All The Claims

1. A method of operating a gaming device having a plurality of gaming reels, the method comprising:
determining a first game outcome to display;
manipulating the plurality of gaming reels to display the first game outcome;
determining, based on the first game outcome, whether a winning condition that is entitled to a payout is present;
when a winning condition has been determined to be present:
identifying a first subset of the gaming reels as reels associated with the winning condition,
identifying a second subset of the gaming reels as the remaining reels not in the first subset of gaming reels,
determining a second game outcome by maintaining a position of the first subset of gaming reels and selecting new outcomes to display for each of the second subset of gaming reels, and
manipulating the second subset of gaming reels to display the second game outcome; and

awarding any payouts based on the second game outcome.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein randomizing the second subset of the gaming reels comprises randomizing one or more of the second subset of the gaming reels two or more times in response to the winning condition being satisfied.
3. A method comprising:
randomizing, in response to a user input, a plurality of gaming reels so that the gaming reels are in a first configuration;
determining, based on the first configuration of the gaming reels, whether an arrangement of symbols on the gaming reels has formed a winning condition that meets a payout condition;
when a winning condition is determined to have occurred, identifying a first subset of the gaming reels as reels having the symbols used in the formation of the winning condition, identifying a second subset of the gaming reels as the remaining reels not in the first subset of gaming reels, and randomizing the second subset of gaming reels while maintaining the position of the first subset of reels so that the plurality of gaming reels are in a second configuration; and
providing a final payout based at least on the second configuration of the plurality of gaming reels in response to the randomization of the second subset of gaming reels.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein randomizing the second subset of the gaming reels comprises randomizing one or more of the second subset of the gaming reels two or more times in response to the winning condition being satisfied.
5. A method comprising:
randomizing, in response to a user input, a plurality of gaming reels so that the gaming reels are in a first configuration on a gaming display having a game grid with a plurality of symbol positions;
determining, based on the first configuration of the gaming reels, whether an arrangement of symbols on the gaming reels has formed a winning condition on the game grid that meets a payout condition;
when a winning condition is determined to have occurred, identifying a first subset of symbols from the gaming reels that are used in the formation of the winning condition, marking symbol positions associated with the first subset of symbols with indicia respectively reflecting the first subset of symbols, and randomizing the gaming reels so that they are in a second configuration, where a second subset of symbols reside in the marked symbol positions;
identifying symbol combinations using the first subset of symbol indicia and second subset of symbols in the marked symbol positions; and
providing a final payout based at least on an evaluation of the second configuration of the plurality of gaming reels and the identified symbol combinations.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein each symbol not residing in a marked symbol position resulting from the first configuration is maintained when the gaming reels are randomized to be in the second configuration.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying symbol combinations using the first subset of symbol indicia and second subset of symbols in the marked symbol positions includes forming multi-indicia symbols having indicia showing both a symbol from the first subset of symbols and a symbol from the second subset of symbols in each marked symbol position.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identified symbol combinations consider each symbol of the multi-indicia symbols as independent symbols.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying symbol combinations using the first subset of symbol indicia and second subset of symbols in the marked symbol positions includes determining which of a symbol from the first subset of symbols and a symbol from the second subset of symbols provides higher paying symbol combinations for each marked symbol position to identify an optimal symbol for each marked symbol position.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining which of a symbol from the first subset of symbols and a symbol from the second subset of symbols provides higher paying symbol combinations for each marked symbol position includes identifying an optimal symbol for each marked symbol position for each of a plurality of played paylines.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising fixing the identified optimal symbol for the evaluation in the final payout for all played paylines.
12. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing the identified optimal symbol for the evaluation in the final payout for each played payline of the plurality of played paylines.
