The present invention relates to an engineered biological system, and in particular an Escherichia coli host. The host is incorporated with a DNA construct for production of at least a first polypeptide. The first polypeptide may be an authentic basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). The DNA construct has an insert including, for example, in the sequence of, an expression cassette, an intein sequence and DNA coding for the first polypeptide. The DNA construct is configured to effect the host to secrete the basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in the cytoplasm of the host and/or to excrete to cell medium in which the host is cultured.

Escherichia coli is incapable of performing post-translational modifications; still, it has been the most common host system employed for the production of recombinant human therapeutic proteins. Among them, skin proteins including epidermal growth factor (EGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), which do not require post-translational modifications such as glycosylation for biological activities and stability, have been expressed in E. coli using various tactics.
Probably due to its small size, EGF has been efficiently expressed, secreted and even excreted to the culture medium in E. coli. Excreted EGF was not only demonstrated to be bioactive, but more importantly, it was also shown to possess the correct primary (authentic) structure. Furthermore, EGF produced by excretion is free from endotoxin contamination as production of it through excretion does not require cell disruption. In addition, the low level of cytoplasmic proteins in the medium greatly facilitates the purification of EGF to high homogeneity. Importantly, the process is highly reproducible and easily scalable.
With respect to bFGF, despite its secretory nature, it has not been successfully expressed through either secretion or excretion in E. coli. Conventionally, expression of bFGF in E. coli has been confined to the cytoplasm using a fusion approach, in which retrieval of bFGF relies on cell lysis, proteolytic digestion of the fusion intermediate, and subsequent purification commonly accomplished by affinity chromatography. Intracellular expression of bFGF incurs high production costs as it requires either an expensive protease to cleave the fusion product or a labor-intensive protocol to regenerate bFGF when inclusion aggregates formed. Despite these manipulations, bFGF expression in E. coli has not been satisfactorily fulfilled as the resulting product was shown to be incorrectly processed or biologically inactive.
There had been attempts to use other recombinant systems to produce bFGF. One such attempt concerns the engineering of Bacillus subtilis to facilitate secretory production of bFGF. With the use of the NPR signal peptide of a B. amyloliquefaciens protease gene, which enabled accurate peptidase processing of the fusion precursor, together with a facile cell-wall destabilization protocol, bFGF possessing the authentic structure and full bioactivity was shown to be secreted into the culture medium in B. subtilis.
The present invention provides an alternative and/or an improved methodology and system for producing bFGF and/or other useful polypeptides reliably and efficiently.

Means and method for expression of authentic human epidermal growth factor and/or basic fibrolast growth factor in cytoplasm and/or culture medium of


A displacement sensor employs an electromagnetic radiation source that generates a beam of electromagnetic radiation for measuring a feature of an object. The displacement sensor includes a displacement probe, a multi-dimensional diffraction grating and a plurality of photon detectors. A reflection surface, which is changed when the probe interacts with the object, interacts with the beam from the electromagnetic radiation source and reflects a beam from the reflection surface. The multi-dimensional diffraction grating interacts with the reflected beam and generates a pattern of diffracted beams. Each photon detector senses a different diffracted beam, thereby providing information about the state of the probe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to displacement sensors and, more specifically to a displacement sensor that uses a beam of electromagnetic radiation to measure displacement of a probe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM) are used to measure surface characteristics of materials at the nano scale. AFM's are useful in measuring thin and thick film coatings, ceramics, composites, glasses, synthetic and biological membranes, metals, polymers, and semiconductors, among many other things. By using an AFM one can not only image the surface with near atomic resolution but can also measure the forces of the surface of a sample at the nano-Newton scale.
An AFM typically includes a probe with a probe tip extending therefrom. One type of probe is a cantilever; another is a force sensing integrated readout and active tip (FIRAT) probe. A cantilever includes a beam with a probe tip at a distal end. The beam may be angularly deflected to move the probe tip toward the object being measured. When the probe tip begins to interact with the object, the deflection of the beam can be measured by sensing light from a laser reflected off of the beam. A FIRAT probe includes a membrane that is supported by a frame. A FIRAT probe tip is typically affixed to the center of the membrane. The membrane may be displaced vertically by one of several methods. In one such method, the membrane has a first conductive surface that is spaced apart from a second conductive surface. When a similar charge is applied to both the first conductive surface and the second conductive surface, the two surfaces repel each other, thereby forcing the membrane (and the probe tip) away from the second conductive surface. The vertical displacement of the probe tip is controlled in this way. The vertical displacement of the membrane is detected by reflecting light from a laser off of the membrane and passing the reflected light through a diffraction grating and then measuring the intensity of one or more modes of the diffracted light using a photodetector.
A diffraction grating is a reflecting or transparent substrate whose surface contains fine parallel grooves or rulings that are equally spaced. When light is incident on a diffraction grating, diffractive and mutual interference effects occur, and light is reflected or transmitted in discrete directions, called orders. A diffraction grating includes a transparent surface with a plurality of parallel lines scored in the surface or printed on the surface and spaced apart at a distance so that they cause a beam of light at a predetermined wavelength to diffract. A one-dimensional diffraction grating includes one set of parallel lines, whereas a two-dimensional diffraction grating includes two sets of parallel lines transverse to each other. Certain natural substances and synthetic substances are diffraction gratings due to their ordering of unit cells in their molecular structures. For example, certain minerals act as diffraction gratings. Thus, certain crystals are diffraction gratings and, if they have greater than a nominal thickness, they are three-dimensional (or even multi-dimensional) diffraction gratings. A diffraction grating with more than one dimension will generate more than one diffracted beam, in which each beam can correspond to a different order. Also, a diffracted beam includes a "bright field" central portion and a "dark field" fringe portion. The central portion can provide information about one aspect of the surface from which the diffracted beam originates, whereas the fringe portion can provide information about another aspect of the surface.
Beam-deflection is the most common detection method used in modem commercial probe microscopes because of its simplicity and versatility. Typically, beam deflection requires a force-sensing structure, a probe tip, a light source, and a photon detector. The force sensing structure can be a cantilever, a membrane, or any other substrate that measures displacement or force. Displacement of the force-sensing structure is translated into angular displacement by reflecting light from the backside of the force-sensing structure onto a photon detector. Such displacement can be related to the force imparted onto the sample or to the probe tip.
One modification to the beam-deflection method is to insert a one-dimensional diffraction grating into the path of the beam and measure angular displacement of diffraction spots rather than angular displacement of the reflected incident beam. Recent advancements in probe microscopy have combined a micro-machined membrane, transparent substrate, electrostatic actuator and a diffraction grating for optical interferometric detection. Currently a one-dimensional diffraction grating is used in conjunction with a membrane for such applications. During operation, only one diffraction spot is detected and related to the displacement or force of the membrane tip. An inherent assumption in the current design is that the membrane deforms uniformly in the radial direction when actuated or placed under load. Therefore the membrane measures only vertical displacements or forces.
Existing systems can provide information about the vertical topography of a surface and the vertical component of surface forces exerted by the object on the probe tip. However, many surfaces also impart lateral and even twisting forces on the probe tip. This may result in non-vertical displacement and deformation of the surface (i.e., the membrane or the cantilever) to which the probe tip is attached. Information about these lateral and twisting forces clan provide valuable insight into the nature of a sampled surface. No existing system provides information about the degree or type of non-vertical displacement or deformation of the membrane or cantilever while it interacts with a surface.
Therefore, there is a need for a force microscopy system that provides information about non-vertical displacement and forces imparted on a probe tip by a sampled surface.
There is also a need for a microscopy system that provides information through both bright field analysis and dark field analysis of a diffracted beam.

Probe sensor with multi-dimensional optical grating


A voice processing system receives spoken input from a user, which is subjected to speech recognition to convert the spoken input into a text equivalent. The semantic and/or prosodic properties of the spoken input are then analysed, and based on the results of this analysis, it is determined whether or not the user input has effectively completed. Thus for example if a semantic analysis indicates that the user is no longer saying anything useful, then the system may decide to interrupt the user and play a further prompt to him or her, clarifying what extra input is required.

