Conjugates between a minor groove binding molecule, such as the trimer of 1,2-dihydro-(3H)-pyrrolo[3,2-e]indole-7-carboxylate (CDPI3), and an oligonucleotide form unusually stable hybrids with complementary target sequences, in which the tethered CDPI3 group resides in the minor groove of the duplex. These conjugates can be used as probes and primers. Due to their unusually high binding affinity, conjugates as short as 8-mers can be used as amplification primers with high specificity and efficiency. MGB conjugation also increases the discriminatory power of short oligonucleotides, providing enhanced detection of nucleotide sequence mismatches by short oligonucleotides. The MGB-conjugated probes and primers described herein facilitate various analytic and diagnostic procedures, such as amplification reactions, PCR, detection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms, gene hunting, differential display, fluorescence energy transfer, hydrolyzable probe assays and others; by allowing the use of shorter oligonucleotides, which have higher specificity and better discriminatory power.

The present invention is in the field of molecular biology. More specifically, the invention is in the field of assays that utilize oligonucleotides as primers or hybridization probes.
Minor groove binding agents which non-covalently bind into the minor groove of double stranded DNA are known in the art. Intercalating agents which bind to double stranded DNA or RNA are also well known in the art. Intercalating agents are, generally speaking, flat aromatic molecules which non-covalently bind to double stranded DNA or RNA by positioning (intercalating) themselves between interfacing purine and pyrimidine bases of the two strands of double stranded DNA or RNA. U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,263 describes oligonucleotides which are covalently bound to an intercalating group. Such oligonucleotides carrying an intercalating group can be useful as hybridization probes.
In many analytic, diagnostic and experimental systems in modern biology, oligonucleotides are used in procedures that require that they base pair (i.e., hybridize) with a nucleic acid sequence that is complementary to the oligonucleotide. This hybridization process may be used to directly detect a sequence in a nucleic acid molecule (i.e., probing), to initiate synthesis at a specific sequence (i.e., priming), or to block synthesis by inhibiting primer extension (i.e., clamping). In all these procedures, the technique relies on the formation of a nucleic acid duplex (or hybrid) based on the principle that the duplex will form only if the two strands are complementary over a significant portion of their lengths. Complementarity is determined by the formation of specific hydrogen bonds between the nucleotide bases of the two strands such that only the base pairs adenine-thymine, adenine-uracil and guanine-cytosine form hydrogen bonds, giving sequence specificity to the double stranded duplex. In a duplex formed between an oligonucleotide and another nucleic acid molecule, the stability of the duplex is a function of its length, the number of specific (i.e., A-T, A-U and G-C) hydrogen bonded base pairs, and the base composition (ratio of guanine-cytosine to adenine-thymine or adenine-uracil base pairs), since guanine-cytosine pairs provide a greater contribution to the stability of the duplex than do adenine-thymine or adenine-uracil pairs.
Usually, the relative stability of a duplex is measured experimentally by heating the duplex in solution until the strands of the duplex separate. The quantitative stability of a duplex is expressed by the temperature at which one-half the base pairs have dissociated, commonly known as the xe2x80x9cmelting temperaturexe2x80x9d or Tm. In practice, this is usually measured by monitoring the ultraviolet absorbance of a solution of nucleic acid while the temperature is increased and denoting the Tm as the temperature at half the maximal absorbance at 260 nm (since an increase in absorbance at 260 nm accompanies the dissociation of the two strands of a duplex).
Essentially all procedures involving analysis of a target nucleic acid sequence require a hybridization step, either to determine directly if the complement of a known sequence (the probe) is present in a sample or to initiate synthesis (prime) from a specific sequence. Control of the specificity of the hybridization step is key to successful and accurate nucleic acid analysis. In most cases, exact matching between the sequence of the probe or primer and the sequence of its target is required. Nevertheless, in some cases, the analytical approach requires the stabilization of a probe or primer in a duplex that is not a perfect match. Therefore, techniques and material that can be used to control hybridization procedures such that it is possible, on the one hand, to obtain only perfectly matched duplexes and, under alternate conditions, to stabilize mismatched duplexes, would extend the use of oligonucleotides and allow analytical and experimental procedures that are now very difficult or unreliable.
For example, many analytical procedures require primer extension as a means of amplifying or labeling a DNA or RNA sequence so that it may be examined further. See, for example, Sambrook et al., MOLECULAR CLONING: A LABORATORY MANUAL, Second Edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (1989). These procedures include, but are not limited to, chain-termination sequencing based on the Sanger Method (Sanger et al. (1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74:5463-5467), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of DNA or RNA sequences (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,202; 4,683,195 and 4,800,159; Mullis and Faloona; Meth. Enzymol., vol 155, Academic Press, New York, 1987, pp. 335-50; and Saiki et al. (1985) Science 230:1350-1354), cDNA synthesis (Rougeon et al. (1975) Nucleic Acids Res. 2:2365-2378) and combinations of these procedures for specific purposes such as xe2x80x9cdifferential displayxe2x80x9d (Liang et al. (1992) Science 257:967-971), mRNA indexing (Kato et al. (1996) Nucleic Acids Res. 24:294) and gene hunting (Tung et al. (1989) In Erlich, H. A. (ed.), PCR Technology: Principles and Applications for DNA Amplification. Stockton press, pp. 99-104) among others.
Each of these procedures requires hybridization, to a target sequence, of an oligonucleotide primer from whose 3xe2x80x2 terminus synthesis is initiated. The ability of an oligonucleotide to serve as a primer depends upon the stability of the duplex it forms with its template, especially at its 3xe2x80x2 terminus. The ability of an oligonucleotide to serve as a unique, specific primer depends upon the stability of the duplex its forms with its perfect complement and, conversely, on the lack of stability of a duplex including one or more noncomplementary (i.e., mismatched) base pairs. Current priming methods rely on the use of oligonucleotides sufficiently long to form stable duplexes at temperatures necessary or convenient for extension. However, longer oligonucleotides are more prone to mismatch pairing than shorter oligonucleotides. Further, specific information may restrict the use of longer oligonucleotides.
To give one example, many methods involving oligonucleotides utilize some type of amplification technology, often based on a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195; 4,683,202; and 4,800,159. PCR has become an exceptionally powerful tool in molecular biology, but certain factors limit its versatility. Because PCR involves multiple cycles of DNA denaturation, elevated temperatures are usually required, making the use of a thermophilic polymerizing enzyme necessary to avoid the inconvenience of supplying fresh polymerizing enzyme at each cycle. However, at the elevated temperatures optimal for activity of a thermophilic polymerase and required for denaturation, oligonucleotides shorter than about 20 nucleotides (20-mers) do not form hybrids that are stable enough to serve as primers for polymerase-catalyzed elongation. Consequently, current PCR-based techniques generally require primers at least 20 nucleotides in length to form hybrids that will be stable at the temperatures and stringencies commonly used for PCR. Saiki (1989) In Erlich, H. A. (ed.), PCR Technology: Principles and Applications for DNA Amplification. Stockton Press, pp. 7-16.
In another example, mRNA xe2x80x9cindexingxe2x80x9d requires priming from the 3xe2x80x2 end of a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule or from a cDNA made from the mRNA. Kato et al., supra. This technique employs separate populations of oligo-dT-containing primers, each additionally containing an extension of one to approximately three nucleotides adjacent to the oligo A sequence on the 5xe2x80x2 side of the oligo A. The objective is to cause synthesis of specific segments of DNA corresponding to the 3xe2x80x2 end of each mRNA (determined by the oligo A sequence) but separated into specific populations, determined by the specific base at positions 1 to (approximately) 3, upstream of the oligo A. If each primer is used in a separate reaction, separate populations of cDNAs are generated, each of which is a subset of the total mRNA. These can be used to analyze cellular expression. This procedure is usually combined with PCR, by including a second primer in each separate reaction. The practicability of this method is limited by the necessity to use sufficiently long oligo thymidylate, complementary to the oligo A, to stabilize the first primer. This can result in stabilization of mismatches within the one to three specific bases at the 3xe2x80x2 end of the primer. In a population of primer and templates, these mismatches allow synthesis of improperly primed, and therefore misleading cDNA molecules leading to incorrect indexing of mRNA. Alternatively, some primers are insufficiently stable to prime efficient synthesis; consequently, the extension products they would have generated are underrepresented in the population, again leading to incorrect indexing of the corresponding mRNA. Short primers that are stable at elevated temperatures commonly used for PCR, but that form only perfect duplexes (i.e., do not prime mismatches) would increase the utility of this technique.
Important new techniques, such as gene hunting and differential display, would also benefit from the use of shorter primers. In some cases, short primers are essential for these methods. In gene hunting, a family of amplified transcripts shares a short degenerate sequence that specifies a conserved peptide motif, and this priming sequence is necessarily limited in length. Tung et al., supra. Stockton press, pp. 99-104. In differential display, complete representation of a transcript pool is sought, and this is:optimally achieved by priming with 6-mers. The impracticality of using such short primers necessitates the use of longer degenerate ODNs. Liang et al., supra. However, long degenerate ODNs may not provide an accurate representation of the complexity of a mRNA population, since mispriming can generate non-specific products, and inefficient hybridization of the primer can lead to underrepresentation of certain transcripts. Buchner et al. (1995) Stat. Mol. Biol. 8:12-14. Application of longer oligonucleotides to viral diagnostics are limited, because amplification of a common sequence from multiple strains can be complicated by the presence of genomic variability. Smits et al. (1992) J. Gen. Virol. 73:3263-3268. Again, shorter primers are desirable, since the shorter the sequence used for priming, the less likely that it will encompass a region characterized by genomic variability.