13. A gaming apparatus comprising:
a plurality of gaming reels each having a plurality of symbols;
a game display including a game grid having a plurality of symbol positions, the game display configured to display symbols from each gaming reel in the symbol positions of the game grid in response to gaming events;
a controller coupled to the gaming reels, the controller configured to:
randomly determine a first game outcome including determining which symbols on each gaming reel to show on the game grid;
manipulate the plurality of gaming reels to display the first game outcome on the game grid;
determine, based on the first game outcome, whether a winning condition that is entitled to a payout is present on the game grid;
when a winning condition has been determined to be present on the game grid:
identifying a first subset of symbol positions as positions that include symbols that are part of the winning condition,
identifying a second subset of symbol positions as the remaining symbol positions not in the first subset of symbol positions,
determining a second game outcome by maintaining the symbols displayed in the first subset of symbol positions and randomly selecting which of the plurality of symbols to display in the second subset of symbol positions, and
manipulating the gaming reels to display the second game outcome on the game grid; and
a payout device configured to award any payouts based on the first game outcome and the second game outcome.
14. The gaming apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine based, on the second game outcome, whether a subsequent winning condition that is entitled to a payout is present on the game grid, where the subsequent winning condition is different than the previously determined winning condition in the first game outcome; and
when a subsequent winning condition has been determined to be present on the game grid:
identifying a first subset of symbol positions as positions that include symbols that are part of the subsequent winning condition,
identifying a second subset of symbol positions as the remaining symbol positions not in the first subset of symbol positions,
determining a third game outcome by maintaining the symbols displayed in the first subset of symbol positions and randomly selecting which of the plurality of symbols to display in the second subset of symbol positions, and
manipulating the gaming reels to display the second game outcome on the game grid.
15. The gaming apparatus of claim 14, wherein the subsequent winning condition is defined as a winning condition that is associated with an award larger than an award associated with than the previously determined winning condition in the first game outcome.
16. The gaming apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processes of determining if a subsequent winning condition for a current game outcome is present on a game grid, identifying a first subset of symbols, identifying a second subset of symbols, determining another game outcome, and manipulating the game reels to display the another game outcome are repeated until it is determined that a subsequent winning outcome is not present on the reels.
17. The gaming apparatus of claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine based, on the second game outcome, whether a subsequent winning condition that is entitled to a payout is present on the game grid, where the subsequent winning condition is different than the previously determined winning condition in the first game outcome; and
when a subsequent winning condition has been determined to be present on the game grid:
identifying a first subset of symbol positions as positions that include symbols that are part of both the subsequent winning condition and the previously determined winning condition in the first game outcome,
identifying a second subset of symbol positions as the remaining symbol positions not in the first subset of symbol positions,
determining a third game outcome by maintaining the symbols displayed in the first subset of symbol positions and randomly selecting which of the plurality of symbols to display in the second subset of symbol positions, and
manipulating the gaming reels to display the second game outcome on the game grid.
18. The gaming apparatus of claim 17, wherein the subsequent winning condition is defined as a winning condition that is associated with an award larger than an award associated with than the previously determined winning condition in the first game outcome.
19. The gaming apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processes of determining if a subsequent winning condition for a current game outcome is present on a game grid, identifying a first subset of symbols, identifying a second subset of symbols, determining another game outcome, and manipulating the game reels to display the another game outcome are repeated until it is determined that a subsequent winning outcome is not present on the reels.
20. The gaming apparatus of claim 13, wherein determining whether a winning condition that is entitled to a payout is present on the grid includes determining all winning conditions entitled to a payout on the grid, and wherein identifying a first subset of symbol positions includes identifying all symbol positions used in all winning conditions.

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 GLAST knockout mouse deficient in the function of an endogenous GLAST gene, wherein said mouse has the same genome, except for the targeted endogeneous GLAST gene, as that of a C57BL6 mouse strain, and wherein, when ischemic load is not applied:
1) the intraocular pressure is not greater than 21 mmHg, and,
2) the number of cells in the retinal ganglions is 20% to 50% less than that of a wild-type C57BL6 strain mouse.
