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piezoelectric ( pzt ) actuators can be used for precision manipulation with enhanced range in this invention . they have an outstanding resolution and fast response , therefore these actuators have been used in many applications such as the optical alignment process , biomedical object manipulation , and miniature robotics . a main drawback of the pzt actuator is its limited working distance . since a pzt actuator can currently generate a maximum of about 0 . 1 about % strain , the usual working distance ranges from about 10 to about 100 microns ( micrometer ). this is generally too short a distance for the flexible manipulation of an object . if the positioning device could provide a relatively large working range that allowed flexible handing of the micro - object as well as fine resolution within a miniaturized physical scale , it would be very attractive for flexible micro - object handling . in addition , current demand in the manufacturing of microsystem devices requires reduced cost and reduced cycle time . serialized manipulation and assembly processes are inefficient in providing the required throughput , so parallel processes are highly preferred . the conventional manipulation scheme is difficult to adapt to parallel processing because of its physical dimension , which is generally much bigger than the components being handled . if a positioning device can provide the capability to manipulate multiple objects within a relatively small physical dimension along with a cost - effective configuration , it will have a great advantage over the more traditional serialized assembly process . the present invention provides mechanisms and methods for using piezoelectric actuators for multi - object manipulation with an enhanced working range and degrees of freedom while maintaining the inherent fine resolution of the actuator . positioning of multiple objects is carried out simultaneously by shared actuators . the device consists of two piezoelectric actuators driven for linear motion in x and y directions , and a two dimensional array of object - holding heads , which can apply force such as pneumatic suction force to the objects being manipulated . the two actuators move the object - holding heads as required . the present invention addresses the need for high accuracy combined with a reasonable large dynamic range , parallel processing , and low system cost through the use of a few actuators . the present invention is directed to an active surface device for manipulation and positioning of an object on a surface , comprising a surface on which to support an object , at least one movable gripper means at the surface to grip the object and move the object to another position on the surface , means to release the object from the grip of the movable griper , fixed gripper means at the surface to , including means to grip the object and restrain movement of the object during movement of the movable gripper means to a position for further movement of the object , a pair of actuator means , individually adapted to move the movable gripper means in x and y directions . the term โ active surface โ as used herein means a surface comprising means for gripping , holding and , moving an object about on the surface . an active surface device includes such a surface and all of the necessary components to accomplish movement of an object on the surface . the basic principles of the invention are described herein . in general for convenience , the description is given in terms of a suction force being used to hold the object on the movable or fixed holding heads . for motion in a given direction , e . g . the x - direction , there are two sets of grippers or object - holding heads that can hold onto an object on a flat surface . one set is fixed relative to the surface on which the object is to be moved or positioned . the other set can be moved by an actuator such as a piezoelectric actuator relative to this surface , this set is used to move the object step by step . the invention will be more thoroughly understood when considered in light of the accompanying drawings . [ 0015 ] fig1 is a simplified schematic cross section of an embodiment of the invention . [ 0017 ] fig3 is an exploded view of the device of fig2 . [ 0018 ] fig4 is a schematic cross section of an embodiment of the invention . [ 0019 ] fig1 is a simplified schematic cross section of a pneumatic active surface device 1 which illustrates the concept of the invention . the object to be moved 2 rests on the surface 4 of manipulation table 6 . table 6 is provided with an array of pneumatic holders or grippers 8 and 10 . the pneumatic holders apply a suction force to the object 2 . heads 8 are movable within the space of apertures 12 . heads 10 are fixed relative to surface 4 . actuator 14 moves heads 8 as indicated by the arrow . the holding heads or grippers are activated to hold the object by application of suction from a vacuum system , not shown . in order to move an object placed on the surface the following steps are performed : 1 . the fixed grippers 10 are activated with vacuum to hold onto the object 2 , while movable grippers 8 are not active . 2 . the actuator 14 moves grippers 8 to one extreme position , e . g ., to the far right . 3 . the movable grippers 8 are activated and hold onto the object 2 while grippers 10 are deactivated to release the object . 4 . the actuator moves the grippers 8 to the other extreme position thereby moving the object . 5 . the procedure is repeated ( steps 14 ) until the object is close to the desired position after which partial steps can be applied . this invention provides a method or process for positioning an object on a surface which comprises providing a surface having an array of holding heads which are fixed with respect to the surface and an array of holding heads which are movable in x and y directions by a pair of piezoelectric actuators . a holding force is selectively applied to the holding heads so that they grip or hold the object for movement or , in the case of the fixed holding heads , to prevent movement . control means such as a computer is provided to activate the holding force and operate the actuators . in the practice of this method , the object at it &# 39 ; s initial position is gripped , such as by suction , by at least one movable holding head the actuators move the holding head and the attached object to a second position on the surface . the grip is released and a fixed holding head grips the object to hold it in the second position while the movable holding head is returned to it &# 39 ; s initial position where it may again grip a different place on the object or a different object . the fixed holding head is deactivated to release the object and the movable holding head is activated and moved as before . the time to hold and release the objects from the holding heads is is synchronized to the repeated actuation cycle of the actuators so that the combination makes the objects move in 3 dof ( x , y , and ฮธ ). the way of moving an object is similar to a person moving a piece of paper across a table top by pushing it step by step with a finger while holding the hand stationary relative to the table . multiple objects can be manipulated simultaneously as the grippers are addressed individually , so that when one object is held to the surface by a fixed gripper , a movable gripper can move another object . referring now to fig2 and 3 , the device 1 comprises a manipulation table 2 , two piezoelectric actuators 4 and 6 for x and y directional motion , and two head blocks or gripper blocks 8 and 10 associated with actuators 4 and 6 respectively . table 2 is provided with an array of apertures to receive capillary size grippers or holding heads , shown collectively as 5 . for convenience , this device is described as a pneumatic device in which holding force is provided by suction from a vacuum system which is not shown . each holding head block 8 and 10 consists of a one - dimensional member which provide movement in the x or y direction . the two actuators 4 are mounted on a support or frame 11 for linear motion in x and y directions and each actuator is attached to one holding head . the holding heads for x and y direction are mounted on the active end of each x and y actuators . in this assembly , there is some tolerance between x direction head blocks and y direction head blocks so that the head blocks 8 serving each direction do not interfere with each other when they are actuated . each one dimensional head block has a row of gripper or object - holding heads each consisting of a small suction tube . the open or upper end of the suction tube will contact the object to be manipulated and apply suction force to it when activated . the other end of the tube is connected to a two - way pneumatic solenoid valve , not shown , which switches between suction line and ambient pressures . the manipulation table sits on the top of the two sets of head blocks and is fixed to the frame . the table is provided with the apertures described above through which the suction tubes or holding heads access the surface of the table 2 . the holding heads are leveled with the table surface . the fixed set of suction holes is firmly attached to the table . these suction holes are also connected to a two - way pneumatic solenoid valves which switches between suction line and ambient pressure . [ 0029 ] fig4 illustrates schematically the object manipulation device 1 and associated operational systems which include an array of solenoid valves 2 for activation and deactivation of the grippers or holding means 4 . an amplifier 6 is used to operate the pzt actuators 8 and 10 . the grippers are shown as movable nozzle 12 indicated by the wider apertures in the positioning surface 16 and fixed nozzles 14 which are indicated as fitting snugly into the smaller apertures . camera 20 is positioned to view the object as it is moved across the table . the electrical system is composed of an amplifier for the piezoelectric actuators , a switching circuit for pneumatic valves and a controller . the controller is a microprocessor - driven dedicated device , which provides pzt actuation analogue signal , solenoid driving digital output signal and a computer interface . the computer interface unit in the controller communicates with an external computer to report its current state of actuator and accept position commands . if the controller receives positioning commands from the external computer , the commands are interpreted to generate a pzt driving analog signal that is sent to the amplifier driving the actuator . this signal is a sinusoidal signal that allows the actuator to generate repeated motions with a given frequency . the signal has some time delay duration at each highest and lowest level so that the synchronized solenoid valve can be activated or deactivated during this delay . for example , if the goal position is given in the actuator pushing direction , the controller starts generating sinusoidal signal and the pzt actuator starts generating motion responding to the driving signal . the movable holding head holds the object while the actuator moves forward , and releases the object when the actuator retracts . the fixed holding head on the manipulation table holds while the actuator retracts and releases when it moves forward . this causes the object to remain at that position during the actuator return stroke . the combined action will push the moving block in the actuator push direction . these serialized actions will only generate movement when the actuator moves to push direction and eventually results in movement over the actuator working distance . when the object approaches the goal position , the actuator can use its resolution for fine positioning . in two dimensional translational motions such as x and y direction , the two actuators can be actuated taking turns . if a fixed holding head holds the object while a movable holding head is activated for transnational motion , the result will be rotational motion . with two actuators , the system can provide 3 degrees of freedom motion . in addition , since the holding heads can be deployed as two - dimensional arrays actuated with shared actuators , multiple objects can be positioned simultaneously . other types of actuators can be used such as electromagnetic or electrostatic instead of the piezoelectric actuator used in this invention . the holding head can also be made of another type such as electromagnetic or electrostatic instead of the pneumatic suction force . they can be of different configuration . the array of 1 - d head block can be designed as 2 - dimensional plate and it can be mounted on a precision x - y positioning table which has conventional configuration of actuators and linear motion guide . the invented positioning concept may be fabricated as a mems device which has movable suction heads and fixed suction heads on a silicone wafer so that it can handle very small objects . | 7 |
preparation of the polyaluminosilicates used in this invention require the initial preparation of polysilicic acid microgels otherwise known as active silica . methods for the preparation of active silica are well described in the book &# 34 ; soluble silicates ,&# 34 ; vol . ii , by james g . vail and published by reinhold publishing co ., ny , 1960 . in general , the methods all involve the partial acidification usually to about ph 8 - 9 of a dilute solution of alkali metal silicate such as sodium polysilicate na 2 o . 3 . 2sio 2 . acidification has been achieved using mineral acids , acid exchange resins , acid salts and acid gases . the use of some neutral salts as activators has also been described . for the purpose of practicing the present invention , acid deionization of a dilute solution of sodium polysilicate , is preferred although the other methods of activation reported in the literature may also be used . iler , in the above stated text at page 288 , teaches that solutions containing up to 12 wt .% sio 2 can be used in the formation of polysilicic acid , the higher percentages requiring rigorous , tightly controlled operating conditions . while the full range can be used in the practice of this invention , sio 2 concentration in the range of 0 . 1 - 6 wt .% is preferred . acidification using any strong acid exchange resin known in the art , such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 244 , 325 , is preferred since it effectively removes the unwanted sodium value of the sodium silicate . if this sodium value is not removed and sulfuric acid , say , is used for the acidification considerable quantities of sodium sulfate are generated in the product . this sodium sulfate can be burdensome in maintaining both pollution and corrosion control standards . the deionization is preferably conducted into the acid range of ph 2 . 5 - 5 although the higher ph ranges of 5 - 10 . 5 may also be employed particularly if higher sodium ion concentration can be tolerated . in the ph 2 . 5 - 5 range , the polysilicic acid is metastable and conditions are favorable for aggregation of the very small , high - surface - area particles into the desired chain and three dimensional networks described earlier . the surface area of the polysilicic acids so formed generally exceeds about 1000 m 2 / g , typically ranging from about 1000 m 2 / g to 1300 m 2 / g , most often about 1100 m 2 / g . all have been found to be effective for the formation of polyaluminosilicates . lower sio 2 concentrations are preferred , particularly in the preferred acid range of ph 2 . 5 to 5 . the metastability of the polysilicic acid so formed has been found to vary with the silica concentration and method of preparation . for example , at 3 wt . % sio 2 when prepared by batch - deionization the stability at ambient temperatures is less than a day before gelation occurs . when the polysilicic acid is formed by column - deionization , stability at ambient temperatures of greater than one day can be achieved even at 6 wt .% sio 2 . at 1 wt . % sio 2 , however , stability at ambient temperatures is excellent as measured by only small losses in surface area and no visible signs of increased viscosity or gelation over a period of three to four weeks . further , at 1 wt . % sio 2 concentration , surface area was found to decrease only slowly . one product with an initial surface area of 990 m 2 / g ( as measured by the titration method of g . w . sears , anal . chem . 28 ( 1956 ), 1981 ), decreased in surface area by only 15 % over a period of a month . it was also still an effective starting material for forming polyaluminosilicates . while aging is not essential , it has been found that generally the suitability of polysilicic acid as a precursor for the polyaluminosilicates improves with aging so long as the time of aging is less than the time it takes for the polysilicic acid to gel . that is , polyaluminosilicates prepared from 1 wt . % polysilicic acid ( polysilicic acid containing 1 wt % sio 2 ), for example , that has been aged for 24 hours are frequently more effective flocculation agents than polyaluminosilicates from the same polysilicic acid when freshly prepared . the aging period has allowed time for more particle chain and three dimensional network formation . it is important to stress the need for three dimensional network or microgel formation in the polysilicic acid stock used . while the formation of a total gel as evidenced by highly increased viscosity and water insolubility is to be avoided , the formation of the microgel is extremely important . the microgel or three dimensional network formation represents the initial stages of the gelation process before any significant increase in viscosity has occurred . microgel formation is a function of time , silica concentration , ph and the presence of neutral salts , and significant differences can be observed in the performance of polysilicic acid formed by different modes of deionization . for example , if the deionization of a 1 wt .% sio 2 solution , as sodium polysilicate ( na 2 o . 3 . 2sio 2 ) is conducted rapidly , that is in a batch mode with a large excess of ion - exchange resin , the polysilicic acid product is likely to have little three dimensional network or microgel formation and will be less effective as a stock for polyaluminosilicate formation until it has aged . on the other hand , if the deionization is conducted slowly with successive small additions of ion - exchange resin and ph equilibration at each stage , the resultant polysilicic acid will require no further aging to produce polyaluminosilicates showing excellent performance . in practice a preferred mode of polysilicic acid stock preparation is to acidify the more concentrated sodium polysilicate solutions ( 3 - 6 wt .% sio 2 ) to facilitate microgel formation and then to dilute to 1 wt .% sio 2 or less to stabilize . after the polysilicic acid has been prepared it is mixed with the required amount of alkali metal aluminate to form the polyaluminosilicate having an alumina / silica content greater than about 1 / 100 and preferably 1 / 25 to 1 / 4 . any water soluble aluminate is suitable for this purpose . sodium aluminates are the most readily available commercially and are therefore preferred . solid sodium aluminate generally contains a slightly lower sodium / aluminum mole ratio than liquid sodium aluminate ( that is , 1 . 1 / 1 for solid versus 1 . 25 / 1 for liquid ). lower sodium in the solid aluminate is advantageous in minimizing cost and sodium content of the polyaluminosilicates . offsetting this advantage is the considerable convenience of using the commercial liquid aluminate products . dilute solutions of aluminate are preferred . for example , a sodium aluminate solution containing about 2 . 5 wt . % al 2 o 3 prepared by diluting vsa 45 , available from vinings chemical co ., atlanta , ga , is suitable for this purpose . the alkali metal aluminate must be added before the polysilicic acid gels and preferably at a time that is less than 80 % of the time it would take the polysilicic acid to gel . after formation , the polyaluminosilicates are diluted to whatever concentration the end use requires . for example , dilution preferably to the equivalance of 2 . 0 wt . % sio 2 or less and more preferably to 0 . 5 wt . % or less is appropriate for addition to the papermaking process . as prepared , the polyaluminosilicates retain their high flocculation characteristics for about 24 hours . because of the metastability of the polyaluminosilicates and the polysilicic acid precursor and the prohibitive cost of shipping stable , but very dilute , solutions containing about 1 wt . % silica , a preferred embodiment is to produce the polyaluminosilicate at the location of intended use . the polyaluminosilicate made by the process of this invention is more reactive and efficient in the papermaking process than the commercial aluminated colloidal silicas that are currently used . they also are cheaper , particularly if made at the location of intended use . the user &# 39 ; s unit cost of silica in sodium polysilicate ( na 2 o . 3 . 2sio 2 ) is about one - tenth that of silica in commercial aluminated colloidal silicas . in the papermaking process , cationic polymers , derived from natural and synthetic sources have been utilized together with the polyaluminosilicates . these cationic polymers include cationic starches , cationic guars and cationic polyacrylamides , the application of which to papermaking has all been described in the prior art . generally , cationic starches are to be preferred since these have the advantages of low cost and of imparting dry strength to the paper . where paper strength is not a primary requirement , use of the other polymers may be advantageous . the cationic starch used may be derived from any of the common starch producing materials such as corn starch , potato starch and wheat starch , although the potato starches generally yield superior cationized products for the practice of this invention . cationization is effected by commercial manufacturers using agents such as 3 - chloro - 2 - hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride to obtain cationic starches with degrees of nitrogen substitution varying between about 0 . 01 and 0 . 1 wt . % nitrogen . any of these cationic starches may be used in conjunction with the polyaluminosilicates of the invention . a cationic potato starch with a nitrogen content of about 0 . 03 wt . % has been most frequently employed . in use , the polyaluminosilicates are employed in amounts ranging from about 0 . 01 to 1 . 0 wt . % ( 0 . 2 to 20 lb ./ ton ) of the dry weight of the paper furnish together with cationic polymer in amounts ranging from about 0 . 01 to 2 . 0 wt . % ( 0 . 2 to 40 lb ./ ton ) of the dry weight of the paper furnish . higher amounts of either component may be employed but usually without a beneficial technical gain and with the penalty of increased costs . generally preferred addition rates are about 0 . 05 to 0 . 2 wt . % ( 1 - 4 lb ./ ton ) for the polyaluminosilicates together with 0 . 5 to 1 . 0 wt . % ( 10 - 20 lb ./ ton ) of cationic starch and 0 . 025 and 0 . 5 wt . % ( 0 . 5 to 10 lb ./ ton ) for the cationic guars and cationic polyacrylamides . for the purpose of demonstrating the significant superiority of the polyaluminosilicates of the present invention over the aluminated colloidal silicas of the prior art , comparison tests have been made using the retention / drainage aid system marketed in the united states under the trade name &# 34 ; compozil &# 34 ; ( procomp , marietta , ga ). &# 34 ; compozil &# 34 ; is a two - component system comprising bmb - a cationic potato starch and bma - 9 - an aluminated colloidal silica . the bma - 9 product contains non - aggregated silica particles of surface area about 500 m 2 / g with an alumina to silica mole ratio of about 1 / 60 and a surface acidity of about 0 . 66 meq / g . in conducting the comparisons , both canadian standard freeness measurements for drainage and britt dynamic drainage jar measurements for fines retention have been made . for both types of measurements mixing conditions and order of addition of the components have been maintained . optimum results are usually obtained if the cationic polymer is added first to the papermaking furnish followed by the polyaluminosilicate , although the reverse order of addition can also be followed . mixing in all examples was conducted in the britt jar at an agitator speed of 800 rpm . for freeness measurements the treated furnish was then transferred to the cup of the freeness tester . the following mixing times were followed : ( 1 ) add furnish to britt jar and stir for 15 seconds , ( 2 ) add cationic polymer and stir for 15 seconds , ( 3 ) add polyaluminosilicate and stir for 15 seconds , and ( 4 ) drain for fines retention measurement or transfer to freeness tester for freeness measurement . commercial sodium polysilicate ( na 2 o . 3 . 2so 2 ) was diluted with water to provide 500 grams of a solution containing 1 wt . % sio 2 . to this was added slowly , in stages , about 100 grams of dowex ยฎ 50w - x8 ( h + ), a strong sulfonic acid ion exchange resin in the acid form . the mixture was well stirred and the ph followed until it had reached a ph of about 3 . the resin was removed from the polysilicic acid by filtration . with no aging period of the polysilicic acid solution , sufficient dilute sodium aluminate solution containing 2 . 5 wt . % al 2 o 3 was added to form the polyaluminosilicate of the desired al 2 o 3 / sio 2 ratio . the polyaluminosilicate was diluted to 0 . 5 wt .% sio 2 or less for use in the following examples . in this example measurements were made of the drainage performance of various polyaluminosilicate compositions of the invention when used in combination with a commercial sample of &# 34 ; compozil &# 34 ; cationic starch component bmb , s - 190 . all tests were made at a constant starch loading of 20 lb ./ ton . comparison tests were also made using a commercial sample of &# 34 ; compozil &# 34 ; aluminated silica component bma - 9 . all polyaluminosilicates used were freshly prepared . that is , just prior to the tests , fresh polysilicic acid containing 1 wt . % sio 2 prepared by acid deionization of sodium polysilicate , na 2 o . 3 . 2sio 2 ) was mixed with the desired amount of dilute sodium aluminate ( 2 . 5 wt . % al 2 o 3 ) and the mixture was then diluted to 0 . 5 wt . % or less . the furnish used was a fine paper furnish containing 70 % bleached kraft pulp ( 70 % hardwood , 30 % softwood ), 29 % kaolin clay and 1 % calcium carbonate . to this , 0 . 66 g / l of anhydrous sodium sulfate was added as electrolyte and the ph was adjusted to 4 . 5 by the addition of sulfuric acid . the furnish was made up at 0 . 5 wt . % consistency but diluted to 0 . 3 wt . % consistency for freeness measurements . the results are given in table 1 , from which it may be seen that the polyaluminosilicates of the invention out - performed the commercial sample of aluminated colloidal silica ( bma - 9 ). the more preferred polyaluminosilicates , namely those with al 2 o 3 / sio 2 mole ratios of 13 / 87 and 17 / 83 gave significantly higher drainage values even when using considerably less material . for instance , bma - 9 at a typical commercial loading of 4 lb ./ t gave a freeness of 385 ml whereas the 13 / 87 polyaluminosilicate gave an essentially equivalent freeness of 395 ml at a loading of only 1 lb ./ t -- a fourfold reduction in material use . in this example measurements were made of the drainage performance of the 13 / 87 polyaluminosilicate when used in conjunction with various cationic starches . the polyaluminosilicate loading was held constant at 3 lb ./ t and the starch loading varied between 0 and 40 lb ./ t . a comparison was also made with the bma - 9 / bmb combination of the commercial compozil system under the same variables . the furnish used was of the same composition to that used in example 1 and the ph was again 4 . 5 . the starches used were : stalok ยฎ 400 -- a cationic potato starch manufactured in the u . s . by a . f . staley co ., decatur , il , and stalok ยฎ 324 -- a cationic waxy corn starch manufactured in the u . s . by a . f . staley co ., decatur , il . the results in table 2 show that the 13 / 87 polyaluminosilicate of the invention when used in combination with either of the cationic potato starches ( bmb s - 190 or stalok ยฎ 400 ) clearly out - performed the commercial bma - 9 / bmb system . larger drainage values were obtained at lower starch loadings -- an economy in papermaking operations where dry strength is not a primary requirement . the performance of the cationic waxy corn starch ( stalok ยฎ 324 ) was inferior as has been found to be the case generally with the lower molecular weight starches . in this example , drainage measurements have been made for the 13 / 87 polyaluminosilicate in an alkaline furnish at ph 8 . the furnish was a similar composition to that used in example 1 except that precipitated calcium carbonate replaced the clay as inorganic filler . all tests were made at a constant cationic starch loading of 20 lb ./ t . the starch used was bmb s - 190 . comparison measurements were also made using aluminated colloidal silica of the prior art ( bma - 9 ), simple polysilicic acid ( non - aluminated ) and also sodium aluminate alone . the results are given in table 3 and again show that the 13 / 87 polysilicoaluminate gives significantly improved freeness at lower loadings compared to the prior art sol . it may also be seen that the polysilicic acid alone and sodium aluminate alone ( but both used in conjunction with 20 lb ./ t cationic starch ) have no effect in improving freeness . it is their reaction product , the polyaluminosilicate of the invention , that effects improvements . in this example , measurements of fines retention were made using a britt dynamic drainage jar . the furnish used was an alkaline furnish at ph 8 of the same composition to that used in example 3 . the polysilicoaluminate used was that containing the 13 / 87 mole ratio of al 2 o 3 / sio 2 and comparison was again made to bma - 9 aluminated colloidal silica . sol loading was held constant in each case at 6 lb ./ t and the starch loading varied between 4 and 20 lb ./ t . results are in table 4 . using the polyaluminosilicate of the invention very significant improvements in fines retention were obtained at all starch loadings , particularly in the common commercial range of 12 - 20 lb ./ t . compared to the prior art system , economies in paper manufacture could be obtained by the need to use less starch to maintain the same level of fines retention . in order to demonstrate the wide applicability of the polyaluminosilicates to papermaking pulp systems freeness measurements were made on a 0 . 3 wt . % furnish comprising 100 % stoneground wood ( aspen ) under very acid conditions , ph 4 . 0 . stoneground wood represents the coarse end of pulp systems , whereas bleached kraft pulp represents the fine end . stoneground wood is characterized by poor drainage ( freeness ) and high fines content . the results recorded in table 5 show how increasing the amounts of 13 / 87 polyluminosilicate used in conjunction with 20 lb ./ t cationic starch ( bmb s - 190 ) increased the freeness of the pulp system . turbidity measurements for the white water from the freeness tests are also recorded . decreasing turbidity is an indication of improved fines retention . in this example , a comparison was made of the drainage of polyaluminosilicate / cationic guar combinations versus aluminated colloidal silica / cationic guar combinations of the prior art . the polyaluminosilicate was a freshly prepared 13 / 87 , al 2 o 3 / sio 2 mole ratio product , the aluminated silica sol was a commercial bma - 9 sample and the cationic guar was jaguar ยฎ c - 13 ( stein , hall & amp ; co ., ny , ny ). comparisons were made using both a clay - filled furnish similar to that of example 1 at ph 4 . 5 and a calcium carbonate filled furnish similar to that of example 3 at ph 8 . 0 . results are given in table 6 . all tests were made at a constant guar addition of 4 lb ./ t ( 0 . 2 wt . %). the superiority of the polyaluminosilicate / cationic guar combinations over the prior art aluminated silica sol / cationic guar combinations is clearly demonstrated . in this example a comparison is made of the drainage benefits of a polyaluminosilicate / cationic polyacrylamide combination over an aluminated silica sol / cationic polyacrylamide combination of the prior art . the polyaluminosilicate was a freshly prepared 13 / 37 mole product , the aluminated colloidal silica was a commercial sample of bma - 9 and the cationic polyacrylamide was a sample of hyperfloc ยฎ 605 ( hychem inc ., tampa , fla .) with a mol wt . of about 10 million ( mm ) and with a cationic content of 20 - 30 wt . %. table 7 lists the results obtained in a calcium carbonate filled furnish at ph 8 similar to example 3 and shows improved drainage performance of the polysilicate / cationic polyacrylamide combination over the prior art . all tests were made at 2 lb ./ t ( 0 . 1 wt . %) of cationic polyacrylamide . table 1______________________________________drainage comparisonspolyaluminosilicate freeness , mlal . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 / sio . sub . 2 at sol loading ofmole ratio 0 lb ./ t 1 lb ./ t 2 lb ./ t 4 lb ./ t 8 lb ./ t______________________________________2 / 98 ( bma - 9 ) 330 330 345 385 4204 / 96 330 365 374 340 -- 7 / 93 330 415 435 385 3809 / 91 330 375 425 445 42513 / 87 330 395 460 505 46517 / 83 330 395 475 500 -- ______________________________________ table 2______________________________________drainage comparisons freeness , ml at starch loading ofstarch sol 0 5 10 20 30 40used used lb ./ t lb ./ t lb ./ t lb ./ t lb ./ t lb ./ t______________________________________bmb s - 190 bma - 9 310 0 340 365 345 345 ( compozil ) bmb s - 190 13 / 87 310 305 370 460 465 430stalok 400 13 / 87 310 -- 340 425 445 420stalok 324 13 / 87 310 -- 295 310 335 -- ______________________________________ all tests at 3 lb ./ t sol . table 3______________________________________drainage comparisons at ph 8 freeness , ml at sol loading ofsol used 0 lb ./ t 2 lb ./ t 4 lb ./ t 6 lb ./ t 8 lb ./ t______________________________________bma - 9 285 330 380 415 44013 / 87 285 470 445 425 -- polyaluminosilicatesio . sub . 2 285 295 285 -- 285polysilicic acidal . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 285 275 280 -- 280sodium aluminate______________________________________ all tests at 20 lb ./ t cationic starch . sodium alumiunate added on al . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 basis . table 4______________________________________fines retention at ph 8 % fines retention at cationic starch loading of 0 4 8 12 16 20sol type lb ./ t lb ./ t lb ./ t lb ./ t lb ./ t lb ./ t______________________________________bma - 9 27 36 42 46 49 46polyaluminosilicate 27 42 60 73 74 8213 / 87______________________________________ table 5______________________________________drainage tests , 100 % stoneground wood at ph 4lb ./ tpolyaluminosilicate freeness turbidityloading ml n . t . a . units______________________________________0 235 381 250 272 300 213 335 214 355 166 380 138 395 149 390 16______________________________________ all test at 20 lb ./ t cationic starch . table 6______________________________________drainage comparisons freeness , ml at sol addition of furnish ( lb ./ ton ) sol used ph 0 1 2 4 6 8______________________________________furnish only 4 . 5 440 -- -- -- -- -- bma - 9 4 . 5 530 480 490 510 530 580polyalumi - 4 . 5 530 500 530 570 625 650nosilicatefurnish only 8 . 0 380 -- -- -- -- -- bma - 9 8 . 0 390 370 380 420 450 525polyalumi - 8 . 0 390 430 470 570 660 695nosilicate______________________________________ table 7______________________________________drainage comparisons freeness , ml at sol loading ofsol used 0 lb ./ t 2 lb ./ t 4 lb ./ t 8 lb ./ t______________________________________furnish only 390 -- -- -- bma - 9 580 660 680 670polyaluminosilicate 580 690 700 705______________________________________ | 3 |
the fundamental design principle of present invention of interleavers is based upon the interference of multiple optical beams . therefore , beam splitting elements , optical phase shifting components , optical beam combiners and beam processors are used as the building blocks of an interleaver . two embodiments of the present invention of interleavers are disclosed , one for a symmetric interleaver , the other for an asymmetric interleaver fig7 and 8 schematically present the symmetric interleaver , according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , wherein fig7 shows beam traces of light traveling from left to right and fig8 displays beam traces of light traveling from right to left . referring now to fig7 an optical input beam with a random polarization enters the interleaver from the left hand side . item 12 is a beam displacer made of a birefringent crystal , which enables the separation of the two polarization components of the incident beam in the horizontal direction . item 14 is an optical phase compensator that compensates for the phase difference between the beam displacer &# 39 ; s ordinary and extraordinary rays . item 16 is a polarization rotator , which rotates the beam polarization by 45 degrees . the modified beams then enter item 18 , a polarization beam splitter . a half wave plate ( hwp ), item 20 , placed immediately after item 18 , rotates the polarization of each of the separated beams by 90 degrees . item 20 is necessary for the beams to pass through the next stage of the interleaver properly . the polarizations of the top and bottom light beams following the exit of item 20 are clearly indicated in fig7 . item 22 is a phase shifter , which creates a predetermined , relative phase difference between the top and bottom beams . the thickness of item 22 is determined based on the design requirement of the interleaver ( e . g ., 50 or 100 ghz channel spacing ), as well as the index of refraction of the material used . given the material , the thickness of item 22 may be readily determined by those of ordinary skill in the art . a polarization beam combiner , item 24 , combines the phase - shifted ( top ) and the non - shifted ( bottom ) beams . as the beams exit item 24 , the combined beam contains two components with relative phases of 0 and ฯ , respectively . the relative phase shift ฯ depends upon the wavelength of the input light beam . item 26 is a beam processor , made of a birefringent material . the orientation of its optical axis depends upon the specific interleaver design requirements . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention for a 100 ghz symmetric interleaver , the optical axis is oriented between 10 to 20 degrees . item 26 modifies the phase and polarization state of the two components in the combined beam , changes the fractions of the two components having different relative phases when they are projected along the horizontal and vertical axes . item 26 also allows the mixing of different polarization states to create multiple beam interference . the use of birefringent material in optical devices to manipulate the phase and polarization of light beam is well known to those of the ordinary skill in the art . as indicated in fig7 the passage of the light beams through the second stage of the interleaver , defined by items 28 through 36 , further modifies their phases and polarization states in a similar manner as occurred in the first stage of the interleaver , defined by items 18 through 26 . items 28 and 34 are respectively polarization beam splitter and combiner whose functions are similar to those of items 18 and 24 , respectively . likewise , items 32 and 36 are respectively phase shifter and beam processor whose functions resemble those of items 22 and 26 , respectively . item 30 is a half wave plate , identical to item 20 . the phase shift induced by item 32 , is twice as large as that induced by item 22 . therefore , beams passing through item 32 will acquire an additional phase shift of 2ฯ . the combined beam , at the entrance of the beam processor ( item 36 ) will then have four phase components , with relative phases of 0 , ฯ , 2ฯ and 3ฯ , respectively . as described previously for item 26 , item 36 further modifies the relative fractions of the four phase components in such a way as to produce desirable spectral interference associated with a symmetric interleaver . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the orientation of the optical axis of item 36 is between 50 and 60 degrees . the output from the second stage of the interleaver consists of two distinct light beams . each light beam contains two different polarization components that can be further separated . one of the components contains only half of the input channels , whereas the other one contains complementary channels in the frequency domain . the two outputs from item 36 can , in principle , be converted to the outputs of a symmetric interleaver . however , the isolation between adjacent channels may not be sufficient in demanding applications . the performance of the interleaver can be significantly enhanced when more stages are added . a preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes the existing optical elements by directing the light beams back towards the original input . in this case , a beam displacer , item 38 , separates each output of item 36 vertically into two individual beams of different polarizations . a quarter wave plate attached to a 100 % reflector , item 40 , reflects the traveling direction of the four beams by 180 degrees . the reflected beams then pass through item 38 once again , and their physical separations are enhanced . in fig8 the optical paths and polarization states for all four beams are clearly indicated . the principles behind the operation of the returning part of the interleaver as indicated in fig8 are identical to those associated with fig7 described earlier . the output signals are then collected through collimators into two optical fibers . referring now to fig9 and 10 , the spectra associated with the two outputs of the interleaver according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , designed for a 100 ghz channel separation , are displayed . as seen in these figures , one output is the symmetric complement of the other , and each output contains a series of alternately spaced wavelength channels of equal width and spacing as is typical of a symmetric interleaver . an asymmetric interleaver , according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , is designed following the same principles used in the symmetric interleaver . fig1 and 12 schematically outline the design of the asymmetric interleaver , in a similar fashion as fig7 and 8 do for the symmetric interleaver according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention , fig1 shows beam traces traveling from left to right and fig1 from right to left . referring now to fig1 , an input optical beam with a random polarization enters the interleaver from the left hand side . item 52 is a beam displacer made of a birefringent crystal , which enables the separation of the two polarization components of the incident beam in the horizontal direction . item 54 is an optical phase compensator that compensates for the phase difference between the beam displacer &# 39 ; s ordinary and extraordinary rays . item 56 is a polarization rotator which rotates the light beam polarization by 26 degrees . the modified beams then enter item 58 , which is a polarization beam splitter . a half wave plate ( hwp ), item 60 , placed immediately after item 58 , rotates the polarization of each of the separated beams by 90 degrees . item 60 is necessary for the beams to pass through the next stage of the interleaver properly . the polarizations of the top and bottom light beams following the exit of item 60 are clearly indicated in fig1 . item 62 , a phase shifter , creates a predetermined , relative phase difference between the top and bottom beams . the thickness of item 62 is determined based upon the design requirements of the asymmetric interleaver ( e . g ., 50 or 100 ghz channel spacing ), as well as the index of refraction of the material used . given the material , the thickness of item 62 may be readily determined by those of ordinary skill in the art . item 64 is a polarization beam combiner which combines the phase - shifted ( top ) and non - shifted ( bottom ) beams . as the beams exit item 64 , the combined beam contains two components with relative phases of 0 and 2ฯ , respectively . the relative phase shift 2ฯdepends upon the wavelength of the input light beam . item 66 is a beam processor , made of a birefringent material . the orientation of its optical axis depends upon the specific interleaver design requirements . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention for an asymmetric interleaver with 75 ghz channel spacing , the optical axis is oriented between 0 to 10 degrees . item 66 modifies the phase and polarization state of the two components in the combined beams , changes the fractions of the two components having different relative phases when they are projected along the horizontal and vertical axes , as previously described . item 66 also allows the mixing of different polarization states to create multiple beam interference . the use of birefringent material in optical devices to manipulate the phase and polarization is well known to those of the ordinary skill in the art . as indicated in fig1 , the passage of the light beams through the second stage of the asymmetric interleaver , defined by items 68 through 76 , further modifies their phases and polarization states in a similar manner as occurred in the first stage of the interleaver , defined by items 58 through 66 . items 68 and 74 are respectively polarization beam splitter and combiner whose functions are similar to those of items 58 and 64 , respectively . likewise , items 72 and 76 are respectively phase shifter and beam processor whose functions resemble those of items 62 and 66 , respectively . item 70 is a half wave plate , identical to item 60 . the phase shift induced by item 72 , is half of that of item 62 . therefore , beams passing through item 72 will acquire an additional relative phase shift of ฯ . the combined beam , at the entrance of the beam processor ( item 76 ) will have four phase components , with relative phases of 0 , ฯ , 2ฯ and 3ฯ , respectively . as described previously for item 66 , item 76 further modifies the relative fractions of the four phase components . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention for an asymmetric interleaver with 75 ghz channel spacing , the optical axis is oriented between 50 to 60 degrees . as indicated in fig1 , after passing through the first two stages of the asymmetric interleaver , the light beams enter the third stage of the asymmetric interleaver , defined by items 78 through 86 . the third stage further modifies the phases and polarization states of the light beams in a similar manner as occurred in the first and second stages of the interleaver . the optical components , their alignments and orientations in the third stage of the asymmetric interleaver can be identical to those of the first stage . for example item 78 can be interchanged with item 58 without compromising the performance of the interleaver . items 78 and 84 are respectively polarization beam splitter and combiner whose functions are similar to those of items 58 and 64 , respectively . likewise , items 82 and 86 are respectively phase shifter and beam processor whose functions resemble those of items 62 and 66 , respectively . item 80 is a half wave plate , identical to item 60 . the phase shift induced by item 82 can be the same as that for item 62 . therefore , beams passing through item 82 will acquire an additional phase shift of 2ฯ . the combined beam , at the entrance of the beam processor ( item 86 ) will have eight phase components , with relative phases of 0 , ฯ , 2ฯ , 3ฯ , 2ฯ , 3ฯ , 4ฯ and 5ฯ , respectively . as described previously for item 66 , item 86 further modifies the relative fractions of the eight phase components in such a way as to produce desirable spectral interference associated with an asymmetric interleaver . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention for an asymmetric interleaver with 75 ghz channel spacing , the optical axis is oriented between 0 to 10 degrees . the output from the third stage of the interleaver consists of two distinct light beams . each light beam contains two different polarization components that can be further separated . one of the components contains only half of the input channels , whereas the other one contains complementary channels in the frequency domain , governed by the fundamental laws of physics and the design requirements of the asymmetric interleaver . the two outputs from item 86 may , in principle , be converted to the outputs of an asymmetric interleaver . however , the isolation between adjacent channels may not be sufficient in demanding applications . the performance of the interleaver can be substantially enhanced when more stages are added . a preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes the existing optical elements by directing the light beams back towards the original input . in this case , a beam displacer , item 88 , separates each output of item 86 vertically into two individual beams of different polarizations . a quarter wave plate attached to a 100 % reflector , item 90 , reflects the traveling direction of the four beams by 180 degrees . the reflected beams pass through item 88 once again , and their physical separations are enhanced . in fig1 the optical paths and polarization states for all four beams are clearly indicated . the principles behind the operation of the returning part of the interleaver as indicated in fig1 are identical to those associated with fig1 , as described in the previous section . the output signals are collected through collimators into two optical fibers . referring now to fig1 and 14 , the spectra associated with the two outputs of the asymmetric interleaver designed for a 75 ghz channel separation , according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , are displayed . as seen in these figures , one output is the asymmetric complement of the other , and each output contains a series of alternately spaced wavelength pass - bands of different widths as is typical of an asymmetric interleaver . it should be noted that in the preferred embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein , although specific design parameters and optical elements are detailed , there are other combinations of design parameters as well as other optical elements that could be used in the construction of a similar optical interleaver by those of the ordinary skill in the art . thus , the disclosed embodiments are intended to be merely illustrative and not limiting of the invention . while the disclosure herein is intended to fully convey the concepts and principles of the invention and to enable any person of ordinary skill in the relevant arts to make and use the invention without undue experimentation , it will be understood that numerous modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention hereof which is to be limited only by the appended claims and their equivalents . | 6 |
the entire contents of provisional patent application ser . no . 60 / 050 , 186 , entitled : โ multi - user internet dispatch system ,โ filed on jun . 19 , 1997 , including appendices , are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes . it should be noted that the present invention applies to any network or interconnected set of networks . however , since the internet is a well known example of an interconnected set of networks , internet terminology and interaction examples will be used in the explanation of this invention . the present invention solves all or some of at least ten problems : 1 eliminates the need for a computer user to configure and reconfigure computer networking software for network access through a multiplicity of isps and network access providers ( nap ) ( companies which own the telephone networks and modem banks such as at & amp ; t , gte , uunet , psi , etc .). 2 allows a network re - seller such as an internet service provider to offer network access via a multiplicity of network access providers based on cost , location , availability , reliability , etc . 3 allows a network re - seller to balance network loads through a multiplicity of network access providers and across a multiplicity of network computer servers . 4 eliminates the need for a computer user to know or configure network access telephone numbers or network access protocol identification numbers . 5 eliminates the need for a computer user or mobile computer user to reconfigure remote network access software to connect to a network from a remote location . 6 allows multiple users to use a single computer each with their own unique networking attributes and unique network identity . 7 allows separate and distinct identifications ( id ) and passwords for different services and network functions such as pap ids and pap password , email id and password , etc . 8 provides a user with true network anonymity by assigning independent non - user specific identifications and passwords for such things as pap authentication , ftp and email logins , news server logins , and network server logins . 9 provides email anonymity by transmitting and receiving all email through a third party ( broker ) wherein , if appropriate , aliases may be used for all un - encrypted data and these aliases may be changed periodically by the system in a manner transparent to the user . 10 eliminates third party email relay ( spamming ) by transparently authenticating each user - system prior to giving access to a sendmail server . this invention relates to network connections , such as the internet , and allows systems to be independently , transparently and dynamically connected or reconnected to a network based upon any number of attributes such as user or group identity , cost , availability , reliability , etc . further this invention supports many types of physical connections such as telephone dial - up connections , isdn connections , ethernet , and other local area networking connections . it should be noted that while internet terms such as isp are used throughout this description , the invention is operable with any network or portion of any network and thus terms such as nsp ( network service provider ) have been coined for use in the claims to identify similar or analogous systems and devices . a traditional network connection requires someone skilled in the art of computer networking to setup and configure both network related hardware ( such as modems or local area network cards ( ethernet , token - ring or other cards ) and network software . the invention eliminates the need for such network configuration skills . the invention configures and reconfigures network related software to support multiple users with multiple network protocols and / or multiple networks using the same protocol without the need of any computer network configuration skills and further allows the configuration to be changed or modified dynamically without any user intervention . the principles of the present invention and their advantages are best understood by referring to the illustrated embodiment depicted in fig1 - 21 of the drawings , in which like numbers designate like parts . the invention includes software which is sometimes referred to as middle - ware because it resides between an electronic device operating system and the end - users interface . the inventive software has all the attributes of middle - ware as it configures and manages network communication equipment such as modems and ethernet cards , network protocols such as the transmission control protocol / internet protocol ( tcp / ip ), and the associated interfaces between the communication equipment , network protocol and the computer &# 39 ; s operating system for each individual user or groups of users . now referring to fig1 , there is illustrated a plurality of internet service providers ( isp 1 through ispx ) 102 a , 102 b connected to a network 100 ( sometimes referred to as the internet ). as will be appreciated , an internet service provider ( isp ) provides access for one or more users 110 a , 110 b to the internet 100 through a physical interface . the term โ internet service provider โ includes network access providers ( naps ) and network service providers ( nsps ) as well . in general terms , a user 110 connects to the isp 102 via a communications link and the isp 102 provides connection to the internet 100 . as will be appreciated by many users of the internet , the isp typically has many modems accessible from a limited number of telephone numbers . each of these modems has an assigned internet protocol ( ip ) address and normally an assigned dns name . such assigned names and ( ip ) addresses will look something like โ 1cust239 . tnt . orl1 . da . uu . net โ and [ 208 . 250 . 77 . 239 ] respectively . when a user 110 contacts the isp 102 , the user 110 is connected to the next available modem and the ip address of that modem becomes the ip address of that user 110 for the remainder of that connection session . the user 110 may include a single computer , group of computers , local area network , or a larger network connected to the isp 102 via a communications link . however , in most applications , the user 110 will include a single user requesting access time to the internet 100 . the present invention provides a means for transmitting isp - specific access information to a user 110 via a communications link ( preferably , the internet 100 ) that allows the user 110 to gain access to the internet 100 through a selected one of the plurality of isps 102 . to begin the process of the present invention , the user 110 installs ( downloads ) a client dispatch application program 200 ( see fig2 ) that furnishes the user 110 with one or more isp access telephone numbers , one or more valid test and registration password authentication protocol ( pap ) identification ( id ) numbers , and a valid pap password associated with a predetermined one of the isps 102 . the client dispatch application 200 will be described in more detail further below . the access information allows the user 110 to authenticate the user &# 39 ; s right to connect to the internet via the predetermined isp 102 . the access information mentioned comprises the previously mentioned access telephone number , the pap id , the pap password and additional isp - specific information required by the user 110 to gain access to the internet 100 via the predetermined isp 102 ( collectively , isp - specific configuration information ) is initially provided by the client dispatch application 200 . in addition , the client dispatch application 200 provides basic configuration and initialization information ( installation and configuration ) to the user &# 39 ; s computer to configure and manage the network communication equipment , network protocols and the associated interfaces needed to develop the capability to access the internet 100 , regardless of the particular isp . after the client dispatch application 200 is installed and the initial isp - specific information is known , the client dispatch application 200 causes the user 110 to automatically transmit access information to the predetermined isp 102 ( isp 1 102 a or ispx 102 b ). the line of communication through which the access information is transmitted to the predetermined isp 102 by the user 110 ( user 1 110 a or userx 1106 b ) is identified by the reference numerals 111 a , 111 b , 115 a , 115 b , depending on the particular user ( user 1 110 a or userx 110 b ) and the particular isp ( isp 1 102 a or ispx 102 b ). upon receipt of the access information , the isp โ authenticates โ the user 110 . the isp 102 checks to see whether the pap id and pap password received from the user 110 is valid . it will be understood that the authentication process performed by the isp 102 utilizes one or more appropriate methods ( such as remote authentication dial - in user service ( radius )) which are normally associated with an authentication server running a database at the isp , network service provider ( nsp ) or the nap . if the pap id and / or pap password are not valid , the isp 102 will disconnect the user 110 or notify the user 110 that the pap id and / or pap password is invalid . if valid , the user 110 and the isp 102 create a point - to - point protocol ( ppp ) ( i . e ., communications connection ) which is identified in fig1 by reference numerals 112 a , 112 b , 116 a , 116 b , depending on the particular user ( user 1 110 a or userx 110 b ) and the particular isp ( isp 1 102 a or ispx 102 b ). the ppp allows the isp 102 to transmit / receive information to / from the user 110 . as a result , the user 110 is given access to the internet 100 and the isp 102 generates an internet protocol ( ip ) address to uniquely identify the user on the internet 100 . the particular ip address assigned to the user 110 depends on the ip addresses that are available and assigned to the particular isp 102 to which the user 110 is connected . an ip address is presently 32 bits and is normally represented with four decimal numbers each ranging from 0 to 255 ( e . g . 128 . 54 . 28 . 200 ) where each decimal number represents one byte of the 32 bits . in accordance with the present invention , an internet service provider access service or asp ( access service provider ) 106 is connected to the internet 100 . the external location , or physical address of the access service 106 is defined by a predetermined and unique address ( i . e ., ip address ). after the user 110 gains access to the internet 100 via one of the isps 102 , the client dispatch application 200 resident in the user &# 39 ; s computer transmits a data message to the access service 106 through the internet 100 using the predetermined address of the access service 106 . this data message is sent via a path identified as tcp / ip 120 or tcp / ip 122 , depending on the particular isp 102 to which the user 110 is connected for access to the internet 100 . the communications link protocol used for internet 100 communications is defined as transmission control protocol / internet protocol ( tcp / ip ) and is well known in the art . as will be appreciated , other network communications protocols and standards may be used during the present or in the future by the present system invention due to the flexibility provided in the use of multiple databases to store various types of data . the data message transmitted from the user 110 and received by the access service 106 contains information about the user 110 , including the user &# 39 ; s identification and address , current pap id , time stamp information , and version information of the client dispatch application 200 operating on the user &# 39 ; s computer , etc . in response to the user information received , the access service 106 transmits an access information data message that includes access information for a particular isp 102 . the access information is specific to a dial - in telephone number of a particular isp 102 and , upon receipt by the user 110 , allows the user 110 to gain access to the internet 100 via that particular isp 102 . the isp - specific access information includes an isp phone number ( for dial - in to the isp ), a pap id for the isp 102 , and a pap password for the isp 102 , and may also include default routing information ( i . e ., gateway address information ), default directory information ( including domain name server information ), sub - protocols for the ppp for the isp 102 , and configuration information for the hardware ( i . e . modem ) of the isp 102 ( to configure the user &# 39 ; s modem ), such as data compression information and speed . the isp - specific information may also include service option defaults such as email ids , pop protocols and browser information . the pap id may or may not be sent depending on the current pap id information transmitted from the user 110 to the access service in the data message ( e . g ., if the current pap id and the new pap id are the same , a new pap id does not need to be sent ). after receiving the isp - specific access information , the client dispatch application 200 may disconnect the user 110 from the current isp 102 and automatically dial and reconnect the user 110 to the desired isp 102 associated with the isp - specific access information . as will be appreciated , the desired isp 102 may be another isp or may be the same isp to which the user 110 was previously connected , depending on the attributes of the particular isp 102 desired to be used for access to the internet 100 . if the isp phone number ( for dial - in to the isp ) and a pap id received with the new access information , refer to the same isp 102 , the client dispatch application 200 will not disconnect the user 110 and the user &# 39 ; s session will continue uninterrupted . the access information data message includes the information necessary ( pap id , pap password , and other information if needed ) to access a desired isp 102 and , may include information for a plurality of desired isps 102 , or multiple pap ids and pap passwords for a desired single isp 102 . it will be understood that more than one access information data message packet may be utilized and transmitted , each packet containing a portion of the information packet or each may contain access information for a specific isp 102 . the access service 106 offers internet 100 access to the user 110 via a plurality of isps 102 based on cost , location , availability , reliability , etc . based on the geographic location of the user 110 , the access service 106 identifies , to the user 110 , one or more isps 102 that provide local access availability ( via local telephone numbers or toll free numbers ) and provide the user 110 with information needed to access one of the identified isps 102 ( using the isp - specific access information ). for desired low cost operation , the access service 106 identifies the isp 102 that provides the lowest cost access service through which the user 110 may access the internet 100 from the identified isp 102 at the user &# 39 ; s location . for the reliability operation , the access service 106 identifies one or more isps 102 that provide the highest reliability of connecting through which the user 110 may access the internet 100 from the identified isps 102 at the user &# 39 ; s location . for the availability operation , the access service 106 periodically receives availability information from each of the plurality of isps 102 . in response to this information , the access service 106 identifies one or more isps 102 that provide the highest availability through which the user 110 may access the internet 100 from the identified isps 102 . as will be appreciated , the location operation , reliability operation , and availability operation may each provide to the user 110 the identity of multiple isps 102 or multiple dial - in numbers for a particular isp 102 whereby the user 110 will attempt connection in order of priority . for example , the user 110 may attempt access to a first isp 102 contained in a list of multiple isps 102 that have been identified based on availability or reliability . if a connection is not successful with the first isp 102 , the user 110 will next try a second isp 102 in the list , and so on , until a connection made . in another mode of operation example , the user 110 may attempt access to a first isp 102 utilizing a first dial - in number contained in a list of multiple dial - in numbers for the first isp 102 that have been identified based on availability or reliability . if a connection is not successful with the first dial - in number , the user 110 will next try a second dial - in number in the list , and so on , until a connection is made . further a combination of multiple isps 102 and multiple dial - in numbers may be used . now referring to fig2 , there is illustrated a block diagram of the access service 106 connected to the internet 100 and a block diagram of the user 110 connected to the internet 100 via the isp 102 . the user 110 may be a computer system that includes the client dispatch application 200 and the computer &# 39 ; s operating system 202 , as well as a registry or initialization file ( s ) 212 , a physical adaptor file ( s ) 214 , and a protocol file ( s ) 216 . the files 212 , 214 , 216 are operating system files ( system configuration files ) that provide the user 110 with system configuration information for supplying the basic capabilities needed to successfully connect the user 110 to a network , such as the internet 100 . the client dispatch application 200 correctly configures and sets the system configuration files 212 , 214 , 216 with the necessary system configuration information , including network protocols , adapter information , ip addresses , domain name system ( dns ) server addresses , gateway addresses , other operating system binding functions , dynamic host control protocol options , and any other system options . as will be appreciated , the system configuration information necessary for the user 110 to access the internet 100 is well known in the art . the user 110 also includes several databases for storing information , including a phone database 204 , a network services database 206 , a button bar database 208 , and a user database 210 . as will be appreciated , the databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 may be combined into a single database , may be separate , and / or may be relational . generally , the client dispatch application 200 includes the databases , or generates the databases and stores pre - loaded information into the databases , inserting data or at least a portion of the data into the database upon installation of the client dispatch application 200 on the user 110 computer . the phone database 204 includes one or more dial - up telephone numbers for the access location ( s ) of each of the isps 102 . each dial - up number entry includes associated information including on - off field data , state ( or a toll free number ), city , dial - up telephone number , type of modems supported ( analog or digital ), whether the number is available for registration , identity of the isp 102 that owns the dial - in number ( id for provider ), sequence number ( order for putting number in a specific area ). some of the foregoing data is access information . an example of some of the contents of the phone database 204 and its data entries is set forth in appendix a which is hereby incorporated by reference . the network services database 206 includes access information for each dial - in number contained within the phone database 204 . each of the stored dial - in numbers is associated with an isp 102 . the access information for each dial - in number ( for a particular isp ) includes one or more pap ids , one or more pap passwords , default routing information ( i . e ., gateway address information ), default directory information ( including domain name server information ), sub - protocols for the ppp , and configuration information for the hardware ( i . e . modem of the isp ) to configure the user &# 39 ; s modem , such as data compression information and speed . the network services database 206 may also include service option defaults such as email ids and the pop protocols and browser information associated with the dial - in number . the network services database 206 also includes the basic configuration and initialization information necessary to configure and manage the network communications equipment , network protocols and associated interfaces for the user 110 for basic communications between the user 110 and the internet 100 . in addition , the network services database 206 includes information relating to the type of service ( type of account ) requested by the user 110 , such as the โ lowest cost service โ, the โ highest reliability service โ, the โ most reliable service โ, or combinations thereof , plan pricing and descriptions , and includes information identifying one or more primary processes to be performed by the client dispatch application 200 . as will be appreciated , some of the information in the network services database 206 and the phone database 204 may overlap . an example of the network services database 206 and its data entries is set forth in appendix a which is hereby incorporated by reference . the button bar database 208 includes information related to button bar creation and modification . all functions may be initiated through the human interface โ a toolbar ( also described in the art as a button bar and basic examples of which may be found in many present day computer applications ). software responsive to the button bar database 208 , for displaying the toolbar in accordance with data in the button bar database 208 , may be provided as part of a network browser . the toolbar of the present invention has some unique properties as it can be dynamically changed or updated via a pinger process or a mot script . as defined in this application and as will be described in more detail later , a pinger process comprises an entity that acts transparently as a โ services โ coordinator to provide and / or administer the following : 1 . heartbeat service to help maintain network connectivity with a client . 2 . authentication services that securely authenticate client access to email , commerce , and other public and private network servers and services . 3 . update services that can perform client software , database , and maintenance services during periods of inactivity . the pinger entity , as suggested above , has , as one of its functions , the responsibility of providing database updates to the client user . when a mot script is used , it can be a โ mime type โ definition part of an e - mail message , an http web document download and so forth , which transparently automates the toolbar update . the toolbar can be integrated with ticker tape which can spawn mot scripts , urls , or execute programs . each toolbar button may be programmed with a function in the button bar database 208 . the toolbar reads a plurality , for this example five , of attributes from the button bar database 208 : 1 . caption โ title or button name . 2 . enabled โ enables or disables the button function 3 . execution type โ this attribute supports the following types and further determines if the fifth attribute read by the toolbar would be โ execute file โ ( 5a ) or โ url โ ( 5b ) dde to a url dde to a url without going online launch a program or script launch a program or script and wait to complete before continuing go online and then launch a program or script change preferences change passwords display account information set dialing properties execute a mot script jump to another tab or button on the toolbar reload the toolbar &# 39 ; s tabs and / or buttons 4 . hint โ button functionality description 5a . execute file โ command line of file to be executed 5b . url โ url for a browser to open whether remote or local when a user 110 clicks on one of the toolbar functions or the ticker tape , the appropriate procedure is started . for example , if a button is programmed to go to the usa today ( button caption ) web site the execution type would be set to โ dde to a url โ and the โ url โ would be set to something similar to http :// www . usatoday . com / and the โ hint โ would be set to something similar to โ open to xxxxxxxxx web site for the latest news !โ. as will be appreciated , a mot script defines how to build a button bar using the button bar database 208 and its database entries . the mot script is typically associated with a web page and when the user 110 clicks on the web page , the mot script associated with the web page is read back by the client dispatch application 200 . the client dispatch application 200 uses the particular mot script and the button bar database 208 information and builds the button bar automatically according to the mot script specifications . an example of the button bar database 208 and its data entries is set forth in appendix a which is hereby incorporated by reference . the user database 210 includes information related to the user 110 , such as name , address , phone numbers , billing information , email id and email password , type of account , and unique pap id and pap password , if applicable . it will be understood that the user database 210 may be merged into the network services database 206 . an example of the user database 210 and its data entries is set forth in appendix a which is hereby incorporated by reference . the access service 106 is connected to the internet 100 and is defined by a predetermined and unique address ( i . e ., ip address ). the access service 106 includes one or more network servers / databases 220 . it will be understood that access service 106 includes a computer system having one or more processors , memory , and support hardware ( all not shown in this figure ) for processing and storing information and data communications . the network servers / databases 220 store information relating to the user ( s ) 110 , including the same information that is ( or would normally be ) in the user database 210 , and also includes session keys ( transaction keys ) billing data , connection history data , isp - specific access information , and information about what procedures a user 110 has performed , and the like . specific functions of the access service 106 have been described in the foregoing and will be described in more detail below . the pinger entity may be a part of the access service provider 106 or it may be separate . for the present discussion , it will be assumed to be part of the access service provider 106 . after the user 110 connects to the internet 100 via a predetermined isp 102 , the client dispatch application 200 dispatches an initial โ pinger โ message to the access service 106 via the internet 100 . included within the pinger message is header information that includes the current user id , account owner id , pap id , the current ip address assigned to the user 110 , group id , the users system &# 39 ; s current time , database ( 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 ) revisions levels , client dispatch application 200 and other related software revision levels . all communications between the client dispatch application 200 and the access service 106 take place through a process identified as the pinger . the pinger provides secure and unsecure periodic bi - directional communication between the user 110 and the access service 106 . the functions of the pinger are as follows : read , write or update any entry in any of the databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 of the user 110 and any of the databases 220 of the access service 106 and further initiate a secondary transmission when appropriate . execute a program or script with command line entries if appropriate . save a file or script and further initiate the execution of the file or script when appropriate . continue transaction . with these functions , the client dispatch application 200 can request database updates or save files for execution later , and the access service 106 can initiate events , database updates , or save files for execution later . the pinger process also provides a โ heartbeat โ mechanism to prevent the premature disconnection of the user 110 from the network by an isp 102 . that is , many isps 102 have a modem inactivity timeout interval that disconnects users 110 after some short interval of time if there has been no network activity during that interval of time . the heartbeat function is programmable and , in the preferred embodiment , is set at five minutes during the user &# 39 ; s first three hours of connection time and increases by five minutes each half hour thereafter . in the heartbeat function , the client dispatch application 200 transmits the user &# 39 ; s id to the access service 106 . the pinger is initiated by the client dispatch application 200 upon connection to the network 100 . the client dispatch application 200 transmits header information to the access server 106 using the ip address of the access server 106 . the header information includes the current user id , account owner id , pap id , the current ip address assigned to the user 110 , group id , the users system &# 39 ; s current time , database ( 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 ) revisions levels , and client dispatch application 200 and other related software revision levels . with this information , the access server 106 determines whether a user 110 is making two connections while only paying for one and thus needs to be disconnected , or is a user 110 that needs a database or file update . the continue transaction function provides a mechanism to partially transmit data and commands over multiple sessions ( successive connections by the user 110 to the network 100 ) without having to restart the transaction from the beginning . while the pinger process ( transparent to the user 110 ) allows the client dispatch application 200 and the access service 106 to interact and download database updates ( or other information ) to the user 110 , there is an alternative way to provide the updates to the databases , etc . at the request of the user 110 . the access service 106 may provide a web page whereby when the user 110 clicks on the web page , a mot script and other data associated with the web page is transmitted from the web page site to the client dispatch application 200 . this gives the user 110 the capability to request a data update ( or to receive other information ). alternatively a mot script and other data can be transmitted via an email message , an ftp ( file transfer procedure ) site or other similar networking storage and transport mechanism to the client dispatch application 200 . the script language used by the pinger and elsewhere in this application for patent is designated by the term mot ( see fig8 ). mot is not , however , an acronym for anything meaningful . the script language is an interpretive language which is stored in an encrypted file from which the interpreter reads to initiate the mot client dispatch application 200 . the mot client dispatch application 200 can read and write database ( db ) entries , operating system initialization file entries ( ini and registry files ), and ascii text files . further , the mot client dispatch application 200 can spawn executable programs , network connection , awk scripts , and other mot scripts . a mot script may have a โ mime type โ defining the mot script language as the language of the mot script . now referring to fig3 through 7 , there is illustrated the process of the client dispatch application 200 . the flow diagrams of fig3 - 7 are representations of closed - loop programming ( structured programming ). the client dispatch application 200 performs five primary procedures or functions as set forth in the case block . these include the installation , registration , regular use , manual update , and multi - dial procedures . within the multi - dial procedure are several sub - functions defined as the low cost , reliability , location , availability , busy - sequence , and single dial / multi - login sub - functions shown and explained subsequently in connection with fig7 . the client dispatch application 200 manages the procedures based upon data from one or more databases of the access service 106 or other inputs received from the access service 106 , the user &# 39 ; s databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 , and / or the user &# 39 ; s computer operating system files . it will be understood that databases and database information may be encrypted to prevent a user 110 from tampering with entries contained therein . now referring to fig3 , there is illustrated a flow diagram of an installation procedure 300 of the client dispatch application 200 . the procedure 300 starts by reading information from the network services database 206 . the network services database 206 forms part of the software package which is loaded into a network access device , such as the user 110 ( computer ). the network services database 206 includes basic configuration and initialization information necessary to configure and manage the network communication equipment , network protocols and the associated interfaces between the communication equipment and network protocols and the computer &# 39 ; s operating system . after the network services database 206 is read , the user &# 39 ; s operating system files ( which in the case of a windows operating system comprises registry and ini files , protocol files , and physical adapter files ) are examined to determine if any networking options have been installed and whether or not the files , if installed , are correct and configured properly as part of the โ no protocol โ decision block . if no protocol or adapter has been installed , the โ true โ path will be followed whereby the installation function will configure the adapter and necessary protocol to successfully connect the user 110 to a network such as the internet 100 . if the protocol or adapter that is installed is misconfigured , the โ false โ path will be used whereby the installation function will reconfigure the adapter and necessary protocol to successfully connect the user 110 to a network such as the internet 100 . as part of the configuration process , it may be noted that the correct configuration for utilization of the tcp / ip protocol would include configuring and setting the proper operating system registry and ini ( initialization ) files with the necessary protocol configuration information in instances where the operating system is a version of windows . such information includes : ip addresses whether statically or dynamically assigned , domain name system ( dns ) name server addresses whether statically or dynamically assigned , gateway addresses whether statically or dynamically assigned , other operating system binding functions , dynamic host control protocol options , windows internet naming service ( wins ) options whether statically or dynamically assigned , and the assignment of such protocol functions to be utilized by the appropriate adapter . the function of configuring or reconfiguring is executed near the beginning of each of the five primary procedural ( 300 , 400 , 500 , 600 , 700 ) tasks of the client dispatch application 200 to ensure successful operation of a network connection even for those instances where a computer user 110 accidentally misconfigures their system and thereby makes networking inoperable . after the successful configuration of both the adapter and the protocol , the procedure 300 proceeds to the โ which adapter โ decision block . the appropriate adapter is utilized which is either the adapter pre - programmed into the network services database 206 ( if available ) or if there is only one adapter then it will be used . if the adapter is a modem , the โ modem โ path will be followed to read from the network services database 206 to determine if the user 110 chooses a dial - in location under the case of โ user look - up โ or if the modem shall be programmed to dial a โ pre - defined โ dial - in phone number reference in the network services database 206 and stored in the phone database 204 . if a database entry in the network services database 206 is set to allow the user 110 to choose a dial - in location , then the user 110 chooses a location based on country , state or province , and city in accordance with the โ user picks dial - in location โ block . after the user 110 selects the proper dial - in location , the installation procedure 300 reads from the phone database 204 to determine the dial - in phone number to use . if a given location has multiple dial - in phone numbers , a dial - in number is selected based upon attributes read from the network services database 206 ( and / or the phone database 204 ). such attributes include installation dial - in numbers ( dial - in phone numbers which are only available during installation or testing ). although not pertinent to the installation procedure 300 , other attributes of phone numbers appearing in the phone database 204 include registration dial - in numbers ( phone numbers and locations which appear to a user 110 during registration ), sequence numbers ( a prioritized list of phone numbers which shall be tried in sequential order to produce the highest probability of connection ), available isp numbers ( phone numbers of a given isp &# 39 ; s modems ), currently valid numbers ( phone numbers which are currently valid for use by a given user 110 ), or any combination of the aforementioned . if a value in the network services database 206 is set for the user 110 to use a predefined dial - in number ( such as an 800 type toll - free number ) the client dispatch application 200 will read the appropriate predefined phone number entry from the phone database 204 . after the client dispatch application 200 has determined the proper dial - in phone number , whether user selected or pre - defined , the user &# 39 ; s modem is initialized and dialing occurs , as set forth in the โ dial & amp ; connect โ block . if the modem is busy , it will either continue to retry the same phone number or initiate a multi - dial procedure 700 ( as set forth in fig7 ) depending on the outcome of the โ multi - dial mode ?โ decision block ( from an entry in the network services database 206 ). if the โ false ( retry )โ path is followed , the same number is dialed until the user 110 โ gives up โ. if a multi - dial mode โ true โ path is followed , based upon the entry in the network services database 206 , the multi - dial procedure 700 is initiated and other dial - in numbers will be tried to gain access to the network . the multi - dial procedure 700 is one of the five primary procedures of the client dispatch application 200 and is explained in more detail in connection with fig7 . once a connection is made , the โ false โ path from the โ busy ?โ decision block is followed and communication with the access service 106 begins by sending an installation pap id and pap password ( read from the network services database 206 ) to the access service 106 for transparent login authentication as shown by the โ get information from server โ block . once the login has occurred , communication with the access service 106 is established , and transfer of data begins . the data transferred during the installation procedure 300 may contain some basic system information about the user &# 39 ; s computer system , the type of connection being used and the location from which the connection has occurred . once this information is received at the access service 106 , the access service 106 sends appropriate information back to the client dispatch application 200 and inserts at least a portion of the data into the database . such information ( data ) may include updates to the phone database 204 including โ location โ addition or subtractions , phone number changes , and updates to the network services database 206 including isp additions and subtractions , group , user , or multiple user specific configuration , dns and ip information , etc . updates to the databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 which reside on the user &# 39 ; s computer can occur transparently to the user 110 whenever the user 110 is connected to the internet 100 ; thereby ensuring that the user &# 39 ; s network related information is always current and accurate . any updates received from the access service 106 are written to the appropriate database ( i . e . network services database 206 , phone database 204 , or others ) by the client dispatch application 200 . the client dispatch application 200 also updates the network services database 206 to reflect โ installation complete โ. thus , the client dispatch application 200 is informed that the next execution โ case โ to start is โ registration โ as will be shown in fig4 . at this point , the dial - in location attributes ( installation dial - in numbers , registration dial - in numbers , sequence numbers , available isp numbers , currently valid numbers ) provide control mechanisms to ensure that a user 110 receives the appropriate level of service for which they are subscribed such as โ the lowest cost service โ, โ the highest reliability service โ, โ the most available service โ, or combinations thereof . further , these updated and database stored attributes allow for remote testing of the network communications ( full connection tcp / ip test to the internet 100 ), the user &# 39 ; s system for basic configuration , database integrity , network load balancing and the reduction of fraud by dynamic control of phone number validity . if the adapter used to connect to the network is a local area network device such as an ethernet card , the โ lan โ path is followed from the โ which adapter โ decision block . in this situation , once communication with the access service 106 is established , transfer of data and updates begin as described in the paragraphs above . now referring to fig4 , there is illustrated a flow diagram of the registration procedure 400 of the client dispatch application 200 . the registration procedure 400 , as all primary procedures , starts by reading the network services database 206 to determine the appropriate execution โ case โ, and in this case , the registration procedure 400 . the registration procedure 400 starts by reading the network services database 206 to gather the necessary information , such as which adaptor and protocol to use and proceeds to configure and initialize the appropriate networking functions to start the user registration process . a โ which adapter โ decision block includes the two paths of โ modem โ and โ lan โ. after a determination is made as to which adapter and protocol to use , the process proceeds to the โ( re ) configure adapter protocol โ block to configure and initialize the appropriate networking functions to start the user registration procedure 400 ( i . e . configuration process for the user &# 39 ; s computer ). the registration procedure 400 comprises several forms ( pop - up forms ) into which the user 110 enters specific information about the user 110 . such information typically will include name , address , phone numbers , credit card and / or banking information , referral information ( if available ), personal security information ( like : mother &# 39 ; s maiden name ), birthdate , and preferred e - mail identity and preferred e - mail domain choice . the registration information for each user 110 is stored in the network services database 206 and / or a user specific database 210 , as well as information about the user &# 39 ; s system and revision levels of the client dispatch application 200 and databases ( 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 ). upon completion of the new user registration forms as indicated by the โ update dbs with new user information โ block , the client dispatch application 200 initiates communications with the access service 106 as described earlier . the adapter used , as determined by the lower most โ which adapter โ decision block , will be the adapter determined and used during the installation process . once communication with the access service 106 begins , the client dispatch application 200 sends all the information that was added or updated into the network services database 206 ( or user database 210 ) of the user 110 to the access service 106 as indicated by the โ send information to server โ block . the access server 106 transmits the received information plus additional information , such as one or more user 110 assigned pap ids and pap passwords , email ids and email passwords , back to the client dispatch application 200 for comparison and verification of the information that was sent as indicated by the โ get information from server โ block . if the information returned is not identical to the information which was sent , the client dispatch application 200 will resend the information again to the access service 106 along the path commencing with the โ notify user of error - retry โ block . this process will continue until all transmitted information from the client dispatch application 200 to the access service 106 matches all information returned to the client dispatch application 200 from the access service 106 or when a maximum retry value is reached in accordance with the โ quit ?โ decision block . in the preferred embodiment , the maximum retry value is five . if the client dispatch application 200 reaches a maximum retry value , an error message is sent to the user 110 notifying the user 110 that an error has occurred and to try reconnecting or registering again . this error message comprises a part of the โ true โ path output of the โ quit ?โ decision block . it will be understood that registration procedure 400 may be designed to have an alternate process of prompting the user 110 to use an alternate adapter or protocol and then retry where such an alternate process may be deemed appropriate . if other users ( sub - users ) are permitted to access the network under this initial user &# 39 ; s authority , such as other family members , the registration process for these other users can be started during a regular use procedure 500 described in connection with fig5 . upon completion of a user &# 39 ; s 110 initial registration , the user &# 39 ; s network access display device will display an electronic registration number ( ern ) which , with other personal security information , can be used later to refresh a system as described below . the registration procedure 400 also allows users 110 registered with the access service 106 to temporarily use a computer or other network access device or permanently use a secondary network access device by using a refresh function which bypasses the standard registration form screens by asking the user 110 if they have already registered . if the user 110 has previously registered , the refresh process of the registration procedure 400 will connect , communicate with the access service 106 and download all the user information sent during the user &# 39 ; s initial registration and the client dispatch application 200 will update the appropriate databases ( 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 ) on the user &# 39 ; s network access devices storage system . now referring to fig5 , there is illustrated a flow diagram of a regular use procedure 500 of the client dispatch application 200 . the regular use procedure 500 is enabled after a user 110 has both installed client dispatch application 200 on a particular computer system or other network access device and registered with the access service 106 . the regular use procedure 500 functions to connect a user 110 to the network 100 using a login and password access which is transparent to the user 110 . this is accomplished by reading the network services database 206 for login information such as the user pap id and pap password as shown in the โ read ns . db โ block . after reading the necessary information from the network services database 206 and prior to the user 110 logging onto the network 100 , the user 110 is given an opportunity to change the user &# 39 ; s dial - in location if the user 110 is using a modem as an adapter , as illustrated by the โ change location โ decision block . if the adapter is a modem , and the user 110 desires to change locations , the user 110 is presented with a โ chooses a location โ form that may be identical to one seen by the user 110 during registration . the โ chooses a location โ form allows the user 110 to select a local dial - in location from pull down menu selections based on country , state or province , and city selections for a given isp 102 for which the user pap id and pap password are valid . after the user 110 selects the proper dial - in location , the phone database 204 is read to determine what dial - in phone number to use . if a given location has multiple dial - in phone numbers , a dial - in number is selected based upon attributes that are read from the phone database 204 , user db , network services database 206 or any combination thereof as part of the โ dial & amp ; connect โ block . as discussed elsewhere , and in particular in connection with fig3 , such attributes include installation dial - in numbers ( dial - in phone numbers which are only available during installation or testing ), registration dial - in numbers ( phone numbers and locations which appear to a user 110 during registration ), sequence numbers ( a prioritized list of phone numbers which shall be tried in sequential order to produce the highest probability of connection ), available isp numbers ( phone numbers of a given isp &# 39 ; s modems ), currently valid numbers ( phone numbers which are currently valid for use by a given users 110 ), or any combination of the aforementioned . after the user 110 establishes a connection to the access service 106 , a โ pinger โ function is initiated as discussed previously . the pinger function causes the client dispatch application 200 to transmit header information to the access service 106 , as set forth in the โ send information to server ( pinger )โ block . the header information may include a unique identification string for the user ( user id , pap id , etc . ), a unique computer identification string ( ip address , etc . ), time stamp information , and revision information for the client dispatch application 200 and databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 , as described earlier . after receipt , the access service 106 reviews the header information to determine what , if any , updates are required to be made to the user client &# 39 ; s dispatch application , databases , or network access devices operating system . such updates may include : new dial - in locations , new identification information such as pap ids , network authentication passwords such as pap passwords , other ids , other passwords , change of phone numbers , change of area codes , low cost isp , dial - in location priority sequence numbers , or any combination thereof , or any other information relating to gaining access to the isp 102 . if any updates are required , these are supplied by the access service 106 and any necessary updates will take place transparent ( automatic while the user 110 is logged on ) to the user 110 as part of the โ true โ process path emanating from the โ transparent update required ?โ decision block . if such updates require user intervention , such as rebooting the user &# 39 ; s computer , the user 110 will be notified prior to the update and / or prior to a reboot as part of the โ notify user to restart โ block . updates which require a lot of time , may span multiple log - ins ( to the network 100 ) by the user 110 with partial updates being performed until the full completion of the update . the partial updates will take place when the user &# 39 ; s system is connected but idle and / or during a โ pinger / heartbeat โ function . now referring to fig6 , there is illustrated a flow diagram of a manual update procedure 600 of the client dispatch application 200 . the manual update procedure 600 provides a mechanism for a user 110 to manually recover , change , modify or update the client dispatch application 200 and the databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 . this capability is useful for isps 102 managing customers with billing issues , as well as for servicing customers with special system configuration issues . the manual update procedure 600 initiates and makes a network connection using a special set of log - in information defined herein as the โ manual update pap id and pap password โ ( the manual update pap id and pap password , including the installation , multi - dial and test pap ids and pap passwords are incorporated into the user &# 39 ; s installed client dispatch application 200 as part of the network services database 206 and are not easily accessible to the user 110 ). if a connection is not immediately obtained , the adapter and protocol checking is completed as set forth in connection with the previous figure ( and description thereof ) and as set forth in this flow diagram , via the โ false โ path output of the โ connected ?โ decision block . once the connection is established , either via the โ lan โ path from the โ which adapter โ decision block or the โ false โ path from the โ busy ?โ decision block , the โ pinger โ function is initiated as indicated by the โ send pinger information to server โ block . if there already is a connection , the โ true โ path is followed from the โ connected ?โ decision block . once communication is established by the client dispatch application 200 with the access service 106 , pinger header information , any special database update request , and the like , etc . is transmitted from the client dispatch application 200 ( generated from the network services database 206 and / or the user database 210 ) to the access service 106 , as shown by the โ send update request to server โ, in order to establish the identity of the user 110 and system that is requesting an update of information from the access service 106 . the access service 106 uses this update request information to generate any updated information which is needed to update a specific user 110 , group of users , a specific network access device such as the computer , a group of computers , or any combination thereof and sends any required information back to the user 110 to update the appropriate databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 or registry or ini , adapter , and / or protocol files 212 , 214 , 216 ( operating system files ). upon completion of the update , the client dispatch application 200 disconnects the user 110 from the network 100 ( breaks the network connection ) and if appropriate , the user 110 will be notified that the network access devices operating system must be rebooted in order for the update to take effect . now referring to fig7 , there is illustrated a flow diagram of a multi - dial procedure 700 of the client dispatch application 200 . the multi - dial procedure 700 provides the access service 106 with a mechanism to control access by a user 110 , a group of users , a computer , a group of computers , a local area network ( lan ) of computers , or any combination thereof , to the internet 100 , based upon any one of the following seven sub - function attributes : cost , availability , reliability , location , busy - sequence , service selected , or single dial / multi - login . the multi - dial procedure 700 is initiated by one of the other primary procedures 300 , 400 , 500 , 600 ( see fig3 through 6 ) of the client dispatch application 200 and / or by a multi - dial procedure tag programmed into the network services database 206 . when the multi - dial procedure 700 is initiated in response to a busy signal received during operation of one of the other primary procedures 300 , 400 , 500 , 600 and the multi - dial procedure tag is enabled in the network services database 206 , the multi - dial procedure 700 initiates a busy - sequence sub - function . the busy - sequence sub - function initiates one of the other multi - dial procedure sub - functions , re - dials the same dial - in number before initiating one of the other multi - dial procedure sub - functions , or dials a new dial - in number identified in the next sequential โ area โ location from a list of area locations available , all in response to database information based on the user &# 39 ; s selected plan . the list of โ area locations available โ is based on the type of service plan ( also found in the network services database 206 ) subscribed to by the user 110 and / or on pap ids and pap passwords stored in the network services database 206 . if the user 110 has chosen to subscribe to a higher cost plan , multiple pap ids and pap passwords for multiple isps 102 may be stored in the network services database 206 ( certain locations may only have a single isp ). as a result , a list of available dial - in locations may contain one or more dial - in numbers from one or more isps 102 . alternatively , multiple isps 102 may have pap id and pap password sharing agreements allowing a single user pap id and pap password entry in the network services database 206 to generate a dial - in location list from multiple isps 102 . in any case , the busy - sequence sub - function sequentially attempts to make a connection to an isp 102 at each location until either a successful connection is made or the user 110 aborts the connection attempt . when the multi - dial procedure 700 is initiated for any reason other than a busy signal , the client dispatch application 200 reconfigures or reinstalls the system configuration adaptor and protocol information necessary for network connection . thereafter , based on data in network services database 206 , it is determined whether or not to initiate a connection attempt to the internet 100 using a pre - defined dial - in number or location . if a connection is desired using a predefined dial - in number or location , the multi - dial procedure 700 uses one of four types of possible pap ids and pap passwords . these types are defined as a โ multi - dial pap id and pap password โ, a โ group pap id and pap password โ, a โ user pap id and pap password โ, and a โ test pap id and pap password .โ when both the โ pre - defined dial - in number โ entry and a โ general use โ entry are enabled in the network services database 206 , a general use connection to the internet 100 is established using either the โ group pap id and pap password โ or the โ user pap id and pap password .โ when the โ pre - defined dial - in number โ entry is enabled and the โ general use โ entry is disabled , then the multi - dial procedure 700 establishes a connection to the internet 100 using either the โ multi - dial pap id and pap password โ or the โ test pap id and pap password โ. in either case , the user &# 39 ; s 110 dial adaptor ( modem ) is configured with the isp - specific access information associated with the predefined dial - in number . after proper configuration , the client dispatch application 200 automatically dials and attempts connection to the isp 102 . if the line is busy , it is determined whether an alternate dial - in number should be used . if an alternate number is not to be used , the dial and connect is retried with the previous dial - in number . if an alternate number is to be used , the alternate dial number is read from the phone database 204 and the user &# 39 ; s dial adaptor ( modem ) is configured with the isp - specific access information associated with the alternate dial - in number . upon successful connection , if the connection is not a โ general use โ connection , the service selected sub - function is initiated ( a double dial procedure ). if the connection is a โ general use โ connection , the client dispatch application 200 transmits pinger header information to the access service 106 . in response , the access service 106 transmits information to the user 110 ( client dispatch application 200 ). the multi - dial procedure 700 determines from this received information whether a transparent update is needed ( i . e ., update information in the database ( s ) without user 110 intervention ). if so , the client dispatch application 200 updates the database ( s ) and determines whether a disconnect is required . if not , the user 110 continues regular use until disconnected by some other means . if so , the user 110 is notified and may be given the option to choose to disconnect or may be forced to disconnect . if after a connection is made and the user 110 has used a pap id and pap password that is used by another in order to establish the user 110 connection , then the access service 106 updates the user &# 39 ; s database ( s ) ( possibly with a new and valid pap id and pap password ) and the client dispatch application 200 either disconnects the user 110 ( and notifies the user 110 that the pap id is not valid ) or allows the user 110 to stay connected ( if the user 110 has received a new and valid pap id ). this particular process also applies to the regular use procedure 500 ( see fig5 ). in the preferred embodiment , when a โ pre - defined dial - in number โ entry in the network services database 206 is disabled , then the multi - dial procedure 700 executes one or more of the seven sub - functions in response to entries in the network services database 206 . the service selected sub - function reads pinger header information from the network services database 206 and the user database 210 and sends this information in a data message to the access service 106 ( to the network server / database 220 ). the access service 106 uses the information to generate database updates ( including new pap id , etc .) which may or may not assign , reassign , or update isps 102 , dial - in locations , pap ids and pap passwords , dial - in numbers , network routing information , adapters , protocol , or any other information stored in the databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 . such database updates are then transmitted to the user 110 and the client dispatch application 200 to update the appropriate database 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 . after the database information is updated , the user 110 is disconnected , and the regular use primary procedure 500 is initiated using the updated information received from the access service 106 . the โ low cost โ sub - function obtains information from both the network services database 206 and the phone database 204 and determines which isp 102 and what locations ( dial - in phone numbers for local access ) have the lowest priced service for a given user &# 39 ; s dial - in location . the lowest cost sub - function next determines if the user &# 39 ; s pap id and pap password stored in network services database 206 are valid ( compare the current user &# 39 ; s pap id and pap password with the user &# 39 ; s currently selected dial - in location ) for the isp 102 that provides the low cost connection point - of - presence at the user &# 39 ; s location . if the user pap id and pap password are valid , the network connection sequence will dial and connect as described in the regular use procedure 500 . if the user pap id and pap password are invalid then this sub - function will initiate the manual update procedure 600 requesting from the access service 106 a valid user pap id and pap password for the isp &# 39 ; s 102 dial - in network at the user 110 selected location . then , the network connection sequence will dial as described in the regular use procedure 500 . the โ reliability โ sub - function obtains information from both the network services database 206 and the phone database 204 and determines which isp 102 and what locations ( dial - in phone numbers for local access ) have the highest reliability of connecting the user 110 to the internet 100 . this determination is based upon prior data ( reliability data ) transmitted to the client dispatch application 200 from the access service 106 that is used to update the user databases . this data transmission occurs during a previous session when the user 110 is connected to the internet 100 . the reliability data is transferred by the access service 106 to the users 110 who have a reliability entry enabled in their network services database 206 . the reliability sub - function next determines if the user pap id and pap password stored in the ns . db are valid ( compare the current user &# 39 ; s pap id and pap password with the user &# 39 ; s 110 currently selected dial - in location ) for the isp that provides the highest reliability at the selected location . when the user pap id and pap password are valid , the network connection sequence will dial and connect as described in the regular use procedure 500 . when the user pap id and pap password are invalid , then this sub - function will initiate the manual update procedure 600 , as described in connection with fig6 , requesting from the access service 106 a valid user pap id and pap password for the isp &# 39 ; s dial - in network at the user selected location . then , the network connection sequence will dial as described in the regular use procedure 500 of fig5 . reliability refers to the ability to reliably connect on a first or second attempt ( availability ) and the ability to stay connected for a substantial period of time without disconnection , due mainly because of line noise problems , faulty equipment , etc . ( integrity ). availability information used to determine availability of various isps 102 ( and dial - in numbers ) may include at least three types of information . the first type of information includes availability information that is received by the access service 106 from the isps 102 themselves ( typically updated periodically ). the second type of information includes information in a client histogram ( client specific ) that is generated by the client dispatch application 200 of the user 110 . over an extended time during which the user 110 makes more and more connections to the internet 100 ( via an isp 102 ), the client dispatch application 200 keeps track of the times a connection is made on the first try , second try , etc . for each dial - in phone number ( and / or isp 102 ) used by the user 110 . from this , a client - specific histogram is generated that contains information about the past history of the user &# 39 ; s connections . the third type of information includes information in a server histogram that is generated by the access service 106 . the access service 106 tracks and stores information relating to all isps 102 and dial - in numbers regarding past history connections . see also , the description set forth below in the availability sub - function description . as will be appreciated , the reliability sub - function may use any one of the types of availability information , or combination thereof , for determining the dial - in number ( or multiple numbers in priority ) that will provide the user 110 with a high reliability connection . with respect to the integrity information used to determine the integrity of the various isps 102 ( and dial - in numbers ), there are at least two types of information . the first type of information includes information received via technical support inquiries to the access service 106 by the users 110 . if the access service 106 receives a call ( or calls ) from users 110 regarding faulty lines and / or premature disconnects , this information can be tabulated and stored for determining integrity . since the access service 106 stores data relative what isp ( s ) 102 ( and dial - in number ( s )) a particular user 110 has been using ( through information in the access service 106 database gained through the pinging or heartbeat process โ described earlier ), the access service 106 can determine which isp ( s ) 102 ( and / or dial - in number ( s )) have relatively high and / or low integrity . in response to this information , the access service 106 can update the user &# 39 ; s 110 databases with this information . the second type of information includes information automatically gathered by the access service 106 that includes a history of the number of users 110 , how long each has been connected , and what isp ( s ) 102 ( and / or dial - in number ( s )) to which each user 110 has been connected ( through information in the access service 106 database gained through the pinging or heartbeat process described earlier ). the access service 106 can transmit the integrity data to the user 110 for use by the reliability sub - function of the client dispatch application 200 . as will be appreciated , the reliability sub - function may use any one of the types of integrity information , or combination thereof , for determining the dial - in number ( or multiple numbers in priority ) that will provide the user 110 with a high reliability connection . from a combination of the availability information and the integrity information , the reliability sub - function determines the dial - in number ( or multiple numbers in priority ) that will provide the user 110 with high reliability connection . the โ location โ sub - function obtains information from the phone database 204 and determines all the dial - in phone numbers available to a user 110 from a selected location . the location sub - function generates a list of โ surrounding area โ locations into which user 110 may dial . the user 110 then selects a dial - in number from this list . the location sub - function next determines if the user pap id and pap password stored in the network services database 206 are valid ( compare the current user &# 39 ; s pap id and pap password with the user &# 39 ; s currently selected dial - in location ) for the isp 102 in which the user &# 39 ; s 110 computer will dial into the selected location . when the user pap id and pap password are valid , the network connection sequence will dial and connect as described in the regular use procedure 500 . when the user pap id and pap password are invalid , this sub - function will initiate the manual update procedure 600 requesting from the access service 106 a valid user pap id and pap password for the isp &# 39 ; s 102 dial - in network at the user 110 selected location . then , a network connection sequence will dial as described in the regular use procedure 500 of fig5 . the โ availability โ sub - function generates a dial - in location ( number ) list based upon user pap ids and pap passwords stored in the network services database 206 and the type of service plan ( also found in the network services database 206 ) to which a user 110 has subscribed . if a user 110 has chosen to subscribe to a higher cost plan , multiple pap ids and pap passwords for multiple isps 102 may be stored in the network services database 206 . accordingly , the list of available dial - in locations may contain one or more ( multiple ) dial - in numbers from one or more ( multiple ) isps 102 . alternatively , multiple isps 102 may have pap id and pap password sharing agreements allowing a single user pap id and pap password entry in the network services database 206 to generate a dial - in location list from multiple isps 102 . as will be appreciated , the availability sub - function utilizes the same type of availability information as described above in the reliability sub - function . the availability sub - function utilizes one or more methods or the service selected sub - function to increase the probability that the user 110 at a given location will successfully connect on the first try . this functionality is based upon historical data ( histogram data ) or real time data supplied by an isp 102 to the access service 106 . the historical data may include two types of data โ client histogram data or server histogram data . to accomplish the availability function , the server histogram data , client histogram data , or the service selected sub - function is utilized , or any combination thereof is utilized , as desired . the client histogram data is based upon connection history of the user 110 . the client histogram data is not as beneficial , as other data , until a particular user 110 has consistently established a network connection ( to the internet 100 ) for a period of time sufficient to create a meaningful histogram . it has been determined that a period of at least ninety days is sufficient if a user 110 accesses regularly . after a sufficient period of time , a client histogram can be built to determine the probability of success of the user 110 connecting to the network 100 the first time . this minimizes the necessity of having the client dispatch application 200 perform a second dial - attempt to connect to the network 100 . the server histogram data is based upon the connection history of each particular isp 102 and its dial - in numbers . this information is stored in the access service 106 in response to the monitoring of all the users 110 ( through the โ pinging โ process ). the server histogram data is transmitted to the user &# 39 ; s network services database 206 upon any connection to the network 100 when the availability sub - function is enabled within the client dispatch application 200 . in the preferred embodiment , the server histogram data is normally used in conjunction with the client histogram data ( when appropriate ) to determine the highest probability of success of connecting to the network 100 without a second dialing attempt . accordingly , upon the user 110 initiating a connection to the network 100 , the client dispatch application 200 automatically selects a dial - in phone number that it has determined to have a high probability of success for connection . thus , the client histogram data and the server histogram data are used to facilitate a statistical approach to determine the highest probability of a user 110 connecting to the network 100 on the first attempt . however , there may be times when a user 110 desires a very high confidence ( near 100 % or 100 %) connection , or the histogram data is not desired to be used , such as when the data for a particular area is unreliable ( i . e . certain geographic areas may have insufficient telecommunications infrastructure that may skew the data ) and therefore possibly useless . in these cases the service selected sub - function is initiated and a โ double dial โ process takes place ( see fig7 and the description of service selected sub - function ). in the service selected sub - routing , availability information of isps 102 is used by the access service 106 to give the user 110 a dial - in number that is available . this availability information for the isps 102 is periodically transmitted or given to the access service 106 , typically every five minutes . the โ double dial โ process is also exemplified in fig7 and the accompanying text . the last sub - function of the multi - dial procedure 700 is the โ single - dial multi - login โ sub - function . initiation of the single - dial / multi - login sub - function requires a โ multi - dial โ attempt only when the user 110 receives a busy signal ; otherwise this sub - function is a single - dial function with a multiple pap id and pap password assignment / reassignment function . this function ( the assignment / reassignment ) requires that all user ( client ) 110 authentication for all isps 102 happens at the access service 106 ( i . e ., all authentication for all isps 102 is centralized ) or at a centrally located database point . thus , this function works with multiple isps 102 when each allows user authentication to take place at a centrally located server independent of each isp &# 39 ; s 102 own user authentication server . for example , an isp 102 that has its own authentication server , and who resells the underlying isps modem access to a user 110 , may support this function by allowing a user 110 to dial and connect using an โ initial access pap id and pap password โ, then assigning a unique session pap id and pap password and โ re - logging โ into the authentication server without disconnecting the user 110 . this eliminates the time that would otherwise be required to disconnect and re - dial using a newly assigned pap id and pap password . the client dispatch application 200 also functions to provide users 110 with network identity anonymity . that is , the architecture of the client dispatch application 200 provides anonymity for users 110 during access to the network 100 as ids and passwords ( such ids and passwords would include pap ids and pap passwords , email ids and email passwords , news ids and news passwords , ftp and web space ids and passwords , and custom network application ids and passwords ) can be dynamically reassigned for a given user 110 , a given system , a given group of users , a given group of systems , or any combination thereof . thus , if a user 110 has three computer systems ( a_computer , b_computer , and c_computer ) each requires a unique user / system identification which is generated during installation and registration and stored in the client &# 39 ; s network services database 206 and / or the user database 210 . this unique user / system identification allows the access service 106 to maintain unique and independent ids and passwords for the user / system pair . thus , when a user 110 connects the a_computer to the network , unique ids and passwords which may be distinctly different from the b_computer and c_computer &# 39 ; s ids and passwords ( stored in the network services database 206 and / or the user database 210 ) may be used to transparently log the user 110 into such things as the network , email , ftp / web space , news groups , bulletin boards , or any other application requiring login identification and password . thus , the architecture supports single life ids and / or passwords for all network and application logins . now referring to fig9 , there is illustrated a block diagram of a storage medium 900 and a computer 902 . the storage medium 900 includes client dispatch application 200 ( computer program ) and may also include the databases 204 , 206 , 208 , 210 . the computer 902 also includes a means ( not shown ) for reading or downloading the client dispatch application 200 ( computer program ) into the computer 902 to cause the computer 902 to perform one or more steps in accordance with the principles of the present invention . as will be appreciated , the storage medium 900 may include a floppy or hard disk , magnetic or optical taps ; or any other data storage medium known presently or developed in the future for storing a computer program , such as the client dispatch application 200 of the present invention . as will be realized by those skilled in the art of email ( electronic mail ) sent between parties on a network , email is typically held in a post office box type storage facility at the recipient &# 39 ; s isp 102 until retrieved by the recipient . however the isp 102 typically keeps a copy of the email for a period of time after receipt thereof for various purposes . many people have the technical capability to access and read these stored messages at the isp 102 . even where the message body is encrypted , considerable information may be gleaned over a period of time by keeping track of who is sending messages to whom , the frequency of messages to given parties and data gleaned from the subject matter portion of the header . the structure of the present invention combined with an email program , software plug - in for a standard email program or browser lends itself to a method of minimizing the possibility of unauthorized gleaning of information from email and further minimizes the possibility of spamming where spamming is defined as the sending of large amounts of email to a given recipient for harassment like purposes . one way to minimize the gleaning of information is to send all mail through a third party to recipients . the third party acts as a trusted banker or broker . such an operation is shown diagrammatically in fig1 where the sender sends the email to a broker . the broker repackages email as deemed appropriate by agreement with the sender and / or the recipient and sends it on its way . the simplest form is to merely place the entire original message including header information in message body of the email and send the package to the recipient with the recipient also listed as the sender and placing an innocuous subject in the visible header . a next level of security is for either the sender or the broker or both to encrypt the package sent by that party to the next party . this could result in double encryption of the message body . similar plug - in software comprising part of the recipients email program , software plug - in for a standard email program or browser may be used to decipher the received package and the original email would then be recreated for reading by the recipient . the deciphering may be accomplished by keys transmitted by the pinger entity to the recipient &# 39 ; s software . as part of this next level of security , the email sent to the broker or third party in a preferred embodiment of this invention has the to and from portions of the visible header listing the broker , has the subject changed to innocuous data and the entire original message encrypted as shown in the drawing . fig1 presents the above process in a slightly different format where a row labeled 1010 illustrates the original message composed by the sender . either the sender of the plug - in software may then provide a first level of encryption to the data as shown in row 1012 . transparent to the user 110 , the plug - in software then repackages the original message by encrypting the entire message and generating a new header with the third party ( here the third party is listed as netsafe ) listed as both the sender and the recipient . the email sent to the broker is labeled 1014 . since the broker is in contact with the data bases in the plug - in software via the pinger entity , the broker may decipher to second layer of encryption to determine the destination address . the broker may then re - encrypt and send the email 1018 if the recipient is also a client of that broker and / or has similar plug - in software in contact with a network pinger . otherwise , the originally composed , and possibly encrypted , message is sent to the recipient as shown by the labeled message 1020 . there may be times that the sender of email may not want the recipient to know the senders true identity or even the network service provider of the sender . alternatively , the sender may wish to use different aliases or names for different classes of email contacts so that the sender may quickly sort incoming mail into a set of priority stacks . further the recipient of email in a system using the present invention may have similar requirements . fig1 illustrates a second order anonymity header process for email transmission . in this figure a block 1040 represents a standard header of email composed by the sender . when the sender has completed the email and posts it , the sender &# 39 ; s email program , software plug - in for a standard email program or browser plug - in intercepts the email and checks the appropriate database . it is determined in block 1042 that for identity โ me @ other . com โ the address โ alias @ alias . com โ should be used . the plug - in software thus creates a new header in substitution for the one composed by the sender and encrypts the entire message including the altered header as shown in the lower portion of block 1046 . the software then consults the database represented by block 1048 and determines that the most recent data received from the pinger entity suggests that the network service provider to be used for โ other . com โ in this instance should be โ netsafe . com โ. accordingly , a new anonymous header is prepared in accordance with that shown in block 1046 before the message is forwarded to a third party for retransmission to the recipient . as shown in fig1 , the third party or broker receives the email as represented by block 1060 where 1060 is identical to block 1046 . the software in the server of the third party , as set forth in block 1062 , decrypts the stored header information after noting the form of the visible header information . it is able to do so because the pinger entity that determines the encryption code to be used in the senders encryption process and provides the senders database with the third party to be used , also informs the third party the encryption code to be used for deciphering . this code may be part of the visible message id or may be inserted in the server database of that specific third party . if the recipient has signed up for anonymity service , the server will retrieve from its database a presently assigned alias for the recipient . whether or not an alias is used for the recipient , the third party server will rebuild the header using an address for the recipient in both the to and from portions of the visible header as shown in block 1064 . fig1 presents a block 1070 representing a received email as retrieved from the server storing email for alias . com . this message is identical to the previously designated block 1064 . the recipient &# 39 ; s software checks the database and in accordance with block 1072 deciphers the message and creates the viewable header set forth in block 1074 . fig1 shows a sender composed message designated as 1080 and a partial representation of an internet device database such as a sender computer stored database 1082 along with a revised message 1084 wherein block 1084 corresponds with previously designated block 1046 in fig1 . the software checks the database and notes the subscript 1 for the server listed as โ npn . net โ in the registered email domain portion of the database . the same subscript is checked under the secure / emaildomain portion to determine whether or not to encrypt the message , the encryption code whether or not to use a third party and if so the address to be used . as may be observed by the arrow lines , for npn . net , a pgp encryption is to be used , a broker is to be used and the broker listed with a subscript โ 1 โ is โ netsafe . com โ. thus โ netsafe . com โ is inserted in the visible header of the message shown as 1084 . the database also specifies the public key to be used for the encryption and deciphering processes . the no in the third to the last line of the illustrated database 1082 provides an indication that the sender wants the recipient to be advised of the sender &# 39 ; s name as composed on his computer . this is in contradistinction to that shown in fig1 previously . when the server 1086 receives the message 1084 , it will consult a database similar to that illustrated as 1082 and perform the functions set forth in fig1 . the generation of software for intercepting a message , consulting a database , altering header data in accordance with the database , encrypting the entire message including the altered header and then creating a new header before sending the entire data package is well within the capability of anyone skilled in the art of network computer programming in view of the presentation in fig1 - 15 and the accompanying explanatory material . as will be apparent , the software will be different for each different operating system email program , software plug - in for a standard email program or browser and thus no pseudo code or detailed flow diagram has been presented herein . fig1 provides a simplified example of a button bar , power bar , or tool bar that can be generated using the referenced mot script language in combination with data retrieved from the data bases . if a client were traveling away from home and accessed the network from new york , this information would be provided to the pinger entity . if the client then logged onto a web page of an airline who was also a client of a service using the present inventive components , the web page could be programmed , since data would be available that the client &# 39 ; s home was , for example , dallas , tex ., to immediately bring up a list of all flights leaving new york and bound for other destinations that the client had regularly traveled to in the recent past such as dallas . the mot generated bar or graphic in one implementation including a moving display . such a display may provide advertising or information like ticker tape like stock market data . in fig1 , an illustrative commentary is provided of the databases and their contents upon initial installation of software of a new client wishing to access the services of the present invention . in fig1 a selection menu 1102 is representative of a display that would be presented upon a client &# 39 ; s system for selecting a test location to initially use the software installed in fig1 . the phone database is represented by 1104 while the ns ( network services ) database is represented by 1106 . when the client selects a city in tex . such as plano , the software will note the number โ 1 โ at the end of the data of database 1104 . in the ns database a โ 1 โ is shown to refer to uunet services . as may be observed , if garland had been picked , a โ 2 โ would have been detected and psinet services would be used . as shown by arrow line 1108 , the software would determine that the test location number is โ 519 โ, the papid to be used is โ nstest โ and the pap password is โ zzzwww123 โ. other data that may be utilized is also contained in the database . in fig1 the client &# 39 ; s computer is designated as 1120 , the network as 1122 , the network access provider as 1124 and the pinger entity as 1126 . the test and update procedure is illustrated . the first action is for 1120 to connect through the nap shown within network cloud 1122 to 1124 using the papid and pap password in the ns database for the selected nap . as set forth in fig1 , these values would be โ nstest โ and โ zzzwww123 โ. the nap 1124 validates or authenticates the id and password . for security reasons , the test id and registration id network connection , in a preferred embodiment of the invention , is limited to 90 seconds . the system 1120 initiates a full network protocol test to the pinger 1126 by sending information about the client &# 39 ; s system ( 1120 ) and the software revision installed therein . as will be realized , the installed database includes the address of an appropriate pinger 1126 . the pinger 1126 , after receiving the information , performs minimal processing on the received data and sends back any update information such as dns changes , phone number updates and the like . the pinger may then send back some static information as well as any further update information that the system 1120 may require . the client software in 1120 checks the static information received , validates a reliable connection and then processes any update information for storage in an appropriate location ( s ). fig2 is presented to help in the description of client registration . the client &# 39 ; s system 1150 , connects to an nap in the network 1152 using the registration papid and pap password stored in the ns database for a selected nap as provided in the originally installed software . such data may be found in the appendix a ns database in the appropriate lines ram / acct / reg . the authentication portion of the nap ( 1154 ) validates the papid and pap password so that the client 1150 may communicate with a pinger entity such as 1158 . ( although the preferred embodiment of the invention has the client 1150 send a registration request to pinger 1158 to provide further โ security by obscurity โ, the registration request can be made directly to a registration and authentication server such as 1156 if so desired and thus proceed directly to a later portion of this paragraph description .) when pinger 1158 receives the registration request , it returns addressing , id and password information to client 1150 . this information will normally have a single life ( that is it may only be used once ) since the inventive system is designed to continually change passwords and other data such as addresses . with this information , the client 1150 may now initiate a registration request to the server 1156 as referenced above . the server 1156 processes the user &# 39 ; s supplied information and issues a unique authentication token , a temporary papid and pap password and / or a permanent papid and pap password in accordance with system design . in an alternate embodiment , only a unique authentication token may be issued wherein the software in client 1150 is required to obtain the papid and pap password from a pinger such as 1158 . this supplied user registration information is stored in an appropriate database in 1156 for later authentication purposes . it may be noted that blocks 1156 and 1158 may share the same physical hardware but may also be remotely located and be interconnected via the network . fig2 is similar to fig2 in having a client system 1180 , a network 1182 , a nap authentication entity 1184 , and a pinger entity 1186 . in addition an optional pap id server 1188 is illustrated connected to the blocks 1184 and 1186 . this connection may be through the network or direct as illustrated in the drawing . a further plurality of blocks representing at least a web server 1190 , an email server 1192 and a commerce server 1194 are shown connected to the network and directly to pinger 1186 . when operating in a general or anonymous access mode , the client 1180 connects to a nap within network 1182 using a papid and pap password assigned and stored in the ns database for a selected nap . the nap validates the id and password via block 1184 . once connected , client 1180 initiates a โ network presence notification โ to the appropriate pinger such as 1186 . if the client 1180 is set in a selectable โ anonymous mode โ the โ network presence notification โ will include a request for a new alias along with revised papid and pap password data for use in the next network login attempt . when the pinger 1186 receives the notification , the date and time of receipt is logged along with the client &# 39 ; s authentication token and the network address assigned to the client 1180 by the selected nap . the pinger 1186 returns a response which may , from time to time , include a new authentication token in addition to data requested when the client 1180 is in the โ anonymous mode โ. it should be noted that the pinger entities such as 1188 may be used to facilitate โ client side authentication โ when used in conjunction with servers such as 1190 , 1192 and 1194 as examples . the client 1180 , or others attempting to access the system , does not have access to the information contained in any of the client databases and the client 1180 and others cannot spoof a commerce server into believing that a transaction is originating somewhere else or by someone else . from the above discourse , it may be appreciated that the various databases residing at the access provider and each of the client &# 39 ; s systems along with a script language such as mot and the two way communication between clients and an access provider permits dynamic or constantly changeable network access and encryption parameters to minimize the possibility of unauthorized access to the network access provider or its client &# 39 ; s communications . this is accomplished by : 1 dynamic network login id and password ; 2 dynamically assigned network address ; 3 dynamically assigned resource user ids , passwords and so forth ; 4 dynamic encryption algorithm use ; and 5 dynamic encryption key generation and use . with respect to item 1 above , since a user &# 39 ; s network login and password change periodically transparent to the user client and they are hidden from the user so as to be not accessible by the user , network fraud and abuse may be significantly reduced . further the dynamic assignment process allows the login access to be different from system to system . since the physical address of a server can be changed on any random or periodic basis , item 2 causes a significant reduction in the risk of service attacks , network lockouts and unauthorized access to data . the dynamic assigning and reassigning of email alias as occurs in accordance with item 3 significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized viewing of a given client &# 39 ; s email messages . the changing domain aliases minimizes the risk of denial of access service while the dynamically generated and authenticated session ids for network commerce reduces the risk of fraud . in addition to the above discussion and description , one or more aspects of the present invention are also described and disclosed in appendices a , b and c which are hereby incorporated by reference . although the invention has been described with reference to a specific embodiment , these descriptions are not meant to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications of the disclosed embodiments , as well as alternative embodiments of the invention will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention . it should also be noted that while terms such as โ network device user โ may be used to describe a single client , it may also be used to describe a network of users having a common factor such as an employer . it is therefore , contemplated that the claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments that fall within the true scope of the invention . | 6 |
for a refrigeration system a particular system capacity is the starting point in designing the system . a compressor capable of producing the required capacity will be chosen based upon factors such as cost , efficiency and operating speed . the selection of the compressor will be in conjunction with the selection of the motor . motors are available having power factors in the range of 0 . 80 to 0 . 93 and the motor will be selected based upon cost , power factor , efficiency at design compressor speed . variable speed drives are available which have power factors running from 0 . 99 to unity . however , the differences between the standard sizes of the variable speed drives are relatively large such that a considerably oversized variable speed drive might be the smallest standard drive available sufficient to meet design requirements . by cooling the variable speed drive with refrigerant from the condenser , it may be operated at higher than its air cooled drive design capacity because of the greater cooling available . for example , a 100 ampere drive that supplies 80 amperes when air cooled could supply from 80 to 100 amperes for driving the compressor when refrigerant cooled . in the figure , the numeral 10 generally designates a refrigeration system . refrigeration system 10 has a screw compressor 12 which has no mechanical unloading structure . refrigeration system 10 includes a closed fluid circuit serially including compressor 12 , discharge line 14 , condenser 16 , line 18 containing expansion device 20 and flash tank economizer 22 , line 24 containing expansion device 26 , chiller 28 and suction line 30 . line 32 branches from flash tank economizer 22 and provides fluid communication with a trapped volume in compressor 12 at an intermediate pressure . compressor 12 is driven by motor 11 under the control of variable speed drive 40 which is connected to the electrical power grid ( not illustrated ). variable speed drive 40 controls the alternating frequency of the current supplied to motor 11 thereby controlling the speed of motor 11 and the output of compressor 12 . in chiller 28 , water is chilled by refrigerant circulating in the closed fluid circuit of refrigeration system 10 . the chilled water provides the cooling to the zones . the temperature of the water leaving chiller 28 via line 29 is sensed by thermal sensor 50 and supplied to microprocessor 100 . microprocessor 100 controls variable speed drive 40 and thereby motor 11 and compressor 12 to maintain a desired water temperature for the water leaving chiller 28 . microprocessor 100 can control variable speed drive 40 solely responsive to the temperature sensed by thermal sensor 50 or it may also receive zone inputs from the zones being cooled and regulate the rate of water circulation through the chiller 26 , and thereby the amount of available cooling . if desired , microprocessor 100 may also control expansion devices 20 and 26 . while refrigeration system 10 , as described above , has many features common with conventional refrigeration systems , there are a number of significant differences . screw compressor 12 is simpler than conventional refrigeration compressors in that it has no mechanical unloading structure . accordingly , the rotors only seal with each other and the bores . there is no slide valve which replaces portions of the bores in the region of a cusp with the attendant extra manufacturing costs and potential for leakage between the slide valve and adjacent structure or any other mechanical unloading structure . the output of compressor 12 is controlled through motor 11 whose speed is controlled by variable speed drive 40 . the motor 11 is matched to the variable speed drive 40 and compressor 12 . there is an ideal compressor speed for the design compressor output . so the motor is chosen to have efficient operation at the ideal compressor speed and to have an optimized power factor . on the input side of the variable speed drive , a near unity power factor reduces energy usage and the cost of the energy because of the reduced energy demand at , or approaching , unity power factor . this is because the power factor of the variable speed drive , not the power factor of the motor , is seen by the utility , since the variable speed drive isolates the motor from the utility . in the operation of refrigeration system 10 , gaseous refrigerant is induced into compressor 12 via suction line 30 and compressed with the resultant hot , high pressure refrigerant gas being supplied via discharge line 14 to condenser 16 . in condenser 16 , the gaseous refrigerant condenses as it gives up heat due to heat transfer via air , water or brine - cooled heat exchangers ( not illustrated ). the condensed refrigerant passes from condenser 16 into line 18 and serially passes through expansion device 20 into flash tank economizer 22 . a portion of the refrigerant flowing into economizer 22 is diverted into line 32 at an intermediate pressure and passes via line 32 to a trapped volume in compressor 12 . the remaining liquid refrigerant in economizer 22 passes through expansion device 26 thereby undergoing a pressure drop and partially flashing as it passes via line 24 into chiller 28 . in chiller 28 , the remaining liquid refrigerant evaporates due to heat transfer to the water passing through chiller 28 via line 29 . the economizer flow into compressor 12 via line 32 increases the capacity of compressor in that it increases the mass of refrigerant gas being compressed . microprocessor 100 receives a signal form thermal sensor 50 indicative of the temperature of the water leaving chiller 28 via line 29 to provide cooling to one or more zones ( not illustrated ). responsive to the water temperature sensed by sensor 50 , the microprocessor 100 sends a signal to variable speed drive 40 to cause it to change the speed of motor 11 to increase or decrease the cooling capacity of compressor 12 , as required . variable speed drive 40 increases or decreases the speed , and therefore the capacity , of compressor 12 by changing the frequency of the current supplied to power motor 11 . by having a motor 11 operating at an optimum power factor the electrical usage and demand are minimized and the size of the variable speed drive 40 required is reduced . additionally , a portion of the liquid refrigerant in condenser 16 is diverted via line 17 to the variable speed drive 40 where the electronic components are cooled and the refrigerant evaporated . the evaporated refrigerant passes from variable speed drive 40 via line 41 to chiller 28 . the rate of flow of refrigerant to variable speed drive 40 from condenser 16 is controlled by valve 42 responsive to the temperature of the refrigerant leaving variable speed drive sensed by sensor 43 . because the variable speed drive 40 is cooled by the liquid refrigerant , a still smaller variable speed drive 40 can be used . although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described , other changes will occur to those skilled in the art . for example , the economizer may be omitted and / or zone temperature , water flow rates , the expansion devices can be connected to the microprocessor . it is therefore intended that the present invention is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims . | 5 |
referring now to the embodiment illustrated in fig1 , and 3 , the mouthpiece portion of a cigarette is shown comprising a tobacco column 11 , wrapped in cigarette paper 12 to which is affixed a filter plug 13 by tipping paper 14 . within the tube formed by tipping paper 14 , there is positioned a circular member 15 abutting filter plug 13 and of equal diameter thereto containing a movable flap valve 16 which in the open position of fig1 bends into chamber 17 within the tube . when flap 16 is bent , an opening 18 is provided in member 15 . the contiguous surfaces of member 15 and filter plug 13 may be affixed together by an adhesive or glue to assure that the member is held in the proper position within the tipping paper tube . member 16 is made of material that is substantially air impermeable and , therefore , impervious to the gaseous and particulate vapors drawn through the cigarette such as tars , nicotine , and vapor phase constituents normally present in tobacco smoke . typically suitable materials are paper , preferably heavier gauge cigarette tipping paper , and flexible plastic films such as cellophane , polyethylene , polypropylene , and the like . flap 16 is cut out of the center of member 15 along three sides and bent or folded on the fourth side along line 19 such that it is normally in the open position . the materials employed for member 15 should be sufficiently resilient so that flap valve 16 will return to the open position shown in fig1 from the closed position shown in fig3 when pressure on the valve is removed . operation of the valve is uncomplicated and provides a positive means of controlling volume and rate of draw on the cigarette in any single puff , thus limiting the amount of nicotine available to the smoker . as shown in fig1 arrow 21 indicates the normal path traveled by the smoke through the cigarette starting with tobacco column 11 , through chamber 19 , opening 18 provided by flap valve 16 , and thence through the porous filter medium of filter plug 13 before entering the smoker &# 39 ; s mouth . as long as the pressure drop or volume and rate of draw in any puff is normal , flap valve 16 remains open . however , if the pressure becomes excessive , flap valve 16 closes as shown in fig3 preventing further smoke from reaching the smoker &# 39 ; s mouth in that puff . when the pressure is released at the end of the puff , the flap automatically returns to the open position shown in fig1 again allowing smoke to be drawn through the cigarette on the next puff . in fig4 , and 6 , another embodiment of the invention is shown in which like parts of the cigarette and mouthpiece of fig1 are referred to with like numerals . thus , within the chamber 17 between filter plug 13 and tobacco column 11 is positioned a circular member 22 having a rectangular opening 23 cut in its center section as shown by the dotted lines in fig5 . shoulder 24 at the outer periphery of member 22 is provided to adhesively seal the member to the inner wall of tipping paper 14 and hold it in position within chamber 17 . a flap valve 25 slightly larger than opening 23 is positioned over the opening and glued to member 22 along one side . a bend or crease along line 26 allows the valve to be normally open . the same materials described above to make circular member 15 in fig1 may be used to make member 22 and flap valve 25 . alternately , the entire assembly comprising member 22 and valve 25 may be molded from a plastic polymer material with shoulder 24 extending in both directions to form a tubular piece coextensive in length with the distance between the end of the tobacco column and the filter plug or if a filter plug is not employed of sufficient length to reach the end of the cigarette mouthpiece . as shown more clearly in fig6 when excessive pressure is applied by the smoker in any puff , flap valve 25 closes preventing further smoke from passing through the cigarette , thus limiting the nicotine yield in that puff . a similar embodiment is shown in fig7 and 8 in which a circular opening 27 is provided in member 25 overlaid by a slightly larger circular flap valve 28 glued at tab 29 to member 25 . in this embodiment , the device is made of the same materials and functions in the same manner as the embodiments heretofore described . the pressure drop in a normal puff on a cigarette will vary depending on the smoker between 3 to 10 inches of water at 17 . 5 cc per second air flow . accordingly , and in order to prevent an excessive draw in any one puff on a cigarette or other smoking article , the flap valves of this invention are preferably designed to close whenever the pressure drop exceeds 10 inches of water at 17 . 5 cc per second air flow . of course , it is apparent that they can be designed to close at lower or higher pressure drops depending upon the specific requirements of the smoking article . also , while all of the drawings illustrate the flap valve in combination with a filter plug , it is to be understood that valves according to the invention can be employed with or without a filter and with a variety of smoking articles such as cigarettes , cigars , pipes , etc ., where a smoke control limiting means would be desirable . it will thus be seen from the foregoing description that an improved smoke control device is provided to limit the delivery of nicotine and tar in any single puff on the smoking article to that obtainable in a normal puff . although the invention has been described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments and drawings , they are only illustrative of the invention and it is to be understood that many variations and modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , as those skilled in the art will readily understand . | 0 |
