All The Claims

1. A wavelength-tunable light source operative to emit wavelength tunable radiation over a wavelength range contained in a wavelength span between about 950 nm and about 1150 nm, said wavelength tunable light source comprising a vertical cavity laser (VCL), said VCL having a gain region with at least one compressively strained quantum well containing Indium, Gallium, and Arsenic, said vertical cavity laser further comprising a first portion including a first mirror, a second portion including a second mirror attached to a mechanical structure including a flexible membrane with a support structure, an adjustable airgap between said second portion and said first portion, a first means for injecting electrons and holes into said gain region, a second means for adjusting said airgap, and a third means for obtaining substantially single longitudinal and transverse mode operation over said wavelength tuning range, wherein a peak room-temperature photoluminescence wavelength of said gain region is more than about 20 nm shorter than a maximum operating wavelength of said tunable laser.
2. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 1, wherein a peak room-temperature photoluminescence wavelength of said gain region is at more than about 50 nm shorter than a maximum operating wavelength of said tunable laser.
3. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 1, wherein a peak room-temperature photoluminescence wavelength of said gain region is more than about 70 nm shorter than a maximum operating wavelength of said tunable laser.
4. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 1, wherein said first mirror comprises an alternating stack including a first Al(x1)Ga(1\u2212x1)As layer and a second Al(x2)Ga(1\u2212x2)As layer, where x1 and x2 are in a range of 0-1.
5. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 1, where said first mirror comprises an alternating stack including a first material containing aluminum and oxygen, and a second material that is Al(x)Ga(1\u2212x)As, where x is in a range of 0-1.
6. A wavelength-tunable light source operative to emit wavelength tunable radiation over a wavelength range contained in a wavelength span between about 950 nm and about 1150 nm, said wavelength tunable light source comprising a vertical cavity laser (VCL), said VCL having a VCL gain region with at least one compressively strained quantum well containing Indium, Gallium, and Arsenic, said vertical cavity laser further comprising a first portion including a first mirror, a second portion including a second mirror attached to a mechanical structure including a flexible membrane with a support structure, an adjustable airgap between said second portion and said first portion, a first means for injecting electrons and holes into said gain region, a second means for adjusting said airgap, a third means for obtaining substantially single longitudinal and transverse mode operation over said wavelength tuning range, said wavelength-tunable light source further comprising a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) comprising at least one SOA quantum well including Indium, Gallium, and Arsenic, said at least one SOA quantum well having a room temperature photoluminescence wavelength in a range of about 1050 nm-1085 nm.
7. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 6, wherein said semiconductor optical amplifier includes exactly one compressively strained SOA quantum well comprising Indium, Gallium, and Arsenic.
8. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 6, wherein a thickness of said at least one SOA quantum well is in a range of about 5-10 nm.
9. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 6, wherein said semiconductor optical amplifier contains exactly 2 SOA quantum wells with at least one tensile-strained barrier.
10. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 6, wherein said at least one SOA quantum well comprises two confined quantum states.
11. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 6, wherein a vertical beam divergence of said semiconductor optical amplifier is less than about 25 degrees full-width at half-maximum.
12. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 6, wherein said first mirror comprises an alternating stack including a first Al(x1)Ga(1\u2212x1)As layer and a second Al(x2)Ga(1\u2212x2)As layer, where x1 and x2 are in a range of 0-1.
13. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 6, wherein said first mirror comprises an alternating stack comprising including a first material containing aluminum and oxygen, and a second material that is Al(x)Ga(1\u2212x)As, where x is in a range of 0-1.
14. A wavelength-tunable light source operative to emit wavelength tunable radiation over a wavelength range contained in a wavelength span between about 950 nm and about 1150 nm, said wavelength tunable light source comprising a vertical cavity laser (VCL), said VCL having a gain region with at least one compressively strained quantum well containing Indium, Gallium, and Arsenic, said vertical cavity laser further comprising a first portion including a first mirror, a second portion including a second mirror attached to a mechanical structure including a flexible membrane with a support structure, an adjustable airgap between said second portion and said first portion, a first means for injecting electrons and holes into said gain region, a second means for adjusting said airgap, and a vacuum environment surrounding said vertical cavity laser.
15. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 14, wherein said vacuum environment is provided by an evacuated butterfly package.
16. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 14, wherein said vacuum environment is provided by an evacuated transistor outline (TO) package.
17. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 14, wherein said wavelength range is repetitively scanned at a mechanical resonant frequency of said mechanical structure.
18. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 14, wherein said wavelength range is covered with a maximum voltage less than about 10V.
19. A wavelength-tunable light source operative to emit wavelength tunable radiation over a wavelength range contained in a wavelength span between about 950 nm and about 1150 nm, said wavelength tunable light source comprising a vertical cavity laser (VCL), said VCL having a gain region with at least one compressively strained quantum well containing Indium, Gallium, and Arsenic, said vertical cavity laser further comprising a first portion including a first mirror, a second portion including a second mirror attached to a mechanical structure including a flexible membrane with a support structure, an adjustable airgap between said second portion and said first portion, a first means for electrical injection of electrons and holes into said gain region, said first means including a tunnel junction, a second means for adjusting said airgap, and a third means for obtaining substantially single longitudinal and transverse mode operation over said wavelength tuning range.
20. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, further comprising a fourth means for constricting electrical current injection to an aperture.
21. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, wherein said fourth means comprises an oxidized aperture.
22. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, wherein said fourth means comprises a buried tunnel junction.
23. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, further comprising an n-type current spreading layer above said current aperture.
24. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, wherein said tunnel junction is substantially aligned with a minimum in a standing wave profile in said VCL cavity.
25. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 21, wherein said oxidized aperture is substantially aligned with a minimum in a standing wave profile in said VCL.
26. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, wherein said first mirror comprises an alternating stack including a first Al(x1)Ga(1\u2212x1)As layer and a second Al(x2)Ga(1\u2212x2)As layer, where x1 and x2 are in a range of 0-1.
27. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, where said first mirror comprises an alternating stack including a first material containing aluminum and oxygen, and a second material that is Al(x)Ga(1\u2212x)As, where x is in a range of 0-1.
28. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, wherein electronic charge travels around at least one insulating layer comprising aluminum and oxygen to a substrate contact.
29. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, comprising exactly 3 compressively strained quantum wells including Indium, Gallium, and Arsenic, and at least one tensile-strained barrier comprising Gallium, Arsenic, and Phosphorus.
30. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 1, wherein said VCL is driven by a periodic tuning waveform periodically adjusting said airgap, such that said wavelength tunable radiation has a periodic wavelength variation with time at a first wavelength repetition frequency and a first repetition period, further comprising at least one optical delay line for generating at least one time-delayed copy of said wavelength tunable radiation, a combiner for combining all of said time-delayed copies into a common optical path to create a multiplexed wavelength-swept radiation, and a fifth means for turning off said VCL during a time window of said first wavelength repetition period, wherein said multiplexed wavelength swept radiation has a second wavelength repetition frequency which is an integer multiple of said first wavelength repetition frequency.
31. The wavelength tunable light source of claim 30, wherein said fifth means comprises varying a drive current in an electrically pumped VCL.
32. A system for optical coherence tomography, the system comprising at least one wavelength tunable light source of claim 1, wherein said VCL is driven by a periodic tuning waveform which periodically adjusts said airgap such that said wavelength-tunable radiation is repetitively tuned over said wavelength range, a splitter for splitting said wavelength tunable radiation to a sample and a reference path, an optical detector for detecting an interference signal between a reflection from said sample and light traversing said reference path, and a signal processing system for constructing an image from said interference signal.
33. The system of claim 32, wherein said sample is an in-vivo human eye.
34. The system of claim 33, wherein said image includes a portion of both the anterior eye and the retina.
35. The system of claim 32, wherein a dynamic coherence length of said wavelength-swept radiation exceeds 100 mm.
36. A system for optical coherence tomography, the system comprising at least one wavelength tunable light source of claim 6, wherein said VCL is driven by a periodic tuning waveform which periodically adjusts said airgap such that said wavelength-tunable radiation is repetitively tuned over said wavelength range, a splitter for splitting said wavelength tunable radiation to a sample and a reference path, an optical detector for detecting an interference signal between a reflection from said sample and light traversing said reference path, and a signal processing system for constructing an image from said interference signal.
