A digital ticket is procured by a client ticket consumer upon, preferably, the Internet from and by staged interaction with a ticket provider server. The digital ticket becomes embodied in a tangible transportable data storage medium, normally a 2-D bar code printed on paper by the consumer, or on the consumer's flexible disk or smart card, containing Sign(s,I||hash(R))||R where (1) R is a number having its origin in the computer of the ticket consumer, which number R is appended to (2) a number Sign(s,I||hash(R)). This number Sign(s,I||hash(R)) was earlier computed in the computer of the ticket provider as a digital signature using signature key s of a number hash(R) combined with event information I, and was subsequently communicated across the communications network to the computer of the ticket consumer. The number hash(R) was itself even earlier computed in the computer of the ticket consumer as a one-way function of random number R, which computed one-way function was subsequently communicated to the computer of the ticket provider. The number R is private to the ticket consumer and not public; the digital signature key s is private to the ticket provider.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally concerns electronic money, electronic tickets, electronic coupons, electronic checks, digital tickets and the like.
The present invention particularly concerns digital tickets that are (i) securely, quickly, inexpensively and efficiently producible, and deliverable over a worldwide digital communications network, (ii) visually inspectable, and physically securable and transportable, by the purchaser recipient thereof, (iii) resistant or immune to forgery (nonetheless that network interlopers, the purchaser recipient of an individual digital ticket and/or a number of purchaser recipients acting in collusion may attempt to so forge digital tickets), (iv) capable of being anonymously purchased, held and redeemed if so desired by the purchaser recipient thereof, (v) readily, quickly and securely verifiable upon redemption, including by laser scanning of a 2-D bar code format, or by the reading of data from a smart card, (vi) resistant to double redemption, or to single redemption after any reported theft, (vii) transferable and divisible, (viii) self-authenticating, (ix) versatile to incorporate diverse entitlements, (x) cancelable or redeemable without physical tender or surrender, and (xi) ecologically sound.
2. Description of the Prior Art
2.1 General Background
2.1.1 General Introduction
The volume of the electronic commerce, both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions, has dramatically increased in recent years. Most consumer Internet commerce are based on credit card transactions, and employ an ordinary package delivery service such as the U.S. Postal Service, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or Airborne Express to send the items to the consumer. While completely reasonably for physical items such as books, music CDs, DVDs, or similar items, the use of physical delivery for the purchase of an abstraction such as access rights seems inappropriate.
What access rights are sold over the Internet? In early May, 1999, tickets to the movie Star Wars: The Phantom Menace were made available over the Internet for purchase by credit card before they were on sale at movie theater box offices. This is a particularly attractive alternative to waiting in line prior to the opening of a popular movie. Other types of access rights sold over the Internet include theater, ballet, concerts, and sporting events.
Currently, the purchase of movie tickets over the Internet requires the consumer to physically pick up the tickets, so in a sense it serves more as a reservation mechanism. For tickets to the theater or to sporting events where ticket values and prices are higher, the tickets are often delivered to the consumer by postal mail.
Tickets are physical objects that represent single-use access rights. Instead of delivery by post, the inventors of the present invention believe that such access rights should be delivered electronically in the form of digital tickets. Digital representations of the rights contained within a ticket must be verifiable at access points, e.g., by theater ticket takers, so the ticket would desirably be convertible to a physical, easily transportable form. To provide authenticity and verification, the digital ticket contents should be easily and inexpensively readable, being re-digitized from printed form if necessary, and should include an authentication tag such as a digital signature. The digital data within the digital ticket may be conveyed by the consumer to the venue of the ticket event in a variety of ways: digital data may be stored on a flexible disk, stored in a smart card, printed on paper, etc.
The inventors of the present invention will be seen to prefer the use of printed two-dimensional bar-codes as an extremely appropriate encoding technology for the purposes of digital tickets. See Stuart Itkin and Josephine Martell; A PDF417 primer: A guide to understanding second generation bar codes and portable data files; Technical Report Monograph 8, Symbol Technologies, April 1992. See also AIM Standard "Uniform Symbology Specification PDF417". Printed 2-D bar codes provide good fault tolerance and easy re-digitization of the contained data. Digital tickets so printed permit a reasonable initial market penetration where some slight usability in the form and contents of the ticket is traded off to exploit the available consumer hardware infrastructure: namely, many web surfers have access to printers unlike the situation for smart card reader/writers.
2.1.2 Internet Ticketing Requirements
Internet tickets may be viewed as digital representations of access rights or capabilities. They may be consumed when used, or may be valid for some period of time, e.g., a movie ticket versus a series ticket for a film series. More generally, such tickets may have restrictions on their use, e.g., a movie pass good for five matinee shows.
Unlike capabilities in traditional, capabilities-oriented operating systems, the capabilities of a digital ticket are not maintained by the kernal of the operating system that transmits or reads the ticket. Perhaps the closest analogy is the Amoeba distributed kernel's use of capabilities, where capabilities are transmitted through a network. See Sape J. Mullender, editor; The Amoeba distributed operating system: Selected papers 1984–1987; Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science, 1987. In the case of Internet digital tickets, however, the generated digital tickets are ultimately carried by the consumer to the movie theater or concert venue via "sneaker-net".
The functional requirements for Internet tickets may be considered, and compared with two other electronic commerce schemes with some very similar requirements: electronic money and digital postage. Differences in requirements, however, can make the detail designs quite different. The following sections 2.1.3 and 2.1.4 consider electronic money and digital postage indicia.
2.1.3 Electronic Money
An electronic commerce scheme that has many of the same requirements as digital tickets is electronic money. Electronic representations of money have some form of inherent value, much the same way that digital tickets do. See an excellent enumeration and explanation of the functional requirements of electronic money in T. Okamoto and K. Ohta; Universal electronic cash in Advances in Cryptology—Crypto '91, pages 324–337; Springer-Verlag, 1992.
Okamoto and Ohta list as requirements:
(1) Independence, where security of the electronic cash does not depend on some physical device.
(2) Security, where the electronic cash cannot be created except by issuing bank. Forgeries must be easy to detect. Duplicate redemption must be both detectable and traceable.
(3) Privacy, where proper usage of electronic money does not reveal consumer identity.
(4) Off-line transactability, where payment transaction does not require network access and no third party interaction is required.
(5) Transferability, where electronic money can be transferred among customers.
(6) Divisibility, where change can be made easily.
2.1.4 Information-Based Indicia, as in Electronic Stamps
Information-based indicia (IBI) provide a way to indicate on an envelope that postage has been paid. See U.S. Postal Service; Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP) New Technology Metering Devices, May 1995. The IBI standard uses a two-dimensional bar-code (PDF417) encoding a digital signature for this purpose. See U.S. Postal Service; Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP) Indicia Specification, July 1996. See also Stuart Itkin and Josephine Martell; A PDF417 primer: A guide to understanding second generation bar codes and portable data files; Technical Report Monograph 8, Symbol Technologies, April 1992.
The digital postage application is similar to that of Internet distributed digital tickets, but has requirements that force solutions to be more complex. Here, the indicia must be validated—the digital signature verified—and checked against master databases to prevent duplication, but such duplicate-spending detection may have to rely on a distributed database. Furthermore, the low value of stamps implies that for some cases, only extremely cheap fraud detection measures are cost effective. It must also be possible to print the indicium in a completely off-line manner, to limit the communications requirements at the postal centers. This leads to the use of Postal Security Devices (PSD): specialized secure co-processors which provide a secure way of maintaining account balances and performing cryptographic computations even when the PSD is in a potentially hostile environment.
Unlike indicia, tickets typically are targeted and are "spent" at some physical location indicated by the ticket itself, e.g., a movie theater, a concert hall, or sports arena. This simplifies the job of detecting duplicates, since the networking requirements are more localized than it is the case for postage indicia. At the same time, the higher value of tickets make more sophisticated fraud detection measures possible. The interactive nature of the ticket purchase transaction—which is necessary for both assigned-seating tickets and for maintaining an account of how many has been sold—permits greater flexibility in system design.
2.1.5 Internet Tickets
Many of the functional requirements for electronic money are retained for tickets. Because most tickets are consumed when used, divisibility is not a critical requirement. For the case of a pass or a concert series ticket, a simple expiration date suffices.
Tickets must be
(1) On-line deliverable: users must be able to use standard web tools such as an SSL-capable web browser to purchase and take delivery of the tickets.
(2) Secure: tickets cannot be created except by the issuing venue; forgeries are easy to detect; duplicate redemption are detectable/traceable.
(3) Private: proper usage of tickets does not necessarily reveal identity. (This is not currently a property of Ticketmaster™ or Will Call™, since identification is needed to pick up tickets.)
The on-line delivery requirement simplifies many aspects of the design. Because the ticketing venue must maintain a database of sold tickets for assigned-seating tickets, and minimally a ticket count for general admission tickets, no completely online design is admissible. While overbooking is possible—and common for some applications such as airline tickets—the number of overbookings must still be limited and controlled, since excessive overbooking is economically unsound.
2.2 Specific Background
2.2.1 Security for End-Users Accessing Web Servers
A previous technology relevant to the present invention concerns a system and product of Axent Technologies, Inc. ["Axent"] Mountain View, Calif., for tightening security for end-users accessing Web servers. The technology is so relevant because, in the first place, if a client can be securely identified to a server, and vice versa, than the server may issue the client a digital ticket.
However, a more important point of comparison is more subtle. The present invention will be seen to, at certain junctures, encrypt multiple data quantities, or fields. The fourth following paragraph will reveal that an encrypted quantity—a "message authentication code"—also becomes part of a digital ticket in the Axent system.
Axent says its "Web Defender" server software delivers proper protection in generating and distributing encrypted tickets that permit users to log into multiple Web servers across the enterprise without having to enter additional passwords each time.
Better yet, Web Defender is claimed to offer networkers a way to track and manage those tickets centrally, so that they can control access to corporate data according to individual and group names. There is no need to modify the client's browser during setup.