1. The Present Invention
The present invention relates to voice processing apparatus and the like, and more particularly to voice processing systems that use speech recognition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voice processing systems whereby callers interact over a telephone network (e.g. PSTN or Internet) with computerised equipment are very well-known in the art, and include voice mail systems, voice response units, and so on. Typically such systems ask a caller questions using prompts formed from one or more prerecorded audio segments, and the caller inputs answers by pressing dual tone multiple frequency (DTMF) keys on their telephones. This approach has proved effective for simple interactions, but is clearly restricted in scope due to the limited number of available keys on a telephone. For example, alphabetical input is particularly difficult using DTMF keys.
There has therefore been an increasing tendency in recent years for voice processing systems to use speech recognition in order to augment DTMF input (N.B. the term speech recognition are denote the act of converting a spoken audio signal into text). The utilisation of speech recognition permits the handling of callers who do not have a DTMF phone, and also the acquisition of more complex information beyond simple numerals from the caller.
As an illustration of the above, WO96/25733 describes a voice response system which includes a prompt unit, a Voice Activity Detector (VAD), and a speech recognition unit. In this system, as a prompt is played to the caller, any input from the caller is passed to the VAD, together with the output from the prompt unit. This allows the VAD to perform echo cancellation on the incoming signal. Then, in response to the detection of voice by the VAD, the prompt is discontinued, and the caller input is switched to the recognition unit, thereby providing a barge-in facility.
Speech recognition in a telephony environment can be supported by a variety of hardware architectures. Many voice processing systems include a special DSP card for running speech recognition software. This card is connected to a line interface unit for the transfer of telephony data by a time division multiplex (TDM) bus. Most commercial voice processing systems, more particularly their line interface units and DSP cards, conform to one of two standard architectures: either the Signal Computing System Architecture (SCSA), or the Multi-vendor Integration Protocol (MVIP). A somewhat different configuration is described in GB 2280820, in which a voice processing system is connected via a local area network to a remote server, which provides a speech recognition facility. This approach is somewhat more complex than the TDM approach, given the data communication and management required, but does offer significantly increased flexibility.
Speech recognition systems are generally used in telephony environments as cost-effective substitutes for human agents, and are adequate for performing simple, routine tasks. It is important that such tasks be performed accurately, otherwise there may be significant caller dissatisfaction, and also as quickly as possible, both to improve caller throughput, and because the owner of the voice processing system is often paying for the call via some free phone mechanism (e.g. an 0800 number), or because an outbound application is involved.
(Note that as used herein, the term xe2x80x9ccallerxe2x80x9d simply indicates the party at the opposite end of a telephone connection to the voice processing system, rather than to specify which party actually initiated the telephone connection).
There has been an increase in recent years in the complexity of input permitted from the caller. This is supported firstly by the use of large vocabulary recognition systems, and secondly by supporting natural language understanding and dialogue management. As a simple example of this, a pizza ordering application several years ago might have gone through a menu to determine the desired pizza size, topping etc., with one prompt to elicit each property of the pizza from a caller. Now however, such an application may simply ask: xe2x80x9cWhat type of pizza would you likexe2x80x9d. The caller response is passed to a large vocabulary continuous speech recognition unit, with the recognised text then being processed in order to extract the relevant information describing the pizza.
The extraction of such information is typically performed by a natural language understanding (NLU) unit working in conjunction with a dialogue manager. These units have knowledge of grammar and syntax, which allows them to parse a caller response such as xe2x80x9cI would like a large pizza with pepperonixe2x80x9d to extract the particular information desired by the application, namely that the desired pizza (a) is large, and (b) has a pepperoni topping. The dialogue manager further provides flexibility in terms of generating prompts (perhaps using text-to-speech synthesis) to acquire specific information from a caller.
The above approach presents a much more natural interface for callers, provides greater flexibility, and potentially can significantly reduce call handling time. However, the increased flexibility also increases the scope for caller confusion. In such cases call efficiency can actually be reduced, and a lost call may result. Prior art voice processing systems have not addressed the problem of caller confusion or uncertainty that is sometimes an inevitable consequence of trying to support a caller interface that is more natural, but at the same time also more complex.
Accordingly, the invention provides a method of operating a voice processing system comprising the steps of:
receiving spoken input from a user;
performing speech recognition to convert said spoken input into text equivalent;
analysing at least one semantic or prosodic property of said spoken input by looking for task words in the text equivalent of the spoken input; and
responsive to said analysis, determining that the user input has effectively completed if there has not been a task word for more than a predetermined period of time.
The invention typically finds application in a telephony environment, in which the voice processing system and the user communicate with each other over a telephone network. In this situation, the spoken input is received over a telephone connection, and the voice processing system may itself play out prompts over the telephone connection, such as in response to a determination that the caller input has effectively been completed. The particular prompt played back to the caller in these circumstances may of course be dependent on what information the caller has so far provided to the voice processing system.
Underlying the present invention is the fact that conventional human dialogue is regulated by the concept of turn-taking, with linguistic cues that indicate when one party has finished speaking, and is expecting or inviting the other party to take over. Prior art voice processing systems have not been sensitive to such cues, and so seem extremely artificial in terms of the dialogue that they support. This in turn can cause difficulties for callers trying to use such systems, particularly if they have relatively little experience with such man-machine interfaces.
Unlike prior art systems, the present invention allows a determination of when the caller input has effectively (rather than actually) been completed. In other words, it detects not when the caller has stopped speaking altogether, but rather when the caller has stopped saying anything useful or relevant. This is achieved by analysing at least one semantic or prosodic property of said spoken input. The intention is firstly to assist more quickly callers who are in difficulty (whether or not they are conscious of the fact), and secondly to speed up call handling by interrupting callers who are giving lots of irrelevant information. The naturalness of the caller interface can also be improved by this approach, since the techniques employed mirror to a certain extent what happens in normal conversation.
Since playing out a prompt before the caller has stopped speaking altogether effectively represents an interruption of the user, it must be timed so as to minimise any confusion or indeed offense to the user. Thus if the system starts its prompt at a particular moment when the user is still talking, the user is likely to miss the start of the system prompt. Therefore, in the preferred embodiment, once it has been determined that the user input is effectively completed, the system then plays out the next prompt when there is some break in the spoken input. This ensures that the user is likely to hear all of the system prompt, and reinforces the naturalness of the dialogue.
Note that typically the duration of a break to trigger the interruption will be much shorter than the time-out period for user input into conventional voice processing systems. Thus such prior art systems rely on silence to determine completion of user input, and so need a relatively long time-out period to discriminate input completion from the short, transitory breaks which are natural in any spoken input due to breathing, etc. By contrast, in the present invention, the determination of effective caller completion is made from semantic and/or prosodic properties, thereby allowing a much shorter interval to then be used to trigger the interruption.
This clearly has advantages even when the user does not in fact intend to continue after the break, in that the quicker determination of caller completion both accelerates call handling, and also prevents an artificially long period of silence intruding upon the dialogue.
Other possible cues for an interruption by the voice processing system (which would typically be employed in addition to the use of a break) include when the caller is dwelling on an extra-linguistic word, such as xe2x80x9cumxe2x80x9d. Such an approach does however require a fast response from the speech recognition system to be effective, and so would be more difficult to use as a trigger than a break, which can be detected very quickly by the voice processing interface software.
There are a wide variety of techniques available for the step of analysing at least one semantic or prosodic property of said spoken input. These can be used either singly, or in conjunction with one another. One possibility based on semantics is to look for task words in the text equivalent of the spoken input. In this case the determination can be made that the user input has effectively completed when the caller has not spoken any task word within a last predetermined period of time, or according to any other suitable criteria to indicate a reduction or termination in useful information from the caller.
Another possibility, based this time on prosody, is to look for a prolonged pitch fall as representing effective completion of the spoken input. Such a combination of increased duration and falling pitch is a good indication in normal conversation that the speaker has completed their contribution. A further possibility is to look for a reset of the pitch excursion envelope; this typically indicates that the caller is psychologically re-starting their input, which in turn suggests that he or she has become confused.
Since the prosodic indicators are independent of the textual equivalent of the caller input, they can be calculated in parallel with the speech recognition. However, since such prosodic indicators may not be completely reliable by themselves, in the preferred embodiment they are used in conjunction with semantic properties. As an example of this, one good indication that the caller has effectively completed is that the caller is asking the machine a question. This can be detected both semantically, in terms of word order or words such as xe2x80x9chowxe2x80x9d etc., and also prosodically, typically by virtue of a final rise in caller pitch.
The invention further provides a voice processing apparatus comprising:
an input device to receive spoken input from a user;
a speech recognition unit to convert said spoken input into text equivalent; and
means for analysing at least one semantic or prosodic property of said spoken input, wherein responsive to said analysis, it is determined that the user input has effectively completed.
Such voice processing apparatus may be adapted for connection to the telephone network (conventional PSTN or the Internet), in a customer server kiosk, or in any other appropriate device. Note that the speech recognition means and/or any natural language understanding may or may not be integral to the voice processing system itself (as will be apparent more clearly from the preferred embodiments described below).
The invention further provides a computer readable medium containing instructions readable by a computer system operating as a voice processing system, said instructions including instructions for causing the computer system to perform the following steps:
receiving spoken input from a user;
performing speech recognition to convert said spoken input into text equivalent;
analysing at least one semantic or prosodic property of said spoken input;
and responsive to said analysis, determining that the user input has effectively completed.
The computer readable medium may comprise a magnetic or optical disk, solid state memory device, tape, or other appropriate storage apparatus. In some cases this medium may be physically loadable into the storage device. In other cases, this medium may be fixed in the voice processing system, and the instructions loaded onto the medium via some wired or wireless network connection. Another possibility is for the medium to be remote from the voice processing system itself, with the instructions being downloaded over a wired or wireless network connection for execution by the voice processing system.
It will be appreciated that the computer program and apparatus of the invention will benefit from substantially the same preferred features as the method of the invention.

