Methods, compositions, and kits for separating heteroduplex and homoduplex DNA molecules in a test mixture by temperature-compression denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (tcDHPLC). The method includes use of nitrogen-containing additives in the mobile phase that allow detection of diverse heteroduplex molecules to be performed at the same pre-selected temperature. An example of a preferred additive is betaine. Standard mixtures of DNA fragments, such as mutation standards containing known heteroduplex and homoduplex molecules, can be used to select the concentration of additive and temperature. Compositions and kits including the mobile phase, mutation standards, PCR primers, separation media, and DNA polymerase are also provided.

The ability to detect mutations in double stranded polynucleotides, and especially in DNA fragments, is of great importance in medicine, as well as in the physical and social sciences. The Human Genome Project is providing an enormous amount of genetic information which is setting new criteria for evaluating the links between mutations and human disorders (Guyer et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 92:10841 (1995)). The ultimate source of disease, for example, is described by genetic code that differs from wild type (Cotton, TIG 13:43 (1997)). Understanding the genetic basis of disease can be the starting point for a cure. Similarly, determination of differences in genetic code can provide powerful and perhaps definitive insights into the study of evolution and populations (Cooper, et. al., Human Genetics vol. 69:201 (1985)).
Understanding these and other issues related to genetic coding is based on the ability to identify anomalies, i.e., mutations, in a DNA fragment relative to the wild type. A need exists, therefore, for a methodology to detect mutations in an accurate, reproducible and reliable manner.
DNA molecules are polymers comprising sub-units called deoxynucleotides. The four deoxynucleotides found in DNA comprise a common cyclic sugar, deoxyribose, which is covalently bonded to any of the four bases, adenine (a purine), guanine (a purine), cytosine (a pyrimidine), and thymine (a pyrimidine), hereinbelow referred to as A, G, C, and T respectively. A phosphate group links a 3′-hydroxyl of one deoxynucleotide with the 5′-hydroxyl of another deoxynucleotide to form a polymeric chain. In double stranded DNA, two strands are held together in a helical structure by hydrogen bonds between, what are called, complementary bases. The complementarity of bases is determined by their chemical structures. In double stranded DNA, each A pairs with a T and each G pairs with a C, i.e., a purine pairs with a pyrimidine. Ideally, DNA is replicated in exact copies by DNA polymerases during cell division in the human body or in other living organisms.
Sometimes, exact replication fails and an incorrect base pairing occurs, which after further replication of the new strand results in double stranded DNA offspring containing a heritable difference in the base sequence from that of the parent. Such heritable changes in base pair sequence are called mutations.
In the present invention, double stranded DNA is referred to as a duplex. When the base sequence of one strand is entirely complementary to base sequence of the other strand, the duplex is called a homoduplex. When a duplex contains at least one base pair which is not complementary, the duplex is called a heteroduplex. A heteroduplex can be formed during DNA replication when an error is made by a DNA polymerase enzyme and a non-complementary base is added to a polynucleotide chain being replicated. A heteroduplex can also be formed during repair of a DNA lesion. Further replications of a heteroduplex will, ideally, produce homoduplexes which are heterozygous, i.e., these homoduplexes will have an altered sequence compared to the original parent DNA strand. When the parent DNA has the sequence which predominates in a natural population it is generally called the "wild type."
Many different types of DNA mutations are known. Examples of DNA mutations include, but are not limited to, "point mutation" or "single base pair mutations" wherein an incorrect base pairing occurs. The most common point mutations comprise "transitions" wherein one purine or pyrimidine base is replaced for another and "transversions" wherein a purine is substituted for a pyrimidine (and visa versa). Point mutations also comprise mutations wherein a base is added or deleted from a DNA chain. Such "insertions" or "deletions" are also known as "frameshift mutations". Although they occur with less frequency than point mutations, larger mutations affecting multiple base pairs can also occur and may be important. A more detailed discussion of mutations can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,039 to Modrich (1995), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,400 to Cotton (1997). These references and the references contained therein are incorporated in their entireties herein.
The sequence of base pairs in DNA codes for the production of proteins. In particular, a DNA sequence in the exon portion of a DNA chain codes for a corresponding amino acid sequence in a protein. Therefore, a mutation in a DNA sequence may result in an alteration in the amino acid sequence of a protein. Such an alteration in the amino acid sequence may be completely benign or may inactivate a protein or alter its function to be life threatening or fatal. Intronic mutations at splice sites may also be causative of disease (e.g. β-thalassemia). Mutation detection in an intron section may be important by causing altered splicing of mRNA transcribed from the DNA, and may be useful, for example, in a forensic investigation.
Detection of mutations is, therefore, of great interest and importance in diagnosing diseases, understanding the origins of disease and the development of potential treatments. Detection of mutations and identification of similarities or differences in DNA samples is also of critical importance in increasing the world food supply by developing diseases resistant and/or higher yielding crop strains, in forensic science, in the study of evolution and populations, and in scientific research in general (Guyer et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 92:10841 (1995); Cotton, TIG 13:43 (1997)). These references and the references contained therein are incorporated in their entireties herein.
Analysis of DNA samples has historically been done using gel electrophoresis. Capillary electrophoresis has been used to separate and analyze mixtures of DNA. However, these methods cannot distinguish point mutations from homoduplexes having the same base pair length.
Recently, a chromatographic method called ion-pair reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (IP-RP-HPLC), also referred to as Matched Ion Polynucleotide Chromatography (MIPC), was introduced to effectively separate mixtures of double stranded polynucleotides, in general and DNA, in particular, wherein the separations are based on base pair length (Huber, et al., Chromatographia 37:653 (1993); Huber, et al., Anal. Biochem. 212:351 (1993); U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,585,236; 5,772,889; 5,972,222; 5,986,085; 5,997,742; 6,017,457; 6,030,527; 6,056,877; 6,066,258; 6,210,885; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/129,105 filed Aug. 4, 1998.
As the use and understanding of IP-RP-HPLC developed it became apparent that when IP-RP-HPLC analyses were carried out at a partially denaturing temperature, i.e., a temperature sufficient to denature a heteroduplex at the site of base pair mismatch, homoduplexes could be separated from heteroduplexes having the same base pair length (Hayward-Lester, et al., Genome Research 5:494 (1995); Underhill, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 93:193 (1996); Doris, et al., DHPLC Workshop, Stanford University, (1997)). Thus, the use of denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) was applied to mutation detection (Underhill, et al., Genome Research 7:996 (1997); Liu, et al., Nucleic Acid Res., 26;1396 (1998)). These chromatographic methods are generally used to detect whether or not a mutation exists in a test DNA fragment.
DHPLC, as known in the art, provides a method for separating heteroduplex and homoduplex nucleic acid molecules (e.g., DNA or RNA) in a mixture using high performance liquid chromatography. In the separation method, a mixture containing both heteroduplex and homoduplex nucleic acid molecules is applied to a stationary reverse-phase support. The sample mixture is then eluted with a mobile phase containing an ion-pairing reagent and an organic solvent. Sample elution is carried out under conditions effective to at least partially denature the heteroduplexes and results in the separation, or at least partial separation, of the heteroduplex and homoduplex molecules.
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are thought to be ideally suited as genetic markers for establishing genetic linkage and as indicators of genetic diseases (Landegre et al. Science 242:229–237 (1988)). In some cases a single SNP is responsible for a genetic disease. According to estimates the human genome may contain over 3 million SNPs. Due to their propensity they lend themselves to very high resolution genotyping. The SNP consortium, a joint effort of 10 major pharmaceutical companies, has announced the development of 300,000 SNP markers and their placement in the public domain by mid 2001.
The efficiency of DHPLC for detection of novel mutations (frequently termed scanning) has been quantified by several authors. Results ranged from 87% detection when a single-temperature analysis was used without any amplicon design (Cargill, et al. Nature Genet. 22:231–238 (1999)) to 100% detection in a blinded study of many polymorphisms within a single, well-behaved amplicon (O'Donovan et al., Genomics 52:44–49 (1998)). Comparisons with single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) (Choy et al., Ann. Hum. Genet. 63:383–391 (1999); Gross et al., Hum. Genet. 105:72–78 (1999); Dobson-Stone et al., Eur. J. Hum. Genet. 8:24–32. (2000)) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) (Skopek et al., Mutat. Res. 430:13–21 (1999)) have shown DHPLC to have a superior detection rate, whereas most recently DHPLC has been shown to detect mutations reliably in BRCA1 and BRCA2 (Wagner et al., Genomics 62:369–376 (1999)).
The ability of DHPLC to detect mutations may be less than 100% in some cases, for example if a mutation site is within a region having high GC content. There is a need for methods, compositions, and devices for improving the ability of DHPLC to detect such mutations.
In DHPLC, the required analysis temperature depends on the sequence of the fragment and on the position of the mutation. DHPLC analysis is typically run at an elevated column temperature (e.g. in the range of about 50° C. to about 80° C.) with the temperature being thermostatically controlled. As described in the prior art (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,287,882 and 6,103,112), it is preferred to maintain the temperature control within a range of +0.1° C. in order to reliably detect heteroduplexes. However, this requirement increases the cost and complexity of the column temperature control system. For multiple different DNA samples, the column oven must be adjusted for each sample, thus potentially slowing down sample throughput.
Algorithms and software for predicting the temperature for conducting DHPLC have been described (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,795,976; 6,197,516; 6,287,882; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/469,551 filed Dec. 22, 1999) and are available commercially (Wavemaker® software and Navigator™ software (Transgenomic)) and on the World Wide Web (http://insertion.stanford.edu/melt.html). These programs require that the user input the sequence of the DNA being analyzed. Additional empirical analyses often must be performed, below and above the predicted temperature value, in order to arrive at a suitable temperature for detecting heteroduplexes.
There is a need for DHPLC methods, compositions and systems that minimize the requirement for costly column temperature control devices. There is a need for eliminating the requirement for using a separate column temperature for each fragment being analyzed. There is a need for methods and compositions that can avoid the use of costly software for temperature prediction, and that can avoid the need for conducting multiple empirical analyses.