Web Defender sits behind the corporate firewall and works in conjunction with a Web server running a copy of Internet Information Server (IIS) from Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.). It works with both Internet Explorer from Microsoft and Communicator from Netscape Communications Corporation (Mountain View, Calif.).
In setting up Web Defender the first step is to obtain a digital certificate from a third-party certificate authority like Verisign, Incorporated (Mountain View, Calif.) for the IIS Web server. This permits the Web server to initiate an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) session with a Web browser. Next, net managers select NT domains and groups (via a GUI) that are allowed access to the Web Defender server. Groups are selected from NT domains and then cut and pasted into Web Defender. After that it's merely a matter of selecting general ticketing properties, such as having a message sent to the Web browser once the sign-on process is successful or automatically reissuing a ticket once the old one expires.
So how does the Web Defender software "pump up" security? First, a user keys in a name and password, which are authenticated by the Web Defender server. (It's important to note that passwords and user names are exchanged only once during this initial authentication, over the SSL connection). Second, the Web Defender server builds a user ticket that contains several fields of data, such as user name, lifespan of ticket, and group name; all of which define the data the ticket holder can access. Third, the ticket is run through the MD5 cryptographic algorithm developed by RSA Data Security Incorporated (Redwood City, Calif.) to generate a message authentication code, which becomes part of the ticket itself. At this point, the digital ticket is issued and stored in the memory of the user's Web browser. Once the session is completed, the ticket is deleted from the memory.
2.2.2 Previous Patents
A series of patents to Stefik, et al. and assigned to Xerox Corporation (Stamford, Conn.) deal with the distribution and use of digital works of value, including (but not limited to) digital tickets. U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,403 is for a SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF DIGITAL WORKS HAVING ATTACHED USAGE RIGHTS WHERE THE USAGE RIGHTS ARE DEFINED BY A USAGE RIGHTS GRAMMAR; U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,443 is for a SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF COMPOSITE DIGITAL WORKS; U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,012 is for a SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF DIGITAL WORKS HAVING A FEE REPORTING MECHANISM; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,980 is for a SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF DIGITAL WORKS. The earliest incorporated application Ser. No. 08/344,760, entitled "SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF DIGITAL WORKS USING DIGITAL TICKETS" did not issue as a patent.
These patents are of relevance to the present invention primarily as background, especially as regards the nature of security of a system communicating on and over a network. The use of "trusted repositories" in the patents is without direct counterpart in the basic system of the present invention. However, it will be recognized that a the present invention is susceptible of universal adaptation and deployment for use in issuing billions of tickets monthly, and not all tickets—even for the same event—will come from the same issuing authority. The Xerox patents thus show how the digital ticket issuing system and method of the present invention can be indefinitely expanded.
All these patents concern a system for controlling use and distribution of digital works. The system permits the owner of a digital work to attach usage rights to his or her work. The usage rights define how the individual digital work may be used and distributed. Instances of usage rights are defined using a flexible and extensible usage rights grammar. Conceptually, a right in the usage rights grammar is a label associated with a predetermined behavior and conditions to exercising the right. The behavior of a usage right is embodied in a predetermined set of usage transactions steps. The usage transaction steps further check all conditions which must be satisfied before the right may be exercised. These usage transaction steps define a protocol for requesting the exercise of a right and the carrying out of a right.
The patents thus relate to the field of distribution and usage rights enforcement for digitally encoded works. The deal with the fundamental issue facing the publishing and information industries in preventing the unauthorized and unaccounted distribution or usage of electronically published materials. Electronically published materials include diverse types typically distributed in a digital form and recreated on a computer based system having the capability to recreate the materials. Although the patents focus on audio and video recordings, software, books and multimedia works as exemplars of electronic publishing, digital tickets may also be considered to be electronically published works and, indeed, ones of at least transitory value.
The Xerox patents address the problem of the secure distribution of digital works by use of trusted repositories. Many of the powerful functions of repositories—such as their ability to "loan" digital works or automatically handle the commercial reuse of digital works—are possible because they are trusted systems. The systems are trusted because they are able to take responsibility for fairly and reliably carrying out the commercial transactions. That the systems can be responsible ("able to respond") is fundamentally an issue of integrity. The integrity of repositories has three parts: physical integrity, communications integrity, and behavioral integrity.
Physical integrity refers to the integrity of the physical devices themselves. Physical integrity applies both to the repositories and to the protected digital works. Thus, the higher security classes of repositories themselves may have sensors that detect when tampering is attempted on their secure cases. In addition to protection of the repository itself, the repository design protects access to the content of digital works. In contrast with the design of conventional magnetic and optical devices—such as floppy disks, CD-ROMs, and videotapes—repositories never allow non-trusted systems to access the works directly. A maker of generic computer systems cannot guarantee that their platform will not be used to make unauthorized copies. The manufacturer provides generic capabilities for reading and writing information, and the general nature of the functionality of the general computing device depends on it. Thus, a copy program can copy arbitrary data. This copying issue is not limited to general purpose computers. It also arises for the unauthorized duplication of entertainment "software" such as video and audio recordings by magnetic recorders. Again, the functionality of the recorders depends on their ability to copy and they have no means to check whether a copy is authorized. In contrast, repositories prevent access to the raw data by general devices and can test explicit rights and conditions before copying or otherwise granting access. Information is only accessed by protocol between trusted repositories.
Communications integrity refers to the integrity of the communications channels between repositories. Roughly speaking, communications integrity means that repositories cannot be easily fooled by "telling them lies." Integrity in this case refers to the property that repositories will only communicate with other devices that are able to present proof that they are certified repositories, and furthermore, that the repositories monitor the communications to detect "impostors" and malicious or accidental interference. Thus the security measures involving encryption, exchange of digital certificates, and nuances described below are all security measures aimed at reliable communication in a world known to contain active adversaries.
Behavioral integrity refers to the integrity in what repositories do. What repositories do is determined by the software that they execute. The integrity of the software is generally assured only by knowledge of its source. Restated, a user will trust software purchased at a reputable computer store but not trust software obtained off a random (insecure) server on a network. Behavioral integrity is maintained by requiring that repository software be certified and be distributed with proof of such certification, i.e. a digital certificate. The purpose of the certificate is to authenticate that the software has been tested by an authorized organization, which attests that the software does what it is supposed to do and that it does not compromise the behavioral integrity of a repository. If the digital certificate cannot be found in the digital work or the master repository which generated the certificate is not known to the repository receiving the software, then the software cannot be installed.
All repositories provide a core set of services for the transmission of digital works. The manner in which digital works are exchanged is the basis for all transaction between repositories. The various repository types differ in the ultimate functions that they perform. Repositories may be devices themselves, or they may be incorporated into other systems.
A repository will have associated with it a repository identifier. Typically, the repository identifier would be a unique number assigned to the repository at the time of manufacture. Each repository will also be classified as being in a particular security class. Certain communications and transactions may be conditioned on a repository being in a particular security class.
As a prerequisite to operation, a repository will require possession of an identification certificate. Identification certificates are encrypted to prevent forgery and are issued by a Master repository. A master repository plays the role of an authorization agent to enable repositories to receive digital works. Identification certificates must be updated on a periodic basis. Identification certificates are described in greater detail below with respect to the registration transaction.
A repository has both a hardware and functional embodiment. The functional embodiment is typically software executing on the hardware embodiment. Alternatively, the functional embodiment may be embedded in the hardware embodiment such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chip.
The hardware embodiment of a repository will be enclosed in a secure housing which if compromised, may cause the repository to be disabled. The basic components of the hardware embodiment of a repository include a processing means, a storage system, a clock and an external interface.
The core repository services comprise a set of functions required by each and every repository. The core repository services include the session initiation transactions. This set of services also includes a generic ticket agent which is used to "punch" a digital ticket and a generic authorization server for processing authorization specifications. Digital tickets and authorizations are specific mechanisms for controlling the distribution and use of digital works. Note that coupled to the core repository services are a plurality of identification certificates. The identification certificates are required to enable the use of the repository.
For one-time usage rights, a variant on this scheme is to have a digital ticket. A ticket is presented to a digital ticket agent, whose type is specified on the ticket. In the simplest case, a certified generic ticket agent, available on all repositories, is available to "punch" the ticket. In other cases, the ticket may contain addressing information for locating a "special" ticket agent. Once a ticket has been punched, it cannot be used again for the same kind of transaction (unless it is un-punched or refreshed in the manner described below.) Punching includes marking the ticket with a timestamp of the date and time it was used. Tickets are digital works and can be copied or transferred between repositories according to their usage rights.
In the currently preferred embodiment, a "punched" ticket becomes "un-punched" or "refreshed" when it is copied or extracted. The Copy and Extract operations save the date and time as a property of the digital ticket. When a ticket agent is given a ticket, it can simply check whether the digital copy was made after the last time that it was punched. Of course, the digital ticket must have the copy or extract usage rights attached thereto.
The capability to un-punch a ticket is important in the following cases:
(1) A digital work is circulated at low cost with a limitation that it can be used only once.
(2) A digital work is circulated with a ticket that can be used once to give discounts on purchases of other works.
(3) A digital work is circulated with a ticket (included in the purchase price and possibly embedded in the work) that can be used for a future upgrade.
