Emergence of Essential Patents in Technical Standards: Implications of the Continuation and Divisional Application Systems and the Written Description Requirement

The present paper looks into the intersection between technical standard development activities and patenting activities from the perspective of patent prosecution. Specifically, attention is paid to the tendency that the obtainment of patents related to technical standards is often done through the utilization of the systems allowing patent applicants to file new applications (collectively called continuing applications under the US patent system) enjoying the benefit of the filing dates of earlier-filed patent applications. After presenting some empirical evidence to show the tendency (in other words, the relevance of the continuing application system to patenting technical standards), this paper focuses upon the written description requirement as an important factor affecting the patentability of such continuing applications. In this paper, I make concrete proposals for the enhancement of the capacity of the written description requirement to suppress the abusive use of the continuing application system to cover technical standards as well as competitors' products and processes, without prejudice to innovative inventors' opportunities to mine their original disclosure in patent specifications for the exclusive rights they deserve. These proposals of mine include the reduction of burden of proof, to the patent challenger's side, of incompliance of a claim in a continuing application with the written description requirement, when certain conditions are met, and some examples of ways to achieve such reduction of burden of proof. This paper also presents comparative review of the continuing application systems under the European and Japanese patent systems as well as the US patent system. Based upon the review, relevant international harmonization considerations are discussed as well.patent, prosecution, technical standards, continuing application, continuation, division, CIP, priority right, earlier filing date, written description requirement, support, implicit and inherent disclosure, burden of proof, burden of production, prima-facie evidence, functional claim, omission of an element, international harmonization

Structural Data Recognition with Graph Model Boosting

This paper presents a novel method for structural data recognition using a large number of graph models. In general, prevalent methods for structural data recognition have two shortcomings: 1) Only a single model is used to capture structural variation. 2) Naive recognition methods are used, such as the nearest neighbor method. In this paper, we propose strengthening the recognition performance of these models as well as their ability to capture structural variation. The proposed method constructs a large number of graph models and trains decision trees using the models. This paper makes two main contributions. The first is a novel graph model that can quickly perform calculations, which allows us to construct several models in a feasible amount of time. The second contribution is a novel approach to structural data recognition: graph model boosting. Comprehensive structural variations can be captured with a large number of graph models constructed in a boosting framework, and a sophisticated classifier can be formed by aggregating the decision trees. Consequently, we can carry out structural data recognition with powerful recognition capability in the face of comprehensive structural variation. The experiments shows that the proposed method achieves impressive results and outperforms existing methods on datasets of IAM graph database repository.Comment: 8 page

Traffic Light Detection with Color and Edge Information

Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology (ICCSIT 2009

Investigation of primary productivity along the Atlantic Meridional Transect (50°N to 33°S) through fast repetition rate fluorometry

Phytoplankton physiology and primary productivity at basin scales were determined using in situ data from fast repetition rate (FRR) fluorometry. Samples were collected along the Atlantic Meridional Transect cruise 11 (AMTll, September-October 2000), between 50°N and 33°S in the Atlantic Ocean. Because of the large-scale nature of the study, consistent knowledge about oceanographic conditions and the phytoplankton community structure of each sampling station were required. The province analysis was carried out by detecting the regional variations of water mass characteristics in the upper 200 m layer. Temperature versus salinity diagrams were plotted at each station and further analyses of nitrate and chlorophyll were carried out for confirmation of the provinces. The structure of phytoplankton community and its distribution were assessed by statistical analyses of the phytoplankton pigments detected by high performance liquid chromatography. The phytoplankton physiology was assessed with FRR fluorometry to retrieve the quantum yield of photochemistry (Fv/Fm), the effective absorption cross-section (cpsII) and the turnover time of photosystem II (TQA). Some assumptions and parameterisations allowed the determination of primary productivity fractionated for prochlorophytes and eukaryotes from Fv/Fm and apsII- The classification of the regional variation of water masses through temperature and salinity relationships turned out to be a quick and simple analysis for the detection of provinces, defining eight provinces along the transect. Phytoplankton were distributed in three communities which were stratified along the transect. The limits between the communities were at variable depths depending on the province. The shape of the vertical profile of Fv/Fm and its pre-dawn to mid-day variation were also dependent on the province. In the Equatorial upwelling region and at the depth of deep chlorophyll maximum in the oligotrophic gyres, e.g. where nitrate was replete, values of Fv/Fm were relatively low at both pre-dawn and mid-day stations. This persistent low value of Fv/Fm at pre-dawn, e.g. after overnight darkness in nitrate replete conditions, leads to the proposition of iron limitation. In the upper layer of the oligotrophic gyres, nocturnal recovery of Fv/Fm was observed, indicating nitrate limitation rather than iron limitation. In the light limited part of the water column (PB) varied proportionally and consistently to the light intensity. Station analysis of PB showed photosaturation at low light levels at which the radiocarbon method was insensitive. The FRRF method was more precise, reflecting better the environmental conditions at the time of sampling than the results of radiocarbon P-E experiments. The upper layer of Atlantic Ocean was photosaturated due to the physiological impairment caused by either nitrate or iron limitation yet the zone of photosaturated photosynthesis contributed more to the primary productivity of the water column than the zone of light limited photosynthesis. The primary production fractionated for prochlorophytes and eukaryotes, indicated that the former contributed to more than half of the total production in the gyres. FRR fluorometry has been demonstrated to be a promising option for primary productivity studies, especially at basin scales, that allows 'continuous' measurement through the water column. Exploiting the capability of this method is valuable for the understanding of photosynthesis in the natural environment and more important than attempting to reconcile it to the traditional method of radiocarbon incorporation.Plymouth Marine Laborator

Comparative analysis of dCas9-VP64 variants and multiplexed guide RNAs mediating CRISPR activation

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated transcriptional activation (CRISPRa) is a powerful tool for investigating complex biological phenomena. Although CRISPRa approaches based on the VP64 transcriptional activator have been widely studied in both cultured cells and in animal models and exhibit great versatility for various cell types and developmental stages in vivo, different dCas9-VP64 versions have not been rigorously compared. Here, we compared different dCas9-VP64 constructs in identical contexts, including the cell lines used and the transfection conditions, for their ability to activate endogenous and exogenous genes. Moreover, we investigated the optimal approach for VP64 addition to VP64- and p300-based constructs. We found that MS2-MCP-scaffolded VP64 enhanced basal dCas9-VP64 and dCas9-p300 activity better than did direct VP64 fusion to the N-terminus of dCas9. dCas9-VP64+MCP-VP64 and dCas9-p300+MCP-VP64 were superior to VP64-dCas9-VP64 for all target genes tested. Furthermore, multiplexing gRNA expression with dCas9-VP64+MCP-VP64 or dCas9-p300+MCP-VP64 significantly enhanced endogenous gene activation to a level comparable to CRISPRa-SAM with a single gRNA. Our findings demonstrate improvement of the dCas9-VP64 CRISPRa system and contribute to development of a versatile, efficient CRISPRa platform