End-of-utterance determination for voice processing

International Business Machines Corporation


A disk cartridge includes a plate made of a metallic substance held on a counter chucking side of a flange formed in a center portion of a disk. The magnetic plate is housed inside a disk cartridge and has a height set at a dimension greater than the shortest axial dimension between a portion of the cartridge casing opposite the counter chucking surface of the flange and the facing surface of the disk.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to a disk cartridge. Particularly, the present invention relates to a type of disk cartridge which may be applied to an optical or a magneto-optical disk etc., which requires fewer production steps and is stable and reliable for information storage and retrieval applications.
2. Description of The Prior Art
In the various information retrieval and storage media technologies, for example, magnetic, magneto-optical and optical disk media, if dust or other material impinges on a recording surface of the media, errors are apt to occur during reading and/or writing of the information on the disk.
For this reason disk information storage and retrieval media (hereinbelow: disk) are usually housed in a protective cartridge casing. Examples of such disk cartridges are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,797,770 and 4,799,121. According to these disclosures, opposing upper and lower halves of a cartridge casing are joined by screws, ultrasonic welding or the like into a cartridge/shutter assembly. In one of the halves of such disk cartridge assemblies, an opening for a rotary driving means is formed in a substantially center portion thereof for chucking the disk on a turntable of a disk drive.
Further, a shutter protects an opening for a read/write head such as an optical head, for example, of a disk drive which accesses the disk for reading data from and/or writing data to at least one side of the disk. The shutter is generally U-shaped in cross-section and slidably disposed to open and close for exposing and cover the disk surface respectively.
The shutter and the disk cartridge receive therein a rotatably mounted disk, the disk substrate may generally be formed of a polycarbonate such as PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate), glass, or other suitable material for example.
In the case of optical disks, a material with suitable optical characteristics is necessary. On the side opposite that of a transparent optical substrate, a reflective read/write layer and a protective layer for protecting the read/write layer are formed. Such optical disk arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,787,009 and 4,829,510.
In the above mentioned disclosures, a magnetic plate is provided in a central portion of the disk for coupling with a rotational driving means of the disk drive turntable for simplifying alignment of the disk for read and/or write operations. In optical disk cartridges, this magnetic plate is substantially circular and positioned at a center portion of the disk cartridge. The magnetic plate is joined to the disk substrate with adhesive or is retained in a ring of synthetic resin which is joined to the disk by ultrasonic welding or the like.
In disk loading operations the spindle of a disk drive turntable is aligned with a center of the magnetic portion for correctly positioning the disk axially for read and/or write operations.
In these disk cartridges, a center hole of the magnetic plate decides the surface orientation of the disk and decentering of the disk may occur. Further, even if adhesion is accurately carried out the adhesive and the disk material often have different expansion characteristics when exposed to humidity or temperature variations and warping, due to shrinkage or expansion of the adhesive, for example, which may easily cause read and/or write errors to occur.
Therefore, it has been required to provide a disk cartridge in which decentering of the disk may be prevented to avoid damage to the disk and/or the disk drive.

Disk cartridge with centered magnetic plate


To prevent the local heating of an electronic apparatus chassis, there is provided a push button switch (10), which comprises a substrate (11) having a first contacting part (11a) and a second contacting part (11b) operable to be brought into electrical conduction with the first contacting part (11a), and a flexible electrically insulating sheet (13) covering the substrate (11) and having a click portion (13a) on the inside of which the first and second contacting parts are disposed to be brought into and out of electrical conduction therebetween in response to depression of the click portion. The electrically insulating sheet (13) includes a heat conducting layer (14) extending along the substrate (11).

Recently it has been strictly required that electronic apparatuses, especially portable electronic apparatuses are reduced in volume and body thickness and multi-functionalized, and that each of the portable electronic apparatuses includes in its chassis/body a high density mounted substrate having a plurality of electronic parts but improved in efficiency of heat radiation from the mounted electronic parts.
One of the electronic apparatuses of such type is shown in FIGS. 15-17 as a mobile phone. (See, for example, Patent Document 1 listed below.) As shown in FIG. 15, this electronic apparatus 10 comprises a lower side body 101 including an operation input portion 102 and a voice input portion 103, an upper body 105 including an display panel 106 and a voice output portion 107, and a hinge portion 104 connecting the lower body 101 and the upper body 105 to be able to assume their fold-open and fold-closed positions. The lower side body 101 is constituted by an operational side chassis 101a and a backside chassis 101b. As shown in FIG. 16, the lower side body 101 is provided therein with a substrate 121 designed for performing communication process and input and output control, a key sheet 122 having an elastic sheet portion 122a and a plurality of key tops 122b, 122c, 122d mounted on the sheet portion 122a, and a flexible electrically insulating sheet 123. These constitute a plurality of push button switches 110 operative to be switched in switching state between connected and disconnected in response to depression of the key tops 122b, 122c, 122d(See FIG. 17).
To put it in concrete, the electrically insulating sheet 123 is shown in FIG. 17 by a sectional view. The electrically insulating sheet 123 of embossed key and click type has a set of embossed key portions 123a respectively positioned below the key tops 122b. Each of the embossed key portions 123a is provided on its sphere concave side with a movable contact 126 made of metal spring material and having an arcuate section. In addition, the substrate 121 is provided on its upper side with stationary contacting parts 121a, 121b each facing to the movable contact 126.
On the other hand, the substrate 121 is provided on its underside with a heat generating part 129 such as for example a known power amplifier or the like, while, each of the key tops 122b of the key sheet 122 is provided on its surface portion with a heat radiating layer, not shown clearly in the drawings, mainly made of aluminum and a decorative layer laminated on the surface of the heat radiating layer so as to facilitate heat radiation through the key top 122b.
[Patent Document 1] JP, 2004-311332, A (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-311332)