In addition to priming, oligonucleotide hybridization is used in several techniques to probe nucleic acid sequences. In general, these assays require that the probes form perfectly-matched duplexes with target sequences. These assays are usually based on one of three schemes: 1) The probe or target is labeled (e.g., with a radioactive isotope, a fluorescent dye or a reactive compound), the nucleic acids are placed under hybridization conditions following hybridization, the non-hybridized labeled material is removed and the remaining label is quantitated. 2) The probe is specifically labeled and placed with the target DNA under hybridization conditions, following hybridization, the hybridized probe is detected by virtue of a property unique to a duplex containing the probe such as susceptibility to a duplex-specific nuclease (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,015), 3) fluorescence generated by interaction of a dye with duplex DNA (Wittwer et al. (1997) BioTechniques 22:130-138) or separating a fluorophore from a quenching dye by the extension of the probe as a result of hybridization.
A method that could be used in essentially all these types of nucleic acid hybrid detection systems to enhance the distinction between exact duplexes and duplexes with one or more mismatched base pairs would be a very useful tool in specific nucleic acid sequence determination and clearly be valuable in clinical diagnosis, genetic research and forensic laboratory analysis.
For example, many diseases are associated with known inherited polymorphisms or mutations. Many of these are due to single nucleotide changes and, to be useful, a genetic assay based on hybrid formation must be able to distinguish between a hybrid with all base pairs matched and one with a single mismatch. A group of single base differences at certain points in the sequences of human DNA called single nucleotide polymorphisms have been determined to be stably inherited genetic markers (Schaeffer et al. (1998) Nature Biotechnology 16:33). These markers can be associated with ancestral populations and in some cases can be associated with characteristics such as disease susceptibility or response to environmental factors such as chemicals, drugs, etc. Although these polymorphisms can theoretically be discovered by the tedious process of gene sequencing, their use as genetic markers associated with a phenotype in, for example, medical practice or research, necessitates a screening or typing system that is capable of analyzing DNA from tens to hundreds of individuals. This process will not easily be accommodated by current methods of DNA sequencing. Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis thus represents an additional field in which there exists a need for a reliable method for distinction of single base differences in DNA sequences by a process such as hybridization.
Various additional assays that involve oligonucleotide priming are known in the art. These include, but are not limited to, assays that utilize the nuclease activity of a polymerase enzyme to release label from a probe hybridized to an extension product (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,015), and assays in which hybridization of two or more oligonucleotides to adjacent sites on a target nucleic acid results in interactions between the oligonucleotides, such as, for example, fluorescence resonance energy transfer. See, for example, Stavrianopoulos et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,103; and Heller et al., European Patent Publication 070,685. These techniques are also limited by the length of the oligonucleotide that can be used for efficient hybridization and/or priming. The ability to use shorter oligonucleotides would therefore be beneficial in these procedures and, indeed, in any application that involves hybridization of an oligonucleotide to a target nucleic acid.
Chemical modification of short oligonucleotides has been attempted, with an eye toward improving hybrid stability while retaining effective priming ability. Certain modifications, such as N3xe2x80x2xe2x86x92P5xe2x80x2 phosphoramidates (Gryaznov et al. (1994) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116:3143-3144) and peptide (Nielsen et al. (1994) Bioconjugate Chem. 5:3-7) or guanidine (Dempcy et al. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA, 92:6097-6101) linkages, have been shown to enhance hybrid stability. However, such modified oligonucleotides are non-extendible, because they lack a 3xe2x80x2-OH group, and are therefore unable to serve as primers. Other hybrid-stabilizing modifications that have not been investigated with respect to their ability to support primer extension are 2xe2x80x2-modified sugars (Monia et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268:14514-14522; Sproat et al. (1993) In Crooke, S. T. and Lebleu, B. (eds), Antisense Research and Applications. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., pp. 352-362), conjugated intercalating agents (Asseline et al. (1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:3297-3301) and substituted bases such as 2-aminoadenine (Lamm et al. (1991) Nucleic Acids Res. 19:3193-3198) or C5 propynyl pyrimidines (Wagner et al. (1993) Science 260:1510-1513). Thus, the need remains for a method of modifying short oligonucleotides so that they form more stable hybrids, such that the modification will not interfere with the ability of the oligonucleotides to serve as primers.
A further shortcoming in the use of oligonucleotides as probes and primers is the difficulty of obtaining specificity such as single nucleotide mismatch discrimination using oligonucleotide probes and/or primers. In many cases, it is necessary to distinguish target sequences which differ by a single nucleotide and, in some cases, it would be desirable to do so using oligonucleotides. That is, it would be useful to have a given oligonucleotide which is able to hybridize to a target sequence with which it is complementary along its entire length (a perfect hybrid or perfect match), but which, under identical stringency conditions, will not hybridize to a target sequence that is non-complementary to the oligonucleotide at a single nucleotide residue (a single-nucleotide mismatch). Unfortunately, this type of single nucleotide mismatch discrimination is possible only when fairly short (for example,  less than 20 mer) oligonucleotides are used. The disadvantage of using such short oligonucleotides is that they hybridize weakly, even to a perfectly complementary sequence, and thus must be used under conditions of reduced stringency. If it were possible to achieve single nucleotide mismatch discrimination under conditions of high stringency (such as those under which most amplification reactions are conducted), improvements in speed and efficiency would accrue in techniques such as allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization, single nucleotide polymorphism analysis, and functional genomics, to name just a few.
The present invention relates to a covalently bound oligonucleotide and minor groove binder combination which includes an oligonucleotide having a plurality of nucleotide units, a 3xe2x80x2-end and a 5xe2x80x2-end, and a minor groove binder moiety covalently attached to at least one of said nucleotides. The minor groove binder is typically attached to the oligonucleotide through a linking group comprising a chain of no more than 15 atoms. The minor groove binder moiety is a radical of a molecule having a molecular weight of approximately 150 to approximately 2000 Daltons which molecule binds in a non-intercalating manner into the minor groove of double stranded DNA, RNA or hybrids thereof with an association constant greater than approximately 103 Mxe2x88x921.
In another aspect, the present invention relates to the process of synthesizing certain covalently bound oligonucleotide minor groove binder combinations, and to the manner of using such combinations for hybridization probe and related analytical and diagnostic, as well as therapeutic (anti-sense and anti-gene) purposes.
It has now been discovered that conjugation of a minor groove binder (MGB) to an oligonucleotide (ODN) dramatically increases the stability of the hybrid formed between the oligonucleotide and its target. Increased stability (i.e., increased degree of hybridization) is manifested in a higher melting temperature (Tm: the temperature at which half of the base pairs have become unpaired) of hybrid duplexes formed by such MGB-oligonucleotide conjugates, compared to those formed by an unconjugated oligonucleotide of identical length and sequence. This effect is. particularly pronounced for short oligonucleotides (e.g., less than about 21 nucleotides in length) and makes possible, for the first time, the use of short oligonucleotides as probes and primers, under high stringency conditions. Conjugation of an oligonucleotide with a MGB, with its attendant increase in hybrid stability, does not adversely affect the ability of the conjugated oligonucleotide to serve as a primer. Therefore, it is now possible, using the methods and compositions of the present invention, to use shorter oligonucleotides than previously required in techniques in which hybridization is required, such as polymerase chain reactions and hydrolyzable probe assays, which are generally conducted at high stringency, due to the use of high temperatures and thermophilic enzymes.
In addition to increased duplex stabilization, MGB-oligonucleotide conjugates retain the heightened sensitivity to sequence mismatch that is characteristic of unconjugated short oligonucleotides with low melting temperatures. Thus, conjugation to a MGB endows very short oligonucleotides (e.g., oligonucleotides containing less than about 21 nucleotides) with greater specificity, by endowing them with the potential to form hybrids having a stability characteristic of much longer oligonucleotides, while retaining the ability to discriminate between sequences differing by a single nucleotide. Use of short oligonucleotides at high stringency now becomes possible, using MGB-oligonucleotide conjugates.
The use of MGB-oligonucleotide conjugates as probes and primers provides improvements in speed, sensitivity and versatility to a variety of assays involving hybridization of oligonucleotides. Such assays are well-known in the art and include, but are not limited to, single nucleotide mismatch detection, in situ hybridization, polymerase chain reaction (PCR, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,202; 4,683,195 and 4,800,159), allele-specific oligonucleotide (ASO) hybridization (Huang et al. (1992) Acta Haematol. 88:92-95), detection of single-nucleotide polymorphism (Mullis and Faloona; Meth. Enzymol., vol. 155, Academic Press, New York, 1987, pp. 335-50), microsatellite analysis using short tandem repeats (Tautz (1993) in xe2x80x9cDNA Fingerprinting: State of the Science,xe2x80x9d Pena et al., ed, Birkhauser, Basel, pp. 21-28), random amplification of polymorphisms in DNA (Williams et al., Meth. Enzymology, vol. 218, Academic Press, New York, 1993, pp. 704-740), DNA amplification fingerprinting (Caetano-Anollxc3xa9s et al. (1991) Biotechnology 9:553-557), assays involving fluorescence energy transfer, assays involving release of label by exonuclease-mediated hydrolysis of a hybridized oligonucleotide probe, assays involving ligation of two or more oligonucleotides, etc.
All patents, patent applications and publications mentioned herein, either supra or infra, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Hybridization and mismatch discrimination using oligonucleotides conjugated to minor groove binders