In each of these cases, if a paid copy is made of the digital work (including the ticket) the new owner would expect to get a fresh (un-punched) ticket, whether the copy seller has used the work or not. In contrast, loaning a work or simply transferring it to another repository should not revitalize the ticket.
2.2.3 Framework for a General-Purpose Digital Ticket
Ko Fujimura and Yoshiaki Nakajima of NTT Information and Communication Systems Labs are active in digital tickets. Mr. Fujimura conceives of a flexible digital ticket whose main purpose is to develop a generic value-circulation medium that prevents double-spending. In this context, a ticket is a digital medium that guarantees certain rights to the owner of the ticket. Describing tickets this generally allows the tickets to contain many different values and types of values in a single ticket (or group thereof).
Mr. Fujimura claims that a general ticket framework will reduce the implementation cost in many cases because a single design can be used in many places. By being general, the tickets can be composed arbitrarily, allowing bundling and similar features. He claims that the creation of new businesses to run this framework, like issuing/revocation services and deposit box services, was a benefit.
A general-purpose digital ticket framework must meet most of the requirements of digital cash. Additional requirements are: (1) A ticket can control its anonymity, divisibility, and transferability depending on the application; (2) The individual specifications of a ticket need to be "machine understandable" to allow for the redemption of goods or services; (3) Ticket properties whose values change while it is circulated (e.g., payment or reservation status) must be changed securely; (4) A ticket that comprises more than one sub-tickets must be supported.
To implement such a framework, the authors created a Ticket Definition Language that allows for the specification of ticket properties. The tickets themselves are hypertext-based, allowing automation of the state-transitions and composability features. The tickets can also include dynamic information that is up-to-date when the ticket itself is used. Another feature (of less obvious utility) is that the tickets can contain very large data such as images and sounds.
The tickets themselves are inherently online (because of their hypertext basis and dynamic nature), but can also be circulated offline using smart cards. In either case, the system uses signed URIs to test the currency of the ticket. The meaning and constraints of the properties in the tickets are defined using the Resource Description Framework. Schemas for tickets can thus be controlled by the issuers of the tickets, and various restrictions can be contained in these schemas.
Fujimura outlined the ticket trust model. The issuer certificate, user certificate, and examiner certificate, which are required to issue, transfer, consume, or examine a ticket, are specified in the ticket itself using the Ticket Definition Language. So, any ticket with a public key, such as drivers' licenses, can be used as a public key certificate if a ticket specifies them as a required certificate for the ticket. In other words, any ticket can play a roll in the public key infrastructure for other tickets.
Fujimura and Nakajima are drafting specifications for the implementation and intend to submit them to standards organizations. The goal of their project is to "Transform any Web terminal into a ticketing machine for any ticket in the world." The present invention has the same goal.
2.2.4 XML Ticket: Generalized Digital Ticket Definition Language
There is an effort, spearheaded by Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT) to formulate a generalized digital ticket definition language called "XML Ticket". This definition language, and this prototype standard, are in no way in conflict with the present invention. The standard concerns what a digital ticket of general format should contain; the present invention concerns how to securely generate and redeem a digital ticket.
Ko Fujimura, Yoshiaki Nakajima, and Jun Sekine of NTT Information Sharing Platform Laboratories write that the World Wide Web provides an information delivery infrastructure for various types of digital contents used in daily life. Payment infrastructures such as digital cash, micropayments, and encrypted credit cards have also been established. However, no digital medium or infrastructure that prevents duplicate redemption and enables the trading of various rights, much like paper tickets, has been established yet.
Messrs. Fujimura, Nakajima and Sekine have thus sought to develop a generalized digital ticket system that can circulate any type of rights. A digital ticket is a digital medium that guarantees certain rights of the ticket owner and it includes software licenses, resource access tickets, event tickets, plane tickets, etc. To circulate various types of digital tickets using a common ticket processing system, they propose a general-purpose digital ticket framework, in which a ticket is circulated by interpreting ticket properties such as anonymity, transferability, and the redemption method, specified in the ticket itself using the XML based Generalized Ticket Definition Language.
Traditional digital ticket systems were developed for each application. However, Messrs. Fujimura, Nakajima and Sekine believe that a generalized digital ticket system is necessary for the following reasons:
(1) A ticket processing system includes a ticketing system, ticket wallet, ticket examination system, and the implementation cost of these components becomes expensive if a system must be developed for each individual application. For example, it is impractical to develop an individual system for an application that issues only 20 tickets.
(2) It is desirable for users to manage various tickets using a common "ticket wallet" that provides a uniform and collected view as a real physical wallet, in which cash, credit cards, ID cards, and various tickets are stored together.
(3) New network businesses such as revocation, packaging, and safety deposit box services can be run if any ticket can be managed uniformly. If the format and protocols for digital ticket circulation depend on the ticket, it would be difficult to run these businesses successfully.
As a result of their investigation on diverse physical tickets, Messrs. Fujimura, Nakajima and Sekine have identified the following requirements for the generalized digital ticket definition language:
(1) Composability: The language must support a composite ticket that comprises multiple sub-tickets. There are many cases when a sub-ticket must be issued separately with the original ticket typically because the tickets are issued by different organizations or issued at different times.
(2) State manageability: The language must support the defining of properties whose values dynamically change while in circulation, e.g., payment, reservation, or approval status. Note that it is difficult to allow these changes in a signed document.
(3) Machine-understandability: The language must support the defining of the meaning of the ticket. If the service or task that a ticket guarantees is objectively understood by the buyer and seller before conducting a transaction, it will reduce the number of disputes resulting from misunderstanding of the meaning of the ticket.
(4) Efficiency: The language must enable the efficient defining of a ticket, since it might be stored in a smart card or other devices with restricted memory. Longer definitions also cause longer data transfer time, which might not be acceptable. For example, redemption of event tickets or transportation passes requires high performance.
(5) Circulation controllability: The language must provide the parameters needed to allow flexible circulation control. As shown in Table I, the anonymity, transferability, and redemption method of the ticket must be specified in the ticket definition. Additionally, it is desirable to support more advanced requirements, e.g., tickets can be circulated within the registered members of a group or only qualified shops can issue tickets.
(6) Security: The investigators perceive that the language must provide the parameters needed to achieve security. (The present invention teaches that the method, and contents of the ticket—not the language in which its contents are represented—is what provides the security.) The digital ticket system must support a facility for preventing duplicate redemption similar to a digital cash system. It requires an online currency checking system or tamper-proof devices such as a smart card as well as digital signature technologies.
The investigators adopted extended markup language, or XML, as the base language of the Generalized Digital Ticket Definition Language, since they allege to satisfy the above requirements as described below:
(1) Composability: A composite ticket is claimed to be definable using XML links. A composite ticket in which sub-tickets are distributed over the Internet is claimed to be easily implementable. It is claimed that this facility is useful especially for tickets that are often revoked and when online checking is required.
(2) State manageability: The state-transition properties of a ticket is claimed to be uniformly defined by attaching a value change ticket to the restriction-specified incomplete link.
(3) Machine-understandability: The meaning of a ticket is defined using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model; the Syntax Specification (see http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax); and and the Resource Description Framework (RDF) schemas (see http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-schema), which are layered on XML. It is claimed that this will make searching for tickets over the Internet much easier.
(4) Efficiency: By circulating the link to contents such as ticket images or contract details instead of defining the contents on the tickets themselves, it is claimed that the size of the ticket can be reduced. The link is also asserted to provide up-to-date information over the Internet. For example, an event ticket may include a link to the place where the event will be held after it was postponed due to rain or something else.
(5) Circulation controllability & Security: XML is a generic language designed to describe any structured data and thus any parameters necessary to control ticket circulation can be defined. Establishing control parameters or security parameters, which are necessary to satisfy these requirements, do not significantly influence the language as a ticket processing system.
Reference R. D. Brown, "Digital Signatures for XML", IETF Internet Draft, January 1999; K. Fujimura and Y. Nakajima, "General-purpose Digital Ticket Framework", 3rd USENIX Workshop on Electronic Commerce, August 1998, pp. 177–186. (See http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/ec98/fujim ura.html.) Reference also K. Fujimura, Hiroshi Kuno, Masayuki Terada, Kazuo Matsuyama, Yasunao Mizuno and J. Sekine, "Digital Ticket Controlled Digital Ticket Circulation", to appear; and Y. Nakajima and K. Fujimura, "The XML Ticket Specification", unpublished manuscripts. Reference also XML Schema Requirements, The World Wide Web Consortium, Note, February 1999. (See http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-xml-schema-req).
The relevance of all this work to the present invention is: it all applies. The present invention concerns the manner of securely generating, distributing and redeeming a digital ticket, and has no quarrel, and, indeed, some agreement, that the information within the ticket (and still other information, such as patterns of ticket circulation, or geographical sites that are enabled to purchase tickets) should be expressed in an advanced language such as XML.
2.3 Digital Signatures
The present invention will be seen to employ a digital signature—a routine concept in the cryptographic arts. The present invention is fully operative with many different schemes of producing digital signatures.
For example, in the Rivest Shamir Aldeman (RSA) public key encryption system, a party has both a public key (N,e) and a secret key (N,d), where N is a k-bit modulus, the product of two (k/2)-bit prime numbers, and e, dεZφ(N)* satisfy ed≡1 mod φ(N). The RSA function f: ZN*→ZN* is defined by f(x)=xe mod N and its inverse x−1: ZN*→ZN* is defined by f−1(y)=yd mod N (x, yεZN*), where ZN* denotes the set of numbers between 1 and N−1 which are relatively prime to N). The function f can be used for encryption, and the function f−1 for decryption. The generally-made assumption is that f is trapdoor one-way: roughly, if one does not know d (or he prime factors of N) then it is hard to compute x=f1(y) for y drawn randomly from ZN*.
A widely employed paradigm to sign a document M is to first compute some "hash" y=Hash(M), and then set the signature to x=f−1(y)=yd mod N. To verify that x is a signature of M, one computes f(x)=xe mod N and checks that this equals Hash (M). This technique is the basis for several existing standards.