Methods and compositions for mutation analysis of polynucleotides by liquid chromatography


A data document is constructed by attaching a set of child nodes, selected from nodes in an existing data document or a document fragment, at an update location, which is a node in the existing data document or the document fragment that is identified by a navigation path. When the update command is a merge, one or mode nodes (“merge nodes”) in the document fragment are identified as update locations, and the nodes in the existing data document are merged as child nodes of the merge nodes in the document fragment. When the update command is a join, a node (“join node”) in the existing data document is identified as the update location, and an ordered list specifies which nodes in the existing data document and which nodes in the document fragment are to be joined as the set of child nodes for the join node. The join and merge update commands, navigation paths, and document fragments may transmitted as a series of fragment update units to construct the data document.

Digital multimedia information is becoming widely distributed though broadcast transmission, such as digital television signals, and interactive transmission, such as the Internet. The information may be in still images, audio feeds, or video data streams. However, the availability of such a large volume of information has led to difficulties in identifying content that is of particular interest to a user. Various organizations have attempted to deal with the problem by providing a description of the information that can be used to search, filter and/or browse to locate particular content. The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) has promulgated a Multimedia Content Description Interface standard, commonly referred to as MPEG-7, to standardize the content descriptions for multimedia information. In contrast to preceding MPEG standards such as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, which define coded representations of audio-visual content, an MPEG-7 content description describes the structure and semantics of the content and not the content itself.
Using a movie as an example, a corresponding MPEG-7 content description would contain "descriptors" (D), which are components that describe the features of the movie, such as titles for scenes, shots within scenes, time, color, shape, motion, and audio information for the shots. The content description would also contain one or more "description schemes" (DS), which are components that describe relationships among two or more descriptors and/or description schemes, such as a shot description scheme that relates together the features of a shot. A description scheme can also describe the relationship among other description schemes, and between description schemes and descriptors, such as a scene description scheme that relates the different shots in a scene, and relates the title feature of the scene to the shots.
MPEG-7 uses a Data Definition Language (DDL) that specifies the language for defining the standard set of description tools (DS, D) and for defining new description tools and provides a core set of descriptors and description schemes. The DDL definitions for a set of descriptors and description schemes are organized into "schemas" for different classes of content. The DDL definition for each descriptor in a schema specifies the syntax and semantics of the corresponding feature. The DDL definition for each description scheme in a schema specifies the structure and semantics of the relationships among its children components, the descriptors and description schemes. The DDL may be used to modify and extend the existing description schemes and create new description schemes and descriptors.
The MPEG-7 DDL is based on XML (extensible markup language) and the XML Schema standards. The descriptors, description schemes, semantics, syntax, and structures are represented with XML elements and XML attributes. Some of the XML elements and attributes may be optional.
The MPEG-7 content description for a particular piece of content is defined as an instance of an MPEG-7 schema; that is, it contains data that adheres to the syntax and semantics defined in the schema. The content description is encoded in an "instance document" that references the appropriate schema. The instance document contains a set of "descriptor values" for the required elements and attributes defined in the schema, and for any necessary optional elements and/or attributes. For example, some of the descriptor values for a particular movie might specify that the movie has three scenes, with scene one having six shots, scene two having five shots, and scene three having ten shots. The instance document may be encoded in a textual format using XML, or in a binary format, such as the binary format specified for MPEG-7 data, known as "BiM," or a mixture of the two formats.
The instance document is transmitted through a communication channel, such as a computer network, to another system that uses the content description data contained in the instance document to search, filter and/or browse the corresponding content data stream. Typically, the instance document is compressed for faster transmission. An encoder component may both encode and compress the instance document or the functions may be performed by different components. Furthermore, the instance document may be generated by one system and subsequently transmitted by a different system. A corresponding decoder component at the receiving system uses the referenced schema to decode the instance document. The schema may be transmitted to the decoder separately from the instance document, as part of the same transmission, or obtained by the receiving system from another source. Alternatively, certain schemas may be incorporated into the decoder.
Although compression can reduce transmission time by decreasing the size of the instance document, if the description is large, transmitting the entire content description over a network can still take too much time. Therefore, only portions of the instance document may be transmitted to conserve bandwidth. In general, a content description can be modeled as a tree that is composed of a set of sub-trees or fragments. The determination of which fragments to send is application dependent.
A content description may be updated by adding, deleting or replacing description fragments, i.e., descriptors and description schemes, and/or attributes within fragments. The updates are transmitted to the receiving system through a series of packets, or "access units" in the MPEG-7 standard, that contain one or more fragment update units. The decoder on the receiving system updates its existing content description by applying the information in the fragment update units. Typically a fragment update unit consists of a navigation path that directs the decoder to the appropriate locations in the description tree to apply the update, an update command that specifies the type of update to execute, i.e., add, delete, replace, and a fragment payload that identifies the update value for an add or replace command. Because every current update command must specify the correct path to the update locations, the encoder must have prior knowledge of the description tree stored in the decoder before creating and transmitting the fragment update units. Thus, the current fragment update units can only construct the description tree at the decoder from the top down.

Incremental bottom-up construction of data documents


A recognition method for alpha-numeric strings in a Chinese speech recognition system, uses a special coding scheme to map each of 36 alpha-numeric symbols into an easily remembered Chinese idiom or word consisting of a multiple of Chinese characters. When representing a numeral, each idiom/word starts with the Chinese character for that numeral. When representing an English alphabet letter, each idiom/word will have a first character which starts with that English alphabet letter in its Pinyin form. If it is necessary to include some control words, idiom/words similar in semantics can be used. The method resolves the problem of unreliable recognition when a string of random alpha-numeric symbols or some control words are inputted by voice to a Chinese speech recognition system.

With the advance of modern science and computer technology, the information exchange between human beings and computers is becoming more important. Traditional way of such communication is via a keyboard for input, and via a display or printer for output. When inputting Chinese characters, one needs to remember the coding scheme, which is very inconvenient. If a computer can have the ability of communicating through speech like human beings, then a dialog based on voice would be possible. This will change the man-machine communication fundamentally, and the overall efficiency of information processing will be greatly increased. Presently, with the great efforts of computer scientists, different types of speech recognition systems, and in particular, Chinese speech recognition systems, have been developed.
Since a Chinese character generally has several homonyms and near homonyms, existing Chinese speech recognition systems rely on word, phrase, and higher language level information to resolve the ambiguities in Chinese characters. One generally uses an acoustic model to determine what is the most likely character according to the inputted syllable, and also uses the dictionary with probabilities and the language model where stores the higher level pattern of language usage to resolve the ambiguity of Chinese characters.
However, the recognition of a single Chinese character out of context is very difficult, and typically it may be recognized as any one of a set of characters with same of similar pronunciations. In particular, when inputting Arabic numerals or isolated English alphabets into a Chinese speech recognition system via voice, there is no way to distinguish them from Chinese characters which have the same or similar pronunciations. Generally speaking, Chinese speech recognition systems are typically not trained to recognize English alphabets, and people may pronounce English alphabet letters quite differently.
In summary, a method for reliably recognizing alpha-numeric sequences in a Chinese speech recognition system is needed.

Method for recognizing alpha-numeric strings in a Chinese speech recognition system

International Business Machines Corporation


A hinge structure rotatably connects a first member and a second member, and includes a first shaft provided in the first member; a support portion provided in the second member; a bottomed first hole concaved on a side face of the support portion; a second shaft projected on a bottom portion of the first hole; a second hole concaved on an end face of the first shaft, and rotatably receiving an end portion of the second shaft; a first groove concaved on the side face of the support portion and extending in a radial direction of the first hole; and a second groove concaved on the end face of the first shaft and extending in a radial direction of the second hole. When the first member and the second member are assembled, the first shaft passes through the first groove, and the second shaft passes through the second groove.

