identified objects include files, directory, images, sound, etc.
DSMCC carousels are well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
Broadcast Communications
Typically, communications networks may be classified as either one-way or two-way. With a one-way network, communication occurs only in one direction: From the source to the receiver with no return channel of communications (or a limited one). With a two-way network, communication occurs freely in both directions, more or less, without limitation.
A one-way network is often called a "broadcast" network. A broadcast network is one that primarily "broadcasts" (e.g., transmits) information to consumers of that signal. A satellite network is an example of a typical broadcast network. A conventional cable network is one-way; however, some are two-way. Typically, DVB is over a broadcast network. A ubiquitous example of a two-way network is the Internet. Also, local area networking (LAN) and wide area networking (WAN) are other examples.
Interactivity
With two-way communications, it is possible for the nodes (e.g., server or client) on either end of the communications network to interact with each other. Being interactive may be that which relates to a two-way electronic or communications system in which response is relatively direct and continual.
It is rather straightforward to implement interactivity via a two-way network. Browsing the web involves interactivity between the user of the web browser and the web servers.
However, true interactivity between two nodes on the network is not possible on a true one-way network. Even if it is possible via a slow or delayed backchannel, true interactivity is not practical because the delay of the backchannel does not provide a mechanism for relatively direct and continual responses between nodes.
Accordingly, it is a challenge to provide internet-like (e.g., hypertext or web) interactivity for users of client devices over a broadcast communications network.

Interactivity emulator for broadcast communication


High lumen output and brightness illumination modules using an excitation light source and wavelength conversion part with multi-channel heat dissipation are disclosed. The exciting light source is a light emitting diode or a laser diode emitting in the UV and/or blue region. The luminescent material in the wavelength conversion part absorbs the excitation light and emit longer wavelength light. The enhancement approaches for brightness and polarization is disclosed.

This document relates to lighting devices and modules.
Light sources based on wavelength conversion use excitation light produced by solid-state light sources such as laser diodes (LDs) or light emitting diodes (LEDs) to optically excite wavelength conversion materials such as phosphors or quantum dots to produce high brightness light at wavelengths different from the wavelength of the excitation light.

High brightness illumination devices using wavelength conversion materials


The invention(s) cover systems and methods for target detection in a multiplexed and rapid manner. Embodiments of the system can include: a base substrate; and an array of sample processing regions defined at a broad surface of the base substrate, wherein each of the array of sample processing regions includes: a set of microwell subarrays arranged in a gradient by volumetric capacity between an upstream end and a downstream end of each respective sample processing region, and a boundary separating each respective sample processing region from adjacent sample processing regions. The system can support methods, with example implementation by an automated platform, for returning preliminary results from a subset of microwells of the samples processing regions, as well as results pertaining to specific and non-specific amplification, for multiple targets of a sample.

Detecting and characterizing targets from biological samples is relevant to many fields. However, sample processing involving partitioned sample volumes is typically time consuming, workflow-intensive, manual, and subject to cost constraints, motivating development of new technologies to address these and other deficiencies.
In particular, in the context of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) processes involving partitioned volumes (e.g., for digital PCR, for qPCR, etc.), partitioning of samples in an efficient manner that is not cost prohibitive, while increasing dynamic range of detection and multiplexing capability, is of interest. Current partitioning devices and systems, however, are typically expensive, require large device footprints, are limited in dynamic range, are limited in ability to perform multiplexed analysis, and require long processing times to produce results.

System and method for rapid multiplexed sample processing with applications for nucleic acid amplification assays


A reinforced polymer composite includes a polymer matrix, a strengthening agent, and a dispersing agent. The strengthening agent is a natural fiber having an aspect ratio between 6 and 12 and is included in the composite in amounts up to 30 wt %. The dispersing agent is coconut shell powder having an aspect ratio between 1 and 3 and is included in the composite in amounts up to 10 wt %.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
The inclusion of reinforcing fibers in polymer materials, in general, compared to particulate fillers, yields improved tensile strength in the end composite. Reinforcing fibers provide a better opportunity for interfacial bonding which translates to improved load transfer from the polymer matrix to the more rigid filler. The use of reinforcing fibers with a high specific strength is further advantageous because the fiber encourages better load transfer, and the high specific strength of the fiber means that the fiber can bear a larger load.
Glass fibers are typically used as the reinforcing fiber in a polymer matrix composite. However, the manufacture of glass fiber requires 48 MJ/kg which adds to the inefficiencies of the manufacturing process of the composite polymers. Furthermore, the specific gravity of glass fiber is around 2.5 which can result in parts with higher weights especially when part specifications require increased strength thus requiring more glass fiber.
Natural fiber reinforcement has been looked to for replacing glass fibers in polymer composites. Still, there exist many obstacles that have yet to be overcome. Due to the intrinsic challenges associated with extruding and injection molding natural composites, such as moisture, odor, particle wetting and dispersion, and thermal degradation, natural fiber thermoplastic composites, in general, have achieved limited successful breakthrough in thermoplastic composites to date.
The current state of the art of natural fiber composites retains several main deficiencies when compared to glass fiber composites: performance, processability, odor and VOC emissions, and costs. Therefore, there remains room in the art for a natural fiber composite that achieves or exceeds the same processing and performance characteristics as glass fiber composites.