Push-button switch and electronic apparatus having the same


The method for distinguishing the MBMS service request from the other service request comprising steps of: sending a message to a UE by a RNC to indicate that the UE needs a RRC or a PS domain connection; sending a message to a SGSN by the UE to indicate it requires MBMS service or dedicated service; and sending different messages to the RNC by the SGSN according to the different service types or messages. This invention can make the SGSN correctly distinguish service requests initiated by different services and then adopt different operations on different service requests accordingly. This kind of differentiated operation can make the SGSN send different signaling to the RNC, which makes the RNC count the number of UEs accurately and avoid the waste of radio resources.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to 3rd Generation (3G) mobile communication system, especially to a method for SGSN to distinguish MBMS service request from other service requests.
2. Description of the Related Art
MBMS is a new service under standardization by 3rd Generation Mobile Communication System Partnership Project. The MBMS service is an unidirectional point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) (i.e. multimedia data sent from a single data source is transferred to multiple users through network transmission) service. Most remarkable feature of the service is that it can make use of radio resources and network resources efficiently. The MBMS service is mainly used in wireless communication network system, e.g. Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access system, Global System of Mobile Communication, etc. The transmission of the MBMS service data basically includes following several steps, i.e. data source sending, middle network transmission, destination cell on-the-air transmission and user reception. FIG. 3 is a logical figure for network devices of the radio communication system that can provide the MBMS service, in which the MBMS actually makes use of General Packet Radio Data Service (hereinafter referred to as GPRS) as core transmission network. As shown in FIG. 3, Broadcast and Multicast Service Center (hereinafter referred to as BM-SC) is the data source for the MBMS data transmission. Gateway GPRS Supporting Node (hereinafter referred to as GGSN) is used to connect the GRPS network with the external network (such as INTERNET). Gateway GPRS Supporting Node is used to connect BM-SC in the MBMS service and to send MBMS data to specific Service GPRS Supporting Node (hereinafter referred to as SGSN). Cell Broadcast Center (hereinafter referred to as CBC) is the data resource of the cell broadcast, through interconnecting the CBC with the BM-SC in the MBMS, the CBC can provide the MBMS service with declaration function. The SGSN is used to perform access control on a UE as well as mobility management, and sends the MBMS data from the GGSN to the specific Radio Network Controller (hereinafter referred to as RNC) at the same time. The RNC is used to control a group of base stations (hereinafter referred to as NODE B) and sends multimedia data to the specific NODE B. The NODE B (base station) establishes air physical channel for the MBMS service in a certain cell under the control of the RNC. Terminal User Equipment (hereinafter referred to as UE) is the terminal equipment for MBMS data reception.
FIG. 4 gives the whole process from service announcement, user joining, service notification, radio bearer establishment to user's final leaving in the MBMS service.    401 Subscription—establishing the connection between a user and a service provider, and an authorized user may receive the relevant MBMS service.    402 Service announcement—notifying the user of services that will be provided. For example, the system will rebroadcast a football match in Beijing at 7:00 p.m.    403 Joining—indicates that the user joining a group, i.e. the user informs the network that he or she is willing to receive this multicast service.    404 MBMS Session Start—indicates that establishing the network resources for the MBMS data transmission.    405 MBMS notification—indicates that notifying the user of the MBMS data transmission that will be performed right away.    406 Data transmission—indicates the process of transferring the MBMS service data to the user.    407 MBMS Session Stop—indicates that releasing the network resources after the MBMS data transmission is completed.    408 Leaving—corresponding to the joining of 403, which indicates that the user is leaving a group, i.e. the user doesn't want to receive the data of a certain service any more.
In WCDMA system, the system requires each UE to enter the connection state of PMM_CONNECTED when providing conventional packet service for the UE. This state indicates that there is radio resource control (RRC) connection between the UE and the UTRAN, and there is signaling connection between the UE and the SGSN. The signaling interchanged between the UE and the SGSN belongs to Non-Access Signaling, i.e. NAS signaling. This signaling is transparent to the RNC, that is, the RNC doesn't care about the content of the message transferred between the UE and the SGSN. When the UE wants to enter the state of PMM_CONNECTED to establish the signaling connection, it must send the SERVICE REQUEST message or the ROUTING AREA UPDATE REQUEST message to the SGSN. The ROUTING AREA UPDATE REQUEST message is only needed when the UE wants to update its routing area. The SERVICE REQUEST message is used to establish the signaling connection between the PMM_IDLE UE and the SGSN, and to tell the SGSN for what the message transfers, i.e., for transmitting uplink signaling message, uplink data or responding to the paging from the CN. If the service type in the SERVICE REQUEST message is signaling, the SGSN will release the signaling connection between RNC and SGSN after the process of signaling exchanging completes; if the service type in the SERVICE REQUEST message is data, the SGSN will establish the Radio Access Bearer (RAB) for the service in active state so as to establish the Radio Bearer for transferring data for this service; if the service type in the SERVICE REQUEST message is paging response, the SGSN knows whether this paging response aims at data transmission or signaling exchanging so as to make a correct decision to transfer relevant signaling to the user equipment or to establish the RAB. To provide the MBMS service in the WCDMA system, if all users that receive the MBMS service are in PMM_IDLE state, it is possible that a lot of radio resources be used or wasted in the on-the-air interface, for large amount of users are sharing MBMS service at this time. In this case, the method that let part of the user equipments be in PMM_CONNECTED state and the rest be in PMM_IDLE is adopted in UTRAN. Therefore, the Radio Network Controller needs to count the users in PMM_CONNECTED state in its cells only. The reason why the user equipment stays PMM_CONNECTED state is either that this user equipment is receiving other dedicated service or only for MBMS user counting. Once the RNC finds out that the number of user equipments receiving MBMS service in a certain cell is less than the threshold on switching between the channel of point-to-point and point-to-multipoint, it will recount it so as to prevent that some other user equipments in PMM_IDLE state in this cell are still receiving MBMS data. Referring to FIG. 5 for more information on this process. 501 indicates that the RNC receives the message of "Session Start Indication" from the SGSN, which means the start of MBMS session, and this message generally includes service parameters related to the service, such as Service ID, QoS parameters, etc. The RNC counts the number of UEs that subscribe the service in each cell. This process is mandatory at the beginning of the session. And during the session, if the number of UEs is lower than the threshold on switching from the point-to-multipoint (PTM) to the point-to-point (PTP), then the RNC will start the process of counting the number of UEs. This process continues from 502 to 512. If the RNC finds that the number of UEs is lower than the threshold, then the RNC sends a "MBMS Notification" message to the UE in PMM_IDLE state or maybe also to the UEs in the states of CELL_PCH and URA_PCH. This message includes parameters such as notification reason (MBMS called-party calling), access probability and service ID, etc. The UE in PMM_IDLE state first establishes a RRC connection with the RNC after receiving this message. From 504 to 506, the UE establishes the RRC connection with the RNC, which is consistent with the process described in existing specification, and the unique difference may be the reason for the RRC connection establishment. This reason may be "MBMS called-party calling". The NAS layer of UE sends a "Service Request" message to the SGSN. This service request message is delivered to the SGSN in the 507 RRC message "Initial Direct Transmission" and the 508 Iu signaling "Initial UE Message". When the SGSN receives this message, it sends a message of 509 "MBMS UE Linking Request" to the RNC to deliver all MBMS service IDs that the UE subscribes to the RNC. The RNC returns the message of 510 "MBMS UE Linking Response" back to the SGSN. 511 the RNC adds this UE ID to each service context of the cell that the UE stays in. 512 the RNC counts the number of UEs in each cell. Thus, the process of counting the number of the UE by the RNC is completed.
In the SERVICE REQUEST message sent by the UE to the SGSN, if the service type in the Service Request is data, then the SGSN establishes the RAB for the activated PDP Context, so that the resource allocation is performed on Iu and Uu interface for data transmission. During the process of MBMS UEs counting, when the UE receives the message of "MBMS Notification" from the RNC, if the message indicates that the number of UEs needs to be collected, then the UE will enter the PMM_CONNECTED mode. The UE in PMM_IDLE state sends the "Service Request" message to the SGSN to enter the PMM_CONNECTED mode. If the service type in the service request at this time is also data, then according to the prior art, the SGSN needs to establish the RAB for the activated PDP Context. However, this service request actually aims at the MBMS service and the UE hasn't requested for data transmission of the dedicated service. It shows that faulty operation may be induced on the SGSN. In order to avoid the faulty operation on the SGSN, we propose to add a new service type, i.e. MBMS service, to the service request. Also we can use a new message, i.e. "MBMS Service Notification" to inform the SGSN that the MBMS service subscribed by the UE should be known to the RNC, i.e., the MBMS UE Linking Request shown in FIG. 1.
In the WCDMA system, there is another case in which the UE switches into the PMM_CONNECTED state without transferring the SERVICE REQUEST message, i.e., the case when the UE switches into routing area update. In this case, if we want to have the SGSN notify the RNC of the MBMS service that the UE joined in, we can add an information unit of "MBMS Indication" in the message of "Routing Area Update Request". Also, we can adopt the new message "MBMS Service Notification" to request the SGSN to transfer the MBMS service subscribed by the UE to the SRNC of the UE.

Method for distinguishing MBMS service request from other service requests


A novel method is proposed for the vegetative propagation of grasses and some dicots comprised first of growing sods of the desired cultivar over plastic sheeting in a sterile medium. When the planting has matured into a sod, it is harvested in strips which are milled and screened into milled turf pieces or plantlets that are approximately 1 to 3 inches long. In comparison to a sprig or stolon, a milled turf piece or plantlet is produced from a complete piece of sod grown over plastic in which the complete root system has been contained. The milled turf product includes plantlets with complete root, stem and leaf tissue all ready to grow. Bushel for bushel, the milled turf product is more dense with more growing points or meristems and per area it provides quicker grow-in.

A Tifdwarf bermudagrass golf green, for example, is typically established by planting sprigs or stolons that have been harvested from a registered Tifdwarf sod field. The sprigs or stolons are placed over the finish graded green typically in numbers of 20 to 40 bushels per 1,000 square feet and lightly disc harrowed into the sand surface of the green. In an alternative method, the sprigs are spread on the surface of the green which is then topdressed with approximately 3/8 inch layer of sand that is compatible with the existing soil profile of the green and then rolled. In some instances a light layer of sterile mulch is placed over the planting to help keep it moist.
Many grasses, largely warm season hybrid types, are propagated vegetatively in this manner because they are either sterile and do not produce seed or are very poor seed producers in which case it is more economical to propagate a useful grass vegetatively. Even grasses used for sod production, such as the elite Tifdwarf mentioned above, are planted vegetatively for the production of sod.
Sprigs or stolons are harvested from a sod field by running through it a verticutter. A verticutter is a machine that acts much like a dethatcher with swinging steel blades that cut and lift largely stolons, stem, and leaf material to the surface of the sod. This material is then gathered and sold by the "bushel" as sprigs or stolons for planting. Typically one "bushel" of sprigs or stolons consists of the material that is verticut and gathered from approximately one square yard of conventional sod grown on soil. Thus, an acre (4,840 square yards) of sod for sprigging typically yields 4,000 to 5,000 "bushel" of sprigs. The definition or exact measurement of a"bushel" however varies widely throughout the industry.
A recent innovation in the sod industry as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,986,026, 5,177,898 and 5,301,446 has been the growing of grass sods in contrived media over plastic sheeting. Such a technique has several advantages over the production of sods in the conventional manner on soil. The sods grown over plastic can be harvested much more quickly largely because the primary rooting system of the grasses is used to knit the sod; they are often lighter especially compared to a sod grown on mineral soil; and a wide variety of often waste materials such as various composts, varying grades of sand, conifer barks, and many others can replace topsoil as growing medium.
Warm season grasses can also be adapted to production over plastic sheeting, and it has been the search for an effective method of planting vegetative material, rather than seed, on plastic sheeting that has led to the discovery described below.

Method for the vegetative propagation of grasses


Disclosed is a unique and novel air filtrating, self-propelled upright vacuum cleaner. The filtration system utilizes a HEPA-rated air filter as a final filtering element. The disclosed vacuum cleaner contains numerous other features including a self-propelled drive mechanism.

