Author: claimsbot

1. A method for counting the absolute copy number of a nucleic acid sequence in a cell, comprising the following steps:
(i) dividing a lysate of the cell or a lysate of a sample of the cell into a plurality of aliquots;
(ii) providing conditions suitable for the amplification of the nucleic acid sequence in each aliquot;
(iii) counting the number of aliquots in which the nucleic acid was amplified in step (ii) thus the copy number of the nucleic acid sequence in the cell.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in step (i) the lysate is divided into at least 8 aliquots per cell used to make the lysate.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the lysate of step (i) is from a sample of 10 or fewer cells.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the lysate of step (i) is from a single cell.
5. A method for counting the absolute copy number of a chromatid in a cell comprising:
(i) dividing a lysate of the cell or a lysate of a sample of the cell into a plurality of aliquots;
(ii) providing conditions suitable for the amplification of one or more nucleic acid marker(s) of the chromatid in each aliquot;
(iii) counting the number of aliquots in which the nucleic acid marker was amplified in step (ii) thus the copy number of the chromatid in the cell.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the copy number of a plurality of nucleic acid markers from the chromatid is determined in order to analyse multiple loci on the chromatid.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of nucleic acid markers comprises one or more pairs or multiples of markers which occur in close proximity on the chromatid.
8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the highest number indicated by the plurality of nucleic acid markers gives the absolute copy number of the chromatid in the cell.
9. The method according to claim 5, wherein the chromatid is from chromosome 21, 18 or 13.
10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising repeating steps (i)-(iii) for chromatids for each of chromosome 21, 18 and 13.
11. (canceled)
12. A method for investigating the ploidy status of a cell, comprising counting the absolute copy number of chromatids for each chromosome in the cell by the method according to claim 5.
13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cell is a polar body.
14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cell is derived from a cleavage stage embryo.
15. The method according to claim 1, where wherein the cell is a trophectoderm cell of a blastocyst.
16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cell is a fetal cell from an amniotic fluid or chorionic villus sample.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the cell is in telophase.
18. The method of claim 5, wherein the cell is an oocyte.
19-22. (canceled)
23. The method according to claim 13, wherein the ploidy status of both polar body I and polar body II are investigated.
24. (canceled)
25. The method according to claim 5, wherein the amplification of the one or more nucleic acid marker(s) of the chromatid is performed with a plurality of primers capable of amplifying the nucleic acid markers from the chromatid.
26-29. (canceled)
30. A primer set comprising one or more primer(s) from those listed in Table 2.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. An image providing apparatus comprising:
an optical housing which houses an image providing optical system for providing an image to an observer;
a head gear which is fitted to a head of the observer;
a supporting member provided to the head gear; and
a connecting member which connects the supporting member and the optical housing, wherein
the connecting member includes ball portions respectively on two ends thereof, and has a conical-movable range,
the ball portion on a first one of the ends is provided to the supporting member side, as being capable of maintaining a posture thereof,
the ball portion on the second one of the ends is provided to the optical housing side, as being capable of maintaining a posture thereof,
the connecting member includes a first member and a second member, and the first member is connected to the second member so as to be movable and capable of maintaining a posture thereof.
2. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein a surface of the ball portion contains a rubber material as a major ingredient.
3. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein
each of the first member and the second member includes a connecting portion, and
the first member and the second member are connected to each other by pressure while having a rubber material therebetween.
4. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein
one of the first member and the second member includes a ball portion constituting a connecting portion on one end thereof,
the other member includes a hollow member having a spherical hollow on one end thereof, and
the ball portion is fitted and connected to the hollow member.
5. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the supporting member is provided with a flexible piece,
the ball portion provided to the supporting member side, as being capable of maintaining the posture thereof, is in contact with the flexible piece, and
the flexible piece changes the degree of pressure against the ball portion according to the degree of pressure caused by a screw.
6. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the optical housing is provided with a flexible piece,
the ball portion provided to the optical housing side, as being capable of maintaining the posture thereof, is in contact with the flexible piece, and
the flexible piece changes the degree of pressure against the ball portion according to the degree of pressure caused by a screw.
7. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the first member and the second member is formed into a bent shape.
8. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the ball portion on the first end is provided to the first member as being capable of maintaining the posture thereof against the supporting member,
a first end of the second member is provided as being capable of maintaining the posture thereof against the first member, and
the ball portion on the second end of the second member is provided to the optical housing side, as being capable of maintaining the posture thereof.
9. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the first member and the second member includes ball portions respectively on two ends thereof.
10. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 9, further comprising an intermediate connecting member provided as being capable of maintaining a posture thereof against the ball portion on the second end of the first member and against the ball portion on the first end of the second member.
11. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the first member and the second member respectively include ball portions each constituting a connecting portion, and
the ball portions are respectively connected to different locations on an intermediate connecting member.
12. The image providing apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein a surface of the ball portion contains a rubber material as a major ingredient.

1. A system configured to detect defects on a wafer, comprising:
an optical subsystem comprising at least a light source and a detector, wherein the optical subsystem is configured to direct light generated by the light source to the wafer and to detect light from the wafer with the detector during an inspection process performed on the wafer, wherein the inspection process is performed after at least first and second process steps have been performed on the wafer, wherein inspection of the wafer is not performed between the first and second process steps, wherein the first process step comprises forming a first portion of a design for the wafer on the wafer, wherein the second process step comprises forming a second portion of the design for the wafer, on the wafer, and wherein the first and second portions of the design are mutually exclusive in space on the wafer; and
one or more computer subsystems configured for receiving output generated by the detector responsive to the light detected by the detector, detecting defects on the wafer based on the output, determining positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design, and associating different portions of the defects with the first or second process step based on the positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the positions of the defects comprises aligning the output for the defects generated by the detector to the first or second portion of the design.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for sampling a portion of the detected defects, wherein the system further comprises a defect review subsystem configured to generate images of the sampled portion of the detected defects, and wherein determining the positions of the defects comprises aligning images of the sampled portion of the detected defects to the first or second portion of the design.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein sampling the portion of the detected defects comprises randomly selecting defects from different subpopulations of the defects determined based on spatial distribution of the defects across the wafer.
5. The system of claim 3, wherein the defect review subsystem comprises an electron beam-based defect review subsystem.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for determining one or more characteristics of one of the different portions of the defects associated with one of the first and second process steps.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured to generate first and second inspection results for the first and second process steps, respectively, based on the different portions of the defects associated with the first and second process steps, respectively.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer subsystems are further configured for separately monitoring the first and second process steps based on the different portions of the defects associated with the first and second process steps, respectively.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the first process step is performed using information for only the first portion of the design, wherein the second process step is performed using information for only the second portion of the design, and wherein determining the positions of the defects is performed using the information for both the first and second portions of the design.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the space in which the first and second portions of the design are mutually exclusive is in a plane substantially parallel to an upper surface of the wafer.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein patterned features included in the first portion of the design are mutually exclusive of patterned features included in the second portion of the design.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the design is not formed above or below the second portion of the design.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second portions of the design are formed on the same layer of the wafer.
14. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second portions of the design are formed on different layers of the wafer, and wherein when the output of the detector is responsive to depth of the defects below an upper surface of the wafer, determining the positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design is not performed based on the depth of the defects below the upper surface of the wafer.
15. The system of claim 1, wherein the first process step further comprises a first patterning step of a multiple patterning step process, and wherein the second process step further comprises a second patterning step of the multiple patterning step process.
16. The system of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the design comprises structures for N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors, and wherein the second portion of the design comprises structures for P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the structures for the N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors and the P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors are wells.
18. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second process steps are part of a back end of line metallization process.
19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program instructions stored therein for causing a computer system to perform a computer-implemented method for detecting defects on a wafer, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:
acquiring output generated by an inspection system for a wafer during an inspection process performed on the wafer, wherein the inspection process is performed after at least first and second process steps have been performed on the wafer, wherein inspection of the wafer is not performed between the first and second process steps, wherein the first process step comprises forming a first portion of a design for the wafer on the wafer, wherein the second process step comprises forming a second portion of the design for the wafer on the wafer, and wherein the first and second portions of the design are mutually exclusive in space on the wafer;
detecting defects on the wafer based on the output;
determining positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design; and
associating different portions of the defects with the first or second process step based on the positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design.