System and method for delivering and examining digital tickets

Abstract: The digital ticket is redeemed by (1) transporting the transportable storage medium within which the Sign(s,I||hash(R))||R is written to the particular selected event; (2) tendering the digital ticket for verification and for admission; (3) reading the Sign(s,I||hash(R))||R to an event computer and extracting the number R; (4) decrypting the remaining Sign(s, I||hash(R)) with verification key v of the ticket producer to get hash(R) and I; (5) re-calculating from R, with the same one-way function previously used, a re-calculated hash(R); then, having this recalculated hash(R) to hand; (6) comparing the re-calculated hash(R) to the extracted hash(R). The (4) decrypting will work, producing a proper I for the selected event, and the (6) comparing will be equal, only for a legitimate ticket.

The Regents of the University of California


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques and configurations for routing signals of an electro-optical assembly using a glass bridge. In one embodiment, an electro-optical assembly includes a laser die having a laser device and a glass bridge electrically coupled with the laser die by one or more interconnect structures, the glass bridge including electrical routing features configured to route electrical signals to the laser die from a transmitter device. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Light signals may be used to communicate information between integrated circuits (ICs) such as ICs formed on different dies. Presently, electrical signals between transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) components and respective laser and photodetector components of an electro-optical assembly may be routed using bonding wires or a semiconductor interposer having through holes for the light signals. However, routing by such techniques may be difficult to manufacture or may be difficult to integrate with other components, in particular, for larger arrays of laser devices. For example, the bonding wires may allow for parasitic effects that are difficult to control or the through holes may be difficult to manufacture and integrate.

Electro-optical assembly including a glass bridge


A golf ball retrieving system has a plurality of collector wheels attached to pivoting arms to allow the wheels to track a ground surface, adjacent wheels being spaced apart by a distance equivalent to the diameter of a golf ball to allow golf balls to be picked up between adjacent wheels as well as by the wheels themselves.

To facilitate collection of a large number of golf balls from a fairway, it is known to use golf ball retrievers. One type of golf ball retriever utilises a number of spaced discs mounted onto a common shaft. The spacing of the discs corresponds to the width of a golf ball so that as the discs move over a ground surface, golf balls are caught between adjacent discs. The golf balls are subsequently dislodged by a dislodging finger and are transferred to a collecting basket. The discs can either be ground engaging or can be mounted to a common shaft which terminates with a pair of ground engaging wheels to space the discs slightly above the ground surface. Devices of this type are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,995,759 (Hollrock), 3,823,838 (Gustafsson), 3,175,714 (Wittik), 2,792,955 (Summer), 2,365,540 (Fonken) and 4,792,271 (Akel).
Such retrievers suffer from a number of disadvantages. Firstly, to pick up golf balls the discs must be relatively closely spread and to allow efficient retrieving of golf balls from a fairway, a large number of discs are required spaced along a shaft. This increases the overall cost of the apparatus and increases its weight and therefore makes it unsuitable for use on certain fairways.
To overcome the above disadvantages, golf ball retrievers have been developed comprising a number of spaced collector wheels mounted to a common shaft with golf ball deflecting members being located between adjacent collector wheels to deflect golf balls towards a respective collector wheel. This obviated the requirement for a large number of discs or collector wheels to be present on the retriever as the deflector members would channel golf balls to a respective collector wheel. Examples of this type of retriever are found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,658,637 (Bailey), 3,784,037 (Woodall), 2,812,871 (Woodall), 4,158,418 (Hayasahi) and 2,656,061 (Luckie).
A disadvantage with both the abovementioned known types of retrievers is that the discs or wheels are mounted to a common shaft which means that the discs or collector wheels are suitably only on relatively level surfaces and cannot track undulations in the ground surface.
For instance, golf balls tend to collect within small depressions or pockets in a fairway and the retrievers described above are not generally capable of entering into a pocket or depression to collect the golf balls but instead merely pass over the pocket or depression.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,605,005 (Wenzel) attempts to overcome the abovementioned disadvantage by providing a number of spaced collector wheels which are independently pivotally mounted to a cross bar. This allows each individual collector to track undulations in a ground surface independent of each other collector wheel. Guide members are spaced between collector wheels to guide golf balls to a respective collector wheel for retrieval.
A serious disadvantage with the Wenzel retriever is that the guide arms are rigidly attached to the retriever and are not able to track undulations in the surface independently of its respective collector wheel. As a consequence, the guide members tend to dig into the fairway surface when passing through an undulation or pockets which results in damage to the fairway, damage to the retrieving device, and clogging of the collector wheels with dirt and debris.
A similar disadvantage is found with golf ball retrievers having collector wheels spaced along a common axle and deflector members located between adjacent collector wheels although in the latter situation, the deflectors do not generally get damaged or dig into the fairway surface as these retrievers are not able to collect balls from pockets or depressions in a fairway.
Other retrievers are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,157,141 (Ryan) (utilizing a mat system), 3,102,647 (Bonney), French patent 2443-851 (utilising a paddle assembly) and U.S. Pat. No. 2,413,679 (Binder).
My earlier U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,383 describes a golf ball retriever having a number of collector wheels, each wheel being mounted to a separate arm which is pivotally coupled to a transverse frame member. The collector wheels are axially spaced apart, and to prevent golf balls from passing between collector wheels, deflecting assemblies are provided which are also pivotally mounted. While this retriever efficiently tracked the ground surface, in practice it was found to be relatively heavy due in part to the existence of two deflectors per collector wheel. Thus, for a typical fifteen wheel assembly, about twenty-eight deflectors were required.


A method for constructing a ballasted roof system (20) includes the steps of installing a roofing membrane (14) onto a roof structure (12). A ballast (16, 32) is disposed on the roofing membrane, wherein the ballast has applied thereto a reflective paint (21) to improve the solar reflective properties of the ballasted roof system. The improved roofing system has solar reflective properties at least 35%.