The present invention relates to a self-propelled upright vacuum cleaner comprising a unique HEPA-rated air filtration system. The present invention also relates to a self-propelled upright vacuum cleaner having a thermal cut-off circuit, a novel air routing configuration within the unit, and numerous other improvements and features.
There is an increasing emphasis upon the cleanliness of air discharged from vacuum cleaners. Prior artisans have attempted to provide secondary filters for vacuum cleaner exhaust air streams. Although satisfactory in most respects, most known secondary filtering configurations are difficult to design and incorporate within the vacuum cleaner, thereby increasing the complexity, manufacturing timer and cost of the unit. Furthermore, for assemblies employing replaceable filter elements, there is often considerable difficulty in replacing the element, particularly if it is located within the vacuum cleaner. Accordingly, there is a need for a vacuum cleaner comprising a secondary filtering assembly that overcomes the problems of the prior art. It would be particularly desirable to provide a vacuum cleaner with an easily replaceable filter element in combination with a sealed air path so that all air exiting the vacuum cleaner unit traveled through the filter prior to exiting the vacuum cleaner.
Air leaks from a vacuum cleaner unit, such as leakage of the exhaust stream around the motor housing into the environment, not only introduce particulates and contaminants into the outside environment and thus bypass any secondary filter if so provided, but also decrease the overall efficiency of the unit. Thus, there is a need for a vacuum cleaner providing an improved internal air routing configuration which prevents or at least significantly minimizes exhaust air leaks in and around the lower enclosure, and particularly around the motor housing.
It is desirable to provide a sensor and electrical circuit to stop operation of the vacuum cleaner motor in the event that the temperature of the motor exceeds a predetermined temperature. Heating of the motor typically results from a blocked or plugged filter, or from one or more objects interfering with the operation of the rotating brush or floor element. Prior artisans have incorporated temperature sensors and motor switching circuits in vacuum cleaners. However, as far as is known, none of the known sensors and switching circuits utilized in vacuum cleaners provide an automatic reset feature. That is, all known vacuum cleaners with on board temperature sensors may be started immediately after the sensor sufficiently cools. Although satisfactory in most respects, this configuration still enables electrical power to be applied to the motor. This may result in damage to the motor, in the event the motor is bound or otherwise locked. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved temperature sensing and motor interlock circuit whereby a reset operation is performed to ensure that electrical power is not inadvertently directed to a locked motor.
Self-propelled vacuum cleaners are known. However, much of the design and engineering efforts directed to such units are focused upon the drive assembly and vacuuming function. There remains an opportunity to improve other aspects of self propelled vacuum cleaners such as their noise level, electrical safety considerations, life of components such as the motor bearings, connections for an accessory hose, and configuration of the operator handle.
The present invention achieves all the foregoing objectives and provides in a first aspect, a vacuum cleaner comprising a housing and a base unit pivotally attached to each other, a motor and motor housing disposed within the base unit, a drive assembly also disposed within the base unit and selectively coupled to the motor, a nested wand releasably retained along the exterior of the housing, a lower air conduit extending between the base unit and a lower end of the wand, and an upper air conduit extending between an upper end of the wand and a suction chamber defined within the housing.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a vacuum cleaner comprising a lower base unit, an upper pivotable enclosure for housing a filter bag, a motor disposed within the lower base unit, a power cord and associated electrical conductors defining an electrical power circuit to the motor, and a thermal cutoff assembly including a temperature sensor disposed proximate to the motor for measuring the temperature of the motor, the thermal cutoff assembly including a switching element in the electrical power circuit that opens upon the temperature sensor sensing a temperature greater than a predetermined temperature setpoint.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a vacuum cleaner comprising a lower base unit, an upper enclosure for retaining a filter bag, the upper enclosure defining a suction chamber, and exhaust chamber, and an exhaust opening providing access from the exterior of the upper enclosure to the exhaust chamber, a motor and fan assembly disposed within the upper enclosure and in airflow communication between the suction chamber and the exhaust chamber, and a detachable filter assembly that releasably engages the upper enclosure at or near the exhaust opening.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a vacuum cleaner comprising a lower base enclosure, an upper enclosure having internal walls dividing the upper enclosure into a suction chamber, an exhaust chamber, and a motor chamber, a motor and fan assembly disposed in a shroud which resides in the motor chamber, an air intake duct extending between the suction chamber and the shroud. The air intake duct engages either or both the suction chamber and the shroud along an unsealed interface.
According to a further aspect of this invention a motor and transmission module selectively powers a base drive wheel and at least the motor of the module is encased in a shroud. The shroud is connected by an exhaust passageway to the air flow path leading ultimately to the final filter.


A liquid crystal alignment treating agent containing a polyamic acid which is represented by the following formula (I) and exhibits a reduced viscosity of from 0.05 to 5.0 dl/g (in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone at 30° C. at a concentration of 0.5 g/dl) or a polyimide obtained by cyclodehydration thereof:

A vertical alignment system, which utilizes a birefringent change of a liquid crystal layer when a nematic liquid crystal having a negative dielectric anisotropism is vertically aligned to a substrate and a voltage is applied by an electrode formed on the substrate, is known to show a high contrast as compared with a conventional TN system. As a liquid crystal alignment film to be used for such a vertical alignment system, a polyimide containing a long-chain alkyl group is disclosed, as described in e.g. JP-A-6-3678. However, with the liquid crystal alignment film to be used in such a vertical alignment system, it was difficult to carry out uniform alignment treatment by rubbing treatment as in the conventional TN system.
On the other hand, a vertical alignment system has been developed in recent years, wherein the direction of the electrical field is controlled by changing the structure of an electrode or projections formed on a substrate, whereby the alignment direction of liquid crystal is controlled during applying a voltage, without rubbing treatment. In such a vertical alignment system, a wide visual field angle property is obtainable as well as the high contrast, whereby a liquid crystal display device having a high display quality can be obtained. A liquid crystal alignment treating agent to be used in such a vertical alignment system, is usually coated on a substrate surface by means of a printing method and fired, whereby it is necessary to use a liquid crystal alignment treating agent showing high coating uniformity during the printing. Further, an active driving using TFT is employed for the liquid crystal display device of such a vertical alignment system, whereby it is necessary to use a liquid crystal alignment film having not only the vertical alignment properties, but also excellent electrical characteristics.
In the case of forming a liquid crystal alignment film, it is usually coated on a substrate by means of a printing method. However, a liquid crystal alignment treating agent for vertical alignment contains hydrophobic side chain substituents such as long-chain alkyl groups in order to align liquid crystal vertically, whereby there was a problem that when it was coated on a substrate, coating uniformity was not necessarily sufficient.
Further, in a case where a treating agent for vertical alignment is coated on a substrate and fired, it is usually fired at a relatively low temperature, since the heat resistance of the side chain structure is low as compared with the main chain structure. However, in a case where a polyamic acid is fired at a relatively low temperature of e.g. at most 200° C., there have been problems such as deterioration of the voltage retention properties due to an insufficient imidation reaction of a polyamic acid, or substantial deterioration of the display quality due to accumulation of a voltage in the liquid crystal display device during applying the voltage to the liquid crystal display device. Especially, it is important to have a high voltage retention property at a high temperature from the viewpoint of reliability of the liquid crystal display device. However, a liquid crystal alignment film for vertical alignment, which is prepared from the conventional polyamic acid, has not necessarily had a sufficient voltage retention property at a high temperature.
On the other hand, in a liquid crystal alignment film to be used for a liquid crystal display device in a TN method, a soluble polyimide as described in e.g. JP-A-2-287324, is known to have a high voltage retention property even if firing is carried out at a relatively low temperature. However, in the case of a vertical alignment film, the printing properties are substantially deteriorated by the effect of the side chain substituents as described above, whereby it is difficult to form a uniform coating film. Further, in the case of a soluble polyimide with a high content ratio of the hydrophobic side chain substituents, there was a problem that it did not have a voltage retention property as high as a liquid crystal alignment film to be used in a TN system.
Thus, the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal alignment treating agent for vertical alignment and a material for a liquid crystal alignment film for vertical alignment, which is excellent in voltage retention properties, particularly excellent in voltage retention properties at a high temperature, has a low accumulation voltage in a liquid crystal display device, and is excellent in film coating uniformity, even if it is a alignment film wherein the imidation reaction has not sufficiently proceeded, while it is excellent in printing properties, voltage retention properties and accumulation voltage properties in the same manner even if it is a soluble polyimide.

Liquid crystal aligning agent for vertical alignment, alignment layer for liquid crystal, and liquid crystal displays made by using the same

Abstract: wherein R1 represents a tetravalent organic group, at least 20 mol % of which has a fused alicyclic structure composed of two to five rings, and all of the carbonyl groups are directly bonded to the alicyclic structure and that any two carbonyl groups are not bonded to adjacent carbon atoms of the alicyclic structure; R2 is a bivalent organic group, from 20 to 100 mol % of which has in the side-chain structure at least one structural unit selected from the group consisting of C5-20 long-chain alkyl, C5-20 fluoroalkyl, alicyclic structures and aromatic ring structures; and L is a positive integer.