In order to attach a lid closing an opening to a base member including the opening openably and closably, the hinge structure is sometimes used. For example, in Patent Document 1, in order to attach a glove box to an instrument panel openably and closably, there is provided a support shaft in the instrument panel, and there is provided a cylindrical portion (a bearing portion) axially supported by the support shaft in the glove box. In the hinge structure, the cylindrical portion is formed in a C shape including a slit extending in a longitudinal direction. The cylindrical portion elastically deforms in a direction of opening the slit, and can receive the support shaft from a radial direction thereof. Thereby, the glove box and the instrument panel can be assembled by an operation of pushing the glove box to an instrument panel side, so that an assembly work becomes easier.
Also, the hinge structure according to Patent Document 2 includes a pair of support shafts provided coaxially to each other and disposed such that end portions face each other through a predetermined gap; a pair of U-shaped grooves (bearing portions) respectively receiving each support shaft; and a locking piece disposed between the pair of U-shaped grooves, passing through between the pair of support shafts to lock end edges of both support shafts, and having flexibility. When each support shaft is inserted into each U-shaped groove, at least one of each support shaft or the locking piece elastically deforms, and the locking piece passes through between the support shafts. When each support shaft is disposed at a predetermined position of each U-shaped groove, the locking piece returns to an initial shape by an elastic force to lock each support shaft. The locking piece locks each support shaft, so that each support shaft is maintained within the U-shaped groove. As with the hinge structure according to the Patent Document 1, the hinge structure according to the Patent Document 2 can also receive the support shaft in the U-shaped groove from the radial direction thereof so as to have excellent assembly workability.


A query engine (or optimizer) which supports database queries having user-defined functions maintains historical execution data with respect to each of multiple user-defined functions. The historical execution data is dynamically updated based on query execution performance. When executing a query having user-defined functions, the query engine uses the historical execution data to predict an optimal evaluation ordering for the query conditions and, preferably, to dynamically adjust the evaluation order when appropriate. Preferably, the historical execution data includes historical execution time of the user-defined function and proportion of evaluated records which satisfied the query parameters.

In the latter half of the twentieth century, there began a phenomenon known as the information revolution. While the information revolution is a historical development broader in scope than any one event or machine, no single device has come to represent the information revolution more than the digital electronic computer. The development of computer systems has surely been a revolution. Each year, computer systems grow faster, store more data, and provide more applications to their users.
A modern computer system typically comprises hardware in the form of one or more central processing units (CPU) for processing instructions, memory for storing instructions and other data, and other supporting hardware necessary to transfer information, communicate with the external world, and so forth. From the standpoint of the computer's hardware, most systems operate in fundamentally the same manner. Processors are capable of performing a limited set of very simple operations, such as arithmetic, logical comparisons, and movement of data from one location to another. But each operation is performed very quickly. Programs which direct a computer to perform massive numbers of these simple operations give the illusion that the computer is doing something sophisticated. What is perceived by the user as a new or improved capability of a computer system is made possible by performing essentially the same set of very simple operations, but doing it much faster. Therefore continuing improvements to computer systems require that these systems be made ever faster.
The overall speed at which a computer system performs day-to-day tasks (also called "throughput") can be increased by making various improvements to the computer's hardware design, which in one way or another increase the average number of simple operations performed per unit of time. The overall speed of the system can also be increased by making algorithmic improvements to the system design, and particularly, to the design of software executing on the system. Unlike most hardware improvements, many algorithmic improvements to software increase the throughput not by increasing the average number of operations executed per unit time, but by reducing the total number of operations which must be executed to perform a given task.
Complex systems may be used to support a variety of applications, but one common use is the maintenance of large databases, from which information may be obtained. Large databases usually support some form of database query for obtaining information which is extracted from selected database fields and records. Such queries can consume significant system resources, particularly processor resources, and the speed at which queries are performed can have a substantial influence on the overall system throughput.
Conceptually, a database may be viewed as one or more tables of information, each table having a large number of entries (analogous to row of a table), each entry having multiple respective data fields (analogous to columns of the table). The function of a database query is to find all rows, for which the data in the columns of the row matches some set of parameters defined by the query. A query may be as simple as matching a single column field to a specified value, but is often far more complex, involving multiple field values and logical conditions.
To support queries, a database typically includes one or more indexes for some of the database fields. An index is a sorting of the records in one of the database tables according to the value of a corresponding field. For example, if the database table contains records about people, one of the fields may contain a birthdate, and a corresponding index contains a sorting of the records by birthdate. If a query requests the records of all persons born before a particular date, the sorted index is used to find the responsive records, without the need to examine each and every record to determine whether there is a match. A well-designed database typically contains a respective index for each field having an ordered value which is likely to be used in queries.
Execution of a query involves retrieving and examining records in the database according to some search strategy. For any given logical query, not all search strategies are equal. Various factors may affect the choice of optimum search strategy. In particular, where a logical AND of multiple conditions is specified, the sequential order in which the conditions are evaluated can make a significant difference in the time required to execute the query. The reason for this difference is that the first evaluated condition is evaluated with respect to all the records in a database table, but a later evaluated condition need only be evaluated with respect to the subset of records for which the first condition was true. Similarly, for a query involving a multiple conditions conjoined by a logical OR, a later evaluated condition need only be evaluated with respect to the subset of records for which an earlier condition was false.
To support database queries, large databases typically include a query engine which executes the queries according to some automatically selected search strategy, using the known characteristics of the database and other factors. Some large database applications further have query optimizers which construct search strategies, and save the query and its corresponding search strategy for reuse.
A query engine or optimizer can use the indexes and other known characteristics of the database provided by the database designer. However, many large databases further support the use of user-defined functions in the database queries. As used herein, a user-defined function includes any of various functions or procedures which may be embedded in a query to provide additional capability beyond mere comparison of values from database fields. One form of user-defined function is computer programming code, written by the user in any of various general programming languages, which returns a value in response to one or more input parameters from a database record. Such a user-defined function may accept one or more input parameters (often database field values), which are passed with the call to the function. Although the external interface is via the passed parameter(s) and the returned value(s), a user defined function behaves internally as any other computer programming code. It may have arbitrary complexity, including loops, branches, calls to other functions and procedures, etc. Another form of user-defined function is a stored procedure, which is a special procedure built through Structured Query Language (SQL), a well-known set of database query syntax supported by many database applications. A user defined function might also be a sub-query, i.e., a query (set of query conditions) within a query, which is usually re-used for different queries, and provides the capability to define queries of added complexity. A user-defined function may have arbitrary complexity. The database designer does not know in advance what the user-defined functions will be, and since these are under control of the user, it is difficult or impossible to construct indexes for user-defined function values.
Because most user-defined functions involve complex evaluations which take longer to execute than straightforward matching of query parameters to database field values, conventional query engines and optimizers typically evaluate user-defined functions last. I.e., any conditions other than user-defined functions are evaluated first in order to reduce the subset of records which must be evaluated using the user-defined function.
If a query contains multiple user-defined functions, a conventional engine or optimizer will typically arbitrarily choose one of the user-defined functions to evaluate first. E.g., the engine or optimizer may evaluate the first function specified in the search string. Unless the user understands the workings of the database sufficiently well to correctly specify the search order of user-defined functions (which relatively few users do), such an arbitrary choice is likely to be sub-optimal. If intelligent choices could be made when selecting the order of evaluation of multiple user-defined functions, the execution performance of such queries could be improved. A need therefore exists, not necessarily recognized, for an improved database query engine or optimizer which can automatically make intelligent choices in ordering the evaluation of user-defined functions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Optimizing execution of database queries containing user-defined functions

International Business Machines Corporation


A fabrication method for a multi-layered thin film protective layer, which is applicable on a substrate having a peripheral circuit area and a pixel cell area, is described. Metal layers and pixel cells are formed on the peripheral circuit area and the pixel cell area, respectively. A first oxide layer, a silicon nitride layer and a second oxide layer are sequentially formed on the pixel cells and the metal layers. The second oxide layer is then patterned to define a pre-determined position of a pad spacer in the pixel cell area and the peripheral circuit area. The silicon nitride layer and the first oxide layer are further defined to form a first protective layer in the peripheral circuit area and to from a pad spacer in the pixel cell area exposing the pixel cells. A second protective layer is then formed on the exposed pixel cells.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fabrication method for a protective layer. More particularly, the invention relates to a fabrication method for a multi-layered thin film protective layer of a reflective micro liquid crystal display (μ-LCD) device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The operation of a reflective micro-LCD device is based on an application of a voltage to a metal layer on the surface of a control circuit. An electric field is generated to control the orientation of the liquid crystal. As light transmits through the liquid crystal and arrives to the metal layer, the metal layer reflects the light, which in turn transmits through the liquid crystal. The different orientations of the liquid crystal display different optical properties, thereby displaying different images.
During the packaging of the reflective μ-LCD device, the filling of the liquid crystal requires coating a spacer between the glass plate and the device wafer to separate the glass plate and the device wafer. In addition, a protective layer is formed on the metal layer of the device wafer surface to protect the underlying devices.
The spacer, however, can only be coated on the periphery of the device wafer. The glass plate supported by the spacer thereby bends easily at the center due to stress. As a result, while filling the liquid crystal, the thickness of the liquid crystal cannot be uniform, and a Newton's ring is resulted. The non-uniform thickness of the liquid crystal seriously affects the quality of the display. Not only the displaying color is changed, the differentiation between the shades of color is also reduced.
Further, the metal layer of the device wafer requires a protective layer to prevent the metal surface from moisture penetration and from being scratched. The structure and the thickness of the protective layer directly affect the reflection property of the metal layer. The fabrication of the protective layer is, therefore, a very critical step in the manufacturing of a reflective micro-LCD device.

