The present invention provides a method for fast, simple, and reliable isolation of desired different sequences from two DNA libraries. Excess amount of nucleotide analog-containing DNA subtracter from control cells is generated by incorporating nucleotide analog with a template-dependent extension reaction to introduce susceptible-sites for subsequent enzymatic digestion. Hybridization of the control subtracter and experimental DNA is performed with a heat-melting and then cool-reassociation technique. The hybridized DNAs are subtracted with nucleotide analog-removing enzyme first, resulting in nicking or gapping all nucleotide analog-containing hybrid duplexes which are further digested by single-strand-specific nuclease. Desired DNA sequences from the experimental cells, but not the control ones stay intact throughout the digestion procedure and can be selectively amplified at the end. This technique is designed for the subtractive hybridization of different sequences between two DNA libraries from distinct cell sources and will allow more efficient isolations in experiments on cancer formation, development of gene therapy, and understanding of pathological status and developmental regulation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of methods for isolating specific DNA sequences. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of improved methods of rapid isolation of differentially expressed genes or deleted/inserted sequences in genomic DNA through subtractive hybridization with nucleotide analog-containing subtracter and sequentially enzymatic digestion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following references are pertinent to this invention:
1. Bjourson et. al., "Combined Subtraction Hybridization and Polymerase Chain Reaction Amplification Procedure for Isolation of Strain-specific Rhizobium DNA Sequences", Applied and Environmental Microbiology 58: 2296-2301 (1992); PA1 2. Chang et. al., "Cloning and Expression of a Gamma-interferon-inducible Gene in Monocytes: a New Member of a Cytokine Gene Family", International Immunology 1:388-397 (1989); PA1 3. Coochini et. al.,"Identification of Genes Up-regulated in Differentiating Nicotania glauca Pith Tissue, Using an Improved Method for Construction a Subtractive cDNA Library", Nucleic Acids Res. 21: 5742-5747 (1993); PA1 4. Davis et. al., "Expression of a Single Transfected cDNA Converts Fibroblasts to Myoblasts", Cell 51: 987-1000 (1987); PA1 5. Duguid et. al., "Library Subtraction of In Vitro cDNA Libraries to Identify Differentially Expressed Genes in Scapic Infection", Nucleic Acids Res. 18: 2789-2792 (1990); PA1 6. Kunkel et. al., "Specific Cloning of DNA Fragments Absent from the DNA of a Male Patient with an X Chromosome Deletion", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82, 4778-4782 (1985); PA1 7. Lamar et. al., "Y-encoded, Species-specific DNA in Mice: Evidence that the Y Chromosome exists in Two Polymorphic Forms in Inbred Strains," Cell 37:171-177 (1984); PA1 8. Lehninger et. al., "Principles of Biochemistry, 2nd Edition ", Worth Press, pp342-343 (1993); PA1 9. Lisitsyn et. al., "Cloning the Differences Between Two Complex Genomes", Science 259: 946-951 (1993); PA1 10. Littman et. al., "The Isolation and Sequence of the Gene Encoding T8: a Molecule Defining Functional Classes of T Lymphocytes", Cell 40: 237-246 (1985); PA1 11. Maddon et. al., "The Isolation and Nucleotide Sequence of a cDNA Encoding the T Cell Surface Protein T4: a New Member of the Immunoglobulin Gene Family", Cell 42: 93-104 (1985); PA1 12. Nussbaum et. al., "Isolation of Anonymous DNA Sequences from within a Submicroscopic X Chromosomal Deletion in a Patient with Choroideremia, Deafness, and Mental Retardation," Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA 84: 6521-6525 (1987); PA1 13. Sambrook et. al., "Molecular Cloning, 2nd Edition", Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, p10.45 (1989); PA1 14. Straus et. al., "Genomic Subtraction for Cloning DNA Corresponding to Deletion Mutations", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87: 1889-1893 (1990); PA1 15. Wang et. al., "A gene Expression Screen", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 11505-11509 (1991); PA1 16. Wicland et. al., "A Method for Difference Cloning; Gene Amplification Following Subtractive Hybridization", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87: 2720-2724 (1990); PA1 17. Ueli et. al., "A Simple and Very Efficient Method for Generating cDNA Libraries", Gene, 25: pp263-269 (1983); and PA1 18. U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,471 issued to Zeng Jin on Jun. 11, 1996 for "Enzymatic Degrading Subtraction Hybridization". PA1 (a) providing a library of nucleotide analog-containing subtracter DNA which is susceptible to the digestion of a nucleotide analog-removing enzyme; PA1 (b) contacting the denatured nucleotide analog-containing subtracter DNA with a library of denatured tester DNA which is not affected by the nucleotide analog-removing enzyme, to form a denatured mixture; PA1 (c) permitting both nucleotide analog-containing subtracter DNA and tester DNA in the denatured mixture under conditions sufficient to form double-stranded hybrid duplexes comprise of homo- and hetero-duplexes; PA1 (d) digesting the nucleotide analog-containing hybrid DNA with the nucleotide analog-removing enzyme to generate abasic-nicks/gaps in the subtracter homoduplex and the subtracter-tester heteroduplex; and PA1 (e) breaking the abasic-nicks/gaps with a single-strand-specific nuclease and thereby provide a library enriched in the library of tester DNA but almost absent in the library of subtracter DNA. PA1 (1) restricting the initial DNA library with a restriction-endonuclease to generate 5'-cohesive termini on both ends; PA1 (2) ligating a specific adaptor to the ends of the restricted DNA where a template is generated for binding with a specific complementary-primer; and PA1 (3) incubating the ligated DNA in denatured form with the specific primer under conditions sufficient to permit the template-dependent extension of the primer to thereby enrich the amount of the initial DNA library and also provide an opportunity for incorporating nucleotide analog into the subtracter in the step (a). PA1 (a') deoxyuridine triphosphate which confers susceptibility to the digestion of uracil-removing enzyme upon incorporation into a DNA molecule; PA1 (b') a specific tester-adaptor/primer which protects both ends of the tester from the digestion of single-strand-specific nuclease, and also confers amplification-capability to the tester DNA; PA1 (c') a specific subtracter-adaptor/primer which is unprotected from the digestion of uracil-removing enzyme, and confers amplification-capability to the uracil-containing subtracter DNA; PA1 (d') a template-dependent dU-incorporation activity; PA1 (e') a uracil-removing enzyme; PA1 (f') a uracil-removing enzyme buffer; PA1 (g') a single-strand-specific nuclease; and PA1 (h') a nuclease buffer.
The ability to compare two different DNA libraries has permitted inquiries into the role of differentially expressed genes or deleted-/inserted-genomic sequences involving the mechanisms of neoplastic transformation, developmental regulation, therapeutic effect, pathological disorder, and cell-physiological phenomena. Understanding the alterations of gene expression and chromosomal rearrangement between normal and disordered cells is especially important for gene therapy, eugenical improvement, pharmaceutical design and etiological investigations.
Several methods have been designed to detect and isolate different DNA sequences which are present in one DNA library but absent in another one. One of the most commonly used methods to accomplish such purpose is subtractive hybridization, involving the elimination of homologous (common) sequences from the mixture of two mutually compared DNA libraries. This kind of selective isolation can be done either between two cDNA libraries (Davis et. al., Cell 51: 987-1000 (1987)), or between two genomic DNA libraries (Lamar et. al., Cell 37: 171-177 (1984)). In brief, this method relies upon the generation of double-stranded DNA libraries from both control cells (subtracter DNA) and cells after treatment, disorder or change (tester DNA). The two DNA libraries are then denatured and hybridized to each other, resulting in subtracter-tester duplex formation if a sequence is common to both DNA populations. By removing the subtracter and common sequence, the remaining DNA is the different sequence which is only present in the tester and also highly related to the treatment, disorder or change of interest.
Subtractive hybridization has been successfully used in the discovery of many functional genes and crucial genomic loci, such as T.sub.4 and T.sub.8 lymphocyte-surface glycoproteins (Maddon et. al., Cell 42: 93-104 (1985); Littman et. al., Cell 40: 237-246 (1985)), gamma-interferon-induced cytokines in monocytes (Chang et. al., International Immunology 1:388-397 (1989)), choroidermia loci (Nussbaum et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84: 6521-6525 (1987)), Duchenne muscular dystrophy-related loci (Kunkel et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82, 4778-4782 (1985)), and human Y-chromosome-specific DNA (Lamar, 1984).
In some cases, the isolated DNA is so abundant in a cell source that it can be detected directly without prior enrichment. In most cases, however, the small amount of desired DNA requires that it be amplified by the polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR), which allows a strengthened observation after multiple cycles of subtractive hybridization (Wang et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 11505-11509 (1991); Coochini et. al., Nucleic Acids Res. 21: 5742-5747 (1993)). Additionally, PCR amplification can be used to enrich both subtracter and tester libraries when starting material is limited (Wicland et. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87: 2720-2724 (1990)). In short, such amplification is achieved by ligating a specific adaptor to the both ends of an endonuclease-restricted DNA library (amplicon DNA), resulting in the generation of a primer-conjugated region for PCR. However, the PCR amplification may also cause non-specific subtracter contamination when a multiple subtraction/amplification procedure is applied.
Using biotinylation of the subtracter DNA has been widely used to increase subtraction specificity with streptavidin-containing chromatography and to reduce the amount of subtracter needed for hybridization. Straus et. al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87: 1889-1893 (1990)) used biotinylated-deletion-mutant genomic DNAs to hybridize with restricted-wild type genomic DNAs, then subtracted the undesired hybrid with avidin-coated beads. The unbound sequences were ligated to specific adaptor and amplified by PCR, resulting in a finding of genomic deletions present in the mutant but absent in the wild type. Meanwhile, Duguid et. al. (Nucleic Acids Res. 18: 2789-2792 (1990)) performed a similar experiment but using a biotinylated double-stranded cDNA library of a normal hamster brain to hybridize with a non-modified cDNA library of a scrapie-infected hamster brain, generating biotinylated complexes which were removed by a biotin-binding avidin resin. The cDNAs remaining in the suspension were amplified and confirmed as scrapie-infected specific gene sequences. Based on experiments like these, it is noteworthy that most previous methods require several cycles of subtractive hybridization because of the incomplete nature of the biotin-avidin affinity interaction. That means: although these methods can successfully reduce the amplification-potential of subtracter DNA, the inevitable use of biotinylation and multiple precipitation/chromatography causes an increase of tedious laboratory-work and a potential loss of desired sequences during repeated subtraction steps.
Bjourson et. al. (Applied and Enviromental Microbiology 58: 2296-2301 (1992)) reported a further improvement in subtractive hybridization methods that employed a biotinylated primer and a uracil-containing deoxynucleotide mixture (e.g. mixture of dATP, dCTP, dGTP and dUTP) to generate uracil-containing DNA (U-DNA) subtracter in PCR. In this case, control and experimental DNA libraries were isolated from different strains of Rhizobium leguminosarum, restricted by an endonuclease, and ligated to different specific adaptors. After that, a special PCR, called uracil-incorporation PCR, was performed to produce the biotinylated subtracter U-DNA which was then hybridized with relatively limited amount of non-modified experimental DNAs, resulting in the formation of biotinylated heterohybrids that contained homologous sequences common to both libraries. Since the biotinylated sequence was removed by streptavidin-phenol-chloroform extraction and the surplus U-DNA was digested with uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG), the remaining DNAs should be the strain-specific sequences. However, this method still required tedious work in biotinylation and at least two rounds of extraction and chromatography.
Prior art attempts at simplifying subtraction with enzymatic digestion, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,471 to Jin, uses a two-exonuclease degradation precedure. Tester cDNA (from experimental cells) is modified by the incorporation of deoxynucleoside thiotriphosphates which protects the tester from digestion by a first exonuclease. After the tester is hybridized with a non-modified subtracter cDNA (from control cells), the surplus subtracter homohybrid and the entire subtracter-half of the tester-subtracter heterohybrid are digested by the first exonuclease. Before the single-stranded tester half of the heterohybrid can reassociate with each other, a second exonuclease digests all single-stranded tester sequences. This can give a quick, simple way to achieve subtractive hybridization, but it also generates some other problems. First, the property of the desired tester sequence is altered by the modifications which may hinder subsequent analysis. Second, a small amount of reassociation of the single-stranded-tester may occur before the second digestion, resulting in an increase of false-positive results. Third, a long-term, two-exonuclease degradation may damage the small amount of desired sequences, resulting in an increase of false-negative results.
In summary, it is desirable to have a fast, simple, and reliable subtractive hybridization method for distinguishing different sequences from two cDNA or genomic DNA libraries, of which the differences may contribute to developing a therapy for diseases, a diagnosis for inherent problems, or a design for genetic engineering.