2. The GLAST knockout mouse according to claim 1 , wherein a neomycin-resistant gene is inserted into a region of the endogenous GLAST gene.
3. The GLAST knockout mouse according to claim 2, wherein the neomycin-resistant gene is inserted into the exon 6 of the endogenous GLAST gene.
4. A method of producing a GLAST knockout mouse deficient in the function of an endogenous GLAST gene, which comprises the following steps 1) to 6):
1) obtaining an ES cell from any mouse deficient in the function of one endogenous GLAST gene on the homologous chromosome,
2) introducing the ES cell obtained in step 1 into the mouse to generate a chimeric mouse carrying said cell,
3) crossing the chimeric mouse obtained in step 2 with a normal C57BL6 4strain mouse to obtain a heterozygous knockout mouse,
4) crossing the heterozygous mouse obtained in step 3 with a normal C57BL6 strain mouse to generate a heterozygous knockout mouse,
5) repeating the crossing defined in step 4 at least a total of 9 times to generate a heterozygous knockout mouse, and,
6) crossing the heterozygous knockout mice obtained in step 5 with each other to generate a homozygous or heterozygous GLAST knockout mouse.
5. A homozygous or heterozygous GLAST knockout mouse, wherein said mouse has the same genome, except for the targeted endogeneous GLAST gene. as that of a CS7BL6 mouse strain, and wherein:
1) the intraocular pressure is not greater than 2 mmHg and
2) the number of cells in the retinal ganglions is 20% to 50% less than that of a wild-type C57BL6 mouse strain, and
produced by the production method which comprises the following steps 1) to 6):
1) obtaining an ES cell from any mouse deficient in the function of one endogenous GLAST gene on the homologous chromosome,
2) introducing the ES cell obtained in step 1 into the mouse to generate a chimeric mouse carrying said cell,
3) crossing the chimeric mouse obtained in step 2 with a normal C57BL6 strain mouse to obtain a heterozygous knockout mouse,
4) crossing the heterozygous mouse obtained in step 3 with a normal C57BL6 mouse strain to generate a heterozygous knockout mouse,
5) repeating the crossing defined in step 4 at least a total of 9 times to generate a heterozygous knockout mouse, and,
6) crossing the heterozygous knockout mice obtained in step 5 with each other to generate a homozygous or heterozygous GLAST knockout mouse.
6. A method of screening a compound for potential use in the prevention andor treatment of normal tension glaucoma, which comprises:
1) administering a test compound to the GLAST knockout mouse according to claim 2,
2) administering a test compound to a wild-type mouse,
3) assessing the number or function of surviving optic nerve cells in each of the mice defined above, prior to and after a given time period of the administration, and,
4) comparing the GLAST knockout mouse with the wild-type mouse in terms of the test results to determine effectiveness of the test compound.
7. The screening method according to claim 6, wherein the number of nerve cells in the retinal ganglions is counted andor the retinal potential is measured to assess the number of surviving optic nerve cells or the function of optic nerve cells.

1. A method comprising:
obtaining compressed video content within a video content processing module, a portion of a document structure of the compressed video content conforming to a predefined codec, the portion of the document structure including a plurality of video frames;
decrypting the compressed video content in accordance with a digital rights management data encryption;
adding information in an extension frame associated with the portion of the document structure, the adding comprising adding information to identify a decoding technique usable to reverse an encoding technique;
applying the encoding technique to content of one or more key frames of the plurality of video frames after the decrypting; and
providing the compressed video content, including the encoded content, to a media player including a codec conforming to the predefined codec to allow the media player to (i) identify the decoding technique based on the identifying information added to the extension frame, and (ii) reverse the encoding technique applied to the content of the one or more key frames while decompressing the compressed video content.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
wherein adding information in an extension frame comprises introducing the extension frame into the portion of the document structure.
3. The method of claim 1, where the media player recognizes the extension frame and applies the decoding technique to the compressed video content within a decompression stage based upon the extension frame.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
populating the extension frame with decoding information related to the encoding technique.