the foot is a very complex entity . the bones , ligaments , tendons , and muscles , together with leg muscles are a vital consideration in the design of the shoe . the present invention as shown in fig1 - 7 b , provides for a shoe that will not limit nor immobilize the foot . fig1 shows the shoe 20 of the present invention being comprised of a toe section 22 , metatarsal section 23 , longitudinal arch section 24 , heel section 25 , back section 26 , top section 27 and bottom section 28 . shoe 20 is designed to function with respect to anatomical , physiological and kinesiological considerations . for the sake of clarity an athletic type shoe is depicted in all the drawings , however it will be appreciated that most styles of shoe would work equally as well . when a foot is in motion , the heel strikes the ground first , the body weight is then transmitted forward along the lateral periphery of the entire foot ( as the longitudinal arch is in action ) and finally passes to the metatarsal heads ( in the transverse ridge ) and then to the toe rise whereby the cycle of muscular contraction and relaxation is resumed . when the heel of a person &# 39 ; s foot is elevated , body weight is transferred towards the toe section , support is provided by the advancing air currents . the design of the present invention incorporates a heart pump 30 , shown in fig1 and 2 and in a cross - sectional view in fig3 in which heart pump 30 is preceded by a pre - heart chamber 52 , and upon the motion of the wearer &# 39 ; s foot , air will be propelled forward towards toe section 22 . heart pump 30 is raised slightly above the lower insole 54 and it is the first to contact the wearer &# 39 ; s heel and thereby the first to receive his / her weight . after passing through pump 30 , air will pass over the longitudinal arch section 24 through a plurality of arteries 31 and the design will allow for the customization as to size and shape of the individual &# 39 ; s own arch . as the foot progresses forward towards toe section 22 , it is supported at that present instant in time by the air , but as it progresses forward it also requires less supporting air . the majority of the air will be released in the depressed air release area 50 which is prior to entering the pre - metatarsal rise area 56 . the remaining air will enter the anastamosing chamber - complex area 44 . the present invention utilizes the foot in motion to provide the force to make the circulation work . the upper insole layer 41 which is the part of the shoe directly in contact with the person &# 39 ; s foot provides for foot rest and is supported by the air flow through arteries 31 . fig3 and 6 show how the heart chambers 43 and the upper and lower insole pieces 41 and 54 coordinate to maintain the proper orientation of the arteries 31 . the evolutionary foot provides for an encapsulated system of fat for cushioning the muscles and nerves of the foot against the stress generated by walking and running . the present invention also utilizes encapsulated fat bodies 32 , which are shown in fig1 are more numerous in heel section 25 where the greatest impact occurs . these fat bodies 32 can be voids or they can be filled with a gel or a resilient substance . the bottom section 28 will have a durable supporting medium 33 with a rubber base 34 for wear and abrasion resistance . the main embodiment of the present invention is a shoe 10 with an on - demand air circulatory system , which encompasses an open and / or closed system . the system works on pressure gradients developed in function . the system uses a network of arteries 31 to remove air formed as the air exits the heart pump 30 . a venous network of return veins 35 returns air to heart pump 30 as air is dissipated in the shoe 10 . it is to be appreciated that these veins 35 will be designed so as to be incorporated into the external surface and around the outer periphery of the shoe and also can be hidden from view or else designed as part of the decorative look of the shoe . these return veins 35 , like human veins , will have a unidirectional valve system ( flap not shown ) which will only allow flow towards the heart pump 30 . the unidirectional valve system is critical for the maintenance of positive pressure gradient which would be necessary if a support stocking or hose were used in conjunction with the shoe . the pressure gradient developed by the person &# 39 ; s heel striking the heart pump 30 , as well as the foot being in motion , is sufficient to move the air forwards from the heart pump 30 . it is to be appreciated that the arteries 31 should be non - distensible . distensible arteries have a tendency to create eddies which slow down the speed of fluid and air in their systems . distensible arteries have faster air flow in the center of the artery and slower flow at the sides which provides a measure of surface area increase and support . as shown in fig6 the design of the upper insole 41 and the lower insole 54 will limit the distension . this ensures flow and protection . accordingly , it is important that the pressure of the returning air be maintained and not lost . according to the principles of laminar flow , the air closest to the wall meets with friction and therefore is slower than the air in the middle . it is also anticipated that return veins 35 could also be connected to a support stocking to provide circulatory relief for the wearer . the air supply to the heart pump 30 will be through a sieve plate 36 located at the back section 26 . it is anticipated that sieve plate 36 , as shown in fig4 and 5 , would be masked by the product logo or other characteristic design . the logo may act as a filter or solid cap depending on function of the system . the external air supply will provide a cooling effect that will also help to reduce perspiration and eliminate odors . the back section 26 will be constructed from a pair of plastic support panels , an interior support panel 37 and an exterior support panel 38 . a leather type covering would comprise the exterior coat of the shoe . the panels 37 and 38 are suggested to be made of plastic material because plastic is durable , non - deforming , light - weight and low in costs . the panels 37 and 38 are maintained in position by a strut 49 which serves to maintain the channel 39 therebetween . a balloon - like structure ( not shown ) could be employed within the channel 39 to help reduce any lose of air . both panels 37 and 38 have their lower ends curved to define a valve 40 . the exterior panel 38 has a lower curved portion 51 and it is stationary by design . the interior panel 37 has a lower curved portion 53 that is flexible and which coordinates with the curved portion 51 to define a isthmus shaped cavity 55 therebetween . the upper curved section can be depressed to shut - off the air channel 39 , so that when the wearer &# 39 ; s heel strikes down depressing the curved section 53 , the air is therein closed to heart pump 30 . the air that is in the pre - heart chamber 52 is propelled into heart pump 30 where it is then canalized into the arteries 31 . another embodiment of the invention would utilize a spring ( not shown ) to aid the function of the valve 40 . as this air is being propelled forward , the heel of the user is rising and the longitudinal arch 24 is being formed . as the user &# 39 ; s heel rises the curved portion 53 springs up and the positive pressure from the sieve plate 36 rushes air into the heart pump 30 to begin the process anew . in a closed system only the air in the return veins 35 is re - circulated . basically the system is primed when the wearer starts walking . once he feels that there is enough air , the sieve plate 36 can be closed off . this is a closed system . by leaving the sieve plate 36 open and rely on pressure gradients the user will create an open system . the heart pump 30 includes multiple separators 42 , as depicted in fig3 which in addition to forming chambers 43 also provide for organized directional flow through the arteries 31 in the direction of the toe section 22 . the pressure and speed is greatest coming out of the heart pump 30 . as previously stated , the central air is the fastest while the air closest to the wall of the arteries 31 is slowest 31 . this is of importance because the slower moving air is providing the support for the foot in that position it finds itself at that particular instant in its motion . the chambers 43 of the pump 30 are depressible and serve to direct the flow of air to the designated arteries 31 . these chambers 43 ensure that the arteries 31 not only are supplied air but also the required propulsion . the arteries 31 that are closest to the heart pump 30 are the narrowest in diameter so as to provide the greatest air speed . they also are subjected to the greatest wall pressures . in the depressible air release area 50 , shown in fig2 it is preferred that the arteries 31 widen . the purpose for this is to slow the air motion down . this is achieved by increasing the diameter of the artery 31 to distend its wall . the distension is limited to protect the upper and lower surfaces 41 and 54 of the insole from ballooning . the reason for this is to slow the air as it enters the anastamosing chamber 44 . fig6 depicts a cross - section view of the arteries 31 releasing air to canals 47 which direct air to portals 45 , wherein most of the air is dissapated prior to entering the anastomosing chamber 44 . the anastomosing chamber 44 , as illustrated in fig7 a and 7 b , has projections 46 on the underside of the upper insole 41 which do not make contact with the lower insole 54 . upon depression , conduits 56 are created which serve to direct the remaining air to the portals 45 . this chamber 44 has numerous portals 45 leading to veins 35 . upon beginning the activation of air into the arteries 31 , the action of the muscles creates a longitudinal arch , and the person &# 39 ; s weight is laterally displaced . therefore it is desirable to increase the air support of the arch while lessening the support on the lateral side . the heart chambers 43 can be designed to allow more air on the medial side 58 of the foot and perhaps less on the lateral side 59 . it must be restated that the air system does not form the arch but rather allows for the foot of the person to develop its own form , shape and size arch . the present invention merely provides the support . this is a major inventive design concept from shoes which provide preformed arches , wherein each individual shoe had the same size and arch shape regardless of the individual characteristics of the wearer . the present invention is set into motion by the wearer &# 39 ; s heel striking down thereby propelling air forward to support the foot in the next position in time , ay which some of the air continues to be propelled forward to provide support for the foot at its next position . as the foot proceeds forward less support is required . thereby , some of the air will be depressed through the inferior sole layer and supporting medium at which it deviates laterally and then re - enters the venous system . the design of the invention supports the foot at each particular time of its motion and also in the elimination or circulation of a portion of air . while there has been and described what is at the present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and changes can be made therein without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims . | 0 |
fig1 discloses a sectioned elevation of a horizontally elongated shell 1 in the simplest terms . an emulsion of oil and water is introduced into the left hand end of the shell or vessel 1 through conduit 2 . separated according to the present invention , the oil is removed from the vessel 1 through upper outlet 3 located at the right hand end . there may be gas in the emulsion introduced into the vessel 1 . for the purposes of disclosing the present invention , the gas will be ignored as the invention is directed to the liquid / liquid separation of oil and water . internally , the vessel encloses a separation section divided into several portions . the first portion 5 simply shows that a heat source 50 within this portion is arranged to be contacted by the emulsion stream flowing through portion 5 . the purpose of this arrangement is to elevate the temperature of the emulsion stream as may be required to enchance the liquid / liquid separation carried out by the downstream embodiment of this invention . of course , this heat input to the well stream could be supplied by a heater in conduit 2 established upstream of vessel 1 . on the other hand , it may not be necessary to introduce any heat into the well stream in thermal preparation for its processing . portion 6 is downstream of optional heater portion 5 and receives the emulsion within the temperature range suitable for initiation of the liquid / liquid separation in the electric field of portion 6 . the electric field in portion 6 is generated between electrodes 7 , the electrodes being charged from a transformer 8 . the arrangement of electrodes 7 , the baffles required to properly direct the well stream through the electric field , and all other mechanical and circuit arrangements need not be discussed here in all of their available variations . the art is replete with the many variations for effective application of electric fields to the resolution of mixtures of relatively polar liquids dispersed in relatively non - polar liquids . the end result of passing the emulsion stream through electrostatic separation portion 6 is that the water , or aqueous phase , is formed into drops of increased size . some are large enough to initiate their gravitation into a body of water 10 in the lower part of the shell 1 . the mixture of liquids exposed to the electric field of portion 6 flows essentially horizontally through portion 11 . admittedly , portion or zone 11 is no more than the volume within vessel 1 downstream of the electrostatic portion 6 . however , this relatively quiescent zone enables a significant amount of coalesced liquids to disengage and gravitate upward , or downward , as a part of the separation goal . by flowing these liquids through portion 11 horizontally , disengagement of the oil from the water and the water from the oil is provided within a minimum of opposing flow which would delay their separation . of course , not all of the liquids disengage from each other but remain as the mixture carried from zone 11 into the downstream portion 12 in which is mounted a mechanical separation structure . the mechanical inclined surface separator contained within portion 12 of the preferred embodiment in fig1 consists of a system of corrugated sheets or plates mounted vertically and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vessel 1 . the corrugated sheets may be composed of plastic , fiberglass , or any other electrically nonconductive material , the only other stipulation being chemical and mechanical stability in hydrocarbon fluids at temperatures of intended operation . each sheet is mounted in such a way that the corrugations form an angle of between 30 ยฐ to 60 ยฐ with respect to the horizontal . the corrugations on every other sheet are parallel . however , the corrugations on adjacent sheets are crossed ; in other words , while the corrugations on one plate rise in the general direction of fluid flow , the corrugations on adjacent plates decline in the general direction of fluid flow . the relative configurations of adjacent sheets 51 , 52 is illustrated in fig2 . the appearance of the face of the separator of the preferred embodiment ( perpendicular to the general direction of fluid flow ) is illustrated in fig3 . as a result of the corrugations on each plate and the manner in which the plates are mounted , fluids which flow through the separator are forced to follow a path characterized by multiple changes in the direction of flow . characteristically , an inclined surface separator is operated at as low a superficial fluid velocity as is practical in order to increase the residence time of the fluids in the medium and to maintain quiescent settling conditions . the multiple changes in direction of flow characteristic of the medium described above produce a low degree of turbulence or eddy formation within the medium at low superficial fluid velocities . on the surface , one might expect this turbulence or eddy formation to be a detriment to the coalescence efficiency of the medium . certainly , the greater is the fluid velocity gradient experienced by a droplet of dispersed phase , the greater will be the residence time required in the medium before it can settle ( or rise ) and be collected on a surface . however , multiple changes in the direction of fluid flow and the resulting eddy formation also have the effect of producing a pressure drop across the medium which facilitates a more even distribution of the fluid over the cross section of the medium . at any given superficial fluid velocity , the residence time of any given element of fluid increases as more of the cross section of the medium is utilized . this more effective utilization of the cross section of the medium can greatly outweigh the negative effects of eddy formation at sufficiently low reynold &# 39 ; s number for flow within the medium . experience has shown that reynold &# 39 ; s numbers less than 100 are acceptable . it should also be noted that a low level of turbulence may also enhance the collision frequency of entrained droplets of the dispersed phase . the benefits of low energy mixing in this regard are well documented . the preferred application of the mechanical separator described above would extend the coalescence medium over the entire cross section of the vessel . that portion above the oil / water interface would function to coalesce droplets of dispersed water to sizes larger than obtainable from the electric field . that portion below the oil / water interface would function to coalesce droplets of oil dispersed in the body of water formed through partial dehydration of the oil upstream of the mechanical separator . the greatest benefit to coalescence and the ultimate disengagement of the two phases from either dispersion received by the coalescence medium will be derived when as narrow a spacing between collection surfaces as is practical is employed so as to limit the distance a droplet of dispersed phase must gravitate before being collected . the spacing between coalescence surfaces in the coalescence medium described above is controlled by the flute size on the corrugated sheets 51 , 52 that make up the medium and the angle between the corrugations and the horizontal . the preferred spacing between collection surfaces is influenced by the concentration of insoluble material ( mineral matter , resins , asphaltenes ) in the oil . the tendency of the passageways in the medium to plug increases with increasing concentration of solids in the oil and decreasing spacing between the collection surfaces . solids content may also influence the material from which the coalescence medium is fabricated . if the solids content is high and frequent cleaning is anticipated , resistance to the elevated temperatures of pressurized cleaning steam would be required . downstream of the mechanical separator in portion 12 a volumetric section of the vessel 1 is provided for the disengagement of the additionally coalesced dispersed phases issuing from the mechanical separator . water dispersed in the oil continuous phase and oil dispersed in the water continuous phase are thus given further opportunity to disengage . separated water exits the vessel 1 through the lower outlet 4 . conduction of electricity by a liquid such as salt water occurs by means of migration of pre - existing cations and anions to oppositely charged electrodes where electrochemical oxidation or reduction of the ions takes place . in an electrically nonconductive or insulating liquid , such as a hydrocarbon , few ions exist to carry current . however , if electrodes in contact with the liquid are highly charged , mechanisms exist by which charges are generated within the liquid allowing a small current to exist . these mechanisms include the following : first , a few ions and electrons will be present in any insulating fluid as a result of natural radioactive decay and ionization caused by the passage of omnipresent cosmic rays . under the influence of a strong electric field free electrons may be accelerated to velocities great enough to dislodge electrons from neutral molecules through collision . these dislodged electrons may then also be accelerated , producing further collisions and generating more free electrons and ions resulting in an avalanche effect . electrode surfaces which are charged positive and possess a small radius of curvature are primarily responsible for this mechanism of ionization of molecules in an insulating liquid . a second mechanism is predominantly operative in the vicinity of a highly charge negative electrode . the electrons of a negatively charged metallic electrode possess sufficient kinetic energy that some electrons can escape the conductor and be propelled into the surrounding medium . the probability of escape increases with increasing charge density on the electrode . these electrons may , depending on their velocities , dislodge more electrons from neutral molecules or become captured . as noted previously , these dislodged electrons may be accelerated by the electric field in an electrode system to sufficient velocities to produce further collisions generating more free electrons and ions . a third mechanism by which charged particles may be generated in an insulating liquid is thermo - ionic emission . when either of the previous described mechanisms are operative and electrodes are highly charged , current densities in localized areas can be such that enough heat is generated in local areas of the electrodes to greatly increase the kinetic energy of mobile electrons of the conductor . this results in an increase in the escape of electrons from the conductor and a surge in current density . thermo - ionic emission is often a prelude to an arcing condition which can result in considerable ion formation in the insulating liquid . even in the absence of arcing the amount of charge transferred to an insulating liquid by high voltage electrodes in a coalescence system is significant with regard to the charging of entrained droplets of an aqueous phase . it has been demonstrated that copper spheres will require a net charge of approximately 10 - 12 coulombs while settling under the influence of gravity in kerosene between vertical parallel plate electrodes spaced 20 centimeters apart with a potential electrical difference of 15 kilovolts . the copper spheres did not come in physical contact with an electrode , but acquired charge in proportion to the nearness of approach to a charged electrode . in our laboratories the potential , with respect to ground , on electrically conductive rods has been measured in dry , crude oil at various distances from positively or negatively charged electrodes held at 33 kilovolts . voltages of 20 kilovolts have been measured on rods 6 inches from electrodes so charged . with increasing distance from the electrode , the measured voltage decreased , but voltages in excess of 10 kilovolts were measured even at distances up to 45 centimeters from a charged electrode . voltages are found to be diminished in proportion to the amount of an entrained aqueous phase present . therefore , convective transfer of charge from a charged electrode by the insulating continuous phase is an important charging mechanism for entrained droplets of an aqueous phase . it has been observed in our laboratories that an electrically nonconductive or insulating material will acquire a surface charge when placed downstream of high voltage electrodes in bench scale electrostatic coalescence systems . in these experiments , a transparent hydrocarbon phase containing an entrained aqueous phase of 1 to 2 volume % was made to flow first through a system of high voltage electrodes where coalescence of droplets took place , followed by a quiescent zone where large droplets gravitated from the mixture and finally through a system of vertical corrugated sheets of polypropylene . the emulsion which entered the system of polypropylene sheets contained less than 0 . 5 volume % entrained aqueous phase . it was observed that sufficient charge was transferred to the polypropylene to exert a signficant influence on entrained droplets of the aqueous phase and to promote further electrostatically enhanced coalescence . it was also observed that the surface charge on the insulating material decreased with increasing distance from the charging electrodes . the source of charge on the insulating polypropylene sheets in these experiments was adsorption of charged particles generated in the hydrocarbon phase in the electrode system and transported downstream of the electrodes by fluid flow . these adsorbed species are relatively mobile and may be compared to a two - dimensional electrically conductive liquid . however , the conductivity or time constant for charge transfer is sufficiently low that the polypropylene sheets do not discharge immediately to ground as would a conductor with mobile free electrons . the result is then a buildup of surface charge which is not equally distributed over the surface of the insulators . as observed experimentally , the greatest surface charge is seen in those areas nearest the electrode system which are exposed first to the charged ions carried by the hydrocarbon and to some extent charged droplets of entrained aqueous phase . the surface charge degrades to voltages insufficient to affect entrained water droplets over a distance of a few inches . a partial listing of possible materials of construction for the mechanical plate separator 12 would include polypropylene , acrylic , lexan , polyethylene , ptfe , acetal , polyvinylchloride , polystyrene , nylon , and quartz . both electrostatic coalescence and the coalescence effected by an inclined surface separator are subject to limitations in the separation of emulsions of water or brine in oil . electrostatic coalescence devices are capable of coalescing extremely small water droplets , but there is an upper limit to the droplet size achievable determined by the physical properties of the two phases and the characteristics of the electric field employed . if water droplet diameters could be increased beyond this upper limit , retention times required to effect adequate phase disengagement would be reduced . the inclined surface separator is not a feasible device for the coalescence of very small water droplets , but is ideally suited for further coalescence of water droplets produced by electrostatically enhanced coalescence . in tandem , electrostatic and mechanical coalescence mechanisms can facilitate dehydration of an oil at higher loading rates and / or lower temperatures than either mechanism acting alone . experiments in our laboratories have shown that if the inclined surface separator is fabricated from electrically insulating material , sufficient charge is transferred by the continuous hydrocarbon phase from the electrodes to the mechanical coalescence medium to cause further electrostatically enhanced coalescence of the entrained aqueous phase . experience has shown that the amount of charge actually transferred to the mechanical medium is such that destructive electrostatic effects caused by large electrical gradients and nonhomogenous electrical fields are essentially absent as evidenced by significant improvement in the coalescence efficiency of the mechanical medium when surface charges are present . in final conclusion , the use of an electrostatic treating system in tandem with an inclined surface separator made from electrically insulating materials offers the advantage of more efficient dehydration of the oil and cleanup of produced water in the same vessel . | 1 |
fig1 shows a servopneumatic screw driver device 10 , which comprises a pressurized air motor 12 which is used for a drive to turn an unshown screw . the performance or power output of the pressurized air motor 12 is controllable by a servovalve 14 . the screw driver device 10 has a torque sensor 16 for measurement of the torque and a rotation angle sensor 18 for measurement of a rotation angle . the servovalve 14 is connected to a suitable air pressure source . the torque sensor 16 is connected to an analog - to - digital converter means ( a / d ) 20 of a converter 22 , the means 20 for analog - to - digital conversion is connected to a first terminal 24 of a microprocessor 26 . the measured values of torque determined by the torque sensor 16 in an analog manner are thus digitized and thus fed to the microprocessor 26 for analysis . the rotation angle sensor 18 is advantageously an incremental position transmitter and is connected to a counter 28 . the counter 28 produces a count value according to an angular position and sends a suitable resulting signal to a second input terminal 30 of the microprocessor 26 . the microprocessor 26 includes a measured value - forming stage 31 , in which a change of the torque over a rotation angle interval and a change of the rotation angle over a time interval are measured and the stiffness s equal to the change in torque divided by the rotational angle interval and the rotation speed d equal to the rotation angle change over the time interval are calculated from the respective measured values supplied by the rotation angle sensor 18 and the torque sensor 16 . the respective values thus determined for the stiffness s and the rotational speed d are fed to a fuzzy - logic means 32 as input variables . the fuzzy - logic means 32 produces as controlling output variables the respective control parameters k p and k v which are then fed from an output terminal 34 of the microprocessor 26 to a digital - to - analog converter means ( d / a ) 36 of the converter 22 . the d / a converter means 36 is connected with a valve controller 38 , which produces an adjusting parameter for the servovalve 14 . the fuzzy - logic means 32 receives thus the available input variables derived from the actual measured values obtained from the sensors 16 and 18 and produces the controlling output variables for controlling the valve controller 38 . the valve controller 38 again controls the power output and the rotational speed of the pressurized air motor 12 via the servovalve 14 . in the block diagram in fig2 a method of controlling the torque applied by the screw driver device 10 shown in fig1 is illustrated . an actual measured value ma is supplied by the sensor 16 as a controlling parameter and compared with a set value w to be reached . a controlling output variable k p proportional to the difference between the actual value ma and the set value is obtained . the rotation angle ฯ determined by the sensor 18 is differentiated and the differentiated rotation angle ฯ &# 39 ; determines the controlling output variable k v . the controlling output variables k p and k v are compared with each other and an adjusting parameter z for the servovalve is derived from them . this again controls a flow of air q , with which the pressurized air motor 12 is driven . the feedback control loop shown here in fig2 should serve to help understand the subsequently described fuzzy - logic control by means of the fuzzy - logic means 32 mentioned in fig1 . a first embodiment of the method for making a screw connection according to the invention is shown in fig3 . in a first process step 40 the pressurized air motor 12 is turned on . in a second process step 42 an unshown screw is tightened or turned further , in the third step 44 , a decision step , whether the joint torque has been reached is tested . the joint torque is the torque obtained when a screw head of the screw contacts on one of the parts to be connected . if this joint torque is not reached , the system returns to the second process step 42 , in which a screw turning or tightening operation occurs . if instead the joint torque is reached , in the next process step 46 the torque and rotation angle are read in via the already mentioned sensors 16 and 18 . in a following or fourth process step 48 , a decision step , whether a predetermined number n of measurement cycles have occurred is determined . if this is not the case the system returns to process step 46 so that the torque and rotation angle can be read in again . if the desired number of machine cycles n have occurred , the desired stiffness s and rotation speed d are calculated . the stiffness s is derived from the change of the torque over a rotation angle interval and the rotational speed d is derived as the change of the rotation angle over the associated time interval . in an additional process step 52 the values of s and d obtained from the measured parameters are processed and / or are input as input variables to the fuzzy - logic circuit means 32 and processed by the fuzzy - logic circuit means 32 which produces the controlling output variables k p and / or k v necessary for the process of controlling the valve controller 38 . in the next process step 54 the servovalve 14 is controlled by the valve controller 38 so that a controlled operation of the pressurized air motor 12 occurs . in a following process step 56 , a decision step , the desired tightening torque on the screw is compared with a predetermined set value . if the set value is not achieved , then additional tightening or screwing occurs in the process step 54 . if in contrast the set value of the torque is attained , then the screwing process is ended in the last process step 58 . a fuzzy - adaption for the controlled servopneumatic screw driver device 10 is achieved by the process shown in fig3 . the actual torque and the actual rotation angle are measured at a predetermined time point , here at the time when a positive or &# 34 ; yes &# 34 ; answer is obtained in process step 44 , and input variables are derived from the measured values for the fuzzy - logic means 32 in the measured value - forming stage of the microprocessor . the fuzzy - logic means 32 processes the input variables with a data base and produces the controlling output variables k p and k v required for the subsequent controlling process . these controlling output variables are used to prepare the adjusting parameter with which the servovalve 14 and thus the pressurized air motor 12 are controlled . thus the controlling output variables are automatically set according to the achieved joint torque so that for individual cases in which the hardness of the connection varies an exactly controlled operation of the pressurized air motor 12 is possible for the controlled tightening or screw turning process performed in process step 54 . since this adjustment occurs automatically during the connection or screwing process , an erroneous adjustment is prevented by a user of the servopneumatic screw driver 10 . an additional embodiment of a screw securing or tightening process according to the invention using the principles of fuzzy - logic is illustrated in fig4 . the process steps which are the same as in fig3 are provided with the same reference numbers and are not described in further detail . in this embodiment the process step 48 of fig3 has been skipped or omitted so that the calculation of the stiffness s and the rotation speed d is performed independently of a predetermined number of measurement cycles . in process step 52 the fuzzy - logic processing in fuzzy - logic circuit means 32 occurs to produce the controlling output variables . the fuzzy logic processing continues until the question &# 34 ; has the set value torque been achieved ?&# 34 ; is answered positively in process step 36 at which point the process is finished . if on the other hand the answer to this question is in the negative , then control is returned to process step 46 so that actual measured values for the torque and the rotation angle are again read into the microprocessor and evaluated . a control of the screw tightening or securing process is attained here by the above - described method according to the invention by which troublesome variations of the actually occurring connecting or joint torque from the desired or set value . a control of the tightening or screwing process occurs thus until the desired set value is obtained . furthermore this embodiment is particularly desirable , because the time - consuming decision step 48 of the method of fig3 is omitted so that a very rapidly operating screw driver device 10 using fuzzy - logic principles results in which for example the difference between the input of the measured joint torque and the set value amounts to less than a microsecond . an additional substantial advantage of the method described in fig4 is that the consideration and avoidance of system affecting troublesome variations is possible , since the automatic control results in the attainment of the set value when the method is operative . the control described up to now in fig1 to 4 is based essentially on the analysis of input variables to obtain controlling output variables . in the embodiments of the method described here the stiffness s and the rotation speed d are calculated from the measured torque and the measured rotation angle by the fuzzy - logic means 32 . the so - called family of associating functions of these input variables are shown in fig5 the stiffness values s being set forth in the upper graphical illustration in fig5 with the respective associating values of the associating functions . the associating functions are categorized in fig5 as namely the &# 34 ; low stiffness &# 34 ; class ( indicated with - in the drawing ), &# 34 ; normal stiffness &# 34 ; class ( indicated with -- 0 -- in the drawing ) and &# 34 ; high stiffness &# 34 ; class ( indicated with --+-- in the drawing ). the values of the associating function continuously vary between the value 0 and the value 1 . the value &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; means &# 34 ; no associativity &# 34 ; and the value &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; means &# 34 ; 100 % associativity &# 34 ;. the classes are divided here so that in first class of association functions of &# 34 ; low stiffness &# 34 ; the associativity is 1 for all values under 250 nm / rad . the associativity of this class drops then from 1 at 250 nm / rad as the stiffness falls to a value of 0 at 600 nm / rad . the second class of functions of &# 34 ; normal stiffness &# 34 ; the associativity increases from a value of 0 at a stiffness of 250 nm / rad to the value 1 at a stiffness of 600 nm / rad . the associativity drops then from the value 1 at the stiffness of 600 nm / rad to a value of 0 at a stiffness of 1100 nm / rad . the third class of association functions has an increasing associativity from a stiffness of 600 nm / rad to 1250 nm / rad . the associativity reaches a value of 1 for all stiffness values above 1250 nm / rad . the lower second graphical illustration in fig5 includes a family of association functions for the second input variable , namely the rotation speed . these are represented here as ud . the associativity is again shown for different classes , namely for a &# 34 ; low rotation speed &# 34 ; ( indicated with &# 34 ;-&# 34 ;), for the class &# 34 ; normal rotation speed &# 34 ; ( indicated with &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;) and for the class &# 34 ; high rotation speed &# 34 ; ( indicated with &# 34 ;+&# 34 ; in fig5 ). the associativity is also here given by values between 1 and 0 . the classes are divided here also so that the first class &# 34 ; low rotation speed &# 34 ; takes a value of 1 for all values of rotation speed d under 5000 inc / s . the associativity of this class drops then from the value 1 at d = 5000 inc / s to a value of 0 at d = 125000 inc / s . the second class &# 34 ; normal rotation speed &# 34 ; has a climbing associativity value of 0 from rotation speeds of 7000 inc / s to the value of 1 at d = 12500 inc / s . the associativity value then drops from 1 again to a value of 0 at a rotation speed of 19000 inc / s . the third class &# 34 ; high rotation speed &# 34 ; has an increasing associativity value from rotation speed d = 125000 inc / s to 22000 inc / s . the associativity values is 1 at all rotation speeds above 22000 inc / s . the above - named numerical associativity values for the transition regions between the individual classes in the input variables are only exemplary and their values can be changed for the individual screw connection cases . the family of associating functions of the output variables of the fuzzy - logic means 32 are now illustrated in fig6 . in the upper graphical illustration in fig6 the values of the controlling output variables k p which are utilized for control of the valve controller 38 and which are obtained from the stiffness and the rotation speed derived respectively from the torque and the rotation angle . the controlling output parameter is separated into four classes , which are associated with individual absolute values . the associativity values of the controlling output parameters k p in the individual classes occurs thus by the processing of the fuzzy set of the input variables shown in the upper illustation in fig5 in accordance with the stored data base with the fuzzy - logic circuit means 32 . the classes &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; normal &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; very high &# 34 ; can be distinguished . the associativity of the class &# 34 ; low &# 34 ; ( indicated with &# 34 ;-&# 34 ;) climbs from a value 0 to 1 between output variable values 1 and 5 and then decreases to the value 0 between output variable values 5 and 20 . the associativity of the class &# 34 ; normal &# 34 ;( indicated with 0 ) increase from the associativity value 0 at output variable value 5 to the associativity value 1 at output variable value 20 and drops to the associativity value 0 at output variable value 40 . the associativity values for the class &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; ( indicated with +) increase from associativity value 0 to 1 between output variable values 25 and 40 and drops to the associativity value 0 from the output variable values 40 to 70 . the associativity of the classes &# 34 ; very high &# 34 ; ( indicated with ++) increases from the associativity value 0 at the output variable value 40 to the associativity value 1 at the output variable value 100 and falls suddenly to 0 there . in the second lower graphical illustration in fig6 the associativity function of the second output variable , the controlling output variable k v are shown . the associativity functions are again divided into four classes , which yield a certain predetermined absolute value of the controlling output variable k v . the associativity values for the class &# 34 ; low &# 34 ; ( indicated with &# 34 ;-&# 34 ;) increases to an associativity value of 1 at output parameter value 15 from a value of 0 at an output parameter value 2 and drops to the associativity value 0 at output parameter value 30 . the class &# 34 ; normal &# 34 ;( indicated with a 0 ) increases from an associativity value of 0 at a parameter value of 5 to an associativity value 1 at an output parameter value 30 and then drops back again to an associativity value 0 at an output parameter value 50 . the associativity function for the class &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;( indicated with +) increases from the associativity value of 0 at output parameter value 30 to an associativity value of 1 at the output parameter 75 and drops again to the value 0 at an output parameter of 100 . the associativity function of the classes &# 34 ; very high &# 34 ;( indicated with ++) increases from an associativity value of 0 at the output parameter value of 85 to the value 1 at the output parameter value 150 and then suddenly drops at that output parameter value to 0 . the families of association functions illustrated with the aid of fig5 and 6 are used finally to produce the adjusting parameter z , with which the servovalve 14 and thus the power of the pressurized air motor 12 is controlled , by the measurement value - dependent processing of the controlling output variables by the fuzzy - logic means 32 . thus this family of association functions constitutes a description of the fuzzy - logic circuit means 32 operating principles . the controlling laws or principles are discernable from the following table i , from which the controlling output variables k p and / or k v may be read off for the different measured values at the screw driver device 10 . table i______________________________________principles for deriving the adjusting parameter z output outputrotation speed stiffness variable variabled s k . sub . p k . sub . v______________________________________ + - ++ ++- - + - 0 0 0 0 - 0 - 0 + + - - 0 + 0 + ______________________________________ if one uses the first line in table i of the controlling law , the controlling output variables k p and k v are &# 34 ; very high &# 34 ; when the rotation speed d is large and the stiffness s is small . the other possible situations are to be taken from the other lines of the controlling law in table i . the torque and rotation speed are described as values to be measured in the embodiments shown here . it is of course understandably possible also to use other actual measured values characteristic of the process step in the connecting or joining process and these also can be fed to the fuzzy - logic circuit means for analysis to determine an adjusting parameter z . these other measured values can be the tension or the depth . also the connection can be made by controlling more than two measured values with the fuzzy logic circuit means so that an exact adjustment of the set value is possible , since by the determination of several families of functions of the input variables an exact association with the output variables is possible by the families of functions . while the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a method of making a connection , especially a screw connection , it is not intended to be limited to the details shown , since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention . without further analysis , the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can , by applying current knowledge , readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that , from the standpoint of prior art , fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention . | 1 |
the odorant formulation of this invention may be produced by various processes and temperatures and pressures which enable the efficient handling of ingredients and depending upon the application in which the odorant formulation will be employed . while specific formula modifications will be required for certain dissemination scenarios , these changes would be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure . in accordance with the present invention , the odorant formulations are made from ingredients comprising at least two different compounds ; at least one odorant compound and a carrier fluid . depending on the application and dissemination device used , other additives may be used , such as an odor intensifier . in all cases the composition of this invention so formed must have a toxicity category rating of at least iii . this invention is susceptible to considerable variation in its practice . thus , the odorant formulation description is not limited to the particular exemplification . the odorant component of the odorant formulation may be comprised of a variety of ingredients that comprise odors that initiate memory recall . odorant formulations can be obtained as essential oils from natural substances or synthesized via methods in synthetic chemistry . the concentration of the odorant compound or compounds in the odorant formulations of the invention may vary depending on the particular odorant employed and on the application for which the odorant formulation is intended . the odorant compound should have sufficient characteristics to be effective under the circumstances of intended use . the intensity and lasting effect of the odorant may be controlled by the concentration of odor intensifier present in the odorant formulation . the odor intensifier and the concentration thereof should chosen such that the odorant composition formed has a toxicity category rating of at least iii . skatole is an indole commonly used in perfumes at very low concentrations for its odor - intensifying properties . the term โ skatole โ typically refers to the compound 3 - methyl indole . while the concentration of odor intensifier may vary for a given application , it will preferably in the range of about 0 . 05 wt . % to about 5 wt . %, of the odorant formulation . the odorant compound may be dissolved , diluted , or otherwise dispersed , in a carrier liquid which may be an aqueous , organic , and / or oil - based carrier or diluent liquid . this carrier liquid may be comprised of any one or more of a variety of compounds , and its selection may vary depending on the particular odorant compound used and on the application for which the odorant composition is intended . examples of suitable diluents may include water or water - based solutions and buffers , organic solvents ( e . g ., esters , ethers , ketones , nitriles , hydrocarbons , etc . ), and oleaginous liquids , both natural and synthetic , including mixtures . preferably , the carrier liquid is one which effectively produces a volatility optimum for dissemination as compared to the composition which is substantially devoid of the carrier liquid . in one embodiment , a plant oil is used to improve physical characteristics such as , e . g ., improve viscosity , lower volatility , etc ., and to facilitate storage and / or transportation of the odorant formulation . in any event , the composition which includes the carrier liquid should always have a toxicity category rating of at least iii . depending on the particular application and / or method for delivering the odorant composition to its intended target area , it may be desirable to include other chemical components in the compositions . these may include preservatives , such as ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid ( edta ), marking dyes ( e . g ., permanent , non - permanent , fluorescent , or iridescent dyes , etc . ), viscosity modifiers , bismuth and other like compounds for enhancing ballistic properties , anti - foaming agents , anti - static agents , and the like , including mixtures of any two or more of the foregoing . it is found that the odorant compositions of this invention deliver a stimulus that is perceived by the olfactory nerve . the response is typically characterized by a strong desire to obey the message delivered in conjunction with the odorant and accompanying audiovisual message . persons exposed to the odors , particularly those with vivid memories , or lowered mental state due to hunger , fatigue , etc , will be more susceptible to be effected by the odors . by selection of an appropriate delivery means , it is envisioned that the odorant compositions will be beneficial in a wide range of applications , e . g ., for peaceful dispersion of unruly crowds or mobs , for incapacitation of instigators or other key personnel , for denial and or discouragement of access to specific areas , for peaceful clearing of personnel from structures and facilities , for control of movement of crowds , for neutralization of vehicles , aircraft , vessels , and facilities , as an adjutant in hostage negotiations , an alternative to anti - personnel land mines , as a first line warning device to civilian personnel not to enter an area , and other like scenarios . positive crowd control can be experienced in situations such as gaining momentum with a battle - fatiqued fighting force , gaining inspiration in a team environment , and subliminal messages to perform a desired task such as spending money , assisting others , making peace , or other circumstantial attitude adjustments . in accordance with this invention , in order to effect memory recall in one or more individuals to modify their behavior , the individual ( s ) are exposed to a odorant composition of this invention . the odorant compositions of the present invention may be packaged or otherwise contained in a vessel to allow them to be directed or delivered to an intended target area using any one of a multitude of delivery techniques . thus , the present invention also provides a device which comprises a containment vessel for storing a liquid material , and within the vessel a liquid material comprised of a odorant composition formed from ingredients comprising ( i ) at least one odorant compound and ( ii ) a carrier liquid , wherein the odorant composition so formed has a toxicity category rating of at least iii . the following examples are provided to demonstrate various embodiments of this invention . it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the techniques disclosed in the examples which follow represent those found by the inventors to function in the practice of the invention . however , those skilled in the art should , in light of the present disclosure , appreciate that many changes can be made in the specific embodiments which are disclosed herein and still obtain a like or similar result without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . in example 1 , the intent of the odorant in combination with the audiovisual scheme is to invoke hunger , or perception of hunger in a target group . in conjunction with the odorant formulation of certain familiar food odors , such as the odor of grilling steak , frying chicken , popcorn , or the like , an audiovisual message is produced that may contain accompanying sounds that simulate the frying process or the eating process . the resultant effect is to initiate a salivatory gland response , which makes the target individual ( s ) susceptible to a secondary behavioral request , such as moving to another location . the following odorant composition was prepared at ambient temperature without the manipulation of temperature , under ambient atmosphere and at atmospheric pressure , according to the following formulation : | 5 |
the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings . this embodiment is applied to motor vehicles having generally known types of door locks , and the whole system is shown in fig1 . in fig1 a door lock controller 10 and a controller for controlling the folding of the rearview mirrors 20 are interconnected by a control bus 11 . the door lock controller 10 has a power supply , a ground and a group of input switches , and on the output side thereof , for example , 6 electric motors 12 for locking the doors are connected in parallel . as a group of switches , single - pole single - throw lock key switches for right and left doors 13 , 14 , a single - pole single - throw inner door unlock switch 15 , and an inner door lock switch of the same type 16 are used . the controller for controlling the folding of the rearview mirrors 20 has , as described later with reference to fig2 a built - in four - bit one - tip micro computer and relay circuits 31 , 32 , and with the input side of the controller 20 not only the control bus 11 from said group of switches 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , but also a seesaw switch 22 connected in series with ignition switch 21 are connected , and on the output side thereof motor circuits 35 , 36 are connected , wherein the motor circuits 35 , 36 include reversible motors 23 , 24 for electrically folding right and left rearview mirrors , as well as limit switches for detecting the folded or erected rearview mirror position 23 - 28 as described for example in u . s . patent application ser . no . 187 , 965 . fig2 shows the makeup of the controller for controlling the folding 20 including a four - bit micro computer 30 for processing each input of the switch group , an erecting relay circuit 31 closed when the mirror cases are turned to the erected ( reset ) side , a folding relay circuit 32 closed when the mirror cases are turned to the folded side , and a voltage regulator 18 . micro computer 30 is a type including not only rom , ram , i / o , and cpu but also peripheral circuits such as a timer , counter and serial interface , for example ฮผpd 7554cs ( nec ), may be used ( see fig5 ). the erecting relay circuit 31 and the folding relay circuit are connected in parallel with each other . self - holding circuits are formed respectively by connecting the transfer - type relay contact 33 of the erecting relay ry1 and the transfer - type relay contact 34 of the folding relay ry2 in parallel with each other . these relays are connected to the collector sides of transistors tr1 and tr2 respectively , and are driven because said transistors are made when the signals from the micro computer 30 are impressed on the base thereof . the transistors tr1 and tr2 are grounded at the emitter thereof and have zener diodes for protection zd1 and zd2 between collector and emitter respectively , however , the base voltage from the micro computer is not impressed on both of the transistors simultaneously . as shown in fig2 the limit switches 25 - 28 are arranged in series respectively with the motors for electric folding 23 , 24 between . the limit switches 25 , 26 are used to detect the erected and folded positions of the right rearview mirror , and the limit switches 27 , 28 are used to detect the erected and folded positions of the left rearview mirror . the reversible motors 23 , 24 turn the mirror cases to the folded position when current flows from terminal n to terminal b , and turn them to the erected position when current flows from terminal b to terminal n . first , the case wherein both of the right and left mirror cases are in the folded positions will be described . when the switch 22 in fig2 is pushed to open side while the right and left mirror cases are in the folded positions , and the ignition switch 21 is in on position , the transistor tr1 is made through the output of the micro computer 30 , actuating the relay ry1 . as soon as the relay contact 33 is changed over to no ( normal open ) side , relay ry1 is self - held to the no side through the output of the micro computer . since the limit switches 25 and 27 are closed while the mirror cases are in the folded positions , the motor circuit 35 is closed , and current flows from terminal b to terminal n , rotating the motors 23 , 24 so that the mirror cases are turned to the erected sides . at the beginning of the erecting operation the limit switches 26 , 28 of the erected sides are in off positions , however , current flows through diodes d3 , d4 , and immediately after the operation the switches 26 , 28 are put to on . when the limit switch 27 is put to off soon after one of the mirror cases , for example the left mirror case l , has reached an erected end , the motor driving circuit 35 is opened to stop the motor 24 . when the limit switch 25 is put to off after the other mirror case , for example the right mirror case r , has reached an erected end , the motor circuit 35 is opened to stop the motor 23 . simultaneously with the stop of the motor the micro computer 30 reads the off signal of the limit switch 25 and stops the output to the transistor tr1 , thereby putting the relay ry1 to off . when the switch 22 is pushed to the folded side while both of the right and left mirror cases are in the erected positions , the relay ry2 is actuated and the relay contact 34 is changed over to conduct current from the terminal n to the terminal b , thereby reversing the motors 23 , 24 and thus turning the mirror cases to the folded sides . since the limit switches 26 and 28 are closed when the switch 22 is changed over to the closed side while the mirror cases are in the erected positions , the motor circuit 36 is closed , and current flows from terminal n to terminal b , rotating the motors 23 , 24 in the reverse direction so that the mirror cases are turned to the folded side . at the beginning of the folding operation the limit switches 25 , 27 of the folded sides are in off positions , however , current flows through diodes d1 , d2 , and immediately after the operation the switches 25 , 27 are put to on . meanwhile , the motor driving circuit 36 is opened to stop the motor 24 when the limit switches 28 are put to off after one of the mirror cases , for example left side mirror case l , has reached the folded ends , and the motor 23 is stopped by putting the limit switches 26 to off as the same . fig3 shows the whole system wherein the door lock controller 10 shown in fig1 is incorporated into the controller 20 for controlling the electric folding . the door lock controller shown in fig3 has a relay circuit 17 for driving the door lock motors 12 regularly and reversely . fig4 shows the timing chart of the system . in the left section of the chart on and off of the switches including the ignition switch and the relays as well as the conditions of the rearview mirrors are indicated , and the lower section is divided into the zone i to xiii according to the conditions of each component . in the following each zone will be described . i . when the ignition switch is in on position , the rearview mirrors are erected or folded by the electric folding operation switch 22 . ii . the rearview mirrors can be reversed by opening or closing the electric folding operation switch 22 . iii . if the rearview mirrors are struck by an obstruction while being turned , they are stopped , and the relays are put to off after the timer time t 2 ( for example 16 ยฑ 6 seconds ). iv . even if the ignition switch 21 is put to off while the rearview mirrors are being turned , they are moved to the last positions thereof . v . when the ignition switch 21 is in off position , the rearview mirrors can not be moved even if the electric folding operation switch 22 is operated . vi . after the rearview mirrors have been folded electrically by the switch 22 , they are not erected automatically . vii . when the rearview mirrors are operated by the door lock key 13 or 14 , they are folded automatically and erected automatically . however , they begin to be operated after the time t 2 ( for example 20 seconds ) when erected automatically . viii . the relays are not actuated even if the inner door lock switches 15 , 16 are operated . ix , x . top priority is given to the operation of the electric folding operation switch 22 . in ix the rearview mirrors can be reversed by the switch 22 even if they are being operated , and in x the rearview mirrors are not affected by the switches 13 , 14 while operated by the electric folding operation switch 22 . xi . when the door lock key switches 13 , 14 are changed over to unlock while the rearview mirrors are being folded by the operation of the switches 13 , 14 , the rearview mirrors are stopped temporarily and erected after the time t 2 . xii . if the rearview mirrors are struck by an obstruction while being turned , or the motors are locked , the rearview mirrors are stopped , and the relays are put to off after the time t 2 . xiii . when the door lock key switches 13 , 14 are locked on within the time t 1 after they have been unlocked , the rearview mirrors are not erected . priority is given to the operation immediately before . fig5 is a block diagram of the inside of said four - bit single - tip micro computer , and fig6 is a circuit diagram around said micro computer . in the following resetting / watch dog concerns will be described with reference to fig6 a and 6b . the voltage stabilizer device ta8001s ( toshiba ), is connected to a capacitor to at the sixth pin thereof . when the capacitor is charged , the voltage at point a is 1 . 5 v and above , and further the output voltage at the stabilizing power source is 4 . 75 v , no resetting is output , however , when the voltage at point a is lower than 1 . 5 v , resetting is output , which is used as a watch dog timer . since the watch dog output is kept at + 5 v or 0 v if the cpu runs recklessly and does not execute the normal program , only dc pulses are generated and the rectifying voltage b of rectifying circuit of watch dog pulse is reduced to 0 v . accordingly , the voltage at point a is also reduced gradually , and when this voltage is less than 1 . 5 v , a resetting pulse is output . since resetting is maintained in this condition , voltage is impressed from the resetting output c on the sixth pin by the resistor rb , charging point c and thus releasing the reset condition . fig7 - 14 show a flow of the control program of the micro computer 30 . fig7 is a general flow , fig8 is an initial routine , fig9 is a timer routine , fig1 is a switch read - in routine , fig1 is a electric folding / outer lock / unlock routine , fig1 is a mode control routine , fig1 is a process end routine , and fig1 is a switch change plug set subroutine . ( 1 ) the locking part of the driver &# 39 ; s seat or assistant driver &# 39 ; s seat is changed over by either the door key or the motor . ( 2 ) the object of the delay t 1 is to move the motor vehicle during the time t 1 till the rearview mirrors have been erected so that any obstruction may be avoided . as described above , according to the present invention , the door locking system and the electric folding apparatus are connected with each other by the micro computer , thus enabling the rearview mirrors to be folded and erected automatically and surely . while several forms of the invention have been shown and described , other forms will now be apparent to those skilled in the art . therefore , it will be understood that the embodiments shown in the drawings and described above are merely for illustrative purposes , and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims which follow . | 1 |
one significant purpose of the present invention is to provide a precision inkjet catcher device that utilizes low cost elastomeric polymers or rigid plastic - type polymers , and advantageous processes . the catcher manufacturing technique of the present invention significantly reduces catcher cost , allows complex catcher geometry to be made with precision , produces a thermally and structurally sound device , and introduces new materials that while not practical for use in the prior art , are beneficial to ink - jet performance . the present invention combines the attributes of two different materials , metal and polymer , and two different processes , high speed / low tolerance metal fabricating and molding , to eliminate high cost , material limitations , and geometry constraints associated with prior art catcher construction . this approach utilizes a low precision metal core , and transfer or injection molding of a thin veneer of polymer , elastomeric or rigid , that constitutes a catcher face , onto the metal core . the materials and processes of the present invention have never been combined successfully to achieve the precision and size currently required in the art , for larger catcher faces that meet necessary flatness specifications . referring to the drawings , there is illustrated in fig1 and 2 a catcher assembly 10 . a metal core 12 , typically stainless steel in a preferred embodiment , serves as the thermal โ driver โ structural platform for the catcher assembly 10 . the stainless steel core is close to the optimal thermal coefficient of expansion ( tce ) needed to match the nickel and alumina used in existing printhead structures . using normal polymer tce &# 39 ; s would result in a tce that would be magnitudes off the optimum . however , with the technique described herein , polymer ( s ) are forced to move with the metal core because of the structural superiority of the metal core . hence , the polymer is rigidly coupled and stressed or โ driven โ by steel . the metal core 12 can be produced by stamping , powder metal , low precision machining , or other suitable process . a catcher face 14 , with dimensional geometry , is produced by a molding process . the catcher โ face โ 14 is molded onto the metal core 12 with a flatness less than 0 . 0002 inches , as is necessary for inkjet catcher performance . in a preferred embodiment , the steel core is loaded into a hot mold and then the polymer is injected ( thermo plastic ) or transferred ( thermoset ) onto the steel core . the polymer will adhere naturally under the pressure and heat applied during the molding . the precise geometries can be created by the molding operation . the critical dimensions are machined just once to create the mold and are replicated at very low cost through the molding process . to achieve the tolerance for the catcher face 14 , the catcher assembly 10 of the present invention meets several requirements . first , the metal component 12 , for providing the catcher with the necessary structural stiffness , is exceptionally stiff in the direction that the polymeric catcher face 14 is transfer / injection molded . the part 10 does not deflect more than 10 % of the desired final catcher โ face โ flatness tolerance during the molding process . in a preferred embodiment for manufacturing the catcher , loads calculations should use 5 , 000 p . s . i . as a minimum . it is preferred that the polymer thickness be kept thin , and most preferably under 1 mm . this minimizes polymer shrinkage during the cooling / curing process . the catcher face flatness requirement necessitates that the mold that produces the final tolerance is not more than 25 % of the final part tolerance . during any molding process , the polymeric material shrinks as it cools down from the molding temperature . without proper design , such shrinkage would produce a catcher face that would be way out of tolerance for flatness down the length of an inkjet array and profile parallel to motion of the ink drops . to prevent this problem , the metal insert 12 is made to come reproducibly close to the face of the catcher . this ensures that the thickness of the plastic or elastomer on the catcher face is quite small . as the shrinkage of the polymeric material in any direction is proportional to the length of the material in that direction , keeping the thickness of the polymeric material small along the face of the catcher minimizes shrinkage and therefore distortion along the catcher face . the shrinkage rates for two materials of interest for molding the catcher face in accordance with the present invention are shown in the table of fig3 . when considering the shrinkage rate for the epdm elastomer in fig3 it is seen that limiting the thickness of the polymer along the catcher face 14 to 0 . 1 inches thick will result in a shrinkage of the material along that face to 1 . 75 mil . while shrinkage per se is not necessarily a problem , shrinkage induced distortions can constitute a problem . as the polymeric material layer , which operates as the catcher face in accordance with the present invention , is much thinner and of lower stiffness than the metal insert 12 , the difference in shrinkage rates between the polymer and the metal insert does not produce significant distortions . the technique of the present invention allows for the use of non - traditional catcher materials , specifically polymer and metal , to achieve behavioral differences in fluid friction performance over existing technology . in practice , it is possible to produce catcher faces using the process of the present invention that maintain the flatness of the catcher face . typically , the required flatness tolerance for the catcher face is 0 . 0002 inches per inch per inch down the length of the catcher face . high quality surface finishes can also be provided through this molding process . required catcher geometries can be readily created in the polymeric catcher face , such as walls , rails , and channeling grooves . the present invention provides several advantages over prior art constructions . for example , the mold is only built once , vastly reducing the cost of difficult , unique , and costly processes used in tool construction . the precision is built initially into the mold , and then transferred into every catcher , requiring only the single precision construction while achieving multiple precision components . in accordance with the present invention , any inkjet - compatible polymer , including many elastomers , can be used to make a catcher . with the polymer coupled to the metal core , the catcher face will thermally and structurally follow the metal . additionally , if a low surface energy ( hydrophobic ) polymer is advantageous for a particular application , it can now be molded in accordance with the present invention . lower surface energy materials can help maintain the speed of the ink as it flows down the catcher face , keeping fluid film build - up to a minimum . with the help of this hydrophobic surface , drops will not wick out of their intended path . prior art use of metal produced a high surface energy ( hydrophilic ) and caused ink to drift into undesirable areas . it has been found that at the entrance to the catcher throat , sharp internal corners provide better fluid flow characteristics for the ink . convention machining techniques of the prior art are not able to produce sharp internal corners in critical areas and therefore may compromise optimum catcher performance . with the molding technique of the present invention , sharp corners and even raised walls on a catcher face are possible . also , exceptionally long catcher faces can be molded . with the novel transfer / injection molding technique of the present invention , recovering a damaged catcher is as simple as cutting off the damaged face and remolding it onto the metal core . the core is the greatest cost component in this new system and it is therefore advantageous that the core can be salvaged . existing art has required the part be scrapped if damaged . while the transfer molding process of the present invention is of particular advantage for forming the high precision catcher face geometry as described above , the transfer molding process of the present invention can also be utilized for forming the fluid flow geometry on the bottom surface of the catcher face . as the fluid flow geometry can be quite complex , as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 187 , 212 and ep 0 805 039 , the transfer molding process of the present invention can provide further significant cost saving when used to form the fluid flow geometry as well . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof , but it will be understood that modifications and variations can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention . | 1 |
as described above , the present invention is a cylinder head for attachment to a block assembly of an internal combustion engine . as is well known to those skilled in the art , a block assembly of an internal combustion engine contains at least one cylinder bore within which a piston reciprocates and thereby rotates a journalled crankshaft . the crankshaft can be connected directly or through a transmission to various tools or the wheels of a vehicle . further , on vehicles various devices , such as pumps , an alternator and a distributor , are driven by the rotation of the crankshaft . in conventional internal combustion engines the fuel is introduced into the cylinders by way of flat faced valves with elongated stems which alternately open and seal various ports within the cylinder head . additional valves are used to seal and open ports to permit exhaust fluids to exit the cylinders . both of these valves are operated by the rotation of a camshaft that has lobes and / or other devices that push down on the valves to open them . springs disposed around the upper portion of the valve stems will return the valves to a normally closed position . as described earlier , at higher rpms , such as above about 5 , 000 rpm , the operation of the valves and associated mechanical components reach their operational limits . it is the purpose of the present invention to eliminate these devices to provide the benefits of a more efficient and higher rpm engines , as detailed above . the present invention is a cylinder head for use with an internal combustion engine that does not use conventional valves but uses at least one ported spool that axially rotates within a cavity in the cylinder head . seals around the spool and in the cylinder head provide the necessary compression containment so that the internal combustion process can be carried out in the engine in a conventional manner . as shown in fig1 an internal combustion engine 10 includes a block assembly 12 within which is at least one cylinder bore 14 and a reciprocating piston 16 disposed therein . a lower end of the piston 16 is connected by pin and rod bearings 18 to a longitudinally mounted crankshaft 20 . a timing gear and belt / chain assembly 22 is connected on the exterior of the block assembly 12 , and is used to operate a conventional valve assembly , which the present invention replaces , as described above . a cylinder head 24 , in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the present invention , is mounted to the upper portion of the block assembly 12 in any operative manner , such as by the use of bolts or screws , together with a sealing gasket ( not shown ), as are all well known to those skilled in the art . the cylinder head 24 of the present invention is intended to replace an existing conventional cylinder head or it can be an integral part of an engine design . the cylinder head 24 can be used with a gasoline , diesel natural gas or other fueled engine . further , the cylinder head 24 can be used on a single cylinder engine or on an engine with a plurality of cylinders arranged in - line , radially , horizontally , opposed or in a v - pattern . also , the cylinder head 24 can be used on some dual stroke and most four stroke engines . one preferred embodiment that will be described below is that the cylinder head 24 of the present invention is used to replace as a retrofit the cylinder head from a four stroke , in - line four cylinder gasoline engine , such as found in many conventional subcompact or compact automobiles . as shown in fig1 the cylinder head 24 includes at least one intake opening 26 , which is in communication with the cylinder bore 14 , as will be described below , and which is connected to an intake manifold ( not shown ), as is well known to those skilled in the art . the cylinder head 24 includes spark plugs 28 threaded into bores ( not shown ) that are in communication with the cylinder bores 14 . the operation of the spark plugs is controlled by a mechanical , electronic distributor or other current firing device ( not shown ) that feeds electrical current in a timed sequence to each of the spark plugs 28 through respective wires 30 . the cylinder head 24 can be formed from a single casting , as are conventional cylinder heads , with the necessary mechanical components mounted to the cylinder head and a cover placed thereover . preferably , the cylinder head 24 is formed in two sections as shown in fig1 and 2 . an upper section 32 , having cooling fins or ribs 34 formed therein or attached thereto , is removably mounted to a lower section 36 by way of bolts ( not shown ). a sealer or gasket 38 is provided between the two sections to assist in containing any pressurized fluids . on a front face of the cylinder head 24 at least one spool end opening 40 is provided from which a spool ( to be described below ) extends and interconnects with the timing gear assembly 22 . at least one spool , and preferably two spools , is used in the present invention in place of the conventional valves and related mechanical components . fig3 shows a side view of a spool 42 which comprises an elongated cylinder having a series of spaced annular sealed bearings 44 adapted to be mounted within the cylinder head 24 , and a series of annular spaced grooves 46 which are used to receive sealing elements , as will be described below . each spool 42 can be assembled from a series of individual cylindrical or spherical elements , however , it is preferred that each spool 42 be cast , forged or machined as a single unit . while one spool 42 can be used to operate as the intake and exhaust sealing mechanism in place of the intake and exhaust valves , it is preferred that at least two spools 42 be so used with one being for the intake and one for the exhaust . an intake spool 42 is formed from any suitable material , such as steel and preferably stainless steel , while the exhaust spool 42 is formed from a material that can withstand the exhaust fluid temperatures , such as stellite . the intake and the exhaust spools 42 are essentially identical in configuration except that one or both has an elongated extension 48 that extends out from the front spool end opening 40 in the cylinder head 24 . for the purposes of this discussion and the drawings show the exhaust spool 42 having such extension 48 for interconnection with the timing gear assembly 22 . each spool 42 includes a gear or drive mechanism 50 adjacent one end thereof and operatively connected for timed and synchronized rotation of both the intake and the exhaust spools 42 by the rotation of the timing gear assembly 22 . each spool 42 includes at least one cutout or port that is used to permit fluid flow past the spool 42 and into or out from the cylinder bore 14 . preferably , a first port 52 is machined into or formed into the spool 42 in any configuration desired , such as a generally rectangular or cylindrical opening . the first port 52 is in communication through a longitudinal and internal channel 54 with a second port 56 . the second port 56 can be formed from one or more port openings 58 each equally spaced from the other . for example as shown in fig3 four port openings are radially spaced ninety degrees apart . each cylinder bore 14 will have at least one first port 52 associated therewith and the fluids will either flow thereinto or thereout via the channels 54 into a second port 56 which services at least two cylinders . the configuration of the second port 56 can be designed so that when the spool 42 is rotated fluids are pumped into or out from the channels 54 . for example , the angle of the edges of the second port &# 39 ; s openings 58 can be chosen so that upon a clockwise rotation of the spool 42 exhaust fluids exiting the cylinder bore 14 will be drawn out into the first port 52 , through the channels 54 and out the second port 56 into the exhaust manifold ( not shown ). likewise , the same considerations can be used to pump fuel fluids into the cylinder bore 14 via the intake spool &# 39 ; s ports 52 and 56 . the spools 42 are mounted for axial rotation by being placed into parallel and longitudinal cavities 60 formed into the upper section 32 and the lower section 36 . as shown in fig4 the lower section 36 has a half - cylindrical cavity 60 with a configuration essentially identical to the spool 42 and bearings 44 . the upper section 32 has a corresponding half - cylindrical cavity formed in an underside thereof . further , the upper section 32 and the lower section 36 each include corresponding cavities 62 for receiving thereinto the spool gear assemblies 50 , as shown in fig4 . the lower section 36 includes at least one cylinder port 64 therethrough per cylinder bore 14 within the cavity 60 . as described above , the preferable configuration is to use at least two spools 42 with one being for the intake purpose and the other for the exhaust purposes . fig4 shows such a preferred configuration with the cavity 60 being adapted to receive thereinto the exhaust spool 42 , therefore the cylinder port 64 is used as the exit means for exhaust gasses to be removed from cylinder bore 14 and into the first port 52 when the spool 42 is rotated so that the ports 52 and 64 are face - to - face . in fig4 the port 64 is slightly offset from the longitudinal centerline of the cylinder head 14 so that a corresponding intake port ( not shown ) can be provided in the intake cavity to service the same cylinder bore 14 and provide access of fluid to the at least one fluid intake opening 26 . likewise , either the upper section 32 or the lower section 36 or both will contain at least one exhaust fluid opening 66 in operative communication with an exhaust manifold ( not shown ). to provide the necessary sealing action so that the cylinder bore 14 can develop compression when the piston 16 is advanced towards the cylinder head 24 , a plurality of graphite , iron , ceramic or elastomeric annular seals 68 , the preferred material being the above mentioned graphite capable of withstanding 5 , 000 degrees fahrenheit are disposed around the spool 42 at the grooves 46 and are received into cooperative grooves 70 in the upper section 32 and the lower section 36 . the type and configuration of such seals 68 can be readily determined by those skilled in the art . fig5 is a lateral section through the assembled cylinder head 24 along a line passing through a spark plug 28 showing the elevation details of the internal features of the cylinder head 24 . likewise , fig6 is a lateral section through the assembled cylinder head 24 along a line passing through the second port 56 . the necessary sealing action for compression is also provided by a plurality of rectangular graphite seals 72 capable of withstanding 5 , 000 degrees fahrenheit set longitudinally in the lower section 36 on either side of the cylinder ports 64 . the seals 72 are biased towards the spools 42 under tension by utilizing wave springs 74 or other pressurizing devices set into rectangular recesses 76 in an underside of the lower section 36 . the underside of the lower section 36 includes a generally hemispherical or domed cavity 78 which is coaxially disposed over the cylinder bore 14 . as is well known to those skilled in the art , a hemispherical cavity or &# 34 ; hemi - head &# 34 ; provides for a more efficient fuel burning process within the cylinder and thus greater horsepower and fuel efficiency . further , as is well known to those skilled in the art , the vertical and centered arrangement of each spark plug 28 causes the fuel &# 39 ; s flame front to proceed outwardly and downwardly in a symmetrical pattern rather than laterally in most conventional engines , which introduces wasted motion and causes a slight overturning moment to the piston 16 that can add to piston ring and cylinder wear . as shown in fig5 and 6 , the upper section 32 and the lower section 36 include internal passageways or channels for coolant liquids 80 and for lubricating fluids 82 . since the cylinder head 24 does not include a plurality of conventional valves and the associated mechanical components , the channels 80 and 82 can be made larger than those in conventional cylinder heads thereby enabling the cylinder head 24 to operate at a cooler than conventional temperature and with more even temperature distribution to reduce warpage and overheating . the present invention operates in the following manner . a conventional cylinder head is removed from an existing internal combustion engine in the well known manner . a new head gasket 84 is fitted to an upper portion of the block assembly 12 , and the assembled cylinder head 24 and / or the lower sub assembly is attached thereto by way of a plurality of bolts or screws ( not shown ). the upper head and assemblies can then be installed . the timing gear assembly 22 is interconnected to the extension 48 of the exhaust spool 42 by way of a pulley or gear . the &# 34 ; valve timing &# 34 ; of the present invention is very simple as compared to the conventional valve timing . timing is ensured by rotating the spool gear assembly 50 so that the intake and the exhaust spools have the proper radial relationships , and then rotating the extension 48 until the intake and exhaust ports on the spools are in proper opened / closed relationship to the position of the timing mark on a flywheel or other timing indicator on the crankshaft 20 , as are all well known to those skilled in the art . a conventional intake manifold is mounted across the fluid intake opening 26 , a conventional exhaust manifold is mounted across the exhaust fluid opening 66 , and sources of electrical current , fuel , coolant fluid and lubricating fluid are operatively connected to the engine , as are well known to those skilled in the art . once the engine &# 39 ; s crankshaft 20 is rotated , such as by a starter , fuel is admitted into the intake fluid opening 26 where it passes in a timed sequence through the port openings 58 , through the channels 54 and out from the first ports 52 through the cylinder port 64 and into the cylinder bore 14 , as shown in fig5 . as the crankshaft 20 is rotated the timing gear assembly 22 and the spool gear assembly 50 rotate the intake and the exhaust spools 42 so that the cylindrical wall of the intake spool 42 is rotated to form a seal across the intake cylinder port 64 . the first port 52 of the exhaust spool 42 is rotated but will still form a seal in the same manner against its exhaust cylinder port 64 . electrical current from a mechanical , electronic distributor or other current firing device passes through the wire 30 to cause a spark within the cylinder bore 14 at the spark plug 28 . the electrical spark ignites the fuel mixture creating an explosive force that drives the piston 16 downwardly , which in turn rotates the crankshaft 20 and the spools 42 . the piston 16 is mechanically moved upwards by the rotation of the crankshaft 20 to force exhaust fluids out from the cylinder bore 14 . the exhaust spool 42 has been rotated so that the exhaust first port 52 is aligned face - to - face with the exhaust cylinder port 64 thereby providing a passageway for the exhaust fluids to exit . this rotation of the exhaust spool 42 ensures that heat from the exhaust fluids will be dissipated across the entire contacting area rather than a single hot spot . the exhaust fluids exit from the first port 52 through the channel 54 and out from the second port 56 and into the exhaust fluid opening 66 and the exhaust manifold . with the continued rotation of the crankshaft 20 , the operation of the engine 10 continues as is well known to those skilled in the art . wherein the present invention has been described in particular relation to the drawings attached hereto , it should be understood that other and further modifications , apart from those shown or suggested herein , may be made without the scope and spirit of the present invention . | 5 |
referring to fig2 two base stations 100 , 200 are shown , although any number of base stations may be provided . each base station antenna 2 , 4 is connected to a receiver module 6 , 8 , respectively . the output of which is connected to a demultiplexer 10 , 12 , respectively . each demultiplexer 10 , 12 generates an output data signal on an output line 14 , 16 , respectively . each de - multiplexer 10 , 12 has a further output connected to an input of a comparator 18 , 20 , respectively . each of which receives an input signal on a line 22 , 24 , respectively . this signal is indicative of a base station identity . each of the comparators 18 , 20 have an output line 26 , 28 respectively , upon which a signal is generated indicative of the comparison . referring to fig3 each of the base stations 100 , 200 include the circuitry shown in fig3 which comprises a splitter 30 connected to the antenna . an output from the splitter 30 is connected to an input of a receiver 32 . the output of the receiver 30 is connected to an envelope detector 34 . the output of the detector 34 is connected to an input of a threshold device 36 . the output of the threshold device 36 is connected to an input of a modulator 38 . the output of the modulator 38 is connected to a further input of the splitter 30 . the threshold device 36 is tied at a second input 40 thereof to a preset voltage signal . the operation of the circuit shown in fig3 is described in detail below with reference to fig2 . referring back to fig2 the mobile unit 300 includes an antenna 42 connected to an output of a splitter / combiner 44 . a multiplexer 46 receives data from a source on an input line 47 and is connected to an input of a transmit frame circuit 48 which feeds , via an oscillator 50 , into a transmitter 52 . the transmitter 52 is controlled by an accumulator 70 . the output of the transmitter 52 is connected to an input of the splitter / combiner 44 . a further output of the splitter / combiner 44 is connected to a splitter 54 . the outputs of the splitter 54 are connected to an input of a receiver 56 , 58 , respectively . the outputs from the receivers 56 , 58 are respectively connected to a contact of a switch 60 . the output of the receiver 56 is connected to an input of a counter 62 , and the output of the receiver 58 is connected to an input of a counter 64 . the outputs from the counters 62 , 64 are connected to a digital comparator 66 . the output of the comparator 66 is connected to an input of a latch circuit 68 . the output of the latch circuit 68 is connected to the switch 60 and to a further input of the multiplexer 46 for controlling the switch 60 and the multiplexer 46 . the operation of the circuits of fig2 and 3 will now be described . fig2 shows a mobile unit 300 in communication with base stations 100 , 200 . only the uplink , i . e . the link running from the direction mobile unit to the base station is considered for this invention . however , it will be appreciated that power control links running in the opposite direction , i . e . base station to mobile unit are necessary for signalling purposes . the mobile unit transmits its signal to the base stations 100 , 200 . as shown in fig3 these base stations include a receiver 32 and an envelope detector 34 for detecting the power of the received signals from that particular mobile unit . this is compared in a threshold device 36 and , according to the power , a power control bit is generated . if the received signal power exceeds the threshold , a reduced power signal is generated . if it is below the threshold , an increased power signal is generated and transmitted through the relevant part of the modulator 38 using the modulation format applicable for that system . these signals are broadcast by the two base stations 100 , 200 according to the powers as received in those base stations . the mobile unit 300 receives the signal which passes through the splitter / combiner 44 , which is the coupler that multiplexes between receive and transmit , onto the splitter 54 . the splitter 54 divides into the two receivers 56 , 58 for the power control signalling bits . in fact , this distinguishing is done for a cdma cellular mobile radio system on the basis of spreading codes . at this stage the correct received power control data sequence has to be selected via a switch 60 , which is under control from a latch circuit 68 . the manner in which the state of the latch circuit 68 is controlled is explained below . at the output of the switch 60 is an accumulator 70 , which takes the accumulated up / down signals to create an overall level which controls the power of the output transmitter 52 . this power is transmitted . the outputs of receivers 56 , 58 are also connected to the counters 62 , 64 . the counters 62 , 64 count the number of down signals generated by the receivers 56 , 58 and are connected to a digital comparator 66 . the comparator 60 compares the number of down signals received from the two base stations 100 , 200 . the base station sending the greater number of down signals ( the station that received the higher average signal power over a transmit frame ) and therefore can be considered the better base station for selection in the following frame . the output of the comparator 66 therefore , if negative , sets the latch circuit 68 to be a logical signal level of &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; and if positive , sets the latch circuit 68 to be a logical signal level of &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; for the following frame . thus , the operation of the counters 62 , 64 is synchronous with the transmit frame structure . as a result , the power control operation is controlled for each frame on the basis of the signal quality at the base stations applying in the previous frame . an auxiliary function is that there is a requirement for the mobile unit to direct its frame to the base station considered to be optimum . this is done by multiplexing a base station selection bit into the transmit frame . thus , the output of the latch circuit 68 is fed into the multiplexer 46 together with the data on the input line 47 , to be transmitted from the mobile unit 300 to the network via the base station . this data is passed from the multiplexer 46 to a transmit frame circuit 48 which performs all functions such as broad error correction coding , error checksum and , interleaving , to produce the signal that is actually modulated onto the transmitter 52 . the signal that is transmitted to base stations 100 , 200 passes into the receiver module 6 , 8 where an attempt is made to demodulate it , in particular the checksum is applied . if that checksum is successful , then demultiplexing is applied by demultiplexer 10 , 12 , to separate out the one bit of data that corresponds to the base station selection . this is then compared with the base station identity on input line 22 , 24 , in the comparator 18 , 20 to determine whether there is a match between the bit and the base station . if this match applies , then the data is launched from that base station into the backbone network onto the mobile switching center , otherwise it is not . if the above invention is used in connection with a statistically multiplexed backbone network , it will result in a significant reduction in the average traffic level . when the network is operating close to capacity , this mean reduction will also be reflected in peak traffic levels . the present invention overcomes the problem of power controlled conflict experienced in the prior art because the mobile is only under control of one base station at a time for the period which matters , i . e . an error control coding interleaving frame . the present invention may readily be extended to cater to a multiplicity of base stations . this would require the power control signals from all relevant base stations to be logged at the mobile unit in order to select the best for the next frame . the mobile unit must now transmit more than one base station identification bit ( i . e . one bit for two base stations , two bits for three base stations etc ). in practice the system design would include enough bits to cater to the maximum number of base stations which might apply anywhere within the system . the actual mapping between the base station identification bits and base station could be determined at the time when the multi - base station mode was established . for the case of two base stations in operation , one option would be to use zero for the base station to which the mobile was affiliated first , and one for the mobile which was added although any sensible mapping could be used . in the above description , the mobile unit counts the power control signals throughout its frame . however , the latest power control signals occurring in the frame could be ignored to allow a decision to be taken earlier , giving time to construct the next transmit frame in time for it to be modulated . although other modifications and changes may be suggested by those skilled in the art , it is the intention of the inventors to embody within the patent warranted hereon all changes and modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of their contribution to the art . | 7 |
in the present invention , 19 pairs of fluorescence - labeled primers of microsatellite makers are used in the polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) for genomic dna samples from 7 pig breeds ( 242 individual pigs in total ). after that , the amplified repeat fragments of microsatellite markers are subjected to capillary electrophoresis to determine the length of repeated sequence and the polymorphism of microsatellite markers of each individual pig . after that , the polymorphism data is calculated by software such like msa , structure , cervus etc . to obtain genotype frequency , genetic distance , phylogenetic tree , heterozygosity of each gene locus , private alleles and the like , which can be used for comparing the phylogenetic relationship of these individual pigs . the samples of lanyu pig breed used in the present invention were collected from 5 lanyu pigs in ntu experimental farm affiliated to the college of bio - resources and agriculture of national taiwan university and 39 lanyu pigs in taitung animal propagation station ( 44 lanyu pigs in total ). the samples of taoyuan pig breed were collected from 6 taoyuan pigs in kaohsiung animal propagation station and 30 taoyuan pigs in taiwan livestock research institute ( tlri ) ( 36 taoyuan pigs in total ). the samples of meishan pig breed were collected from 7 meishan pigs in kaohsiung animal propagation station and 30 meishan pigs in tlri ( 37 meishan pigs in total ). furthermore , the samples of 32 landrace pigs , 31 yorkshire pigs , 30 berkshire pigs and 32 duroc pigs were collected in tlri . these samples were collected from 7 pig breeds , 242 pigs in total , as shown in table 1 . the pig blood samples of the present invention were collected at the jugular bulb of the 242 pigs listed in table 1 . the wall of the 20 ml syringes were adequately rinsed by 1 ml of edta ( 0 . 5m , ph 8 . 0 ). 30 ml of blood was colleted from each pig , and the blood sample was filled in a collecting tube comprising edta ( bd vacutainer โข k3edta , usa ) and placed in an ice bucket immediately . 10 ml blood , taken from each of the above - mentioned blood samples , was used to extract the genomic dna by qiaamp dna blood maxi kit ( qiagen , usa ) in accordance with the instruction appendixed in the kit . the obtained genomic dna was loaded in 0 . 6 % agar gel and separated in 0 . 5 ร tbe buffer by 100v electrophoresis . after that , the quality of genomic dna was confirmed via its electrophoresis band pattern , and the genomic dna was stored in a โ 20 ยฐ c . freezer . 19 microsatellite makers scattered in 15 pairs of chromosomes of pigs &# 39 ; total 19 pairs of genomes were selected , comprising sw024 , sw72 , sw122 , sw857 , sw911 , sw951 , igf1 , s0002 , s0005 , s0068 , s0155 , s0215 , s0218 , s0225 , s0226 , s0227 , s0228 , s0355 and s0386 . the primers synthesized by mwg biotech ( england ) were used to amplify sequence fragments with different lengths by pcr , thereby analyzing the polymorphism of each microsatellite marker . the 5 โฒ end of these primers was fluorescence labeled . the sequences of the primers were listed in table 2 . in the present invention , polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ) was processed by using taq dna polymerase ( amersham biosciences , usa ) and ptc - 200 programmable thermal controller ( mj research inc ., usa ). first , 11 . 105 ฮผl sterile ddh 2 o , 1 . 5 ฮผl taq dna polymerase 10 ร buffer ( 500 mm kcl , 15 mm mgcl 2 and 100 mm tris - hcl ), 0 . 45 ฮผl one pair of the microsatellite primers ( 4 . 5 pmole ), 0 . 375 ฮผl 8 mm dntp and 0 . 12 ฮผl taq dna polymerase ( 5u / ฮผl , comprising 50 mm tris - hcl , 0 . 1 mm edta and 5 mm dtt ) were added into a sterile 1 . 5 ml microcentrifuge tube , vortex mixed well . after that , 14 ฮผl of the mixture was added into each well of a 96 - well pcr reacting tray ( sorenson bioscience , usa ) and then 1 ฮผl of genomic dna ( 50 ng / ฮผl ) was added , so the total pcr reaction volume is 15 ฮผl . the tray was patted to mix said mixture and genomic dna well , and then centrifuged at 4 ยฐ c . for 2 minutes at 2000 rpm to deposit the reaction mixture to the lower part of the well , thereby facilitating the pcr reaction . finally , the reaction tray was placed in ptc - 200 when the upper and lower heaters were heated to 95 ยฐ c . for processing pcr reaction . the conditions of pcr reaction are as follows : 48 - 62 ยฐ c . ( see the annealing temperature list in table 2 ), 30 seconds ; 72 ยฐ c ., 45 seconds ; step 2 repeated for 37 cycles ; 3 ฮผl product of the above - mentioned pcr reaction was taken out for capillary electrophoresis . after that , megabace 1000 sequencer ( amershan biosciences , usa ) and software genetic - profiler version 2 . 2 ( amershan biosciences , usa ) were used for dna sequencing and analyzing the length polymorphism of the amplified dna fragment of all microsatellite markers , i . e . the length polymorphism caused by the repeating number of a tandem repeat sequence on two allele loci . in addition , the fluorescence label et - 400 ( amershan biosciences , usa ) was used as a calibration standard for allele length . the genetic distances of - ln ( proportion of shared alleles ) between the 242 individual pigs were calculated by msa software in accordance with the polymorphism of the 19 microsatellite markers . afterwards , a neighbor joining tree was constructed by the software mega3 ( see kumar et al ., 2000 ). the result showed that each of the seven pig breeds formed an individual branch , as shown in fig1 . additionally , alleles of lanyu pigs , taoyuan pigs , meishan pigs , landrace pigs , yorkshire pigs , duroc pigs and berkshire pigs were further compared according to the polymorphism of the above - mentioned 19 microsatellite markers . the results showed that lanyu pigs had 14 private alleles scattered on 12 loci . table 3 shows 44 conserved lanyu pigs used in the experiments of the present invention and the comparison of their alleles . in this table , the term โ effective allele number โ means that the allele number of the microsatellite marker of the present invention is higher enough to be used for population genetic polymorphism analysis ; and the term โ private allele โ means that the allele of the microsatellite locus of the present invention is unique in a specific population or a specific species , not shown in other population or species . in all 242 individual pigs of the present invention , 4 individual pigs were divided into a branch different with its own breed . they are 2 meishan pigs , 1 yorkshire pig and 1 berkshire pig . this result shows that the gene of these 4 pigs might be transgressed by other pig breed &# 39 ; s gene . however , the identification method of the present invention can exactly separate the lanyu pig breed and other pig breeds . furthermore , the 39 lanyu pigs of taitung animal propagation station and the 5 lanyu pigs from ntu experimental farm are divided into 2 small braches . this may be because these two subgroups were introduced at different times and bred separately for years , so their genetic frequencies are different , and there are larger genetic distances between these individual lanyu pigs . in this analysis , the correct rate of correctly dividing an individual pig into its breed branch is 98 . 4 %. in other words , the neighbor joining tree analysis according the - ln ( proportion of shared allele ) distances between the 242 individual pigs has high identification ability among these pig breeds . lanyu pig now has been developed to be a medium to large sized animal model , and they were adopted as an animal model for biomedical researches in hospitals and research centers . the researchers or animal model breeding companies are going to cross lanyu pig and other miniature pigs to breed new synthesized pig breed in the future , so the possibility of lanyu pig crossing with other pigs will be greater and greater . if lanyu pig becomes an animal model for international exchanges , the genetic monitoring and identification will be a very important issue . the microsatellite markers and private alleles of the present invention can be used not only as a genetic identification label in the traceability system , but also as a genetic monitoring marker . | 2 |
as shown in fig1 , an axially moveable telescopic device is accommodated by a housing 1 with an axially closing housing cover 2 , said telescopic device having a hollow shaft 3 and a spindle shaft 5 connected to said hollow shaft by means of a rotary feed connection , operating a brake pull cable 4 and connected at its left end to a brake pull cable 4 . an elastic element 6 in the form of a spiral spring concentrically enclosing the hollow shaft 3 and / or the spindle shaft 5 is provided as a feed support for the hollow shaft 3 , said spiral spring being positioned as a compression spring , with its one end resting against a shoulder 8 of the housing 1 , by means of a fixed axial thrust bearing 7 , and with its other axial end resting against a circumferential flange 9 of the hollow shaft 3 . fig1 shows a brake position with a tightened brake pull cable . when the telescopic device is driven in the sense of a movement of the brake pull cable 4 to the right , i . e . in the sense of a tightening of a motor vehicle parking brake ( not shown in further detail here ), the elastic element 6 is compressed by pressure against the axial bearing 7 . a torque is thereby transmitted from an electric motor 10 of a regulating unit 11 ( see . fig2 ), via a transmission system ( not shown in further detail ) to an axially moveable drive transmission wheel 12 in the form of a toothed wheel , with a fixed drive connection to the hollow shaft 3 . the hollow shaft 2 , made to rotate by the drive transmission wheel 12 , has an internal thread 13 . an axial feed movement of the spindle shaft 3 is achieved by means of this internal thread 13 via the intermeshing external thread 14 of the spindle shaft 5 . a stop element 15 in the form of trapezoidal toothing around the hollow shaft edge is attached on the axial end of the hollow shaft 3 opposite the brake pull cable 4 , see fig2 . the housing cover 2 is configured in the manner of a sleeve to accommodate the spindle shaft 5 . at the edge of the sleeve a stop 16 also in the manner of trapezoidal toothing is arranged to interact with the stop element 15 of the hollow shaft 3 . the trapezoidal toothing in the housing cover 2 is not completely shown for illustration reasons . counter - clockwise rotation is not possible due to the asymmetrical saw - tooth type of toothing used , whilst clockwise rotation , in other words the retightening of the parking brake can be effected at any time . in a tightened state the trapezoidal toothing is not engaged , so that rotation of the hollow shaft 3 is possible in both directions , see fig3 . in order to release the brake cable , counter - clockwise rotation of the hollow shaft 3 is effected by means of the electric motor 10 so that the spindle shaft 5 moves counter - clockwise . the load acting on the brake pull cable 4 reduces as the release path increases . at the same time , the elastic element 6 expands . the load reduction causes the hollow shaft 3 and the drive transmission wheel 12 to be pushed to the right in the direction of the stop 16 by means of the spring force of the elastic element 6 . if the force ( cable force ) acting on the brake pull cable 4 is smaller than the bias force of the supporting elastic element 6 ( spring force ) at the axial bearing 7 , the hollow shaft 3 is pushed with its stop element 15 against the stop 16 on the housing cover 2 , see fig4 . further rotation in the release direction is prevented by the specific configuration of the stop mechanism and the cable force does not therefore drop below a defined value . the engaged trapezoidal toothing is shown in fig5 and 6 . fig7 shows a further embodiment of a regulating device with a released brake pull cable 4 , in which a sensor 17 connected to the hollow shaft 3 is provided . the elastic element 6 is thereby supported between the axial bearing 7 and the sensor 17 , so that the sensor 17 can serve to determine the spring path already covered and thus the axial position of the hollow shaft 3 . this information is preferably used to ensure gentle engagement of the trapezoidal toothing at the stop 16 . to this end the electric motor 10 is for example controlled such that the rotational speed and / or the regulating speed is reduced shortly before the stop 16 . fig8 shows a further embodiment in a released position , the stop element 18 not being directly attached to the hollow shaft 3 but rather to the drive transmission wheel 12 . accordingly , the stop 16 in the housing cover 2 is also configured on a sleeve 19 encompassing the hollow shaft 3 . in this embodiment the drive transmission wheel 12 is fixed to the hollow shaft 3 . one particular advantage of this embodiment is the ease with which the stop element 18 can be produced in conjunction with the manufacture of the drive transmission wheel 12 . fig9 to 14 show a further embodiment of the regulating device . this differs from the previous embodiment on the one hand in that in addition to the first elastic element 6 which serves as a spring for the bias force of the brake pull cable 4 , a second elastic element 20 is provided . this second elastic element 20 which is similarly configured in the form of a spiral spring serves as a spring for a force sensor . both the first and the second elastic elements 6 , 20 are thereby supported on the axial bearing 7 on the one hand and on the sensor 21 of the force sensor on the other hand , which is arranged on the hollow shaft 3 . when the parking brake is tightened or released , the hollow shaft 3 and thus also the sensor 21 moves axially to the left or right . the path thereby covered is detected via the sensor pick - up 21 and provides a measure for the tightening force and / or braking force exerted by the electric motor 10 via the drive transmission wheel 12 , the hollow shaft 3 and the spindle shaft 5 on the brake pull cable 4 . in other words , conclusions can be drawn from this path information about the cable force in the tightened state . furthermore this embodiment differs in that the stop 22 in the housing cover 2 is not fixed , but is configured on an axially moveable sleeve - type counter - element 23 . in the brake position shown in fig9 , the spindle shaft 5 pushes the counter - element 23 to the right against the spring force of a third elastic element 24 , which is similarly configured as a spiral spring and is supported on the counter - element 23 on the one hand and on the housing cover 2 on the other hand . fig1 and 11 show the brake position with its released trapezoidal toothing . in the case of a locked brake pull cable the trapezoidal toothing engages further to the right , since the spindle shaft 5 pushes the counter - element 23 to the right as a result of the support at the brake pull cable 4 . the position of the sensor pick - up 21 is thus different from its position when the brake pull cable is released . it is thus possible to detect the locking of a brake pull cable 4 during release . by way of example , the driver of the motor vehicle can be informed of locking by means of a warning light . when the brake position is released , the spindle shaft 5 moves to the left and relieves the load on the counter - element 23 , so that the third elastic element 24 expands . the hollow nut 3 thus moves back to the right , see fig1 . if the cable force is smaller than the spring force of the second elastic element 20 , the stop element 15 engages at the counter - element 24 and further rotation in the release direction is prevented . if the brake pull cable 4 is locked during release , the spindle shaft 5 would not move to the left during release either . the sensor pick - up 21 would thus move further to the right than would be the case with a brake cable that is not locked . locking could be detected in a simple fashion by evaluating the path signal of the sensor pick - up 21 . the spring system comprising the first , second and third elastic elements 6 , 20 , 24 is thus tailored to the application in that different path points of the axial path of the hollow shaft 3 are assigned different resulting spring strengths . so for example , a first path point โ cable released โ is defined by the โ disengaging โ of the second elastic element 20 . from this point onwards the hollow shaft 3 is only supported by the first elastic element 6 , which pushes the hollow shaft 3 against the stop . reaching the stop then defines a second path point โ stop with defined cable bias force โ. if the stop point moves , because the third elastic element 24 is pushed against the first elastic element 6 , a further path point โ stop moved โ is thereby defined . | 1 |
one or more illustrative embodiments incorporating the disclosure described herein are presented below . not all features of an actual implementation are necessarily described or shown for the sake of clarity . for example , the various seals , vents , joints and others design details common to oil well equipment are not specifically illustrated or described . it is understood that in the development of an actual embodiment incorporating the present disclosure , numerous implementation - specific decisions must be made to achieve the developer &# 39 ; s goals , such as compliance with system - related , business - related , government - related , and other constraints , which vary by implementation and from time to time . while a developer &# 39 ; s efforts might be complex and time - consuming , such efforts would be , nevertheless , a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of this disclosure . as used within this description , relative and positional terms , such as , but not limited to โ up โ and โ down โ, โ upward โ and โ downward โ, โ upstream โ and โ downstream โ, โ upper โ and โ lower โ, โ upwardly โ and โ downwardly โ, and other like terms are used in this description to more clearly describe some embodiments of the disclosure . in various ones of the figures , the drawings may be oriented horizontally ; in such figures , the left side of the figure is โ up โ or โ uphole โ and the right side of the figure is โ down โ or โ downhole .โ however , when applied to apparatus and methods for use in wells that are deviated or horizontal , such terms may refer to a โ left to right โ, โ right to left โ, or other relationship as appropriate . also , as used herein the terms โ seal โ and โ isolation โ are used with the recognition that some leakage may occur and that such leakage may be acceptable . an improved hydraulic sleeve valve for use in subterranean wells is disclosed . the valve comprises a body having a plurality of flow ports allowing communication from outside the body to inside the body . a movable sleeve may be sealed to the inside of the body such that in one position the sleeve prevents flow through the body flow ports and in another position flow therethrough is facilitated . the sleeve may be moved from the closed position to the opened position by a pressure differential which may be applied across one or more pistons associated with the sleeve . the improved sleeve valve comprises a release piston that provides a ratcheting action to unlock the valve as a result of repeated pressure applications to the release piston . the sleeve valve is then opened by a spring - biased valve piston . referring now to fig1 a - 3c , a cross - sectional side view of a prior art pressure actuated control valve 100 (โ pac โ). pac 100 generally comprises an outer housing or tube 101 constructed of several sections . a top connector housing 102 is disposed at the upper end of the pac 100 . the top connector housing 102 includes an internally threaded portion 104 and a set screw 105 at the top end thereof for receiving and coupling to an externally threaded stub 106 . at the lower end of the top connector housing 102 , the upper end of a release piston carrier 108 is received by an internally threaded portion 110 thereby coupling the release piston carrier 108 to the top connector housing 102 . housing extension 112 is coupled to the lower end of the release piston carrier 108 and to the upper end of an upper body section 114 . each end of the housing extension 112 is internally threaded to engage externally threaded portions 113 and 116 at the lower end of the release piston carrier 108 and the upper body section 114 , respectively . a housing lower body section 118 is coupled to the lower end of the upper body section 114 and to the upper end of a lower housing section 120 . the upper and lower ends 115 and 117 , respectively , of the housing lower body section 118 are threaded and are received by corresponding threaded sections of the upper body section 114 and the lower housing section 120 . an externally threaded upper end 121 of a housing connector 122 is received by and coupled to a corresponding internally threaded lower end of lower housing section 120 . the externally threaded lower end 123 of the housing connector 122 is received by an internally threaded upper end of and coupled to a lower cross - over section 124 . an inner housing or tube 130 is generally constructed within a lower portion of the outer housing of the pac 100 and extends upwards from the bottom or lower end of the pac 100 . an inner housing section 132 is disposed within and concentric with the pac 100 outer housing 101 . an externally threaded portion of the upper end 134 of the inner housing section 132 is received by and coupled to a corresponding internally threaded portion 136 of the lower housing section 120 and is securely held in position with set screw 135 . the inner housing section 132 is spaced from the outer housing 101 . a number of fluid ports 133 are formed around the circumference of the inner housing section at the upper end of the inner housing 132 . an inner lower connector section 138 is spaced from and disposed within and concentric with the outer housing 101 below the inner housing section 132 . an externally threaded portion of the upper end 140 of the inner lower connector section 138 is received by and coupled to a corresponding internally threaded portion 142 of the inner housing section 132 and is securely held in position with set screw 141 . an annular space is formed between the inner housing 130 and the lower portion of the outer housing 101 which defines a fluid flow path 150 to communicate fluid between the inner housing 130 and the outer housing 101 to the fluid ports 133 . a closing sleeve 144 is slidably disposed within the inner housing 130 adjacent to the inner housing section 132 and extends upwards within the pac 100 . a portion 146 of the closing sleeve 144 is formed to slide over the fluid ports 133 to completely restrict the flow of fluid through the ports 133 ( as shown in fig1 b and 2b ). the lower portion of the closing sleeve 144 has a number of fluid ports 148 formed through and around the circumference of the closing sleeve 144 . when the closing sleeve 144 is allowed to move in an upwardly direction within the pac 100 until the closing sleeve fluid ports 148 are aligned with the fluid ports 133 , fluid is allowed to flow from the annular space 150 between the inner housing 130 and the outer housing 101 to the inner bore or tube 151 of the pac 100 . an annular space 152 is formed between the closing sleeve 144 and the lower housing section 120 . a spring 154 is disposed in the lower portion of the annular space 152 and bears against a spring retainer ring 156 held in place by one or more retainer keys 158 inserted in through holes provided in the wall of the lower housing section 120 at the upper end of the inner housing 132 . the upper end of the spring 154 bears against seal retainer ring 160 . a valve piston 162 is disposed in the upper portion of annular space 152 and extends upwardly between the upper end of the closing sleeve 144 and lower and upper housing body sections 118 and 114 , respectively . the lower end of valve piston 162 is internally threaded for receiving the seal retainer ring 160 and coupling it thereto . a piston cap 166 is mounted at the upper end of the valve piston 162 by a threaded portion 167 . the valve piston 162 is secured to the closing sleeve 144 at its upper end by one or more shear screws 164 about the inner circumstance of the valve piston 162 . the closing sleeve 144 is selectively retained in position over the fluid ports 133 by one or more actuatable members , such as spring - biased dogs 168 , for example , mounted in an upper portion of upper body section 114 and extending into slot 170 formed about the outer circumference of the valve piston 162 . a release piston 172 is slidably disposed in annular space 171 formed between the release piston carrier 108 and seal bore connector 174 disposed within and concentric to the pac 100 outer housing 101 . a release piston lower extension 176 extends downwardly into an annular space 178 formed between housing extension 112 and the upper end of upper body section 114 and piston cap 166 . typically , the pac 100 is run into a wellbore in a locked - closed configuration , as shown in fig1 a - 1c , wherein the uphole end is on the left of fig1 a and the downhole end is on the right end of fig1 c . in the locked - closed configuration , the portion 146 of the closing sleeve 144 covers the fluid ports 133 . in the locked - closed configuration , the spring 154 is compressed biasing the valve piston 162 in an upwardly direction . the release piston lower extension 176 covers the spring - biased dogs 168 maintaining them in slot 170 in the valve piston 162 and preventing the valve piston 162 , and thus the closing sleeve 144 , from moving upwards and aligning the sleeve fluid ports 148 with the fluid ports 133 . the release piston lower extension 176 is held in place by one or more shear pins 180 protruding from a portion 182 of the upper end of the upper body housing section 114 and extending through release piston lower extension 176 . the pac 100 may be reconfigured to an unlocked - closed ( sheared ) configuration , as shown in fig2 a - 2c . the pac 100 is unlocked by creating a pressure differential between the inner bore or tube 151 of pac 100 and upper portion of annular space or void 171 . the inner bore 151 is pressurized by pressuring down the wellbore tubing ( not shown ) coupled to the upper end of the top connector housing 102 via stub 106 at internally threaded portion 104 . increased pressure is thus asserted against the face 173 of the release piston 172 . vents 175 and 177 vent the annular space 171 to the exterior of the outer housing 101 creating a pressure differential across the release piston 172 driving the release piston 172 upwards in the annular space 171 . the action of the release piston 172 moving upwards uncovers the release piston snap ring 184 allowing the snap ring 184 to contract slightly into an elongated annular groove 186 and prevent the release piston 172 from moving downwardly when the increased pressure in the inner bore 151 is bled off . as the release piston 172 moves upwardly , the release piston lower extension 176 shears the shear pins 180 and uncovers the spring - biased dogs 168 . when the dogs 168 are uncovered , a spring , such as a leaf spring , for example , forces the dogs 168 outwardly and out of the slot 170 and the closing sleeve 144 is free to slide upwardly . as long as increased pressure is maintained in the inner bore 151 , pressurized fluid bears against the face 179 of the piston cap 166 preventing the closing sleeve from sliding upwardly and opening the fluid ports 133 . fig3 a - 3c illustrate the pac 100 in an open configuration , wherein the uphole end is on the left and the downhole end is on the right . the valve is opened by bleeding , i . e ., reducing , the pressure in the inner bore 151 . when the inner bore pressure is bled off , the compressed spring 154 expands against the lower end of the valve piston 162 pushing the valve piston 162 , and thus the closing sleeve 144 , upwardly until the closing sleeve fluid ports 148 are aligned with the fluid ports 133 allowing fluid to flow from the annular space 150 between the inner housing 130 and the outer housing 101 to the inner bore or tube 151 of the pac 100 . referring now to fig4 a - 8e , a cross - sectional side view of one embodiment of a valve opening mechanism for a pressure actuated sleeve valve 200 (โ pav โ) according to the present disclosure is shown . the construction and operation of the pav 200 is similar to the construction and operation of the pac 100 described above . the pav 200 valve opening mechanism and operation allows the fluid pressure in the inner bore or tube to be increased and decreased ( bled ) for several cycles , for example five cycles , prior to opening the valve . in contrast , the opening mechanism and operation of pac 100 opened the valve at the end of a single pressurize and bleed cycle . pav 200 generally comprises an outer housing or tube 201 constructed of several housing and connecting sections . a top connector housing 202 is disposed at the upper end of the pav 200 . the upper or uphole end of the pav 200 is on the left and the lower or downhole end is on the right as shown in the various figures . the top connector housing 202 includes a coupling portion at its top end ( not shown ) for receiving and coupling to uphole tubing or other components such as portions of an isolation string ( not shown ). at the lower end of the top connector housing 202 , the upper end of upper body connector 204 is received by an internally threaded portion 203 thereby coupling the upper body connector 204 to the top connector housing 202 . release piston housing 206 is coupled to the lower end of the upper body connector 204 and to the upper end of a lower body connector 208 . housing extension 210 is coupled to the lower end of the lower body connector 208 and to the upper end of an upper body section 214 . each end of the housing extension 210 is internally threaded to engage externally threaded portions 211 and 213 at the lower end of the lower body connector 208 and the housing upper body section 214 , respectively . the lower section of pav 200 below housing upper body section 214 is similar to the lower section of pac 100 below housing upper body section 114 . as described above with reference to fig1 a - 3c , a closing sleeve 144 covers fluid ports 133 and has a number of fluid ports 148 formed through and around the circumference of the closing sleeve 144 below the fluid ports 133 . to open the valve , the closing sleeve 144 is allowed to move in an upwardly direction within the valve body until the closing sleeve fluid ports 148 are aligned with the fluid ports 133 . the closing sleeve 144 is secured to the valve piston 162 at its upper end by one or more shear screws 164 about the inner circumstance of the valve piston 162 . a piston cap 166 is mounted at the upper end of the piston valve 162 by threaded portion 167 . the closing sleeve 144 is retained in position covering the fluid ports 133 by one or more actuatable members , such as spring - biased dogs 168 , for example , mounted in an upper portion of upper body section 214 and extending into slot 170 formed about the outer circumference of the valve piston 162 . a release sleeve 216 is slidably disposed within and concentric to outer housing 201 . a release sleeve extension 217 extends into annular space 218 formed between housing extension 210 , and piston cap 166 and an upper end portion 220 of upper body section 214 . the release sleeve extension 217 covers and extends a predetermined distance , several inches , for example , below the spring - biased dogs 168 preventing the dogs 168 from retracting from slot 170 . a release piston 222 is slidably disposed within the annular space formed between the release sleeve 216 , and lower body connector 208 and release piston housing 206 . a ratchet carrier 224 near the upper end of release piston 222 includes ratchet teeth 225 formed around at least a portion of the surface of the inner circumference of the ratchet carrier 224 . the ratchet carrier 224 may be formed integrally with the release piston 222 or may be a separate component fixed or fastened to the upper end of release piston 222 . a double - ended ratchet collet 228 is placed between the release piston 222 and the release sleeve 216 concentric to and surrounding the release sleeve 216 for at least a portion of the outer circumference . the double - ended ratchet collet 228 is attached to a collet holder 229 between the release piston 222 and the release piston retainer ring 226 by set screw 237 , for example . ratchet teeth 227 formed on the outer surface double - ended ratchet collet 228 opposite the ratchet carrier 224 engage the ratchet teeth 225 formed in the inner surface of the ratchet carrier 224 . as shown in fig9 , 13 a and 13 b , teeth 901 formed on the inner surface of double - ended ratchet collet 228 engage teeth or shaped slots 1301 formed on the outer surface of release sleeve 216 . a first spring 230 ( or simply โ spring 230 โ below ) is disposed in the annular space formed between the release sleeve 216 and release piston housing 206 . the upper end of spring 230 bears against the lower end face 231 of upper body connector 204 while the lower end of spring 230 bears against release piston retainer ring 226 biasing the release piston 222 in a downwardly direction . a body lock ring carrier 232 at the lower end of upper body connector 204 includes ratchet teeth 233 formed in the inner surface for at least a portion of the inner circumference of the body lock ring carrier 232 . a body lock ring 234 is placed between the release piston 222 and the release sleeve 216 concentric to and surrounding the release sleeve 216 for at least a portion of the outer circumference of the release sleeve 216 . ratchet teeth 235 formed on the outer surface of body lock ring 234 opposite the body lock ring carrier 232 engage the ratchet teeth 233 formed in the inner placed between the release piston 222 and the release sleeve 216 concentric to and surrounding surface of the body lock ring carrier 232 . as shown in fig1 and 12 , teeth 1101 formed on the inner surface of body lock ring 234 engage teeth 1201 formed on the outer surface of release sleeve 216 . typically , the pav 200 is run into a wellbore in a locked - closed configuration , as shown in fig4 a - 4e . in the locked - closed configuration , the closing sleeve 144 covers the fluid ports 133 , and the second spring 154 ( or simply โ spring 154 โ below ) is compressed biasing the valve piston 162 in an upwardly direction . the release sleeve extension 217 covers the spring - biased dogs 168 maintaining them in slot 170 in the valve piston 162 and preventing the valve piston 162 , and thus the closing sleeve 144 , from moving upwards . the release sleeve extension 217 is held in place by one or more shear pins 180 protruding from a portion 221 of the upper end 220 of the upper body housing section 214 and extending through the release sleeve extension 217 . the pav 200 may be reconfigured to an unlocked - closed ( sheared ) configuration , as shown in fig5 a - 5e . the pav 200 is unlocked by creating a pressure differential across the release piston 222 between the annular space or void 236 formed between the release sleeve 216 and lower body connector 208 , and the annular space or void 238 formed between the release sleeve 216 and the release piston housing 206 . the inner bore 251 of pav 200 is pressurized by pressuring down the wellbore tubing ( not shown ) coupled to the upper end of the top connector housing 202 . fluid from the inner bore 251 bleeds into annular space 236 through orifices ( not shown ) provided in the release sleeve 216 at the corner where the release sleeve 216 joins the release sleeve extension 217 asserting increased pressure against the face 240 of release piston 222 . vents ( not shown ) vent the annular space 238 to the annular area formed between the outer housing 201 and the upper body connector 204 creating a pressure differential across the release piston 222 driving the release piston 222 upwards in the annular space 238 compressing spring 230 against the face 231 of upper body connector 204 . as the release piston 222 moves upwards , the ratchet carrier 224 and the double - ended ratchet collet 228 moves in an upwardly direction . as the release piston 222 moves upwardly , the double - ended ratchet collet 228 is forced against the release sleeve 216 such that the teeth 901 formed on the inner surface of double - ended ratchet collet 228 engage teeth 1301 formed on the outer surface of release sleeve 216 moving the release sleeve 216 upwards along with the release piston 222 . in addition , as the release sleeve 216 is pulled upwards by the movement of the release piston 222 , the body lock ring 234 teeth 1101 slide over the teeth 1201 formed on the outer surface of the release sleeve 216 . the release piston 222 moves upwardly a predetermined distance , stopping its upward movement when upper end of the release piston retainer ring 226 contacts and butts against the lower end face 231 of upper body connector 204 . as the release sleeve 216 moves upwards , the release sleeve extension 217 slides upwardly a portion of the distance that it extends in the annular space 218 past the spring - biased dogs 168 shearing the shear pin 180 . since the release sleeve extension 217 has only moved a portion of the distance it extends past the spring - biased dogs 168 , the dogs 168 remain covered by the release sleeve extension 217 thus preventing any upward movement of the closing sleeve 144 . when the fluid pressure in the pav 200 inner bore 251 is reduced , the fluid pressure against face 240 of the release piston 222 bleeds off reducing the pressure differential across the release piston 222 . the reduced pressure differential allows spring 230 drive the release piston 222 downwards its original unpressurized position against the upper face 242 of lower body connector 208 . the downward motion of the release piston 222 allows the teeth 901 of ratchet collet 232 to slide over the teeth 903 of release sleeve 216 while the release sleeve body lock ring 234 teeth 1101 engage the teeth 1201 of release sleeve 216 preventing any downward movement of the release sleeve 216 as shown in fig6 a - 6e . for each additional pressurize and bleed cycle , the release sleeve 216 , and hence the release sleeve extension 217 will move upwards an additional predetermined distance . the distance the release sleeve 222 moves each pressurize / bleed cycle is determined by the distance 244 separating the upper end 246 of the release piston retainer ring 226 and the lower end face 231 of upper body connector 204 . the distance 244 is determined by the width of the spring - biased dogs 168 . in one embodiment , the release piston 222 moves upward about three - quarters of one inch for each pressurize / bleed cycle . the next to the last pressure / bleed cycle must leave the spring - biased dogs 168 completely covered and the last pressure / bleed cycle must completely uncover the spring - biased dogs 168 . in one embodiment , five pressurize / bleed cycles are required to uncover the spring - biased dogs 168 . to ensure that the release sleeve 216 moves substantially the same distance for each pressure / bleed cycle , the double - ended ratchet collet 228 teeth 901 are widely spaced so that the double - ended ratchet collet 228 catches one and only one additional tooth 1301 on the release sleeve 216 outer surface for each pressure / bleed cycle . fig7 a - 7e illustrate the pav 200 configuration after the last pressurize cycle . the release sleeve 216 has now been moved upwards a sufficient distance to withdraw the release sleeve extension 217 from the annular space 218 to uncover the spring - biased dogs 168 . once uncovered , the spring - biased dogs 168 are retracted from slot 170 , such as by the action of a leaf spring , for example , in the valve piston 162 . fluid pressure on the face 179 of piston cap 166 overrides the compressed spring 154 preventing the closing sleeve 144 from sliding upwardly and opening the fluid ports 133 . the pav 200 is opened by bleeding , i . e ., reducing , the pressure in the inner bore 251 as shown in fig8 a - 8e . when the inner bore pressure is bled off , the compressed spring 154 expands against the lower end of the valve piston 162 pushing the valve piston 162 , and thus the closing sleeve 144 , upwardly until the closing sleeve fluid ports 148 are aligned with the fluid ports 133 opening the valve . referring now to fig9 , an isometric view , wherein arrow 911 indicates the upwards or uphole direction and arrow 913 indicates the downwards or downhole direction , of a double - ended ratchet collet 228 of one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown . the double - ended ratchet collet 228 includes longitudinal collet segments 903 separated by longitudinal slots 905 located around the circumference of the collet . the number and width of the longitudinal collet segments 903 may be varied depending on the application using the double ratchet mechanism . the interior surface of each collet segment 903 includes teeth 901 that are adapted to selectively engage the teeth 1301 formed on the outer surface of release sleeve 216 . the teeth 1301 form a thread , such as a buttress thread , for example , around the outside diameter of release sleeve 216 . teeth 901 are relatively widely spaced to ensure that only one additional tooth 1301 is picked up for each additional pressurize / bleed cycle . the exterior surface of each collet segment 903 includes teeth 227 to engage with the teeth 225 formed in the inner surface of the ratchet carrier 224 . referring now to fig1 , one embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure of a ratchet collet carrier 224 is shown . the ratchet collet carrier 224 includes teeth 225 on the interior or inner surface , the teeth 225 being adapted to engage with the teeth 227 located on the collet fingers 903 . openings 1001 around the perimeter of the ratchet collet carrier 224 may be used in one embodiment to secure the ratchet collet carrier 224 to the upper end of the release piston 222 by locking pins or set screws ( not shown ), for example . in some embodiments , a locking pin ( not shown ), for example , may be inserted through slot 1002 formed around the perimeter of the ratchet collet carrier 224 into a receiving slot ( not shown ) formed in the outside surface of ratchet collet 228 to prevent any relative rotation between ratchet collet carrier 224 and ratchet collet 228 . referring now to fig1 , an isometric view of a body lock ring 234 of one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown . the interior surface of the body lock ring 234 includes teeth 1101 that are adapted to selectively engage the teeth 2101 formed in the outer surface of release sleeve 216 . the body lock ring 234 includes a gap 1103 the formed in the body . the gap 1103 allows the body lock ring 234 to expand as it ratchets over the teeth 1201 on the release sleeve 216 ( as shown in greater detail in fig1 ). the gap 1103 aids in the selective engagement of teeth 1101 with teeth 1201 of the release sleeve 216 . the exterior or outer surface of the body lock ring 234 includes teeth 235 adapted to engage with the teeth 233 formed on the inner surface of body lock ring carrier 232 . the body lock ring 234 may include openings 1105 around the perimeter to aid in connecting the body lock ring 234 to the body lock ring holder 241 using locking pins or set screws ( not shown ), for example . body lock rings are typically fabricated with the inner diameter small enough such that the inner threads clamp onto a mandrel such as the threaded portion of the release sleeve 216 , for example . referring now to fig1 , a cross - sectional view of the teeth of the body lock ring 234 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is shown . the exterior surface of the body lock ring 234 includes teeth 235 that are adapted to engage the teeth 233 of the body lock ring carrier 232 . the body lock ring carrier 232 may be constructed similarly to ratchet collet carrier 224 as shown in fig1 . the interior surface of the body lock ring 234 includes teeth 1101 that are adapted to engage the teeth 1201 on the outer surface of the release sleeve 216 . when pressure is applied moving the release piston 222 upwards carrying the release sleeve 216 with it , an angle substantially less than 90 degrees for the upwards face 1203 of the teeth 1201 allows the release sleeve 216 to move in an upwards direction , as shown by arrow 1207 sliding past the body lock ring 234 . as the release sleeve 216 moves upward , as shown by arrow 1217 , the body lock ring 234 is forced outwardly towards the body lock ring carrier 232 , the substantially 90 degree face 1209 of the teeth 235 on the outer surface of the body lock ring 234 engaging an opposing substantially 90 degree face 1211 of the teeth 233 on the interior surface of the body lock ring carrier 232 . when pressure on the release piston 222 is bled , i . e ., reduced , the spring 230 forces the release piston 222 in a downwards direction . any corresponding downwards motion of the release sleeve 216 , as shown by the arrow 1215 , is prevented by a substantially 90 degree face 1205 of the release sleeve teeth 1201 engaging with an opposing substantially 90 degree face 1213 of the teeth 1101 formed on the interior surface of the body lock ring 234 . thus the body lock ring 234 acts to allow an upwards motion of the release sleeve 216 but prevents any downwards motion to return the release sleeve 216 to its original position . conventional body lock rings , and corresponding body lock ring carriers , have a 90 degree face on both the inner and outer face . however , the 90 degree angles may actually only be about 85 degrees to allow the body lock ring , and corresponding body lock ring carrier , to be manufactured more easily . the body lock ring 234 in conjunction with the body lock ring carrier 223 of the present disclosure will allow the release sleeve to ratchet in one direction 1217 and will prevent movement of the release sleeve 216 when it is pushed in the other direction 1215 . referring now to fig1 a , a cross - section view of one embodiment of the outer engaging teeth 227 of the double - ended ratchet collet 228 that engage the teeth 225 of the ratchet collet carrier 224 and inner teeth 901 that engage the shaped slots 1301 formed in the surface of the release sleeve 216 is shown . when pressure is applied moving the release piston 222 upwards carrying the release sleeve 216 with it , as shown by arrow 1319 , an angle substantially less than 90 degrees for the downwards face 1305 of the ratchet collet carrier 224 teeth 225 engages the downwards face 1303 of the double - ended ratchet collet 228 teeth 227 forcing the collet fingers 903 inwardly against the outer surface of the release sleeve 216 . the substantially 90 degree upwards face 1307 of teeth 901 formed on the inner surface of ratchet collect 228 engage the substantially 90 degree face 1309 of shaped slots 1301 formed on the outer surface of release sleeve 216 pulling the release sleeve 216 upwards , as shown by arrow 1319 , as the release piston 222 is forced upwards . when pressure on the release piston 222 is bled , i . e ., reduced , the spring 230 forces the release piston 222 in a downwards direction as shown by arrow 1321 . the substantially 90 degree upwards face 1311 of the ratchet collet carrier 224 teeth 225 engage the substantially 90 degree face 1313 of the ratchet collect 228 outer teeth 227 pulling the double - ended ratchet collet 228 in a downwards direction . since the release sleeve 216 is prevented from moving in a downwards direction by the locking action of the body lock ring 234 engaging the release sleeve 216 teeth 1201 , an angle substantially less than 90 degrees for the both downwards face 1315 of the ratchet collet carrier 224 inner teeth 901 and the downwards face 1317 of the shaped slot 1301 formed in the surface of the release sleeve allows the ratchet collet fingers 903 to expand outwardly pulling the double - ended ratchet collet 228 inner teeth 901 away from the release sleeve surface and out of the shaped slots 1301 . referring now to fig1 b , as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art , in another embodiment of the present disclosure the shaped slots 1301 formed in the surface of the release sleeve 216 may be teeth 1327 protruding from the outer surface of the release sleeve 216 adapted to engage the inner teeth 901 of the double - ended ratchet collet 228 . when pressure is applied moving the release piston 222 upwards carrying the release sleeve 216 with it , as shown by arrow 1319 , the substantially 90 degree upwards face 1307 of teeth 901 formed on the inner surface of ratchet collect 228 engage the substantially 90 degree downwards face 1323 of teeth 1327 formed on the outer surface of release sleeve 216 pulling the release sleeve 216 upwards , as shown by arrow 1319 . when pressure on the release piston 222 is bled , i . e ., reduced , the spring 230 forces the release piston 222 in a downwards direction as shown by arrow 1321 . since the release sleeve 216 is prevented from moving downwards by the locking action of the body lock ring 234 engaging the release sleeve 216 teeth 1201 , as the release piston 222 pulls the double - ended ratchet collet 228 downwards , an angle substantially less than 90 degrees for the both the downwards face 1315 of the ratchet collet carrier 224 inner teeth 901 and the upwards face 1325 of the teeth 1327 formed in the surface of the release sleeve 216 allows the ratchet collet fingers 903 to expand outwardly pulling the double - ended ratchet collet 228 inner teeth 901 away from the release sleeve surface allowing the ratchet collet inner teeth 901 to slide over the release sleeve teeth 1327 . referring now to fig1 a - 18e , a cross - sectional side view of another embodiment of a valve opening mechanism for a pressure actuated sleeve valve 300 (โ pav โ) according to the present disclosure is shown . the construction and operation of the pav 300 is similar to the construction and operation of the pac 100 described above . similar to pav 200 , described above , the pav 300 valve opening mechanism and operation allows the fluid pressure in the inner bore or tube to be increased and decreased ( bled ) for several cycles , for example five cycles , prior to opening the valve . pav 300 generally comprises an outer housing or tube 301 constructed of several housing and connecting sections . a top connector housing 302 is disposed at the upper end of the pav 300 . the upper or uphole end of the pav 300 is on the left and the lower or downhole end is on the right as shown in the various figures . the top connector housing 302 includes a coupling portion at its top end for receiving and coupling to uphole tubing ( not shown ) or other components such as portions of an isolation string ( not shown ). at the lower end of the top connector housing 302 , the upper end of a release piston carrier 308 is received by an internally threaded portion 306 thereby coupling the release piston carrier 308 to the top connector housing 302 . housing extension 312 is coupled to the lower end of the release piston carrier 308 and to the upper end of an upper body section 314 . each end of the housing extension 312 is internally threaded to engage externally threaded portions 311 and 313 at the lower end of the release piston carrier 308 and the housing upper body section 314 , respectively . the lower section of pav 300 ( not shown ) below housing upper body section 314 is similar to the lower section of pac 100 below housing upper body section 114 . as described above , a closing sleeve 144 covers fluid ports 133 and has a number of fluid ports 148 formed through and around the circumference of the closing sleeve 144 below the fluid ports 133 . to open the valve , the closing sleeve 144 is allowed to move in an upwardly direction within the valve body until the closing sleeve fluid ports 148 are aligned with the fluid ports 133 . the closing sleeve 144 is secured to the valve piston 162 at its upper end by one or more set screws 164 about the inner circumstance of the valve piston 162 . a piston cap 166 is mounted at the upper end of the piston valve 162 by threaded portion 167 . the closing sleeve 144 is retained in position covering the fluid ports 133 by one or more actuatable members , such as spring - biased dogs 168 , for example , mounted in an upper portion of upper body section 314 and extending into slot 170 formed about the outer circumference of the valve piston 162 . a release piston 317 is slidably disposed within annular space 320 formed between the release piston carrier 308 and inner adapter 324 , respectively , and inner sleeve 322 inner adapter 324 is disposed within and concentric to top connector 302 , and is coupled to top connector 302 by set screws 326 or other suitable coupler . the lower end of inner adapter 324 is coupled to the upper end of release piston carrier 308 at threaded portion 329 . inner sleeve 322 is coupled to the inner adapter 324 at threaded portion 328 . a spring 321 disposed in the annular space 323 formed between the release piston 317 and housing extension 312 bears against the upper face 325 of release piston 317 and the lower face 319 of release piston carrier 308 . a release sleeve 316 extends into annular space 318 formed between housing extension 312 and piston cap 166 . the lower end 330 of release sleeve 316 covers the spring - biased dogs 168 preventing the dogs 168 from retracting from slot 170 , preventing the closing sleeve from moving upwards in the valve body . the release sleeve 316 is held in place by shear pin 180 extending through release sleeve 316 into piston cap 166 . the upper end 332 of release sleeve 316 extends into annular space 334 formed between housing extension 312 and release sleeve extension 336 extending from the lower face 338 of release piston 317 . a rotating ratchet mechanism 340 is disposed between the release sleeve upper end 332 and the release piston extension 336 and is adapted to rotate in a radial direction about the release piston extension 336 . a mounting bracket 342 slidably mounts rotating ratchet mechanism 340 to release piston extension 336 allowing the release piston extension 336 to move upwardly or downwardly as the release piston 317 moves upwardly or downwardly in annular space 320 while also allowing the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 to rotate about release piston extension 336 between release piston 336 and release sleeve upper end 332 . referring now also to fig1 a and 19b , a top view of the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 is shown . two annular toothed rings 344 and 346 are fixed in opposing fashion in an annular case 350 . annular case 350 is rotatably mounted to the release piston extension 336 by mounts 342 . upper annular ring 344 is fixedly mounted to the uphole or upwards wall 343 of annular case 350 and comprises a number of teeth 345 formed in the annular ring at a predetermined pitch . similarly , lower annular ring 346 is fixedly mounted to the downhole or downwards wall 341 of annular case 350 and comprises a number of teeth 347 formed in the annular ring at the same pitch and opposing the teeth 345 formed in upper annular ring 344 . stops 348 are also formed at regular intervals , such as every five teeth , for example , between the teeth 347 of lower annular ring 346 . lugs 352 formed on the inner surface of and at predetermined intervals about the inner circumference of release sleeve upper end 332 are adapted to mesh and engage teeth 345 and 347 formed on annular rings 344 and 346 , respectively . lugs 352 may be an integral part of the release sleeve upper end 332 or may be separate components fixedly attached to the release sleeve upper end 332 . a pressure increase in the tubing inner bore 351 will force the release piston 317 in an upwards direction moving the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 in an upwards direction engaging the fixed lugs 352 . since the release sleeve 316 is held in position by shear screw 180 , the lugs 352 remain stationary as the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 moves . as the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 moves in an upwards direction , as indicated by arrow 353 , the angled face 354 will engage the similarly angled face 360 of teeth 345 or of stop 348 causing the ratchet mechanism 340 to rotate a predetermined amount , such as about 18 degrees , for example , in the direction indicated by arrow 357 . bleeding or reducing the pressure in tubing inner bore 351 allows pressure from the exterior of the valve and the compressed spring 321 to force the release piston 317 downwards moving the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 in a downwards direction . as the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 moves downwards , as indicated by arrow 355 , the angled face 358 of lugs 352 will engage the similarly angled face 356 of teeth 345 causing the ratchet mechanism 340 to further rotate approximately the same amount , such as about 18 degrees , for example , in the same direction as indicated by arrow 357 . typically , the pav 300 is run into a wellbore in a locked - closed configuration , as shown in fig1 a - 14e . in the locked - closed configuration , the closing sleeve 144 covers the fluid ports 133 , and the spring 154 is compressed biasing the valve piston 162 in an upwardly direction . the release sleeve extension 330 covers the spring - biased dogs 168 maintaining them in slot 170 in the valve piston 162 and preventing the valve piston 162 , and thus the closing sleeve 144 , from moving upwards . the release sleeve 316 is held in place by shear pin 180 extending through release sleeve extension 330 into piston cap 166 . the lugs 352 are positioned at the upper extent of the release piston downwards travel in the valve and are engaged with the teeth 345 against the upper annular ring 344 . the pav 300 may be reconfigured to an unlocked - closed ( sheared ) configuration , as shown in fig1 a - 17e . the pav 300 is unlocked by repeatedly pressurizing and then bleeding the pressure in the tubing inner bore 351 . increasing the pressure in the inner bore 351 creates a pressure differential across the release piston 317 between the tubing inner bore 351 and the annular space or void 320 formed between the inner sleeve 322 and inner adapter 324 , and the annular space or void 323 formed between the release piston 317 and the housing extension 312 . the inner bore 351 of pav 300 is pressurized by pressuring down the wellbore resulting in increased pressure against release piston 317 face 338 and release piston extension stop 337 . vents ( not shown ) vent the annular space 323 to the annular space created between top connector housing 302 and inner adapter 324 ( which in turn is vented to the exterior of the valve ) creating a pressure differential across the release piston 317 driving the release piston 317 upwards in the annular spaces 320 and 323 and compressing spring 321 against the face 319 of release piston carrier 308 . in some embodiments , the annular space created between top connector housing 302 and inner adapter 324 may be vented to the zone above . space 320 is vented to the tubing inner bore 351 through the annular space formed between the release piston 317 and the inner sleeve 322 . as the release piston 317 is pushed upwards , the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 moves upwards , as indicated by arrow 353 , and the angled face 354 of lugs 352 will engage the similarly angled face 356 of teeth 347 or stop 348 causing the ratchet mechanism 340 to rotate a predetermined amount , such as about 18 degrees , for example , in the direction indicated by arrow 357 . the release piston 317 will be forced upwards compressing spring 321 until the release piston upper end 362 abuts the face 364 of inner adapter 324 as shown in fig1 a - 15e . bleeding or reducing the pressure in tubing inner bore 351 allows pressure from the valve exterior and the compressed spring 321 to force the release piston 317 downwards moving the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 downwards . as the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 moves downwards , as indicated by arrow 355 , the angled face 358 of lugs 352 will engage the similarly angled face 356 of teeth 345 causing the ratchet mechanism 340 to further rotate approximately the same amount , such as about 18 degrees , for example , in the same direction as indicated by arrow 357 . at the end of the first pressurize / bleed cycle , the release piston 317 will return to its original position , as shown in fig1 a - 16e , while the release sleeve 316 remains in its original locked position covering the spring - biased dogs 168 . the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 has been rotated the angular equivalent of one full tooth width now engaging the lugs 352 by the tooth immediately adjacent to the tooth originally engaging the lugs 352 . with each additional pressurize / bleed cycle , rotating ratchet mechanism 340 will rotate one additional tooth width . at the end of the next to the last pressurize / bleed cycle , the annular rings 344 , 346 will have rotated a sufficient amount to place the lug stops 348 opposite the lugs 352 , as shown in fig1 b . on the next , and last , pressurize cycle , as the release piston 317 is driven upwards , the face 365 of the lug stops 348 will impact the lugs 352 . as the release piston 317 continues to move upwards , the release sleeve 316 is forced upwards , withdrawing the release sleeve extension 330 shearing the shear pin 180 and uncovering the spring - biased dogs 168 allowing the dogs 168 to retract from slot 170 in the valve piston 162 . as long as the tubing inner bore 351 remains pressurized , fluid pressure on the face 179 of piston cap 166 overrides the compressed spring 154 preventing the closing sleeve 144 from sliding upwardly and opening the fluid ports 133 . in the above description , the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 is rotatably attached to the outer surface of the release piston extension 336 adjacent to the release sleeve upper end 332 while the lugs 352 are formed in and extend inwardly from the inner surface of the release sleeve upper end 332 to mesh with the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 teeth 344 , 346 . in this configuration , the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 moves in an upwards and downwards direction in response to the upwards and downwards movement of the release piston 317 , as shown by the arrows 353 and 355 , respectively , while the lugs remain stationary with respect to the release sleeve 316 . as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art , in another embodiment , rotating ratchet mechanism 340 may be rotatably attached to the release sleeve upper end 332 remaining stationary and not moving in an upwards or downwards direction in response to the movement of the release piston 317 . the lugs 352 are formed in the outer surface of the release piston extension 336 and extend outwardly from the outer surface of the release piston extension 336 to mesh with the rotating ratchet mechanism 340 teeth 344 , 346 . in this embodiment , the lugs 352 move in an upwards and downwards direction in response to the upwards and downwards , as shown by arrows 353 and 355 , respectively , motion of the release piston 317 . fig1 a - 17e illustrate the pav 300 configuration after the last pressurize cycle . the pav 300 is shown in the unlocked - closed configuration . fluid pressure on the face 179 of piston cap 166 overrides the compressed spring 154 preventing the closing sleeve 144 from sliding upwardly and opening the fluid ports 133 pav 300 is opened by bleeding , i . e ., reducing , the pressure in the inner bore 351 as shown in fig1 a - 18e . when the inner bore 351 pressure is bled off , the compressed spring 154 expands against the lower end of the valve piston 162 forcing the valve piston 162 , and thus the closing sleeve 144 , upwardly until the closing sleeve fluid ports 148 are aligned with the fluid ports 133 opening the valve . when the closing sleeve fluid ports 148 are aligned with the fluid ports 133 , fluid is able to flow from outside the outer housing 101 via fluid flow path 150 formed between the inner housing 130 and the outer housing 101 through the fluid ports 133 to the tubing inner bore 351 . while the methods and apparatus of this invention have been described in terms of various embodiments , it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that variations may be applied to the methods , apparatus and / or processes , and in the steps or in the sequence of steps of the methods described herein without departing from the concept and scope of the invention . more specifically , it will be apparent that certain features which are both mechanically and functionally related may be substituted for the features described herein while the same or similar results would be achieved . all such similar substitutes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to be within the scope and concept of the invention . | 8 |
