A method for preparing an electrophotographic photoreceptor, includes coating an electroconductive substrate with an undercoat layer containing a blocked isocyanate compound, an oil-free alkyd resin including a hydroxyl group and basic amine; crosslinking the blocked isocyanate compound, oil-free alkyd resin including a hydroxyl group and basic amine; and coating the undercoat layer with a photosensitive layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor for use in laser printers, digital copiers and laser facsimiles; an undercoat layer coating liquid therefor; a method of preparing the photoreceptor; and image forming apparatus and a process cartridge using the photoreceptor.
2. Discussion of the Background
Electrophotographic image forming devices can produce high-quality images at a high-speed, and are used for copiers and laser beam printers. An organic photoreceptor using an organic photoconductive material has been developed and has gradually become widely used as a photoreceptor in electrophotographic image forming devices. Over time, the photoreceptor has changed from a) a charge transporting complex constitution or a single-layered constitution wherein a charge generation material is dispersed in a binder resin to b) a functionally-separated constitution wherein a photosensitive layer is separated into charge generation layer and a charge transport layer, and has improved its performance. The currently prevailing approach includes use of a functionally-separated photoreceptor having a constitution wherein an undercoat layer is formed on an aluminum substrate, a charge generation layer is formed on the undercoat layer and a charge transport layer is formed on the charge generation layer.
In conventional systems, the undercoat layer is formed to improve adhesiveness, coatability, chargeability of the photosensitive layer, and to prevent an unnecessary charge from the substrate from entering the photosensitive layer and cover a defect on the substrate. The undercoat layer typically includes only a binder resin and an undercoat layer including a binder resin and a pigment. Specific examples of resins used in the undercoat layer include water-soluble resins such as polyvinylalcohol and casein; alcohol-soluble resins such as nylon copolymers; and hardened resins having a three-dimensional network such as polyurethane, melamine resins, phenol resins, phenol resins, oil-free alkyd resins, epoxy resins and siloxane resins.
Although water-soluble resins are inexpensive and have good properties, a solvent for a photosensitive layer coating liquid dissolves the water-soluble resins and frequently deteriorates a coatability of the undercoat layer. Nylon alcohol-soluble resins are highly sensitive to environment because of their high water absorbability and affinity, and therefore the resultant photoreceptor changes its properties according to humidity.
In an atmosphere of high humidity, a photoreceptor having an undercoat layer using alcohol-soluble resins, particularly the nylon resins, absorb a large amount of water in the undercoat layer, and therefore properties thereof change significantly when repeatedly used in an environment of high temperature and high humidity or a low temperature and low humidity. This results in production of abnormal images such as black spots and deterioration of image density. It is well known that an inorganic pigment such as titanium oxide may be dispersed in the undercoat layer to enhance a hiding effect of the defect on the substrate and a scattering effect of incident light such as coherence light (a laser beam) to prevent occurrence of an interference pattern. However, the above-mentioned deficiency in the face of humidity does not change even when the inorganic pigment is mixed with the nylon resins.
Among hardened resins having a three-dimensional network, a large amount of formaldehyde is used to form melamine resins, alkyd/melamine resins, acryl/melamine resins, phenol resins and methoxymethylated nylon. Therefore, unreacted materials are absorbed in the resins and the formaldehyde generates in a heat cross-linking process after the undercoat layer is formed. However, formaldehyde is an indoor pollutant listed in the Clean Air Act and is said to be a cause of an illness known as "sick house syndrome." Thus, to prevent formaldehyde from being discharged to the atmosphere, expensive collection equipment needs to be used.
Therefore, there exists a demand for a less environmentally-damaging heat-crosslinking resin for use an undercoat layer, where the resin does not generate formaldehyde when hardened with heat.
Specific examples of such resins include urethane resins. To harden the urethane resins, a compound, including a group including an active hydrogen such as acrylpolyol, is dried with hot air for a predetermined period of time in the presence of a hardener, such as a monomer including an isocyanate group, such that a three-dimensional network crosslinking reaction between the group including an active hydrogen of the acrylpolyol and isocyanate group of the hardener starts to form a hardened film. However, since the isocyanate group has a high reactivity, a coating liquid using the isocyanate group has a short usable time. Therefore, a blocked isocyanate having a long pot life in a coating liquid for an electrophotographic photoreceptor and an isocyanate coating material, which is stable in the presence of alcohol-soluble chemicals, water-soluble chemicals or the compound including a group including an active hydrogen, is a topic of ongoing research.
The blocked isocyanate includes an isocyanate group protected with a blocker such as oxime and starts an addition reaction with a compound, including a group including active hydrogen such as a hydroxyl group, when heated and the blocker is removed to proceed a crosslinking reaction.
Since the blocker has a high release temperature, an investment for a drying equipment increases more than a conventional equipment, which consumes more energy than the conventional one and increases CO2, resulting in increase of global warming.
Namely, it is desired that the release temperature, i.e., the crosslinking temperature, is decreased and a usable time of a coating liquid for the photoreceptor is extended to the maximum.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications Nos. 06-158267 and 06-257312, and Japanese Patents Nos. 02637557, 02608328 and 02567090 disclose a photoreceptor including block isocyanate in its intermediate or undercoat layer, wherein a zinc compound and a basic compound are disclosed as a catalyst.
However, a basic amine in the present invention not only largely reduces the crosslinking temperature, but also when included in an undercoat layer of an electrophotographic photoreceptor, the resultant photoreceptor has high potential stability and produces no abnormal images. In addition, the basic amine provides an undercoat layer coating liquid for an electrophotographic photoreceptor, having high liquid properties, which makes a clear distinction from the above-mentioned zinc compound and basic compound.
Because of these reasons, a need exists for a coating liquid for an electrophotographic photoreceptor having good electrostatic properties and high durability, having good storage stability and capable of reducing crosslinking energy, and a method of preparing the photoreceptor.

Method for preparing an electrophotographic photoreceptor


The present invention concerns an AFDX network which is extended by a passive optical network or PON. The AFDX network comprises an AFDX switch to which are connected a plurality of equipments. The AFDX switch constitutes the optical line termination and said equipments constitute the optical network terminations of the PON. The PON broadcasts over the downlink, to all said equipments, every AFDX frame output by said AFDX switch. It also multiplexes over the uplink the AFDX frames transmitted by the same equipments. The invention also concerns an μAFDX network using a PON.