Nucleotide analog-containing hybrid subtraction with sequentially enzymatic digestion


A process for pyrolyzing a coal feed is described. A coal feed is pyrolyzed into a coal tar stream and a coke stream in a pyrolysis zone. The coal tar stream is separated into at least a pitch stream comprising aromatic hydrocarbons. The pitch stream is reacted in a reaction zone to add at least one functional group to an aromatic ring of the aromatic hydrocarbons in the pitch stream. The functionalized pitch stream is recycled to the pyrolysis zone.

Many different types of chemicals are produced from the processing of petroleum. However, petroleum is becoming more expensive because of increased demand in recent decades.
Therefore, attempts have been made to provide alternative sources for the starting materials for manufacturing chemicals. Attention is now being focused on producing liquid hydrocarbons from solid carbonaceous materials, such as coal, which is available in large quantities in countries such as the United States and China.
Pyrolysis of coal produces coke and coal tar. The coke-making or "coking" process consists of heating the material in closed vessels in the absence of oxygen to very high temperatures. Coke is a porous but hard residue that is mostly carbon and inorganic ash, which is used in making steel.
Coal tar is the volatile material that is driven off during heating, and it comprises a mixture of a number of hydrocarbon compounds. It can be separated to yield a variety of organic compounds, such as benzene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene, anthracene, and phenanthrene. These organic compounds can be used to make numerous products, for example, dyes, drugs, explosives, flavorings, perfumes, preservatives, synthetic resins, and paints and stains.
While lighter hydrocarbon streams from coal tar can be more easily processed to produce desirable products, the pitch stream includes aromatic cores that make the pitch more difficult to react in further processing. The residual pitch left from the separation conventionally is used for paving, roofing, waterproofing, and insulation.
There is a need for improved processes for pyrolyzing a coal feed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A portable electronic system equipped with a spare battery device. The portable electronic system includes a spare battery device and a portable device. The spare battery device includes a first fixer unit, a power storage unit and a sensory control unit. The sensory control unit further includes a constant voltage source, a resistor, a resilient object, output contact pads, and a control unit. The portable device includes a second fixer unit, a covering, and input contact pads. By adjusting the coupling relationship between the first fixer unit and the second fixer unit, each output contact pad can be coupled to the associated input contact pads; and the control unit is for controlling output power of the spare battery device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a portable electronic system, and more particularly to a portable electronic system equipped with a spare battery device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rapid development of digital electronic products makes people's life more convenient. And a lot of portable devices, such as mobile phones, notebooks, or Personal Digital Assistance (PDA), and so on, have been developed rapidly. It highly promotes the convenience of people's life and the efficiency of work. Portable devices, in the circumstance without an external power source, totally rely on batteries to supply the necessary operating power. It is, therefore, very important for the portable devices to have a stable power source supplied.
When a battery has been used for a certain period of time, the battery will not be able to stably supply necessary power to a portable device. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a new battery as a new power source of the portable device.
Besides, it is necessary for a spare battery to have a power-leakage-protection appliance to avoid power leakage when the spare battery is in an idle status. In the present time, a switch is used to be the power-leakage-protection appliance to achieve the goal. That is, a switch is installed into a battery. When the battery is in an idle status, the switch is turned off manually to disable the battery from supplying power. When the battery is needed, the switch is turned on manually to enable the battery for supplying power.
There are some disadvantages using the switch as the power-leakage-protection appliance, which are: (1) the cost of manufacturing and the volume of the portable device increase because a switch is needed; (2) a user may forget to turn off an idle battery due to the manual operation of changing the statuses of the switch. If, at this moment, the positive and negative electrodes of that battery are incidentally conducted, for example, there is just a conductor conducting the positive and negative electrodes, the power of the battery will start to leak out.

Portable electronic system equipped with a spare battery device


An overlay network uses flexible neighbor selection based on network address translation (NAT) to define routing between nodes. The NAT type is used as a flexible neighbor selection criteria, either alone or in conjunction with other criteria. A method of selecting a neighboring node for a first node in a distributed hash table network includes determining a desired key value for a node finger table entry and requesting a set of candidate neighboring nodes near this desired key value. The method determines a network address translation type of each of the set of candidate neighboring nodes and ranks the set of candidate neighboring nodes accordingly. The method selects one of the set of candidate neighboring nodes based on the ranking. The NAT types of candidate neighboring nodes are determined by sending probe messages or from data received from a central overlay network server.