the following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments of the invention only , and are not intended to limit the scope , applicability or configuration of the invention in any way . rather the following description is intended to provide a convenient illustration for implementing various embodiments of the invention . as will become apparent , various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , though not specifically described , many shapes , widths , leading edge shapes , spacing and orientation of the undercarriage flow control surfaces , candidate vehicles that can benefit from the device , fabrication means and material , attachments means and material should be understood to fall within the scope of the present invention . referring now in detail to the drawings , like numerals herein designate like numbered parts in the figures . fig1 is a rear perspective view of the aft portion of a typical trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck with typical mud flaps 80 installed underneath the trailer and attached to the lower surface 38 of a trailer 30 . the shape and size of the mud flaps 80 are a function of the geometry of the trailer undercarriage and the wheels 70 . the mud flaps 80 are comprised of pair of downward extending panels that are located immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 of the trailer 30 . fig2 is a rear perspective view of the aft portion of a typical trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck with the subject invention 40 installed underneath the trailer and attached to the lower surface 38 of a trailer 30 . the number , shape , size , and orientation of the side surfaces comprising the subject invention 40 are a function of the geometry of the trailer 30 , geometry of the trailer top surface lower surface 38 and the geometry of the trailer base surface 36 . in one embodiment of the subject invention 40 the side surfaces are comprised of a single pair of opposing side surfaces . these side surfaces are symmetrically oriented on either side of the vehicle centerline a . each surface is located between the base surface 36 of the trailer 30 and the most aft set of wheels 70 . the pair of opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle . the side surfaces comprising the invention 40 work in concert with the lower surface 38 of the vehicle and the road that the vehicle is passing over to form a convergent nozzle that directs the undercarriage flow rearward to the base surface 36 of the vehicle 30 . the leading edge of each opposing surface 40 are located immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 and at a lateral position coincident with the lateral position of the side surfaces 32 , 33 of the trailer 30 . the trailing edge of the opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 are located immediately forward of the base surface 36 and at a lateral position that is inboard of the inner wheel of the most aft set of wheels 70 . the location of the leading edge and trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 is determined by operational and maintenance requirements of the vehicle . the subject invention 40 provides aerodynamic drag reduction for all free stream flow 100 conditions including crosswind conditions . the subject invention 40 takes advantage of all flow 100 conditions to provide increased aerodynamic drag reduction . aerodynamic drag reduction occurs when flow 100 that is passing under the vehicle and around the wheels 70 becomes entrained by the surfaces comprising the invention 40 . the flow 100 passing under the vehicle is entrained by the invention 40 and directed by the opposing and convergent surfaces 40 inboard and rearward towards the centerline a at the vehicle base surface 36 . the convergent surfaces comprising the invention 40 increase the momentum and reduce the unsteady nature of the undercarriage flow . the increased momentum undercarriage flow is discharged from the invention 40 at the vehicle base surface 36 where the undercarriage flow mixes with the wake flow . the high momentum undercarriage flow increases the flow velocity in the wake and reduces the unsteady characteristics of the wake flow . the high momentum undercarriage flow generates a stable bluff - base wake flow and a high pressure that acts on the base surface 36 of the trailer 30 . the high momentum undercarriage flow generated by the invention 40 has a preferred velocity and direction in order to increase the mixing of the undercarriage flow with the bluff - base wake flow . the subject invention is comprised of specifically shaped aerodynamic surfaces 40 that are attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle and symmetrically positioned about the vertical plane of symmetry of the vehicle . fig3 is a rear perspective view of the aft portion of a typical trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck with an alternate embodiment of the subject invention 40 installed underneath the trailer and attached to the lower surface 38 of a trailer 30 . the figure depicts the subject invention discussed in fig2 above installed on a trailer of a tractor - trailer truck with a typical mud flap 80 . the number , shape , size , and orientation of the two side surfaces comprising the subject invention 40 are a function of the geometry of the trailer 30 , geometry of the trailer top surface lower surface 38 and the geometry of the trailer base surface 36 . the subject invention 40 is comprised of a pair of opposing side surfaces that are symmetrically oriented on either side of the vehicle centerline a . each surface is located between the base 36 of the trailer 30 and the mud flaps 80 . the pair of opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle . the leading edge of each opposing surface 40 are located immediately behind the mud flaps 80 and at a lateral position coincident with the lateral position of the side surfaces 32 , 33 of the trailer 30 . the trailing edge of the opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 are located immediately forward of the base area 36 and at a lateral position that is inboard of the inner wheel of the most aft set of wheels 70 . the location of the leading edge and trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 is determined by operational and maintenance requirements of the vehicle . the subject invention 40 provides aerodynamic drag reduction for all free stream flow 100 conditions including crosswind conditions . the subject invention 40 takes advantage of all flow 100 conditions to provide increased aerodynamic drag reduction . aerodynamic drag reduction occurs when flow 100 that is passing under the vehicle and around the wheels 70 becomes entrained by the surfaces comprising the invention 40 . the flow 100 passing under the vehicle is entrained by the invention 40 and directed by the opposing and convergent surfaces 40 inboard and rearward towards the centerline a at the vehicle base 36 . the convergent surfaces comprising the invention 40 increase the momentum and reduce the unsteady nature of the undercarriage flow . the increased momentum undercarriage flow is discharged from the invention 40 at the vehicle base 36 where the undercarriage flow mixes with the wake flow . the high momentum undercarriage flow increases the flow velocity in the wake and reduces the unsteady characteristics of the wake flow . the high momentum undercarriage flow generates a stable bluff - base wake flow and a high pressure that acts on the base surface 36 of the trailer 30 . the high momentum undercarriage flow generated by the invention 40 has a preferred velocity and direction in order to increase the mixing of the undercarriage flow with the bluff - base wake flow . the subject invention is comprised of specifically shaped aerodynamic surfaces 40 that are attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle and symmetrically positioned about the vertical plane of symmetry of the vehicle . fig4 is a rear perspective view of the aft portion of a typical trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck with an alternate embodiment of the subject invention 40 installed underneath the trailer and attached to the lower surface 38 of a trailer 30 . the number , shape , size , and orientation of the two side surfaces and lower surface comprising the subject invention 40 are a function of the geometry of the trailer 30 , geometry of the trailer lower surface 38 and the geometry of the trailer base surface 36 . the subject invention 40 is comprised of a pair of opposing side surfaces and a lower surface . the two side surfaces are symmetrically oriented on either side of the vehicle centerline a . the lower surface is attached to bottom edge of the two side surfaces . these three surfaces comprising the invention 40 work with the lower surface 38 of the vehicle 30 to form a convergent flow nozzle that directs the undercarriage flow to the base 36 of the vehicle 30 . the subject invention is located between the base 36 of the trailer 30 and the most aft set of wheels 70 . the pair of opposing side surfaces of the invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle . the leading edge of each surface 40 is located immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 . the maximum lateral position of the leading edge of the surfaces 40 is coincident with the lateral position of the side surfaces 32 , 33 of the trailer 30 . the trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 are located immediately forward of the base area 36 and the maximum lateral position resides inboard of the inner wheel of the most aft set of wheels 70 . the location of the leading edge and trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 is determined by operational and maintenance requirements of the vehicle . the subject invention 40 provides aerodynamic drag reduction for all free stream flow 100 conditions including crosswind conditions . the subject invention 40 takes advantage of all flow 100 conditions to provide increased aerodynamic drag reduction . aerodynamic drag reduction occurs when flow 100 that is passing under the vehicle and around the wheels 70 becomes entrained by the surfaces comprising the invention 40 . the flow 100 passing under the vehicle is entrained by the invention 40 and directed by the opposing and convergent surfaces 40 inboard and rearward towards the centerline a at the vehicle base 36 . the convergent surfaces comprising the invention 40 increase the momentum and reduce the unsteady nature of the undercarriage flow . the increased momentum undercarriage flow is discharged from the invention 40 at the vehicle base 36 where the undercarriage flow mixes with the wake flow . the high momentum undercarriage flow increases the flow velocity in the wake and reduces the unsteady characteristics of the wake flow . the high momentum undercarriage flow generates a stable bluff - base wake flow and a high pressure that acts on the base surface 36 of the trailer 30 . the high momentum undercarriage flow generated by the invention 40 has a preferred velocity and direction in order to increase the mixing of the undercarriage flow with the bluff - base wake flow . the subject invention is comprised of specifically shaped aerodynamic surfaces 40 that are attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle and symmetrically positioned about the vertical plane of symmetry of the vehicle . fig5 a and 5 b are lower surface 38 and side views of the aft most portion of a trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck with a typical mud flap 80 installed on the underside of the trailer immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 . the shape and size of the mud flaps 80 are a function of the geometry of the trailer undercarriage and the tires 70 . the mud flaps 80 extend laterally from the trailer outward facing side surface 32 , 33 inward to a position inboard of the wheel set 70 . the mud flaps 80 extend vertically from the trailer lower surface 38 downward to a position just above the road . fig6 a and 6 b are lower surface and side views of the aft most portion of a trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck system with the subject invention 40 installed on the underside 38 of the trailer 30 immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 . the number , shape , size , and orientation of the two side surfaces comprising the subject invention 40 are a function of the geometry of the trailer 30 , geometry of the trailer top surface lower surface 38 and the geometry of the trailer base surface 36 . the subject invention 40 is comprised of a pair of opposing side surfaces that are symmetrically oriented on either side of the vehicle centerline a . each surface is located between the base 36 of the trailer 30 and the most aft set of wheels 70 . the pair of opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle . the leading edge of each opposing surface 40 are located immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 and at a lateral position coincident with the lateral position of the side surfaces 32 , 33 of the trailer 30 . the trailing edge of the opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 are located immediately forward of the base area 36 and at a lateral position that is inboard of the inner wheel of the most aft set of wheels 70 . the location of the leading edge and trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 is determined by operational and maintenance requirements of the vehicle . fig6 c and 6 d are lower surface and side views of the aft most portion of a trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck system with an alternate embodiment of the subject invention 40 installed on the underside 38 of the trailer 30 immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 . the two side surfaces comprising the subject invention 40 vary linearly in the streamwise direction . the subject invention 40 is comprised of a pair of opposing side surfaces that are symmetrically oriented on either side of the vehicle centerline a . each surface is located between the base 36 of the trailer 30 and the most aft set of wheels 70 . the pair of opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle . the leading edge of each opposing surface 40 are located immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 and at a lateral position coincident with the lateral position of the side surfaces 32 , 33 of the trailer 30 . the trailing edge of the opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 are located immediately forward of the base area 36 and at a lateral position that is inboard of the inner wheel of the most aft set of wheels 70 . the location of the leading edge and trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 is determined by operational and maintenance requirements of the vehicle . fig7 a and 7 b are lower surface and side views of the aft most portion of a trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck system with the an alternate embodiment of the subject invention in which the device 40 is installed with a typical mud flap 80 on the underside 38 of the trailer 30 immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 . the number , shape , size , and orientation of the two side surfaces comprising the subject invention 40 are a function of the geometry of the trailer 30 , geometry of the trailer top surface lower surface 38 and the geometry of the trailer base surface 36 . the subject invention 40 is comprised of a pair of opposing side surfaces that are symmetrically oriented on either side of the vehicle centerline a . each surface is located between the base 36 of the trailer 30 and the mud flaps 80 . the pair of opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle . the leading edge of each opposing surface 40 are located immediately behind the mud flaps 80 and at a lateral position coincident with the lateral position of the side surfaces 32 , 33 of the trailer 30 . the trailing edge of the opposing surfaces comprising the invention 40 are located immediately forward of the base area 36 and at a lateral position that is inboard of the inner wheel of the most aft set of wheels 70 . the location of the leading edge and trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 is determined by operational and maintenance requirements of the vehicle . fig8 a and 8 b are lower surface and side views of the aft most portion of a trailer 30 of a tractor - trailer truck system with an alternate embodiment of the subject invention 40 installed on the underside 38 of the trailer 30 immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 . the number , shape , size , and orientation of the two side and lower surfaces comprising the subject invention 40 are a function of the geometry of the trailer 30 , geometry of the trailer top surface lower surface 38 and the geometry of the trailer base surface 36 . the subject invention 40 is comprised of a pair of opposing side surfaces and a lower surface . the two side surfaces are symmetrically oriented on either side of the vehicle centerline a . the lower surface is attached to bottom edge of the two side surfaces to form a three dimensional conical structure with the lower surface of the vehicle 30 . the subject invention is located between the base 36 of the trailer 30 and the most aft set of wheels 70 . the pair of opposing side surfaces of the invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of the vehicle . the leading edge of each surface 40 is located immediately behind the most aft set of wheels 70 . the maximum lateral position of the leading edge of the surfaces 40 is coincident with the lateral position of the side surfaces 32 , 33 of the trailer 30 . the trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 are located immediately forward of the base area 36 and the maximum lateral position resides inboard of the inner wheel of the most aft set of wheels 70 . the location of the leading edge and trailing edge of the surfaces comprising the invention 40 is determined by operational and maintenance requirements of the vehicle . fig9 a through fig9 d show flow patterns in the wake of a bluff - base tractor - trailer truck with and without the present invention 40 installed . in fig9 a through fig9 d the airflow about the vehicle and in the base region is represented by arrow tipped lines and swirl structures 100 , 110 , 120 and 130 . the shaded swirl structures represent rotational wake flow 110 . the small swirl structures represent turbulent flow structures 120 in the base area and from the vehicle undercarriage . the long arrow tipped lines emanating from the under the vehicle at the base represent high momentum undercarriage flow 130 . fig9 a show a cross section view , in a plane horizontal to the ground , of the aft portion of a trailer 30 and the bluff - base wake flow , without the subject invention installed . for this condition , a surface flow 100 develops on the trailer that separates at the trailing edge of the side surfaces 32 and 33 , and forms rotational - flow structures 110 that comprise the bluff - base wake flow . the rotational - flow structures 110 are shed asymmetrically from the opposing side surfaces 32 and 33 . these rotational - flow structures 110 continue to move downstream in a random pattern . the asymmetric shedding of the rotational - flow structures 110 produce low pressures that act on the base surface 36 of the trailer . these low pressures result in a high aerodynamic drag force . the low energy flow 100 separating at the trailing edges of the side surfaces 32 and 33 of the trailer 30 is unable to energize and stabilize the low energy bluff - base wake flow . the resulting bluff - base wake - flow structure emanating from the base area of the vehicle is comprised of the vortex structures 110 that are shed from trailing edges of the side surfaces 32 and 33 of the trailer 30 . contributing to the low - energy bluff - base wake is the low - energy turbulent flow 120 that exits from the vehicle undercarriage at the base of the vehicle . fig9 b show a centerline cross section view of the aft portion of a trailer 30 and the bluff - base wake flow , without the subject invention installed . this schematic is for a single period in time . for this condition , a surface flow 100 develops on the trailer that separates at the trailing edge of the top surface 34 and forms a rotational - flow structure 110 that comprises the bluff - base wake flow . the rotational - flow structure 110 that is shed from the trailing edge of the top surface 34 is asymmetrically positioned in the wake . as a function of time this rotational - flow structure 110 will move downstream in a random pattern and be replaced by a duplicate rotational - flow structure 110 . the unsteady shedding of the rotational - flow structure 110 produces low pressures that act on the base surface 36 of the trailer 30 . these low pressures result in a high aerodynamic drag force . the low energy flow 100 separating at the trailing edges of the top surface 34 of the trailer 30 is unable to energize and stabilize the low energy bluff - base wake flow . contributing to the low - energy bluff - base wake is the low - energy turbulent flow 120 that exits from the vehicle undercarriage at the trailing edge of the vehicle . the resulting bluff - base wake - flow structure emanating from the base area of the vehicle is comprised of the vortex structures 110 that are shed from trailing edges of the side surfaces 32 and 33 and the top surface 34 of the vehicle . the low - energy turbulent flow 120 that exists from the vehicle undercarriage also enters into the bluff - base wake flow . the unsteady wake flow imparts a low pressure onto the aft facing surface 36 of the trailer base that results in significant aerodynamic drag . fig9 c and fig9 d show a top view and a side view of the aft portion of a trailer 30 and cross section views in a plane horizontal to the ground and along the vehicle centerline of the bluff - base wake flow , with the subject invention 40 installed . for this condition , the flow 100 passing under the vehicle is entrained by the device 40 and is discharged at the base of the vehicle with increased momentum 130 . the surfaces comprising the subject invention 40 are symmetrically positioned about the vehicle centerline under the trailer 30 . each surface of the subject invention 40 is specifically shaped to maximize the entrainment of the undercarriage flow and the discharge momentum of this flow at the base of the vehicle 30 . the high - momentum undercarriage - flow 130 is directed downstream , in a symmetric pattern , and exits the invention 40 at the base of the vehicle 30 . this high - momentum undercarriage - flow 130 produces a rotational - flow structure 110 that is rotating in the opposite direction to the rotational - flow structure 110 emanating from the trailing edge of the top surface 34 . the high momentum flow 130 energizes the bluff - base wake flow . the high - momentum undercarriage - flow 130 generates a stable bluff - base wake flow and a high pressure that acts on the base surface 36 of the trailer 30 . the strength of the high - momentum undercarriage - flow 130 formed by the device 40 and thus the aerodynamic drag reduction benefit will increase with increasing velocity of the flow 100 . the high - momentum undercarriage - flow 130 generated by the invention 40 has a preferred velocity and direction in order to increase the mixing of the undercarriage flow with the bluff - base wake flow . fig1 a through fig1 d are side and top views of example ground vehicles with and without the subject invention installed . fig1 a shows a typical tractor - trailer truck system 1 , comprised of a powered tractor 10 that pulls a trailer 30 . the tractor 10 is comprised of a cab 11 and an aerodynamic fairing system 20 that may be an integral part of the tractor 10 . fig1 b shows the same tractor - trailer truck system 1 as that of fig3 a with the subject invention 40 installed on the lower surface 38 of the trailer 30 . the surfaces that comprise the invention 40 are symmetrically about the vehicle centerline . fig1 c and fig1 d show an automobile 50 pulling a trailer 60 with and without the subject invention 40 installed on both the automobile and trailer lower surface 58 and 68 , respectively . the surfaces that comprise the invention 40 are symmetrically about the vehicle centerline . the various vehicles depicted in fig1 shows a powered vehicle towing / pulling an un - powered towed vehicle . additionally , other multiple component vehicles may be considered than those depicted . fig1 is a top , side and rear view of the subject invention 40 fabricated as two continuous side surfaces 41 and 42 . the side surfaces 41 and 42 are aerodynamically shaped to minimize flow separation on the inward facing and outward facing surfaces . the surfaces 41 and 42 comprising the invention are mirror images of each other and are characterized as having a constant height . the invention 40 has a leading edge 47 and a trailing edge 48 . the lateral and longitudinal separation of the leading edge 47 and trailing edge 48 for the two surfaces 41 and 42 are a primary design variable . the side surfaces are attached to a mounting bracket 44 . example material for the side surfaces 41 and 42 may be any light - weight and structurally sound rubber , metal , plastic , composite or other suitable material . the means that the surfaces 41 and 42 are attached to the bracket 44 may be bonding , welding , mechanical or other appropriate structural attachments . the subject invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of a vehicle by a means 45 . the attachments means 45 may consist of mechanical fasteners or other appropriate means . fig1 is a top , side and rear view of the subject invention 40 fabricated as a plurality of independent panels 45 a - 45 e that comprise two side surfaces 41 and 42 . the plurality of independent panels 45 a - 45 e that comprise the side surfaces 41 and 42 are orientated to simulate the desired aerodynamic shape required to minimize flow separation on the inward facing and outward facing surfaces . the surfaces 41 and 42 comprising the invention are mirror images of each other and are characterized as having a constant height . the invention 40 has a leading edge 47 and a trailing edge 48 . the lateral and longitudinal separation of the leading edge 47 and trailing edge 48 for the two surfaces 41 and 42 are a primary design variable . each of the side panels comprising the side surfaces are attached to individual mounting brackets 44 . example material for the side surfaces 41 and 42 may be any light - weight and structurally sound rubber , metal , plastic , composite or other suitable material . the means that the surfaces 41 and 42 are attached to the bracket 44 may be bonding , welding , mechanical or other appropriate structural attachments . the subject invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of a vehicle by a means 45 . the attachments means 45 may consist of mechanical fasteners or other appropriate means . fig1 is a top , side and rear view of the subject invention 40 fabricated as a plurality of interconnected panels 45 a - 45 g comprising the two side surfaces 41 and 42 . the plurality of interconnected panels 45 a - 45 g that comprise the side surfaces 41 and 42 are mechanically linked with a mechanical seal 46 . the plurality of interconnected panels 45 a - 45 g that comprise the side surfaces 41 and 42 are orientated to simulate the desired aerodynamic shape required to minimize flow separation on the inward facing and outward facing surfaces . the surfaces 41 and 42 comprising the invention are mirror images of each other and are characterized as having a constant height . the invention 40 has a leading edge 47 and a trailing edge 48 . the lateral and longitudinal separation of the leading edge 47 and trailing edge 48 for the two surfaces 41 and 42 are a primary design variable . each of the side panels comprising the side surfaces are attached to individual mounting brackets 44 . example material for the side surfaces 41 and 42 may be any light - weight and structurally sound rubber , metal , plastic , composite or other suitable material . the means that the surfaces 41 and 42 are attached to the bracket 44 may be bonding , welding , mechanical or other appropriate structural attachments . the subject invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of a vehicle by a means 45 . the attachments means 45 may consist of mechanical fasteners or other appropriate means . fig1 is a top , side and rear view of the subject invention 40 fabricated as a continuous surface comprised of two side surfaces 41 and 42 and a bottom surface 43 . the surfaces 41 , 42 and 43 are aerodynamically shaped to minimize flow separation on the inward facing and outward facing surfaces . the side surfaces 41 and 42 comprising the invention are mirror images of each other . the invention 40 has a leading edge 47 and a trailing edge 48 . the lateral and longitudinal separation of the leading edge 47 and trailing edge 48 for the two surfaces 41 , 42 and 43 are a primary design variable . the side surfaces are attached to a mounting bracket 44 . the bottom surface 43 attaches to the two side surfaces 41 and 42 . example material for the surfaces 41 , 42 and 43 may be any light - weight and structurally sound rubber , metal , plastic , composite or other suitable material . the means that the surfaces 41 and 42 are attached to the bracket 44 may be bonding , welding , mechanical or other appropriate structural attachments . the subject invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of a vehicle by a means 45 . the attachments means 45 may consist of mechanical fasteners or other appropriate means . fig1 is a top , side and rear view of an alternate embodiment of the subject invention 40 fabricated as two continuous side surfaces 41 and 42 with the outward facing side of each surface containing flow control convolutions . the inward facing area of each side surfaces 41 and 42 is smooth and aerodynamically shaped to minimize flow separation . the outward facing side of each side surfaces 41 and 42 is modified with convolutions to minimize flow separation . the surfaces 41 and 42 comprising the invention are mirror images of each other and are characterized as having a constant height . the invention 40 has a leading edge 47 and a trailing edge 48 . the lateral and longitudinal separation of the leading edge 47 and trailing edge 48 for the two surfaces 41 and 42 are a primary design variable . the side surfaces are attached to a mounting bracket 44 . example material for the side surfaces 41 and 42 may be any light - weight and structurally sound rubber , metal , plastic , composite or other suitable material . the means that the surfaces 41 and 42 are attached to the bracket 44 may be bonding , welding , mechanical or other appropriate structural attachments . the subject invention 40 is attached to the lower surface 38 of a vehicle by a means 45 . the attachments means 45 may consist of mechanical fasteners or other appropriate means . fig1 a and 16 b are side views of various embodiments of the subject invention 40 installed on a tractor - trailer truck 1 . fig1 a is a side view of a tractor - trailer truck 1 with the subject invention 40 installed in the furthest aft position on the trailer 30 lower surface 38 . fig7 b is a side view of a tractor - trailer truck 1 with the subject invention 40 installed on the lower surface 18 of the tractor 10 and the lower surface 38 of a trailer 30 fig1 a to 17 d are side views of various embodiments of the subject invention 40 installed on various ground vehicles . fig1 a is a side view of a panel truck 130 with the subject invention 40 installed in the furthest aft position on the truck 130 lower surface 138 . fig1 b is a side view of a pick - up truck 1 with the subject invention 40 installed on the pick - up bed lower surface 148 . fig1 c is a side view of a van 150 with the subject invention 40 installed in an aft position on the van 150 lower surface 158 . fig1 d is a side view of a bus 160 with the subject invention 40 installed in the aft position on the bus 160 lower surface 168 . from the description provided above , a number of advantages of the vortex strakes become evident : the invention provides a novel process to reduce the drag of a bluff - base body . ( a ) the invention provides a means to use aerodynamically shaped surfaces mounted on the lower surface of a bluff - base body to add momentum to the undercarriage flow to reduce drag . ( b ) the invention provides a means to reduce the aerodynamic drag and improve the operational efficiency of bluff - base vehicles . ( c ) the invention provides a means to reduce the aerodynamic drag and improve the fuel efficiency of bluff - base vehicles . ( d ) the invention provides a means to conserve energy and improve the operational efficiency of bluff - base vehicles . ( e ) the invention provides a means to reduce the aerodynamic drag without a significant geometric modification to existing bluff - base vehicles . ( f ) the invention may be easily applied to any existing bluff - base vehicle or designed into any new bluff - base vehicle . ( g ) the invention allows for the efficient operation of the invention with a limited number of surfaces . ( h ) the invention allows for the matching of complex surface shapes by the shaping and placement of the lower surface mounted device . ( i ) large reductions in drag force can be achieved by the addition of momentum . ( j ) the structure of each surface may be adapted to meet specific performance or vehicle integration requirements . ( k ) the shape of each surface may be planar , cylindrical , or combinations thereof to meet specific performance or vehicle integration requirements . ( l ) the ability to optimally position each surface on the vehicle lower surface . ( m ) the ability to minimize weight and volume requirements within the vehicle . ( n ) the ability to minimize maintenance requirements . ( o ) the ability to maximize the safety of vehicle operation . accordingly , the reader will see that the undercarriage flow control device can be used to easily and conveniently reduce aerodynamic drag on any ground vehicle for the purposes of improving the operational performance of the vehicle . furthermore , the surfaces comprising the undercarriage flow control device has the additional advantages in that : it provides an aerodynamic drag reduction force over the base of the vehicle ; it allows the contour of the host surface to be easily matched ; it allows easy application to any existing vehicle or designed into any existing vehicle ; it allows the device to be fabricated as an independent unit that may be applied to an existing surface ; it allows for optimal positioning of each surface on the vehicle lower surface ; it allows the design of a system with minimum weight and requires minimum volume within the vehicle ; it allows minimum maintenance requirements ; it allows for the maximum safety of vehicle operation ; although the description above contains many specificities , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention . for example , the side surfaces can have various planar and non - planar shapes ; the thickness and width can vary along the length ; the material can be any light - weight and structurally sound material such as rubber , plastic , metal , composites , etc . ; the substrate can be any metal , wood , plastic , composite , rubber , ceramic , etc . ; the application surface can be that of a metal , wood , plastic , composite , rubber , ceramic , etc . the invention has been described relative to specific embodiments thereof and relative to specific vehicles , it is not so limited . the invention is considered applicable to any road vehicle including automobiles , trucks , buses , trains , recreational vehicles and campers . the invention is also considered applicable to non - road ground - effect vehicles such as hovercraft and components of these vehicles . it is to be understood that various modifications and variation of the specific embodiments described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings without departing from the spirit and scope . thus , the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents , rather than by the examples given . | 1 |
fig1 shows the process flow for fabrication of high mobility n - channel tfts . the process steps are described in conjunction with the ensuing figures . fig2 reveals a silicon substrate 12 and display glass substrate 14 prior to electrostatic bonding . single crystal silicon substrate 12 is p - type has a boron concentration greater than 8 ร 10 18 atoms / cm 3 , a ( 100 ) orientation , ( p ++ ) and a thickness of approximately 0 . 5 millimeters . silicon substrate 12 is initially thermally oxidized in dry oxygen to produce about 0 . 5 micron of high quality silicon dioxide on surface 16 . the thermal silicon dioxide is then patterned and etched to produce gate dielectric regions 18 for the tfts to be fabricated . the pattern on the oxide also includes alignment keys for registration of the subsequent layers to gate dielectric regions 18 . next , approximately 1 . 5 microns of lightly doped epitaxial ( epi ) silicon 20 is grown on top of silicon wafer 12 containing oxide islands 18 . because an sio 2 layer presents a difficult nucleation surface for silicon chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ), lateral epitaxy results on top of oxide islands 18 . thus , a uniform epitaxial layer 20 of lightly boron doped , high mobility silicon of about a 1 . 5 micron thickness is produced by a selective epitaxial process . on top of layer 20 , a si 3 n 4 barrier layer 22 is deposited with a thickness of about 0 . 25 micron via plasma cvd . barrier layer 22 serves as an isolation layer . silicon dioxide deposited by plasma cvd may also be used as a barrier layer . on layer 22 , a light shield layer 24 of about 0 . 2 micron is deposited . after deposition of layer 24 , silicon wafer 12 is then ready for bonding . light shield layer 24 may be composed of refractory metal or similar substance , which is compatible with the electrostatic bonding process and barrier layer 22 . silicon wafer 12 incorporating layers 20 , 22 and 24 , is then electrostatically bonded to display glass substrate 14 at light shield 24 surface of wafer 12 . provision for electrical contact to light shield layer 24 for electrostatic bonding may be made by any one of various means . for example , silicon wafer 12 can be made larger than glass substrate 14 to have access to light shield layer 14 , for electrical contact during bonding . display glass substrate 14 may be corning code 1733 or other like material . substrate 14 is approximately 1 . 1 millimeters thick . electrostatic bonding involves applying approximately 1000 volts direct current across the display glass substrate 14 and wafer 12 for a bonding between layers 14 and 24 at a temperature of about 600 ยฐ c . after the bonding of layers 14 and 24 , p ++ silicon substrate 12 is etched off starting from the surface opposite of surface 16 , down past surface 16 on into layer 20 , including some of islands 18 to a level wherein a portion of thickness of islands 18 is remaining . this etching is accomplished with the use of impurity selective etch 8hac : 3hno3 : 1hf . impurity selective etch preferentially etches the p ++ silicon layer 12 one hundred times faster than the lightly doped epi - silicon layer 20 . this permits a controllable etch removal of p ++ substrate 12 . alternatively , a majority of the silicon wafer 12 may be removed by mechanical grinding and lapping prior to impurity selective preferential etching , for the remainder of wafer 12 . a portion of epi layer 20 and thermal oxide islands 18 are controllably etched to achieve about 1 , 000 angstroms of gate dielectric 18 as shown in fig3 . this etching can be done using wet chemical etching or plasma etching . silicon epi layer 20 , barrier layer 22 and light shield 24 are patterned and etched to form islands 26 for the fabrication of tfts for the active matrix array and display drivers , as shown in fig4 and 5 . spin - on - glass 28 ( e . g ., allied chemical accuglass xa03 - 5 ) is applied on substrate 14 and islands 26 , and is patterned and etched as shown in fig6 and 7 . spin - on - glass 28 protects the subsequent gate 30 from shorting to the tft channel . also , spin - on - glass 28 planarizes the surface . then a polysilicon gate 30 is deposited , patterned and etched as shown in fig8 . this is followed by self - aligned source - drain implantation 32 of phosphorus ( p 31 ), and anneal as shown in fig9 . the implant 32 damage is annealed at 600 ยฐ c . in a furnace for 20 hours . implant 32 conditions are selected to achieve an implant 32 range greater than the thickness of gate oxide 18 . then a silicon dioxide intermetal dielectric 34 is deposited by plasma chemical vapor deposition , patterned and the contact vias are etched down to implants 32 , as shown in fig1 . aluminum (+ 1 % silicon ) is then deposited , patterned , and etched to define the source - drain metalization 36 as shown in fig1 . this completes the fabrication of tft 40 for active matrix and integrated drivers . the next step is to fabricate a pixel electrode that electrically connects to the source electrode of the active matrix pixel tft . for amlcds , an indium tin oxide ( ito ) layer , which is a transparent conductor , is deposited , patterned and etched to define the pixel electrode . for clarity , the pixel electrode is not shown in fig1 and 12 . to maintain low leakage currents under high ambient lighting conditions , another light shield 44 is placed on the top of the tft . first a silicon dioxide passivation dielectric layer 42 is deposited on top of source - drain metalization 36 . then a second aluminum layer is deposited , patterned , and etched to obtain top light shield 44 as shown in fig1 . this active matrix substrate with high mobility tft and integrated drivers is then utilized to fabricate high resolution amlcds using conventional liquid crystal display assembly techniques . note that the invention can also be used to fabricate integrated drivers only using the high mobility single crystal silicon tfts , while using an a - si or poly - si tft array for an active matrix . further , the high mobility tfts of this invention can be used to fabricate integrated drivers for tfel and plasma display panels . additionally , the high mobility tfts of this invention can be used to fabricate active matrix tfel displays with integrated drivers . in the case of an active matrix tfel display , a reflective film such as aluminum is used as the pixel electrode . the source - drain aluminum ( see fig1 ) is used to fabricate the reflective electrode for the electroluminescent pixel . the high mobility tft process described above illustrates the procedures for fabricating n - channel tfts . if p - channel tfts are required , a similar process can be employed by changing the dopant in film 20 to phosphorus , and the source - drain implant 32 in fig1 to boron 11 ( b 11 ). also , complimentary metal oxide semiconductor ( cmos ) devices , involving both n -, and p - channel tfts on the same substrate , can be fabricated by masked implantation of the selected tft locations ( gate dielectric regions ) with p 31 or b 11 after selective epitaxial deposition to create n - and p - regions , prior to electrostatic bonding . display drivers using cmos circuitry consume less power . fig1 shows a flow diagram for an alternate processing scheme for fabricating high mobility single crystal silicon tfts on a display glass substrate 46 using a high quality thermal silicon dioxide gate dielectric 48 . this approach is shown in fig1 - 18 . this process uses two single crystal silicon wafers , labelled as a silicon device wafer 50 and a silicon handle wafer 52 , respectively . both wafers 50 and 52 are of p - type with resistivity of about 1 ohm - cm , and ( 100 ) orientation . first , a high quality thermal silicon dioxide layer 48 of about a 5000 angstrom thickness is grown on wafer 52 using dry oxygen at a temperature of about 1000 degrees c . in parallel , a heavily boron doped p ++ silicon etch - stop layer 54 with a thickness of about 2 microns , and a lightly doped ( p - or n - ) device layer 56 with a thickness of about 1 micron are grown on silicon device wafer 50 , using silicon epitaxy . then the two wafers , 50 and 52 , are bonded to each other either by using electrostatic bonding or diffusion bonding . fig1 shows a cross - section through silicon handle wafer 52 and silicon device wafer 50 prior to bonding . after bonding , silicon device wafer 50 is selectively etched away using selective chemical etch such as ethylene diamine pyrocatechol ( edp ). fig1 shows a cross - section through handle wafer 52 after the bonding and selective etching of device wafer 50 . then , silicon handle wafer 52 is photolithographically patterned to etch alignment keys in silicon epi device layer 56 and thermal silicon dioxide gate dielectric 48 . this allows masked implantation anneal of the n - and p - regions in device epi silicon film 56 prior to bonding to low temperature display glass substrate 46 . ( the alignment key fabrication and corresponding masked implantation processes are not shown .) next , a barrier layer 58 ( about a 2500 angstrom thick plasma deposited silicon nitrite or silicon dioxide ), and light shield layer 60 of about 2000 angstroms thick are deposited on top of silicon epi device layer 56 as shown in fig1 . this preprocessed silicon handle wafer 52 is then electrostatically bonded to display glass substrate 46 at light shield layer 60 . after bonding , silicon handle wafer 52 is selectively etched away using the edp etch or potassium hydroxide ( koh ) etch . etch rate of these etches for the thermal silicon dioxide dielectric is insignificant compared to the etch rate for handle silicon wafer 52 . fig1 shows a cross - section through display glass substrate 46 and accompanying layers 48 , 56 , 58 and 60 , after silicon handle wafer 52 is selectively etched away . then , silicon islands 62 along with thermal silicon dioxide dielectric layer 48 , are patterned for the regions requiring tfts , and etched as shown in fig1 . from this point on , the substrate assembly in fig1 is processed similar to the first approach starting from fig5 . the corresponding components of devices 64 and 66 are , respectively , glass substrates 14 and 46 , light shield layers 24 and 60 , barrier layers 22 and 58 , silicon epitaxial layers 20 and 56 , silicon dioxide dielectrics 18 and 48 , and islands 26 and 62 . in summary , the invention permits fabrication of tfts having single crystal silicon for high mobility integrated drivers for active matrix displays wherein high mobility means that in excess of 300 cm 2 / v . s ., thermal silicon dioxide gate dielectric for low ( less than 1 volt ) and stable threshold voltage , and light shield for low off - currents ( less than 1 pico ampere ) under high ambient lighting conditions are accomplished . the present invention may utilize variations to the basic processes , illustrated above , such as by using different thicknesses for individual layers , processing temperatures , and other processing conditions . | 8 |
as examples of water - soluble monovalent lower alcohols that can be used for the rinse solution of this invention , isopropyl alcohol , n - propyl alcohol , ethanol , methanol etc ., can be listed . these can be used alone or as a combination of two or more kinds . as examples of organic or inorganic acids that can be used for the rinse solution of this invention , acetic acid , sulfuric acid , oxalic acid , nitric acid , benzoic acid , dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid or their solutions can be listed . the amount of these acids used during mixing is the amount required to neutralize the alkaline component that is mixed in from the alkaline resist removal solution . if strong acids are added in excess , the acid will corrode the wiring during rinsing . therefore , the amount added should be appropriate for the application . also , as for the amount of water in the rinse solution , ordinarily , less than 50 wt % of the rinse solution is considered adequate . if 50 wt % or more is used , the alkaline component mixed into the rinse solution will dissociate easily , and al - si - cu wiring will tend to be corroded easily in the rinse solution . the rinse solution of this invention can be mixed with other components . as examples of such other components , a surfactant for the purpose of reducing the surface tension or preventing reattachment of the resist to the substrate etc ., can be listed . also , sugar compounds such as saccarides can be added . embodiments of this invention are given together with the comparative examples as follows . here , table i shows the results of the microscopic evaluation of the number of pits generated by corrosion . the compositions of the removal solution and the rinse solution used in the examples are shown in table i . a positive photoresist with a film thickness of 1 . 8 ฮผm is coated after forming a two - layer tiw ( bottom layer )/ al - si - cu ( upper layer ) film . the sample is then prebaked at 90 ยฐ c . for 10 min in the oven . after resist patterning , postbaking is carried out at 140 ยฐ c . for 30 min , and the wafer is immersed at 100 ยฐ c . for 10 min in each removal solution . after removing the resist , the wafer is rinsed for 3 min in each rinse solution . it is then dried for 3 min drying after a water rinse for 3 min , and the number of pits generated by corrosion is evaluated using an optical microscope . these results are shown in table i . table 1__________________________________________________________________________ rinse solution component alkaline resist component other no . of removal than acid acid corrosionexample solution ( wt %) ( wt %) ( mol / l ) pits__________________________________________________________________________1 . dmso / mea / dmi -- acetic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 70 / 25 / 5 ) 2 . dmso / mea / dmi ipa acetic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) ( 0 . 00333 ) 3 . dmso / mea / dmi meoh acetic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) ( 0 . 00333 ) 4 . dmso / mea / dmi etoh acetic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) ( 0 . 00333 ) 5 . dmso / mea / dmi ipa sulfuric acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) ( 0 . 00333 ) 6 . dmso / mea / dmi ipa nitric acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) ( 0 . 00333 ) 7 . dmso / mea / dmi ipa oxalic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) ( 0 . 00333 ) 8 . dmso / mea / dmi ipa benzoic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) ( 0 . 00333 ) 9 . dmso / mea / dmi ipa dodecylbene - 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) zenesulfonic acid ( 0 . 00333 ) 10 . dmso / mea / dmi ipa / water acetic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) ( 80 / 20 ) ( 0 . 10000 ) 11 . dmso / mea / dmi ipa / water / acetic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) d - sorbitol ( 0 . 00333 ) ( 50 / 30 / 20 ) 12 . kp - 101 ipa acetic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 manufactured by ( 0 . 10000 ) kanto chemical13 . kp - 201 ipa acetic acid 0 / mm . sup . 2 manufactured by ( 0 . 00333 ) kanto chemicalcomparative dmso / mea / dmi ipa -- 1038 / mm . sup . 2example ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) comparative dmso / mea / dmi meoh -- 392 / mm . sup . 2example ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) comparative dmso / mea / dmi etoh -- 161 / mm . sup . 2example ( 45 / 50 / 5 ) __________________________________________________________________________ in the examples ( examples 1 - 13 ) in which the rinse solution of this invention was used , no corrosion of al - si - cu was observed , whereas , with conventional solutions ( comparative examples 1 - 3 ), the occurrence of corrosion was clearly recognized . next , a fabrication example of a semiconductor device using the rinse solution of this invention is explained , using fig1 - 3 as references . first , cvd oxidation film 2 , which is an insulation film , is formed on top of si substrate 1 . on top of this , tiw layer 3 , which is the first metal film , cvd - w layer 4 , which is the second metal film , and al - si - cu layer 5 , which is the third metal film , are formed in that sequence ( see fig1 ). the film thicknesses are 4 , 500 รฅ for the cvd oxidation film 2 , 600 รฅ for the first metal film 3 , 5 , 000 รฅ for the second metal film 4 and 8 , 000 รฅ for the third metal film 5 . also , al - si - cu layer 5 contains 1 wt % si and 0 . 5 wt % cu . a positive - type photoresist mask is formed by coating the surface of third metal film al - si - cu layer 5 with the positive - type photoresist 6 and exposing it to the light ( see fig2 ). the main component of this positive - type photoresist is novolak resin , and its thickness is 18 , 000 9a . baking is carried out at 140 ยฐ c . for 30 min after the positive - type photoresist mask is formed . next , the region of the electroconductive layer not covered by the mask ( nonmasked region ) is removed by etching , and then the positive - type photoresist that has acted as a mask is removed by ashing ( see fig3 ). at that time , the residue of the resist remaining on the surface of the patterned electroconductive layer is removed using a removal solution composed of dimethyl sulfoxide : monoethanolamine : 1 , 3 - dimethyl - 2 - imidazolidinone = 70 : 25 : 5 ( wt %). the process is followed by washing with water after rinsing with a solution of isopropyl alcohol containing 0 . 333 mol / l acetic acid . the rinse solution of this invention has a high cleaning power and does not corrode the al - si - cu wiring material layer . as can be seen from the results shown in table i , the number of pits generated by corrosion on the surface of the al - si - cu layer clearly indicates that the rinse solution of this invention is better than the conventional solutions . each component used in the rinse solution of this invention poses no danger to the human body from the handling standpoint and , therefore , the practical applicability is extremely high . | 8 |
fig1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention . in the example illustrated , the apparatus is associated with a free weight 100 that may be lifted by a user . the apparatus includes a string sensor 10 , which contains means for sensing and communicating the displacement of a free weight 100 relative to the sensor 10 . the string sensor 10 is contained within a sensor housing 12 . in a preferred embodiment the sensor housing 12 is made of plastic , although in other embodiments other materials may be used . in many embodiments the components of the string sensor 10 will be sized so that the entire string sensor 10 and sensor housing 12 is portable and can easily be moved to different pieces of weight equipment by a user . in the illustrated embodiment of fig1 the string sensor 10 is physically connected to the free weight 100 by a string 14 that is attached to the free weight 100 by an attaching means 16 . in the illustrated embodiment of fig1 the attaching means 16 is a hook and loop fastener , such as commercially available velcro . however , in other embodiments of the present invention the attaching means 16 may be of a different form , including hooks , adhesives , magnets , and strappings made of various materials . in the exemplary embodiment of fig1 the string 14 is attached to the free weight 100 through the bar 110 . however , depending on the type of weight being lifted and the preference of the user , in other embodiments of the present invention the string 14 may be attached to any part of a weight or connected part that moves when the weight is lifted . examples include the weight itself , weight handles , pins , weight plates , and weight bars . a computer 18 receives signals from the string sensor 10 and performs calculations of various fitness parameters based on those signals . as shown in fig1 , the string sensor 10 and computer 18 may be interconnected through a cable 20 that allows the string sensor 10 to communicate signals to the computer 18 , and may also provide power to the string sensor 10 . the cable 20 may also serve as a power source for the string sensor 10 . in a preferred embodiment of the invention the cable 20 is sufficiently long so that the string sensor 10 may be placed at a distance away from the computer 18 . however , in other embodiments of the present invention the computer 16 and the sensor 10 may be connected by a much shorter cable , or connected together in one device . in some embodiments of the present invention the string sensor 10 and computer 18 may not be attached by a cable 18 . in these embodiments , the computer 18 and string sensor 10 may communicate by other means . examples of wireless ways in which the computer 18 and string sensor 10 may communicate include infrared or wireless technology , such as bluetooth wireless technology which is commercially available from bluetooth sig , inc . information processed by the computer 18 of the present invention may be communicated to a user through a display 22 that is part of a larger display console 24 . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , and as shown in fig1 , both the computer 18 and display 22 are contained in the display console 24 . however , in other embodiments of the present invention the computer 18 may be located outside of the display console 24 . for example , the computer 18 may be contained within the sensor housing 12 along with the string sensor 10 , and may communicate to the display console 24 through a cable or wireless means . in other embodiments of the present invention , the computer 18 is contained within the sensor housing 12 and the display 22 is integrated into the outside of the sensor housing 12 . in this embodiment of the present invention , the invention consists of one portable unit , and there is no separate display console 24 . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention the display console 24 is portable and can be easily transported by the user . as shown in the illustrative embodiment of fig1 , the display console 24 may be placed on a stand 120 or placed in another location in the vicinity of the user as desired . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the display console 24 is located near the user and is positioned so that the display 22 may be easily seen by the user . in some embodiments of the present invention the display console 24 may be mounted on a weight , weight machine , or other structure in the vicinity of the user so that it may be easily viewed by the user while they lift the weight . this may be done by placing the display console 24 in a console holder 26 located on a machine . in other embodiments of the present invention the display console 24 may be mounted through the use of straps , magnets , hooks , hook and loop fasteners , adhesives , or other mounting means . fig2 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention as associated with a dumbbell and a weight bench . the string sensor 10 is located on the floor at the base of the weight bench 140 . the attaching means 16 for the string is a magnet that has been placed onto the side of the dumbbell 130 . in the schematic illustration of fig3 the present invention is associated with a barbell 150 and a squat rack 160 . the string sensor 10 is located at the based of the squat rack 160 and the string 14 is attached to the bar of the barbell 160 . the attaching means 16 is a magnet that has been placed onto the side of the barbell 150 . the display console 24 is mounted to the side of the squat rack 160 . in the schematic illustration of fig4 the present invention is associated with a home gym 170 . the string sensor 10 is located at the base of the home gym 170 and the display console 24 is located in a console holder 26 which as been attached to the home gym 170 . the attaching means 16 of the string is a magnet . in the illustrative embodiments of fig4 there is no cable 20 connecting the display console 24 to the string sensor 10 . the present invention can be associated with various types of exercise equipment other than those illustrated in the exemplary embodiments of fig1 - 4 . the present invention can be used in association with virtually any type of weight equipment including various home gyms , flex - rod machines weight bars , dumbbells , circuit machines , hydraulic machines , and plate loaded machines . fig5 is a front perspective view of the string sensor 10 as shown in fig1 . in a preferred embodiment , the string sensor 10 includes a potentiometric mechanism 28 and an infrared sensor system 30 , which are contained inside the sensor housing 12 and therefore not depicted in fig5 . although in a preferred embodiment the sensor housing 12 has a cylindrical shape similar to the shape of the potentiometric mechanism 28 contained within , in other embodiments of the present invention the sensor housing 12 may have a variety of shapes . for example , the sensor housing may be shaped like a box . as shown in the perspective view of fig6 , in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the potentiometric mechanism 28 is comprised of a reel 32 which is supported on a shaft 34 by bearing mechanisms 36 . the shaft 34 is rotatably supported by the sensor housing . as shown in fig5 the shaft 34 may extend through the side of the sensor housing 12 . however , in other embodiments the shaft may be supported by other types of support elements . as shown in fig5 and 6 , the string 14 of the string sensor 10 extends through an opening 38 in the sensor housing 12 and is wound around the reel 32 . when a sufficient amount of tension is applied to the outer end 40 of the string 14 , the reel 32 rotates and the string 14 is unwound from the reel 32 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the inner end of the string 14 is attached to the reel 32 to prevent the complete removal of the string 14 from the reel 32 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the string 14 is no more than seven feet long and less than a half inch in diameter . however , in other embodiments of the present invention the string 14 may be of a longer length or larger thickness . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the string 14 is also made out of a material that can support high tension such as multi - strain steel . however , in other embodiments different materials may be used . in some embodiments of the present invention the potentiometric mechanism 28 may include a ratchet wheel 44 and corresponding pawl 46 that ensure that the reel 32 rotates in only one direction while a weight is being lifted . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , and as shown in fig6 , the reel 32 is spring loaded 48 to allow for automatic retraction . in other embodiments of the present invention different mechanisms may be used for automatic retraction . automatic retraction allows the present invention to be utilized during weight exercises that involve repetitive motions . an example of this would be the repetitive lifting and lowering of a dumbbell by a user doing an arm curl , the apparatus of which is shown in fig1 . when the dumbbell 130 is raised , and moves in a direction away from the string sensor 10 , tension is applied on the string 14 which causes the reel 32 to rotate and unwind the string 14 . the unwinding of the string 14 continues until the user has raised the dumbbell 130 to its farthest position relative to the string sensor 10 . at this point , the amount of tension on the reel 32 is insufficient to rotate the reel 32 any further , but strong enough to prevent the string 14 from being retracted . when the dumbbell 130 is lowered , and the tension on the string 14 is relieved , the reel 32 retracts the string 14 . in doing so , it reduces the slack in the string 14 . the automatic retraction continues until the dumbbell 130 reaches its closest point relative to the string sensor 10 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the automatic retraction of the string 14 will cease once the reel 32 has spooled a predetermined amount of string 14 . this prevents the string 14 from being completely retracted into the sensor housing 12 and completely spooled around the reel 28 . it is also preferable that a certain length of string 14 remain outside of the sensor housing 12 so that it may be easily accessed by the user . as shown in the perspective view of fig7 , the infrared sensor system 30 of the string sensor 10 is comprised of an encoding disk 50 , an infrared emitter 52 , an infrared sensor 54 that has at least one receiver , and a substrate circuit 56 . the encoding disk 50 is attached to one side of the reel 32 in such a way that it rotates at the same speed as the reel 28 . the substrate circuit 56 is located over the encoding disk 50 in such a way that the infrared emitter 52 and sensor 54 , both of which are attached to the substrate circuit 56 are located on either side of the encoding disk 50 . in a preferable embodiment of the present invention , the substrate circuit 56 is a printed circuit board ( pcb ). however , in other embodiments of the present invention different types of circuits may be used . as shown in fig7 , the infrared sensor 54 is located in a position directly across the encoding disk 50 from the infrared emitter 42 . in a preferred embodiment , the infrared sensor 44 and emitter 42 should be positioned such that when the encoding disk 50 is rotating the infrared sensor 54 can receive the corresponding pulses of infrared light from the infrared emitter 52 . the substrate circuit 56 can then translate these pulses into electronic signals which are sent to the computer 18 to be used for determining the relative displacement of the weight being lifted to the string sensor and the related fitness parameters . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the infrared sensor 54 has two receivers that produce two independent signals . depending on which signal is received first by the computer , the computer is able to determine whether the reel is rotating in a clockwise or counterclockwise fashion . the signals from the infrared sensor are communicated to the computer via a schmidt circuit , which translates the original signals into square wave signals which may be read by the computer 18 . however , in other exemplary embodiments of the present invention different forms of circuitry may be used . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the string sensor may include an accelerometer instead of a potentiometric mechanism 28 and infrared sensor system 30 . in this embodiment , the sensor housing , containing the accelerometer , may be attached to the weight . the accelerometer may communicate data to the computer 18 regarding the movement of the weight while it is being lifted . the computer 18 may then use the data from the accelerometer to calculate the displacement of the weight and the related fitness parameters , such as caloric expenditure . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , and as shown in fig1 - 4 , the string sensor 10 is located below the weight that is being lifted by the user , such as on the ground or otherwise at the base of a piece of weight equipment . however , in other embodiments of the present invention the string sensor 10 may be located in a different direction relative to the weight being lifted . in some exemplary embodiments the string sensor 10 may be mounted to a piece of weight equipment or other structure . the mounting means for attaching the sensor 10 may include magnets , hook and loop fasteners , adhesives , strappings , hooks , clips , or other means . it is preferable that the sensor 10 be attached to a structure that will remain stationary while the user is lifting the weight . this ensures that the sensor 10 will accurately detect the relative displacement of the weight being lifted , and that the invention as a whole can provide the user with accurate information about their weight lifting . both the squat rack 160 in fig3 and the home gym in fig4 are examples of structures that the string sensor 10 may be attached to . fig8 is a front elevational view of an embodiment of the display console 24 of the present invention . as shown in fig8 , the display 22 is a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) panel . - however , in other embodiments the display 22 may be a light emitting diode ( led ) display , fluorescent panel , or other form of display . in this embodiment several parameters of the user &# 39 ; s workout are visually displayed . one of these parameters is the amount of calories expended 58 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the display 22 will provide the user with the cumulative amount of calories burned during a workout , and not just those expended in lifting a certain weight one time . other parameters of the user &# 39 ; s workout may also be shown on the display include the amount of weight being lifted 60 , the power necessary for lifting a weight a certain distance 62 , the power factor of the lift 64 , the amount of time the user has been lifting weights 66 , or the body weight of the user 68 . the exemplary values of the parameters shown in fig8 were calculated for a person weighing approximately 190 lbs who lifts a 200 lb one time . some embodiments of the present invention may visually display information for more than one user at a time . as shown in fig8 , in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the display console 24 may contain a user interface 70 . the user interface 70 allows the user to interact with and control the calculations of the computer 18 . the user interface 70 may include keys 72 that allow the user to control the calculations of the computer 18 , the display of information , and allow different users of the display console to obtain their personal information . for example , the keys 72 may allow a user to input the amount of weight they are lifting , or allow the user to turn the display console 24 on and off . other embodiments of the present invention may have different types of user interfaces 70 that allow the user to interact with the apparatus through other means . examples include touch screens , buttons , and keypads . fig9 is a rear perspective view of the display console as embodied in fig8 . as shown in fig9 , the user interface includes an audio system for generating audible signals . the display console 24 has at least one speaker 74 for providing audible signals to the user , and the computer 18 contains the necessary electronic components for creating audio signals . although the speaker 74 is located on the backside of the display console 24 in the embodiment of fig7 , in other embodiments the speaker may be located elsewhere on the display console 24 . audible signals allow a user to obtain information about their weight lifting parameters without having to look directly at the display console 24 . for example , the computer 18 may calculate the proper amount of rest time between repetitions and communicate these rest times to the user using audible signals . this may provide the user with more freedom in movement , allow them to focus more on their weight lifting , and be more conducive overall to the setting and atmosphere of weight lifting . fig1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the communication of information involved in the present invention . as depicted , the computer 18 receives information from the string sensor 10 regarding the displacement of a particular weight relative to the string sensor 10 . the computer 18 calculates several fitness parameters based that information as well as information which may be entered by the user through the user interface 70 . for each weight that is lifted in association with the present invention , the computer 18 needs to know how large the weight is in order to calculate many of the fitness parameters . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the user will enter the amount of weight being lifted through the user interface 70 . however , it is also possible that the computer will receive information about the amount of weight being lifted through other means . for example , in one embodiments of the present invention , as associated with weight equipment that has a weight stack , the string sensor 10 will be able to determine how much weigh is being lifted , depending on the amount of string 14 located outside of the sensor housing 12 at the beginning of the lift . for example , if each weight on the stack is 2 inches thick and weighs 10 lbs , when the string sensor is associated with a 60 lb lift from the stack , approximately 6 inches of string will be outside the sensor housing 12 at the beginning of the lift . as long as the computer 18 is given information on the amount of weight in one unit of weight on the stack , signals from the string sensor 10 can be used to determine changes in the amount of weight being lifted . the parameters which may be calculated by the computer 16 include the amount of calories expended and the power generated in displacing the weight . power generated and calories expended are related by the formula : wherein k cal = kilocalories expended and w = power in watts . power is determined from the equation : where f = the weight lifted in pounds , d = the distance the weight is lifted in inches , and t = the amount of time it takes to lift the weight in seconds . an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will also calculate the โ power factor โ of the lift . this is a measurement of the amount of power generated in a lift per body weight . the formula is : where w = power in watts and b is the body weight of the lifter in pounds . furthermore , some embodiments of the present invention may calculate additional fitness parameters for the user , including the number of repetitions incurred by the user during the lifting of a specific weight or the rest time between instances of lifting a weight . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the computer 18 may store information about each instance of a displacement of a weight during a particular time period . for example , the computer 18 may store information during the course of a user &# 39 ; s entire weight lifting workout . the computer 18 may then access these stored values in order to calculate cumulative fitness parameters , such as the cumulative amount of calories burned , or the cumulative amount of power generated over a specified time . the computer 18 may also calculate averages of fitness parameters over a particular time period . these may include the average amount of calories expended per minute during a workout , or the average amount of power expended . in some embodiments of the present invention the computer 18 may retrieve information pertaining to past workouts , and use it to provide the user with comparative data regarding past and current workouts . an example would be providing the user with a bar graph showing the user &# 39 ; s caloric expenditure per workout over the past month . all fitness parameters and information calculated by the computer 18 may be communicated to the user via the display 22 and audio systems 76 of the display console 24 . in some embodiments of the present invention the computer 18 may calculate , store , and retrieve information for more than one user . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention the computer may also be connected to a printer 78 . the printer 78 may provide the user with a paper copy of the information that has been calculated by the computer 18 . for example , the printer 78 may print out summaries of different fitness parameters of the user &# 39 ; s workout , or may print out what information is shown on the display 22 . the user may control what information is printed through the user interface 60 . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention the computer 18 may also be able to save and retrieve information from a portable storage device 80 . this may allow the user to upload saved data from the present invention onto a different computer , such as a home computer . in addition , different users who wish to share the same display console 24 can access their past fitness parameter data by uploading the data from the portable storage device 80 onto the display console 24 . examples of portable storage devices include floppy disks , hard disks , cds , usb memory sticks , storage disk for the user . in the illustrated exemplary embodiment of fig9 , a usb port located on the back of the display console 24 allows a user to upload information onto a usb memory stick . in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the apparatus may consist of more than one string sensor , and one central computer 18 that is separate from and communicates with more than one display console 24 over a network . in this embodiment the string sensors may be integrated into the weight equipment . the central computer 18 has the ability to receive signals from each string sensor 10 when the respective weights are being lifted , and can relay that information to the display console 24 being used by the user of that particular weight . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the string sensor 10 is powered through the cable 20 , which receives power from batteries contained in the display console 24 . in a preferred embodiment the batteries are rechargeable and are charged by a detachable ac / dc power cord 84 that can be plugged into the display console 24 as necessary . however , in other embodiments of the present invention the apparatus may be powered by other means . for example , in embodiments where the string sensor 10 and display console are not connected by a cable 20 , the string sensor 10 may directly receive power through an ac / dc power cord 84 . in other embodiments of the present invention different parts of the apparatus may receive power through different combinations of batteries and power cords . the preferred embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention . the preferred embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the present invention so that others skilled in the art may practice the invention . having shown and described preferred embodiments of the present invention , those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention . many of those variations and modifications will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the claimed invention . it is the intention , therefore , to limit the invention only as indicated by the scope of the claims . | 0 |
in one aspect , the present invention relates to dosage form for the medicinal administration of a fixed - dose combination of compound a or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt and metformin or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt . such dosage form may be in powder or solid form and includes tablet , capsule , sachet , etc . a specific solid dosage form relates to tablets comprising a fixed - dose combination of compound a or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt and metformin hydrochloride ( 1 , 1 - dimethylbiguanide hydrochloride ). the inhibition time of compound a or its salt on the activity of ddp - 4 is longer than that of mk - 0431 , and the inhibition intensity is stronger than that of mk - 0431 . therefore , the composition comprising compound a or its salt and metformin or its salt ( such as hydrochloride salt ) is of great significance in clinical practice . in a specific aspect of the present invention , the composition comprises ( 1 ) compound a or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt , as one of the two active pharmaceutical ingredients ; ( 2 ) metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride , as the second active pharmaceutical ingredient ; and ( 3 ) lubricant or glidant . in an embodiment of this aspect of the present invention , the pharmaceutical composition may also contain one or more excipients which are selected from the group consisting of one or more binding agents ( binders ); one or more diluents ; one or more surfactants or wetting agents ; one or more disintegrants ; and one or more antioxidants . the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of compound a include but not limited to phosphate salt , hydrochloride salt , sulphate salt , nitrate salt , hydrobromide salt , mesylate salt , maleate salt , tartrate salt , succinate salt , acetate salt , trifluoroacetate salt , fumarate salt , citrate salt , benzene sulfonate salt , benzoate salt , naphthalenesulfonate salt , lactate salt , malate salt . the dosage concentration of compound a or its salt incorporated into the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is an amount from about 1 mg to about 500 mg of the activity moiety . a preferred dosage concentration of the compound a or its salt is an amount from about 25 mg to about 250 mg of the activity moiety . discrete dosage concentrations are the equivalent of 25 , 50 , 75 , 100 , 150 , 200 , 300 , 400 and 500 mg of compound a or its salt activity moiety . the unit dosage concentration of compound a or the activity moiety of its salt incorporated into the fixed - dose combination pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is 25 , 50 , 75 , 100 , 150 , 200 , 300 , 400 and 500 mg . a preferred dosage concentration of compound a or its salt is 50 or 100 mg . the unit dosage concentration of the metformin hydrochloride incorporated into the fixed - dose combination of the present invention is 250 , 500 , 625 , 750 , 850 , 1000 , and 1500 mg . these unit dosage concentration of metformin hydrochloride represents the dosage concentration approved in china and for in u . s . for marketing to treat type 2 diabetes . the specific embodiments of dosage concentration of compound a or its salt and metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt in the fixed - dose combinations of the present invention are as following : ( 1 ) 25 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 30 . 25 mg of phosphate salt ) and 250 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 2 ) 25 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 30 . 25 mg of phosphate salt ) and 500 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 3 ) 50 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 60 . 5 mg of phosphate salt ) and 250 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 4 ) 50 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 60 . 5 mg of phosphate salt ) and 500 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 5 ) 50 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 60 . 5 mg of phosphate salt ) and 850 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 6 ) 50 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 60 . 5 mg of phosphate salt ) and 1000 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 7 ) 100 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 121 . 0 mg of phosphate salt ) and 250 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 8 ) 100 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 121 . 0 mg of phosphate salt ) and 500 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 9 ) 100 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 121 . 0 mg of phosphate salt ) and 850 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 10 ) 100 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 121 . 0 mg of phosphate salt ) and 1000 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; ( 11 ) 100 mg of compound a or its salt ( e . g . 121 . 0 mg of phosphate salt ) and 1500 mg of metformin hydrochloride ; the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention are prepared by wet or dry processing methods . in one embodiment the pharmaceutical composition is prepared by wet processing methods . in a class of this embodiment the pharmaceutical composition is prepared by wet granulation methods . either high - shear granulation or fluid - bed granulation can be used in the wet granulation . in one embodiment , employing fluid - bed granulation has the advantage of affording tablets with higher radial strength . in a second embodiment the pharmaceutical composition is prepared by dry processing methods . in a class of this embodiment the pharmaceutical composition is prepared by direct compression or dry granulation methods . an embodiment of dry granulation is roller compaction . the pharmaceutical composition obtained by the dry or wet processing methods may be compressed into tablets , encapsulated or metered into sachets . the pharmaceutical composition contains one or more lubricants or glidants . examples of lubricants include magnesium stearate , calcium stearate , stearic acid , sodium stearyl fumarate , hydrogenated castor oil , and mixture thereof . a preferred lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate or mixture thereof . examples of glidants include colloidal silicon dioxide , calcium phosphate , magnesium silicate , and talc . the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention optionally contains one or more binding agents . embodiments of binding agents include hydroxypropylcellulose ( hpc ), hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose ( hmpc ), hydroxyethyl cellulose , starch 1500 , polyvinylpyrrolidone ( povidone ), and co - povidone . a preferred binding agent is polyviylpyrrolidone . the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention may also optionally contain one or more diluents . examples of diluents include mannitol , sorbitol , calcium dihydrophosphate dihydrate , microcrystalline cellulose , and powdered cellulose . a preferred diluent is microcrystalline cellulose . microcrystalline cellulose is available from several suppliers including avicel ph 101 , avicel ph 102 , avicel ph 103 , avicel ph 105 , and avicel ph 200 , manufactured by fmc corporation . the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention may also optionally contain a disintegrant . the disintegrant may be one of several modified starches , modified cellulose polymers , or polycarboxylic acids , such as crosslinking hydroxymethylcellulose sodium , starch sodium glycollate , polacrillin potassium , and hydroxymethylcellulose calcium ( cmc calcium ). in one embodiment , the disintegrant is crosslinking hydroxymethylcellulose sodium . crosslinking hydroxymethylcellulose sodium nf type a is commercially available under the trade name โ ac - di - sol .โ the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention may also optionally contain one or more surfactants or wetting agents . the surfactant may be anionic , cationic , or neutral . anionic surfactants include sodium lauryl sulfate , sodium dodecanesulfonate , sodium oleyl sulfate , and sodium laurate mixed with stearates and talc . cationic surfactants include benzalkonium chlorides and alkyltrimethylammonium bromides . neutral surfactants include glyceryl monooleate , polyoxyethylene dehytrated sorbitan fatty acid ester , polyvinyl alcohol , and dehydrated sorbitan ester . embodiments of wetting agents include poloxamer , polyoxyethylene alkyl ether , polyoxyethylene castor oil derivatives , and polyoxyethylene stearate . an anti - oxidant may optionally be added to the formulation to impart chemical stability . the anti - oxidant is selected from the group consisting of ฮฑ - tocopherol , ฮณ - tocopherol , ฮด - tocopherol , extracts of natural origin rich in tocopherol , l - ascorbic acid and its sodium or calcium salts , ascorbyl palmitate , propyl gallate , octyl gallate , dodecyl gallate , butylated hydroxytoluene ( bht ), and butylated hydroxyanisole ( bha ). in one embodiment , the antioxidant is bht or bha . preferred dosage form for the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is tablet which is prepared by compression methods . such tablet may be film - coated with such as a mixture of hydroxypropylcellulose and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose . the mixture contains titanium dioxide and / or other coloring agents , such as iron oxide , dyes , and lakes ; a mixture of polyvinyl alcohol ( pva ) and polyethylene glycol ( peg ) containing titanium dioxide and / or other coloring agents , such as iron oxide , dyes , and lakes ; or any other suitable immediate - release film - coating agent ( s ). the coat provides taste masking and additional stability to the final tablet . a commercial film - coat is opadry ยฎ which is a formulated powder blend provided by colorcon . finally , a sweetening agent and / or flavoring agent may be added if desired . in one embodiment of the present invention , the pharmaceutical composition contains about 3 to 20 % by weight of compound a or its salt as one of the two pharmaceutically active ingredients ; about 25 to 94 % by weight of metformin or its salt ( such as hydrochloride salt ) as the second pharmaceutically active ingredient ; about 0 to 35 % by weight of a binding agent ; and about 0 . 1 to 10 % by weight of a lubricant . in a class of this embodiment the binding agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone or hydroxypropylcellulose , and the lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate . in a subclass of this class , the binding agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone , and the lubricant is sodium stearyl furmarate . in another class the pharmaceutical composition optionally contains about 0 to is 3 % by weight of a surfactant and / or about 0 to 70 % by weight of a diluent . in a subclass of this class , the surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate and the diluent is microcrystalline cellulose . in a second embodiment the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is prepared by wet granulation methods and contains about 5 to 18 % by weight of compound a or its salt as one of the two pharmaceutically active ingredients ; about 65 to 77 % by weight of metformin or its salt ( such as hydrochloride salt ) as the second pharmaceutically active ingredient ; about 4 to 9 % by weight of a binding agent ; and about 1 to 2 % by weight of a lubricant . in a class of this embodiment the binding agent is polyvinlypyrrolidone or hydroxypropylcellulose , and the lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate . in a subclass of this class , the binding agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone . in another class the pharmaceutical composition optionally contains about 0 . 5 to 1 % by weight of a surfactant and / or about 5 to 15 % by weight of a diluent . in a subclass of this class , the surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate and the diluent is microcrystalline cellulose . in a further embodiment of the present invention , the pharmaceutical composition envisioned for commercial development is as following : tablets of 50 mg of compound a or its salt / 500 mg of metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt potency : about 9 % by weight of the compound a or its salt ; about 73 % by weight of metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt ; about 7 % by weight of the binding agent ; about 1 to 2 % by weight of the lubricant ; and optionally about 10 % by weight of the diluent and / or about 0 . 5 % by weight of the surfactant . in a class of this embodiment the active ingredient is compound a or its salt , the binding agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone , the lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate , the diluent is microcrystalline cellulose , and the surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate . tablets of 50 mg of compound a or its salt / 850 mg of metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt potency : about 6 % by weight of compound a or its salt ; about 76 % by weight of metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt ; about 7 % by weight of the binding agent ; about 1 to 2 % by weight of the lubricant ; and optionally about 10 % by weight of the diluent and / or about 0 . 5 % by weight of the surfactant . in a class of the embodiment the lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate , the diluent is microcrystalline cellulose , and the surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate . tablets of 50 mg of compound a or its salt / 1000 mg of metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt potency : about 5 % by weight of compound a or its salt ; about 77 % by weight of metformin hydrochloride ; about 7 % by weight of the binding agent ; about 1 to 2 % by weight of the lubricant ; and optionally about 10 % by weight of the diluent and / or about 0 . 5 % by weight of the surfactant . in a class of this embodiment the active ingredient is compound a or its salt ; the binding agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone , the lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate , the diluent is microcrystalline cellulose , and the surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate . tablets of 100 mg of compound a or its salt / 500 mg of metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt potency : about 17 % by weight of compound a or its salt ; about 65 % by weight of metformin hydrochloride ; about 7 % by weight of the binding agent ; about 1 to 2 % by weight of the lubricant ; and optionally about 9 % by weight of the diluent and / or about 0 . 5 % by weight of the surfactant . in a class of this embodiment the active ingredient is compound a or its salt ; the binding agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone , the lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate , the diluent is microcrystalline cellulose , and the surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate . tablets of 100 mg of compound a or its salt / 850 mg of metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt potency : about 11 % by weight of compound a or its salt ; about 75 % by weight of metformin hydrochloride ; about 7 % by weight of the binding agent ; about 1 to 2 % by weight of the lubricant ; and optionally about 4 % by weight of the diluent and / or about 0 . 5 % by weight of the surfactant . in a class of this embodiment the active ingredient is compound a or its salt ; the binding agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone , the lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate , the diluent is microcrystalline cellulose , and the surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate . tablets of 100 mg of compound a or its salt / 1000 mg of metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride potency : about 10 % by weight of compound a or its salt ; about 77 % by weight of metformin hydrochloride ; about 7 % by weight of the binding agent ; about 1 to 2 % by weight of the lubricant ; and optionally about 4 % by weight of the diluent and / or about 0 . 5 % by weight of the surfactant . in a class of this embodiment the active ingredient is compound a or its salt ; the binding agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone , the lubricant is magnesium stearate or sodium stearyl fumarate , the diluent is microcrystalline cellulose , and the surfactant is sodium lauryl sulfate . the metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt of the present invention may be immediate release or slow release . the pharmaceutical tablet composition of the present invention may also contain one or more additional formulation ingredients selected from a wide variety of excipients known in the pharmaceutical formulation art . according to the desired properties of the pharmaceutical compositions , any kind of ingredients may be selected , alone or in combination , based upon their known uses in preparing tablet compositions . such ingredients include , but are not limited to , diluents , compression aids , glidants , disintegrants , lubricants , flavors , flavor enhancers , sweeteners , and preservatives . the term โ tablet โ as used herein is intended to compressed pharmaceutical dosage formulations of all shapes and sizes , whether coated or uncoated . substances which may be used for coating include hydroxypropylcellulose , hydroxypropylmethylcellulose , titanium dioxide , talc , sweeteners , colorants , and flavor enhancers . in one embodiment the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention is prepared by wet granulation ( high shear and / or fluid bed ). granulation is a process in which binding agent is added either to the granulating solution or to the granulating bowl to form granules . the steps involved in the wet granulation method comprise the following : ( 1 ) the active pharmaceutical ingredients metformin or its salt such as hydrochloride salt and compound a or its salt are added to the granulating bowl ; ( 2 ) the optional disintegrants are added to step 1 ; ( 3 ) with regard to high shear granulation , the binding agent ( such as polyvinylpyrrolidone or hydroxypropylcellulose ) is dried and added to the granulating bowl and dry mixed for a short period followed by adding of water with or without surfactant ( such as sodium lauryl sulfate ). with regard to fluid bed granulation , both active pharmaceutical ingredients are added to the granulator bowl and the granulating solution consisted of binding agent aqueous solution is added upon fluidization with or without surfactant ; ( 4 ) granules prepared by high shear granulation are tray - dried in an oven or dried in a fluid bed dryer . for the granules prepared by fluid bed granulation , the granules are dried in a fluid bed dryer ; ( 5 ) dried granules are resized in a suitable grinder ; ( 6 ) the optional diluents ( such as microcrystalline cellulose and calcium dihydrophosphate dihydrate ) are blended with dried granules in a suitable blender ; ( 7 ) lubricants or glidants ( such as magnesium stearate and sodium stearyl fumarate ) are added to the blend from step 6 in a suitable blender ; ( 8 ) the lubricated granule mixture from step 7 may be filled into bottles , sachets , or capsules or compressed into desired tablet image ; ( 9 ) and if desired , the resulting tablets may be film - coated . the steps involved in the dry processing ( direct compression or dry granulation ) methods comprise : ( 1 ) the active pharmaceutical ingredients metofrmin hydrochloride and compound a or its slat are added to a suitable blender ; ( 2 ) the optional disintegrants are added to step 1 ; ( 3 ) the optional binders and / or diluents are added to step 2 ; ( 4 ) lubricants or glidants are added to step 3 ; ( 5 ) mixture from step 4 may be filled into bottles , sachets , or capsules or compressed into desired tablet image , or processed through a roller compactor ; ( 6 ) if processed through a roller compaction , granules may be resized in a suitable mill , if necessary ; ( 7 ) the optional diluents may be added to the resulting granules , in a suitable blender to improve compaction properties ; ( 8 ) the optional lubricants or glidants are added to the blend from step 7 ; ( 9 ) the lubricated granule mixture from step 8 may be filled into bottles , sachets , or capsules or compressed into desired tablet image ; ( 10 ) and if desired , the resulting tablets from step 5 or step 9 may be film - coated . the present invention also provides methods for treatment of type 2 diabetes by orally administering to a subject in need of such treatment a therapeutically effective amount of one of the fixed - dose combination pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention . in one embodiment the subject in need of such treatment is human . in another embodiment the pharmaceutical composition is in tablet form . the pharmaceutical composition comprising the fixed - dose combination may be administered once - daily ( qd ), twice - daily ( bid ), or thrice - daily ( tid ). the following examples further describe and demonstrate the embodiments within the scope of the present invention . the examples are given only for the purpose of illustration and are not intended to be consider as limitations of the present invention as many variations thereof are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . fixed - dose combination of 50 mg of compound a and 500 mg of metformin hydrochloride / per tablet - wet granulation compound a 50 mg metformin hydrochloride 500 mg polyvinlypyrrolidone 48 . 2 mg sodium lauryl sulfate ( sls ) 3 . 45 mg microcrystalline cellulose ( avicel 59 . 3 mg ph - 102 ) sodium stearyl fumarate 13 . 8 mg purified water for granulation step * 39 . 8 mg for high shear or 354 mg for fluid bed opadry ยฎ ii 17 . 2 mg purified water for coating step * 68 . 9 mg * removed during processing compound a and metformin hydrochloride were loaded into a high shear granulator or a fluid bed granulator . in the case of high shear granulation , in addition to the polyvinylpyrrolidone binding agent , the purified water containing sodium lauryl sulfate was added to the apis ( active pharmaceutical ingredients ), over a period of 3 - 5 minutes . the wet substances were either tray - dried at 40 ยฐ c . or dried in a fluid - bed dryer at an inlet temperature of 45 - 60 ยฐ c . for 3 - 6 minutes . in the case of fluid bed granulation , the purified water containing polyvinylpyrrolidone and sodium lauryl sulfate was added to apis over a period of 30 - 60 minutes . the wet substances were dried in a fluid - bed dryer at an inlet temperature of 45 - 60 ยฐ c . the dried material was then milled using a co - mill to achieve fine granules . after milling , the microcrystalline cellulose was added to the granules and blended in a twin shell - blender for 200 revolutions . the lubricant ( sodium stearyl fumarate ) was then added and blended an additional 100 revolutions . the lubricated mixture was compressed using a rotary tablet press to provide 675 mg of uncoated tablet . the tablets were optionally coated with opadrytm ii suspension ( polyvinyl alcohol , polyethylene glycol , titanium dioxide , and talc , with or without colorants ) to an approximate 2 . 5 % weight gain to provide 692 mg of coated tablet . specific description : 50 mg of compound a in the formulation may be the pharmaceutically acceptable salt of compound a as well , such as 60 . 5 mg of phosphate of compound a , by inference , examples 2 - 7 hereinafter are in the same way , and they won &# 39 ; t be repeated . metformin hydrochloride may be metformin or other pharmaceutically acceptable salt as well . examples 2 - 7 hereinafter are in the same way , and they won &# 39 ; t be repeated again . fixed - dose combination of 50 mg of compound a and 850 mg of metformin hydrochloride / per tablet - wet granulation compound a 50 mg metformin hydrochloride 850 mg polyvinlypyrrolidone 78 . 2 mg sodium lauryl sulfate ( sls ) 5 . 60 mg microcrystalline cellulose ( avicel 96 . 1 mg ph - 102 ) sodium stearyl fumarate 22 . 3 mg purified water for granulation step * 64 . 9 mg for high shear or 573 mg for fluid bed opadry ยฎ ii 27 . 9 mg purified water for coating step * 112 mg * removed during processing tablets were prepared by wet - granulation using essentially the procedure of example 1 to provide 1103 mg uncoated tablet . the tablets were optionally coated with 27 . 9 mg of standard opadry ยฎ ii film - coated preparations to provide 1131 mg of coated tablet . fixed - dose combination of 50 mg of compound a and 1000 mg of metformin hydrochloride / per tablet - wet granulation compound a 50 mg metformin hydrochloride 1000 mg polyvinlypyrrolidone 91 . 0 mg sodium lauryl sulfate ( sls ) 6 . 50 mg microcrystalline cellulose ( avicel 112 . 3 mg ph - 102 ) sodium stearyl fumarate 26 mg purified water for granulation step * 75 . 5 mg for high shear or 667 mg for fluid bed opadry ยฎ ii 32 . 5 mg purified water for coating step * 130 mg * removed during processing tablets were prepared by wet - granulation using essentially the procedure of example 1 to provide 1286 mg uncoated tablet . the tablets obtained were optionally coated with an opadry ยฎ ii suspension ( polyvinyl alcohol , polyethylene glycol , titanium dioxide , and talc , with or without colorants ) to an approximate 2 . 5 % weight gain to provide 1319 mg of coated tablet . fixed - dose combination of 50 mg of compound a and 500 mg of metformin hydrochloride / per tablet - wet granulation compound a 50 mg metformin hydrochloride 500 mg polyvinlypyrrolidone 48 . 2 mg microcrystalline cellulose ( avicel 69 . 6 mg ph - 102 ) magnesium stearate 6 . 89 purified water for granulation step * 39 . 8 mg for high shear or 354 mg for fluid bed opadry ยฎ ii 17 . 2 mg purified water for coating step * 68 . 9 mg * removed during processing compound a and metformin hydrochloride were loaded into a high shear granulator or a fluid bed granulator . in the case of high shear granulation , n addition to the polyvinylpyrrolidone binding agent , purified water was added to the apis over a period of 3 - 5 minutes . the wet substances were either tray - dried at 40 ยฐ c . or dried in a fluid - bed dryer at an inlet temperature of 45 - 60 ยฐ c . for 3 - 6 minutes . in the case of fluid bed granulation , purified water containing polyvinylpyrrolidone and sodium lauryl sulfate was added to apis over a period of 30 - 60 minutes . the wet substances were dried in a fluid - bed dryer at an inlet temperature of 45 - 60 ยฐ c . the dried material was then milled using a co - mill to achieve fine granules . after milling , microcrystalline cellulose was added to the granules and blended in a twin shell - blender for 200 revolutions . the lubricant ( magnesium stearate ) was then added and blended an additional 100 revolutions . the lubricated mixture was compressed using a rotary tablet press to provide 675 mg uncoated tablet . the tablet was then optionally film - coated with opadry ยฎ ii suspension ( polyvinyl alcohol , polyethylene glycol , titanium dioxide , and talc , with or without colorants ) to an approximate 2 . 5 % weight gain to provide 692 mg of coated tablet . fixed - dose combination of 50 mg of compound a and 1000 mg of metformin hydrochloride / per tablet - wet granulation compound a 50 mg metformin hydrochloride 1000 mg polyvinlypyrrolidone 91 . 0 mg microcrystalline cellulose ( avicel 125 . 25 mg ph - 102 ) magnesium stearate 13 . 0 sodium lauryl sulfate 6 . 5 purified water for granulation step * 75 . 5 mg for high shear or 667 mg for fluid bed opadry ยฎ ii 32 . 5 mg purified water for coating step * 130 mg * removed during processing compound a and metformin hydrochloride were loaded into a high shear granulator or a fluid bed granulator . in the case of high shear granulation , in addition to the polyvinylpyrrolidone binding agent , purified water containing sodium lauryl sulfate was added to the apis , over a period of 3 - 5 minutes . the wet substances were either tray - dried at 40 ยฐ or dried in a fluid - bed dryer at an inlet temperature of 45 - 60 ยฐ for 3 - 6 minutes . in the case of fluid bed granulation , purified water containing polyvinylpyrrolidone was added to apis over a period of 30 - 60 minutes . the wet substances were dried in a fluid - bed dryer at an inlet temperature of 45 - 60 ยฐ c . the dried material was then milled using a co - mill to achieve fine granules . after milling , microcrystalline cellulose was added to the granules and blended in a twin shell - blender for 200 revolutions . the lubricant ( magnesium stearate ) was then added and blended an additional 100 revolutions . the lubricated mixture was compressed using a rotary tablet press to provide 1286 mg uncoated tablet . the tablet was then optionally film - coated with opadry ยฎ ii suspension ( polyvinyl alcohol , polyethylene glycol , titanium dioxide , and talc , with or without colorants ) to an approximate 2 . 5 % weight gain to provide 1319 mg of coated tablet . fixed - dose combination of 100 mg of compound a and 1000 mg of metformin hydrochloride / per tablet - wet granulation compound a 100 mg metformin hydrochloride 1000 mg polyvinlypyrrolidone 91 . 0 mg sodium lauryl sulfate ( sls ) 6 . 50 mg microcrystalline cellulose ( avicel 48 mg ph - 102 ) sodium stearyl fumarate 26 mg purified water * 667 mg * removed during processing tablets were prepared by fluid - bed granulation using essentially the procedure of example 1 to provide 1271 . 50 mg of uncoated tablet . fixed - dose combination of 100 mg of compound a and 500 mg of metformin hydrochloride / per tablet - wet granulation compound a 100 mg metformin hydrochloride 500 mg polyvinlypyrrolidone 53 . 8 mg sodium lauryl sulfate ( sls ) 3 . 84 mg microcrystalline cellulose ( avicel 66 . 5 mg ph - 102 ) sodium stearyl fumarate 15 . 4 mg purified water * 394 mg * removed during processing tablets were prepared by fluid - bed granulation using essentially the procedure of example 1 to provide 739 . 50 mg of uncoated tablet . test 1 : in vitro activity and selectivity study of compound a and mk - 0431 thawed dpp4 - glo . was buffered and balanced to room temperature , and cryopreserved fluorescein test agent was buffered before use . dpp4 - glo . was suspended in substrate and ultrapure water was added , the mixture was mixed slightly to uniformity to provide 1 mm of substrate . the fluorescein test agent was put into amber bottle , and dpp4 - glo . was added . the fluorescein test agent should be dissolved in 1 min . the test compound was dissolved with dmso to 50 times of the final processing concentration . 2 ฮผl of test compound of 50 times concentration was added into each test tube , and 2 ฮผl of dmso was added into negative control and blank control . 46 ฮผl of tris buffer solution was added into each test tube , and 48 ฮผl of tris buffer solution was added into blank control . 2 ฮผl of dpp4 enzyme was added into each test tube of negative control and test sample , and the test tubes were shaken and mixed , and then centrifuged . the substances in the test tubes were all transferred to a 96 - well plate , and the substrates and dpp4 - glo . were mixed in a proportion of 1 : 49 . the mixture was shaken and mixed adequately . 50 ฮผl of the mixture of ddp4 - glo . and the substrate was added into each 96 - well plate well after standing for 30 - 60 minutes at room temperature , the plate was sealed with film . the substances in the 96 wells were mixed slowly with plate scillator at 300 - 500 rmp / 30 s . after cultivation for 30 minutes to 3 hours at room temperature , the chemiluminescence value was measured with novostar multifunction microplate reader . the experimental animals were 8 healthy adult macaca fascicularis , half male and half female . the macaca fascicularis was orally administered with the testing compounds after fasting more than 8 hours while water intake freely . venous blood was collected before administration or 1 , 3 , 9 , 12 and 24 hours after administration respectively . the serum was separated after centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes . the activity of dpp4 was determined , and the inhibition and duration time of the serum dpp4 activity after single administration of 10 mg / kg of compound a or mk - 0431 to macaca fascicularis were observed . the concentrations of compound a or mk - 0431 in serum were determined with liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry . crossover administration was applied in the experiment , the animals could be administered one more time only after a rest for at least 7 - 10 days from last administration . table 2 indicates that compound a inhibits serum dpp4 activity of macaca fascicularis significantly after single oral administration . the inhibition intensity and duration time are both better than that of mk - 0431 at the same dosage . 10 mg / kg of compound a can keep the serum dpp4 activity inhibitor at more than 75 % in 12 hours . test 3 : the effect of compound a and mk - 0431 in combination with metformin respectively on genetic fatty wistar rats with diabetes 14 - 19 week - old male wistar rats were divided into 5 groups , 5 - 6 each group . compound a ( 10mg / kg body weight / day , p . o . ), mk - 0431 ( 10 mg / kg body weight / day , p . o .) , metformin ( 100 mg / kg body weight / day ; mixed in commercial feed in the ratio of 5ppm ) are administered to the wistar rats for 14 days . blood was collected from caudal vein . the plasma glucose and hemoglobin al were determined respectively with a commercial kit ( nc - ropet , nippon chemiphar co .) by enzyme method . results were expressed as mean value of each group ( n = 5 - 6 )ยฑ standard deviation by dunnett &# 39 ; s test analysis which were shown in table 3 . a significance level of 1 % was used . in table 3 the administration of compound a in combination with metformin significantly decreases the concentrations of plasma glucose and hemoglobin , and the intensity is greater than administration of mk - 0431 in combination with metformin . test 4 : glucosieloading study of phosphate of compound a , phosphate of mk - 0431 in combination with metformin respectively on genetic fatty wistar rats with diabetes 13 - 14 week - old male wistar rats were divided into 5 groups , 5 each group . phosphate of compound a ( 30 mg / kg body weight / day , p . o . ), phosphate of mk - 0431 ( 30mg / kg body weight / day , p . o .) , metformin ( 100 mg / kg body weight / day ) are administered to the wistar rats for 7 days . oral glucosieloading test was conducted immediately after fasting overnight ( 2 g glucose / kg / 5 ml , p . o .). blood was collected from caudal vein before or 120 minutes and 240 minutes after the test , and plasma glucose was analyzed with enzyme method ( encore chemical system ; baker ). results were expressed as the mean value of each group ( n = 5 )ยฑ sd by dunnett &# 39 ; s test analysis which were shown in table 4 . table 4 shows clearly that the administration of phosphate of compound a in combination with metformin significantly inhibit the increase of plasma glucose after glucosieloading test , and the intensity is greater than administration of mk - 0431 in combination with metformin . | 0 |
the present invention provides a process for the preparation of compounds of structural formula ( i ): ( 1 ) hydrogen , ( 2 ) amidino , ( 3 ) c 1 - 4 alkyliminoyl , ( 4 ) c 1 - 10 alkyl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n โ c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 7 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , and ( 8 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , in which phenyl , naphthyl , and heteroaryl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 ; and alkyl , cycloalkyl , and ( ch 2 ) n are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 and oxo ; ( 1 ) c 1 - 4 alkyl , ( 2 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - cycloalkyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , and ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl wherein heteroaryl is selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) pyridinyl , ( 2 ) furyl , ( 3 ) thienyl , ( 4 ) pyrrolyl , ( 5 ) oxazolyl , ( 6 ) thiazolyl , ( 7 ) imidazolyl , ( 8 ) pyrazolyl , ( 9 ) isoxazolyl , ( 10 ) isothiazolyl , ( 11 ) pyrimidinyl , ( 12 ) pyrazinyl , ( 13 ) pyridazinyl , ( 14 ) quinolyl , ( 15 ) isoquinolyl , ( 16 ) benzimidazolyl , ( 17 ) benzofuryl , ( 18 ) benzothienyl , ( 19 ) indolyl , ( 20 ) benzthiazolyl , and ( 21 ) benzoxazolyl ; in which alkyl , phenyl , naphthyl , heteroaryl , and ( ch 2 ) n are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 ; each r 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) c 1 - 6 alkyl , ( 2 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , ( 7 ) halogen , ( 8 ) or 4 , ( 9 ) โ( ch 2 ) n n ( r 4 ) 2 , ( 10 ) no 2 , ( 11 ) โ( ch 2 ) n nr 4 so 2 r 4 , ( 12 ) โ( ch 2 ) n so 2 n ( r 4 ) 2 , ( 13 ) โ( ch 2 ) n s ( o ) p r 4 , ( 14 ) cf 3 , ( 15 ) cr 2 cf 3 , ( 16 ) ocf 3 , and ( 17 ) och 2 cf 3 ; in which heteroaryl is as defined above ; alkyl , phenyl , naphthyl , heteroaryl , cycloalkyl , and heterocycloalkyl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three substituents independently selected from halogen , hydroxy , oxo , c 1 - 4 alkyl , trifluoromethyl , and c 1 - 4 alkoxy ; and wherein any methylene ( ch 2 ) carbon atom in r 3 is unsubstituted or substituted with one to two groups independently selected from halogen , hydroxy , and c 1 - 4 alkyl ; or two substituents when on the same methylene ( ch 2 ) group are taken together with the carbon atom to which they are attached to form a cyclopropyl group ; each r 4 is independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) hydrogen , ( 2 ) c 1 - 6 alkyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 7 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , and ( 8 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 bicycloalkyl ; wherein alkyl , phenyl , heteroaryl , heterocycloalkyl , and cycloalkyl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from halogen , c 1 - 4 alkyl , hydroxy , and c 1 - 4 alkoxy ; or two r 4 groups together with the atom to which they are attached form a 4 - to 8 - membered mono - or bicyclic ring system optionally containing an additional heteroatom selected from o , s , and nc 1 - 4 alkyl ; and x is bromide or chloride , and r 2 is as defined above , wherein x is bromide or chloride , and r 2 is as defined above , with a reducing agent , and isolating the resulting product ; by treating an alcohol of structural formula ( v ), wherein x is chloride or bromide and r 2 is as defined above , with an amine of general formula r 1 nh 2 , wherein r 1 is as defined above , and a base in a solvent , and isolating the resulting product ; wherein y is โ cn or โ co 2 r 5 and r 5 is c 1 - 4 alkyl , and wherein r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , wherein y is โ cn or โ co 2 r 5 , and r 5 is c 1 - 4 alkyl , and isolating the resulting product ; wherein r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , by treating the compound of structural formula ( vii ), wherein y , r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , by hydrolyzing the pyrrolidine compound of structural formula ( x ), wherein y , r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , in one embodiment of the present invention , r 2 is phenyl or thienyl optionally substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 . in a class of this embodiment , r 2 is phenyl optionally substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 . in a subclass of this class , r 2 is selected from the group of phenyl ; ortho , para - difluorophenyl ; and para - methoxyphenyl . in a subclass of this subclass , r 2 is ortho , para - difluorophenyl . in another embodiment , r 3 is selected from the group consisting of halogen , โ cf 3 , and or 4 . in a class of this embodiment of the present invention , r 3 is selected from the group consisting of fluoride , bromide , chloride , โ cf 3 , and โ oc 1 - 6 alkyl . in a subclass of this class , r 3 is selected from fluoride , bromide , โ cf 3 , and โ och 3 . in another embodiment , n is 0 , 1 or 2 . in a class of this embodiment n is 0 or 1 . in a subclass of this embodiment , n is 0 . in another embodiment of the present invention , the reducing agent used to treat the compound of formula ( iv ) of step ( a ) is (+)- dip chloride . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( iv ) of step ( a ) is treated with a reducing agent in the presence of a catalyst . in a class of this embodiment the reducing agent is selected from the group consisting of borane - n , n - diethyl aniline , borane - thf , and borane - dimethylsulfide . in a subclass of this class , the reducing agent is borane - n , n - diethyl aniline . in another class of this embodiment , the catalyst is selected from the group consisting of ( s )- cbs and ( s )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine . in a subclass of this class , the catalyst is ( s )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine . in another embodiment of the present invention , alcohol of formula ( v ) is treated with an amine of general formula r 1 nh 2 , wherein r 1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen , โ( ch 2 ) n phenyl , or c 1 - 6 alkyl . in a class of this embodiment , r 1 is tert - butyl or โ ch 2 - phenyl . in a subclass of this class , r 1 is tert - butyl . in another embodiment of the present invention , the alcohol of formula ( v ) is treated with a base selected from the group consisting of naoh , lioh , koh . in a class of this embodiment , the base is naoh . in another embodiment of the present invention , the alcohol of formula ( v ) is treated in a solvent selected from methanol or ethanol . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent is methanol . in a subclass of this class , the solvent is refluxing methanol . in another embodiment of the present invention , the amino alcohol of structural formula ( vd ) is isolated by recrystallization from heptane or hexane . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent is heptane . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( xi ) is the compound wherein y is cn . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( xi ) is the compound wherein y is โ co 2 r 5 , wherein r 5 is c 1 - 4 alkyl . in a class of this embodiment y is โ co 2 ch 3 , โ co 2 ch 2 ch 3 , or โ co 2 ch 2 ch 2 ch 2 ch 3 . in a subclass of this class , y is โ co 2 ch 2 ch 3 , or โ co 2 ch 2 ch 2 ch 2 ch 3 . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( viii ) is formed by heating the mixture to reflux . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( viii ) is formed by adding ethanol , formamide or a mixture thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the compound of formula ( viii ) is formed by adding a 1 : 1 mixture of ethanol : formamide . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( viii ) is isolated by recrystallizing from heptane or hexane . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( viii ) is treated with an alcohol activating reagent selected from the group consisting of clpo ( or 6 ) 2 , clpo ( n ( r 6 ) 2 ) 2 , mscl , ms 2 o , tscl , and ts 2 o , wherein r 6 is c 1 - 4 alkyl or phenyl . in a class of this embodiment , the alcohol activating reagent is chlorodiethyl phosphate . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( viii ) is treated with a base selected from the group consisting of lithium hexamethyldisilazide , sodium hexamethyl disilazide , and potassium hexamethyldisilazide . in a class of this embodiment , the base is lithium hexamethyl disilazide . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( vi ) is treated at a temperature of about โ 30 to about + 10 c . in a class of this embodiment , the temperature is about โ 15 c . in another embodiment of the present invention , the pyrrolidine compound of formula ( x ) is hydrolyzed with a base selected from the group consisting of naoh , lioh and koh . in one class of this embodiment , the base is naoh . in a subclass of this class , the base is aqueous naoh . in another embodiment of the present invention , the pyrrolidine compound of formula ( x ) is hydrolyzed in a solvent selected from the group consisting of methanol , ethanol , and isopropanol . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent is ethanol . in another embodiment , the product of step ( f ) is isolated by forming a zwitterion of the trans pyrrolidine acid of structural formula ( i ) wherein r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , recrystallizing the zwitterion from a solvent ; and isolating the resulting product . in a class of this embodiment the zwitterion of the pyrrolidine acid of formula ( i ) is formed at the isoelectric ph using an acid or a base . in one subclass of this class , the acid is selected from sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid . in a subclass of this subclass , the acid is sulfuric acid . in another subclass of this class , the isoelectric ph is about 6 and a stoichiometric amount of acid is added . in another class of this embodiment , the zwitterion of the pyrrolidine acid of formula ( i ) is recrystallized from a solvent selected from the group consisting of ethanol , isopropyl alcohol , methyl tert - butyl ether or a mixture thereof . in a subclass of this class , the solvent is a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and methyl tert - butyl ether . in a subclass of this subclass , the solvent is 1 : 3 isopropyl alcohol : methyl tert - butyl ether . the present invention also provides a process for the preparation of compounds of structural formula ( i ): ( 1 ) hydrogen , ( 2 ) amidino , ( 3 ) c 1 - 4 alkyliminoyl , ( 4 ) c 1 - 10 alkyl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n โ c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 7 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , and ( 8 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , in which phenyl , naphthyl , and heteroaryl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 ; and alkyl , cycloalkyl , and ( ch 2 ) n are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 and oxo ; ( 1 ) c 1 - 4 alkyl , ( 2 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - cycloalkyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , and ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl wherein heteroaryl is selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) pyridinyl , ( 2 ) furyl , ( 3 ) thienyl , ( 4 ) pyrrolyl , ( 5 ) oxazolyl , ( 6 ) thiazolyl , ( 7 ) imidazolyl , ( 8 ) pyrazolyl , ( 9 ) isoxazolyl , ( 10 ) isothiazolyl , ( 11 ) pyrimidinyl , ( 12 ) pyrazinyl , ( 13 ) pyridazinyl , ( 14 ) quinolyl , ( 15 ) isoquinolyl , ( 16 ) benzimidazolyl , ( 17 ) benzofuryl , ( 18 ) benzothienyl , ( 19 ) indolyl , ( 20 ) benzthiazolyl , and ( 21 ) benzoxazolyl ; in which alkyl , phenyl , naphthyl , heteroaryl , and ( ch 2 ) n are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 ; each r 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) c 1 - 6 alkyl , ( 2 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , ( 7 ) halogen , ( 8 ) or 4 , ( 9 ) โ( ch 2 ) n n ( r 4 ) 2 , ( 10 ) no 2 , ( 11 ) โ( ch 2 ) n nr 4 so 2 r 4 , ( 12 ) โ( ch 2 ) n so 2 n ( r 4 ) 2 , ( 13 ) โ( ch 2 ) n s ( o ) p r 4 , ( 14 ) cf 3 , ( 15 ) ch 2 cf 3 , ( 16 ) ocf 3 , and ( 17 ) och 2 cf 3 ; in which heteroaryl is as defined above ; alkyl , phenyl , naphthyl , heteroaryl , cycloalkyl , and heterocycloalkyl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three substituents independently selected from halogen , hydroxy , oxo , c 1 - 4 alkyl , trifluoromethyl , and c 1 - 4 alkoxy ; and wherein any methylene ( ch 2 ) carbon atom in r 3 is unsubstituted or substituted with one to two groups independently selected from halogen , hydroxy , and c 1 - 4 alkyl ; or two substituents when on the same methylene ( ch 2 ) group are taken together with the carbon atom to which they are attached to form a cyclopropyl group ; each r 4 is independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) hydrogen , ( 2 ) c 1 - 6 alkyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 7 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , and ( 8 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 bicycloalkyl ; wherein alkyl , phenyl , heteroaryl , heterocycloalkyl , and cycloalkyl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from halogen , c 1 - 4 alkyl , hydroxy , and c 1 - 4 alkoxy ; or two r 4 groups together with the atom to which they are attached form a 4 - to 8 - membered mono - or bicyclic ring system optionally containing an additional heteroatom selected from o , s , and nc 1 - 4 alkyl ; and ( a ) hydrolyzing a pyrrolidine compound of structural formula ( x ), wherein y , r 1 and r 2 are as defined above , in another embodiment of the present invention , the pyrrolidine compound of formula ( x ) is hydrolyzed with a base selected from the group consisting of naoh , lioh and koh . in one class of this embodiment , the base is naoh . in a subclass of this class , the base is aqueous naoh . in another embodiment of the present invention , the pyrrolidine compound of formula ( x ) is hydrolyzed in a solvent selected from the group consisting of methanol , ethanol , and isopropanol . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent is ethanol . the present invention also provides a process for the preparation of compounds of structural formula ( xix ): ( 1 ) hydrogen , ( 2 ) amidino , ( 3 ) c 1 - 4 alkyliminoyl , ( 4 ) c 1 - 10 alkyl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n โ c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 7 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , and ( 8 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , in which phenyl , naphthyl , and heteroaryl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 ; and alkyl , cycloalkyl , and ( ch 2 ) n are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 and oxo ; each r 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) c 1 - 6 alkyl , ( 2 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , ( 7 ) halogen , ( 8 ) or 4 , ( 9 ) โ( ch 2 ) n n ( r 4 ) 2 , ( 10 ) no 2 , ( 11 ) โ( ch 2 ) n nr 4 so 2 r 4 , ( 12 ) โ( ch 2 ) n so 2 n ( r 4 ) 2 , ( 13 ) โ( ch 2 ) n s ( o ) p r 4 , ( 14 ) cf 3 , ( 15 ) ch 2 cf 3 , ( 16 ) ocf 3 , and ( 17 ) och 2 cf 3 ; in which heteroaryl is as defined above ; alkyl , phenyl , naphthyl , heteroaryl , cycloalkyl , and heterocycloalkyl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three substituents independently selected from halogen , hydroxy , oxo , c 1 - 4 alkyl , trifluoromethyl , and c 1 - 4 alkoxy ; and wherein any methylene ( ch 2 ) carbon atom in r 3 is unsubstituted or substituted with one to two groups independently selected from halogen , hydroxy , and c 1 - 4 alkyl ; or two substituents when on the same methylene ( ch 2 ) group are taken together with the carbon atom to which they are attached to form a cyclopropyl group ; each r 4 is independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) hydrogen , ( 2 ) c 1 - 6 alkyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 7 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , and ( 8 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 bicycloalkyl ; wherein alkyl , phenyl , heteroaryl , heterocycloalkyl , and cycloalkyl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from halogen , c 1 - 4 alkyl , hydroxy , and c 1 - 4 alkoxy ; or two r 4 groups together with the atom to which they are attached form a 4 - to 8 - membered mono - or bicyclic ring system optionally containing an additional heteroatom selected from o , s , and nc 1 - 4 alkyl ; and wherein x is bromide or chloride , and r 3 is as defined above , wherein x is bromide or chloride , and r 3 is as defined above , with a reducing agent , and isolating the resulting product ; wherein x is chloride or bromide and r 3 are as defined above , with an amine of general formula r 1 nh 2 , wherein r 1 is as defined above , and a base in a solvent , and isolating the resulting product ; ( c ) forming a compound of structural formula ( xvi ), wherein y is โ cn or โ co 2 r 5 and r 5 is c 1 - 4 alkyl , and r 1 and r 3 are as defined above , by treating the amino alcohol of structural formula ( xv ) wherein r 1 and r 3 are as defined above , wherein y is โ cn or โ co 2 r 5 , and r 5 is c 1 - 4 alkyl , and isolating the resulting product ; ( d ) forming a pyrrolidine compound of structural formula ( xviii ) wherein y , r 1 and r 3 are as defined above , by treating the compound of structural formula ( xvi ), wherein y , r 1 and r 3 are as defined above , ( e ) forming a pyrrolidine acid of structural formula ( xix ), wherein r 1 and r 3 are as defined above , by hydrolyzing the pyrrolidine compound of structural formula ( xviii ), wherein y , r 1 and r 3 are as defined above , in one embodiment , r 3 is selected from the group consisting of halogen , โ cf 3 , and or 4 . in a class of this embodiment of the present invention , r 3 is selected from the group consisting of fluoride , bromide , chloride , โ cf 3 , and โ oc 1 - 6 alkyl . in a subclass of this class , r 3 is selected from fluoride , bromide , cf 3 , and โ och 3 . in another embodiment of the present invention , the reducing agent used to treat the compound of formula ( xii ) of step ( a ) is (+)- dip chloride . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( xii ) of step ( a ) is treated with a reducing agent in the presence of a catalyst . in a class of this embodiment the reducing agent is selected from the group consisting of borane - n , n - diethyl aniline , borane - thp , and borane - dimethylsulfide . in a subclass of this class , the reducing agent is borane - n , n - diethyl aniline . in another class of this embodiment , the catalyst is selected from the group consisting of ( s )- cbs and ( s )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine . in a subclass of this class , the catalyst is ( s )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine . in another embodiment of the present invention , alcohol of formula ( xiii ) is treated with an amine of general formula r 1 nh 2 , wherein r 1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen , โ( ch 2 ) n phenyl , or c 1 - 6 alkyl . in a class of this embodiment , r 1 is tert - butyl or โ ch 2 - phenyl . in a subclass of this class , r 1 is tert - butyl . in another embodiment of the present invention , the alcohol of formula ( xiii ) is treated with a base selected from the group consisting of naoh , lioh , koh . in a class of this embodiment , the base is naoh . in another embodiment of the present invention , the alcohol of formula ( xiii ) is treated in a solvent selected from methanol or ethanol . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent is methanol . in a subclass of this class , the solvent is refluxing methanol . in another embodiment of the present invention , the amino alcohol of structural formula ( xv ) is isolated by recrystallization from heptane or hexane . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent is heptane . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( xi ) is the compound wherein y is cn . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of formula ( xi ) is the compound wherein y is โ co 2 r 5 , wherein r 5 is c 1 - 4 alkyl . in a class of this embodiment y is โ co 2 ch 3 , โ co 2 ch 2 ch 3 , or โ co 2 ch 2 ch 2 ch 2 ch 3 . in a subclass of this class , y is โ co 2 ch 2 ch 3 , or โ co 2 ch 2 ch 2 ch 2 ch 3 . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of structural formula ( xvi ) is formed by heating the mixture to reflux . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of structural formula ( xvi ) is formed by adding ethanol , formamide or a mixture thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the compound of structural formula ( xvi ) is formed by adding a 1 : 1 mixture of ethanol : formamide . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of structural formula ( xvi is isolated by recrystallizing from heptane or hexane . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of structural formula ( xvi ) is treated with an alcohol activating reagent selected from the group consisting of clpo ( or 6 ) 2 , clpo ( n ( r 6 ) 2 ) 2 , mscl , ms 2 o , tscl , and ts 2 o , wherein r 6 is c 1 - 4 alkyl or phenyl . in a class of this embodiment , the alcohol activating reagent is chlorodiethyl phosphate . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of structural formula ( xvi ) is treated with a base selected from the group consisting of lithium hexamethyldisilazide , sodium hexamethyl disilazide , and potassium hexamethyldisilazide . in a class of this embodiment , the base is lithium hexamethyl disilazide . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compound of structural formula ( xvi ) is treated at a temperature of about โ 30 to about + 10 c . in a class of this embodiment , the temperature is about โ 15 c . in another embodiment of the present invention , the pyrrolidine compound of formula ( xviii ) is hydrolyzed with a base selected from the group consisting of naoh , lioh and koh . in one class of this embodiment , the base is naoh . in a subclass of this class , the base is aqueous naoh . in another embodiment of the present invention , the pyrrolidine compound of formula ( xvi ) is hydrolyzed in a solvent selected from the group consisting of methanol , ethanol , and isopropanol . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent is ethanol . in another embodiment , the product of step ( f ) is isolated by forming a zwitterion of the trans pyrrolidine acid of structural formula ( xx ) wherein r 1 and r 3 are as defined above ; recrystallizing the zwitterion from a solvent ; and isolating the resulting product . in a class of this embodiment the zwitterion of the pyrrolidine acid of formula ( xix ) is formed at the isoelectric ph using an acid . in one subclass of this class , the acid is selected from sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid . in a subclass of this subclass , the acid is sulfuric acid . in another subclass of this class , the isoelectric ph is about 6 and a stoichiometric amount of acid is added . in another class of this embodiment , the zwitterion of the pyrrolidine acid of formula ( xix ) is recrystallized from a solvent selected from the group consisting of ethanol , isopropyl alcohol , methyl tert - butyl ether or a mixture thereof . in a subclass of this class , the solvent is a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and methyl tert - butyl ether . in a subclass of this subclass , the solvent is 1 : 3 isopropyl alcohol : methyl tert - butyl ether . the present invention also provides a process for the preparation of compounds of structural formula ( xix ): ( 1 ) hydrogen , ( 2 ) amidino , ( 3 ) c 1 - 4 alkyliminoyl , ( 4 ) c 1 - 10 alkyl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n โ c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 7 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , and ( 8 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , in which phenyl , naphthyl , and heteroaryl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 ; and alkyl , cycloalkyl , and ( ch 2 ) n are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from r 3 and oxo ; each r 3 is independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) c 1 - 6 alkyl , ( 2 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , ( 7 ) halogen , ( 8 ) or 4 , ( 9 ) โ( ch 2 ) n n ( r 4 ) 2 , ( 10 ) no 2 , ( 11 ) โ( ch 2 ) n nr 4 so 2 r 4 , ( 12 ) โ( ch 2 ) n so 2 n ( r 4 ) 2 , ( 13 ) โ( ch 2 ) n s ( o ) p r 4 , ( 14 ) cf 3 , ( 15 ) ch 2 cf 3 , ( 16 ) ocf 3 , and ( 17 ) och 2 cf 3 ; in which heteroaryl is as defined above ; alkyl , phenyl , naphthyl , heteroaryl , cycloalkyl , and heterocycloalkyl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three substituents independently selected from halogen , hydroxy , oxo , c 1 - 4 alkyl , trifluoromethyl , and c 1 - 4 alkoxy ; and wherein any methylene ( ch 2 ) carbon atom in r 3 is unsubstituted or substituted with one to two groups independently selected from halogen , hydroxy , and c 1 - 4 alkyl ; or two substituents when on the same methylene ( ch 2 ) group are taken together with the carbon atom to which they are attached to form a cyclopropyl group ; each r 4 is independently selected from the group consisting of ( 1 ) hydrogen , ( 2 ) c 1 - 6 alkyl , ( 3 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - phenyl , ( 4 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heteroaryl , ( 5 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - naphthyl , ( 6 ) โ( ch 2 ) n - heterocycloalkyl , ( 7 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 cycloalkyl , and ( 8 ) โ( ch 2 ) n c 3 - 7 bicycloalkyl ; wherein alkyl , phenyl , heteroaryl , heterocycloalkyl , and cycloalkyl are unsubstituted or substituted with one to three groups independently selected from halogen , c 1 - 4 alkyl , hydroxy , and c 1 - 4 alkoxy ; or two r 4 groups together with the atom to which they are attached form a 4 - to 8 - membered mono - or bicyclic ring system optionally containing an additional heteroatom selected from o , s , and nc 1 - 4 alkyl ; and ( a ) hydrolyzing a pyrrolidine compound of structural formula ( xviii ), wherein y , r 1 and r 3 are as defined above , in another embodiment of the present invention , the pyrrolidine compound of formula ( xviii ) is hydrolyzed with a base selected from the group consisting of naoh , lioh and koh . in one class of this embodiment , the base is naoh . in a subclass of this class , the base is aqueous naoh . in another embodiment of the present invention , the pyrrolidine compound of formula ( viii ) is hydrolyzed in a solvent selected from the group consisting of methanol , ethanol , and isopropanol . in a class of this embodiment , the solvent is ethanol . in a further embodiment of this invention , the compound of formula i is compound 1 - 9 or a zwitterion or salt thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the zwitterion is formed by the addition of sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid . in another class of this embodiment , the zwitterion is formed by the addition of sulfuric acid . in a further embodiment of this invention , the compound of formula i is compound 2 or a zwitterion or salt thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the zwitterion is formed by the addition of sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid . in another class of this embodiment , the zwitterion is formed by the addition of sulfuric acid . in a further embodiment of this invention , the compound of formula i is compound 3 or a zwitterion or salt thereof . in a class of this embodiment , the zwitterion is formed by the addition of sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid . in another class of this embodiment , the zwitterion is formed by the addition of sulfuric acid . the alkyl groups specified above are intended to include those alkyl groups of the designated length in either a straight or branched configuration . exemplary of such alkyl groups are methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , sec - butyl , tertiary butyl , pentyl , isopentyl , hexyl , isohexyl , and the like . the term โ halogen โ is intended to include the halogen atoms fluorine , chlorine , bromine and iodine . the term โ heteroaryl โ includes mono - and bicyclic aromatic rings containing from 1 to 4 heteroatoms selected from nitrogen , oxygen and sulfur . โ 5 - or 6 - membered heteroaryl โ represents a monocyclic heteroaromatic ring . examples of heteroaryls useful in this invention include wherein heteroaryl is selected from the group consisting of pyridinyl , furyl , thienyl , pyrrolyl , oxazolyl , thiazolyl , imidazolyl , pyrazolyl , isoxazolyl , isothiazolyl , pyrimidinyl , pyrazinyl , pyridazinyl , quinolyl , isoquinolyl , benzimidazolyl , benzofuryl , benzothienyl , indolyl , benzthiazolyl , and benzoxazolyl , and the like . bicyclic heteroaromatic rings include , but are not limited to , benzothiadiazole , indole , benzothiophene , benzofuran , benzimidazole , benzisoxazole , benzothiazole , quinoline , benzotriazole , benzoxazole , isoquinoline , purine , furopyridine and thienopyridine . in one embodiment of the present invention , heteroaryl is selected from the group consisting of pyridinyl , furyl , thienyl , pyrrolyl , oxazolyl , thiazolyl , triazolyl , triazinyl , tetrazolyl , thiadiazolyl , imidazolyl , pyrazolyl , isoxazolyl , isothiazolyl , oxathiazolyl , pyrimidinyl , pyrazinyl , pyridazinyl , quinolyl , isoquinolyl , benzimidazolyl , benzofuryl , benzothienyl , indolyl , benzthiazolyl , and benzoxazolyl . the term โ cycloalkyl โ is intended to include non - aromatic rings containing only carbon atoms such as cyclopropyl , cyclobutyl , cyclopentyl , cyclohexyl , and cycloheptyl . the term โ heterocycloalkyl โ is intended to include non - aromatic heterocycles containing one to four heteroatoms selected from nitrogen , oxygen and sulfur . examples of a 5 or 6 - membered heterocycloalkyl include piperidine , morpholine , thiamorpholine , pyrrolidine , imidazolidine , tetrahydrofuran , piperazine , and the like . certain of the above defined terms may occur more than once in the above formula and upon such occurrence each term shall be defined independently of the other ; thus for example , nr 4 r 4 may represent nh 2 , nhch 3 , n ( ch 3 ) ch 2 ch 3 , and the like . the process and intermediates of the present invention can be exemplified with the preparation of ( 3s , 4r )- n - tert - butyl - 4 ( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl )- pyrrolidine 3 - carboxylic acid ( 1 - 9 ) as shown in scheme 1 . as shown in scheme 1 , the known ( 3s , 4r )- n - tert - butyl - 4 -( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) pyrrolidine 3 - carboxylic acid ( 1 - 9 ) is prepared as follows . the asymmetric reduction of 2 - chloro - 2 โฒ, 4 โฒ- difluoroacetophenone 1 - 1 with a reducing agent , such as (+) dip chloride ; or with a reducing agent such as borane - diethyl aniline , borane dimethyl - sulfide , or borane - thf in the presence of a catalyst , such as ( s ) cbs , or ( s )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine . the reaction is run in a solvent such as diisopropyl ether , mtbe , toluene , or thf , at a temperature of about โ 20 to + 60 ยฐ c ., and optimally at a temperature of about + 30 to + 50 ยฐ c ., to afford the ( s )- alcohol 1 - 2 . when ( s )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine and borane - diethyl aniline are used for the reduction , and the reduction is run at a temperature of about 40 ยฐ c ., then the use of 0 . 5 mole % of ( s )- cbs catalyst results in the formation of 98 . 88 % ee of the s - enantiomer of alcohol 1 - 2 . the r - enantiomer of alcohol 1 - 2 may be prepared by treating 1 - 1 with (โ) dip chloride , or by treating 1 - 1 with a borane reducing agent and a catalyst , such as ( r )- cbs or ( r )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine under similar reaction conditions . by reducing 1 - 1 with the (โ) dip chloride , or with a borane reducing agent and ( r )- cbs or ( r )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine , the 3r , 4s diastereomer of 1 - 1 may be made in a similar fashion . the reduction of acetophenone 1 - 1 may also be affected by treatment with sodium borohydride and trimethylsilyl chloride catalyzed by ( s )- ฮฑ , ฮฑ - diphenyl pyrrolidine methanol , or by treatment of acetophenone 1 - 1 via asymmetric transfer hydrogenation using chiral rhodium complex catalysis . treatment of alcohol 1 - 2 with a base , such as sodium hydroxide , lithium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide , in a protic solvent , such as methanol or ethanol , and subsequently heating to reflux results in the formation of the epoxide intermediate 1 - 3 in situ . opening the epoxide ring with a primary amine , such as a c 1 - 6 alkyl amine , benzyl amine or substituted benzylamine , affords the amino alcohol 1 - 4 . crystallization of 1 - 4 from heptane or hexanes gives amino alcohol 1 - 4 as & gt ; 99 . 9 % ee of the s - enantiomer . when methanol and tert - butyl amine are used to prepare amino alcohol 1 - 4 , the optimal ratio of methanol to tert - butyl amine is 1 : 5 . the treatment of the epoxide intermediate 1 - 3 with benzyl amine and the subsequent removal of the benzyl protecting group under standard conditions , such as hydrogenation , is useful to prepare compounds of formula i in which r 1 is h . treatment of amino alcohol 1 - 4 with acrylonitrile and heating to reflux , followed by the addition of ethanol , formamide , or a mixture thereof , in the later stages of the reaction , affords the amino nitrile 1 - 5 . the amino nitrile 1 - 5 may be further purified by recrystallizing from heptane or hexane . the pyrrolidine nitrile 1 - 7 was formed by the conversion of the alcohol of nitrile 1 - 5 into a leaving group by treatment with an alcohol activating reagent , such as clpo ( oet ) 2 , to form intermediate 1 - 6 in situ . subsequent treatment of intermediate 1 - 6 with a base , such as lithium hexamethyldisilazide , sodium hexamethyldisilazide or potassium hexamethyldisilazide , at a temperature of about โ 30 to about + 10 ยฐ c . yields a cis / trans mixture of the pyrrolidine nitrile 1 - 7 . other alcohol activating reagents useful to convert the alcohol into a leaving group include , but are not limited to , clpo ( or 6 ) 2 , clpo ( n ( r 6 ) 2 ) 2 , mscl , ms 2 o , tscl or ts 2 o , wherein r 6 is c 1 - 4 alkyl or phenyl . acid 1 - 9 is formed from nitrile 1 - 7 via the amide intermediate 1 - 8 . the kinetically controlled hydrolysis / epimerization of pyrrolidine nitrile 1 - 7 with an aqueous base , such as sodium hydroxide , lithium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide , in a protic solvent , such as methanol , ethanol , or isopropanol , at reflux , and the subsequent adjustment of the ph to the isoelectric point of 1 - 9 with an acid , such as sulfuric acid or hcl , affords the zwitterion of 1 - 9 . the ph at the isoelectric point is about ph 6 . the zwitterion of 1 - 9 may be recrystallized from ethanol to give the trans pyrrolidine acid zwitterion of 1 - 9 . the zwitterion of 1 - 9 may also be recrystallized as an hcl salt from acetonitrile . abbreviations used in the description of the preparation of the compounds of the present invention : ( s )- me cbs and ( s )- 2 - methyl - cbs - oab are ( s )- 2 - methyl cbs oxazaborolidine ; boc is tert - butyl carbamate ; dean is diethyl aniline ; dmf is n , n - dimethyl formamide ; etoac is ethyl acetate ; etoh is ethanol ; g is grams ; h or hr is hours ; h 2 is hydrogen ; hcl is hydrochloric acid , hplc is high pressure liquid chromatography ; mm hg is millimeters of mercury ; ipa is isopropyl alcohol ; kg is kilograms ; l is liters ; lihmds is lithium hexamethyl disilazide ; m is molar ; ml is milliliters ; meoh is methanol , min is minutes , mol is moles ; ms is methanesulfonyl ; mtbe is methyl t - butyl ether ; n is normal ; nmp is n - methylpyrrolidinone ; nacl is sodium chloride ; nmr is nuclear magnetic resonance ; oac is acetate ; ts is toluenesulfonyl ; thf is tetrahydrofuran ; and clpo ( oet ) 2 is chloro diethyl phosphate . the following example is provided to illustrate the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner . a representative experimental procedure utilizing the novel process is detailed below . for purposes of illustration , the following example is directed to the preparation of compound 1 - 9 but doing so is not intended to limit the present invention to a process for making that specific compound . a solution of ( s )- 2 - methyl - cbs - oab ( 128 ml of 1 . 0m solution in toluene , aldrich ), borane - n , n - diethylaniline ( 25 . 7 mol , callery ) in mtbe ( 10 l ) was heated to 38 - 42 ยฐ c ., followed by the addition of a solution of 2 - chloro - 2 โฒ, 4 โฒ- difluoro - acetophenone ( 4891 g , apollo ) in mtbe ( 14 . 7 l ) over 10 hours . the resulting homogeneous solution was stirred at 40 ยฐ c . for one hour , and then cooled to 18 ยฐ c . and stirred overnight . methanol ( 2 . 3 l ) was added over 60 minutes , while maintaining the temperature at & lt ; 20 ยฐ c . with cooling . the resulting homogeneous solution was stirred for 30 minutes , then dilute with water ( 24 l ) and 5 n aqueous hcl ( 10 l ) was added over 30 minutes , while maintaining the temperature at 22 - 25 ยฐ c . with cooling . after stirring 30 minutes , the layers were separated . the organic layer was washed with saturated aqueous nacl , and then concentrated in vacuo to give chloro - alcohol 1 - 2 . the chiral assay of the chloro - alcohol gave a 99 . 44 : 0 . 56 ratio of s : r enantiomers ( 98 . 88 % ee ). 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 , 400 . 25 mhz ) ฮด 7 . 51 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 91 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 80 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 16 ( dd , j = 8 . 2 , 3 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 79 ( dd , j = 11 . 2 , 3 . 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 62 ( dd , j = 11 . 2 , 8 . 2 hz , 1h ), 3 . 02 ( s , 1h ). 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 , 100 . 65 mhz ) ฮด 162 . 7 ( dd , j = 249 . 6 , 12 . 0 hz ), 159 . 7 ( dd , j = 248 . 5 , 11 . 7 hz ), 128 . 6 ( dd , j = 9 . 7 , 5 . 7 hz ), 123 . 0 ( dd , j = 13 . 5 , 3 . 8 hz ), 111 . 6 ( dd , j = 21 . 2 , 3 . 7 hz ), 103 . 8 ( t , j = 25 . 4 hz ), 67 . 8 ( d , 2 . 1 hz ), 49 . 4 . the concentrated mtbe solution of 1 - 2 from step a ( 5040 g , 25 . 67 mol ) was diluted with methanol ( 5 l ), then tert - butylamine ( 25 l ) was added . the mixture warmed upon mixing to 45 ยฐ c . the mixture was then cooled to 25 ยฐ c . and solid naoh pellets ( 1048 g ) were added . no exotherm was observed , and the mixture was stirred and warmed to reflux . after 2 hours , if chloro - alcohol remains , additional naoh can be added . after 12 - 20 hours of refluxing , the mixture was concentrated in vacuo to 1 / 3 volume , then water ( 5 l ) and mtbe ( 20 l ) were added . the resulting layers were separated , and the aqueous phase was re - extracted with mtbe ( 2 ร 2 l ). the combined extracts were washed with saturated aqueous nacl ( 1 l ), then concentrated in vacuo . heptane ( 40 l ) was added and the concentration was continued to bring the volume to 20 l . the resulting mixture was then heated to โ 90 ยฐ c . to dissolve all solids , and allowed to cool to 22 ยฐ c . to crystallize over 4 hours . the mixture was then cooled to 0 ยฐ c ., stirred 12 - 15 hr , and filtered . the filtrate was washed with cold heptane ( 2 ร 5 l ), then dried in vacuo at 35 ยฐ c . to obtain the crystalline amino - alcohol 1 - 4 . the chiral assay of 1 - 4 gave a & gt ; 99 . 95 : 0 . 05 ratio of s : r enantiomers (& gt ; 99 . 9 % ee ). 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 , 400 . 25 mhz ) ฮด 7 . 52 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 88 ( n , 1h ), 6 . 76 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 85 ( dd , j = 8 . 6 , 3 . 4 , 1h ), 2 . 94 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 52 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 10 ( s , 9h ). 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 , 100 . 65 mhz ) ฮด 162 . 1 ( dd , j = 247 . 4 , 12 . 0 ), 159 . 7 ( dd , j = 247 . 9 , 12 . 0 ), 128 . 3 ( dd , j = 13 . 6 , 3 . 8 ), 111 . 1 ( dd , j = 20 . 9 , 3 . 5 ), 103 . 4 ( t , j = 32 . 0 ), 66 . 0 , 50 . 4 , 48 . 7 , 29 . 1 ( 3c ). mp ( dsc ): onset 115 . 35 ยฐ c ., end 118 . 66 ยฐ c ., peak 117 . 22 ยฐ c . anal . calcd for c 12 h 17 f 2 no : calc ., c , 62 . 87 , h , 7 . 47 , f , 16 . 57 , n , 6 . 11 . found , c , 62 . 93 , h , 7 . 67 , f , 16 . 24 , n , 6 . 13 . a mixture of aminoethanol 1 - 4 from step b ( 5 . 205 kg , 22 . 68 mol ) and acrylonitrile ( 26 . 9 l , 408 mol ) was heated at reflux (โ 77 ยฐ c .) under a nitrogen atmosphere . after heating for 20 hours ( with ห 90 % conversion ), one equivalent each of ethanol ( 1 . 32 l , 22 . 68 mol ) and formamide ( 0 . 9 l , 22 . 68 mol ) was added , and heating was continued for 12 hours . after cooling to 22 ยฐ c ., the solution was concentrated by distillation ( 80 - 90 torr at 20 - 22 ยฐ c . pot temperature ) to 12 l volume . the resulting residue was diluted with isopropyl acetate ( 22 l ) and re - concentrated ( 55 - 75 torr and 22 - 27 ยฐ c . pot temperature ). the dilution and re - concentration was repeated , and then the resulting residue was diluted with isopropyl acetate to a total volume of 34 l . gummy polymer that was present was allowed to settle after stopping the stirrer , and the bulk of the supernatant was filtered ( 10 - 15 um porosity ), followed by the rest of material . the filter cake was washed with isopropyl acetate and the filtrate was diluted with a total of 24 l of isopropyl acetate . the combined filtrate (ห 54 l ) was washed with a solution made up of water ( 31 . 2 l ), acetic acid ( 52 ml , 4 mol %), and saturated brine ( 3 . 1 l ). this was followed by a 12 % aqueous nacl wash ( 2 ร 34 l ). the organic layer was concentrated ( 15 - 45 torr and 5 - 29 ยฐ c .) to โ 15 l volume and flushed with 5 ร 6 l portions of n - heptane , during which time product crystallized . the slurry was diluted with n - heptane to a volume of 23 l . the mixture was stirred at 0 - 5 ยฐ c . for 3 days , then filtered and washed with cold ( 5 ยฐ c .) n - heptane ( 14 l ). the wet cake was dried in vacuo at 20 ยฐ c . with a nitrogen sweep for 4 days to afford nitrile 1 - 5 as a crystalline white solid . the chiral assay of crystalline nitrile 1 - 5 was & gt ; 99 . 99 area % as the desired s - enantiomers . 1 h - nmr ( 400 . 25 mhz , cdcl 3 ) ฮด 7 . 55 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 77 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 84 ( dd , j = 10 . 2 , 3 . 1 , 1h ), 3 . 66 ( oh , 1h ), 3 . 00 - 2 . 83 ( om , 3h ), 2 . 62 - 2 . 47 ( om , 2h ), 2 . 45 ( dd , j = 13 . 9 , 10 . 3 , 1h ), 1 . 15 ( s , 9h ). 13 c - nmr ( 100 . 65 mhz , cdcl 3 ) ฮด 162 . 1 ( dd , j = 247 . 7 , 11 . 9 ), 159 . 6 ( dd , j = 247 . 5 , 11 . 9 ), 128 . 0 ( dd , j = 9 . 5 , 6 . 5 ), 125 . 1 ( dd , 13 . 7 , 3 . 6 ), 118 . 6 , 111 . 4 ( dd , j = 20 . 9 , 3 . 3 ), 103 . 4 ( t , j = 25 . 6 ), 65 . 4 , 57 . 9 , 55 . 7 , 47 . 3 , 27 . 2 ( 3c ), 20 . 2 . 19 f - nmr ( 376 . 61 mhz , cdcl 3 ) ฮด โ 112 . 25 ( d , j = 6 . 9 ), โ 116 . 27 ( d , 6 . 8 ). anal . calcd for c 15 h 20 f 2 n 2 o : calc ., c , 63 . 81 , h , 7 . 14 , n , 9 . 92 , f , 13 . 46 . found , c , 63 . 79 , h , 7 . 30 , n , 9 . 93 , f , 13 . 31 . to a solution of alcohol 1 - 5 ( 5 . 73 kg , 99 . 9 %, 20 . 28 mol ) in dry thp ( 31 . 3 l ), cooled to โ 20 ยฐ c ., was added chloro diethylphosphate ( 3 . 79 kg , 21 . 29 mol ). lithium hexamethyldisilazide ( 1 . 35 m in thf ; 31 . 5 l , 42 . 58 mol ) was slowly added over 1 . 5 hours while maintaining the reaction temperature at โ 15 ยฑ 3 ยฐ c . after stirring at โ 15 ยฐ c . for 2 hours , the hplc assay confirmed complete conversion to pyrrolidine 1 - 7 ( as a 80 : 20 trans : cis mixture ). the reaction mixture was quenched with water ( 50 . 6 l ) at & lt ; 15 ยฐ c . and extracted with n - heptane ( 40 . 5 l ) at 20 ยฐ c . the organic layer was washed with 10 % aqueous nacl solution ( 52 l ). the organic layer was carefully extracted with 3 n hcl solution ( 40 . 6 l , 121 . 8 mol ) with cooling to keep the temperature & lt ; 35 ยฐ c . the aqueous layer ( 58 l ) was adjusted to ph 11 - 12 with 50 % aq naoh ( 6 . 13 l , 116 . 1 mol ) and extracted with n - heptane ( 54 l ). the layers were separated . the organic layer was washed once with 10 % aqueous nacl solution ( 26 l ) and the resulting heptane solution ( 48 kg total ) was assayed by hplc to contain cyclized nitrile 1 - 7 ( as a 80 : 20 trans : cis mixture ), which was used , as is , in the hydrolysis / epimerization reaction in step e . 1 h - nmr ( 400 . 25 mhz , d 2 o ) ฮด 7 . 42 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 03 - 6 . 96 ( om , 2h ), 4 . 06 - 3 . 79 ( om , 5h ), 3 . 46 ( bt , j = 11 . 6 , 1h ), 1 . 38 ( s , 9h ). 13 c - nmr ( 100 . 65 mhz , d 2 o ) ฮด 163 . 2 ( dd , j = 180 . 9 , 12 . 6 ), 160 . 8 ( dd , j = 180 . 8 , 12 . 7 ), 130 . 2 ( dd , j = 10 . 2 , 5 . 4 ), 116 . 9 , 116 . 8 , 112 . 1 ( dd , j = 21 . 7 , 3 . 4 ), 104 . 6 ( t , j = 26 . 0 ), 63 . 2 , 51 . 1 , 49 . 3 , 41 . 4 , 32 . 3 , 23 . 7 ( 3c ). 19 f - nmr ( 376 . 61 mhz , d 2 o ) ฮด โ 109 . 87 ( d , j = 7 . 7 ), โ 112 . 87 ( d , j = 8 . 5 ). 1 h - nmr ( d 4 - ch 3 oh , 400 . 25 mhz ) ฮด 7 . 57 ( ma , 1h ), 7 . 16 - 7 . 03 ( om , 2h ), 4 . 82 ( s , oh ), 4 . 20 - 4 . 08 ( m , 2h ), 4 . 07 - 3 . 90 ( m , 3h ), 3 . 89 - 3 . 76 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 53 ( s , 9h ). 13 c - nmr ( d 4 - ch 3 oh , 100 . 65 mhz ) ฮด 165 . 0 ( dd , j = 193 . 3 , 12 . 5 ), 162 . 5 ( dd , j = 192 . 9 , 12 . 5 ), 131 . 5 , 118 . 9 ( dd , j = 14 . 3 , 3 . 7 ), 118 . 3 , 113 . 0 ( dd , j = 21 . 7 , 3 . 5 ), 105 . 4 ( t , j = 26 . 2 ), 64 . 2 , 51 . 8 , 51 . 1 , 40 . 2 , 35 . 0 , 24 . 9 ( 3c ) 19 f - nmr ( 376 . 61 mhz , d 4 - ch 3 oh ) ฮด โ 111 . 29 , โ 112 . 61 ( d , j = 6 . 8 ). anal . calcd for c 15 h 19 clf 2 n 2 : calc ., c , 59 . 90 , h , 6 . 37 , n , 9 . 31 , f , 12 . 63 , cl , 11 . 79 . found , c , 59 . 76 , h , 6 . 26 , n , 9 . 40 , f , 12 . 54 , cl , 11 . 43 . a solution of crude pyrrolidine nitrile 1 - 7 ( 4 . 88 kg , 18 . 46 mol ) in n - heptane (ห 65 l total ) from step d was solvent - switched to ethanol (ห 20 . 6 l total ) by distilling the n - heptane ( 50 - 60 torr , 25 ยฐ c .) down to about 6 l in volume , and adding ethanol ( 15 l ). the resulting solution was concentrated to a 6 l volume , and diluted with ethanol ( 14 . 6 l ) to give a total volume of 20 . 6 l . to this solution was added 50 % aqueous naoh ( 2 . 7 l , 51 . 15 mol ) over 2 minutes with stirring . this mixture was then heated to reflux ( 78 - 80 ยฐ c .) under nitrogen for 5 to 6 hours . the reaction was monitored by hplc . after cooling to 20 ยฐ c ., the reaction mixture was diluted with ethanol ( 25 . 4 l ) and methanol ( 40 . 6 l ) to give a total volume of โ 88 l ( as a 1 : 1 meoh : etoh mixture ). this solution was cooled to 12 ยฐ c . and 96 % h 2 so 4 ( 1 . 42 l , 25 . 6 mol ) was added , while maintaining the temperature at about 20 ยฐ c . the slurry was filtered through a bed of solka - floc ( 5 kg ) and anhydrous powder na 2 so 4 ( 4 kg ), and then washed with 1 : 1 etoh : meoh ( 60 l ). the resulting filtrate was re - filtered , concentrated and solvent - switched to a 2 - propanol solution (โ 15 l volume ) by vacuum - distillation . the product crystallized during solvent switching . the resulting slurry was heated to reflux (โ 80 ยฐ c .) for 2 hours ( which only partly dissolves product ). the mixture was then allowed to cool . after cooling to 16 ยฐ c ., mtbe ( 30 . 4 l , 3 volumes relative to ipa ) was added to the mixture over 5 hours to give a 1 : 3 ratio of ipa : mtbe . after stirring at 16 - 17 ยฐ c . for 3 days , the slurry was filtered , and the solids were washed with 12 l 1 : 3 ipa : mtbe . the solids were dried in vacuo ( 150 torr ) at 50 ยฐ c ., with a nitrogen sweep through the batch , for 3 days . zwitterion 1 - 9 was isolated as a white crystalline solid . zwitterion 1 - 9 assays : 99 . 97 lcap ; & gt ; 99 . 99 % e . e . 1 h - nmr ( 400 . 25 mhz , d 2 o ) ฮด 7 . 30 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 92 - 6 . 85 ( om , 2h ), 4 . 68 ( oh ), 3 . 75 - 3 . 66 ( om , 3h ), 3 . 45 ( bm , 1h ), 3 . 30 - 3 . 14 ( om , 2h ), 1 . 32 ( s , 9h ). 13 c - nmr ( 100 . 65 mhz , d 2 o ) ฮด 176 . 5 , 162 . 8 ( dd , j = 123 . 7 , 12 . 6 ), 160 . 3 ( dd , j = 124 . 5 , 12 . 7 ), 129 . 9 ( dd , j = 10 . 1 , 5 . 9 ), 119 . 7 , 111 . 7 ( dd , j = 21 . 5 , 3 . 6 ), 104 . 1 ( t , j = 26 . 2 ), 62 . 0 , 51 . 9 , 51 . 0 , 50 . 6 , 41 . 3 , 23 . 7 ( 3c ). anal . calcd for c 15 h 19 f 2 no 2 : calc ., c , 63 . 59 ; h , 6 . 76 ; f , 13 . 41 ; n , 4 . 94 . found , c , 63 . 50 ; h , 6 . 81 ; f , 13 . 11 ; n , 4 . 91 . an analytical sample of the trans amide intermediate 1 - 8 was prepared from acid 1 - 9 , via the acid chloride and quenching with ammonium hydroxide : 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 ) ฮด 7 . 28 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 84 - 6 . 73 ( om , 2h ), 6 . 60 ( br s , h ), 5 . 92 ( br s , 1h ), 3 . 67 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 26 ( t , j = 8 . 7 , 1h ), 3 . 08 ( dd , j = 9 . 2 , 4 . 2 , 11 ), 2 . 98 ( t , j = 8 . 3 , 1h ), 2 . 87 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 61 ( t , j 8 . 5 , 1h ), 1 . 11 ( s , 9h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 ) ฮด 177 . 8 , 161 . 7 ( dd , j = 248 . 4 , 12 . 9 ), 160 . 7 ( dd , j = 248 . 6 , 12 . 0 ), 129 . 8 ( dd , j = 9 . 4 , 6 . 4 ), 126 . 1 ( dd , j = 14 . 1 , 3 . 6 ), 111 . 4 ( dd , j = 20 . 9 , 3 . 6 ), 104 . 0 ( q , j = 51 . 8 ), 53 . 2 , 52 . 4 , 51 . 2 , 50 . 4 , 41 . 5 , 26 . 1 ( 3c ). anal . calcd for c 15 h 20 f 2 n 20 : c , 63 . 81 , h , 7 . 14 , n , 9 . 92 , f , 13 . 46 , o 5 . 67 . found , c , 63 . 72 , h , 7 . 00 , n , 9 . 89 , f , 13 . 91 . compound 2 was prepared from 2 - chloroacetophenone ( aldrich ) following a similar procedure to that described for compound 1 - 9 . 1 h - nmr ( 400 . 25 mhz , cd 3 od ), ฮด 7 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 34 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 26 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 80 - 3 . 70 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 58 ( br t , j = 10 . 5 , 1h ), 3 . 31 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 16 ( dd , j = 18 . 8 , 9 . 6 , 1h ), 1 . 43 ( s , 9h ). 13 c - nmr ( 100 . 65 mhz , cd 3 od ) ฮด 175 . 5 , 138 . 0 , 128 . 4 , 127 . 3 , 127 . 2 , 61 . 1 , 53 . 7 , 52 . 3 , 51 . 9 , 47 . 4 , 23 . 5 . hr - ms m + h theoretical 248 . 1651 ; found 248 . 1649 . compound 3 was prepared from 4 โฒ- methoxy - 2 - bromoacetophenone ( aldrich ) following a similar procedure to that described for compound 1 - 9 . 1 h - nmr ( 400 . 25 mhz , cd 3 od ) ฮด 7 . 31 ( d , j = 8 . 7 , 2h ), 6 . 88 ( d , j = 8 . 7 , 2h ), 4 . 89 ( oh ), 3 . 79 - 3 . 68 ( om , 3h ), 3 . 76 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 55 ( br t , j = 10 . 6 , 1h ), 3 . 25 ( br t , j = 11 . 2 , 1h ), 3 . 11 ( dd , j = 18 . 8 , 10 . 0 , 1h ), 1 . 41 ( s , 9h ). 13 c - nmr ( 100 . 65 mhz , cd 3 od ) ฮด 177 . 2 , 160 . 7 , 131 . 3 , 129 . 9 , 115 . 4 , 62 . 6 , 55 . 9 , 55 . 2 , 54 . 1 , 53 . 3 , 48 . 5 , 25 . 0 . hr - ms m + h theoretical 278 . 1756 ; found 278 . 1754 . | 2 |