Fabrication method for a multi-layered thin film protective layer


A supply unit supplies a film strip from a film roll, and a winding unit cuts off a film strip into a fixed-length film and winds the fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly. An assembling unit introduces the wound-film assembly into a one-open-sided cartridge, and mounts and crimps a cap on the one-open-sided cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge. After a pullout resistance of the film and a film length to be exposed are inspected, the wound-film-loaded cartridge is unloaded as a product.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of manufacturing a film by winding a fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly, inserting the wound-film assembly into a cartridge case, and mounting a cap on an open end of the cartridge case thereby to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
For manufacturing a photographic photosensitive film housed in a cartridge, it is usually necessary to carry out successive processes of cutting a film strip into a fixed-length film, winding the fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly, inserting the wound-film assembly into a cartridge case, and mounting a cap on an open end of the cartridge case. Heretofore, since these processes are carried out by respective manufacturing apparatus, a sufficiently light-shielded environment needs to be provided when semi-finished products are transferred between any two of the manufacturing apparatus, and a substantial cost is required to construct a facility for creating such a light-shielded environment.
A film production system made up of those manufacturing apparatus is necessarily large in size, and suffers various problems due to the large size. For example, the large-size film production system results in an increase in the cost of air-conditioning equipment required for the system, and takes up a correspondingly large floor space and involves an increase in the running cost. The time required for the large-size film production system to produce photographic photosensitive films is extended by the large equipment size, tending to lower the production efficiency.
In order to alleviate the above drawbacks, there has been developed an apparatus having a cartridge component supply means, a spool supply means, a cap supply means, a film feed means, a measuring means for measuring a length by which a film is fed, a cutting means for cutting a film, a spool/cap replacing means, a cartridge component replacing means, and a crimping means for crimping a cap fitted over a cartridge component (for details, see Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 9-90571).
The constituent elements of the developed apparatus are so aggregated that the apparatus is of a relatively compact structure for manufacturing films encased in cartridges. However, it has been pointed out that the apparatus suffers little freedom in adding a device for automatically supplying cartridge components and dividing itself into a plurality of units, and hence it is difficult to design the apparatus in a flexible layout to meet needs at the apparatus installation site. In addition, the apparatus is designed for use at a fixed position within a given facility, and is not based on any idea whatsoever of portability that allows the apparatus to be installed at any desired location.

Apparatus for and method of manufacturing film


An improved laser-based wafer carrier mapping sensor is provided. The sensor includes a number of improvements including laser source improvements; optical improvements; and detector improvements. Laser source improvements include the type of laser sources used as well as the specification of size and power of such sources. Optical improvements include features that intentionally defocus the laser stripe on the wafer as well as additional features that help ensure precision stripe generation. Detector improvements include increasing gain while decreasing the effects of ambient light. Various combinations of these features provide additional synergies that facilitate the construction of a sensor with significantly improved dynamic response while decreasing the frequency of false cross slot errors.

Wafer carrier mapping sensors are used in the manufacture and processing of semiconductor wafers to detect wafers in a wafer carrier. In order to effectively process the wafers in the carrier, the semiconductor tool must know which positions within the carrier have wafers, and whether those wafers are properly held therein. Wafer carrier mapping sensors scan the wafer edges to detect wafer absence/presence and additionally errors such as cross slots. "Cross slots" are wafer position errors where the wafer is not maintained in a single "slot" but erroneously spans a pair of slots. In this situation, it is important that the tool not attempt to interact with the wafer, but instead generate an error.
Wafer carrier mapping systems have begun to face a difficult challenge recently with the increasing use of dark wafers typically with nitride coatings. While mapping systems can be adjusted to optimally detect the traditionally light wafers, such as copper or aluminum coated silicon wafers, or the dark nitride wafers, sensing systems do not adequately deal with mixes of both light and dark wafers. For example, if a system is optimally adjusted for dark wafers, the illumination level and detector gain may be so high that when the sensing system is faced with a light wafer, an erroneous signal such as a false cross slot error is declared. Conversely, when a system is optimally adjusted for light wafers, a dark wafer may fail to register well enough to make its presence known. Unfortunately, adjusting the sensing system to compromise between these two extremes essentially creates a worse situation in which false cross slot errors still occur, and some dark wafers are not detected at all.
There exists a need to provide a wafer carrier mapping system that can reliably detect not only wafer presence within a carrier containing a mixture of light and dark wafers but also reduce or eliminate false errors. Such a system would reduce technician intervention since one sensing system would accommodate both types of wafers. Moreover, sensor credibility would be increased since technicians would not need to second guess each cross slot error to determine if it was in fact a false error.

Semiconductor wafer carrier mapping sensor


The inventive pulley device for one of a chain and belt provides an inner ring, an outer ring, at least one row of rolling elements mounted in a rolling chamber defined between the inner ring and the outer ring, a pulley secured in rotation with the outer ring and provided with an outer radial surface for engagement with one of a chain and a belt. A screw for mounting on a support is housed radially inside the inner ring and a mounting support element is provided with a passage opening for the screw. The opening is tapped, with a complementary tapping of a thread arranged on the screw, the screw is provided with a groove, offset relative to the thread along a longitudinal axis (X40) of the screw and in which the tapping of the opening is received.

When such a pulley device is manufactured, it is generally equipped with a screw whereof one threaded end is designed to penetrate a tapped orifice formed in a support on which the tensioning roller is provided to be mounted. It is appropriate to avoid, as much as possible, any untimely separation of the screw and the rest of the pulley device between the time of manufacture of the device and the time of its mounting on a support, in particular within the engine compartment of a motor vehicle.
To that end, it is known from US-A-2004/097313 to provide, on a separating sleeve of a tensioning roller, protruding elements obtained by mating the edge of a passage opening with a fastening screw. After being mated, these protruding elements rub against a non-threaded part of the screw, once the latter is already in place within the tensioning roller. This requires providing, in the manufacturing line of such a tensioning roller, a specific step for mating the sleeve to produce the protruding elements, which makes that manufacturing line more complex and expensive. Furthermore, the screw cannot be separated from the sleeve, unless the protruding elements are broken or the threading of the screw is deteriorated.
It is also known from FR-A-2,923,281 to overmold, in the bore of the inner ring of the tensioning roller, a bush that in turn defines a through bore for mounting a fastening screw. In the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5 of that document, the bush is provided with a threaded portion seeking to favor the axial retention of the screw. The bush is positioned axially withdrawn relative to the outer ring, such that it does not allow any axial force to be reacted. Furthermore, the threaded portion remains engaged with the thread of the screw during the transport of the tensioning roller, from its manufacture site to its mounting site on a motor vehicle. This results in the risk of breakage of the threaded portion or deformation of the thread of the screw.
Furthermore, it is known from DE-A-198 36 191 to provide, in a housing for receiving the screw, a circlip for axially retaining the rod of the screw, which slides along an outer peripheral groove formed on the shaft of the screw. One drawback of this approach pertains to the retention of the circlip in the inner ring of the rolling bearing, which is not sustainable. Thus, the circuit may itself be lost during use of the device. Another drawback of this approach pertains to its bulk. The head of the screw protrudes from the inner ring of the rolling bearing, which is not desirable during the use of the device in a densely occupied volume, such as the engine compartment of a modern motor vehicle.
The present invention aims more particularly to resolve these drawbacks by proposing a new pulley device whereof the manufacturing is cost-effective and which guarantees effective maintenance of its central screw, including before mounting of the pulley device on a support such as the engine block of a motor vehicle.