The invention relates to the field of data networks, and in particular to peer to peer overlay networks. Peer to peer networks are distributed data networks without any centralized hierarchy or organization. Peer to peer data networks provide a robust and flexible means of communicating information between large numbers of computers or other information devices, referred to in general as nodes.
An overlay network is a logical or virtual network organization that is imposed on nodes connected by one or more types of underlying physical network connections. In an overlay network, nodes are connected by virtual or logical links, each of which can correspond with one or more paths in an underlying physical network. Overlay networks are typically implemented in hardware and/or software operating in the application layer or other top-level layer of an OSI network stack or other type of networking protocol.
One class of peer to peer overlay networks is referred to as distributed hash table overly networks. Distributed hash table overlay networks use a hash function to generate and assign one or more key values to a unique node. The set of all possible key values is referred to as a hash space. Nodes are organized in the hash space according to their assigned key values. The hash function is selected so that nodes are approximately evenly distributed throughout the hash space. Distributed hash table overlay networks are typically highly scalable, often supporting millions of nodes; robust, allowing nodes to join or leave frequently; and efficient, routing a message to a single destination node quickly.
There are numerous different types of distributed hash table overlay networks. One type of peer to peer overlay network is a chord network. The chord overlay network protocol is described in detail in "Chord: A Scalable Peer-to-peer Lookup Protocol for Internet Applications", Ion Stoica, Robert Morris, David Liben-Nowell, David R. Karger, M. Frans Kaashoek, Frank Dabek, Hari Balakrishnan, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 17-32, February 2003.
Distributed hash table overlay networks such as Chord create finger tables for each node that specify neighboring nodes in the overlay network. Neighboring nodes typically have a hash or key value offset from the current node by a predetermined amount. Distributed hash table overlay networks such as Chord route data traffic by forwarding information through a sequence of one or more neighboring nodes until the data traffic reaches its intended destination.
Typical distributed hash table overlay networks create finger tables for each node by determining a desired destination key value for each finger table entry. The overlay network then selects the node with a key value closest to the desired destination key value as the neighboring node. For example, if a first node with a key value of 17 needs a neighboring node with a key value of approximately 33, the overlay network may select a second node with a key value 31 as the neighboring node.
In other distributed hash table overlay networks, flexible neighbor selection allows the overlay network to select any node within a specific range of the desired destination key value as the neighboring node. For example, if a first node with a key value of 17 needs a neighboring node with a key value of approximately 33, the overlay network may select a second node with a key value 31 or a third node with a key value of 27 as the neighboring node. Neighboring nodes can be selected using different criteria, such as round trip time, node capabilities, node bandwidth, network quality of service, and security.
It thus is desirable for an overlay network to select neighboring nodes using a criteria that is indicative of the nodes networking capabilities so as to optimize the overall performance of the overlay network.

Network address translation type for flexible neighbor selection in overlay networks


In described examples, a physics cell includes: a laser source configured to emit light towards an atomic chamber containing an atomic gas; a photodetector configured to receive emissions from the atomic chamber; and a field coil for generating a magnetic field in the atomic chamber. An electronics circuit includes: a controller circuit coupled to the photodetector output and having control outputs to a digital to analog converter circuit; the digital to analog converter circuit having a coil current output to adjust the magnetic field, a modulation control output to control a modulation of the light, and having an output to control a voltage controlled oscillator; and a radio-frequency output circuit having a voltage controlled oscillator coupled to the output of the digital to analog converter circuit outputting a radio frequency signal to the laser source in the physics cell.

This relates generally to atomic clocks, and more particularly to an atomic clock with compensation for fluctuating external magnetic fields.
Atomic clocks are very accurate and stable time keeping devices that use the natural vibrations of an atomic system for regulation. Atomic clock accuracy is increasingly desirable in portable navigational systems for improved positional accuracy. Miniaturized versions of the atomic clock, sometimes referred to as a chip scale atomic clock (CSAC), use integrated circuits built with advanced semiconductor processes. The stability of the operating environment is a challenge for CSAC devices. An atomic clock can be divided into three parts: the physical portion (or physics cell); the electronics portion; and the package. The three pieces may be fabricated separately and assembled later.
Physics cells of CSACs are sometimes built using MEMS technology. A typical physics cell has at least a laser source, some passive optical components (lenses, quarter wave-polarizer, etc.), a chamber including an atomic gas, a photodetector, a heater, a thermal sensor, and a field coil to induce an internal magnetic field through the atomic chamber. The electronics portion of the CSAC includes control electronics and a voltage to be applied to a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) to produce an output clock. A ceramic module typically forms a package containing the physics cell and electronics.
In an atomic clock the laser excites the external electron of the alkali atoms of the cell (typically Cesium or Rubidium) from the ground state to an excited state. These quantum transitions are affected by the Zeeman Effect that splits degenerate transitions at zero magnetic field into a number of different energy states at a finite magnetic field. The primary frequency being somewhat insensitive to the magnetic field (order zero) and the higher order resonant frequencies having more and more sensitivity to the magnetic field. With a magnetic field in place, the quantum transition frequencies spread apart, and regulation circuitry in the electronics can distinguish and lock to these quantum transition frequencies.
In prior atomic clock designs, the resonant frequencies that are spread by the internal magnetic field are sensitive to changes in the external magnetic field. To prevent stray external magnetic fields from adversely affecting the frequency response of the system, a magnetic shield, or sometimes several magnetic shields, are placed around the atomic chamber, the physics cell and sometimes around the entire CSAC. Magnetic shielding is bulky, difficult to design and expensive. In a stationary atomic clock, the external magnetic fields can be calibrated out once the device is mounted in place. In portable atomic clock devices such as are increasingly used, fluctuations in the external magnetic fields will occur, and improvements are therefore needed.

Magnetically compensated chip scale atomic clock


A semiconductor device is arranged so as to include (i) a wire L1, connected directly to an LSI chip, which serves as a VGL wire for supplying a voltage VGL to the LSI chip, and (ii) a wire LB1 connected not directly to but to one of a pair of electrodes of a capacitor provided between the wire LB1 and a voltage VGH wire, each of the wire L1 and the wire LB1 including a voltage input terminal. This arrangement provides (i) a semiconductor device, including a built-in capacitor, which makes it possible to shorten time required in an electrical screening test (final test) so as to reduce cost, and (ii) an electrical inspection method of the semiconductor device.

Conventionally, a semiconductor device called a COF (chip on film) type has been used which includes a tape-shaped flexible wire substrate (tape carrier) and a semiconductor chip, such as an IC (integrated circuit) and an LSI (large-scale integrated circuit), bonded to and mounted on a surface thereof. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 176918/2001 (Tokukai 2001-176918; published on Jun. 29, 2001; corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,518,649) discloses as one example of the COF-type semiconductor device a semiconductor device as shown in FIG. 10. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the COF-type semiconductor device.
In FIG. 10, the reference numeral 101 represents a semiconductor element, and the reference numeral 126 represents a tape carrier. Provided on a surface of the semiconductor element 101 is a gold bump 103, and the tape carrier 126 includes a tape base material 107, such as polyimide, and a wire pattern 104 of copper formed thereon. Further, provided partially on the tape base material 107 and the wire pattern 104 is a solder resist 110. The wire pattern 104 includes an inner lead 114 bonded to the gold bump 103 on the semiconductor element 101, an external connection terminal (outer lead) 113, a component pattern, and the like. The inner lead 114, which is an exposed part not coated with the solder resist 110, is provided with a tin plate 108, and the part-mounting pattern and the external connection terminal 113 are provided with a gold plate 106.
FIG. 11 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a bonding part of the semiconductor element 101 and the tape carrier 126. As shown in FIG. 11, the gold bump 113 is formed on an electrode 102 of the semiconductor element 101. The tin plate 108 of the inner lead 114 and the gold bump 103 are bonded to each other with a eutectic alloy formed therebetween. Under such a condition that the gold bump 103 and the inner lead 114 are thus bonded to each other, the tape base material 107 covers an entire surface of the semiconductor element 101. Moreover, the bonding part of the semiconductor element 101 and the tape carrier 126 is sealed with a resin 111.
In manufacture of such a COF-type semiconductor device 125, the tape carrier 126 is longitudinal, and the semiconductor element 101 is mounted at regular intervals on the tape carrier 126 in the same direction with respect to a tape direction. In this mounting method, as shown in FIG. 11, the tin plate 108 provided on the wire pattern 104 of the tape base material 107 and the gold bump 103 provided on the electrode 102 of the semiconductor element 101 are heated from the back of the semiconductor element 101 (the surface reverse to the surface provided with the bump 103) and pressurized from the back of the wire pattern 104 of the tape base material 107. In this way, the eutectic alloy 109 of gold and tin is formed as described above, and the semiconductor element 101 is bonded to the tape carrier 126.
Mounting of the external connection terminal 113 is performed mainly by thermal pressure bonding with an ACF (anisotoropic conductive film) or by solder bonding.
Further, demands of users for a gold-plated connector are satisfied by two-color plating, i.e., by gold-plating only the external connection terminal 113 later. In a producing method of a two-color-plated tape carrier, a copper-plated tape carrier is etched to form a wire pattern, and after a solder resist is applied to the wire pattern, the wire pattern is subjected to a tin-plating treatment. That portion of the wire pattern 104 which is bonded to the semiconductor element 101 (inner lead 114) is coated with a wire-pattern protection mask, and the tin plate 108 on an exposed portion is removed. After removal of the tin plate 108, the portion is subjected to a gold-plating treatment. After the treatment, the wire-pattern protection mask is removed for inspection and shipment.
Meanwhile, conventionally, an element such as a chip capacitor has been mounted on a semiconductor package. The chip capacitor is mounted to remove a harmonic noise included in power supplied from the outside and prevent malfunction of a semiconductor element such as an LSI. A capacitor having such a function is called a bypass capacitor.
As one example of a semiconductor device provided with such a chip capacitor, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 161923/1995 (Tokukaihei 7-161923; published on Jun. 23, 1995) discloses a semiconductor device as shown in FIG. 12. In this arrangement, there is a semiconductor package 201 with a chip 202 and a chip capacitor 204 mounted thereon. Provided on a central portion of the semiconductor package 201 is a cavity 208 for mounting the chip 102. Provided around the cavity 208 is a bonding stitch 207. Provided around the semiconductor package 201 is a drawing pad 210.
Such a semiconductor device is assembled as follows. First, the chip 102 is mounted in the cavity 208 with an Au—Si or silver paste, and an aluminum line is bonded to each terminal. Then, sealing is performed with a cap or the like for completion of the assembly. Thereafter, the chip capacitor 204 is bonded to the drawing pad 210 on the semiconductor package 201 with soldering or the like.
On one hand, as a market expands, there are a diversity of market demands for thin display devices such as liquid crystal display devices. On the other hand, in an ever-progressing field of thin display devices, development manufacturers are required to accelerate product development so as to lead the demands immediately to product commercialization, i.e., so as to shorten lead time. Similarly, in a filed of an integrated circuit device constituting a driving circuit section for driving a peripheral part and, in particular, a display panel, the development manufacturers are strongly required to shorten lead time.
In a field of liquid crystal display devices and, in particular, liquid crystal television sets among thin display devices, manufacturers are entering an era of fierce competition as an environment is created in which 40-or-more-inch liquid crystal television sets can be mass-produced. Particularly, a large-sized liquid crystal panel has a larger load capacitance, needs to be operated with a higher voltage and a higher frequency, and therefore is susceptible to noise and the like. Accordingly, as measures against such a problem, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 161923/1995 describes an arrangement in which bypass capacitors and the like are mounted in a semiconductor device.
FIG. 13 shows one example of a wire in a conventional gate driver serving as a COF-type semiconductor device provided with the bypass capacitors for preventing malfunction of the semiconductor element. Note that, in FIG. 3, only power supply wires are shown and signal lines are not shown.
Right and left sides of an LSI chip 301 are supplied with a voltage (power supply voltage) VCC, a voltage (ground voltage) GND, a voltage (power supply voltage) VGH, and a voltage (power supply voltage) VGL. Here, a bypass capacitor is disposed between a supply line of the voltage GND and a supply line of the voltage VGL, between the supply line of the voltage GND and a supply line of the voltage VGH, between the supply line of the voltage GND and a supply line of the voltage VCC, and between a supply line of the VGH and a supply line of the VGL.
Specifically, a bypass capacitor c1 is provided between a wire 302 for supplying the voltage VGL and a wire 303 for supplying the voltage VGH. A bypass capacitor c2 is provided between the wire 303 for supplying the voltage VGH and a wire 304 for supplying the voltage GND. A bypass capacitor c3 is provided between the wire 304 for supplying the voltage GND and a wire 305 for supplying the voltage VCC.
Further, bypass capacitors c4 and c5 are provided between the other wire 306 for supplying the voltage VGL and the other wire 308 for supplying the voltage GND. Here, the bypass capacitor c5, inserted in parallel to the bypass capacitor c4, is used to increase a capacitance.
However, a conventional semiconductor device provided with a built-in bypass capacitor, requiring longer time for testing in a test step, more specifically, in a final test step, has such a problem that productivity decreases and cost increases.
That is, as shown in FIG. 13, although no bypass capacitor is connected to a wire 309 for supplying the voltage VCC and a wire 307 for supplying the voltage VGH, each of (i) the wires 302 and 306 for supplying the voltage VGL and (ii) the wires 304 and 308 for supplying the voltage GND is connected to a capacitor (the capacitor c1, c2, c3, or c4). Therefore, for such reasons as the capacitance of the bypass capacitors c1 to c4 connected to the wires 302, 306, 304, and 308, it takes a long time to supply the voltage VGL and the voltage GND to the LSI chip 301 for the purpose of testing. As a result, a test requires a long time.