The present invention relates generally to roofing systems. More particularly, it relates to a ballasted roofing system in which ballast material holds in place a roofing membrane. The ballast material has improved reflective properties.
Steep sloped roofs are relatively expensive to construct; accordingly, many industrial and office buildings employ low sloped roofs. Low sloped roofs often are covered with polymeric membranes to protect the underlying building from the elements. Care must be taken to maintain the integrity of the membrane to prevent the development of gaps or openings.
Often, ballast material is applied over a roofing membrane to keep it from uplifting in wind and to maintain the integrity of seams formed when two or more adjacent membrane sheets abut one another. Also, ballast material can protect the membrane from UV light degradation, which can compromise the physical integrity of the membrane. The ballast also serves to project the membrane from damage such as hail, wind-blown debris, and fire.
At least about 280,000,000 m2 of ballasted roof systems presently are in place in the United States, and another 25,000,000 m2 of such systems are installed annually.
Obviously, building owners desire to reduce the costs necessary to cool their buildings, particularly in warmer areas with a great deal of sun exposure. Additionally, existing roof surfaces are believed to contribute to the xe2x80x9cheat islandxe2x80x9d effect observed in urban areas.
Many ballasted roof systems utilize standard ballast rock, which reflects 12-20% of solar spectrum energy. Ballast rock preferably is sized to ASTM Standard No. 4 and uniformly distributed over a membrane in an amount of about 5 kg/m2. However, naturally reflective rock is practical only when available locally. Transportation costs significantly increase when the rock is quarried far from the site of the roof.
Somewhat higher reflectance can be obtained by using a natural quartzite rock. However, such quartzite does not resist mildew and, over time, catches dirt, both of which reduce its reflectance properties.
Natural color paver blocks also can be used in ballast roofing systems. These can increase the solar reflectivity up to about 34% of solar spectrum energy.
With known ballasted roof systems, solar reflectance is relatively small and heat generation by the roofing system, and thus heat absorption by the underlying building, is unacceptably high. This results in significant cooling costs for such buildings.
A solar-reflective ballasted roof system that improves the solar reflectance of the roof and significantly reduces the amount of heat transferred to the underlying building structure remains an unmet need in the art.
Briefly, the present invention provides a method for constructing a ballasted roof system that includes a roof structure covered by a roofing membrane with ballast disposed thereon. Reflective paint is applied to the ballast to improve the solar reflective properties of the roof system. The ballast material can take the form of, for example, paver blocks and/or smooth, water-worn gravel.
In a roof system of the type just described, the ballast material can have a solar spectrum reflectance of at least 35%, and preferably at least about 50%. Reflectance, as used herein, is the fraction of solar spectrum (radiation originating from the sun including ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared radiation) that is reflected by a surface expressed as a percent or within the range of 0.00 to 1.00. By utilizing a reflective paint on the ballast material, the roof system generates less heat to be absorbed by the ballast material and the underlying building, thus reducing cooling costs. Since less heat is absorbed by the ballast material (roof surface), then the present invention contributes to a city""s reduction of the heat island effect.
Paint can be applied in a single step by, e.g., dip coating. However, prior to applying the reflective paint to the ballast material, the latter preferably is weatherized so that its receptivity to the paint is increased. Thereafter, paint can be applied in a single spraying or, preferably, in at least two separate sprayings. A first coat can be applied in one direction, and second coat can be applied in a substantially opposite (xcx9c180xc2x0) or a substantially orthogonal (xcx9c90xc2x0) direction. An advantage of such a dual coating to already-in-place ballast is that the applied paint adheres to the ballast, but separate pieces of the ballast material do not adhere to one another nor to the roofing membrane.
The present invention provides an economical method for applying a reflective surface which advantageously does not significantly increase the cost or time involved in installing a ballasted roofing system. Nevertheless, substantial cost savings to the building owner (through lower energy usage involved in cooling the building) can be realized.
The following definitions apply hereinthroughout unless a contrary intention is expressly indicated:

Reflective ballasted roofing system and method


A method, a device and a storage medium for extracting height and deformation information of a high voltage transmission tower by using SAR tomography are disclosed. A Spaceborne satellite is used to obtain a plurality of high resolution SAR images of a region having a high voltage transmission tower. The images are then pre-processed via registration, dechirp and phase compensation to obtain observation data. The observation data is then discretized. Then the discretized observation data is resampled by using singular value decomposition, and Akaike information criterion is used to estimate the number of scattering points in the resampled observation data. The obtained number of the scattering points is used to eliminate the singular values in the reconstructed signal. Finally, the sparsity of the observation data is used together with compression sensing to realize signal reconstruction, thereby extracting the height and deformation rate at a position on the high voltage transmission tower.

High voltage transmission towers are important parts of power transmission lines, with operation states of which determining the stable and safe operation of a power system. The detection of height and deformation information of a high voltage transmission tower is a key factor for guaranteeing the safety of the transmission lines. In this sense, research on the height and deformation information of the high voltage transmission towers is both critical and necessary.
Conventional SAR techniques can monitor an object around the clock under all weather conditions, without being influenced by fog, rain or snow. However, pixels in a SAR image generated thereby are actually addition of scattering coefficients of all scattering points with a same distance, which will cause issues of cylindrical symmetrical ambiguity and layover-relief displacement, thus making it difficult to identify and extract the object. Moreover, the conventional SAR uses phase unwrapping to obtain high precision information. The complexity of the unwrapping procedure also makes the information extraction more difficult.
The development of SAR tomography helps to solve the above problem. Currently, algorithms for SAR tomography imaging make use of Fourier transform, RELAX algorithm and Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) based on matrix eigen decomposition.

Method, device and storage medium for extracting height and deformation information of high voltage transmission tower by using SAR tomography

UNIVERSITY OF ELECTRONIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF CHINA


Methods of preparing retail establishments are disclosed. An area for a retail location may be chosen and an individual may be selected to manage the retail location. The selection of the area may include an evaluation of geographical factors. From the area, a retail location may be selected based on an aggregate score of a set of characteristics of the retail location. The individual may remotely select the layout and furnishing of the retail location and may remotely monitor the progress of the preparation of the retail location. In an embodiment, the individual may be prepared to manage the retail location at a centralized location that is distinct from the area where the retail location is located.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of site development, more particularly to the field of retail location development in the insurance industry.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of a retail location in the insurance industry is known. Typically the retail location will include a phone and one or more individual offices. While the use of retail locations is known, problems exist for companies attempting to expand into new areas. Often a company may require that a retail location have a certain look or design, which requires a floor plan large enough to accommodate the requirements. However, it may not be preferable to build a new building to house the retail location. This is especially true if the retail location is relatively small or if there is a limited amount of available space to construct new buildings. Therefore, retail locations are often placed in existing buildings, which often must be modified or built out before it is suitable for use. For example, but without limitation, a retail location may be in a business park configured and directed toward providing office space for professionals. Another non-limiting example of where a retail location may be found is a stand-alone building which may be partially or completely zoned for commercial use. As can be appreciated, these retail locations may be adjacent to the retail locations of other business. Frequently, the retail location may be leased.
When a company is attempting to expand into a new area or add additional retail locations to provide greater coverage of an existing area, often there may not be anyone with knowledge of the local real estate market within the company who is available to work on finding and building out the retail location. Furthermore, if the new retail location is an expanded location (e.g. adds to the capacity or number of offices of the company), there will not be an existing individual to run the office.
In some circumstances, insurance retail locations are run by agency principals. The agency principal may be responsible for the retail location, for offering insurance products, for generating a portfolio of business and for insuring the retail location provides the required level of service in accordance with company guidelines. However, the use of agency principals can create problems during the start-up of a new retail location. For example, opening a new insurance retail location with a new agency principal for the purpose of offering insurance requires both an appropriately designed retail location along with an agency principal having the appropriate qualifications so that the individual can offer insurance with sufficient expertise to meet or exceed company policies and procedures. If the agency principal is new, training may be required and the agency principal may find if difficult to participate in the preparation of the new retail location. Current methods of preparing an operative retail location therefore tend to create undesirable delays or require the company to be more involved in the real estate market than is desirable. Thus, a method of improving the ability of a company to expand into new markets is needed.


A fence rail mounting clip for connecting a hollow fence rail to a vertical post. The mounting clip includes a base that is selectively interlockable with a bracket. The bracket has a front surface with a peripheral wall extending normal to and outwardly therefrom to define a fence rail receptacle for receiving an end of the rail therein. A rail support extends normal to and outwardly from the front surface of the bracket from a position within the rail receptacle. The rail support is separated from the peripheral wall by a gap. The rail support terminates in an outermost edge which lies further from the front surface of the bracket than does the outermost edge of the peripheral wall. When the rail is received in the rail receptacle, the walls of the rail are received within the gap between the rail support and peripheral wall and are wedged therebetween, and the rail support extends into the bore of the hollow rail.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to fences. More particularly, the invention relates to a clip for mounting vinyl fence rails to vertical fence posts. Specifically, the invention relates to a clip that includes a rail support which projects from its front surface and is receivable within the bore of a hollow fence rail.
2. Background Information
Fences are used in today's society for a variety of reasons and are available in a variety of different styles and types. For example, farmers use fences to contain their livestock, to prohibit entry of predators and to protect their crops. Businesses use fences to keep thieves and trespassers off of the premises. Residents use fences to keep their children and pets within their property limits or for ornamental or aesthetic purposes.
Conventionally, these fences are constructed of wood, rock or wire, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages. Wooden fences frequently need painting. Additionally, wooden fences are assembled by forming a slot in a vertical fence post through which a slatted end of the fence rail extends to mount the fence rail to the post. These slots allow water to enter and sit therein, subjecting the fence posts to water damage and rotting. Furthermore, wooden rails are heavy and dangerous to assemble. Rock fences are difficult to construct and are dangerous if the heavy fence wall begins to crumble. Wire fences rust, making them unpleasing to the eye and impractical for residential use.
Alternatives to these conventional fencing materials are plastic or vinyl fences. Vinyl fences are aesthetically pleasing, are relatively easy to install and never rot or need painting. The problem with vinyl and plastic fencing is that it is difficult to connect the horizontally extending fence rails to the vertically extending fence posts.
This problem has been previously addressed by the present inventor in U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,244, which issued Aug. 4, 1998. The patent discloses a fence rail clip for connecting a hollow fence rail to a vertical fence post. The fence rail clip includes a base mountable to the fence post and a locking bracket which is securable to the hollow fence rail. The locking bracket has a front surface with a peripheral wall extending outwardly at about ninety degrees from the front surface and a fence rail receptacle is formed between the front surface and the peripheral wall. The peripheral wall is sized and shaped to be complementary to the cross-section of the end of the fence rail. The end of the fence rail slides into the rail receptacle and the bracket is interlocked with the base. The peripheral wall of the locking bracket tends to prevent lateral movement of the end of the rail. The end of the rail may accidentally be pulled out of the rail receptacle during installation of the fence or the rail may be accidentally knocked out of the receptacle after the fence has been assembled.
There is therefore a need in the art for an improved fence rail mounting clip that resists the tendency of the rail end to be pulled out of the locking bracket when the opposite end of the rail is being handled.