A ball throwing machine includes a ball throwing mechanism that is mounted on a frame that rotates about a vertical axis so that balls are ejected at preset positions along an arc. In a preferred embodiment, the ball throwing mechanism is mounted on a base plate that rotates back and forth through a 90-degree arc. A timing plate controls the rotation of the throwing mechanism and includes projections that trigger the ejection of the balls at preselected angular positions.

The present invention relates to a ball throwing machine. Many ball throwing devices have been developed over the years. Almost all baseball or softball players are familiar with pitching machines that are used in batting practice. These machines take the place of the pitcher, throwing balls in the limited area of the strike zone. When teams are practicing their fielding skills, a coach typically stands at home plate and attempts to hit ground balls to the infielders with a bat. While the coach is hitting balls to the infielders, he cannot be personally working with his players. There are some ball-throwing machines that can throw balls in a wide variety of directions and are computer controlled. However, these machines are complicated, are not intended for use with baseballs, and are too expensive to be usable by most baseball teams. It would be desirable to provide an inexpensive ball throwing machine that could take the place of the batter in baseball practice, throwing practice ground balls to the infielders as part of defensive practice drills for baseball or softball players.


A system displays information from and controls electrical switching apparatus, such as circuit breakers. The system includes a plurality of circuit breakers having separable contacts and a plurality of conditions, such as bus temperature and contact wear. A plurality of sensors are structured to sense the conditions of the circuit breakers and to communicate the sensed conditions over corresponding wireless signals. A display and control unit is operatively associated with the circuit breakers and is structured to receive the corresponding wireless signals and display information corresponding to the sensed conditions or to control the circuit breakers based upon one or more of the sensed conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to communication systems and, more particularly, to such systems providing communications to or from one or more electrical switching apparatus, such as circuit breakers.
2. Background Information
An electrical distribution system typically consists of a plurality of protective, metering and control devices mounted within an enclosure, such as a switchgear or motor control center metal cabinet or suitable plastic enclosure. A wired communication mechanism is often provided that allows the various devices to communicate with a display device on the enclosure or to communicate to a remote location, which monitors the condition of the system. The wired communication mechanism within the enclosure typically employs one or more wired field busses.
Electrical distribution devices, such as circuit breakers, are installed within the metal switchgear cabinet. Many of these devices are capable of communicating, for example, on-line data, and alarm/status, cause-of-trip and setpoint information. Typically, the wired field busses are "twisted pair" busses that interconnect the devices to a single node associated with the switchgear cabinet. There are numerous versions of that node including: (1) local nodes with a human machine interface (HMI) (e.g., displays and switches) intended for use on the cabinet; (2) nodes that are "headless" and serve as interfaces or gateways for connecting the devices to one or more remote communication systems; and (3) nodes that serve both the local and remote functions.
For example, an electrical distribution system may include a twisted-pair field bus network and a "headless" node that interfaces plural in-gear field bus communicating devices to an external Ethernet communicating system.
In terms of the health of the one or more electrical switching apparatus of an electrical distribution system, of particular interest are the conditions of the separable contacts and the temperatures of a bus bar or cable termination of an electrical switching apparatus, such as, for example and without limitation, a circuit breaker or contactor. For example, every time a circuit breaker or contactor interrupts a current, a certain amount of contact wear and erosion occurs. As the contact condition degrades, the contact resistance can result in a higher than normal contact temperature, which can compromise the insulation system. A higher than normal apparatus-to-bus bar or cable termination resistance can also result in an over-temperature insulation condition.
It is known to sense contact wear by noting the change in location of the moving contact from a fixed reference when a circuit breaker is in the closed position. As the contacts wear, this travel will increase. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,150,625 discloses an erosion gauge tool, which clearly provides an indication of the level of wear of separable contacts housed in a vacuum chamber. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,560 discloses a flexible, resilient contact wear indicator.
It is also known to directly assess the effect of a relatively high breaker-to-bus bar or cable termination resistance by measuring the bus bar or cable termination temperature. Breaker contact wear can also contribute to the termination temperature rise.
There is room for improvement in communications in electrical distribution systems and within or among one or more electrical switching apparatus.

Wireless system for one or more electrical switching apparatus


A novel data processing system manages and implements a new form of security designated the "Proxy Asset". Proxy Assets provide sophisticated risk management capabilities without the complexities associated with other types of risk management investment vehicles. The Proxy Asset is made possible by the enhanced processing capabilities of the Proxy Asset data processor which creates, tracks, manages, and governs asset accounts for participating investors.