The field of aeronautic telecommunications has been highly developed in recent years.
Conventionally, the avionic networks use a bus topology standardized in the ARINC 429 standard.
More recently, the AFDX (Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet) network, developed for aeronautics is based on the switched Ethernet principle. It will be reminded that switched Ethernet networks can operate under two distinct modes which however are compatible with each other: a so-called shared mode, wherein a same physical support is shared among terminals, with a random access and frame collision detection, and a so-called switched mode, wherein terminals exchange frames by means of virtual link connections, also called virtual links, thus ensuring the absence of collisions.
The AFDX network has been standardized in the ARINC 664 standard, Part 7. A description of the AFDX network is in particular found in the document entitled "AFDX protocol tutorial" available under http://sierrasales.com/pdfs/AFDXTutorial.pdf URL as well as an introduction to virtual links in FR-A-2832011 filed on behalf the present applicant. It will be merely reminded herein that the AFDX network is full-duplex, deterministic and redundant.
By full-duplex, it is meant that each subscriber to the network (terminal, calculator) can simultaneously transmit and receive frames on virtual links. The AFDX network is deterministic in that virtual links have characteristics ensured in terms of latency terminal, physical flow segregation, bandwidth and rate. For this, each virtual link has available an end-to-end reserved path through the network. Finally, the AFDX network is redundant because the underlying Ethernet network is duplicated for availability reasons.
A subscriber to an AFDX network is directly connected to a switch of this network. Data of a subscriber are transmitted as IP packets encapsulated in Ethernet frames. Unlike the conventional Ethernet switching (using the Ethernet address of the recipient), the switching of frames on an AFDC network uses a virtual link identifier included in the frame header. When a switch receives a frame on an input port thereof, it reads the virtual link identifier and determines from its switching table the output port(s) on which the frame should be transmitted.
All the equipments on board an aircraft, in particular the different sensors distributed in the aircraft, cannot be directly connected to a switch of the AFDX network. Indeed, given the great number of relevant equipments, this would require to use a great number of such switches. Moreover, since the switches are located in avionic racks, in other words generally far from sensors, this solution would imply to use numerous and long wired connections, which would be detrimental to the apparatus mass budget.
To overcome this difficulty, it has been proposed to use frame switching devices, commonly called AFDX micro-switches which has a hub function over the downlink and a switching function over the uplink. Such a micro-switch enables the ADFX network to be extended such that remote equipments can access it. To do this, it is on the one hand connected directly to a switch of the AFDX network and on the other hand, to said remote equipments. When the AFDX micro-switch receives a frame incident over the downlink, it replicates it and transmits it to all the equipments which are connected thereto. Conversely, when the AFDX micro-switch receives a frame over the uplink, that is a frame transmitted by one of the equipments in question, this it transmitted to the AFDX switch to which it is connected.
An exemplary embodiment of AFDX micro-switch has been described in Patent application FR-A-2920623 filed on behalf of the present applicant.
FIG. 1 schematically represents an exemplary AFDX network, which is extended using an AFDX micro-switch.
The AFDX network 100 consists of a plurality of AFDX switches connected with each other by physical connections (twisted pairs) 105.
The terminals 110, being subscribers to the AFDX network, are each directly connected to an AFDX switch 120.
The remote equipments 150 are not directly connected to the AFDX network but to an AFDX micro-switch 120, via physical connections 155. On the other hand, the micro-switch 130 is directly connected to a switch of this network via a physical connection 135. It will be understood that all the micro-switch and physical connections 135, 155 represent an access network 170 for the remote equipments 150. In other words, the access network 170 enables the base AFDX network 100 to be extended to the remote equipments.
In FIG. 1 is represented a virtual link VLap connecting the subscriber terminal A to the remote equipment Ep. Frames transmitted by the terminal on this virtual link are received by the micro-switch 130 which acts as a hub over the downlink by transmitting them to all the equipments Ek, k=1, . . . , K which are connected thereto. The equipments different from the recipient Ep reject the frames in question from the virtual link identifier.
Conversely, a virtual link VLqb has been represented connecting the remote equipment Eq to the subscriber terminal B. Frames transmitted by the t remote equipment Eq on this virtual link are automatically transmitted (without header reading) by the micro-switch to the AFDX switch, SW, to which it is connected. The frames are then switched through the AFDX network by the switches 120 from the virtual link identifier contained in the frame header, until reception by the subscriber B.
FIG. 2 represents an exemplary network connecting a terminal to a plurality of equipments by means of an AFDX micro-switch.
The terminal A, designated by 210, is connected to a set of equipments 250, noted Ek, k=1, . . . , K through a micro-switch 230 but, unlike the previous example, without resorting to an AFDX network. The terminal 210 can herein be located in the vicinity of the equipments 250.
The network consisting of the micro-switch 230, the physical connections 235 and 255 is conventionally called μ AFDX network.
The operating principle of this network is similar to that of the previous example. When the terminal A transmits frames on a virtual link VLap to an equipment Ep, these are transmitted by the micro-switch to all the equipments 250, these being in charge of selecting the frames intended thereto based on the virtual link identifier. Conversely, when an equipment Ep transmits frames to the terminal B on the virtual link VLqb, the micro-switch 230 merely transfers frames it receives from the equipment in question to said terminal.
It will be understood that an μAFDX network, much like the previous AFDX network, forwards AFDX frames using a frame switching, however the switching is only performed herein over the uplink. Thus, an AFDX network, whether extended or not, an μAFDX network, can all be called AFDX frame switched networks.
Whatever the network configuration, the AFDX switches and AFDX micro-switches are like to be affected by electrical failures and electromagnetic disturbances. Even though the redundancy of the AFDX network allows to overcome these drawbacks to some extent, there is a need for making switching devices free of these.
Furthermore, the AFDX switches and AFDX micro-switches consume electric power and dissipate heat. Therefore, they cannot be installed in great numbers in confined zones of the airplane, such as the avionic rack, without resorting to a cooling system.
One object of the present invention is to extend or even to make an AFDX frame switching network using at least one frame switching device which has not the abovementioned drawbacks, that is using a frame switching device which is robust and of very low consumption.

AFDX network with a passive optical network


Liquid crystal display backplane layouts and addressing for non-standard subpixel arrangements are disclosed. A liquid crystal display comprises a panel and a plurality of transistors. The panel substantially comprises a subpixel repeating group having an even number of subpixels in a first direction. Each thin film transistor connects one subpixel to a row and a column line at an intersection in one of a group of quadrants. The group comprises a first quadrant, a second quadrant, a third quadrant and a fourth quadrant, wherein the thin film transistors are formed in a backplane structure adjacent to intersections of the row and column lines. The thin film transistors are also substantially formed in more than one quadrant in the backplane structure.

In commonly owned United States Patent Applications: (1) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0015110 ("the '110 application"), entitled "ARRANGEMENT OF COLOR PIXELS FOR FULL COLOR IMAGING DEVICES WITH SIMPLIFIED ADDRESSING," filed Jul. 25, 2001; (2) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0128225 ("the '225 application"), entitled "IMPROVEMENTS TO COLOR FLAT PANEL DISPLAY SUB-PIXEL ARRANGEMENTS AND LAYOUTS FOR SUB-PIXEL RENDERING WITH INCREASED MODULATION TRANSFER FUNCTION RESPONSE," filed Oct. 22, 2002; (3) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0128179 ("the '179 application"), entitled "IMPROVEMENTS TO COLOR FLAT PANEL DISPLAY SUB-PIXEL ARRANGEMENTS AND LAYOUTS FOR SUB-PIXEL RENDERING WITH SPLIT BLUE SUB-PIXELS," filed Oct. 22, 2002; (4) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0051724 ("the '724 application"), entitled "IMPROVED FOUR COLOR ARRANGEMENTS AND EMITTERS FOR SUB-PIXEL RENDERING," filed Sep. 13, 2002; (5) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0117423 ("the '423 application"), entitled "IMPROVEMENTS TO COLOR FLAT PANEL DISPLAY SUB-PIXEL ARRANGEMENTS AND LAYOUTS WITH REDUCED BLUE LUMINANCE WELL VISIBILITY," filed Oct. 22, 2002; (6) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0090581 ("the '581 application"), entitled "COLOR DISPLAY HAVING HORIZONTAL SUB-PIXEL ARRANGEMENTS AND LAYOUTS," filed Oct. 22, 2002; (7) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0080479 ("the '479 application"), entitled "IMPROVED SUB-PIXEL ARRANGEMENTS FOR STRIPED DISPLAYS AND METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SUB-PIXEL RENDERING SAME," filed Jan. 16, 2003, novel sub-pixel arrangements are therein disclosed for improving the cost/performance curves for image display devices and herein incorporated by reference.
These improvements are particularly pronounced when coupled with sub-pixel rendering (SPR) systems and methods further disclosed in those applications and in commonly owned United States Patent Applications: (1) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0034992 ("the '992 application"), entitled "CONVERSION OF A SUB-PIXEL FORMAT DATA TO ANOTHER SUB-PIXEL DATA FORMAT," filed Jan. 16, 2002; (2) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0103058 ("the '058 application"), entitled "METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SUB-PIXEL RENDERING WITH GAMMA ADJUSTMENT," filed May 17, 2002; (3) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0085906 ("the '906 application"), entitled "METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR SUB-PIXEL RENDERING WITH ADAPTIVE FILTERING," filed Aug. 8, 2002; (4) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0196302 ("the '302 application"), entitled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TEMPORAL SUB-PIXEL RENDERING OF IMAGE DATA" filed Mar. 4, 2003; (5) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0174380 ("the '380 application"), entitled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MOTION ADAPTIVE FILTERING," filed Mar. 4, 2003; (6) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0174375 ("the '375 application"), entitled "SUB-PIXEL RENDERING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMPROVED DISPLAY VIEWING ANGLES" filed Mar. 4, 2003; (7) U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0196297 ("the '297 application"), entitled "IMAGE DATA SET WITH EMBEDDED PRE-SUBPIXEL RENDERED IMAGE" filed Apr. 7, 2003, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.


According to a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus, a scanning-parameter limit calculating unit creates examination information that represents scanning conditions for collection of magnetic resonance signal data based on scanning parameters set by an operator; a scanning-condition edit/scan positioning unit creates a time chart that indicates the type and a sequential execution order of an event to be executed when collecting magnetic resonance signal data based on the examination information created by the scanning-parameter limit calculating unit, and causes a time-chart display unit to display the created time chart.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus that takes an image of a subject by collecting data about the inside of the subject by using magnetic resonance phenomenon, and a scanning-condition setting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is an apparatus that images an arbitrary cross section of a subject, such as a human body, by using various contrasts between tissues. Such magnetic resonance imaging apparatus performs imaging by executing a procedure so-called a pulse sequence, which sequentially defines events representing timing of application of a radio-frequency pulse or a gradient magnetic field pulse, and timing of data collection.
An operator of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus appropriately sets various scanning parameters prior to a scan, and obtains information required for an examination, such as contrast, Signal to Noise ratio (SN ratio), spatial resolution, flow velocity, and diffusion. The scanning parameters include, for example, a Repetition Time (TR), Echo Time (TE), the number of matrices, Field of View (FOV), the number of slices, and slice thickness.
FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram that depicts an example of a user interface for editing scanning parameters according to a conventional magnetic resonance imaging apparatus. FIG. 11 depicts a scanning-condition edit screen including various scanning parameters as edit items. The operator sets a value of a required scanning parameter by inputting a numerical value or operating a user interface, such as a slider or a button, on the scanning-condition edit screen shown in FIG. 11.
Additionally to the scanning parameters described above, the operator edits scanning conditions, such as an imaging method (type of pulse sequence, for example, spin echo, or Echo Planar Imaging (EPI)), the type of a prepulse, such as a fat suppression pulse or an inversion pulse, the number of prepulses, the order of prepulses, and the order of slice excitation, in accordance with a purpose. As a technology for confirming spatial arrangement of such prepulses and scanning pulses, there is a technology of displaying a slice region on a positioning image (for example, see JP-A 2003-290171 (KOKAI)). A positioning image used in the technology is called a graphic locator, for example.
However, according to the conventional technology described above, the operator can confirm spatial arrangement of a prepulse or a scanning pulse, but cannot confirm temporal order of the prepulses or the scanning pulses. In other words, according to the conventional technology, when changing a scanning condition, the operator cannot obtain information that influences an image to be obtained, for example, timing of collection of data at a target scan position, the type of each prepulse to be applied, the order and the frequency of application of prepulses.

Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and scanning-condition setting method


A hot water tank including: a shell enclosing a chamber containing a heat exchange liquid, the shell including a base, side wall and lid; a cold water inlet connected to a first end of a heat exchanger, and a hot water outlet connected to a second end of the heat exchanger, wherein the heat exchanger is located in an upper portion of the chamber; a primary heating element connected to a power source for heating the heat exchange liquid, the primary heating element being located in a lower portion of the chamber.

Solar water heaters operate by collecting solar radiation on an absorber glazed flat plate or an array of evacuated tubes. Usually a thermosiphon configuration with the panels and tank ensures that hot water is directed to a mains pressure tank (horizontally or vertically or at ground level in the case of pumped systems).
Referring to FIG. 10 a typical solar hot water system 200 is shown. The system includes a storage tank 202 horizontally mounted, with a cold water inlet 204 on the end of, and towards the bottom of the water storage tank 202, and a hot water outlet 203 on the end, and towards the top of the tank 202. The capacity of the tank 202 is usually based on the demand for hot water at the installed premises. For example a home with four adults would usually require a greater storage capacity as compared to a home with two adults.
The tank 202 is connected to a heat or solar collector 201, generally comprising a series of heat collector pipes 210, and is typically installed on the roof of a house.
Colder water will tend towards the bottom of the tank 202 represented as item 207, and hotter or heated water will rise towards the top of the tank 202 represented as item 208. The colder water 207 passes out of the tank 202 and through a pipe 205 into the heat collector pipes 210. Commonly users may refer to the heat collector pipes as the solar panels. After passing through the heat collector pipes 210 the heated water then returns to the tank 202 via pipe 206.
The domestic hot water supply will thus pass into the tank 202 and then through copper tubes housed in the solar collector 210. Thermal energy from the sun will heat the water in the solar collector 210. Heated water is then returned to the tank 202, and is then available to a user.
An alternative conventional solar hot water system is shown in FIG. 9. This arrangement is similar to the system of FIG. 10, however, water is pumped from the water storage tank 104 usually located on the ground, to the solar heat collector 100 usually located on the roof. That aside the operation is similar. Mains cold water enters the tank 104 through a mains cold water inlet 105 located on the side and towards the bottom of the tank 104.
Cold water 106 settles towards the bottom of the tank 104, and heated water 102 settles towards the top of the tank 104. The cold water 106 is pumped 107 via a pipe 108 to a solar heat collector 100. The water passes through a number of tubes in the solar heat collector enabling the water to be heated. The heated water then passes back to the tank 104 via pipe 101.
The cold water pipe 108 effectively passes through the side wall of the tank 104 towards the bottom of the tank 104 where the cold water 106 has settled. Conversely, the heated water returning from the solar collector 100 via the heated water pipe 101, passes through the side wall of the tank 104 in the upper portion of the tank 104. In this way mixing of the cold water and heated water is minimised, ensuring that when needed the hottest water is available to the user. It is necessary for the water inlet 105 and outlet 103 to be located near the bottom and top of the tank respectively to ensure that only hot water is released from the tank.
Heated water 102 is then available to a user via hot water outlet 103. In use, as the user extracts water via the outlet 103, an equal amount of water is added via the inlet 105.
In some circumstances in both prior arrangements, such as on overcast days with low sunlight, there may not be sufficient heat generated by the solar collector 100, 201 to heat the water in the tank 104, 202. To guard against this possibility the hot water systems also include a separate heating element 109, 209 that becomes the booster for the system. The heating element 109, 209 is connected to AC mains supply. If required this separate element 109, 209 can heat the water.
Solar water heaters, whether horizontally mounted or vertically mounted, will usually have an extra booster included to add heat when solar thermal energy is not sufficient from the panels in winter or cloudy weather conditions. Typically, in horizontal systems the booster 209 passes through the end of the tank 202 towards the lower half of the tank 202, and above the inlet 204. For vertical systems, the booster 109 passes through the side wall of the tank 104 in the lower third of the tank 104 and again at a point higher than the water inlet 105. In both cases the location of the booster is an attempt to best heat the water in the tank. In particular, water heated by the booster is not directly impacted by incoming cold water. Nor is the booster adversely affected by receiving high temperature readings if it was located in an area of hot water. The desire of the system is to ensure the entire water supply in the tank is heated. By locating the booster lower in the tank this can be better managed.
While such systems can provide hot water they also have a number of limitations.
Most solar water heaters are main pressure vessels in steel (glass lined) with internal pressure limits of 450 to 800 kPa, similar in stainless steel or reduced pressure systems for copper (165 kPa). Mains water supply can have pressure pulsations or fluctuations in the basic pressure of the water. These fluctuations can lead to mains pressure related failures from pulsation driven metal fatigue and resultant crevice corrosion starting with micro cracks in the enamel lining inside the tank protecting the steel. The micro cracks usually start inside the tanks, at end welds or at side penetration points through the wall of the tank.
Poor water quality can also accelerate degradation and premature failure of hot water systems. In poor quality water there are usually high levels of dissolved salts including bicarbonate present. Carbonate (or more commonly known boiler scale) build up occurs from heating of the usually dissolved bicarbonate salts in poor quality water, precipitating solid salts out of solution. The solid salts can then block hot water supply pipes from the system, and in particular the copper pipes in traditional solar thermal panels or in the valves. It is not uncommon for panels to heat up above 80° C. in summer, thus creating this degrading chemical reaction.
All solar hot water systems have relied on placing water inlets and outlets, and booster entries through the side-wall of the tank. In relation to horizontal tanks the end of the tank may effectively be considered a side wall. These side wall entries have been necessary in part to ensure that the supply of hot water is not compromised. To enable the entries penetrations are made in the side wall of the tank. That is, holes are bored through the wall of the tank to allow pipes and any other necessary parts to pass into the tank. These cuts or penetrations expose the wall to corrosion. Each penetration requires a water proof seal capable of withstanding the pressure exerted on the side wall of the tank. Each penetration also increases the risk of failure. In particular it can create a weak point emanating from any slight imperfections during the assembly process in finalizing the tank and its components. This choice for the common location of penetrations creates complexity in manufacturing, weak points for leakage, corrosion and additional maintenance costs. However, while the sidewall penetrations cause known problems they have been necessary for the function of traditional systems.
A further known problem originates from a safety feature. It is known for bacteria to thrive in water environments. To avoid infected water being passed to a user, the hot water systems ensure that the water is heated to at least 60 degrees Celsius. Tempering valves are then installed at each outlet tap to mix cold water with the hot water so as to reduce the water temperature to a safe level. This is inefficient as extra energy is needed to heat the water only to need to cool it back down. In addition it is not uncommon for these valves to require extra maintenance.
Valve failure is also a common point of weakness in solar water heaters. This is exasperated due to the excessive numbers of valves that are needed for basic solar water heater mains pressure systems. Because the tank is pressurized to mains pressure, and because the heated water in the tank is also the supply water to the house, there are a number of extra valves added for safety reasons. For example, extra valves, such as pressure relief valves, are included in the tank to release steam pressure when the solar panels over heat the tank water. Similarly, solar thermal panels need the same pressure release valves to prevent steam pressure in hot conditions. In a number of localities solar thermal panels may also require a frost valve. These frost valves work by allowing warm water from the tank to flow through the panels and thereby reduce the likelihood of the water freezing in the pipes in the panels, and splitting the pipes creating failure of the system. This all increases the maintenance costs of solar waters heaters.
It is desirable to provide an improved hot water system that ameliorates some of the above identified problems.