A location enhanced meeting service (“LEM Service”) may provide a geographical based map indicating meeting locations for a selected day. The user can view locations of meetings for a scheduled day, along with travel times. Conditions impacting travel time may be provided to the user along with updated estimated travel times and suggested alternative routes. The scale of the map may be based on the geographical diversity of the attendees. A user can view a location enhanced meeting map for particular meeting, and obtain directions to the meeting. The user can also request to view attendee's locations to the meeting on the map prior to the meeting. If an attendee is expected to be late, the user may establish a voice conference with that attendee. If a user is expected to be late to a meeting, the user may provide a notification to the other attendees of the meeting.

Location information is readily available in many mobile devices, such as smart phones, tablet computers, and other forms of mobile computing devices. Many of these mobile devices determine a geographical location by using global positioning system ("GPS") technology, which can be used by the mobile device to determine its current location. Various applications executing on the mobile device can use the location information for providing services. The mobile device can also report the user's position to another system, which can also use location information for providing services. In other circumstances, instead of the device reporting its location, the device location may be detected by other equipment, using various techniques such as signal triangulation. Thus, location information can be obtained even if the device is not capable of processing GPS signals.
Knowing the location of a user can be useful in augmenting services provided to the user. For example, location information is useful in determining a route from a current location to an indicated destination. Location information can also be used to inform a user of the location of colleagues in a work environment. Mobile devices conventionally have used only location information of the device itself, in part because it can be difficult for mobile devices to maintain location information about other users. Location information from a plurality of users can be used to enhance enterprise type services and increase productivity of users on a collective basis.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Location enhanced meetings and collaboration


The present invention relates to a composition for use in animal nutrition comprising a controlled release matrix and to a method for preparing said composition. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method for the treatment of monogastric animals in which said composition is used as addition of active substances such as for instance organic acids and/or inorganic acids for preserving and acidifying food for monogastric animals, including swine, sheep, rabbits, birds, horses, pets and humans.

The present invention relates to a composition for use in animal nutrition comprising a controlled release matrix and to a method for preparing said composition.
Moreover, the present invention relates to a method for the treatment of monogastric animals in which said composition is used as addition of active substances such as for instance organic acids and/or inorganic acids for preserving and acidifying food for monogastric animals, including swine, sheep, rabbits, birds, horses, pets and humans.
It is known that new-born swine (as also other animal species) have a poor gastric secretion of hydrochloric acid.
The low level of hydrochloric acid anyhow enables the digestion of milk proteins, whereas it is not sufficient for a complete digestion of proteins of a different origin (for instance soybean, potato and fish proteins).
New-born swine therefore have a secretive capacity that is suitable for milk feeding but insufficient when breeding techniques and feeding regulations provide for precocious weanings.
In the pre-weaning stage the fermentation of lactose that is present in milk by means of the autochthonous flora is the best defense against the settling of unwanted microflora.
Weaning strongly reduces the introduction of lactose and animals have to develop other defensive mechanisms in order to contrast the proliferation of pathogenic enterobacteria.
The increasing secretion of gastric hydrochloric acid slowly occurring after weaning creates an unfavorable environment for pathogenic microorganisms entering the intestinal portion.
It is also known that pH in the gastro-intestinal system varies according to the portion taken into consideration.
As a matter of fact, stomach has a pH of 2.0-5.0; duodenum has a pH of 4 to 6; jejunum has a pH of 6.0 to 7.0; cecum has a pH of 6.0 to 6.5; and eventually colon has a pH of 6.5 to 7.0.
It is known about the "barrier" effect of the acid environment within the gastric system, acting as an antibacterial defense so as to limit the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria within animals.
In general the acid environment inhibits the growth of bacterial and fungin cells, and some particular types of acids can also contrast the germination and growth of bacterial spores.
However, a microbial resistance to weak organic acids may arise, which can involve various mechanisms.
As far as bacteria are concerned, there is a deep knowledge on their intrinsic mechanisms of inducible resistance against these compounds.
Preservatives can easily get into the cells of gram-positive bacteria whose intrinsic resistance is relatively low for most of them. An exception consists of acid-resistant bacteria (for instance lactic acid producers), which maintain an efficient metabolism also with relatively low cytoplasmic pH values, thus tolerating the accumulation of organic acids within the cell.
In gram-negative bacteria resistance mechanisms are more complicated.
Resistance mechanisms that can be induced in microorganisms have recently been studied more extensively.
It is known that bacterial cells face a lot of factors of potential stresses in their natural "habitat", such as for instance a very low pH value in the stomach or the physiological presence of high amounts of weak organic acids (volatile fatty acids) in the intestine.
Actually, some pathogenic organisms can develop a tolerance feedback to acids consisting in a complex defense system allowing cells to survive in case pH values should sink up to 3. Furthermore, it has also been observed that a tolerance feedback to weak organic acids occurs after the exposition to a pH value below 3.
Such situation can take place and involve among other things an increase of pathogenicity (minimum infecting dose) of some enterobacteriaceae.
Moreover, some bacteria, such as for instance Salmonella typhimurium, can develop a tolerance feedback to acids with pH 3 after a previous exposition to a weak acid with pH 5.
Therefore, there is the need for a composition that can contrast the development and proliferation of pathogenic bacteria and fungi in food and in animals' gastro-intestinal system.
In particular, there is the need for a composition for feeding monogastric animals comprising a controlled release matrix and a selected mixture of active substances, which can contrast the development of unwanted microflora in food.
Furthermore, there is the need for a composition for zootechnical and veterinary use comprising a controlled release matrix and a selected mixture of active substances, which can adjust intestinal microbism so as to contrast the proliferation of unwanted intestinal microflora in animals.
The main aim of the present invention is to provide a composition for feeding monogastric animals comprising a released control matrix and a selected mixture of active substances.
Another aim of the present invention is to provide a method for preparing said composition.
A further aim of the present invention is to provide a particular matrix that can carry and release in a controlled way the components of the selected mixture of active substances within the gastro-intestinal portion of animals including humans.
Finally, a still further aim of the present invention is to provide the use of a matrix that can carry and release a selected mixture of active substances for preparing a composition for treating intestinal dysmicrobism.
These and other aims that will be evident from the following detailed description have been achieved by the Applicant, who has found it useful to prepare a composition for feeding monogastric animals.

Composition for use in animal nutrition comprising a controlled release lipid matrix, method for preparing the composition and method for the treatment of monogastric animals


Embodiments include a portable rechargeable battery pack, system, and external adapter that allow the portable rechargeable battery pack to both power a host device though a set of host contacts and provide power through a set of charging contacts. The portable rechargeable battery pack includes a charge protection circuit that prevents an excessive discharge current through the charging contacts and allows high charge current when charging the portable rechargeable battery pack. A discharge circuit allows a low level discharge current through the charging contacts to provide power to other devices.

Portable rechargeable battery packs are used to power portable devices, particularly portable devices that are in frequent use and use a significant amount of power. For example, portable communication devices, such as cellular phones and portable two-way radios are typically left on so as to be able to receive communications at any time while in use. Such constant power consumption makes the use of primary battery cells (e.g. non-rechargeable) uneconomical, and in such cases the use of rechargeable battery cells is much more cost efficient.
Many portable rechargeable battery packs are designed to be charged while attached to a device powered by the portable rechargeable battery pack, as well as alone (not attached to a device). Accordingly, it is conventional for a portable rechargeable battery pack to have two sets of contacts: a set for providing power to the host device, and a set for charging the portable rechargeable battery pack while the portable rechargeable battery pack is attached to the host device. The set of contacts used to charge the portable rechargeable battery pack can be referred to as the charging contact set, or simply referred to as charging contacts. Charging contacts can be exposed while the portable rechargeable battery pack is attached to a host device, which can expose them to undesirable conditions, such as short circuiting across the positive and negative charging contacts.
To address the issue of exposed charging contacts, portable rechargeable battery packs are typically provided with a charge protection means in the portable rechargeable battery pack that prevents electric current from discharging through the charging contacts, while also being operable to allow a charging current when the portable rechargeable battery pack is being recharged. For example, it is common to place a diode in series between the positive charging contact and the rechargeable battery cell(s) inside the portable rechargeable battery pack to allow charging current into the portable rechargeable battery pack and block current from discharging through the charging contacts.
There has been a continuing demand for portable devices, and hence the need for portable power. Accessories and other devices are presently available which do not need a conventional AC to DC adapter, but do not have their own power source. For example, there are a number of devices that can be powered from a computer, such as a laptop computer, via a universal serial bus (USB) of the computer. Unfortunately, because of the charge protection circuit typically used in such battery packs, the battery packs cannot be used to power accessory devices from the charging contacts.
Accordingly, there is a need for portable rechargeable battery pack, system, and external adapter that allows powering of devices through the charging contacts but without significantly compromising the safety of charge protection at the charging contacts of a portable rechargeable battery pack.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Portable rechargeable battery pack and external adapter for same


An enhanced medical images processing method and a computing device includes: acquiring series of enhanced medical images and detecting a phase of each enhanced medical image in the series of enhanced medical images using a pre-trained 3D convolutional neural network model. A plurality of target enhanced medical images from the enhanced medical image are selected according to the phases. A plurality of interest images is obtained by identifying and segmenting an interest region in each of the plurality of target enhanced medical images, and finally registering the plurality of interest images. The registered images have clear phase markers and are all spatially aligned, allowing a subsequent doctor or clinician to directly use the registered interest images for diagnosis without the need to rescan the patient.