Semiconductor device, electrical inspection method thereof, and electronic apparatus including the semiconductor device


Methods for suggesting in search results an action that is to be performed in an external application based on a previous search query are provided. In one aspect, a method includes receiving, from an application on a device, a search query that was previously submitted by a user or another user, and providing, as a result of the search query, an interface to perform an action to launch an external application on the device, wherein the action was previously selected by the user or the other user in response to previous results of the search query. Systems, graphical user interfaces, and machine-readable media are also provided.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to the transmission of data over a network, and more particularly to the use of a computing device to communicate over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user of a web browser on a mobile device often submits a search query to a search engine in the mobile web browser in order to view a listing of web pages responsive to the search query. When the listing of web pages is displayed in the mobile web browser, the user can select a web page from the listing for display. The displayed web page can include a command that, when selected, launches an external application on the mobile device, such as a telephone application or a map application. For example, if the user submits a search query for "pizza," and selects a web page titled "Pizza ABC," the "Pizza ABC" web page can include a hyperlink that the user selects in order to call Pizza ABC from the user's mobile device.

External action suggestions in search results


An air-pressure vibration-damping apparatus, supporting an upper apparatus between a mounting floor and the upper apparatus. The vibration damping apparatus has four or more air springs for supporting the upper apparatus, a vibration-damping controller for controlling inner air pressures of the air springs so as to damp vibration from the mounting floor to the upper apparatus and suppress vibration of the upper apparatus, and a communicating pipe passing air between at least one couple of the air springs. When the couple of air springs mutually connected via the communicating pipe are regarded as one air spring, the number of air springs is three. Regarding this couple of air springs, the vibration-damping controller controls air pressure of at least one air spring.

This invention relates to an air-pressure vibration damping apparatus, and an exposure apparatus and a device manufacturing method using the vibration damping apparatus. The vibration damping apparatus is placed on a mounting floor, supporting an upper apparatus such as an exposure apparatus by using air springs, damps vibration from the mounting floor to the upper apparatus, and suppresses vibration of the upper apparatus, by controlling the inner air pressures of the air springs. The air springs generally function as actuators for positioning the absolute or relative position of the upper apparatus with respect to the setting surface.
In recent years, semiconductor devices are manufactured by using a so-called "stepper" exposure apparatus. That is, the device is sequentially positioned at a desired position on a sensitized substrate (a wafer or a glass substrate on which a photoresist layer is provided) on which a reticle pattern image is projected via a projection optical system. The sensitized substrate is held on X- and Y-stages, and the positioned device is exposed there. Especially, in this manufacturing method, high-density semiconductors are made. Therefore, it is necessary to transfer a finer pattern on the exposure substrate.
In this situation, the level of a vibration damping technique for the exposure apparatus must be increased, and various vibration damping apparatuses are known for the purpose of preventing vibration from the mounting floor to the exposure apparatus.
Conventionally, a passive vibration-damping apparatus using mechanical springs and dash pots is widely employed. This apparatus damps vibration from a mounting floor by reducing the spring constant to lower the resonance frequency of the vibration system, and widening the vibration-damping area, thus suppressing vibration transmittance to a low level. Further, with respect to vibration which occurs on an exposure apparatus caused by step motions of the X- and Y- stages and the like, the apparatus absorbs vibration energy by increasing the damping rate of the dash pots, thus suppressing vibration quickly.
Recently, as the vibration damping apparatus, an active or semiactive vibration-damping apparatus which actively controls an object apparatus, is becoming popular. The active vibration-damping apparatus has sensors for detecting vibration of the object apparatus, e.g., an exposure apparatus, and the relative position of the exposure apparatus with respect to a mounting floor. Based on detection signals from the sensors, energy from actuators of the vibration damping apparatus is applied to the exposure apparatus, to positively enhance damping of vibration from the mounting floor to the exposure apparatus and vibration which occurs on the exposure apparatus by step motions of the X- and Y- stages.
The actuators used in the active vibration-damping apparatus are briefly divided into electric actuators and air actuators. Air-pressure active vibration-damping apparatuses have three or more air springs for supporting an exposure apparatus in the vertical direction. The respective air springs have inner air pressures at an equilibrium. The air springs generate counter forces to support the exposure apparatus. On the exposure apparatus, the step motions of the X- and Y- stages are regularly made upon each exposure. The moving load tilts the exposure apparatus, which changes the relative position of the exposure apparatus with respect to the mounting floor. The posture of the exposure apparatus is detected by sensors, mounted on the active vibration-damping apparatus, for monitoring the relative position of the exposure apparatus with respect to the mounting floor. In accordance with detection signals from the sensor, servo valves, electromagnetic valves and the like, as electricity/air-pressure converters are opened/closed by a controller, to provide/release air to/from the respective air springs, thus control the inner air pressures of the air springs. The exposure apparatus is returned by the air springs to restore the initial relative position with respect to the mounting floor with high precision. At the same time, based on detection signals from sensors monitoring vibration of the exposure apparatus, the electricity/air-pressure converters are opened/closed to change the inner air pressures of the air springs, to generate position-corrected forces to the springs to damp vibration. This damps resonance vibration of a vibration system of the exposure apparatus, and obtains a high vibration-damping effect. As a result, the exposure apparatus can be isolated from vibration of the mounting floor, and the vibration of the exposure apparatus can be quickly suppressed.
A semiconductor device is manufactured by overlaying a number of layers of circuit patterns on a sensitized substrate. In the exposure apparatus, to transfer a second or subsequent circuit pattern on the sensitized substrate, relative positioning (alignment) between the prior circuit pattern formed on the sensitized substrate and a reticle to be projected is required. The conventional active vibration-damping apparatus has been effective by virtue of its vibration damping of the exposure apparatus, however, it has the following problems for high precision alignment corresponding to high-density semiconductor devices.
In the conventional active vibration-damping apparatus, at each step motion of the X- and Y- stages, the inner air pressures of the plural air springs are controlled so as to maintain the posture of the exposure apparatus where the center of gravity has changed. Accordingly, the balance of the supporting counter forces generated by the respective air springs changes at each step motion, which deforms the exposure apparatus in a nano-order. This deformation affects the positioning of the reticle pattern and sensitized substrate, and disturbs the relative position among aligning units such as the projection optical system, an alignment scope and the like, mounted on the exposure apparatus.
To manufacture high-density semiconductor devices, the change of supporting counter forces of the air springs due to the step motions of the X- and Y- stages must be suppressed to a low level, and the supporting counter forces must be obtained in accordance with the positions of the X- and Y- stages. This reduces the change of relative positions of the aligning units mounted on the exposure apparatus, and upon transferring a second or subsequent layer of a circuit pattern, restores the relative positions when the prior layer of the circuit pattern has been transferred. As a result, aligning ability can be improved.
However, in a case when the conventional active vibration-damping apparatus has four or more air springs, it is very difficult to restore the supporting counter forces in accordance with the position of the X- and Y- stages. Since a plane is defined by three points, four or more supporting point(s) causes an unstable support which disturbs the plane. Accordingly, if a number of layers of circuit patterns are overlaid, the equilibrium of the inner air pressures of the four or more air springs when exposing the first layer cannot be restored exactly to for exposure of the second layer. In this case, the equilibrium of the inner pressure the air springs changes by a large amount, and the inner pressures greatly change. This degrades the aligning performance of the vibration damping apparatus.
On the other hand, in a case when the active vibration-damping apparatus has three air springs, the equilibrium of the inner air pressures of the respective air springs, determined upon step motions of the X- and Y- stages on the exposure apparatus, can be fixed depending upon the position of the stepped X- and Y- stages. However, the number of supporting points for the exposure apparatus is limited to three, and this narrows the freedom of designing the vibration damping apparatus.