fig1 shows a roman shade 1 with a fabric panel 3 , having a top rim 3 a for attachment to a header 5 , pull cords 7 , 9 , 11 threaded through parallel , vertically - extending columns of rings 13 on rear of the panel 3 . a cord anchor 15 of this invention is on the lower portion 7 b , 9 b , 11 b of each pull cord 7 , 9 , 11 . each anchor 15 includes a hook 17 for attachment to a bottom ring 13 b of each column of rings 13 near a bottom rim 3 b of the shade 3 . fig2 - 4 show the cord anchor 15 to have two separable parts : a holder 19 for one of the pull cords 7 , 9 , 11 , with the hook 17 extending downwardly from the holder ; and a clamp 21 for releasably holding the pull cord on the holder . the holder 19 and clamp 21 form a plug and socket combination . in this regard , an upper portion or plug 23 of the holder 19 has a vertically - elongated and rounded finger - like shape that is adapted to be inserted into the clamp 21 as described below . a lower portion 24 of the holder 19 is attached to the hook 17 . as best seen in fig3 , the upper portion or plug 23 of the holder 19 has a top 23 a and a bottom 23 b , and within the holder is a channel 25 for receiving , and accommodating movement of , one of the pull cords 7 , 9 , 11 . the channel 25 is generally u - shaped and has , at its bottom , a transverse , generally horizontal leg 27 that is adjacent to the bottom 23 a of the plug 23 and extends through the plug from left to right as shown in fig2 . the channel 25 also has left and right , generally vertical legs 29 , 31 that are upstanding at the left and right ends of the horizontal leg 27 and are open at the surface of the plug 23 , on its left and right sides . thus , the vertical channel legs 29 , 31 divide the plug 23 into a front wall 23 f and a rear wall 23 r as shown in fig2 , and the horizontal and vertical channel legs 27 , 29 , 31 are preferably centered between the plug &# 39 ; s front and rear walls 23 f , 23 r . the legs 27 , 29 , 31 are interconnected and together form the u - shaped channel 25 for a pull cord in the plug 23 of the holder 19 . the left and right , vertical legs 29 , 31 each have a generally u - shaped cross - section with an upstanding base 29 a , 31 a , horizontally - extending , parallel walls 29 b , 31 b , 29 c , 31 c extending perpendicularly from left and right sides of its base 29 a , 31 a and an open top . the horizontal leg 27 has a generally square cross - section with a upstanding rear base wall base 27 a , horizontal top and bottom walls 27 b , 27 c and an upstanding front opening 27 f . the front opening 27 f is in the front wall of the plug 23 f , so that a pull cord can be inserted in the horizontal channel leg 27 . preferably , the left and right , channel bases 29 a , 31 a have left and right , friction blocks 33 , 35 . the friction blocks 33 , 35 are generally rectangular projections in the vertical channel legs 29 , 31 . each friction block 33 , 35 includes a top surface 33 a , 35 a , a bottom surface 33 b , 35 b and an outer surface 33 c , 35 c that is parallel to the upstanding base 29 a , 31 a of its vertical leg 29 , 31 , so that the vertical legs are relatively shallow where the friction blocks 33 , 35 are located . the outer surface 33 c , 35 c of each friction block preferably has a friction enhancing surface f , such as a saw - tooth profile , to better hold a pull cord in place . the friction blocks 33 , 35 are preferably near the bottom of the vertical channel legs 29 , 31 and level with , or just above , the horizontal channel leg 27 . the plug 23 of the holder 19 also has upper and lower , front latching notches 37 f , 39 f and upper and lower , rear latching notches 37 r , 39 r . the upper and lower notches 37 f , 37 r and 39 f , 39 r are parallel and vertically spaced apart horizontally - extending grooves in the front and rear walls 23 f , 23 r . the front upper notch 37 f is positioned over the transverse horizontal leg 27 of the channel 25 and at the same level , or just above , the top portion 33 a , 35 a of the left and right friction blocks 33 , 35 . the front bottom notch 39 f is located just below the horizontal channel leg 27 . the rear upper and lower notches 37 r , 39 r are vertically aligned with the front upper and lower notches 37 f , 39 f . the distance between each pair of upper and lower notches 37 f , 39 f and 37 r , 39 r is thus at least equal to the sum of the vertical heights of the friction blocks 33 , 35 and the horizontal channel leg 27 . as shown in fig5 a and 5b , one of the pull cords 7 can be looped about the plug 23 of the holder 19 and inserted in its channel 25 . this can be done by first inserting a portion of the pull cord 7 through the open portion of the opening 27 f of the horizontal channel leg 27 at the front of the plug 23 , so that the pull cord is positioned in the horizontal leg 27 , and then folding upwardly other portions of the pull cord , extending from opposite ends of the horizontal leg 27 , so that the other portions are positioned in the vertical channel legs 29 , 31 . the pull cord positioned in the cord channel 25 can slide then along it when pulled at either end to adjust the length of the pull cord . as best seen in fig4 , the clamp 21 for releasably holding a pull cord on the holder 19 includes a hollow , vertically - elongated socket 41 , into which the plug 23 can be inserted and removed vertically . the socket 41 has a hollow , vertically - elongated and rounded interior 43 which fits closely around the exterior of the plug 23 when it is inserted in the socket 41 . the socket 41 also has an outer wall 45 , a bottom opening 47 , through which the plug 23 can be vertically inserted into , and removed from , the hollow interior 43 of the plug , and a top opening 49 , through which the ends of the pull cord can extend . the hollow interior 43 of the socket 41 has a pair of inwardly - and vertically - extending ribs 51 , 53 , on opposite sides of the hollow interior surface 43 a of the socket 41 . preferably the top 51 a , 53 a of each rib 51 , 53 is adjacent the top opening 49 , and the bottom 51 b , 53 b of each rib is at approximately the middle of the height of the socket 41 . the ribs 51 , 53 are positioned and dimensioned so that when the plug 23 of the holder 19 is inserted in the hollow interior 43 the socket 41 , the ribs 51 , 53 slide along the vertical channel legs 29 , 31 of the plug . a pair of slots 55 , 57 also extend through opposite sides of the outer wall 45 of the socket 41 , beneath the ribs 51 , 53 . the slots 55 , 57 extend upwardly from the bottom opening 47 along a portion of the height of the outer wall 45 of the socket 41 . the slots 55 , 57 create front and rear latches 59 , 61 at the bottom of the socket 41 that can be flexed slightly inwardly and outwardly when the plug 23 of the holder 19 is inserted in the hollow interior 43 of the socket 41 . the latches 59 , 61 have cams 63 , 65 projecting horizontally into the hollow interior from inner surfaces that can resiliently engage either the upper or lower notches 37 f , 39 f or 37 r , 39 r in the front and rear walls 23 f , 23 r of the plug 23 of the holder 19 when the plug is inserted in the hollow interior 43 of the socket 41 , thereby securing the clamp on the holder . the clamp 21 and its socket 41 can be held on the plug 23 of the holder 19 of the cord anchor 15 in two positions : a cord - engaging position shown in fig5 a and a cord - adjusting position shown in fig5 b . in both positions , one of the pull cords 7 and enters the anchor through the top opening 49 in the socket 41 , passes around the plug 23 through its channel 25 , past the friction blocks 33 , 35 and exits the anchor through the top opening 49 with end portion 7 b . there are thus has two portions of the pull cord 7 extending upwardly from the top opening 49 , its end portion 7 b and an extending length 7 a as a portion of the whole pull cord 7 . in the cord - adjusting position of the cord anchor , a length of the pull cord 7 can be slid through the anchor to : reduce the effective length of the pull cord when its end portion 7 b is pulled or to increase its effective length when its other extending length 7 a is pulled . as seen in fig5 a , the plug 23 of the holder 19 has been inserted to a maximum extent upwardly into the hollow interior 43 of the socket 41 , so that the cord anchor 15 is in its cord - engaging position . thereby , the latches 63 , 65 of the clamp 21 have been pushed into the lower , front and rear , notches 39 f , 39 r on the front and rear walls 23 f , 23 r of the plug . as a result , the ribs 51 , 53 are directly adjacent the top surfaces 33 a , 35 a of the friction blocks 33 , 35 in the left and right , vertical legs 29 , 31 of the channel 25 . also as a result , the pull cord 7 is held at two places , between the bottom ends 51 b , 53 b of the ribs and the top surfaces 33 a , 35 a of the friction blocks 33 , 35 . also , the pull cord is held by friction between the friction enhancing surface f of the outer surfaces 33 c , 35 c of the friction blocks 33 , 35 and the hollow interior surface 43 a of the clamp , below the bottom ends 51 b , 53 b of the ribs 51 , 53 . in this regard , the dimensions of the ribs 51 , 53 , the cord channel 25 and the friction blocks 33 , 35 are chosen such that in the cord - engaging position : i ) the vertical distances between the bottom ends 51 b , 53 b of the ribs and the top surfaces 33 a , 35 a of the friction blocks are smaller than the thickness of the pull cord 7 ; and ii ) the horizontal distances between the outer surfaces 33 c , 35 c of the friction blocks and the hollow interior surface 43 a of the clamp , below the bottom ends 51 b , 53 b of the ribs 51 , 53 , are also smaller than the thickness of the pull cord . as seen in fig5 b , the plug 23 has been inserted only to a partial extent upwardly into the hollow interior 43 of the socket 41 , so that the cord anchor 15 is in its cord - adjusting position . thereby , the latches 63 , 65 of the clamp have been pushed into the upper , front and rear , notches 37 f , 37 r on the front and rear walls 23 f , 23 r of the plug . as a result , the bottom ends 51 b , 53 b of the ribs 51 , 53 are above the top surfaces 33 a , 35 a of the friction blocks . the ribs 51 , 53 are thus in the vertical channel legs 29 , 31 and directly opposite their upstanding base 29 a , 31 a . the horizontal distances between the bases 29 a , 31 a of the vertical channel legs 29 , 31 and the ribs 51 , 53 of the socket 41 are such that the pull cord 7 can slide along the cord channel 25 . fig6 shows a second embodiment of a cord anchor 115 of the invention which is similar to the cord anchor 15 of fig1 - 5 and for which corresponding reference numerals ( greater by 100 ) are used below for describing the same parts or corresponding parts . the anchor 115 has two separable parts : a holder 119 for a pull cord 107 ; and a clamp 121 for releasably holding the pull cord on the holder . a hook 117 extends downwardly from the holder . the holder 119 and clamp 121 form a plug and socket combination . in this regard , the holder 119 has an upper portion or plug 123 that has a vertically - elongated and rounded shape with a generally conical cross - section . the plug 123 also has a u - shaped channel 125 for the pull cord 107 . an upper portion 167 of the clamp 121 includes a hollow , vertically - elongated socket 141 . a lower portion 169 of the clamp 121 is attached to the hook 117 . the socket 141 has a top opening 149 , through which the ends of the cord can extend , and a bottom opening 147 , through which the plug 123 can be inserted into , and removed from , the hollow interior 143 of the socket . the upper part of the hollow interior 143 of the socket 141 is shaped , so that the upper part of the plug 123 can be moved upwardly to fit snugly there to hold the pull cord 107 in place in a cord - engaging position of the cord anchor 115 . the hollow interior 143 of the socket 141 is also vertically long enough for the plug 123 to be moved downwardly to a top surface 171 of the upper portion 167 of the clamp 121 to a cord - adjusting position shown in fig6 . in the cord - adjusting position , the pull cord 107 can be slid through the anchor 115 to : reduce its effective length when its end portion 107 b is pulled or to increase its effective length when its other extending length 107 a is pulled . this invention is , of course , not limited to the above - described embodiments which may be modified without departing from the scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its advantages . in this regard , the terms in the foregoing description and the following claims , such as โ horizontal โ, โ vertical โ, โ right โ, โ left โ, โ front โ, โ rear โ, โ top โ, โ bottom โ, โ outer โ, โ inner โ, have been used only as relative terms to describe the relationships of the various elements of the cord anchor of the invention as shown in the figures . for example , instead of the open horizontal leg 27 , 127 of the channel 25 , 125 with its open entrance 27 f , 127 f at the front , a through hole could be provided in the left and right sides of the plug 23 , 123 of the holder 19 , 119 . also for example , the cord anchor of this invention could alternatively be used to attach a pull cord to a bottom rail of a horizontal venetian blind . in such a case , an alternative to the hook 17 , 117 would be used for connecting the anchor to the shade , such as a bayonet closure . | 4 |
the present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims . the drawings described are only schematic and are non - limiting . in the drawings , the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn to scale for illustrative purposes . the dimensions and the relative dimensions do not correspond to actual reductions to practice of the invention . furthermore , the terms first , second , third and the like in the description and in the claims , are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequence , either temporally , spatially , in ranking or in any other manner . it is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein . moreover , the terms top , bottom , over , under and the like in the description and the claims are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing relative positions . it is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other orientations than described or illustrated herein . it is to be noticed that the term โ comprising โ, used in the claims , should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listed thereafter ; it does not exclude other elements or steps . it is thus to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features , integers , steps or components as referred to , but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features , integers , steps or components , or groups thereof . thus , the scope of the expression โ a device comprising means a and b โ should not be limited to devices consisting only of components a and b . it means that with respect to the present invention , the only relevant components of the device are a and b . similarly , it is to be noticed that the term โ connected โ, used in the description , should not be interpreted as being restricted to direct connections only . thus , the scope of the expression โ a device a connected to a device b โ should not be limited to devices or systems wherein an output of device a is directly connected to an input of device b . it means that there exists a path between an output of a and an input of b which may be a path including other devices or means . โ connected โ may mean that two or more elements are either in direct physical or electrical contact , or that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other but yet still co - operate or interact with each other . reference throughout this specification to โ one embodiment โ or โ an embodiment โ means that a particular feature , structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention . thus , appearances of the phrases โ in one embodiment โ or โ in an embodiment โ in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment , but may refer to different embodiments . furthermore , the particular features , structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner , as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure , in one or more embodiments . similarly it should be appreciated that in the description of exemplary embodiments of the invention , various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment , figure , or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects . this method of disclosure , however , is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim . rather , as the following claims reflect , inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment . thus , the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description , with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention . furthermore , while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments , combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention , and form different embodiments , as would be understood by those skilled in the art . for example , in the following claims , any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination . in the description provided herein , numerous specific details are set forth . however , it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practised without these specific details . in other instances , well - known methods , structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description . the invention will now be described by a detailed description of several embodiments of the invention . it is clear that other embodiments of the invention can be configured according to the knowledge of persons skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit or technical teaching of the invention , the invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims . in fig1 , a dispenser 10 is shown . the dispenser 10 has a container 20 containing hair building solids 50 . the dispenser 10 is substantially cylindrical with a closed lower end and an open upper end . the upper end includes a dispensing member 30 . screw threads 40 are provided on the radially outer surface of the dispensing member 30 . these screw threads allow a closure or cap ( not shown ) including opposed screw threads to be screwed on and off the dispenser 10 to open and close the container 20 . the container 20 includes a recess , channel or groove in its outer surface and running along a side wall from the upper end to the lower end , or base , of the container 20 . the recess 70 extends across the base of the container 20 . within this recess 70 a metal strip 60 is provided . the recess 70 on the base of the container 20 allows the metal strip 60 ( refer to fig2 which shows a view of the dispenser 10 of fig1 viewed from the direction of arrow โ a โ) to be distanced from a surface on which the dispenser 10 may be placed , thus insulating it electrostatically . the container 20 includes two holes 80 passing through its side wall . this allows projections on the radially inner surface of the metal strip ( refer to fig2 ) to contact with the solids 50 provided within the container 20 . this arrangement allows for the electrostatic charge on at least some of the solids 50 within the container 20 to be affected by the electrostatic charge on the metal strip 60 . the electrostatic charge on the strip 60 may in turn be affected by a user holding the dispenser 10 and contacting with the metal strip 60 through the user &# 39 ; s fingers or hands . the dispenser 110 in fig3 has a different arrangement for affecting the electrostatic charge on at least some the solids 50 in that it comprises a series of plates or baffles 160 provided within the dispensing member 130 arranged at the upper end of the container 120 . the dispensing member 130 includes a sieve 165 at the uppermost end for dispensing the solids 50 . the plates or baffles 160 may be electrically connected with other electrostatic charge altering or maintaining controllers associated with the dispenser 110 not shown . as the solids 50 are dispensed from the dispenser 110 via the dispensing member 130 they come into direct or indirect contact with the plates or baffles 160 such that the electrostatic charge thereon is either maintained and / or is altered as desired or controlled . fig4 shows a dispenser 210 having an additional dispensing member 230 in the form of a spout . the spout includes an orifice 235 at its outermost end . the dispenser 210 also includes an open end and dispensing member 30 at the upper end of the container 220 . however , this is optional . the dispenser 210 includes a lever 260 pivoted at its base to a side wall of the container 210 . the lever 260 is biased away from the side wall of the container 210 by a biasing device 264 , which is shown as a leaf spring in this figure . the lever 260 may be moved reciprocally towards and away from the dispenser 220 in the directions indicated by the arrows 266 . this reciprocal movement of the lever 260 drives the unit 268 . this unit 268 may be a pump for increasing the gas pressure within the container 220 and / or for exciting the solids 50 and / or for entraining the solids 50 for dispensing via the dispensing member 30 and / or the spout 230 . valves , not shown , may be included for regulating the internal gas pressure and / or the dispensing of the solids 50 . the unit 268 may additionally , or alternatively , alter or maintain the electrostatic charge on at least some of the solids within the container 220 . for instance , the unit 268 may move the solids around an object to affect the charge due to the triboelectric effect . although the spout 230 is shown connected towards the base of the container 220 it should be understood that it may be connected at any point and may take any shape , form or degree of rigidity . fig5 shows another embodiment of the dispenser 310 . this dispenser 310 includes a spout 330 arranged at the uppermost end of the container 320 and has an orifice 335 at the top thereof . a controller 360 adapted for altering and / or maintaining the electrostatic charge on at least some of the solids 50 contained within the container 320 is provided with the dispenser 310 . the controller 360 may be electrically , kinetically or otherwise driven . this embodiment may include a container 320 comprising a flexible wall portion to allow a user to squeeze / pump / blow the solids 50 out of the spout 330 . two controllers 430 , 530 adapted for altering an / or maintaining the electrostatic charge on at least some of the solids 50 as they are dispensed are shown in fig6 . the dispending member 430 is substantially tubular in form and includes an array of baffles or plates 460 provided within its bore . the plates or baffles 460 are arranged to extend from the radially inner surface of the member towards the centre of the bore . an alternative embodiment 530 is also shown . this includes plates or baffles 560 arranged such that they extend substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the bore . the plates or baffles 460 , 560 allow for at least some of the solids 50 to have their electrostatic charge maintained and / or altered as they pass over and across them . the plates or baffles 460 , 560 may be electrically connected to other parts of the dispenser 210 , 310 . the dispensing member 430 , 530 may be connectable to any of the dispensers described and / or claimed herein . fig7 shows a docking station 700 together with a dispenser 610 . the docking station 700 may be an electrostatic charging station , or it may be a station for other purposes such as the electrical charging of batteries provided in the dispenser 610 . the station 700 comprises a base part 710 , which includes a recess 715 for receiving a dispenser 610 thereon , and a wall part 720 including controls 730 and other components described below . the dispenser 610 comprises a container 620 , a dispensing member 130 , screw threads 40 , a sieve 165 and baffles 160 as described above with regard to other embodiments of the dispenser . it also includes two electrical contacts 662 provided in the base thereof . further still , the dispenser 610 includes an electrostatic charge controller adapted 660 for altering and / or maintaining the charge on at least some of the solids 50 provided therein . the dispenser 610 may be placed on the base part 710 such that it fits within the recess 715 . the dispensers 610 and the base part 710 of the station 700 may include alignment apparatus ( not shown ) to ensure the correct alignment of the electrical contacts 662 with electrical contacts 770 provided in the recess 715 . this ensures that electricity may be passed from the station 700 to the dispenser 610 . this may allow for the recharging of a battery provided in the dispenser ( not shown ). this battery may drive the electrostatic charge controller 660 . alternatively , or additionally the electrical contacts 662 , 770 may allow electrostatic charge to be passed to and / or from the dispenser . this may allow for the neutralisation of , or reduction or increase in electrostatic charge on at least some of the solids 50 . the station 700 also includes an interaction device 760 for interacting with the dispenser 610 . this interaction may be a physical one in that the device 760 mechanically connects to the electrostatic charge controller 660 . this may allow an object 660 to be moved through the solids 50 , or to move the solids over an object 50 to alter and / or maintain the electrostatic charge thereon . for instance , the device 760 may connect to a stirrer or a blower 660 in the container 620 . the wall portion 720 of the station 700 includes a cpu 740 with connector 780 connecting the cpu to a control panel 730 , a power source ( possibly a transformer connected to an external source of electricity , or to a battery ), to the electrical contacts 770 and to the interaction device 760 . in use , the dispenser 610 may be docked with the station 700 when not required so as to charge up batteries , and / or to maintain and / or alter the electrostatic charge on at least some of the fibres 50 in the container 620 . when required , the dispenser 610 may be removed from the station 700 and operated by the user to dispense the solids 50 onto the region of skin / hair as required . this might be by shaking of the dispenser 610 , the operation of a vibrating delivery device , a pump or a stirrer etc . | 1 |
fig1 - 8 illustrate various stages of fabricating a heat transfer device according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention . a plurality of positively - doped elements 10 are placed within respective openings 18 of a holding structure , such as a jig 16 , in step 100 ( fig8 ). the jig 16 should be suitable to mechanically maintain the correct positional relationship between a piece of work , here the element 10 , and the jig 16 and / or the correct positional relationship between the elements 10 . the elements 10 are used in heat transfer devices , such as a thermoelectric cooler device 50 ( fig7 ), used in semiconductor packages . each element 10 has opposite ends 12 , 14 . as shown in fig1 the first ends 12 do not abut any other object . the second ends 14 contact an adhesive surface 26 of an adhesive material 24 at step 105 ( fig8 ). the material 24 , which is preferably a tape , is affixed to a hoop frame 22 . the frame 22 and the material 24 make up a first hoop 20 . the positively - doped elements 10 may be placed in the jig 16 ( step 100 ) before the elements 10 are brought into contact with the adhesive surface 26 ( step 105 ). alternatively , the elements 10 may be located within the openings 18 after the jig 16 is brought into contact with the adhesive surface 26 . after the elements 10 are adhered to the hoop 20 ( step 105 ), the jig 16 is removed , leaving the elements 10 free - standing on the adhesive surface 26 ( fig2 ). the adhesive surface 26 contains sufficient adhesive properties to securely hold , and to inhibit tipping of , the elements 10 . the adhesive material 24 may be temperature sensitive . specifically , with the application of heat to a certain predetermined temperature the adhesive properties of the adhesive surface 26 diminish , allowing a loss of adhesion between the elements 10 and the hoop 20 . a similar operation may be undertaken to adhere negatively - doped elements 11 to an adhesive surface 26 โฒ. specifically , a holding structure , like the jig 16 , is used to collect a plurality of the elements 11 ( step 100 ). the elements 11 have opposite ends 13 , 15 . an adhesive material 24 โฒ is lowered onto the jig with the elements 11 such that the adhesive surface 26 โฒ contacts the ends 15 ( step 105 ). the adhesive material 24 โฒ is affixed to a hoop frame 22 โฒ, with the frame 22 โฒ and the material 24 โฒ making up a second hoop 20 โฒ. as shown in fig3 the hoop 20 โฒ is lowered and / or the hoop 20 is elevated to interdigitate or intermesh the elements 10 and 11 at step 110 ( fig8 ). specifically , the hoops 20 , 20 โฒ are placed near enough to each other to allow each of the ends 12 - 15 to contact one of the adhesive surfaces 26 , 26 โฒ. the flexibility of the materials 24 , 24 โฒ may be advantageous in ensuring that all of the element ends 12 - 15 are adhered to the surfaces 26 , 26 โฒ. further , the flexibility of the materials 24 , 24 โฒ may be advantageous during intermeshing to allow any needed slight angular re - alignments of the elements 10 , 11 to avoid breakage or damage . at step 115 ( fig8 ), an encapsulating material 30 may be flowed onto and around the elements 10 , 11 ( fig5 ). alternatively , one of the hoops 20 , 20 โฒ may be removed at step 120 ( fig8 ) and then the encapsulating material 30 may be flowed around and between the elements 10 , 11 ( step 115 ). a mold 31 ( fig4 ) may be utilized to assist the encapsulating material 30 to surround the elements 10 , 11 . the encapsulating material 30 is preferably a viscous fluid that hardens over a short period of time , either with no outside stimulus or with a temperature change . most preferably , the material 30 is a dielectric material such as epoxy or an elastomer such as rubber . upon hardening , the encapsulating material 30 creates a solid matrix around the elements 10 , 11 which prevents tipping . utilizing the temperature sensitivity of the adhesive material 24 โฒ, heat from a heat source 35 ( fig4 ) is directed at the adhesive surface 26 โฒ to release the hoop 20 โฒ from the ends 12 , 15 at step 120 ( fig8 ). as an alternative , it is equally possible to heat the adhesive surface 26 to release the hoop 20 and leave the elements 10 , 11 adhered to the hoop 20 โฒ. after the material 30 has hardened , the remaining hoop 20 can be released in the same manner as the hoop 20 โฒ ( step 120 ). next , at step 125 ( fig8 ) the ends 12 - 15 of the elements 10 , 11 are smoothed or polished . referring to fig6 a lapping machine 40 may be used to precisely smooth or lap first the ends 12 and 15 and then the ends 13 and 14 so that each of the elements 10 , 11 are linearly aligned with one another and to provide smooth surfaces for electrical connectivity . the lapping process may also be used to create a precise height size of the elements 10 , 11 such that the ends 12 , 15 and the ends 13 , 14 are respectively within the same planes . the encapsulating material 30 provides lateral restraint during the lapping process so that the positively - doped and negatively - doped elements 10 , 11 do not become misaligned . the elements 10 , 11 could be damaged by the lapping machine 40 if they were misaligned . the presence of the material 30 provides an anchoring mechanism for the elements 10 , 11 during the lapping or polishing process . this anchoring mechanism inhibits shearing and / or fracturing of the elements 10 , 11 during the finishing process . further , the material 30 assists in maintaining accurate alignment of the elements 10 , 11 . after lapping of the ends 12 - 15 , the elements 10 , 11 are electrically coupled together and attached to a panels 52 , 54 . solder balls 51 may be provided to the desired electrical connections . the assembly is coupled to a heat sink 56 at step 130 ( fig8 ) to create a thermoelectric cooler device 50 ( fig7 ). if desired , a semiconductor device ( such as a laser device ) 58 is thermally coupled to one of the panels 52 , 54 to create a semiconductor device 60 . while the invention has been described in detail in connection with the preferred embodiments known at the time , it should be readily understood that the invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments . rather , the invention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations , alterations , substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described , but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the invention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description , but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
a receptacle for a computing device that performs image capture is provided . the image capture computing device is received by the receptacle . a user then grasps the receptacle and motions the receptacle to a position for image capture . the receptacle has handles that provide for stabilization of the receptacle and the image capture computing device . as a result , users performing image capture have the ability to capture still images and / or video images with stabilization . in contrast with heavy receptacles that do not have handles , the receptacle for the image capture computing device provides a lightweight configuration that provides stabilization for an image capture computing device . further , the receptacle is configured to provide optimal accessibility to various ports of the mobile computing device . in contrast with a configuration in which wires have to be bent in a manner that may damage the wires and be cumbersome for a user , the receptacle is configured to maximize accessibility to the mobile computing device and minimize interference from the wires . in addition , the receptacle may have additional components that allow the user performing image capture to vary image capture conditions . for example , the receptacle may receive a variety of lenses that may be utilized to vary viewing conditions . further , various lighting and / or audio equipment may be positioned on the receptacle to vary lighting and / or audio conditions . the receptacle may also have a tripod component so that the receptacle may be stabilized with a tripod to minimize motion of the image capture computing device during image capture . fig1 illustrates a front view of an image capture computing device receptacle 100 . in one embodiment , the image capture computing device receptacle 100 includes a plurality of handles , e . g ., a right handle 102 and a left handle 104 . the front of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 is illustrated from the perspective of what another user views if in front of the image capture computing device 100 when an image is captured by a user such as a photographer . the right handle 102 and the left handle 104 allow the user to perform image capture with minimal wobbling . as a result , the photographer is able to perform image capture with more stabilization and accuracy than without the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . although the right handle 102 and the left handle 104 are illustrated , the handles may be in other locations , e . g ., a top handle and a bottom handle . further , a single handle or more than two handles may be utilized . the right handle 102 and the left handle 104 are provided merely for illustrative purposes . the image capture computing device receptacle 100 also has an aperture 106 . the aperture 106 is configured so that an image capture component , e . g ., a lens of a mobile image capture computing device , may be positioned to capture images through the aperture 106 . in one embodiment , the aperture 106 is configured to be in substantial proximity to the image capture component . for example , the aperture may be narrow enough to only be positioned over the lens to minimize reflection . in another embodiment , the image capture computing device receptacle 100 has a plurality of accessory receiving means . as an example , the image capture computing device receptacle 100 has a receiving means 108 , a receiving means 110 , a receiving means 112 , and a receiving means 114 . the various receiving means may be utilized to receive accessories such as lighting devices , e . g ., lamps , audio devices , e . g ., microphones , additional lenses , e . g ., wide angle lenses , tripods , and / or the like . for example , the receiving means 114 may receive a tripod mount to provide further stabilization for the image capture computing device receptacle 100 with a tripod . a single or different quantity of receiving means may be utilized from that illustrated in fig1 . in one embodiment , the right handle 102 and the left handle 104 are integrated within the same frame as the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . in other words , a single molding may be utilized for the frame and the handles . in an alternative embodiment , the right handle 102 and the left handle are detachable from the frame . fig2 illustrates a back view of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . the back view is from the perspective of the photographer that is placing the mobile computing device in the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . in one embodiment , the image capture computing device receptacle 100 has a receiving means for receiving the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . an example of the receiving means is the lip 202 . the lip 202 may be positioned throughout all of the frame or at least a portion of the frame . a photographer may then snap the mobile computing device within the lip to secure the mobile computing device in the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . as a result , the photographer may easily snap the mobile computing device into position . the lip is only an example of the receiving means . the receiving means may also be a fastening means such as a screw , bolt , nail , clip , and / or the like . fig3 illustrates a side view of the receiving means 202 . the receiving means 202 is illustrated as a lip only for illustrative purposes as various other receiving means may be utilized . fig4 illustrates a front view of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 with a mobile computing device 402 secured to the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . the mobile computing device 402 may be a tablet device , smartphone , or any other mobile device . further , the mobile computing device 402 may have an image capture component , e . g ., a built in camera , for still or motion image capture . various accessories 404 , 406 , and 408 may be connected to the receiving means 108 , 110 , and 112 . the receiving means 108 , 110 , and 112 may be a lip , screw , bolt , nail , clip , and / or the like . further , a lens accessory 412 is positioned over the aperture 106 . although a frame single frame is illustrated in fig4 , multiple frames may alternatively be utilized to secure the mobile computing device 402 . in other words , the image capture computing device receptacle 100 may comprise multiple parts such as a front portion and a back portion to secure the mobile computing device 402 to the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . accordingly , the image capture computing device receptacle 100 is not limited to a single frame as multiple frames may alternatively be utilized . although fig1 - 4 illustrated two handles , a single handle or more than two handles may be utilized . fig5 illustrates a front view of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 with the mobile computing device 402 secured to the image capture computing device receptacle 100 and the image capture computing device receptacle 100 having a bottom handle 502 . alternatively , the right handle 102 , the left handle 104 , and the bottom handle 502 may be considered a single handle . further , fig6 illustrates a front view of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 with the mobile computing device 402 secured to the image capture computing device receptacle 100 and the image capture computing device receptacle 100 only having the left handle 104 for a handle . although fig4 - 6 illustrate the mobile computing device 402 as a tablet device , a smartphone may alternatively be utilized . accordingly , fig7 illustrates a front view of an image capture computing device receptacle 700 that is configured to receive a smartphone . the image capture computing device receptacle 700 has a right handle 702 and a left handle 704 . the image capture computing device receptacle 700 also has an aperture 706 . fig8 illustrates a back view of the image capture computing device receptacle 700 illustrated in fig7 . fig9 a - 9d illustrate various views of a flat handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 illustrated in fig1 . the flat handle configuration has handles that are in vertical alignment with the vertical plane that goes through the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . as a result various wires that are plugged into the mobile computing device 402 of fig4 have to be bent , twisted , etc . to have accessibility to receiving ports of the mobile computing device 402 of fig4 . such wires may be utilized to connect the image capture computing device 100 to various accessories , other devices , etc . the ports may be based on various technologies such as usb , ethernet , etc . fig9 a illustrates a front perspective view of the flat handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . the right handle 102 and the left handle 104 are in vertical alignment with the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . as a result , a lighting cable 901 and a headphone cable 902 do not have direct accessibility to receiving ports of the mobile computing device 402 . therefore , the cables 901 and 902 have to be significantly bent , e . g ., at approximate ninety degree angles , to obtain access to the receiving ports of the mobile computing device 402 of fig4 . such awkward bending may lead to significant damage or wear and tear of the cables 901 and 902 . further , the cables 901 and 902 may easily become unplugged from the receiving ports of the mobile computing device 402 of fig4 as such bending does not allow for secure plugging of the cables 901 and 902 . such unplugging may lead to significant disruptions during filming , image capture , etc . further , the bending of the cables 901 and 902 interferes with a user &# 39 ; s ability to comfortably grip the handles 102 and 104 . for example , the bends of the cables 901 and 902 may occupy significant amounts of gripping space between the handles 102 and 104 and the portion of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 that encapsulates the mobile computing device 402 . as a result , the bends of the cables 901 and 902 may block certain portions of the handles 102 and 104 from being gripped by the user . fig9 b illustrates a front view of the flat handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 illustrated in fig9 a . further , fig9 c illustrates a side view of the flat handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 illustrated in fig9 a . the cables 901 and 902 are illustrated as being significantly bent at almost ninety degree angles . in addition , fig9 d illustrates another side view of the flat handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 illustrated in fig9 a . the lighting cable 901 and the headphone cable 902 are only provided as examples of cables that may be utilized with the receiving ports of the mobile computing device 402 . other types of cables may also be utilized . further , devices other than cables that may be received by the mobile computing device 402 , e . g ., usb devices , etc ., may also be received by the receiving ports of the mobile computing device 402 . fig1 a - 10d illustrate various views of a curved handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 illustrated in fig1 . the curved handle configuration has a right curved handle 1002 and a left curved handle 1004 . the curved handles 1002 and 1004 may or may not have ribbed configurations for gripping the curved handles 1002 and 1004 . fig1 a illustrates a rear perspective view of the curved handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . the curved handles 1002 and 1004 have a curvature that allows direct accessibility for the cables 901 and 902 to the receiving ports of the mobile computing device 402 . in other words , the curvature of the curved handles 1002 and 1004 is such that the cables 901 and 902 may have horizontal alignment with the horizontal plane of the mobile computing device 402 . the curvature may be at angles of approximately ten degrees to ninety degrees . fig1 b illustrates a top view of the curved handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . the cables 901 and 902 are plugged into receiving ports of the mobile computing device 402 without any bending , twisting , etc . as the curved handles 1002 and 1004 do not interfere with the accessibility of the cables 901 and 902 to the mobile computing device 402 . in other words , the curved handles 1002 and 1004 are not an obstruction for the cables 901 and 902 . fig1 c illustrates a side view of the curved handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . the curvature of the right curved handle 1002 allows for direct accessibility for the cable 901 to the receiving port of the mobile computing device 402 and space for the user to grip the right curved handle 1002 without interference from the right curved handle 1002 . fig1 d illustrates a front view of the curved handle configuration of the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . the configurations provided for herein allow a user to avoid the inefficiencies of the process of prior configurations of mounting , removing , and remounting a mobile computing device from a mounting configuration . the configurations provided for herein allow a user to perform image capture functionality and non - image capture functionality with the image capture computing device without removing the image capture computing device from the image capture computing device receptacle 100 . as a result , a user has fewer interruptions while performing image capture and non - image capture functionality with the image capture computing device receptacle 100 , which may lead to a more efficient and accurate image capture than prior configurations . in various embodiments , the actuators for any of the configurations may be situated on the handles 102 and 104 . in various other embodiments , the actuators for any of the configurations may be situated on the image capture receptacle 100 . a variety of types of materials may be utilized for the image capture computing device receptacles . for example , plastic , carbonite , metal , or the like may be utilized . it is understood that the apparatuses described herein may also be applied in other types of apparatuses . those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various adaptations and modifications of the embodiments of the apparatuses described herein may be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the apparatuses . therefore , it is to be understood that , within the scope of the appended claims , the present apparatuses may be practiced other than as specifically described herein . | 7 |
referring to fig1 a coaxial cable segment kks directly connects respective media adapter units mau to one another . the coaxial cable is provided with a corresponding terminating impedance at both ends in order to annihilate the transmitted signals , free of reflection , at these locations . it is also shown that each station dte is connected to the media adapter unit via a separate transmit / receive cable sek in order to therefore be able to undertake the data exchange with other stations ( not shown ) via the coaxial cable segment kks . one of the possible test configurations has the appearance that a circular arrangement for testing the bus network system , as a test device tg1 , is connected to the coaxial cable segment kks via the media adapter unit mau in the same manner as a station dte and that a plurality of further media adapter units mau , without connection to the stations , are in communication with the transmission medium . damage to the coaxial cable segment or , respectively , the lack of a proper line terminating impedance can be identified by way of the designational transmission of the data packet information and a corresponding evaluation of the received signals . this is the case when , in the data transmission and the reception of the data , the collision state additionally occurs . a media adapter unit which is not properly connected would , on the other hand , be recognized in that the data reception is interrupted and , at the same time , the collision state is signaled within the test device tg1 . when a second test device tg2 is connected to the coaxial cable segment kks , then the state of the collision recognition circuit of the media adapter unit mau to be tested can be monitored in that the first test device tg1 transmits data and the second test device tg2 receives the data . when , despite the reception of the data packets from the media adapter unit mau to be monitored , what is referred to as the heartbeat signal is not received , then the corresponding fault condition exists . when the two test devices tg1 and tg2 are set to transmission of data , then the error state &# 34 ; collision &# 34 ; is generated on the coaxial cable segment kks and can be read from the optical display device correspondingly present within the test devices tg1 and tg2 . fig2 shows further details of the circuit arrangement of the invention which is essentially composed of a data transmission device dse , a data receiving device dee and a status reception device c / h - e . all devices are coupled free of dc to the media adapter unit mau via repeaters or amplifiers ( not shown in detail ). the data transmission device dse is equipped with a resonant stage ss which generates data packets having a defined bit rate via a first line int with the assistance of a coupling device te and of an and gate . insofar as a switch s is connected to the first line int , the data packets having a defined bit rate are transmitted to the media adapter unit mau via a first amplifer vsl . the switch s is also connected to a one - shot multivibrator mfs by way of which the transmitted data packet pulse sequences can be optically displayed with the assistance of a display device trm . the element te is also followed by a second amplifier vs2 in order to be able to evaluate the data packet pulse sequence as what is referred to as a trigger signal to . a second line est is also provided in the data transmitter dse , the second line ext being connected to a transmission input ti having an arbitrary data packet pulse sequence and bit rate . the data receiver dee is equipped with a first threshold circuit sc1 which suppresses noise pulses and which , in combination with amplifiers ve1 , ve2 and ve3 transmits the received data packets pulse - by - pulse to a reception output ro and , with the assistance of a receiving one - shot multivibrator mfe , emits the received data packet pulse sequences to an optical display device rec . a status reception device c / h - e is also provided within the circuit arrangement , and supplies the heartbeat signal and the collision signal to further optical display devices hbt or , respectively , col and , via a fourth amplifier vc4 , to the collison reception output co , the supply of these signals being by way of a second threshold circuit sc2 which suppresses noise pulses and by way of a status amplifier device including the amplifiers vc1 , vc2 , vc3 in combination with a decision circuit formed of three one - shot multivibrators mf1 , mf2 , mf3 and an and gate . the operational details of the corresponding devices shall be set forth in greater detail below . with the assistance of the switch s of the data transmitter dse , there is a possibility of transmitting two types of data packets into the csma / cd bus network system via the transmit / receive cable sek ( shown in fig1 ). when the switch s is connected to the first line int , then the data packets generated within the data transmitter dse can be generated , for example , with a bit rate of 10 mbit / s and a packet length of 12 . 8 ฮผs can be supplied into the corresponding transmit / receive cable sek via an amplifier . the spacing between the data packets likewise amounts to 12 . 8 ฮผs . the pulses required for this purpose are generated with a resonant stage ss which is constructed as a quartz oscillator . the pulses have a period duration of 200 ns given a pulse duty factor of 50 %. due to the coupling element te which is constructed as a two - stage element , the pulses are generated with a period of 25 . 6 ฮผs , these simultaneously forming the frame signal . furthermore , these pulses are made available to the trigger output to for measuring purposes . the packet length is selected such that the minimally - prescribed packet length of 51 . 2 ฮผs ( ieee standard 802 . 3 - 1985 ) is fallen below in order , for example , to exclude stations accidentally connected during the test procedure from data reception and evaluation . as soon as the switch s is connected to the second line ext , the circuit arrangement can transmit arbitrary pulse sequences having an arbitrary bit rate via the bus network system for testing purposes , these pulses being transmitted with the assistance of a pulse generator . this output signal is supplied to the transmit / receive cable sek ( fig1 ) free of dc via the repeater or amplifier ( not shown ) in the same manner . the data packets which proceed via the media adapter unit mau onto the transmit / receive cable sek are likewise conducted free of dc via the amplifier to the amplifiers ve1 , ve2 , ve3 of the data receiver dee . inadmissible noise pulses having an amplitude up to a maximum of 160 mvss are prevented from appearing at the corresponding output with the first threshold circuit sc1 which suppresses noise pulses . as long as the incoming pulses do not prescribed amplitude and duration , the first threshold circuit sc1 inhibits the further evaluation of the signal . the status reception device c / h - e differs from the data receiver dee on the basis of an additional decision circuit mff2 , mff3 which identifies whether the received pulses correspond to the heartbeat or to a collision . the heartbeat signal is a self - test function of the media adapter unit which indicates the state of the collision recognition circuit in the connected station . this occurs by emitting a defined signal via the transmit / receive cable after each data packet transmission which has been successfully transmitted . the error state &# 34 ; collision &# 34 ; is present when two or more stations attempt to transmit simultaneously on the coaxial cable segment within the passive bus network system . this error state of collision can also be generated in the test mode for testing the bus network system by employing two test devices in that both test devices are set to transmission . as long as a media adapter unit recognizes the state of collision , this media adapter unit transmits the collision signal to the station or , respectively , to the connected test device via the transmit / receive cable . the heartbeat signal and the collision signal are identical with respect to their electrical properties . for example , they have a frequency of 10 mhz and a pulse duty factor of about 50 %. the difference between these two signals is only the signal duration . whereas the heartbeat signal , for example , as a length of 1 ฮผs , the length of the collision signal is theoretically unlimited for it is always generated as long as a data collision exits within the passive bus network system . during the test , the test device behaves like the station and distinguishes only the incoming pulses with respect to their differing length . the state decision stage c / h - e is thereby composed of three one - shot multivibrators mff1 , mff2 and mff3 and of two led displays . since , due to the frequency cf the repeating data packets , the heartbeat pulses have a higher probability of occurrence , the principal check carried out is to see whether the incoming pulses form the heartbeat signal hbt at the status reception device . for this purpose , the first incoming pulse blocks the second oneshot multivibrator mff2 , for example for 5 ฮผs , to control the collision display and open the third one - shot multivibrator mff3 for 5 ฮผs , this latter multivibrator making the heartbeat signal optically identifiable on the corresponding led display hbt . the first one - shot multivibrator mff1 is employed as a delay element which generates the time t = 5 ฮผs and which is directly controlled by the first amplifier vc1 . the first pulses processed in the decision stage are the pulses which correspond to the standard in amplitude and duration ( this is checked with the assistance of the second threshold circuit sc2 which suppresses noise pulses ). as long as the collision signal duration is shorter than 5 ฮผs , the second one - shot multivibrator does not change in state , so that the third one - shot multivibrator drives the led display hbt . when the collision signal duration exceeds the time interval of 5 ฮผs , the second one - shot multivibrator mff2 changes state , and thereby drives the led display col and simultaneously inhibits the input of the third one - shot multivibrator mff3 . the power supply unit nag generates two separate dc voltages in a known manner , whereby the first dc voltage of , for example , + 12 v serves for supplying the media adapter unit mau , and the second dc voltage of , for example , + 5 v serves for supplying the data transmitter and receiver dse , dee and the status reception device c / h - e . fig3 illustrates the data transmitter dse and illustrates standard components which may be employed in constructing the transmitter . fig4 illustrates the data receiver dee and also illustrates standard components which may be employed in constructing the data receiver . fig5 illustrates , with standard components , the status receiving device c / h - e and , in the same manner , fig6 illustrates the components and structure of the power supply unit nag . although we have described our invention by reference to particular illustrative embodiments thereof , many changes and modifications of the invention may become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . we therefore intend to include within the patent warranted hereon all such changes and modifications as may reasonably and properly be included within the scope of our contribution to the art . | 7 |
reference should now be had to fig1 - 5 for a detailed description of a push bar door exit device in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention . fig1 illustrates a rim or surface mounted type exit device 10 which is readily installable on the inner face of an outwardly opening door . device 10 in its overall construction is similar to the rim exit device disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 877 , 262 , with the principal difference of the inclusion of a modular alarm assembly 50 , described in detail below . although the embodiments disclosed herein show door exit devices of the rim type , the present invention may also be used with vertical rod type door exit devices . exit device 10 includes a frame member 35 which supports crossbar 30 and alarm assembly 50 . alarm assembly 50 is configured to be fitted around that end of device 10 housing the latch bolt assembly 20 including latch bolt 22 and auxilliary latch bolt 25 . crossbar 30 is mounted in channelled frame 35 , both of which may be cut to required length to span the width of the inner face of a door ( not shown ), without impairing the mechanical functioning of these structures . the rear end portion of the frame member 35 is secured to the inner face of a door by a clamp plate ( not shown ) concealed by a cover 38 in holding engagement with frame member 35 . with reference to fig2 a , and 3b , alarm assembly 50 is designed as a modular structure including a cover 60 ( fig3 a , 3b ), and a frame 70 ( fig2 ) for supporting the various internal alarm components and for mounting these to the exit device frame 35 . as seen from the front in fig2 alarm assembly 50 includes a lock cylinder assembly 52 for arming and disarming the lock ; and light - emitting diode 53 which provides an indication of alarm state , the presence of power , and a preset delay interval for alarm actuation . as seen from the side in fig2 the alarm frame 70 comprises a die cast metal structure which is fastened to the door at posts 71a - 71d ( only two shown here ). suitable mounting structures such as posts 74a , 74b provide a snug fit of lock assembly 50 around the other structures of exit device 10 . alarm frame 70 supports the cylinder assembly 52 , circuit board 53 , battery pack mount 54 ( batteries are not shown ) and local alarm 55 . circuit board 53 communicates with battery pack 54 , switch 58 , and with an arm / disarm switch 61 ( fig3 a ) at the bottom of frame 70 . switch 61 is opened or closed by the rotation of cam 63 using a key inserted within lock cylinder 52 . frame 70 also includes an integral tang 75 , which along with flanges 77a - 77d ( only two seen in fig2 ) provides mounting surfaces for the alarm cover 60 , and for coupling alarm assembly 50 to the remainder of exit device 10 . fig3 a and 3b give two views of the alarm assembly 50 showing the manner in which the alarm frame 70 is joined to cover 60 . these two structures are fastened together by screws 78a - 78d through apertures in the cover 60 and frame flanges 77a - 77d . in addition , cover 60 includes a tang 62 which is complementary to the tang 75 on frame 70 , so that a secure frame - cover connection is formed by a screw 79 inserted through apertures in these tangs . tangs 62 , 75 are located so as to be accessible only by depressing cross bar 30 ( compare fig4 ); therefore the internal components of alarm assembly 50 are inaccessible except by depressing push bar 30 and actuating alarm 55 . fig4 and 5 depict the latch bolt assembly 20 of the exit device 10 showing the manner in which pressing crossbar 30 actuates switch 58 ( also seen in fig2 ). latch bolt assembly 20 is generally of the design disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 877 , 262 , and includes a sheet metal mounting plate 36 which has an inwardly bent portion 37 forming a face plate for the bolt mechanism and having an aperture 38 to receive the latch bolt 22 therethrough . the frame further includes a generally u - shaped support bracket 39 ( here seen from the side ) which is mounted on plate 36 adjacent portion 37 . mounting plate 36 and support bracket 39 form a box - like structure which opens rearwardly or toward the crossbar 30 . the latch bolt 22 is pivotally supported within the box - like frame and is actuated by the depression of crossbar 30 using the mechanical arrangement disclosed in detail in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 877 , 262 , which is herein incorporated by reference . this arrangement relies upon the downward motion of retractor finger 31 attached to push bar 30 , which acts upon a retractor lever ( not shown ) to pivotally retract the latch bolt 22 . in the view of fig4 and 5 , the near wall of u - shaped bracket 39 houses mechanisms for controlling the deadlocking mechanisms including the auxiliary latch bolt 25 . the far wall of support 39 , as shown in phantom in fig4 and 5 , includes an arcuate slot 28 through which extends a pin 29 appended to latch bolt 22 . the pivotal retraction of latch bolt 22 causes the upward movement of pin 29 within arcuate slot 28 , turning on switch 58 . therefore , as may be seen by comparing fig4 and 5 , the depression of push bar 30 not only acts upon the latch bolt 22 using the linkage of u . s . pat . no . 3 , 877 , 262 , but also mechanically actuates switch 58 to set off the alarm 55 . reference should now had to fig6 - 11 , which illustrates an exit device 100 in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention . fig6 gives a side perspective view of exit rim device 100 , which is generally in accordance with commonly assigned u . s . application ser . no . 535 , 509 filed dec . 26 , 1983 . this device includes a latch bolt assembly 110 , push bar 120 , and rearwardly located skirt portion 130 with end cap 140 . these various assemblies are mounted in a channelled frame 170 which is in turn mounted to a door . latch bolt assembly 110 and push bar 120 are of a generally similar design and operation to the corresponding structures of the device 10 of fig1 - 5 , and will not be discussed below in detail , except as to the aspect illustrated in fig8 a , 8b . fig8 a shows an alternative mechanical connection between the push bar operation and the actuation of the alarm , the latter being located within an alarm assembly contained within the skirt portion 130 , as discussed below . assembly 110 incorporates a support member 115 which is shown in perspective in fig8 b . support 115 is of a generally inverse - u lateral cross - section , and has an inclined upper face matching the upper surface of the cover plate 111 of latch bolt assembly 110 . support 115 is proportioned to fit over a latch bolt actuating assembly which is virtually identical to the assembly of u . s . pat . no . 3 , 877 , 262 . the upper face of support 115 includes a rectangular aperture 124 to provide a clearance region for the retractor finger 122 which links the push bar 120 to the other mechanisms of the latch bolt actuating assembly 110 . a switch 113 which is functionally analogous to the switch 58 of the device of fig1 - 5 is mounted to one leg of support 115 . the support 115 also includes a tang 118 , which fits against a sloping rim of assembly cover 111 , so that these structures may be fastened together by means of a screw 119 through apertures in the tang 118 and cover 111 . therefore , as best seen in the perspective view of fig1 , the depression of push bar 120 causes a pin extention 112 of the latch bolt to ride up in an arcuate slot 117 , thereby closing the switch 113 and setting off the alarm 153 ( fig7 ). the position of switch 113 may be adjusted through its mounting in slot 116 , thereby controlling the sensitivity of this switch to the displacement of push bar 120 and latch bolt . it is practically impossible to disable the alarm of exit device 100 without notice to security personnel , inasmuch as it is required to gain access to the switch 113 to remove the latch bolt assembly cover 111 . cover 111 is secured to the support 115 by means of screws through apertures 117a and 117b at each side of the device ( fig8 b ), and also by means of the screw 119 which passes through tang 118 . the latter screw is inaccessable except by depressing the push bar 120 , thereby setting off the alarm . in the apparatus 100 , which is generally of a streamlined design , the components of alarm assembly 150 are contained within the skirt portion 130 . the arm assembly housing comprises in part of the skirt portion cover 131 , which is slidably mounted in the channelled frame 170 by means of a mating between flanges on the skirt cover 131 and channels within frame 170 . the components of alarm assembly 150 are mounted to a guard member 160 which is shown in an isolated perspective view in fig9 . guard 160 includes a forward , generally u - shaped portion 161 ; a flat upper portion 162 at which guard 160 is mounted to the skirt portion cover 131 ; and a rear , vertically extending flange 165 . as shown in fig7 the lock cylinder assembly 151 and arm / disarm switch 158 are mounted on the u - shaped portion 161 of guard 160 in a cooperative relationship wherein a turning of the key within lock cylinder 151 causes the rotation of cam 157 to close switch 158 . the intermediate region 162 of guard 160 houses alarm 153 , circuit board 154 , and battery pack 156 . all of the internal stuctures are protected from tampering by removal of the rear cover cap 140 by means of the flange 165 , as best seen in fig1 . furthermore , access to the alarm components by means of the sliding removal of skirt portion cover 131 is prevented by a security hook 121 which acts as a fastener between push bar 120 and alarm guard 160 . as shown in fig7 hook 121 is securely mounted by bolt 123 to the rear end of push bar 120 . hook 121 fits within a slot 168 at one end of guard member 160 . when push bar 120 is at its normal , elevated position , the upwardly projecting portion of hook 121 abuts against a lip 169 adjacent slot 168 , and prevents the rearward sliding of the skirt cover 131 . it is only when depressing push bar 120 that hook 121 clears the slot 168 and permits rearward movement of guard member 160 and skirt cover 131 . the rear end of exit device 100 is mounted to a door , and end cap 140 is held , by an improved two - piece mounting bracket consisting of a base portion 142 and an upper portion 141 ( fig7 ). device 100 is mounted to a door by screws ( not shown ) through bracket base 142 , while end cap 140 is attached via screws 144 through upper portion 141 . when it is desired to gain access to the alarm assembly 150 , such as to replace batteries in battery pack 156 , the end cap 140 is removed , and upper bracket portion 141 is unfastened by removing screws 143 . as may best be seen with reference to fig1 , this arrangement permits the sliding removal of guard member 160 and the alarm components it supports , without the necessity of removing device 100 from the door . the specific embodiments described herein are intended for the purpose of illustration and are not intended to imply any limitation . a variety of tamper - resistant alarm housing arrangments have been described , generally in furtherance of the objectives of providing simple , efficient methods for mounting and housing the elements of an alarm assembly in an exit device , in which clandestine access to these elements is difficult if not impossible . these and all other variations and modifications of this invention within the scope of the appended claims are considered to constitute a part of this invention . | 4 |
fig1 shows a basic structure of the powershiftable multistage transmission lmg according to the invention . the input shaft an is connected through a torsional vibration damper to the first shaft 1 of the first shaft - line ws 1 . in parallel to this first shaft - line a second shaft - line ws 2 is arranged . among other elements this shaft - line ws 2 contains the output shaft ab which is described as shaft 2 . in a here shown front - cross application , the output shaft drives the differential d of the front axle via another gear set . besides the first shaft 1 , the first shaft - line ws 1 also comprises a third shaft 3 , a fourth shaft 4 and a fifth shaft 5 . besides the second shaft 2 , the second shaft - line ws 2 also comprises a sixth shaft 6 , a seventh shaft 7 and a eighth shaft 8 . both shaft - lines ws 1 and ws 2 are connected through three transfer gears ( sg 36 , sg 47 and sg 58 ). the first transfer gear sg 36 connects the third shaft 3 with the sixth shaft 6 . the second transfer gear sg 47 connects the fourth shaft 4 with the seventh shaft 7 . the third transfer gear sg 58 connects the fifth shaft 5 with the eighth shaft 8 . on the first shaft - line ws 1 there is a first three - shaft planetary gear pg 1 . in a preferred embodiment , this planetary gear has a first sun gear so 1 , a first ring gear ho 1 and a first planet - carrier pt 1 . on the second shaft - line ws 2 there are a second three - shaft planetary gear pg 2 and a third three - shaft planetary gear pg 3 . in a preferred embodiment , the second planetary gear pg 2 has a second sun gear so 2 , a second ring gear ho 2 and a second planet - carrier pt 2 . the third planetary gear pg 3 has a third sun gear so 3 , a third ring gear ho 3 and a third planet - carrier pt 3 which is connected to the second shaft 2 . in the gear - structure shown in fig1 , besides the three transfer gears , there are four further fixed connections between gear elements . the first shaft 1 is connected to the first planet - carrier pt 1 . the second shaft 2 is connected to the third planet - carrier pt 3 . the fourth shaft 4 is connected to the first ring gear ho 1 . the eighth shaft 8 is connected to the third sun gear so 3 . furthermore in this gear - structure nine further connections between two gear elements can be generated . in fig1 these connections are marked with a circle . specifically , these nine connections comprise connections between ( 1 ) the first sun gear so 1 and the transmission housing 0 , ( 2 ) the third shaft 3 and the first sun gear so 1 , ( 3 ) the fifth shaft 5 and the first planet - carrier pt 1 , and ( 4 ) the sixth shaft 6 and the third ring gear ho 3 , as well as between ( 5 ) the second shaft 2 and the second planet - carrier pt 2 , ( 6 ) the fourth shaft 4 and the fifth shaft 5 , ( 7 ) the seventh shaft 7 and the second sun gear so 2 , ( 8 ) the seventh shaft 7 and the eighth shaft 8 , and ( 9 ) the eighth shaft 8 and the second ring gear ho 2 . fig2 shows another basic structure of the powershiftable multistage transmission lmg according to the invention . again the input shaft an is connected to the first shaft 1 of the first shaft - line ws 1 via a torsional vibration damper . the parallel arranged second shaft - line ws 2 again contains the output shaft ab which is described as shaft 2 . again the first shaft - line ws 1 comprises the first shaft 1 , the third shaft 3 , the fourth shaft 4 and the fifth shaft 5 . the second shaft - line ws 2 again comprises the second shaft 2 , the sixth shaft 6 , the seventh shaft 7 and the eighth shaft 8 . both shaft - lines ws 1 and ws 2 are again connected through the three transfer gears sg 36 , sg 47 and sg 58 . on the first shaft - line ws 1 , in addition to the first three - shaft planetary pg 1 , there is also the second three - shaft planetary gear pg 2 . on the second shaft - line ws 2 there is only the third three - shaft planetary gear pg 3 . in the gear - structure shown in fig2 , in addition to the three transfer gears , there are four further fixed connections between gear elements . the first shaft 1 is connected to the first planet - carrier pt 1 . the second shaft 2 is connected to the third planet - carrier pt 3 . the fourth shaft 4 is connected to the second planet - carrier pt 2 . and the eighth shaft 8 is connected to the third sun gear so 3 . again in this gear - structure nine further connections between two gear elements can be generated at the same time or alternatively . also in fig2 these connections are marked with a circle . specifically these include connections between ( 1 ) the first sun gear so 1 and the transmission housing 0 , ( 2 ) the third shaft 3 and the first sun gear so 1 , ( 3 ) the fifth shaft 5 and the first planet - carrier pt 1 , and ( 4 ) the sixth shaft 6 and the third ring gear ho 3 , as well as between ( 5 ) the second shaft 2 and the seventh shaft 7 , ( 6 ) the fifth shaft 5 and the second ring gear ho 2 , ( 7 ) the fifth shaft 5 and the first ring gear ho 1 , ( 8 ) the first ring gear ho 1 and the second sun gear so 2 , and ( 9 ) the seventh shaft 7 and the eighth shaft 8 . fig3 shows the structure of a first version of the powershiftable multistage transmission lmg according to the invention . the basic structure of this transmission with two planetary gears on the second shaft - line ws 2 corresponds to that shown in fig1 . in this case the connections with a fixed kinematic ratio include : the first shaft 1 with first planet - carrier pt 1 , the second shaft 2 with third planet - carrier pt 3 , the fourth shaft 4 with first ring gear ho 1 , and the eighth shaft 8 with third sun gear so 3 . of the nine further possible connections of the basic structure according to fig1 , in the following versions of the transmission five are always chosen for shiftable connections and three more are chosen for connections with fixed kinematics . the five shiftable connections include : ( 1 ) a first brake b 1 can connect the first sun gear so 1 to the transmission housing 0 ; ( 2 ) a first clutch k 1 can connect the fifth shaft 5 with the first planet - carrier pt 1 ; ( 3 ) a second clutch k 2 can connect the seventh shaft 7 with the second sun gear so 2 ; ( 4 ) a third clutch k 3 can connect the fourth shaft 4 to the fifth shaft 5 , and ( 5 ) a fourth clutch k 4 can connect the sixth shaft 6 to the third ring gear ho 3 . in the specific embodiment the three additional fixed connections are : the second shaft 2 being connected with the second planet carrier pt 2 ; the third shaft 3 being connected with the first sun gear so 1 , and the eighth shaft 8 being connected with the second ring gear ho 2 . in each gear three of the five shifting elements are closed . together with the other kinematic linkages they define how the power - flow in the first shaft - line is split to the three power - paths through the transfer gears by the operations of all three planetary gears and how the power - flow is summed up again to the total power on the second shaft - line . in the case of the embodiment of fig3 , it is important to note that on all power - paths the power flows from the first shaft - line ws 1 to the second shaft - line ws 2 . in none of the gears does a backward power flow or a circulating power - flow occur . that is important to achieve low loads on all elements and a high efficiency . like the transmission according to fig3 the powershiftable multistage transmission according to fig4 has two shaft - lines , three planetary gears and three transfer gears . again the transmission has five shifting elements . the connections with a fixed kinematic ratio again include : the first shaft 1 being connected with the first planet - carrier pt 1 ; the second shaft 2 being connected with the third planet - carrier pt 3 ; the fourth shaft 4 being connected with the first ring gear ho 1 , and the eighth shaft 8 being connected with the third sun gear so 3 . in addition , in this embodiment the third shaft 3 is connected with the first sun gear so 1 ; the seventh shaft 7 is connected with the second sun gear so 2 , and the eighth shaft 8 is connected with the second ring gear ho 2 . for the five shiftable connections in this embodiment : ( 1 ) a first brake b 1 can connect the first sun gear so 1 to the transmission housing 0 ; ( 2 ) a first clutch k 1 can connect the fifth shaft 5 with the first planet - carrier pt 1 ; ( 3 ) an alternative second clutch k 2 o can connect the second shaft 2 with the second planet - carrier pt 2 ; ( 4 ) a third clutch k 3 can connect the fourth shaft 4 to the fifth shaft 5 ; and ( 5 ) a fourth clutch k 4 can connect the sixth shaft 6 to the third ring gear ho 3 . with the same ratios in the transfer gears and the planetary gears , the gear - structures according to fig3 and 4 have the same total ratios in the eight forward speeds and the one reverse speed . the shiftable connection between the second planetary gear pg 2 and the shafts seven 7 , eight 8 and two 2 in fig3 results from a shifting element in the connection between the seventh shaft 7 to the second sun gear so 2 . in fig4 , the shiftable connection results from a shifting element in the connection between the second shaft 2 and the second planet - carrier pt 2 . in each case the other connections to the gears of the second planetary gear are fixed . furthermore in the embodiment of fig4 all shifting elements are accessible from outside , so that they also could be activated by electro - mechanical actuators . such an embodiment would reduce the demand for auxiliary energy for the shift actuators and thereby further increase the efficiency of the transmission . the powershiftable multistage transmission according to fig5 again has a structure very similar to that of the powershiftable multistage transmission according to fig3 . instead of the third clutch k 3 , this structure has an alternative third clutch k 3 o with which the seventh shaft 7 can be connected to the eighth shaft 8 . if the ratios of the transfer gears sg 47 and sg 58 are different , this leads to a different ratio stepping in comparison to the version with the third clutch k 3 . fig6 depicts a shifting logic which 6 shows how one reverse speed and eight forward speeds can be shifted with these shifting elements in the specific embodiments of the transmission according to the present invention . in each driving speed three of the five shifting elements are closed . that means that in that operating state relative motions , which create some losses due to dragging torques , occur in only two actually unloaded shifting elements . in the neutral shift - positions , only two clutches are closed . as long as the first brake b 1 is open , a distinct kinematics is not defined . by closing the first brake b 1 the vehicle can be launched from the shift - position neutral - reverse nr into the reverse gear . in the same way the vehicle can be launched from the shift - position neutral_ 1 n 1 into the first forward speed or from the shift position neutral_ 2 n 2 into the second forward speed . during such a launch process the shifting elements which are used have to withstand a lot of frictional power and consequent heating . because heat can be more easily dissipated to the housing from brakes than from clutches , the use of brakes as launching elements has some advantages . the powershiftable multistage transmission of the invention can also be used in combination with an additional starting device like a starting clutch or a hydrodynamic torque converter . this will be explained further hereinafter . the shifting logic according to fig6 also makes it clear that in this powershiftable multistage transmission each gear - shift from one speed to the next or to the one after the next is possible with so - called simple shiftings . a simple shifting means that for the gear - shift only one shifting element has to be opened and one has to be closed . some far gear - leaps are also possible with simple shiftings ; for example the gear - leaps 5 - 1 , 7 - 1 , 6 - 3 , 8 - 4 . such shiftings can be necessary especially at fast shiftings to the underdrive . therefore in this powershiftable multistage transmission shiftings which need two shifting elements to be opened and two others to be closed are only necessary in exceptional cases . simple shiftings can be controlled faster and more precisely than other shiftings . by using additional shifting elements in the powershiftable multistage transmissions according to fig3 to 5 some further speeds become shiftable . for example the gear layout according to fig4 can be modified by adding a second brake with which the second planet - carrier pt 2 can be linked to the transmission housing 0 . in this way a further reverse gear can be realized . further brakes for further shift - possibilities are conceivable on the shafts 4 or 7 , 5 or 8 , at the third ring gear ho 3 , the second sun gear so 2 or at the second ring gear ho 2 . further clutches between certain gear elements are likewise possible , for example between two shafts of one of the planetary gears pg 2 and pg 3 , to enable these planetary gears rotate as a block and to extend the shifting logic to nine or more forward speeds with the same number of gear elements . the table in fig7 illustrates , in what wide range different ratio ranges can be achieved with these powershiftable multistage transmissions . especially for the embodiment of fig1 this table shows the stationary ratios of the planetary gears and the ratios of the transfer gears , as well as the total transmission ratios , their steppings and the total ratio ranges for eight forward speeds . for these examples the ratio of the sixth speed is around 1 . the stationary ratios of the second and third planetary gears are the same . the absolute ratio of the reverse gear should have nearly the same value as the ratio of the second forward speed . based on this table , a person skilled in the art will recognize that the ratios of all six gear sets can be designed easily . a lot of different adaptations of this powershiftable multistage transmission are possible using the ratios of a total of six gear sets . it will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that other total ratios , bigger or smaller by the factor x , can easily be achieved if the ratios of all transfer gears are changed by the same factor x . therefore those skilled in the art will know that nearly all ratio ranges which at present are required in applications for passenger cars can be achieved with the layout design according to fig1 . the loads on all transmission elements at all speeds can be computed by a person skilled in the art based on the shifting logic and the ratios of all gear sets using techniques known in the art . such an analysis results in the knowledge that , if the total power flows from the input an = 1 to the output ab = 2 in all speeds of all transmission versions according to this invention , then power never flows backwards from the second shaft - line ws 2 to the first shaft - line ws 1 . in the reverse speed and in the first and second forward speed the power flows only through one transfer gear from the first shaft - line ws 1 to the second shaft - line ws 2 . in all other speeds the power flows through two or three transfer gears . in the speeds which are used for a large share of time , the three transfer gears are as a whole subjected to relatively low loads . therefore they can be designed small . fig8 shows another version of the powershiftable multistage transmission of the invention according to fig3 , namely , a hybrid version . a small electric motor em is linked to the fourth shaft 4 by an additional transfer gear . in this case the electric motor em is arranged in parallel to both shaft - lines . but it is also possible to link the electric motor em in a coaxial manner to shaft 4 or shaft 7 . the fourth shaft 4 and also the seventh shaft 7 are especially suitable for connection to an electric motor em to achieve useful hybrid - functions . in the reverse speed and in the first and second forward speeds , the shafts 4 and 7 run faster than the input shaft . that means that they have high ratios towards the output shaft . if an electric motor is connected here , the vehicle can be driven and accelerated purely electrically . the combustion engine can be disconnected by an additional clutch kv . because of the high ratios from the electric motor em to the input shaft , only a small torque at the electric motor em is necessary to accelerate and restart the combustion engine via clutch kv . in the overdrive speeds the shafts 4 and 7 run faster than the input shaft an = 1 . then even at low speeds of the combustion engine a small electric motor em has a large available power because its speed is relatively high . due to this there is a big potential to reduce fuel consumption by means of regenerative braking and boosting . in all versions of the powershiftable multistage transmission of the invention which have been discussed up to now , the first shaft 1 extends completely through the first shaft - line ws 1 . an internal combustion engine or an electric motor or a hydraulic pump or another auxiliary system could be connected at either or both of its end points 1 a and 1 b ( see fig9 ). in the same way , in the embodiments shown in fig1 , 3 6 and 7 , the output shaft ab = 2 extends completely through the second shaft - line ws 2 . further auxiliary systems also can be connected at its end - points 2 a and 2 b . but the output shaft could also have two output - flanges , as shown in the embodiment according to fig9 . this could make sense , for example , for a vehicle with two driven axles . in this example also the damping system between the internal combustion engine and the transmission is located at the other end of the input shaft . the arrangement of two parallel shaft - lines and a first shaft 1 , which extends through its shaft - line , as well as a second shaft 2 , which extends through its shaft - line , allows this transmission concept to be adapted to a lot of possible applications . fig1 shows another embodiment of the powershiftable multistage transmission of the invention with a classic hydrodynamic torque converter tc as a starting element between the input shaft an and the first shaft 1 of the transmission . again the connections with fixed kinematic ratio are : ( 1 ) the first shaft 1 is connected with the first planet - carrier pt 1 ; ( 2 ) the second shaft 2 is connected with the third planet - carrier pt 3 ; ( 3 ) the fourth shaft 4 is connected with the first ring gear ho 1 ; and ( 4 ) the eighth shaft 8 with third sun gear so 3 . in addition , in this specific embodiment ( 5 ) the second shaft 2 is connected with the second planet - carrier pt 2 ; ( 6 ) the sixth shaft 6 is connected with the third ring gear ho 3 , and ( 7 ) the seventh shaft 7 is connected with the second sun gear so 2 . for the five shiftable connections ( 1 ) a first brake b 1 can connect the first sun gear so 1 to the transmission housing 0 ; ( 2 ) a first clutch k 1 can connect the fifth shaft 5 with the first planet - carrier pt 1 ; ( 3 ) another alternative second clutch k 2 oo can connect the eighth shaft 8 with the second ring gear ho 2 ; ( 4 ) a third clutch k 3 can connect the fourth shaft 4 to the fifth shaft 5 ; and ( 5 ) an alternative fourth clutch k 4 o can connect the third shaft 3 to the first sun gear so 1 . in the embodiment according to fig3 , the second clutch k 2 is located in the connection between the second sun gear so 2 and the seventh shaft 7 . in the embodiment according to fig4 , the alternative second clutch k 2 o is located in the connection between the second planet carrier pt 2 and the second shaft 2 . in the embodiment according to fig1 , the other alternative second clutch k 2 oo is located in the connection of the second ring gear ho 2 to the eighth shaft 8 . these three solutions are equivalent according to the state of the art in that if such a clutch k 2 , k 2 o or k 2 oo is opened at one of the three elements of the second planetary gear pg 2 , no torque can be transmitted . according to the well known relations between torques in a planetary gear , then the other elements of this planetary gear also can not have a torque . that means it does not matter which element of this gear ( so 2 , ho 2 or pt 2 ) is disengaged . in any case this planetary gear can not transmit power . these three alternatives to integrate the second planetary gear pg 2 into the power transmission only differ regarding the relative speeds in the second clutch k 2 , k 2 o or k 2 oo , if this shifting element is open , and in the maximum torque in the clutch if this planetary gear pg 2 transmits torque . but the position of this shifting element has no influence on the total transmission ratio and on the power splitting on the certain power - paths . the shares of power in the power - paths and the total ratio only depend on the ratios of the gear sets and on the shifted power - paths . the powershiftable multistage transmission of the invention according to fig1 also has a third planetary gear pg 3 . the third ring gear ho 3 of this gear set is firmly connected to the sixth shaft 6 , which is linked to the third shaft 3 by the first transfer gear pg 36 . in this embodiment of the transmission , this power - path is initially linked to the first sun gear so 1 with the alternative fourth clutch k 4 o . also in the transmission according to fig3 , this power - path extends from the first sun gear so 1 through the third shaft 3 , the first transfer gear sg 36 and the sixth shaft 6 to the third ring gear ho 3 . the fourth clutch k 4 , which in this embodiment is used to shift this power - path , is located between the sixth shaft 6 and the third ring gear ho 3 . for the shifting logic and the stepping of its gears , it does not matter at which point a power - path is switched . from the embodiments of the transmission according to fig3 , 4 and 5 , it is already known that in one shift - situation the first sun gear so 1 can be connected to the transmission housing 0 by a first brake b 1 . in the transmission according to fig1 , this is done in the same way . in the embodiments according to fig3 , 4 and 5 , this shift - situation could also be achieved with the same effect regarding the total ratio , by a brake ( not shown ) that operates on the sixth shaft 6 to link the first sun gear so 1 to the transmission housing 0 , because the fourth clutch k 4 operates only between the sixth shaft 6 and the third ring gear ho 3 . the table of fig1 shows the ratios of the three planetary gears and the three transfer gears for an illustrative embodiment of the multistage transmission according to fig1 . with such a layout the transmission achieves a ratio range of a bit more then ฯ = 7 between the eight forward speeds . the stationary ratios i 01 and i 02 for the first and the second planetary gear pg 1 and pg 2 are so small that their sun gears can become relatively large in order to extend further shafts through these sun gears . but the planet wheels do not become too small , because then their speeds relative to their planet - carrier would increase too much . the third planetary gear pg 3 has a rather large stationary ratio i 03 . this leads to the result that the high output torques , which are needed for strong acceleration in the first gear , are first generated in this final output - sided gear set . the ratios i 47 and i 58 of the second and the third transfer gear sg 47 and sg 58 deviate only a little from the value 1 . that leads to relatively large and therefore lightly loaded gear elements whose bearings need less space . this is also helpful for a compact transmission design . the ratio i 36 of the first transfer gear sg 36 has to be relatively large . within the limits required to achieve a good ratio stepping , this ratio was chosen to be as small as possible in order to get an as large as possible gear wheel on the third shaft 3 , so that there is still enough space for a compact bearing arrangement . from the shifting logic according to fig1 , it is notable that in reverse gear and in the first five forward gears the alternative fourth clutch k 4 o is always closed . therefore , in a version of the transmission with only five forward speeds , this clutch can be eliminated . as shown in fig1 therefore this clutch can be replaced by a fixed connection between the third shaft 3 and the first sun gear so 1 . then the power - path from the first sun gear so 1 to the third ring gear ho 3 is always active . in such an embodiment , the transmission has only four shifting elements for a total of six shift - combinations between one reverse gear and five forward gears . in each gear two of these shifting elements are closed and two are open . the table in fig1 shows a layout of the gear sets for a total ratio range of ฯ = 4 between the forward gears for such a transmission . for small , light and relatively low powered vehicles , a transmission with a ratio range of ฯ = 4 is fully adequate . with only four shifting elements and a smaller actuation device for only four shifting elements , a powershiftable multistage transmission according to fig1 becomes so small and simple that it is suitable for use in small cars . this version of the powershiftable multistage transmission is especially suitable for vehicle applications in cities with high traffic density and limited top speed . with an increasing traffic density and decreasing resources of raw materials , a low fuel consumption becomes more and more important . hybrid drivelines facilitate better management of the energy that is necessary to drive a car , and they can help to save energy . but they require integration of an electric motor into the driveline . in an automatic transmission with a hydrodynamic torque converter tc , it is possible to replace the hydrodynamic torque converter with an electric motor em . such a torque converter is a very comfortable starting device and is easy to control . but its function can be assumed by other frictional shifting elements , especially if an electric motor em supports the driveline . for example , fig1 shows a transmission according to fig1 with an electric motor em instead of the hydrodynamic torque converter tc . the space gained because of the elimination of the alternative fourth clutch k 4 o could be used for integrating further components for the hybrid drive , such as , for example , an electric drive oil pump . to disengage the internal combustion engine from the driveline , this transmission again has an additional clutch kv . if clutch kv is open , only the electric motor em drives the driveline . to start the combustion engine the clutch kv is closed . to the extent that torque flows through clutch kv to accelerate the internal combustion engine , the electric motor must supply more torque so that the torque at the output shaft ab = 2 remains constant . today control systems are available to achieve such procedures . if the internal combustion engine is to be started when the vehicle is at a standstill , only clutch k 1 ( k 2 oo ) of the multistage transmission may be closed if afterwards the car is to start driving forward ( reverse ). to launch the car then the first brake b 1 will be closed in a controlled manner . examples of this can be found in the state of the art . of course further gear sets and shifting elements can be used to reduce the loads on the electric motor . but the very simple solution which is shown in fig1 needs only a small number of gear elements for a small and compact design . all the gear - structures which are shown in the fig3 , 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 and 14 have one planetary gear pg 1 on the input - sided first shaft - line ws 1 and two planetary gears pg 2 and pg 3 on the output - sided second shaft - line ws 2 . especially for the gear - structures according to fig1 , 12 and 14 , this leads to some advantages regarding the arrangement of the gear elements between a torque converter tc or an electric motor em with a relatively big diameter and a differential d with also a relatively big diameter at its gear . however , the invention also expressly extends to embodiments with two planetary gear stages on the drive side first shaft - line ws 1 and only one planetary gear stage on the driven side second shaft - line ws 2 . such versions can be derived in an analogous manner from the basic structure of the transmission of the invention according to fig2 . the foregoing description and examples have been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and are not intended to be limiting . since modifications of the described embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art , the invention should be construed broadly to include all variations within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof . | 8 |
this invention will now be described o the basis of embodiments thereof . fig1 and 2 are a perspective view of a first embodiment of this invention , and an enlarged cross - sectional view taken along the line a -- a of fig1 respectively . in fig1 and 2 , reference numeral 1 denotes a document or object plate on which a material containing a picture 1a to be read is placed . the camera - side surface of plate 1 is covered with gray color in order to adjust the white balance of a camera 2 . the camera 2 includes a photoelectric conversion unit to read a picture in an original document or the like to be described later . the camera - side surface of plate 1 may be white . however , if too much light enters the photoelectric conversion unit , the output of the conversion unit would be saturated so that appropriate adjustment of the white balance may be impossible . thus in order to prevent this , it is preferable to use gray which has a lower reflection factor than white . in order to prevent random reflective light from entering camera 2 from plate 1 , plate 1 is of the diffusion reflection type . camera 2 is of the electronic type and is firmly secured to a horizontal supporting member 3 to be described later and includes a color photoelectric conversion unit . horizontal supporting member 3 is slidable in the direction of the arrows x shown so as to shift the area photographed or picked up by camera 2 . a vertical supporting member 4 is firmly secured to horizontal supporting member 3 and is slidable in the direction of the arrows z shown . vertical supporting member 4 has at its lower plate - side end a monitor display 5 , a switch 6a which selects between an external input video signal to be also described later and a video signal from camera 2 to feed to display 5 and an external utilization device , and a power source switch 7 . in order that the user , who is near plate 1 , can easily see the display 5 , monitor display 5 is tilted at the lower portion of vertical supporting member 4 . monitor display 5 is also disposed so that display 5 and plate 1 are at equal distances from the user . the tilting of monitor 5 which includes a liquid crystal television causes monitor 5 to be placed deep within vertical supporting member 4 with a ceiling 5a preventing light from a lamp 8 to be described later from entering display 5 , thereby protecting same from becoming obscure . lamp 8 illuminates the entire plate 1 via a diffusion plate 9 . lamp 8 illuminates plate 1 from above and to one side so as to prevent a light flux from lamp 8 from being reflected and directly entering camera 2 . a switch 10 automatically adjust the white balance of camera 2 when switched on . the white balance may be adjusted manually in accordance with the external light , for example , a fluorescent light , daylight or incandescent light when switch 10 is switched on . an operation knob 30 can slide or fix vertical supporting member 4 . an external video signal is applied to an external input terminal 12 and output from monitor display 5 and monitor output terminal 13 . an illumination lamp 14 illuminates monitor display 5 . reference numerals 15 , 16 and 17 denote a slide table to be also described in more detail later , an up - and - down moving stand and a fixed stand which fixes plate 1 , respectively . an external voice input unit such as a microphone 18 is built in vertical supporting member 4 and may output its voice output from an output terminal ( not shown ) or from a monitor output terminal 13 . according to the above structure , when the picture reading apparatus is used and a voice input is required , the built - in microphone 18 is at once available . since microphone 18 is disposed near a circuit 19 , as will be obvious from fig2 advantageously , electric noise is difficult to entrain on the voice signal . however , in the first embodiment , the user of the apparatus is remote from microphone 18 , so that even a microphone of high directivity would pick up ambient noise and the s / n ratio of the voice signal would be reduced . since the previous embodiment includes vertically slidable vertical supporting member 4 and video output switch 6a , etc ., microphone 18 may pick up switching noise by switch 6a , frictional noise produced when vertical supporting member 4 is moved vertically , noise produced by rotation and / or fastening of a fixed knob 11 at vertical supporting member 4 , etc . thus an improved embodiment which improves the s / n ratio of the voice output will be shown in fig3 and 4 . in this embodiment , the external voice input unit is disposed at an end of a horizontal portion of the supporting member nearest the user of the apparatus . fig3 and 4 are a perspective view of the second embodiment and an enlarged cross - sectional view taken along the line a -- a of fig3 respectively . like components in fig1 and 2 and fig3 are identified by like numerals and a duplicate description will not be repeated . this embodiment is characterized that , as described above , the external voice input unit such as microphone 18 is disposed at an end of horizontal supporting member 3 of the camera support unit , the voice signal is transmitted via shield line 18a to circuitry 19 to process signals , and a shield line 18a is used as a lead so as not to pick up electric noise . according to the above structure , microphone 18 is disposed nearest the user of the apparatus , so that use of a microphone having high directivity prevents the microphone from picking up useless ambient noise and can pick up tee user &# 39 ; s voice with fidelity . microphone 18 is disposed remote from sources of noise such as switching noise by switch 6a , noise produced by sliding vertical supporting member 4 , and noise produced by rotation / fastening of knob 11 , so that the microphone is prevented from picking up these noises , thereby improving the s / n ratio of the voice output signal . as described above , according to this embodiment , the external voice input unit is built in the supporting member of the picture reading apparatus , so that when the apparatus is used , the voice input unit can at once meet the need for voice input , if any . now a third embodiment of this invention will be described which prevents noise produced by operations such as locking , unlocking or the like from adversely affecting the output of the microphone during movement of the photoelectric conversion unit . the external appearance of this embodiment are the same as in the perspective view of fig1 so that a duplicate description will not be repeated and only a description concerning the cross - section of the embodiment will be made . fig5 is a cross - sectional view of the third embodiment of this invention taken along the line similar to the line a -- a of fig1 . in fig5 reference numerals 15 , 16 and 17 denote a slide table , an up - and - down moving stand and a fixed stand which fixes plate 1 , respectively . in this embodiment , plate 1 , camera 2 and monitor 5 are fixed as a unit by horizontal and vertical supporting members 3 and 4 . this structure is essentially the same as the referenced art and a duplicate description will not be repeated . a pair of pins 8 is fixed to moving stand 16 , extends through guide grooves 17a in fixed stand 17 and is fixed to a cover 4a of vertical supporting member 4 , as shown in fig6 which is a cross - sectional view taken along the arrows x of fig5 . in fig5 and 6 , reference numeral 30 denotes a first lever which turns around a pin 19 fixed to moving stand 6 and has an operation knob 11 fixed at one end and a pin 20 fixed to the other end to which a second lever 22 is pivoted . lever 22 has at one end a frictional member 21 , for example , of rubber , fixed thereto and forced against fixed stand 17 to form a toggle mechanism between stands 16 and 17 . a tension coil spring 23 is engaged at one end with pin 20 which forms an intersection of levers 30 and is 22 , and biased to increase the toggle angle included between levers 30 and 22 . reference numeral 24 denotes a guide pin for lever 22 fixed to moving stand 16 . a lock lever 25 is guided by a pair of pins 26 fixed to moving stand 16 so as to slide in the direction of the arrows x and has at one end a locking portion 25a which is locked in a member 29 fixed to the fixed stand 17 . a tension coil spring 27 normally biases lock lever 25 toward member 29 . in this embodiment , member 29 is locked only when moving stand 16 has reached a bottom dead center . this is because the locking mechanism composed of levers 30 and 22 can lock stand 16 like a toggling mechanism when stand 16 moves downwardly while the locking mechanism cannot lock stand 16 as a result of the toggle angle included between levers 30 and 22 decreasing when moving stand 16 moves upwardly . consequently , the stand 16 is completely locked by the second locking mechanism which includes lever 25 , member 29 , etc ., at the bottom dead center of moving stand 16 . the reason why the stand 16 is completely locked only at its bottom dead center is that the practicality of stand 16 is considered . namely , complete locking is not needed in the vertical movement of stand 16 for magnification zooming , etc ., and complete locking is required when the apparatus is transported and / or housed . in these cases , moving stand 16 is usually held at its bottom dead center position , so that the apparatus is constructed so as to lock the stand 16 only at the bottom dead center position . the apparatus may be constructed such that complete locking is performed at a plurality of other predetermined positions as needed . a spacer 28 is fixed to moving stand 16 so as to provide a spacing between moving stand 16 and fixed stand 17 . in fig5 and 6 , reference numerals 18 and 31 denote a voice input unit including a microphone , and a detector switch , respectively . fig7 shows the electrical circuit of the microphone section . sp denotes an external speaker . reference numeral 32 denotes an amplifier . r1 - r4 denote resistors . the output signal from microphone 18 is amplified by amplifier 32 via resistors r1 , r2 and delivered to external speaker sp . when the detector switch 31 between resistors r1 and r2 is off , the signal from microphone 18 is input to amplifier 32 while when the detector switch 31 is switched on , it is grounded and no signal from microphone 18 is transmitted to amplifier 32 , so that the speaker sp produces no sound . the electronic camera 2 is moved horizontally in the direction of the arrows x by the sliding of the pair of pins 9 fixed to moving stand 16 in the elongated grooves 15c in slide table 15 . at this time , camera 2 is moved by moving cover 3a in the direction of the arrows x because cover 3a of horizontal supporting member 3 is fixed to slide table 15 by members 15a , 15b along with camera 2 . when camera 2 is to be moved vertically in the direction of the arrows x , a portion 16a of moving stand 16 and operation knob 11 are held , as shown in fig6 and rotated in the direction of the arrow a ( fig5 ) by the thumb and other fingers of one hand h on the assumption that moving stand 16 is at its bottom dead center . by this operation , first lever 18 is turned and support point 20 is moved in the direction of the arrow a , so that second lever 22 is pulled by support point 20 so as to move in the direction of arrow b ( fig5 ) along guide 24 . thus frictional member 21 is moved out of contact with fixed stand 17 . at the same time , a protrusion 30a of lever 30 pushes lock lever 25 in the direction of the arrow c ( fig5 ) to thereby unlock locking portion 25a from member 29 . thus moving stand 16 becomes free and simultaneously detector switch 31 is switched on . under these circumstances , moving stand 16 is moved upwardly by the cooperation of the respective pins 8 and guide grooves 17a . if stand portion 16a and operation knob 11 are released from hand , support point 20 is rotated in the direction opposite to the arrow a by the resiliency of spring 23 , first lever 30 is returned to its initial position , and second lever 22 is moved along guide 24 . thus frictional member 21 is pushed against fixed stand 17 so that the frictional force prevents the moving stand 16 from falling . at the same time , detector switch 31 is switched off . as described above , moving stand 16 and hence camera 2 can be moved vertically by a simple operation to perform zooming easily . moving stand 16 is then moved to its bottom dead center by the above operation . if stand portion 16a and knob 11 are then released from hand h , levers 30 and 22 perform the above operations and locking lever 25 is moved by spring 27 in the direction opposite to the arrow c to be engaged with member 29 . this causes moving stand 16 to be completely locked , so that although large force or vibrations are applied to the apparatus when same is transported or housed , moving stand 16 is prevented from moving . as described above , in this particular embodiment , when locking is released and camera 2 is moved vertically , detector switch 31 is switched on , so that the signal from microphone 18 is grounded by the circuit show in fig7 . thus a null input is applied to amplifier 32 and speaker sp produces no sound . thus mechanical noise due to locking and / or unlocking of some members and noise from sliding of some members are not produced from speaker sp . in the locked state , detector switch 31 is off and the signal from the microphone 18 is amplified as it is and input to speaker sp . thus a lecturer &# 39 ; s voice is transmitted as it is along with his picture to the audience . in the above embodiment , the timing of muting microphone 18 depends on change switch 31 . a similar effect may be obtained by sensing the movement of the supporting member using a photosensor , a magnetic sensor or the like . in a further application of this invention , noise due to the switching of video change switch 6a ( fig1 ) may be eliminated by interlock with switch 6a . in order to allow release , in a simple operation by one hand , of the locking mechanism of the support member which supports the photoelectric conversion unit and continuous change of the position where the conversion unit is supported , the particular embodiment includes a zooming lock mechanism which includes levers 30 , 22 , etc ., a complete lock mechanism which includes lock lever 25 , member 29 , etc ., which locks moving stand 16 at the bottom dead center . the latter or complete lock mechanism for transportation and housing of the apparatus may be of the screw type . the reason for this is that the number of events of transportation and / or housing is relatively small , release of the locking members by simple operation is possible in actual use , and its operability is not damaged . as described above , this embodiment is constructed so that the movement of the photoelectric conversion unit is detected , at which time the output from the voice input unit is grounded . thus this embodiment has a simple - low - cost structure to cut off uncomfortable mechanical noise which would otherwise be produced at the transportation of the apparatus . in addition , this embodiment has a very simple structure which includes two kinds of locking means for locking the photoelectric conversion unit at a desired position in a predetermined range of movements and for locking the photoelectric conversion unit at a specific position . thus the reading magnification of the picture reading apparatus can be changed continuously by simple hand operation . thus a less expensive , more reliable , higher - operability picture reading apparatus is provided which has high durability in transportation / housing . a picture reading apparatus could be thought out which includes , for example , a rotatable camera having a photoelectric conversion unit to read a material not put on the document plate , for example , a picture on a blackboard on the wall , in addition to a material placed on the document plate . in a picture reading apparatus having such a function , however , a picture output to the monitor during movement of the camera would move grotesquely and very unseemly the fourth embodiment of this invention is intended to provide a simple structure picture reading apparatus which eliminates the above drawbacks and which is capable of , for example , interrupting or lowering the picture output to the monitor display so as not to be unseemly during rotation of the camera . fig8 and 9 are perspective views showing the structure of the fourth embodiment of this invention . in fig8 , the components having functions similar to those of the components of the previous embodiments are similarly numbered and no similar description will be repeated . in fig8 and 9 , camera unit 2 &# 39 ; is disposed opposite to and above document plate 1 . the camera unit is rotatably supported at horizontal supporting member 3 &# 39 ; and can be rotated in the direction of the arrow . in this embodiment , the range of pickup or photographing area on plate 1 can be changed by moving camera unit 2 &# 39 ; vertically by means of vertical supporting member 4 . camera unit 2 &# 39 ; is also turnable in the vertical plane , in the direction of the arrow , as shown in fig8 and 9 , relative to horizontal supporting member 3 &# 39 ;. for example , a picture on a blackboard 116 disposed at a position such as shown in fig9 can be picked up by turning camera unit 2 &# 39 ; so as to face the image . fig1 shows the structure of a control circuit of the apparatus of this embodiment . reference numeral 121 denotes a power source plug . an ac adapter 122 is used to supply a dc power to camera unit 2 &# 39 ;, monitor display 5 and other components so that individual power sources are not needed . when mode change switch 6a is switched on , a synthesizer 123 synthesizes a picture , for example , on equal terms , from a video switch input from external input terminal 12 and a video output signal from camera unit 2 &# 39 ;, and outputs the result . it can also output only a video output signal from camera unit 2 &# 39 ; by switching off switch 6a . reference numeral 124 denotes a distributor . when mode change switch 6a is switched off , a switching circuit 125 interrupts an external picture signal input from external input terminal 12 to stop feed to distributor 124 . when mode change switch 6a is on and the external video signal is supplied from input terminal 12 , distributor 124 distributes the video signal to monitor display 5 and external monitor output terminal 13 . in this embodiment , such control circuit includes a device 130 in the circuit of a picture output signal line 126 from camera unit 2 &# 39 ; for lowering the level of the picture signal . in this embodiment , the picture signal level lowering device employs an interception unit which includes a switching mechanism having two connection positions . a rotary terminal chip 131 turns around a center o in response to the turning of camera unit 2 &# 39 ;. an arcuate fixed terminal chip 132 is disposed opposite to rotary chip 131 . now assume that camera unit 2 &# 39 ; faces an original document 1a on plate 1 , as shown in fig8 and outputs its picture as a video signal , a connection member 133 of rotary terminal chip 131 is put into contact with , for example , a first contact 132a of fixed terminal chip 132 . under these circumstances , when camera unit 2 &# 39 ; proceeds to its turning operation , rotary terminal chip 131 responds by which connection member 133 of chip 131 moves to a non - contact position where member 133 does not contact fixed terminal chip 132 , namely , to a non - contact position 132c between first and second contacts 132a and 132b of fixed terminal chip 132 , at which position the video output signal video from camera unit 2 &# 39 ; is interrupted and a zero - level video signal is output . when the turning of camera unit 2 &# 39 ; then ends and camera unit 2 &# 39 ; faces blackboard 116 as shown in fig9 rotary terminal chip 131 is turned . thus connection member 133 of rotary terminal chip 131 in turn contacts second contact 132b of fixed terminal chip 132 , and the output signal video from camera 2 &# 39 ; is again supplied to monitor display 5 . as described above , during turning of camera unit 2 &# 39 ;, no video signal is output to display 5 , so that a useless unseemly picture occurring during movement of the camera is interrupted from the user . in the above , the video output signal from camera unit 2 &# 39 ; has been described as being intercepted by interception unit 130 . alternatively , such an interception unit may be provided , for example , between ac adapter 122 and camera unit 2 &# 39 ;, or an attenuator , for example , may be provided instead of the interception unit which attenuator operates simultaneously with the movement of camera unit 2 &# 39 ; to lower the level of the picture output signal to below a predetermined level so as to prevent the video output signal from being displayed by monitor display 6 during movement of camera unit 2 &# 39 ;. furthermore , during movement of camera unit 2 &# 39 ;, a picture output , for example , of characters for other displays instead of the video output signal from camera unit 2 &# 39 ; may be supplied to monitor display 5 . also , a timer switch may be provided to stop supply of the video output signal for a predetermined time at the same time with the turning of the camera . even if the video output signal is displayed at the monitor display during movement of camera 2 &# 39 ;, the front of display 5 may be shielded , for example , by a liquid crystal shutter , during movement of camera unit 2 &# 39 ; to prevent display of an unseemly picture at display 5 during movement of the camera . while in the above embodiment there are two stop positions where the turning of camera unit 2 &# 39 ; is stopped to pick up the image ; the position where the camera faces the document plate 1 and the position where the camera faces the blackboard on the side . this invention is not limited to these positions . this invention is also applicable to a device which picks up images at three or more positions . similarly , an unseemly display may be prevented , for example , even during vertical or other movements of the camera unit as in the particular embodiments . as described above , according to this embodiment , during turning of the camera , the video output signal from the camera photoelectric conversion unit is not supplied at its normal level to the monitor display , so that a useless , unseemly picture picked up by the camera during turning of the camera is erased or suppressed to give no offense to the user . in the picture reading apparatus shown in fig1 the camera input unit and the support member are disposed perpendicular to a plane of documents placed on the plate 1 . in this arrangement , the picture of a broad document appears on the entire screen of the monitor . therefore , if a long document is displayed at the monitor , for example , only a central portion of the document is displayed and other portions cannot be monitored . if the document is slid back and forth in order to display at the monitor those portions except for the central portion , it is necessary to prevent interference of the leading end of the document with the vertical supporting member . this would increase the distance between the camera and the vertical support and reduce the strength of the mechanism . alternatively , if a structure is employed in which the camera unit can be slid back and forth instead of the document , it would become complicated and the cost would increase . furthermore , when the operator operates the mode change switch , the operator &# 39 ; s hands would be displayed unseemly at the monitor . the monitor itself may appear unseemly when viewed at its front . according to this embodiment , vertical supporting member 4 is disposed , as shown in a plan view in fig1 . therefore , even if a broad document 1a is slid right and left , it would not interfere with vertical supporting member 4 . furthermore , if a long document 1b is moved back and forth , similarly no interference occurs . this arrangement allows horizontal supporting member 3 to be shortened . in this case , even if the length of the horizontal supporting member 3 is shortened , the document may be moved freely for that quantity back and forth and left and right , so that there is no problem in use . especially , in an apparatus of this type , it is desirable that deviations of the ends of horizontal and vertical supporting members 3 and 4 ( the camera is fixed to the end of horizontal supporting member 3 ) are small and that the apparatus is small - sized , light and is easy to transport when used in lecture , discourse or the like . when a load including the weights of the camera , the photoelectric conversion unit or the like acts on the end of horizontal supporting member 3 as a cantilever , the end deviation increases in proportion to the third power of the distance between the horizontal and vertical supporting members 3 and 4 , so that it will be understood to be advantageous that horizontal supporting member 3 can be shortened . the end of vertical supporting member 4 is deviated in proportion to the third power of the height of vertical supporting member 4 because the moment due to the load acts on the end of the vertical supporting member 4 to which horizontal supporting member 3 is connected . thus it would be necessary to increase the entire size and weight of both supporting members 4 and 5 in order to consider the strength of the vertical and horizontal supporting members in their own ways to suppress the deviation . however , according to this embodiment , the horizontal supporting member 4 can be shortened , so that a lighter , less expensive apparatus can be provided which occupies a reduced space , and has an improved performance . as described above , according to this embodiment , horizontal and vertical supporting members 3 and 4 are disposed slanted to camera unit 2 &# 39 ;, so that even if a long or broad document is slid back and forth and right and left , it can avoid interference with vertical supporting member 4 . further , since the distance between camera unit 2 &# 39 ; and vertical supporting member 4 can be set short , the strength of horizontal supporting member 3 , etc ., may be sufficiently assured . while in this embodiment the vertical supporting member has been shown as being provided at the upper right corner as shown in fig1 , this invention is not limited to this . for example , it may be provided at one of other corners or inwardly from that corner . the apparatus having the following advantages is thus provided . when the document may touch the vertical supporting member when for example , the length of the vertical supporting member is adjusted or mode change switch 6a , etc ., are operated , the operator &# 39 ; s hand is not displayed on the monitor , so that the display does not give an unseemly display . further , the picture reading apparatus provides an easy - to - see built - in monitor 5 , occupies a reduced space , is lighter , less expensive and is easy to use and transport . as described above , according to the fourth embodiment of this invention , in addition to the above - mentioned advantage , the following advantageous are provided . by the disposition where the supporting means is slanted to the reading means , the distance between the camera input unit and the vertical supporting member is reduced , the entire strength is increased , the vertical supporting member does not interfere with an original document , broad or long , even if the document is slid right and left and back and forth , the operator &# 39 ; s hand will not be displayed on the monitor , the monitor is easy to see , and the operability of the apparatus is increased . | 7 |
referring now to fig1 there is shown a harvesting machine 10 in the form of a self - propelled forage harvester including a main frame 12 that is carried on front and rear wheels 14 and 16 . the operation of the harvesting machine 10 is controlled from an operator &# 39 ; s cab 18 from which a crop recovery arrangement 20 can be viewed . crop taken up from the ground by means of the crop recovery arrangement 20 , for example , corn , grass or the like is conducted to a chopper drum 22 that chops it into small pieces and delivers it to a conveyor arrangement 24 . the conveyor arrangement 24 conveys the crop in a rigid ejection tower 42 , that extends approximately vertically , that is followed by a discharge spout 26 that can be rotated relative to the ejection tower 42 about an approximately vertical axis and is in the form of a curved ejection duct . the crop leaves the harvesting machine 10 over the discharge spout 26 and is thrown to a container of a transport vehicle operating alongside . between the chopper drum 22 and the conveyor arrangement 24 a post - chopper reduction arrangement 27 extends , that can be selectively inserted and removed from the flow of the crop , by means of which the crop to be conveyed is conducted tangentially to the conveyor arrangement 24 . the position of the discharge spout 26 can be changed by three actuators 30 , 34 and 38 . a first actuator or drive arrangement 30 , described in greater detail below , is used for the rotation of the discharge spout 26 , that is supported in bearings , free to rotate , about a vertical axis on a turning circle 28 . the actuator 30 thereby makes it possible to rotate the discharge spout 26 to the rear into the transport position shown in fig1 or to rotate it to the left or the right alongside the harvesting machine 10 . a second actuator 34 in the form of a hydraulic cylinder is arranged to pivot the discharge spout 26 about a horizontal axis 32 located at its upstream end . thereby the second actuator 34 defines the height of the downstream end of the discharge spout 26 . a third actuator 38 in the form of a hydraulic cylinder is used to pivot an ejection door 36 at the downstream end 40 of the discharge spout 26 . the ejection door 36 can be adjusted so as to make it possible to control the angle at which the harvested crop leaves the discharge spout 26 . the actuators 34 and 38 are single acting or double acting hydraulic cylinders , where in the case of single acting hydraulic cylinders the weight of the discharge spout 26 itself or the ejection door 36 itself make possible the return movement . [ 0016 ] fig2 shows the turning circle 28 and the actuator or drive arrangement 30 , which is provided for the rotation of the discharge spout 26 about the vertical axis , in greater detail . in the interior of the turning circle 28 , the underside of the discharge spout 26 is supported relative to the ejection tower 42 in rolling contact bearings , free to rotate ( but not shown for the sake of clarity ). at the outer circumference of the turning circle 28 , a first , ring - shaped gear 29 is arranged that is locked to transmit torque to the discharge spout 26 . the gear teeth of the first gear 29 mesh with a second gear 46 , that is connected for receiving torque transmitted to it by a first , vertical shaft 58 . the first shaft 58 is connected so as to be driven by an overload clutch 48 which is connected over a second shaft 60 , that is also vertical , to a third gear 50 so as to transmit driving torque to the clutch 48 . the third gear 50 meshes with a worm gear drive 52 , that rotates about a horizontal axis which is coupled to a drive motor 54 in the form of a hydraulic motor . the shafts 58 and 60 as well as the worm drive gear 52 are supported in bearings , not shown , directly or indirectly on the frame 12 of the harvesting machine 10 . the drive motor 54 is also connected directly or indirectly to the frame 12 of the harvesting machine 10 . thereby the drive motor 54 is arranged to pivot the discharge spout 26 about the vertical axis over a driveline consisting of the worm gear drive gear 52 , the third gear 50 , the second shaft 60 , the overload clutch 48 , the first shaft 58 , the second gear 46 and the first gear 29 . the drive motor 54 is controlled by an operator in the operator &# 39 ; s cab 18 . a sensor 56 is provided that can determine the angle of rotation of the discharge spout 26 by any desired means in order to display to an operator in the operator &# 39 ; s cab 18 information about the immediate angle of rotation of the discharge spout 26 or in order to use this information for the control of the control arrangement that is arranged to bring the discharge spout 26 into a desired position by control of the drive motor 54 , which position can be provided as input by the operator or otherwise automatically controlled . the sensor 56 may , for example , be an incremental angle transmitter that operates optically and interacts with corresponding markings on the discharge spout 26 . it can also operate on an inductive basis and interact with permanent magnets attached to the discharge spout 26 . the overload clutch 48 is configured in such a way that it disengages when a defined torque transmitted by the second shaft 60 to the first shaft 58 ( or the reverse ) is exceeded , that is , it interrupts the transmission of torque between the first shaft 58 and the second shaft 60 . in this way the discharge spout 26 โ otherwise not supported on the frame 12 โ becomes able to rotate about the vertical axis in the case of an overload and can avoid being damaged by coming into contact with obstacles . the result is that the discharge spout 26 is not damaged , if the drive motor 54 forces the discharge spout 26 against an obstacle , for example , the transport vehicle operating alongside the harvesting machine for the chopped crop , or if the discharge spout 26 collides with an obstacle during the operation . furthermore , in such cases , any damage to the drive motor 54 and the other mechanical elements of the actuator 30 need not be feared . the overload clutch 48 , according to the invention , interrupts the driving connection , as soon as the difference of the torques between the first and second shafts 58 and 60 , respectively , exceeds a defined threshold . when the threshold value is no longer exceeded , the driving connection is automatically re - established . for the overload clutch 48 , a device known in itself , such as a star ratchet , a friction clutch or a cam controlled clutch can be employed . overload clutches of this type are commercially available from the firm gkn walterscheid , 53797 lohmar , del . under the designations k32b , k94b or k64 / 1 . appropriate overload clutches are also disclosed in the publications de 31 51 486 c , de 34 18 558 c , de 41 37 829 a , de 195 38 351 c , de 196 11 622 c , de 197 15 269 c and de 197 44 154 c , whose disclosures are incorporated into the present application by reference . a possible embodiment of an overload clutch 48 is shown in fig3 . the overload clutch 48 includes a cylindrical housing 62 having a bottom 64 and a cover 66 . the bottom 64 is connected with the second shaft 60 and oriented coaxially to it . the cover 66 is screwed onto the housing 62 and contains a central opening through which the first shaft 58 extends . a first friction lining 68 is fastened to the bottom 64 . a second friction lining 70 is located on the first friction lining 68 and is connected with a carrier 74 on its surface opposite the first friction lining 68 . the carrier 74 is connected with a stub shaft 72 , that is arranged coaxially to the first shaft 58 . the stub shaft 72 and the lower end of the first shaft 58 engage each other and can slide relative to each other in the vertical direction , but are coupled to each other so as to transmit torque , since their cross sections are non - circular . the inner cross section of the lower end of the first shaft 58 and the outer cross section of the stub shaft 72 may , for example , be square . the first shaft 58 carries a ring 76 on which a helical spring 78 is supported , which forces the carrier 74 downward and thereby forces the second friction lining 70 against the first friction lining 68 . obviously it would be conceivable to subdivide the first shaft 58 into two partial parts that can be separated from each other of which only one extends into the housing 62 . thereby the assembly and the replacement of the overload clutch 48 would be simplified . the second shaft 60 could also be separable from the overload clutch 48 . the torque from the second shaft 60 is transmitted over the bottom 64 to the first friction lining 68 . from there it is transmitted to the second friction lining 70 and over the carrier 74 and the stub shaft 72 to the first shaft 58 . if the torque transmitted exceeds a threshold value , that is a function of the material and the dimensions of the friction linings 68 and 70 and the force of the helical spring 78 , the friction linings 68 and 70 begin to rotate relative to each other . the driving connection is interrupted . in the case of an impact of the discharge spout 26 against an obstacle , the spout 26 can therefore avoid being damaged by the impact . if the discharge spout 26 is blocked mechanically by an obstacle , it can then not be damaged when the drive motor 54 is in operation because of the interrupted driving connection . simultaneously , the friction linings 68 and 70 rubbing against each other generate a braking torque that prevents a free rotation of the discharge spout 26 and possible impact with a second obstacle . as soon as the torque transmitted no longer exceeds the threshold value , the driving connection is reestablished . the operator in the operator &# 39 ; s cab 18 or the control arrangement described above can thereby rotate the discharge spout 26 again by operation of the drive motor 54 , as soon as the discharge spout 26 is no longer blocked . having described the preferred embodiment , it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims . | 8 |
referring to fig1 and 2 , pot 10 is shown which is the commonly used plastic pot in which plant nurseries provide plants for sale . plastic pot 10 may be placed in an outer decorative container if desired . as depicted in fig1 and 2 , pot 10 is prepared to receive a plant . cardboard packet 12 is secured to the side of pot 10 by tape 14 . packet 12 has supported within it reservoir 16 . reservoir 16 , in this embodiment , is a plastic bag having an opening in the top so that it may be filled with water . disposed in the bottom of pot 10 , is coiled dispensing tube 18 in cage 20 . hollow fiber or tube 18 is provided with cage 20 which prevents crushing or damage to tube 18 by the soil and plant in pot 10 . cage 20 also serves to confine tube 18 to a desired volume during the processing of dispensing tube 18 as will be described later . tube 18 has a first end portion 24 which extends from cage 20 and leads up and into the reservoir 16 . the open end of this first end portion 24 is disposed adjacent to the bottom of the reservoir 16 . first end portion 24 functions as a conveying tube to convey water from reservoir 16 to dispensing tube 18 . tube 18 has a second end portion 26 which extends from cage 20 and leads up to funnel device 28 which is shown lying in packet 12 . preferably , first end portion 24 and second end portion 26 of dispensing tube 18 may be omitted from the processing referred to previously and so have wall structures which do not require protective covers . preferably , end portions 24 and 26 are separate elements secured to dispensing tube 18 , but it is necessary to avoid joints which might leak . reservoir 16 and funnel device 28 , in the preferred embodiment , are thin plastic bags . this permits not only these bags , but also tube 18 and its containment and end portions 24 and 26 to be packed in packet 12 after manufacture , for shipping and storage until it is to be used . once the apparatus is disposed in pot 10 , water is introduced into reservoir 16 while funnel device 28 is held low enough to assure that dispensing tube is completely filled . when water flows from second tube end portion 26 , all air has been driven out . at this time funnel device 28 is placed in the top of packet 12 and the plant and soil are placed in pot 10 in the usual manner . although a plant has been placed in pot 10 and reservoir 16 is filled with water , dispensing tube 18 will dispense only a limited amount of water . dispensing of water from reservoir 16 will occur slowly until root growth sufficient to reach tube 18 occurs . in this interim the plant is watered in the conventional manner . it should be recognized that in most cases this occurs while the plant is still in the nursery . when the plant has rooted sufficiently conventional watering is reduced to very long intervals . this change - over , which takes about one month , is evidenced by the onset and gradual increase of water consumption from reservoir 16 . when the rate of water consumption from the reservoir levels off , surface watering of the plant can be safely limited . it has been found that periods of active plant growth are accompanied by generation of bio - surfactants which are released by the plant roots . ( l . a . errede , annals of botany 52 . 373 - 380 , 1983 ) these surfactants produce a hydrophilic soil - membrane interface which , in the case of dispensing tube 18 will cause an increase of water molecules to pass through the pores in the tube wall from the inside to the outside . consequently , water is dispensed by the system of this . invention mainly in response to plant needs . excess watering which would at least be wasteful , if not harmful , is improbable using the hollow fiber of this invention . moreover , when the plant roots become entwined with coiled dispensing tube 18 , the remaining soil in the pot will become relatively dry . as a result , little moisture passes into the air in spite of the low humidity which may be maintained in the situs of the plant . in the arrangement shown in fig1 and 2 conveying tube 24 acts as a siphon which removes water from the bottom of reservoir 16 which is located in pot 10 . conveying tube 24 may also deliver water to dispensing tube 18 from a reservoir located outside pot 10 . such an external reservoir can be located above dispensing tube 18 for delivering water as a siphon or by simple gravity feed , and may even be located below dispensing tube 18 if the reservoir is pressurized . we have found that the stiff , inflexible nature of the cellulose acetate hollow fibers used as dispensing tube 18 require a flexible tubing be used at both ends for conveying tube or first end portion 24 and second end portion 26 . these flexible ends allow durable connections to reservoir systems for a dispensing coil in a plant pot . it has also been found , however , that conventional connectors which are positioned in the soil will fail because root fibers penetrate the joint and force the sealed connection from the hollow fiber ; causing the system to leak and fail . referring to fig3 a - 3c , a cellulose acetate hollow fiber 30 is shown in fig3 a having a flexible sleeve 32 positioned near the end 34 of fiber 30 . sleeve 32 need not fit snugly over hollow fiber 30 . the outside diameter of fiber 30 can be from 10 - 50 per cent less than the inside diameter of sleeve 32 . small spacing should be allowed between the two . during the processing of hollow fiber 30 ( which is described layer ) hollow fiber 30 expands to a larger diameter with a thinner wall , while sleeve 32 retains its original dimensions . this is illustrated in fig3 b . in this expansion of hollow fiber 30 , it expands within sleeve 32 to the extent sleeve 32 permits . this forms such an intimate connection along the length of sleeve 32 that roots do not penetrate in the interface between fiber 30 and sleeve 32 . as shown in fig3 c , the excess portion of hollow fiber 30 which includes end 34 may be trimmed off to provide a clean end . a conventional connector external to the pot can then be used to join other tubing to sleeve 32 . it should be noted that the membrane surface area available in the case of the errede experiment is limited to the cross - sectional area of the reservoir across which the membrane is stretched . in the case of dispensing tube 18 , the area available is the surface of the tube wall which can be increased by making the dispensing tube longer . because a membrane stretched across the bottom of a vertically extending cylindrical container must be strong enough to support the weight of the water above , this membrane must be made thick enough for this requirement . tube 18 , however , may be made thin walled because of the negligible pressure of the water therein . the flow of water through the membrane is a function of thickness , so that tube 18 will , with the application of the bio - surfactant , have a higher flow rate &# 34 ; q &# 34 ; of water than would a corresponding area of a thicker membrane . as previously mentioned , tube 18 will dispense water very slowly until triggered by a bio - surfactant released by the plant . when a surfactant is not present , tube 18 and first end portion 24 ( the conveying tube ) and second end portion 26 are a continuous closed walled tube and water is only slowly dispensed . the discussion of hollow fiber dispensing tube 18 given above was concerned with providing water from a reservoir to the roots of a plant through the fiber wall . it should not be overlooked , however , that this fiber wall is a permeable membrane which will also permit water to pass into this hollow fiber from the outside . in general , water on each side of the membrane -- or in this case inside and outside the hollow fiber -- will be at a hydraulic pressure which is the resultant of such factors as the hydrostatic pressure head , solids dissolved or suspended in the water , and the temperature of the water or water mixture . when the hydraulic pressure on one side of the fiber wall exceeds that on the other side by at least the osmotic pressure , water will pass through the wall to the side of the lower hydraulic pressure . thus the fiber wall acts much as a pressure relief valve which will permit water flow when the pressure rises sufficiently . in the description of fig1 and 2 , water passed from inside the fiber to outside where the plant roots absorbed it . this root absorption will normally keep the hydraulic pressure outside the fiber lower than that inside the fiber . if , however , the pot receives a direct application of water , such as by rain , the hydraulic pressure outside the fiber may exceed that inside , and water will pass into the fiber . consequently , the fiber acts as a reservoir for excess water from the pot . this water will subsequently pass back outside the fiber when the outside hydrostatic head lowers . it should be noted that this movement into the fiber will occur provided the fiber is not closed at the ends so that a pressure build - up inside fiber does not occur . fibers in accordance with this invention have been produced which are asymmetric with respect to osmotic mechanisms , but are opposite from previous fibers because the flow of pure water is from the inside of the fiber to the outside . moreover , with flow outward through the tube walls instead of inward , the pores of the tube are self cleaning , and - in fact - show an increase in flow with the passage of time . as will be described in detail below , the processes involve treatment of cellulose acetate fibers of the type described in the mclain et al . patent referred to above . these treatments involve exposing the inside and outside of the fibers to different phases . four different reaction phase categories will be disclosed . in reaction i , aqueous solutions of formamide were introduced into the interior of a fiber while the exterior was left in the ambient air . the solutions , in terms of the percentage of formamide , and the resulting flow rates through the fiber wall from the inside to the outside were as follows : the flow rates given are in terms of a linear foot of fiber . the flow rates achieved are an improvement over the flow rate reported in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 873 , 653 of q = 0 . 009 gal / ft 2 day . the fibers prepared in reaction i had sticky exterior surfaces which may be useful for some purposes and detrimental for other purposes . reaction ii resulted in fibers which did not have this sticky exterior surface . in reaction ii , the interior of the fibers had the same aqueous formamide solutions as in reaction i , but these interior solutions were pressurized with nitrogen at a pressure of 10 psig . the fibers were disposed in water at ambient temperature . ( without this external water , the fibers were sticky as in reaction i .) under these circumstances the resulting flow rates were from 0 . 71 to 0 . 95 ml / ft / da . reaction ii was also tested with the external water heated to a temperature of 65 ยฐ c ., under this condition flow rates of 0 . 93 , 1 . 25 and 2 . 48 ml / ft / da were obtained with the resulting fibers . in reaction iii , the interior of the fibers was charged with nitrogen at 35 psig . the exterior of the fibers was in a water bath which was heated in accordance with the following schedule in which time is measured in minutes , gas flow rate in liters / min , nitrogen pressure in psi and bath temperature in degrees centigrade . ______________________________________ bathtime gas flow rate gas pressure temp______________________________________ 0 0 0 68 1 9 . 0 10 68 9 0 . 3 10 6817 0 . 3 10 7818 1 . 0 10 8020 stopped reaction______________________________________ the reaction was stopped by removing the fiber from the bath . the measured change in flux density was from 0 . 30 to 4 . 047 ml / ft / da . in reaction iv , the interior of the fibers was again charged with nitrogen at 35 psig . the exterior of the fibers was exposed to air heated to 130 ยฐ c . fig4 shows graphically a characteristic of the hollow fibers prepared in accordance with the invention . flux density is found to increase with time over a period of about sixty days and then level off . this is to be contrasted with fig3 of the meinecke patent ( u . s . pat . no . 3 , 873 , 653 ) which shows a decrease in flux density which is most pronounced in about the first forty hours . it is theorized that the increase in flux density found with the hollow fibers of the present invention may result from having water pass from the inside of the fiber to the outside ; whereas in the meinecke arrangement water moves from the outside of the fiber to the inside . observations were made of cellulose acetate in a flat membrane form . with the membrane on a hot surface and treated with a solvent or a plasticizer , and with air above the membrane , it appears that bubbles of gas develop and burst leaving relatively large , funnel shaped cavities on the upper surface , much in the manner of a pancake batter before it is turned over . examination of the bottom of the membrane reveals a much denser structure . with such an asymmetric permeability membrane , the preferred water flow is from the large pore side to the small pore side . it will be recognized that while many , and perhaps most , sources of water to be used will be free of particles , there are cases where the water is highly contaminated with dissolved and undissolved solids , e . g . some well and surface water supplies . where these highly impure waters are used directly in the reservoir which supplies the water to the dispensing tube it is necessary to periodically flush out the salts and solids from the hollow fiber to avoid blocking the water flow through the fiber or the osmotic flow through the walls of the fiber . the necessity for this periodic flushing can be eliminated by treating the impure water by reverse osmosis to remove solid contamination and , if necessary , the use of a biocide to eliminate algae and fungi . another approach to the treatment of impure water we have discovered is the system which will now be described with reference to fig5 . pressure vessel 36 receives through inlet 38 a supply of impure water under a suitable pressure head . control of the pressure within pressure vessel 36 may be achieved through the use of pressure regulating valve 40 . contained within pressure vessel 36 is a reverse osmosis hollow fiber coil 42 . coil 42 is made in accordance with one of the reactions taught above . coil 42 is connected by untreated hollow fibers or tubes 44 and 46 to hollow fiber dispensing coil 48 which is located in pot 50 . coil 48 is prepared and used as previously described herein . pressure vessel 36 may be located a suitable height above coil 48 to provide a suitable pressure head . if the pressure within pressure vessel 36 is above the osmotic pressure , water will pass through the walls of coil 42 provided the pressure within coil 42 is not too high . the pressure within coil 42 depends , in part , on the dispensing of water from coil 48 . this dispensing is regulated by the plant exudate . consequently , when the plant exudes the bio - surfactant , an increased amount of water will be dispensed from coil 48 and the pressure within coil 48 , tubes 44 and 46 and coil 42 will be reduced and reverse osmosis will occur to supply water to coil 42 from pressure vessel 36 . because pressure regulating valve 40 provides a flow of water out of pressure vessel 36 , water continuously flows over the exterior of coil 42 , thereby flushing away particles and keeping it osmotically regenerated . although fig5 illustrates a system having a single plant with a single dispensing coil 48 , it is contemplated that multiple dispensing coils may be connected to the reverse osmosis coil 42 . there are a number of factors and variables which must be considered in the application of the osmotic fiber systems of this invention . for example , different varieties of plants and different sizes of plants of the same variety have different water uptakes . we have found a divergency of from 25 - 250 ml / day in water uptake . this spread may not be all inclusive . some variables which may be controlled in a system such as that of fig5 are : the water pressure of the source , the contamination of the source water , the flux density of the reverse osmosis coil 42 , the length of the reverse osmosis coil 42 , the temperatures of the water and the ambient , the flux density and length of the dispensing coil ( s ) 48 , the soil conditions in the root zone , and the plant size and type . with respect to dispensing coil 48 , the flux density of this coil without plant exudate is 3 . 5 ml / ft / da . plant exudate increases this to 4 . 5 - 10 . 0 ml / ft / da . this data can be used to determine the quantity of water which must be supplied . the osmotic valve characteristic of the hollow fibers of this invention make the fibers , without a connected reservoir , useful in controlling the water supplied to plant roots . for example , hollow fibers 60 having an internal volume of from 0 . 01 to 250 ml have been used in potted plants as shown in fig6 . these hollow fibers will take up water from the soil both through the open ends by capillary action , and through the permeable fiber walls when excess water is in the root ball zone . this tends to restrict over - watering of the plant . this water within hollow fibers 60 will remain within the fibers , as if in a reservoir , until the hydraulic pressure outside the fiber walls is reduced sufficiently by the moisture content of the soil being reduced . then water will be released as described with respect to the fig1 embodiment . the osmotic valve nature of the improved permeable hollow fibers of this invention make its use in measuring osmotic pressures particularly useful . presently available osmotic pressure measurement devices do not measure the component of osmotic pressure which results from dissolved solids which are suspended in solution , but only that which results from those solids which form ions in the solution . fig7 shows container 66 which receives a solution requiring an osmotic pressure measurement . positioned in container 66 is hollow fiber 68 . end 70 of hollow fiber 68 is closed , while end 72 is open . a substantial length of hollow fiber leads to end 72 and is positioned adjacent to graduated scale 74 . this may be a separate fiber which is connected to the treated permeable fiber in container 66 . it will be evident that hydrophilic hollow fibers of materials other than cellulose acetate may be treated to enhance their permeability . such materials include : polyvinyl alcohol , polyvinyl acetate , nylon , polycarbonate polyesters and epoxies . in general , fibers of a material which will hydrolyze ( add water ) to form a hydrophilic matrix may be used . it will also be evident that other methods and apparatus using osmosis and reverse osmosis will benefit from the treated hollow fibers of this invention . while the instant invention has been shown and described herein in . what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment , it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention , which is therefore not to be limited to the details disclosed herein , but is to be afforded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent apparatus and articles . | 1 |