37. The system of claim 36, wherein said sample is an in-vivo human eye.
38. The system of claim 37, wherein said image includes a portion of both the anterior eye and the retina.
39. The system of claim 36, wherein a dynamic coherence length of said wavelength-swept radiation exceeds 100 mm.
40. A system for optical coherence tomography, the system comprising at least one wavelength tunable light source of claim 14, wherein said VCL is driven by a periodic tuning waveform which periodically adjusts said airgap such that said wavelength-tunable radiation is repetitively tuned over said wavelength range, a splitter for splitting said wavelength tunable radiation to a sample and a reference path, an optical detector for detecting an interference signal between a reflection from said sample and light traversing said reference path, and a signal processing system for constructing an image from said interference signal.
41. The system of claim 40, wherein said sample is an in-vivo human eye.
42. The system of claim 41, wherein said image includes a portion of both the anterior eye and the retina.
43. The system of claim 40, wherein a dynamic coherence length of said wavelength-swept radiation exceeds 100 mm.
44. A system for optical coherence tomography, the system comprising at least one wavelength tunable light source of claim 19, wherein said VCL is driven by a periodic tuning waveform which periodically adjusts said airgap such that said wavelength-tunable radiation is repetitively tuned over said wavelength range, a splitter for splitting said wavelength tunable radiation to a sample and a reference path, an optical detector for detecting an interference signal between a reflection from said sample and light traversing said reference path, and a signal processing system for constructing an image from said interference signal.
45. The system of claim 44, wherein said sample is an in-vivo human eye.
46. The system of claim 45, wherein said image includes a portion of both the anterior eye and the retina.
47. The system of claim 44, wherein a dynamic coherence length of said wavelength-swept radiation exceeds 100 mm.

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 behavior management and expense insight system comprising:
a data storage to store user profiles of a plurality of users affiliated with a same organization, points of interest, and information for determining recommendations for the points of interest and to store an average amount spent for each point of interest by the plurality of users with a spending limit for each user;
a recommendation request module to receive a request for recommendations for a point of interest from a user of the plurality of users, wherein the request includes a category of the point of interest in the request and a geographic location;
a recommendation engine, executed by a processor, to determine recommendations for the request based on the category and the geographic location for the request;
an expense allowance module to compare the average amount spent for each point of interest in the recommendations with a spending limit for the user determined from the stored user profile for the user and to determine an expense allowance indicator for each point of interest in the recommendations based on the comparisons, wherein the expense allowance indicator indicates whether the average amount spent is above, in par with, or below the spending limit for the user;
a recommendation presentation module to provide the recommendations for the request to the user including the expense allowance indicator for each of the points of interest in the recommendations.
2. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, further comprising:
a behavior action capture module to
receive and store user reviews of the points of interest and expense information including amount spent by each of the users at the points of interest,
determine whether the amount spent for each user exceeds a spending limit for the user, and
if the amount spent exceeds the spending limit, request comments from the user to indicate a reason why the amount spent exceeded the spending limit.
3. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, wherein to select recommendations of points of interest for the request, the recommendation engine is to
determine, from a plurality of business objectives or a plurality of user categories stored in the data storage, a business objective associated with the user or a category of the user based on the stored user profile for the user,
determine policies based on the determined business objective or category, and
identify points of interest from the plurality of points of interest that are compliant with the policies for the recommendations.
4. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, wherein the request for recommendations for the point of interest identify a geographic location, and to select the recommendations of points of interest for the request, the recommendation engine is to
determine from ratings of the points of interest within the geographic location, a distance a user is willing to travel for a higher rated points of interest, and
select the recommendations based on the distance.
5. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, wherein the data storage stores templates for different categories of users, and at least one the templates request information pertaining the user’s category and the request from the user, and
the recommendation request module is to request information based on the template for the user’s category.
6. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation engine is to determine whether the user is bringing a guest from the request, determine preferences of the guest from information in the data storage and to determine the recommendations based on the preferences of the guest.
7. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation presentation module is to provide in a first display screen, an average amount spent for each recommendation, a discount offered for the users of the organization, spending limit and rating, wherein the user can click on one of the recommendations in the display screen to view detailed reviews of the point of interest for the recommendation.
8. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, comprising a reporting module to:
plot a time period of amount spent as being above or on par with average spent for a geographic area based on submitted time and expense reports for the geographic area.
9. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, comprising a reporting module to:
determine a group of the users, wherein the group is a group for a client, a project, a category and a performance level; and
report overspending by the group based on submitted time and expense reports for the users in the group.
10. The behavior management and expense insight system of claim 1, wherein the points of interest comprise at least one of restaurants and hotels.