Pulley device for a chain or belt and motor vehicle equipped with such a device


A separating apparatus for use in hauling logs uses a pressure driven actuating device joined for actuating a pivoted boom adapted for moving from a vertical, log-loading, position on a log-hauling flat bed truck trailer, to a horizontal, log supporting, position. A boom cradle is adapted for receiving a terminal end of the pivoted boom when in the horizontal position. The actuating device, pivoted boom and boom cradle are adapted for engagement with the truck trailer for operation in loading, carrying and unloading logs.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fixtures used in the transportation industry on trucks and rail cars for holding, supporting and segregating transported materials, especially bulk materials and more particularly to a hydraulically operated boom for use on a log hauler to separate logs into two portions for improved load-off.
2. Description of Related Art
In the trucking industry as applied to log hauling, a flatbed trailer is widely used for hauling logs. Such a trailer is built with fixtures along its sides for securing upright posts, spaced at an interval so as to contain loose logs laid onto the flat bed. This collection of from several to as much as one hundred logs are of different lengths, diameters and types, but all are positioned for hauling onto the flat bed and held there between the two rows of upright posts placed on either side of the flatbed. In order to facilitate the off-loading of the logs, which is accomplished by use of a grappling crane which must be able to get under the logs in order to lift them off the truck, a splitter log is commonly used. This log is placed on top of a first load of logs and oriented laterally across the flat bed trailer. Thus the logs placed on top of the splitter log are slightly separated from the lower, first placed logs, providing a space for the grappling crane to acquire leverage and position around the upper group of logs.
The prior art teaches the use of splitter logs for separating a lower and an upper group of logs to be hauled. However, splitter logs are not stable, are not necessarily of an ideal size, and are prone to breakage during transport. The present invention overcomes these problems and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
A separating apparatus for use in hauling logs uses a pressure driven actuating device joined for actuating a pivoted boom adapted for moving from a vertical, log-loading, position on a log-hauling flat bed truck trailer, to a horizontal, log supporting, position. A boom cradle is adapted for receiving a terminal end of the pivoted boom when in the horizontal position. The actuating device, pivoted boom and boom cradle are adapted for engagement with the truck trailer for operation in loading, carrying and unloading logs.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method of use of such apparatus that provides advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide such an invention capable of eliminating the use of separator logs.
A further objective is to provide such an invention capable of moving from a retracted position to an extended position.
A still further objective is to provide such an invention capable of supporting a load of logs in a rectangular stack and improving the loading balance on the transport vehicle.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.


A polymer comprising a first repeat unit of formula (I), wherein each Ar is independently selected from optionally substituted aryl or heteroaryl and the group of formula (I) is present in a molar ratio of less than or equal to 10%, and, optionally, a second, optionally substituted repeat unit having a single nitrogen atom in its backbone of formula —Ar—N(Ar)—Ar— in a molar ratio of no greater than 5%.

One class of opto-electrical devices is that using an organic material for light emission or detection. The basic structure of these devices is a light emissive organic layer, for instance a film of a poly (p-phenylenevinylene) ("PPV") or polyfluorene, sandwiched between a cathode for injecting negative charge carriers (electrons) and an anode for injecting positive charge carriers (holes) into the organic layer. The electrons and holes combine in the organic layer generating photons. In WO 90/13148 the organic light-emissive material is a polymer. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,507 the organic light-emissive material is of the class known as small molecule materials, such as (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium ("Alq3"). In a practical device one of the electrodes is transparent, to allow the photons to escape the device.
A typical organic light-emissive device ("OLED") is fabricated on a glass or plastic substrate coated with a transparent first electrode such as indium-tin-oxide ("ITO"). A layer of a thin film of at least one electroluminescent organic material covers the first electrode. Finally, a cathode covers the layer of electroluminescent organic material. The cathode is typically a metal or alloy and may comprise a single layer, such as aluminium, or a plurality of layers such as calcium and aluminium. Other layers can be added to the device, for example to improve charge injection from the electrodes to the electroluminescent material. For example, a hole injection layer such as poly(ethylene dioxythlophene)/polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT-PSS) or polyaniline may be provided between the anode and the electroluminescent material. When a voltage is applied between the electrodes from a power supply one of the electrodes acts as a cathode and the other as an anode
For organic semiconductors important characteristics are the binding energies, measured with respect to the vacuum level of the electronic energy levels, particularly the "highest occupied molecular orbital" (HOMO) and the "lowest unoccupied molecular orbital" (LUMO) level. These can be estimated from measurements of photoemission and particularly measurements of the electrochemical potentials for oxidation and reduction. It is well understood in this field that such energies are affected by a number of factors, such as the local environment near an interface, and the point on the curve (peak) from which the value is determined. Accordingly, the use of such values is indicative rather than quantitative.
In operation, holes are injected into the device through the anode and electrons are injected into the device through the cathode. The hales and electrons combine in the organic electroluminescent layer to form an exciton which then undergoes radiative decay to give light. One way of improving efficiency of devices is to provide hole and electron transporting materials—for example, WO 99/48610 discloses blending of hole transporting polymers, electron transporting polymers and electroluminescent polymers. A 1:1 copolymer of dioctylfluorene and triphenylamine is used as the hole transporting polymer in this document.
A focus in the field of polymer OLEDs is the development of full color displays for which red, green and blue emissive materials are required. One drawback with existing polymer OLED displays relevant to this development is the relatively short lifetime of blue emissive materials known to date (by "lifetime" is meant the time for the brightness of the OLED to halve at constant current when operated under DC drive).
In one approach, the lifetime of the emissive material may be extended by optimisation of the OLED architecture; for example lifetime of the blue material may in part be dependant on the cathode being used. However, the advantage of selecting a cathode that improves blue lifetime may be offset by disadvantageous effects of the cathode on performance of red and green materials. For example, Synthetic Metals 111-112 (2000), 125-128 discloses a full color display wherein the cathode is LiF/Ca/Al. The present inventors have found that this cathode is particularly efficacious with respect to the blue emissive material but which shows poor performance with respect to green and, especially, red emitters.
Another approach is development of novel blue electroluminescent materials. For example, WO 00/55927, which is a development of WO 99/48160, discloses a blue electroluminescent polymer of formula (a):
wherein w+x+y=1, w≧0.5, 0, ≦x+y≦0.5 and n≧2
In essence, the separate polymers disclosed in WO 99/48160 are combined into a single molecule. The F8 repeat unit is provided for the purpose of electron injection; the TFB unit is provided for the purpose of hole transport; and the PFB repeat unit is provided as the emissive unit. The combination of units into a single polymer may be preferable to a blend, for example intramolecular charge transport may be preferable to intermolecular charge transport, potential difficulties of phase separation in blends is avoided.
WO 02/92723 and WO 02/92724 disclose replacement of some of the F8 repeat units in the polymer illustrated above with 9,9-diarylfluorene repeat units which has surprisingly been found to improve lifetime of the polymer.
WO 99/54385 and EP 1229063 disclose copolymers of fluorenes and PFB-type triarylamine repeat units. EP 1229063 discloses a copolymer of F8:TFB in a 70:30 ratio. It is an object of the present invention to provide long lived blue electroluminescent polymers, in particular blue electroluminescent polymers that are suitable for use in a full colour electroluminescent display.


A method of precision surface re-profiling of a composite polymeric component comprising a region capable of being re-profiled, comprising the steps of locating the polymeric composite component with a formable surface relative to a supporting fixture, the thickness of component comprising the formable surface being greater than the desired final thickness in a region to be re-profiled, moving a forming head into position into contact with the formable surface of the composite component with the aid of precision location or measurement sensors, causing the formable surface of the component to flow under the tool and creating a precisely defined local thickness or profile of component under the forming tool, and moving the forming head along the region of the component to be re-profiled, while maintaining the forming tool at a predetermined height profile or while leaving the re-profiled component with a predetermined thickness profile.

Fiber reinforced polymer components, otherwise known as polymer composite components, consist of reinforcing fibers held together by a polymer resin, often known as the matrix. This matrix can be a thermosetting polymer such as an epoxy resin, in which case the composite component can be called a thermoset composite component, or a thermoplastic polymer such as polyamide or polyetheretherketone, in which case the component can be called a thermoplastic composite component. It should be noted that a thermoset composite component may contain small amounts of thermoplastic polymer, for instance as a surfacing film, a resin additive, or a binder agent. A thermoplastic composite component may in the same way contain small amounts of thermoset polymer, for instance in a core or insert.
Most large structural thermoset composite components such as carbon-epoxy components are made using open (one-sided) molds. A vacuum bag or other soft tooling surface is used to compact the reinforcing fibers and unreacted resin against the stiff mold. The whole assembly is then cured at elevated temperature. Due to variations in the thickness, or the weave structure of the reinforcements, or variations in the resin content, or variations in local temperature or pressure during the molding process, the surface quality or texture of the "bag-side" surface of the resulting parts may vary substantially. More importantly, the local thickness of the part may vary significantly, leading to variation in the surface contour of the laminate, especially in the bag-side surface. This causes the manufacturer to either accept loose tolerances for the dimensions of the assembled structure, or to incur considerable difficulty and increased expense in the assembly of such composite laminates with other components. Massive and stiff assembly jigs may be necessary to hold the components in position while shimming is carried out to compensate for the local irregularities of the surface contour of the components.
A process which could be used to produce or shape structural composite components, made using open molds, with accurate dimensions on any surface would be therefore be very desirable.
Current precision dimensioning processes include machining of the surface of laminates, where additional material is deliberately included in the original manufacture of the component and at least partly removed later in an additional machining process. Most machining processes involve micro-level fracture and frictional processes, and can generate significant amounts of heat. The heat generated can vary significantly within a short space of time, depending on the amount of material removed. This variable temperature can have an impact on the size of cutting tool and material under the tool, due to expansion that occurs with most materials upon application of heat, and therefore on the precision that can be achieved with a machining process. A second disadvantage with machining laminates to precise thicknesses is the difficulty in integrating a position sensor or thickness measurement system with a high speed moving component. Very high precision is generally achievable only when such sensors or measurement systems are used dynamically to control the position of the machining system, and locating the end of a high speed moving tool is difficult. It is more difficult still to pass a signal through a moving machining tool in order to effect precision measurements. Finally, if too much material is removed through the machining process, repair of the component involves a lengthy and expensive process of adding additional material, and in some cases the component is simply scrapped.
In some instances, particularly where the tolerance requirements for assembly are, for example, better than 50 μm, machining of surfaces may not be accurate enough for this requirement, and in practical terms such precision requirements are often met by using expensive and time-consuming shimming processes such as those outlined above.
The applicant has recently developed a process for shaping of thermoplastic surfaces on thermosetting composite laminates. This process is described in applicant's PCT application PCT WO 2005/025836 A1, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This process has the key advantage that precision surface dimensions can be achieved on a thermosetting composite material following manufacture, either by using a quasi-static tool press or a moving tool. In the instance of a quasi-static tool used to create a precision component thickness, the thermoplastic surface is heated and the aforementioned tool pressed into the thermoplastic surface, imprinting it and allowing creation of a localized area of defined thickness. The accuracy of thickness is thus determined the accuracy of the tool, by the stiffness of the tool and pressure application system, the accuracy of tool stops or other means of preventing excessive impression of the tool, and the accuracy with which the thermosetting component is held down during this process. An additional limitation of the process utilizing a quasi-static tool is the questionable scalability of the process, as the achievable accuracy of the process may decrease with increasing tool size. The aforementioned recently developed process also includes the use of moving forming tools. These tools allow the scalable application of the process, however this technique is likely to have low levels of precision. In either case, achieving a surface profile accuracy greater than 100 μm for a practical component is unlikely.
Therefore, in order to utilize the invention described in PCT WO 2005/025836 A1 more fully and to achieve very high precision over large surface areas, it is necessary to improve the stated process. Furthermore, by providing an improved process and apparatus for surface re-profiling, the principle of providing a high accuracy surface can be extended beyond thermosetting composites with thermoplastic surfaces.