An implantable lead includes a defibrillation electrode and a sensor coupled thereto. The electrode and sensor are positioned along a body of the lead such that, when a fixation element couples the lead to an endocardial surface of a right ventricle, the sensor is located in a high flow region and a portion of the defibrillation electrode is located in proximity to a right ventricular apex.

Cardiac rhythm management (CRM) systems often employ an implantable medical device (IMD) coupled to an endocardial surface of a patient's right heart via one or more medical electrical leads. Typically the one or more leads include electrodes for both stimulating the heart and sensing electrical activity of the heart. In order to provide better management of cardiac conditions, the one or more leads may also include a physiological sensor. In many cases, it is desirable that all the necessary electrodes and a physiological sensor be carried on a single lead body wherein locations of each electrode and the sensor along the lead body accommodate proper function of the lead to meet the therapeutic objectives of the CRM system. For example, it is important to position certain types of physiological sensors in high flow regions of the right heart; examples of these types of sensors, well known to those skilled in the art, include oxygen sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensors and flow sensors.


Eyewear including a support structure defining a region for receiving a head of a user. The support structure supports optical elements, electronic components, and a use detector. The use detector is coupled to the electronic components and is positioned to identify when the head of the user is within the region defined by the support structure. The electronic components monitor the use detector and transition from a first mode of operation to a second mode of operation when the use detector senses the head of the user in the region.

Many portable devices designed to be worn by a user utilize electronic components to perform various functions. The electronic components are typically powered by a battery. As the electronic components consume power, charge on the battery quickly diminishes. Thus, the user must frequently recharge the battery in order to continue using the portable device.


Privately determining whether a password satisfies a constraint without having to divulge the password itself to a third party that evaluates the constraint, and without the third party even being aware of the result of the evaluation. After the user selects a password, private communication (e.g., private information retrieval) is used to determine whether the selected password satisfies password constraints. For instance, the password might be encrypted (e.g., homomorphically), and then the encrypted password and a function definition (e.g., a homomorphic function definition) is then provided to the third party. The third party then performs the function and returns an already encrypted result. The third party generated the encrypted result directly, without having access to the result in the clear. Upon receiving the encrypted result, the user's computing system may then decrypt the result, to find out whether the password satisfies the constraints, and thus is sufficiently safe.

Users that request access to sensitive resources are typically authenticated prior to accessing that resource. This gives some assurance that users will not be given unauthorized access to that resource. One common way of authenticating a user is to ask them for a password. For instance, if a user logs onto their own laptop, the user might present a valid password recognized by that laptop as authorizing the laptop to be unlocked. While there are other methods for authenticating a user (such as two factor authentication, certificate-based authentication) password-based authentication remains popular. However, if an unauthorized user gains access to a password, that unauthorized user may gain unauthorized access to a resource protected by that password.
However, as any user that deals with passwords knows, there is an inherent problem with using passwords. Users would like passwords that are easy to remember, but would also like passwords to remain secure. However, passwords that are easy to remember are also often easy to guess and are therefore unsecure. As a corollary, passwords that are difficult to guess are often difficult for users to remember.
Furthermore, modern computing systems can be employed to quickly determine shorter passwords (e.g., 8 digits in length) by simple brute force, by working through all of the possible permutations until the password for a resource is found. Another way to try to break a password is to perform password spraying by applying a few commonly used passwords to a large number of accounts. While almost all user accounts will not have used those commonly used passwords, there may be one or a few that do. For those that do, their password has been broken.
Password validation might employ complexity rules to ensure that passwords have a certain minimum level of complexity and are thus difficult to guess. Such might require passwords to be a minimum length, have a certain minimum number of different types of characters, be different than recently used passwords, and so forth. Often, a visually bright green indicator gives the user a visual indication that they have entered a sufficiently complex password. However, these complexity rules may be too simple, leaving it still rather easy to guess what the password is. In another conventional technique, a user may provide a password to a password validation service. The service will then compare the password against a list of bad passwords to see if the password is in that list. If the password is in that list, the password is not permitted, and the user may then alter the password or pick a new password.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.


In a QAM modulation system, (3p+1) or (3p+2) input signal strings, where p is an integer not less than 3 or 2, are converted into three (p+1) string signals which are then allocated to three phase planes. The converted three (p+1) string signals are time-division multiplexed and multi-level modulated to realize QAM modulation in which the n-ary number may be set to approximately 2(p+1/3) or 2(p+2/3).

The multi-level modulation technique has so far been put to use especially in e.g., digital microwave communication. In particular, 2n QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) system, where n is a natural number, exemplified by 4QAM, 16QAM, 32QAM, 64QAM, 128QAM and 256QAM, is preferentially used. Up to now, these modulation systems have been in use generally because of simplicity in circuitry. Recently, however, there is a strong demand for effective utilization of the frequency and the transmission power. Thus, it is strongly desired to achieve the required data transmission capacity without waste as the frequency bandwidth to be secured and as the digital microwave communication network is kept to as small a value as possible, in order to combat such exemplary situation in which, in case the 32QAM system is adopted to realize the data transmission capacity that is not possible to achieve with the 16QAM system, there is sufficient allowance in the data transmission capacity with the 32QAM system, such that the frequency bandwidth is taken up wastefully.

Multi-level modulation apparatus, multi-level demodulation apparatus, multi-level modulation/demodulation communication system, program and modulation/demodulation method

Abstract: In a QAM modulation system, (4p+3) input signal strings, where p is an integer not less than 3, are converted into three (p+1) string signals, which are then allocated to three phase planes, time-division multiplexed and multi-level modulated to realize QAM modulation in which the n-ary number may be set to approximately 2(p+3/4).


A test structure for resistive open detection using voltage contrast (VC) inspection and method for using such structure are disclosed. The test structure may include a comparator within the IC chip for comparing a resistance value of a resistive element under test to a reference resistance and outputting a result of the comparing that indicates whether the resistive open exists in the resistive element under test, wherein the result is detectable by the voltage contrast inspection.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates generally to integrated circuit (IC) chip inspection, and more particularly, to a test structure for resistive open detection using voltage contrast (VC) inspection, and a method of powering a test structure.
2. Background Art
In-line voltage contrast (VC) inspection is a powerful technique for detecting and isolating yield limiting defects in the semiconductor fabricating industry. In-line VC inspection includes scanning the wafer surface in which test structures exist with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). As the inspection proceeds, the SEM induces a charge on all electrically floating elements whereas any grounded elements remain at zero potential. This potential difference is visible to the SEM. In particular, for electron landing energies less than the second crossover of the secondary electron yield curve (approximately 1.5 keV for tungsten (W) and copper (Cu)), grounded elements appear bright whereas floating elements appear dark.
Test structures exploiting this phenomenon can be created for many yield limiting defects including metal, gate and active region shorts and opens, and via and contact opens. For example, FIGS. 1A-B, show a short (FIG. 1B) indicated by a normally floating (dark) element becoming bright, and an open (FIG. 1A) indicated when a normally bright element becomes dark. FIG. 1C shows a gate level open indicated when a normally bright element becomes dark. As shown, even if the defect causing the electrical failure is buried or extremely small, its existence is indicated by a change in the VC signal of the entire element. In addition, the exact location of an open is indicated by a change in the VC signal of the structure after the break.
In addition to timely detection of yield limiting defects, this technique has several other major advantages. First, the location of a defect is flagged by the VC signal. Even if the defect causing the short is buried or extremely small, the VC signal appears on the entire element. Second, large areas can be inspected providing a large volume of data.
In this area, resistive defects that are below the typical sensitivity of an inspection SEM present a challenge to detect. In particular, because of the nature of the voltage contrast effect, resistive defects such as opens of approximately 1 M-ohms or less cannot currently be detected. The maximum current generated by current inspection SEMs is around 500 nA. The percentage of this current that flows through the resistance is not enough to generate a voltage that is detectable above the noise level.
In some situations, resistive defects can be detected using VC inspection, but for reasons other than the VC effect. For instance, resistive contacts which are hollow may be detected because of the physical difference in the surface and the materials contrast if the liner is exposed. In many other situations, however, resistive defects exist without manifestation at the wafer surface during VC inspection. These include most resistive contacts and vias, and nickel silicide (NiSi) pipes. Currently, these types of defects with resistance below 1 M-ohms cannot be detected using VC inspection.