A Proxy Asset is a new kind of security that is designed to make effectively tradable existing broad categories of illiquid assets or claims on income flows, assets or claims that are individually difficult or impossible to buy, hold, or sell directly. The Proxy Asset is designed to have a traded market price that reflects the true liquid-market value of the illiquid assets or claims. For example, Proxy Assets can be created that allow people to make investments in local real estate in a given city, and allowing owners of local real estate to hedge their exposure to real estate risk in that city, and also to allow them to see in the Proxy Asset share price an indicator of real estate prices in the city. For another example, Proxy Assets can be created to allow people to invest in claims today on shares of the flow of national income over future years of some country, or to allow people to hedge their own income risk, and also to see a market price of such a claim as never before. Thus, as used herein, the term Proxy Asset pertains to illiquid assets and to claims on income sources, such as human labor or human capital. For still other examples of illiquid assets that may be the basis of Proxy Assets, we mention privately held or infrequently traded corporate stocks, infrequently traded bonds, ships and aircraft, rare coins, precious gemstones, masterpiece paintings, livestock, and thoroughbreds. These assets, like real estate, are highly illiquid, and are difficult or impossible to hedge using traditional hedging mechanisms.
A Proxy Asset Data Processor is employed as part of a Proxy Asset Management System, and is designed for creating, distributing, managing, and maintaining the Proxy Assets. The new data processor makes possible this fundamentally new kind of asset by defining and managing the dividend flow of these assets, guaranteeing payment of the defined dividend by management of underlying cash-value accounts, and also facilitating trade, issuance and redemption of such Proxy Assets and thereby assuring certain adding-up constraints for market prices.
The Proxy Assets are configured to simplify their use, and understanding by investors; to parallel familiar existing assets in appearance and in terms of the kinds of contingencies and activities that the investors become involved with, and to offer the same feeling of financial soundness. The Proxy Asset Data Processor is designed to reinforce and confirm these impressions among investors, by facilitating the basic functions necessary for the Proxy Asset's essential equivalence with other assets.
Making otherwise illiquid assets liquid is extremely important. With illiquid markets, investors may be stuck with an inordinately risky exposure to some illiquid assets and at the same time unable to diversify their portfolio into other illiquid assets. For example, in the market for single family homes, people may be excessively exposed to single family home price risk in their own city, unable to hedge this risk by shorting their city, and unable to invest in single family homes in other cities.
Laws and regulations regarding securities trading are designed to make a clear distinction between securities and derivatives (such as futures and options), and between securities and short sales. Institutions that hold securities as part of their portfolios may be restricted by charter, pronouncement, or regulation from dealing freely in derivatives or from making short sales. These restrictions are designed to guarantee against certain abuses, such as taking excessively speculative positions. Individual investors, fearful of getting into an unexpectedly leveraged position or of being exposed to large or unlimited losses in certain circumstances, may have simple personal rules of thumb so that they will not buy unusual investment instruments. Our Proxy Assets are designed to resemble existing well-known types of securities, like ordinary stocks, so that these restrictions may have their intended effect.
That Proxy Assets resemble familiar securities may also have certain psychological benefits. First, people are somewhat afraid of investing in exotic derivatives because they have the feeling that the structure of the contract is too complicated and abstract, unlike the common law concept of property that has been fundamental to human society since prehistoric times. People tend to feel insecure about an investment whose payoff is determined by a complex contract or mathematical formula in contrast to a traded market price. Second, there are familiar institutions and practices associated with ownership of securities that are not duplicated with most derivatives. For example, the simple notion that an asset has both an enduring capital value and also generates an income at regular intervals, and that one may have a rule of thumb allowing one to consume the income but not the capital value itself. Third, many derivatives can involve margin calls to which investors can react very negatively because they force investors to focus on their losses from individual portions of their portfolio, even when their overall portfolio is doing well. Thus, for example, investors who hedge against losses in holdings of an asset by taking a short positions in the futures markets can be very upset by the repeated margin calls that would be the consequence of such hedging should prices increase. They tend to feel upset by the margin calls even though their losses in the futures market are compensated since the value of the portfolio of other assets is increasing, since the former is made more psychologically salient by the need to take action. An individual who hedges risk by taking a position in a Proxy Asset whose price moves opposite that of the asset hedged will not be confronted by margin calls, can just forget about the portfolio, and thus may be psychologically in a frame of mind that better promotes hedging.
There have been over time, many different types of investment vehicles. Investment Trusts (REITs) which were designed by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1960 to allow large numbers of investors in real estate, are no more than tax-exempt portfolios of existing readily-made real estate investments. The real estate that they cover is limited to already readily investable classes, excluding for example owner-occupied homes. REITs are not flexible and thus cannot meet current hedging and investment needs.
There are a number of mortgage, reverse mortgage, or sale-of-remainder methods that individual homeowners can use to reduce risk to them due to price fluctuations in their home. Shared appreciation mortgages have a long (though limited) history. A variation on this is the housing limited partnership. Reverse mortgages are contracts in which a homeowner is able to obtain a lifetime annuity from the value of his or her home; these reverse mortgages may pass some of the price risk to the mortgage lender. Sale of remainder refers to a contract in which the homeowner may sell a share in the house to another party with a contract to remain living in the house.
Home equity insurance, discussed in Robert J. Shiller and Allan N. Weiss, "Home Equity Insurance," National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 1994, forthcoming, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, incorporated herein by reference, is an insurance contract on an individual home that pays out if the price index for the region should fall sufficiently.
In 1994, Barclays de Zoete Wedd (BZW) started Property Index Certificates (PICs). These are bonds, with maturities of two, three, four, and five years, whose principal at maturity is tied to a commercial real estate price index. BZW owns companies like Canary Wharf and Imry as a result of bad property loans, and has issued the PICs as a way to insulate itself from further moves in commercial real estate prices. In November 1996, BZW also created what are essentially UK commercial real estate index settled futures, although there is no clearing house and BZW is always one side of the contract. An industry-wide group led by AMP Asset Management (the fund management component of Australia Mutual Provident), has been scheduled to start true index-settled UK commercial real estate futures markets in 1997.
There have been for some time ordinary puts and calls that are settled on indices, such as the Standard and Poor's Index Options. There have been certain swap arrangements that investment banks make between themselves and counter parties. Banks may make many such swap arrangements in such a way that the swaps cancel out, and the bank itself is bearing no risk.
The Standard and Poor Depositary Receipts (SPDRs, or, commonly, spiders) were created at the American Stock Exchange in 1993. Each SPDR is like a security, which is traded on the stock exchange, and behind it is an underlying basket of assets, representing the stocks used to compute the Standard and Poor Composite stock price average. Redemption and issuance rules enforce market price correspondence with the market price of the underlying portfolio. The assets held are the actual stocks themselves. Still, the SPDRs are used to create an asset that is like a stock and to insure that the market price corresponds at all times to the value of the basket of stocks. The "superunits" and the "supershares" created at the AMEX somewhat earlier also shared this property.
Certain computerized trading systems, such as that used at the Iowa Experimental Markets at the University of Iowa have been used in the past. For example, in their presidential election trading system, a security is created for every presidential candidate, and it pays $1 if that person is elected president. Since only one person can be elected president, the trading system can automatically create new securities whenever buy orders for all presidential candidates come in with combined offer prices equal to $1.
See also, "A Goal-Directed Financial Asset Management System" invented by Robert R. Champion and Basil R. Twist Jr., awarded U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,936 on Jun. 30, 1992, and a System for the Operation of a Financial Account invented by Charles A. Atkins and Amelia Island, and awarded U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,085 on Aug. 28, 1990.
Accordingly, none of the prior art satisfies the objectives of the present invention, and none shows the basic features of the invention as described hereinbelow. More background information can be found in the following references, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
Karl E. Case, Robert J. Shiller, and Allan N. Weiss, "Index-Based Futures and Options Trading in Real Estate," with Karl E. Case and Allan N. Weiss, Journal of Portfolio Management, Winter 1993. PA1 Robert J. Shiller, Macro Markets: Creating Institutions for Managing Society's Largest Economic Risks, Oxford University Press, Oxford England, (Clarendon Series) 1993. PA1 Robert J. Shiller and Allan N. Weiss, "Home Equity Insurance," National Bureau of Economics Working Paper, 1994.


An automotive seat includes a seat cushion, a seat back, and a multi-position head restraint mounted to the seat back that is moveable between a deployed position and a retracted position. The seat assembly is characterized by a control mechanism mounted within the head restraint that allows the head restraint to be easily movable between the deployed and retracted positions. The control mechanism allows the passenger to place the head restraint in the retracted position by pushing down on the head restraint when the head restraint is in the deployed position. The passenger simply uses an actuation lever of the control mechanism to place the head restraint in the deployed position when the head restraint is in the retracted position.

Front and rear seats in many passenger vehicles, such as automobiles, include respective head restraints which provide added comfort for a passenger. In addition to the comfort feature, the head restraints also provide a safety feature. Namely, the head restraints provide needed head support during rear end collisions which reduces the likelihood of whiplash type injuries. Head restraints are typically mounted to a top portion of a seat back as either an integral part of the seat back or as a separate unit mounted to the seat back. The head restraint usually includes some type of height adjustment mechanism to adjust the height of the heat restraint with respect to the seat back. One such type of adjustment mechanism is an adjustment button that is depressed while the passenger pushes downward on the head restraint bun to adjust the height of the heat restraint.
One of the problems associated with this type of adjustment mechanism is the awkward position of the passenger when depressing the button to adjust the height of the head restraint. In addition, the finger or hand of the passenger may be pinched by the head restraint bun when adjusting the height of the head restraint.
One solution to overrcome these deficiencies is to provide a head restraint design in which the height of the head restraint can be adjusted by use of a motor. However, this solution significantly increases the costs associated with the head restraint design.
Thus, there is a need for a cost-effective head restraint design that allows the passenger to adjust the height of the head restraint without being placed in an awkward position or being exposed to potential injury.


Disclosed are methods that enable communications to be established regardless of the presence of communications blockers, e.g., firewalls and NATs, in the path between two computing devices. Two devices each establish communications with a rendezvous service. Through the service, the devices signal each other to set up direct, peer-to-peer communications between themselves. If the devices fail to establish direct communications, then they invoke a relay service that provides the illusion of direct communications. In another aspect, an originating device attempts to establish communications with a recipient, using an address and port number associated with the recipient. If that attempts fails, possibly because a firewall is blocking communications, then the originating device retries using a port normally held open by firewalls. If this attempt also fails, then the originating device invokes the services of a proxy to negotiate a port acceptable for use by the recipient and by any intervening firewalls.