The invention relates to a glycolide production process wherein a depolymerization reaction system comprising a glycolic acid oligomer or a glycolic acid oligomer and a polar organic solvent is heated to depolymerize the glycolic acid oligomer into glycolide, the resulting glycolide or the glycolide and polar organic solvent are distilled out of the depolymerization reaction system, and the glycolide is recovered from distillates obtained by distillation. The glycolic acid oligomer or the glycolic acid oligomer and polar organic solvent are continuously or intermittently charged into the depolymerization reaction system, thereby carrying out depolymerization reactions continuously or repeatedly. During the depolymerization reactions, a compound having an alcoholic hydroxyl group is permitted to exist at a specific quantitative ratio in the depolymerization reaction system. The invention is also concerned with a glycolic acid oligomer for the production of glycolide, which is obtained by condensation of glycolic acid in the presence of the compound having an alcoholic hydroxyl group.

Polyglycolic acid is a polyester formed by dehydration-polycondensation of glycolic acid (i.e., α-hydroxylacetic acid) and having the following formula:

Polyglycolic acid is a biodegradable polymer that is hydrolyzed in vivo and, in natural environments, is metabolized and decomposed by microorganisms into water and carbonic acid gas. For this reason, the polyglycolic acid now attracts attention as environment-friendly polymer substitutes for medical materials or general-purpose. However, it is still difficult to obtain any polyglycolic acid having a high molecular weight by means of the dehydration-polycondensation of glycolic acid.
According to another polyglycolic acid production process so far known in the art, glycolide of the following formula, which is a cyclic dimer ester of glycolic acid is first synthesized.

Then, this glycolide is subjected to ring-opening polymerization in the presence of a catalyst such as stannous octoate.
To produce polyglycolic acid (also called "polyglycolide") having a high molecular weight by the ring-opening polymerization of glycolide, it is required to use high-purity polyglycolide as the starting material. To use glycolide as the starting material to produce polyglycolic acid on an industrial scale, it is thus essential to economically feed such high-purity glycolide.
Glycolide is a cyclic ester compound having the structure wherein two water molecules are eliminated from two glyclolic acid molecules. Only by the esterification reaction of glycolic acid, however, any glycolide cannot be obtained because of the formation of glycolic acid oligomers. So far, various glycolide production processes have been proposed.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,668,162 discloses a process in which a glycolic acid oligomer is crushed into powders and heated at 270 to 285° C. under an ultra-high vacuum (12 to 15 Torr (1.6 to 2.0 kPa)) while the powders are fed to a reaction vessel in small portions (about 20 g/hour) for depolymerization, and the resultant glycolide-containing vapor is entrapped. This process, albeit being suitable for small-scale production, is found to have difficulty in large-scale production and so unsuitable for mass production. In addition, this process causes the oligomer to become heavy upon heating and so remain in the form of much residues in the reaction vessel, resulting in decreased glycolide yields and the need of cleaning off the residues. To add to this, the process makes glycolide (having a melting point of 82 to 83° C.) and byproducts likely to separate out in recovery lines, ending up with troubles such as line clogging.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,163 shows a glycolide production process wherein a polyether having good thermal stability is used as a substrate, a small amount of glycolic acid is then block copolymerized with the substrate to obtain a block copolymer, and the block copolymer is finally heated for depolymerization. However, this block copolymerization process is intractable and incurs some considerable production cost. In addition, the process makes glycolide and byproducts likely to separate out in recovery lines, leading to troubles such as line clogging.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,835,293 and 5,023,349 teach a process wherein an α-hydroxycarboxylic acid oligomer such as a polyglycolic acid oligomer is heated into a melt, and a cyclic dimer esters such as glycolide generated and vaporized out of the surface of the melt is entrained in an inert gas such as nitrogen gas and stripped in a low-boiling solvent such as acetone or ethyl acetate for recovery. With this process, it is still difficult to cut back on production costs, because of problems such as a slow formation rate of the cyclic dimer ester, possible formation of heavy materials in the melt, and the need for preheating for blowing a large amount of inert gas into the melt.
French Patent No. 2692263-A1 discloses a process for the production of a cyclic dimer ester wherein an oligomer of an α-hydroxycarboxylic acid or its ester or salt is added to a solvent with a catalyst added thereto, and then stirred in the presence of heat for catalytic decomposition. This process is carried out under normal or applied pressure, using a solvent suitable for entraining the cyclic dimer ester therein in a gaseous phase state. The gaseous phase is then condensed for the recovery of the cyclic dimer ester and solvent. The specification refers to only an example wherein a lactic acid oligomer is used as the raw feed and dodecane (having a boiling point of about 214° C.) is employed as the solvent. However, the results of follow-up experimentation made by the inventors under the same conditions as described in the example and using a glycolic acid oligomer and dodecane showed that heavy materials begin to form simultaneously with the start of the depolymerization reaction, the formation of glycolide stops at a point of time when a very slight amount of glycolide is formed, and much labor is needed for cleaning reaction residues because they are too viscous.
JP-A 09-328481 filed by the applicant of this application discloses a process comprising the steps of heating and depolymerizing an α-hydroxycarboxylic acid oligomer such as a glycolic acid oligomer in a polar organic solvent having a high boiling point, and distilling out the resultant cyclic dimer ester such as glycolide together with the polar organic solvent, and removing the cyclic dimer ester from the distillates.
The results of the inventors' subsequent investigation have showed that if a polyalkylene glycol ether having satisfactory thermal stability is used as the polar organic solvent in this process, cost reductions can then be achieved by recycling the solvent.
When a glycolic acid oligomer synthesized with a commercially available industrial-grade aqueous solution of glycolic acid is depolymerized in a high-boiling polar organic solvent, however, it has been found that the depolymerization reaction system becomes gradually unstable and so the formation rate of glycolide becomes low. To achieve efficient mass-production of glycolide by the aforesaid process, the depolymerization reaction should preferably be carried out continuously or repeatedly in the same reaction vessel.
That is, the depolymerization reaction system comprising a glycolic acid oligomer and a polar organic solvent is heated to depolymerize the glycolic acid oligomer into glycolide, and the resulting glycolide is distilled together with the polar organic solvent out of the depolymerization reaction system. It is here noted that if the solution remaining in the depolymerization reaction system is continuously or intermittently replenished with a fresh glycolic acid oligomer and a fresh polar organic solvent, it is then possible to carry out the depolymerization reaction continuously or repeatedly over an extended period.
As the depolymerization reaction takes place continuously or repeatedly within the same reaction vessel, however, the formation rate of glycolide decreases gradually, and the depolymerization reaction system becomes viscous with a buildup of heavier materials, resulting in a possibility that the system may boil suddenly. To be more specific, when the depolymerization reaction is repeated at least ten times within the same reaction vessel, it is found that there is a noticeable drop of the distillation rate of glycolide.
The inventors have made further studies to elucidate the cause of this problem. As a result of hydrolysis under alkaline conditions of a glycolic acid oligomer synthesized using a commercially available industrial-grade aqueous solution of glycolic acid, it has thus been found that such a glycolic acid oligomer contains, in addition to glycolic acid, organic acids such as diglycolic acid and methoxy acetic acid. Although depending on how to produce glycolic acid, oxalic acid may also be detected.
When the depolymerization reaction is carried out continuously or repeatedly while this system Is replenished with a fresh glycolic acid oligomer and a fresh polar organic solvent, these organic acids are built up in the depolymerization reaction system because of their relatively high boiling points. The accumulation of the organic acids within the depolymerization reaction system has now been found to have adverse influences on the depolymerization reaction.
The instability of the depolymerization reaction system and the decreased formation rate of glycolide due to such organic acid impurities may possibly be prevented by using an aqueous solution of high-purity glycolic acid or purifying an industrial-grade aqueous solution of glycolic acid thereby reducing the organic acid impurity content thereof. However, the glycolic acid purification step costs much, and so goes against glycolide production cost reductions and eventually provides an obstacle to versatile applications of polyglycolic acid.
In addition, even with a glycolic acid oligomer synthesized using an aqueous solution of high-purity glycolic acid or a purified aqueous solution of glycolic acid, the accumulation of slight amounts of organic acid impurities causes the depolymerization reaction to become gradually instable and the formation rate of glycolide to decrease, when the depolymerization reaction is carried out continuously or repetitively over an extended period. Thus, further improvements are still needed so as to achieve stable, efficient, low-cost production of high-purity glycolide on an industrial scale.

Glycolide production process, and glycolic acid oligomer for glycolide production


Detachable bottle and food holding subtrays, clips and support attachments for juvenile chairs such as highchairs, strollers, booster chairs, car seats and activity chairs. The clips can be a snapable C-shape, use a screwable post or a spring biased post for attachment to an existing tray. Removable lids and removable bottle sizing rings can be used. Pre-attached clips can be pre-molded directly to the existing tray. Alternatively, clips can be attached by hook and loop fasteners or peel and stick tape. A drawer type subtray can slide in and out from the existing tray. Alternatively, a pivoting arm can be folded out from the existing tray. The clips, supports, drawers and arms can be used to support and/or hold items such as food out of reach of sitting children, and/or can keep items such as mirrors and toys at selected locations within reach of the sitting child.