A light-shielding pattern including light-shielding regions and an aperture therebetween is formed on a substrate. The substrate and the light-shielding pattern are then coated with conductive film. The conductive film is thereafter patterned, defining a conductive pattern. Next, a phase-shifting film and a resist film are deposited in this order on the substrate, the light-shielding pattern and the conductive pattern. Following this, a light beam is illuminated toward the bottom surface of the substrate and developed, thereby defining a resist pattern. The phase-shifting film is thereafter selectively etched with the resist pattern as an etching mask. As a result, a phase-shifter is obtained. Thus, the conductive pattern not only acts as an etching stopper but also prevents the substrate from getting charged. Hence, a phase-shifting mask is manufactured accurately.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a phase-shifting mask used in fabricating an LSI device. It particularly relates to a method of forming a phase-shifted pattern with high accuracy.
2. Description of the Background Art
When a reduction type stepper is used in photolithography, a resolution limit R is: EQU R=K1.lambda./NA
where K1 is a constant dependent on a type of a resist, .lambda. is a wavelength of an exposure light beam and NA is a numerical aperture of a lens. The lower limit of the constant K1 is around 0.5.
The resolution limit R is lowered, in other words, resolution is enhanced, by decreasing the constant K1 and using smaller wavelength .lambda. while increasing the numerical aperture NA. It is known that, NA can be reduced to around 0.5. Hence, where NA is around 0.5 and the i-beam (.lambda.=365 nm) is used, the resolution limit R as low as around 0.4 micron is possible.
To further lower the resolution limit R, either much shorter wavelength .lambda. or much larger NA is necessary. However, both a light source producing such a short wavelength and a lens having such a large NA should require extremely difficult structure. Rather, a much shorter wavelength .lambda. and much larger NA have adverse affect. When the wavelength .lambda. is further decreased or when NA is further increased, a depth of focus .delta. is reduced, damaging the resolution, since the depth of focus .delta., the wavelength .lambda. and NA are in the following relation: EQU .delta.=.lambda./[2(NA)2]
Various methods have been proposed to solve the problems. One such effort is phase-shifting lithography exposure as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Gazette Nos. 57-62052 and 58-173744. Advantages of phase-shifting lithography over lithography using an ordinary photomask will be described below.
FIGS. 1A-1C are diagrams showing principles of lithography using an ordinary photomask. The ordinary photomask comprises a transparent glass substrate 1 with an opaque light-shielding pattern 2 formed thereon. The light-shielding pattern 2 consists of light-shielding regions and apertures 2a (FIG. 1A). In the case of molybdenum silicide, however, any other material may be used which blocks exposure light beams used in lithography such as the g-beam, the i-beam and excimer laser beams.
When a light beam is transmitted through the ordinary photomask, light intensity at a wafer is largely affected by interference as shown by the intensity waveform of FIG. 1C. At the plane immediately below the photomask, electric field is zero in magnitude except at the apertures 2a and is otherwise constant (FIG. 1B). However, at the wafer, which is a certain distance away from the photomask, the intensity does not remain zero at the same regions, that is, regions corresponding to the light-shielding regions 2a (non-transparent regions) since light beams diffracted from the adjacent apertures overlap and intensify each other. Hence, the pattern 2 cannot be resolved.
FIGS. 2A-2C are diagrams showing principles of phase-shifting lithography. A phase-shifting mask of FIG. 2A is obtainable from adding a phase-shifter 3 made of transparent material such as SiO.sub.2 to the ordinary photomask in such a manner that the phase-shifter 3 covers all other apertures. In this phase-shifting mask, a light beam transmitted by the phase-shifter 3 is 180 degrees out of phase with an incident light beam. The phase-shifting mask is otherwise identical to the ordinary photomask.
Assume that a light beam is transmitted through the phase-shifting mask. At the plane immediately below the mask, the electric field passing through the covered apertures has a sign opposite to that of the electric field passing through the uncoated apertures (FIG. 2B). Therefore, when the pattern 2 is projected onto a wafer by the same projection optical system used in the ordinary lithography, light beams diffracted from the adjacent apertures cancel out each other at the wafer at the non-transparent regions. As a result, at the regions where cancellation occurs, intensity becomes practically zero, whereby the pattern 2 is transferred onto the wafer with high resolution. According to experimental results, a minimum width of a pattern resolved by using the phase-shifting mask of FIG. 2A is about half that of a pattern resolved by using the ordinary photomask of FIG. 1A.
The phase-shifting mask of FIG. 2A, however, is insufficient. Although excellent for periodic line-and-space pattern implementation, the phase-shifting mask is not applicable, if not at all, to where the pattern 2 is an optional pattern. Against this backdrop, improved phase-shifting masks have been proposed. For example, the mask described in the article "NEW PHASE SHIFTINGMASK WITH SELF-ALIGNED PHASE SHIFTERS FOR A QUARTER MICRON PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY," A. Nitayama et al., IEDM Conference, 1989.
The improved phase-shifting mask disclosed in the article is obtained by adding to the ordinary photomask of FIG. 1A a phase-shifter 3 which is a little wider than the light-shielding pattern 2 such that the phase-shifter 3 is formed on the light-shielding pattern 2 (FIG. 3A).
The phase-shifter 3 is formed from a resist pattern which functions as an etching mask when the light-shielding pattern 2 is etched. Specific manufacturing process of the phase-shifter 3 is as follows: First, a light-shielding film is deposited on a glass substrate 1. Next, a resist pattern, i.e., the phase-shifter 3 is formed on the light-shielding film. The light-shielding film is then patterned by anisotropic etching such as plasma etching with the phase-shifter 3 as a mask, thereby obtaining the light-shielding pattern 2. Furthermore, edge portions of the thus obtained light-shielding pattern 2 are removed a little bit by isotropic etching such as wet etching. As a result, the light-shielding pattern 2 which is a little narrower than the phase-shifter 3 is formed (FIG. 3A).
When a light beam is transmitted by the phase-shifter 3, light intensity at a non-transparent region disappears at a wafer (FIG. 3B). Hence, the light-shielding pattern 2 is resolved with high accuracy, printing a very sharp pattern on the wafer. In addition, since the phase-shifter 3 is formed easily in a self-aligned manner, this improved phase-shifting approach promises accurate pattern transfer even when the light-shielding pattern 2 has a non-periodic feature.
Recent efforts have resulted in further improvement in the phase-shifting approach as above. One such effort is phase-shifting in which a phase-shifting mask produces a null or a sharp drop in intensity at an edge of the phase-shifter 3. This approach is disclosed, for example, in the article "0.2 .mu.m OR LESS i-LINE LITHOGRAPHY BY PHASE-SHIFTING-MASK TECHNOLOGY," H. Jinbo et al., IEDM Conference, 1990. According to the disclosed phase-shifting technology, the phase-shifter 3 is formed directly on the glass substrate 1. A light beam transmitted at an edge portion 3b of the phase-shifter 3 is therefore 180 degrees out of phase with an incident light beam (FIG. 4B), whereby light intensity at the edge portion 3b partially drops to zero at the wafer (FIG. 4C). Hence, a fine resist pattern is printed. The article reports that a 0.15-micron wide isolated space is resolvable by exposing a negative resist using the phase-shifting mask of FIG. 4A.
Still further improvement has been disclosed by the article "A New Phase Shifting Mask Structure for Positive Resist Process," J. Miyazaki et al., Proceeding of SPIE's 1991 Symposium on Microlithography. The article introduces a phase-shifting mask which is obtainable by modifying the phase-shifting mask of FIG. 4A such that the thickness of the edge portion 3b is thinner around one end than around the other end (FIG. 5A). In the modified phase-shifting mask, a light beam transmitted at the edge portion 3b in the thinner side arrives at a wafer about 90 degrees out of phase with a light beam through an unmasked region while light beams at the other portions arrive about 180 degrees out of phase. Thus, the light intensity at the end portion 3b is almost the same as that at the unmasked region although the null or the sharp drop in intensity at the other end portions occurs (FIG. 5B).
Now, manufacturing process of the phase-shifting mask of FIG. 2A will be described to show where inconvenience lies in the phase-shifting masks heretofore described. First, a light-shielding film made of molybdenum silicide is formed on the glass substrate 1. The light-shielding film is then patterned by electric-beam lithography (EB lithography) to define the light-shielding pattern 2. Next, an SiO.sub.2 film is deposited on the substrate-pattern combination. The SiO.sub.2 film is then patterned by EB lithography, thereby the phase-shifter 3 being formed. Thus, the phase-shifting mask of FIG. 2A is obtained.
The phase-shifting mask of FIG. 4A is obtainable by the same manufacturing process as above only if the second EB lithography patterns the SiO.sub.2 film in such a manner that the SiO.sub.2 film remains partially unetched on the glass substrate 1 in order to form the edge portion 3b.
The phase-shifting mask of FIG. 5A is obtainable by further modification; still more EB lithography reduces the thickness of the edge portion 3b of the phase-shifger 3.
All of the manufacturing processes require EB lithography at least twice. The second EB lithography is particularly laborious because the phase-shifter 3, which will be defined by the second EB lithography, must be aligned with extremely high accuracy to the light-shielding pattern 2, which has been already defined by the first EB lithography. Despite such requirement, since relative positional accuracy between the phase-shifter 3 and the light-shielding pattern 2 is dependent on the drawing accuracy of an E-beam, it is impossible to improve the positional accuracy beyond what the drawing accuracy enables.
The substrate 1 is made of the same material as the phase-shifter 3. When etching time is over an optimum period, not only the SiO.sub.2 film (phase-shifter) but also the substrate 1 is etched. In reactive ion etching (RIE), furthermore, the glass substrate 1 becomes charged, and the etching accuracy is degraded.
Another problem encountered during the manufacturing processes of the phase-shifting masks is deviation of E-beam due to electrification of the glass substrate 1. The glass substrate 1 is insulative, and hence, is charged when illuminated with E-beam. As a result, the E-beam would deviate and hit the phase-shifting mask at a wrong location, which means that pattern definition becomes different from what is desired.

Method of manufacturing phase-shifting mask


The present invention is related to a polymeric vehicle for delivery of bioactive agents, and preferably, for the delivery of one or more bioactive agents. The invention is also directed to a percutaneous device securing and drug delivery device comprising, as a component thereof, a material which delivers antimicrobial and/or other wound-healing factors at the site of the insertion of the catheter into the body. The device, when applied as described herein, provides complete anti-microbial coverage around the entry point of a percutaneous device and, preferably for a length greater than the diameter of the device. The present invention is also directed to methods for using such devices in combination with percutaneous devices primarily to reduce site infections.