Method and apparatus for surface shaping of polymer composite components

CRC for Advanced Composite Structures Limited


A control node (26) of a radio access network participating in a cell change procedure is permitted to begin sending HS-DSCH data frames to a target radio base station (28) even before the control node knows a calculated capacity allocation for the target cell. Such pre-knowledge transmission of HS-DSCH data frames by the control node effectively reduces a control node (e.g., RNC) bitrate transmission gap which otherwise would occur had the control node waited to send the high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) data frames after the control node had been informed of the calculated capacity allocation. The control node is permitted to begin sending the HS-DSCH data frames even prior to an activation time (AT), and typically just after a switch time (ST).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to telecommunications, and particularly to a High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) system such as that operated (for example) in a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN).
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile communication system, which evolved from the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and is intended to provide improved mobile communication services based Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) access technology. As wireless Internet services have become popular, various services require higher data rates and higher capacity. Although UMTS has been designed to support multi-media wireless services, the maximum data rate is not enough to satisfy the required quality of services. In a forum known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for third generation networks and UTRAN specifically, and investigate enhanced data rate and radio capacity.
One result of the forum's work is the High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). The HSDPA system provides, e.g., a maximum data rate on the order of about 10 Mbps to improve the radio capacity in the downlink. HSDPA features a high speed channel (HSC) controller that functions, e.g., as a high speed scheduler by multiplexing user information for transmission over the entire HS-DSCH bandwidth in time-multiplexed intervals (called transmission time intervals (TTI)). Since HSDPA uses code multiplexing, several users can be scheduled at the same time.
HSDPA achieves higher data speeds by shifting some of the radio resource coordination and management responsibilities to the base station from the radio network controller. Those responsibilities include one or more of the following (each briefly described below): shared channel transmission, higher order modulation, link adaptation, radio channel dependent scheduling, and hybrid-ARQ with soft combining.
In shared channel transmission, radio resources are shared between users using time multiplexing. A high speed-downlink shared channel is one example of shared channel transmission. One significant benefit of shared channel transmission is more efficient utilization of available code resources as compared to dedicated channels (DCH). Higher data rates may also be attained using higher order modulation, which is more bandwidth efficient than lower order modulation, when channel conditions are favorable.
Radio channel conditions experienced on different communication links typically vary significantly, both in time and between different positions in the cell. In traditional WCDMA systems, power control compensates for differences in variations in instantaneous radio channel conditions. With this type of power control, a larger part of the total available cell power may be allocated to communication links with bad channel conditions to ensure quality of service to all communication links. But radio resources are more efficiently utilized when allocated to communication links with good channel conditions. For services that do not require a specific data rate, such as many best effort services, rate control or adjustment can be used to ensure there is sufficient energy received per information bit for all communication links as an alternative to power control. By adjusting the channel coding rate and/or adjusting the modulation scheme, the data rate can be adjusted to compensate for variations and differences in instantaneous channel conditions.
For maximum cell throughput, radio resources may be scheduled to the communication link having the best instantaneous channel condition. Rapid channel dependent scheduling performed at the base station allows for very high data rates at each scheduling instance and thus maximizes overall system throughput. Hybrid ARQ with soft combining increases the effective received signal-to-interference ratio for each transmission and thus increases the probability for correct decoding of retransmissions compared to conventional ARQ. Greater efficiency in ARQ increases the effective throughput over a shared channel.
With HSDPA, the physical layer becomes more complex as an additional MAC protocol is introduced: the MAC-hs. On the network side, the MAC-hs protocol is implemented in the radio base station (RBS). The MAC-hs protocol contains the retransmission protocol, link adaptation, and channel dependent scheduling. The complexity increase with HSDPA is thus mainly related to the introduction of an intelligent Layer 2 protocol in the radio base station (RBS).
HSDPA generally has an algorithm for selecting the amount of power for the HS-DSCH and a downlink control channel known as the HS-SCCH. The HS-SCCH contains information which is sent to the mobile terminals so that the mobile terminals know if they have data to receive on the HS-PDSCh channel or not.
As mentioned above, HSDPA uses a fast Hybrid ARQ between a radio base station (RBS) and a mobile station (UE). Iub Flow Control is used between a radio network controller (RNC) and the RBS in order to ensure that a feasible amount of data (bits or bytes) is in the RBS priority queues. The amount of data in the queues is controlled by a flow control algorithm (FCA). If the RBS priority queues (PQs) are too lengthy these buffers (PQs) give too long delays. On the other hand, if the RBS priority queues (buffers) are too short, they become "dry" at a time when a user is suddenly scheduled in the transmission interval. Thus, the flow control algorithm (FCA) seeks to control the RBS priority queue flows in a way that the RBS priority queues become essentially stable.
The data in the priority queues is sent from a control node to a radio base station in protocol data units (PDUs). A number of PDUs may be included in each high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) data frame.
In a HSDPA system there are generally two basic bottlenecks. One of the bottlenecks is on the downlink on the air-interface (Uu) between the mobile station and the radio base station node (RBS); the other bottleneck is on the downlink on the interface (Iub) between the radio base station node and the radio network controller node. Both of these bottlenecks are considered in the flow control algorithm. The available HS bandwidth over the Iub interface varies considerably. If too much HS traffic is allocated over Iub, frame losses and long delays degrades the HS packet data performance. The air interface scheduling of HS-DSCH Data Frames is controlled by RBS.
When the radio conditions for a HS-DSCH user begins to be poor in the source cell, the user is connected to a new cell (target cell) with better radio connection. Such can occur, for example, as a mobile station travels farther and farther from a radio base station which broadcasts in a "source" cell in which the mobile station has been receiving and sending transmissions, and approaches a new or "target" cell in which another radio base station is operative. The target cell may be served by the same or another radio base station. Since, from the perspective of the traveling mobile station, the radio conditions of the source cell decline and the radio conditions of the target cell improve, the radio access network must provide some means of handoff or handover of the mobile station from the source cell to the target cell, e.g., a cell change for the mobile station. On the downlink the cell change is necessary so that further data frames which continue the stream or media previously sent via the source cell can be sent via the target cell to the mobile station. In the specific case of a HSDPA cell change, HS-DSCH data frames are switched over from being sent to source cell to being sent to target cell.
The HSDPA cell change is a GSM-like hard handover. That is, at a given point of time (e.g., "Activation Time") the source cell RBS stops its transmission to the mobile station and the new (target) cell starts its transmissions to the mobile station. Soft Handover (SHO), which is generally employed for wideband CDMA (WCDMA) cannot be used for HS-DSCH. At a "switch time" which occurs before the activation time the radio controller node (e.g., control node) must stop sending high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) data frames to the source radio base station for the source cell and instead reallocate the high-speed downlink shared channel (HS-DSCH) data frames to the target radio base station for the target cell.
During the HSDPA cell change procedure the data transmission speed might degrade for various reasons. A first reason is that data directed to the source cell may be lost at call change activation time (e.g., when the cell change takes effect on the air interface). Such can occur, for example, if in the source cell some protocol data units (PDUs) cannot be sent to the mobile station before the time of the cell change, with the result that these PDUs will be lost and must be retransmitted by RLC protocol. Another reason is that the target cell may not have PDUs to send to the mobile station. The challenge is to stop sending data for the mobile station via the source cell at an appropriate time (at the latest at the switch time) and to start sending data to the mobile station via the target cell in order to fill up the priority queue with an appropriate amount of data just before activation time.
What is needed, therefore, and an object herein provided, are apparatus, method(s), and technique(s) for providing HSDPA flow control in a way to minimize data transmission speed degradation during a HSDPA cell change.