hereinafter , preferred embodiments of a color image display according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings . fig1 is a view of a whole configuration of a color image display device 1 of the present embodiment . as shown in fig1 , the color image display device 1 has a display 10 , a video signal processing circuit 12 , an interpolation circuit 14 and a drive circuit 16 , for example . the color image display device 1 is set to a device used with fixed pixels , such as a liquid crystal display and pdp . the display 10 is provided with , for example , rectangle unit areas in a matrix in a two - dimensional display region and arranged with r , g and b pixel regions inside each of the unit areas continuously or with adjoining respectively . for example , the r , g and b pixel regions are formed with a stripe or mosaic shape in the unit area . in the present embodiment , the r , g and b pixel regions in the unit area are arranged from the left in order of the r pixel , the g pixel and the b pixel toward the right in a horizontal direction of a screen as shown in fig1 and fig2 c . the video signal processing circuit 12 generates an r signal s_r , a g signal s_g and a b signal s_b on the basis of an video signal video which is input , and outputs them to the interpolation circuit 14 . fig2 and 3 are schematic views of the unit area and phases of the respective signals . in the present embodiment , the video signal video has a phase shown in fig2 b the r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b generated by the video signal processing circuit 12 have phases shown in fig2 e , 2d and 2 f respectively . fig4 is a schematic view of an example of the unit areas . the r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b are generated by using a center o_ua of the unit area ua as a reference , not using centers o_r , o_g and o_b of each of the r , g and b pixel regions . therefore , if the r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b having the phases shown in fig2 e , 2d and 2 f are output to the display 10 such as a color image display device in related art , the r , g and b pixel regions in the unit area ua may emit light on the basis of the r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b and a so - called โ phase shift โ may occur . in the present embodiment , the video signal processing circuit 12 outputs the r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b shown in fig2 e , 2d and 2 f to the interpolation circuit 14 . then the interpolation circuit 14 generates an r signal s_r 1 , a g signal s_g 1 and a b signal s_b 1 shown in fig3 c , 3b and 3 d in accordance with an actual arrangement position of the r , g and b pixels in explanations blow . fig5 is a view of a configuration of the interpolation circuit 14 shown in fig1 . as shown in fig5 , the interpolation circuit 14 has a memory 32 and an interpolation module circuit 34 . the memory 32 stores pixel data of the r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b which are input from the video signal processing circuit 12 . the interpolation module circuit 34 performs an interpolation processing by using the r signal s_r and the b signal s_b generated by using the center o_ua of the unit area ua shown in fig4 as a reference to generate the r signal s_r 1 and the b signal s_b 1 which uses each of the center o_r of the r pixel region and the center o_b of the b pixel region as references respectively . in this time , the interpolation module circuit 34 receives a position determination of a horizontal direction and vertical direction in accordance with the centers o_ua , o_r and o_b , then performs the above interpolation processing on the basis of the position determination . fig6 is a view of a configuration of the interpolation module circuit 34 shown in fig5 . as shown in fig6 , the interpolation module circuit 34 has an r interpolation circuit 42 , a g delay circuit 44 and a b interpolation circuit 46 , for example . the r interpolation circuit 42 generates the r signal s_r 1 which uses the center o_r of the r pixel region as a reference as shown in fig3 c on the basis of the r signal s_r which uses the center o_ua of the unit area as a reference . the g delay circuit 44 dose not perform the interpolation processing because the center o_ua of the unit area ua matches the center o_g , and is a fifo ( first - in first - out ) circuit delaying the g signal s_g for a processing time of the r interpolation circuit 42 and the b interpolation circuit 46 and then outputting it as the g signal s_g 1 shown in fig3 b . the b interpolation circuit 46 generates the b signal s_b 1 which uses the center o_b of the b pixel region as a reference as shown in fig3 d on the basis of the b signal s_b which uses the center o_ua of the unit area ua as a reference . fig7 is a view for illustrating an interpolation method by the r interpolation circuit 42 . fig8 is a view of an example of a correction of the pixel region . an example shown in fig7 shows a case generating an r pixel data of the r signal s_r 1 in the unit area ua 3 . note that , in the present embodiment , an interval of the adjoining pixel regions in the horizontal direction is indicated by a โ c โ as shown in fig8 . therefore , the right direction in the horizontal direction shown in fig8 is assumed as a plus , so the correction of the pixel data of the r signal s_r may be indicated by a โโ c โ and the correction of the pixel data of the b signal s_b may be indicated a โ c โ. fig9 is a view of a configuration of the r interpolation circuit 42 shown in fig6 and 7 . as shown in fig9 , the r interpolation circuit 42 has a correction operation circuit 62 , an interpolation coefficient calculation unit 64 and a matrix operation circuit 66 , for example . the correction operation circuit 62 calculates horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 of a reference pixel data shown in fig7 on the basis of a horizontal position x of the r pixel data to be interpolated and the correction โโ c โ by using the following formula ( 1 ), then outputs the calculated data to the interpolation coefficient calculation unit 64 . in this example , each of the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 indicates a horizontal position of the center of the pixel in the respective unit areas ua 1 , ua 2 , ua 3 and ua 4 shown in fig7 . in the present embodiment , the r pixel data of the horizontal position x in the unit area ua 3 is generated by performing the interpolation processing on the basis of the r pixel data of the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 in the unit areas ua 1 , ua 2 , ua 3 and ua 4 which are placed in the horizontal direction with respect to the unit area ua 3 shown in fig7 . x 1 = 1 + ( x - [ x ] ) x 2 = ( x - [ x ] ) x 3 = 1 - ( x - [ x ] ) x 4 = 2 - ( x - [ x ] ) ( 1 ) the interpolation coefficient calculation unit 64 operates the following formula ( 2 ) with respect to each of the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 on the basis of data which is input from the correction operation circuit 62 to generate f ( x 1 ), f ( x 2 ), f ( x 3 ) and f ( x 4 ), then outputs the generated data to the matrix operation circuit 66 . note that , in the following formula ( 2 ), a โ x - c โ is used as the โ x โ. f โข โข ( t ) = sin โข โข ( ฯ โข โข t ) ฯ โข โข t โ
{ 1 - 2 โข ๏ t ๏ 2 + ๏ t ๏ 3 โฆ โข โข ( 0 โค ๏ t ๏ & lt ; 1 ) 4 - 8 โข ๏ t ๏ + 5 โข ๏ t ๏ 2 - ๏ t ๏ 3 โฆ โข โข ( 1 โค ๏ t ๏ & lt ; 2 ) 0 โฆ โข โข ( 2 โค ๏ t ๏ ) ( 2 ) the matrix operation circuit 66 performs a matrix operation shown in the following formula ( 3 ) on the basis of : f ( x 1 ), f ( x 2 ), f ( x 3 ) and f ( x 4 ) indicated by data which is input from the interpolation coefficient calculation unit 64 ; and the pixel data r 1 , r 2 , r 3 and r 4 of the r signal s_r in the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 , which data is read out from the memory 32 to calculate a pixel data r to be interpolated of the horizontal position x . the pixel data is output to the drive circuit shown in fig1 as the pixel data of the r signal s_r 1 . r = ( r 1 โข โข r 2 โข โข r 3 โข โข r 4 ) โข โข ( f โข โข ( x 1 ) f โข โข ( x 2 ) f โข โข ( x 3 ) f โข โข ( x 4 ) ) ( 3 ) fig1 is a view for illustrating an interpolation method by the b interpolation circuit 46 . an example shown in fig1 shows a case generating the b pixel data in the unit area ua 3 of the b signal s_b 1 . fig1 is a view of a configuration of the b interpolation circuit 46 shown in fig6 and 10 . as shown in fig1 , the b interpolation circuit 46 has a correction operation circuit 82 , an interpolation coefficient calculation unit 84 and a matrix operation circuit 86 , for example . the correction operation circuit 82 calculates horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 of a reference pixel data shown in fig1 by using the above formula ( 1 ) on the basis of a horizontal position x to be interpolated of the b pixel data shown in fig1 and the correction โ c โ, then outputs the calculated data to the interpolation coefficient calculation unit 84 . in this example , each of the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 indicates a horizontal position of the b pixel data in each of the unit areas ua 2 , ua 3 , ua 4 and ua 5 shown in fig1 . in the present embodiment , the b pixel data of the horizontal position x in the unit area ua 3 is generated by performing the interpolation processing on the basis of the b pixel data of the horizontal position x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 in the unit areas ua 2 , ua 3 , ua 4 and ua 5 which are placed in the horizontal direction with respect to the unit area ua 3 shown in fig1 . the interpolation coefficient calculation unit 84 operates the above formula ( 2 ) with respect to each of the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 on the basis of data which is input from the correction operation circuit 82 to generates f ( x 1 ), f ( x 2 ), f ( x 3 ) and f ( x 4 ), then outputs the generated data to the matrix operation circuit 86 . note that , in the above formula ( 2 ), an โ x + c โ is used as the โ x โ. the matrix operation circuit 86 performs a matrix operation shown in the following formula ( 4 ) on the basis of f ( x 1 ), f ( x 2 ), f ( x 3 ) and f ( x 4 ) indicated by data which is input from the interpolation coefficient calculation unit 84 and the pixel data b 1 , b 2 , b 3 and b 4 of the b signal s_b in the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 which data is read out from the memory 32 to calculate a pixel data b to be interpolated of the horizontal position x . the pixel data b is output as a pixel data of the b signal s_b 1 to the drive circuit 16 . b = ( b 1 โข โข b 2 โข โข b 3 โข โข b 4 ) โข โข ( f โข โข ( x 1 ) f โข โข ( x 2 ) f โข โข ( x 3 ) f โข โข ( x 4 ) ) ( 4 ) the drive circuit 16 makes each of the r , g , and b pixel regions in the display 10 emit light on the basis of the r signal s_r 1 , the g signal s_g 1 and the b signal s_b 1 shown in fig3 c , 3b and 3 d which are input from the interpolation circuit 14 . due to this , light emitting of the pixels of r , b and b in the unit area of the display 10 is visible as a color mixed them , so that a designated color can be displayed in the unit area . next , an example of an operation of the color image display device 1 shown in fig1 will be described . first , the video signal processing circuit 12 generates the r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b having the phases shown in fig2 d , 2e , 2 f on the basis of the input video signal video having the phase shown in fig2 b , then outputs them to the interpolation circuit 14 . then , the interpolation circuit 14 generates the r signal s_r 1 , the g signal s_g 1 and the b signal s_b 1 shown in fig3 c , 3b and 3 d in accordance with the actual arrangement position of the r , g and b pixels on the basis of the r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b . concretely , the interpolation circuit 14 generates the r signal s_r 1 and the b signal s_b 1 which use the center o_r of the r pixel region and the center o_b of the b pixel region as a reference respectively by the interpolation processing by using the r signal s_r and the b signal s_b generated by using the center o_ua of the unit area ua shown in fig4 as a reference . further , the interpolation circuit 14 delays the g signal s_g which uses the center o_ua of the unit area ua as a reference by the above interpolation processing , and outputs them as the r signal s_g 1 . then , the drive circuit 16 makes the r pixel region , the g pixel region and the b pixel region in the display 10 emit light on the basis of the r signal s_r 1 , the g signal s_g 1 and the b signal s_b 1 shown in fig3 c , 3b and 3 d which are input from the interpolation circuit 14 . as mentioned above , the color image display device 1 generates the r signal s_r 1 which uses the center o_r of the r pixel region as a reference as shown in fig2 e and the b signal s_b 1 which uses the center o_b of the b pixel region as a reference as shown in fig3 d on the basis of the r signal s_r and the b signal s_b which use the center o_ua in the unit area ua shown in fig4 as a reference . therefore , the positions which are indicated by the pixel data in the r signal s_r 1 and the b signal s_b 1 can be matched with the actual positions of the r pixel region and the b pixel region in the display 10 , a color shift corresponding to the interval of the pixel regions which occurred in related art can be suppressed , and the display 10 can display an image in high quality . note that , the embodiment mentioned above is illustrated with the case that the r , g and b pixel regions are successively arranged in horizontal direction in the unit area ua . furthermore , the present invention can be similarly applied with a case that the r , g and b pixel regions are successively arranged in the vertical direction in the unit area ua as shown in fig1 , for example . in this case , the vertical positions y 1 , y 2 , y 3 and y 4 ( corresponding to the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 in the first embodiment ) of the reference pixel data are calculated by using a vertical position y instead of the horizontal position x of the r and b pixel data to be interpolated . the present embodiment is same as the first embodiment with the color image display device 1 except a part of the configuration of the interpolation circuit 14 shown in fig1 when the r pixel region , the g pixel region and the b pixel region are adjoining in the unit area ua in the display 10 as shown in fig1 , for example . next , the interpolation circuit 14 a of the present embodiment will be described . in an example shown in fig1 , the entire centers o_r , o_b and o_b of the r , g and b pixel regions do not match the center o_ua of the unit area ua . the interpolation circuit 14 a performs the interpolation processing on the basis of each of the r , g and b pixel data in 16 unit areas ua which are the sum of 4 ร 4 ( horizontal ร vertical ) including the unit area ua to generate each of the r , g and b pixel data in the unit area ua . here , an interpolation of the r pixel data will be described . note that , the interpolations of the g pixel data and the b pixel data are performed similarly to the r pixel data other than using another g pixel data and r pixel data respectively . the interpolation circuit 14 a calculates the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 of the reference pixel data by using the following formula ( 5 ) on the basis of the horizontal position x of the r pixel data to be interpolated . x 1 = 1 + ( x - [ x ] ) x 2 = ( x - [ x ] ) x 3 = 1 - ( x - [ x ] ) x 4 = 2 - ( x - [ x ] ) ( 5 ) further , the interpolation circuit 14 a calculates the vertical positions y 1 , y 2 , y 3 and y 4 of the reference pixel data by using the following formula ( 6 ) on the basis of the vertical position y of the r pixel data to be interpolated . y 1 = 1 + ( y - [ y ] ) y 2 = ( y - [ y ] ) y 3 = 1 - ( y - [ y ] ) y 4 = 2 - ( y - [ y ] ) ( 6 ) then , the interpolation circuit 14 a operates the following formula ( 7 ) with respect to each of the horizontal positions x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 and the vertical positions y 1 , y 2 , y 3 and y 4 to generate f ( x 1 ), f ( x 2 ), f ( x 3 ), f ( x 4 ), f ( y 1 ), f ( y 2 ), f ( y 3 ) and f ( y 4 ). f โข โข ( t ) = sin โข โข ( ฯ โข โข t ) ฯ โข โข t โ
{ 1 - 2 โข ๏ t ๏ 2 + ๏ t ๏ 3 โฆ โข โข ( 0 โค ๏ t ๏ & lt ; 1 ) 4 - 8 โข ๏ t ๏ + 5 โข ๏ t ๏ 2 - ๏ t ๏ 3 โฆ โข โข ( 1 โค ๏ t ๏ & lt ; 2 ) 0 โฆ โข โข ( 2 โค ๏ t ๏ ) ( 7 ) then , the interpolation circuit 14 a performs a matrix operation shown in the following formula ( 8 ) on the basis of the generated f ( x 1 ), f ( x 2 ), f ( x 3 ), f ( x 4 ), f ( y 1 ), f ( y 2 ), f ( y 3 ) and f ( y 4 ) and r pixels data r 11 , r 12 , r 13 , r 14 , r 41 , r 42 , r 43 , r 44 , r 21 , r 22 , r 23 , r 24 , r 31 , r 32 , r 33 and r 34 in 16 unit areas ua which are the sum of 4 ร 4 ( horizontal ร vertical ) and read out from the memory to calculate pixel data r to be interpolated of the horizontal position x and the vertical position y . the pixel data r is output as a pixel data of the r signal s_r 1 to the drive circuit 16 shown in fig1 . r = ( f โข โข ( y 1 ) โข โข f โข โข ( y 2 ) โข โข f โข โข ( y 3 ) โข โข f โข โข ( y 4 ) ) โข โข ( r 11 r 21 r 31 r 41 r 12 r 22 r 32 r 42 r 13 r 23 r 33 r 43 r 14 r 24 r 34 r 44 ) โข โข ( f โข โข ( x 1 ) f โข โข ( x 2 ) f โข โข ( x 3 ) f โข โข ( x 4 ) ) ( 8 ) as mentioned above , according to the present embodiment , a color shift corresponding to the interval of the pixel regions can be suppressed even if the interpolation may be needed in the both horizontal direction and vertical direction in the entire r signal s_r , the g signal s_g and the b signal s_b , so that the display 10 can display an image in high quality . the present invention may not limit to the embodiments mentioned above . the present invention can be applied to the entire display device in which the pixel regions of r , g and b are arranged in the unit area . further , the interpolation methods by the interpolation circuits 14 and 14 a are not limited and various interpolation methods such as a linear interpolation , a high - order interpolation , that is , no less than two - order interpolation , a bicubic interpolation or a spline interpolation can be used . furthermore , the interpolation circuits 14 and 14 a may perform an interpolation on the basis of pixel data of the pixel in the unit areas other than around of the unit area which is belong to a pixel to be interpolated . the present invention is applied to an image processing device used to a color image display using fixed pixels . it should be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications , combinations , sub - combinations and alterations may occur depending on design requirements and other factors in so far as they are within scope of the appeared claims or the equivalents thereof . | 6 |
referring to fig1 , one embodiment of a computing system 100 is shown . one or more processors 102 a - 102 d may be included in system 100 . as used herein , elements referred to by a reference numeral followed by a letter may be collectively referred to by the numeral alone . for example , processors 102 a - 102 d may be collectively referred to as processors 102 . each processor 102 may include one or more processor cores . each core within processor 102 generally includes circuitry to execute instructions of a predefined instruction set architecture ( isa ). each core may include a superscalar microarchitecture with a multi - stage pipeline . in some embodiments , a multi - stage pipeline may perform out - of - order execution of the instructions of the isa . also , each core may be configured to simultaneously execute instructions for one or more threads of a software application . various embodiments may be chosen for the implementation of processor 102 and its cores . in one embodiment , a memory subsystem accompanying processors 102 may include several levels . the highest level may include the registers within processors 102 . the next level may include a cache 106 . cache 106 may be on the same semiconductor die as processor 102 or it may be located off - die , but near to processor 102 . each processor 102 may have its own cache 106 . a translation lookaside buffer ( tlb ) may be included for each cache 106 and subsequent levels of caches for address matching of the requested memory line . processors 102 may perform speculative prefetching of both instructions from an i - cache and data from a d - cache . a lower level of the memory subsystem may include cache 130 , which may be shared by processors 102 and caches 106 . below the cache hierarchy may be a memory controller 140 to interface with lower - level memory that may comprise other levels of cache on the die outside the microprocessor , dynamic random access memory ( dram ), dual in - line memory modules ( dimms ) in order to bank the dram , a hard disk , or a combination of these alternatives . interconnect 120 may be configured to convey memory requests from processors 102 to cache 130 or to memory controller 140 and the lower levels of the memory subsystem . also , interconnect 120 may convey received memory lines and control signals from lower - level memory via memory controller 140 to processors 102 and caches 106 and 130 . interconnect bus implementations between interconnect 120 , memory controller 140 , interface 150 , processors 102 , and caches 106 and 130 may comprise any suitable technology . interface 150 generally provides an interface for i / o devices off the microprocessor to the memory subsystem and processors 102 . i / o devices may include peripheral network devices such as printers , keyboards , monitors , cameras , card readers , hard disk drives or other . in one embodiment , as will be discussed in further detail below , bypass retry 104 is configured to maintain in - order memory requests to processor 102 without blocking subsequent memory requests after a cache miss . when a cache miss occurs with cache 106 , a non - blocking version of cache 106 allows subsequent memory requests from processor 102 to proceed . however , without bypass retry 104 , the memory lines returned to processor 102 are out - of - order . a blocking version of cache 106 does not allow subsequent memory requests to proceed after a cache miss . memory lines are returned to processor 102 in - order . however , the latency is greater than the latency of a non - blocking version . this greater latency may reduce system performance . after a cache miss , bypass retry 104 allows subsequent memory requests from processor 102 to cache 106 to proceed . however , memory lines are returned to processor 102 in - order . therefore , cache 106 may be non - blocking , and processor 102 receives the memory lines in - order . processor 102 may be executing code for scientific applications that have a high data dependency between instructions of a loop . table 1 shows the differences between the different implementations of handling a cache miss . for illustrative purposes , this example assumes a one clock cycle latency for a cache hit and a four clock cycle latency for a cache miss . fig2 illustrates one embodiment of a memory datapath 200 within computing system 100 . processor 102 is coupled to cache 106 in order to send memory requests . whether there is a hit or a miss in cache 106 , control signals are sent to control 250 within bypass retry 104 . also control 250 receives input from load buffer 210 and fill buffer 230 . circuitry in control 250 determines during each clock cycle the source of data to send to processor 102 . in one embodiment , there may be three choices for the source of data . these three choices may be sent to inputs 0 - 2 of a selection device such as mux gate 240 . one choice for the source of data , which may be sent to input 0 of mux gate 240 , may be the data from a lower - level memory such as a level - 2 ( l2 ) cache or dram . this memory line data may be servicing a prior miss in cache 106 . fill address 220 and fill buffer 230 may store the address and data of this memory line respectively . also , status bits may be stored in each entry of these buffers to denote the information is available . if only one outstanding cache miss may be serviced , there may be only one entry 222 in fill address 220 and one entry 232 in fill buffer 230 . in alternative embodiments , multiple outstanding cache misses may be serviced . fill address 220 and fill buffer 230 need as many entries as the number of possible outstanding cache misses . also fill address 220 and fill buffer 230 may be implemented as first - in - first - out ( fifo ) buffers . the control logic and queues within processor 102 becomes more complex with each outstanding cache miss and this complexity may set the limit on the number of outstanding cache misses . a second choice for the source of data , which may be sent to input 2 of mux gate 240 , may be queued cache hit data stored in load buffer 210 . this data may be queued as hit - under - miss data . a prior miss in cache 106 may still be in the process of being serviced , but subsequent memory requests are allowed to proceed . however , the data of the subsequent cache hits may not be allowed to be sent to processor 102 ahead of the prior cache miss data . therefore , the subsequent cache hit data may be queued in a fifo buffer , such as load buffer 210 , until the prior cache miss data arrives from a lower - level memory . after the prior cache miss data is sent to processor 102 , then the queued data in load buffer 210 may be sent to processor 102 . the queued data is stored in an entry 212 , which may hold the memory line address , data , and status bits , such as a valid bit to denote the data is ready . the number of entries in load buffer 210 may be determined by the difference between the latency of a cache hit and a cache miss . this number is used for hit - under - miss cache accesses . if miss - under - miss cache accesses are permitted , the number of entries will increase . a third choice for the source of data , which may be sent to input 1 of mux gate 240 , may be cache hit data . if no cache miss is being serviced and the load buffer is empty , then the cache hit data may be forwarded to processor 102 . referring to fig3 , a method 300 of one embodiment for increasing the throughput of a processor during a load operation cache miss is shown . in block 302 , a processor is executing instructions of a software application , such as a scientific application having a high data dependency between instructions within a loop . the processor may need to make a memory request during execution ( decision block 304 ). if a previous cache miss is being serviced ( decision block 306 ) and the data has been returned from lower - level memory such as a l2 cache or dram ( decision block 308 ), then this returned data is sent to the processor in block 310 . whether or not the prior cache miss data returned , if the current first - level ( l1 ) cache memory access is a hit ( decision block 312 ), then the l1 cache hit data is placed in the load buffer , a fifo queue , in block 314 . if the current l1 cache memory access is a miss ( decision block 312 ), then the address of the current memory request is sent to the l2 cache in block 316 . if a previous cache miss is not being serviced ( decision block 306 ) and the load buffer is not empty ( decision block 318 ), then the memory line data at the head of the load buffer , a fifo queue , is sent to the processor in block 324 . flow then continues to decision block 312 as described above . if the load buffer is empty ( decision block 318 ) and the current first - level ( l1 ) cache memory access is a hit ( decision block 320 ), then the l1 cache hit data is sent to the processor in block 322 . if the l1 cache memory access is a miss ( decision block 320 ), then the address of the current memory request is sent to the l2 cache in block 316 . although the embodiments above have been described in considerable detail , numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated . it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications . | 6 |
for the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the present disclosure , reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings , and specific language will be used to describe the same . it will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of this disclosure is thereby intended . the reader should appreciate that throughout the present disclosure nanoparticles made from copper indium gallium selenium ( cigs ) are interchangeable with nanoparticles made from copper indium selenium ( cis ). as referenced herein , the term โ copper indium gallium selenium โ may also be referred to as โ copper indium gallium ( di ) selenide ,โ each of which referred to herein in various instances as โ cigs .โ the following disclosure provides a novel method for depositing cigs or cis nanoparticles structures through a layer - by - layer ( lbl ) nanoassembly for a solar cell application . lbl nanoassembly is a unique method based on sequential deposition of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes or nanoparticles on surfaces of different shapes and sizes . the lbl techniques provide the possibility of designing and fabricating ultrathin multilayer films and patterns with a precision in sub 10 nm , with defined molecular composition and properties . lbl deposition of nanoparticles such as silicon di - oxide , titanium di - oxide have been reported previously . for example , lbl self - assembly of nanolayers of 50 nm silica alternated with cationic poly ( dimethyldiallyl ammonium chloride ) has been reported . however , lbl deposition of cigs or cis has not been reported . in the present disclosure , 1 ) method steps for dispersion of cigs / cis in an aqueous solution are described followed by 2 ) method steps for lbl nanoassembly of the cigs / cis dispersed in the aqueous solution on a substrate to form the solar cell are described . in particular , synthesis of cigs and cis nanoparticles is first disclosed . the synthesized nanoparticles are not dispersible in water . next various methods of converting the cigs / cis nanoparticles into water dispersible nanoparticles is described . next lbl nanoassembly of these dispersible nanoparticles on a substrate is described . fig1 and 2 depict schematic diagrams of cigs nanoparticle - based thin film photovoltaic cells formed by the lbl method of the present disclosure on an indium tin oxide ( ito ) coated glass substrate and on a copper coated substrate , respectively . however , the photovoltaic cells can be formed on other verities of substrates including but not limited to paper , plastic , and textile . in both cases , the cigs nanoparticles are coated over the substrate ( ito coated or copper coated , respectively ), with a layer of cadmium sulfide ( n - type material ), with a layer of intrinsic zinc oxide , and with a layer of n - type zinc oxide . in an exemplary embodiment , the cigs nanoparticles layer can be about 500 nm thick , the layer of cadmium sulfide ( n - type material ) can be about 50 nm , the layer of n - type zinc oxide can be about 80 - 100 nm , the layer of n - type zinc oxide can be about 100 - 140 nm . the nanoassembly of the cigs nanoparticles includes the following steps : 1 ) synthesis , purification and characterization of cigs nanoparticles ; 2 ) functionalization of cigs nanoparticles using lbl coating of ( sodium - 4 - styrene sulfonate ) ( pss ) and / or poly - allylamine hydrochloride ( pah ) and other polyelectrolytes and ligands ; 3 ) fabrication of thin film cigs layers using functionalized nanoparticles through lbl nanoassembly ; and 4 ) fabrication of thin film solar cell through the utilization of cigs nano - layers , cigs nanoparticles , and lbl nanoassembly . the cis nanoparticles are synthesized through chemical processes from metal chlorides which are purified and then characterized for size , surface charge and material properties . copper chloride ( cucl 2 ), selenium ( se ) powder , and indium chloride ( incl 3 ) are mixed as ingredients in oleylamine ( ola ) which is used as a buffer ( i . e ., the background solution ). the mixture is purified using centrifugation , suspension , and precipitation processes . an example of the above mixture includes 0 . 495 g of cucl 2 , 0 . 79 g se powder , and 0 . 553 g incl 3 which are mixed in a three neck flask in a glove box , followed by the addition of 50 ml of ola . the mixture is heated at 240 ยฐ c . while stirring for four hours . the synthesis is followed by the purification process to obtain the desired nanoparticles . the mixture is precipitated in excess ethanol , centrifuged , and suspended in chloroform to remove unreacted chemicals and larger particles . the suspended nanoparticles are precipitated and washed several times with alcohol and chloroform . cigs nanoparticles are synthesized by performing an exemplary procedure as outlined in the following steps : 20 ml of ola is nitrogen bubbled for 2 hours and vacuum pulled for 12 hours while heating at 205 ยฐ c . next , 0 . 198 gm of cucl , 0 . 316 gm elemental selenium , and 0 . 224 gm incl 3 are mixed in ola in a nitrogen - filled glove box and heated and stirred until the powders are dissolved . next , 0 . 118 gm of gacl 3 is added into flask from the preceding step . the mixture is stirred for 75 min while heating at 250 ยฐ c . in each of these cases ( i . e ., synthesis of cigs or cis , the synthesized nanoparticles are coated with a coating of ola . however , ola is not readily dispersible in water ( or other aqueous solutions ). dispersibility in aqueous solutions is preferred for the lbl nanoassembly process according to the present disclosure . in order to disperse the synthesized cigs / cis nanoparticles , the ola coatings on the nanoparticles are manipulated . the ola coating extends outward from the nanoparticles in a strand - like manner . one or a combination of several methods as follow can be used to make the cigs / cis nanoparticles dispersible in aqueous solutions . one method for making cigs / cis nanoparticles dispersible in aqueous solutions is to remove all or part of the ola coating . according to one exemplary embodiment , the prepared mixture from the synthesis step is dispersed in excess ethanol after cooling , then sonicated for 15 min and centrifuged at 7000 rpm for 10 min . the precipitate from this step is collected while the supernatant is discarded . the precipitate is dispersed in chloroform and sonicated for 15 min and centrifuged at 13000 rpm . the precipitate from the previous step is discarded and an excess ethanol is added . after sonication for 15 min the solution is centrifuged at 12000 rpm . the cleaning steps are repeated for three more times . next , an excess volume of ethanol is added in the cigs / cis synthesized nanoparticles in chloroform and centrifuged at 12000 rpm for 15 mins . the supernatant is discarded . excess ethanol is added to the precipitate , sonicated for 15 mins , centrifuged at 10000 rpm and the supernatant is discarded . the last step is repeated for 2 more times . excess water is added to the precipitate , sonicated for 15 mins , centrifuged at 15000 rpm , and supernatant is discarded . the last step is repeated for 5 more times . the collected precipitate is dispersed in water and sonicated for 15 min . as a result the some or all of the ola coating can be removed allowing the synthesized cigs / cis nanoparticles to be dispersible in aqueous solutions . the cigs / cis nanoparticles that are dispersed in water have positive zeta potential ( surface charge ) of 60 mv . as discussed above , the synthesized nanoparticles are coated with a thin layer of ola and as the ola is not readily dispersible in water , the nanoparticles cannot be readily dispersed in water . ligand - exchange is one method according to the present disclosure which is aimed at obtaining water dispersion of the nanoparticles by replacing ola by soluble ligands , such as mercaptoundecanoic acid ( mua ) or acrylic acid ( aca ). in one exemplary embodiment , mua ligand is exchanged with ola according to the following steps : 1 gm of mua is added to 10 ml of cigs chloroform dispersion . the solution is slowly stirred for 24 hours resulting in a black precipitate , which can be separated from the supernatant by adding excess ethanol and centrifuging at 7000 rpm for 10 min . the resulting nanoparticles are then dispersible in water . in another exemplary embodiment , aca ligand is exchange with ola according to the following steps : in a typical experiment cigs is dispersed in hexane . 3 . 6 ml of aca is added to 0 . 4 ml of water and stirred for 10 min . 4 ml of ola coated cigs in hexane is slowly added to the 4 ml of aca and water . the particles settle at the hexane - water interface . the settled nanoparticles are separated from supernatant by centrifuging at 10000 rpm for 5 min . another method for modifying the cigs / cis nanoparticles to be dispersible is to functionalize these particles . the ola - coated nanoparticles can be coated with pss / pah in order to introduce a charged polyelectrolyte to the cigs / cis nanoparticles . it should be appreciated that other polyelectrolytes ( e . g ., polyethyleneimine , also known as pei ; diallyldimethylammonium chloride , also known as pdda ; and acrylic acid , also known as paa ) can also be used . the polyelectrolyte attach to the strand - like ola or to the cigs / cis nanoparticles . once attached , the combination of the ola - coated cigs / cis nanoparticles with polyelectrolytes ( e . g ., pss or pah ) are dispersible in aqueous solutions . the polyelectrolyte attach to the strands of the ola or to the nanoparticles . it should be noted that the polyelectrolytes are charged . for example , pah is positively charged while pss is negatively charge . the coating of the nanoparticles with pss and pah can be achieved by dispersing the nanoparticles in the corresponding polyelectrolyte . according to the present disclosure , an exemplary method for adding pss to cigs nanoparticles is described according to the following steps : a dilute solution of pss ( 15 ฮผg / ml ) is added slowly to cigs nanoparticles dispersed in water . the zeta potential of the nanoparticles is measured using the malvern nanosizer instrument . as shown in fig3 ( graph of total count of nanoparticles vs . zeta potential of surface charge of nanoparticles ), the zetapotential of the particles slowly moves towards zero with each additional amount of pss . with more pss added the zetapotential of the particles becomes negative . fig3 shows zeta potential distribution of cigs - pss dispersed in water . while in the above discussion , surface charge of cigs / cis nanoparticles have been manipulated by lbl deposition of pss and pah on the nanoparticles , adjusting ph of the aqueous solution can provide the same results . cigs nanoparticles dispersed in water exhibit positive surface charge (+ 58 mv ), herein denoted by cigs +. changing the ph of the solvent can reverse the surface charge of the particles . the ph of the solution with cigs nanoparticles are slowly increased by adding a basic solution ( e . g ., naoh ) or an alkaline buffer solution and the surface charge is measured using malvern nanosizer . the results are shown in fig4 ( graph of zeta potential of nanoparticles vs . ph of solution ). the results show that by increasing ph of the solution ( e . g . adding naoh ), surface charge of cigs particles decreases until it saturates at โ 51 mv , herein denoted by cigs โ. thus the surface charge of the cigs nanoparticles can be controlled through the ph of the solution . in a similar manner , the surface charge of the cigs nanoparticles can be changed from negative to positive by lowering the ph of the solution . the ph of the solution can be lowered by adding an acidic solution ( e . g ., hcl ) or an acidic buffer solution . three different exemplary methods are disclosed which can be carried out using the synthesized nanoparticles to lbl deposit these particles on to a substrate or to another layer of nanoparticles . in the first method , the nanoparticles are coated with lbl deposition of alternating layers of pss and pah in an aqueous solution to prevent the agglomeration of the nanoparticles . the dispersion of the nanoparticles can also be achieved by removing the ola coating or by ligand exchange ( eg . mua and aca ) with ola . the size and surface charge of the nanoparticles can be measured with zeta - potential and size measurement instrument ( malvern nanosizer ). in other words , the cigs / cis nanoparticles are alternatingly functionalized with pss ( negative charge ) and pah ( positive charge ). the substrate which has been properly prepared to have the appropriate surface charge is alternatingly dipped in the prepared solutions having cigs / cis nanoparticles with negative surface charge and positive surface charge . for example , cigs / cis nanoparticles functionalized with pss and pah . as a result of lbl deposition , a buildup of cigs / cis nanoparticles with alternating charge characteristics can be realized . for example , a buildup of substrate ( with positive surface charge ), cigs - pss , cigs - pah , cigs - pss , and cigs - pah can be deposited to build four layers of cigs . similarly , a buildup of substrate ( with positive surface charge ), cigs โ, cigs +, cigs โ, and cigs + can be deposited to build four layers of cigs . in the second method , substrate coated with cigs - pss or cigs - pah or cigs + or cigs โ are dipped in solutions of pah or pss , respectively , in order to build a layer of pah / pss over the cigs / cis nanoparticles coated with pss or pah . therefore , a positively charged substrate is first dipped in an aqueous solution carrying cigs / cis coated with pss ( as an example ). then the substrate is dipped in a solution of pah to allow a layer of pah to be coated over the cigs / cis that is coated with pss . the resulting cigs / cis - pss - pah film can then be dipped into another aqueous solution of cigs / cis coated with pss to build another layer . these layers can be built up on a quartz crystal microbalance ( qcm ) oscillator . the deposited film thickness can be measured by measuring changes in resonant frequency of the qcm . for example , a buildup of substrate ( with positive surface charge ), cigs - pss , pah , cigs - pss , pah , cigs - pss , pah , and cigs - pss can be deposited to build four layers of cigs . in the third method , cigs coated with pss and cigs coated with pss and then coated with pah ( pss - pah ) are alternatingly lbl deposited on a substrate . for example , a buildup of substrate ( with positive surface charge ), cigs - pss , cigs - pss - pah , cigs - pss , and cigs - pss - pah can be deposited to build four layers of cigs . substrate preparation for any of the above methods may include initially treating the substrate with pss and / or pah . for example , a coating of copper on a glass substrate may have a weak negative surface charge that is not suitable for lbl deposition . therefore , prior to depositing cigs / cis nanoparticles functionalized with pss or pah , a layer of pah may first need to be deposited on the surface of the substrate to generate a stronger electrostatic bond for subsequent lbl deposition . fig5 depicts exemplary schematics of the nanoassembly process based on lbl deposition . the lbl deposition is based on sequential deposition of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes or nanoparticles on surfaces of different shapes and sizes . the upper portion of fig5 depicts nanoassembly of a double layer of polyelectrolytes on the substrate used in preparation for receiving cigs / cis nanoparticles functionalized with pah . in the upper portion ( i . e ., fig5 a ) the schematic referenced by number 1 ( i . e ., fig5 a 1 ) depicts formation of pah on a weak negatively charged substrate . the weak negative charge of the substrate may not be sufficient to successfully lbl deposit nanoparticles . the schematic referenced by number 2 ( i . e ., fig5 a 2 ) depicts further formation of pss on the structure of fig5 a 1 . fig5 a 3 depicts the nanoassembly of these layers . the resulting coated substrate is now ready for accepting positively charge cigs / cis nanoparticles coated with pah ( functionalized ). the lower portion of fig5 ( i . e ., fig5 b ) depicts nanoassembly of a single layer of polyelectrolytes on the substrate used in preparation for receiving cigs / cis nanoparticles functionalized with pss . fig5 b 1 depicts formation of pah on a weak negatively charged substrate . fig5 b 2 , depicts formation of cigs nanoparticles functionalized with pss coming into contact with the structure depicted in fig5 b 1 . fig5 b 3 depicts the nanoassembly of these layers . as discussed above , the lbl process is based on immersing a substrate alternately in pss and pah solutions to build an appropriate coatings by lbl deposition . fig6 depicts a graph of a film thickness ( in nm ) vs . number of alternating pss and pah polyelectrolytes . after sufficient charge has been developed on the substrate by formation of pss and / or pah to hold the synthesized nanoparticles , the substrate is alternately dipped in nano particles solution or the functionalized ( e . g ., coated with pss , pah , and pss - pah ) nanoparticle solutions described in the above methods . fig6 depicts a graph of film thickness vs . the number of alternating layers of poly -( sodium - 4 - styrene sulfonate ) ( pss ) and / or poly - allylamine hydrochloride ( pah ). fig7 depicts a graph of surface charge vs . number of pss or pah coatings over cigs / cis nanoparticles . as indicated , after the synthesis and purification , the surface charge of the nanoparticles in water is shown to be about 60 mv . the cigs / cis nanoparticles are coated with pss by introducing pss in the cigs / cis nanoparticles solution and the solution is centrifuged at 7000 rpm for 15 min . the supernatant is discarded and the precipitate is dispersed in water , the surface charge of the coated nanoparticles drops to about โ 60 mv . similarly , after formation of another layer of pah coating on the cigs / cis nanoparticles coated with pss , the surface charge increases to about 60 mv . this saw tooth behavior continues with formation of additional layers of pss or pah on the cigs / cis nanoparticles . fig8 depicts a graph of the size of cis nanoparticles with pss and pah coatings vs . the number of layers of pss and pah on the cis nanoparticles . as depicted , with only cis nanoparticles , the diameter of the nanoparticles is about 225 nm . after the first layer of pss that is lbl deposited on the cis nanoparticles , the diameter of the cis / pss nanoparticles is about 280 nm . after a layer of pah is lbl deposited on the cis / pss nanoparticles , the diameter of the nanoparticles increases to about 285 nm . third and fourth layers of alternating pss and pah result in diameters of the nanoparticles of about 300 nm and 310 nm , respectively . fig9 depicts a graph of decrease in resonance frequency of a quartz crystal microbalance ( qcm ) vs ., initially , the number of alternating layers of pei and pss and then alternating layers of positively charged cigs nanoparticles ( cigs +) and pss . the decrease in the resonance frequency depicts the addition of mass on the crystal and therefore depicts the increase in thickness of the deposited film . as depicted , the resonance frequency of a qcm decreases , but rather slowly , with each alternate deposition of pei and pss . the deposition of 6 layers of pei / pss resulted in 280 hz decrease in the resonance frequency of qcm . 7 layers of cigs / pss reduced the resonance frequency of the qcm by 1219 hz . fig1 depicts a graph of film thickness vs . the number of alternating layers of positively charged cigs nanoparticles and negatively charged cigs nanoparticles . as depicted , 10 layers of cigs produced an about 2 . 25 micrometer thick film . fabrication of thin film solar cell through the utilization of cigs nano - layers cigs nanoparticles , and lbl nanoassembly with the thin cigs nanoparticle film fabricated , the same lbl deposition method used in generating functionalized nanoparticles is also used to develop the solar cells . schematic diagrams of the solar cell are depicted in fig1 and 2 . the functionalized nanoparticles are deposited on an ito coated ( or copper coated or any conductive material such as molybdenum or poly ( 3 , 4 - ethylenedioxythiophene ) poly ( styrenesulfonate ) ( pedot )) glass substrate ( or other substrates including but not limited to flexible substrates such as paper , plastic , and textile ). cadmium sulfide buffer layer , followed by zinc oxide layers are deposited to form top conductors of the solar cell . the use of nanoparticles including lbl self - assembly process improves the efficiency and intensively lowers the cost of the developed solar cell system . referring back to fig1 and 2 , the cigs and cis nanoparticle film can be deposited using lbl process where the nanoparticles are deposited on the substrate in alternate with polyelectrolytes or nanoparticles of other material which enhance the solar cell efficiency . the cigs and cis nanoparticles coated with polyelectrolytes such as pss or pah are deposited on the substrate in alternate with polyelectrolytes or nanoparticles of other material which enhance the solar cell efficiency . the cigs and cis nanoparticles coated with ligands such as mua or aca are deposited on the substrate in alternate with polyelectrolytes or nanoparticles of other material which enhance the solar cell efficiency . the cigs and cis nanoparticles dispersed in water and surface charge controlled by ph deposited on the substrate in alternate with polyelectrolytes or nanoparticles of other material which enhance the solar cell efficiency . the cigs and cis nanoparticles coated with polyelectrolytes with opposite charge are deposited on the substrate to form the thin film . the cigs and cis nanoparticles coated with ligands with opposite charge are deposited on the substrate to form the thin film . the cigs and cis nanoparticles dispersed in water with opposite charge are deposited on the substrate to form the thin film . referring to fig1 , a graph of current vs . voltage characteristic of the solar cell with a construction according the present disclosure is depicted . the different graphs represent the number of cigs nanoparticles layers in the construction . as discussed above , the reader should appreciate that while pss and pah are referenced in the present disclosure , other polyelectrolytes and ligands may also be used . furthermore , other nanoparticles in addition to cigs and cis may also be used in connection with the foregoing lbl nanoassembly . the reader should further appreciate the nanoassembly steps described above may be applicable to a variety of different applications . for example , the same lbl deposition method may be used in forming supercapacitors for ultra - enhanced charge carrying capability or batteries for high energy density . according to another embodiment of the present disclosure , a solar cell device is disclosed fabricated by depositing consecutive layers of pedot , cigs , and n - type zinc oxide on a substrate , wherein an ito coated substrate can be used as the top electrode . the device schematic is shown in fig1 . the device in fig1 can be constructed in accordance with the follow method steps : pedot is drop - casted on the substrate and heated up to 250 c for 15 min . cigs nanoparticles dispersed in ipa is drop - casted on the pedot film at room temperature . a layer of n - type zno is spin - coated on an ito coated glass . the two substrate plates are then assembled together as shown in fig1 . the layers of pedot , cigs ( dispersed in ipa or water ), and n - type zno are also assembled using the lbl process . according to another embodiment of the present disclosure , a solar cell device is disclosed fabricated by drop - casting and / or lbl process . cds is deposited on an ito coated substrate and heated at 90 c for 90 min , and then the temperature is raised to 450 c for 30 min . cigs is deposited on another ito coated substrate at room temperature . the device is then assembled as shown in the fig1 . those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications can be made to the specific implementations described above . therefore , the following claims are not to be limited to the specific embodiments illustrated and described above . the claims , as originally presented and as they may be amended , encompass variations , alternatives , modifications , improvements , equivalents , and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein , including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated , and that , for example , may arise from applicants / patentees and others . | 7 |
the following discussion is presented to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the invention . the general principles described herein may be applied to embodiments and applications other than those detailed above without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown , but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed or suggested herein . fig2 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief , general description of a suitable computing environment in which some embodiments of the invention may be implemented . generally , program modules include routines , programs , objects , components , data structures , etc . that collectively perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types . moreover , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations , including hand - held devices , multiprocessor systems , microprocessor - based or programmable consumer electronics , network pcs , minicomputers , mainframe computers , and the like . the invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network . in a distributed computing environment , program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices . with reference to fig2 , an exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a conventional personal computer 200 , including a processing unit 201 , a system memory 210 , and a system bus 202 that couples various system components including the system memory 210 to the processing unit 201 . the system bus 202 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller , a peripheral bus , and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures . the system memory 210 includes read only memory ( rom ) 211 and random access memory ( ram ) 212 . a basic input / output system ( bios ) 213 , containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the personal computer 200 , such as during start - up , is stored in the system memory 210 . the system memory 210 may further include program applications 214 and program modules 215 . the personal computer 200 further includes a hard disk drive 241 for reading from and writing to a hard disk ( not shown ), a magnetic media drive 242 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk ( not shown ), and an optical media drive 243 for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk ( not shown ) such as a cd rom or other optical media . the hard disk drive 241 , magnetic media drive 242 , and optical media drive 243 are connected to the system bus 202 by one or more media interfaces 240 ( only one shown ). the drives and their associated computer - readable media provide both volatile and nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions , data structures , program modules and other data for the personal computer 200 . although the exemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk 241 , a removable magnetic disk 242 and a removable optical disk 243 , it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer - readable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer , such as magnetic cassettes , flash memory cards , digital versatile disks , bernoulli cartridges , random access memories ( rams ), read only memories ( rom ), and the like , may also be used in the exemplary operating environment . a number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk 241 , magnetic disk 242 , optical disk 243 , rom 211 or ram 212 , including an operating system , one or more application programs , other program modules , and program data , all of which are not shown ). a user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 200 through input devices such as a keyboard 221 and pointing device 222 . other input devices ( not shown ) may include a microphone , joystick , game pad , satellite dish , scanner , or the like . these and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 201 through an input interface 220 that is coupled to the system bus 202 . the input interface 220 may be a serial port , a parallel port , a game port , a universal serial bus ( usb ) or any other interface . a monitor 231 or other type of display device may also be connected to the system bus 202 via an interface , such as a video interface 230 . one or more speakers 251 may also be connected to the system bus 202 via an interface , such as an output peripheral interface 250 . in addition to the monitor and speakers , a personal computer 200 typically includes other peripheral output devices , such as printer 270 which is described in greater detail below . the personal computer 200 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers , such as remote computer 262 . the remote computer 262 may be another personal computer , a server , a router , a network pc , a peer device or other common network node , and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the personal computer 200 , although only a memory storage device , such as a database 263 has been illustrated in fig2 . the logical connections depicted in fig2 include a local area network ( lan ) 260 and a wide area network ( wan ) 261 . such networking environments are commonplace in offices , enterprise - wide computer networks , intranets and the internet . as depicted in fig2 , the remote computer 262 communicates with the personal computer 200 via the local area network 260 via a network interface 235 . the personal computer may also communicate with the remote computer 262 through the wide area network 261 via a modem 255 or other remote communications device . when used in a lan networking environment , the personal computer 200 is connected to the local network 260 through the network interface or adapter 235 . when used in a wan networking environment , the personal computer 200 typically includes a modem 255 or other means for establishing communications over the wide area network 261 , such as the internet . the modem 255 , which may be internal or external , is connected to the system bus 202 via the input interface 220 . in a networked environment , program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 200 , or portions thereof , may be stored in the remote memory storage device . it will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used . the printer 270 operates similar to the conventional printer 170 described above . in one embodiment , the printer 270 is a laser printer 270 and engages and maneuvers paper through a series of pulleys and a belt 291 . when a document is to be printed , the belt 291 engages a sheet of paper from a paper tray 280 and begins maneuvering the paper toward a rotating drum 281 . the rotating drum 281 is then prepared for receiving a pattern of static charge . initially , the rotating drum 281 is imparted with a total positive charge by a charge corona wire ( not shown in detail ), a wire with an electrical current running through it . as the surface of the rotating drum 281 rotates further , a laser 284 is focused , via a focusing mirror system 283 , across the surface of the rotating drum 281 to discharge certain points according to the specific pattern . in this way , the laser 284 โ draws โ the letters and images to be printed as a pattern of electrical charges , i . e ., an electrostatic image , right on the surface of the rotating drum 281 . after the electrostatic image is imparted to the rotating drum 281 , the rotating drum 281 is coated with positively charged toner which may be a black toner , a colored toner , or a clear toner . the aspects of applying different kinds of toner are described below with respect to fig3 . the toner is applied from a toner roller 282 that may include a toner reservoir . since the toner typically has a positive charge , the toner clings to the negative discharged areas of the rotating drum 281 , but not to the positively charged areas . with the toner pattern applied according to the electrostatic image , the rotating drum 281 continues rotating and rolls over a sheet of paper , which is moving along the belt 291 below . before the paper rolls under the rotating drum 281 , it is imparted with a negative charge by the transfer corona wire ( not shown in detail ). the negative charge imparted to the paper is stronger than the negative charge of the electrostatic image imparted the rotating drum 281 by the laser 284 . thus , when the paper engages the rotating drum 281 , the positively charged toner is then attracted to the more negatively charged paper , in essence , transferring the electrostatic image from the rotating drum 281 to the paper . since the paper is moving at the same speed as the drum , the paper picks up the image pattern exactly . to keep the paper from clinging to the rotating drum 281 , the paper is discharged by a detac corona wire ( not shown in detail ) immediately after the toner is transferred . the rotating drum 281 continues rotating , now without toner but still with the electrostatic pattern , until the rotating drum 281 surface passes the discharge lamp ( not shown in detail ) in order to erase the electrostatic image . the rotating drum 281 surface is then ready to start the process again . the paper , now having toner applied according to the electrostatic image , passes through a fuser 286 which may be a pair of heated rollers . as the paper passes through the fuser 286 , the loose toner powder melts , fusing with the fibers in the paper . the paper , now a printed document , is then rolled along the belt 291 to the output tray 285 . the laser printer 270 also includes a controller 290 that is able to receive data from and outside source , e . g ., the personal computer 200 , store the data in a printing buffer ( not shown ) and the interpret the data ( which corresponds to a document ) into an electrostatic image to be imparted by the laser 284 . the controller 290 typically communicates with the computer system 200 via standard , well - known protocols such as through parallel communications ports and / or universal serial bus ports , i . e ., output peripheral interface 250 . fig3 is a diagram of a portion of the laser printer 270 of fig2 in the process of imparting toner to a sheet of paper 300 according to an embodiment of the invention . a sheet of paper 300 is shown moving through a portion of the laser printer 270 . accordingly , different portions of the sheet of paper 300 are in different printing states , i . e ., empty at the bottom , toner applied but not fused yet in the middle , and toner fused at the top . when the paper 300 is first staged to be printed , the laser 284 is focused , via the focusing mirror system 283 , across the surface of the rotating drum 281 to discharge certain points according to the specific pattern . thus , the laser 284 imparts an electrostatic image to the surface of the rotating drum 281 . after the electrostatic image is imparted to the rotating drum 281 , the rotating drum 281 is coated with positively charged toner from the toner roller 282 . since the toner has a positive charge , the toner clings to the negative discharged areas of the rotating drum 281 , but not to the positively charged areas . with the toner pattern applied according to the electrostatic image , the rotating drum 281 continues rotating and rolls over a sheet of paper 300 . as described above , before the paper 300 rolls under the rotating drum 281 , it is imparted with a negative charge . the negative charge imparted to the paper 300 is stronger than the negative charge of the electrostatic image imparted the rotating drum 281 by the laser 284 . thus , when the paper 300 engages the rotating drum 281 , the positively charged toner is then attracted to the more negatively charged paper 300 , in essence , transferring the electrostatic image from the rotating drum 281 to the paper . the paper 300 , now having toner applied according to the electrostatic image , passes through a fuser 286 . as the paper passes through the fuser 286 , the loose toner powder melts , fusing with the fibers in the paper . the toner in the toner roller 282 may be supplied from one or more toner hoppers . the embodiment of fig3 shows three toner hoppers : a black toner hopper 310 , a color toner hopper 311 , and a clear toner hopper 312 . the particular hopper required for a printing job may be chosen through the controller 290 ( not shown in fig3 ) via a toner selector mechanism 315 . the choice of toner depends upon the nature of the printing job . typically , black and colored toner ( examples of non - effect and / or non - finish toners ) may be imparted to a sheet of paper 300 in conventional ways to print underlying document patterns , i . e ., images and words . according to various embodiments of the invention , a finish toner , such as a clear toner , may be imparted to a sheet of paper to create particular document effects and / or document finishes . for example , a sheet of paper 300 may first be printed using black toner from the black toner hopper 310 . then , a particular effect , such as water - resistant sealing , may be achieved by applying a coating of clear toner from the clear toner hopper 312 across the entire sheet of paper 300 on a second pass through the laser printer 270 . the resulting document is a printed document with images or words in black toner underneath a water - resistant coating of clear toner . this document effect and others are described in greater detail below with respect to fig4 . in one embodiment of the invention , the printer 270 is operable to create document effects such that paper 300 is passed by the rotating drum 281 twice . for example , a first pass may impart underlying document content and / or images . then after the underlying toner ( black or colored ) is fused to the paper 300 at the end of the first pass , the paper 300 may be fed back for a second pass for imparting additional toner for document effects . thus , in the second pass , a particular pattern of clear toner is imparted and fused to the paper 300 such that the finished document has a first pattern of black or colored toner underneath a pattern of clear toner fashioned to achieve a particular document effect . in another embodiment of the invention , a printer ( not shown in any figure ) is operable to create document having effects such that the printer includes two stages for imparting toner to a sheet of paper 300 . for example , a first stage may impart underlying document content and / or images . then after the underlying toner ( black or colored ) is fused to the paper 300 at the end of the first stage , the paper 300 may be fed to a second stage for imparting additional toner for document effects . thus , in the second stage , a particular pattern of clear toner may be imparted and fused to the paper 300 such that the finished document has a first pattern of black or colored toner underneath a pattern of clear toner fashioned to achieve a particular document effect . clear toner may be imparted to a sheet of paper 300 to create a number of different document effects according to various aspects of the invention . such document effects include watermarking , water - resistant coating , uv protection , and others and are discussed below with respect to fig4 . additionally , the toner may be translucent or semi - transparent in order to achieve other document effects . fig4 is an isometric view of a sheet of paper 300 having underlying content and document effects that me be printed using the printer 270 of fig2 according to an embodiment of the invention . the sheet of paper 300 includes underlying content , such as an image of a flower 400 , which has been fused to the paper 300 in black and / or colored ink as well as a document effect , such as a water - resistant coating , that has been fused to the paper 300 in a clear toner . of course , the document effects cannot be seen precisely in fig4 because the toner is clear . however , the physical effects of the clear toner may be illustrated . for example , as described above , the paper 300 may have a water - resistant coating fused to it . thus , water 420 will not penetrate the paper 300 and will bead up as shown in fig4 . such a water - resistant coating may be fused over the entire sheet of paper 300 using a clear toner specifically designed to be water - resistant . as a result , the underlying image 400 may still be seen through the clear toner that covers the entire sheet of paper 300 to provide a water - resistant coating . in another example , the paper 300 may have a uv reflective coating fused to it . thus , uv rays 410 will be reflected by the uv reflective coating on the paper 300 as shown in fig4 . such a uv reflective coating may be fused over the entire sheet of paper 300 using a clear toner specifically designed to be uv reflective . as a result , the underlying image 400 may still be seen through the clear toner that covers the entire sheet of paper 300 to provide a protection against fading and discoloration due to uv light exposure . in another embodiment of the invention , translucent toner ( not shown ) may be imparted and fused to the sheet of paper 300 to provide additional document effects . for example , certain artistic effects may be achieved by using translucent toner , such as watermarking effects , 3 - d effects , and holography . watermarking is an effect whereby a see - through image appears over the top of an underlying image 400 . thus , according to an embodiment of the invention , the underlying image may be fused to the paper 300 using black and / or colored toner and then a superimposed second image , meant to be transparent or semi - transparent , may be fused to the sheet of paper 300 using translucent and / or clear toner . a 3 - d effect is an optical illusion effect whereby an image 400 appears to be โ jumping โ out of a page when viewed using a specially - prepared viewer , e . g ., 3 - d glasses . thus , according to an embodiment of the invention , the underlying image 400 may be again fused to the paper 300 using black and / or colored toner and then a slightly different second image , meant to be transparent or semi - transparent when viewed without the 3 - d viewer , may be fused to the sheet of paper 300 using translucent and / or clear toner . then , when the underlying image is viewed without the 3 - d viewer , the image 400 appears incomprehensible or out of focus , but when the 3d viewer is used , the image appears to be lifted off of the paper 300 . a holographic effect is another optical illusion effect whereby an image 400 appears to have depth into a page when viewed . thus , according to an embodiment of the invention , the underlying image 400 may be again fused to the paper 300 using black and / or colored toner and then a slightly different second image , meant to be transparent or semi - transparent , may be fused to the sheet of paper 300 using translucent and / or clear toner . then , when the underlying image 400 is viewed the image appears to have depth as if one could reach down into the image . other artistic effects may also be created using a finish toner , such as a clear or translucent toner . additionally , varying sizes of toner particles within the blend of finish toner will yield different document finishes and / or effects . such artistic finishes include glossy , matte , or satin finishes . by mixing a particular blend of sizes of particles of clear toner and / or translucent toner , different finish effects may be created when imparted to a sheet of paper 300 . that is , the consistency of the toner may be varied from fine to course in order to achieve different document effects in addition to varying the color and / or transparency of the toner . for example , applying a certain blend of clear toner to a sheet of paper 300 may impart a glossy finish effect to the underlying image 400 . likewise , applying a different blend of clear toner and / or translucent toner may impart a matte finish effect to the underlying image 400 . further yet , applying yet another different blend of clear toner and / or translucent toner may impart a satin finish effect to the underlying image 400 . other finish effects are contemplated but not disclosed in greater detail herein . different document effects may also be achieved by varying the manner in which the finish toner is fused to the sheet of paper 300 . that is , the temperature and pressure of the fuser 286 may be varied to achieve different document effects and may even be done so in conjunction with varying sizes of particles of toner and blends of clear and translucent toner . for example , if a matte finish is desired , a sheet of paper 300 may be imparted with large toner particles and then fused to the sheet of paper using a lower fuser 286 temperature and pressure that yields a flat or matte finish . however , if a glossy finish is desired , the fuser 286 temperature and pressure may be increased to โ melt โ the large toner particles all the more , thus creating a very clear and fine looking glossy finish . for a satin finish , an intermediate temperature and pressure setting at the fuser 286 may yield a finish that is neither the fine glossy finish nor the rough matte finish . other variation of temperature and pressure of the fuser 286 are contemplated but not discussed in greater detail herein . | 6 |
with reference to fig1 , number 1 globally refers to a microcellular phone provided with means for the removable connection of a microaircraft 2 . the third generation of cellular phones , after analogical tacs generation and digital gsm generation , can reach transmission rates up to 2 megabits per second , i . e . 200 times more with respect to the limits of gsm system , thus enabling high definition audio and video transmissions . the success of said standard as global mobile communication standard allows a virtual connectivity worldwide . the microaircraft 2 comprises , as shown in fig3 , a basically flat body 3 with four microrotors 4 arranged on the vertices of a quadrilateral , basically co - planar one to the other . a compressed gas ( or air ) tank 5 supplied through a valve 6 is defined inside the body 3 . each microrotor 4 is associated to one or more nozzles 7 connected to a combustion microchamber 8 , in which a nano - particle fuel generates a microcombustion causing one or more shock fronts for controlling each microrotor . the nozzles 7 can be arranged on the two opposite ends of the same combustion microchamber placed between two adjacent turbines ( fig3 a ), so as to control both turbines . the system for obtaining a pulsed jet can be of โ valveless โ or โ detonation โ type . the rotor of each microturbine can be of โ magnetic lift โ type . in fig4 the microrotors 4 are referred to in short with as ( front left ), ad ( front right ), ps ( rear left ) and pd ( rear right ). the two rotor pairs as , pd and ad , ps are rotated in opposite directions , as shown in fig4 , so as to ensure the reciprocal cancellation of yaw moments . as already mentioned above , the vertical , lateral , horizontal motion and a yaw rotation are obtained by means of a selective control of the rotation speed of the four microrotors . fig5 are perspective views of two possible embodiments of each microrotor 4 . according to an alternative embodiment , each rotor 4 is the rotor arranged inside the ring - shaped stator of a ring - shaped electric motor . the body 3 of the microaircraft houses an electronic microcontroller 5 , which communicates at a distance with the cellular phone 1 . multimedia means are further arranged on board the microaircraft , such as a miniature camera , a microphone or various sensors transmitting audio and video messages to the guest mobile phone or to other cellular systems or internet networks . fig7 shows the structure of the control system in which two main elements can be identified , i . e . the microaircraft 2 and the base station . the microaircraft 2 comprises the four microrotors 4 with their control motors 7 controlled by means of an electronic speed controller 8 by a microprocessor 5 . the latter communicates by means of sensors 20 and a gps antenna 21 at radio frequency with the mobile phone or an internet station , which send control data , whereas the aircraft transmits audio - video data . said result is achieved by means of one or more miniature cameras 22 connected through a video transmitter 23 and an antenna 24 with the antenna 25 of a video base receiver 26 . the miniature cameras ( ccd or cmos ) are also designed as dynamic view sensors for self - movement . control signals are sent by the control station 27 or by the mobile phone by means of a r / c transmitter 28 and a transmitting antenna 29 , so as to be received by means of an antenna 30 by a data receiver 31 receiving a power line 32 and transmitting to the microprocessor 5 on a four - channel line 33 . the microaircraft is eventually associated to a battery assembly 34 . the microprocessor is the core of the microaircraft . it receives input signals from on - board sensors and video information from cameras and sends output signals for electronic ( nano - particle ) speed controllers of the microturborotors . as was already said , in an alternative version with respect to compressed air motors , said motors can be ring - shaped electric motors . anyhow , a preferred characteristic of the invention is the use of compressed air turborotors supercharged by means of microcombustions . a self - charge function of turborotors and of ring - shaped electric motors can be provided by means of wind energy . as was already said , a thin film battery or a microfuel cell can be used . obviously , though the basic idea of the invention remains the same , construction details and embodiments can widely vary with respect to what has been described and shown by mere way of example , however without leaving the framework of the present invention . | 1 |
fig1 is a logic diagram of a frequency doubler circuit according to the present invention . in the illustrated embodiment , the circuit is adapted for doubling of an incoming square wave frequency of 400 hz . this is designated as the input f on line 11 . a d - type flip - flop 13 performs the function of a deglitching circuit . thus , the incoming frequency waveform f , also shown in fig2 is clocked through the d flip - flop at a rate of 3 mhz . as a result , the signal on line 11 &# 39 ;, the output of flip - flop 13 , also represents the signal f . this signal is inverted through an inverter 15 to give the signal f0 on line 17 . the frequency used for counting purposes is a frequency of 1 . 5 mhz on line 19 . this frequency is divided in d - type flip - flop 21 to give an output on line 23 of 750 khz . the 1 . 5 mhz signal is an input to and gate 25 and to and gate 27 . the 750 khz signal is an input to and gate 29 and to and gate 31 . the outputs of and gates 27 and 29 are ored together in or gate 33 and the outputs of and gates 25 and 31 ored together in or gate 35 . this combination of and gates and or gates comprises a frequency selector to select between the 1 . 5 mhz frequency and the 750 khz frequency . the output of gate 33 is the input to a counter 37 made up of stages 39 , 40 and 41 . similarly , the output of gate 35 is the input to a counter 42 made up of stages 43 , 44 and 45 . each of the stages 39 - 41 and 43 - 45 is a four - bit up / down counter . the up / down inputs of the stages 39 - 41 are coupled to the signal f on line 11 &# 39 ;. the up / down inputs to the counters stages 43 - 45 are coupled to the f0 signal on line 17 . the illustrated counters are presetable and have their preset inputs d0 - d3 coupled to ground . when a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; signal is applied on the input labeled pe the preset value is loaded into the counter stages . the counters are synchronous counters so that each of the stages 39 - 41 or 43 - 45 has it clock input coupled to its associated gate 33 or 35 . the carry output of the first stage 39 labeled tc is coupled as an enable input to the stage 40 with its carry tc coupled as an enable input to the stage 41 . the carry outputs of stages 39 and 41 are inputs to a nor gate 47 . similarly , the carry output of stage 43 enables stage 44 and the carry output of stage 44 enables stage 45 . again , the carry outputs of stage 43 and 45 are coupled into a nor gate 49 . the output of nor gate 47 is one input to a nand gate 51 having as its second input the f0 signal on line 17 . similarly , the output of gate 49 is an input to nand gate 53 having as its second input the f signal on line 11 &# 39 ;. the output of nand gate 51 is fed back as the preset enable signal for stages 39 - 41 and the output of gate 53 fed back as the preset enable signal for stages 43 - 45 . the output of gate 51 is deglitched through d - type flip - flop 55 and the output of gate 53 through flip - flop 57 . the two flip - flop outputs are coupled through a nand gate 58 . operation can be understood with reference to fig2 . during the first half cycle , the signal f is a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; and the signal f0 a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;. as a result , gates 25 and 29 are enabled . gate 29 , thus , passes the 750 khz signal to the counter 37 . gate 25 passes the 1 . 5 mhz signal , through gate 35 to the counter 42 . since f0 is a logical &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, the output of nand gate 51 will be a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; and the preset enable signal which was previously present will be removed to allow counter 37 to begin counting . this logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; signal will also be transferred to the output of flip - flop 55 which is designated as the signal b . counter 37 continues to count up at the 750 khz frequency for the full half cycle . with respect to counter 42 , nor gate 49 will have a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; output and the signal f on line 11 &# 39 ; is &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. therefore , during this first half cycle , counter 42 will be held in the preset state . on the second half of the cycle the signal f becomes a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; and the signal f0 a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. counter 37 is now enabled to count down and counter 42 to count up . counter 42 will count up at the lower frequency and counter 37 will count down at the higher , 1 . 5 mhz frequency . now , the signal on line 17 into nand gate 51 is a logical &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. when the count in counter 37 reaches a count of zero , the output of nor gate 47 will also become a logic &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, causing the output of nand gate 51 to become a logic &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;. this will cause the preset enable line to become active causing the preset value of all &# 34 ; 0 &# 39 ; s &# 34 ; to be loaded into the counters and held there for the remainder of the half cycle . because the counting was done at twice the frequency , it will be done in half the time . therefore , it will take one - quarter of the cycle to count down to zero . this change in state will be transferred through the deglitching flip - flop 55 and will appear as shown in fig2 on wave form b . during this period , counter 42 continues to count up at the lower frequency . for the next half cycle , since the count is no longer zero , the counter 42 will not be held in the preset state , but now will count down . the result at the output of flip - flop 57 is the waveform b &# 39 ;. operation is the same as described above in connection with counter 37 , the only difference being that there is an offset of 180 ยฐ. the two outputs b and b &# 39 ; when combined through nand gate 58 thus give the complement of the waveform shown in fig2 as b b &# 39 ; which is a square wave having twice the frequency of the input waveform f . an inverter ( not shown ) when connected to the output of nand gate 58 will provide the waveform bb &# 39 ; shown in fig2 . fig3 is a block diagram and fig4 a waveform diagram of a frequency tripler according to the present invention . as illustrated , there are two basic circuits 101 according to fig1 . this includes everything in fig1 except the divider flip - flop 21 and the final output gate 58 . the signals corresponding to the signals designated as b and b &# 39 ; in fig1 are designated a and c for the first circuit and b and d for the second circuit . in the case of b , rather than taking the q output of flip - flop 55 of fig1 the q0 output , i . e ., b0 is taken . from the waveforms of fig4 the operation of the circuit can be seen . the input to the circuit 101 is either from the divide by 3 frequency divider 103 or the full clock frequency which is three times as high . thus , during the first half cycle , the counter counts up at the lower frequency . then beginning with the beginning of the second half cycle it begins to count down at a frequency three times as fast . this then takes one - third the time and the waveform a is high for one - half plus one - third of one - half or is high for 4 / 6 of the total cycle . the waveform c , as in the previous case is the same shape as the waveform a but shifted by 180 ยฐ. the frequencies into the circuit 102 are the frequency divided by 3 and the frequency divided by 2 . thus , counting up will be done at the frequency divided by 3 and counting down at the frequency divided by 2 . the result shown as waveform b will be a waveform in which the output b remains high for 5 / 6 of the cycle . this waveform inverted is shown as waveform b the waveform d is shifted 180 ยฐ with respect to waveform b0 for the reasons explained previously . the incoming frequency signal f and the signal a are ored in exclusive or gate 107 to give the waveform indicated in fig4 by that exclusive oring . similarly , the waveforms c and d are exclusively ored in or gate 109 to give that waveform . these two waveforms and the waveform b0 are combined in or gate 113 to give the final output at a frequency three times that of the input frequency . the explanations above assume that incoming waveform is a 50 % duty cycle waveform . fig5 illustrates the manner in which a square wave frequency doubler with a 50 % duty cycle can be accomplished independent of the duty cycle of the incoming waveform . fig6 provides the associated waveforms . as shown by fig6 the incoming waveform a has approximately a 75 % duty cycle . this waveform is divided by 2 in a divide by 2 counter to obtain waveform b . this division converts it into a waveform at one - half the frequency but with a 50 % duty cycle . this waveform is then provided as an input to a frequency doubler 203 according to fig1 and its output to another frequency doubler 205 according to fig1 . the resulting waveforms c and d , respectively , are shown in fig6 . fig7 illustrates a possible configuration of an integrated circuit which can be marketed as a frequency multiplier . the illustrated circuit contains three sets of inputs , each comprising an input for a frequency to be multiplied , and two clock inputs . these correspond to the clock input line 19 and line 23 of fig1 for example . thus , in the case of fig1 the inputs would be the frequency to be doubled , e . g ., 400 hz , and the two frequencies for the counters , e . g ., 1 . 5 mhz and 750 khz . these are then coupled to the clock select circuits 303 and into the up / down counters 305 , the final outputs being combined in gate 358 giving output on line 360 of 2 times the input frequency fa . the next two arrangements which include select logic 311 and 313 and up / down counters 315 and 317 are arranged to provide either outputs from nand gates 362 and 364 at twice the input frequency fb or fc or to provide a frequency tripler output on line 366 . this frequency tripler output is obtained in the manner described previously using exclusive or gates 368 and 370 combined with or gate 372 . in that case , the input frequencies fb and fc would both be , e . g ., 400 hz , and the respective clock inputs would be , for example , 1 mhz , 3 mhz , 1 . 5 mhz and 1 mhz . the circuit also shows a sync input which is the input used for clocking flip - flops , such as the flip - flops 13 and 57 of fig1 along with voltage and ground inputs in conventional fashion . by feeding back output frequencies to the input , other mulitples can be obtained . for example , 2fa can be fed back to fb and fc to result in 3fb or 6fa . | 6 |
various embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail below . while specific implementations are discussed , it should be understood that this is done for illustration purposes only . a person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention . the โ system โ embodiment of the invention may comprise a computing device that includes the necessary hardware and software components to enable a workload manager or a software module performing the steps of the invention . such a computing device may include such known hardware elements as one or more central processors , random access memory ( ram ), read - only memory ( rom ), storage devices such as hard disks , communication means such as a modem or a card to enable networking with other computing devices , a bus that provides data transmission between various hardware components , a keyboard , a display , an operating system and so forth . there is no restriction that the particular system embodiment of the invention has any specific hardware components and any known or future developed hardware configurations are contemplated as within the scope of the invention when the computing device operates as is claimed . to provide an improved communication of system failures in the context of a compute environment such as a cluster or a grid , the present invention utilizes a tunneling system with any given object that routes messages up to higher - level layers of the cluster . the objects that are the source of the failure can be any object such as a node 108 a , 108 b or 108 c , a job , a resource manager 106 a , 106 b , 106 c and so forth . the process involves associating a message to the given object and route the message through a tunneling system up to higher layers in the cluster or grid . as an example of the method , suppose a failure occurs at the node level where the node does not have enough memory to process a job . the present invention will eliminate the need to go digging through multiple independent logs 112 , 114 , 116 and 118 at multiple cluster or grid layers . the method comprises retrieving all the messages from the various logs , aggregating the messages and associating the aggregated message directly to the failed object . with the aggregated information , a user can simply indicate that he would like to query a given object to look at the failures and the object message will include information , in a cluster scheduling case , that there has been a failure of a certain type and an action or event of this type has happened at the cluster level . at the resource manager level , the object message can note that it reported the failure and the failure down at the node / operating system level and another failure was also detected , for example . the object message enables all information about these failures to be brought into a single location and identify the failed object and any other objects associated with the failure . the object messages have expiration times associated with them so that one can have an instant count to see how many times these messages have shown up . there is an action date when the message was actually attached to the object and there are ownership and various attributes which make it simpler . a main point to the benefit of the object message is that the system can aggregate multiple messages over time and across levels or layers and you bring them all together in a single location making it much easier to track , diagnose , and evaluate the state of the cluster or grid . fig2 illustrates the method aspect of the invention . the method comprises retrieving messages from multiple layers of message logs within a cluster or a grid ( 202 ). next , the method comprises aggregating the retrieved messages into a single location ( 204 ) and associating the aggregated messages to an object ( 206 ). with this information retrieved , aggregated and associated , the user who submitted a job can easily query the object and determine the source of the failure and have many more details at his or her disposal in addition to information that the job simply failed for some unknown reason . there are several ways in which a user of the system could view these messages . one aspect is that these messages can be set by services , such as a cluster scheduler , the resource manager , the operating system itself and so forth . any of these services can create a message associated with an object . in addition , an administrator can create and associate a message with an object such as a node . the administrator is able to associate a message that saying : โ this node is going down for maintenance .โ the administrator has options on how to annotate the node as they wish . they can also include any arbitrary expiration time on the message . this is performed either through a gui or through a command - line approach . fig3 a - 3d illustrate a gui approach to generating a message associated with an object or other resource . the administrator in this case is able to created a message and assign it to an object such as a node as in fig3 a . using the graphical interface 300 , the administrator simply points and clicks to highlight a field 302 to type the message and associate the message to an object . fig3 b illustrates a window 310 for attaching a comment 312 to a reservation . fig3 c enables a comment to be added to a user profile 322 and fig3 d illustrates a gui 330 for adding a comment to a job . fig3 e illustrates a window 340 for modifying the quality of service where the administrator can add comments in field 342 . any other object may also be able to have a message attached to it thus enabling the use of that message in aggregation and other purposes in resource management . as is shown in the figures , other features associated with each object may also be shown in the gui for the ease of managing resources . an alternate way is to create the message using configuration files wherein the node and the message are entered . the following is an example of a command line approach to creating and associating a message to a node object , as well as a follow - on comment line to check the node : as can be seen above , these approaches enable the administrator to provide messages associated with each node that can be retrieved by users when checking the status of the object . it is noted that the object messages may be therefore dynamically created by a system failure or other event that causes the generation of a log message . the example above provides an alternate creation method which is a manual method of creation by an administrator . the manually created messages may also be retrieved and aggregated . the present invention differs from the prior art in that in the case of failure , say of node 108 a , the messages continue to be written out to the logs at the various layers of the cluster or grid . in addition , the messages are propagated up the pipe from the resource manager 106 a to the cluster scheduler 104 a . but what we &# 39 ; ve done is that the detailed record that in the current state of the art is being written out to log 108 a , it continues to be written out to log 108 a , but it is also propagated up the pipe , from the resource manager up to the cluster scheduler , the cluster scheduler attaches it to the actual job object , and propagates it up to the grid scheduler . the grid scheduler also propagates the detailed message and the location up to its object . when a user looks at his job he can see that this job failed , the detailed reason is it failed on node 108 d , because node 108 d is out of swap . he can then send that message off to the administrator where they can take that node offline , perform maintenance , and redeploy the node . this approach is in contrast to the previous method of digging through the logs from various layers in the cluster . it sends it back as an attribute of the object . the above illustration of an object message applies to an object being a node in a cluster . the basic concepts of the invention are also applicable to other โ objects โ within the cluster or grid . for example , the object may be a job , reservation , users , groups of users , classes , qualities of service , resource managers , cluster managers , schedulers or peer service interfaces . any entity within the cluster can be defined as an โ object โ and therefore an object message may attach . one can actually attach detailed objects and manage the failures and events that are important in the cluster scheduling environment . the present invention enables a more workload centric approach to handling object failure or providing messages to users , administrators or those submitting jobs . the retrieval , aggregation and association of messages enable the user to obtain important information about what is most important to the user , which is why is my job or reservation not able to run as guaranteed ? therefore , from the standpoint of a user experience , the present invention greatly increases the information that may be gathered and provided to the person submitting jobs to a scheduler . embodiments within the scope of the present invention may also include computer - readable media for carrying or having computer - executable instructions or data structures stored thereon . such computer - readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer . by way of example , and not limitation , such computer - readable media can comprise ram , rom , eeprom , cd - rom or other optical disk storage , magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices , or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of computer - executable instructions or data structures . when information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection ( either hardwired , wireless , or combination thereof ) to a computer , the computer properly views the connection as a computer - readable medium . thus , any such connection is properly termed a computer - readable medium . combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of the computer - readable media . computer - executable instructions include , for example , instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer , special purpose computer , or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions . computer - executable instructions also include program modules that are executed by computers in stand - alone or network environments . generally , program modules include routines , programs , objects , components , and data structures , etc . that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types . computer - executable instructions , associated data structures , and program modules represent examples of the program code means for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein . the particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions described in such steps . those of skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of the invention may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computer system configurations , including personal computers , hand - held devices , multi - processor systems , microprocessor - based or programmable consumer electronics , network pcs , minicomputers , mainframe computers , and the like . embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by local and remote processing devices that are linked ( either by hardwired links , wireless links , or by a combination thereof ) through a communications network . in a distributed computing environment , program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices . although the above description may contain specific details , they should not be construed as limiting the claims in any way . other configurations of the described embodiments of the invention are part of the scope of this invention . accordingly , the appended claims and their legal equivalents should only define the invention , rather than any specific examples given . | 6 |
in the following the present invention will be described in more detail with respect to some preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings . referring to fig2 illustrating diagrammatically an automatic transmission in a vehicle to which the transmission control method according to the present invention may be applied , the transmission generally designated by reference numeral 1 comprises a torque converter 20 of a conventional type having a pump 21 connected with an engine via an input shaft 10 , a turbine 22 and a stator 23 , a lock - up clutch 24 for selectively directly connecting the pump 21 with the turbine 22 , a first gear unit 40 including a planetary gear mechanism having a sun gear 43 , a ring gear 44 , a planetary pinion 42 and a carrier 41 connected with the turbine 22 of the torque converter 20 , a clutch co for selectively connecting the sun gear 43 with the carrier 41 , a brake bo for selectively braking the sun gear 43 relative to a housing hu and a one way clutch fo for torque transmittingly connecting the sun gear 43 with the carrier 41 only in one rotational direction , and a second gear unit 60 including a first planetary gear mechanism having a sun gear 61 , a ring gear 62 , a planetary pinion 64 and a carrier 66 , a second planetary gear mechanism having a sun gear 61 in common with the sun gear 61 of the first planetary gear mechanism , a ring gear 63 , a planetary pinion 65 and a carrier 67 , a clutch c 1 for selectively connecting the ring gear 62 with the ring gear 44 of the first gear unit 40 , a clutch c 2 for selectively connecting the sun gears 61 with the ring gear 44 of the first gear unit 40 , a brake b 1 for selectively braking the sun gears 61 relative to the housing hu , a series combination of a brake b 2 and a one way clutch f 1 for selectively braking the sun gears 61 only in one rotational direction when the brake b 2 is engaged , a brake b 3 for selectively braking the carrier 67 relative to the housing hu , and a one way clutch f 2 for braking the carrier 67 relative to the housing hu only in one rotational direction , wherein the carrier 66 and the ring gear 63 are connected with one another and with an output shaft 70 of the transmission . the clutches c 0 , c 1 and c 2 and the brakes b 0 , b 1 , b 2 and b 3 may be hydraulically operated to be engaged or disengaged by a electro - hydraulic control system the general concept of which is well known in the art in such a manner that solenoid - operated change - over valves change over supply and exhaust of hydraulic pressure to and from the respective clutches and brakes under the control of an electronic computer . fig3 shows such an electro - hydraulic control system in a diagrammatical illustration . such a tandem connection of the first gear unit 40 and the second gear unit 60 can be controlled according to the conventional method to provide four forward speed stages by the second gear unit 60 being changed over between three different gear ratios while the first gear unit 40 is maintained in its lower gear stage so that the 1st , 2nd and 3rd speed stages are provided , and then by the first gear unit 40 being changed over to its higher gear stage while the second gear unit 60 is maintained at the 3rd speed stage so that the 4th speed stage is provided as an overdrive stage . ( of course a reverse stage is also provided , as well known in the art .) however , the tandem connection of the first gear unit 40 and the second gear unit 60 shown in fig2 is herein controlled by the electro - hydraulic control unit shown in fig3 so as to provide six forward speed stages by on and off combinations of the clutches c 0 - c 2 , the brakes b 0 - b 3 and the one way clutches f 1 - f 2 as shown in table 1 : table 1______________________________________range speed c . sub . 0 b . sub . 0 c . sub . 1 c . sub . 2 b . sub . 1 b . sub . 2 b . sub . 3 f . sub . 0 f . sub . 1 f . sub . 2______________________________________r -- โ โ โ โ d 1st โ โ โ โ d 2nd โ โ โ d 3rd โ โ โ โ โ d 4th โ โ โ โ d 5th โ โ โ โ โ d 6th โ โ โ โ 2 1st โ โ โ โ 2 2nd โ โ โ โ l 1st โ โ โ โ โ ______________________________________ in the above table , &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; indicates that the clutch , brake or one way clutch is engaged at the corresponding speed stage under the corresponding shift range . referring to fig3 the electro - hydraulic control system comprises an electronic control system principally constructed by an electronic computer unit 100 which is now available in various standards in the art as a hardware generally including a central processing unit ( cpu ) 101 , a random access memory ( ram ) 102 , a read only memory ( rom ) 103 , an input port means 104 , an output port means 105 and a common bus means 106 interconnecting these components the electronic computer unit 100 is supplied with various data through the input port means 104 such as throttle opening from a throttle sensor 201 , vehicle speed from a vehicle speed sensor 202 , patterns of driving such as the economy pattern putting preference on the economical performance of the vehicle and the power pattern putting preference on the power performance of the vehicle from a pattern select switch 203 , shift positions such as the r , n , d , 2 and l set by a manual lever from a shift position switch 204 , oil temperature from an oil temperature sensor 205 , rotational speed of an outer drum of the clutch co from a c 0 rotation speed sensor 206 , rotational speed of an outer drum of the clutch c 2 from a c 2 rotation speed sensor 207 and other data from other sensors and / or switches or the like generally designated by 208 . in the electronic computer unit 100 , the cpu 101 conducts certain calculations including those described in detail hereinunder particularly according to the present invention based upon the data received from said sensors and / or switches and the programs stored in the rom 103 in cooperation of the ram 102 , and outputs control signals to a hydraulic control means including various standard components not shown in the figure and particularly the following components : s 1 is a solenoid valve which controls , according to on and off thereof , changing - over of a first shift valve 301 which controls supply and exhaust of oil pressure to and from the clutch c 0 and the brake b 0 of the first gear unit 40 . s 2 and s 3 are solenoid valves which control , according to on and off thereof , changing - over of a second shift valve 302 and a third shift valve 303 which control supply and exhaust of oil pressure to and from the clutches c 1 and c 2 and the brakes b 1 , b 2 and b 3 of the second gear unit 60 . s 4 is a solenoid valve which controls , according to on and off thereof , change - over of a lock - up control valve 304 which controls supply and exhaust of oil pressure to and from the lock - up clutch 24 . sb 0 is a solenoid valve which controls , according to periodic on and off thereof , an opening of a b 0 pressure modulation valve 305 which controls oil pressure in the brake b 0 so that the pressure in the brake b 0 is continually changed according to the duty ratio of the on and off of the solenoid valve sb 0 . sb 2 is solenoid valve which controls , according to periodic on and off thereof , an opening of a b 2 accumulator back pressure control valve 306 which controls back pressure in an accumulator for the brake b 2 so that the speed of progress of engagement or disengagement of the brake b 2 is continually changed according to the duty ratio of the on and off of the solenoid valve sb 2 . the method of control of the automatic transmission according to the present invention will be described with respect to upshifting the transmission from the 2nd speed stage to the 3rd speed stage during which , in the first gear unit 40 the brake b 0 is disengaged while the clutch c 0 is engaged so that it is changed over from its higher gear stage to its lower gear stage , and in the second gear unit 60 the brake b 2 is newly engaged so that it is changed over from its second gear stage to its third gear stage , resulting in an upshifting of the transmission as a whole . the art of gradually exhausting oil pressure from the brake b 0 ( in fact a hydraulic chamber thereof ) in exchange with gradually supplying oil pressure to the clutch c 0 ( in fact also a hydraulic chamber thereof ) is generally well known . in this connection , it is also well known to relate the timing of such exhaust of oil pressure with the timing of such supply of oil pressure . similarly , the art of gradually supplying oil pressure to the brake b 2 is also well known . such an upshifting from the 2nd speed stage to the 3rd speed stage is decided by the electronic computer unit 100 by certain calculations conducted therein according to a program stored in the rom 103 based upon the data received from the throttle sensor 201 , etc . and when it was decided as a result of the calculations that the transmission is shifted up from the 2nd speed stage to the 3rd speed stage , the electronic computer unit 100 supplies a first electric signal to the solenoid valve s 1 so as to switch over the first shift valve 301 thereby to switch over supply of the hydraulic pressure from the brake b 0 to the clutch c 0 , a second electric signal to the solenoid valve s 2 so as to switch over the second shift valve 302 thereby to newly supply the hydraulic pressure to the brake b 2 , a third electric signal to the solenoid valve sb 0 thereby to control the b 0 pressure modulation valve 305 so as to modify the hydraulic pressure in the brake b 0 in the course of exhaustion thereof , and a fourth electric signal to the solenoid valve sb 2 so as to control the b 2 accumulator back pressure control valve 306 thereby to modify the hydraulic pressure in the brake b 2 . in fig4 the control according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in its essential portions . control parameters which are convenient to monitor the progress of changing - over control of the first gear unit 40 and the second gear unit 60 such as the rotational speeds of the clutch c 0 and c 2 are shown by mj ( j = 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ), which can be processed by a common control circuit such as shown in fig3 because the control system herein shown is a digital control system which operates based upon digital signals processed in succession , and therefore it can handle a plurality of parallel control systems as parallelly proceeded . the automatic transmission 400 provides output state signals mj , while the electronic computer unit 100 provides control signals gj corresponding to the control parameters mj . in the control circuit , the differences dj between the control signals gj and the output states signals mj are determined at an adder 401 , and the differences dj are processed by an operator &# 34 ; 1 - q - 1 &# 34 ;, wherein q - 1 is a sampling delay operator which picks up data obtained at a data sampling process preceding by one cycle to the current data sampling process . thus deviations dj of the current values of dj from those at the preceding cycle are obtained . the differences dj are multiplied by factors kpj , while the deviations dj are multiplied by factors kdj , and the two outcomes are added at an adder 402 with one another and have subtracted therefrom delay compensation amounts kqj . rj , described hereinunder , to generate control deviations ej , which are then processed by an operator &# 34 ; 1 / 1 - q - 1 &# 34 ; so that the control deviations ej are re - converted to control amounts ej which are supplied to the automatic transmission 400 as control inputs therefor . in order to compensate for the delay in the operation of the hydraulic actuation system the signals ej are processed by an operator 403 which provides an asymptotic correction such as a first order delay , a second order delay or further order delay to its input . the outputs rj of the operator 403 are multiplied by factors kqj to provide compensation amounts which are added , as described above , with kpj . dj and kdj . dj at the adder 402 so that the control deviations ej may be provisionally increased for certain amounts in an early stage of control to compensate for the delay in the operation of the hydraulic actuation system but such certain amounts for compensation are gradually cancelled as the delay in the operation of the hydraulic actuation system is caught up . by appropriately setting up the performance of the asymptotic delay function of the operator 403 , the overall gain of the feedback control for the automatic transmission 400 is optimized throughout the entire operational period thereof so that high transmission shifting performance is available . fig5 is a diagram similar to fig4 showing a second embodiment of the present invention . in fig5 the portions corresponding to those shown in fig4 operate in the same manner as in fig4 . in this embodiment , the control deviations ej are processed partly through two q - 1 operators in succession and partly through three q - 1 operators in succession in parallel with one another and through the asymptotic delay function operator 403 for generating the compensation amounts rj . herein , provided that suffix &# 34 ; n &# 34 ; in &# 34 ; kn &# 34 ; is &# 34 ; 2 &# 34 ;, factors sj and 1 - sj are the weighing factors for appropriately positioning the values of the control deviations ej between the values thereof in the past by two cycles and the value thereof in the past by three cycles . this process is more useful in compensating for the time lag like tg in fig1 . the number of the q - 1 operators to be used in combination with factors k 0 , k 1 , . . . kn as weighed by weighing factors such as sj are of course not limited to three as shown in fig5 as suggested by &# 34 ; kn &# 34 ;. in the control circuit of fig5 the control deviations ej are further processed in parallel with the asymptotic delay function operator as partly and gradually more processed by the q - 1 operator and multiplied by factors k 0 , k 1 , . . . kn , such parts being added normally or subtracted ( i . e .+ or -) with one another at an adder 404 to produce modification amounts which are added with the amounts processed through the asymptotic delay operator 403 at an adder 405 so as finally to produce the compensation amounts to be negatively added with kdj . dj and kpj . dj at the adder 402 . this process provides an availability of compensating for the delay in the operation of the hydraulic actuation system according to the rate of change of the control amount so that the dynamic performance of the automatic transmission in the speed stage shifting is reflected upon in the control thereof . although the invention has been described in detail with respect to some preferred embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention . | 5 |
a block diagram of an embodiment of the invention is shown in fig1 and is seen to include bandpass filter 2 , and 90 ยฐ phase shifter 4 which produces two output voltages which are 90 ยฐ out of phase with each other and are fed through an in - phase and quadrature channel . the in - phase channel is comprised of hard limiter 6 , exclusive - or circuit 14 , integrator 18 , and shaper 30 while the quadrature channel is comprised of hard limiter 8 exclusive - or circuit 16 , integrator 20 , and shaper 32 . additionally , n - stage shift register 10 fed by clock 12 is provided for producing a delay ฯ 0 , which is the desired delay at which the correlation in both channels is to be performed . adder 34 for adding the outputs of shapers 30 and 32 is also provided , and in certain embodiments square root taking circuit 36 is also present . in the operation of the apparatus , a signal voltage s and noise - like interference n enter the circuit shown in fig1 at the input of the bandpass filter , the signal bandwidth being less than that of the noise . bandpass filter 2 restricts the band of measurement to the desired center frequency range of the signal and restricts the noise to the filter bandwidth . 90 ยฐ phase splitter 4 is arranged to produce two output voltages which are 90 ยฐ out of phase with each other over the full bandwidth of bandpass filter 2 . the two outputs from phase shifter 4 are fed respectively to hard limiters 6 and 8 which act as one - bit analog to digital convertors . the one - bit digitized output of hard limiter 6 is applied both to exclusive - or circuit 14 which acts as the correlator and to the input of n - stage shift register 10 , the output of which is also applied to exclusive - or gate 14 . the shift register is clocked by clock 12 at a frequency ( 1 / t c ,) which is at least 10 times the upper frequency of bandpass filter 2 , in order to reduce aliasing . the net delay is ฯ 0 = nt c , where ฯ 0 is the desired delay at which the correlation is to be performed . the output of exclusive - or circuit 14 is the one - bit product of the two input voltages thereto . when averaged in an integrator circuit such as 18 , illustratively depicted as being comprised of resistor 22 and capacitor 24 , having an integration time t i which is much greater than the reciprocal of the bandwidth of bandpass filter 2 , the integrator circuit is the normalized autocorrelation of the voltage outputted from hard limiter 6 as measured at the delay ฯ 0 . this voltage is called ฯ i ( ฯ 0 ) to represent the in - phase component of the normalized autocorrelation of the voltage present at the output of bandpass filter 2 . the voltage outputted from hard limiter 8 is 90 ยฐ out of phase with the voltage outputted from hard limiter 6 . the one - bit product of the voltage outputted by hard limiter 8 and that outputted by shift register 10 , as provided by exclusive - or gate 16 , when averaged by integrator circuit 20 which is identical to circuit 18 , produces an output voltage which represents the quadrature component ฯ q ( ฯ 0 ) of the normalized autocorrelation of the voltage present at the output of bandpass filter 2 . obtaining both the in - phase and quadrature components of the autocorrelation function is a novel feature of the present invention , and these components can then be combined in several ways to produce an estimate of the envelope of the autocorrelation of the voltage present at the output of bandpass filter 2 . before being combined , the two signals are shaped by shapers 30 and 32 respectively , and the simplest method of estimating the envelope of ฯ 2 ( ฯ 0 ) is to arrange the transfer characteristic of shapers 30 and 32 to be of the absolute value - taking type shown in fig2 . simple addition of the output voltages of shapers 30 and 32 then produce the estimate by using shaper characteristics such as shown in fig3 or 4 , summing in summer 34 , and taking the square root of the result in square root taking circuit 36 , the following estimates can be obtained : for the shaper shown in fig4 ## equ2 ## where , for gaussian signal and noise , ## equ3 ## actual measured results of using the one - bit autocorrelation envelope detector of the invention are shown in fig5 and 6 for a signal to noise ratio at the output of bandpass filter 2 in fig1 of + 6 db , and in fig7 and 8 for a signal - to - noise ratio of -โ db . in fig5 and 6 , a 2000 hz signal was used in 200 - 4000 hz noise while in fig7 and 8 , 200 - 4000 hz noise was used . fig5 and 7 depict the results using the shaper characteristic illustrated in fig3 while fig6 and 8 depict the results using the shaper characteristic depicted in fig2 . in all of these figures , ฯ 0 was varied by digitally moving the tap of a shift register from ฯ 0 = 0 to ฯ 0 = 4 milliseconds so that an autocorrelation envelope could be recorded . these recordings show the utility of the apparatus of the invention in being able to automatically detect the presence of a narrowband signal mixed with noise . thus , for a millisecond delay , the -โ db correlation envelope is decorrelated to less than 0 . 2 , while the 6 db mixture of sine wave and noise remains more than 0 . 8 correlated . the autocorrelation envelope will decorrelate in about one reciprocal bandwidth so that if ฯo is selected such that 1 / b n & lt ; ฯ 0 1 / b s , where b n and b s are noise and signal bandwidths , the signal will always produce more output than the noise . there thus has been disclosed an autocorrelation detector in accordance with my invention . i wish it to be understood that i do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described , for obvious modifications can be made by a person skilled in the art . | 6 |
referring now to the drawing , a preferred embodiment of the invention and an important application thereof will be described , like reference numerals designating the same parts in the various figures . with particular reference to fig1 a tree - felling system in accordance with the present invention is schematically illustrated and designated generally by reference numeral 10 . the system 10 includes at least one hydraulic jack 12 having an extendable ram 13 actuatable in response to the operation of a remote pump 14 , each such jack 12 being in fluid communication with a safety check valve 16 disposed between the jack 12 and pump 14 . a hydraulic network , designated generally by reference numeral 18 , interconnects each such jack 12 and associated check valve 16 with the pump 14 . in the example of fig1 only one jack 12 is specifically illustrated . a multiple jack embodiment of the system will be described below with reference to fig5 . in the single jack embodiment of fig1 the hydraulic network 18 simply consists of a main line 18a leading from the pump 14 to valve 16 and a feeder line 18b leading from the valve 16 to the jack 12 . a tree 20 to be felled in accordance with the inventive system 10 is provided with an undercut 21 and a backcut 22 in the conventional manner . the jack 12 is mounted in engagement with the top and bottom surfaces of the backcut 22 . for best results , the check valve 16 is disposed proximate to the jack 12 in order to minimize the risk of line failure on the load side of the valve 16 . the feeder line 18b is therefore made as short as possible , preferably measuring about one foot . a preferred hydraulic jack 12 for the system 10 is disclosed in my u . s . pat . no . 4 , 119 , 298 . the pump 14 may comprise any suitable hydraulic pump means , such as the hand - operated pump disclosed in my u . s . pat . no . 4 , 026 , 524 . the preferred pump 14 is pressure limited to provide a maximum hydraulic pressure equal to the peak working pressure of the jack 12 . now referring to fig2 - 4 , the details of a presently preferred embodiment of the safety check valve 16 will now be described . with particular reference to fig2 the valve 16 is characterized by a housing 30 having an inlet end 30a and an outlet end 30b , which are adapted to be secured in a fluid - tight manner in the hydraulic network 18 ( see fig1 ) by means of threaded connectors 32 and 34 , respectively . the housing 30 includes two longitudinally aligned internal passageways 36 and 37 which are separated by a transversely oriented valve stem 38 . the valve stem 38 is generally cylindrical in shape with a principal axis indicated by reference numeral 39 . surrounding the opposite ends of the valve stem 38 are bearing rings 40a and 40b and inward therefrom are o - ring seals 42a and 42b , the rings and seals being disposed in annular cavities within the housing 30 . the bearing rings 40a and 40b preferably comprise a relatively noncompressible material having a relatively low coefficient of friction against the surfaces of the valve stem 38 . a suitable material for the rings 40a and 40b is nylon and the valve stem 38 preferably comprises steel . the valve stem 38 is rotatable about its cylindrical axis 39 by means of a manually operable handle 44 . the handle 44 includes an annular collar 46 abutting the portion of the external wall of the housing 30 that surrounds the ring 40a . the valve stem 38 is secured against axial movement by suitable means , such as a hex nut 48 threadedly connected to the end of the valve stem 38 opposite from the handle 44 . the nut 48 slidably abuts the portion of the external wall of the housing 30 that surrounds the ring 40b . it will be appreciated that the passageway 37 defines a valve chamber within which a valve member or ball 52 is operable . the passageway or valve chamber 37 is conveniently made cylindrical in shape for transversely confining a helical spring 54 , which resiliently urges the ball 52 to the left in the views of fig2 - 4 . when the handle 44 is positioned as shown in fig2 the valve 16 is operable in an automatic mode wherein the spring 54 biases the ball 52 to a normally closed position until the pressure in the fluid at the inlet end 30a exceeds the pressure in the fluid at the outlet end 30b by an amount exceeding the force of the spring 54 . fig4 shows the position assumed by the ball 52 in phantom lines when the valve 16 is open in response to such a pressure differential . in the normally closed position seen in fig2 the ball 52 rests against a valve seat 56 formed by an inwardly tapering wall portion of the chamber 37 . when the handle 44 is positioned as shown in fig3 the valve 16 is operable in an override mode , the unique features and purposes of which will presently be described . in accordance with an important feature of the invention , the valve stem 38 includes a middle cylindrical portion 60 having a smaller diameter than the remaining portion of the valve stem 38 , as will be appreciated best from the view of fig4 . the middle portion 60 has a cylindrical axis 62 which is offset relative to the principal axis 39 of the valve stem 38 such that the middle portion 60 acts as a cam to force the ball 52 from the valve 56 when the valve stem 38 is rotated to the position shown in fig3 . in this so - called override position , the valve 16 will remain open to the flow of fluid in either direction regardless of the pressure differential across the valve 16 since the ball 52 is forced into an open position by the middle portion 60 of the valve stem 38 in the manner illustrated in fig3 . the operation of the valve 16 in the tree - felling system 10 will now be described with initial reference to fig1 . first , the tree 20 is prepared by making the undercut 21 and backcut 22 in the usual manner and then the jack 12 is installed in the backcut 22 in the indicated manner . the check valve 16 is preset in the automatic position as seen in fig2 . the pump 14 is then manually reciprocated to extend the ram 13 of the jack 12 thereby gradually tilting the tree 20 as indicated in phantom lines in fig1 eventually causing the tree 20 to be felled in the desired direction . during this procedure , the ball 52 is forced away from the valve seat 56 to allow fluid to pass through the valve 16 with each positive stroke of the pump 14 . should the pump 14 at any time fail and thereby cause a sudden loss of pressure in the hydraulic network 18 , or should a leak occur in the main hydraulic line 18a , the valve 16 will close automatically in response to the resulting pressure differential . thus , the operation of the valve 16 in the automatic mode assures that pressure losses of the aforementioned type will not cause the ram 13 to collapse and allow the tree 20 to fall back in the wrong direction . once the tree 20 has been felled , the valve 16 can be set in the override position shown in fig3 to facilitate manually collapsing the ram 13 back into the jack 12 . unlike prior - art needle valves , opening of the valve 16 is quickly achieved by rotating the handle 44 one - half turn ( 180 degrees ). it will be appreciated than an important safety feature of the valve 16 is that it cannot be switched from the automatic mode to the override mode when the jack 12 is in a load supporting relationship with the tree 20 since the pressure of the load will seat the valve member 52 closed with such force that it can not be manually unseated by rotating the valve stem 38 manually . it is preferred that the jack 12 employed in the system 10 have a peak working pressure of about 10 , 000 pounds per square inch ( psi ) and a maximum pressure capability of about 20 , 000 psi . the check valve 16 herein described has been found capable of withstanding at least a 20 , 000 psi test pressure . it will be appreciated that the handle 44 cannot be manually moved from the position shown in fig2 to the position shown in fig3 when pressures in the range of 10 , 000 psi exist in the valve chamber 37 . accordingly , it is not possible to accidentally open the valve 16 when the jack 12 is supporting a substantial tree load . fig5 schematically illustrates an alternate embodiment of the inventive tree - felling system , wherein the hydraulic network is designated generally by reference numeral 18 &# 39 ;. by way of example , a second segment of a hydraulic network having a second hydraulic jack 12 &# 39 ; and an associated check valve 16 &# 39 ;, is connected in parallel with the first network segment comprising the similar jack 12 and valve 16 combination by means quick - connect couplings 64 and 66 installed in the network 18 &# 39 ; using known coupling techniques . each of the couplings 64 and 66 has three normally closed sockets adapted to mate with a male connector ( not shown ) at the end of a hydraulic line . thus , coupling 64 interconnects the main hydraulic line 18a with jumper lines 18c and 18d which respectively lead to the first check valve 16 and the second coupling 66 . the coupling 66 feeds the second jack 12 &# 39 ; via its associated check valve 16 &# 39 ; and has a socket for feeding additional jacks through similar couplings as depicted in phantom . it will be appreciated that any suitable number of jacks may be employed depending on the size and angle of inclination of the tree to be felled . in actual practice , as many as seven such jacks have been employed effectively in the backcut of a single tree . the operation of the tree - felling system of fig5 is similar in many respects to the operation of the single jack system previously described . it will be appreciated that the use of a check valve between each jack and coupling pair facilitates additional jacks to the system while a tree is being lifted . assume , for example , that only one jack were used in the back cut of a tree as depicted in fig1 and it became apparent that an additional jack would be required to fell the tree . using the hydraulic network 18 &# 39 ; depicted in fig5 the following procedure would be undertaken . with the first jack 12 in load supporting relationship in the backcut of a tree and the valve 16 preset in the automatic position , the pump 14 is de - activated so that the hydraulic pressure in the line 18a is reduced to atmospheric or nominal pressure . the couplings 64 and 66 are then interconnected as shown in fig5 using the hydraulic lines 18a , 18c and 18d . the coupling 66 is connected to the jack 12 &# 39 ; through the check valve 16 &# 39 ; via hydraulic lines 18e and 18f as shown . with the valve 16 &# 39 ; preset in the automatic position , the jack 12 &# 39 ; is then inserted adjacent to the previously installed jack 12 in the backcut of the tree , which is then still being supported by the jack 12 . the pump 14 is then re - activated to raise the pressure in the hydraulic network 18 &# 39 ; to its full working pressure level , thereby causing the ram of the jack 12 &# 39 ; to be extended forcefully against the adjacent surface in the backcut of the tree . from the foregoing description of the check valve 16 and two hydraulic circuit applications thereof , it will be apparent that the invention effectively solves the aforementioned problems of the prior art . although the inventive check valve 16 has been described in the context of its application in tree - felling systems , it will be appreciated that the check valve 1 can have many other useful applications . for example , the valve 16 can also be employed as a flow restrictor in a hydraulic circuit by rotating the handle 44 to various selected positions between the two positions shown in fig2 and 3 in order to vary the minimum separation between the valve member 52 and the valve seat 56 . having the benefit of the presently disclosed invention , numerous other alternative embodiments which are within the spirit and scope of the appended claims will be suggested to those skilled in the art . | 5 |
fig1 is a schematic of a resonator oscillator circuit with separation of capacitor feed - through signal from the desired output signal from the resonator such as proposed by westra et al ., supra . the resonator 10 is driven by a square wave drive , and resonator current and current from the parallel feed - through capacitor 12 are passed to a high pass filter 14 having a pass function , h ( ฯ ). the sense voltage is then returned to the input of the resonator to form an oscillator . fig2 illustrates voltage waveforms in the circuit of fig1 . the output of the circuit due to the feed - through capacitor must decay quickly in time compared to the output due to the resonator . the high pass filter waits until the output due to the pass - through capacitance is insignificant when compared to the resonator output . at this time , the output due to the resonator can be detected . the voltage from the pass - through capacitance , v cft , must decay to insignificant value in a time less than a half period of the oscillation frequency , or t 0 / 2 = ยฝf 0 . however , the resonator oscillator as proposed by westra et al . is difficult to realize in actual practice . in accordance with the invention , resonator circuits which can separate the signals are more practical . fig3 is a schematic of one embodiment of the invention in which the resonator and source of crosstalk shown generally at 20 provide output signals to a trans - impedance amplifier circuitry 22 for signal separation . the separated resonator voltage , v sense , from trans - impedance amplifier 22 is then passed to comparator circuitry including high gain circuitry 24 and a voltage limiter 26 . the comparator circuitry then provides a square wave output , v drive , which is fed back to the input of the resonator 20 to form an oscillator . here separation is obtained using the trans - impedance amplifier , and the comparator detects the resonator signal . fig4 is a schematic of another embodiment of the invention in which the output of the resonator and feed - through capacitor shown generally at 20 is applied to an integrator circuitry 28 with the integrated output then applied to differentiator circuitry 30 . the output of differentiator circuitry 30 is then applied to the comparator circuitry comprising high gain circuitry 24 and voltage limiter 26 . again , the comparator circuitry provides a square wave output , v drive , which is fed back to the input of the resonator to form an oscillator . fig5 is a schematic of integrator and differentiator circuitry of the block diagram of fig4 . integrator 28 comprises a differential amplifier 32 with capacitive and resistive feedback , and the output of differential amplifier 32 passes through a resistive capacitive circuit to an input of a second differential amplifier 34 having resistive feedback . differential amplifier 32 , with its associated feedback , functions as the integrator 28 , and differential amplifier 34 , with its resistive feedback , comprises the differentiator 30 . the output of the differentiator is then passed through the comparator circuitry and back to the input of the resonator as described above . fig6 illustrates signal detection for the circuit of fig3 and 4 . the square wave drive voltage , v drive , is shown at the top and vresonator and v cft , are shown alone with v sense . again , v cft must decay in less than a half time period of the resonator frequency for signal separation . detection of the resonator voltage at this point can be done by a voltage comparator . waiting for v cft to decay is effectively accomplished by having a high gain voltage comparator . this ensures the output of the comparator , vcomp is at the negative supply voltage or positive supply voltage when v sense is a little smaller or larger than 0 . fig7 is a schematic of another embodiment of the invention in which the comparator circuitry 38 is controlled by a control / delay circuitry 40 . the output of the resonator and parallel feed - through capacitance is again applied to trans - impedance amplifier circuitry 22 of fig3 or the integrator and differentiator circuitry of fig4 . comparator circuitry 38 receives the voltage and detects the resonator frequency with comparator circuitry 38 being enabled by the control / delay circuitry 40 at the correct time when the feed - through capacitance signal has decayed . fig8 illustrates the square wave drive with the topology separation circuitry and delay for effecting separation in the circuitry of fig7 . comparator enable signal occurs when the feed - through capacitance signal has decayed and the comparator output , vcomp , corresponds to the resonator voltage . use of the comparator enable allows the decay time of v cft to be much greater than t 0 / 2 , hence larger values of c ft can be accommodated when compared with the circuits of fig3 and 4 . here the period of the comparator output , vcomp , is an integer multiple of t 0 / 2 . this multiple is 2 ยท cell ( delay / t 0 / 2 ). with this embodiment , the waiting time is not limited to t 0 / 2 as it is in the circuits of fig3 and 4 . further , the delay can be designed to track decay time of v cft , thereby reducing effects of temperature and power supply variation . the point of detection is at the zero crossing of v sense when v cft is much smaller than vresonator . thus , v sense will be approximately the value of vresonator . waiting for v cft to decay is effectively accomplished by having a high gain voltage comparator detect a valid zero crossing . a delay is then used to disable the comparator until v cft has decayed sufficiently thus allowing the comparator to detect the next valid zero crossing . while the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments , the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention . various modifications and applications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . | 7 |
the present application is directed to a system and method for determining a gender and age of a player of a game using facial perception . the following description contains specific information pertaining to the implementation of the present invention . one skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be implemented in a manner different from that specifically discussed in the present application . moreover , some of the specific details of the invention are not discussed in order not to obscure the invention . the specific details not described in the present application are within the knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the art . the drawings in the present application and their accompanying detailed description are directed to merely exemplary embodiments of the invention . to maintain brevity , other embodiments of the invention , which use the principles of the present invention , are not specifically described in the present application and are not specifically illustrated by the present drawings . fig1 presents a system for determining a gender and age of a player of a game using facial perception , according to one embodiment of the present invention . environment 100 of fig1 includes device 110 , camera 120 , and player 130 . device 110 includes game 112 , processor 115 , memory 117 , and display 119 . camera 120 includes image data 122 . according to the embodiment shown in fig1 , player 130 may be characterized by gender 132 and age 134 . in one embodiment , device 110 may comprise any computing machine capable of presenting game 112 , as well as accept connections from other devices , such as a camera . for example , device 110 may comprise a playstation 3 โข console , an xbox 360 โข console , or a personal computer . these devices are often located in a room in a house , such as a living room . alternatively , device 110 may comprise a hand - held computing device , such as a nintendo ds โข or an apple iphone โข. display 119 may comprise any display capable of displaying output from device 110 . display 119 may be integrated with device 110 , such as the screen of an iphone . in alternative embodiments , display 119 may comprise a separate component , externally connected to device 110 , such as a television . processor 115 may comprise a processor capable of performing the tasks of device 110 described below . memory 117 , which may be controlled by processor 115 , may comprise an area of memory , such as ram , where software instructions and algorithms may reside . for example , game 112 may reside in memory 117 . game 112 may comprise any interactive video based experience , such as a video game . game 112 may present video shown on display 119 which a user or player may interact with through device 110 , often with specific objectives . although in many embodiments game 112 may comprise a video game , the present invention is not limited to entertainment applications . for example , game 112 may instead comprise a vehicle simulation . camera 120 may comprise any camera or image capture device capable of connecting to device 110 . for example , the playstation eye โข may connect to a playstation 3 , whereas the microsoft kinect may connect to an xbox 360 , and a webcam may connect to a personal computer . camera 120 is preferably located in the same room as device 110 , situated to capture at least player 130 . however , camera 120 may be in another location than device 110 , particularly if player 130 is located elsewhere . although not shown in fig1 , camera 120 and device 110 may comprise a single integrated device . for example , the iphone โข 4 has two built - in cameras . camera 120 includes image data 122 . image data 122 may comprise images captured by camera 120 . image data 122 may be stored as a file or files on camera 120 and / or device 110 , or may alternatively comprise temporary data . in addition , image data 122 may comprise more than one image , or may comprise video data . image data 122 may provide the raw data that may be used for facial perception , a technique known in the art . accordingly , camera 120 and image data 122 are not limited to capturing only visual light . player 130 may comprise one or more persons actively playing game 112 on device 110 when camera 120 captures image data 122 . alternatively , player 130 may comprise one or more persons who will play game 112 but are spectators at the time camera 120 captures image data 122 . player 130 may be present with device 110 , or may be located elsewhere , able to view and / or interact with game 112 , and detectable by camera 120 . gender 132 corresponds to the gender of player 130 . likewise , age 134 corresponds to the age of player 130 . age 134 may correspond a specific age , such as eighteen , or may correspond an age range , such as 25 - 35 . before device 110 starts a video game , camera 120 may , at the request of device 110 , capture image data 122 of player 130 . camera 120 may then send or otherwise make available image data 122 for analysis by device 110 . device 110 may use facial recognition or facial perception techniques , which are known in the art , to analyze image data 122 . alternatively , camera 120 may analyze image data 122 . subsequently , device 110 may determine the genders and ages of player 130 in image data 122 , which corresponds to gender 132 and age 134 . device 110 may then make gender 13 . 2 and age 134 available to game 112 . game 112 may then be modified according to gender 132 and / or age 134 . moving to fig2 a and 2b , fig2 a shows a top - down view of an exemplary environment for determining a gender and age of a player of a game , according to one embodiment of the present invention . fig2 b shows a side view of the exemplary environment of fig2 a . fig2 a and 2b include the same elements . environment 200 includes console 210 , tv 219 , camera 220 , view 225 , and player 230 . environment 200 may comprise a living room in a typical house . console 210 , which may correspond to device 110 of fig1 , may comprise a video game console . although not depicted in fig2 a and 2b , console 210 may be connected to tv 219 and camera 220 . console 210 may be capable of presenting video games , such as game 112 in fig1 , through tv 219 , which may correspond to display 119 in fig1 . tv 219 may comprise a television set . camera 220 , which may correspond to camera 120 in fig1 , may comprise a camera peripheral that may connect to console 210 . view 225 corresponds to the range of vision of camera 220 . player 230 , which may correspond to player 130 in fig1 , may comprise one or more persons in environment 200 who are currently playing game 112 on console 210 . alternatively , player 130 may comprise one or more persons in environment 200 who are not playing game 112 . as depicted in fig2 a , tv 219 may be centrally located in environment 200 to provide a good viewing angle for player 230 . console 210 may be located near tv 219 , for example beside tv 219 , in order to be connected to tv 219 . in this embodiment , camera 220 may be located on top of tv 219 , as depicted in fig2 b , so that view 225 may capture player 230 . once camera 220 captures an image of player 230 , console 210 may determine a gender and age of player 230 , a process described in further detail below with respect to fig3 . moving to fig3 , fig3 shows a flowchart describing the steps , according to one embodiment of the present invention , by which a gender and age of a player of a game may be determined using facial perception . certain details and features have been left out of flowchart 300 that are apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art . for example , a step may comprise one or more substeps or may involve specialized equipment or materials , as known in the art . while steps 310 to 350 indicated in flowchart 300 are sufficient to describe one embodiment of the present invention , other embodiments of the invention may utilize steps different from those shown in flowchart 300 . referring to step 310 of flowchart 300 in fig3 and environment 100 of fig1 , step 310 of flowchart 300 comprises camera 120 capturing image data 122 of player 130 . processor 115 , though device 110 , may request camera 120 to capture image data 122 before player 130 starts playing game 112 on device 110 . possible times include but are not limited to the following : during a loading screen ; during a demo screen ; while a startup screen is displayed ; or when a menu screen is displayed . alternatively , camera 120 may capture image data 122 during actual gameplay . for example , camera 120 may capture image data 122 as part of its normal function within game 112 , or during downtime or loading screens during gameplay . preferably , the time between capturing image data 122 and actual gameplay should be minimized , in order to obtain the most recent and accurate image of player 130 . in addition , camera 120 preferably captures a clear view of player 130 . referring to step 320 of flowchart 300 in fig3 and environment 100 of fig1 , step 320 of flowchart 300 comprises determining a gender and age of the player of a game based on image data 122 . device 110 may analyze image data 122 using facial recognition or facial perception techniques known in the art to determine gender 132 and age 134 . alternatively , camera 120 may conduct parts or all of the analysis on image data 122 . device 110 may make gender 132 and age 134 available to game 112 . preferably , game 112 has not previously prompted player 130 for gender 132 and age 134 . referring to step 330 of flowchart 300 in fig3 and environment 100 of fig1 , step 330 of flowchart 300 comprises determining modifications to game 112 based on gender 132 and age 134 . for example , a possible modification may be to change color schemes . alternatively , device 110 may determine modifications to game 112 based on gender 132 only , or age 134 only . however , the modifications are not limited to tweaks to game 112 . the modifications may alter the gameplay for player 130 . a possible modification may change the type of gameplay . playtests and other market research may find that specific genders or age groups prefer certain types of gameplay . for example , the market research may suggest that males from ages 15 - 25 prefer first - person shooters , whereas females from ages 6 - 12 prefer click - and - collect games . if gender 132 corresponds to male , and age 134 corresponds to 15 - 25 , a relevant modification would be to incorporate more first - person shooter elements into the gameplay . similarly , if gender 132 corresponds to female , and age 134 corresponds to 6 - 12 , a more relevant modification would be to incorporate more click - and - collect elements into the gameplay . in addition , one or more objectives of game 112 may be modified . for example , research may reveal that males prefer to eliminate a particular enemy in game 112 , whereas females prefer to sneak past the particular enemy . if gender 132 corresponds to male , an objective of game 112 may be modified to require player 130 to eliminate the particular enemy . likewise , if gender 132 corresponds to female , the objective of game 112 may be modified to require player 130 to sneak past the particular enemy . a length of game 112 may also be modified . for example , research may reveal that persons from ages 3 - 7 are not able to concentrate on game 112 for extended periods of time . accordingly , the length of game 112 may be shortened when age 134 corresponds to ages 3 - 7 . in embodiments where player 130 comprises a spectator , the modifications may provide audience participation , rather than alter the main gameplay . a possible modification may involve adding interesting background events and images which market research may reveal appeals to persons corresponding to gender 132 and / or age 134 . such background images may further be based on image data 122 , for example using an image of a face of player 130 . a more elaborate modification may involve establishing a secondary game in the background . the secondary game may provide player 130 with objectives , appealing to persons corresponding to gender 132 and / or age 134 , which do not interfere with the main gameplay . referring to step 340 of flowchart 300 in fig3 and environment 100 of fig1 , step 340 of flowchart 300 comprises recommending the modifications to game 112 . game 112 , through device 110 , may present player 130 with options to apply the recommended modifications . game 112 may alternatively ask player 130 to confirm the modifications . for example , game 112 may present player 130 with an alternative route which may appeal to persons corresponding to gender 132 and age 134 . in alternative embodiments , this step may be skipped for some or all modifications . referring to step 350 of flowchart 300 in fig3 and environment 100 of fig1 , step 350 of flowchart 300 comprises adopting the modifications to game 112 . the modifications may have been explicitly accepted in the previous step , such as players 130 taking the alternative route mentioned in the previous example . game 112 may then adopt the accepted modifications and alter its gameplay accordingly . other modifications may be automatically adopted , particularly if step 340 was skipped . for example , game 112 may automatically adopt interesting background scenery if player 130 comprises a spectator . in another example , game 112 may automatically alter its gameplay to appeal to persons corresponding to gender 132 and / or age 134 . such alterations may be subtly or drastically alter game 112 . from the above description of the invention it is manifest that various techniques can be used for implementing the concepts of the present invention without departing from its scope . moreover , while the invention has been described with specific reference to certain embodiments , a person of ordinary skills in the art would recognize that changes can be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention . as such , the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive . it should also be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein , but is capable of many rearrangements , modifications , and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention . | 0 |