The growth of networks, specifically the Internet, is spurring a proliferation of applications based on peer-to-peer computer communications. In the older host-sever paradigm, a user took advantage of services provided by a more or less centralized corporate entity. In peer-to-peer communications, a user at one computing device communicates in real time directly with a user at another device. Computer telephony, teleconferencing, interactive games, and remote collaboration are just a few examples of increasingly popular applications that take advantage of inexpensive peer-to-peer communications.
It has long been possible to provide the illusion of peer-to-peer communications by means of a relay service. When two users wish to communicate, each logs on to the relay service and directs its communications to the relay service. The relay service receives the communications and forwards them on to their intended recipient. This approach is very useful as long as the amount of data transferred is small and the latency requirements are lax, but in cases that demand large bandwidth and real-time response, the relay service quickly becomes a traffic bottleneck. In addition, setting up and running a large relay service are quite expensive in terms of money and resources. Ideally, peer-to-peer applications can operate without the mediation of a relay service, but relays are still useful in providing connectivity when, for some reason, direct peer-to-peer communications are not possible.
Direct communications may not be possible if a "communications blocker" sits on the path between the peer computing devices. A firewall is a first example of a communications blocker. For security's sake, many users install firewalls between their computing devices and communications networks. Most firewalls protect computing devices by blocking incoming and outgoing communications except that which comes over specifically allowed addresses and ports. (Modern communications protocols, such as the Internet Protocol (IP), allow for the specification of source and destination fields called "ports," in association with the source and destination addresses. Ports are often used to differentiate messages intended for separate processes running on a single computing device.) If a peer-to-peer application attempts to reach a computing device behind a firewall, the firewall may prevent communications from ever reaching the device. Even for communications directed to an open port on the firewall (e.g., port 80 is usually open), the port may be handling so much traffic from other sources that real-time response requirements cannot be met.
Another potential blocker of peer-to-peer communications is the Network Address Translator (NAT). Ideally, each computing device connected to the Internet is assigned a unique network address within the public address space. The growth of Internet connectivity, however, has rapidly depleted the supply of public addresses. To compensate, many computing devices today do not have public addresses but are, rather, assigned private addresses outside the public address space. Having disparate address spaces leads to complications, however. For example, a device with a private address cannot send a message to a device with a public address unless the private address is first translated to some public address. NATs automatically perform this translation by intercepting packets from the device with the private address and then replacing the device's private address in the packet header with the NAT's own public address. The packet is then sent along to the outside device with the public address. The NAT stores a mapping between the private address of the device behind the NAT and the public address of the device outside the NAT. When communications arrives from the outside device addressed to the public address of the NAT, the NAT refers to this mapping and replaces its own public address in the packet header with the private address of the device behind the NAT. By way of this mapping, the device behind the NAT can both send communications to and receive communications from a device in the public address space.
The NAT translation scheme is based on the premise that communications are initiated by the computing device behind the NAT. The NAT must first set up the translation mapping before it can know how to handle communications coming from the public network address space. Were a device in the public address space to attempt to initiate peer-to-peer communications by sending a message to the public address of the NAT, then, upon receiving the message, the NAT would search for a translation mapping for the sender's public address but would not find one. The NAT would discard the message, and the communications would fail. This problem is compounded when each device is behind its own NAT. In this case, neither device can initiate communications: while the NAT of the communications initiator sets up its translation mapping, the NAT of the recipient does not have an appropriate mapping and discards the incoming message. Communications never start. As NATs proliferate, this shortcoming impedes the spread of any application based on direct peer-to-peer communications.
Note that in the context of this application, "firewall" and "NAT" refer to services, not necessarily to specific devices. These services may be provided on separate hardware boxes, may be combined into one box, and may even be instantiated as software running on the computing device itself.
A known approach to the problem of NATs sets up a signaling exchange between a computing device behind a NAT and the NAT. (The discussion of the current paragraph applies as well to firewalls as it does to NATs, but only NATs are discussed to avoid repetition or having to repeatedly write "NAT/firewall.") The device sends a message directly to the NAT. The message directs the NAT to allow the communications channel needed for a peer-to-peer application. However, this approach has its drawbacks. First, it forces the device to discover its NAT and to take the NAT's presence into account. Traditionally, devices did not need to know whether they sat behind a NAT: the NAT's operation was completely transparent. Second, because NATs operate automatically by intercepting communications and then discarding them or passing them along, no standard protocol exists to facilitate the signaling exchange. Adding that capability greatly alters the architecture of a NAT, which has often been an uncomplicated, firmware-based device. These considerations are compounded if the device sits behind a chain of multiple NATs or firewalls, some of which may be located far from it, such as at the facilities of the device's Internet Service Provider (ISP). The device may not be aware of all of these NATs and firewalls and may not have any means or permissions to communicate directly with them.
What is needed is a method for establishing communications that operates transparently to any communications blockers, e.g., firewalls, NATs, or what have you, in the communications path between peer computing devices.

Methods and systems for establishing communications through firewalls and network address translators


A push-in wire connector for electrically interconnecting multiple wires together is disclosed to have a guide and lock element, which is mated with a conduction and retention element and assembled inside the enclosing space of an enclosing element. Multiple wire insertion channels are provided inside the connector for receiving the insertion of wires. Each of the insertion channels includes a main port section led in by an insertion port for guiding the insertion of a stripped end of a wire. A wire engagement segment follows the main portion section formed by the surrounding of a conduction plate at the bottom, an insertion channel separation wall at one or both sides, and the resilient spring legs on the top. The wire engagement segment prevents the bending or deflection of the inserted wire end thereby ensuring secure and good electrical conduction between the inserted wires.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an electrical connector for wires and, more particularly, to a push-in connector for connecting multiple wires electrically together.
2. Description of the Related Art
Push-in wire connectors are useful for connecting multiple wires electrically together in applications including providing utility power gridwork for homes and offices, etc. U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,395 "Push-in wire connector" to Blaha, for example, disclosed a wire connector having a conductive clip of relative simple design for easy fabrication. The clip responsible for providing electrical connection between the connected wires was enclosed in a housing. The clip was made in the form of a cantilever spring so that a wire inserted through an aperture in the housing can deflect the spring and be clamped and retained in the housing. Blaha's wire connector, though simple and easy to manufacture, required its single piece clip to provide both good electrical conduction between and firm mechanical retention of the wires to be electrically connected together.
Such a dual-role requirement placed limitation to the selection of suitable metallic or alloy material for clips, resulting in the necessity of a compromise between electrical conduction and mechanical retention strength characteristics required for the application. U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,919 "Electrical connector with improved locking means" to Cutler et al. disclosed a connector aimed at improved locking interconnection between the connected wires and the connector. Cutler et al. proposed an electrical contact component accommodated inside an enclosure with at least two spring locking clips. The contact component served to provide the electrical conduction between all the wires to be connected, while the spring locking clips were responsible for the mechanical retention of the connected wires.
The wire connector by Cutler et al. avoided the problem of the use of a dual-role metallic or alloy material optimized for both electrical conduction and mechanical strength for its contact component. However, since the contact component also constituted the main and bulk metallic structure for the connector, an optimized material such as copper alloy for the contact component can still be costly for the connector. U.S. Pat. No. 6,746,286 "Push-in wire connector" to Blaha was able to alleviate this cost-performance problem by introducing a busbar in the form of, rather than serving as the main metallic structure, a contact plate having the minimum required size for good electrical conduction between the wires to be connected.
However, all these prior wire connectors failed to simultaneously provide good electrical conduction and ease of use while being cheap and simple to manufacture. For example, while the connector by Cutler et al. provided good mechanical wire retention characteristics and Blaha's busbar-equipped connector achieved improved electrical conduction for the connected wires, all failed to consider the true ease of use. As a wire to be connected by any of these connectors is pushed in, the stripped wire end inserted tends to be bent or deflected sideways since the leg of the resilient clip presents a considerable resistance to the insertion of the wire end. The resistance becomes stronger as the clip is made more resilient to ensure good mechanical retention of the wire.
Although the connector by Cutler et al. did include parallel guide ribs to assist in holding wire end in the correct orientation during insertion, however, vertical height of these ribs were insufficient that there were still the possibility of wire end sideway deflection or bending to result in failed insertion. This is particularly a problem in the case of multi-threaded wires.
Blaha's busbar connector was not free of this problem as well. The Blaha connector included rear receptacles for receiving the ends of the inserted wires, however, these receptacles were not helpful at all in preventing the sideway deflection or bending of the wire end during the insertion. They only serve to provide a space for receiving the wire end—after a successful insertion. Neither were the extensions in the Blaha busbar connector of any substantial assistance in preventing the deflection or bending of the inserted wire ends since their primary goal was to hold the busbar in place and they were positioned way behind the point of pressed contact between the legs and the wires along the direction of wire insertion.


A system, method, and network interface obscures the existence of data encryption in a communication network is provided. A set of characters is generated by using a set of encryption keys as an input to a pseudo-random function. Each character corresponds to an index value. The encrypted data is divided into a plurality of parts. Each part is sectioned into a plurality of groups. Each group of the plurality of groups is encoded by mapping the group to a character in the set of characters according to its corresponding index value. The mapped characters are transmitted through the communication network.