Hospitals employ multiple strategies to prevent and/or reduce infections associated with the use percutaneous medical devices, such as antiseptic preparation of insertion sites, including the initial application of topical anti-microbial solutions such as alcohol or iodine to the insertion sites is known. A further topical ointment after insertion of the device, such as an ointment containing neomycin, polymyxin and bactracin, has been shown to prevent catheter colonization/infection.
There have also been attempts to attach a cuff to the catheters, with an anti-microbial agent impregnated in the cuff. A commercially available product sold under the trade mark BIOPATCH® is applied around percutaneous devices to prevent localized infection at the insertion site. This product is a foam material that contains an antimicrobial agent chlorhexidine gluconate. Efforts to coat the catheters with anti-microbial agents are known.
Recent efforts to use a transparent film dressing to allow a visual check on the insertion site is known see for instance U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,589, issued Dec. 13, 1994 to Davis.
In addition to infection control, there is a need for percutaneous devices to remain securely in place. Securement device are known, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,446, issued Nov. 11, 1975 to Buttaravoli. The device has an upper and a lower pad, between which the intravenous device is fixed. Since the function of the device is to secure the device to the body, there is a teaching to provide an adhesive material to the bottom of lower pad, and to the bottom of the top pad. There is a mention of providing the adhesive with an antibacterial agent. The device of this patent teaches including a slit in the bottom pad of the dressing, which lies below the intravenous needle or catheter when the device is in place, allowing the intravenous device to remain in contact with the skin, and therefore limiting the infection control of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,665 issued to Matthew Bootman et al. is directed to a wound dressing for percutaneous catheters that is comprised of a crosslinked polymer containing a bioactive agent. It discloses a radial slit that is made in the device so that it can be deployed over an already placed catheter. It also discloses and claims the use of adhesives for securing the device.
Tegaderm™-CHG is a commercial device designed to reduce the incidence of CRBSI, with the CHG being the anti-microbial agent. The CHG is intended to elute from a pad that is transparent and covered with an adhesive bandage layer. The device fails to provide 360 degree coverage around the insertion site, and thereby cannot optimally reduce the potential for CRBSI. The CHG eluting portion of the device is not placed underneath the catheter which may further limit its effectiveness. A number of other patents are teaching various single slit embodiments, including U.S. Pat. No. 7,137,968; U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,106; U.S. Pat. No. 6,765,122; U.S. Pat. No. 7,723,559; U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,694; U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,000; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,419.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a catheter-securing and drug delivery device which is easily applied and is made of a polymer which serves as a delivery vehicle for controlled release of a bioactive agent entirely around a percutaneous wound site.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description and appended claims, and from practice of the invention.

Antimicrobial dressing providing percutaneous device securement and cover


A fuse assembly comprising a fuse element and a fuse cavity are formed integrally with the body of a Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV). Melting of the fuse element forms fused material which flows into the fuse cavity. The molten material electrically joins the metalization films on each side of the MOV which causes the MOV to fail shorted before the MOV can overheat and fracture from over voltage caused by excessive transient voltages. The fuse element has the current carrying capability to allow a resultant current to flow which will cause the primary circuit protection device (fuse or circuit breaker) to open. This provides protection against a violent fracture of the MOV and a MOV that can no longer function because it has opened and is undetected.

Metal Oxide Varistors (MOV) are semiconductor devices that are fabricated using technology from the ceramic capacitor industry. MOV's that are presently produced can fracture violently when abused by pulse currents that exceed the rating of the device. MOV's are fabricated by milling alumina ceramic into a granular powder which can be coated by a metal oxide. This powder which is composed of grains of ceramic is coated by metal oxide. Then, the coated powder is pressed into a disc shape and sintered. At that point metalization is applied to each of the two sides, leads are attached and a protective epoxy coating is applied. An outer guard zone may be provided on the disc. Over current protection of the MOV and electronic circuit is accomplished by external fusing to the MOV. There is however, no integral thermal protection for the MOV so as to prevent and or reduce the occurrence of violent fracture.
MOV products are used to provide transient voltage protection for electronic equipment. MOV's are used in across-the-power-line applications and internal to an electronic circuit. The purpose of MOVs is to provide greater reliability in field applications where transient voltages in excess of normal high line voltages are present. These transient voltages can be generated by electric power utilities shifting loads, lightning strikes or induced lightning, and turning on and off of heavy equipment in industrial environments. Transient voltages can also be produced by the charging and discharging of inductors and large capacitors in electronic equipment.
MOV's utilization in across-the-power-line applications are at risk to transient voltage spikes that can exceed the capability of the MOV to absorb energy. This causes rapid heating in the MOV which will eventually lead to thermo-mechanical stress of the varistor and also has the potential for thermal damage to surrounding devices. Further, there is the potential for out gassing of materials which can cause the MOV to fracture violently into several sections. Usually, the violent fracture is caused by thermal expansion. These fractures usually will also dislodge part of the protective epoxy coating surrounding the MOV. An MOV that fractures due to overheating as a result of a voltage spike will become an open circuit. Current flow will be still available to the application and personnel operating the application will be unaware that the MOV has failed thus creating a potentially dangerous situation for personnel who may come in direct contact with the circuit and unaware of the MOV failure.


An electronic calendar system is disclosed wherein the calendar system can interact with a user entirely auditorially, e.g. via speech based interactions, entirely visually, or a combination of both. Moreover, the present invention utilizes context information regarding the state or configuration of the calendar system so that substantially at any time a user may query the calendar system for informing the user of the current state of the calendar system. Accordingly, the present invention is particularly useful for users who communicate with the calendar system substantially or entirely auditorially. The user may contact a processing module in the calendar system through a telecommunications network such as a telephone network, a cable network or through the worldwide web. The system includes an apparatus for converting speech to text streams and vice versa. In such an interaction mode, a user can utter a phrase such as, "Where am I?" and the present invention is able to provide a response that assists the user in maintaining effective communication with the calendar system. Accordingly, the present invention is particularly useful for telephony users wherein a standard telephone is the user communication device to the calendar system of the present invention.

Electronic calendaring systems have provided users with a way to keep track of their schedules, appointments and related information. Typically, such calendaring systems provide a visual user interface. In many cases, however, a visual user interface is unnecessary. Further, it may be inadequate. As an example, consider a salesperson having access only to a standard telephony phone, but who desires to maintain his/her calendar at his/her sales headquarters. Accordingly, it would be desirable to be able to interact with such an electronic calendaring system for entering appointments and the like audibly via the phone. Additionally, consider an individual having a handicap or by preference desiring at least some interaction with a calendaring system to be audio or speech based rather than visual. In this context, it would also be desirable to have a speech based calendaring system.

Calendar system with direct and telephony networked voice control interface


An input device includes a coordinate input unit including capacitance detectors, a capacitance measuring unit that measures the capacitances of the capacitance detectors and outputs them as measurement signals by performing A/D conversion, and a control unit that controls the capacitance measuring unit, obtains the signals while associating them with coordinate information of the capacitance detectors, calculates first data signals that are difference values between the measurement signals and a reference value, performs a calculation for the first data signals, outputs control signals based on the calculation result, performs a first calculation in which the first data signals obtained after performing a noise removal process are associated with the coordinate information as second data signals and a second calculation in which the second signals obtained after performing a smoothing process are associated with the coordinate information as third data signals, and calculates an operation position using the third data signals.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to input devices, and more particularly to an input device with good noise immunity and good operability.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, there is a capacitive input device that determines an operation position by sensing a variation in capacitance along with input operation.
An operator can intuitively perform an input operation on a capacitive input device in contrast to an input device that has certain operation units such as a switch and a rotary encoder and that is to be operated in a certain manner. Therefore, such a capacitive input device has been applied to various devices and is being used in increasingly diverse environments.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-100215 discloses an input device having a configuration in which an operation position is calculated by defining a region in which a variation in capacitance along with operation is large and performing a weighted average calculation.
An input device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-100215 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14 thereof. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of an input device 900 of the related art. FIG. 13 is an operation timing chart of the input device 900 of the related art. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating the states of a region extraction process and a weighted average calculation performed by the input device 900 of the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 12, the input device 900 described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-100215 includes a detection panel 911 configured to be operated by an object to be detected such as a finger of a person or a pen, a drive means 921 configured to drive electrodes 913 of the detection panel 911, a current measuring means 931 configured to measure electric charges or current from detection electrodes 914 of the detection panel 911, an insulating means 912 configured to be interposed between the drive electrodes 913 and the detection electrodes 914, a coordinate calculating means 951 configured to determine a position of an object that is to be detected by performing a calculation using the value of the current that is measured by the current measuring means 931, and a control means 971 configured to manage the overall state of the input device 900 and the overall process.
The drive means 921 charges and discharges capacitances that are generated at intersection points of the drive electrodes 913 and the detection electrodes 914 by varying the voltage of each of the drive electrodes 913. The current measuring means 931 measures the capacitances, which are generated at the intersection points of the drive electrodes 913 and the detection electrodes 914, by measuring charging and discharging currents of the capacitances, which are generated at the intersection points of the drive electrodes 913 and the detection electrodes 914.
As illustrated in FIG. 13, in the case where driving of a plurality of cycles and current measurement are performed when capacitances are measured, it is necessary to accumulate a plurality of measurements in order to reduce the influence of noise.
In the region extraction process, values in a region that is pressed by a finger or pen are extracted from values that correspond to the capacitances at the intersection points of the drive electrodes 913 and the detection electrodes 914, and an indication position is calculated by performing a weighted average calculation.
FIG. 14 illustrates the state of the region extraction process and the weighted average calculation. In FIG. 14, vertical lines represent coordinates of the drive electrodes 913, and horizontal lines represent coordinates of the detection electrodes 914. The sizes of black dots at intersection points correspond to the values of the capacitances at the corresponding intersection points. In each of the areas that are surrounded by dotted lines, a group of the intersection points that are adjacent to each other and at which the capacitances having a value larger than a predetermined value are generated, and each of the groups corresponds to, for example, a variation range in the capacitances due to one indicator such as one finger. X marks represent positions that are calculated as indication coordinates by a weighted average calculation.
However, although an accumulation process has been performed as a measure of noise in the above-described related art, it is necessary to increase the number of accumulations in order to improve the noise removal effect in the accumulation process, and thus, the processing speed is reduced. As a result, there have been problems in that the followability with respect to an input operation is impaired, and the operability deteriorates.
In addition, since a weighted average calculation is simply performed on only the values within the region, which have been extracted, there have been problems in that the coordinates of an operation position may be falsely calculated, and a malfunction such as a false detection may occur in the case where noise is not completely removed through the accumulation process.
These and other drawbacks exist.