With application of contrast media for clinical purposes, effectiveness of images is enhanced, and accuracy of diagnoses is improved. Medical images obtained by scanning a patient using an image scanning device after intravenous injection of contrast media are called enhanced medical images.
However, some radiologists may identify phase types on the enhanced medical images, and other radiologists do not make the same identification. Even if some of the enhanced medical images are accompanied by text, the accompanying text may be vague, so distinguishing the phase type by the text is difficult. Furthermore, since different enhanced medical images are scanned at different time points, it is difficult to ensure that the enhanced medical images of different phases are spatially aligned even using the same image scanning device. As a result, some clinicians find it difficult to diagnose diseases based on enhanced medical images alone.
A solution for processing the enhanced medical images is required.

Enhanced medical images processing method and computing device


An apparatus and method for a silicon-based Micro-Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) device, including a pair of silicon cover structures each having a substantially smooth and planar contact surface formed thereon; a silicon mechanism structure having a part thereof that is movably suspended relative to a relatively stationary frame portion thereof, the frame portion being formed with substantially parallel and spaced-apart smooth and planar contact surfaces; a relatively rough surface disposed between the contact surfaces of the covers and corresponding surfaces of the movable part of the mechanism structure; and wherein the contact surfaces of the cover structures form silicon fusion bond joints with the respective contact surfaces of the mechanism frame.

Silicon fusion bonding is used commercially to join together two or more silicon wafers, one or more of which may be oxidized.
The details of silicon fusion bonding are well published in the literature.
Silicon fusion bonding uses temperature and pressure to join atomically flat silicon wafers, one or more of which may be oxidized. General requirements for direct wafer fusion bonding include cleanliness and surface chemistry. General requirements for direct wafer fusion bonding also include microscopic smoothness with, and macroscopic flatness with RMS roughness of at most a few Ångströms and significantly less than 1.0 nanometer.
Any two flat, highly polished, clean surfaces will stick together if they are brought into contact. The bond is of the Van der Waal's, or hydrogen type and is of low strength, but can be significantly improved by thermal treatment. This silicon fusion bonding process has been successfully exploited for MEMS fabrication, using silicon-to-silicon fusion bonding with either plain or oxidized wafers.
Compared with anodic bonding, silicon fusion bonding results in exact thermal expansion matching that minimizes stress in bonded wafers; fusion bonded wafers have higher temperature capability whereas anodic bonding is limited by strain point of the glass; and fusion bonded wafers can be used for subsequent IC processing, whereas the anodic bonding process introduces alkali metal ions that cannot be allowed in CMOS processing.
However, surface roughness is a limiting factor in silicon fusion bonding. Surface roughness requirements for silicon fusion bonding is significantly less than 1.0 nanometer, being on the order of only few Ångströms. Fusion bonding of silicon or silicon dioxide requires that both surfaces be highly polished and smooth. If an oxide is deposited on the wafers, surface roughness may be too great to permit effective bonding. Thermal oxidation of the wafers typically results in lower surface roughness.
Wafer flatness or flexibility also limits bonding. If the wafers are warped, then the amount of surface area in close enough proximity is not sufficient to bond. Bowing in normal thickness wafers must be very small, as well as the surface roughness. Thinner wafers tend to deform easier and can overcome bow that thick wafers will not bond to normally.
Another limiting factor is surface chemistry. It is generally accepted that for silicon fusion bonding, hydrogen bonds dominate the strength or degree of bonding. Therefore, cleaning wafers in Piranha clean or another oxidizing bath immediately prior to bonding generally improves bonding.
Methods for fusion bonding of silicon are generally well-known. State-of-the-art silicon fusion bonding processes are disclosed, by example, in each of U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,671, "Fusion bonding technique for use in fabricating semiconductor devices;" U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,205; "Method and apparatus for silicon fusion bonding of silicon substrates using wet oxygen atmosphere;" and U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,465, "Miniature gauge pressure sensor using silicon fusion bonding and back etching," which are all incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,671, for example, teaches a method for fabricating silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers by fusion bonding two silicon wafers.
Silicon fusion bonding is used in manufacture of Micro-Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) devices, of which monolithic silicon based sensors and actuators are subsets. MEMS silicon based sensor and actuator devices are generally well-known.
FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of a generic MEMS device 1 of the prior art having one or more movable parts, such as a movable pendulum. As illustrated, the MEMS device 1 includes a silicon mechanism structure 2 sandwiched between two silicon substrates 3, 4 that form respective covers 5, 6 over the mechanism structure 2. The mechanism structure 2 may be formed of an epitaxial layer of silicon grown on one of the two silicon substrates 3, 4 that form the cover 5, 6, for example the silicon substrate 3 that form the lower cover 5. The mechanism structure 2 often includes one or more movable parts 7 such as a movable pendulum that is flexibly suspended by one or more flexures 8 from a relatively stationary frame 9 portion of the mechanism structure 2. The silicon mechanism structure 2 is often fusion bonded to the second of the two silicon substrates 3, 4, shown as the silicon substrate 4 that forms the upper cover 6.
Silicon fusion bond joints B are often formed between one or both of the substrates 3, 4 and respective opposing surfaces 10, 11 of the mechanism structure 2 to form the covers 5, 6 of the MEMS device 1. Accordingly, respective surfaces 12, 13 of the substrates 3, 4 to be silicon fusion bonded are machined flat and highly polished to a mirror smooth finish of only few Ångströms that is suitable for silicon fusion bonding, as is known in the art.
As illustrated, one or both of the two silicon substrates 3, 4 that form the covers 5, 6 is formed with a respective depression 14, 15 that is recessed into a respective surface 12, 13 of the substrates 3, 4. The depressions 14, 15 are positioned to provide clearance for the flexibly suspended movable pendulum or other movable part 7 to move either in-plane or out-of-plane with respect to the relatively stationary frame 9 portion of the mechanism structure 2. The depressions 14, 15 are formed in a controlled manner to a depth D of a few microns to as little as a fraction of a micron to provided the necessary clearance.
According to state-of-the-art fabrication methods known in the prior art, the one or more depressions 14, 15 are typically formed by a slow and well-controlled etch process that permits precise control of the depression depths D. Such precise depth control is obtained by either isotropically or anistropically etching in a suitable etchant, such as potassium hydroxide (KOH) for anistropically etching. Wet etching in KOH is a slow and well-controlled process that permits very precise control of the depth D of the depressions 14, 15. The slow and well-controlled KOH etch process also results in a mirror smooth finish of only few Ångströms on respective floor surfaces 16, 17 of the depressions 14, 15.
FIG. 2 illustrates that the mirror smooth finish of floor surfaces 16, 17 of the depressions 14, 15 tends to be a drawback when the mechanism structure 2 is formed with one or more of the movable parts 7. For some applications requiring a high degree of sensitivity, the one or more flexures 8 are sufficiently compliant as to permit the movable part 7 to droop or sag toward one of the covers 5, 6 when the device is not powered. During fabrication, at the operation of fusion bonding the silicon mechanism structure 2 with one or both of the cover substrates 3, 4, droop or sag of the movable part 7 may permit one surface 18, 19 thereof to contact the opposing floor surface 16, 17 of the corresponding depression 14, 15 in the respective cover substrates 3, 4.
One drawback of the mirror smooth finish of floor surfaces 16, 17 of the depressions 14, 15 is that very shallow depressions 14, 15 having a depth D of only a fraction of a micron may permit sufficient contact area between one of the movable part surfaces 18, 19 and the floor surface 16, 17 of the corresponding depression 14, 15 that silicon fusion bonding occurs therebetween during fusion bonding of the mirror finished mechanism surfaces 10, 11 to the respective surfaces 12, 13 of the substrates 3, 4. Thus, a partial or even full silicon fusion bond joint F is developed between the movable part 7 and one of the covers 5, 6 as a result of the mirror smooth finish of floor surfaces 16, 17 of the depressions 14, 15, whereby the movable part 7 is rendered immovable.

Surface preparation for selective silicon fusion bonding


An N×N multiplier may include a N/2×N first multiplier, a N/2×N/2 second multiplier, and a N/2×N/2 third multiplier. The N×N multiplier receives two operands to multiply. The first, second and/or third multipliers are selectively disabled if an operand equals zero or has a small value. If the operands are both less than 2N/2, the second or the third multiplier are used to multiply the operands. If one operand is less than 2N/2 and the other operand is equal to or greater than 2N/2, the first multiplier is used or the second and third multipliers are used to multiply the operands. If both operands are equal to or greater than 2N/2, the first, second and third multipliers are used to multiply the operands.