11. A non-transitory computer readable medium including machine readable instructions executable by a processor to:
generate a user interface on a display to receive input from a user for a request for recommendations for a point of interest;
generate the request based on the input and send the request to a behavior management and expense insight system, wherein the request includes a category of a point of interest requested, geographic location, desired time for the point of interest, and user identifier;
receive, in response to sending the request, recommendations of points of interest for the request, and each recommendation includes an expense allowance indicator indicating for the user whether an average amount spent at the point of interest for the recommendation is above, in par with, or below a spending limit for the user at the geographic location; and
present the recommendations on the display.
12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions are to:
receive expense information from the user including amount spent by the user at one of the recommended points of interest; and
if the amount spent exceeds the spending limit, request comments from the user to indicate a reason why the amount spent exceeded the spending limit.
13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions to generate the request include instructions to determine a template of a plurality of templates for different categories of users based on a category of the user, and to use the template to request additional information for generating a review of the point of interest.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions to generate the request include instructions to request whether the user is bringing a guest, wherein the recommendations are based on the preferences of the guest. if the input identifies the guest.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions are to provide on the display, an average amount spent for each recommendation based on amount spent by users of a same organization, a discount offered for the organization, if available, for each recommendation, the user’s spending limit, and rating for each recommendations, wherein the user can click on one of the recommendations in the display screen to view detailed reviews of the point of interest for the recommendation.
16. A non-transitory computer readable medium including machine readable instructions executable by a processor to:
store user profiles of a plurality of users affiliated with a same organization, points of interest, and information for determining recommendations for the points of interest;
store an average amount spent for each point of interest by the plurality of users with a spending limit for each user;
receive a request for recommendations for a point of interest from a user of the plurality of users, wherein the request includes a category of the point of interest in the request and a geographic location;
determine recommendations for the request based on the category and the geographic location for the request;
compare the average amount spent for each point of interest in the recommendations with a spending limit for the user determined from the stored user profile for the user;
determine an expense allowance indicator for each point of interest in the recommendations based on the comparisons, wherein the expense allowance indicator indicates whether the average amount spent is above, in par with, or below the spending limit for the user; and
provide the recommendations for the request to the user including the expense allowance indicator for each of the points of interest in the recommendations.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions are to:
receive and store user reviews of the points of interest and expense information including amount spent by each of the users at the points of interest,
determine whether the amount spent for each user exceeds a spending limit for the user, and
if the amount spent exceeds the spending limit, request comments from the user to indicate a reason why the amount spent exceeded the spending limit.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions to select recommendations of points of interest for the request are to:
determine, from a plurality of business objectives or a plurality of user categories stored in the data storage, a business objective associated with the user or a category of the user based on the stored user profile for the user;
determine policies based on the determined business objective or category; and
identify points of interest from the plurality of points of interest that are compliant with the policies for the recommendations.
19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the request for recommendations for the point of interest identify a geographic location, and the instructions to select recommendations of points of interest for the request are to:
determine from ratings of the points of interest within the geographic location, a distance a user is willing to travel for a higher rated points of interest, and
select the recommendations based on the distance.
20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the data storage stores templates for different categories of users, and at least one the templates request information pertaining the user’s category and the request from the user, and the instructions are to:
request information from the user based on the template for the user’s category.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of monitoring data, comprising:
monitoring data indicating one or more events associated therewith;
detecting one or more of a specified set of one or more events within the data; and
sending a message indicating that one or more of the specified set of events has been detected in accordance with a set of notification preferences.
2. A method of sending a notification message, comprising:
receiving a notification indicator adapted for indicating that one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more events that have been detected from a set of flagged data, the set of flagged data indicating a set of one or more events associated therewith;
obtaining a set of notification preferences; and
sending a notification message in accordance with the set of notification preferences.
3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the notification indicator is further adapted for indicating that the one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more event attributes associated with the one or more events.
4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the set of notification preferences are associated with at least one of one or more entities to whom the notification message is to be sent, one or more of the events, and the condition.
5. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the one or more events and the set of one or more events are configurable.
6. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the one or more conditions are configurable.
7. A computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for monitoring data for detection of one or more conditions for which a notification message is to be transmitted, comprising:
instructions for monitoring a set of flagged data for a specified set of events, the set of flagged data indicating one or more events associated therewith;
instructions for determining when one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events; and
instructions for obtaining a set of notification preferences and sending a notification message in accordance with the obtained set of notification preferences when it is determined that one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events.
8. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 7, wherein the computer readable medium is selected from the group consisting of CD-ROM, floppy disk, tape, flash memory, system memory, hard drive, and data signal embodied in a carrier wave.
9. An apparatus for monitoring data for detection of one or more conditions for which a notification message is to be transmitted, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory, at least one of the processor and the memory being adapted for:
monitoring a set of flagged data for a specified set of events, the set of flagged data indicating one or more events associated therewith;
determining when one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events; and
obtaining a set of notification preferences and sending a notification message in accordance with the obtained set of notification preferences when it is determined that one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events.
10. An apparatus for monitoring data for detection of one or more conditions for which a notification message is to be transmitted, comprising:
means for monitoring a set of flagged data for a specified set of events, the set of flagged data indicating one or more events associated therewith;
means for determining when one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events; and
means for obtaining a set of notification preferences and sending a notification message in accordance with the obtained set of notification preferences when it is determined that one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events.
11. A method of monitoring data for detection of one or more conditions for which a notification message is to be transmitted, comprising:
monitoring a set of flagged data for a specified set of events, the set of flagged data indicating one or more events associated therewith;
determining when one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events; and
when it is determined that one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events, obtaining a set of notification preferences and sending a notification message in accordance with the obtained set of notification preferences.
12. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:
obtaining the notification message associated with the obtained set of notification preferences prior to sending the notification message.
13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the set of notification preferences is associated with one or more entities to whom the notification message is to be transmitted.
14. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the set of notification preferences is associated with at least one of the one or more of the specified set of events, the one or more conditions, and a set of one or more individuals.
15. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the condition is satisfied with respect to a set of one or more event attributes associated with one or more of the specified set of events, and wherein the set of notification preferences maps one or more of the set of event attributes to one or more entities to whom the notification message is to be transmitted.
16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the set of notification preferences maps one or more values of the one or more attributes to the one or more entities to whom the notification message is to be transmitted.
17. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein each of the specified set of events has one or more associated event attributes, and wherein the set of notification preferences maps one or more of the event attributes to one or more entities to whom the notification message is to be transmitted.
18. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein each of the specified set of events has one or more associated event attributes, and wherein the set of notification preferences maps one or more values associated with one or more of the event attributes to one or more entities to whom the notification message is to be transmitted.
19. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the notification message indicates satisfaction of the one or more conditions with respect to one or more of the specified set of events.
20. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the one or more conditions each have an associated one of a plurality of condition types.
21. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the plurality of condition types include single occurrence, multiple occurrence, event attribute comparison, follow-by paired event, cancel-by paired event, overdue event and impending event.
22. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein each of the specified set of events is defined by one or more event attributes.
23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein one or more of the event attributes that define one of the specified set of events includes at least one metric, the metric identifying a data value in the set of flagged data that is to be monitored.
24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the set of notification preferences indicates one or more values for one or more of the event attributes for which the notification message is to be sent.
25. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein each of the one or more events are configured to be events of interest to an entity associated with a business enterprise.
26. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein each of the specified set of events is configured to be events of interest to a first entity associated with a business enterprise and each of the one or more events are configured to be events of interest to a second entity associated with a business enterprise.
27. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the first entity is the second entity.
28. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein each of the one or more conditions are defined such that they are associated with one or more of the specified set of events.
29. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:
sending a second notification message when the one or more conditions are no longer satisfied with respect to the one or more of the specified set of events.
30. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the set of notification preferences indicates one or more individuals to whom the notification message is to be sent.
31. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the set of notification preferences indicates that notification grouping is disabled for one or more users when in a first state, and indicates that notification grouping is enabled for one or more users when in a second state, the notification grouping enabling specified users to receive notifications addressed to a group associated with the specified users.
32. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the set of notification preferences indicates a communication medium via which the notification message is to be sent.
33. The method as recited in claim 32, wherein the communication medium is at least one of electronic mail, alpha numeric pager, numeric pager and voice mail.
34. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the set of notification preferences indicate a notification timing preference.
35. The method as recited in claim 34, wherein the notification timing preference indicates that the notification message is to be sent immediately.
36. The method as recited in claim 34, wherein the notification timing preference indicates that the notification message is to be sent after a specified delay.