Flow control at cell change for high-speed downlink packet access


An ink composition containing an organic solvent and a pigment, which has a little amount of smell, excellent safety and health properties, excellent resin solubility, excellent printing stability and excellent drying properties, causes no corrosion to a printer, and is excellent in adhesion to non-absorbable printing media and good printability, wherein the ink composition comprises as the organic solvent at least one compound selected from compounds represented by the formulae (1) to (3),

Gravure printing for flexible packaging materials, flexographic printing for sanitary materials, silk screen printing for metal plates, inkjet printing for indoor and outdoor advertisement, and the like, have been generally known as printing methods suitable for non-absorbable printing media. However, ink compositions used for these printing methods generally comprise solvents such as toluene, ethyl acetate, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone and cyclohexanone. However, obligations such as an ambient concentration under a specified value, the installation of a local exhauster because of smells or the like, and regular medical examinations, are imposed. Thus, handling is difficult. Therefore, inks having higher safety and health properties are required. In particular, unlike gravure printing, flexographic printing and silk screen printing which are performed in exclusive factories, inkjet printing is used in ordinary business offices so that it is required to give more consideration to safety, hazardousness and odour.
Under the above circumstances, with regard to gravure printing for flexible packaging materials and flexographic printing for sanitary materials, non-toluene inks which do not comprise toluene whose ambient concentration set value is small or water-based inks which comprise alcohols as a main component, have been developed.
In regard to inkjet printing, an ink which uses a polyalkylene glycol solvent or a hydrocarbon solvent (Japanese Patent No. 3590486) has been developed. However, such inks cannot dissolve the surface of the printing media, and thus result in poor fixity and water resistance.
In recent years, accordingly, solvent-containing inks with improved fixity and water resistance have been developed, by jointly using a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound such as 2-pyrrolidone or N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone or a lactone compound (JP-A-2005-60716, JP-A-2005-15672, JP-A-2005-200469, Japanese Patent No. 3692365) as an assistant solvent. However, due to their strong solubility, in some cases, these materials and the odour need consideration.

Abstract: wherein each of R1, R2, R3, R4, R7 and R8 independently represents an alkylene group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms or an alkenylene group having 2 to 4 carbon atoms and each of R5, R6 and R9 independently represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms.


The disclosure claims a method and a device for configuring cell parameters of a Relay Node (RN), which can solve the technical problem that the cell parameters cannot be reasonably configured as a Donor eNB (DeNB) does not know the cell amount of the RN. In the disclosure, the RN sends the cell amount of cells which are managed by the RN to the DeNB via a control signaling, so as to make the DeNB more reasonably configure the cell parameters of the RN. The disclosure solves the problem that the DeNB cannot reasonably allocate resources according to the cell amount of the RN, and avoids resources conflicts, wherein the resources contain an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Cell Global Identifier (ECGI), a Physical Cell ID (PCI) and the like.

In order to satisfy the increasing requirements of the large bandwidth high-speed mobile access, the Third Generation Partnership Projects (abbreviated as 3GPP) put forward a Long-Term Evolution advance (abbreviated as LTE-Advanced) standard. The LTE-Advanced reserves a core of a Long-Term Evolution (abbreviated as LTE) for the evolution of the LTE, and adopts a series of techniques to expand the frequency domain and the space domain based on the above, so as to realize the purpose of improving the utilization ratio of the spectrum, and increasing the system capacity and the like.
The Wireless Relay technique, namely, one of the LTE-Advanced techniques, aims at expanding the cell coverage area, reducing the blind angle (or dead angle) area in communication, balancing the load, transferring the service in the hotspot area, and saving the transmitting power of the User Equipment (abbreviated as UE). As shown in FIG. 1, the RN provides the functions and services similar with a normal eNB for the UE which is accessed to a cell of the RN, and then accesses an eNB which serves for the RN through a wireless interface in the similar mode of a normal UE; the eNB which serves for the RN is called as a Donor eNB (abbreviated as DeNB).
According to whether the RN has its own independent cells, or is taken as a part of a cell under the DeNB, a Type1 Relay and a Type2 Relay are respectively defined. The Type1 Relay refers that the RN can establish its own independent cells which have their own Physical Cell ID (abbreviated as PCI). The RN works as an eNB in its own cells, for example, transmitting reference signals, scheduling the UE, and the like. The Type2 Relay does not have its own independent cells and PCI, and is only used for assisting the DeNB to transmit data. Besides the Type1 Relay, a "Type1a" Relay and a "Type1 b" Relay are also defined in the standard, and are similar with the Type1 Relay in a cell establishment aspect; both the "Type1 a" Relay and the "Type1b Relay" have their own independent cells, and can independently receive and transmit control signals and perform the scheduling.
In view of the structure, the RN and the DeNB establish a unique S1 connection on the control plane, and the DeNB is taken as a unique Mobility Management Entity (abbreviated as MME), all the S1 signaling related to the UE will be transmitted to the DeNB through the S1 connection, the DeNB transmits the S1 signaling to a real MME destination on the S1 connection established by the DeNB and the MME. Similarly, the RN also only establishes a unique X2 connection with the DeNB, the X2 signaling between the RN and other eNBs must be forwarded through the DeNB.
It should be noted that, an Operation and Maintenance (abbreviated as OAM) of the RN cannot communicate with the OAM of the DeNB (for example, the two belong to different operators), thus, the cell parameters allocated by the OAM of the RN, such as an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Cell Global Identifier (abbreviated as ECGI), may conflict with the ECGI of the cell managed by the DeNB, namely, the uniqueness of the ECGI is lost. So, the cell parameters of the cell managed by the RN are allocated by the DeNB, but not by the OAM of the RN. Thereby, the DeNB needs to know the number of the cells managed by the RN before allocating the cell parameters for the RN.

Method and device for configuring cell parameters of relay node


A memory array is operated by increasing a number of currents through a number of corresponding cells of the array, where each cell has a structural phase-change material to store data for that cell. Each of the currents are increased to an upper level that is sufficiently high that can cause the corresponding cell to be in a first state. Some of the currents are decreased to lower levels at sufficiently high rates that cause their corresponding cells to be programmed to the first state, while others are decreased at sufficiently low rates that cause their corresponding cells to be programmed to a second state.

This invention is related to techniques for programming a structural phase-change material solid state memory device such as those that use a chalcogenide material which can be programmed into different resistivity states to store data.
Solid state memory devices that use a structural phase-change material as the data storage mechanism (referred to here simply as xe2x80x98phase-change memoriesxe2x80x99) offer significant advantages in both cost and performance over conventional charge storage based memories. The phase-change memory is made of an array of constituent cells where each cell has some structural phase-change material to store the cell""s data. This material may be, for instance, a chalcogenide alloy that exhibits a reversible structural phase change from amorphous to crystalline. A small volume of the chalcogenide alloy is integrated into a circuit that allows the cell to act as a fast switching programmable resistor. This programmable resistor can exhibit greater than 40 times dynamic range of resistivity between a relatively crystalline phase (low resistivity) and a relatively amorphous phase (high resistivity). The data stored in the cell is read by measuring the cell""s resistance. The chalcogenide alloy cell is also non-volatile.
A conventional technique for programming a phase-change memory cell is to apply a rectangular pulse of current (having a constant magnitude throughout the pulse) to the cell, at a voltage greater than a switching threshold for the phase-change material, which leaves the cell in the reset state (the material is relatively amorphous and has high resistivity). To change state, this may be followed by the application of a subsequent rectangular lower current pulse, also at a voltage greater than the switching threshold, which programs the cell to a set state (the material is relatively crystalline and has low resistivity). The reset pulse has a higher magnitude of current than the set pulse so that the temperature of the phase change material is raised to Tm, the amorphizing temperature, before the material is rapidly cooled down or quenched by the very sharp decrease in current at the trailing edge of the reset pulse, thereby leaving the material in the amorphous phase. To change into the crystalline phase, the material can be heated back up to an optimum temperature Topt, which is lower than Tm, using a rectangular current pulse of smaller magnitude, and then rapidly cooled down again, this time leaving the material in the crystalline (low resistance) phase.