Neural-network models typically have many weights that are zeros (e.g., 50%) and many activations are zeros (e.g., 50%-90%). Accordingly, power may be saved by not performing any multiply-by-zero operations. Additionally, the absolute values of the weights and the activations of neural-network models are typically close to zero. For example, typically 95% of non-zero 8-bit multiply operations includes at least one operand having abs (w)≤15 or abs(a)≤15. Power may also be saved by taking advantage of the absolute values of the weights and activations that are close to zero.

Signed multiplication using unsigned multiplier with dynamic fine-grained operand isolation


Methods, systems and apparatus, including computer program products are described for ranking content items identified by a search engine and delivering corresponding search results. In one aspect, search engine user language preference data is stored in association with user content item selection records. Analysis of the records is performed to identify content items that appeal to users having common language preferences. Query results can be ranked based on the language preference of the current user and/or the user's query and data derived from the selection records.

This specification relates to improving language-specific search results provided by a search engine.
Search engines accept query parameters including search words or phrases and return information identifying one or more results. Each result is a content item (e.g., a word processing document, a web page, a text file, an image, a multimedia file, or the like) that matches the query parameters. The content items are generally identified by searching an index of available items for ones that match the query parameters. In the case of an Internet search engine, the index covers a large number of content items, many of which are hypertext documents on the world wide web (the "web"). Information about the content items is collected from servers that host the content items in numerous countries and have content in many different languages.
A search engine can implement a number of strategies for ranking identified results. For example, a search engine user may specify a preferred language in which the user prefers identified results to be written. The user's preference can be specified explicitly, in a query parameter, for example, or in profile information provided by the user. Based on the preferred language, the ranking of identified results can be modified to return documents or other content items corresponding to the specified language.


An optical fibre is manufactured by stretching a rod-shaped initial preform, after which a cladding tube is melted on the initial preform and the final preform thus obtained is drawn into an optical fibre. A narrow and hot softening zone is used to stretch the initial preform, which softening zone is obtained, for example, by means of a plasma torch 2. By virtue thereof, the stretching process can be controlled in a rapid and simple manner.

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing an optical fibre, in which method a rod-shaped initial preform having a core and a cladding surrounding this core is manufactured, the refractive index of the cladding being lower than that of the core, after which the initial preform is stretched by creating a softening zone in the initial preform, which softening zone is moved longitudinally along the initial preform, after which at least one cladding tube is melted on the initial preform and the final preform thus obtained is drawn into an optical fibre.
The term optical fibre is to be understood to mean a fibre of glass or quartz glass such as used for, for example, telecommunication purposes.
Such a method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,101, in which an initial preform is used which is manufactured by the vapour phase axial deposition (VAD) method. However, the method according to the invention can also be applied using initial preforms which are manufactured by different methods which are known per se, for example by a method in which a tube is internally clad by means of chemical deposition from the vapour phase (CVD or MCVD) or by plasma-activated chemical deposition from the vapour phase (PCVD) after which the tube is collapsed to manufacture a solid initial preform. According to said United States Patent, a hydrogen-oxygen torch or a heating furnace is used to create a softening zone in the initial preform while the initial preform is being stretched. The stretching process and the control thereof are further described by D. H. Smithgall and R. E. Frazee in Journal of Lightwave Technology, LT-5 (12), on pages 1755-1762 (1987).
A disadvantage of the known method is that it is slow and it requires the temperature and the velocities to be accurately adjusted. The hydrogen-oxygen flame is comparatively wide and produces a softening zone having a length of 10 to 12 cm. The temperature in the softening zone generally ranges from 1800.degree. C. to 2000.degree. C. and may reach 2200.degree. C. A narrower and hotter flame cannot suitably be used due to the occurrence of burn-off losses caused by convective, turbulent gas streams around the softening zone. This leads to loss of material and may result in an irregularly shaped initial preform.

Method of manufacturing an optical fibre


The present disclosure provides a method, system and a computer program product for remote sensing. The method, system and the computer program product include a vehicle including a plurality of sensors configured to measure position and pose of the vehicle and to collect spatial data of a discovered object. In addition, the method, system and a computer program product include a storage having an object model database, a processor and a memory. The memory includes a comparison engine configured to compare the discovered object spatial data with spatial data in the object model database and a position and pose calculator arranged to calculate position and pose of the vehicle from the discovered object spatial data when the discovered object spatial data matches spatial data of a model object in the object model database.

With the advancement in technology, there has been increasing interest in collecting data from flying vehicles. Examples of flying vehicles include but is not limited to airplane, helicopter, unmanned aerial vehicle, satellite, balloon (hereinafter jointly referred to as UAV). Flying vehicles offer significant advantage over ground based sensing of mobility by providing an ability to be deployed remotely and to quickly and easily cover large areas. This capability allows acquiring remote intelligence from a safe standoff distance and offers a unique data collection tool. Data can be obtained for different real life events from these flying vehicles. For example, data can be collected to monitor physical properties of a power line network, measure forest growth, and measure construction of houses, analyze moving objects, initialize weapons and the like. Data can be spatial (geometrical) information of real world objects present in geographical area and can be collected by arrangement of sensors in flying vehicles. Collected data can include positioning data, observation data and the like. Positioning data includes but is not limited to WGS-84 (GPS coordinates) including altitude or relative position and pose to one or more objects or to one or more other UAV's. On the other hand, observation data includes but is not limited to information collected by cameras (2D, 3D, infrared, high definition, high frequency and the like), and measurements from temperature sensor, Lidar, audio sensor and X-rays.
A typical system for the above stated requirement includes a UAV to collect positioning and observation data and storage medium (SSD, flash memory, CD-ROM, hard disk and the like) to store the collected data. However, in the traditional system, the data needs to be transmitted physically for analysis, as no communication device is capable of handling the large amount of data frequently on the order of tens of terabytes. Moreover, the speed of data collected by multiple sensor devices in flying vehicles is not compatible with the current communication systems. In addition, the present systems do not allow error correction in the measured data during the collection of the observations. Further, the systems do not allow real time analysis of data and thus only provide static analyses after the fact. This eliminates the possibility of making quick analysis to enable a reaction analysis results in real time.
In addition, due to multiple steps required in long processing cycle, manual intervention for handling and analysis of data is required. However, manual intervention may result in quality risks, long delays in processing, and other similar problems.


A system and method for capturing an image of a physical space and designing a multidimensional artificial depiction of design option modifications thereto, using a mobile device or computer, using AR. The system includes CR software programs to identify and segment surfaces and objects in the physical and multidimensional artificial spaces; to determine lighting in the spaces, and to map locations into 3D depictions. Also included is a user interface to provide user input and computer feedback, a user control component to change at least two features within the depiction thus generating an overlay of the multidimensional artificial space as to the physical space.

The subject matter described herein relates generally to computer augmented reality (AR) applied to home and landscaping, involving segmentation and related applications. More specifically, it relates to mobile or other computer applications that allow users to depict realistic "before and after" representations of their home design or remodeling projects by virtually modifying multiple surfaces and objects, e.g., in their home or landscape with ones they select, easily and quickly, in real time.
Designing a home, small business office or laying out a landscape is often an emotionally- and/or economically-taxing investment which can be difficult, time consuming and easily prone to mistake. It is difficult for the homeowner, for example, to visualize the eventual transformation of their home or landscape before beginning their remodeling or design project. Typically, the process involves going to the paint, nursery (or other) store, bringing home several swatches of paint, flooring, countertops, tile, plant pictures, etc. to lay around the house or yard. Even then, it is extremely difficult to accurately imagine how these finishes will look when actually applied. Such home, business or landscape remodeling projects are often costly and budget sensitive. Ideally, therefore, customers desire greater certainty as to what the outcome will look like before they spend their money and begin such projects.
This is important, of course, to contractors, interior designers, architects and real estate agents regularly impacted by such endeavors. Even more so these days, there is such an ever-growing legion of "do it yourselfers", that they now merit their own acronym—"DIYers". Whether a DIYer or a professional, all desire to experience a realistic "before and after" transformation effect, but doing so currently requires expensive computer programs that are time consuming, not always reliable and not readily accessible. These programs are also very limited in their capacities, do not translate readily to mobile devices, and are unable to rapidly change, so DIYers and others involved in such efforts cannot easily view multiple changes of design options in real-time or even relatively quickly.
Additionally, once they have selected the design elements they want in their home, office or landscape, customers desire to have a simple and convenient way to purchase their materials, and hire any necessary labor or professionals for their project. Moreover, they want to be in position to receive suggestions on such decision-making. The DIYer and others involved in this endeavor are looking for a solution that provides them with the experience, finances, timing and commitment to make this a seamless and more enjoyable process.
However, the inability of traditional augmented reality systems to "think" with human dexterity and to process with anything approaching real time speed has been an obstacle to providing for rapid, realistic transformational depictions.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system, computer program product and a method which provides for mobile and other computer applications that allow users to virtually modify multiple surfaces and objects, e.g., in their home or landscape with ones they select, easily and quickly, accurately, and in real time.

Pattern recognition systems and methods for performing segmentation on surfaces and objects