dynamic routing protocols are protocols that routers use to communicate with each other , to decide where the traffic goes on the internet . in โ highly available ( ha ) routing protocols โ, routing fails over completely seamlessly . the outside world is unaware that there has been a fault from one router to another . the backup software and the backup router take over seamlessly , such that the outside world is unaware that there has been a problem . during this recovery process , a central switch fabric in the central data plane of the router continues to forward transit traffic in accordance with routing instructions in forwarding tables created and maintained by the control plane . a number of different architectures build on each other to attain this eventual goal of โ high availability .โ the first set of architectures relate to a number of concepts , one of which is tcp socket fail - over ( see u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 852 , 223 , cited above , the disclosure of which has been incorporated herein by reference ). tcp protocol was not designed so that one computer could quickly take over from another in the event of a tcp failure , but was designed so that one computer could talk to another in a one - to - one relationship . border gateway protocol ( bgp ) uses tcp sockets to communicate with other routers . consequently , the groundwork to make bgp highly available needed a reliable tcp connection that could be taken over seamlessly by another computer without interruption . bgp exists in an environment of other software , including an operating system which provides services that bgp relies on , for example fail - over detection and message flow - through . specifically the operating system is responsible for synchronizing the active network interface configuration with the backup . when the backup boots , the operating system on the active is responsible for making sure that certain interfaces exist on the backup . once that is done , routing software is responsible for synchronizing the static command line configuration from the active dynamic routing protocol ( drp ) to the backup drp . that includes , for example , setting addresses on the interfaces and certain other attributes , which are basically configuration items that are manually entered at the command line . in the high availability architecture , bgp4 is run on two redundant physically separated master control units , such that one is active bgp4 instance and the other is backup bgp4 instance . the two bgp4s are supported by completely separate hardware and os software linked by a network that supports tcp / ip . the active bgp4 instance will be brought up first , and can establish bgp4 peer connections and exchange routing information with the peers , just as a conventional bgp4 instance would do . the backup bgp4 instance will be brought up after the active instance is up . the backup bgp4 does not listen for new peer connections , but will signal the active bgp4 to show its presence through the tcp / ip network linking the active and the backup . fig1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware overview of a ha - bgp4 system , in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . routera 10 contains two separate control plane hardware processors , indicated by active - bgp4 11 and backup - bgp4 12 . active - bgp4 11 runs the active bgp4 protocol software , and backup - bgp4 12 runs the backup bgp4 protocol software . link 13 between active - bgp4 11 and backup - bgp4 12 is a network that supports tcp / ip protocols . one example of such a network is ethernet . routerb 14 , routerc 15 and routerd 16 are bgp peer routers that have established bgp connections with routera 10 . active - bgp4 11 will be brought up to establish bgp connections with bgp peers , i . e . routerb 14 , routerc 15 and routerd 16 . when the connections are established , active - bgp4 11 and bgp peers 14 , 15 , 16 exchange prefix routing information . this is usually called exchange of bgp routing tables between the peers . active - bgp4 11 selects its best routes among all of its received and self - configured routes . a basic best route selection process is defined in rfc 1771 . although most modern bgp4 implementations use more complicated rules for selecting best routes , these enhancements are not relevant to high availability bgp4 . active - bgp4 11 advertises only its best routes to bgp peers 14 , 15 , 16 . backup - bgp4 12 can be brought up at any time after active - bgp4 11 is up . backup - bgp4 12 signals active - bgp4 11 to indicate its existence . this can be accomplished by , but is not limited to , establishing a tcp / ip connection , for example link 13 , between active - bgp4 11 and backup - bgp4 12 . active bgp4 instance 11 begins a synchronization process with backup bgp4 instance 12 by copying its running configuration to backup bgp4 12 . then for each established bgp4 connection to a peer router 14 , 15 , 16 , active bgp4 instance 11 transmits the routes learned from that peer router to backup bgp4 instance 12 . backup bgp4 instance 12 processes the routes from each peer router 14 - 16 just as they were learned by the peer , except that backup bgp4 instance 12 does not advertise anything to any peers . active bgp4 instance 11 then clones onto backup bgp4 instance 12 a tcp socket that represents each peer connection . this socket cloning operation is supported by operating system capabilities ( see u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 852 , 223 , cited above , the disclosure of which has been incorporated herein by reference ). when socket cloning is complete , active bgp4 11 and backup bgp4 12 can start reading from the cloned sockets to learn routes from peer routers 14 - 16 . only active bgp4 instance 11 advertises new routes to the peer , whereas backup bgp4 12 does not advertise any routes . all new connection operations , close operations , notification operations , new configuration changes , and the like are handled by active bgp4 instance 11 and are reflected through the cloned sockets onto backup bgp4 instance 12 . then active - bgp4 11 and backup - bgp4 12 perform operation to establish running state synchronization . active - bgp4 11 sends its running configuration to backup - bgp4 12 through link 13 . for each connected bgp peer , for example routerb 14 , active - bgp4 11 sends the routes received from routerb 14 to backup - bgp4 12 , which processes these routes just as if sent directly from routerb . fig2 is a block diagram illustrating routing information flow in a ha - bgp4 protocol environment . socketb 21 represents the socket that connects routera 10 to routerb 14 . the socket that represents tcp / ip connection 22 between active - bgp4 11 and routerb 14 is cloned onto backup - bgp4 12 as cloneb 23 . this clone operation is supported on the operating system , for example chiaros ( see u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 852 , 223 , cited above , the disclosure of which has been incorporated herein by reference ). after this clone operation is successful , tcp data 22 sent from routerb 14 is received by both active - bgp4 11 and backup - bgp4 12 . however , only active - bgp4 11 performs route update , listens for new bgp peer connection requests , and performs new connections . routerb 14 is then marked synchronized . if there exist other connection - established peers , for example , routerc 15 and routerd 16 , that are not marked synchronized , then the operations described above in connection with fig2 are repeated for each such peer . fig3 is a block diagram representing the state of ha instances active - bgp4 11 and backup - bgp4 12 during fail - over and recovery . at step 301 , after all connected bgp peers 14 , 15 , 16 are marked synchronized , as described above in connection with fig2 , active - bgp4 11 is marked active - protected and backup - bgp4 12 is marked backup - protect . when active bgp4 instance 11 has copied all of its route database to backup bgp4 instance 12 and has cloned all its established peer connection sockets , it enters an active - protected state . at the same time , backup bgp4 instance 12 enters a backup - protect state . after this state is reached , if active - bgp4 11 fails at step 302 , then at step 303 backup - bgp4 12 transitions to become new active - bgp4 12 , and will start to listen for new connections and to send updates , while failed active - bgp4 remains offline . alternatively , if backup - bgp4 12 fails in the active - protected / backup - protect state as at step 304 , then active - bgp4 11 continues at step 305 as active bgp instance without losing any bgp peer connections , while failed backup - bgp4 12 remains offline . during any phase described above , if backup bgp4 instance 12 fails , active bgp4 instance 11 is not affected , and bgp4 peer routers 14 - 16 will not detect that anything has happened . after bgp4 instances 11 , 12 enter active - protected / backup - protect states , if a hardware / software failure , for example power failure , software abnormal exit , or operator - forced failover or offline operation occurs on active bgp4 instance 11 , backup bgp4 instance 12 cooperatively with the os detects the failure on active bgp4 instance 11 within one second , and backup bgp4 instance 12 transitions itself to become new active bgp4 instance 12 . while backup bgp4 12 transitions itself to become active bgp4 12 , all existing established peer connections are kept intact . the connected peers will remain unaware that anything different has happened . after backup bgp4 12 transitions itself to new active bgp4 12 , it starts to listen for new connections from peer routers and to advertise routes , as needed . when failed active bgp4 instance 11 is eventually repaired or upgraded and operable , for example with new hardware or new software or both , it can be brought up again to become new backup bgp4 instance 11 , and a complete life - cycle starts again . the benefit of this method is that routera 10 can tolerate a single point failure such that its bgp peers 14 - 16 cannot detect the failure . more stable internet routing can thereby be achieved and maintained . although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . moreover , the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process , machine , manufacture , composition of matter , means , methods and steps described in the specification . as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention , processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps , presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps . | 7 |
fig1 illustrates a spherical element 1 configured as a sphere which is formed from two shells 3 and 5 . thus , the shell 3 is configured as a ball - formed scraper is configured slightly smaller than the spherical shell 5 also configured as a ball - formed scraper . the two shells 3 and 5 can either be connected with one another through an insertable connection or a threaded connection . for illustration purposes , fig1 illustrates a plug - in socket 7 which is sized smaller relative to the rest of the spherical shell 3 , wherein the spherical shell 3 is insertable into the spherical shell 5 through the plug - in socket . therefore , the plug - in connection is a fitted connection which is fixated , however , also disengageable under tension . alternatively , and this is schematically illustrated in fig1 , the connection of both shells 3 and 5 can be provided through a threaded connection . thus , one or plural threads can be provided over the entire circumference of the socket 7 which is schematically indicated by the reference numeral 9 . respective thread turns or a respective thread is then also provided in the edge portion of the spherical shell 5 as indicated at 11 . instead of a circumferential thread turn , thread turns can also be provided in sections as apparent from fig1 for both spherical shells 3 and 5 . alternatively the interconnection of both spherical shells can also be provided through one or plural bayonet closures which are not illustrated . it is apparent that each spherical shell is provided with a plurality of bore holes 13 which extend through the spherical shell . thus , it is helpful that a row of bore holes is provided in the central plane of the sphere which is designated as 15 . the row of bore holes is also illustrated in dashed lines which only serve illustration purposes . in the illustrated embodiment , additional rows of bore holes are provided which are configured at a distance from the row of bore holes 15 that are configured centered in the center plane and which also include a number of bore holes 13 that are preferably arranged at uniform distances from another . however , it is not mandatory that the bore holes are arranged at uniform distances from one another ; however an even structure is generated for an arrangement with even distances . optionally , the bore holes of adjacent rows of bore holes can also be arranged offset from one another . through these bore holes 13 , as described best with reference to fig2 and 3 , a pin 17 is inserted . the pin 17 illustrated in fig2 includes a thickened head 19 at its inner end , wherein the thickened head has at least one dimension which is greater than the diameter of the associated bore hole 13 . thus , the pin 17 is inserted from the inside to the outside through the bore hole 13 until the pinhead 19 contacts the inner surface of the spherical shell . then , pearls 21 are lined up from the outside which can have identical sizes or completely different sizes and can have identical or different shapes . after the lineup of the pearls 21 , a fixation is provided at the protruding free - end of the pin 17 through forming an eyelet , wherein the eyelet 23 is apparent from fig2 and can also be used as a hanger for another row of pearls 25 . for better illustration , the pearls 21 are represented as transparent pearls so that the pin 17 is visible . this also applies for fig1 , 2 and 3 . in the embodiment , according to fig3 , mounting the pin is provided at the interior of the spherical shell through folding the pin over , wherein the fold - over is designated as 25 . fixating the lined up pearls 21 is in turn provided through a fold - over 25 at the free end of the pin . the pin is configured as a metal wire , in particular as a steel pin . fig4 alternatively illustrates a plastic material thread made from nylon which is configured with a t - piece 27 for attachment at its lower end for insertion into a bore hole and attachment of the thread at the spherical shell . subsequently , the pearls not illustrated in fig4 , are lined up and a fixation of the non - illustrated pearls is provided at the thread 29 through a knot 31 . the variability of the decorative element is rather large since the pins do not have to be provided in each bore hole , the pins or threads can be configured with different lengths and also a different number of pearls with different size and shape can be provided which is at the discretion of the user of the decorative element . it is helpful that the decorative element is configured in a very simple manner , can be opened and replaced with new pins or threads any time so that the design can be changed at will . the decorative element is suited in particular for arts and crafts and is therefore highly suitable in particular for school applications . the decorative element in do it yourself construction also appeals to all age groups and is also suitable for arts and crafts applications in assisted living facilities . it is advantageous that the same spherical element can be used for different decorative arrangements . this is caused by high variability , the simple assembly of the pins and threads and the simple lineup of the pearls and the simple opening and closing of the spherical element . a spherical element in the context of this application means that the element does not have to be a strictly geometrical sphere , though the sphere actually has exactly spherical shape in a preferred embodiment . the embodiment illustrated in fig5 and 6 is configured from two spherical shells 3 , 5 . as illustrated in fig6 one of the spherical shells , herein the spherical shell 5 is configured with a larger sphere section than the other spherical shell 3 according to fig6 . the spherical shell 5 like the embodiment according to fig1 has a plug in section 7 which is configured offset inward through a circumferential annular shoulder 30 relative to the larger sphere section . this plug in section represents a plug connector through which the spherical shell 5 can be attached at the other opposite spherical shell 3 . the spherical shell 3 certainly includes a respective receiving mechanism corresponding to the plug in recess 7 , thus as already described in a context with the embodiment according to fig1 . as apparent from fig6 for the right spherical shell 5 a thread section 31 is arranged on the plug in section 7 , wherein a second respective thread section is provided on an opposite side of the plug in section 7 which , however , is not evident from the drawing figure . thus , two opposite thread sections 31 are provided for the illustrated embodiment at the plug in section 7 . respective threaded grooves which correspond with these thread sections are configured at the opposite spherical shell 3 . the invention is certainly not limited to two thread sections which are only exemplary . three or four or more thread sections can be distributed over the circumference which is eventually also a function of the size of the decorative element . both spherical shells form a sphere in combination along a dividing plane 32 or a dividing line 32 which is eventually formed by the annular shoulder 30 . the dividing plane 32 represents a secant plane through the spherical element , this means that the dividing plane or the circumferential edges of the spherical shells which contact one another when assembling the shells are generated by an intersection of the sphere with a plane which goes through the sphere but not through the center of the sphere so that both spherical shells complement one another to form a sphere after connecting through the plug in section 7 and the thread sections . this embodiment has the option that a row 33 with bore holes is on a central plane after connecting both spherical shells , wherein the central plane intersects with the spherical element and extends through the center of the sphere as clearly apparent from fig5 . this means the dividing line 32 is offset to the right relative to a central plane through the sphere center so that the row 33 with offset bore holes 13 can be arranged along an intersection plane with the sphere which is formed by the central plane through the center of the sphere . as apparent from fig5 and 6 additional rows of bore holes 34 and 36 are arranged on this sphere and thus in an arrangement that is parallel to the row of bore holes 33 and also to the row of bore holes of the opposite shell . the rows of bore holes 13 of adjacent rows of bore holes are thus offset from one another with parallel centers as apparent from the view of the right spherical shell in fig6 . this embodiment is useful but not the only one . various embodiments are feasible . fig7 illustrates the spherical shell which is illustrated in fig6 on the left side and which can be used as a suspended decorative element . for this purpose the spherical shell 3 can be provided at the secant dividing line 32 for example with an inward oriented fold over which forms a suspension eyelet through which the spherical shell 3 can be suspended at a wall . the embodiment according to fig8 uses the spherical shell 5 that is apparent from fig6 as a standard element so that fig7 and 8 illustrate that the individual spherical shells can also be used as separately standing decorative elements or suspended decorative elements . it is appreciated that also the embodiment according to these figures has pins or threads run through the bore hole 13 and the pins or threads are attached at a spherical shell as described already with reference to the embodiment according to fig1 - 4 . fig9 illustrates another embodiment in which a spherical shell 5 , thus the spherical shell illustrated in fig5 and 6 that is provided with a plug in section 7 is used . this spherical shell can be analogously connected with a shell element 40 with a flat base element 41 . thus , fig9 illustrates the threaded groove in dashed lines on the left side which threaded groove interacts with the thread section 31 formed on the plug in section 7 for attaching both elements at one another . connecting the shell formed component with the spherical shell 5 yields a decorative element which can be used on a horizontal surface as standing decorative element . this yields a semi sphere instead of a total sphere according to the illustration in fig1 . fig1 illustrates variations of the embodiment according to fig9 in turn in a schematic view . thus , a napkin ring 42 is attached at a base 41 of the shell 40 and thus in particular through a threaded bolt 43 . on the opposite side at the spherical shell 5 a pin 44 is run through the top most bore hole and attached at the spherical shell wherein the pin is bent into a spiral shape 46 in its upper most portion 45 , wherein the spiral shape 46 is used as a receiving element for table cards or name cards which are insertable therein . alternatively , however , also other configurations are feasible in that for example the spherical shell 5 is integrally configured with the shell 40 as a receiver for a candle holder , wherein a candle holder only has to be attached at the spherical shell . for this purpose only a t - pin has to be inserted through the center bore hole in an upper portion of the spherical shell where a candle holder is then attached in a suitable manner . thus , a pin run through at an upper end of the spherical shell can also be used as an insertion pin for inserting a candle , so that dedicated candle holders are not required . the remaining bore holes can then be used for receiving various decorative elements through the inserted pins . in the embodiment according to fig1 a known ear clip 47 is attached at the base 41 of the shell 40 , thus through a small plate 48 which is for example glued together with the base 41 of the shell 40 or can be attached in another suitable manner , thus screwed together . the shell 40 is then connected with a spherical shell 5 so that a piece of ear jewelry is provided which can be configured in any manner . instead of an ear clip also ear plugs or hair clips , finger rings , hat pins and similar can be attached which shows the variability of the system . as stated regarding the embodiment according to fig1 instead of a hair clip also another functional element can be attached , in particular a broach pin can be soldered on or glued on so that the decorative element can be pinned to a garment . in the embodiment according to fig1 , the illustrated small plate 48 can also be attached at the shell 40 through a central threaded connection as indicated in fig1 . thus , different attachment options are conceivable that are within the skill of a person skilled in the art . instead of pins or threads that are run through the bore holes also commercially available endless wires can be used which are run from an inside through one of the bore holes , wherein the beginning of the wire is fixated through annular bending or through attachment of a so called crimp bead . the endless wire that is run through is then formed in a loop or differently and can be decorated with decorative elements . thus , the endless wire can also be run through other bore holes and can be pulled out again at another location , wherein in turn loop formation is feasible and decorative elements can be put on the wire . this yields a plurality of different decorative and design options . for example the spherical shells can also be used for curtain decorations . for a curtain tie down whose ends are often provided with commercially available tassels as a completion the ends can also be decorated with the two spherical halves . thus small magnets provided with small individual bore holes can be attached in each of the half spheres in the cavities of the two half spheres . the half spheres in turn are attached at both ends of the curtain tie downs and are assembled through the magnetic effect until a voluntarily provided separation occurs and can thus be used as decorative curtain tie downs . the spherical shells or spherical elements with the pins , threads or endless wires can also be used in combination with plant assemblies . for example a plant assembly can be attached through pins at an approximately central portion of the spherical shell , whereas one or plural endless wires can be run through the adjacent bore holes that do not have to be used for the plant assembly and wherein a decorative effect is achieved through forming loops and stringing up decorative elements on the endless wires wherein the decorative effect adds to the appearance of the plant assembly . fig1 illustrates an embodiment of a wire pin 50 with a circular cross section which includes a t formed attachment element at its lower end . above the t - head a flat rectangular element 52 is produced through flattening the pin with circular cross section wherein the flat element has sharp edges 53 on both sides . the flat element with edges thus advantageously extends over a length which corresponds approximately to the thickness of the spherical shell . this can be for example a length of 4 mm . this yields sharp cutting edges on both sides of the flat element . this has the effect that the pin after loosely running the circular pin through the bore hole the pin is effectively anchored in the bore hole through the flat element with edges so that any movement of the pin attached in the spherical shell can be avoided in a simple manner . thus , the diameter of the wire pin 50 is adapted to the diameters of the bore hole in the spherical shells so that the desired attachment in the bore hole is achieved through a pressed flat element 42 with edges . this yields a very simple and secure permanent fixation of the wire pins in the spherical shell . | 8 |
the following language is to explain the best presently contemplated mode or modes of carrying out the invention . this description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense . the scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims . the reference numerals as depicted in the drawings are the same as those referred to in the specification . the present invention as shown in fig4 features an extrusion assembly 6 with a deflector 1 in the flow channel 2 upstream a die opening 4 . the flow direction of the rubber compound during extrusion is indicated by the arrow . rubber compound is fed by an extruder ( not shown ) into the flow channel 2 . the rubber compound then moves downstream the channel 2 passing the deflector 1 for being extruded through the die opening 4 in order to form the extruded tire component . the purpose of the deflector 1 is to slow down the incoming flow of rubber compound in front of large cross sectional portions of the cross sectional area of the die 4 . therefore deflector 1 is provided in the flow channel 2 as a positive obstacle in the flow of rubber compound . the deflector 1 is held by connectors 3 , 3 โฒ. the deflector 1 has a similar cross - sectional shape as the large cross - sectional portion of the die opening 4 downstream of the deflector 1 . the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ are connecting the deflector 1 to the upper and lower walls of the flow channel 2 . it is also possible to provide only one connector , e . g . depending on the specific die opening shape or utilized rubber compound . furthermore , the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ are shorter than the deflector 1 with respect to the flow direction of the rubber compound , resulting in less interference of the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ with the flow of rubber compound . additionally the cross section of the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ perpendicular to the flow direction of the rubber compound is narrower than the cross section of the deflector 1 , also for the sake of less interference of the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ with the flow of rubber compound . as depicted in fig4 , the cross section of the die 4 is roughly wedged shaped with a thin portion of the cross sectional area at the left and a broad portion of cross sectional area on the right . the cross section of the deflector 1 has a similar shape , i . e . a thin portion of the cross sectional area at the left side and a broad portion of the cross sectional area at the right side , providing a wedge - like shape of the deflector &# 39 ; s cross section . the deflector &# 39 ; s cross section is smaller than the cross section of the die 4 for allowing rubber compound to pass the deflector 1 and enter the die opening 4 . in more details the deflector 1 is positioned approximately in the centre of the flow channel 2 upstream the die opening 4 . centre means that the distance of the deflector &# 39 ; s upper and lower surfaces to the inner surface of the die opening 4 are approximately the same . the distance of the deflector &# 39 ; s left and right surfaces to the inner surface can also be approximately the same but must not necessarily be so , as is the case in fig4 , depending on the shape of the deflector . it is emphasized here that the exact scale of the deflector 1 in comparison with the die opening 4 is generally of about 1 to about 2 but can vary in a range of from about 1 to about 1 . 5 to about 1 to about 4 for example . further the shape and the number of the provided connectors may vary depending e . g . on the used rubber compound , extrusion speed , or shape of the die opening , etc . the shape of the deflector must not necessarily exactly correspond to the cross - section of the die . indeed , as illustrated in fig4 , the thin end portion of the cross - section of the deflector ( left side in fig4 ) is rectangular whereas the corresponding portion of the cross - section of the die opening is triangular . in an alternative embodiment ( not shown ), the rectangular end portion of the deflector could be omitted . in the example of fig4 , the deflector is shaped to form a positive or volume obstacle in front of the area of the cross - section of the die which features the largest change of dimension . this dimension in this case is naturally the gauge or height of the generally wedge shape . fig5 shows a schematic representation of the rubber flow in an assembly and an attached apex 5 extruded through the die opening in accordance with fig4 . the deflector 1 cannot be seen in the figure since it is inside of the flow channel . the extrusion with such a deflector 1 results in a more straight shape of the extruded apex 5 . furthermore no significant bending or twisting of extruded apex 5 can be observed . extrusion direction is perpendicular to the cross sectional area of the die 4 as can be seen with help of the dashed lines . in fig6 a perspective overview of the assembly in accordance with the invention is shown from the backside , i . e . the internal cavity 2 of a former 6 with the deflector 1 and the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ. in more detail the deflector 1 in the internal cavity 2 can be recognized in fig7 which constitutes a mere magnification of the internal cavity 2 and the deflector 1 of fig6 . the deflector 1 is provided in the back of the flow channel 2 . the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ are designed to be inserted in the upper and lower walls of the former 6 . depending on many parameters as e . g . the form of the die opening 4 the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ can also be designed to be positioned in the right and the left wall of the flow channel . the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ which are shown in the figure have a rectangular cuboid - like shape with a reduced surface in the flow direction . the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ are narrower in a direction transverse to the rubber flow in comparison with the deflector 1 to minimize any influence on the flow . the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ are also shorter than the deflector in a flow direction also in order to minimize any influence on the flow . they are designed to be as far away as possible from the die opening to allow the rubber compound streams on each side of the connector to unite when leaving the connector and to allow a stabilized flow before reaching the die opening . the upstream front surfaces of the connectors 3 , 3 โฒ in fig6 and 7 are represented as sharp - edged but can be also chamfered or even shaped to present a profiled surface . fig9 a - 9 h illustrate alternative embodiments of the deflector where the body of the deflector and the connectors are differently shaped depending on many parameters like the flow speed , the viscosity of the rubber during extrusion , the shape of the die opening and the distance from the die opening . the compound flow direction goes from the front of the drawing to the back . in fig9 a the connectors are chamfered to present a profiled arrow shaped front surface to the rubber flow . the downstream surfaces of the connector are there not profiled . in fig9 c , the downstream surfaces are profiled similarly to the upstream surfaces . in fig9 b and 9 d , the connectors are made narrower where the upstream faces are beveled and the downstream faces in fig9 d are also beveled . in fig9 e , the deflector is symmetrical and wedge shaped . the connectors have beveled upstream and downstream faces . the deflector of fig9 e is similar to fig9 e but asymmetrical . the deflector of fig9 g corresponds essentially to fig9 e with the difference that the active length of the deflector varies across the elongated dimension . this embodiment is illustrative of a situation where additional flexibility is needed to tune the slowdown / braking effect on the rubber flow in front of the die opening . in fig9 h the deflector is asymmetrical like in fig9 e but with two pairs of connectors 3 - 3 โฒ. each pair is positioned on a side part of the wedge shaped deflector . in fig8 a deflector 31 is shown in the cavity of a former 32 upstream a die opening 34 . connectors 33 , one at each side of the deflector 31 , connect the deflector 31 to the bottom wall of the former 32 . the die opening 34 and the deflector 31 are symmetrical . many other positions and numbers of connectors 33 can be provided by the man skilled in the art , depending on the specific tire component &# 39 ; s material , extrusion speed , shape etc . the cross section of deflector 31 has a rectangular shape in the flow direction , but is designed smaller than the cross section of the die 34 , and is narrower than the die width 34 , thus being only positioned in front of broad portions of the die cross section , such that it can slow down the flow of rubber compound in front of broad portions of the cross - sectional area of the downstream die 34 . the rectangular shape of the deflector in fig8 is a simplified shape which is particularly adapted for substantially symmetrical cross - sectional shapes to be extruded . this type of deflector is advantageously centered along the main axis of the cross - section of the die and the two ends portions of the cross - section of the die with the minimum dimensions have to be free of deflector in front of them . in the example of fig8 , the thickness variation along the elongated cross - section of the die is of about 1 to 10 and the end portions free of deflector correspond to about 1 / 10 of the total length of the die opening . the simplified shape of the deflector causes then a general braking effect of the rubber flow which causes a slowdown of the rubber flow in front of the large portion of the die opening thereby compensating the natural slowdown of the flow at the end portions with a minimal thickness . the advantage of this simplified shape is that it can be used for different similar wedged shaped die openings . the typical width of a thick wedge is about 100 - 120 mm . nevertheless it can have other widths depending on the application purpose of the thick tire wedge . the invention has been described with reference to a best mode . obviously , modifications and alterations will become apparent to others upon a reading and understanding this specification . it is intended to include all such modifications and alterations in so far as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof . | 1 |
reference will now be made in greater detail to a preferred embodiment of the invention , an example of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings . wherever possible , the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view illustrating a construction of a passage system of a vacuum cleaner in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig2 in the present invention , in order to allow the outside air to be sucked into the vacuum cleaner , two suction paths are included as described below . first , the passage system of a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention comprises a suction motor 10 , a suction fan 20 , a dust filter 31 , a dust collecting bucket 41 , a fan suction passage 42 , a motor case 11 , a plurality of discharging holes 11 a , an ejector suction passage 62 , an ejector 60 , an ejector nozzle 61 , an ejector chamber 63 , a second suction nozzle 64 and a second suction passage 65 . the suction motor 10 is installed adjacent to an upper end of the vacuum cleaner to provide the suction force for draw the outside air into the vacuum cleaner . the suction fan 20 is located on an upper end of the suction motor 10 and has blades which receive the suction force from the suction motor 10 and thereby suck the outside air . the dust filter 31 is arranged above the suction fan 20 to filter out dust and other particles contained in the outside air drawn in by the suction fan 20 . the dust filter 31 has a doughnut - shaped configuration . the dust - collecting bucket 41 is positioned below the dust filter 31 to collect dust and other particles filtered by the dust filter 31 . the dust collecting bucket 41 has a hollow configuration . the fan suction passage 42 is placed at the center portion of the dust collecting bucket 41 in a manner such that outside air that has been through the filtering process to remove the dust and the like by the dust filter 31 , flows through the fan suction passage 42 toward the suction fan 20 . the fan suction passage 42 has a cylindrical shaped which is opened at an upper end thereof . the motor case 11 is formed to have a cylindrical shape to accommodate the suction motor 10 . the plurality of discharging holes 11 a are formed on a circumferential outer surface of the motor case 11 at predetermined places in a manner to exhaust the air that has been pressurized while passing through the suction fan 20 to the outside . the ejector suction passage 62 serves as an exhausting passage and is connected at one end thereof to the circumferential outer surface of the motor case 11 at a predetermined place in a manner such that the air which has been passed through the suction fan 20 , can be reutilized . the ejector 60 is formed at the other end of the ejector suction passage 62 to exhaust the air which passed through the ejector suction passage 62 . the ejector nozzle 61 is placed at the lower end of the ejector 60 to further pressurize the air which has been already pressurized while passing through the suction fan 20 , and then exhaust the air at a high velocity . the ejector chamber 63 is defined in a manner such that an inside of the ejector chamber 63 remains under a low pressure by the air which is ejected from the ejector nozzle 61 at a high speed . the second suction nozzle 64 is formed at a lower end of the ejector chamber 63 in a manner such that outside air can be sucked therein . the second suction passage 65 is connected at one end thereof to the duct collecting bucket 41 in a manner such that air which is ejected therein from the ejector nozzle 61 and sucked therein from the ejector chamber 63 , is guided toward the suction fan 20 . a second suction path operates in the same manner as a suction path of the conventional vacuum cleaner . the second suction path according to the present invention is formed with a first suction nozzle 71 and a first suction passage 72 . the first nozzle 71 directly receives the suction force generated by the suction motor 10 to draw in the outside air containing dust and other particles with intensive force . one end of the first suction passage 72 is connected to the dust - collecting bucket 41 and the other end is connected to the first suction nozzle 71 , so that the outside air , which is drawn into the vacuum cleaner by the first suction nozzle 71 , can pass through the first suction passage 72 . it is preferred that the first suction nozzle 71 and the second suction nozzle 64 are formed at the lowermost end of the entire vacuum cleaner structure to allow dust and the like existing on a floor to be easily drawn in along with outside air . hereinafter , operations of the passage system of a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention , constructed as mentioned above , will be described in detail . when a user turns on the vacuum cleaner to perform a cleaning work , the suction motor 10 rotates , and at the same time , the suction fan 20 which is connected to the suction motor 10 also rotates . if the suction fan 20 is rotated , the outside air is drawn in and passes through the first suction nozzle 71 , the first suction passage 72 , the dust collecting bucket 41 , the dust filter 31 and the fan suction passage 42 in order . upon reaching the suction fan 20 and the suction motor 10 after passing through the fan suction passage 42 , air cools the suction motor 10 and at the same time is pressurized by the suction motor 10 . in the course of the suction process , dust and the like which are contained in the outside air , are filtered by the dust filter 31 . as dust and other particles are piled up in the dust - collecting bucket 41 , a cycle of the second outside air suction path is completed . hereinafter , the operation of the first outside air suction path is described in detail . the motor case 11 which accommodates the suction motor 10 , is attached with the plurality of discharging holes 11 a in which predetermined amount of air that has been pressurized while passing through the suction fan 20 , is discharged to the outside , and the remaining predetermined amount of the air which has been pressurized while passing through the suction fan 20 flows into the ejector 60 through the ejector suction passage 62 . a ratio between the preselected amount which is discharged to the outside through the plurality of discharging holes 11 a and the predetermined amount which flows out through the ejector suction passage 62 , can be adjusted according to the needs by adjusting the size and the number of the discharging holes 11 a . the air , which flows into the ejector 60 , is exhausted through the ejector nozzle 61 formed at the free end of the ejector 60 . since the air is exhausted under a high pressure , it is to be readily understood that the surrounding area near the ejector nozzle 61 is maintained under a remarkably low pressure as explained in the bernoulli &# 39 ; s theorem , and the inside of the ejector chamber 63 which includes the discharging end of the ejector 60 , also remains in a significantly low pressure . due to the low pressure environment which has been created in the inside the ejector chamber 63 as described above , the outside air is drawn into the vacuum cleaner through the second suction nozzle 64 which is formed at a predetermined position in the ejector chamber 63 , as in the case of the first suction nozzle 71 . this function will be described hereafter in further detail using the bernoulli &# 39 ; s theorem . where h is a total head , p is a pressure at a corresponding point , ฮณ is a specific weight of fluid , v is a flow velocity , g is an acceleration of gravity , and z is a height of fluid on a reference plane . the bernoulli &# 39 ; s theorem applies to all incompressible fluid . according to the bernoulli &# 39 ; s theorem , water heads are divided into a pressure head ( p / ฮณ ) due to a pressure of fluid , a velocity head ( v 2 / 2g ) due to a flow velocity of the fluid , and a position head ( z ) due to a height of the fluid . the bernoulli &# 39 ; s theorem shows that the total sum of the three heads is always held equal at any point in the fluid . describing again operations of the passage system of a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention on the basis of the bernoulli &# 39 ; s theorem as deliberated above , since the air existing in the ejector 60 has a low flowing velocity , a high pressure and a constant height , the air in the surrounding area near the ejector nozzle 61 , more particularly the outlet end of the ejector 60 having a high velocity at a constant height , has a low pressure when considering the bernoulli &# 39 ; s theorem . as a result , a low pressure space of a sufficient level is created in between the ejector nozzle 61 and the second suction passage 65 , thereby the low pressure environment is created in the inside the ejector chamber 63 that includes the low pressure space . the second suction nozzle 64 is placed below the ejector chamber 63 to intake the outside air which then gets mixed up with the air exhausted from the ejector nozzle 61 before passing through the second suction passage 65 . consequently , in the passage system of a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention includes two suction nozzles that are formed at the outside air suction paths through which dust and the like can be sucked into the vacuum cleaner . particularly , since the predetermined amount of air that has passed through the suction motor 10 is utilized to draw in the outside air , an efficiency of the vacuum cleaner is increased . as described above , in the passage . system of a vacuum cleaner in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention , since the plurality of suction nozzles are formed , a cleaning capability of the vacuum cleaner for sucking the outside air has been substantially increased without using an additional source of energy , but by only modifying a passage system of the conventional vacuum cleaner . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view illustrating a construction of a passage system of a vacuum cleaner in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention . in the above - described first embodiment of the present invention , although it is possible to place the first suction passage 72 and the second suction passage 65 separately and connect to the dust collecting bucket 41 at different positions , this passage construction makes not only the passage system of a vacuum cleaner more complex but also a manufacturing procedure thereof complicated . in order to resolve this problem , in the second embodiment of the present invention , an outside air passage 70 in which the first suction passage 72 and the second suction passage 65 merge is independently formed . the passage system of a vacuum cleaner in accordance with the present invention allows the outside air containing dust and other particles to flow into the dust - collecting bucket 41 via the outside air passage 70 . as a result , the passage system of a vacuum cleaner according to the present invention provides more powerful suction force for sucking the outside air through two sucking passages in the passage system , thus the cleaning process can be performed more quickly . also , when compared with the conventional vacuum cleaner , less amount of input power is required for sucking the same amount of outside air thereby substantially saving energy . moreover , in the case a rechargeable vacuum cleaner wherein the output of a motor cannot be raised beyond a predetermined level due to limitation within its own specification , greater cleaning capability can be accomplished when the passage system in accordance with the present invention is applied . in the drawings and specification , there have been disclosed typical preferred embodiments of the invention and , although specific terms are employed , they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation , the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims . | 0 |
an embodiment of the present invention is explained below with reference to the drawings . fig1 is a block diagram of a travel speed limiting apparatus according to the present embodiment . the travel speed limiting apparatus 1 includes a vehicle status sensor 20 , a speed limit set switch 30 , and ecu 10 which calculates a target ap opening and the like . the ap opening sensor 10 includes an ap opening sensor 22 which detects an acceleration pedal opening ( hereinafter referred to as an ap opening ), a speed sensor 24 ( travel speed measurement device ), and an acceleration sensor 26 which measures an acceleration of the present vehicle . the speed limit set switch 30 includes a set / speed - decreasing switch 32 , a stop switch 34 , and a restart / speed - increasing switch 36 . in setting the speed limit , first , the set switch 32 is pressed to display a value of the speed limit on an instrument panel or the like mounted on the present vehicle . the speed - decreasing switch 32 or the speed - increasing switch 36 is then pressed to set the speed limit to a desired valued by increasing or decreasing the displayed value . based on the speed limit , a speed limit mode is automatically started with the travel speed limiting apparatus 1 . the speed limit set in the above operation is recorded on a memory unit 38 ( speed limit memory device ). in the case of returning to a normal travel from the speed limit mode , the stop switch 34 is pressed . if it is desired to restart the speed limit mode , the restart switch 36 is then pressed . in this case , the speed limit recorded when the speed limit mode is terminated is read out from the memory unit 38 to restart the speed limit mode based on the speed limit . here , it is optionally possible to change the speed limit by pressing the speed - decreasing switch 32 or the speed - increasing switch 36 . the ecu ( electronic control unit ) 10 is provided with a requested driving force calculation section 12 which calculates a requested driving force based on the acceleration pedal operation by the operator of the present vehicle . in general , an output ( driving force ) of a driving source ( such as an engine or a motor ) is changed in proportion to an acceleration pedal opening operated by an operator . for this reason , the requested driving force calculation section 12 is designed to calculate the requested driving force which is requested by an operator , based on an actual ap opening detected by the ap opening sensor 22 . the ecu 10 is further provided with a first target value calculation section 14 which calculates a first driving force limit value based on the deviation of the actual travel speed from the speed limit . the first target ap opening is set such that the deviation becomes small , and is used to control the driving force of the present vehicle . the practical calculation procedure is described later . note that the first target ap opening is used for limiting the driving force of the present vehicle ( e . g ., engine output ), but is not used for limiting the actual ap opening or is not a target of the actual ap opening . in addition , the ecu 10 is provided with a second target value calculation section 16 which calculates a second driving force limit value based on the actual ap opening . the second target value calculation section 16 calculates a second target ap opening as the second driving force limit value . the second target ap opening is set so as to be slightly higher than the actual ap opening . the practical calculation procedure is described later . note that the second target ap opening is also used for limiting the driving force of the present vehicle ( e . g ., engine output ), but is not used for limiting the actual ap opening or is not a target of the actual ap opening , like the above - described first target ap opening . moreover , the ecu 10 is provided with a driving force limiting section 18 which calculates an eventual driving force limit value . the driving force limiting section 18 calculates an eventual target ap opening as the eventual driving force limit value . the eventual target ap opening is set to the smaller of the first target ap opening and the second target ap opening . in the case where the actual ap opening is less than or equal to the eventual target ap opening , the requested driving force corresponding to the actual ap opening is employed as the driving force of the present vehicle . however , in the case where the actual ap opening is greater than the eventual target ap opening , the eventual driving force limit value corresponding to the eventual target ap opening is employed as the driving force of the present vehicle . in the latter case , the driving force of the present vehicle is smaller than the requested driving force corresponding to the actual ap opening . for this reason , the driving force of the present vehicle can be controlled so as to be less than the driving force limit value ( a first and second eventual driving force limit value ). the travel speed limiting apparatus 1 accordingly can perform the travel control of the present vehicle by extracting driving force from the driving source ( e . g ., controlling an output of the engine ) based on the driving force of the present vehicle set at the driving force limiting section 18 . below is a detailed explanation of the travel speed limiting method according to the present embodiment . fig2 is a flow chart of the travel speed limiting method according to the embodiment . in s 10 , the speed deviation is calculated by subtracting a travel speed measured by the speed sensor 24 from a speed limit set by the operator . in the following s 12 to s 16 , a first target ap opening is calculated by the first target value calculation section 14 such that the speed deviation decreases . in s 12 , whether or not the speed deviation is greater than ฮฒ is determined . ฮฒ is a value greater than zero , for example , being 2 to 10 km / h . if the determination is yes , in which the travel speed is much smaller than the speed limit , the first target ap opening is calculated with unconditional calculation in s 13 . according to the unconditional calculation , the first target ap opening is made to increase so as to be fully opened within a predetermined time . the unconditional calculation is shown as the following equation . first target ap opening = previous eventual target ap opening + ฮด ap opening for the unconditional calculation ( 1 ) namely , the first target ap opening is calculated by adding the variation of the ap opening for the unconditional calculation to the previous eventual target ap opening calculated by the driving force limiting section 18 . however , if the determination is no in s 12 ( the speed deviation โฆ ฮฒ ), then the process proceeds to s 14 in which whether or not the speed deviation is smaller than โ ฮฑ is determined . the ฮฑ is a value greater than zero , for example , being 2 km / h . if the determination in s 14 is yes , in which the travel speed is much greater than the speed limit , the first target ap opening is calculated with a full close calculation in s 15 . according to the full close calculation , the first target ap opening is made to decrease so as to be fully closed within a predetermined time . the full close calculation is shown as the following equation . first target ap opening = previous eventual target ap opening โ ฮด ap opening for the full close calculation ( 2 ) namely , the first target ap opening is calculated by subtracting the variation of the ap opening for the full close calculation from the previous eventual target ap opening calculated by the driving force limiting section 18 . the determination in s 14 is no (โ ฮฑ โฆ speed deviation โฆ ฮฒ ), in which the travel speed is close to the speed limit , the first target ap opening is calculated with a feedback ( f / b ) calculation in s 16 . the feedback calculation is shown as the following equation . namely , the speed deviation correction value is calculated by multiplying the speed deviation by the p ( proportional control ) coefficient , while the acceleration correction value is calculated by multiplying the acceleration by the d ( derivative control ) coefficient . the first target ap opening is calculated by adding the speed deviation correction value to the previous eventual target ap opening and subtracting the acceleration correction value from the previous eventual target ap opening , the previous eventual target ap opening being calculated by the driving force limiting section 18 . note that the travel speed is made to decrease along with the reduction of the first target ap opening with the full close calculation in s 15 . however , the travel speed does not significantly fall below the speed limit because the employed calculation is switched to the feedback calculation in s 16 when the speed deviation โงโ ฮฑ . in addition , the travel speed is allowed to increase along with the increase of the first target ap opening with the unconditional calculation in s 13 . however , the travel speed does not significantly exceed the speed limit because the employed calculation is switched to the feedback calculation in s 16 under the condition of the speed deviation โฆ ฮฒ . in the following s 20 , the second target ap opening is calculated by the second target value calculation section 16 . fig3 is a flow chart showing a subroutine for calculating the second target ap opening . in s 22 , the second target ap opening is calculated by adding a predetermined value ฮณ which is greater or equal to zero to the actual ap opening detected with the ap opening sensor 22 . it is optionally possible to calculate the second target ap opening by multiplying the actual ap opening by a predetermined value greater than or equal to 1 . in the following s 24 , the increase amount of the second target ap opening is calculated . more specifically , the increase amount of the second target ap opening per a predetermined time ( calculation period of the second driving force limit value ) is calculated by calculating the second driving force limit value at a constant period , and then subtracting the previously calculated second target ap opening from the presently calculated second target ap opening . in the following s 26 , whether or not the increase amount of the second target ap opening is greater than a predetermined value a is determined . the determination in s 26 is no , in which the increase amount of the second target ap opening is small , the second target ap opening is set to the presently calculated second target ap opening . if the determination is in s 26 is yes , in which the increase amount of the second target ap opening is large , the second target ap opening is set to the presently calculated second target ap opening plus the predetermined value a . therefore , the increase of the second driving force limit value can be controlled so as to be less than the predetermined value a . returning to fig2 , whether or not the first target ap opening is greater than the second target ap opening by the driving force limiting section 18 in s 30 . if the determination in s 30 is no , then the process proceeds to s 31 in which the eventual target ap opening is set to the first target ap opening which is smaller . however , if the determination in s 30 is yes , then the process proceeds to s 32 in which the eventual target ap opening is set to the second target ap opening which is smaller . in the following s 34 , whether or not the actual ap opening is greater than the eventual target ap opening is determined . if the determination in s 34 is no , the process proceeds to s 35 in which the driving force of the present vehicle is set to the requested driving force corresponding to the actual ap opening which is smaller . however , if the determination in s 34 is yes , the process proceeds to s 36 in which the driving force of the present vehicle is set to the eventual driving force limit value corresponding to the eventual target ap opening which is smaller . by extracting the driving force of the present vehicle from the driving source , which is set in accordance with the above - described procedure ( e . g ., by controlling the output of the engine based on the set driving force of the present vehicle ), the travel speed can be controlled so as not to exceed the speed limit . fig4 a and fig4 b are graphs showing a relationship between the ap opening and the travel speed in the travel speed limiting apparatus according to the present embodiment . note that the actual ap opening shown in fig4 b is correspondent to the actual ap opening in fig5 a and fig5 b . as shown in fig4 b , the second target ap opening is set so as to be slightly greater than the actual ap opening . in addition , the eventual target ap opening is set to the smaller of the first target ap opening and the second target ap opening , while the driving force setting ap opening is set to the smaller of the eventual target ap opening and the actual ap opening . the first target ap opening does not significantly exceed the second target ap opening ( and the actual ap opening ), since the first target ap opening is set on the basis of the previous eventual target ap opening with the above equation ( 3 ). in the above - described present embodiment , the second target ap opening is calculated based on the requested driving force , and the smaller of the first target ap opening and the second target ap opening is employed as the eventual target ap opening . because of this , the eventual target ap opening does not increase as shown in fig4 b (โ b โ portion in the figure ) in the case where the travel speed is kept less than or equal to the speed limit vm as shown in fig4 a (โ a โ portion in the figure ) since the correction value based on the speed deviation can be prevented from being accumulated . furthermore , the driving force of the present vehicle is controlled to be less than or equal to the eventual driving force limit value which is correspondent to the eventual target ap opening . therefore , the acceleration of the present vehicle can be suppressed even in the case where the acceleration pedal is depressed (โ c โ portion in the figure ). as a result , as shown in fig4 a , the travel speed can be prevented from significantly exceeding the speed limit (โ d โ portion in the figure ). however , without the following feature of the present invention , the driving force of the present vehicle would be set to the requested driving force based on the actual ap opening from the depressing of the pedal till the first target ap opening becomes smaller than the actual ap opening . this would cause the present vehicle to accelerate and slightly exceed the speed limit . in the present embodiment , as shown in s 26 and s 28 of fig3 , the increase amount of the second target ap opening calculated based on the actual ap opening is limited to be less than or equal to the predetermined value a . with this limitation , the second target ap opening can be made smaller than the actual ap opening in the case where the actual ap opening rapidly increases . by setting the driving force of the present vehicle to the second driving force limit value based on the above second target ap opening , the acceleration of the present vehicle can be suppressed more reliably . as a result , the travel speed can reliably be prevented from exceeding the speed limit . note that the present invention is not limited to the above - described embodiment . the target ap opening is calculated as a driving force limit value in the above embodiment , however , a target throttle opening or a target fuel injection amount may be employed instead of the target ap opening . while preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated above , it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting . additions , omissions , substitutions , and other modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention . accordingly , the invention is not to be considered as being limited by the foregoing description , and is only limited by the scope of the appended claims . | 1 |
as stated above , the present disclosure relates to metal semiconductor alloy structures for providing low contact resistance and methods of forming the same , which are now described in detail with accompanying figures . it is noted that like and corresponding elements are referred to by like reference numerals across the various drawings . referring to fig1 , an exemplary semiconductor structure according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure is shown , which includes a semiconductor substrate 8 containing a first semiconductor region 10 and a shallow trench isolation structure 20 . the semiconductor substrate 8 can be a bulk substrate including a bulk semiconductor material throughout , or a semiconductor - in - insulator ( soi ) substrate ( not shown ) containing a top semiconductor layer , a buried insulator layer located under the top semiconductor layer , and a bottom semiconductor layer located under the buried insulator layer . the semiconductor material of the semiconductor substrate 8 may be selected from , but is not limited to , silicon , germanium , silicon - germanium alloy , silicon carbon alloy , silicon - germanium - carbon alloy , gallium arsenide , indium arsenide , indium phosphide , iii - v compound semiconductor materials , ii - vi compound semiconductor materials , organic semiconductor materials , and other compound semiconductor materials . the first semiconductor region 10 includes a semiconductor material having a doping of a first conductivity type at a first dopant concentration . the semiconductor substrate 8 further contains a second semiconductor region 11 including the semiconductor material and having a doping of a second conductivity type , wherein the second conductivity type is the opposite of the first conductivity type . the first semiconductor region 10 may have a p - type doping and the second semiconductor region 11 may have an n - type doping , or vice versa . for example , the first semiconductor region 10 can have a p - type doping , and the second semiconductor region 11 can have an n - type doping . in one embodiment , the second semiconductor region 11 includes a well extending from a top surface 21 of the semiconductor substrate 8 to a well depth dw into the semiconductor substrate 8 . preferably , the first and second semiconductor regions ( 10 , 11 ) are single crystalline , i . e ., have the same crystallographic orientations throughout the volume of the semiconductor substrate 8 . in another embodiment , the first semiconductor region 10 and / or the second semiconductor region 11 can be undoped semiconductor regions depending on the type of devices to be built therein . for example , fully depleted semiconductor - on - insulator devices can employ an undoped semiconductor material for the first and / or second semiconductor regions ( 10 , 11 ) that are bounded by a buried insulator layer at the bottom . the semiconductor substrate 8 may be a bulk substrate , a semiconductor - on - insulator ( soi ) substrate , or a hybrid substrate having a bulk portion and an soi portion . while the present disclosure is described with a bulk substrate , embodiments employing an soi substrate or a hybrid substrate are explicitly contemplated herein . the first semiconductor region 10 and the second semiconductor region 11 can be lightly doped , i . e ., have a dopant concentration from 1 . 0 ร 10 15 / cm 3 to 3 . 0 ร 10 18 / cm 3 , and preferably from 1 . 0 ร 10 15 / cm 3 to 3 . 0 ร 10 17 / cm 3 , although lesser and greater dopant concentrations are explicitly contemplated herein . alternately , the first semiconductor region 10 and the second semiconductor region 11 can include intrinsic semiconductor materials . the exemplary semiconductor structure includes a first device region 100 and a second device region 200 , each formed on and containing a portion of the semiconductor substrate 8 . the first device region 100 may include a metal - oxide - semiconductor field effect transistor ( mosfet ) of one conductivity type , and the second device region 200 may include a mosfet of the opposite conductivity type . for illustrative purposes , the first device region 100 includes a p - type field effect transistor ( pfet ), and the second device region 200 may include an n - type field effect transistor ( nfet ). the first device region 100 includes a portion of the second semiconductor region 11 and a first gate electrode formed thereupon . likewise , the second device region 200 includes a portion of the first semiconductor region 10 and a second gate electrode formed thereupon . each of the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode includes a gate dielectric ( 30 a or 30 b ) and a gate conductor ( 32 a or 32 b ), and may be formed by methods well known in the art . the gate dielectrics ( 30 a , 30 b ) may include a conventional semiconductor oxide based gate dielectric material or a high - k gate dielectric material known in the art . the gate conductor in the first device region 100 is herein referred to as a first gate conductor 32 a and the gate conductor in the second device region 200 is herein referred to as a second gate conductor 32 b . the gate conductors ( 32 a , 32 b ) may include a doped semiconductor material such as doped polysilicon or a doped polycrystalline silicon alloy , or may include a metal gate material known in the art . alternately , a replacement gate integration scheme may be employed , in which a dummy gate stack is formed first , followed by deposition of a gate - level dielectric material layer and planarization thereof , removal of the material of the dummy gate stack , and deposition of a permanent gate dielectric and a permanent gate electrode . dielectric gate caps may be formed on top of the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode . the dielectric gate cap in the first device region 100 is herein referred to as a first dielectric gate cap 52 a and the dielectric gate cap in the second device region 200 is herein referred to as a second dielectric gate cap 52 b . a first gate spacer 54 a is formed on the sidewalls of the first gate conductor 32 a , or on the sidewalls of the semiconductor oxide layers ( 36 a , 36 b ), if present , in the first device region 100 . a second gate spacer 54 b is formed on the sidewalls of the second gate conductor 32 b , or on the sidewalls of the semiconductor oxide layers ( 36 a , 36 b ), if present , in the second device region 200 . preferably , the first and second gate spacers ( 54 a , 54 b ) include silicon nitride . the thickness of the first and second gate spacers ( 54 a , 54 b ) may be adjusted to optimize the offset distance of source / drain extension regions to be subsequently formed from the sidewalls of the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode . the first and second gate spacers ( 54 a , 54 b ) have a thickness from 3 nm to 30 nm , and typically from 5 nm to 20 nm , although lesser and greater thicknesses are contemplated herein also . referring to fig2 , a masked ion implantation is performed into the second semiconductor region 11 employing a first photoresist 61 to form first source / drain extension regions ( 72 a , 72 b ). each of the first source / drain extension regions ( 72 a , 72 b ) is a semiconductor material region including a doped semiconductor material . specifically , the first photoresist 61 is applied on the semiconductor substrate 8 and lithographically patterned with a first block mask such that the first device region 100 is exposed and the second device region 200 is covered by the first photoresist 61 . a first source extension region 72 a and a first drain extension region 72 b are formed in the first device region 100 by ion implantation of p - type dopants such as b , ga , in , or a combination thereof . the dopant concentration of the first source / drain extension regions ( 72 a , 72 b ) may be from 3 . 0 ร 10 18 / cm 3 to 3 . 0 ร 10 21 / cm 3 , and typically from 3 . 0 ร 10 19 / cm 3 to 3 . 0 ร 10 20 / cm 3 , although lesser and greater dopant concentrations are herein contemplated also . halo regions ( not shown ) may be formed in the second semiconductor region 11 directly beneath the first source / drain extension regions ( 72 a , 72 b ). after ion implantation , the first photoresist 61 is typically removed utilizing a conventional resist removal process . alternate doping techniques such as plasma doping can be employed to form the first source / drain extension regions ( 72 a , 72 b ) and / or the halo regions . further , the formation of the first source / drain extension regions ( 72 a , 72 b ) and / or the halo regions can be performed at other processing steps , such as after formation of source and drain regions illustrated in fig6 . referring to fig3 , a first dielectric layer 62 is formed on the first and second gate spacers ( 54 a , 54 b ) and first and second gate nitride caps ( 52 a , 52 b ). the first dielectric layer 62 includes a dielectric nitride or dielectric oxide . for example , the first dielectric layer 62 may include silicon nitride . the first dielectric layer 62 may be formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition ( pecvd ), low pressure chemical vapor deposition ( lpcvd ), rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition ( rtcvd ), high density plasma chemical vapor deposition ( hdpcvd ), or other known deposition techniques . the thickness of the first dielectric layer 62 may be from 20 nm to 100 nm , although lesser and greater thicknesses are also contemplated herein . referring to fig4 , a second photoresist 63 is applied to the first dielectric layer 62 and lithographically patterned to cover the second device region 200 , while exposing the first device region 100 . the portion of the first dielectric layer 62 in the first device region 100 is removed by an etch , which may be a dry etch or a wet etch . the exposed portion of the first semiconductor oxide layer 36 a , if present , is removed . the first source / drain extension regions ( 72 a , 72 b ) are exposed . the second photoresist 63 may be removed at this step , or alternately , may be removed after the formation of first source / drain trenches to be subsequently formed at the next step . referring to fig5 , first source / drain trenches 18 are formed by removing portions of the second semiconductor region 11 within the first device region 100 by an anisotropic etch such as a reactive ion etch . the first source / drain trenches 18 include a first source side trench formed on one side of the first gate electrode and a first drain side trench formed on the other side of the first gate electrode . preferably , the reactive ion etch is selective to the first dielectric layer 62 , the first gate nitride cap 52 a , the first gate spacer 54 a , and the shallow trench isolation structure 20 . some edges of the first source / drain trenches 18 are substantially self - aligned to the outer sidewalls of the first gate spacer 54 a . other edges of the first source / drain trenches 18 may be self - aligned to the edges of the shallow trench isolation structures 20 . preferably , the depth of the first source / drain trenches 18 is less than the depth of the shallow trench isolation structure 20 . in case the semiconductor substrate 8 is an soi substrate , the depth of the first source / drain trenches 18 is less than the thickness of a top semiconductor layer , i . e ., a buried insulator layer is not exposed at the bottom of the first source / drain trenches . presence of the second semiconductor region 11 at the bottom of the first source / drain trenches 18 enables epitaxial alignment of a first - semiconductor - material region ( to be subsequently formed within the first source / drain trenches 18 ) to the lattice structure of the second semiconductor region 11 . the depth of the first source / drain trenches 18 may be from 10 nm to 150 nm , and typically from 20 nm to 100 nm , although lesser and greater depths are contemplated herein also . the second photoresist 63 is subsequently removed . alternately , it is also possible to omit formation of the first source / drain trenches 18 and to form source and drain regions in the original semiconductor material of the second semiconductor region 11 . referring to fig6 , embedded first - semiconductor - material regions including a first semiconductor material can be formed by in - situ doped selective epitaxy within the first source / drain trenches 18 . the first semiconductor material is different from the semiconductor material of the second semiconductor region 11 in lattice spacing . for example , the embedded first - semiconductor - material regions can be embedded sige regions . the embedded first - semiconductor - material regions include single crystalline first semiconductor material portions , and include an embedded first - semiconductor - material source region 76 a and an embedded first - semiconductor - material drain region 76 b , which are herein collectively termed โ embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions โ ( 76 a , 76 b ). the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) are semiconductor material regions that include a p - type dopant , e . g ., b , ga , in , or a combination thereof , at a concentration from 3 . 0 ร 10 19 / cm 3 to 3 . 0 ร 10 21 / cm 3 , and typically from 1 . 0 ร 10 20 / cm 3 to 1 . 0 ร 10 21 / cm 3 , although lesser and greater concentrations are also contemplated herein . in one embodiment , the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) include a silicon germanium alloy having a p - type doping . preferably , the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) include germanium from 15 % to 35 % in atomic concentration , although lesser and greater concentration are explicitly contemplated herein also . the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) are epitaxially aligned to the second semiconductor region 11 . due to the forced epitaxial alignment of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) to the second semiconductor region 11 , the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) apply a compressive uniaxial stress to a first channel c 1 directly underneath the first gate dielectric 30 a in the first device region 100 . alternately , if formation of the first source / drain trenches is omitted at the processing step of fig5 , a raised source region and / or a raised drain region can be grown over exposed source and drain regions , e . g ., on exposed surfaces of the first source / drain extension regions ( 72 a , 72 b ), by selective epitaxial growth of a doped semiconductor material . yet alternately , source and drain regions may be formed by introduction of electrical dopants by ion implantation and / or plasma doping without forming first source drain / trenches and without forming raised source / drain regions . referring to fig7 , an etch - stop dielectric layer 64 and a second dielectric layer 66 are formed on the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the first and second gate spacers ( 54 a , 54 b ). the second dielectric layer 66 includes a dielectric oxide or a dielectric nitride . for example , the second dielectric layer 66 may include silicon nitride . the etch - stop dielectric layer 64 includes a dielectric material that is different from the material of the second dielectric layer 66 . if the second dielectric layer 66 includes silicon nitride , the etch - stop dielectric layer 64 may include silicon oxide . the thickness of the second dielectric layer 66 may be from 20 nm to 100 nm , although lesser and greater thicknesses are also contemplated herein . the thickness of the etch - stop dielectric layer 64 may be from 5 nm to 30 nm , although lesser and greater thicknesses are also contemplated herein . referring to fig8 , a third photoresist 67 is applied over the second dielectric layer 66 and lithographically patterned to expose the second device region 200 , while blocking the first device region 100 . the exposed portions of the second dielectric layer 66 in the second device region 200 is removed by a first etch , which may be a wet etch or a dry etch employing the third photoresist 67 as an etch mask . preferably , the first etch is selective to the etch - stop dielectric layer 64 . exposed portions of the etch - stop dielectric layer 64 in the second device region 200 are removed by a second etch employing the third photoresist 67 as an etch mask . preferably , the second etch is selective to the second gate spacer 54 b , the second gate cap nitride 52 b , and the first semiconductor region 10 . a masked ion implantation may be performed into the first semiconductor region 10 employing the third photoresist 67 as a blocking mask to form second source / drain extension regions ( 73 a , 73 b ). a second source extension region 73 a and a second drain extension region 73 b are formed in the second device region 200 by ion implantation of n - type dopants such as p , as , sb , or a combination thereof . the dopant concentration of the second source / drain extension regions ( 73 a , 73 b ) may be from 3 . 0 ร 10 18 / cm 3 to 3 . 0 ร 10 21 / cm 3 , and typically from 3 . 0 ร 10 19 / cm 3 to 3 . 0 ร 10 20 / cm 3 , although lesser and greater dopant concentrations are herein contemplated also . halo regions ( not shown ) may be formed in the first semiconductor region directly 10 beneath the second source / drain extension regions ( 73 a , 73 b ). the third photoresist 67 may be removed at this point , or alternately , may be removed after the formation of second source / drain trenches to be subsequently formed at the next step . alternate doping techniques such as plasma doping can be employed to form the second source / drain extension regions ( 73 a , 73 b ) and / or the halo regions . further , the formation of the first source / drain extension regions ( 73 a , 73 b ) and / or the halo regions can be performed at other processing steps , such as after formation of source and drain regions illustrated in fig1 . referring to fig9 , second source / drain trenches 19 are formed by removing portions of the first semiconductor region 10 within the second device region 200 by an anisotropic etch such as a reactive ion etch . the second source / drain trenches 19 include a second source side trench formed on one side of the second gate electrode and a second drain side trench formed on the other side of the second gate electrode . preferably , the reactive ion etch is selective to the second dielectric layer 66 , the second gate nitride cap 52 b , the second gate spacer 54 b , and the shallow trench isolation structure 20 . some edges of the second source / drain trenches 19 are substantially self - aligned to the outer sidewalls of the second gate spacer 54 b . other edges of the second source / drain trenches 19 may be self - aligned to the edges of the shallow trench isolation structures 20 . preferably , the depth of the second source / drain trenches 19 is less than the depth of the shallow trench isolation structure 20 . in case the semiconductor substrate 8 is an soi substrate , the depth of the second source / drain trenches 19 is less than the thickness of a top semiconductor layer , i . e ., a buried insulator layer is not exposed at the bottom of the second source / drain trenches . presence of the first semiconductor region 10 at the bottom of the second source / drain trenches 19 enables epitaxial alignment of a second - semiconductor - material alloy to be subsequently formed within the second source / drain trenches 19 to the lattice structure of the first semiconductor region 10 . the depth of the second source / drain trenches 19 may be from 10 nm to 150 nm , and typically from 20 nm to 100 nm , although lesser and greater depths are contemplated herein also . alternately , it is also possible to omit formation of the second source / drain trenches 19 and to form source and drain regions in the original semiconductor material of the first semiconductor region 10 . referring to fig1 , embedded second - semiconductor - material regions including a second semiconductor material can be formed by in - situ doped selective epitaxy within the second source / drain trenches 19 . the second semiconductor material is different from the semiconductor material of the first semiconductor region 10 and the first semiconductor material in lattice spacing . for example , the embedded second - semiconductor - material regions can be embedded silicon - carbon alloy regions . the embedded second - semiconductor - material regions include single crystalline second - semiconductor - material alloy portions , and include an embedded second - semiconductor - material source region 77 a and an embedded second - semiconductor - material drain region 77 b , which are herein collectively termed โ embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions โ ( 77 a , 77 b ). the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ) are semiconductor regions that include an n - type dopant , e . g ., p , as , sb , or a combination thereof , at a concentration from 3 . 0 ร 10 19 / cm 3 to 3 . 0 ร 10 21 / cm 3 , and typically from 1 . 0 ร 10 20 / cm 3 to 1 . 0 ร 10 21 / cm 3 , although lesser and greater concentrations are also contemplated herein . in one embodiment , the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ) can include a silicon carbon alloy having an n - type doping . preferably , the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ) include carbon from 0 . 5 % to 4 . 0 % in atomic concentration , although lesser and greater concentration are explicitly contemplated herein also . the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ) are epitaxially aligned to the first semiconductor region 10 . due to the forced epitaxial alignment of the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ) to the first semiconductor region 10 , the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ) apply a tensile uniaxial stress to a second channel c 2 directly underneath the second gate dielectric 30 b in the second device region 200 . alternately , if formation of the second source / drain trenches is omitted at the processing step of fig9 , a raised source region and / or a raised drain region can be grown over exposed source and drain regions , e . g ., on exposed surfaces of the second source / drain extension regions ( 73 a , 73 b ), by selective epitaxial growth of a doped semiconductor material . yet alternately , source and drain regions may be formed by introduction of electrical dopants by ion implantation and / or plasma doping without forming first source drain / trenches and without forming raised source / drain regions . referring to fig1 , the etch - stop dielectric layer 64 and the second dielectric layer 66 can be removed selective to semiconductor materials and the materials of the first and second dielectric gate caps ( 52 a , 52 b ) and the first and second gate spacers ( 54 a , 54 b ). a first stress - generating dielectric liner 68 and a second stress - generating dielectric liner 69 can be formed in the first device region 100 and the second device region , respectively . the first stress - generating dielectric liner 68 overlies a first gate structure ( 30 a , 32 a , 36 a , 52 a , 54 a ) and the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ). the second stress - generating dielectric liner 69 overlies a second gate structure ( 30 b , 32 b , 36 b , 52 b , 54 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). the first stress - generating dielectric liner 68 and the second stress - generating dielectric liner 69 are typically dielectric silicon nitride layers that are formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition . if the first device region 100 includes a p - type field effect transistor and the second device region 200 includes an n - type field effect transistor , the first stress - generating dielectric liner 68 can be a dielectric liner that applies a compressive stress to underlying structures and a second stress - generating dielectric liner 69 can be a dielectric liner that applies a tensile stress to underlying structures . the first stress - generating dielectric liner 68 and the second stress - generating dielectric liner 69 are optional , i . e ., may , or may not , be present . referring to fig1 , a contact level dielectric material layer 82 is deposited over the first stress - generating dielectric liner 68 and the second stress - generating dielectric liner 69 , if present , and / or over the first gate structure ( 30 a , 32 a , 36 a , 52 a , 54 a ), the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ), the second gate structure ( 30 b , 32 b , 36 b , 52 b , 54 b ), and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). the contact level dielectric layer 82 may include a mobile ion barrier layer ( not shown ). the contact level dielectric layer 82 may include , for example , a cvd oxide such as undoped silicate glass ( usg ), borosilicate glass ( bsg ), phosphosilicate glass ( psg ), fluorosilicate glass ( fsg ), borophosphosilicate glass ( bpsg ), or a combination thereof . the contact dielectric material layer 82 is planarized , for example , by chemical mechanical planarization , a recess etch , or a combination thereof . for example , the topmost surface of the contact level dielectric layer 82 as planarized can have a planar top surface that lies within the same horizontal plane as the top surfaces of the first stress - generating dielectric liner 68 and the second stress - generating dielectric liner 69 , if present , or within the same horizontal plane as the top surfaces of the first and second dielectric gate caps ( 52 a , 52 b ). referring to fig1 , a first photoresist 81 is applied to the top surface of the contact level dielectric layer 82 and is lithographically patterned to form openings therein . the openings in the first photoresist 81 overlie areas in which formation of metal semiconductor alloys are desired . for example , the openings in the first photoresist 81 may be within areas of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). optionally , additional openings ( not shown ) in the first photoresist 81 may be formed in portions of areas of the first and second gate conductors ( 32 a , 32 b ). trenches 83 are formed through the contact level dielectric layer 82 and the first and second stress - generating dielectric liners ( 68 , 69 ) and upper portions of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). each trench 83 can be formed by first anisotropically etching through the contact level dielectric layer 82 and one of the first and second stress - generating dielectric liners ( 68 , 69 ) to expose top surfaces of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). employing the first photoresist 81 as an etch mask , the anisotropic etch continues employing a different etch chemistry or the same chemistry into the upper portions of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). thus , each trench 83 extends from a top surface of the contact level dielectric material layer 82 into a semiconductor material portion . alternately , an anisotropic etch may be employed first to expose a semiconductor surface , and then a semiconductor specific wet etch chemistry such as a koh etch may be employed . the sidewalls of each trench 83 contiguously extend from the topmost surface of the contact level dielectric material layer 83 into the semiconductor material region , which can be one of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). the depth of the anisotropic etch can be controlled so that the trenches 83 extend below a planar top surface of the semiconductor substrate 8 such as the interface between the first semiconductor region 10 and the second gate dielectric 30 b or the interface between the second semiconductor region 11 and the first gate dielectric 30 a . thus , the bottom surface of each trench 83 can be located between a horizontal plane that includes the bottom surface of the first and second gate dielectrics ( 30 a , 30 b ) and another horizontal plane that coincides with a bottommost surface of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). referring to fig1 , a metal layer 78 is deposited on all exposed surfaces in the trenches 83 and the top surface of the contact level dielectric layer . the metal layer 78 includes a metal that can form a metal semiconductor alloy by interacting with the semiconductor materials of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). materials that can be employed for the metal layer 78 include , but are not limited to , ti , ta , v , w , mo , ni , pt , and alloys thereof . the thickness of the metal layer 78 is typically less than one half of the width of the bottom portion of the trenches 83 prior to deposition of the metal layer 83 . typically , the thickness of the metal layer 78 is from 10 nm to 30 nm , although lesser and greater thicknesses can also be employed . referring to fig1 , various metal semiconductor alloy regions are formed by inducing an interdiffusion and reaction between the metal in the metal layer 78 and the semiconductor materials that contact the metal layer 78 . the semiconductor materials are located within surface portions of semiconductor material regions , i . e ., on the sidewalls and bottom surface of the trench 83 that form interfaces between the metal layer 78 and the semiconductor material regions . the semiconductor material regions include the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). the various metal semiconductor alloy regions include a first metal semiconductor alloy region 84 a formed on the embedded first - semiconductor - material source region 76 a , a second metal semiconductor alloy region 84 b formed on the embedded first - semiconductor - material drain region 76 b , a third metal semiconductor alloy region 84 c formed on the embedded second - semiconductor - material source region 77 a , a fourth metal semiconductor alloy region 84 d formed on the embedded second - semiconductor - material drain region 77 b . the various metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) are formed by diffusion the metal into the various semiconductor material regions ( 76 a , 76 b , 77 a , 77 b ) through sidewalls and bottom surfaces of the trenches 83 . the unreacted portions of the metal layer 78 are removed selective to the various metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ). the entirety of each metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) is of integral construction , i . e ., contiguously connected throughout . each metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) includes an upper metal semiconductor alloy portion and a lower metal semiconductor alloy portion . the bottommost surface of each metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) can be at a first depth d 1 from the topmost portions of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). within each upper metal semiconductor alloy portion , an inner sidewall and an outer sidewall of the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion are laterally spaced by a substantially constant width throughout . each lower metal semiconductor alloy portion does not include a pair of an inner sidewall and an outer sidewall having a constant spacing therebetween . if a metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) includes a horizontal bottom portion having a substantially constant thickness , the top surface of the horizontal portion can be at a second depth d 2 from the topmost portion of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). in this case , the boundary between the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion and the lower metal semiconductor alloy portion in any of the metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) can be at the depth of the upper surface of the horizontal portion . the boundary between the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion and the lower metal semiconductor alloy portion within the third metal semiconductor alloy region 84 c is represented by a horizontal dotted line . the lower metal semiconductor alloy portions of the metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) can be formed between a horizontal plane that includes the bottom surface of the gate dielectrics ( 30 a , 30 b ) and a bottommost surface of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) or the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). inner sidewalls of a metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) are laterally spaced at least by a spacing s throughout the entirety of the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion therein . referring to fig1 , a first optional processing step may be employed if formation of a local interconnect structure within the contact level dielectric layer 82 is desired . in this case , a second photoresist 85 can be optionally applied and lithographically patterned to form openings in an area overlapping with at least two trenches 83 . referring to fig1 , a second optional processing step may be employed if formation of a local interconnect structure within the contact level dielectric layer 82 is desired . in an etch process that employs the second photoresist 85 as an etch mask , the exposed portions of the contact level dielectric material layer 82 and any portion of the first and second stress - generating dielectric liners ( 68 , 69 ), if present , are removed selective to the underlying semiconductor materials , underlying metal semiconductor alloy portions ( i . e ., portions of the first and second metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b ), and underlying portions of the shallow trench isolation structure 20 . the second photoresist 85 is subsequently removed , for example , by ashing . referring to fig1 , various contact via structures are formed by deposition of a conductive material into the trenches 83 and by filling the trenches 83 with the conductive material . the conductive material is typically a metal , which can be the same as , or different from the metal in the metal layer 78 . ( see fig1 .) excess conductive material above the top surface of the contact level dielectric layer 82 is removed by planarization , which can be effected by , for example , chemical mechanical planarization , a recess etch , or a combination thereof . remaining portions of the deposited conductive material form various contact via structures after the planarization . a topmost surface of each of the various contact via structures is coplanar with the topmost surface of the contact level dielectric layer 82 . the various contact via structures can include , for example , a first - type contact via structures that contact only one of the metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 c , 84 d ). the first - type contact via structures include a first first - type contact via structure 86 a that contacts the third metal semiconductor alloy region 84 c and a second first - type contact via structure 86 b that contacts the fourth metal semiconductor alloy region 84 d . each of the first - type contact via structures ( 86 a , 86 b ) includes a lower contact via portion that is laterally surrounded by a metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 c , 84 d ) and an upper contact via portion that overlies a metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 c , 84 d ). the various contact via structures can further include , for example , a second - type contact via structure 88 that contacts a plurality of metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b ). the second - type contact via structure 88 includes a plurality of lower contact via portions and an upper contact via portion . each of the lower contact via portions is laterally surrounded by a metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a or 84 b ) and an upper contact via portion that overlies a plurality of metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a and 84 b ). the shallow trench isolation structure 20 may the bottom surface of the second - type contact via structure 88 . for each metal semiconductor alloy region that underlies a first - type contact via structure ( 86 a , 86 b ) or a second - type contact via structure 88 , an upper metal semiconductor alloy portion of the metal semiconductor alloy region laterally surrounds a lower contact via portion of a contact via structure ( 86 a , 86 b , 88 ), and a lower metal semiconductor alloy portion of the metal semiconductor alloy region underlies the lower contact via portion of the contact via structure ( 86 a , 86 b , 88 ). because the trenches 83 are formed below a planar top surface of the semiconductor substrate 8 ( see fig1 ), each lower contact via portion of a contact via structure ( 86 a , 86 b , 88 ) extends below the planar top surface of the semiconductor substrate 8 , which can be the coplanar with the bottom surfaces of the first and second gate dielectrics ( 30 a , 30 b ). a lower metal semiconductor alloy portion of each metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) is located between the horizontal plane ( that can includes the bottom surfaces of the first and second gate dielectrics ( 30 a , 30 b )), and a bottommost surface of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ), which are source regions and drain regions of field effect transistors . at the bottommost portion of each upper portion of a contact via structure ( 86 a , 86 b , 88 ), a sidewall of the upper portion of the contact via structure ( 86 a , 86 b , 88 ) contacts the topmost portion of a metal semiconductor alloy region . the location at which the sidewall of the upper portion of the contact via structure ( 86 a , 86 b , 88 ) contacts the topmost portion of a metal semiconductor alloy region is laterally confined between an uppermost portion of an inner sidewall of the metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) and an uppermost portion of an outer sidewall of the metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) because the inner sidewall and the outer sidewall are laterally spaced by a constant distance . at the bottommost portion of each upper portion of a contact via structure ( 86 a , 86 b , 88 ), an entirety of a periphery of the upper contact via portion contacts an upper surface of the underlying metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ). because the metal diffused into semiconductor material regions during formation of the various metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ), the outer sidewalls of the various metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) expand outward compared with the original size of the trenches 83 as formed by etching . thus , surfaces of the various metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) contact the first or second stress - generating dielectric liners ( 68 , 69 ), if present , or the contact level dielectric material layer 82 if first or second stress - generating dielectric liners are not present . the entirety of each upper contact via portion of the various contact via structures is embedded in the first and second stress - generating dielectric liners ( 68 , 69 ) and the contact level dielectric material layer 82 . referring to fig1 , various upper level metal interconnect structures can be subsequently formed . the upper level metal interconnect structures can include at least one interconnect level dielectric material layer 89 , at least one conductive via structures ( 90 a , 90 b , 90 c , 90 d , 90 e ), and at least one conductive line structures 92 . referring to fig2 , a first variation of the exemplary semiconductor structure can be derived from the exemplary structure by omitting formation of the first source / drain trenches 18 and the accompanying embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and / or by omitting formation of the second source / drain trenches 19 and the accompanying embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). instead , first implanted source / drain regions ( 76 a โฒ, 76 b โฒ) and / or second implanted source / drain regions ( 77 a โฒ, 77 b โฒ) are formed by employing masked ion implantation steps . correspondingly , the top surfaces of the implanted source / drain regions ( 76 a โฒ, 76 b โฒ) and / or second implanted source / drain regions ( 77 a โฒ, 77 b โฒ) can be coplanar with the bottom surfaces of the first and second gate dielectrics ( 30 a , 30 b ). the bottommost surface of each metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) can be at a first depth d 1 from the topmost portions of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). within each upper metal semiconductor alloy portion , an inner sidewall and an outer sidewall of the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion are laterally spaced by a substantially constant width throughout . each lower metal semiconductor alloy portion does not include a pair of an inner sidewall and an outer sidewall having a constant spacing therebetween . if a metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) includes a horizontal bottom portion having a substantially constant thickness , the top surface of the horizontal portion can be at a second depth d 2 from the topmost portion of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). in this case , the boundary between the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion and the lower metal semiconductor alloy portion in any of the metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) can be at the depth of the upper surface of the horizontal portion . the boundary between the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion and the lower metal semiconductor alloy portion within the third metal semiconductor alloy region 84 c is represented by a horizontal dotted line . the lower metal semiconductor alloy portions of the metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) can be formed between a horizontal plane that includes the bottom surface of the gate dielectrics ( 30 a , 30 b ) and a bottommost surface of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) or the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). inner sidewalls of a metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) are laterally spaced at least by a spacing s throughout the entirety of the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion therein . referring to fig2 , a second variation of the exemplary semiconductor structure can be derived from the first exemplary semiconductor structure or the first variation of the first exemplary semiconductor structure by employing an etch process that rounds the bottom surfaces of the trenches 83 at a processing step corresponding to fig1 . the bottommost surface of each metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) can be at a first depth d 1 from the topmost portions of the embedded first - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 76 a , 76 b ) and the embedded second - semiconductor - material source / drain regions ( 77 a , 77 b ). the boundary between the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion and the lower metal semiconductor alloy portion in any of the metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) can be at a depth at which an inner sidewall and an outer sidewall of the metal semiconductor alloy region ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , or 84 d ) becomes no longer parallel to each other . the boundary between the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion and the lower metal semiconductor alloy portion within the third metal semiconductor alloy region 84 c is represented by a horizontal dotted line . thus , the inner sidewalls of a metal semiconductor alloy regions ( 84 a , 84 b , 84 c , 84 d ) are laterally spaced at least by a spacing s throughout the entirety of the upper metal semiconductor alloy portion therein . the structure of the present disclosure can be implemented on any type of field effect transistors including conventional planar field effect transistors and finfets , as well as bipolar transistors that require contacts to the emitter , base , and collector , and other semiconductor devices such as varactors , silicon controlled rectifiers , diodes , capacitors , resistors , and inductors that include at least one metal semiconductor alloy region . while the disclosure has been described in terms of specific embodiments , it is evident in view of the foregoing description that numerous alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the disclosure is intended to encompass all such alternatives , modifications and variations which fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosure and the following claims . | 7 |
fig1 shows a cross section through an end - to - end anastomosis of two hollow organs 1 , 2 , for example two arteries . over the end of the hollow organ 1 a sleeve 3 has been pushed , and the end of the hollow organ 1 has been folded back over this sleeve 3 . then the end of the hollow organ 2 to be connected thereto is pushed over the inverted end of the first hollow organ 1 , which now encloses the inner sleeve 3 , and finally the outer sleeve 4 is placed over the inner sleeve 3 . so that the sleeves 3 , 4 can be removed after anastomosis is complete , each is designed to be separable . in accordance with the invention the inner sleeve 3 and the outer sleeve 4 both incorporate electrically conductive material , which preferably takes the form of corresponding contact surfaces 5 , 6 in the sleeves 3 , 4 . it is likewise possible for the sleeves 3 , 4 as a whole to be made of electrically conductive material . the contact surfaces 5 , 6 are preferably disposed circumferentially around the sleeves 3 , 4 , so that after coagulation has been completed a continuous , secure connection between the hollow organs 1 and 2 will be achieved . the contact surfaces 5 , 6 are connected by way of corresponding leads 7 , 8 to an external current or voltage source 9 , which applies an appropriate current or voltage to the contact surfaces 5 , 6 for electrocoagulation of the hollow organs 1 , 2 that are to be connected . to control the applied current or voltage , a control means 10 can be disposed between the current or voltage source 9 and the contact surfaces 5 , 6 on the sleeves 3 , 4 , which can also include a time - switch 11 to determine the duration of the current or voltage pulses , or can be connected to such a time - switch 11 . for measurement of the impedance of the tissue between the contact surfaces 5 , 6 there can be connected to the leads 7 , 8 a corresponding impedance - measuring apparatus 12 , which in turn can be connected to the current or voltage source 9 or to the control device 10 to control the current or the voltage during the electrocoagulation . to monitor the temperature during electrocoagulation , in the inner sleeve 3 and / or the outer sleeve 4 can be disposed a temperature sensor 13 , which is preferably connected directly to the current or voltage source 9 or to the control means 10 for regulating the connection process . with the device in accordance with the invention it is possible to create an optimal connection by employing the sleeves 3 , 4 ( which are known per se ) and using electrical energy to fuse the tissues of the hollow organs 1 , 2 . after the anastomosis has been completed the sleeves 3 , 4 are removed , so that no foreign bodies remain and a seamless connection between the hollow organs 1 , 2 results . fig2 shows in perspective an inner sleeve 3 consisting of two pivotable components 3 โฒ, 3 โณ that are connected to the ends of a correspondingly shaped clamp 14 made of spring - steel wire . by pressing on the limbs of the clamp 14 , the components 3 โฒ and 3 โณ of the sleeve can be swiveled apart , and the sleeve 3 can be placed over the hollow organ 1 and , after anastomosis formation is complete , removed again . here the clamp 14 makes electrically conductive connection with the contact surface 5 of the sleeve 3 , by way of corresponding connector pieces 15 , and the application of current is achieved directly by way of the clamp 14 . fig3 shows in perspective an embodiment of the outer sleeve 4 consisting of two parts 4 โฒ, 4 โณ, which likewise are pivotably connected to one another by way of a clamp 14 made of spring - steel wire . here , again , the contact surfaces 6 of the sleeve 4 are connected to the clamp 14 so as to be electrically conductive , and the connection to the current or voltage source 9 is implemented by way of the clamp 14 . fig4 a to 4 h show the steps to be taken in creating an end - to - end anastomosis of two hollow organs 1 , 2 , such as blood vessels . in the first step the sleeve 3 is pushed over the end of the hollow organ 1 , or else the parts 3 โฒ, 3 โณ of the sleeve 3 are rotated apart and , having been placed over the hollow organ 1 from the side , are closed again . as shown in fig4 b , the end of the hollow organ 1 is folded back over the sleeve 3 . according to fig4 c the end of the second hollow organ 2 is pushed over the end of the first hollow organ 1 , which has been inverted over the inner sleeve 3 , so that the situation shown in fig4 d results . thereafter , as shown in fig4 e , by rotation of the components 4 โฒ and 4 โณ of the outer sleeve 4 , the sleeve 4 is positioned axially so as to enclose the circumference of the hollow organ 2 , overlying the sleeve 3 . as shown in fig4 f , between the contact surfaces 5 , 6 of the sleeves 3 , 4 an electrical current or an electrical voltage with prespecified pulse shape , amplitude , duration and frequency is applied , as a result of which the cellular substance coagulates and brings about fusion of the protein structures comprising the tissue of the hollow organs 1 and 2 . after removal of the outer sleeve 4 , the resulting anastomosis is as shown in fig4 g , in which can be seen the resulting ring - shaped circumferential fusion seam 16 . thereafter the sleeve 3 is removed by first shifting it axially and then separating the components 3 โฒ and 3 โณ. the end result is an anastomosis as shown in fig4 h , which is free of all the accessories used during the formation of the anastomosis . the arrows in the hollow organs 1 and 2 indicate , for example in the case of a blood vessel , the possible direction of blood flow . fig5 a and 5 b show an embodiment of an inner sleeve 3 with an annular contact surface 5 , which is connected to an electrical supply cable 7 . the sleeve 3 has on its inner surface predefined breaking sites 17 in the form of axially oriented grooves , which allow the sleeve 3 to be broken apart after the anastomosis is completed , so that the two separated components 3 โฒ, 3 โณ can be removed from the hollow organ 1 ( fig5 b ). instead of such predefined breaking sites 17 it is possible for two initially separate components 3 โฒ, 3 โณ of the sleeve 3 to be glued together and subsequently separated . fig6 shows another embodiment of a sleeve 3 , in which two annular contact surfaces 5 are electrically connected to one another by way of appropriate connecting elements 18 . the components 3 โฒ, 3 โณ of the sleeve 3 can additionally be provided with catch elements 19 , 20 that hold the components 3 โฒ, 3 โณ together when the sleeve 3 is in the closed position , but nevertheless make it possible for the components 3 โฒ, 3 โณ to be easily separated . fig7 , finally , shows another embodiment of the device in accordance with the invention in cross section ; in this case fitting elements 21 , for example in the form of a circumferential groove , are disposed on the inner sleeve 3 , and the outer sleeve 4 is provided with corresponding fitting elements 22 with a complementary shape , for example a likewise circumferential groove , which enable exact positioning of the sleeves 3 , 4 with respect to one another . the invention is not restricted to the exemplary embodiments presented here , and can be modified within the scope of the claims . | 0 |
fig1 and 2 disclose top and side views , respectively , of a spring biased latch assembly 10 , a positioning arm 20 , a floating collet spring block assembly 30 and a restraint lever 40 which collectively form a fixture mounting device 1 . the fixture mounting device 1 supports part 101 ( e . g ., a non - metallic part , as for example , a thin and possibly fragile transducer crystal wafer such as a lithium niobate crystal ) and part 102 ( e . g ., a non - metallic part , as for example , a buffer rod such as a ceramic like sapphire ) within a vacuum chamber assembly 4 , shown in fig1 , during coating and subsequent bonding of the parts 101 and 102 . the fixture mounting device 1 is attached to a fixture adapter plate 2 . prior to the coating of parts 101 and 102 , part 102 is secured in the floating collet spring block assembly 30 , shown in fig1 - 12 . part 102 is inserted in a central opening 32 in a collet 31 . the opening 32 is internally threaded to receive a threaded collet stop shaft 33 . the threaded collet stop shaft 33 engages part 102 to prevent movement of the part 102 during the bonding operation . the collet 31 is secured within a collet holder 34 having an externally threaded sleeve 34b . the collet 31 and the collet stop shaft 33 are located within a channel 34c extending through sleeve 34b . an internally threaded cap 34a is threaded on the sleeve 34b to secure the collet 31 within the sleeve 34b . the cap 34a includes an opening through which a portion of the collet 31 and the part 102 extend , as shown in fig1 . the collet holder 34 is then positioned within an opening 35a in top plate 35 . spring post screws 36 extend through openings 35b in the top plate 35 of the floating collet spring block assembly 30 . the spring post screws 36 are secured to a bottom mount assembly 37 . the mount assembly 37 is secured to the fixture adapter plate 2 . coil springs 38 surround the spring post screws 36 to bias the top plate away from the mount assembly 37 . belleville washers or other suitable biasing assemblies may be substituted for the coil springs 38 . the tension in the springs 38 can be adjusted , for example , by trimming the springs to reduce tension or by inserting washers or shims between the spring and the block assembly to increase tension . this will adjust the forces the springs 38 exert on the top plate 35 . the screws 36 act as stops to prevent excessive travel of the collet assembly . the top plate 35 transfers the forces exerted by the springs to the collet 31 and the part 102 during the bonding operation . with this arrangement , a bonding load can be applied to the parts and calibrated without the use of external electrical and hydraulic connections . part 101 is aligned on part 102 , as shown in fig3 . this can be accomplished manually by the user or automatically by a mechanical assembly , not shown . when the latch assembly 10 is released , the positioning arm 20 is rotated by the positioning arm drive shaft 50 , shown in fig1 . the positioning arm 20 is rotated to a position , shown in fig4 where the positioning arm 20 can pick up part 101 . the positioning arm 20 includes a latch engaging surface 21 for engaging a positioning arm engaging surface 11 on the latch assembly 10 . on an opposite end of the positioning arm 20 is a swivel mount assembly 200 , shown in detail in fig7 - 9 . the latch assembly 10 may be held in the position shown in fig3 by a detent assembly . the detent assembly includes a recess 12 in the latch assembly 10 . the detent assembly also includes a bracket 13 having a biasing assembly 14 such as , for example , a spring biased ball screw . the biasing assembly 14 engages the recess 12 in the latch assembly such that the positioning arm 20 is maintained in a flat position during the coating operation , as shown in fig5 . when the positioning arm 20 is rotated to the position shown in fig4 and 6 , the bias of spring 15 releases the detent assembly 12 so that the latch assembly 10 can rotate to the positions shown in fig4 and 6 . the swivel mount assembly 200 is mounted to the positioning arm 20 and supports the part 101 . the swivel mount assembly 200 provides a self alignment ability that eliminates uneven load distribution . when the load is applied a slight bending of the positioning arm 20 can contribute to a misalignment of the parts 101 and 102 . the swivel mount assembly 200 in conjunction with the floating collet spring block assembly 30 accommodates these changes in position and maintains alignment . as shown in fig7 - 9 , the swivel mount assembly 200 includes a ball tipped screw 201 that is threadably engaged with an opening 22 extending through an end of the positioning arm 20 . the screw 201 includes a ball 202 located on one end . a portion of the end of the screw 201 and the ball 202 project into a cavity 23 in the positioning arm 20 . a locking screw 203 is provided to limit the movement of the ball tipped screw 201 within the opening 22 . a swivel plate 204 is positioned within the cavity 23 , as shown in fig8 . the swivel plate 204 includes an indentation 205 on one side for engaging the ball 202 of the ball tipped screw 201 . the surface of the plate 204 is coated with a layer 206 of friction reducing material ( e . g ., a teflon sheet or some other suitable friction reducing material ). an opposite surface of the swivel plate 204 includes an adhesive layer 207 . the adhesive layer 207 is composed of a wax material that is frequently used for polishing semiconductor wafers , although other suitable adhesives can be used . the semi - fluid and plastic behavior of the layer 207 permits part 101 to flex slightly to conform to slight curvatures and irregularities in part 102 . additionally , the layer 207 holds the part 101 such that it can be automatically adjusted in the event of uneven loading . furthermore , the layer 207 distributes the bonding load to prevent cracking of part 101 as well as produce a gradual rise in pressure on part 101 . the swivel mount plate assembly 200 further includes pivoting spring clips 208 having pivot pins 209 . the spring clips 208 maintain the swivel mount plate 204 within cavity 23 during movement of the positioning arm 20 between the positions shown in fig3 - 6 . the spring clips 208 are rotated 90 degrees about pivot pins 209 to release the swivel mount plate 204 from the cavity 23 . other suitable retaining members may be substituted for the spring clips 208 ( e . g ., a threaded collar engaging the surface of cavity 23 and the surface of the mount plate 204 containing the adhesive layer 207 ). the swivel mounting plate and floating mounting assembly permit part 101 to achieve a proper orientation relative to the part 102 thereby reducing the risk of damage due to high momentary loads of initial contact . the fixture mounting device 1 further includes a restraint lever 40 , shown in fig2 mounted to the fixture adapter plate 2 . the restraint lever 40 includes a lever arm 41 pivotally supported by pivot pin 42 to the fixture adapter plate 2 by a pair of supports 43 . positioned under one end of the lever arm 41 is a cam assembly 44 . the cam assembly 44 is operated by a cam assembly drive shaft 60 , shown in fig1 . an opposite end of the lever arm 41 includes a pair of arms 41a and 41b , as shown in fig1 . each arm 41a and 41b includes a screw 45 . the screws 45 contact the top plate 35 of the floating collet spring block assembly 30 and compress springs 38 . the compression of the springs 38 can be adjusted by adjusting the screws 45 . the restraint lever 40 compresses or releases the floating collet spring block assembly 30 depending on the position of the cam assembly 44 . when the restraint lever 40 releases the floating collet spring block assembly 30 , the compression springs 38 apply a bonding force to bond parts 101 and 102 together . the fixture mounting device 1 supports parts 101 and 102 for coating . the fixture mounting plate 2 is mounted to a turntable 3 within a vacuum chamber assembly 4 , shown in fig1 . located within the vacuum chamber assembly 4 are a plurality of coating sources 5a - c , shown in fig1 . each coating source 5 deposits a separate material on the wafer 101 and the buffer rod 102 . although a single coating source can be employed for coating different materials . as shown in fig1 , the vacuum chamber assembly 4 includes a single feedthrough mechanism 70 that is capable of rotary and linear motion . the single feedthrough mechanism 70 reduces the number of ports or wall penetrations in the vacuum chamber assembly 4 . this reduces the impact the ports have on the vacuum within the chamber . the tip of a key member 71 can engage a complementary socket 51 on the positioning arm drive shaft 50 and a complementary socket 61 on the cam assembly drive shaft 60 to operate the positioning arm 20 and the restraining lever 40 , respectively . this can be accomplished by moving the feedthrough mechanism 70 in a linear manner . the positioning arm 20 is operated by moving the turntable 3 such that the feedthrough mechanism 70 is aligned with the positioning arm drive shaft 50 . similarly , the cam assembly 44 is rotated by moving the turntable 3 such that the feedthrough mechanism 70 is aligned with the cam assembly drive shaft 60 . once the key member 71 is engaged with the either socket 51 or 61 , the feedthrough mechanism 70 is rotated to operate the positioning arm 20 or the restraining lever 40 . additionally , the latch assembly 10 may include a complementary socket ( not shown ) such that the feedthrough mechanism 70 can also operate the latch assembly . in an alternative embodiment , a pair of feedthrough mechanisms 70 can be provided such that the turntable does not have to be rotated to move the position of the positioning arm 20 and the restraining arm 40 . these embodiments of the present invention provide a simple manual assembly for operating the fixture mounting device 1 that requires no external electrical or mechanical power other than the physical input of a human operator . for coating systems that do not utilize a turntable arrangement where the apparatus may be in a fixed position , the actuating mechanism may be simplified . prior to the coating and bonding of parts 101 and 102 , the floating collet spring block assembly 30 is calibrated to adjust the bonding load . the calibration is accomplished by installing in cavity 23 a miniature load cell , not shown , of the same thickness as the swivel mount assembly 200 . the tip of the key member 71 is brought into engagement with socket 51 . the feedthrough mechanism 70 is then rotated to drive the positioning arm drive shaft 50 . the positioning arm 20 is then set to the bonding position , shown in fig6 . the turntable 3 is then rotated such that the key member 71 is aligned with the socket 61 of the cam assembly drive shaft 60 . the feedthrough mechanism 70 is then rotated to drive the cam assembly drive shaft 60 to rotate the cam assembly 44 . the screws 45 of the restraining lever 41 are then released from engagement with the top plate 35 . the collet 31 is then pressed against the load cell in a manner similar to that shown in fig6 . the bonding load of the springs 38 can now be adjusted in the manner described above . when belleville washers are employed as a spring device , individual washers can be added or removed to adjust the bonding load . once the desired bonding load is achieved , the latch assembly 10 is released and the positioning arm 20 is rotated to a position shown in fig2 . the load cell can then be removed . the pre - calibration of the load springs 38 permits a bonding load to be applied without the need of externally supplied electrical or hydraulic power . the process of coating parts 101 and 102 will now be described . prior to mounting parts 101 and 102 , the positioning arm 20 is rotated to a position shown in fig3 . this is accomplished by aligning the key member 71 of the feedthrough mechanism 70 with the positioning arm drive shaft 50 . the feedthrough mechanism 70 is then rotated to operate the positioning arm drive shaft 50 to rotate the retaining arm to the aligning position , shown in fig3 . these actions may be performed by hand at ambient room pressure . part 102 is then inserted in channel 32 on the collet 31 . the collet stop shaft 33 is threaded into place to limit movement of part 102 during the bonding operation . the collet 31 is then located within the collet holder sleeve 34b . the cap 34a is threaded into place and the collet holder 34 is then placed in opening 35a in the top plate 35 . the turntable 3 is rotated such that key member 71 of the feedthrough mechanism 70 is brought into alignment with the socket 61 of the cam assembly drive shaft 60 . the cam assembly 44 is rotated such that the arms 41a and 41b and the screws 45 engage the top plate 35 . this causes the springs 38 to compress . part 101 is then aligned on a surface of part 102 . alternatively , these operations may be performed by hand . the turntable 3 is again rotated to align the key member 71 with socket 61 . the positioning arm 20 is then rotated in the manner described above to the position shown in fig4 . the adhesive layer 207 on the swivel mount assembly 200 contacts part 101 . the turntable 3 is rotated so that the feedthrough mechanism 70 can operate the cam assembly drive shaft 50 . the cam assembly 44 is rotated to release the restraining lever 40 . the floating collet spring block assembly 30 applies the bonding load such that the metallic part 101 is pressed against the adhesive layer 207 to secure the part 101 to the layer 207 . the cam assembly 44 is rotated to reengage the restraining lever 40 with the floating collet spring block assembly 30 . the latch is manually released and the positioning arm 20 is then rotated to the coating position , shown in fig5 . this accurate alignment permits part 102 ( i . e ., a buffer rod ) to have pre - machined or ground features incorporated prior to bonding . this eliminates post bond processing of part 102 . part 101 ( i . e ., the metallic part such as a crystal wafer ) is then not exposed to potential damage which can occur when normal lens grinding occurs . no complex manipulator is required to pick - up , reorient and place the parts 101 and 102 in position . the pick - up technique used in embodiments of the present invention assures that part 101 returns to the same pre - aligned position automatically . the technique also increases repeatability between during bonding . the vacuum chamber assembly 4 is then sealed and the vacuum is activated . the coating and bonding operations are performed under a vacuum with a single set - up so that the deposited films are completely free of oxide formation prior to bonding . once the desired vacuum level is achieved ( this can vary depending on the deposition process used ), parts 101 and 102 are ready to be coated . numerous coating processes ( e . g ., chemical vapor deposition , physical vapor deposition , sputtering ) may be employed . the turntable 3 is then rotated to align parts 101 and 102 with a coating source 5 . the coating source 5 applies a layer of coating on the bonding surfaces of the parts 101 and 102 . this arrangement is advantageous because a single coating source is used to simultaneously coat both parts . this ensures that the thickness of the layers on each of the parts is uniform . in a present embodiment of the present invention , a layer of chromium 103 , as shown in fig1 , is first applied to the parts at a first coating source 5a . the thickness of the layer of chromium is in the range of 100 to 200 angstroms . the turntable 3 is then rotated to a second coating source 5b where a layer of gold 104 is then applied . the thickness of the layer of gold is in the range of 1000 to 1500 angstroms . the turntable 3 is then rotated to a third coating source 5c where a layer of indium 105 is then applied . the thickness of the layer of indium is in the range of 1000 to 4000 angstroms . once the coating process is complete , the turntable 3 is rotated to bring the feedthrough mechanism into alignment with the positioning arm drive shaft 50 . the bonding process will now be described . the positioning arm 20 is then rotated to the bonding position , shown in fig6 . the spring biased latch assembly 10 then brings the positioning arm engaging surface 11 into contact with the latch engaging surface 21 . the turntable 3 is then rotated to bring the feedthrough mechanism 70 into alignment with the cam assembly drive shaft 60 . the cam assembly 44 is rotated to release the restraining lever 40 . the springs 38 of the floating collet spring block assembly 30 then apply a bonding load to parts 101 and 102 . the floating collet spring block assembly 30 uses a purely mechanical form of energy storage with no external supply of electrical current or hydraulic fluid . in this way , embodiments of the present invention avoid the use of hydraulics as a source of bonding pressure thus eliminating the risk of a leak contaminating the vacuum system . furthermore , the floating collet spring block assembly 30 can be moved on the turntable 3 within the vacuum chamber assembly 4 in any direction and any distance without the twisting , entanglement or shearing of the supply lines that limit the prior art devices . the bonding load is applied under vacuum for a suitable period of time . the vacuum is then released to facilitate removal of the parts from the fixture mount assembly 1 . part 101 is still temporarily bonded to the swivel mount assembly 200 . the spring clips 208 are then rotated to remove the swivel mount assembly 200 from the cavity 23 in the positioning arm 20 . the positioning arm 20 is then rotated to a position shown in fig3 . the collet holder 34 is then removed from the floating spring collet assembly 30 . the bonded parts are then removed from the collet assembly 34 by loosening the collet cap 34a . this relieves compression on collet 31 and releases the bonded parts . part 102 now bonded to part 101 is then removed from the collet 31 . the swivel mount assembly 204 can then be removed from part 101 by applying heat or by soaking in a suitable solvent to release part 101 from the adhesive layer 207 . the parts 101 and 102 are bonded in a manner shown in fig1 . the invention has been described with reference to the embodiments thereof which are intended to be illustrative . various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims . | 2 |
the systems described here are directed to methods of recovering expensive or dangerous materials from sealed containers safely , nearly completely , and with high throughput . they can be used with benign materials or with materials that are unsafe for human contact ; it could be toxic , explosive , mutagenic , or carcinogenic , for example , such that human involvement in the recovery process should be kept to a minimum . fig1 is a schematic diagram showing components of an embodiment of a recovery system . the system has three main components : recovery device 100 that holds sealed vials containing a solution , a peristaltic pump 170 that pumps the solution out of the vials , and a recovery tank 190 that receives the pumped solution . in recovery device 100 , vial holder cassette 110 holds solution - containing vials 120 upside down , so the solution flows to the bottom . vials 120 can be made of any sturdy material , such as glass or plastic , which is preferably transparent so that recovery of the material can be monitored . caps or stoppers seal vials 120 , preventing the solution from leaking during normal storage and transportation . the stoppers are made of a material that can be pierced with a needle to allow the solution to be withdrawn without removing the stopper . the stopper preferably โ re - seals โ after being punctured . rubber is an example of a useful stopper material . these features of the stopper reduce the risks of human contact with a dangerous material , of further contamination , and of losing material during recovery process . a needle holder 130 securely holds a row of needles 140 directly beneath vials 120 . the needles 140 have a hollow bore , and are sufficiently strong to pierce the stoppers of vials 120 without breaking . if a needle does break it can be replaced easily by twisting it off and twisting a new one on . when a user presses two cylinder push buttons 160 , an air cylinder 150 raises needle holder 130 , preferably to a height where the tips of the needles 140 barely puncture the vial stoppers . this way as solution is drawn out of the vial , the tips of the needles 140 stay immersed in the solution until nearly all of the solution is withdrawn . tubing 180 connects each of the needles 140 to peristaltic pump 170 and then to recovery tank 190 . pump 170 is designed such that the solution does not come in contact with internal pump components , but is transmitted via continuous tubing 180 into recovery tank 190 . using such a pump allows the tubing 180 to be sterilized or discarded after the recovery process is completed , and also minimizes the risk of human exposure , contamination of the solution by the pump , contamination of the pump by the solution , and loss of the material into the pump . recovery tank 190 has a vent filter 195 that allows gases , but not the liquid , to escape , and stores the solution until the user is ready to further process or purify it . in some embodiments , the liquid is reprocessed or purified by any needed means including by heating , filtering , disinfecting light , mixture with other materials , or any other desired process . fig2 illustrates in greater detail the components of recovery device 100 , with the rest of the system as shown in fig1 . vial holder cassette 110 holds the vials 120 stopper side down . a user locks cassette 110 into place in the device , where it is securely held in all three dimensions . side rails 118 hold cassette 110 in place in the horizontal plane . vial stop 115 and side rail adjustments 112 hold cassette 110 in place vertically . vial stop 115 also prevents vials 120 from moving upwardly when the needles puncture the stoppers . cassette 110 is easily interchangeable , allowing recovery of solution from a large number of vials in a short amount of time . while the cassette is shown with one row of 10 vials , it could be used with other plural numbers of vials in other two - dimensional arrays . the cassette can be manually provided with no system and fixed in place without a carousel or other moving device , although automated moving systems could be used . the vials can have a narrower neck and wider body , unlike a test tube , thereby creating a shoulder that can rest in the cassette . as described previously , needle holder 130 securely mounts needles 140 to be used for solution recovery . holder 130 approximately centers each needle tip 145 on the stopper of corresponding vial 120 . the device holds needle holder 130 in place in all three dimensions . guide rods 135 hold needle holder 130 in place in the horizontal plane . the vertical position of air cylinder 150 determines the vertical position of needle holder 130 . to adjust the vertical height of 130 , i . e . to controllably puncture the vial stoppers with needles 140 , the user simultaneously pushes two push buttons 160 . two buttons are provided as a safety measure , in order to keep the user &# 39 ; s hands away from the moving needles 140 and to prevent accidental starting . other safely methods could be used , preferably including two simultaneous actions to start the process . needle holder 130 stays raised as long as both buttons 160 are pressed , and then lowers when buttons 160 are released . when the user presses buttons 160 , a valve ( not shown ) opens , allowing compressed air at about 100 psi to raise air cylinder 150 to a pre - set height appropriate to the size of vials 120 . once needles 140 pierce the stoppers at the appropriate height , the user activates peristaltic pump 170 with a foot switch ( not shown ). the needles 140 connect to manifold 155 with tubing 180 , which connects to pump 170 via additional tubing 180 as illustrated in fig1 . in one use , mass balances were used to monitor the yield of solution recovery , by weighing the vials before and after recovery , and it was found that the system recovered more than 95 % of the material from 2 ml vials . each cassette holds 10 vials , and by interchanging cassettes the device can be used to recover material from about 2000 vials per hour . the cassette is not limited to this size , and can be made as large or as small as needed to hold the desired size and number of vials . 2 ml is only provided as an example vial size , since it is commonly used for doses of drug solutions . vials would not need to be used at all , but any container with a section that could be punctured without breaking or leaking could be used . in the described system the user locks the cassettes into place and controls the needle height , but an automated system for exchanging cassettes and controlling the needle height could be implemented and would allow for even faster throughput of vials . also , while the described recovery system moves the needles to puncture the vials , the needles could also be held fixed and the vials moved downwardly instead . a solution is not the only material that can be recovered from sealed vials with the described system . if the vial contains a solid , or a liquid that is too viscous to pump out , the system can be used to introduce into the vial an appropriate solvent that dissolves the material . this is done by switching the recovery tank with a container of the solvent , and setting the pump to operate in reverse . the cassette holds the vials as usual , and the user presses the push buttons to raise the needles up to puncture the stoppers . then the user activates the pump , which pumps solvent into the vials . this creates a solution suitable for recovery as usual . the user releases the pump and lowers needles , and then switches the system back to its original configuration , and operates it as described above . the switching can be automated . the needles 140 , manifold 155 , tubing 180 , and recovery tank 190 are the only components that come in contact with the material , and are preferably non - reactive with the material . if the system is used to recover different materials , the tubing , manifold , needles , and tank should be changed for use with each different material to avoid cross - contamination and also potential reactivity . the pump itself does not need to be peristaltic , but any pump that has the functionality of isolating the solution from contamination in the pump could be used . the system described here can be used with any liquid that should be recovered , including liquids that are expensive and / or potentially harmful , such as anti - cancer drugs . other aspects , modifications , and embodiments are within the scope of the following claims . | 1 |