Traffic flows in a modern large-scale network may often be subjected to ill-considered policy-based mechanisms intended to "shape" that traffic. Often, such policy-driven traffic shaping is detrimental to encrypted flows, even when such flows would ordinarily not get "shaped" if not for the encryption.
Furthermore, in some global regions, traffic that is encrypted is often subjected to more scrutiny by invasive surveillance techniques than would be the case if the traffic wasn't encrypted. In effect, the encrypted traffic, even if it is "innocuous," can attract undue attention merely because of the encryption.
At many places in the modern Internet, particularly near the network edge, traffic-shaping technology has been designed to automatically detect encrypted flows and treat these flows differently according to local policy. Such treatment may actually include dropping the traffic or placing this traffic in a Quality of Service ("QOS") queue that has a very low priority.
Encrypted traffic, with the exception of fixed headers, has the peculiar statistical property of being indistinguishable from a strong pseudo-random sequence of the same length. However, if encrypted traffic observed is over a sufficiently long time interval, a very uniform distribution of bits, or octets, occurs which can generally render this traffic distinguishable from non-encrypted traffic. It is precisely this property that allows traffic-shaping hardware to identify encrypted flows, and execute "policy" on those flows. Flows that are not encrypted have a very different statistical distribution of bits (octets) than those flows that are encrypted.
Several tests may be performed on traffic to determine if that traffic has the statistical properties of encrypted traffic. All encrypted traffic will pass those tests, although passing those tests does not necessarily indicate the presence of encryption. For example, traffic flows that have been compressed have long-term statistical properties that are nearly indistinguishable from those of random or encrypted flows.
A common test suite for randomness can usually indicate whether that traffic is encrypted or not. A suite such as that described in Federal Information Processing Standards ("FIPS") 140-2 can reliably distinguish random-looking flows from those that do not appear random, usually with as little as 4 Kbytes of traffic from the flow.
Similarly, over the longer term, attempting to compress the contents of the flow using any one of a number of compression functions can be used to distinguish random-type flows from those flows that are not random. For example, attempting to compress a purely-random flow results in no compression, or even size inflation, depending on the compression algorithm used. Flows that are non-random will tend to be moderately-to-strongly compressible.
There is historical support for the use of steganography to hide secret communications, in such a way that only the sender and the intended recipient even realize there is a hidden message. Thus, it seems natural and tempting to use steganographic techniques to hide the random-looking bits of an encrypted flow inside something that looks statistically non-encrypted.
It has been suggested that some groups hide encrypted messages inside such innocuous objects as digital image files on the Internet, using them as a low-bandwidth communications technique. There are various tools extant that assist in the creation of steganographic materials, using audio, video, and image files as the "carriers" for steganographically-hidden information.
However, the bandwidth efficiency of "traditional" steganography techniques is typically very low, with the "carrier" information dominating the bandwidth used in communicating steganographic objects. Ratios of the carrier information to hidden information on the order of 100:1 or worse are not uncommon using this technique. Nevertheless, an advantage of steganographic techniques is that the resulting data flows have distinctly non-uniform statistical distributions of octets, which means that they are unlikely to be identified as encrypted traffic by automated mechanisms within the Internet.
It is also possible to encode encrypted bit-streams so that they look like, for example, ordinary English text. Techniques such as using a dictionary of common English words to represent groupings of cipher text bits have historically been used to hide the existence of an underlying encrypted message. For example, if groups of four bits are considered at one time, they may be used as an "index" into a short array of English (or German, Spanish, French, etc) words. Those words are substituted for the bit-sequence, and the receiver simply looks up the corresponding bit-sequence when they encounter one of the dictionary items. The technique is quite effective at fooling automated tests for randomness, particularly if those tests are unaware of the existence of the bits-to-English substitution mapping, and if that mapping is sufficiently large.
Problems arise when communication bandwidth efficiency is a strong consideration in the development of a coding system to hide encrypted flows. The system described above, for example, requires substantial overhead to represent 4 bits of "real" information. Typically, between 40 and 50 bits are transmitted in order to represent those 4 bits of actual information.
Many encoding techniques exist that are used to translate binary data into codings that are suitable for highly-constrained channels, such as e-mail ASCII transfer, etc. These codings are relatively bandwidth-efficient, producing a 30% increase in occupied bandwidth. Many protocols in use on the Internet today use some variant of the Base64 coding which translates 24 bits of input data into 32 bits of output data with strong constraints on the output alphabet. However, codings that are based on Base64 can be readily identified in an automated fashion, which means that the encoding can be removed, with the resulting bit-stream further analyzed for randomness.
A key concept in reducing detectability of encrypted flows is to reduce the information density of the encrypted flow. An encrypted data flow appears to be a strong pseudo-random sequence, which means that it has maximal information density, or minimal redundancy. Any technique that reduces the amount of information carried per transmitted bit consequently reduces the probability of detection of the resulting flow as a strong pseudo-random, and therefore, probably an encrypted flow.
Standard encodings, such as Base64 reduce the information carried per transmitted bit. But, because Base64 is easily recognized, it may be decoded and the resulting bit sequence analyzed for randomness. Therefore, what is needed is a system and method of coding that simultaneously reduces the information density of a traffic flow and reduces the probability of detecting the coding scheme so that the traffic is not detected as being encrypted and so that the traffic is not analyzed based on the detection of the coding scheme.

Bandwidth efficient method and system for obscuring the existence of encryption in a communications channel


Upon projecting the inside of a virtual space on a prescribed projection plane and generating a two-dimensional image, foremost, the relative position of the operational unit and the relative direction designated with such operational unit are acquired, and these are substituted with the position and direction in the virtual space. Next, the position of the operational unit in the virtual space is shifted a prescribed amount horizontally and/or vertically to set the starting point, and an ending point is set on a virtual line extending along the direction designated by the operational unit in the virtual space. Next, a virtual viewpoint which approximately matches the position and direction of the operational unit in the virtual space is set and subject to projective transformation, and a two-dimensional image containing the trajectory image corresponding to a part or the entirety of the zone connecting the starting point and ending point is generated thereby.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to image processing technology suitable for game devices and various simulators (virtual reality devices) that conduct three-dimensional (3D) image display.
2. Description of the Related Art
A game device for shooting a target character (e.g., an enemy such as a person) appearing on the screen with a gun-shaped controller having a shape imitating a gun is conventionally known. With this kind of shooting game or the like, in addition to a game which is played by operating a player character displayed on the screen, there is a game which conducts a so-called first person point of view by displaying the status in the virtual space (game space) viewed from the operator's viewpoint on the screen. As a result of such first person point of view being displayed as an image, the operator will be able to enjoy a sensation of aiming at a target object (an enemy character, for example) in the virtual space from the muzzle of the gun-shaped controller operated by such operator in the real space. Image display technology of such first person point of view is described, for instance, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H8-69274.
In a shooting game, it is preferable to adopt the display method of displaying the trajectory of the bullet fired from the player character's gun since the expressiveness of the game image will be enhanced. Nevertheless, when adopting the image expression of the first person point of view described above, it was difficult to effectively express the trajectory of the bullet. Specifically, upon adopting the image expression of the first person point of view, generally speaking, a position roughly matching the operator's viewpoint or a position of the muzzle near such position is set as the virtual viewpoint, and a two-dimensional image (game image) is generated by performing projective transformation to the inside of the game image and projecting this on a prescribed projection plane in correspondence with this virtual viewpoint. Nevertheless, when the position of this virtual viewpoint is set to the operator's viewpoint or a position in the vicinity thereof, since the trajectory of the bullet will also head toward the aimed position from the virtual viewpoint or a position in the vicinity thereof, the trajectory in the two-dimensional image obtained pursuant to the projective transformation will be displayed in an approximate point-like pattern, and the trajectory of the bullet cannot be sufficiently expressed.

Image generation device, image display method and program product


The present invention relates to an antenna based on a metamaterial and a method for generating an operating wavelength of a metamaterial panel. The antenna comprises a radiation source, and a metamaterial panel capable of converging an electromagnetic wave and operating at a first wavelength. The metamaterial panel is adapted to convert the electromagnetic wave radiated from the radiation source into a plane wave and to enable the antenna to simultaneously operate at a second wavelength and a third wavelength which are smaller than the first wavelength and are different multiples of the first wavelength. The present invention further provides a method for generating an operating wavelength of a metamaterial panel for use in the aforesaid antenna. These improve the convergence performance and reduce the volume and size of the antenna.