20. A computer-implemented method for detecting defects on a wafer, comprising:
acquiring output generated by an inspection system for a wafer during an inspection process performed on the wafer, wherein the inspection process is performed after at least first and second process steps have been performed on the wafer, wherein inspection of the wafer is not performed between the first and second process steps, wherein the first process step comprises forming a first portion of a design for the wafer on the wafer, wherein the second process step comprises forming a second portion of the design for the wafer on the wafer, and wherein the first and second portions of the design are mutually exclusive in space on the wafer;
detecting defects on the wafer based on the output;
determining positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design; and
associating different portions of the defects with the first or second process step based on the positions of the defects with respect to the first and second portions of the design, wherein said acquiring, said detecting, said determining, and said associating are performed by one or more computer subsystems.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method of mobile communication by determining schedules for transmitting and receiving data, and transmitting and receiving data between a base station and a plurality of mobile terminals according to said schedules, the method comprising the steps of:
transmitting particular orthogonal codes from the mobile terminals to the base station as alert signals indicating the presence of data to be transmitted,
checking, at the base station, whether the particular orthogonal codes are contained in the alert signals transmitted from the mobile terminals to the base station, and when the particular orthogonal codes are detected in the alert signals transmitted from the mobile terminals to the base station, transmitting, by the base station, data representing said detected orthogonal codes and the schedules, for transmitting the data from the mobile terminals to the base station, to the mobile terminals as an alert response to said alert signals, and
when the data representing the orthogonal codes used for said alert signals transmitted from the mobile terminals to the base station are contained in said alert response transmitted from the base station to the mobile terminals, reading out the data transmission schedules in said alert response at the mobile terminals and transmitting the data from the mobile terminals to the base station according said schedules that are read out.
2. A method of communicating between at least one mobile terminal and at least one base station, comprising the steps of:
transmitting a first signal from the mobile terminal to the base station, the first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal;
receiving and analyzing the first signal at the base station, which has the plurality of codes, in order to determine if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present in the first signal; and
transmitting a second signal from the base station to the mobile terminal, if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the selected code,
wherein the first signal including the selected code is multiplied by a PN code before being transmitted to the base station.
3. In a base station, a method of communicating with a plurality of mobile terminals, comprising the steps of:
receiving a first signal from the mobile terminal, the first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes to distinguish the first signal from other signals of other mobile terminals, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal;
analyzing the first signal in order to determine if the selected code is one of the plurality of codes; and
transmitting a second signal to the mobile terminal, if the selected code is one of the plurality of codes, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the selected code,
wherein the first signal including the selected code is multiplied by a PN code before being transmitted to the base station.
4. A base station capable of communicating with at least one mobile terminal, comprising:
an input and output unit for receiving a first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal; and
a processing unit connected to the input and output unit for analyzing the first signal in order to determine if one code of the plurality of codes is detected in the first signal,
wherein the input and output unit transmits a second signal if the one code of the plurality of codes is detected, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the one code detected in the first signal,
wherein the first signal including the code is multiplied by a PN code at the mobile terminal before being received by the input and output unit.
5. A base station capable of communicating with at least one mobile terminal, comprising:
an antenna which receives a first signal from the mobile terminal, the first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes, the code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal; and
an accumulator connected to the antenna, the accumulator analyzing the first signal in order to determine if the code is present in the first signal; and
wherein the antenna transmits a second signal to the mobile terminal if the code is present in the first signal, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the code
wherein the first signal including the code is multiplied by a PN code before received by the antenna.
6. A system for mobile communication between at least one mobile terminal and at least one base station, the system comprising:
an input and output unit in the mobile terminal for transmitting a first signal to the base station, the first signal including a code selected by the mobile terminal from a plurality of codes, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal, and receiving a second signal from the base station;
an input and output unit in the base station for receiving the first signal from the mobile terminal and transmitting the second signal to the mobile terminal; and
a processing unit connected to the input and output unit in the base station for analyzing the first signal in order to determine if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present in the first signal,
wherein the second signal is transmitted from the base station to the mobile terminal if the selected code of the plurality of codes is determined to be present in the first signal, the second signal being corresponding to the selected code,
wherein the first signal including the code is multiplied by a PN code before being transmitted by the mobile terminal.
7. A system for mobile communication between at least one mobile terminal and at least one base station, the system comprising:
an input and output unit in the mobile terminal for transmitting a first signal including a code to the base station and receiving a second signal from the base station;
a processing unit connected to the input and output unit in the mobile terminal for controlling transmission of the first signal to the base station and reception of the second signal from the base station;
a modulator in the mobile terminal connected to the input and output unit for selecting the code from a plurality of codes, the selected code indicating that first data is to be sent from the mobile terminal; and
a demodulator in the mobile terminal connected to the input and output unit;
an antenna in the base station which receives the first signal from the mobile terminal;
an accumulator in the base station connected to the antenna, the accumulator analyzing the first signal in order to determine if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present in the first signal, and
wherein the antenna in the base station transmits the second signal to the mobile terminal, if the selected code of the plurality of codes is present, the second signal containing second data corresponding to the selected code.
wherein the first signal including the selected code is multiplied by a PN code before being transmitted to the base station.