5. The method of claim 4, where the decoding information includes a decoding key which can be applied by the media player to decode the encoding technique applied to the compressed video content.
6. The method of claim 4, where the decoding information corresponds to a substitution box applied to the one or more of the plurality of video frames.
7. The method of claim 1, where the encoding technique is a data scrambling technique.
8. The method of claim 1, where the encoding technique is applied to only the one or more key frames of the plurality of video frames.
9. The method of claim 1, where
the predefined codec conforms to a H.263 or H.264 standard,
the plurality of video frames are network abstraction layer (NAL) units, and
the extension frame is a supplemental enhanced information (SEI) NAL unit.
10. The method of claim 9, where the SEI NAL unit includes a universally unique identifier (UUID) known by the media player.
11. The method of claim 1, where
the predefined codec conforms to a VP6 standard,
the plurality of video frames are VP6-compliant samples, and
the extension frame is a control buffer appended to the end of a video buffer.
12. A system comprising:
a display device;
a computer storage medium; and
one or more processors operable to interact with the computer storage medium and the display device and to perform operations comprising:
receiving, at a digital rights management module, encrypted compressed video content, where
a portion of the encrypted compressed video content conforms to a predefined video codec having an associated optional property, the portion including a plurality of video frames, and where
video content including the optional property is readable by any media player including a codec conforming to the predefined video codec;

decrypting the compressed video content;
modifying, using a video content processing module, the decrypted compressed video content, where the video content processing module
adds information in an extension frame in the portion,
applies an encoding technique to only content of one or more key frames of the plurality of video frames, and
identifies a decoding technique within the extension frame by adding a decoding key to the extension frame, the decoding technique usable to reverse the applied encoding technique; and

identifying, at a media player, the identified decoding technique based on the decoding key within the extension frame of the compressed video content, where the media player reverses the encoding technique applied to the compressed video content while decompressing the compressed video content.
13. The system of claim 12, where the video content processing module populates the extension frame with decoding information related to the encoding technique.
14. The system of claim 13, where the decoding information corresponds to a substitution box applied to the one or more of the plurality of video frames.
15. The system of claim 12, where the predefined codec conforms to at least one of a H.263 standard, a H.264 standard, and a VP6 standard.
16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding a computer program product operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
obtaining compressed video content within a video content processing module, a portion of a document structure of the compressed video content conforming to a predefined codec, the portion of the document structure including a plurality of video frames;
decrypting the compressed video content in accordance with a digital rights management data encryption;
adding information in an extension frame associated with the portion of the document structure, the adding comprising adding information to identify a decoding technique usable to reverse an encoding technique;
applying the encoding technique to content of one or more key frames of the plurality of video frames after the decrypting; and
providing the compressed video content, including the encoded content, to a media player including a codec conforming to the predefined codec to allow the media player to (i) identify the decoding technique based on the identifying information added to the extension frame, and (ii) reverse the encoding technique applied to the content of the one or more key frames while decompressing the compressed video content.
17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the media player recognizes the extension frame and applies the decoding technique to the compressed video content within a decompression stage based upon the extension frame.
18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the operations further comprise:
populating the extension frame with decoding information related to the encoding technique.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the decoding information includes a decoding key which can be applied by the media player to decode the encoding technique applied to the compressed video content.
20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the encoding technique is a data scrambling technique.

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 performing time drift compensation in a receiver, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving a signal, which comprises chips, at the receiver;
producing a control pulse after having received a certain number of chips of the received signal;
controlling a variable delay applied to the received signal;
sending, to demodulation units in the receiver, a delayed signal in which chips have been omitted or duplicated on the basis of said control pulse;
supplying, to said demodulation units in the receiver, a compensation signal that indicates whether chips have been omitted or duplicated in the delayed signal; and
demodulating the delayed signal such that the demodulation units consider the omission or duplication of chips in the delayed signal.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of synchronizing the compensation signal to the control pulse.