In conventional optical devices, a spherical wave radiated from a point light source located at a focus of a lens can be converted into a plane wave after being refracted by the lens. A lens antenna consists of a lens and a radiation source disposed at the focus of the lens. By means of the convergence property of the lens, an electromagnetic wave radiated from the radiation source is converged by the lens before being transmitted outwards. Such an antenna has a high directionality.
Currently, the convergence property of the lens is achieved through a refraction effect of the spherical shape of the lens. As shown in FIG. 1, a spherical wave radiated from a radiation source 30 is converged by a spherical lens 40 and then transmitted outwards in the form of a plane wave. The inventor has found in the process of making this invention that, the lens antenna has at least the following technical problems: the spherical lens 40 is bulky and heavy, which is unfavorable for miniaturization; performances of the spherical lens 40 rely heavily on the shape thereof, and directional propagation from the antenna can be achieved only when the spherical lens 40 has a precise shape; and one antenna can only operate at a single operating frequency and cannot make a response to frequencies other than the operating frequency.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Antenna based on a metamaterial and method for generating an operating wavelength of a metamaterial panel

KUANG-CHI INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY


A communication system includes data terminals and controllers. The controllers have distinct areas of responsibility in which they communicate with particular data terminals. The controllers map data terminals to groups and grant transmission time to each group in turn by polling. The controllers map the terminals to groups having a minimum number equal to a single terminal, corresponding to straight polling, and a maximum number equal to the total number of terminals in the system, corresponding to a singly-slotted ring, and dynamically change the group sizes and mappings in response to the system activity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to systems having many data terminals transmitting data under controlled access to a transmission medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a communication system, many users must be allocated transmitting time to transfer their data or voice over a transmission medium. The transmission medium comprises a communication channel divided into time slots that are allocated among the users by a central controller. The time slots can be allocated on the basis of a contention protocol procedure, which is similar to a first-come, first-served rule, where users are granted time as they request it. If a user requests the channel and it is not available (i.e., the channel is in use), then the user must wait for a time interval and attempt again. As the system becomes active, two users might attempt to transmit over the channel at the same time, and a data collision will occur. This forces the users to retransmit or wait for a time interval before transmitting again, and may result in the users finding the channel unavailable when again attempting to transmit.
As an alternative to a contention protocol, users can be allocated time slots on the basis of a polling protocol procedure, in which all users are guaranteed access to the channel on a regular basis, each user being polled, or granted transmitting time, in sequence. Each user who requires transmission time must wait its turn. Under a polling protocol, a user might be forced to wait for its turn even if no other user in the system has data to transmit, because the other users are being polled. Each user must wait until it is polled to indicate whether or not it has data for transmission. A certain amount of such waiting time is inevitable under a polling protocol, and is referred to as the polling overhead of a polling protocol procedure. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a contention protocol is efficient for lightly-loaded systems, or networks, and is inefficient for busy networks, while a polling protocol works efficiently with crowded, busy networks but is inefficient with lightly-loaded networks.
It is known to provide communication systems with hybrid protocol procedures, in which users are divided into groups and the groups are polled, while the users within a polled group then decide who among them transmits on the basis of a contention protocol. In this way, groups of users are guaranteed transmitting time on a regular basis. Dividing the users into polled groups reduces the amount of polling overhead and risk of data collision. The assignment of users to particular groups, and the size of the groups, is a compromise based on trade-offs between the polling overhead and the contention waiting time or rate of data collisions.
Many communication systems experience fluctuating usage rates, in which the system is lightly loaded for certain intervals of time, in between which the system becomes heavily loaded with many users seeking to transmit. For such systems, neither the polling protocol nor contention protocol is optimal. Hybrid protocol systems can be an improvement, but often the need for access to the network will fluctuate in unpredictable ways, or the distribution of users requiring access to the transmission medium at any one time can change throughout the network, making the assignment of users to groups and the size of the groups not optimal.
It should therefore be appreciated that there is a need for a communication system that capitalizes on the advantages of a contention protocol, when the network is lightly loaded, and of a polling protocol, when the network is crowded and busy. The present invention satisfies this need.

Communication system with adaptive media access control


A vehicle cargo bed extender for a vehicle of the present invention includes a pair of sidewalls spaced from one another and a center wall extending therebetween. At least one lock assembly is disposed upon one of the sidewalls of the bed extender and includes a locking pin that operable to be selectively extended and retracted to engage with and disengage from the vehicle sidewall respectively. The lock assembly further includes a handle and a lever arm, which cooperate to facilitate the extension and retraction of the locking pin such that said extension of the locking pin locks the bed extender to the vehicle sidewall in the stowed and deployed positions to prevent any uncommanded movement of the extender. The locking assembly further operative to hold the locking pin in the extended and retracted positions respectively until selectively moved between positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to a vehicle cargo bed extender, and more specifically, to a bed extender that is adapted to pivot between a deployed position over a down tailgate and a stowed position forward of the tailgate and having a pin lock assembly adapted to selectively lock the bed extender in either the deployed or the stowed position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pickup trucks are well known vehicles having rear cargo areas that are employed for utilitarian purposes. A representative example of this type of vehicle is generally indicated at 20 in FIG. 1. As is well known in the art, pickup trucks typically include a cab 22 in which the vehicle operator sits and a cargo area, generally indicated at 24. The cargo area 24 is typically disposed adjacent and to the rear of the cab 22. The cargo area 24 is typically defined by a bed 26 and pair of upstanding sidewalls 28 spaced from one another on either side of the bed 26. In addition, the vehicle 20 typically includes a rear wall or "tailgate" 30 that extends between the pair of sidewalls 28 at one end of the bed 26 and a front wall 32 located at the other end of the bed 26 opposite to the tailgate 30. The rear wall or tailgate 30 is usually hingedly mounted to the bed 26 so as to be rotatable between an upright position (FIG. 1) and an extended position as shown in FIG. 2. When it is in its extended position, the tailgate 30 is said to be "down" or "open" and is usually disposed substantially co-planar with the bed 26 of the vehicle cargo area 24. When it is disposed in its upright position, the tailgate 30 extends substantially perpendicularly between the pair of sidewalls 28. In this disposition, together the sidewalls 28, the tailgate 30 and front wall 32 define a perimeter of the vehicle cargo area 24.
Numerous accessories have been developed for the purpose of augmenting the utilitarian functions of the cargo area 24 in such vehicles. For example, toolboxes and other, similar storage devices have been employed to provide a secure enclosure for storing tools and other valuable implements in the otherwise open cargo area 24 of vehicles, such as pickup trucks 20. Such toolboxes and the like are typically mounted between the sidewalls 28 and the front wall 32 proximate to the cab 22 of the vehicle 20. While such toolboxes adequately function for their intended purposes, they also act to reduce the remaining available cargo area 24 of the vehicle 20.
Another common accessory employed in connection with the cargo area of a vehicle such as a pickup truck is known as a "Tonneau Cover". Tonneau covers known in the related art are often constructed of canvas, wood, or metal panels and extend between the upper margins of the sidewalls 28 from the front wall 32 generally to the tailgate 30. Tonneau covers serve to enclose the cargo area 24 thereby providing a modicum of protection for tools and other cargo. Tonneau covers also act to reduce the aerodynamic drag caused by fully uncovered cargo areas. Partial tonneau covers are also known that extend from the front wall 32 but that do not continue the entire distance to the tailgate. These partial covers offer some aerodynamic benefits and also allow easier access to the rearmost portion of the cargo area and tailgate.
Another vehicle accessory that has gained popularity in recent years is generally known as a "Truck Bed Extender". Truck bed extenders known in the related art are usually employed with the tailgate 30 "down" or in the extended position as shown in FIG. 2. The bed extender is mounted to the sidewalls 28 and is supported by the tailgate 30. In this way, truck bed extenders known in the related art serve to increase the effective length of the bed 26 of the pickup truck 20.
Numerous variations on the truck bed extender theme currently exist in the related art. For example, bed extenders are currently in use that are constructed of tubular steel, or aluminum to enclose the area above the tailgate 30 when it is down. Alternatively, several styles of enclosed boxes that stow in the truck bed when not in use and that operatively move out over the tailgate to extend the bed area have been produced. Some of these are structurally robust enough to extend out beyond the end of the tailgate. Still other bed extenders are known in the related art that include a series of light-weight panels that are designed to be foldable when not in use or when the tailgate 30 is disposed in its upright position.
While such bed extenders known in the related art have generally worked for their intended purposes, disadvantages still remain regarding their use for certain vehicle applications. For example, in response to customer demands for multi-featured vehicles and vehicles with accessory equipment that can fulfill different roles, manufacturers are attempting to provide specialized bed extenders to vehicles that have rear cargo areas. More specifically, along with traditional pick-up truck type vehicles (FIG. 1), manufacturers are also now producing multi-purpose vehicles that combine some of the features of traditional pick-up trucks with some of the features of the common forms of sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). These vehicles are generally referred to as SUV/Pickup crossovers. As shown in FIG. 3, a typical example of one these crossover style vehicles is generally indicated at 40.
The crossover vehicle 40 provides the four-place cabin of an SUV and a foreshortened rear bed of a pickup as a cargo area. Similar to the pickup truck of FIG. 1, the crossover vehicle 40 in FIG. 3 also has a cargo area 24 that is defined by a bed 26 and pair of upstanding sidewalls 28 spaced from one another. A tailgate 30 extends between the pair of sidewalls 28 at the rear end of the bed 26 and a front wall 32 is located at the other end of the bed 26 opposite to the tailgate 30. Due to the reduced carrying capacity of the shorter rear bed 26 compared to traditional pickups (FIG. 1), and to add to their multi-function role, it is desirous to provide these vehicles with bed extenders. However, the shorted rear bed 26 of the crossover vehicle 40 makes the use of conventional truck bed extenders highly problematic. This is due to the fact that a crossover vehicle 40 most often employs some type of bed accessory, such as a tool box 34 or tonneau cover 36 discussed above, which interferes with the proper deployment of a conventional bed extender.
In addition to the problem of fitting a conventional bed extender in crossover vehicles such as these, it is a particular design and selling feature to provide the vehicle user with the ability to make quick changes from one manner, or mode of use of the vehicle to another. Thus, it is a design intent of the crossover vehicle to provide the user the ability to open the tailgate, quickly place the bed extender, and be ready to use it immediately. To rapidly accomplish the vehicle changeover to the extended bed mode of operation, it is desirable to employ a pivoting bed extender.
In this manner, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the specialized bed extender is pivotably mounted to the bed sidewalls 28 of the crossover vehicle so that it may lay stowed in the bed, then when desired, be quickly pivoted 180 degrees out over the down tailgate 30 for use. In addition to having a simple pivot point, the specialized bed extender may also incorporate additional structure that allows the extender to move rectilinearly with respect to the vehicle sidewalls to provide adequate clearance as it is moved between its stowed and deployed positions.
Given the consumer demand for multi-purpose vehicle accessories, as mentioned above, it should be appreciated that it is also desirous to employ a bed extender with a similar pivotal installation in traditional pick-up truck cargo areas as well (FIGS. 1 and 2). While a pivoting bed extender provides improvements that overcome the drawbacks of conventional extenders, their use presents another problem. Due to the ease of movement of a pivoting bed extender between its stowed and deployed positions, it has been found that additional retaining devices are required to secure the extender and avoid displacement and uncommanded movement of the bed extender while the vehicle is in use.
Since conventional non-pivoting bed extenders are generally fixed in some manner to the vehicle, various types of retaining and locking devices for bed extenders are known in the art. However, they are generally complex in their design, construction, and use. The most common forms of conventional bed extender locking devices employ spring-loaded plungers mechanisms. To deal with the internal stresses of the spring, the plunger locking devices must be made of substantially strong materials and also require a number of machining processes to produce the internal surfaces necessary to retain the spring and plunger within its housing. The complex structure of the plunger locking devices further causes them to be prone to jamming and corrosion in the environment to which the bed extender is exposed.
Additionally, when spring loaded plunger type locking devices are employed to retain conventional bed extenders in a cargo bed, their spring biasing to the locked and extended position requires that the locking devices be simultaneously actuated before the bed extender can be either released or locked in place. This makes it very difficult for a single individual to operate these locking mechanisms so that the bed extender can be moved from one position to the other. In other words, the conventional spring loaded locking devices require that more than one person be available to simultaneously actuate the separate locking devices that are typically installed on opposite sides of the bed extender. Furthermore, if a conventional locking device is adapted so that it may be actuated and temporarily latched into an unlocked position to overcome this limitation, the adaptation adds further complexity and cost to the device.
Simply stated, the conventional approaches to locking and retaining devices as employed in conventional type bed extenders are complex, expensive, and difficult to use. Moreover, an attempt to employ conventional locking and retaining devices with the pivotal style bed extenders often fail to provide the desired result of a simplified, quickly changeable bed extender designed with the current consumer demands in mind.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a cargo bed extender having a locking mechanism that can be used in either a crossover vehicle cargo bed or in a standard pick-up cargo bed where space to stow the extender is limited. There also remains a need in the related art for a bed extender that includes a locking mechanism that is simple in design, cost effective in materials and construction, easy to use, and latchable in the open and closed positions so that the bed extender may be moved between its operative positions by a single individual. Furthermore, there remains a need in the art for a bed extender that includes an improved locking and retaining device that is simple, cost effective, and latchable in the open and closed positions as well.