Feeding a baby can be extremely messy. When using a traditional highchair for feeding, the person feeding the seated infant usually must handfeed the infant holding the jar of food in one hand, while spoon feeding the baby with the other hand. This handholding of the food jar is necessary since the infant has a tendency to reach across the tray width, and knock the objects within their reach. Knocked down jars of baby food can be extremely messy to clean up, as well as resulting in wasted unusable food spilled out from the jar. Additionally, the person feeding the infant must use both of their hands at all times during the feeding process.
Additionally, the feeding of infants also requires a baby bottle filled with milk, juice and the like, to be used. For similar reasons, the baby bottles cannot be temporary stored on the existing tray since the bottles are within easy reach of the infant and can be knocked down creating additional messes and wasted liquids. The problem comes into play when the person feeding the infant must temporarily place the bottle somewhere if they are going to start hand feeding the infant using a handheld food jar, bowl and handheld spoon.
Similar problems occur with other chairs having trays such as infant booster chairs, stroller type chairs, stationary and movable activity chairs, and the like.
To obviate the problems above, the person feeding the infant has had to temporarily place the bottle, food jar, and/or spoon on floor surfaces, adjacent tables and/or countertops. However, this temporary solution creates other problems. In addition to taking up additional space, these surfaces need to be completely clean (bacteria and bug free) to store these objects, and generally require an extra cleanup after the jars, bottles, and spoons have been placed on these surfaces.
Various proposals have been made over the years but fail to solve the problems presented above. U.S. Pat. Des. 208,317 to Broder; U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,374 to Carboni; U.S. Pat. No. 3,465,052 to Kaposi; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,440 to Meslin et al. each describe attaching small plate trays to existing highchair trays. However, each of these references requires placing the small plate trays on top of the existing tray putting the small plate trays within easy reach of the infants, and not solving any of the problems presented above.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,711,872 to Lampke describes a telescoping arm with a clamp end for use with baby crib railings. However, Lampke's clamp cannot be used to attach their device over and about the top raised lip edges and bottom of the tray edge on traditional highchair and stroller trays. Furthermore, the arm and clamp mechanism can be potentially harmful to the infant if left unattended.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,660,743 to Carroll; 1,937,994 to Taylor; and 2,707,141 to Witter each describe tray attachment devices for attaching to the edges of tables. However, none of these patents has a clamp that allows the device to simultaneously wrap about the top raised lip edge and bottom edge on traditional highchairs and stroller trays. using these devices would create unstable tray attachments. Furthermore, these devices would leave the food jars and bottles at the same height as that of the existing trays themselves. Thus, objects stored on these devices would still be within reach of seated infants.
Other patents of interest that also fail to overcome all the deficiencies to the prior art include U.S. Pat. Des. 303,354 to Morales et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,628 to Evans; U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,041 to Medgebow; U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,786 to Ulics; U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,638 to Marcus et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,796 to Roth; U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,046 to Rowles et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,755 to Morales; U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,607 to Fermaglish et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,175 to Frankel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,765 to Halle; U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,452 to Huynh; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,507 to Joseph.
The Morales '454 and '766 patents respectively describe a "food tray for use in vehicles", title and "utility tray for attachment to a wall, or a like", title, and are not for attaching to tray edges on high chairs and the like, and fail to overcome all the problems described above.


This application relates to a binding-induced hairpin detection system comprising: a. a first probe comprising a targeting molecule and an oligonucleotide that has a free end and an end attached to the targeting molecule; and b. a second probe comprising a targeting molecule and an oligonucleotide that has an end attached to the targeting molecule and a free end comprising a nucleotide sequence that is complementary to a nucleotide sequence at or near the free end of the oligonucleotide of the first probe; wherein upon binding of the targeting molecule to a target molecule, the free end of the oligonucleotide of the second probe hybridizes at or near the free end of the oligonucleotide of the first probe forming a hairpin stem, the non-hybridized portions of the first and second probes together with the target molecule bound thereto forming a hairpin loop, thereby providing a binding-induced hairpin.

Diverse approaches are available to detect the presence of molecules including, for example, ELISA, PCR and mass spectrometry. Landegren et al (U.S. Pat. No. 7,306,904) describe the detection of analytes in solution using proximity probes. These probes comprise a binding moiety and a nucleic acid molecule. The nucleic acid molecule of one proximity probe may interact with that of another when in close proximity, i.e. when bound to an analyte. The interacting nucleic acid molecules may be amplified to detect the presence of the analyte. However, high background is a common problem that limits the detection of target present at trace levels. For example, in the proximity ligation assay used by Landegren et al, the authors had to use very low concentrations of probes in order to keep the background low. Too low a concentration of the probes is not suitable for binding of the probes to a target molecule, since that would result in low sensitivity for the detection of the target molecules. However, increasing the concentration of the probes results in high background, which is problematic. Therefore, there is a trade-off, and Landegren et al does not differentiate target specific proximity ligation from non-target specific proximity ligation.
Thus there remains a need for a detection system that minimizes background and that forms a stable complex only when bound to a target molecule and wherein the stable complex may be specifically detected.

Binding-induced hairpin detection system

THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA


System and method for providing customer support via Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for particular aspects of tax programs and other computer-implemented processes. Different areas of tax preparation may be identified as different modules in the tax program. After selecting a module, a user of the tax program may select a particular document or particular field on a document that the user may need assistance with. A user interface may provide one or more mechanisms whereby the user may access VoIP support targeted at the particular aspect (e.g., module, document, or field). By enabling users to select particular aspects of the tax program and to invoke VoIP support for aspects at which support is needed, embodiments may enable users to sort themselves into queues targeted at the particular aspects for which support is needed before contacting the vendor's support system.

Tax preparation software programs (hereinafter referred to as "tax programs") are available from various vendors that assist users in preparing accurate Federal and/or State income tax returns and other tax forms. These tax programs may guide the user through income, property, sales, or other type of tax return processes for a governmental entity or agency (e.g., Federal, State, county, city, district, or other municipality) step-by-step, and may automatically perform necessary tax preparations in accordance with user-entered data input, forms, schedules, and tax data, tables, and formulas stored with or coded into the program. Personal and/or business tax programs may be provided. In addition, both personal and professional versions of these programs may be offered. Professional versions may be used by tax preparation professionals to prepare various tax returns for multiple customers. Further, these tax programs may be used to prepare annual taxes, quarterly taxes, etc.
Tax programs typically include electronic tax documents—the various forms, schedules, worksheets, etc. needed to prepare and file tax returns, which may be stored and accessed as electronic documents. For example, Federal tax return forms that may be provided may include, but are not limited to, 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, 1040NR, and 1040X forms. In addition, various tax forms and schedules for various States may be included. These electronic tax return documents may be graphically presented by the tax program to the tax preparer on a display device (e.g., a computer monitor). Typically, a tax program will provide a user interface with various user interface mechanisms (menus, dialog boxes, etc.) and user-selectable interface items (menu items, buttons, controls, text entry boxes, etc.) whereby the preparer may access the documents as needed and enter and/or modify data on the various tax documents using one or more data entry/cursor control mechanisms, such as a keyboard and mouse. Typically, these electronic documents are presented on the user interface as templates that, when partially or completely filled out, may be "saved" for the particular taxable entity for which the documents are prepared. Typically, the preparer will enter necessary data and information to the documents via the user interface, and, when done, access the user interface to direct the tax program to complete the preparation of the tax documents.
Instead of or as an alternative to entering the necessary data and information directly to the electronic tax return documents (e.g., directly to a 1040 form), some implementations of tax programs may provide an input mechanism whereby the user inputs the necessary data and information into input fields on data entry displays presented to the user by the tax program. Data and information entered by the user via the input fields may then be automatically transferred into the appropriate locations on the tax return documents. The tax program may perform any necessary calculations using the entered data and information, and possibly data and information from other sources such as previous tax returns, to generate appropriate calculated values for certain fields of the tax return documents.
In some cases, historical tax return information or data for the user (e.g., tax return information or data from a previous year) may be used in preparation of a current tax return. In addition, some tax return information or data may be transferred from one current form to another current form. For example, information or data from a current Federal 1040 form may be transferred to a current State tax return form. Note that some fields on the tax return documents may include values that are calculated by the tax program from entered and/or transferred data in accordance with various formulas for calculating the fields applied by the tax program. Thus, the preparer may not be aware of how certain values on a tax document were calculated, or where the values or the data they were calculated from came from.
Conventionally, tax program vendors have employed telephone support systems for their tax programs. Typically, a telephone support system provides a "1-800" or other such toll-free number through which customers may communicate directly by voice with a support representative. Telephone support systems typically have either a human operator that receives and screens calls from customers with the intent of directing the customers to the correct support representative(s), or an automated "help menu" interface whereby a customer selects from a menu of various options to hopefully connect to the correct support representative to address the customer's questions. Conventional telephone support systems tend to be time consuming for the customer; the customers often have to wait "on hold" for an operator or support representative to answer. In addition, such systems are often difficult for the customers to navigate through to the correct support representative to answer their questions, often resulting in customers ending up talking to the wrong support representative, or having to be redirected elsewhere. Further it may be difficult to track problem areas and to identify high traffic problem areas in the tax program with a telephone support system, as these systems typically have to rely on the support representatives' logging of the customers' calls, which may or may not be performed correctly, and which may involve considerable delay between the logging of the calls and the analysis of the logs.
VoIP
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) refers to a set of facilities that manage the delivery of voice or other audio content over the Internet. Through VoIP, voice information in digital form may be sent over the Internet in discrete packets as an alternative to the traditional circuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). An advantage of VoIP and Internet telephony is that VoIP avoids the tolls charged by conventional telephone services.