Input device having capacitance detectors and noise immunity


A device for pumping and compressing fluids, particularly in micro-liter quantities. First and second polarized cylindrical magnets are mounted in a cylinder with an inlet and an outlet port. The first magnet is adapted to rotate on the axis of the cylinder and has a fixed longitudinal position on that axis. The second magnet is free to move longitudinally but kept from any rotational movement, as a piston in the cylinder. The inlet port is open when the piston magnet is repelled by the rotor magnet's polarity and the outlet is open when the piston magnet is attracted by the rotor magnet's polarity as it rotates.

Fluid pumping or compression in micro-liter scale is critical for a variety of micro instrumentation applications, including chip-scale chromatography and mass spectroscopy. It is also a key component in micro-refrigeration systems for electronic cooling. In the past decade, various micro/meso pumps have been developed based on electrostatic actuation, but so far have not demonstrated sufficient single-stage pressure head or vacuum levels for these applications. For example, to achieve the highly desirable <76 torr vacuum for chip-scale ion trap mass spectrometers (ITMS), multi-stage configuration is necessary but limited by volume constraint.
Current micropumps are even less adequate for refrigeration (i.e. heat pump), where pressure differential of several bars are needed. On the other hand, conventional and macro scale mechanical pump designs are extremely difficult to implement in microscales, due to their complex configuration, difficulty in valve fabrication, friction, and leakage issues.
Accordingly, one advantage of the present invention is to provide a micropump or compressor that has higher pressure and increased flow capacity when compared to diaphragm pumps.
Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a pump that is feasible for microscale implementation.
Yet another advantage of this invention is that has a valve-less design and built-in timing.
Still another advantage of this invention is to provide a micropump that requires no special drive electronics, thus reducing the cost of the device.
Other advantages will appear hereinafter.

Magnetic displacement pump and compressor


A method of treating plant and animal systems and inanimate surfaces for the purposes of controlling plant pests, introducing pesticides and nutrients into plants, mitigating frost damage to plants, increasing crop yields, controlling certain plant diseases, controlling arthropod, bacterial, fungal, mycoplasma, rickettsia, and viral pests of animals and humans, and disinfecting inanimate surfaces. The method utilizes the unique multi-directional dispersion property of the tannate complex of picro ammonium formate and the tannate complex of picro cupric ammonium formate, in aqueous solution, combined with a minor amount of a surfactant sufficient to prevent formation of ammonium picrate, to penetrate plant and animal systems and inanimate surfaces and travelling multidirectionally therein. The method is carried out by introducing a small but effective amount of the tannate complex to the plant or animal system or inanimate surface.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,687 discloses a chemotherapeutic agent composed essentially of the tannate complex of picro cupric ammonium formate in aqueous solution combined with a minor amount of a surfactant sufficient to prevent formation of ammonium picrate. The therapeutic agent, identified as KT-19827 (and sold under the registered trademark PHYTON-27), is disclosed as useful in the control of plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi and bacteria.
That patent, which is a division of the application which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,666, also discloses another chemotherapeutic agent, identified as KT-198, which is composed essentially of a tannate complex of picro ammonium formate and surfactant in a minor amount, which is disclosed as useful in control of plant diseases caused by pathogenic rickettsia-like organisms (RLO's), mycoplasma-like organisms (MLO's), and plant viruses.
It has been discovered that KT-19827 and KT-198 have the unexpected ability to pass through cell walls and kill certain arthropods; arachnids, such as mites; insects, such as aphids and whiteflies; certain mollusks, such as slugs; and certain other animals such as nematodes and similar pests which afflict the foliage, stems, roots, blossoms and seeds of plants. This property enables KT-19827 and KT-198 to be used by application to plants or to the soil around plants to control the numbers of these plant pests. It has also been discovered that KT-19827 and KT-198 can be of significant nutritive value to the plants treated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,687 discloses the ability of KT-19827 and KT-198 to quickly translocate from the injection site in a tree through the entire tree from the roots to the crown leaves. It has now been discovered that unexpectedly this property is broader and includes dispersal in all directions not limited to elongated translocational cells composing the vascular system. It may be utilized to carry other substances, such as nutrients, admixed with KT-19827 or KT-198 to distribute the added substance from the application site throughout a treated plant, shrub or tree, for delivery to the points of use via the plant's own internal transport system. The ability of KT-19827 and KT-198 to penetrate plant cell walls and move among cells in multiple directions may be utilized to introduce substances such as nutrients to the plant, as by spraying or dipping, at standard rates and intervals prescribed by the US EPA label for pesticidal efficiency without doing plant damage.
Disinfection of inanimate surfaces proximate to plants or humans or animals is an unexpected use, which derives from the discovered high level of free copper ions, Cu++. High ionic copper levels equate to greater efficacy against bacterial and other pathogens. The low total copper as metallic needed for efficacy against bacterial and other pathogens assures that it can be obtained without copper damage to plants proximate to the disinfected site.
The ability of KT-19827 and KT-198 to pass through cell walls and kill certain pests enumerated above also enables KT-19827 and KT-198 to be used to control other pests found in and around structures for habitation by humans and animals; control of animal pests such as bird lice, and control of human pests such as mites and head lice, fungal infections of the feet, microbial infections of cartilage and other sternum locales exposed to hospital infections during surgery which do not respond, due to low or no blood-circulation, to standard antibiotics ingested or given intravenously.

Method of controlling animal pests and disinfecting inanimate surfaces


A high availability cluster computer system can realize exclusive control of a resource shared between computers and effect failover by resetting a currently-active system computer in case a malfunction occurs in the currently-active system computer. In case a malfunction occurs in a certain system in a cluster, another system in the cluster which has detected the malfunction issues a reset based on a priority to realize failover, in which a standby system takes over the processing of the malfunctioning system when the malfunctioning system is stopped.

A computer system which requires high reliability includes a currently-active system computer for executing a process (application) and a standby system computer which is capable of taking over the processing in case a malfunction occurs in the currently-active system. A procedure which is executed from the time of detection of a malfunction occurring in the currently-active system to the time the standby system is caused to take over the processing is provided by a cluster program. When the application uses data on a disk, the disk is shared between the currently-active system and the standby system. In order for the standby system to take over the processing in case a malfunction occurs in the currently-active system, it is necessary to select a standby system from the cluster computers, and, with respect to of resources used by the application and the operating system (OS), to take over the resource, which cannot be used at the same time (shared resource), such as a shared disk and an IP address. In order to realize higher reliability, it is also necessary to ensure that the currently-active system and the standby system do not use the shared resource at the same time, in the case where a malfunction occurs interrupting a path on which the standby system monitors a malfunction of the currently-active system (network split).
A method of selecting a standby system which takes over a process by exclusively taking over a shared disk in a cluster is performed by many cluster programs. As examples, reference is made to the below-listed patent document 1 and non patent document 1.
Patent document 1 describes a technique in which a mechanism for stopping a currently-active system, from a standby system, is used so that the standby system resets the currently-active system for releasing a shared resource owned by the currently-active system, and then the standby system owns the released shared resource for exclusively controlling the shared resource.
The non-patent document 1 describes a technique in which, in the case where a malfunction occurs in a currently-active system so as to perform a failover, a cluster program uses the commands RESERVE and RESET of available SCSI commands to exclusively control an access right to a shared disk. Here, RESERVE is a command for reserving an access right to a disk so that a RESERVE disk reserved by a certain computer denies an access and RESERVE from another computer. RESET is a command for releasing an access right of a disk so as to release an access right of the RESERVE disk.    [Patent document 1] U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,248    [Non-patent document] Microsoft, Support Technical Information, 309186 (online, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309186/en-us)
In patent document 1, in a cluster computer system, in a case where the standby system cannot monitor the currently-active system, it stops the currently-active system to obtain exclusive control of the shared resource. In a case network split occurs in a cluster of two computers, which constitute each other's standby systems, each of the systems resets the other, so that all of the systems can be reset. The process will be suspended at the time of a network split, so that high availability can not be reached.
Although the standby system resets the currently-active system, the currently-active system will not reset the standby system. When considering a cluster of a currently-active system and two standby systems capable of taking over it (standby systems 1 and 2), in the case of splitting a cluster of two computers of the currently-active system and the standby system 1 from the standby system 2 due to a network split, the standby system 2 resets the currently-active system to perform a failover. When the currently-active system is reset by the standby system 2, the standby system 1 also detects a malfunction of the currently-active system to perform failover. As a result, the standby systems 1 and 2 become currently-active systems at the same time, so as to cause a double access to the shared resource.
In accordance with non-patent document 1, in a cluster computer system, a standby system which cannot monitor the currently-active system includes a process forcefully releasing the control right of the currently-active system to a shared disk by use of the command RESET of the SCSI commands and a process of obtaining the control right of the shared disk released by issuing the RESERVE command of the SCSI commands from an arbitrary standby system. A system which takes over the shared disk, that is, a system which takes over the processing is determined by the two processes. When the latter RESERVE process is invalidated by the former RESET process, excessive failover occurs in such a manner that the process in which a take over is once performed with respect to a certain standby system by the command RESERVE is re-taken over by another standby system. To prevent this, enough time from the former RESET process to the latter RESERVE process is necessary to ensure that all of the standby systems complete the issuance of the RESET command. Irrespective of whether a network split actually occurs, the failover time can be delayed for a fixed time.
In accordance with this method, in a case network split occurs, failover can be performed. A further process for taking over succeeding the shared resource, other than a shared disk, e.g., of taking over an IP address, is necessary. However, the time required for completion of failover is increased so as to delay the failover time.