Vehicle cargo bed extender having a pin lock assembly


A cannula having an elongated tubular flexible body reinforced to prevent kinking in which the distal end of the tube is inserted in the heart and is provided with openings allowing blood to enter the lumen or bore of the tube. A cage structure is located at the tip to maintain the tissue walls of the heart spaced from the openings and prevent obstruction to permit the free flow of blood. In a two-stage cannula, openings also are provided at an intermediate portion of the tubular body spaced slightly from the distal end. This portion also is provided with a cage structure to maintain the openings separated from tissue or organ walls that might otherwise clog the openings.

In open-heart surgery, blood which normally would pass through the heart, is by-passed in a circuit which includes a venous return cannula placed in the heart through an incision in the right atrial appendage. Blood is allowed to drain from the heart to a venous blood reservoir. Differential pressure to insure drainage can be provided by locating the reservoir lower than the heart. In that case, drainage is dependent on the differential created by the position of the heart and the reservoir. A preferred method of insuring and accelerating drainage is to utilize negative pressure or vacuum pressure. By employing vacuum, it is possible to increase blood flow and therefore reduce the internal diameter of the cannula. The reduction in diameter and increase in vacuum pressure differential is limited by the openings in the distal end of the cannula in a single-stage cannula and in the case of a two-stage cannulae, in openings in the distal end and also at an intermediate point spaced slightly from the distal end.
During surgery the openings or intake ports in the cannula must remain completely open without obstruction by tissue or organs coming in contact with the outer surfaces of the cannula to block the intake ports and the flow of blood. The possibility of this occurring increases with an increase in vacuum pressure differential. At the same time, the possibility of decreasing the diameter of the cannula and increasing blood flow is enhanced with an increase in the vacuum pressure differential that might be used.


User privacy preferences are consolidated for location-based services. A mobile user is able to control the service providers to which the mobile user's location is transmitted as well as control the service providers from which the user wishes to receive content. Service providers and other online vendors request the location and network identifiers of mobile users in order to provide the mobile users with content. The user's privacy preferences are described in a document that includes the location format being used by the user, a link to the user's preference data, and the current location of the user's mobile device. The privacy preference file includes global privacy preferences that apply when the user is outside of established privacy locations and one or more privacy locations defined by a geographical boundaries. These preferences that apply while the user is inside the defined privacy location.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for consolidating privacy preferences. In particular, the present invention extends Internet privacy preferences by creating location-based privacy preferences.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern computer users are increasingly mobile users that frequently travel with pervasive computing devices, such as laptop computers, personal digital assistants, mobile telephones, and the like. Pervasive computing devices are becoming ever smaller, and thus more mobile, devices. In addition, wireless communication networks are reaching more distant places, allowing the user to be connected to a computer network, such as the Internet, almost regardless of the user's physical location.
Today, Internet users are asked on a frequent basis to decide whether and under what circumstances to disclose personal information. The P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences) specification, developed by W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium), defines an industry standard that provides a simple, automated way for users to gain more control over the use of personal information on Web sites they visit. When implemented in Web sites and browsers, the P3P specification is intended to bring a measure of ease to Web users wishing to decide when and under what circumstances personal information is disclosed.
At present, the P3P specification is focused primarily on wired Web privacy. However, as users become increasingly mobile, wireless and location-based services introduce new and heightened privacy concerns for consumers. The risks include unintentional or mistaken disclosure of personal information as well as access of sensitive, or confidential, information by unauthorized individuals. A challenge of the current P3P specification and current state of the art is that clear wireless privacy rules and regulations are lacking. Because of this, wireless location technology has the potential to pinpoint the geographic location of mobile users as well as track the movements and activities of such users. Another challenge with the prior art is that collection and cross-referencing of new levels of personal information will likely increase. Hence, wireless providers and carriers may be privy to users' personal information as well as the users' current geographic locations.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for providing users with the ability to choose when and where personal information is shared. This system and method should allow a user to choose to be anonymous in one location context, and identifiable in a different context.

Consolidating online privacy preferences

International Business Machines Corporation