preferred embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings . first , the whole structure of a recording head will be described . as shown in fig1 and 2 , a recording head 11 comprises : a vibrator unit 15 having a piezoelectric vibrator row 12 , a fixation base 13 and a flexible cable 14 which are integrated ; a case 16 capable of accommodating the vibrator unit 15 ; and a channel unit 17 bonded to a distal end face of the case 16 . the vibrator unit 15 will be described . as shown in fig3 a piezoelectric vibrator 20 constituting the piezoelectric vibrator row 12 is formed like an elongated comb tooth in a vertical direction , and is separately cut to have a very small width of approximately 50 to 100 ฮผm , for example . the piezoelectric vibrator 20 is constituted as a piezoelectric vibrator of a vertical oscillation type which can be extended in the vertical direction . in each of the piezoelectric vibrators 20 , a fixed end portion 21 is bonded onto the fixation base 13 so that a free end portion 22 is protruded outward from the distal end of the fixation base 13 . more specifically , the piezoelectric vibrator 20 is supported on the fixation base 13 in a cantilevered manner . moreover , the length of the fixed end portion 21 is determined so as to be shorter than the length of the fixation base 13 . the fixed end portion 21 is bonded to the front portion ( distal end portion ) of the fixation base 13 . in other words , the rear side portion of the fixation base 13 is provided up to a portion provided behind the rear end of the fixed end portion 21 . the distal end of the free end portion 22 in each of the piezoelectric vibrators 20 is bonded to an island portion 24 of the channel unit 17 as shown in fig6 . the flexible cable 14 is electrically connected to the piezoelectric vibrator 20 on the side face of the fixed end portion 21 which is opposite to the fixation base 13 . moreover , the fixation base 13 supporting each of the piezoelectric vibrators 20 is constituted by a plate - shaped member including a rigidity capable of receiving reaction force from the piezoelectric vibrator 20 , preferably , metallic plate member . in the embodiment , the fixation base 13 is formed of a stainless steel plate having a thickness of approximately 1 mm and is provided to have a greater shape than that of the bonding region of the fixation base 13 and a non - bonded wall portion 46 which will be described below . as shown in fig8 the length of the fixation base 13 is determined such that a rear end face ( proximal end side face ) is positioned in the vicinity of a proximal end opening 23 a ( which will be described below ) of a housing space 23 when the vibrator unit 15 is placed therein . consequently , the fixation base 13 can be held by a jig when the attachment of the vibrator unit 15 is performed . further , heat radiation can also be enhanced . next , the channel unit 17 will be described . as shown in fig4 and 5 , the channel unit 17 is constituted by a nozzle plate 25 , a channel forming substrate 26 and an elastic plate 27 . they are integrated through adhesion such that the nozzle plate 25 is provided on one side face of the channel forming substrate 26 and the elastic plate 27 is provided on the opposite side face thereof . the nozzle plate 25 is a thin plate formed of stainless steel which has a plurality of nozzle orifices 28 provided in a row at a pitch corresponding to a dot formation density . in the embodiment , for example , 180 nozzle orifices are provided in a row , and two nozzle rows are arranged sideways . the channel forming substrate 26 is a plate - shaped member in which a plurality of pressure chambers 33 are formed so as to be associated with the respective nozzle orifices 28 , while being divided by partition walls is formed in such a state that a space to be the pressure chamber 33 is divided by a partition wall . further , a common ink reservoir 31 ( see fig8 ) and ink supply ports each of which is communicates the associated pressure chamber 33 with the common ink reservoir 31 are formed therein as hollowed spaces . the channel forming substrate 26 according to the embodiment is fabricated by etching a silicon wafer . the pressure chamber 33 is formed to be an elongated chamber in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the nozzle orifices 28 are arranged in a row . the ink supply port 32 is formed to be a constricted portion having a small passage width communicating between the pressure chamber 33 and the common ink reservoir 31 . moreover , the common ink reservoir 31 serves to supply an ink stored in an ink cartridge ( not shown ) to each of the pressure chambers 33 . the elastic plate 27 is a composite plate member having a double structure which is obtained by laminating a resin film 35 such as pps ( polyphenylene sulfide ) on a support plate 34 formed of metal such as stainless steel , and serves as a diaphragm portion for sealing one of the open faces of the pressure chamber 33 and also serves as a compliance portion for sealing one of the open faces of the common ink reservoir 31 . as shown in fig6 the support plate 34 in a portion serving as the diaphragm portion , that is , a portion corresponding to the pressure chamber 33 is subjected to etching to remove annularly , thereby forming the island portion 24 for bonding the distal end of the free end portion 22 of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 . the island portion 24 has the shape of an elongated block in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the arrangement of the nozzle orifices 28 in the same manner as the planar shape of the pressure chamber 33 . the resin film 35 provided around the island portion 24 serves as an elastic film . referring to the portion serving as the compliance portion , that is , the portion corresponding to the common ink reservoir 31 , moreover , the support plate 34 portion is removed by the etching to leave only the resin film 35 . referring to the diaphragm portion , the island portion 24 is provided and the free end portion 22 of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 is bonded to the island portion 24 in the embodiment while the free end portion 22 may be directly bonded to the face of the resin film 35 . in this case , the bonding portion in the resin film 35 to the free end portion 22 acts as a vibrator bonding portion in the invention . moreover , while adhesion is suitably used for the bond of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 and the island portion 24 because of easiness and convenience , it is not restricted but brazing ( for example , soldering ) may be used . next , the case 16 will be described . as shown in fig7 to 9 , the case 16 is a member formed of resin which is schematically constituted by a block - shaped main body 40 and a flange portion 41 extended from a proximal end of the main body 40 laterally . for the resin constituting the case 16 , a thermosetting resin is suitably used because a molding property is excellent , high dimensional precision can be obtained and a necessary rigidity can also be acquired . in the embodiment , the case 16 is formed of epoxy resin . as shown in fig7 the main body 40 is formed to have an almost rectangular shape as seen from the flange portion 41 side , that is , the proximal end side . the main body 40 is provided with a housing space 23 capable of accommodating the vibrator unit 15 . the housing space 23 is so formed as to communicate the distal end face of the main body 40 with the proximal end face thereof . in other words , the housing space 23 is formed as a hollowed space penetrating from a distal end side opening 23 b to a proximal end side opening 23 a in the height direction of the case 16 . the housing space 23 is provided for each vibrator unit 15 . for example , the recording head 11 according to the embodiment has two nozzle rows . each nozzle row is provided with one vibrator unit 15 . therefore , two housing spaces 23 are provided sideways . more specifically ; each housing space 23 is formed in positions which are laterally symmetrical with respect to a center line cl in the direction of the short side of the main body 40 . the housing space 23 is a continuous space including a first housing space 42 in which the piezoelectric vibrator row 12 is inserted , a second housing space 43 in which the fixation base 13 is inserted , and a relief concave portion 44 for forming a non - bonding region situated in the rear face portion of the fixation base 13 which is inserted into the second housing space 43 . the first housing space 42 has a flat and rectangular opening which is long in the direction of a long side of the attachment face ( proximal end face ) of the case 16 and is short in the direction of a short side of the attachment face . the first housing space 42 is continuously formed in the height direction of the case 16 from the distal end face of the case 16 to the attachment face . a long - side opening width of the first housing space 42 is determined to be slightly greater than a length of the piezoelectric vibrator row 12 in the direction in which the piezoelectric vibrators 20 are arranged , and a short - side opening width is determined to be a double of the thickness of each piezoelectric vibrator 20 . the second housing space 43 has a rectangular opening shape which is long in the direction of the long side of the attachment face and is short in the direction of the short side of the attachment face . the second housing space 43 extends from the attachment face to a position which is closer to the attachment face than the distal end face of the case 16 . more specifically , a bottom face 43 a of the second housing space 43 is provided in a position closer to the attachment face by a length which is slightly smaller than the length of the free end portion 22 of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 from the distal end face of the case 16 . a long - side opening width of the second housing space 43 is determined to be almost equal to the width of the fixation base 13 , and is slightly greater than the long - side opening length of the first housing space 42 . moreover , a short - side opening width of the second housing space 43 is determined to be almost equal to the thickness of the fixation base 13 , more specifically , to be slightly smaller than the thickness of the fixation base 13 . the second housing space 43 is provided on the outside of the first housing space 42 , that is , the side positioned apart from the center line cl in while communicating with the first housing space 42 . the wall face defining the second housing space 43 acts as a bonding face to which the fixation base 13 of the vibrator unit 15 is bonded as will be described below . in the main body 40 , accordingly , a portion positioned on the outside of the wall face , that is , a portion shown in hatching of a two - dotted line in fig7 serves as a non - bonded wall portion 46 . moreover , since the centers in a longitudinal direction of the openings in the second housing space 43 and the first housing space 42 are aligned with each other , both ends in the longitudinal direction of the opening of the second housing space 43 are outwardly protruded in comparison with both ends of the first housing space 42 . in other words , the second housing space 43 is formed as a groove in the case 16 so as to define the protruded lateral ends . the relief concave portion 44 has a rectangular opening shape which is long in the direction of the long side of the attachment face , and is short in the direction of the short side of the attachment face . the relief concave portion 44 extends from the attachment face to a position which is slightly closer to the attachment face than the bottom face 43 a of the second housing space 43 . more specifically , a bottom face 44 a of the relieve concave portion 44 is positioned between a position at which is a half of a length in the height direction of the case 16 and a position at which is slightly closer to the attachment face than the bottom face 43 a of the second housing space 43 . the long - side opening width of the relieve concave portion 44 is determined to be slightly smaller than the long - side opening width of the second housing space 43 , and is almost equal to the long - side opening width of the first housing space 42 . moreover , the short - side opening width of the relieve concave portion 44 is determined such that a sufficient clearance can be formed with respect to the back face of the fixation base 13 , and is almost equal to the short - side opening width of the second housing space 43 . the relief concave portion 44 is provided on the outside of the second housing space 43 ( the side positioned apart from the center line cl ) while communicating with the second housing space 43 . in other words , the relief concave portion 44 is fabricated by recessing or retracting backward most of the face of the non - bonded wall portion 46 in the thickness direction of the fixation base 13 . for this reason , a region in which the relief concave portion 44 on the internal wall of the case is provided acts as a non - bonding area which is apart from the fixation base 13 . accordingly , the bonding face is formed by regions s 1 defined by the relief concave portion 44 ( see fig7 and 9 ) and a region s 2 defined by the second housing space 43 ( see fig8 ). the regions s 1 are determined to be a portion having a very small width ( approximately 0 . 5 mm ). moreover , the region s 2 is a step wall face to be formed by a step of the bottom face 43 a of the second housing space 43 and the bottom face 44 a of the relief concave portion 44 . the height dimension of the region s 2 is approximately 2 to 3 mm . in connection with the height direction of the case 16 , the region s 2 is provided in a region corresponding to the bonding region of the fixed end portions 21 of the piezoelectric vibrators 20 and the fixation base 13 in the vibrator unit 15 ( more specifically , the region s 2 opposed at least a part of the bonding region of the fixed end portions 21 ). in other words , the region s 2 is determined to a position and an area which are necessarily required to receive reaction force with the motion of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 . in the embodiment , moreover , the bottom face 43 a of the second housing space 43 also serves as the bonding region of the fixation base 13 ( the region s 3 ) in addition to the bonding regions s 1 and s 2 . in other words , the distal end face of the fixation base 13 is bonded to the internal wall of the main body 40 . a clearance formed between the bottom face 43 a and the distal end face of the fixation base 13 is determined to 0 . 04 mm , for example , and has such a size as to obtain capillary force for fluidizing an influent adhesive . in order to attach the vibrator unit 15 to the housing space 23 having such a structure , first of all , the adhesive is thinly applied onto the distal end face of the free end portion 22 of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 . if the adhesive is applied , the fixation base 13 is held by a jig and the vibrator unit 15 is inserted from the proximal end side opening 23 a of the housing space 23 in such an attitude that the free end portion 22 is first inserted . the distal end of the free end portion 22 is caused to face the distal end side opening 23 b of the housing space 23 and is positioned in such a state as to abut on the face of the associated island portion 24 . in this state , the bonding regions s 1 , s 2 and s 3 between the fixation base 13 and the internal wall of the case are filled with the adhesive . for example , the adhesive having a fluidity is injected into the side edge region s 1 from the attachment face side of the case 16 , and the influent adhesive is filled in the side edge region s 1 , the distal end side region s 2 and the distal end face region s 3 by utilizing the capillarity . if each bonding region is filled with the adhesive , the adhesive on the distal end of the free end portion 22 and the adhesive in the bonding region are cured . for example , the adhesives are left for a proper time in such a state that they are heated to a predetermined temperature . consequently , the fixation base 13 is bonded to the internal wall of the case ( the bonding regions ), while the distal end of the free end portion 22 is bonded to the island portion 24 . since the bottom face 43 a is also used as a bonding region for the fixation base 13 , reaction force generated by the deformation of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 and transmitted from the channel unit 17 to the main body 40 can be received by the fixation base 13 . for this reason , the undesired vibration of the recording head 11 due to the deformation of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 can be more reduced in comparison with the case in which the distal end face of the fixation base 13 is provided apart from the main body 40 as shown in fig1 . moreover , a reinforcing plate 45 is provided on an outer peripheral face of the main body 40 so as to extend from the flange portion 41 to a position where opposes the , bonding region of the fixed end portions 21 of the piezoelectric vibrators 20 and the fixation base 13 . specifically , the reinforcing plate 45 extends to a position where is closer to the attachment face than the distal end face of the case 16 . more specifically , the reinforcing plate 45 extends to a position where is closer to the attachment face than a distal end face of the fixation base 13 . as shown in fig7 the width of the reinforcing plate 45 is so determined as to be wide enough to cover the non - bonded wall portion 46 . the reinforcing plate 45 serves as a member for restricting the swell of the case 16 due to moisture absorption and serves to prevent the moisture absorbing case 16 from being swelled outward . for this reason , a plate member which is more difficult to be swelled due to the moisture absorption than the resin case 16 is used for the reinforcing plate 46 . moreover , the reinforcing plate 45 is provided in a region corresponding to the bonding region of the fixation base 13 and the internal wall of the case . in order to restrict the swell of the case 16 , it is desirable that the rigidity of the reinforcing plate 45 should be equal to or higher than that of the fixation base 13 . accordingly , a plate member formed of metal which is not swelled by the moisture absorption , has a high rigidity and can easily be processed is suitably used for the reinforcing plate 45 . in the embodiment , a stainless steel plate to be a plate member formed of the same material as that of the fixation base 13 is used , and the thickness of the reinforcing plate 45 is determined to be equal to that of the fixation base 13 . thus , when a plate member formed of the same material is used for the reinforcing plate 45 and the fixation base 13 , the material characteristics of the reinforcing plate 45 and the fixation base 13 are equal to each other . consequently , a design can easily be carried out . moreover , if the reinforcing plate 45 is formed of metal , the heat of the recording head 11 can be discharged efficiently to the outside . if the reinforcing plate 45 is constituted by a material having a higher rigidity than that of the fixation base 13 ( that is , a greater young &# 39 ; s modulus ), the reinforcing plate 45 can be formed thinly . therefore , it is advantageous in that the size of the recording head 11 can be reduced . moreover , while the reinforcing plate 45 is fixed to the main body 40 by adhesion , the reinforcing plate 45 can be fixed to the main body 40 by any method if possible . for example , the reinforcing plate 45 may be fixed by calking or may be held in a holding groove provided in the main body 40 . alternatively , the reinforcing plate 45 may be insert molded in the main body 40 , that is , be non - bonded wall portion 46 . in the case in which the reinforcing plate 45 is fixed by the adhesion , the adhesive of the reinforcing plate 45 can be cured at the step of curing the adhesive of the fixation base 13 so that the process can be simplified . next , description will be given to the advantages of the recording head 11 having the structure described above , more specifically , the advantages obtained when the recording head 11 is placed for a long time in very high humid environment . since the relief concave portion 44 is formed so that the non - bonded wall portion 46 is isolated from the fixation base 13 except for the bonding , regions s 1 , and the fixation base 13 is mainly bonded with the case 16 at the distal end side ( the bonding region s 2 ), even in a case where the non - bonded wall portion 46 is swelled outwardly due to the moisture absorption , the fixation base 13 is prevented from inclining together with the non - bonded wall portion 46 . accordingly , it is possible to prevent such a drawback that the bonding interface of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 and the island portion 24 is separated . as a result , the connecting reliability of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 can be enhanced . moreover , the bonding region s 2 is provided in a region corresponding to the bonding region of the fixed end portions 21 of the piezoelectric vibrators 20 and the fixation base 13 . therefore , it is possible to maintain a region necessarily required for receiving reaction force generated by the motion of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 . consequently , the connecting reliability of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 can be enhanced without damaging the jetting characteristic of ink drops . furthermore , since a part of the outer wall of the case 16 is sandwiched by the reinforcing plate 45 and the fixation base 13 as shown in fig8 it is possible to restrict the swelling of the sandwiched portion of the case 16 . consequently , the proximal end portion of the case 16 is not expanded toward the side so that the fixation base 13 can be reliably prevented from inclining together with the non - bonded wall portion 46 . accordingly , it is possible to prevent mechanical stress from being applied to , the bonding interface of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 and the island portion 24 due to the inclination of the vibrator unit 15 , and mechanical stress from being applied to the bonding interface of the resin film 35 and the island portion 24 . further , it is possible to prevent such a drawback that these bonding interfaces are separated . as a result , the connecting reliability of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 can be enhanced . moreover , since both the fixation base 13 and the reinforcing plate 45 are formed of metal ( stainless steel ) which does not absorb moisture , it is also possible to cause the non - bonded wall portion 46 to absorb moisture with difficulty . since the distal end of the reinforcing plate 45 is situated at a position where is closer to the attachment face than the distal end face of the case 16 , the distal end portion of the case 16 is not restricted by the reinforcing plate 45 . therefore , this portion is permitted to expand outwards as indicated by the dashed line of fig8 . however , since the expanded portion is provided close to the bonding regions s 2 and s 3 , the swelling less influences the inclination of the vibrator unit 15 . by allowing the distal end portion of the case to expand outward , the positional relationship between the channel unit 17 and the vibrator unit 15 in the height direction of the case 16 can be maintained even in the swelling is occurred . consequently , it is also possible to reliably prevent such a drawback that the channel unit 17 and the vibrator unit 15 are separated from each other in the height direction of the case 16 by the swelling of the case 16 . also in this respect , the connecting reliability of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 can be enhanced . the reinforcing plate 45 may be extended to the position indicated as a dashed line l in fig8 so that the distal end of the reinforcing plate 45 is aligned with the distal end face of the fixation base 13 in the height direction of the case 16 , thereby covering a region corresponding to the bonding region of the fixation base 13 and the case 16 . moreover , the reinforcing plate 45 may be configured to surround the side faces of the main body 40 . with such a structure , the swelling of the case 16 can be more reliably prevented . as shown in fig1 , moreover , it is also possible to employ such a structure that the reinforcing plate 45 is not provided but only the relief concave portion 44 is provided . also in this configuration , the non - bonded wall portion 46 is substantially isolated from the fixation base 13 , and the fixation base is bonded with the case 16 only at the distal end portion thereof which is closer to the channel unit 17 . as shown in a dashed line , therefore , even if the case 16 is swelled outward , the fixation base 13 can be prevented from inclining together with the non - bonded wall portion 46 so that mechanical stress can be prevented from being applied to the bonding interface of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 and the island portion 24 due to the inclination of the vibrator unit 15 . the invention is not restricted to the above configuration . next , a second embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to fig1 to 14 . as shown in fig1 and 12 , a recording head 50 according to the second embodiment comprises a vibrator unit 15 ; a case 51 capable of accommodating the vibrator unit 15 ; and a channel unit 17 to be bonded to a distal end face of the case 51 . in the recording head 50 according to the embodiment , the shape of the case 51 is mainly different from that of the first embodiment . the difference will be mainly described below . in the second embodiment , the same members as those in the first embodiment have the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted . as shown in fig1 , the case 51 is roughly constituted by a main body 52 and a flange portion 53 and is formed of epoxy resin to be a kind of thermosetting resin . the main body 52 is constituted by a distal end portion 55 provided with a housing space 54 and a box - shaped proximal end portion 56 opened on an attachment face . the proximal end portion 56 is constituted by a bottom plate portion 64 extended laterally and an upright wall portion 65 upright from the outside edge portion of the bottom plate portion 64 toward the attachment face side of the case 51 . moreover , the flange portion 53 is extended from the proximal end of the upright wall portion 65 laterally . a positioning projection 58 to abut on a carriage member 57 is formed on the lower face of the flange portion 53 ( that is , a face on the channel unit 17 side ). the positioning projection 58 serves as a positioning member and is constituted by a flat and circular projection , for example . thus , the positioning projection 58 is provided on the flange portion 53 and a distance from the flange portion 53 on one of sides to the flange portion 53 on the opposite side can be set to be large by causing the positioning projection 58 to abut on the carriage member 57 , and positional precision in a horizontal direction can be enhanced when attaching the recording head 50 to the carriage member 57 . the distal end portion 55 of the main body 52 has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped which has a height slightly greater than the length of each piezoelectric vibrator 20 , and the distal end face having the channel unit 17 bonded thereto is a size larger than the channel unit 17 . moreover , the housing space 54 is a through hole portion which is continuously formed to penetrate the inside of the distal end portion 55 in the height direction of the case 51 . the recording head 50 according to the embodiment also has two nozzle rows and each nozzle row is provided with one vibrator unit 15 . therefore , two housing spaces 54 are provided sideways . the housing space 54 is a continuous space including a first housing space 59 in which a piezoelectric vibrator row 12 is to be inserted and a second housing space 60 in which a fixation base 13 is to be inserted . the first housing space 59 has a flat and rectangular opening which is long in the direction of a long side of the distal end portion 55 and is short in the direction of a short side of the distal end portion 55 . the first housing space 59 is formed continuously in the height direction of the case 51 so as to extend from the distal end face of the distal end portion 55 to the bottom plate portion 64 of the proximal end portion 56 . the second housing space 60 also has a rectangular opening shape which is long in the direction of a long side of the distal end portion 55 and is short in the direction of a short side of the distal end portion 55 . the second housing space 60 is formed continuously so as to extend from the bottom face of the proximal end portion 56 to a position in the distal end portion 55 which is slightly closer to the bottom plate portion 64 than the distal end face of the distal end portion 55 . the wall face defining the second housing space 60 also acts as a bonding face s 4 to which the fixation base 13 of the vibrator unit 15 is bonded . accordingly , a wall portion of the main body 52 corresponding to the bonding face s 4 serves as a base - bonded wall portion 61 . in order to attach the vibrator unit 15 to the housing space 54 having such a structure , first of all , an adhesive is thinly applied onto the distal end face of a free end portion 22 of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 , and the vibrator unit 15 is inserted in the housing space 54 such that the free end portion 22 is first inserted . then , the distal end of the free end portion 22 is positioned in such a state as to abut on the face of a corresponding island portion 24 and bonding faces s 3 and s 4 provided between the fixation base 13 and the internal wall of the case are filled with the adhesive . consequently , the distal end portion of the fixation base 13 is bonded to the internal wall of the case and the distal end of the free end portion 22 is bonded to the island portion 24 . in the proximal end portion 56 , a space 66 is defined by the bottom plate portion 64 and the upright wall portion 65 . the opening area of the space 66 is defined depending on the size of the bottom plate portion 64 and a volume is defined by the size of the bottom plate portion 64 and the height of the upright wall portion 65 . the inside of the space 66 can be used for various purposes , for example , accommodates the components of the recording head 50 . in the embodiment , the space 66 is used as a space for accommodating the upper half portion of the vibrator unit 15 and is also used as a heat radiating space for discharging heat from the piezoelectric vibrator 20 . for this reason , the height of the upright wall portion 65 is determined to be slightly greater than that of the fixation base 13 which is disposed state . as shown in fig1 and 13 , moreover , the opening area of the space 66 is determined to be larger than the area of a circuit board 67 provided on the attachment face side of the case 51 , and a clearance 66 a which is not covered with the circuit board 67 but communicates with the outside is formed on the opening of the space 66 . with such a structure , the heat generated from the piezoelectric vibrator 20 is transmitted through the fixation base 13 and is discharged into the space 66 of the proximal end portion 56 , and furthermore , is discharged to the outside of the case 51 through the clearance 66 a with the circuit board 67 . also in the second embodiment having such a structure , it is possible to prevent the vibrator unit 15 from inclining due to the swell of the case 51 and to enhance the connecting reliability of the piezoelectric vibrator 20 . more specifically , when the case 51 is placed for a tong time in very high humid environment , it absorbs a moisture and is swelled . however , since the proximal end portion 56 serving as a non - bonded wall portion is isolated from the fixation base 13 , the vibrator unit 15 can be prevented from inclining . moreover , the bottom plate portion 64 extending laterally acts so as to restrict the inclination of the fixation base 13 due to the swelling of the case 51 . specifically , although the bottom portion 64 is also swelled due to the moisture absorption , the swelling restricts the inclination of the fixation base 13 because the swelling direction of the bottom plate portion 64 is opposite to the inclining direction . in the embodiment furthermore , the space 66 is formed by the bottom plate portion 64 and the upright wall portion 65 . therefore , the components of the recording head 50 can be provided in the space 66 . consequently , the degree of freedom for the design of the recording head 50 can be increased . as shown in fig1 , moreover , an ink holding groove 68 capable of holding an ink may be provided in the space 66 , specifically , in the boundary portion of the bottom plate portion 64 and the upright wall portion 65 . in a recording apparatus comprising the ink jet recording head 50 of this kind , there is a problem in that an ink drop is caused to fly in a very small amount and is therefore changed into mist . the ink mist floats in the apparatus . therefore , if the ink mist sticks to a carriage or a housing , it might be changed into a large ink drop . the large ink drop thus generated might enter a clearance between the recording head 50 and the carriage by capillary force , thereby contaminating and damaging the recording head 50 . when the ink holding groove 68 is provided in the boundary portion of the bottom plate portion 64 and the upright wall portion 65 , the ink entering from the outside and flowing down through the upright wall portion 65 can be held in the ink holding groove 68 . consequently , it is possible to prevent such a drawback that the ink reaches the vibrator unit 15 . referring to the ink holding groove 68 , the inside edge portion of the bottom plate portion 64 is scraped in the direction of a thickness to provide a concave groove 69 and a rib 70 is protruded to form a relatively deep groove in fig1 , while only the concave groove 69 may be provided or only the rib 70 may be protruded . the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described above but may be variously changed based on the appended claims . for example , while the non - bonded wall portion 46 is concaved to partially bond the fixation base 13 in the first embodiment , the thickness of the fixation base 13 in the portion corresponding to the bonding region may be set to be greater than that of other portions to partially bond the fixation base 13 . in the case in which the non - bonded wall portion 46 is concaved to form a non - bonding region to the fixation base 13 , the relief concave portion 44 can easily be fabricated by molding . in the recording head 11 having three or more vibrator units 15 , moreover , a partitioning wall portion formed between the housing spaces 23 also serves as the base - bonded wall portion . in such a structure that the reinforcing plate 45 is provided , the same advantageous effects as described in the first embodiment can be obtained by insert molding the reinforcing plate 45 in the partitioning wall portion . | 1 |
it has long been recognized that fungal and yeast infections are more common in a diabetic person . in fact , in the past scientists were able to identify those at risk for diabetes by noting their propensity to suffer from recurrent yeast and fungal infections . ( wilson , j w , plunkett , o a ., the fungous diseases of man , university of california press ., berkeley , los angeles , and london 1970 ). however , conventional teachings still maintain that diabetes creates the predisposition for fungal infections . based on the available scientific literature , the fungus โ or a fungal metabolite โ is actually the predisposing factor for the development of diabetes . an in - depth look at the diabetes epidemic , fungi , and mycotoxins is offered in the book infectious diabetes . ( kaufmann , d ., mediatrition , inc . 2003 ). 1788 whytt : observed that diabetes mellitus ( dm ) and gout go hand in hand . observation : polynesians have a very high rate of diabetes , gout , obesity and atherosclerosis . the polynesians are known to consume large quantities of a product called โ poi .โ some of the men consume 10 - 20 pounds of poi per day . poi is a fermented fruit concoction consisting of yeast - fermented bananas and breadfruit . 1990 coleman : mice fed a 10 % brewer &# 39 ; s yeast diet developed dm . 1976 isogai ( tokyo , japan ): cryptococcus fungi were found in the islets of langerhans cells ( pancreas ) in two children who died from dm . the researchers in later studies injected cryptococcus into the pancreatic artery of laboratory animals and induced necrosis of the islets of langerhans . cryptococcus is known to produce alloxan . 1980 pojo : alloxan , a uric acid metabolite , injures insulin - producing beta cells in the islets of langerhans of the pancreas . 1990 chase : type i dm could be cured if treated with cyclosporin a . within four months of onset of the disease . 1990 moody : cyclosporin a , a fungal poison and pharmaceutical drug , is antifungal against cryptococcus . 1981 hayes : streptozotocin induces experimental dm in animals . hayes points out that streptozotocin is a mycotoxin produced by streptomyces achromogenes mold . 1981 helgason : ingestion of cured mutton , a holiday dish , by icelandic women at the time of conception caused dm in their offspring . 1973 esher : cured mutton contains ochratoxin , sterigmatocystin , patulin , and penicillic acid โ all fungal mycotoxins . [ heading - 0040 ] recent findings associating diet and fungal toxins with diabetes two separate studies , one in the united states and the other in germany , conclude that feeding infants cereals early in life significantly increases the infants &# 39 ; risk of developing type 1 diabetes later in life : timing of initial cereal exposure in infancy and risk of islet autoimmunity โ jill m . norris , katherine barriga , georgeanna klingensmith , michelle hoffman , george s . eisenbarth , henry a . erlich , and marian rewers โ jama . 2003 ; 290 : 1713 - 1720 . early infant feeding and risk of developing type 1 diabetes - associated autoantibodies โ anette - g . ziegler , m d ; sandra schmid , phd ; doris huber ; michael hummel , m d ; ezio bonifacio , phd .โ jama . 2003 ; 290 : 1721 - 1728 . context : dietary factors modifying type 1 diabetes mellitus ( dm ) risk have been proposed , but little is known if they trigger the islet autoimmunity that precedes clinical disease . objective : to determine whether breastfeeding duration , food supplementation , or age at introduction of gluten - containing foods influences the risk of developing islet autoantibodies . design and setting : prospective natural history cohort study conducted from 1989 to 2003 in inpatient / outpatient clinics in germany . participants : the babydiab study follows newborn children of parents with type 1 dm . eligibility requirements were met in 1610 children . blood samples were obtained at birth , age 9 months , 2 , 5 , and 8 years . dropout rate was 14 . 4 % by age 5 years . breastfeeding data were obtained by prospective questionnaires ( 91 % complete ), and food supplementation data were obtained by family interview ( 72 % for food supplementation and 80 % for age of gluten introduction ) main outcome measure : development of islet autoantibodies ( insulin , glutamic acid decarboxylase , or ia - 2 antibodies ) in 2 consecutive blood samples . results : life - table islet autoantibody frequency was 5 . 8 % ( se , 0 . 6 %) by age 5 years . reduced total or exclusive breastfeeding duration did not significantly increase the risk of developing islet autoantibodies . food supplementation with gluten - containing foods before age 3 months , however , was associated with significantly increased islet autoantibody risk ( adjusted hazard ratio , 4 . 0 ; 95 % confidence interval , 1 . 4 - 11 . 5 ; p = 0 . 01 vs children who received only breast milk until age 3 months ). four of 17 children who received gluten - containing foods before age 3 months developed islet autoantibodies ( life - table 5 - year risk , 24 %; se , 10 %). all 4 children had the high - risk drb1 * 03 / 04 , dqb1 * 0302 genotype . gluten - containing foods are such grains as wheat , rye , barley and oats . wheat , rye , and barley are commonly - contaminated with fungal mycotoxins . ( etzel , r ., mycotoxins , journal of the american medical association , 287 ( 4 ): 425 - 427 , jan . 23 / 30 , 2002 ; council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : risks in plant , animal and human systems , task force report no . 139 , ames , iowa , january 2003 ). antibodies are immune - system protein structures that are made by the human body &# 39 ; s b - cells of the immune system and that are directed against foreign chemicals and germs in our body . auto - antibodies are antibodies that are directed - supposedly by mistake - against the human body &# 39 ; s tissues , organs , and cells . conventional medicine claims that this is an abnormal response by they human body , and the manifested condition is called an auto - immune disease . if , however , a mycotoxin that preferentially attacks the islet cell in the pancreas is able to alter that pancreatic cell ( i . e ., the cell is now chemically tainted ), then the human body will see that cell as foreign , or at least abnormal . hence , an immune attack against that abnormal , chemically infected cell is , in this case , a normal response by our immune system , not an abnormal , auto - immune phenomenon . [ heading - 0053 ] fungal toxin in potato scab causes type 1 diabetes a common toxin found in the potato scab in root vegetables is linked to type 1 diabetes : bafilomycin , a macrolide antibiotic ( mycotoxin ) made by the streptomyces griseus mold and found in the black , scab lesions on root vegetables ( especially potatoes ) caused diabetes in 100 % of the offspring of mother mice who were fed this toxin . ( www . onenews . nzoom . com , citing a study by paul zimmet et al ., june 2003 , director of the international diabetes institute in melbourne , australia ). bafilomycin is a heat - stable fungal toxin that cannot be destroyed in the cooking process . aspergillus and penicillium fungi are common contaminants of peanuts and corn . ( the council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : risks in platnt , animal , and human systems , task force report no . 139 , january 2003 , ames , iowa ). they make mycotoxins such as ochratoxin , patulin , and aflatoxin . it prevents mammalian cells from breaking down sugar normally so that the levels of sugar in the blood remain high . it also creates insulin resistance , which leads to the high blood sugar levels seen in type 2 diabetes . ( verma , r ., shalini , m ., hyperglycemia induced in rabbits exposed to ochratoxin , bull environ contam toxicol , april 1998 , 60 ( 4 ): 626 - 31 ; subramanian , s ., et al ., ochratoxin a toxicity on carbohydrate metabolism in rats , bull environ contam toxicol , august 1989 , 43 ( 2 ): 180 - 4 ; huff , w e , et al ., decreased glycogen mobilization during ochratoxicosis in broiler chickens , appl environ microbiol , january 1979 , 37 ( 1 ) : 122 - 6 ; suzuki , s . et al ., effect of ochratoxin a on carbohydrate metabolism in rat liver , toxicol appl pharmacol , april 1975 , 32 ( 1 ): 116 - 22 ; szczech , g m , et al ., ochratoxicosis in beagle dogs , i . clinical and clinicopathological features , vet pathol . 1973 , 10 ( 2 ): 135 - 54 ). * it also causes kidney damage , a very common occurrence in diabetes . ( cast 2003 , rodricks 1977 ). a common contaminant of apple juice and processed , apple products ( council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : risks in plant , animal , and human systems , task force report 139 , january 2003 .) it inhibits human cells from using oxygen normally ( inhibits aerobic respiration ). ( rodricks , j ., mycotoxin in human and animal health , pathotox publishers , inc ., park forest south , ill ., 1977 ., p 613 ). human cells cannot live without oxygen , but fungi with anaerobic metabolism capacities can . thus , mycotoxin exposure can create an environment that favors fungi in the human body . found in mold - contaminated corn , wheat , peanuts and other grains . ( council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : risks in plant , animal , and human systems , task force report 139 , january 2003 ; etzel , r ., mycotoxins , journal of the american medical association , 287 ( 4 ), jan . 23 / 30 , 2002 ). it blocks the breakdown of sugar in the liver as well as the sugar in other cells in the human body , again resulting in high levels of blood sugar that human cells cannot use . ( cheeke , p . r ., natural toxicants in feeds , forages , and poisonous plants , 1998 , interstate publishers , inc ., danville , ill .). this , in turn , creates the perfect environment for fungi , which preferentially feed on sugars / carbohydrates . aside from causing type 1 diabetes by destroying the cells in the pancreas , it also โ causes insulin resistance โ in human cells โ the very definition of type 2 diabetes . ( samiec , p . s ., et al ., glutathione in human plasma : decline in association with aging , age - related macular degeneration , and diabetes , free radic . biol . med ., mar . 15 / 24 ( 5 ): 699 - 704 , 1998 ; szkudelski , t ., the mechanism of alloxan and streptozotocin action in b cells of the rat pancreas , physiol res . 2001 , 50 ( 6 ) : 537 - 46 ; streptozotocin : cas no . 18883 - 66 - 4 , ninth report on carcinogens , us dept of hhs , public health service , national toxicology program ., revised january 2001 ). alloxan is an oxidation product of uric acid . uric acid is made by , among other organisms , fungi . ( helbig , f . et al ., uric acid is a genuine metabolite of penicillium cyclopium and stimulates the expression of alkaloid biosynthesis in this fungus , applied and environmental microbiology , april 2002 . p . 1524 - 1533 , vol . 68 , no . 4 , january 2002 ). injection of animals with alloxan causes type 1 diabetes via destruction of the beta cells in the pancreas . ( wallace , a ., principles and methods of toxicology , raven press , new york , 1989 ., p . 694 ; moneim , a ., et al ., effects of nigella sativa , fish oil and gliclazide on alloxan diabetic rats 1 โ biochemical and histopathological studies , j . egypt ., ger . soc . zool ., vol . 23 ( a ), 237 - 265 , 1997 ). alloxan also causes insulin resistance , characteristic of type 2 diabetes . ( ader , m , et al ., evidence for direct action of alloxan to induce insulin resistance at the cellular level , diabetologia . november 1998 , 41 ( 11 ): 1327 - 36 ). in addition , injection of animals with alloxan can cause elevated serum cholesterol , triglyceride , and total lipid levels . ( moneim , a ., et al ., effects of nigella sativa , fish oil and gliclazide on alloxan diabetic rats 1 โ biochemical and histopathological studies , j . egypt , ger . soc . zool ., vol 23 ( a ), 237 - 265 , 1997 ; szkudelski , t ., the mechanism of alloxan and streptozotocin action in b cells of the rat pancreas , physiol res ., 2001 , 50 ( 6 ): 537 - 46 ). oxalic acid is a harsh chemical found in small quantities in certain plants . aspergillus fungi , however , can liberate large quantities of oxalic acid during an infection ( a so - called fungus ball ) in a human lung . ( kibbler , c c ., principles and practice of clinical mycology , john wiley and sons , ltd ., west sussex , england , 1996 ). oxalic acid can cause death in mammals by inhibiting carbohydrate metabolism in animals . ( wallace , a ., principles and methods of toxicology , raven press , new york , 1989 , p . 694 ). [ heading - 0080 ] conventional and alternative treatment of type 2 diabetes : sulfa drugs and over the counter supplements per the drug information listed in physician &# 39 ; s desk references , scientists are not fully sure why sulfa - based prescription diabetes medicines lower blood sugar . their action cannot solely be explained by increasing the output of insulin . since diabetes is caused by fungi and their mycotoxins , sulfa drugs help lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes in part because they are antifungal . ( large , e . c ., the advance of the fungi , p44 ., dover publications , new york , n . y ., 1962 ). chromium , garlic , and other over - the - counter supplements found to be helpful in type 2 diabetes also have documented antifungal activity . ( costantini , a v ., fungalbionics series . etiology and prevention of atherosclerosis , johann friedrich oberlin verlag , freiburg , germany , isbn 3 - 930939 - 04 - 5 , 1996 ). formerly known as โ syndrome - x ,โ the metabolic syndrome is not always associated with being overweight . in fact , 18 % of people with the metabolic syndrome in one study were classified as having normal body weight , and 67 % were obese . ( marchesini , g ., et al ., nonalcoholic fatty liver , steatohepatitis , and the metabolic syndrome , hepatology , april 2003 , 37 ( 4 ): 917 - 23 ). nevertheless , obesity is one of the most common findings in this condition . other , diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome are as follows : abdominal obesity ( waist circumference greater than 40 inches in men or greater than 35 inches in women ). hypertriglyceridemia ( triglyceride level greater than or equal to 150 mg / dl ). low hdl - cholesterol ( greater than 40mg / dl in men or greater than 50 mg / dl in women ). high blood pressure ( greater than or equal to 130 / 85 ). high fasting glucose ( impaired glucose tolerance ( igt )โ fasting blood sugar between 110 and 126 mg / dl ) ( blackburn , g , et al ., the obesity epidemic : prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome , medscape . com , released sep . 18 , 2002 ). pursuant to these criteria , about 47 million americans have the metabolic syndrome . that means that one in four americans are living with this cluster of signs and symptoms . the etiology of the metabolic syndrome has been elusive , but is currently attributed to โ improper nutrition and inadequate physical activity .โ ( blackburn , g , et al ., the obesity epidemic : prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome , medscape . com , released sep . 18 , 2002 ). not surprisingly , every single component of this syndrome can be reversed by weight loss . ( blackburn , g , et al ., the obesity epidemic : prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome , medscape . com , released sep . 18 , 2002 ). the obesity epidemic is flourishing in the face of our current medical - society - based and government - established food plans , thereby creating questions about the validity or appropriateness of those food plans . naturally , food plans cannot be solely to blame for these epidemics . therefore , it is the wrong food plan , along with a sedentary lifestyle , poor snack choices , and over - consumption of antibiotics , that is to blame for these epidemics of obesity and the metabolic syndrome . the twofold reason why carbohydrates are the wrong food to place at the foundation of the current , popular food plans is that ( 1 ) they are easily converted into fats ( harper , et al ., review of physiological chemistry , 16 th ed ., los altos , calif ., 1977 ) and , ( 2 ) they are commonly contaminated with disease - causing mycotoxins . ( etzel , r ., mycotoxins , journal of the american medical association , 287 ( 4 ), jan . 23 / 30 , 2002 ). in the ideal world , grains could be a safe choice for a staple food . but the facts remain that ours is an inactive society . individuals are not burning off the grains that are consumed , and grains are a stored and processed product . storing and processing grains ( along with droughts and floods ) increases the risks of mycotoxin contamination . even the seeds used to plant new crops can be contaminated with mycotoxin - producing fungi , so planting one &# 39 ; s own garden does not avoid the inevitable exposure to fungi in certain grain - bearing plants . this is the case with corn and corn kernels used to plant new crops . luckily , rice and oats are less prone to fungal contamination and , as such , they are perhaps better choices for staple grains . abnormally elevated liver enzymes or fatty deposits in the liver are not part of the criteria for diagnosing metabolic syndrome . nevertheless , a majority of people ( 73 %) with the metabolic syndrome have what &# 39 ; s called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis ( nash ). whether one has the metabolic syndrome or not , if one &# 39 ; s liver enzymes are elevated on a blood test , a doctor will be able to determine whether nash or some other , infectious agent is responsible for the rise in liver enzymes ( ast , or sgot , and alt , or sgpt ). essentially , nash describes a liver that is inflamed and full of fatty deposits , similar to what might happen if one drinks an abundance of alcohol over long periods of time . only , in nash , alcohol is not part of the picture . nash can progress to severe , fatal liver disease over many years . nash results in cirrhosis ( irreversible scarring , like that seen in kidney failure ) in 20 - 25 % of patients who have it and liver - related deaths in 8 - 15 % of patients . ( resnick , r ., chopra , s ., nonalcoholoic steatohepatits : a common hepatic disorder , family practice recertification , vol 24 , no . 9 ., august 2002 ). and just as diabetes and hypertension are fueling a culture of people with kidney failure , the huge number of people with metabolic syndrome is going to give rise to a large population of people with liver failure in the next 10 or 20 years โ unless a cause and , therefore , treatment , can be identified . ( marchesini , g ., et al ., nonalcoholic fatty liver , steatohepatitis , and the metabolic syndrome , hepatology , april 2003 , 37 ( 4 ): 917 - 23 ). the etiology of fatty liver in overweight individuals remains โ yet to be determined ,โ though it is suspected to have something to do with insulin resistance . ( russo , m ., jacobson , i ., nonalcoholic fatty liver disease , hospital physician , november 2002 ). the etiology has already been determined . for example , aflatoxin , the aspergillus fungal toxin , is known to cause fatty liver , hepatitis , and fibrosis ( scarring ) in humans and animals . ( cast , mycotoxins : risks in plant , animal , and human systems , task force report no . 139 , jan 2003 , council for agricultural science and technology , ames , iowa ). ochratoxin , made by aspergillus and penicillium fungi , also causes fatty liver in humans and animals . ( class course in advanced food microbiology , microbial foodborne pathogens , http :// class . fst . ohio - state . edu / fst736 / sect4 . htm . june 2003 ; rodricks , j ., et al ., mycotoxins in human and animal health . pathotox publishers , inc ., park forest south , ill ., 1977 , p . 492 ). in addition , mycotoxins such as streptozotocin induce a state of insulin resistance . ( id tno animal nutrition , diabetic pig characterized by hepatic and cellular insulin - resistance , http :// www . id . dlo . n1 / id - lelystad / documenten / flyers / idtno 22 . 0701 koopmans uk . pdf .). these facts are only relevant if , in fact , people were consuming mycotoxins in small quantities โ as food contaminants and prescriptive antibiotics โ on a regular basis . scientists have already established that this is , indeed , the case . ( cast , mycotoxins : risks in plant , animal , and human systems , task force report no . 139 , jan 2003 , council for agricultural science and technology , ames , iowa ; etzel , r ., mycotoxins , journal of the american medical association , 287 ( 4 ): 425 - 427 , jan . 23 / 30 , 2002 ). in addition , in a biopsy a liver with nonalcoholic - related fatty changes looks โ almost identical โ to that of a liver damaged by alcohol abuse . ( kichian , k ., et al ., nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in patients investigated for elevated liver enzymes , canadian journal of gastroenterology , january 2003 , 17 ( 1 ): 38 - 42 ). and alcohol is but a mycotoxin made by the yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae , i . e ., brewer &# 39 ; s yeast . ours is a population of people who are obediently following their grain - based dietary recommendations and taking loads of unnecessary antibiotics ( most of which are fungal by - products themselves ), while at the same time they are developing classic symptoms of mycotoxin exposure . but instead of calling the disease what it most likely is โ a mycotoxicosis โ it is called nash , or metabolic syndrome , or any other of a dozen unknown etiology diseases . nearly a quarter of all adults over the age of 45 have some form of chronic , renal insufficiency . ( jancin , b ., chronic renal insufficiency strikes 23 % of adults , family practice news , jun . 1 , 2002 ). folmer elling has a full chapter dedicated to the โ morphological aspects of mycotoxic nephropathy โ in a book covering the ill effects of mycotoxins in humans . in it , he describes the renal - toxic effects of ochratoxin , a toxin produced by aspergillus and penicillium species of molds . ( rodricks , j ., et al ., mycotoxins in human and animal health , proceedings of a conference on mycotoxins in human and animal health , pp . 499 - 506 , pathotox publishers , park forest south , ill . 1977 ). ochratoxin has been documented to cause kidney damage in all animal species tested thus far . ochratoxin is suspected to cause endemic nephropathy , also known as โ balkan ,โ or โ iga โ nephropathy , a form of kidney failure seen in central europe where ochratoxin has been found in high levels in the food supply . in one random sampling 56 % of germans had detectable levels of ochratoxin in their bloodstream . ochratoxin , an unregulated mycotoxin in the united states , is typically found in barley , corn , wheat , oats , rye , green coffee beans , and peanuts . ( bray , g ., ryan , d ., eds ., pennington center nutrition series , volume 1 : mycotoxins , diabetes and health , p . 42 - 43 ; council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : economic and health risks , task force report number 116 , p . 35 . november 1989 , cast , ames , iowa ). iga nephropathy is the most common cause of glomerulonephritis , or kidney disease , in the world . ( council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : economic and health risks , task force report number 116 , p . 35 , november 1989 , cast , ames , iowa ). a fusarium mold toxin known as deoxynivalenol , of the trichothecene group of toxins , causes accumulation of the antibody iga in the filtering areas ( called glomeruli ) of the kidneys in mice , identical to the pathologic process seen in balkan nephropathy in humans . ( council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : economic and health risks , task force report number 116 , p . 35 , november 1989 , cast , ames , iowa ). the overactive immune response to the mycotoxin in the kidneys leads to permanent damage . the trichothecene mycotoxins are 40 times more toxic when inhaled than when consumed in contaminated foods . ( peraica , m ., et al ., toxic effects of mycotoxins in humans , bulletin of the world health organization , who website , 1999 ). one case study documented kidney failure ( acute renal failure ) caused by inhaled mycotoxins . a farmer developed kidney failure after she had been working in a granary containing aspergillus ochraceus - infected wheat . the mold aspergillus ochraceus makes ochratoxin , and wheat that is infected with this mold liberates ochratoxin into the air , which can be harmful if inhaled , especially in an enclosed area like a grain silo . the kidney biopsy on the farmer showed characteristic acute tubular necrosis ( atn ) and โ minimal change โ lesions , which are certain tissue changes seen in the biopsy of a failed kidney . she recovered slowly and fully , needing only temporary dialysis in the hospital following avoidance of the toxin . because streptozotocin causes diabetes , it is interesting that exposure to this same chemical , marketed under the name zanosar ยฎ, can lead to โ severe โ or even โ fatal kidney disease โ in humans . ( physicians &# 39 ; desk reference , 48 th edition , medical economics data production company , montvale , n . j ., 1994 ; ishikawa , a ., et al ., mechanism of cyclosporin induced nephrotoxicity , transpl proc ., 31 : 1127 - 1128 , 1999 ). it is directly toxic to the kidneys and can lead to tissue damage , similar to the damage in the pancreas that leads to diabetes in experimental animals . cyclosporin - a , a fungal byproduct from the tolypocladium inflatum fungus ( turner , g ., exploitation of fungal secondary metabolites old and new , microbiology today , vol . 27 , august , 2000 ) is classified as a macrolide antibiotic , although it is not used as an antimicrobial in humans . erythromycin , clarithromycin , and azithromycin are also macrolide antibiotics . cyclosporin - a , however , is used for the purpose of suppressing the human body &# 39 ; s immune system so that it will not reject a foreign , transplanted organ . it is a known vasoconstrictor , or a substance that constricts blood vessels . because of its action , almost 100 % of the time , persons receiving therapeutic doses of cyclosporin - a will develop hypertension . ( cifkova , r ., haller , h ., cyclosporin - induced hypertension , european society of hypertension scientific newsletter , 2001 , 2 : no . 8 ). constricting blood vessels , similar to squeezing a hose , also leads to altered perfusion through the kidneys . the kidneys normally help to regulate blood pressure in the body through the action of their various hormones and fluid balance mechanisms that are put into play , in part , based on the amount of blood flow that they receive . when this blood flow is artificially altered by this mycotoxin , the kidneys , sensing a decrease in blood flow , can be stimulated to increase the blood pressure in the body . over time , chronic oxygen and nutrient deprivation , caused by lack of blood flow , can lead to organ damage . [ heading - 0112 ] nerve damage / neuropathy seen in diabetes , and its association with fungi / mycotoxins a disturbing problem that patients with long - standing diabetes often encounter is that of nerve damage . if a person has had diabetes for 10 or 20 years , then they will likely suffer from numbness , tingling , burning sensations , or pain in various parts of the body . the legs are often most frequently affected , but hands and internal organs can be affected as well . digestion and intestinal mobility problems can occur if the nerves to the stomach or intestines are damaged . when this happens , the nerves can no longer stimulate the muscles of the intestines to move food along through the stomach and digestive tract , so intestinal blockage becomes a serious problem . nausea and vomiting may be a symptom of this problem ( called gastroparesis ). impotence can arise in males that can also happen as a result of damage to the delicate nerves of the genital area . other various symptoms of nerve damage may include dizziness , diarrhea or constipation , wasting of the muscles in the arms or legs , difficulty urinating , loss of balance and generalized weakness . ( intelihealth . com , diabetic neuropathy : the nerve damage of diabetes , december 2002 ). burning feet and legs is a common complaint of people with diabetic nerve damage . this can result either from the lack of blood supply to the legs or direct damage to the nerve by a mycotoxin . gliotoxin , a fungal poison produced by aspergillus , candida , gliocladium and penicillium fungal species , is extremely toxic to cells and nerves in very small concentrations . ( forsby , et . al ., cellular neurotoxicology , neurochem . su . se ., 25 nov ., 2002 ). fusarium and aspergillus mold toxins called fumonisins are neurotoxic ( can damage nerves ) and are โ universally present in corn and corn - based products .โ ( etzel , r ., mycotoxins , journal of the american medical association , 287 ( 4 ), 425 - 427 , jan . 23 / 30 , 2002 ). simply put , โ mycotoxins can cause nerve damage .โ ( byrd , b ., food safety : an international public health issue , the international electronic journal of health education , december 2002 , issn : 1529 - 1944 ). some other references to the fungal toxin - nerve damage link are as follows : the mycotoxin citreo - viridin causes nerve paralysis . maltoryzine , an aspergillus toxin causes muscle paralysis . patulin ( commonly found in processed apple products ) causes nerve damage also . ( kemin . com , kemin americas , inc ., the control of mold and mycotoxins in ruminant foods , december 2002 ). these studies have been done on farm and laboratory animals , but the medical literature has already documented the mycotoxin contamination of human foods . alcohol , in its various beverage forms , is also toxic to nerves . ( o &# 39 ; connor , r ., alcoholic neuropathy , www . emedicine . com , december 2002 ). in people the type of nerve damage that alcohol can cause is very , very similar to that seen in diabetes : numbness primarily in the legs , muscle weakness and muscle wasting , and imbalance problems , among other things . mycotoxins , plain and simple , damage nerves . cataracts are more common and occur at an earlier age in people with diabetes . ( http :// www . uihealthcare . com / topics / diabetes / diab4401 . html , february 2004 ). diabetic retinopathy ( dr ) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the united states . the reason for the development of cataracts in diabetes is felt to be the accumulation of sorbitol ( a type of sugar ) in the lens of the eyes , which then causes an osmotic pressure gradient , favoring the eyes , which leads to lens damage . in dr , the cause is essentially unknown . but it is known that the onset of retinopathy in diabetes parallels the onset of kidney disease . both organs are rich in tiny , delicate blood vessels . a toxin that affects blood vessels would seem to attack the smallest vessels first . given that mycotoxins are involved in causing type 1 and type 2 diabetes , mycotoxins are able to cause both cataracts and retinopathy as well . in both high and low doses , zearalenone , a fusarium mould toxin , causes retinopathy and cataracts in male and female rats . ( ntp technical report on the carcinogenesis bioassay of zearalenone , cas no . 17924 - 92 - 4 , in f344 / n rats and b6c3f1 mice ( feed study ), national toxicology program , nih publication no . 83 - 1791 , us dept of health and human services , october 1982 ). in addition , supplements , such as vitamin c , that exhibit antifungal activity seem also to protect against the cataractogenesis property of mycotoxins . ( kikic , f , trevithick , j r ., vitamin c reduces cytochalasin d cataractogenesis , curr eye res , october 1995 , 14 ( 10 ) : 943 - 9 ). cytochalasin d , the mycotoxin studied in this case , is a by - product of the mould , zygusporium mansonii , ( cytochalasin d , zygusporium mansonii , a . g . scientific , inc ., http :// www . agscientific . com / item / c1070 . htm ., february 2004 .) and is known to produce abnormal corneal changes in human corneal tissue . ( kim , e k , et al ., corneal endothelial cytoskeletal changes in f - actin with aging , diabetes and after cytochalasin exposure ., am j ophthalmol , sep . 15 , 1992 . 114 ( 3 ): 329 - 35 ). inflammation , heart disease , atherosclerosis , diabetes , and fungi / mycotoxins : ( see infectious diabetes , original printing , 2003 . chapter 12 , pp 107 - 110 ; chapter 15 , pp 127 - 134 ) hypertension , diabetes , and fungi / mycotoxins : ( see infectious diabetes , original printing , 2003 ; chapter 14 , pp 123 - 124 ) heart failure / congestive heart failure , diabetes , and fungi / mycotoxins : ( see infectious diabetes , original printing , 2003 ; chapter 135 , pp 135 - 140 ) strokes / cerebrovascular disease , diabetes , and fungi / mycotoxins : ( see infectious diabetes , original printing , 2003 ; chapter 17 , pp 141 - 143 ) pregnancy - related diabetes and fungi / mycotoxins : ( see infectious diabetes , original printing , 2003 ; chapter 8 , pp 67 - 76 ). in addition : โ fungal toxin in potato scab causes type 1 diabetes โ a common toxin found in the potato scab in root vegetables is linked to type 1 diabetes : bafilomycin , a macrolide antibiotic ( a mycotoxin ) made by the streptomyces griseus mold and found in the black , scab lesions on root vegetables ( especially potatoes ) caused diabetes in 100 % of the offspring of mother mice who were fed this toxin . ( www . onenews . nzoom . com , citing a study by paul zimmet et al ., june 2003 , director of the international diabetes institute in melbourne , australia ). bafilomycin is a heat - stable fungal toxin that cannot be destroyed in the cooking process . obesity , diabetes , and fungi / mycotoxins / fungal growth promoters : ( see kaufmann , d . โ what makes bread rise ,โ mediatrition , inc . rockwall , tex . 2004 ). multiple sclerosis ( ms ) is characterized by destruction of the protective sheath โ called the myelin sheath โ around nerves in the brain and the spinal cord . as a result , the transmission of nerve impulses to other nerves , muscles , and vital organs is interrupted . this impaired nerve function translates into symptoms such as difficulty in walking , abnormal โ pins and needles โ sensations throughout the body , pain , and loss of vision due to inflammation of the optic nerve , tremors , incoordination , paralysis , and impaired thinking and memory . ( nationalmssociety . org , september 2002 ). in addition , muscle wasting , bladder dysfunction , fatigue , osteoporosis , and a host of other problems can develop either directly or indirectly due to this nerve damage . although there is a genetic predisposition toward ms , as proven in studies of twins , only a third of those that are genetically susceptible will get ms , indicating there is still an outside factor involved . ( murray , j ., infection as a cause of multiple sclerosis : theories abound because no one knows the answer yet , editorials , british medical journal , vol 325 : 1128 , nov . 16 , 2002 ). ms is more common in those born and raised above the 37 th parallel ( a line extending from newport news , va to santa cruz , calif . ); however , if a person moves to an area of low risk ( i . e . below the 40 th parallel ) prior to adolescence , they assume the lower risk of their new location . these last points support the idea of an environmental exposure link to the disease . as outside causes are to blame , then oppenheim , an early 1900 &# 39 ; s researcher , was close in his assertion that ms is caused by an environmental toxin . other researchers of his day thought that there was a defect in the blood vessels or in the glial tissues . pierre marie , in the late 1800 &# 39 ; s , thought that ms was caused by an infectious agent . however , despite all of the โ infection โ theories that have been tested over the past 150 plus years , not one โ whether bacteria , virus , chlamydia or scrapie - like agent โ has proven to be the culprit . mycotoxins are chemicals made by fungi . they are found in grains that have been contaminated with fungi and mold . some mycotoxins are used for medicinal purposes . antibiotics , such as penicillin and the cephalosporin drugs , are fungal metabolites โ they are mycotoxins . alcohol is a mycotoxin . aflatoxin , the most carcinogenic substance on earth , is a mycotoxin . the most food sources of these mycotoxins are peanuts , corn , alcoholic beverages , and wheat . often , other foods such as barley , apples , sorghum and rye can be sources as well . some mycotoxins are produced in our body by the yeast in our intestines or vaginal tract . in one study , 3 women severely symptomatic for vaginal candidiasis were found to have vaginal fluid samples with significant levels of a mycotoxin called gliotoxin . ( shah , d . t , et al ., in situ mycotoxin production by candida albicans in women with vaginitis , gynecol . obstet . invest ., 1995 , 39 ( 1 ): 67 - 9 ). exposure to mycotoxins in the environment has several causes : ingestion , inhalation , skin contact , etc . once inside the body these mycotoxins damage nerves . it is known that in ms there is a loss of molecules called sphingolipids from the white matter in the central nervous system . ( harper , review of physiological chemistry , 16th ed ., 1977 ). it is not well - known that mycotoxins can actually disrupt sphingolipid biosynthesis . ( miller - hjelle , pkd : an unrecognized emerging infectious disease ? emerging infectious diseases , 3 ( 2 ): 113 - 127 , 1997 , cdc ). specifically , gliotoxin , as mentioned above , can induce nerve cell death ( apoptosis ), albeit on a slightly larger scale . gliotoxin is a heat stable chemical made by aspergillus , candida , and other species of fungi . not coincidentally , scientists have recovered a heat stable toxin from the cerebrospinal fluid ( csf ) of ms patients . in this particular study , the scientists took the csf from ms patients , heat - treated it to destroy any infectious germs , and then exposed it to nerve cells in a laboratory culture . what ensued was death of these nerve cells . the scientists called this heat - stable toxin โ gliotoxin .โ the source of gliotoxin appears to be , again , primarily from the yeast and fungi within the human body . as such , gliotoxin is less important as an agricultural scourge than are other mycotoxins such as fumonisins , made by fusarium and aspergillus fungi , and the penetrim d toxin made by penicillium crustosum . fumonisins are a group of mycotoxins that happen to be neurotoxic as well as carcinogenic . they are โ universally present in corn and corn - based products .โ ( etzel , r ., mycotoxins , journal of the american medical association , 287 ( 4 ): 425 - 427 , jan . 23 / 30 , 2002 ). penitrem mycotoxins are found in things such as moldy apple products . penetrem d can cause tremors , convulsions , limb weakness , and ataxis ( unsteady gait ), โ not unlike the symptoms observed in ms .โ ( www . iserloh . com / penitrem . html , july 2003 ). as there are different classes of ms ( chronic progressive , relapsing - remitting , etc .) it might be that the different presentations of ms are being caused by different classes of mycotoxins . in addition , the regional differences in the prevalence of ms can be explained by the particular agricultural products that dominate the most affected areas . for example , the part of america that lies above the 37 th parallel also happens to encompass the corn belt . as previously stated , corn is universally contaminated with mycotoxins . ( council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : risks in plant , animal , and human system , task force report 139 , january 2003 , ames , iowa ). this area is also represented by much of the wheat belt . this is more than just a coincidence . it supports the hypothesis that exposure to an environmental toxin causes ms . regarding past and up - to - date treatments for ms , none of the current , conventional , pharmaceutical therapies offer a โ cure .โ ( http :// www . mercola . com / 2003 / mar / 5 / ms_drugs . htm , february 2004 ). in recent trials , statin drugs ( cholesterol - lowering drugs ) have , at least , proven effective in slowing the progression of ms . ( bouchez , c ., cholesterol drug may offer hope for ms patients , healthscoutnews , april 2003 ; edelson , e ., cholesterol drugs may treat multiple sclerosis , healthscoutnews , oct . 7 , 2002 ; verrengia , j ., statin drugs show m . s . promise , associated press , yahoo news , nov . 7 , 2002 ). their effectiveness is not surprising , in light of the fungal / mycotoxin theory , because it is also known that statin drugs are antifungal . ( costantini , a . v ., fungalbionics series : etiology and prevention of atherosclerosis , johann freidrich oberlin verlag , freiburg , germany , 1998 / 99 ). it is also known that vitamin d as well as sunlight can reduce mortality from and positively influence the immune system in ms . ( http :// www . mercola . com / 2000 / may / 28 / sunlight_m_s . htm ; http :// www . mercola . com / 2001 / apr / 25 / vitamin_d . htm , february 2004 ). other researchers have explained that the reason why these work is , once again , vitamin d , whether taken in the form of a cod liver oil supplement or made naturally by our body from sunlight exposure , is an anti - mycotoxin . ( costantini , a . v ., fungalbionics series : etiology and prevention of atherosclerosis , johann freidrich oberlin verlag , freiburg , germany , 1998 / 99 ). finally , in regards to diet , a german researcher recently claimed that eating smoked sausage in childhood was responsible for causing multiple sclerosis later in life . ( murphy , d ., german researcher claims smoked sausage linked to multiple sclerosis , meatingplace . com , september 2002 ). dr . a . v . costantini , retired head of the world health organization &# 39 ; s collaborating center for mycotoxins in food , has explained that smoked and aged meats are very often contaminated with mycotoxins ( costantini , a ., et al ., prevention of breast cancer : hope at last . fungalbionic series , freiburg , germany , 1998 ). many times this is due to the addition of fungally - contaminated spices in the meat . ( aziz , n . mex ., youssef , y a , occurrence of aflatoxins and aflatoxin - producing moulds in fresh and processed meat in egypt , food addit contam , may - june 1991 , 8 ( 3 ): 321 - 31 ). thus the cause of ms , according to these and other researchers , is food - related . in another study , mice with an ms - like condition exhibited fewer symptoms and decreased progression of the illness when they were starved of their regular food rations . ( http :// www . mercola . com / 2003 / feb / 12 / starvation diet . htm , february 2004 ). starvation works because fewer foods taken in allow fewer mycotoxins to enter the body . following the standard food pyramid , which is a grain - based american diet , people consume on average between 0 . 15 to 0 . 5 mg of aflatoxin per day . ( etzel , r ., mycotoxins , journal of the american medical association , 287 ( 4 ): 425 - 427 , jan . 23 / 30 , 2002 ). aflatoxin is the only regulated mycotoxin in america , so the level of exposure people have to the other , known mycotoxins in the diet disclosed herein is , at best , a guess . thus , starvation or calorie - restricting diets not only deprive people of calories , but also deprive people of disease - causing , carcinogenic mycotoxins . as mycotoxins cause ms , there are a number of steps one must take to minimize exposure to fungi and their mycotoxins . a low carbohydrate diet must be followed . since mycotoxins are commonly found in grain foods , ( council for agricultural science and technology , mycotoxins : risks in plant , animal , and human systems , task force report 139 , january 2003 , ames , iowa ; etzel , r ., mycotoxins , journal of the american medical association , 287 ( 4 ) : 425 - 427 , jan . 23 / 30 , 2002 ), it would be wise to minimize grains in one &# 39 ; s diet . secondly , people should minimize exposure to antibiotics . antibiotics are , for the most part , derived from fungi and are therefore classified as mycotoxins . and , antibiotics are a leading risk factor for the development of secondary ( iatrogenic ) fungal infections . ( kibbler , c c ., principles and practice of clinical mycology , john wiley and sons , ltd ., west sussex , england , 1996 ). lastly , if one has any obvious signs of a fungal infection in or on one &# 39 ; s body โ quite possibly , simply having ms might qualify as an obvious sign ( gliotoxin can be made by fungi and yeast that are already in the body , not necessarily by fungi that reside in contaminated foods )โ one should take natural or prescriptive antifungals 5 for a period of time . the initial phase diet ( idp ) foods that are foods that are allowed excluded food groups in the diet : from the diet : 1 . sugar none ( 1 ) all sugars should be excluded 2 . artificial or stevia , stevia plus aspartame , herbal sweeteners saccharin 3 . fruit green apples , all others , berries , avocados including fruit grapefruit , lemons , juice limes 4 . meat fish , poultry , beef , breaded meats etc . ( 2 ) 5 . eggs yes , all eggs are egg substitutes allowed should be avoided 6 . dairy products ( 3 ) yogurt ( especially all others , goat yogurt ), including cream cheese , margarine unsweetened and any butter whipping cream , sour substitute cream made with real cream , butter 7 . vegetables most fresh , potatoes , legumes unblemished ( beans and vegetables and peas ) freshly - made vegetable juice ( 4 ) 8 . beverages bottled or filtered coffee and tea water , non - ( including decaf ) fruity herb teas , sodas ( including fresh lemonade diet sodas ) or limeade sweetened with stevia 9 . grains no grains are pasta , rice , corn , allowed wheat , quinoa , on the ipd amaranth , millet , buckwheat , oats , barley 10 . yeast products no yeast products all are excluded , are allowed including on the ipd bread , mushrooms , pastries , and alcoholic beverages 11 . vinegars unpasteurized apple pickles , salad cider vinegar , dressings ( 5 ), black olives not green olives , soy aged in vinegar sauce . 12 . oils olive , grape seed , partially - flax seed , etc . hydrogenated use cold - pressed (โ trans โ) when available oils , corn and peanut oil 13 . nuts raw nuts , including peanuts ( along pecans , with all peanut almonds , walnuts , products ) and cashews , pistachios pumpkin seeds , are excluded . sunflower seeds , etc . ( 1 ) honey may occasionally and sparingly be used as a sweetener if needed . ( 2 ) meat and fish are better if not corn - fed . this means avoiding farm - raised fish and meat , even if they are โ organic .โ grass - fed beef is ideal . ( 3 ) dairy products are better if from range - fed cattle and animals not injected with antibiotics , hormones , or steroids nor fed silo - stored grains . good # products : brown cow , monarch hills , redwood hills . whipping cream is liquid , unsweetened heavy cream . ( 4 ) organically grown vegetables are preferable . ( 5 ) excluded because many of them are fermented products this weeklong example on this diet is not meant to be followed verbatim , and rarely is the duration limited to just one week . rather , the following is merely to serve as an example . monday breakfast : fried eggs , uncured bacon , ยฝ grapefruit snack : almonds , water ( always bottled or filtered ) lunch : tuna with celery . herbal tea . snack : carrot sticks , water dinner : steak , steamed veggies , sparkling lime water ( optional ) dessert : plain yogurt with raspberries examples of antifungal prescriptive medications as well as naturally - occurring antifungal and anti - mycotoxin supplements to be used either alone or in conjunction with a carbohydrate - sparring diet in the treatment of a bloodstream or soft - tissue diabetes . 1 . fluconazole ( diflucan ยฎ, apo - fluconazole ยฎ) 200 mg in tablet or suspension form ( 10 mg / ml or 40 mg / ml ) by mouth every other day for 30 days 2 . fluconazole ( diflucan ยฎ) 200 - 400 mg in tablet or suspension form ( 10 mg / ml or 40 mg / ml ) by mouth or intravenously daily for 14 days 3 . fluconazole ( diflucan ยฎ) 200 mg in tablet or suspension form ( 10 mg / ml or 40 mg / ml ) by mouth daily for three consecutive days , followed by 200 mg each monday and thursday thereafter for one month total 4 . fluconazole ( diflucan ยฎ) in any of the combinations listed in # 1 - 3 above in combination and simultaneous with nystatin ( mycostatin ยฎ) oral tablets , 500 , 000 units per tablet , 2 tablets twice a day for 30 days , or in combination with and simultaneous with any of the preparations of nystatin listed below in # 9 - 13 . 5 . fluconazole ( diflucan ยฎ) 800 mg per day in tablet or suspension form ( 10 mg / ml or 40 mg / ml ) intravenously for 7 days . 6 . fluconazole ( diflucan ยฎ) 200 mg by mouth in tablet or suspension form ( 10 mg / ml or 40 mg / ml ) on day one , then 100 mg per day for the next 14 days . 7 . fluconazole ( diflucan ยฎ). 400 mg in tablet or suspension form ( 10 mg / ml or 40 mg / ml ) by mouth daily for 3 - 12 months . 8 . fluconazole ( diflucan ยฎ) 400 mg in tablet or suspension form ( 10 mg / ml or 40 mg / ml ) by mouth daily for 8 weeks . 9 . nystatin ( mycostatin ยฎ) oral tablets , 500 , 000 units per tablet , 2 - 3 tablets by mouth 2 - 4 times a day for 30 days , taken alone or in combination with a systemic antifungal agent . 10 . nystatin ( mycostatin ยฎ, bio - statin ยฎ, nystat - rx ยฎ, nystop ยฎ, pedi - dri ยฎ, nilstat ยฎ) oral suspension , 100 , 000 units per ml concentration , 2 cc by mouth twice a day for 14 days , taken alone or in combination with a systemic antifungal agent . 11 . nystatin ( mycostatin ยฎ, bio - statin ยฎ, nystat - rx ยฎ, nystop ยฎ, pedi - dri ยฎ) oral suspension , 100 , 000 units per ml concentration , 1 cc in each side of the mouth four times a day for 10 days , taken alone or in combination with a systemic antifungal agent . 12 . nystatin ( mycostatin ยฎ, bio - statin ยฎ, nystat - rx ยฎ, nystop ยฎ, pedi - dri ยฎ) oral suspension , 100 , 000 units per ml concentration , 5 cc by mouth , swished in the mouth and swallowed for 10 days , taken alone or in combination with a systemic antifungal agent . 13 . nystatin compounded powder , 500 , 000 units per โ
tsp , mixed in ยฝ cup of water and taken by mouth 4 times a day for 30 days , taken alone or in combination with a systemic antifungal agent . 14 . itraconazole ( sporanox ยฎ) in any of the following doses and / or regimens , alone or in combination with any of the nystatin preparations listed in # 9 - 13 above : a . 100 mg capsule or oral solution ( 10 mg / ml concentration ) by mouth daily for 30 days b . 100 mg capsule or oral solution ( 10 mg / ml concentration ) by mouth every other day for 30 days . c . 200 mg in capsule form or 200 mg of the oral solution ( 10 mg / ml concentration ) by mouth twice a day for one week of each month for three consecutive months . d . any of the above regimens ( a - c ) above preceded by : i . a loading dose of 200 mg intravenously twice a day for four consecutive doses , or ii . 200 mg , either in capsule or oral solution ( 10 mg / ml ) form by mouth , three times a day for 3 consecutive days . e . 200 mg intravenously twice a day for four consecutive days , followed by 200 mg intravenously , daily for 14 days . f . 200 mg per day in capsule or oral solution ( 10 mg / ml concentration ) form by mouth for 3 months . g . 200 mg per day in capsule or oral solution ( 10 mg / ml concentration ) form by mouth for 6 months . h . 200 mg per day in capsule or oral solution ( 10 mg / ml concentration ) form by mouth for 9 months i . 300 mg by mouth in capsule or oral solution ( 10 mg / ml concentration ) form , twice a day for three days , followed by 200 mg twice a day for 12 weeks . 15 . terbinafine ( lamisil ยฎ, apo - terbinafine ยฎ, gen - terbinafine ยฎ, novo - terbinafine ยฎ, pms - terbinafine ยฎ) in any of the following doses , alone or in combination and simultaneously with any of the nystatin regimens in # 9 - 13 above : a . 250 mg tablet by mouth daily for 6 weeks b . 250 mg tablet by mouth daily for 12 weeks c . 250 mg tablet by mouth , twice a day for 3 weeks d . 250 mg tablet by mouth daily for 2 - 8 weeks . e . 250 - 500 mg by mouth daily for up to 16 months . f . for children : i . 67 . 5 mg by mouth per day for 2 - 8 weeks for children weighing under 20 kg ii . 125 mg by mouth per day for 2 - 8 weeks for children weighing from 20 - 40 kg iii . 250 mg by mouth per day for children weighing over 40 kg . g . 250 mg tablet by mouth every other day for 30 days . 16 . ketoconazole ( nizoral ยฎ, apo - ketoconazole ยฎ, ketoderm ยฎ, novo - ketoconazole ยฎ) in the following doses and / or regimens , alone or in combination and simultaneously with any of the nystatin regimens in # 9 - 13 above : a . 200 - 400 mg by mouth daily for 2 weeks b . 200 - 400 mg by mouth daily for 30 days c . 200 - 400 mg by mouth daily for 6 months . d . for children over 2 : 3 . 3 - 6 . 6 mg / kg / day for anywhere from 1 week up to 6 months . 17 . clotrimazole ( mycelex ยฎ, canesten ยฎ) 10 mg oral troche dissolved on tongue and swallowed 5 times a day for 14 days . 18 . caspofungin acetate ( cancidas ยฎ): 70 mg loading dose intravenously on day 1 , followed by 50 mg intravenously daily until the clinical status of the patient improves ; taken alone or in combination and simultaneously with any of the nystatin regimens in # 9 - 13 above . 19 . voriconazole ( vfend ยฎ): for children over 12 and adults โ 6 mg / kg intravenously every 12 hours for 2 doses , followed by 4 mg / kg intravenously every 12 hours until the clinical status of the patient improves , at which time the oral form of the medication โ 400 mg every 12 hours โ is used in place of the intravenous form ; taken alone or in combination and simultaneously with any of the nystatin regimens in # 9 - 13 above . 20 . amphotericin b ( ablc ยฎ, amphotec ยฎ, ambisome ยฎ, abcd ยฎ, amphocil ยฎ, fungizone ยฎ) in the any of the following doses and regimens , alone or in combination and simultaneously with any of the nystatin regimens in # 9 - 13 above : a . 1 mg / kg / day intravenously for 14 days b . 0 . 5 mg / kg / day intravenously to a total dose of over 1500 mg . c . 0 . 5 mg / kg / day intravenously to a total dose of 5 - 7 mg / kg d . 0 . 5 mg / kg / day intravenously until clinical improvement is noted e . 0 . 5 - 1 . 0 mg / kg / day intravenously for 7 days f . 1 cc ( 100 mg ) of the oral suspension form by mouth 4 times a day for 14 days . 21 . flucytosine ( ancobon ยฎ): 100 mg / kg / day by mouth every 6 hours until clinical improvement is noted in the patient ; alone or in combination and simultaneously with any of the nystatin regimens in # 9 - 13 above 22 . griseofulvin ( fulvicin ยฎ, fulvicin - u / f ยฎ, grifulvin - v ยฎ, gris - peg ยฎ) in any of the following doses and / or regimens , alone or in combination and simultaneously with any of the nystatin regimens in # 9 - 13 above : a . 500 - 1000 mg per day of the microsized formula orally for ยฝ to 6 months b . 330 - 375 mg / day of the ultramicrosized formula orally for ยฝ to 6 months c . for children : i . 10 - 15 mg of the microsized formula / kg body weight / day for ยฝ to 6 months ii . 5 . 5 - 7 . 3 mg of the ultramicrosized formula / kg / day for ยฝ to 6 months a . grapefruit seed extract : citricidal ยฎ 33 %โ 15 drops mixed in water , taken orally twice a day b . olive leaf extract , 900 mg twice a day for 30 days or until clinical improvement is noted c . garlic 1 , 000 mg fresh extract three times a day until clinical improvement is noted . d . burdock root ( arctium lappa ): 1 , 000 mg daily until clinical improvement is noted e . caprylic acid : 1500 mg three times a day until clinical improvement is noted . f . pau d &# 39 ; arco ( tabebuia impetiginosa ): 1000 mg by mouth , three times a day until clinical improvement is noted . g . undecylenic acid : 250 mg three times a day until clinical improvement is noted . h . selenium : 200 mcg per day by mouth as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet ( see โ initial phase diet ,โ above ) and either natural or prescriptive antifungals . i . zinc picolinate or zinc citrate : 30 mg daily by mouth as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and either natural or prescriptive antifungals . j . iodine ( in this case , the prescriptive form : potassium iodide ( sski ยฎ, iosat ยฎ, pima ยฎ, lugol &# 39 ; s solution , ki ): 5 drops three times a day by mouth , increasing to 40 - 50 drops 3 times a day and continuing for 3 - 6 months , alone or as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and / or either natural or prescriptive antifungals . k . vitamin c , 2 , 000 mg per day by mouth as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and either natural or prescriptive antifungals . l . vitamin e , 400iu twice a day by mouth as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and either natural or prescriptive antifungals . m . vitamin d , 400 iu daily by mouth as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and either natural or prescriptive antifungals . n . broccoli sprouts ( containing sulfurophane ), 250 mg capsule three times a day orally , as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and either natural or prescriptive antifungals . o . oregano oil , in liquid extract or capsules : 15 - 45 mg of carvacrol ( active constituent ) three times a day orally , alone or as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and / or either natural or prescriptive antifungals . p . orange oil : 2 drops of 100 % pure orange oil three times a day orally , alone or as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and / or either natural or prescriptive antifungals . q . peppermint oil : 2 drops of 100 % pure peppermint oil three times a day orally , alone or as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and / or either natural or prescriptive antifungals . r . lemon myrtle oil ( backhousia citriodora )โ( citral is the active component ): 2 drops three times a day , diluted in water , orally , alone or as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and / or either natural or prescriptive antifungals . s . pterostilbene ( in grape skin ): 250 mg grape seed with grape skin extract - containing the pterostilbene - twice a day , alone or as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and / or either natural or prescriptive antifungals . t . fenugreek ( trigonella foenum - graecum ) seed : 1 . 22 grams three times a day , alone or as an adjunct to a carbohydrate - sparing diet and / or either natural or prescriptive antifungals . although preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in the foregoing detail description , it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed but is capable of numerous rearrangements , modifications , and substitutions of parts and elements without departing from the spirit of the invention . | 0 |
fig5 is a block diagram of a dynamic random access memory ( dram ) 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention , which operates in a normal mode and a full page mode in synchronization with external clock signal . the dram 200 has an array 210 of memory cells mc , which are at the intersections of word lines ( pages ) wli ( i = 0 to m ) and bit lines blj ( j = 0 to n ). each of the memory cells mc includes a storage capacitor and a charge transfer transistor . the bit lines blj are divided into two groups , each of which includes pairs of the bit lines blj . for instance , the first group includes pairs of bit line pairs bl 0 and bl 1 , bl 4 and bl 5 , . . . , bln - 3 and bln - 2 , and the second group includes bit line pairs bl 2 and bl 3 , bl 6 and bl 7 , . . . , bln - 1 and bln . a row decoder circuit 220 selects and drives one of the word lines wli . two or more io line pairs ioi and ioib are to the left of the array 210 , and two or more io line pairs ioj and iojb are to the right of the array 210 . although the dram 200 includes a number of io lines , fig5 shows only one io line pair from the group of the io line pairs ioi and ioib and one io line pair from the group of the io line pairs ioj and iojb . the io line pair ioi and ioib connects to an io line driver circuit ( or a first io line driver circuit ) 230 . in response to a signal ca 8 b from an address buffer circuit 260 , the first io line driver circuit 230 drives the io line pair ioi and ioib with data to be written . a precharge circuit ( or a first precharge circuit ) 240 precharges the io line pair ioi and ioib . the first precharge circuit 240 is adjacent to the first io line driver circuit 230 and controlled by a first precharge signal piop_ 8 b from a precharge controller 330 . similarly , the io line pair ioj and iojb connects to an io line driver circuit ( or a second io line driver circuit ) 230 โฒ. the second io line driver circuit 230 โฒ drives the io line pair ioj and iojb with data to be written in response to a signal ca 8 from the address buffer circuit 260 . a precharge circuit 240 โฒ ( or a second precharge circuit ), which precharges the io line pair ioj and iojb , is adjacent to the second io line driver circuit 230 โฒ and controlled by a second precharge signal piop_ 8 from the precharge controller 330 . a group of bit lines , for example , bl 0 and bl 1 , connect to the io lines ioi and ioib through a bit line sense amplifier 250 a and column selection transistors st . the gates of the column selection transistors st connect to a column decoder circuit 280 through a column selection line csl 0 . a group of bit lines , for example , bl 2 and bl 3 , connect to the io lines ioj and iojb through a bit line sense amplifier 250 b and column selection transistors st . the gates of the column selection transistors st also connect to the column decoder circuit 280 through the column selection line csl . other bit line pairs connect to either of the io line pair ioi and ioib , and the io line pair ioj and iojb in the same manner as described above . referring to fig5 the dram 200 includes a precharge controller 330 . when a signal indicating a write interrupt wi is detected in the normal mode , the precharge controller 330 activates first and second precharge signals piop_ 8 b and piop_ 8 high , so that the io lines ioi and ioib , and ioj and iojb are precharged simultaneously . in the full page mode , data is written to the array 210 through the io lines ioi and ioib and then written to the array 210 through the io lines ioj and iojb . in this case , the precharge controller 330 activates the first precharge signal piop_ 8 b high , so that only the io lines ioi and ioib are precharged . the precharge controller 330 includes a write interrupt detector 290 , a full page mode detector 300 , an address transition detector 310 , and a precharge signal generator 320 . the write interrupt detector 290 responds to a signal directing a write or read operation , such as a write enable signal web , and a signal directing column address input , such as a column address strobe signal casb . further , the write interrupt detector 290 generates a write interrupt detection signal pwiw , which is synchronized with a rising edge of a clock signal pclkf from a clock buffer circuit 340 , whenever such a write interrupt ( including write and read operations ) is requested in the normal mode . the clock buffer circuit 340 receives an externally applied clock signal and produces a first clock signal pclk and a second clock signal pclkf . the clock signal pclkf leads the clock signal pclk and has the same period as the first clock signal pclk , as shown in fig1 a and 10b . fig6 shows a circuit diagram of the write interrupt detector 290 according to an embodiment of the present invention . the write interrupt detector 290 includes three nor gates g 20 , g 24 and g 25 , four nand gates g 21 , g 22 , g 23 and g 28 , two invertors inv 33 and inv 44 , a transmission gate circuit tg 2 including an invertor inv 30 , a pmos transistor mp 10 and an nmos transistor mn 10 , a latch circuit l 2 including two invertors inv 31 and inv 32 , and two pulse generators 291 and 292 . the signals pwr , pwrf , pclkf , pcf and pcsf are as described above with reference to fig2 . a write interrupt read wir operation and a write interrupt write wiw operation in the normal mode of the dram 200 are explained with reference to fig5 and 6 . in the wir operation , a write operation for the array 210 is performed through the io lines ioi and ioib at a clock cycle , for example , n - th clock cycle , and then a read operation is required through the io lines ioj and iojb at a next clock cycle , for example , ( n + 1 ) th clock cycle . under this condition , the signals pwr , pcf , and pcsf become high , and the signal pwrf becomes low because the write enable signal web is high . accordingly , an output signal e of the nor gate g 20 and an output signal f of the nand gate g 23 become low . when the clock signal pclkf changes from low to high , the nand gate g 22 issues its output signal g of a low level , and the nand gate g 21 outputs signal h of a high level . this makes an output signal k of the nor gate g 24 high , and an output signal l of the nor gate g 25 becomes low . thus , an output signal sp 1 of the pulse generator 291 becomes low , and an output signal sp 2 of the pulse generator 292 becomes high . as a result , the write interrupt detector 290 generates a write interrupt detection signal pwiw of a high level through the nand gate g 28 . in the write interrupt write wiw operation , a write operation for the array 210 is performed through , for example , the io lines ioi and ioib at a clock cycle , for example , n - th clock cycle , and then a write operation is required through , for example , the io lines ioj and iojb at a next clock cycle , for example , ( n + 1 ) th clock cycle . under this condition , the signals pwr , pcf , and pcsf become high , and the signal pwrf also becomes high because the write enable signal web becomes low . accordingly , the output signal e of the nor gate g 20 and the output signal f of the nand gate g 23 become low . when the clock signal pclkf , which is earlier than a clock signal pclk , changes from low to high , the output signal g of the nand gate g 22 becomes high , and the output signal h of the nand gate g 21 becomes low . thus , the output signal k of the nor gate g 24 becomes low , and the output signal l of the nor gate g 25 becomes high , so that the output signal sp 1 of the pulse generator 291 becomes high , and the output signal sp 2 of the pulse generator 292 becomes low . as a result , the write interrupt detector 290 generates a write interrupt detection signal pwiw of a high level in a pulse form through the nand gate g 28 . the write interrupt detector 290 generates the write interrupt detection signal pwiw whenever the write interrupt occurs regardless of whether write or read operation is requested after the write interrupt . this means that the io line precharge time is the same at the wir the wiw operations , as described below . referring to fig5 the full page mode detector 300 detects whether the dram 200 is in the full page mode . the full page mode detector 300 activates a full page mode detection signal pmdet to a high level when the dram 200 operates at the full page mode . the address transition detector 310 detects whether the address signals , which select between the io lines ioi and ioib and the io lines ioj and iojb , change in the full page mode . fig7 illustrates the detectors 300 and 310 according to an embodiment of the present invention . the full page mode detector 300 includes a nand gate g 29 and an invertor inv 51 . the nand gate g 29 has one input terminal receiving the signal pwr and the other input terminal receiving a signal blfull , and the invertor inv 51 has an input terminal connected to an output terminal of the nand gate g 29 and an output terminal outputting the full page mode detection signal pmdet . when the signal blfull is high and low , the dram 200 ( fig5 ) operates at the full page mode and at a normal mode , respectively . therefore , the full page mode detection signal pmdet becomes high when the dram 200 operates at the full page mode and performs a write operation . the signal pmdet becomes low when the dram 200 does not operate at the full page mode or perform a read operation . the signal blfull is issued from a mode register set mrs ( not shown ). the mrs is programmed after power - on and before normal operation and may be changed during operation . data contained in the mode register set mrs includes burst length , burst sequence type , column address strobe casb latency , and whether the operation is a normal operation or a test mode operation . the address transition detector 310 has two nand gates g 30 and g 31 , and two pulse generators 311 and 312 . the address transition detector 310 pulses one of first and second address transition detection signals pdet_ 8 b and pdet_ 8 low in response to address signals ca 8 _p and ca 8 b_p from the address buffer circuit 260 and the full page mode detection signal pmdet from the full page mode detector 300 . that is , the address transition detector 310 responds to the transitions of the address signals ca 8 _p and ca 8 b_p when the full page mode detection signal pmdet is high . for example , when the address signal ca 8 _p transitions to high , the first address transition detection signal pdet_ 8 b becomes low . when the address signal ca 8 b_p transitions to high , the second address transition detection signal pdet_ 8 becomes low . as described above , the address signals ca 8 _p and ca 8 b_p are supplied from the address buffer circuit 260 in synchronization with a falling edge of the clock signal pclk . fig9 shows the address buffer circuit 260 according to an embodiment of the present invention . the address buffer circuit 260 receives one of two address signals a 8 and pca 8 b when the clock signal pclk is low , and then latches the received address signal a 8 or pca 8 b in latch circuit l 3 or l 4 . when the clock signal pclk is high , the latched address signal a 8 or pca 8 b is converted to the address signals ca 8 b and ca 8 . the address signals ca 8 _p and ca 8 b_p , which are inputted to the address transition detector 310 in synchronization with the falling edge of the clock signal pclk , are supplied from input and output terminals of the latch circuit l 4 , respectively . herein , the address signal a 8 is supplied from the outside when the column address strobe signal casb is toggled at the normal mode , and the address signal pca 8 b is supplied from the burst counter 270 at the full page mode . and , the address signals ca 8 _p and ca 8 b_p from output stage of the address buffer circuit 260 illustrated by a dot line in fig9 can be supplied to the address transition detector 310 . referring to fig5 the precharge signal generator 320 issues the first and second precharge signals piop_ 8 b and piop_ 8 in response to the detection signals pwiw , pdet_ 8 b and pdet_ 8 . fig8 illustrates the precharge signal generator 320 according to an embodiment ol &# 39 ; the present invention . the precharge signal generator 320 includes three nand gates g 32 , g 33 and g 34 and six invertors inv 51 to inv 56 . when the write interrupt detection signal pwiw is high at the normal mode , the input terminal of the nand gates g 33 and g 34 connecting to the invertor inv 56 become low . thus , both the first and the second precharge signals piop_ 8 and piop_ 8 b become high . as described above , in the full page mode , either the address transition detection signal pdet_ 8 b or the address transition detection signal pdet_ 8 is high . according to which one of the signals pdet_ 8 b and pdet_ 8 is high in the full page mode , one of the first and second precharge signals piop_ 8 b and piop_ 8 is activated ( high ), and the other is inactivated ( low ). for example , when the first address transition detection signal pdet_ 8 b is low ( when the address signal ca 8 _p is high ), the first precharge signal piop_ 8 b is high , and the second precharge signal piop_ 8 is low . according to an embodiment of the present invention , when the write interrupt wi is requested in the normal mode , the io lines ioi and ioib , and ioj and iojb are simultaneously precharged according to the transition of external signals directing read or write at the normal mode . on the other hand , when the write interrupt wi is required at the full page mode , one of the io line pairs ioi and ioib , and ioj and iojb is precharged according to the transition of the address signals ca 8 _p and ca 8 b_p . fig1 a is a timing diagram illustrating the write interrupt operation of the dram 200 ( fig5 ) in the normal mode according to an embodiment of the present invention . in the normal mode , the io lines ioi and ioib , and ioj and iojb are simultaneously precharged whenever the write interrupt operation is requested . that is , the write interrupt detection signal pwiw from the write interrupt detector 290 is employed for the io line precharge at the write interrupt read and write wir and wiw operations . as a result , the io precharge timing is the same both at the write interrupt read wir operation and at the write interrupt write wiw operation . this means that the io precharge time and the write time at the write interrupt write wiw operation become faster by ฮดt ( fig4 b ) than those associated with the prior art shown in fig4 b . fig1 b is a timing diagram illustrating the write interrupt operation in the full page mode of the dram 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig5 , 9 , and 10 b , the io line precharge operation for the write interrupt of the dram 200 is explained . after data is sequentially written in the memory cells mc through the io line pairs ioi and ioib , and before data is written in the memory cells mc through the io lines ioj and iojb , the io line pairs ioi and ioib have to be precharged to prevent a write error . prior to the write operation associated with the io lines ioj and iojb , the burst counter 270 generates sequential address signals for assessing the io lines ioj and iojb . the sequential address signals are provided into the address buffer circuit 260 in synchronization with a falling edge of the clock signal pclk . for example , the address signal pca 8 b selecting between the io lines ioi and ioib , and the io lines ioj and iojb is latched in the latch circuit l 4 of the address buffer circuit 260 in synchronization with a falling edge of the clock signal pclk . herein , it is assumed that the pca 8 b is low . then , the address transition detector 310 receives the address signals ca 8 _p and ca 8 b_p from the input and output terminals of the latch circuit l 4 , and detects which one of the address signals ca 8 _p and ca 8 b_p changes from low to high . in this embodiment , the address signal ca 8 _p becomes high , and the address signal ca 8 b_p becomes low . since the full page mode detection signal pmdet is high as described above , the first address transition detection signal pdet_ 8 b becomes low , and the second address transition detection signal pdet_ 8 becomes high . then , responding to the detection signals pdet_ 8 b and pdet_ 8 , the precharge signal generator 320 makes the first precharge signal piop_ 8 b high and the second precharge signal piop_ 8 low , and the io lines ioi and ioib are precharged through the first precharge circuit 240 . accordingly , at the full page mode , the 10 precharge timing becomes faster by ฮดt โฒ than that of the prior art of fig4 c . in accordance with the io precharge scheme of the present invention , the io lines at both side of the array of the dram are simultaneously precharged , the io precharge timing of a wiw operation becomes the same as that of a wir operation . accordingly , the io precharge time of a wiw is earlier than in the conventional dram . in addition , the io precharge timing in the full page mode is earlier than that of the conventional dram . therefore , the dram according to an embodiment of the present invention reduces the write time and shortens the address access time t aa . although the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments , the description is only an example of the inventor &# 39 ; s application and should not be taken as limiting . various adaptations and combinations of features of the embodiments disclosed are within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims . | 6 |
with reference to fig1 a system for linking a number of program modules to form a single executable program is shown schematically . a number of program source code modules 1 a , 1 b , each module written in a high level language is provided . the particular high level language used for each source code module may vary from module to module , or alternatively all of the program source code modules may be written in the same high level language . each source code module 1 a , 1 b , is input to a respective assembler / compiler 2 a , 2 b which assembles and / or compiles the high level language of the source code module to produce an object code module 3 a , 3 b . each object code module 3 a , 3 b is the low level language equivalent to each respective source code module 2 a , 1 b , the low level language being a language which is directly readable by a target computer into which the final resulting single executable program is to be loaded . it will be appreciated that a single assembler / compiler could be used to sequentially convert a number of source code modules to respective object code modules . each object code module 3 a , 3 b is passed to a linker 4 . object code modules may be stored in libraries , such as the library 6 in fig1 placed under the control of an archive tool 7 . access to these object code modules by the linker 4 is explained later . the linker combines all of the respective object code modules 3 a , 3 b to produced single executable programs , still in the low level language suitable for the target processor into which the program is to be loaded . for a given architecture there are often different instruction sequences for achieving the same objective depending on the values of the operands which are being handled . for example , โ load a function address into a register โ may be achieved in various ways depending on the address in question . when the operand is unknown before link time there is scope for re - writing the code at link time depending on the value of the operand . this re - writing of the code is a form of optimization termed herein โ linker relaxation โ. in the following embodiments a scheme is described for achieving linker relaxation based on information written in assembler files and passed to the linker as special relocations . the special relocations are also used for rewriting particular instruction sequences as one of a set of known alternatives . each assembler generates an object code module including sets of section data , each set of section data having a set of relocations generated by the assembler to describe how the section data is to be patched so as to render it compatible with other section data to form the program 5 . these relocations are generated by the assembler . section data comprises a plurality of code sequences executable in the final program , and data values to be accessed by the executing program . in particular a set of โ relocations โ to enable link time optimization of code is described . conventionally a relocation describes the patching of section data or instructions with ( encoded versions of ) symbols . such relocations are referred to herein as โ bit relocations โ. in addition a number of so - called โ special relocations โ are discussed herein which are sometimes referred to in the following as โ non - bit โ relocations to distinguish from conventional โ bit โ locations . firstly , non - bit relocations are defined that describe the calculation of integer values based on the values of symbols and constants passed to the linker . the integer values in the described embodiment are 32 bits long . secondly , relocations are also provided to conditionally include or delete section data , written into the section at the point ( s ) of possible inclusion , based on those calculations . thirdly , a โ macro - call โ relocation is defined that allows section data ( code sequences ) to be inserted from a special section (โ. macro โ section ) written to contain frequently used idioms . section data that is to be selectively inserted into a section being optimized by the linker can be thought of as a โ link time macro โ. it is parameterized by symbols with the substitution of the values for the parameters being performed by the linker . one use of the special relocations discussed herein is to introduce an arbitrary set of instruction sequence alternatives into a set of section data . the alternative instruction sequences are written as alternative sequences in a special macro section in the object code modules and a macro call is inserted at the point in the ordinary section wherein one or more of them may be needed . as mentioned above , the object code modules can be user defined or retrieved by the linker 4 from a library 6 as object files containing template code for insertion in the executable program wherever it is needed . it is assumed that a skilled reader is familiar with the elf format and so only a very brief description will be given here prior to describing the special relocations . the elf ( executable and linking format ) standard defines a convention for naming relocation sections belonging to a given section . for a section of name . xxx the standard prescribes relocation sections . rel . xxx and . rela . xxx . the structure of these sections is defined and a partial semantic associated with them . specifically an entry in . rel . xxx has , an offset field โ the offset in the . xxx section where the patching is to occur , it is the type field that is used to describe the appropriate method of encoding the symbol value into the instruction or data of the . xxx section . the . rela . xxx section is similarly defined but has an extra field ( the addend ) with the semantic that the addend is to be added to the symbol value before patching in . in order to support the special relocations described herein , a new type of relocation section is defined , with the naming convention . relo . xxx which is specifically intended to support optimizing at link time . in this way the . rel and . rela sections are left free to be used for conventional bit relocations . the format of an entry in the . relo section is given in annexe 1 ( it should be read in the context of the 32 - bit elf standard ). it is illustrated in fig2 . the underlying structure of the new type has an address field af ( r_offset ) , a 1 byte classification field cf ( r_class ) , 3 information fields which are labelled reltype , s 1 , s 2 ( 1 byte each ) for non - bit nb relocations and bit , bitstart , bytes for bit ( b ) relocations , and two one word arguments ( r_arg 1 ; r_arg 2 ). the location at which to apply the relocation action . ( that is , if this is the . relo . xxx section , then r_offset is the offset in the . xxx section where the relocation applies .) the classification byte indicates the type of relocation ( bit or non - bit ), and also conveys information about the use of the remaining fields . in the classification byte , bit 7 rt_bit indicates a bit relocation if set ( in which case the b fields apply ) or non - bit relocation if clear ( in which case the nb fields apply ) bits 3 - 6 specify whether the r_arg 1 , 2 fields are a symbol index or a value . table 1 defines how the bits specify the interpretation of the r_arg 1 , 2 fields . the interpretation of these fields depend on bits 3 - 6 of the r_class field . two bits rc_arg 1 , rc_arg 2 are associated with each of r_arg 1 and r_arg 2 . for bit relocations these two fields are normally used as symbol and addend . for non - bit relocations the fields r_arg 1 , 2 hold constant data being passed with a non - bit relocation . as with bit relocations bits 6 and 5 say whether they hold a symbol index or a value . the actual use of any symbol or value passed with a non - bit relocation depends on the nonbit . reltype field . this may be an absolute value representing things such as alignment , register numbers etc . the semantics are given in the table of relocation types in annexe 2 . the number of bits that are to be patched . a lower case โ b โ is used to indicate this quantity in the name of a relocation . the least significant bit to be patched . a lower case โ s โ is used to indicate this quantity in the name of a relocation . the size of the object being patched . this is needed for big endian targets in order to find which byte the least significant bit is to be found in , and where the higher order bits are . an upper case โ b โ is used to indicate this quantity in the name of a relocation . note that the following notation is used to name the bit relocations : where & lt ; val & gt ;&# 39 ; s represent the number of bits , start bit and number of bytes as specified by the r - bits , r . bitstart , r . bytes fields . for example r_b16s0b4 will patch the least significant two bytes of a four byte object . this will be the bytes at offsets 0 , 1 or 4 , 3 depending on the target endianness . this field describes what sort of action the linker must perform . these include such things as executing an operation on the linker &# 39 ; s internal stack of values , storing parameters to macros , conditionally deleting section data etc , as described in more detail later . these fields hold values whose interpretation depends on the reltype field , and bits 3 to 6 of the classification field . the above described new type of relocation section supports a number of special relocations which allow a number of different functions to be performed by the linker . fig3 is a block diagram of components of the linker which will be used to describe these additional functions . it will be appreciated that in practice the linker can be constituted by a suitably programmed microprocessor . it will be understood therefore that the schematic blocks shown in fig3 are for the purposes of explaining the functionality of the linker . the linker comprises a module reader 10 which reads a set of incoming object files as user written code modules and library object files from the library 6 . a relocation module 12 reads the relocations in the object code module . a section data module 14 holds section data from the object code module and allows patching to take place in response to relocation instructions in the object code module interpreted by the relocation module 12 . the relocation module can also interpret special relocations and apply these to the section data held in the section data module 14 . a program former 20 receives sequences from the section data module 14 and / or the library 18 depending on the actions taken by the relocation module 12 and forms the executable program 5 which is output from the linker 4 . the linker also includes a condition evaluator 22 which operates in conjunction with a stack - type store 24 . the condition evaluator reads the value of the top entry of the stack 24 . the linker also implements three arrays or tables as follows , a parameter array 16 , a symbol table 17 and a condition array 26 . before describing more specifically each of the above new relocations , the basic operation of forming an executable by a linker is summarised below . the basic operation comprises : 1 . copying sections from input modules to same - name sections in the output executable , and 2 . patching sections following the relocations in their corresponding relocation sections . this includes deleting code sequences from the module ( caused by an assembler directive lt_if , discussed later ) and inserting code sequences ( caused by a macro call , also discussed later ). after step 1 , all the branches of the lt_if . . . lt_endif assembler directives are present in the executable , and the linker is only concerned with deleting unwanted sequences . in the case of link time macro calls , at step 2 , it inserts section data from the macro section ( discussed later ), deleting the requisite marker bytes . the macro section will itself be subject to the same step 2 , each time a macro insertion is required . the first special relocation type which will be described allows arbitrary calculations to be passed to the linker by way of a number of special relocations which are defined by the reltype field of the new relocation format elf 32 _relo . these relocations are numbered 6 - 29 in annexe 2 . the set of the special relocation types listed in annexe 2 allow the linker to support a general purpose stack based calculator . these relocations allow the value of symbols and constants to be pushed on the stack 24 and a designated manipulation to be performed . with the bits rc_arg 1 in the class field cf set to rc_unused ( see table 1 ), binary operators act on the top two stack entries . otherwise , the value passed and the top of stack ( tos ) entry are used . unary operators operate on the top of the stack 24 ( tos ). both pop their operands and place the result on the top of the stack . the full definition of the relocation types to support this is given in annexe 2 . there follows examples of their use . this could be accomplished by the following ordered sequence of relocations . the effect of the sequence is illustrated schematically in fig4 . fig4 illustrates section data and its accompanying set of relocations forming part of an object code module 3 . the relocations will be read in order from the bottom in fig3 . the listed relocations are : r_push symbol /* relocation to push value of symbol on stack */ r_add /* pop top two values off stack add them and push result back */ r_b16s0b2 / patch the value popped from the top of stack into the section data , 16 bits are to be patched , starting at bit 0 , in target object two byte wide */ all with the same offset ( the offset of the integer to be patched in the section ). the result of the patch is shown in the section data which forms part of the executable program 5 . the above relocations are implemented as described in the following with reference to fig3 and 4 . the section data and relocations are read by the module reader 10 . the section data is applied to the section data module 14 and the relocations are applied to the relocation module 12 . the relocation module considers the first relocation , in this case r_push symbol and acts accordingly to read the required value of the identified symbol from the symbol table 17 and push it onto the stack 24 . the subsequent relocations are read , and the necessary action taken with respect to the stack as defined above . finally , the last bit relocation r_b16s0b2 patches the final result value from the stack 24 into the 16 bit target integer . this patched section data is held in a section data module 14 ready for inclusion in the final program at the program former 20 unless , of course , some later relocations make further modifications prior to completion of linking . as a short - hand any operator can be accompanied by a symbol as one of its operands ( the left hand operand in the case of binary operators ). in that case the following sequence could be used : r_add symbol /* pop top add the value of the symbol and push back the result */ r_b16s0b4 /* patch section data , 16 bits , starting at bit 0 , in target object four bytes wide */ although the above are given as examples of use of the stack calculator in the linker , the stack calculator is not actually needed for this calculation since both a symbol and a value could be passed in one normal bit relocation . all that is needed in this case is : nevertheless the example illustrates how the special relocations support a stack based calculator at the linker . the top of stack can also be used for conditional linker relocations as described later . for example , to include section bytes if a symbol has more than 8 bits we could use : ( the above relocations all have the address field r_offset set equal to the start of the section , bytes to be conditionally included ) r_endif ( with the address field r_offset set equal to end of section bytes to be included + 1 ) with the bits rc_arg 1 set to rc_sym ( i . e . the r_arg 1 field acts as a symbol index ), the field si holds a value to indicate what part of symbol information is to be pushed on the stack . the value held in the si field is indicated in table 2 . different macro parameter types ( mpt ) can be passed with the r_put_param and r_get_param relocations . they enable type - checking of the macro call parameters , and allow the linker to distinguish symbol indexes from values . mpt_value denotes a constant value and is denoted by value 0 in the s 2 field . mpt_symbol denotes a symbol index and is denoted by value 1 in the s 2 field . for a processor having two instruction modes , this artefact can be used to denote the mode of instruction that the symbol labels . thus , the r_push_st_other is used to detect at link time if a symbol is mode a or mode b code . the assembler sets s 1 to mask off the sto_mode_a bit in the symbol &# 39 ; s st_other field . the linker pushes the bitwise and of s 1 and the st_other field on the internal linker stack . this can be used by the linker conditional relocations to insert the appropriate calling sequences . another set of the special relocations allow code sequences to be conditionally included in a final executable program . for now , it is assumed that all the possible alternative sequences are included in the section data of the object code module which the linker is currently examining . it will become clear later , however , that other possibilities exist for the alternative sequences . a method of conditionally including one sequence out of a number of alternatives in the section data will now be described with reference to fig3 and 5 . the assembler 2 acts on conditional assembler directives to generate special relocations which instruct the linker to conditionally delete unwanted section data . fig5 shows how a resulting object module comprises a set of sections , each section comprising a plurality of code sequences 01 , 02 , 03 each having a relocation section r 1 , r 2 r 3 generated by the assembler . the section data . xxx is shown in fig5 with its relocations r 1 , r 2 , r 3 in the relocation section . relo . xxx . the relocation bracket between them r_if and r_end if relocations to denote the respective offsets defining the code sequences in the section data . an example sequence is illustrated in fig5 . the relocation sections are read by the relocation module 12 of the linker 4 to determine how to patch the section data to form a program . according to this embodiment relocation sequences are included in the relocation section associated with each code sequence in the section data to denote that a sequence may be conditionally deleted in the program depending on the top of stack value determined by the previous stack manipulations done by the linker . these relocations compute the conditions to be evaluated , using the symbols or values in the section data . in fig5 code sequences 01 , 02 , 03 are alternative sequences for possible deletion in the final module . thus , the final executable program 5 might include sequence 02 only , sequences 01 , 03 having been deleted by the linker because of the relocations r 1 , r 3 . in that case , sequence 02 has been โ patched โ ( i . e . not deleted ) using relocations in r 2 . at link time the relocation module 12 makes multiple passes over the section &# 39 ; s relocations recording which conditional passages are included . these are held in the section data module 14 while the condition evaluator 22 evaluates the condition by examining the top of stack . the conditions for inclusion are based on the values of symbols and , since some of these will be forward references to labels in the same section , the result of a given conditional expression may change on the next pass . for this reason multiple passes are required until no more changes are needed . in order to support the conditional section relocation , a number of new assembler directives are required as follows . these cause certain special relocations to be issued as described later : marks the start of a block of section data to be conditionally deleted . the condition is that expr should evaluate non - zero . the assembler issues the stack manipulation relocation 6 - 29 in annexe 2 to push expr on the linker stack 24 and an r_if relocation . marks the start of block of section data to be conditionally inserted / deleted . the condition is the previous lt_if at the same level of nesting evaluated as zero . the assembler issues an r_else relocation . the assembler issues the relocations to calculate the expr ( that is , expr is on top of the stack ). if condition_name has already appeared in an lt_condition directive then the index associated with it is re - used . otherwise the next unused index is chosen ( initially 0 ) the assembler then issues r_store with that index . in this way , the condition array 26 can be constructed . after the condition_name has been associated with an index in this way it can be used in an expression in place of a constant or symbol . when used , the assembler issues r_fetch with the index associated with condition_name . that index is used to address the condition array 26 . the scope of condition_name is the section where the lt_condition directive occurs , from its point of first occurrence . marks where normal linker processing re - starts after an lt_if / lt_else / lt_if_fixed ( described later ) directive . the assembler issues an r_endif relocation . the following are the special relocations used to support conditional section data deletions , which are issued by the assembler responsive to the conditional assembler directives . causes the top entry to be popped from the linker &# 39 ; s stack of values . if the value is zero then section data is skipped and the succeeding relocations are ignored until r_else / r_endif is encountered . if the value is non - zero then relocations are processed and instructions are not deleted until r_else / r_endif is encountered . defines the end of the relocations subject to the r_if relocation , and of section data to be conditionally deleted subject to the r_if relocation . if this is encountered while section data is being taken then section data is skipped and the succeeding relocations are ignored until r_endif is encountered . if encountered while skipping due to r_if then relocations are processed and instructions are no longer deleted until r_endif is encountered . a value is popped from the linker &# 39 ; s stack of values . it is put in the condition array 26 kept by the linker for this purpose . the value is stored at the index passed with the relocation ( in the nonbit . subtype field ). this relocation avoids the overhead of passing the same calculation to the linker many time over . a value is pushed on the linker &# 39 ; s stack of values . the value pushed is the value in the condition array 26 at the index passed with the relocation . reference will now be made to fig3 and 6 to describe link time macros . link time macros contain parameterizable code sequences m 1 , m 2 etc that are presented to the linker just once , in a section of the object code module reserved for this purpose . this section has the name macro pre - defined for it . code for the macro section is created by the assembler exactly as for other sections from user written source code . the . macro section provides code sequences which may optionally be included in the final program . as mentioned earlier , the most useful optimizations may be stored in . macro sections in object files in the standard library 6 delivered with the toolchain . the macro code extends the possibilities for optimization . associated with each macro section . macro is a relocation section (. relo . macro ) mr which contains the relocations generated by the assembler for the macro section . a . relo . macro section can contain relocations that patch in parameters to its macro section . it also contains relocations which determine conditions to establish which macro code sequences are included in the final executable program . the object code module includes a symbol section holding symbols which allow values to be accessed by relocations . as a matter of terminology we will call relocatable sections which are not the . macro section ordinary sections . one such section is labelled section . xxx in fig6 . it includes alternative code sequences labelled 01 , 02 in fig6 each with an associated relocation r 1 , r 2 , r 3 in the relocation section . relo . xxx . link time macros are created by a programmer and included in the source code module . a link time macro is invoked by naming a symbol defined in the macro section at the inserting location il in the ordinary section . xxx where the optimizable sequence is required . the parameters are also specified . these are done by two relocations r_put_param and r_macro_call discussed later which are generated by the assembler . invocation of a macro section by the assembler is achieved by generating the macro call relocation r_macro_call & lt ; symbol & gt ; in the ordinary section relocations , e . g . before r 1 in fig6 . in one embodiment , the assembler also plants a marker byte mb at the insertion location il in the section data thus ensuring that the inserted code sequences have a distinct address . the linker 4 implements a macro call relocation by opening the macro section m and its related . relo . macro section mr . the symbol identified in the macro call relocation accesses the symbol section which holds at that symbol an offset identifying a location in the macro section . the relocation module 12 first locates this offset in the object code module 3 and verifies that there is a link time macro starting at that offset with the correct macro name . in fig6 m 1 is specified . the relocation module 12 then traverses the . relo . macro section starting at the r_start_macro until it encounters the end of macro relocation r_exit_macro . the macro section includes a number of alternative code sequences , each associated with conditional expressions embodied in the relocations in the mr section . the linker skips over any code sequences ( and associated relocations ) for which conditional linker expressions evaluate as false ( as described earlier ) code sequences not skipped are to be inserted in the ordinary section replacing the marker byte ( s ) mb . before being inserted these . macro section bytes will be relocated themselves , taking into account their destination address in the ordinary section . if the same link time macro is invoked at multiple locations in the ordinary section then that part of the . macro section will be relocated multiple times with different values for the program counter at the start of the macro sequence depending on where it is being inserted in the ordinary section . linker optimization involves multiple passes over the relocations since the value of symbols change as code is inserted , and some symbols will be forward references . those that are forward references will change , and so invalidate any uses of that symbol earlier in the same pass . for this reason it is necessary to continue making passes through the ordinary section applying relocations until the values of the symbols have stabilized . the effect of this after linking is to provide in the final executable program 5 at the marked location il in the ordinary section data . xxx a set of the macro code sequences ( e . g . m 1 in fig6 ) drawn from the macro in the macro section between the offset identified in an r_start_macro relocation and that specified in the r_exit_macro relocation . in order to support link time macros , a number of new assembler directives are required as follows . these cause macro sections and macro relocations to be invoked as described later . as lt_if except that instead of passing a boolean expression expr , the condition is internal to the linker optimization process . the condition is normally false but becomes true when the linker requires a fixed length insert . the assembler issues an r_if_fixed relocation . this directive introduces a link time macro definition . the macro_name should be the label at the first instruction of the macro body . the param_names are the formal parameters used in the body of the macro . the assembler emits r_get_param for each occurrence of a formal parameter in an expression in the body of the macro . the param type associated with the formal parameter is passed with the relocation r_get_param . the assembler emits r_start_macro at this point . the integers maxbytes and align ( or zero if they are absent ) are encoded in the subtype fields of the r_start_macro relocation . the sched_info field is used by the assembler for optimizing . this value is passed in the r_arg 1 field and any value mismatch between the call and caller is reported by the linker unless sched_info is zero . marks the end of the macro body . the assembler emits r_exit_macro at this point . the name of the macro and the types of the parameters that it expects are given in the directive . the link time macro name hides any mnemonic of the same name and is hidden by any assembler macro of the same name . the r_macro_call relocation is issued . the value sched_info is passed in the r_arg 2 field of the macro call relocation ( 0 if not specified ). as an alternative to macro code being written in the object code module itself , it can be supplied in an object file within the toolchain library 6 . a link time ( lt ) macro invocation is signalled to the assembler by the syntax : for each parameter the assembler emits a relocation r_put_param for the parameter with index values 0 , 1 , . . . etc . the assembler then emits the r_macro_call relocation with the symbol macro_name . the meaning of the macro invocation is that a lt selected sequence of instructions is to be inserted by the linker at this point in the code . lt macro invocation is allowed only in ordinary sections . the integers maxbytes , align , optionally passed in the macro call , enable error checking between the macro call and its instantiation . they are encoded into the subtype fields of the r_macro_call relocation . they are also used by the assembler to determine the maximum number of bytes that the macro call will generate , and the alignment ( i . e . any guarantees about the low order bits of the macro length being zero ). the integer sched_info must match any value given in the corresponding declaration . it is passed to the linker in the r_arg 2 field . it contains architecture specific information about the kind of instructions contained in the macro ( used by the assembler for scheduling ). a value of zero for any of these means no information is provided , and link time checking is turned off . this is like r_if except that instead of popping a value from the stack , the condition is whether the linker is attempting to optimize . the linker will not be attempting to optimize if the code is marked as not optimizable , or if after several passes the macro is oscillating in size . for this purpose the linker maintains a condition flag . the linker seeks this relocation at the offset labelled by the macro name ( relocations prior to this one are not processed ). it is an error for this macro to appear more than once at one offset in a macro section . this relocation conveys in its r . nonbit . subtypel field s 1 an index for accessing the parameter array 16 . the linker reads the index &# 39 ; th parameter from its parameter array 16 . the interpretation of this parameter depends on the rc_arg 1 bit in the r_class field ( see table 3 ). if this is set then the parameter is an index into the symbol table 17 and the symbol &# 39 ; s value is pushed on to the linker &# 39 ; s stack 24 of values . otherwise the value itself is pushed . in all cases the nonbit . subtype 2 field s 2 is checked for type mis - match with the value stored in the parameter array at the index passed . the linker stops inserting bytes / processing relocations from the . macro section . it discards the parameter array and then the macro invocation terminates . an index is passed in the r . nonbit . subtypel field s 1 . the value in the r_arg 1 field is stored by the linker in the parameter array 16 at this index . the linker also stores the value of the r . nonbit . subtype 2 field s 2 of this relocation along with the parameter . this enables the linker to perform type checking when r_get_param is encountered . the symbol specifies an offset in the macro section . the relocations in . relo . macro are traversed from the r_start_macro at that offset until r_exit_macro is processed . section data from the . macro section are inserted in the section at the location of the r_macro_call relocation . this relocation is only found inside relocation sections of ordinary sections . generally multiple passes are required through the relocations for values to stabilize . the linker will store the current number of bytes patched by the r_macro_call relocation with that relocation . there may be circumstances where the optimization would not terminate because of a macro relocation oscillating in size indefinitely . if this happens the linker will start patching such macros with the condition โ fixed size โ true , so that the number of bytes patched - in stays constant from one pass to the next . the fixed size condition is checked for by the r_if_fixed relocation . there follows an example of how to write a link time macro . the parts in the fixed font are the actual sample assembler file for a link time macro . in between is commentary in normal font . a link time macro is defined by the directive lt_defmacro , for example a macro with a symbol parameter would be defined : the name of the macro must label the start of the sequence of instructions to be inserted and be exported , thus : directives are written to instruct the linker to insert some of the subsequent instructions until the lt_endmacro directive is reached . the alternatives are selected by expressions involving the parameters to the macro . for example : nop ; to pad out the code to a fixed length when not from an ordinary section the link time macro would be declared to the assembler and then invoked as follows : lt_declmacro const_load (. sym ); declaration of the macro and its parameter type . for a symbol the type is mpt_symbol . const_load fred ; call link time macro to load value of symbol fred into register r 0 . the assembler emits a single marker byte into the section data . it is instructive to write out this example with the assembler generated elf side by side , see tables 3 and 4 . tos = arg 1 op arg 2 if both rc_arg 1 and rc_arg 2 are rc_unused then both the arguments are assumed to be on the stack ( with arg 1 pushed first ). otherwise arg 1 is s ( i . e . the symbol value + addend ) and arg 2 is tos . the argument ( s ) on the stack are popped and the operation indicated as op is performed . finally the result is pushed on the stack . | 6 |
turning now to fig1 there is shown a simplified elevation view of an electrode abrading machine improved in accordance with the present invention . for a detailed description of the basic abrading apparatus , reference may be had to u . s . pat . no . re . 27 , 588 and the method of abrading electrodes is set forth in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 663 , 785 . the improvement of the present invention resides in the apparatus for controlling the operation of the basic apparatus which will only be discussed herein insofar as is necessary to describe the improvement . the basic electrode abrading apparatus includes a base member 10 and a first platen 11 upon which is mounted an electrode workpiece member 12 . a second platen 14 , to which there is mounted an abrading die 16 , is disposed in superimposed relation to the first platen 11 and the former is adapted to be driven along the vertical support members 18 by a drive means 20 which is typically a hydraulic ram mounted to the superstructure 22 of the apparatus . the drive means 20 is , of course , reversible and in the context of the present invention may be operated at at least two drive rates . the manner in which the drive rates are achieved will be well known to those skilled in the hydraulics arts and generally would be by means of solenoid actuated hydraulic valves of varying capacity and orientation . the first platen 14 is further adapted to be driven in oscillatory rotary motion in the horizontal plane as described in the above - referenced patents . to the basic apparatus there is added a vertical position sensor shown generally at 24 . a variety of such sensors are commercially available including electro - mechanical , magnetic and optical devices . in the preferred embodiment , a rack and pinion direct drive position encoder which is manufactured by elm systems of wauconda , illinois , has been found by the applicant to be suitable . the rack 26 is fixed to the second platen 14 and extends upwardly through the superstructure 22 . the pinion and direct drive encoder 28 are fixed to the superstructure 22 . as the second platen 14 is driven along the vertical supporting members 18 a signal representing the distance traveled by the second platen 14 ( and thus the abrading die 16 ) is transmitted via cable 30 to the control unit 32 which will be more fully described hereinbelow . the control unit 32 may be disposed anywhere convenient to the surroundings , and brackets 34 for mounting to the abrading apparatus are shown for illustrative purposes only . fig2 a is a graph illustrating the preferred vertical operation of the apparatus of fig1 in terms of drive rate as a function of position , and fig2 b illustrates position as a function of time . the cycle starts from any desired initial position y o , with a downward or negative infeed at a first , relatively high rate , - r 1 . upon the abrading die reaching a first predetermined position , y 1 , with respect to the workpiece ; i . e . as contact between the die and workpiece is made , the infeed rate is reduced to - r 2 . the infeed continues at the lower rate until a second predetermined relative position , y 2 , is reached , thus indicating that the desired amount of workpiece material has been removed by abrasion . the die is then withdrawn at the relatively higher rate , + r 1 , to a third predetermined position , y 3 . the outfeed portion of each cycle is always to a position slightly lower than the starting position for the next preceeding cycle ; i . e . the outfeed is less than the total infeed for each cycle . during the outfeed portion of the cycle the workpiece is flushed with a solvent as was done in the prior art to remove accumulated particles . the cycle is then repeated until abrasion of the electrode has been completed . this cyclic operation may further be automatically terminated when the die reaches a fourth predetermined position corresponding to the maximum desired abrading depth . with reference now to fig3 there is shown in schematic block diagram form an electrode abrading machine control system in accordance with the present invention . the position sensor / encoder 28 operates to generate a pulsed square wave output signal with each pulse representing one increment of vertical travel . the position sensor signal is coupled to a pulse counter 36 the output signal from which represents the distance the abrading die has traveled from its initial position , y o . a plurality of data switches 38 1 - 3 are provided through which an operator may enter the plurality of dimensions through which the second platen is to travel in order to define the desired vertical cyclic motion . each of the data switches 38 is coupled to a comparator 40 which operates to produce an output signal at various of its output terminals in accordance with the position of the abrading die relative to the predetermined travel entered via the respective data switches 38 . the comparator outputs are coupled to corresponding relay coils 42 1 - 3 . the normally open relay contacts 44 1 - 3 , upon closure apply an operating voltage , v , to the hydraulic valve solenoids ( not shown ) either individually or in combination , to effect the high rate infeed , low rate infeed and high rate outfeed of the hydraulic ram . a visual indicator 45 may be coupled to the counter 36 output to facilitate monitoring the operation . by way of illustrative example , assume that the operator were to enter the following dimensions into the respective data switches : with these dimensions entered , contacts 44 1 close and the second platen would infeed 0 . 070 inch at the relatively high rate . at that point the output of counter 36 and data switch 38 1 become equal and the appropriate output of comparator 40 activates relay coil 42 2 closing contacts 44 2 and relay 42 1 is released opening contacts 44 1 . the infeed then continues at the relatively lower rate for an additional 0 . 033 inch at which point the output of counter 36 and data switch 38 2 become equal . the comparator output energizes relay coil 42 3 closing contacts 44 3 and releases relay coil 42 2 opening contacts 44 2 . the second platen then outfeeds at the relatively higher rate for 0 . 100 inch when the outputs of counter 36 and data switch 38 3 become equal . the cycle is then repeated with each total infeed distance being slighly greater than the outfeed distance such that successively deeper abrasion of the workpiece is accomplished . particularly in situations where the total abrasion depth is relatively large , it has been found by the applicant that it is desirable to reset the counter 36 to zero at the end of each cycle ; i . e . the position , y 3 for each cycle is reset as y o &# 39 ; for the next cycle . in this manner any error in the position sensor / encoder 28 output or that of the counter 36 itself is prevented from becoming cumulative . it will further be apparent that additional features may easily be provided by the addition of further data switches and comparator capacity . for example , the maximum abrasion depth and the distance of some maximum outfeed required to permit removal of the finished electrodes could be entered via two further data switches . thus when the maximum depth is reached , the second platen would automatically outfeed at the relatively higher rate to the maximum outfeed position and stop . from the foregoing discussion it will be understood that the applicant has provided a new and improved method and apparatus for shaping electrodes whereby the objectives set forth hereinabove are efficiently achieved . since certain changes in the above - described method and construction will occur to those skilled in the art without departure from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter set forth in the preceding description or shown in the appended drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . | 1 |
in accordance with the present invention , it has surprisingly been discovered that polyamides may be designed , synthesized , and utilized to regulate the transcription of the cox2 gene . more particularly , the present invention provides a process for enhancing or suppressing the transcription of the cox2 gene by utilizing polyamides that bind to transcription factor binding sites present in the cox2 promoter sequence . the present invention thereby provides a novel process to enhance or suppress the production of cox2 protein and pge 2 . the present invention relates to the combination and use of polyamides and similar chemical compounds to enhance or inhibit the expression of the cox2 gene . polyamides with a particular binding specificity were designed to bind to dna minor groove regions in order to disrupt the binding of transcription factors that are known to bind specific sequences in the human cox2 promoter . the demonstrated result is the ability to manipulate cox2 gene expression through the direct control of the transcription of cox2 mrna , thereby affecting the quantity of translated cox2 protein as well as the production of prostaglandin e 2 ( pge 2 ). in general , polyamides are designed and synthesized to selectively bind at five transcription binding factors located in the promoter region of the cox2 gene . research studies , outlined in the examples below , were conducted and the enhancing or inhibitory characteristics of the tested polyamides were determined . the cox2 transcription factor binding sites studied include ets - 1 , cre , tata box , nfkb , and lef - 1 binding sites . by utilizing polyamides designed to target specific binding sites the transcription of the cox2 gene may be selectively enhanced or suppressed . the research described below determined that cells treated with polyamides that targeted the ets - 1 , cre , and tata box binding sites suppressed cox2 mrna levels and production of pge 2 and cox2 protein . when cells were treated with polyamides that targeted the nfkb and lef - 1 binding sites , however , the cox2 mrna levels and production of pge 2 and cox2 protein were either unaffected or significantly increased . polyamides were evaluated as inhibitors of cox2 transcription in interleukin - 1ฮฒ ( il - 1ฮฒ ) stimulated human synovial fibroblasts , with some related work carried out in differentiated u937 cells . the purpose of this work was to determine how well polyamides could inhibit the transcription of a targeted gene in a cellular system , and whether the inhibition was at the level of transcription . the induction of cox2 in these cells presented an approach for evaluating polyamides as inhibitors of transcription . cox2 mrna , cox2 protein , and pge 2 levels all exist at very low levels prior to induction by il - 1ฮฒ in synovial fibroblast cells , and would all remain at low levels after il - 1ฮฒ induction in the presence of polyamides that prevent transcription of the cox2 gene . polyamides were designed to bind to dna minor groove regions to disrupt binding of transcription factors that are known to bind to specific sequences in the human cox2 promoter . these include ets - 1 , tata box , lef - 1 , nfkb and cre binding sites . the examples below contain descriptions of these polyamides and their target binding sites . ets - 1 , tata box and lef - 1 sites were selected as initial targets for a combination of two polyamides to inhibit the binding of these three transcription factors to the hiv - 1 promoter to reduce viral levels 99 . 9 % in peripheral blood mononuclear cells compared to positive controls . several biological assays were available for evaluating cox2 transcription in these cells , including an elisa assay of prostaglandin e 2 levels ( pge 2 synthesis requires cox2 ), western analysis of cox2 protein levels , taqman and northern analyses of cox2 mrna levels , and an mtt assay of cell viability . mtt [ 3 -( 4 , 5 - dimethlthiazol - 2 - yl ) diphenyl tetrazolium bromide ] is a pale yellow substrate that is cleaved by living cells to a dark blue formazan product by the mitochondrial enzyme succinate - dehydrogenase . the conversion takes place only in living cells and the amount of formazan produced is proportional to the number of cells present and the metabolic rate of the cell . certain polyamides from these studies gave reductions in cox2 mrna , cox2 protein , and pge 2 levels . in all cases , inhibition was not due to any toxicity of the polyamide , since cell viability was found to be excellent after polyamide treatment . certain other polyamides provided very large enhancement of cox2 mrna , protein , and pge 2 levels that were all very statistically significant . collectively , these results indicate that polyamides can suppress or enhance cox2 mrna levels in cells , and these changes correspond with similar changes in cox2 protein and pge 2 levels . mechanistically , these effects are consistent with a modulation of transcription of the cox2 gene . control experiments were conducted to determine the selectivity of these polyamides for the cox2 gene compared to il - 6 and icam1 ( intracellular adhesion molecule - 1 or cd54 ), which are also induced by il - 1ฮฒ in synovial fibroblasts . in the studies carried out , icam1 and il - 6 levels were unaffected by polyamides which suppressed cox2 . polyamides that enhanced cox2 levels did not affect icam1 levels , but did enhance il - 6 levels , although not to the same degree seen for pge 2 , cox2 mrna , and cox2 protein . these results demonstrated that the polyamides studied were largely selective for cox2 . complete specificity for only the cox2 gene was not expected or achieved , though , because the polyamides in this work recognized the equivalent of only 5 - 7 . 5 base pairs , which corresponds to ห 3 ร 10 6 to 1 ร 10 5 perfect match binding sites , respectively , for these polyamides in the human genome . not surprisingly , binding sites are present in the promoter regions of the icam1 and il - 6 genes . as expected , control polyamides , which did not target transcription factor binding sites in the cox2 promoter , did not suppress levels of pge 2 and cox2 mrna . surface plasmon resonance ( biacore ) binding data were also obtained for a set of polyamides targeted to the ets - 1 binding site . these studies showed very high binding of the polyamides to their intended target dna sequence . no correlation between binding affinity and inhibition of cox2 was found . in pk studies , polyamides were not orally available in rats but were present in blood plasma for up to 10 hours after intravenous dosing . these compounds were stable in mouse plasma at ph & lt ; 1 for 10 - 12 hours at room temperature , which showed that the lack of oral bioavailability was not due to instability in acid . a follow up study with 14 c - radiolabeled localization in and rate of clearance from rats . the aforementioned polyamide compounds may be administered in pharmaceutically acceptable concentrations to the cells or organisms possessing the target dna according to methods known in the art . the more than one polyamide compound may be administered , separately , simultaneously , or sequentially to the cells or organisms . the route of administeration of the molecular trafficking compound may be administered orally , intravenously , intraperitoneally , subcutaneously , transdermally , and the like . the dosing regimen of polyamide compounds in the present invention is selected in accordance with a variety of factors . these factors include the selected polyamide compound or compounds , the type , age , weight , sex , diet , and medical condition of the patient , the type and severity of the condition being treated with polyamide therapy , the target cell type being treated with polyamide therapy , the route of administration , pharmacological considerations such as the activity , efficacy , pharmacokinetics and toxicology profiles of the particular inhibitors employed , whether a drug delivery system is utilized , and whether the inhibitors are administered with other ingredients . thus , the dosage regimen actually employed may vary widely and therefore deviate from the preferred dosage regimen set forth below . administration of the polyamide compounds may be with a regimen calling for a single daily dose , for multiple , spaced doses throughout the day , for a single dose every other day , for a single dose every several days , or other appropriate regimens . the polyamides may be administered generally to an organism through oral or parenteral routes . the polyamide may also be administered by injection or catheter to localize the polyamides to specific organs or tissues containing the target cells to be treated by polyamide therapy . the polyamides may be prepared in physiologically acceptable media in an appropriate form for the route of administration . polyamide compositions may be prepared as powders , solutions , and dispersions in media for both oral and parenteral routes of administration . the polyamides should be administered at a dosage that provides a polyamide concentration of about 1 nm to about 1 mm in the intracellular or extracellular location of the target cells . preferably the polyamides should be provided at a dosage that provides a polyamide concentration of about 1 nm to about 100 ฮผm in the intracellular or extracellular location of the target cells , more preferably between about 10 nm to 10 ฮผm . in order to attain a desired concentration of polyamides inside the cell , the concentration of polyamides outside the cell in the extracellular sera should be approximately 2 to 1000 times greater in concentration . the polyamides may also be administered in combination with one or more additional therapeutic agents . depending on the condition being treated , the combination therapy may also include antibiotics , vaccines , cytokines , other cox2 inhibitors , molecular trafficking compounds which facilitate cellular uptake and nuclear concentration of polyamides , and the like . polyamides were designed to bind to dna minor groove regions that either partially or completely overlap dna sequences where transcription factors bind to the cox2 promoter . since transcription factor binding sites for a specific gene are flanked by unique dna sequences , these flanking sequences were included in the polyamide targets to selectively inhibit the binding of the transcription factor to its cox2 binding site with minimal disruption of the transcription factor &# 39 ; s binding to other promoters in the genome . for example , the ribbon structure in fig1 a shows human transcription factor ets - 1 bound to a segment of duplex dna , via interaction of an a - helix of the protein with the major groove of the dna . the actual sequence where ets - 1 binds in the human cox2 promoter is outlined in the sequence shown in fig1 b , and the sites where polyamides were designed to bind are in bold typeface . using this approach , polyamides were also designed as inhibitors of the tata box , nfkb , lef - 1 and cre protein binding sites . polyamide - dna recognition was based on polyamide binding affinities to dna , described above . all polyamides were targeted to 5 โฒ-( w ) 1 - 2 g ( n ) x w - 3 โฒ motifs , where x = 3 - 6 , w = a or t , and n = any nucleotide . polyamides targeted to the ets - 1 , tata box , and cre sites suppressed pge 2 , cox2 protein , and cox2 mrna levels . polyamides targeted to the nfkb and lef - 1 sites were not inhibitors ; in fact , some of these compounds actually enhanced pge 2 , cox2 protein , and cox2 mrna levels . polyamides were targeted to five transcription factor binding sites located in the first 600 bp of the human cox2 promoter as seen in fig2 . these transcription factor binding sites are labeled above the site in bold black type . polyamides were synthesized to bind to the sequences that are in bold typeface . table 1 provides a listing of the polyamides that were synthesized for the cox2 promoter , and their dna binding sites . these polyamides were prepared by solid phase synthesis and purified by reverse phase chromatography . they are grouped according to the transcription factor they were designed to inhibit . abbreviations used in the table include w = a or t , im = n - methylimidazole - 2 - carbonyl , - im = 4 - amino - n - methylimidazole - 2 - carbonyl , - py = 4 - amino - n - methylpyrrole - 2 - carbonyl , - ฮณ = 4 - aminobutyryl , - ฮฒ = 3 - aminopropionyl , - dp = 3 -( dimethylamino ) propylamino . amide bonds (โ conh โ) connect the polyamide subunits . the four polyamides with no transcription factor binding sites ( no site ) were used in control experiments . experiments with synovial fibroblast cells were carried out with mixtures of polyamides to maximize the chances of inhibiting cox2 through synergy of two or more compounds and to test polyamides in a small number of experiments . the two mixtures summarized in table 2 each contained four polyamides targeted to a different set of transcription factor binding sites in the human cox2 promoter . each mixture contained two polyamides that targeted the same transcription factor . mixture 1 , for example , contained one polyamide targeted to ets - 1 , one polyamide targeted to tata box , and two polyamides targeted to lef - 1 . to obtain statistically valid data using these mixtures of polyamides , a randomized experimental design was used to measure suppression of cox2 mrna & amp ; pge 2 levels at 6 hours post (+) il - 1ฮฒ stimulation , and cox2 protein & amp ; pge 2 levels at 24 hours post (+) il - 1 stimulation of synovial fibroblast cells . the primary purpose of the randomized sample distribution was to avoid systematic errors in taqman , pge 2 and western analyses . each randomized 12 - well plate contained four wells of (+) il - 1 controls ( no polyamides added ), two wells of (โ) il - 1 controls , three wells of one polyamide mixture , and three wells of another polyamide mixture . cells were initially dosed with one of these mixtures at a total polyamide concentration of 20 ฮผm ( 5 ฮผm for each of the four polyamides in the mixture ). after overnight incubation (ห 16 hours ), the media was removed and the cells were activated with il - 1ฮฒ in media containing 20 ฮผm of fresh polyamide mixture . these polyamide incubation times were chosen to optimize cellular uptake , based on in - house fluorescence microscopy work that showed polyamides did not enter undifferentiated u937 cells over a 2 - 3 hour period after polyamide treatment , but did enter these cells over a 24 hour period . human rheumatoid synovial fibroblasts ( rsfs ) were maintained in dmem ( gibco 11995 - 040 with pyridoxal hcl and glutamine , life technologies , rockville , md . ), supplemented with 15 % fbs , 1 % glutamine , and 50 ฮผg / ml gentamycin , with medium changes every 3 days , and incubated at 37 ยฐ c . with 5 % co 2 . cells were passaged using trypsin containing 0 . 25 % edta and propagated at 1 : 3 ratios ; after passage number 25 , a fresh culture was prepared from an aliquot of rsfs that was frozen at passage 12 . for assays , 12 - well culture plates were inoculated with trypsinized cells at 40 , 000 cells per well in a volume of 2 ml . when wells were at near - confluency (ห 120 , 000 cells / well after about 6 days ), cells were allowed to preincubate overnight with the appropriate polyamide ( pa ) mixture ( mixtures contain each pa component at 5 ฮผm ), except for control wells . starting with this preincubation and thereafter , the regular media was replaced with low - fbs media ( as above but with only 1 % fbs ). wells were randomized to minimize edge effects that could cause systematic errors . the next morning the media was replaced with fresh media containing fresh polyamide mixture , plus 1 ng / ml recombinant human il - 1ฮฒ ( cat . # 201 - lb , r & amp ; d systems , minneapolis , minn . ), except for the (ยฑ) il - 1ฮฒ control wells which received fresh media (ยฑ) il - 1ฮฒ but without polyamides . the plates were allowed to incubate for 24 hours , then the media was removed and kept at โ 80 ยฐ c . for potential later use in cytokine or pge 2 assay . the wells were washed immediately with 2 ml low - fbs media , then replaced with 0 . 5 ml low - fbs media enriched with arachidonic acid at 100 ฮผm . this was well above the k m for cox - 2 and ensures that the pge 2 produced will be proportional to the amount of cox - 2 enzyme present , rather than rate - limited by insufficient substrate . after 1 hour , this media was removed as well , and either used immediately for pge 2 release assay by eia ( see below ) or frozen for later use as above . plates for pge 2 assay were finished with a viability assay ( see below ). identical plates were set up at the same time , if desired , for western blotting , icam1 assay , or mrna message level determination ( see below ). cell viability was evaluated using the mtt assay . mtt ( 3 -( 4 , 5 - dimethlthiazol - 2 - yl )-) diphenyl tetrazolium bromide )( cat . # m - 2128 , sigma chemical co ., st . louis , mo .) is a pale yellow substrate that is cleaved by living cells to yield a dark blue formazan product by the mitochondrial enzyme succinate - dehydrogenase . the conversion takes place only in living cells and the amount of formazan produced is proportional to the number of cells present , and somewhat upon the metabolic rate of the cell , which is influenced by its treatment ( il - 1ฮฒ treated control rsfs consistently have slightly greater (ห 10 %) blue formazan deposition that the (โ) il - 1ฮฒ controls ). immediately after removal of media for the pge 2 assay , wells were filled with 1 ml of 1 mg / ml mtt in low - fbs media , and returned to the incubator for 1 hour . this was aspirated , discarded , and replaced with 200 ฮผl of isopropanol , which lysed the cells and dissolved the formazan crystals . absorbance was measured on a elisa plate reader with a test wavelength of 570 nm and a reference of 630 nm . cell density was also used as an informed check on viability . the eia for pge 2 was based upon a protocol by caymen chemical company ( ann arbor , mich .). briefly , wells of a 96 - well plate were coated overnight with donkey anti - mouse antibody ( cat . # 715 - 005 - 151 , jackson immunoresearch , west grove , pa .). after washing , 50 ฮผl of either sample ( diluted if necessary in low - fbs media , above ), or pge 2 standards ( typically 0 . 28 to 10 ng / ml , cat . # 414014 , caymen chem co .) was added . this was followed by 50 ฮผl of pge 2 - acetylcholinesterase tracer ( cat . # 414010 , caymen chemical co .) and 50 ฮผl of 150 - fold diluted anti - pge 2 monoclonal antibody ( prepared in - house , stock 2b5 , reference date apr . 4 , 1994 ). this was incubated overnight in a humidified container , then wells were washed and 200 ฮผl of ellman &# 39 ; s reagent was added ( cat . # 400050 , caymen chemical co .). after 1 - 4 hours ( dependent upon rate of color development ), absorbance was measured on a elisa plate reader at 405 nm . standard curves were determined using a 4 - parameter logistic fit . intracellular adhesion molecule - 1 ( icam - 1 , also called cd54 ) is expressed on the surface of rsfs in response to il - 1ฮฒ and can be quantified using facilitated cell sorting ( facs ). at the end of treatment , cells in plate wells were trypsinized and transferred to 12 ร 75 mm polystyrene tubes for facs analysis . they were washed , aspirated , and to all but one of the tubes representing replicate wells for a given treatment , anti - cd54 domain 2 antibody , conjugated to phycoerythrin ( pe ) ( murine igg 1 , cat . # 206 - 050 , ancell corp ., bayport , minn .) was added at 1 ฮผl (ห 0 . 5 ฮผg ) per tube in 350 ฮผl buffer ( pbs with 0 . 2 % sodium azide and 2 % fbs ). to the remaining tubes was added isotype control ( cat . # 278 - 050 , ancell corp .). tubes were shaken for 30 - 60 minutes at 4 ยฐ c . in the dark , then 2 ml of buffer was added , cells were pelleted at 300 ร g , aspirated , and resuspended into sheath buffer containing 0 . 5 % methanol - free formaldehyde . after at least one hour , cells were analyzed by facs with gating to screen for intact cells . relative expression of icam1 was determined by comparing median fluorescence with corrections for isotype and (โ) il - 1ฮฒ controls . materials and methods for cox - 2 protein expression quantitation by western blotting at the end of treatment , media was removed from a plate and 100 ฮผl of 2 ร sample buffer was added per well ( with 2 % sodium dodecyl sulfate ( sds ) and 10 % b - mercaptoethanol , cat . # er33 , owl separation systems , inc ., portsmouth n . h . ), the mixture was swirled and contents of each well transferred to a 500 ฮผl eppendorf tube , and placed on a 100 ยฐ c . heating block for 5 minutes . sample 15 ฮผl aliquots were subjected to sds - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ( sds - page ) using 10 - 20 % gradient gels ( invitogen ( novex ), carlsbad , calif .). proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose sheets by electroblotting as per the novex protocol . sheets were blocked for 1 hour using 5 % milk in tris - buffered saline with 0 . 05 % tween 20 ( tbs - tween ). the sheets were blotted with anti - cox - 2 antibody ( from rabbit , cat . # pg 27b , oxford biomedical research , oxford , mich .) at a 1 : 2500 dilution in tbs - tween containing 0 . 1 % bsa overnight at 4 ยฐ c . with rocking , then washed and blotted with a secondary horse - radish peroxidase ( hrp ) conjugated donkey anti - rabbit antibody ( cat . # na 934 , amersham life science , arlington heights , ill .) at 1 : 5000 dilution for 30 minutes . after washing , protein bands were visualized using enhanced chemiluminescence with exposure to x - omat ar film ( eastman kodak corp ., rochester , n . y .). cox - 2 protein relative to the (+) il - 1ฮฒ control was quantified using a model si densitometer with imagequant version 5 . 0 software ( molecular dynamics , inc ., sunnyvale , calif .). corrections for variations in lane loadings were made by reblotting for a background protein , actin , using a goat anti - actin antibody ( cat . # sc1616 , santa cruz biotechnology , inc ., santa cruz , calif .) at a 1 : 600 dilution , followed by a secondary hrp - conjugated swine anti - goat antibody ( cat . # 602 - 275 , boehringer mannheim corp ., indianapolis , ind .) at 1 : 2 , 500 for 30 minutes . actin was visualized and quantitated as above . to address the statistical robustness of our taqman assays , cox2 mrna measurements were determined on (+) il - 1ฮฒ stimulated synovial fibroblasts of low passage number and on lps - stimulated u937 cells . improved methods for isolating mrna were also used . in these studies without polyamide treatment , cox2 and cyclophilin ( control ) mrna levels were measured by taqman and compared in 12 replicates for (+) il - 1ฮฒ stimulated synovial fibroblasts and lps stimulated u937 cells . very tight levels of cyclophilin and cox2 mrna were measured for the 12 replicates of each cell type . this important experiment demonstrated that a minimum of 20 - 50 % inhibition of transcription by polyamides could be measured with statistical confidence . taqman and northern blot analyses were performed according to published protocols . the effects of polyamide mixtures 1 - 2 on pge 2 , cox2 mrna , cox2 protein , icam1 protein , and il - 6 protein levels were measured in synovial fibroblast cells . the results are summarized in this section and in fig3 - 8 . pge 2 levels in the presence and absence of added arachidonic acid plus polyamide mixtures 1 or 2 were measured to determine whether any observed suppression of pge 2 was due to decreased levels of the cox2 substrate , arachdonic acid ( fig3 ). in this experiment , to probe mechanism , il - 1ฮฒ induced cells treated with polyamides and high levels of arachidonic acid were expected to suppress pge 2 levels to the same extent as il - 1ฮฒ induced cells treated with just polyamide , relative to controls . in the experiment , pge 2 levels were determined 24 hours after (+) il - 1ฮฒ stimulation , then the cell media was replaced with fresh media containing near saturating levels of arachidonic acid . pge 2 levels in the media were again determined 1 hour later . analysis clearly showed that arachidonic acid had no effect on pge 2 levels compared to the ( polyamide ) untreated controls . mixture 2 significantly suppressed pge 2 levels : 55 % without added arachidonic acid and 56 % with added arachidonic acid . surprisingly , mixture 1 provided a very large enhancement in pge 2 levels relative to its untreated control : 260 % without added arachidonic acid and 330 % with added arachidonic acid . all replicates in this statistically valid experiment showed the same enhancement with mixture 1 . deconvolution of mixture 1 into subsets ss1 - ss7 was conducted to determine which polyamide ( s ) was responsible for the increased inducement of the cox2 gene and enhanced pge 2 levels . mixture 1 contained one polyamide targeted to the ets - l transcription factor , one polyamide targeted to the tata box binding protein , and two polyamides targeted to different regions of a proposed lef - 1 binding site . in these deconvolution experiments , pge 2 levels were measured for cells treated with all combinations of three polyamides . as shown in fig4 only a single polyamide was in common among the subsets that enhanced pge 2 levels ( ss1 , ss2 , ss4 , ss5 , and ss6 ). this polyamide targeted the lef - 1 site and was not present in either mixture ss3 or ss7 , neither of which enhanced pge 2 levels . in addition , ss1 ( which is mixture 1 ) enhanced pge 2 levels only when the cells were induced with il - 1ฮฒ . these results indicate that polyamides are able to enhance gene transcription . cox2 protein levels and cox2 mrna levels in the presence of mixtures 1 and 2 tracked with the pge 2 levels described above . cox2 protein levels were assayed by western analysis ( fig5 ) and cox2 mrna levels were assayed by northern blot ( fig6 a and 6 b ). taqman was not used to evaluate mrna levels in these experiments . like the pge 2 levels , cox2 protein and cox2 mrna levels were also significantly enhanced by mixture 1 . compared to the untreated control , a 690 % increase in cox2 protein levels was obtained with mixture 1 . a northern blot confirmed that the enhancement of pge 2 and cox2 protein levels was due to enhancement of transcription ; more than a 6 - fold increase in cox2 mrna levels relative to 18s mrna was found in treatments with mixture 1 . in contrast to these results , mixture 2 provided 35 % suppression of cox2 protein levels and 57 % suppression of cox2 mrna levels . these results were also in agreement with the corresponding pge 2 suppression data . significantly , the pge 2 , cox2 mrna , and cox2 protein data obtained in three separate experiments clearly showed that polyamide - mediated changes in pge 2 and cox2 protein levels correlated with cox2 mrna levels . these results were consistent with polyamide regulation of transcription of the cox2 gene . selectivity for the cox2 gene versus icam1 and il - 6 genes was determined since these proteins are also induced in synovial fibroblasts by il - 1ฮฒ . complete gene specificity was not expected for these polyamides since their dna recognition capabilities were on the order of 5 - 8 base pairs . icam1 levels were unaffected by mixtures 1 and 2 ( fig7 ). il - 6 levels were also unaffected by mixture 2 , but were enhanced by mixture 1 โ though not to the same degree seen for pge 2 , cox2 mrna , and cox2 protein ( fig8 ). these results demonstrated that the polyamides studied were selective for cox2 . other control polyamides not targeted to any transcription factor sites in the cox2 promoter had no inhibitory effects on cox2 mrna levels in synovial fibroblast cells at 10 ฮผm concentration , but did cause some inhibition at the lower concentration of 1 ฮผm by taqman analysis . the same control polyamides did not suppress pge 2 levels at either concentration , as measured by elisa . these results indicated that transcription of the cox2 gene could be modulated selectively by polyamides targeted to transcription factor binding sites in the cox2 promoter . direct evidence that polyamides selectively bind to the targeted dna sequences was obtained , as was proof that polyamides do not bind significantly to non - targeted dna sequences . a 5 โฒ- biotinylated hairpin dna sequence containing 6 bp of dna flanking each side of the ets - 1 binding site was attached to a streptavidin chip , and biacore kinetic and thermodynamic values were obtained for a set of polyamides targeted to regions of this sequence . the kinetic on - rate constant ( k a ) and off - rate constant ( k d ) and thermodynamic equilibrium constant ( k eq ) were determined from the association , dissociation and steady - state biacore measurements . the ratio k a / k d was used to calculate an association constant k a which was typically within a factor of 2 of the k eq , determined under steady state conditions . values ranged from 2 . 7 ร 10 6 to 3 . 9 ร 10 8 m โ 1 . calculated k d values were as low as 0 . 8 nm , and were comparable to published dissociation constants of high affinity polyamides . a comparison of the biacore data with biological data showed no clear correlation between dna binding constants and suppression of pge 2 or mrna levels . these results confirm that biological activity is due to a complex interplay of factors . one potentially important factor is the kinetic dissociation constant ( k d ), which is valuable for calculating the dissociation half - life of a polyamide from its duplex dna complex . this constant was readily obtained by biacore measurements and provides a measure of the time it takes for a polyamide to dissociate from dna . an effective inhibitor of transcription might need to have a long residence time on the specific operator sequence of dna that it is designed to bind . if the polyamide rapidly dissociates and then re - binds to dna , a transcription complex could form and initiate during the period when the polyamide is dissociated from the dna . under the dynamic conditions where polyamide - free buffer flowed past the chip surface where the dna - polyamide complex was bound , the k d ranged from 0 . 0049 to 0 . 16 sec โ 1 for the ets - 1 targeted polyamides . based on these k d values , the calculated dissociation constants ranged from 4 seconds to 2 . 3 minutes . since polyamides are hoped to be suitable for use in animals , initial pharmacokinetic properties were obtained on a set of polyamides targeted to the ets - 1 and tata box transcription factor binding sites in the human cox2 promoter . each of 4 polyamides was evaluated orally in 3 rats at 5 mg / kg , and intravenous in 3 rats at 1 mg / kg . blood was collected at timepoints ranging from 5 minutes to 24 hours post - application , and analyzed by for the presence of parent compound by lc - ms . in orally - dosed rats , polyamides were not detected in the plasma at any of the timepoints . in follow - up stability studies , these polyamides were found to be completely stable to mouse plasma at ph & lt ; 1 for 10 - 12 hours at room temperature . in intravenous - dosed rats , the polyamides were cleared from the plasma over 10 hours . in a related experiment , the concentrations of polyamides that remained in synovial fibroblast growth media used for determining pge 2 levels were measured by lc - ms using the standard calibration curves generated from the rat pk studies . two samples contained approximately โ