Cluster system wherein failover reset signals are sent from nodes according to their priority


A database can have multiple requests applied at one time. Each of these requests requires a specific amount of server resources. There can be a differentiation of user-submitted workloads between each other. These workloads are a set of queries submitted by different users. Each query can have specific resource limits. In addition, each set can have specific resource limits.

In the computer industry, databases are used for an array of purposes ranging from credit card billing to network maintenance. Databases help make worldwide commerce possible (including e-commerce) as well as allow for massive amount of record keeping and record storage. Many databases rely on servers for general operation. Databases function in conjunction with computer code often written in database specific languages.
Structured Query Language (SQL) is a programming language commonly used in databases with several variations available. There are proprietary versions of SQL; for example, Transact-SQL is a specific proprietary version of SQL. In many instances, SQL operates on databases implementing relational database management systems (RDBMS). This bases a database model on first order logic as well as representation of objects. SQL servers can also function as object-orientated databases. Other database languages exist besides SQL including XQuery, which can be used for various functions such as extracting information from a database.
Databases are designed to process multiple concurrent requests. For example, multiple people can make a credit card purchase at the same time over the Internet. A central database server can record each one of these transactions at the same time with each transaction requiring a specific amount of server resources. In addition, each transaction can require different amount of resources to complete a successful operation and a database server can provide those resources. Moreover, a database server can handle a multitude of different requests all at the same time. For example, one user can be making a purchase with a credit card while another user signs up for a new account. Both operations require use of the same resource, system memory.

Enforcing system resource usage limits on query requests based on grouping query requests into workgroups and assigning workload groups to resource pools


The invention relates to an apparatus for optically monitoring the dosing of a liquid to be pipetted for an automatic analysis unit. The apparatus comprises a dosing device, comprising a pipetting needle for pipetting the liquid, a lighting device for illuminating a drop of the liquid adhering to the pipetting needle, a camera with a set of optics to capture an image of the drop of the liquid, and an evaluation device for characterizing the drop of liquid by means of an automatic analysis of the image of the drop of liquid.

Numerous testing and analysis methods for determination of physiological parameters in bodily fluid samples or other biological samples are now carried out automatically in large numbers in automated analysis units, also known as in-vitro diagnostic systems.
Modern analysis units are able to perform a wide range of detection reactions and analyses with one sample. In order to carry out a plurality of examinations automatically, various devices are required for spatially transferring measurement cells, reaction containers and reagent containers, such as transfer arms with gripper function, conveyor belts or rotating transport wheels, as well as devices for transferring liquids, such as pipetting devices. The devices comprise a control unit, which using appropriate software is able to plan and process the work steps for the desired analyses largely automatically.
Many of the analytical techniques used in such automated analysis units are based on optical methods. These methods enable the qualitative and quantitative testing of analytes, i.e., the substances to be detected or determined in samples. The determination of clinically relevant parameters, such as the concentration or activity of an analyte, is often carried out by mixing a part of a sample with one or more test reagents in a reaction vessel, which may also be the measurement cell, a process which, for example, initiates a biochemical reaction or a specific binding reaction that causes a measurable change in an optical or other physical property of the assay.
For example, in automated analysis units used to examine biological bodily fluids, for example, the required reagents are placed in a measuring cuvette using a pipetting device with a pipetting needle. The measuring cuvette is automatically moved into different positions with a cuvette gripper inside the automatic analysis unit using a robot arm, which is part of a robot station. After the measurement, the measuring cuvette used is transported through a waste chute into a waste container for disposal.
In automatic analysis units, the process often involves liquids being transported in very small quantities. This is carried out, for example, by motorized displaceable pipettes, wherein the pipettes are operated by motor-driven pumps. The pump generates a defined overpressure during the delivery of the liquid and a defined negative pressure during the collection of the fluid. The pipette is filled with an incompressible system fluid to ensure that the pressure conditions or pressure changes specified by the pump are recreated at the tip of the pipette with minimum loss, thus ensuring a high level of pipetting precision.
In medical devices such as diagnostic analyzers for automatic analysis of in-vitro samples, errors in the dosing of liquids and drop dispensing by means of the pipettes can lead to inaccuracies in the measurements and incorrect measurement results. Such errors in the drop dispensing are caused, for example, by incorrect dosing at the dosing units.
Monitoring and subsequent verification in automatic analyzers has usually been carried out up to now by using capacitive measurements to determine the pipetted fluid quantity during the dispensing of the liquid to be dosed by the pipettor, or when immersing the pipette needle in the liquid being pipetted, in order to detect any deviations in the fill level due to, e.g., a malfunction of the dosing unit. Alternatively, pressure measurements would be performed during the dispensing of the liquid to be dosed by the pipette.
When dispensing, e.g., reagents onto an inclined wall in a vessel through a pipettor for optimal dispensing of very small amounts of liquid, it may sometimes occur that there is no controlled fluid separation and some or all of the fluid will stick to the pipette needle and not be dispensed properly. Even a capacitive measurement or pressure measurement is also difficult to achieve in this case, since due to the lack of an earth there is no counter electrode. The liquid runs down the inclined wall and is therefore no longer in contact with the pipette. For single dosing operations, it has therefore previously not been possible to subsequently check the changed filling level and hence to verify the correct function of the dosing unit.
The apparatuses from the prior art therefore do not always allow a reliable monitoring of the dosing of pipetted liquids in automatic analysis units.

Apparatus for optically monitoring a dosing of a liquid to be pipetted

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Products GmbH


A method and system to automatically create and manage patron accounts using electronic data capture at an automated machine or kiosk, including electronically obtaining personal patron identification information from a patron identification source, such as a driver's license, determining if a patron account exists and if the identification source has expired and updating any existing patron account with the captured data. If the patron identification source is current and no account exists, a temporary account is created and a temporary patron account card supplied to the patron along with promotional offers. Patron activity is monitored at the location and used in creating a permanent patron account for providing additional offers, bonuses, and the like to the patron.