Natural fiber composite and method of production


A keeper for securing various configurations of rigged fishing line comprises a doubled strand of rigid wire bent into a form which allows a fixed end to be secured to a fishing rod blank while an open other end remains open to allow a rigged line to be inserted under it. A method of attaching the keeper to a fishing rod blank aligns it axially with the open end toward the reel seat and applies silicone type or an equivalent waterproof fastener means around the fixed end and the rod blank.

One of the problems encountered by fishermen is what to do with a "rigged" fishing line when the rod to which it's attached is not being used. Many conventional fishing rods are equipped with a "hook keeper" located on the rod blank above the reel seat. Such "hook keepers" are typically semi-circular in shape and are attached to the rod blank on both ends. The hook is secured by slipping it through the opening in the "hook keeper."
There are, however, several situations in which the conventional "hook keeper" fails to adequately secure the rigged fishing line. One of these is the so-called "drop-shot" rig, in which a drop-shot weight is secured to the line through a swivel below the hook. When the line is rigged in this manner, the insertion of the hook into a conventional "hook keeper" does not secure the drop-shot weight attached below the hook. In a moving boat, the unsecured drop-shot weight is apt to bounce around and get tangled with the rigs of other fishing rods.
It is therefore desirable to provide a new type of "keeper" designed to secure various configurations of rigged fishing line involving assorted combinations of hooks, swivels, weights, floats and lures. Optimally such a "keeper" would be open on one end, so that the rigged line could be slid under the open end. Such an "open-ended keeper" must be designed to maintain enough downward pressure on the rod blank by the keeper's open end to prevent the rigged line from slipping out again after it has been inserted. On the other hand, the downward pressure of the open keeper end on the rod blank must not be so great as to prevent the rigged line from being manually slid under the open end or to cause the line to be abraded during that procedure.
The present invention answers the aforesaid needs by providing an open-ended fishing rig keeper with a unique geometric configuration. The open-ended rig keeper is also designed to be quickly attached to the rod blank by the fisherman him/herself using silicone tape. Hence, the fisherman does not need to bring his/her rod to a shop to be retrofitted with an open-ended rig keeper.

Open-ended fishing rig keeper and method


The present invention provides a system and a method to prevent undesired sounds during FM modulator turn on. The system includes an RF attenuator circuit, a delay switch circuit, an RF ramp up circuit, and audio ramp up circuit. The RF attenuator circuit significantly reduces the RF signal from the FM modulator when the FM modulator is initially turned on, which significantly reduce whistle caused by the RF signal from the modulator beating with the local oscillator in the radio receiver. After allowing time for the PLL to lock onto the RF signal, the time delay switch circuit becomes active and charges the RF ramp up circuit. The RF ramp up circuit gradually increases the RF signal by gradually deactivating the RF attenuator circuit. The gradual increase of the RF signal is slower than the response time of the radio AGC, thereby preventing any pop as the RF signal is provided to the radio receiver.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an FM modulator. More specifically, the invention relates to a system for reducing undesirable sounds associated with the FM modulator turn on.
2. Description of Related Art
One application of an FM modulator includes modulating stereophonic composite audio signals from peripheral devices such as, DVD players, allowing the resulting RF signal to be played by a standard stereo radio receiver. The ability to use peripheral devices with a standard radio receiver can provide a significant cost savings for automotive applications. However, it is recognized that a certain set of chirps and pops are created in association with FM modulator turn on. These sounds are annoying and distracting to most consumers.
One undesired sound is an annoying whistle from high to low-frequency. FM modulators employ a phase lock loop (PLL) which facilitates selection and precise control of frequency of the FM modulator output signal. While the operating frequency is precisely controlled, there is a time interval just after FM modulator turn on that the RF output frequency sweeps over some wide range. The whistle is due to the heterodyning of the sweeping RF output signal of the FM modulator with the local oscillator of the vehicle radio receiver. Therefore, the whistle is present shortly after FM modulator turn on, and stops once the FM modulator PLL is locked onto the operating frequency of the FM modulator.
Additionally, popping sounds are created when the RF level input to a radio receiver changes abruptly, such that the change in the RF input level occurs faster than the response time of the vehicle radio receiver AGC system. For example, if the RF level is switched on very quickly, the AGC of the receiver will not be able to track the input signal, therefore the end result will be a large amplitude popping sound.
Sudden sounds including pops, whistles and abrupt volume changes are especially noticeable to the consumer when associated with a particular event such as turning on a radio. Consumers perceive pops and whistles as being indicative of a poor quality radio, thereby making the sounds highly undesirable for manufacturers.
In view of the above, it is apparent that there exists a need to eliminate undesired sounds during FM modulator turn on. Satisfying that need is one of the primary objects of the present invention.