Test structure for resistive open detection using voltage contrast inspection and related methods

International Business Machines Corporation


A control system for a hybrid vehicle, in which an engine is connected to a first motor generator and to an output shaft through a power distributing mechanism (12), in which a second motor generator is connected to the output shaft through a transmission (6) wherein a torque capacity is varied in accordance with an oil pressure, and which has an electric oil pump (OPM) for generating an oil pressure, comprising: an oil pressure judging means for judging whether or not the oil pressure established by operating OPM is raised higher than a preset value; an electric oil pump output lowering device for lowering an output of OPM in case the oil pressure judging device judges that the oil pressure is raised higher than the preset value; and a cranking device for carrying out a cranking of E/G by the first motor generator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a control system for a hybrid vehicle provided with a plurality of prime movers for running a vehicle. More particularly, to a control system for a hybrid vehicle, which has an electric oil pump for generating an oil pressure to set a torque capacity of a power transmission system.
The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-14316 filed on Jan. 22, 2004 including specification, drawings and claims is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
One example of the hybrid vehicle equipped with a "mechanical distribution type drive unit" is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-225578, and a construction thereof will be described briefly hereafter. In the disclosed hybrid vehicle, an engine torque is inputted to a carrier of a single pinion type planetary gear mechanism which constitutes a distributing mechanism, a first motor generator is connected to a sun gear, and an output member such as a counter drive gear etc. is connected to a ring gear. A second motor generator is connected to the output member or the ring gear through a transmission. The transmission is capable of switching a gear stage between a direct gear stage in which the entire transmission rotates integrally, and a low gear stage in which an output speed is lower than an input speed. Those gear stages are set by properly operating an engagement mechanism operated by the oil pressure.
The hybrid vehicle of this kind can be run not only by a motive power of an engine and the first motor generator, but also by using a torque outputted from the second motor generator as an assist torque, or only by an output torque of the second motor generator.
In order to ensure the oil pressure when the engine is halted, in the hybrid vehicle disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-225578, it is conceivable to further provide an electric hydraulic pump which is capable of generating the oil pressure even when the engine is halted, in addition to a hydraulic pump which is driven by the engine. In this hybrid vehicle, moreover, the engine is connected to the first motor generator through a planetary gear mechanism, so that the engine can be started by carrying out a cranking (or a motoring) by the first motor generator. In this case, since an output shaft is connected to the planetary gear mechanism in addition to the engine and the first motor generator, torque acts on the output shaft in the direction to rotate it backward when cranking the engine by the first motor generator. For this reason, a "backward torque", which appears on the output shaft when carrying out a cranking by the first motor generator is countervailed by outputting the torque to the output shaft by the second motor generator. As a result of this, it is possible to prevent a vibration in the vehicle and a backward movement of the vehicle.
On the other hand, the transmission is arranged between the second motor generator and the output shaft. In order to transmit the torque from the second motor generator to the output shaft, therefore, the transmission has to have a predetermined torque capacity. In this case, the engine has not yet been started so that it is impossible to obtain the oil pressure from the oil pump driven by the engine. Accordingly, it is necessary to generate the oil pressure by operating an electric oil pump provided in addition to the oil pump driven by the engine. As a result of this, both the first motor generator for starting the engine and the electric oil pump are driven at a starting time of the engine. If both of those first motor generator and electric oil pump are driven simultaneously, a load on an accumulator device such as a battery increases. This results in a shortage of electric power supply to the first motor generator or the like. Consequently, a cranking torque becomes insufficient so that it may take long time to startup the engine.


A priming and purging fuel system for an internal combustion engine purges a diaphragm carburetor of the engine of stale liquid fuel and accumulated fuel vapor and air while simultaneously priming the carburetor and/or engine with liquid fuel for starting. A start pump of the fuel system supplies at least liquid fuel to a priming circuit and preferably at least fuel vapor and air to a purging circuit of the fuel system. The priming circuit delivers the priming fuel to the engine via a conduit that leads to an isolation chamber located between an inlet jet and preferably an outlet jet. The cross sectional flow area of the jets are appropriately sized to flow a needed amount of priming fuel to the carburetor and/or engine for starting without flooding the engine. The combination of the enlarged isolation chamber and jets, at least substantially prevents fuel dribble from the priming circuit and into the engine while running.

Small internal combustion engines often have a manually operated purge pump that purges fuel vapor and stale liquid fuel from a carburetor, or a priming pump that primes the carburetor with a shot of liquid fuel to facilitate starting the engine. The pumps have a manually actuated bulb and are typically attached directly to the carburetor, or located remotely from the carburetor. When the bulb is depressed, liquid fuel and fuel vapor within the bulb flows through a downstream fuel line to a fuel tank. When the bulb is released it returns to its non-depressed state, thereby drawing liquid fuel and fuel vapor into the bulb through an upstream fuel line. The purging is generally repeated as necessary to ensure that the fuel vapor is purged from the upstream fuel line. The prime pump bulb is similarly actuated to a depressed state, however, rather than directing the flow into the fuel tank, the flow is typically directed into a fuel and air mixing passage of the carburetor to prime the carburetor.
Unfortunately, users are known to mistake the purge pump for a prime pump and limit the number of actuations of the pump out of fear of "flooding" the engine. As a result, the carburetor may not be fully purged of fuel vapor prior to initiating a starting procedure for the engine, thus, making starting the engine difficult. Similarly, sometimes users mistake the prime pump for a purge pump and actuate the prime pump in excess, thereby causing the engine to be "flooded." As a result, starting the engine is made more difficult, rather than being made easier.