37. A method of monitoring data, comprising:
receiving flagged data associated with a specified set of events;
determining from the flagged data associated with the specified set of events whether one or more conditions are satisfied; and
when it is determined that one or more conditions are satisfied with respect to one or more of the specified set of events, obtaining a set of notification preferences and sending a message in accordance with the set of notification preferences.
38. The method as recited in claim 37, further comprising:
sending a request for flagged data associated with the specified set of events prior to receiving the flagged data.
39. The method as recited in claim 37, wherein each of the specified set of events is defined by a set of one or more attributes, the method further comprising:
filtering the flagged data associated with the specified set of events according to one or more of the set of one or more attributes.
40. The method as recited in claim 37, wherein the notification message indicates satisfaction of the one or more conditions with respect to one or more of the specified set of events.
41. A method of sending a notification message, comprising:
obtaining a set of notification preferences, the set of notification preferences being associated with a condition that has been satisfied with respect to one or more events;
ascertaining a notification timing preference from the set of notification preferences;
obtaining a notification addressee from the set of notification preferences;
obtaining a notification medium from the set of notification preferences; and
sending a notification message indicating satisfaction of the condition with respect to the one or more events via the notification medium to the notification addressee in accordance with the notification timing preference.
42. The method as recited in claim 41, wherein the condition has been satisfied with respect to one or more attributes, the one or more attributes being associated with the events.
43. A method of configuring a notification system to enable a notification message to be transmitted, comprising:
obtaining a notification timing preference indicating a time preference during which the notification message can be transmitted;
obtaining a notification medium selection indicating a notification medium via which the notification message is to be transmitted; and
storing a set of notification preferences including the notification timing preference, and the notification medium selection.
44. The method as recited in claim 43, wherein the notification medium is at least one of electronic mail, alphanumeric pager, numeric pager, phone, and cell phone.
45. The method as recited in claim 43, further comprising:
associating the set of notification preferences with one or more entities.
46. The method as recited in claim 43, further comprising:
associating the set of notification preferences with one or more conditions to be satisfied with respect to one or more events.
47. The method as recited in claim 46, wherein the events are configurable by a business.
48. The method s recited in claim 46, wherein the events are selectable.
49. The method as recited in claim 46, wherein each of the events is defined by one or more event attributes.
50. The method as recited in claim 43, further comprising:
obtaining a notification addressee preference indicating one or more addressees to whom the notification message is to be transmitted;
wherein the set of notification preferences further includes the notification addressee preference; and
wherein the set of notification preferences is associated with a condition to be satisfied with respect to one or more events.
51. The method as recited in claim 50, wherein the events are modifiable.
52. The method as recited in claim 50, wherein the one or more events are to be detected through monitoring a set of flagged data that identifies a plurality of events associated therewith.

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

What is claimed is:

1. A CMOS image sensor, comprising:
a light sensing means for sensing an incident light to generate photoelectric charges to a sensing node;
a first switching means, coupled between a power terminal and the sensing node, for transferring a reset voltage level from a voltage source to the light sensing means;
an amplification means for amplifying a voltage level of the sensing node to output an amplified signal, wherein one terminal of the amplification means is coupled to a ground terminal;
a second switching means, coupled between an output node and the other terminal of the amplification means, for outputting the amplified signal as an image data via the output node; and
a control means, coupled between the power terminal and the output node, for controlling an output resistance of the output node.
2. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 1, wherein the light sensing means is a photodiode.
3. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 2, wherein the first switching means and the second switching means are NMOS transistors.
4. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 3, wherein the amplification means is an NMOS transistor.
5. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 1, wherein the control means includes a PMOS transistor coupled between the power terminal and the output node.
6. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 5, wherein the control means further includes a diode-connected PMOS transistor coupled in parallel to the PMOS transistor.
7. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 1, further comprising a third switching means, coupled between the light sensing means and the sensing node, for transferring the photoelectric charges to the sensing node.
8. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 7, wherein the third switching means is an NMOS transistor.
9. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 8, wherein the light sensing means is a photodiode.
10. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 9, wherein the first and the second means are NMOS transistors.
11. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 10, wherein the amplification means is an NMOS transistor.
12. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 11, wherein the control means includes a PMOS transistor coupled between the power terminal and the output node.
13. The CMOS image sensor as recited in claim 12, wherein the control means further includes a diode-connected PMOS transistor coupled in parallel to the PMOS transistor.