Programming a phase-change memory with slow quench time


An electrodeposition coating composition comprises an unhydrolyzed or at least partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl formamide polymer for improved edge coverage of the coating when plated onto a conductive substrate. The plated coating can be cured.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to this disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Electrodeposition coating ("electrocoat") compositions and methods are widely used in industry today. Electrocoat baths usually comprise an aqueous dispersion or emulsion including a principal film-forming epoxy resin ("polymer" and "resin" are used interchangeably in this disclosure), having ionic stabilization in water or a mixture of water and organic cosolvent. In automotive or industrial applications for which durable electrocoat films are desired, the electrocoat compositions are formulated to be curable (thermosetting) compositions. This is usually accomplished by emulsifying with the principal film-forming resin a crosslinking agent that can react with functional groups on the principal resin under appropriate conditions, such as with the application of heat, and so cure the coating. During electrodeposition, coating material containing the ionically-charged resin having a relatively low molecular weight is deposited onto a conductive substrate by submerging the substrate in the electrocoat bath and then applying an electrical potential between the substrate and a pole of opposite charge, for example, a stainless steel electrode. The charged coating material migrates to and deposits on the conductive substrate. The coated substrate is then heated to cure or crosslink the coating.
One of the advantages of electrocoat compositions and processes is that the applied coating composition forms a uniform and contiguous layer over a variety of metallic substrates regardless of shape or configuration. This is especially advantageous when the coating is applied as an anticorrosive coating onto a substrate having an irregular surface, such as a motor vehicle body. The even, continuous coating layer over all portions of the metallic substrate provides maximum anticorrosion effectiveness. One desirable feature for an electrodeposited (or electrocoat) coating, then is uniform edge coverage. That is, it is important for corrosion protection that the film thickness (or filmbuild) on the edges of an article is as thick as it is on the interior portions of the article. Reuter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,951,602 (corresponding to WO 01/02498) describes addition of a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (co)polymer or mixture of polyvinyl alcohol (co)polymers to electrodeposition baths for edge protection and contamination resistance; the Reuter publication also describes other methods that have been used for edge protection against corrosion.
The cured layer of electrodeposited coating is typically overcoated with one or more layers of different, additional coatings, e.g. other primer layers and topcoat layers. Film smoothness of the electrodeposited coating is another important property because a smoother electrodeposited coating should minimize the coating thicknesses of the additional layers of coatings required to achieve a smooth finish.


A crop sprayer cab has a step assembly facilitating ingress and egress of the operator into and out of the cab. The step assembly has floor and step sections operable for movement between an up, closed position and a down, step position relative to the floor of the cab. Links connected to the cab floor and the floor section limit downward movement of the step section and allow the step assembly to be moved to a closed position. A hand operated lever is operable to pivot the step assembly to the up, closed position.

Crop sprayers are provided with operator enclosures to shield the operator from the outside environment and provide for operator comfort. The cabs are mounted on the vehicle frame a substantial distance above the ground to clear crops, such as corn and soybeans. Fixed steps and upright ladders are mounted on the side of the cab to enable the operator to climb into the cab. The ladders extend down from the cabs and can contact crops and other objects on the ground. Upright ladders are difficult to use as the operator must use his or her hands and feet to climb the ladder. Railway cars have been provided with side steps, which pivot to a down position to facilitate the movement of passengers into and out of the railway cars. Examples of side steps on railway cars as shown by E. M. Moller in U.S. Pat. No. 1,102,287 and B. C. Baade in U.S. Pat. No. 2,146,668. These patents show a step assembly having two steps that are pivoted between a down, step position to an up, closed position adjacent the side of the railway car.


A method and apparatus for configuring a virtual scene are provided. The method includes obtaining a selection instruction generated by a first application running on a first terminal in response to a selection operation. The selection instruction includes configuration information selected through the selection operation. The configuration information is for configuring a scene element in the virtual scene. The method further includes generating indication information according to the selection instruction. The indication information indicates a target scene element among a plurality of scene elements. The method further includes transmitting the indication information to a second application running on a second terminal, to instruct the second application to display the target scene element in the virtual scene.

With the development of multimedia technologies and the popularity of wireless networks, entertainment activities of people become increasingly rich, for example, playing a game online by using a portable media device and playing a single or online game by using a computer. There are various types of games such as barrage shooting games, adventure games, simulation games, role-playing games, casual chess and card games, and other games.
During gaming in most types of games, for example, in a 3D-type game, a game progress or game logic may need to be changed in a game process, and currently, this can only be achieved by a player by specifying settings in a setting menu before a game starts. Such a setting manner leads to an undiversified operation mode and degrades user experience.
For the foregoing problem, no effective solution has been provided yet.

Method and apparatus for configuring virtual scene, and storage medium thereof

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


An intervertebral implant comprising a lower implant part, having a central axis and an apposition section, designed to rest against the covering surface of the adjacent lower vertebra and an upper implant part comprising a bore with an internal thread, a central axis and an apposition section, designed to rest against the covering surface of the adjacent upper vertebra. Specifically, the lower and upper implant parts are secured in relation to each other against rotation about the central axis and a threaded screw with an external thread is guided in the upper implant part and connected to the lower implant part, the external thread cooperating with the internal thread. The lower and upper implant parts, and the threaded screw lie coaxially along their common central axis, the threaded screw being connected to the lower implant part so that it is axially fixed but able to rotate.

An intervertebral implant is known from US-A 2002082695 NEUMANN. Here, the central implant part, configured as a threaded ring having an inside thread, is connected with the upper implant part that stands in the end position. The upper part of the lower implant part is structured with a conical surface that serves as an accommodation for the threaded ring. By means of a special instrument that has a bevel wheel that can be brought into engagement with the bevel wheel on the threaded ring, the threaded ring can be rotated about the central axis of the intervertebral implant and the upper implant part can be axially displaced. The threaded ring serves only as an axial stop for the upper implant part, i.e., as a support surface, so that the upper, end-position implant part can be moved axially (nut/spindle drive). The two end-position implant parts are therefore loosely mounted relative to one another, which is also indicated by the fact that axial slots are provided in one of the two implant parts, with pins affixed to the other implant part engaging in them, to secure the parts axially. Therefore this known intervertebral implant has the disadvantage that it is not secured against axial displacements before and during the operation.
In this regard, a need exists of creating an intervertebral implant that forms a compact whole, free of axial play, while maintaining the lowest possible construction height, and can be made available to the surgeon as a pre-assembled set.


An apparatus for gathering an uninterrupted mat of boards from an inbound conveyor and for periodically separating and dealing individual ones of the boards to an outbound conveyor is disclosed. A roller accumulator having a first series of transversely spaced apart rows of closely spaced, inline rollers is provided between the inbound and outbound conveyors. A fixed gate having a plurality of transversely spaced apart, trapezoidally shaped plates is mounted next to the downstream end of the accumulator. Upstream facing vertical edges of the plates form a stop against which boards delivered to the accumulator are gathered. Inclined upper edges of the plates contain a second series of rows of closely spaced, in-line rollers extending from an upper end of the stop diagonally downwardly to an inlet end of the outbound conveyor. A pair of transversely spaced apart power operated, drive belt loops containing outwardly projecting, flexible brushes are disposed over the accumulator and fixed gate and are operative to drive boards along both series of rollers. A movable singulation gate operates periodically to tilt a leading edge of a most downstream one of the boards on the accumulator upwardly over the stop such that the brushes and the urging of the remaining boards on the accumulator cause the tilted board to be lifted onto the second roller series and, thereafter, to be delivered by the brushes to the outbound conveyor.

This invention relates generally to mechanisms for feeding elongated bodies such as beams, timbers, planks and boards individually and periodically from an unseparated layer of such bodies to an outbound conveyor system.
In a finishing saw mill, for example, it is frequently necessary to position a series of wood boards on a conveyor with the boards more or less evenly spaced apart. In this way, the spaced apart boards can be transported by a conveyor, such as a multi-chain conveyor, to a work station wherein a trimming, facing or other finishing operation can be performed on each board, one at a time, and in relatively rapid sequence. This invention has to do with an improved board feeding apparatus for separating and dealing individual boards of widely varying lengths and widths from an uninterrupted layer or mat of such boards to an outbound conveyor.
Broadly speaking, such mechanisms have long been known and used in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,976 issued to E. Ritola on Aug. 7, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,524 issued to A. Rysti on Mar. 7, 1978; U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,135 issued to N. Pyykonen on Nov. 2, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,785 issued to M. C. Tourtellotte on May 11, 1965; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,980,234 issued to E. W. De Koning on Apr. 18, 1961. A problem encountered particularly with the Ritola and Rysti mechanisms is that they can not deal effectively with boards of widely varying widths. Moreover, none of subject mechanisms can deal effectively with boards having widely varying lengths. For example, boards dealt by the De Koning machine must be at least be slightly longer than the space between two adjacent ones of the reference stops 60 plus the transverse offset distance between one of the stops 60 and the nearest one of the wheels 70. Also, boards short enough to engage only two of the reference stops 60 and two corresponding offset wheels 70 must be carefully positioned on the inbound conveyor. Moreover, the mechanism of De Koning is complicated by the fact that the system for dealing individual boards from a mat of boards requires three separate sets of chain conveyors, namely, an inbound conveyor 44, a holding conveyor 10, and an outbound conveyor 12. Clearly, these three conveyors must be carefully synchronized relative to one another.
By means of the present invention, these and other problems encountered in prior art board separating and dealing machines are substantially eliminated.

Apparatus for separating and dealing individual boards from an uninterrupted mat of boards to a conveyor