When using a LCD panel in a normally-black mode which controls, by using an electric field, the tilt direction of vertically-aligned liquid crystal molecules sandwiched between first and second substrates, the value of a voltage to be supplied to the liquid crystal layer for a black display is set in a range which is larger than 0 V, and, preferably, greater than an optical characteristics changing voltage Vth for the liquid crystal, and enables contrast of 50 or over. With this arrangement, it is possible to increase a response time of the liquid crystal when switching a vertically-aligned LCD from the OFF to ON states.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) which employs a voltage control birefringence method for controlling tilt directions of liquid crystal by using an electric field, and in particular to a driving circuit of such an LCD.
2. Description of the Prior Art
LCDs, in which liquid crystal is enclosed between a pair of substrates and a voltage is applied to the enclosed liquid crystal for desired display, are advantageously small and thin, and the power consumption thereof can be easily reduced. Due to these advantages, LCDs are widely used as displays in various office automation equipment, audio visual equipment, and portable or on-board devices.
In particular, a DAP (deformation of vertically aligned phase) LCD is proposed, which includes liquid crystal with negative dielectric constant anisotropy, and controls initial alignment of the liquid crystal molecules to be vertically-aligned by using a vertical alignment layer. Specifically, a DAP LCD employs one type of electrically controlled birefringence (ECB) methods, and controls transmittance and displayed colors of the light coming into the liquid crystal layer by utilizing a difference in a reflective index between the longer and shorter axes of a liquid crystal molecules, i.e., a birefringence phenomenon. A pair of substrates are provided each with a polarization plate attached on the outer surface thereof, such that their polarization directions are orthogonal to each other. When voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer, linearly polarized light which has been introduced into the liquid crystal layer via the polarization plate on one side of the substrate is converted into elliptically or circularly polarized light due to birefringence of the liquid crystal layer, and is partly ejected from the polarization plate on the other side. Since the extent of birefringence of the liquid crystal layer, i.e., a phase difference (a retardation amount) between ordinary and extraordinary ray components of the incoming linearly polarized light, is determined according to the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer, i.e., the intensity of an electric field caused in the liquid crystal, the amount of ejected light from the second polarization plate can be controlled for every pixel by controlling for every pixel the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer. This eventually makes it possible to display a desired image as a whole.
A DAP LCD is originally superior in light transmittance as it utilizes birefringence, and can be made without a rubbing step in a manufacturing process as a result of improvement of a panel structure, or the like, of the display. Moreover, the display can have an improved viewing angle. However, when voltage is applied to vertically-aligned liquid crystal, tilt directions of the respective liquid crystal molecules may vary even though the tilt angles thereof are the same. Therefore, it takes some time until the liquid crystal molecules within one pixel region come to have the same tilt directions. This may problematically slow a response time of liquid crystal molecules with respect to the applied voltage.
The present invention has been conceived to overcome the above problems and aims to provide a driving circuit of an LCD which controls vertical and horizontal components for liquid crystal alignment by using an electric field. The driving circuit can improve response time of liquid crystal.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid crystal display for controlling, by using an electric field, vertical components and horizontal components for alignment of liquid crystal sandwiched by a first substrate and a second substrate having electrodes for driving the liquid crystal, a lower limit value of a range for a driving voltage for application to the liquid crystal being set greater than 0 V. Preferably, the lower limit of a driving voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal is set at an optical characteristics changing voltage or over.
Further, in the above liquid crystal display, the lower limit value of the range for a driving voltage for application to the liquid crystal is set to so as to change while following a change, due to a temperature change, in an optical characteristics change voltage for temperature-dependent liquid crystal.
Still further, in the above liquid crystal display, the lower limit value of the range for a driving voltage for application to the liquid crystal is set so as to achieve a display contrast of 50 or over.
Still further, in the above liquid crystal display, the liquid crystal is set to have initial vertical or horizontal alignment having an initial tilt angle of approximately 0xc2x0.
Still further, in the above liquid crystal display, the electrode has an electrode-free region in a predetermined shape for controlling plan-direction components for the alignment of the liquid crystal by using a diagonal electric field caused at an edge of the electrode.
Still further, in the liquid crystal display, the liquid crystal is vertically-aligned.
According to another aspect of the present invention, in the liquid crystal display, the electrode for driving the liquid crystal formed on the first substrate includes a number of pixel electrodes provided in a matrix thereon; the number of pixel electrodes are connected to corresponding polyxe2x80x94Si thin film transistors each using a polyxe2x80x94Si layer formed at a low temperature for an active layer; and the liquid crystal is driven for each pixel electrode between the number of pixel electrodes and common electrodes for driving the liquid crystal formed on the second substrate.
For application to a color LCD, the upper limit of a voltage for driving the liquid crystal may be determined respectively for R, G, B for individual control of the transmittance of R, G, B components.
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to increase a response time of liquid crystal while maintaining high contrast by setting a range of a driving voltage to be applied to a liquid crystal layer at a value larger than 0 V. Also, high-quality display can always be achieved at various temperatures with an arrangement in which the lower limit of a voltage to be applied to the liquid crystal layer for an OFF display, which is set at a value equal to or above the optical characteristics changing voltage, is arranged to change while following the change of the optical characteristics changing voltage according to the ambient temperature of the display.

Vertical alignment liquid crystal display having improved driving voltage control


An apparatus is disclosed that drives an inductive load according to a control signal from an external controller transmits temperature data to it for indicating a condition of the inductive load through a line driver. The external controller regenerates the control signal according to the temperature data. According to the control signal, the apparatus operates a pair of power supply circuits to complementarily supply power to the load. Thermal conditions of the power supply circuits and the line driver are monitored for detecting an overheat condition. The transmission of temperature data to the external controller is enabled as long as no overheat condition is detected in both of the power supply circuits and line driver. If an overheat condition is detected in at least one of the power supply circuits and line driver, heat protection is performed and the overheat condition is communicated to the external controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for driving an inductive load according to an instruction from an external controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3482948, it is known that, in an apparatus that drives an inductive load such as solenoid, a heat protection arrangement is provided to prevent its power supply circuit from being overheated when the operation of the load deviates from a normal condition. In the disclosed apparatus, the power supply circuit consists of a number of output stages that are thermally decoupled from each other and a heat protection circuit is provided for each output stage.
According to another technique as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 7-67389, an external controller is used to control the inductive load driving apparatus when the external controller is communicated from the apparatus that the power supply circuit of the apparatus is being overheated.
In the aforesaid Japanese Patent, heat protection circuits are provided one-to-one correspondence to each output stage. Therefore, if use is made of a pair of power supply circuits that operate complementarily to each other to drive an inductive load, it would be necessary to provide a heat protection circuit to each of the complementarily operating power supply circuits. This arrangement results in a complex configuration. Further, if thermal coupling should exist between these power supply circuits, their heat protection circuits are likely to operate differently from each other, causing an error signal to be transmitted to the external controller.


A user interface, and associated techniques, that permit a fast and efficient way of correcting speech recognition errors, or of diminishing their impact. The user may correct mistakes in a natural way, essentially by repeating the information that was incorrectly recognized previously. Such a mechanism closely approximates what human-to-human dialogue would be in similar circumstances. Such a system fully takes advantage of all the information provided by the user, and on its own estimates the quality of the recognition in order to determine the correct sequence of words in the fewest number of steps.

Automatic speech recognition is used at present for a broad variety of tasks. Some such tasks include: entering text in a computer (e.g., desktop dictation), performing a transaction or access a database over the telephone or a speech-enabled communication medium (IVR's), transcribing spoken data interactions for archival and search purposes (e.g. broadcast news, lectures or meetings), and transcribing human-to-human speech interactions as a communication aid (e.g. for the hearing impaired).
Conventional speech recognition technology cannot handle those tasks without error. A larger number of recognition errors may occur, for instance, when the acoustic environment of the speaker or the communication channel is noisy, or when the speech is fast, hesitant or poorly enunciated. Transcribing some types of information is also more error prone, for example, spelling names or addresses or long strings of digits.
The efficiency and the success of speech-enabled applications does not only depend on reducing the number of errors. At least as important is how these errors are handled and how easily the user can correct them. That has a large impact on the efficiency of the system, the quality of the user experience and the general acceptance of such systems.
In view of the foregoing, a need has been recognized in connection with improving upon the shortcomings and disadvantages presented by conventional arrangements.

Natural error handling in speech recognition


A method and an apparatus for transmitting a group message in a unicast-based network are provided. A method of a terminal for transmitting a group message in a unicast-based network includes when receiving a session connection request message, transmitting a first group notification message for forming a relay group, to other terminals, receiving a second group notification message from at least one other terminal, forming a relay group with the terminal and at least one other terminal corresponding to the second received group notification message, and determining one of the terminals of the relay group as a relay terminal which relays the group message to other terminals in the relay group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a unicast-based network. More particularly, the present invention relates to relaying data in a unicast-based network.
2. Description of Related Art
A group message service via Internet is typically performed in a manner that a server transmits the same message data to each of the terminals included in the group message. While this method increases load in a server and a network in proportion to the number of terminals involved, its implementation and user management are quite easy. As a result, this method is used in most communication environments.
When such a group message service is provided, a multicast scheme is applied to avoid the repetitive transmission as in the unicast scheme and to efficiently utilize network resources. To use the multicast scheme in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system of the related art, all of the routers along the traffic path need to support the multicast protocol and to maintain the transmission tree per session.
However, most of the currently available routers do not support multicast. To apply the multicast scheme, the most adequate method for building the group tree should be selected according to the number, densities, and distribution of transmitters and receivers overall, which may be difficult. Consequently, since it is difficult to apply the multicast transmission to the actual VoIP system environment, an application layer multicast scheme is studied as the alternative.
The application layer multicast scheme relays data between terminals in the application layer, and can reduce the load of the server and prevent the load from concentrating to a particular node or path by distributing the traffic over the network topology. However, since the application layer multicast scheme according to the related art mostly focuses on the multicast effect, it does not offer an efficient method for building the group for the actual group message service.