FM modulator output control during turn on


A register selection system increases a speed for selection of memory registers when selection is based upon a constant K defined by a sum of two numbers. The register selection system includes a specialized predecoder interconnected with a specialized decode array. The predecoder has first and second address inputs. The predecoder is configured to process first and second address values each of width n on the first and second address inputs respectively in order to produce first, second, third, and fourth predecoded values of width n on respective predecoder outputs. The first, second, third, and fourth predecoded values have respective widths of n+1, n, n, n-1. The decode array, which is connected to the predecoder outputs, is configured to receive the predecoded values. The decode array has 2.sup.n+1 register select outputs corresponding respectively with registers. The decode array is configured to assert one of the register select outputs, while deasserting a remainder of the register select outputs, based upon the predecoded values. As a result, a determination is made as to when the two numbers equal the constant K without performing a summing operation and a carry propagation associated with the summing operation. Moreover, a selection of the one register is accomplished based upon the determination.

In a processor for a computer, on-board registers having data or instructions are accessed frequently, especially by the arithmetic logic unit (ALU). For this purpose, a register (or row) selection system is utilized to select a register in a register set for writing or reading data to or from the register. FIG. 1 shows a conventional register selection system 11, which includes a buffer 13 and a decode array 14, for addressing a set of registers 16. The buffer 13 receives an address a (herein, boldface letters designate a vector of bits) having a width n (i.e., n bits) and converts the address into a dual rail representation having two complementary components AH, AL, both having a width n. The decode array 14, typically produced from not-or logic (NOR) gates, receives the components AH, AL, decodes the. components AH, AL, and produces 2.sup.n register selects 15 for registers 16. One of the register selects 15 is asserted, while the remainder of the register selects 15 is deasserted, so that only one register is selected from the set of registers 16 based upon the address a.
Oftentimes, it is necessary to select a register 16 based upon the sum of two addresses. This concept can be expressed mathematically as follows: a+b=K, where a is an offset, b is a base, and K is a constant that defines the desired register location. A conventional register selection system 17 that implements this functionality is set forth in FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 2, an offset address a and a base address b, both having a width n, are communicated to an adder 19, which is clocked by a clock CK. The adder 19 mathematically sums the offset address a and the base address b in order to produce a result S. The result S is output in a dual rail manner via complementary components SH, SL, both having a width of (n+1). A decode array 21 receives the components SH, SL, decodes the components SH, SL, and produces 2.sup.n+1 register selects 15'. One of the register selects 15' is asserted, while the remainder of the register selects 15' is deasserted, so that only one of the registers 16 is selected. Moreover, the register selection system 17 of FIG. 2 produces more register selects than the register selection system 11 of FIG. 1, because of the summing operation that occurs in the adder 19.
Producing a register select 15' based upon a constant K that is the sum of two numbers is a common requirement in processor designs. Unfortunately, the register selection system 17 of FIG. 2 involves the inclusion of the adder 19, which makes the computation time depend on the delay produced by the carry propagation associated with the addition operation. As a result of the carry propagation, the response time of the system 17 is drastically reduced. In high performance processors, the system 17 of FIG. 2 is not a desirable option because of the serious performance, penalty resulting from the carry propagation.
In J. Cortadella and J. N. Llaberia, "Evaluation Of A+B=K Conditions Without Carry Propagation," IEEE Transactions On Computers, vol. 41, no. 11, pp. 1484-1488 (1992), it was recognized that the response time of parallel adders is mainly limited by the carry propagation delay. In the context of parallel adders, the authors proposed a theorem and circuit design, shown herein in FIG. 3, for evaluating when the addition of two numbers is equal to another number K without having to perform a summing operation with its attendant carry propagation. Elimination of the carry propagation reduces the response time associated with the parallel adders.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the Cortadella/Llaberia circuit 23 includes a plurality of logically parallel cells 25. Each of the cells 25 receives a generate bit g.sub.i from a previous stage, a propagate bit p.sub.i from a previous stage, a bit k.sub.i of the result K, and a bit v.sub.i-1 from the neighboring cell corresponding with a bit of lessor value. Each cell 25 produces a bit v.sub.i for its neighboring cell 25 corresponding with a bit of higher value. Based upon the aforementioned inputs, g.sub.i, p.sub.i, k.sub.i, and v.sub.i-1, each cell 25 produces a bit z.sub.i for not-or (NOR) logic 26. The NOR logic 26 generates an output Z based upon the plurality of inputs Z.sub.i. Based upon its logic state, the output Z indicates whether or not the two numbers equal K.
Although the Cortadella/Llaberia theorem and circuit 23 of FIG. 3 have merit for parallel adder configurations, it has not been applied to or proposed in connection with a register selection system 17, as shown in FIG. 2. In fact, use of the Cortadella/Llaberia theorem and circuit 23 of FIG. 3 to eliminate the adder 19 of FIG. 2 would require an undesirable number of circuit cells 25 as well as processor space and complexity, as each cell 25 would need to be replicated once for each register.
Hence, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry for systems and methods for enhancing the speed at which the selection of a register can be accomplished when the selection is based upon a constant that is the sum of two address values.