System and method for voice over IP (VoIP) support for computer-implemented processes


A strap logo for a user to apply to the strap of a bag, cap, to shoestrings, or other articles having a linearly extended member comprises a logo face rotably attached to arms which encircle the strap and are, in turn, attached to each other by complementary hook and loop fastening means. As constructed, the strap logo may be temporarily attached to a variety of straps and removed at the user's option.

This invention relates to means for attaching logos to user items. More particularly, this invention relates to a means for temporarily attaching a variety of logos to user devices such as bags or hats which contain straps.
A wide variety of logo attachment means are available in the prior art. Most of these logo attachment means or attached to hats, such as, for example, the logo attachment means disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,640, which involves attaching a logo to the straps on the back of a cap for purposes of obscuring the straps. Other examples of cap logo attachment means are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,695.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,402 discloses an attachment to the adjustable strap on a baseball cap. In FIGS. 4 and 5, the patent discloses the use of complementary snaps to interchange patches applied to adjustable straps on baseball caps. No disclosure is made of a rotable logo which is permanently attached to hook and loop fastener encircling arms.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to prepare a strap logo which may be applied to a wide variety of straps, caps, bags or other articles having linearly extended members which may receive a logo.
It is another object of this invention to prepare a strap logo wherein the logo may be rotated about an axis on the strap encircling arms so as to control the orientation of the logo.
It is another object of this invention to prepare a readily attachable and removable strap logo which may be applied to a wide variety of articles. These and other objectives are obtained by the instant invention.


Disclosed is eyeglasses having hinges each comprising a coupling member formed of wire material, having a curved portion at one end thereof and being secured to a lens or a rim at the other end, and a fit member which is provided at one end of a temple and is fitted between wire materials of the curved portion to be rotatable, wherein the coupling member is fitted in a groove formed in the circumferential direction of the fit member and the coupling member and the fit member are brought into contact at least at two points.

The present invention relates to a screwless hinge of an eyeglass frame.
As hinges for eyeglasses, there are proposed those described in the following.
The Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 7-23320 proposes a hinge in which a fit member 34 formed of metallic wire materials at the tip end of a temple is in planar or linear contact with a spherical, columnar or disc-like coupling member 31 having an annular groove.
FIG. 3 shows an example in which the coupling member 31 provided on a wire material 32 on the rim side takes a columnar form. The Coupling member 31 is secured by the wire material 32 passed through the center of the column.
A groove 33 is formed on the coupling member 31 in the circumferential direction about an approximate center in the direction of thickness of the coupling member 31. The fit member 34 is fitted in this groove 33 to be rotatable and the temple is folded or unfolded upon rotation of the fit member 34. Then, a stopper 35 is provided by bending the tip end of the wire material 32 for limiting this rotation so as to prevent the temple from being unfolded too wide.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-50264 discloses a hinge which is entirely formed of linear members (see FIGS. 4A to 4C).
In this case, as shown in FIG. 4A, the hinge is entirely formed of wire materials, and one end of a coupling member 41 which is provided on the rim side has an annular structure. On one end of a temple 43, there is formed a support member 44 which is to be attached to the annular portion of the coupling member 41 to be rotatable.
FIG. 4B is a schematic view for showing an eyeglass frame, seen from the lateral side, in a state in which the support member 44 is attached to the coupling member 41. FIG. 4C is a view showing this state seen from above.
In a state in which the temple 43 is completely unfolded, a part of the annular part of the coupling member 41 serves as a stopper 42, so as to limit an unfolding movement of the temple 43.
A hinge disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-20260 comprises, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, comprises a bracket 51 which is obtained by dividing a wire material serving as the coupling member into upper and lower parts. One end of the bracket 51 is secured to a rim 52. The other end of the bracket 51 is in an annular structure when the eyeglass frame is seen from above. In addition, one end of a temple 53 is also in an annular structure, and a cylindrical fit member 54 is secured to the inner side of this annular portion.
The wire material for forming the annular structure of the temple 53 is coupled between the two wire materials of the bracket 51 to be rotatable around the fit member 54.
The fit member 54 is provided with a stopper 55 for limiting folding and unfolding movements of the temple 53. The folding or unfolding movement of the temple 53 is stopped at a position at which this stopper 55 is brought into contact with the bracket 51 in the folding and unfolding movements.
FIG. 5B is a view for schematically showing the bracket 51 and the fit member 53 removed off from the frame.
The screwless hinges disclosed in the above-described prior arts have their own problems.
The hinge disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 7-23320 (see FIG. 3) is in a state in which the stopper 35 for limiting rotation is protruded outward from the eyeglass frame, which does not render an attractive appearance. Further, there arises a problem that the stopper 35 may catch clothes or the like. Further, in this structure, it is difficult to position the stopper 35, and there may arise problems that the right and left temples are unfolded in different amounts, and that the initial angle can not be maintained in the course of use owing to deformation, or the like, of the stopper 35. Furthermore, the coupling member 31 and the fit member 34 are in linear contact, which brings about a problem that the groove 33 of the coupling member 31 is abraded by friction.
A hole of the support member 44 of the hinge disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-50264 (see FIGS. 4A to 4C) is a so-called clearance hole, and the resisting force in rotation in this case is caused only by a friction due to plane contact with the coupling member 41, which may make the folding and unfolding movements unstable.
When the temple 43 is to be attached to the frame, an unnecessary force may be applied on the coupling member 41. Thus, an unstable contact of the contact surface (a so-called one-side contact) may be brought about due to deformation or the like of the coupling member 41. Further, this hinge is formed only of wire materials, so that the coupling position of the temple 43 may be displaced downward by the weight of the temple 43 itself.
Furthermore, in case of the hinge disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-20260 (see FIGS. 5A and 5B), in order to bring the wire material having the annular structure of the bracket 51 into linear contact with the fit member 54, it is required to align the both members to each other in such a manner that the both members should be rubbed uniformly. Accordingly, it is naturally expected that an area of contact becomes large and a smooth sliding movement is gradually difficult to be obtained with the elapse of time. Then, these conventional screwless hinges have the common problem that the contact area at the fit portion in each of the hinges is large so as to cause a problematic friction between the members upon folding and unfolding movements of the hinge. Then, there is another problem of the degraded rotational torque performance which is caused by deterioration due to this friction. Further, there is also a problem of difficulty to obtain a high precision in working the fit member due to an area of contact between the coupling member and the fit member at the fitting time.
The present inventors have found that the above problems can be solved by improving the form of a coupling member to be secured to the rim and a method of contact with a temple to be coupled to this temple.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided eyeglasses provided with hinges each comprising:
(a) a pair of lenses; and
(b) a coupling member formed of wire material, having a curved portion at one end thereof and being secured to the lens or a rim at the other end, and a fit member provided at one end of a temple,
wherein the fit member has a circumferential groove and the curved portion is fitted in the groove to be rotatable, and
the coupling member and the fit member are brought into contact with each other at least at two points.
It is preferable that, in these eyeglasses, an area of contact between the coupling member and the fit member at the above contact points is not more than two thirds as large as the circumference of the groove.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an eyeglass frame with hinges each comprising:
a coupling member formed of wire material and having a curved portion at one end thereof and being secured to a lens or a rim at the other end; and
a fit member provided at one end of a temple,
wherein the fit member has a circumferential groove and the curved portion is fitted in the groove to be rotatable, and
the coupling member and the fit member are brought into contact with each other at least at two points.
It is preferable that, in this eyeglass frame, an area of contact between the coupling member and the fit member at the above contact points is not more than two thirds as large as the circumference of the groove.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hinge comprising:
a coupling member formed of wire material and having a curved portion at one end thereof and being secured to a lens or a rim at thee other end; and
a fit member provided at one end of a temple,
wherein the fit member has a circumferential groove and the curved portion is fitted in the groove to be rotatable, and
the coupling member and the fit member are brought into contact with each other at least at two points.
It is preferable that, in this hinge, an area of contact between the coupling member and the fit member at the contact points is not more than two thirds as large as the circumference of the groove.