Technical Field
The present disclosure pertains to a system and method for capturing and updating customer information in order to establish and maintain customer accounts.
Description of the Related Art
Servicing a small number of consumers in low-volume high-margin markets allows—and in many cases requires—a business to provide customers with personal attention to ensure continued customer satisfaction and development. In contrast, the mass market environment generally operates on a high-volume, low-margin model where large numbers of people enter the premises, such as malls, airports, sports arenas, theaters, casinos, and other similar venues, and personal customer contact is, at best, remote and removed.
The modern approach in a customer-centric business utilizes the customer relationship management model in which a comprehensive profile of consumer needs, expectations, and behaviors is used to establish positive customer relationships. Retention of customers relies on accurate customer data, which is used to analyze behavior and design marketing strategies that will sustain and maximize customer loyalty.
This process begins with the collection of data and information from which a 360-degree view of the customer is developed. Because consumer loyalty is dependent on understanding past behavior as well as current needs and wants, designing a program that rewards loyalty must not only take into account this information but also adapt the administration of the loyalty program to changing trends in business technology.
In the casino environment, cashless gaming is a developing trend. One implementation involves the use of patron account cards (commonly referred to as player loyalty or club cards) that are designed to accept and disperse credit for play, to accept and carry data regarding game play by the player, and to enable download of this information to single or multiple sites for management of player accounts and analysis of patron behavior. Bonuses and promotional activities can be included as a package with the patron account card to further encourage and reward loyalty. Thus, a patron account card contains a range of personal data, including debit and credit data, game play data, as well as personal identification information. While these patron account cards are not required, they do enhance the player's experience and help develop customer loyalty in the form of return visits to the issuer of the patron account card.
Various methods have been proposed for allocating loyalty reward points in the casino industry. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0217185, describes a method and system for allocating loyalty reward points to gaming players using gaming tables in which radio frequency identification circuits embedded in the chips track the betting and play characteristics of the players. A loyalty card associated with the chips is used to store information about chip use, which is later read when the loyalty card is swiped through a reader.
Hence, in the cashless gaming system, the use of electronically-readable loyalty cards, club cards, patron account cards, and the like is important to success of the system. Notably, cashless transactions are being adopted throughout commerce, and the key to consumer acceptance is the convenience of electronic data capture, both in hardwired and Wi-Fi modalities, such as found in banks, stores, entertainment centers, and service industries. While it is desirable to encourage and facilitate the use of patron account cards in casinos, there are several drawbacks to current patron account card distribution schemes.
Typically, a player must follow signs pointing to a "player's club" or a player must ask a casino employee where to apply for a patron account or player club card. Once the player is provided with an application, they must fill out the application to include their name, date of birth, mailing address, and other personal data, including submission of an approved identification form. A casino employee will enter the information into the casino's computer system and issue a card to the patron at that time. If a player loses their patron account card or forgets to bring it, they will have to repeat the process to obtain a duplicate account card. Redemption of bonus points requires a similar process in which the patron must show their patron account to a casino employee. Because each casino issues their own player account cards, players must go through this process at each casino they visit.
Thus, in order to issue a patron account card, the issuer must create a unique account, one that in most cases is linked to the identity of the patron. This in turn requires a patron to provide personal information, generally to another person. The card issuer must hire and train administrative staff, and it means the patron must defer playing and/or purchasing in order to spend time to meet with the staff, sometimes waiting in long lines to do so. Security concerns are another issue, i.e., protecting current customer accounts from unauthorized use. Customer reluctance to divulge personal information and the reluctance of businesses to utilize and maintain sufficient staff are obstacles to be addressed and overcome.

System and method for automated customer account creation and management


The disclosure relates to a communication client application for running on a user terminal to conduct calls over a network. The client is configured to access a model which models quality of user experience for calls based on a set of technical parameters of each call. The model itself is based on user feedback indicating subjective quality of multiple past calls as experienced by multiple users, modeled with respect to the technical parameters collected from each of the past calls. The model generates a predicted call quality score predicting the quality of user experience for the call given its technical parameters. Based on this process, one or more of the technical parameters of the call can be adapted to try to increase the quality experienced by the user.

A communication system such as a VoIP system implemented over the Internet may be required to serve billions of calling minutes to people around the globe. Nowadays users expect a high quality calling experience. Meeting such high expectations depends on the communication system provider's ability to define, analyze, measure, improve and monitor call quality. This involves the ability to understand the impact and frequency of technical conditions (measured by technical parameters) on the user's subjective call experience; for instance an understanding of the network and media characteristics in categories such as transport quality, quality of service (QoS), quality of media (QoM) and quality of experience (QoE). There are various methods currently in use for objectively assessing media quality.
The simplest methods use basic engineering metrics such as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) commonly used in audio and the peak-signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) used in video. These simple metrics can also be modified to take more account of perceived quality. For example, refinements to PSNR by adaptation to the spatio-temporal complexity of the video have been proposed, resulting in more correlation with human perception. An alternative to PSNR is the structural similarity index (SSIM) which has a higher correlation with subjective quality. Recent work in video coding has aimed at using SSIM as the encoding distortion measure.
The more advanced methods for audio and video quality assessment mimic the entire (and very complex) human hearing or visual system, and try to predict the mean user perceived quality measured by (for instance) mean opinion score (MOS). Examples of the most advanced models today are the speech quality tool in ITU-T P.863 (POLQA), and the video quality tools in ITU-T J.247 and J.341.
The objective test methodologies can be divided into three groups based on the inputs provided to the models: full, reduced and no reference models. This taxonomy takes into account whether a model uses the original audio or video signal as a reference for analysis.
In the full reference models (such as the aforementioned metrics PSNR, SSIM, POLQA) the original audio or video signal is compared to the processed (or so-called degraded) audio or video signal. Based on the comparison the model predicts the user perceived quality. The reduced reference models use only part of the original signal properties for quality assessment. Examples in this category of models include the standardized Video Quality Metric (VQM) designed for MPEG-2 quality assessment.
The no-reference models do not use the original audio or video signal to assess the quality. Instead, these models make assumptions about the properties of the original signal. Perhaps the most well-known no-reference model is the E-model (ITU-T G.107) designed for speech quality assessment. There is a recent extension of the E-model (ITU-T G.1070) that includes both video quality (coding, frame-rate, packet-loss, and display-resolution) and a combination of the audio and video quality (delay and sync) into a total quality score. The audio part in G.1070 is a simplified version of the G.107 model. Both of these models were designed to assist the telecom operators in their network infrastructure design so as to guarantee a specific level of quality. The G.107 E-model has been extended from narrow and wideband usage towards super-wideband usage, supporting the modern speech codecs such as Silk. Further refinements of the G.1070 model also take into account the video content, for instance the spatio-temporal complexity.

Adapting parameters of a call in progress with a model that predicts call quality


The present invention provides methods of linking nucleic acids without the use of restriction enzymes or any joining enzyme such as ligase. More specifically, the present invention provides methods for cloning or rearranging a double-stranded target DNA which is a PCR product into a double-stranded vector DNA which is a PCR product, said DNAs being amplified using primers that contain at least one ribonucleotide, preferably at or near the respective 3′ ends of the primers, such that RNA-specific cleavage, preferably by RNAse A, will allow release of the primers to create long matching 3′-sticky ends.

Recombinant DNA stems from the discovery of enzymes called restriction endonucleases or "restriction enzymes," that are capable of cleaving double stranded DNA at specific recognition sites, thereby producing DNA fragments that can be ligated to one another by ligase enzyme to generate "recombinant" molecules (see, for example, Cohen et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 70:1293, 1973; Cohen et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 70:3274, 1972; see also U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,740,470; 4,468,464; 4,237,224). The study of molecular biology has benefited greatly from the ability of scientists to join DNA fragments together in manmade arrangements for the purpose of experimentation or industrial production.
Molecular biology was further facilitated by the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which allowed rapid in vitro amplification of selected DNA segments. This allowed for production of large amounts of replicated material that could subsequently be cleaved by restriction enzymes and ligated to other DNA molecules (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,638,195; 4,683,202; 5,333,675). Further advances of the PCR technique included the creation of a DNA polymerase having enhanced thermostability and polymerase mixtures having enhanced fidelity and length of product (U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,149). PCR products can be cloned using restriction enzymes, if the primers are made longer to incorporate the desired restriction site, if said site is not present in the PCR product or cutting at it can be suppressed, and if the vector has a similar matching restriction site. It is important to carry out a purification of the PCR product to at least remove dNTPs and/or polymerase before digestion by restriction enzymes, especially for 5′-sticky ends, since they can be filled in by said left-over DNA polymerase.
A way to clone PCR products without restriction enzymes, and also using RNA/DNA primers, has been recently described [Chen G J., Qiu N. & Page MGP (2002) Universal restriction site-free cloning method using chimeric primers, Biotechniques 32:518-524]. This method still uses ligase, and the ribo base cleavage is not enzymatic, but rather by the use of rare-earth metal ions, which are not as efficient, convenient, or specific as RNAse enzyme.
Ways to clone the PCR products without the use of ligase have been developed. For instance, TOPO (™Invitrogen)—cloning utilizes special vectors with adjacent sites for Vaccinia virus topoisomerase, and said vector is pre-activated with topoisomerase. If the PCR product has terminal extra As, and no 5′-phosphates, it can be cloned into this vector conveniently, at a site between the two topoisomerase recognition sequences. The present invention has no requirement for any specific vector or even the site of cloning within any vector, except that the vector must preferably be amplifiable by PCR using primers at the cloning site. Another example of a non-ligase cloning method utilizes terminal homology similar to the present invention, although usually twice as long. Special E. coli strains which highly express the recET system, or any yeast strain (if the vector is a yeast vector) can then be used to recombine target and vector. This system is not very efficient, and is prone to recombination and rearrangements at other homologous or repeated sites on the vector and/or target molecules, rather than just at the desired and small terminal homologies.
Thus despite these advances, there is substantial room for improvement. The use of restriction enzymes requires that the segment of DNA being digested have the particular restriction site only at desired locations—that is to say, a particular DNA base sequence (restriction site) is necessary to enable the restriction enzyme to digest the particular piece of DNA, yet the restriction sites must be rare or preferably non-existent within the vector or target, lest they be cut up too much to put together in the desired arrangement. Often, 2 vector or 2 target molecules will join, often in the wrong orientation, whereas the desired product is usually one vector and one target with one desired orientation.
Therefore, molecular biology could benefit from the development of improved systems of cloning and joining of DNA molecules. Of particular interest would be a system that would allow DNA joining without the use of, or indeed any regard for, restriction enzymes or restriction sites, provide for efficient joining, provide an increase in yield and specificity of the desired product, decrease the cost of molecular biological experiments, and be generally useful for the joining of DNA sequences having a wide variety of sequences. Optimal systems would even provide for directional joining (i.e., joining in which the DNA molecules to be linked together will only link to one another in a single orientation).

Ribocloning: recombinant DNA construction using primers with ribo bases