Method and apparatus for transmitting group message in unicast network


A cylinder is adjustably positionable between a jack plate and a fixed transom bar. A housing has an upper end, a lower end, a bottom cap and a top cap. The housing includes a piston. The piston is axially slidable within the cylinder. The piston has a rod. The rod is coupled to the piston. A bore is provided through the upper cap for the passage of the rod. A fluid handling assembly includes a lower port and an upper port. The lower port extends through the housing adjacent to the lower end. The upper port extends through the housing adjacent to the upper end. A pair of annular recess is provided in the piston. An o-ring and a rectangular ring are provided within each recess. A pair of annular recesses is provided in the upper and lower caps. An o-ring and a rectangular ring are provided within each recess.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jack plate/hydraulic cylinder system and more particularly pertains to the vertical adjustable coupling of an outboard motor with respect to a boat in a safe, secure and economical manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of hydraulic systems of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, hydraulic systems of known designs and configurations previously devised and utilized for the purpose of vertical adjustment through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,556 issued Jun. 25, 2002 to Vance relates to a Variable Height Outboard Motor Mount Apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,170 issued Jan. 23, 2001 to Uppgard relates to a Hydraulic Actuator with Shock Absorbing Capability. U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,741 issued Nov. 16, 1999 to Nakamura relates to a Hydraulic Tilt and Trim Control for Marine propulsion. U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,662 issued Jul. 21, 1998 to Icenogle relates to a Hydraulic Marine Jack Plate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,613 issued Feb. 17, 1998 to Nakamura relates to a Marine Hydraulic Tilt and Trim Control. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,486 issued Jul. 24, 1984 to Tregonning relates to a Piston Rod Scraper and Breather Assembly.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a jack plate/hydraulic cylinder system that allows for the vertical adjustable coupling of an outboard motor with respect to a boat, all in a safe and secure and economical manner.
In this respect, the jack plate/hydraulic cylinder system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of the vertical adjustable coupling of an outboard motor with respect to a boat, all in a safe and secure and economical manner.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved jack plate/hydraulic cylinder system which can be used for the vertical adjustable coupling of an outboard motor with respect to a boat in a safe, secure and economical manner. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A connector module including a case, a first connector, a second connector, and a switching unit is provided. The first connector disposed in the case has a first connecting portion. The second connector slidably disposed in the case has a second connecting portion. The switching unit is connected between the second connector and the case, and drives the second connector to move along an axis between a first position and a second position. When the second connector is located at the first position, only the first connecting portion is exposed from the case. When the second connector is located at the second position, the first and the second connecting portions are close to each other and exposed from the case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a connector module, in particular, to a connector module, capable of being switched to different modes.
2. Description of Related Art
Universal Serial Bus 3.0 (USB 3.0) is a signal transmission specification standard evolved from USB 2.0, in which a transmission rate of the USB 3.0 can reach 5G bps, but a transmission rate of a traditional USB 2.0 is only 480M bps. Currently, it is sure that a USB 3.0 electrical connector is compatible with a USB 2.0 electrical connector. That is to say, the USB 3.0 adopts the electrical connector structure being the same as that of the USB 2.0, and several pins are added to provide USB 3.0 functions. Therefore, based on the USB 2.0 electrical connector structure, a USB 3.0 electrical connector structure is required to satisfy demands.


A boom for collecting material floating on the surface of a body of water which, by its configuration, requires considerably less inflation air to achieve the required degree of buoyancy to float the boom than is normally required. One embodiment incorporates an elongated collapsible first tube compartmentalized into a series of sequential compartments. Within such compartments are located inflatable flotation tubing which expands the walls of these compartments thus displacing water, thereby increasing the buoyancy of the boom. Such inflatable floatation tubing may be configured as a longitudinal sequence of inflatable annular rings within these compartments; or, the inflatable floatation tubing may be configured as a spiral coil disposed along the length of the compartments biasing the walls of the compartments outwardly. The inflation tubing can be connected by a conduit to a tube secured to and extending the length of the first tube for providing inflation gas thereto.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a floating boom for collecting floatable material, such as liquid hydrocarbons, floating on the surface of a body of water, and more particularly to an inflatable boom which, through its configuration, requires a small amount of inflation air volume to achieve the buoyancy necessary to float the boom.
2. General Background
Conventional oil booms normally comprise an elongated tubular body, generally produced by inflation of a fluid impervious tube to which is secured a depending oil confining skirt. These booms are normally stored on land or on ship in a collapsed state either by flat folding the collapsed tube or by rolling the collapsed tube on to a reel. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,682,151 and 3,494,132 which disclose a series of inflatable plastic tubes, the ends of which are interconnected by sleeves. Integrally formed on each tube is a depending hollow skirt or fin having a weighted material (for ballast) such as lead shot or chain contained in or attached to the lower longitudinal edge of the fin.
Other patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,911, disclose a continuous inflatable tube that must be inflated to achieve the required degree of buoyancy necessary to float the boom. These types of inflatable booms, while functional, require a large volume of pressurized air for inflation and operation. Supplying such pressurized air in a marine environment is both a costly and time consuming procedure. Furthermore, for those designs incorporating one single tube or a series of long single tubes, should a leak occur in the tube, the result would be a total loss of buoyancy in that length of tubing.
An alternate method of achieving the desired degree of water displacement so as to float the boom is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,068,478 and 4,295,755. Both of these patents disclose the use of a pre-shaped spiral wire form that is inserted within the tube during manufacturing. This wire form compresses and is able to slide within the tube so that the boom can be rolled on a reel, yet, when the tube is unrolled, the wire form expands thereby stretching the tube to its desired shape. In order for the tube to expand, there must be vent openings in the tube for the unrestrained movement of air into and out of the tube. Thus, the buoyancy of this boom do not rely upon inflation or pressurization of the tube. Additionally, when the wire form is compressed or wound on the reel for long periods of time, its ability to expand outwardly is decreased, thereby rendering the boom less effective. Furthermore, such wire forms considerably increase the bulk and weight of the boom, thereby requiring more storage space and more water displacement to float the boom. Another drawback is the ability of water to enter the boom through these vent openings, thereby flooding the tube and consequently sinking the boom. Additionally, the consequences of the wire form breaking either during storage or during use should be considered. It might be that a sharp edge will pierce the tube, thereby undermining the buoyancy of the boom.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a boom that is not bulky when stored, will not lose its expansion capabilities when stored for long periods of time, and does not incorporate wire forms that might break, thereby possibly piercing the tube.
Another object of this invention is to devise a boom that does not require a large volume of inflation air to achieve the desired degree of water displacement.
A further object of this invention includes the ability for one section of the boom to become ruptured without rendering the boom useless or unmanageable.
Another object of this invention is the ability that should water enter this tube through vent openings, the accumulation of such water will not render the boom or this section of the tube ineffective. These and other objects of this invention will become obvious upon further investigation.


The invention relates to combined neuroepithelial electrode and sample delivery devices which deliver a stimulant to neuroepithelial tissue and measure the bioelectric response of the tissue to the stimulant. Some devices also include an evacuation catheter which removes the stimulant from a subject immediately after stimulation, thereby limiting the locus of stimulated tissue. The invention also relates to methods of using these devices to stimulate and measure the response of neuroepithelial tissue, particularly the neuroepithelial tissue of the human vomeronasal organ.

Electrodes for the study of neurophysiological tissues have been disclosed. Gesteland et al. (Proceedings of the IRE (1959) 47:1856) provides a general review of electrodes and suggests the use of Ag-AgCl electrodes (pg. 1857). Electrodes have been used to study olfactory epithelia and the layer of mucus which overlays this tissue. These studies have provided records interpreted as receptor potentials in response to odorous stimulants. This measurement has been termed an "electro-olfactogram" (EOG).
Stimulation and recording of olfactory epithelia in many species have been disclosed. Ag-AgCl, agar-saline electrodes for olfactory measurement are disclosed in Ottoson, D., Acta Physiol. Scand. (1954) 32:384, in rabbits; Gesteland, R. C., et al., J. Physiol. (1965) 181:525, in frogs; Mackay-Sim, A., et al., J. Neurophysiol. (1982) 48:584, in salamanders; and, Thommesen, G., Acta Physiol. Scand. (1982) 115:47, in char.
General review of the measurement of electro-olfactograms (EOG) is provided by Takagi, S. F., in Olfaction and Taste, Pfaffmann, ed. (1969) 3:71; Ottoson, D., in Handbook of Sens. Physiol, (1974) 4:95; and, Gesteland, R. C., in Handbook of Sens. Physiol. (1974) 4:132.
Devices for the delivery of vapors, particularly to olfactory epithelia, have also been disclosed. These devices, which generally combine a constant air flow with the ability to introduce liquid odorous compounds in order to form a stimulatory vapor, have been termed "olfactometers" (Tucker, D. and T. Shibuya, Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant. Biol. (1965) 30:207). Vigouroux, M., et al. (J. Neurosci. Methods (1988) 24:57) describe a wide concentration range olfactometer for delivery of short reproducible odor pulses.
Plattig, K. H. and G. Kobal (in Food Intake and Chem. Senses, Katsuki, Y., et al. eds. (1977) University Park Press, Baltimore pgs. 51-70) describe a device for olfactory stimulation and recording in humans. Since the delivery of stimulus is external to the nose the device is not precise with regard to the region or type of tissue stimulated.
An embodiment of the subject invention relates to the stimulation of a heretofore poorly understood neuroepithelial structure, commonly known as the vomeronasal organ ("VNO"; also known as "Jacobson's organ"). This organ is located bilaterally in the nostrils of most higher animals--from snakes to humans, and has been associated, inter alia, with pheromone reception in certain species (see generally Muller-Schwarze & Silverstein, Chemical Signals, Plenum Press, New York (1980)). The VNO is a small nasal organ with a central lumen and a pit opening to the nasal cavity. The VNO is a bilateral structure located supra palatial. The pit is approximately 1 to 1.5 mm in diameter and the lumen is approximately 1 to 1.5 cm deep. The lumen is lined with sensory neuroepithelia which constitute a distinct locus of olfactory receptors. The axons of the VNO neuroepithelia synapse with the auxiliary olfactory bulb and the amygdala, both in the brain, and from there, to the hypothalamus. Johnson, A. et al. (J. Otolaryngology (1985) 14:71-79) report evidence for the presence of the vomeronasal organ in most adult humans, but conclude that the organ is probably non-functional. Contravening results which suggest that the VNO is a functional chemosensory receptor are reported by Stensaas, L., et al. (submitted for publication).

Combined neuroepithelial sample delivery electrode device and methods of using same