3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of aligning said control pulse with a symbol boundary.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the received signal comprises both data chips and pilot chips and the step of demodulating is performed in a first and a second demodulation unit and further comprises the step of:
demodulating the received pilot chips in the first demodulation unit to produce demodulated pilot chips and the received data chips in the second demodulation unit to produce demodulated data chips.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the compensation signal is given a first value which indicates that a chip has been omitted in the delayed signal and a second value which indicates that a chip has been duplicated in the delayed signal.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of demodulating chips comprises the steps of:
descrambling the delayed chips; and
despreading the descrambled chips.
7. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of:
integrating the demodulated pilot chips to create a pilot symbol and the demodulated data chips to create a data symbol;
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said first and second values of the compensation signal control scrambling codes and spreading codes sent to the demodulation units such that a chip is omitted in the respective code on reception of a compensation signal having a first value, and a chip is duplicated in the respective code on reception of a compensation signal having a second value, and wherein said first and second value of the compensation signal further control the integrators such that a chip is omitted in the integration on reception of the first value, and a chip is duplicated in the integration on reception of the second value.
9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of:
delivering, from the first demodulation unit to the second demodulation unit channel estimation information derived from the pilot symbol; and
employing said channel estimation information at the second demodulation unit to improve said data symbol by taking into account channel parameters.
10. A receiver for performing time drift compensation, the receiver comprising:
a timer;
a common delay unit; and
demodulation units; wherein
the timer is arranged to produce a control pulse after having received a certain number of chips of a received signal;
the common delay unit is arranged to apply a variable delay to the received signal and thus send a delayed signal to the demodulation units in the receiver, in which delayed signal chips have been omitted or duplicated on the basis of said control pulse;
the timer is further arranged to supply, to said demodulation units in the receiver, a compensation signal that indicates whether chips have been omitted or duplicated in the delayed signal; and
the demodulation units are arranged to demodulate the delayed signal such that the demodulation units consider the omission or duplication of chips in the delayed signal.
11. The receiver according to claim 10, wherein the timer is further arranged to synchronize the compensation signal to the control pulse.
12. The receiver according to claim 10, wherein the timer is further arranged to align said control pulse with a symbol boundary.
13. The receiver according to claim 10, wherein the received signal comprises both data chips and pilot chips and the demodulation is performed in a first and a second demodulation unit, the first demodulation unit being further arranged to demodulate the received pilot chips to produce demodulated pilot chips and the second demodulation unit being further arranged to demodulate the received data chips to produce demodulated data chips.
14. The receiver according to claim 10, wherein the timer is further arranged to give the compensation signal a first value which indicates that a chip has been omitted from the delayed signal and a second value which indicates that a chip has been duplicated in the delayed signal.
15. The receiver according to claim 10, wherein the demodulation units comprises:
descrambling code generators employed to descramble the delayed chips; and
despreading code generators employed to despread the descrambled chips.
16. The receiver according to claim 10, wherein the demodulation units comprises:
integrators arranged to integrate the demodulated pilot chips to create a pilot symbol and the demodulated data chips to create a data symbol.
17. The receiver according to claim 10, wherein said first and second values of the compensation signal control scrambling codes and spreading codes supplied to the demodulation units such that a chip is omitted from the respective code on reception of a compensation signal having a first value, and a chip is duplicated in the respective code on reception of a compensation signal having a second value, and wherein said first and second value of the compensation signals further control the integrators such that a chip is omitted in the integration on reception of the first value, and a chip is duplicated in the integration on reception of the second value.
18. The receiver according to claim 17, further comprising:
a channel estimation integrator arranged to deliver, from the first demodulation unit to the second demodulation unit channel estimation information derived from the pilot symbol, wherein said channel estimation information is employed at the second demodulation unit to improve said data symbol by taking into account channel parameters.