of their original polyamide concentration , a third contained approximately { fraction ( 1 / 10 )} of the original polyamide concentration , and a fourth contained none of the original polyamide . there was no correlation of these results with the rate of clearance of these compounds from plasma or the activity of these compounds as inhibitors of cox2 transcription . in view of the above , it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved . as various changes could be made in the above compositions and processes without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . | 2 |
fig1 illustrates the anatomy about the anterior chamber 100 of a human eye . the present invention relates to means to enhance aqueous outflows from the anterior chamber 100 by applying energy to a targeted tissue region 105 within a narrow plane at the periphery of the anterior chamber . the anterior chamber of the eye contains the aqueous humor , a clear fluid that is produced continuously by the ciliary body . the constant flow of aqueous humor though the eye &# 39 ; s front chamber exits through two different routes : ( i ) the corneo - scleral trabeculum and schlemm &# 39 ; s canal , and ( ii ) the uveoscleral route . it has been found that light - mediated treatments of tissue about the uveoscleral route can enhance outflows . the targeted tissue in about the interface of uvea and sclera 106 , and is described at times herein as the uveal - iris strands 105 ( fig1 ). the targeted tissue region 105 transitions into the uveo - scleral plane indicated at 110 in fig1 . the uvea of the eye consists collectively of the iris 112 , the ciliary body 114 and the choroid 116 . the iris in fig1 is the curtain of the eye that surrounds the pupil 118 . the ciliary body 114 is the body of tissue that connects the iris with the choroid 116 and includes a group of ciliary muscles 122 which act on the lens ( not shown ) of the eye to change its shape . the choroid 116 of the eye is the thin vascular middle layer of the eye that is situated between the sclera ( white of the eye ) 106 and the retina , the nerve layer that lines the back of the eye . as described above , there is a significant aqueous outflow route through the region of the ciliary body 104 and uveoscleral plane 110 , wherein fluid migrates outwardly from the anterior chamber 100 directly through tissue and between muscle fibers 122 of the ciliary body . there is no substantial tissue barrier between the anterior chamber 100 and the ciliary muscles 122 . thus , there is no membrane or barrier to prevent aqueous from passing into and between the muscle bundles 122 into the suprachoroidal space ( or uveoscleral plane 110 ). the region at the periphery of the anterior chamber does contain a fiber or tissue region described herein as uveal - iris strands 105 ( or ciliary trabeculum ) at the outermost periphery of the iris 112 ( see fig1 - 2 ). fig2 illustrates the uveoscleral outflow path through the iris strand tissue region 105 and the ciliary muscle bundles 122 . as used herein , the term โ uveoscleral outflows โ describes aqueous outflows that exit the anterior chamber 100 through tissue posterior to the corneo - scleral trabeculum ( trabecular meshwork ) 128 and schlemm &# 39 ; s canal 132 ( see fig1 ). in other words , the aqueous flows through the ciliary muscle bundles 122 , through the periphery of the iris 112 , and generally through the uveal - iris strands 105 to the uveoscleral plane 110 . thereafter , it is believed that the aqueous can pass into the venous system and migrate into or through the sclera . the vessels of the choroid 116 and ciliary processes 114 ( fig1 ) are highly permeable , and the protein concentration in the extravascular space of the uvea is thus unusually high . these proteins can exit the interior of the eye through the sclera ( albumin ). fig3 also illustrates the other primary aqueous outflow path through the corneo - scleral trabeculum 128 and schlemm &# 39 ; s canal 132 . after the aqueous humor reaches and schlemm &# 39 ; s canal 132 , which may be a series of septae rather than a true 3600 canal , the outflows further pass through collectors 136 that extend outwardly and pass fluid to the episcleral venous system at the interior of the conjunctiva 140 . in fig2 - 3 and elsewhere in this disclosure , these aqueous flows are described as โ schlemm &# 39 ; s outflows โ. the exploded view of fig3 provides a better view of the two distinct flow paths for aqueous to exit the anterior chamber 100 . fig4 depicts a young , healthy eye wherein pigment ( e . g ., from lens and iris ) and other cellular debris 150 circulate in the anterior chamber 100 and naturally exit together with aqueous through the uveoscleral outflows and schlemm &# 39 ; s outflows . the author has performed comparative morphological studies of young and older glaucomatous eyes . as was to be expected , the studies revealed an increase in extra - cellular material in the sub - endothelial region of the schlemm &# 39 ; s canal in the older glaucomatous eyes . of particular interest , the author also found a significant increase in the extra - cellular material in the outflow pathways of the uveoscleral plane 100 and ciliary muscle bundles 122 . in some of the studies , it appears that a type of plaque is built up within the tissue of the uveoscleral outflow route . fig5 is a graphic depiction of debris 150 as it accumulates in an older glaucomatous eye . fig7 and 8 are images of a young human eye and an older glaucomatous human eye , respectively , which correspond to the schematic representations of fig4 and 5 . in the image of fig7 , the young eye has substantial inter - muscular spaces that allow for fluid outflows . in the image of the glaucomatous eye in fig8 , there is dense connective tissue , and plaque - like materials that are believed to result from cellular debris build - up and the wound healing response that causes connective tissue growth . in one embodiment of the present invention applied to an animal model , as illustrated in fig6 ., laser irradiation about the junction ( tissue region 105 in fig1 - 8 ) of the uvea and sclera posterior of the corneo - sclera trabeculum 128 , herein more described as uveal - iris strands or ciliary trabeculum tissue 105 , resulted in enhanced outflows through the uveoscleral route . one embodiment of the present invention relies on the application of energy via laser irradiation to the uveal - iris strands 105 , the peripheral iris and generally to the uveo - scleral interface 110 that is exposed to the anterior chamber which enhances aqueous flows through the โ uveoscleral outflow โ route as illustrated in fig2 and 3 . one embodiment of the present invention comprises an alternative method of using laser irradiation to apply energy to the region of uveal - iris strand tissue 105 or ciliary trabeculum , as shown in fig6 , about the uveo - scleral junction exposed to the anterior chamber 100 . the laser energy is applies gonioscopically , as is known in the art , and can be in a 360 ยฐ band or in any smaller angular region . it has been found that the energy delivery parameters below can cause a modification of tissue , and increased fluid permeability and outflows within the tissue region 105 . according to various embodiments , the modification may be bioshock , microvibration , shortbioshock , bioultrashock , photocavitation , microcavitation , shock wave , or thermal effects . in one embodiment of the present invention , the laser radiation has a wavelength between 400 and 1550 nanometers , and more preferably between 750 and 1000 nanometers . the method utilizes an energy level per laser pulse ranging from 1 to 500 millijoules ( mj ), and more preferably an energy level ranging from 10 to 250 millijoules per pulse . the method uses a laser pulse duration of ranging between 1 and 50 microseconds , and more preferably the pulse duration ranges between 5 and 25 microseconds . the method used a laser spot size ranging between about 50 and 200 microns . one suitable laser source can be a ti : sapphire laser of the type that produces a wavelength in the range of 785 - 795 nm . in one embodiment of the present invention a method of stimulating the ciliary region is provided where coherent light is directed to the ciliary body 114 and uveoloscleral outflow pathway . such stimulation excites a biological response , in one embodiment this biological response comprises a recruitment of macrophages and cytokines . coherent light may be introduced either by directing a beam of such light through the anterior chamber of the eye 100 to the ciliary trabeculum or with a trans - scleral beam directed to the ciliary body . in one embodiment , the coherent light is provided by a titanium sapphire laser having a wavelength of 790 nm . one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other lasers having suitable effective tissue penetration would also be within the scope of the present invention . in one embodiment wherein the light is directed through the anterior chamber of the eye , laser light may be directed into the anterior chamber 100 , and focused proximally to the ciliary trabeculum 105 . in one such embodiment , it is desirable that the focal point of the laser be disposed in the ciliary region defined by the uveoscleral outflow pathway , ciliary body and ciliary trabeculum . according to such an embodiment , the light may be delivered using a goniolens or other suitable tool for viewing and direction of light towards the angle of the anterior chamber . alternatively , illustrated in fig9 and fig1 , coherent light may be directed into the ciliary body 114 through the sclera . application of pressure to the sclera causes the sclera to become transparent to light of certain wavelengths . this characteristic of the sclera allows the passage of laser light through the sclera when the sclera is compressed by the application of a probe or other light delivery device . by the application of a laser probe or other coherent light delivery device to the exterior of the sclera , coherent light may be delivered to the ciliary region directly through the exterior of the eye . in such embodiments , the coherent light will typically be selected from light sources that permit a penetration of about approximately 200 ฮผm . in one embodiment , a laser having a wavelength of 790 nm is employed . for such an embodiment to prompt the correct response , the penetration depth must be greater than the thickness of the structures disposed between the exterior of the sclera and the target region . in such an embodiment , light may be delivered by pen or pencil like probes manipulated by a user . the probe may comprise a fiber optic light delivery channel and an array of lenses or mirrors whereby the light is focused on a target region . in one embodiment , a lens of the array 156 is disposed at the end on the probe , and when in use , placed in contact with the sclera of the subject eye . the user may then select one or more positions around the cornea for trans - scleral ciliaryplasty . alternatively , the laser may be simultaneously directed via a plurality of lenses disposed in a ring around the cornea to pre - selected sites disposed on the sclera around the cornea . in such embodiments both the biological effect and the ablation or removal of detritus and other debris clogging the ciliary trabeculum and uveoscleral outflow pathway would contribute to the improvement in flow , thereby decreasing elevated intraocular pressure . the effects of phagocytes , macrophages and cytokines are well understood by those skilled in the biological sciences . the laser ciliaryplasty effectively stimulates the body &# 39 ; s immune response and prompts the body to remove the debris . the removal of the debris allows for greater flow of aqueous , and consequently , a decrease in intraocular pressure . in one embodiment , the target region may be exposed to light pulses of at least 5 ฮผsec . in other embodiments this pulse may be 7 ฮผsec or upwards of 20 ฮผsec . one skilled in the art will appreciate that different exposure times will elicit different biological reactions . the foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . many modifications and variations are possible in light of this disclosure . it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description , but rather by the claims appended hereto | 0 |
fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional drawing of an optical probe 1 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . the optical probe may be in the form of confocal microscope . the optical probe comprises an optical guide 2 having a distal end 3 and a housing 4 . the distal end of the optical guide is free to move 5 with respect to the housing in the sense that there is a certain space within the housing in which the end of the optical guide may move . the housing has at its distal end a window 6 , such as a glass or polymer window . in the illustrated embodiment , the optical guide comprises a lens system 7 possibly attached to the guide by means of a mount 8 . the invention is however not limited by the presence of any specific optical components . the components are merely shown for illustrative purposes . in general any suitable lens system may be used as is known to the skilled person . the optical guide itself is mounted inside the housing by suitable means ( not shown ) so that the optical guide has a fixed part and a moveable part . the optical guide may in embodiments be optical fibres ( multi - mode and single - mode ), thin film optical paths , photonic crystal fibres , photonic band gab fibres ( pbg ), polarization maintaining fibres , etc . the optical probe may also comprise more than one fibre , i . e . a plurality of fibres or a fibre bundle . the optical guide is displaceable by means of a coil - based actuation system 9 , 10 . the actuation system is capable of displacing the distal end by driving a current through drive coils 9 . in the illustrated embodiment , the actuation system comprises a first part comprising an axially polarized magnet 10 and a second part comprising electromagnetic coils 9 , where the coils are mounted on the housing and the magnet is mounted on the optical guide . fig2 illustrates the opposite situation where the coils are mounted on the optical guide and the magnet is mounted on the housing . when a current is applied in the coils 9 , due to the lorenz force , the magnet 10 will be pushed away from the centre position depending upon the direction of the current . in this way , the distal end of the optical guide can be placed in any wanted position within the working area of the housing . in embodiments , the magnet 10 is magnetized along the axis of the optical probe . only a single set of coils are illustrated allowing displacement in a single direction , e . g . along the direction indicated by reference numeral 5 . the winding ( s ) of the coils are in a plane parallel to the axis of the optical guide . a perpendicularly oriented set of coils ( not shown ) is used for displacement in the direction perpendicular to the illustrated direction 5 , moreover a set of coils oriented for displacement along the direction may also be used , such coils are not shown either . fig2 illustrates a schematic cross - sectional drawing of an optical probe 20 . in the figure the magnet 21 is attached to the housing 22 whereas the coils 23 are attached to an outer par of the optical guide 24 . in the illustrated embodiment , the optical guide comprises a core 25 and a flexible support tube 24 for protection of the core . fig2 further illustrates a serial connection 28 of the two coils and the related voltage drop 26 over the two coils . a current through the coils 23 together with the magnetic field from the axially magnetized magnet 21 delivers a force in the direction indicated by reference numeral 27 . this force generation system will also generate a back electromotive force , emf , when the coils move in the direction 27 with respect to the magnet . the voltage drop across the wires 26 reflects this emf . fig3 illustrates a schematic drive circuit with feedback loop in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . fig3 illustrates the situation where the set - point speed is determined by derivation of the set - point position . a power amplifier 30 delivers the drive current for driving the coils . the coils are electrically connected to the terminals 31 . the terminals 31 are separated from the power amplifier 30 by a switch 32 ( drive switch ) which is controllable by a switch control 33 . when switch 32 is closed , the drive current is fed to the coils via the terminals 31 . the power amplifier 30 is controlled by a position set - point generator 34 . the position set - point generator outputs the desired position of the lens to an image construction unit 35 . in an embodiment , the desired drive speed is determined as the derivative of the position . the derivative of the position is determined at a deriver unit 36 and feed into the comparator 37 . the output of the comparator 37 is fed into the power amplifier 30 for driving the coils . if the drive switch 32 is opened , i . e . the drive current is switched off , and the switch 38 is closed , the circuit measures the back emf of the drive coils via the terminals 31 . the switch 38 ( feedback switch ) is controllable by a switch control 33 . the measured back emf may be shaped , e . g . by means of a low pass filter 39 and amplified 300 prior to comparison at the comparator 37 . in an embodiment , based on deriving a measured position from the measured speed , and comparing the positional set - point and the measured position , the deriver unit 36 is omitted . instead an integration unit , or other means for deriving the position from the measured speed is implemented , either as a separate unit inserted between the low pass filter 39 and amplifier 300 or implemented as a part of the low pass filter 39 or amplifier 300 . fig4 a and 4b illustrates the operation of the switches 32 , 38 . a value of one corresponds to closing of the switches , i . e . current can pass the switch , whereas a value of zero corresponds to opening the switches , i . e . no current can pass . the horizontal axis is a time axis . fig4 a shows the operation of the drive switch 32 , showing that the coils alternatively are provided with drive current and alternatively switched off . fig4 b shows the operation of the feedback switch 38 , which is briefly closed while the drive current is switched off allowing the feedback circuit to measure the voltage across the terminals 31 . the circuit of fig3 ensures that if the speed of the distal end optical guide deviates from the set - point speed , the drive current is adjusted until the measured speed is inline with the set - point speed . the timing of the opening of the feedback switch 38 after the drive switch 32 has been closed as well as the durations of the open - close states are within the capabilities of the skilled person to set appropriately . in an advantageous embodiment , the feedback switch 38 is however delayed 40 allowing to discharge for the noise of the coils to decrease below an acceptable level . the noise is caused by the energy in the capacities in the switch , wiring , coils and by the self - inductances in coils . the capacitance 301 is a part of the zero order sample and hold circuit . when the feedback switch 38 is switched on , the capacitance is charged with emf , which is proportional to the speed of the optical probe with respect to the housing , and when the feedback switch 38 is switched off , the emf stays at the capacitance so that the voltage can be measured , filtered , amplified and further used for the feedback control . discharging of the voltage at the coils at the moment when both switches are switched off occurs via the resistance of the switches . fig4 c and 4d show the voltage across the coils and the output of the zero order sample and hold . fig4 c illustrates the voltage of the coils during the course of the switching as illustrated in fig4 a and 4b . in fig4 c , firstly the drive switch 38 is open ( cf . fig4 a ) during this period , the measured emf is related only to the movement of the distal end of the optical guide . when the drive switch is closed , the measured emf reflects the driving voltage as feed by the controller , and when the drive switch opens again , the voltage approaches the level where the measured emf again is related only to the speed of the distal end of the optical guide . fig4 d shows the output of the zero order sample and hold , each time the feedback switch is opened ( cf . fig4 b ) the voltage jumps due to the charging of the capacitor 301 , to the level present at that driving coils at the moment of closing of the feedback switch ( cf . fig4 c ). the speed of the optical probe with respect to the housing is ramp shaped in time as can be seen in fig4 d . the horizontal axis is a time axis . to obtain a small error between the speed - set - point and the actual speed of the distal end , a loop gain much higher than 1 may be needed at the frequencies at which the optical guide is supposed to move . this can be realised by choosing a high overall gain , leading to a high bandwidth or by choosing a relatively low gain and only one frequency to move the optical guide : the resonance frequency . this last choice is particularly advantageous if the damping of the moving mechanics is very low and will lead to a low bandwidth and low dissipation in the coils and yet a low speed error . the speed error can be low enough to reliably use the position - set - point as the position information at resonance frequency . the position of the distal end at non - resonance - frequencies with respect to the not moving part however may be determined by the acceleration forces on the not moving part at these frequencies and the resonance frequency of the distal end . fig5 illustrates a drive circuit with feedback loop in combination with feed - forward loop . the main part of the illustrated circuit is similar as to the one shown in fig3 . however , the set - point position 34 is additionally output to a unit 50 for determining a feed - forward term based on one or more mechanical and / or electrical parameters . the feed - forward term is combined with the feedback term at the combiner 51 to input into the power amplifier 30 . the feed - forward term may advantageously by used in connection with driving the system in a non - resonant mode to compensate for the low loop gain and a high feed - back error . for the feed - forward method the spring constant , moving mass and damping of the optical guide and its geometry may need to be determined first . these parameters can determine in a unique way the position and speed depending on the applied force . this force is a function of the applied current . the feed - forward term may e . g . be implemented as a look up table containing known relationships between mechanical or electrical parameters and the movement of the optical probe . such relationships may be known from idealized tests . fig6 schematically illustrates the operation of an embodiment of the optical probe in connection with an optical imaging system . fig6 schematically illustrates an optical probe 60 , e . g . as illustrated in connection with fig1 and 2 . the displacement of the probe is schematically indicated 61 . the optical probe is optically coupled to a radiation source 62 so that the probe guides radiation 600 , 64 from the radiation source to a region of interest 63 . the radiation source may be any suitable source , such as but not limited to any type of laser , leds , gas - discharge lamps or luminescence sources . the radiation emitted 64 from the probe interacts with the object under investigation in the region of interest 63 . after interaction , part of the radiation 65 may be received by the probe , e . g . the reflected radiation , back - scattered radiation , re - emitted radiation , or any other type of radiation . the detected radiation 65 , 601 may via coupling from the probe be directed to a detector 66 . the detected radiation 65 may together with positional data 67 as is known from the position generator 34 ( fig3 ) be inputted into an image construction unit 68 for generating an image 69 of the region of interest . due to the feedback and optionally feed - forward correction of the drive current , the generated image is without , or at least minimized with respect to , positional distortion . the positional correction offered by embodiments of the present invention force the optical probe to follow the pre - set or desired path , and the actual position closely matches the pre - set position of the optical probe during the displacement or scanning of the probe . the invention can be implemented by means of hardware , software , firmware or any combination of these . the invention or some of the features thereof can also be implemented as software running on one or more data processors and / or digital signal proces the individual elements of an embodiment of the invention may be physically , functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way such as in a single unit , in a plurality of units or as part of separate functional units . the invention may be implemented in a single unit , or be both physically and functionally distributed between different units and processors . although the present invention has been described in connection with the specified embodiments , it should not be construed as being in any way limited to the presented examples . the scope of the present invention is to be interpreted in the light of the accompanying claim set . in the context of the claims , the terms โ comprising โ or โ comprises โ do not exclude other possible elements or steps . also , the mentioning of references such as โ a โ or โ an โ etc . should not be construed as excluding a plurality . the use of reference signs in the claims with respect to elements indicated in the figures shall also not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention . furthermore , individual features mentioned in different claims , may possibly be advantageously combined , and the mentioning of these features in different claims does not exclude that a combination of features is not possible and advantageous . | 6 |
the surgical retractor securing apparatus of the instant invention provides a significant advance in the state of the art of anchoring surgical retractors . the preferred embodiments of the surgical retractor securing apparatus accomplish this by new and novel arrangements of elements that are configured in unique and novel ways and which demonstrate previously unavailable but preferred and desirable capabilities . the detailed description set forth below in connection with the drawings is intended merely as a description of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention , and is not intended to represent the only form in which the present invention may be constructed or utilized . the description sets forth the designs , functions , means , and methods of implementing the invention in connection with the illustrated embodiments . it is to be understood , however , that the same or equivalent functions and features may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention . with reference generally now to fig1 through 5 , and more specifically to fig2 and 3 , in one of the many preferable arrangements , the surgical retractor securing apparatus 100 includes , among other elements , an adjustable securing device 110 and a capture assembly 120 . as shown in fig1 the surgical retractor securing apparatus 100 is designed to be secured to a surgical accessory bar sab , or other external support , and releasably retain the elasticized band eb of a retractor while maintaining a continuous but adjustable tension on the skin or other tissue . the adjustable securing device 110 is designed to grip and rigidly hold a surgical accessory bar sab or other external support . the capture assembly 120 is designed to releasably retain the elasticized band eb of the scalp hook retractor . in exemplary configurations , the adjustable securing apparatus 100 may be configured to define an adjustable accessory bar receiver 112 that substantially surrounds a surgical accessory bar sab , as shown in fig1 that is attached to the basal frame bf of a halo style head fixation device , well known in the art , used in intracranial neurosurgery . referring again to fig1 and 2 , the adjustable securing device 110 may include a securing device compression area 114 that can be manually compressed by a securing device compression adjuster 170 . in one embodiment , the compression adjuster 170 may be threaded into the adjustable securing device 110 to provide a compressive grip on the surgical accessory bar sab . the securing device compression adjuster 170 , in the preferred embodiment , is provided with a thumbscrew and an adjuster tool engager 175 at its distal end such that a tool may be used to increase the leverage in tightening and loosening the securing device compression adjuster 170 . in additional embodiments , the securing device compression adjuster 170 may include a thumbscrew configured with a high friction surface , wings , alternative shaped top with gripping edges , or other grip enhancing features . additionally , the adjustable securing device 110 may be configured to have a partially open position at rest , such that a manual release of the securing device compression adjuster 170 will result in a release of the compressive grip upon the surgical accessory bar sab . in alternative embodiments , the adjustable securing device 110 may be configured to attach to any external support by an alternative mechanical gripping assembly , including , by way of illustration and not limitation , hook and loop fasteners , adhesive fasteners , a compression system , locking keyways , screws , bolts , or other mechanical fasteners . with continued reference to the various figures and specifically now also to fig1 the surgical accessory bar sab , well known in the art , has a uniform cross - section and the adjustable securing device 110 in the open position may slide along the surgical accessory bar sab to any desired location . therefore , in the preferred embodiment , the surgical retractor securing apparatus 100 has the advantage of being anchorable at a plurality of points on the surgical accessory bar sab which may surround a patient &# 39 ; s head during intracranial surgery . multiple units may be placed on a surgical accessory bar to utilize multiple skin hook sh retractors . in the exemplary arrangement of the instant invention shown in fig2 and 3 , the adjustable securing device 110 is connected by a pivot assembly 140 to a capture assembly 120 that is configured to hold the elasticized band eb of a scalp hook sh retractor . in the preferred embodiment , the invention provides a capture assembly 120 comprising a gripping cam 125 that grips the elasticized band eb of a scalp hook sh retractor so that the elasticized band eb is compressed between the gripping cam 125 and the surgical accessory bar sab . the gripping cam 125 is capable of gripping elasticized bands eb of varying cross - sectional profiles , including , for example and not limitation , round , elliptical , square , or flat bands of varying thickness and widths . with reference now to fig5 ; in application , the gripping cam 125 is rotated , as shown by directional arrow m , about the pivot assembly 140 , away from the surgical accessory bar sab to create a gap to receive the elasticized band eb between the gripping cam 125 and the surgical accessory bar sab . the elasticized band eb is stretched , to produce tension along direction arrow t , and is placed in the gap between the gripping cam 125 and the surgical accessory bar sab . now referring to fig4 the gripping cam 125 is rotated back into an engaged position compressing the elasticized band eb against the surgical accessory bar sab . the gripping cam 125 thereby fixes the position of the elasticized band eb and maintains tension between the surgical retractor securing apparatus 100 and the scalp hook sh , as shown in fig1 . with reference now to fig4 the tension exerted along direction arrow t assists in maintaining the engaged position of gripping cam 125 . as tension increases along direction arrow t , the pressure exerted by the gripping cam 125 against the surgical accessory bar sab is increased . gripping cam 125 thus provides a firm grip across a wide plurality of tensions . referring now to fig2 and 3 , the cam gripping surface 130 may be provided with a high friction surface to enhance the grip upon the elasticized band eb . the cam gripping surface 130 may , by way of example and not limitation , be formed with a striated surface , dimples , stipples , engraved pattern , or other friction enhancing surface finish . in other embodiments , the cam 125 may be formed with a smooth surface to which a disposable adhesive pad with a high grip surface may be affixed . the gripping cam 125 provides a quick release method of fixation for the elasticized band eb that permits rapid fixation and precise tensioning by the surgeon , maintains the band in a fixed compressed position during surgery , yet which may be quickly and easily released at any time by rotating the gripping cam 125 away from the surgical accessory bar sab . in additional embodiments , the capture assembly 120 may be formed , by way of illustration and not limitation , as a dual cam device or as any of the widely known quick release mechanisms , for gripping the elasticized band eb . with reference to fig3 the gripping cam 125 , in the preferred embodiment , is pivotably fastened to the adjustable securing device 110 by means of a pivot assembly 140 . the pivot assembly 140 passes through the device pivot assembly receiver 142 and the cam pivot assembly receiver 144 . such an embodiment allows the surgical retractor securing device 100 to be assembled with the gripping cam 125 secured to either side of the adjustable securing device 110 . additional embodiments may include those where the pivot assembly 140 comprises a cam pivot pin 155 with a threaded stud engager 158 that threads into the cooperating female threads of the threaded receiver 159 of a stud 145 . the gripping cam 125 is provided with a pin slot 160 to receive the cam pivot pin 155 and the adjustable securing device 110 is provided with a stud engager 150 to receive the stud 145 . in the preferred embodiment , the cam pivot pin 155 has an enlarged head 156 at the distal end that prevents the cam pivot pin 155 from passing through the pin slot 160 of the gripping cam 125 . the enlarged head 156 is formed with a tool engager 157 adapted to engage a tool , as for illustration and not limitation , such as a screwdriver or hex key . the cam pivot pin 155 may be threaded at the proximal end to engage the cooperating female threads of the stud 145 . other embodiments include those where the cam pivot pin 155 may include a shoulder bolt thread that limits the depth to which the pin 155 maybe threaded into the cooperating female threads of the stud 145 . the shoulder bolt ensures that the pivot assembly 140 may be tightened only far enough to lightly hold the gripping cam 125 against the adjustable securing device 110 , and to prevent overtightening . the stud 145 may be configured in a plurality of shapes such that the stud 145 will not turn during tightening of the cam pivot pin 155 . the stud 145 may additionally be configured with a stud base plate 148 , to prevent the stud 145 from being drawn through the adjustable securing device 110 during the tightening process . other embodiments , intended for illustration and not limitation , include the pivot assembly 140 being formed by a fixed fastener , such as a rivet , a shoulder bolt mated to cooperating female threads partially threaded into the adjustable securing device 110 , or any other of the widely known mechanical fastening devices , such as a nut and bolt . to demonstrate and evaluate the surgical retractor securing apparatus according to the invention , a procedure was conducted upon a cadaver . the cadaver head was fixated in a spetzler headrest in the usual fashion . a surgical accessory bar was attached and six securing apparatuses similar to fig2 were placed on the bar and positioned parallel to the proposed entry site of the skull . a physician then made an incision on the skull and used the six scalp hooks with rubber bands to retract the scalp back from the wound site . the distal ends of the rubber bands were placed in the securing apparatuses under tension . the securing apparatuses all consistently held ( locked ) the rubber bands without slipping . the physician then proceeded to increase the load on the hooks by moving the accessory bar away from the incision site , thereby stretching the rubber bands . this was done to the point where physical damage to the scalp would normally occur . the rubber bands were held secure even under this โ worst case โ situation . numerous alterations , modifications , and variations of the preferred embodiments disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art and they are all anticipated and contemplated to be within the spirit and scope of the instant invention . for example , although specific embodiments have been described in detail , those with skill in the art will understand that the preceding embodiments and variations can be modified to incorporate various types of substitute and or additional or alternative materials , relative arrangement of elements , and dimensional configurations for compatibility with the myriad possible surgical retractor interventions and procedures . accordingly , even though only few variations of the present invention are described herein , it is to be understood that the practice of such additional modifications and variations and the equivalents thereof , are within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims . the corresponding structures , materials , acts , and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure , material , or acts for performing the functions in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed . | 0 |
fig1 provides an illustration of the distribution for both the within variability ( dashed line ) and the between variability ( dotted line ) in a computation of an lr of a fingerprint comparison . further explanation of such an approach to the comparison of fingerprints or other biometric markers is to be found in wo2006 / 040573 , the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference , particularly in relation to the description of the generation , consideration and use of the two probability distributions . the greater the number of features or minutiae considered , such as bifurcations or ridge ends , and / or the greater amount of information considered on those features , then the greater the separation between the two distributions . the distance separation between the two distributions brings with it a problem when the lr is considered as basically the ratio of the value for one of the distributions at that point ( normally a distance ) compared with the value of the other . the value for the between variability at that point is extremely low . significantly , its value is not robustly provided , however , because it is so small . when the distribution for the between variability is considered , this is fitted to the number of occurrences observed at a given distance . as the distance increases and moves away from the core part of the between variability distribution the number of occurrences decreases . a point is reached at which this number of occurrences is very small or becomes non - existent . the tail part of the between variability distribution of interest for the lr may be at a far greater distance than this . as a result , the fit of the distribution is crucial . usually , distribution fitting approaches are not overly concerned with this part of the distribution . however , as a result , the tail part of the distribution has been found to be heavily influenced by the last few occurrences in the data to which the distribution is fitted . as a result , the part of the distribution of interest is influenced heavily by the presence or absence of one or a couple of occurrences at the large distances . these few occurrences are a very , very small number compared with the overall number of occurrences considered in the distribution and hence have an undue influence on the tail . the influence is also unpredictable as in one set of data such an occurrence may be present at one distance , in another set of data at another distance and in a third set of data it may be absent . fig2 provides a schematic illustration of four different tails for distributions of the same consideration . in data set 1 , the last occurrence is a single occurrence at distance x . in data set 2 , the last occurrence is two occurrences at distance x ; hence the tail is longer and has a greater value at this location . in data set 3 , the last occurrence is a single occurrence at a distance considerably greater than x ; so the tail has a higher value . in data set 4 , the last occurrence is at a distance considerably less the x ; so the value of the tail is much lower . with respect to the overwhelming majority of occurrences , the four data sets may be indiscernible from one another . in respect of the majority of the distribution , the shape and hence values of the distribution may be indiscernible from one another . in the extreme tail portion of the distribution , however , there are marked differences even though the distribution is of the same consideration . in the approach of the present invention , the fitting of a distribution to the data is provided in a different way . the data which contributes to the tail part of the distribution is subjected to a separate consideration . the distribution of fig3 , has a number of occurrences in the tail part of the distribution . these are in the distance range 400 to 650 . the occurrences in this range are only a very small number compared with the overall number of occurrences ; compare the peak heights . the tail occurrences are isolated and represent the data shown in fig4 . in this case , they represent 110 occurrences out of a total of 412 , 417 occurrences shown in fig3 . a distribution is then fitted to this set of occurrences only . this contrasts with fitting a distribution to the total set of occurrences provided before . the nature of the distribution which is fitted is also different . a distribution which does not decline quickly to zero is selected ; a heavy tailed distribution . examples include an exponential distribution , weibull distribution , cauchy distribution and half cauchy distribution . other distributions may also be used , such as a generalised pareto distribution , a pareto distribution or an extreme value distribution . whilst this approach is applied to the tail of each distribution , the remaining occurrences ( or even all the occurrences ) are subjected to the fitting of a distribution too . this may be performed using the pre - existing approach to fit to the non - tail occurrences or to all the occurrences . for instance , a normal distribution , or a mixture of normals may be used . the distribution fitted to just the tail is considered in preference to the distribution fitted generally when a distance in that part of the distribution is being considered . when establishing the lr , for instance between a crime scene mark and a fingerprint from a suspect , the distance in question is considered . at that distance , the value of the within variability distribution is obtained and this is compared with the value of the between variability distribution at that distance , the between variability distribution being the distribution fitted only to the tail occurrences . normally , the value for the within variability distribution would also be taken from a distribution fitted to its tail only . the probability resulting can be scaled to account for the ratio between the number of occurrences used to model the tail part only and the number of occurrences in total . various possibilities for selecting the occurrences to consider as the tail . a number of occurrences can be set . a percentile of occurrences can be set . an improved ability to calculate lr &# 39 ; s is provided in this way as reliable computation of very small probabilities is provided by computing them using two more robust steps , rather than one less accurate one . the problems with the over fitting of the prior approach is avoided . whilst the approach has been described in the context of fingerprints , it is useful in the case of any continuous data form of evidence . by way of example , and in the context of a fingerprint , the information on the fingerprints can be provided as feature vectors . the likelihood ratio is the quotient of two probabilities , one being that of two feature vectors conditioned on their being from the same source , the other two feature vectors being conditioned on their being from different sources . lr = pr ( fv s , fv m โข ๏ hp ) pr ( fv s , fv m โข ๏ hd ) where the feature vector fv contains the information extracted from the representation and formatted . the addition of the subscript s to this abbreviation denotes that a feature vector comes from the suspect , and the addition of the subscript m denotes that a feature vector originates from the crime . the symbol fv s then denotes a feature vector from the known source or suspect , and fv m denoted the feature vector originated from an unknown source from the crime scene . the preferred forms for the quotient are discussed in more detail below . in general terms , the data driven approach involves the consideration of a quotient defined by a numerator which considers the variation in the data which is extracted from different representations of the same fingerprint and by a denominator which considers the variation in the data which is extracted from representations of different fingerprints . the output of the quotient is a likelihood ratio . in order to quantify the likelihood ratio , the feature vector for the first representation , the crime scene , and the feature vector for the second representation , the suspect are obtained , as described in wo2006 / 040564 . the difference between the two vectors is effectively the distance between the two vectors . once the distance has been obtained it is compared with two different probability distributions obtained from two different databases . in the first instance , the probability distribution for these distances is estimated from a database of prints taken from the same finger . a large number of pairings of prints are taken from the database and the distance between them is obtained . each of the prints has data extracted from it and that data is formatted as a feature vector . the differences between the two feature vectors give the distance between that pairing . repeating this process for a large number of pairings gives a range of distances with different frequencies of occurrence . a probability distribution reflecting the variation between prints of the same figure is thus obtained by fitting to these occurrences . in contrast to wo2006 / 040573 , the fitting involves the use of the tail specific fitting process described above . ideally , the database would be obtained from a number of prints taken from the same finger of the suspect . however , the approach can still be applied where the prints are taken from the same finger , but that finger is someone &# 39 ; s other than the suspect . this database needs to reflect how a print ( more particularly the resulting triangles and their respective feature vectors ) from the same finger changes with pressure and substrate . in the second instance , the probability distribution for these distances is estimated from a database of prints taken from different fingers . again a large number of pairings of prints are taken from the database and the distance between them obtained . the extraction of data , formatting as a feature vector , calculation of the distance using the two feature vectors and determination of the distribution is performed in the same way , but uses the different database . this different database needs to reflect how a print ( more particularly the resulting triangles and their respective feature vectors ) from a number of different fingers varies between fingers and , potentially , with various pressures and substrates involved . having established the manner in which the databases and probability distributions are obtained , the comparison of a crime scene print against a suspect print is considered further . having extracted the data , formatted it in feature vector form and compared two feature vectors to obtain the distance between them , that distance is compared with the two probability distributions obtained from the two databases to give the assessment of match between the first and second representation . in fig5 , the distribution for prints from the same finger is shown , s , and shows good correspondence between examples apart from in cases of extreme distortion or lack of clarity . almost the entire distribution is close to the vertical axis . also shown is the distribution for prints from the fingers of different individuals , d . this shows a significant spread from a low number of extremely different cases , to an average of very different and with a number of little different cases . the distribution is spread widely across the horizontal axis . in fig6 , these distributions are considered against a distance i obtained from the comparison of an unknown source ( for instance , crime scene ) and known source ( for instance , suspect ) fingerprint in the manner described above . at this distance , i , the values ( q and r respectively ) of the distributions s and d can be taken , dotted lines . the likelihood ratio of a match between the two prints is then q / r . in the illustrated case , distance i is small and so there is a strong probability of a match . if distance i were great then the value of q would fall dramatically and the likelihood ratio would fall dramatically as a result . the later approach to the distance measure issue is advantageous as it achieves the result in a single iteration , provides a continuous output and does not require the determination of thresholds . in an improved version of the invention , the process by which the distribution is fitted to the tail is modified . as illustrated in fig7 a , an example using a within variability distribution and a between variability distribution is provided . above the horizontal axis , the probability density function , pdf , is displayed on a normal scale ; below the horizontal axis , a log scale is used to emphasis the variation in the very small pdf &# 39 ; s of interest . the within variability distribution provided , 700 , has a tail 702 . this tail 702 has been modified from the form given by applying a single distribution to the whole , 704 , by applying a distribution specifically to the tail 702 . in this case , a generalised pareto distribution was used and results in the form 706 . the between variability distribution provided , 710 , has a tail 712 . this tail 712 has been modified from the form given by applying a single distribution to the whole , 714 , by applying a distribution specifically to the tail 712 . in this case , a generalised pareto distribution was used and results in the form 716 . as can be seen , the section for which the two probability distributions overlap and each have a pdf value is small . the pdf value may be zero in locations where many of the comparisons arise . to address this issue , the invention provides for a modification to the tail distribution fitting . this is described here with reference to the modification of a generalised pareto distribution , but the approach also applies to other distribution types . in the example of fig7 b , the distance i obtained from the comparison of an unknown source ( for instance , crime scene ) and known source ( for instance , suspect ) fingerprint in the manner described above is applied . the values of interest in the comparison are those of the two different distributions at this point . the within variability distribution has a significant value , p , whereas the between variability distribution is zero . this makes the determination of the likelihood ratio impossible . to address this , a data value 725 corresponding to the occurrence under consideration is introduced to both distributions . this is a data value 725 at distance i . this is added to both distributions only for the consideration and is not a permanent part of the data in either distribution and so does not participate in other considerations of other distances . the addition of the data value 725 has an impact upon the shape of each distribution . the impact varies according to the distance i and the distance at which the data value 725 is added to each distribution . in the example shown , the data value 725 is added to the within variability distribution at a distance where there are many other data values already . this distance is not in the tail . significantly , it has only a very small impact upon the shape of the distribution fitted . in the case of the between variability distribution , this data value 725 is added at a distance where there are few , or in this case , no data points previously . this distance is in the tail . significantly , this data value 725 has a large impact upon the shape of the tail distribution fitted to the between variability distribution . the modified generalised pareto distribution arising , 727 , is shown in fig7 b . this allows a value for the pdf for the between variability distribution to be obtained too and so allow the comparison to conclude in a likelihood ratio . the addition of the data value 725 is valid for each distribution as in the case of it arising due to within variability it is a data value which actually occurs and in the case of it arising due to between variability it is an occurrence within the population . | 6 |
fig1 is a view of the therapeutic end of a typical prior art over - the - wire angioplasty balloon catheter 10 . such catheters are usually non - complaint with a fixed maximum dimension when expanded with a fluid such as saline . fig2 is a view of a dilating angioplasty balloon catheter 20 according to an embodiment of the invention . the catheter 20 includes an elongated carrier , such as a hollow sheath 21 , and a dilating balloon 26 formed about the sheath 21 in sealed relation thereto at a seal 23 . the balloon 26 forms an annular channel 27 about the sheath 21 through which fluid , such as saline , may be admitted into the balloon to inflate the balloon . the channel 27 further permits the balloon 26 to be provided with two electrodes 22 and 24 within the fluid filled balloon 26 . the electrodes 22 and 24 are attached to a source of high voltage pulses 30 . the electrodes 22 and 24 are formed of metal , such as stainless steel , and are placed a controlled distance apart to allow a reproducible arc for a given voltage and current . the electrical arcs between electrodes 22 and 24 in the fluid are used to generate shock waves in the fluid . the variable high voltage pulse generator 30 is used to deliver a stream of pulses to the electrodes 22 and 24 to create a stream of shock waves within the balloon 26 and within the artery being treated ( not shown ). the magnitude of the shock waves can be controlled by controlling the magnitude of the pulsed voltage , the current , the duration and repetition rate . the insulating nature of the balloon 26 protects the patient from electrical shocks . the balloon 26 may be filled with water or saline in order to gently fix the balloon in the walls of the artery in the direct proximity with the calcified lesion . the fluid may also contain an x - ray contrast to permit fluoroscopic viewing of the catheter during use . the carrier 21 includes a lumen 29 through which a guidewire ( not shown ) may be inserted to guide the catheter into position . once positioned the physician or operator can start with low energy shock waves and increase the energy as needed to crack the calcified plaque . such shockwaves will be conducted through the fluid , through the balloon , through the blood and vessel wall to the calcified lesion where the energy will break the hardened plaque without the application of excessive pressure by the balloon on the walls of the artery . fig3 is a schematic of the high voltage pulse generator 30 . fig3 a shows a resulting waveform . the voltage needed will depend on the gap between the electrodes and generally 100 to 3000 volts . the high voltage switch 32 can be set to control the duration of the pulse . the pulse duration will depend on the surface area of the electrodes 22 and 24 and needs to be sufficient to generate a gas bubble at the surface of the electrode causing a plasma arc of electric current to jump the bubble and create a rapidly expanding and collapsing bubble , which creates the mechanical shock wave in the balloon . such shock waves can be as short as a few microseconds . fig4 is a cross sectional view of the shockwave catheter 20 showing an arc 25 between the electrodes 22 and 24 and simulations of the shock wave flow 28 . the shock wave 28 will radiate out from the electrodes 22 and 24 in all directions and will travel through the balloon 26 to the vessel where it will break the calcified lesion into smaller pieces . fig5 shows another dilating catheter 40 . it has insulated electrodes 42 and 44 within the balloon 46 displaced along the length of the balloon 46 . fig6 shows a dilating catheter 50 with an insulated electrode 52 within the balloon 56 . the electrode is a single electrode pole in the balloon , a second pole being the ionic fluid 54 inside the balloon . this unipolar configuration uses the ionic fluid as the other electrical pole and permits a smaller balloon and catheter design for low profile balloons . the ionic fluid is connected electrically to the hv pulse generator 30 . fig7 is another dilating 60 catheter with electrodes 62 and 64 within the balloon 66 and studs 65 to reach the calcification . the studs 65 form mechanical stress risers on the balloon surface 67 and are designed to mechanically conduct the shock wave through the intimal layer of tissue of the vessel and deliver it directly to the calcified lesion . fig8 is another dilating catheter 70 with electrodes 72 and 74 within the balloon 76 and with raised ribs 75 on the surface 77 of the balloon 76 . the raised ribs 75 ( best seen in fig8 a ) form stress risers that will focus the shockwave energy to linear regions of the calcified plaque . fig9 is a further dilating catheter 80 with electrodes 82 and 84 within the balloon 86 . the catheter 80 further includes a sensor 85 to detect reflected signals . reflected signals from the calcified plaque can be processed by a processor 88 to determine quality of the calcification and quality of pulverization of the lesion . fig1 is a pressure volume curve of a prior art balloon breaking a calcified lesion . fig1 b shows the build up of energy within the balloon ( region a to b ) and fig1 c shows the release of the energy ( region b to c ) when the calcification breaks . at region c the artery is expanded to the maximum dimension of the balloon . such a dimension can lead to injury to the vessel walls . fig1 a shows the initial inflation of the balloon . fig1 is a pressure volume curve showing the various stages in the breaking of a calcified lesion with shock waves according to the embodiment . the balloon is expanded with a saline fluid and can be expanded to fit snugly to the vessel wall ( region a ) ( fig1 a ) but this is not a requirement . as the high voltage pulses generate shock waves ( region b and c ) extremely high pressures , extremely short in duration will chip away the calcified lesion slowly and controllably expanding the opening in the vessel to allow blood to flow unobstructed ( fig1 b ). fig1 shows , in a cutaway view , shock waves 98 delivered in all directions through the wall 92 of a saline filled balloon 90 and intima 94 to a calcified lesion 96 . the shock waves 98 pulverize the lesion 96 . the balloon wall 92 may be formed of non - compliant or compliant material to contact the intima 94 . fig1 shows calcified plaque 96 pulverized by the shock waves . the intima 94 is smoothed and restored after the expanded balloon ( not shown ) has pulverized and reshaped the plaque into the vessel wall . fig1 is a schematic of a circuit 100 that uses the generator circuit 30 of fig3 and a surface ekg 102 to synchronize the shock wave to the โ r โ wave for treating vessels near the heart . the circuit includes an r - wave detector 102 and a controller 104 to control the high voltage switch 32 . mechanical shock can stimulate heart muscle and could lead to an arrhythmia . while it is unlikely that shockwaves of such short duration as contemplated herein would stimulate the heart , by synchronizing the pulses ( or bursts of pulses ) with the r - wave , an additional degree of safety is provided when used on vessels of the heart or near the heart . while the balloon in the current drawings will provide an electrical isolation of the patient from the current , a device could be made in a non - balloon or non isolated manner using blood as the fluid . in such a device , synchronization to the r - wave would significantly improve the safety against unwanted arrhythmias . fig1 shows a still further dilation catheter 110 wherein a shock wave is focused with a parabolic reflector 114 acting as one electrode inside a fluid filled compliant balloon 116 . the other electrode 112 is located at the coaxial center of the reflector 114 . by using the reflector as one electrode , the shock wave can be focused and therefore pointed at an angle ( 45 degrees , for example ) off the center line 111 of the catheter artery . in this configuration , the other electrode 112 will be designed to be at the coaxial center of the reflector and designed to arc to the reflector 114 through the fluid . the catheter can be rotated if needed to break hard plaque as it rotates and delivers shockwaves . fig1 shows a guide wire 120 upon which an embolic protection basket 140 may be guided into a desired position within a vessel 130 , such as an artery or vein . the guide wire 120 has a stop 122 for holding the embolic protection basket 140 in place at its desired position within the vessel 130 . as an initial step in the angioplasty procedure , the embolic protection basket 140 is pushed along the guide wire 120 by a push tube 150 and advanced into position in a coronary or peripheral vessel in a manner well known in the art . the basket 140 is initially collapsed and held within an overtube 146 as it is advanced down the guide wire 120 in the collapsed state to its final desired position . as may be noted in fig1 , when the embolic protection basket 140 abuts the stop 122 of the guide wire 120 , it has reached its desired position . the overtube 146 may then be withdrawn while , at the same time , the push tube 150 is held in place releasing the embolic basket 140 . fig1 shows the embolic protection basket 140 expanded and deployed in the vessel 130 . the overtube has been withdrawn and the pushtube 150 is being retracted . fig1 shows the advancement of the shock wave angioplasty balloon catheter 26 over the guidewire 120 to a position of a lesion in the vessel 130 proximal to the embolic basket 140 . the shock wave catheter 26 while pulverizing the calcium may dislodge calcium or embolic material resulting in debris within the vessel 130 . the embolic protection basket 140 positioned downstream from the angioplasty catheter 26 will capture the debris to preclude it from clotting further down the vessel 130 . fig2 shows the embolic basket 140 and contents being withdrawn into the overtube 146 after the angioplasty catheter has been removed . as indicated herein , the angioplasty catheter may be of the type previously described in the various embodiments herein . further , embolic protection baskets of various types may be employed without departing from the present invention . embolic protection baskets , also referred to as simply filters , which may be used herein include basket type filters with a fabric or nitinol weave , coiled - up nitinol wire , or balloons that block up or down stream of the blockage used in combination with an aspiration tube . while particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described , modifications may be made , and it is therefore intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by those claims . | 0 |
the invention will be explained in great detail with the aid of some embodiments of the drawings . fig1 shows the stereo disassembly of the funny ballpoint pen stand of the invention , displaying the composition of ballpoint ball stand 10 , which constitutes a movable ornament 1 , an ornament base 2 beneath the ornament , a pen barrel 3 under the ornament base 2 , a pen cap 31 under the pen barrel , an ink cartridge 32 placed in the hollow center of the pen barrel 3 , and a plurality of lead cords 4 which are employed to manipulate the movable ornament 1 . the complete assembled ball point pen stand is shown in fig2 . fig3 illustrate the assembled section of the ballpoint pen stand of the invention . the ornament base 2 constitutes a to top lid 21 , a spring 22 , a spring collar 23 and a mount 24 . beneath the top lid 21 , there provides a protruded round ring 211 and a go through hole 212 . the spring collar 23 has a raised rim 231 , two side grooves 232 , a projected chute 233 under the bottom and a slot 234 going through two sides of the projected chute 233 . the upper end of the spring 22 pierces into the protruded round ring 211 and the lower end perches on the outer edge of the raised rim 231 . the top lid 21 has a projected collar 213 on the bottom , and the mount 24 has inward round groove 241 . when the top lid 21 is pushed downward onto the mount 24 , the projected collar 213 will fix into the inward round groove 241 to provide sufficient space for housing both the spring 22 and the spring collar 23 . the aforesaid mount 24 has a go through aperture 242 and an extended tube 243 which accommodates the upper end of the pen barrel 3 . the pen cap 31 installed at the end of the pen barrel 3 fits perfectly with the barrel head 33 . the ink cartridge 32 will pass the aperture 242 of the mount 24 and rests in the projected chute 233 of the spring collar 23 . please refer to fig3 and 4 . fig4 illustrates the complete assembly of movable ornament and lead cords and the relationship between the movable ornament 1 , a plurality of lead cords 4 and the spring collar 23 . where the movable ornament 1 consists of a base plate 11 , two lower limbs 12 , a body composed of a front shell 13 and a back shell 14 , a neck joint 15 , a head 16 , two upper limb joints 17 , and two upper limbs 18 . the detail structure of the movable ornament is characterized in that : one long slot 111 on the base plate 11 , two small holes 121 through two lower limbs 12 , respectively . above the lower limbs 12 , there are two lateral lock tubes 131 fastened on the opening of the raised frame 132 in the semi - circle front shell 13 . two lateral lock rods 141 are fastened on the opening of frame groove ( not shown ) of the semi - circle rear shell 14 , so two shells 13 and 14 are fixed symmetrically by inserting the lock rods 141 into the lock tubes 131 . on the neck joint 15 , there are two rectangular tenons 153 on both sides and two go through holes 151 . on the head 16 , there provides a hollow cylinder 161 and two rectangular mortises 162 to receive the two tenons 153 the neck joint 15 . on each side of shell 13 and 14 , two small holes 171 are provided to connect to the two upper limb joints 17 individually . each upper limb 18 has a hollow cylinder 181 inside . the joints are linked by means of several lead cords 4 . as described above , the lock tube 131 in the front shell 13 receives the insert of the lock rod 141 of the back shell 14 , furthermore , the raised frame 132 fits into the frame groove 142 to form a toy body . the body periphery furnishes five guide holes , one neck guide hole 191 , two upper limb guide holes 192 and two lower limb guide holes 193 . three lead cords 41 through 43 are used to link them together . the lead cord 41 is a leading cord , starting in the neck joint 15 with a knot 411 . two lead cords 41 pass two guide holes 151 , entering successively the neck guide hole 191 , the lower limb guide hole 193 , the small hole 121 on the lower limbs 12 , the guide hole 111 on the base plate 11 , the small hole 211 on the top lid 21 , the side groove 232 on the spring collar 23 , finally turning around bottom projected chute 233 and the slot 234 . finally pulling the lead cord very tightly , the tenons 153 fits in the mortises 162 and so the head 16 is secured steadfastly onto the neck joint 15 , the neck joint 15 onto the shells 13 and 14 , the shells 13 and 14 onto two lower limbs 12 , and two lower limbs 12 on the base plate 11 . other two lead cords 42 and 43 are auxiliaries . these two lead cords begin in the left and right upper limb joints 17 having individual knot 421 and 431 at each end , running in parallel downward through two small holes 171 on the upper limb joints 17 , the upper limb guide hole 192 , the lower limb guide hole 193 , the small hole 121 on the lower limb 12 , the guide hole 111 on the base plate 11 , the small hole 211 on the top lid 21 , the side groove 232 on the spring collar 23 , turning around the slot 234 of the projected chute 233 , finally pulling two lead cords 42 and 43 tightly , causing the upper limb joint 17 secured onto the shells 13 and 14 , and the upper limb joint 18 on the upper limb 17 . the assembly is well done . as shown in fig5 the ballpoint pen is under pressing . if the writer wants to use the ballpoint pen 10 , he has to take off the pen cap 31 , contacts the pen tip of the ink cartridge 32 on the surface of a piece of paper . at this moment , when the ballpoint pen 10 is pressed down and the pressure applied is greater than the resistance of the spring 22 , the spring is contracted and slid downward along with the top lid 21 , the mount 24 , the ornament 1 and the pen barrel 3 ( similarly the ink cartridge 32 and the spring collar are uplifting .) whereas the distance between the spring collar 32 and the top lid 21 is shortened , three lead cords 4 are thereby loosened , both the limbs and joints of the ornament will naturally sag down as shown in fig6 . fig7 illustrates that the pressure applied to the ballpoint pen 10 is released . once the applied pressure is released , the spring 22 regains the elasticity and pushes the top lid 21 and the mount 24 along with the ornament 1 and the pen barrel 3 up , the lead cords are pulled straightly tight , all components return to the original positions as shown in fig8 . repeated practice of such an action will make the ornament 1 on the ballpoint pen 10 movable . the ornament specified in the invention is not confined to a single pattern , it can be different animals or toys to make the funny effect changeable . taking a bird for an example , with wings and face , by mechanical linkage , it produces a flying bird . such a simple design change will render abundant derivatives . to an artist , such a design change is easy and very simple . the design and application of control cord to stir an action on an ornament belong to the scope of this invention . 1 . the ballpoint pen stand serves as a writing tool and a decoration . 2 . the interaction of the lead cord and the ornament will produce a wide variety of actions , such as jumping , swinging and quivering . 3 . it requires no battery and circuit control and it presents no environmental nuisance . 4 . simplified structure , low cost and easy to produce for mass production . 5 . the interaction of pen and ornament will invite the attention and curiosity from children who will consequently develop greater thinking . | 1 |
the present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which some , but not all embodiments of the invention are shown . indeed , these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein ; rather , these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements . like numbers refer to like elements throughout . while embodiments of the present invention may be particularly useful in the aircraft industry for eye protection of pilots , it will be appreciated from the following description that the invention is also useful for many domains and for a variety of applications , including , for example , military ground and naval vehicle drivers and operators and executive transportation vehicles . similarly , while embodiments of the present invention may be described with reference to protection of human eyes , the present invention is aptly suited for protection of other optical sensors . as used herein retractability is intended to mean the characteristic of being retractably - stored as in the ability to retract and extract from a protective housing , and retractably is an adverb describing functioning with this characteristic . referring to fig1 , provided is a perspective diagram of a protective laser film in a protective housing of one embodiment of the present invention . a protective laser film 20 is retractably stored within a protective housing 30 . for example , the protective housing 30 may include a spring - loaded roller 32 as a force element for retractably storing the film 20 in the protective housing 30 . one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the different types of protective housings and retractable elements may be used such as a tension coil spring , a constant force spring , a friction - resistance roller , and the like . the protective housing may be a canister or other type of device that accommodates the storage of the protective film and retractability of the film . for example , a protective housing 30 may include an opening 34 through which the protective film 20 may be extended . protective housings may be various shapes to accommodate such aspects as affixation to a vehicle and use of motors and other elements therewith . protective housings may be made of different materials , such as plastic , metal , paperboard , or the like . the protective film 20 may include a rigid cross member 24 affixed to a leading edge 23 of the film to support extraction of the film 20 from the housing 30 . the use of a rigid , or stiff or contoured , cross member provides the ability to shape the leading edge and support the leading edge as the film is a flexible substrate . the protective film 20 may include tabs 22 or similar devices to affix the protective film 20 in an extracted position such as covering a window . fig2 shows a perspective diagram of a protective laser film of one embodiment of the present invention . the flexible laser film , and substrate thereof , may be designed to provide for the protective film to return to a rolled position 42 . alternatively , or in addition , a rod or other support member ( not shown ) may be used to roll the flexible film thereabout and into a rolled position 42 . a rod or other support member would be attached or otherwise affixed to a trailing edge of the protective laser film 20 that generally remains within the housing 30 . the leading edge 23 would be the first or leading surface of the protective laser film 20 to unroll or to be extracted from a protective housing . the protective laser film may be composed of a plastic such as an acrylic or a polycarbonate which provides a durable and scratch resistant substrate . the substrate may also be resistant to ultraviolet light to provide for long life of the protective film . one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that different substrates may provide different benefits such as flexibility , acceptance of selected dyes , or adherence of thin film coatings . any type of flexible substrate may be used such as an acrylic or polycarbonate plastic or the like . retraction of the film into a housing further protects the film from various external forces and energies which could damage the film . a laser protective film may also include dyes , such as absorptive dyes , and / or coatings , such as thin film interference coatings . typically , laser absorbing dyes are used to protect against shorter wavelengths , and thin interference film coatings are used to protect against longer wavelengths . a hybrid protective film , meaning a film including both dyes and coatings , approach reduces the impact on normal flight operations to allow for visibility by a pilot or other vehicle operator . for example , in one embodiment of the present invention the laser film may be composed of holographic or rugate filters , such as interference coating rugate notch filters , and thin film dielectric interference filters deposited on a polycarbonate substrate . different types of light absorbing and light reflecting filters may be used where such filters can combine to provide for protection against laser and other threat wavelengths while allowing the protective film to be flexible for retractable storage in a protective housing . dyes may be included in or on substrate material , and multiple thin film dielectric filters may be applied to the substrate . the selection of films and dyes in the substrate materials may be determined based upon the intended threat condition to be protected against and function of the film to exhibit an optical density ( transmittance and / or permeability at a given wavelength ) that is transparent within at least a portion of the visible spectrum to allow the pilot or operator to perform normal operations of controlling the vehicle and an optical density that is at least translucent if not impermeable at least one or more laser wavelengths intended to be protected against . these and other types of protective films are readily known to one of ordinary skill in the art and would not be limited by existing technologies where different combinations or methods of creating laser films are developed such that any protective laser film that is flexible for retractability and storage in a protective housing may be used in an embodiment of the present invention . for example , an example laser protective film may include thin film dielectric filters and rugate filters applied to a polycarbonate substrate injected with advanced dyes . filters , dyes , and coatings may be selected based upon expected laser threat wavelengths . and as threat wavelengths change , protective films using different filters , dyes , and coatings may be exchanged in the protective housings of vehicles . accordingly , protective housings of embodiments of the present invention may provide for exchange of protective films such as where the housing may open or a rolled film can be inserted into and removed from an end of a housing . similarly , one alternate embodiment of the present invention may use separate films and one or more housings to protect against multiple threats , such as where different films may be used to cover a vehicle window at different times during flight or near different threat locations . referring to fig3 a , 3 b , 3 c , 3 d , 3 e , and 3 f , diagrams of stowable laser protective systems of embodiments of the present invention are provided as shown in relation to a typical configuration of windows of an airplane cockpit , such as a configuration including two front windows 104 , two angled windows 102 , 106 , and two side windows 100 , 108 . fig3 a , 3 b , 3 c , 3 d , 3 e , and 3 f are provided together to show this type of example configuration ; however , each of fig3 a , 3 b , 3 c , 3 d , 3 e , and 3 f include different example embodiments of the present invention ( except that fig3 c and 3 d show mirror image configurations of the other ). protective housings of embodiments of the present invention may be mounted in relation to windows , such as a protective housing 140 beside a window 100 in fig3 a , a protective housing 150 below a window 102 in fig3 b , a protective housing 160 above a window 104 in fig3 c and 3 d , a protective housing 170 within a window 106 such as part of a window gasket 170 as in fig3 e or between the panes of a window , or a protective housing 130 beside a window 108 in fig3 f . different embodiments of the present invention may employ various methods and features for extracting and retracting a protective laser film relative to the protective housing . for example , with reference to fig3 f , a spring - loaded roller or the like may be used as a force element for retracting a protective film 132 into a protective housing 130 . the protective film may be manually extracted from the protective housing 130 such as using a nylon string and attached in an extracted position with tabs 136 . a rigid cross member 134 may be used to support the manual extraction and fixation of the extracted film in a position to cover a window 108 . in a further embodiment shown in fig3 a , a protective film 142 may be extracted from and / or retracted into a protective housing 140 using a motorized drive system such as a track or groove system with elements 146 affixed to a leading edge 144 of a protective film 142 , wherein the elements 146 translate along a track or within a groove 148 to provide for covering a window 100 with a protective film 142 . one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the track or groove may follow the contour of the surface adjacent to the window , and , because the protective film is flexible , the protective film 142 is capable of extracting or retracting along a curved or contoured path . further , the shape and size of a protective laser film may conform to the shape and size of the window being covered by the protective film . for example , the leading edge 144 of a protective film 142 may be angled to match an angle of a window 100 . a leading edge or side of a laser protective film may not be parallel with a trailing edge or an opposite side . further , edges and sides of a protective film need not be linear but may conform to a polygon or curved shape of a window that is being covered to provide complete eye protection without gaps between the protective film and edges of the windows . a motor such as any electronically powered device may be used for extraction and / or retraction of a protective laser film relative to a protective housing . for example , with respect to fig3 b , a motor 156 may be attached with an element 154 to a leading edge of a protective film 152 in order to raise and lower , or extract and retract , a protective film 152 relative to a protective housing 150 . different types of motors and different uses and configurations of motors may be employed in embodiments of the present invention . for example , with respect to fig3 c and 3 d , a motor 168 may be attached to the end of a protective housing in order to drive a rod 167 affixed to a trailing edge , or a leading edge , of a protective film 162 . similarly , different methods of extraction and retraction may be employed in combination with a motor or different force elements . for example , where a protective housing 160 is mounted above a window 104 , a weight element 164 may be used to descend or extract the protective laser film 162 from the protective housing 160 in a direction to cover a window 104 and the motor 168 can retract the film 162 . just as tabs 136 in fig3 f or track elements 146 in fig3 a may be used to affix a protective laser film in an extracted position , any type of means by which a protective laser film may be affixed in an extended position to cover a window may be used with embodiments of the present invention including , but not limited to , hooks , snaps , loops , plastic hooking strips , and fastening tape . for example , with respect to fig3 c and 3 d , a metal weight element 164 may be secured in a position to cover the window using a magnetic element 166 which is electronically controlled such as by energizing a magnetic field when the motor has extended the protective laser film 162 in a position to cover the window 104 . the magnetic element 166 may be de - energized to allow for release of the weighted element 164 to allow the motor 168 to retract the protective film 162 into the protective housing 160 . a protective housing may be mounted adjacent to a window or integrally as part of a window gasket or between glass panes of a window . for example , with respect to fig3 e , a protective housing 170 may be mounted as part of the left window gasket of a window 106 to allow for a protective laser film 172 to cover the window 106 in a manner that is not intrusive of the other features or devices inside a vehicle . an embodiment of the present invention which includes a protective housing and laser film between the panes of a window and which is automatically controlled by a control element using a motor and force elements could completely eliminate the need for any pilot interaction with an embodiment of a stowable eye protection system of the present invention . additionally , or alternatively , a pilot may be able to control the extraction or retraction of a protective laser film such as by using a switch , similar to an automatic window control of an automobile . embodiments of the present invention may be used to protect against laser threats such as during take - off and landing or presence in or near a threat location , such as traveling through a hostile environment . a pilot may manually or semi - automatically control use of , and / or control elements such as a process controller or computer system may automatically control use of , embodiments of stowable laser protection systems of the present invention . for example , an altimeter may be used to control automatic deployment of protective laser films during take - off and on approach and landing and to control retraction upon landing and achieving a predetermined altitude . a gps system may be used to deploy and retract a protective laser film based upon proximity to or distance from threat locations . fig4 is a diagram of a flexible laser protective film of an embodiment of the present invention . as previously described with reference to fig2 , a protective laser film may include a dyed flexible substrate 200 and a thin film coating 202 such as a rugate filter . this combination or hybrid protective laser film filter protects an optical sensor such as a pilot &# 39 ; s eye 210 from harmful laser light 204 , but allowing visible spectrum 206 as would be required for normal operation of a vehicle by a pilot or other navigator . many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings . therefore , it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims . although specific terms are employed herein , they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation . | 1 |
fig1 shows a conventional fire hydrant 10 . hydrant 10 typically includes a substantially vertical barrel 12 through which water may flow from a water main to a fire hose given certain circumstances as discussed generally below . at one end of the barrel 12 is a hydrant valve 14 which controllably interrupts fluid flow between a water supply 16 and the barrel 12 . at the upper end of the barrel 12 may be found a cap structure 18 which can include , for instance , a housing cover 20 and an operating nut 22 which rotates within the housing cover . the operating nut 22 includes threads which receive threads on an actuator rod 24 which in turn connects to the hydrant valve 14 . not only does the cap structure 18 seal the top portion of the barrel 12 in waterproof fashion , but operating nut 22 may be used by fire fighters or others to open the hydrant valve 14 via actuator rod 24 . hydrant 10 includes at least one nozzle 26 and can include more nozzles 26 . each nozzle 26 may be closed with a cap 28 such as a threaded cap . the hydrant may also include breakaway structure such as a traffic feature 30 . in normal operation , the hydrant 10 may be employed as follows to help fight fires , provide refreshing summer breaks for overheated urban citizens and / or their offspring , participants in road races , or for other purposes or beneficiaries . first , a hose ( not shown ) may be connected to nozzle 26 , usually in a threaded fashion after the cap 28 has been removed ( see , e . g ., fig1 ). then , after the hose is connected , operating nut 22 may be rotated with a wrench to cause actuator rod 24 to push down on relevant portions of hydrant valve 14 in order to open hydrant valve 14 ( see , e . g ., fig4 ). when valve 14 opens , water flows from the water supply 16 through hydrant valve 14 through barrel 12 , out nozzle 26 into the hose and accordingly toward its desired application or destination . however , hydrant 10 may also be the subject of attention from miscreants who have the temerity to attempt to introduce toxins into a public water supply . such concerns have heightened since the date known as โ 9 - 11 โ ( sep . 11 , 2001 ) when terrorists activities became the focus of heightened concern . accordingly , the need for structures according to various embodiments of the present invention became more apparent after that bellweather event , even if the were foreseen by the inventor named in this document beforehand . more particularly , a person with ill design can attempt to introduce toxins into a water supply 16 taking advantage of the fact that the barrel 12 of a hydrant 10 between the nozzle 26 and the hydrant valve 14 can accommodate several gallons of liquid . accordingly , as shown in fig1 - 4 , a malefactor can unscrew cap 28 as shown in fig1 , introduce toxins as shown in fig2 , screw the cap back on as shown in fig3 , and open the hydrant valve 14 as shown in fig4 . when the nozzle 26 or all nozzles 26 are closed off and the valve opened , the liquid in the valve can communicate with liquid in the water supply 16 in order to foul the water supply 16 to the potential detriment of all those whose facilities are in communication with such water supply 16 . various structures according to various embodiments of the present invention prevent or reduce the possibility of such unworthy and direct reprobatory activity . generally , various structures according to various embodiments of the present invention introduce physical structure between nozzle 26 and hydrant valve 14 through which water flows only when a nozzle 26 and hydrant valve 14 are open . alternatively or in combination , such structure may close off portions of the barrel 12 below the nozzle 26 in order to deprive miscreants of a space into which to load toxins before closing the nozzle 26 and opening the valve 14 . according to a first embodiment shown in fig6 - 8 , a second valve 32 according to the present invention operates in logical fashion as an and gate , the logical operands being at least partial openness of both the nozzle 26 and the hydrant valve 14 ( or otherwise when water pressure is applied through the barrel 12 to nozzle 26 thus miscreants or others the opportunity to introduce toxins into the hydrant 10 . in the embodiment shown in fig6 - 8 , second valve 32 includes a seat 34 which is mounted to barrel 12 preferably but not necessarily in a manner which allows valve 32 to be retrofitted to the hydrant 10 . a restriction member 36 cooperates with seat 34 to obstruct barrel 12 in waterproof or substantially waterproof fashion and thereby prevent or substantially prevent flow of water or other liquids upon certain conditions being met . in addition , the seat 34 and valve 32 close off portions of the barrel 12 to preclude or render more difficult introduction of toxins into the closed - off portions of the barrel 12 . in the embodiment shown in fig6 - 8 , the valve 32 also includes an โ o โ ring 38 which helps form a seal between seat 34 and barrel 12 , on the one hand , and seat 35 and restriction member 36 on the other hand . a biasing structure 40 can be disposed to bias the restriction member 36 against โ o - ring โ 38 and / or 40 valve seat 34 . biasing structure 40 may include any of the following , among others : any resilient member such as , for instance , including but not limited to a spring , any form of resilient material shaped or formed as desired , and / or a weight applied to restriction member 36 for biasing via gravity . as discussed below , biasing structure 40 may also include the actuator rod 24 if the restriction member 36 is coupled to the actuator rod 24 to travel in a manner corresponding to travel of rod 24 such as being mounted to rod 24 . restriction member 36 may be disc shaped to correspond generally to the inside surfaces of barrel 12 , and it may include a collar 42 to receive portions of rod 24 in sliding fashion or otherwise being connected to or mounted to rod 24 . when nozzle cap 28 is removed and nozzle 26 is open , the restriction member 36 prevents or substantially prevents toxins or other liquid , solids or materials from being poured into the barrel 12 below the nozzle 26 . a reprobate , miscreant , villain or other unworthy type with ill will cannot push down on or puncture restriction member 36 to open up the barrel 12 according to restriction members 36 formed according to preferred embodiments of the invention which provide suitable resistance to deformation or destruction such as by screwdrivers , crow bars , or other implements employed on occasion by those with ill design or for other purposes . such malefactory activity is prevented because the restriction member 36 closes off second valve 32 in all cases except where wider is flowing outwardly from water supply 16 through nozzle 26 . a logical table for operation of second valve 32 as shown in fig6 - 8 is shown in table 1 may be as follows , where โ o โ means โ open โ and โ c โ means closed : according to a second embodiment , restriction member 36 is mounted to rod 24 in order to move with rod 24 . in this embodiment , the restriction member 36 seats against bottom portions of valve seat 34 or an o - ring 38 interposed below valve seat 34 so that second valve 32 opens when and only when rod 24 moves down , which also means that hydrant valve 14 is opening . in this embodiment , the second valve 32 could , unlike the valve of embodiment one , at least theoretically open to some extent when hydrant valve 14 is open but nozzle 26 is closed . as a practical matter , that makes no difference since cap 28 is on the nozzle 26 preventing introduction of undesired materials into hydrant 10 . a logical diagram for embodiments of this type is shown in table 2 , the operands being at least partial opening of the hydrant valve and the nozzle respectively and again where โ o โ means โ open โ and โ c โ means closed : any desired physical structure may be employed to accomplish the objective of meeting logical tables 1 or 2 in order to produce or preclude introduction of undesired materials into fire hydrants . components of embodiments according to the present invention are preferably durable materials but may be of any desired material . for example , it is conventional for many components of fire hydrants to be bronze , and at least some or all of metallic components of structures according to various embodiments of the present invention may be formed of bronze or other conventional or even unconventional materials . o - rings may be formed of conventional materials used in fire hydrants , or unconventional materials . suitable resilient structures such as springs which may form biasing structures 40 may be formed of any desired material having requisite modulus of elasticity , durability , costs , and other properties . modifications , adaptations , changes , deletions , and additions may be made to various embodiments of the present invention as disclosed in this document without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention . | 8 |
referring now specifically to the figures , in which identical or similar parts are designated by the same reference numerals throughout , and first referring to fig1 a , a television set is generally indicated by the reference numeral 10 . it will be understood that for purposes of the present invention , reference will be made to a television set , although it will become clear that any other electronic or electrical device can be used , such as a vcr , stereo , or the like . mounted on the television set 10 is a remote control holder in accordance with the present invention , designated by the reference numeral 12 . referring to fig2 - 4 , the details of the holder 12 will be described . the holder 12 includes a front wall 12a , rear wall 12b , side walls 12c and 12d , and a bottom wall 12e as shown . at th end of the holder 12 opposite to the bottom wall 12e is an opening 12f . the aforementioned walls 12a - 12e form a receiving means which defines a three dimensional space greater than the three dimensional space occupied by a remote control unit to be housed within the holder . the opening 12f is dimensioned to allow free insertion of the remote control unit into and free removal of the remote control unit from the receiving means or holder 12 . thus , it would be evident that the holder 12 is generally boxed - shaped and has a top opening 12f when mounted on a supporting surface . the walls 12a - 12e define an internal compartment dimensioned to receive at least one remote control unit . in the embodiment 12 shown in fig1 a and 2 - 4 , an internal separating wall or partition 12f is provided for dividing the internal space of the holder 12 into two individual compartments each dimensioned to receive another remote control unit . thus , a first compartment 14 is dimensioned to receive a remote control unit 16 and a second compartment 18 is dimensioned to receive a second remote control unit 20 . as will be described below , the holder can be dimensioned to receive only a single remote control unit . in fig2 - 4 , the internal compartment of the holder 12 is dimensioned to receive two remote control units side by side as shown . any other arrangement , however , of the remote control units is possible , such as by placing the units in front of each other or one in back of the other . in the arrangement shown , the internal separating wall 12g is generally parallel to the side walls 12c and 12d . for the alternate arrangement , wherein units are one behind the other , the internal separating wall or partition 12g would generally be disposed parallel to the front and rear walls 12a and 12b . in accordance with one feature of the present invention , there is advantageously provided elevating means at the end of the holder remote from the opening 12f for selectively elevating and positioning one end of the remote control unit beyond the opening 12f exteriorily of the holder to facilitate gripping of the remote control unit and removal thereof from the holder . the elevating means is preferrably resilient for absorbing mechanical shock of impact when the remote control unit is dropped into the holder . in accordance with one presently preferred embodiment of the elevating means , it consists of a spring , such as a helical compression spring shown in fig2 . where two remote receiving compartments are provided , each compartment 14 , 18 is advantageously provided with separate elevating means having different dimensions to cause each of the two remote control units placed within the compartment to project lesser and greater distances beyond the holder opening 12f to facilitate selective gripping of one or the other of the remote control units . in fig2 the spring 22 is a helical spring having a greater axial length than that of the helical spring 24 , so that the remote control unit 16 projects further above opening 12f than does the remote control unit 20 which rests on the shorter spring 24 . suitable attaching means for attaching the receiving means or holder to a supporting surface may be used to orient the opening generally upwardly to prevent a remote control unit placed into the receiving means from falling out due to the action of gravity . thus , the attaching means may consist of adhesive for attaching the holder to a support surface , as suggested in fig1 b . additionally , there may be provided spacer means for attaching the holder 12 to a support surface in spaced relation thereto . referring to fig3 such spacer means is shown to be in the form of at least one &# 34 ; z &# 34 ; shaped bracket 26 . the bracket 26 is shown connected to the holder 12 at a contact point 28 in any conventional matter , such as by the use of adhesive . adhesive 30 can also be used at the lower portion of the bracket 26 to connect the bracket to a mounting surface 32 , such as the side of a television set enclosure . in fig5 a &# 34 ; s &# 34 ; shaped bracket is shown which may also be used to mount the holder 12 . here , the bracket 34 is shown secured to the holder 12 and to the mounting surface 32 at contact points 36 and 38 . referring to fig5 the details of another method of mounting the holder 12 is shown , wherein a strip of loop tape 40 is adhesively connected at 42 to the holder 12 , the loop tape 40 being provided with loops on the opposing side facing hook tape 44 applied to the bracket 26 . similarly , a hook tape 46 shown on the lower portion of the bracket 26 which is arranged to cooperate with loop tape 48 which is adhesively connected at 50 to a supporting surface 32 . the advantage of using a hook and loop tape is , of course , that the holder 12 as well as the bracket 26 can be selectively removed and repositioned as desired . where the mounting surface is metallic magnets can also be used to attach the holder to the separating surface . in fig7 a modified arrangement is shown of a holder 52 adapted to receive only a single remote control unit . additionally , the elevating means is shown in the form of a foam pad 56 instead of springs . furthermore , &# 34 ; v &# 34 ; shaped brackets are shown for securing the holder 52 to the supporting surface 32 . an integral construction is shown in fig8 wherein the holder 58 is shown integrally formed with the side wall of the enclosure housing of the television set . each of these forms of attachment provides different degrees of advantage . with a holder of the type above described , misplacement of the remote control units is avoided at all times . additionally , and equally importantly , the holder makes it possible to mount or attach remote control units of the type under discussion anywhere where it is convenient to reach and use the remote control units including , but not limited to the surfaces of the units being controlled , furniture , walls , appliances , etc . the convenience substantially facilates the access to and use of the remote control units . by placing the units , for example , at a sufficient height , the holder provides the added advantage that it renders the remote control units inaccessable to young children thereby preventing damage thereto . | 7 |
this patent aims at the application of sericin nanoparticles coated with cationic surfactants in hair care products , promoting an increase in gloss , reduction in volume , in addition to improving sensorial features as smoothness , flexibility , etc . this patent also aims at the application of these particles in hair dyes for maintenance of color in dyed hair . these properties of nanoparticles were proved by instrumental and sensorial tests , in vitro , with hair locks , as described below , the gloss effect in caucasian virgin hair locks , chemically treated by decoloration , was evaluated using glossmeter novo gloss ยฎ equipment . the evaluated products where ( i ) sericin nanoparticles dispersed in water at three different concentrations ( 1 %, 3 %, 5 %) and ( ii ) placebo solubilized in water at the same three concentrations and composed by the same components of the nanoparticles &# 39 ; formula , except for sericin protein . locks treated with water only were used as control . each lock was immersed in the test products , separately , for 2 minutes next these locks were combed , dried with cool air and then ten measures of brightness were made in each lock . the hair gloss effect was analyzed in terms of perceptual increase of gloss , comparing the average values of gloss obtained from control locks to the values obtained from the locks treated with nanoparticles and placebo . the technique for hair gloss measurement is based on the principle of intensity of reflected light . hair is lightened under an oblique incident light ( at an angle of 85 ยฐ), and the reflected light is registered in accordance to the angle of observation . the higher reflection , the higher gloss . reflected light is measured by a detector . the values are expressed in gloss units ( gu - 0 , 1 a 1000 ). the results were evaluated through statistical analysis using the tukey - kramer multiple comparison test , to verify the significance degree of gloss increase . fig1 and 2 present the percentage of gloss increase in virgin and damaged hair obtained by instrumental analysis , resulting from application of sericin nanoparticles and placebo in comparison to the control . fig1 shows that the gloss of virgin hair promoted by the treatment with sericin nanoparticles is superior to gloss promoted by the treatment with placebo , at the three studied concentrations . the statistical analysis shows that the gloss increase promoted by sericin nanoparticles is significant ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ) when compared to the gloss increase promoted by placebos , at the same concentrations . fig1 compares the gloss increase obtained in damaged hair treated with sericin nanoparticles and with placebo , using as reference hair treated with water . behold again in this case that the gloss of the damage hair treated with sericin nanoparticles is superior to gloss promoted by the placebos , at the three studied concentrations . the statistical analysis shows that the gloss increase promoted by sericin nanoparticles is significant ( p & lt ; 0 . 001 ) when compared to the gloss increases promoted by placebos , at the same concentrations . the sensorial effect of sericin nanoparticles in hair locks was evaluated by 10 people , through the answer of a specific questionnaire . caucasian damaged locks were immersed , for 2 minutes , in dispersion of sericin nanoparticles and in water , for comparison . then these locks were vertically suspended in a holder for removal of excessive water . the appraisers analyzed the locks while humid and after drying . the locks were numerated so the examiners couldn &# 39 ; t have knowledge of the analyzed sample ( blind survey ). the questionnaire was answered by attributing grades from 1 to 5 , where 1 means the less satisfactory and 5 , the most satisfactory . the analyzed aspects on the questionnaire were smoothness , ease of combing , perception of appearance improvement and roughness . the results were analyzed in relation to the grades granted by the appraisers . sensorial analyses are presented in fig3 and 4 . the blues lines refer to hair treated with sericin nanoparticles and the pink lines refer to untreated hair . fig3 ( a ) and ( b ) presents the results of smoothness and ease of combing , respectively . behold the remarkable difference between treated and untreated hair , indicating that the sericin nanoparticles grants greater smoothness and facilitates hair combing . fig4 presents the perception of improvement of damaged hair ( a ) and hair roughness ( b ). we can clearly notice the improvement in these two aspects after treatment with sericin nanoparticles . this test &# 39 ; s objective was to evaluate the effect of sericin nanoparticles in reduction of volume of hair locks , comparing to hair treated with placebo and hair treated only with water ( control ). the afro - american hair locks , damaged by decoloration , were immersed in each product for 2 minutes . then the locks were combed and suspended vertically in a holder for removal of excessive water , dried with cold air and photographed . the opening of the locks was measured with the software image tool . the evaluated products were ( i ) sericin nanoparticles dispersed in water at three different concentrations ( 1 %, 3 %, 5 %) and ( ii ) placebo solubilized in water at the same three concentrations and composed by the same components of the nanoparticles &# 39 ; formula , except for sericin protein . locks treated with water only were used as control . the results were analyzed as to volume reduction of hair locks ( in centimeters ), and a statistical analysis was made using the tukey - kramer multiple comparison test to verify the degree of volume reduction in hair locks . fig5 shows that the volume reduction promoted by the control was superior to the volume reduction promoted by the placebos at 3 % and 5 %. comparing the volume reduction effect of the control to the placebo at 1 %, a slight volume reduction is noted , but with low statistical significance . proving , therefore , that the effect of cationic conditioning agents , present in the placebo formula , at the applied concentrations , is the same as water &# 39 ; s . locks treated with sericin nanoparticles , at different concentrations , presented great volume reduction compared to the volume reduction promoted by the placebos and the control , demonstrating the superior effect of the sericin nanoparticles in reduction of hair volume . in this study we evaluated the application of sericin nanoparticles in hair dye formulas , in order to assess their effect in hair color maintenance , comparing the effects on locks treated with a placebo , in other words , dyed with color without the addition of sericin nanoparticles . caucasian virgin hair locks previously bleached with hydrogen peroxide were used . the dye formulas ( color no . 6 . 64 ) containing 3 % of sericin nanoparticles and the placebo formula ( without addition of nanoparticles ) were applied to the hair locks for evaluation of the proposed active agent &# 39 ; s effect in coloring . the studied dyes ( with active ingredients and placebo ) were applied to the previously discolored , washed and dried locks . the dye was previously mixed with a bleaching solution ( hydrogen peroxide ), until formation of a homogenous mixture and then it was applied on the hair , acting for 30 minutes . after this time the locks were rinsed with running water , dried at room temperature for 24 hours and submitted to colorimeter reading in color guide sphere ( bky gardner ). then these locks were washed with aqueous solution of sodium lauryl ether sulfate at 20 %, dried , and submitted again to read the colorimeter . fifteen washes were performed in total and the colorimeter measurements were taken at every 3 washes . the principle of the color analysis technique is based on measuring the intensity of reflected light . hair is illuminated under a light and the reflected light is recorded according to each color . the principle is based on the spectrum of reflected light in the region of visible light . the reading is based on the color system l * a * b ( cielab ). in the system , the color is set on three axes in space : the average percentage of maintenance in these color coordinates is compared between the dyed locks with color containing sericin nanoparticles and locks dyed with color without sericin nanoparticles ( placebo ). analyzing the variation of luminosity ( l ) and chromatic coordinates a * and b * along the washes ( fig7 ), we concluded that there was a greater variation when it comes to the locks dyed with placebo , indicating that the locks treated with color containing sericin nanoparticles were more effective in maintaining the hair color along the washes . the cationic sericin nanoparticles were applied as finalizer to damaged hair locks , which were previously moistened and then dried . the virgin hair locks and chemically damaged hair locks ( after the decolorization process ) were used as control in generation of images . the evaluation of treatment effectiveness also included a comparative analysis of images obtained by scanning electron microscopy , fig6 shows images of hair locks damaged by chemical decolorant treatment ( b an c ) and virgin locks ( a ), both used as controls for evaluation of hair recovery after the application of sericin nanoparticles . fig6 ( d ) shows image of damage hair treated with sericin nanoparticles , where we can clearly observe the recovery of the hair &# 39 ; s healthy appearance when the sericin nanoparticles were applied to its surface . | 0 |
the h 2 s conversion process of the present invention utilizes a catalyst at a temperature above the condensation temperature of sulfur , typically greater than about 180 ยฐ c ., up to a temperature of about 300 ยฐ c . selective oxidation occurs by continuously passing a gas stream comprising hydrogen sulfide and oxygen , normally provided from air , over the catalyst at a space velocity of 1000 to 6000 hr - 1 or more . the feed gas typically contains at least 0 . 1 %, by volume , h 2 s and no more than about 50 %, by volume , h 2 s . the temperature preferably is maintained below about 300 ยฐ c . to ensure that conversion of hydrogen sulfide to sulfur is maximized . an inert gas coolant such as nitrogen can be used . water content has little impact on the level of conversion of hydrogen sulfide . in all instances it has been observed that the level of hydrogen sulfide conversion is in excess of about 95 percent with approximately 92 to 96 percent of the sulfur in h 2 s present in a gas selectively converted to elemental sulfur . substantially any gas containing h 2 s can be treated using this process . for example , a process according to this invention can be applied to direct conversion of hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur , used in the last catalytic stage of a claus unit , or used to process tail gas streams discharged from a claus plant to convert residual hydrogen sulfide in such gas streams , after all of the sulfur has been hydrogenated to hydrogen sulfide , to elemental sulfur . the process can also be used to treat a primary gas from an amine unit . the iron / zinc catalyst used in the present invention can be prepared by many procedures , using different initial compounds , containing iron and zinc . conditions are chosen so that zinc ferrites can be easily achieved by calcination of intermediates during the last stage of catalyst preparation at temperatures from about 600 ยฐ c . to about 1000 ยฐ c . several hours are enough . higher temperatures and very long calcination can result in catalyst sintering . the catalysts of this invention are normally prepared by forming an aqueous solution of soluble salts of the metals to be combined . a base is added to cause precipitation of the salts in the hydroxide form . the precipitate is then partially dried and formed into desirable catalyst shape and converted to the corresponding oxides by calcination . calcination normally occurs with the temperatures from 600 ยฐ c . to 1000 ยฐ c . the formed catalysts have a surface area of about 1 to 5 m 2 / g with at least 90 % of pore diameters being greater than about 500 ยฐ รฅ . pores are attributed to the lattice work of the formed oxides . preferably , deposition onto a carrier is not resorted to so that the entire catalyst is made up of the catalytically active metals . however , a carrier can be used , such as described in ussr inventors certificate 871 , 813 . examples of catalyst preparation used in a selective oxidation process are shown below : a catalyst was prepared from iron and zinc oxides in quantities corresponding to the following atomic ratio : fe 2 o 3 : zno = 1 : 1 was used . the oxides were thoroughly ground to a powder and mixed in a ball mill . water was added with mixing . the prepared paste was deposited on a gypsum board , which was covered by cotton cloth and left on the board for 24 hours at room temperature for dewatering . the paste , with a moisture content of 32 - 33 %, was shaped by a screw - extruder . the resultant extrudates , having a diameter of 4 mm , were cut into parts with a length of 4 - 6 mm , dried at 130 ยฐ- 140 ยฐ c . for 4 - 5 hours , then calcined for 3 . 5 hours at 850 ยฐ c . a catalyst was prepared according to example 1 , but in quantities proportional to the atomic ratio of fe : zn = 3 : 1 . catalysts , prepared as described in examples 1 and 2 were used for h 2 s oxidation . for this purpose , the catalysts were loaded into a once - through reactor with electric furnace heating . a gas mixture , consisting of specified quantities of h 2 s , o 2 and water vapor passed through the reactor . nitrogen was used as a diluent . in order to examine the effect of individual gas mixture components different amounts of h 2 , ch 4 and other saturated hydrocarbons , co 2 and others were added . gas was passed through the reactor at a space velocity of 3000 - 5000 per hr . h 2 s concentration was varied in a range of 1 - 3 %; h 2 o vapor content varied in a range of 3 - 30 % vol . the results of catalyst activity determination are shown in table 1 . tests were carried out at o 2 : h 2 table 1__________________________________________________________________________catalyst process condition totalcomposition space conversion sexamplemol . % temp velocity h . sub . 2 s of h . sub . 2 s , recovery , no . fe . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 zno (ยฐ c .) ( hr . sup .- 1 ) concentration % % __________________________________________________________________________1 50 50 250 3000 2 . 0 96 . 2 93 . 41 50 50 270 3000 2 . 0 97 . 6 93 . 32 60 40 230 3000 2 . 0 97 . 0 93 . 12 60 40 250 5000 2 . 0 96 . 3 93__________________________________________________________________________ the addition of h 2 , saturated hydrocarbons , or co 2 to the reaction mixture had little effect on total conversion or sulfur recovery . although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof , other versions are possible . therefore , the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein . | 1 |
in the vessel 1 shown in fig1 a buoy 2 is received in a submerged receiving space 3 which is a part of a module which is arranged in the lower part of the bow of the vessel . the buoy is of the submerged type and is especially intended for transfer of flowable medium , especially hydrocarbons , to or from tanks on board a tanker . for this purpose the buoy is connected to a flexible transfer line 4 , and further is anchored to the sea bed by means of a number of mooring lines suggested at 5 . the receiving space 3 is connected with the deck 6 of the vessel through an access or service shaft 7 . in the receiving space there is arranged a shutter 8 for shutting off the service shaft 7 and the upper part of the receiving space 3 from the sea when the receiving space is not in use , i . e . when it does not receive a buoy 2 . this gives a possibility for inspection of equipment which will be arranged in the upper part of the receiving space , such as sensors and tv cameras for monitoring and control purposes . the buoy 2 and the lower part of the receiving space 3 have a mating , conical shape , to ensure correct positioning of the buoy in the receiving space when the buoy is hoisted up and introduced in the receiving space . as appears from fig1 in the upper part of the receiving space 3 there is arranged a coupling unit 9 which , in operation , is coupled to the buoy 2 , and which further is connected to a tube system 10 leading to tanks ( not shown ) on board the vessel 1 . the construction of the buoy and said coupling unit will be described briefly with reference to fig2 . for a further description of these elements , reference is made to the simultaneously filed international patent applications nos . pct / n092 / 00054 which corresponds to u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 244 , 348 , filed aug . 8 , 1994 and pct / n092 / 00056 which corresponds to u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 244 , 440 , filed aug . 8 , 1994 . as shown in fig2 the buoy consists of an outer buoyancy member 15 and a central member 18 which is rotatably mounted in the outer member and has a through - going passage 17 for medium to be transported via the buoy . as shown in the figure , the outer buoyancy member 15 comprises an upper and a lower cone member 18 and 19 , respectively , and the upper cone a member comprises a collar 20 having a downwardly facing annular abutment edge 21 for engagement with locking elements forming part of the locking and release mechanism according to the invention . this is arranged in the receiving space 3 and will be described below with reference to fig3 - 6 . the outer buoyancy member 15 is divided into several water - tight buoyancy chambers 22 , and it further comprises a central replaceable bearing support member 23 having a lower radial bearing 24 and an upper axial bearing 25 for the central member 18 . when required , the bearing support member 23 can be lifted up from the outer buoyancy member 15 for inspection and possible replacement of parts . the central member 16 , which here has the form of a hollow shaft , is provided with a lower reinforced portion 26 having a number of outwardly projecting arms 27 for attachment of the mooring lines 5 of the buoy 2 ( not depicted in fig2 ). the coupling unit 9 in the upper part of the receiving space 3 comprises a curved coupling tube 28 which , by means of a hydraulic cylinder 29 , is pivotable between a stowed position and a connecting position ( both positions shown in fig2 ), one end of the tube being provided with a coupling head 30 for connection to the upper end of the central member 16 of the buoy when the buoy is in place in the receiving space . this connection takes place through a swivel means 31 which , in the illustrated embodiment , is coupled to the central member 16 through a flexible joint 32 . also the coupling head 30 comprises a flexible joint 33 . in the illustrated embodiment there is also arranged a third flexible joint 34 which is inserted between the lower end of the central member 16 and the transfer line 4 of the buoy . the flexible joints may , for example , be ball joints . the flexible joints 32 and 33 especially are arranged for accommodating fairly large dimensional tolerances when connecting the buoy to different vessels , whereas the flexible joint 34 provides for moment - free transfer of forces from the transfer line 4 to the buoy , and in addition facilitates the positioning of the buoy relative to the receiving space 3 , so that the buoy slides easily in place therein . the aforementioned closing shutter 8 in the upper part of the receiving space 3 is shown to be operated by a hydraulic cylinder 35 . the locking mechanism for releasable locking of the buoy when it is in place in the receiving space 3 , is schematically shown in fig3 . in the illustrated embodiment the mechanism comprises a pair of locking dogs 40 which are actuated by a hydraulic system and are rotatable about horizontal axes 41 at diametrically opposite sides of the receiving space 3 . when activating the locking dogs 40 , these will pivot in a vertical plane into engagement with the downwards facing abutment edge 21 of the upper cone member . the locking dogs 40 provide for rigid locking of the outer buoyancy member 21 of the buoy to the receiving space 3 , and the vessel 1 then is allowed to turn about the central member 16 which is rotatably mounted in the outer member 15 , the swivel means 31 allowing such turning after the coupling tube 28 having been coupled to the buoy . the locking mechanism of course may comprise more than two locking elements or locking dogs which are arranged around the circumference of the receiving space . the locking dogs suitably may be operated by hydraulic actuators , e . g . hydraulic cylinders , which are connected in parallel to the hydraulic drive system , so that the mechanism is self - compensating and results in a uniform clamping , also in case of an uneven abutment edge for the locking dogs . if desired , a pneumatic drive system may be used instead of a hydraulic one . the locking dogs suitably may be arranged to be driven by actuators arranged outside of the receiving space 3 in an accessible safe area . when the vessel 1 is provided with bow thrusters 11 as shown in fig1 this area for example may be accessible from the thruster space of the vessel . for safety reasons the locking mechanism conveniently may be of the so - called triple redundancy type , which means that , in addition to the main drive system , there are arranged a pair of safety mechanisms in case of failure . such a safety mechanism may consist in that the actuator mechanism is self - locking , for example in that a link arm is moved past a tilting point and thereafter is prevented from further movement . in this manner the locking is made independent of a possible failure of the hydraulic pressure to the actuator . the normal release will take place in that the actuators are activated for release in case this function should fail , however , there may be arranged a backup system in the form of e . g . hydraulic or pneumatic actuators . some examples of safety means for the locking and release mechanism are shown in fig4 - 6 . in the embodiment shown in fig4 a - 4c , a pair of locking elements 50 are arranged on a respective one of a pair of parallel shafts 51 mounted at opposite sides of the receiving space , to be able to lock a buoy 2 as shown in fig4 c . the shafts 51 are driven by a hydraulic cylinder 52 having a piston rod 53 which is connected to the shafts 51 via a self - locking linkage . thus , the end of the piston rod 53 is articulated to a disk 14 which is rotatable about an axis 55 and which , at diametrically opposite points 56 and 57 , is articulated to a pair of link arms 58 , 59 which in turn are articulated to additional arms 60 , 61 in fulcrums 62 and 63 , respectively , as shown in fig4 a . the arms 60 and 61 are rigidly connected to a respective one of the shafts 51 in operation , the cylinder 52 rotates the disk 54 about the axis 55 . the disk transfers the rotation to the link arms 58 and 59 which , by way of the arms 60 and 61 , rotates the shafts 51 . the shafts then rotate synchronously . in the locking position the shafts 51 are mechanically locked in that the articulation points of the link arms 58 , 59 are moved &# 34 ; over centre &# 34 ; in relation to the axis of rotation 55 of the disk . in the embodiment in fig5 a locking dog 60 for locking of a buoy 2 is mounted about an axis 61 and in addition is coupled to a toggle joint consisting of a pair of link arms 62 , 63 which are interconnected in a joint 64 . a hydraulic cylinder 65 is coupled to the joint 64 , so that the locking dog 60 is operated through the toggle joint . the mechanism is locked in that the joint 64 of the link arms is brought over centre in relation to the joints 66 , 67 at the other ends of the link arms . fig6 shows an embodiment wherein a locking dog 70 for the locking of a buoy 2 at its upper end is articulated in a fulcrum 71 to one end of a tilting link 72 which , at its other end , is pivotable about a stationary axis 73 . in the fulcrum 71 , the locking dog 70 and the tilting link 72 are also connected to the end of a piston rod in a rotatably mounted hydraulic cylinder 74 . at its other end the locking dog 70 is provided with a guide pin 75 running in a guide 76 for controlling the movement of the locking dog . instead of the illustrated guide and guide pin , the lower end of the locking dog alternatively may be articulated to a rotatably mounted arm ( not shown ) guiding the lower end portion of the locking dog along a circular path essentially corresponding to the guide 76 . when released from the illustrated locking position , the hydraulic cylinder 74 turns the tilting link 72 ( clockwise ) about the axis 73 , so that the locking dog 70 is tilted out from the locking position . as an additional security there is suggested a means for alternative , mechanical release . this is in the form of an arm 77 which is rotatable against a lug 78 on the locking dog 70 for tripping the locking dog , so that the latter is tilted out from the locking position in a corresponding manner as under the influence of the hydraulic cylinder . | 1 |
referring to fig1 a detailed description of one embodiment of the present invention will now be given . the light source 1 is an incandescent lamp having a linear filament 2 . the length of the filament is in a direction perpendicular to the plane of fig1 . the cone of light 3 that passes through circular aperture 4 impinges on lens 5 . lens 5 is placed at such a distance from filament 2 that it produces an approximate 3 times magnified image of the filament on the viewing screen 6 . screen 6 is made of a diffusing material , such as ground glass , opal glass , or a diffusing mylar sheet . by interposing a transmissive diffraction grating 7 between lens 5 and the viewing screen 6 the white light transmitted by lens 5 is dispersed , via the diffraction process , into its component colors . as a result , rays of different wavelengths are deviated at different angles , the angle of deviation being approximately a linear function of wavelength . the rays of red light at 700 nanometers , the longest wavelength in the visible spectrum , are deviated the most , toward point a . thus at point a , we find that an image of the filament 2 is formed by the lens 5 at a wavelength of 700 nanometers . likewise , a violet ( 400 nanometers ) image of the filament is projected at point b , the violet rays being deviated the least of any rays in the visible spectrum . since the spectral content of the incandescent bulb 1 is continuous , a continuous chain of filament images is produced on the viewing screen 6 , each at a different wavelength . these images fuse into what we recognize as the visible spectrum . light that is not diffracted by diffraction grating 7 impinges upon baffle 8 , which is black in color and absorbs the undiffracted light . baffle 8 prevents this light from reflecting off the walls of the device and scattering unwanted or stray light within the instrument . the sample , if liquid , is placed in a cuvette 9 and intercepts the rays diffracted by grating 7 before they impinge on the viewing screen 6 or photodetector 10 . the thickness of the cuvette 9 does not significantly affect the focus of the spectrum on viewing screen 6 because of the large depth of focus of the optical system . gelatin , glass or plastic slides can also be used as samples and may be put in place of the cuvette . since the sample is inserted in the optical path after the light has been diffracted by grating 7 , it is important for the sample to be of a uniform color . photodetector 10 is a photoconductive semiconductor which changes resistance as it is illuminated with light . it is mounted slightly closer to the lens 5 than viewing screen 6 . the f / number of the optical system is high enough so that the spectrum is in focus both on the photodetector 10 and the viewing screen 6 . photodetector 10 is mounted on a rack and pinion assembly in order that it can be moved continuously between points a and b . any other mechanical assembly that achieves this same motion is also acceptable . motion of the detector is achieved by rotating knob 11 . to better understand the positioning of the photodetector 10 reference is made to fig2 . the image of linear filament 2 is high enough to illuminate the portion of viewing screen 6 not obscured by opaque mask 12 , as well as photodetector 10 . thus , photodetector 10 measures the intensity of the light in the lower portion of the spectrum display , which portion is not seen , since it is obscured by opaque mask 12 . the spectral bandwidth of the measurement is determined primarily by the size of the photodetector and is approximately 20 nanometers . the preferred means of translating photodetector 10 back and forth across the spectrum is rack 13 and pinion 14 shown . the wavelength at which photodetector 10 is centered is indicated on viewing screen 6 by the shadow of pointer 15 , which is attached to the photodetector . in the preferred embodiment , this pointer is one of the two wire leads connected to the photodetector 10 . the outer side of the opaque mask 12 is marked with a scale of wavelength ranging from 400 to 700 nanometers . referring back to fig1 it will be seen that a measurement of sample transmittance is made in three steps . first , with no sample present , knob 11 is adjusted so that pointer 15 indicates , by means of the wavelength scale on opaque mask 12 , the wavelength at which the measurement is to be made . second , knob 16 is used to adjust potentiometer 17 , which results in adjustment of the reading on ammeter 18 . the ammeter scale is labeled in terms of percent transmittance , from 0 % to 100 %. the adjustment is made so that the meter 18 indicates a reading of 100 %. third , the sample is inserted and the transmittance is directly indicated on ammeter 18 . referring now to the schematic diagram , fig3 transformer 19 converts the 120 volt a . c . line voltage to a lower voltage , on the order of 6 volts . this voltage is used to energize lamp 1 . series diode 21 and parallel capacitor 20 serve to rectify and smooth the current , providing d . c . voltage for the measuring circuitry , which consists of photodetector 10 , potentiometer 17 and ammeter 18 . when no sample is present , the resistance of potentiometer 17 , which is connected in parallel with ammeter 18 , is varied by the user so that the current measured by ammeter 18 results in a reading of 100 %. when the sample is inserted into the optical path , the resistance of photodetector 10 increases , thereby decreasing the current through ammeter 18 . since the resistance of photodetector 10 does not necessarily vary linearly with incident light intensity , and because the meter adds a fixed resistance to the circuit , the current measured by ammeter 18 is not linearly proportional to sample transmittance . this non - linear response is compensated for by providing a non - linear transmittance scale in ammeter 18 . the invention disclosed and claimed herein is not limited to the specific mechanism and techniques herein shown and described since modification will undoubtedly occur to those skilled in the art . hence , departures may be made from the form of the instant invention without department from the principles thereof . | 6 |
reference is made first to fig1 - 6 primarily and to other figs . as indicated . a first - end platform 1 has a support surface 2 on a top portion and a first - end slideway 3 vertically below the support surface 2 . in this embodiment , the first - end slideway 3 has two sections , one of which houses a slide member which is a rectangular slide rod 4 proximate one side and a separate rectangular slide rod 4 proximate an opposite side of the first - end platform 1 . similarly at an opposite end , a second - end platform 5 also has a support surface 2 on a top portion , a second - end slideway 6 vertically below its support surface 2 and a rectangular slide rod 4 in each of two opposite - side sections of the second - end slideway 6 . a central platform 7 with a support surface 2 has a first end 8 and a second end 9 . the central platform 7 is convertible to a seat in a seat mode 10 depicted in fig1 - 5 , 7 and 10 . optionally as desired for various use conditions , the central platform 7 is convertible to a central portion of a creeper in a creeper mode 11 depicted in fig2 - 3 , 6 , 8 - 9 and 11 - 12 . interchangeability between a seat mode 10 and a creeper mode 11 of the creeper seat is accomplished with a working relationship of hinged seat - support members and slide members . a variety of slide members , slideways , seat - support members and related components in lieu of those preferred and illustrated can be employed . at least one first seat - support member 12 and at least one second seat - support member 13 both have a seat end 14 of seat - support members and a creeper end 15 of seat - support members . the seat end 14 of the first seat - support member 12 is hinged to the first end 8 of the central platform 7 and the seat end 14 of the second seat - support member 13 is hinged to the second end 9 of the central platform 7 . the creeper end 15 of the first seat - support member 12 is hinged to an outside end 16 of the first - end platform 1 and the creeper end 15 of the second seat - support member 13 is hinged to an outside end 17 of the second - end platform 5 . as depicted by end - views in fig4 and 10 , the first seat - support member 12 can be a pair of separate legs that are joined by a leg brace 18 . the leg brace 18 also provides hinge - attachment surface for preferably a side - to - side full - length seat hinge that is represented by a seat - hinge bolt head 19 for whatever type of seat hinge is employed . likewise , second seat - support member 13 can be a pair of separate legs that are joined by a leg brace 18 that provides the same functions . optionally , the first seat - support member 12 and the second seat - support member 13 can be separate pairs of separate legs that are not joined by leg braces 18 . for either option , there are a total of four legs at creeper ends 15 of seat - support members 12 and 13 . the at - least - one slide member , represented by the rectangular slide rods 4 in fig1 - 4 and 6 , is sized and shaped to slide with design snugness in the at - least - one first - end slideway 3 and the at - least - one second - end slideway 6 shown in the same fig1 - 4 and 6 . for a creeper mode 11 depicted in fig2 - 3 , 6 , 8 - 9 and 11 - 12 , the rectangular slide reds 4 , or other at - least - one slide member , have a length to accommodate a distance of sliding separation of the first - end platform 1 and the second - end platform 5 for positioning the central platform 7 designedly between the first - end platform 1 and the second - end platform 5 horizontally with the first - end platform 1 , the central platform 7 and the second - end platform 5 juxtaposed edge - to - edge as a body - support platform for a creeper . for a seat mode 10 depicted in fig1 , 7 and 10 , the at - least - one first seat - support member 12 and the at - least - one second seat - support member 13 have design lengths to support the central platform 7 as a seat in a horizontal attitude vertically above the first - end platform 1 and the second - end platform 5 with the first - end platform 1 and the second - end platform 5 juxtaposed edge - to - edge as a shelf platform vertically below the central platform 7 as a work seat . a seat - mode latch 20 maintains the first - end platform 1 and the second - end platform 5 juxtaposed detachably in an edge - to - edge relationship of an inside end 21 of the first - end platform 1 and an inside end 22 of the second - end platform 5 for the seat mode 10 . a variety of fasteners can be employed . preferably , the seat - mode latch 20 has a grasping latch member 23 that latches onto a rigid latch member 24 . the seat - mode latch 20 is shown in a closed mode in seat - mode fig1 , 7 and 10 . an open mode of the seat - mode latch 20 is depicted in creeper - mode fig2 , 9 and 11 . in the seat mode 10 , the first - end platform 1 and the second - end platform 5 provide a shelf platform on which to place tools and items being worked with in a sitting mode near low work areas . also , the seat mode 10 comprised of two platforms 1 and 5 for a shelf platform and one platform 7 for a seat , has a relatively wide base for stability . both modes are convenient , easy to use and advantageous for a wide variety of both commercial and residential applications . support means on bottoms of at least the outside end 16 of the first - end platform 1 and the outside end 17 of the second - end platform 5 can be provided for wheeled and / or placeable mobility , the latter particularly desirable if one wants to use the invention like a stool by standing on the support surface 2 . the support means are preferably casters 25 of a desired type as shown in all of fig1 - 12 . legs 26 that are optionally fixed , pivotal or detachable also can be employed separately or in design combination with the easters 25 in a support relationship shown in fig1 . a headrest 27 can be positioned on the outside end 16 of the first - end platform 1 to comprise a head end of the creeper mode 10 . the headrest 27 can be attached directly to the outside end 16 of the first - end platform 1 or positioned on a headrest extension 28 that slides in a headrest slideway 29 as a selectively variable - length extension of the end platform on which the headrest slideway 29 is positioned . variable - length extension of an end platform is a particularly effective variable - length extension of the creeper mode 11 because it is relatively narrow to provide greater access to and vision of items in a vicinity of a worker &# 39 ; s head . the headrest extension 28 can be attached to a headrest base 30 that is pivotal arcuately for height - positioning of the headrest 27 with the headrest extension 28 in an extended mode . a variety of pivotal means with a variety of position - support means are foreseeable . a preferred position - support means is a slideway ratchet 31 with ratchet slots attached to the outside end 16 of the first - end platform 1 as illustrated in fig1 . a ratchet tongue member 32 that is movably attached to the headrest extension 28 can be engaged selectively with the ratchet slots . foreseeable also as shown in fig1 is a threaded - axle knob 33 that locks the headrest base 30 into a select angular relationship to a headrest slideway 29 that is slotted or channeled horizontally . also optional can be a headrest leg 34 , as shown in fig1 , that can be pivoted to a desired perpendicularity for height selection of the headrest 27 and maintained there with a variety of convenient pivot - control means . in a creeper mode 11 , the central platform 7 rests on slide members such as rectangular slide rods 4 shown in fig1 - 3 , on a rectangular plate 35 as shown in fig7 - 10 , or on cylindrical slide rods 36 as shown in fig1 - 12 . first - end slideways 3 and second - end slideways 6 are sized and shaped to receive whatever size and shape of slide member is employed . bottoms of the central platform 7 are provided with slide channels 37 that are sized and shaped to receive respective slide members as shown in the fig6 bottom view for rectangular slide rods 4 and in fig9 bottom view for the rectangular plate 35 . slide channels 37 for receiving cylindrical slide rods 36 are not shown separately because they could be similar to those used for the rectangular slide rods 4 . in fig3 rectangular slide rods 4 are shown in a cutaway below the support surface 2 of the central platform 7 and in fig8 the rectangular plate 35 is shown in a cutaway below the support surface 2 of the central platform 7 . a problem with the rectangular plate 35 as a slide member is that it occupies space that can be used for a headrest extension 28 . either or both the rectangular plate 35 and the headrest extension 28 must be modified or their positioning modified . otherwise , the rectangular plate 35 is a viable option for an embodiment of this invention . means for hinged or pivotal attachment of creeper ends 15 of the seat - support members 12 and 13 to the outside ends 16 and 17 of the first - end platform 1 and the second - end platform 5 is represented by a bottom hinge - bolt head 38 . it is representative of a variety of hinge or axle means that can be used . in some structures of the seat - support members 12 and 13 where they are hinged to the central platform 7 , there is an opening in the creeper mode 11 that closes in the seat mode 10 with a nutcracker effect that could cause injury or hurt to a user &# 39 ; s finger or other body part when changing from creeper to seat modes . to avoid this for such constructions , a flexible pinch guard 39 can be positioned on bottom edges of the central platform 7 and on bottom edges of the seat - support members 12 and 13 where they join as illustrated in fig1 . a new and useful convertible work creeper , seat and platform having been described , all such modifications , adaptations , substitutions of equivalents , combinations of parts , pluralities of parts , applications and forms thereof as described by the following claims are included in this invention . | 1 |
referring now to fig1 , a conventional ion radiation therapy system 10 employing the sobp approach described above provides an ion source 12 producing a pencil beam 14 of ions traveling along an axis 20 . the pencil beam 14 may be received by a foil 17 scattering the pencil beam into a cone beam 18 having a circular cross - section 21 . the energy of the ions in the cone beam 18 is then received by a rotating wedge propeller placing a material of varying thickness in the cone beam 18 and acting as a range shifter 16 continuously changing the energy and thus range of penetration of the ions into tissue . the cone beam 18 then passes through a collimator 24 approximating the outline of the tumor and a compensator 22 tailor - made for the particular tumor being treated after which the cone beam 18 is received by the patient 26 to produce a treatment pattern 28 . as noted , this treatment approach simultaneously treats the entire volume of the tumor and is therefore relatively quick , but requires custom built collimators 24 and compensators 22 and also produces a treatment pattern 28 with imperfect conformance to an arbitrary tumor volume . referring to fig2 , a radiation therapy system 10 โฒ for implementing the mss approach , described above , receives a pencil beam 14 from an ion source 12 and passes it through a range shifter 16 , for example , a set of movable plastic blocks of different thicknesses . the range shifted pencil beam 14 passes next to a magnetic steering yoke 19 which steers the pencil beam 14 to different spots 30 within the patient 26 . multiple spots 30 together create the treatment pattern 28 . this system produces good conformance of the treatment pattern 28 to an arbitrary tumor , but the sequential process is slow . referring now to fig3 , the radiation therapy system 10 โณ of the present invention employs an ion source 12 producing a pencil beam 14 . in a preferred embodiment , the pencil beam 14 is received by a magnetic beam former 32 converting the pencil beam 14 into a fan beam 34 by magnetic deflection rather than scattering and thus minimizing the generation of neutrons . the fan beam 34 is next received by a binary shutter system 36 which individually modulates the range and the intensity of the individual beamlets 38 of the fan beam 34 , the beamlets 38 being adjacent sectors of that fan beam 34 . the modulated fan beam 34 may be moved in a partial arc 40 with respect to the patient 26 to provide for complex treatment patterns 28 taking advantage both of multiple angles of treatment and the ability to individually control the intensity and range of the beamlets 38 . referring now to fig4 , the structure of the radiation therapy system 10 โณ may provide , for example , an axial proton beam conduit 42 receiving the pencil beam 14 of protons , for example , from a remote cyclotron or synchrotron ( not shown ). beam steering magnets of a type well known in the art ( not shown ) may bend to the pencil beam 14 to follow a โ crank arm โ path of a gantry 44 having a radially extending segment 47 passing on a line of radius from an axis 46 of the entering pencil beam 14 and an axial segment 48 parallel to the axis 46 but spaced from the axis 46 as attached to the end of the radially extending segment 47 . the distal end of the axial segment 48 holds a gantry head 50 ( whose elements are shown generally in fig3 ) and which directs a fan beam 34 toward a patient support 52 , the latter generally aligned with the axis 46 . the fan beam 34 lies generally within a plane of rotation 54 of the gantry head 50 as the gantry head 50 moves about the patient support 52 . by aligning the axis of rotation of the gantry head 50 with the axis 46 of the entering pencil beam 14 , constant field bending magnets within the gantry 44 may channel the pencil beam 14 to the gantry head 50 at any of its angular positions . referring momentarily to fig5 , the gantry head 50 may rotate in an arc 56 about the axis 46 by an amount substantially less than 180 ยฐ and in the preferred embodiment approximately 150 ยฐ. as will be described further below , the present inventors have determined that this limited rotation , un - intuitively , can provide a superior dose pattern 28 when compared to a more complete 360 ยฐ rotational of the gantry head 50 , such as would be preferred for intensity modulated radiation therapy using photons . the limited range of arc 56 allows a massive stationary neutron stop 58 to be placed under the patient support 52 to receive neutrons generated by interaction of the ions with the patient 26 over the full range of arc 56 . the ability to use a stationary neutron stop 58 , allows the neutron stop 58 to be larger and closer to the patient 26 , allowing , for example , a form in - place concrete neutron shield . referring now to fig4 and 6 , an x - ray tomography ring 60 may be placed adjacent to the neutron stop 58 along the axis 46 so as to provide for planning tomographic images of the patient 26 contemporaneous with the radiation treatment . the displacement of the x - ray tomography ring 60 from the plane of rotation 54 allows a full 360 ยฐ of access to the patient ( generally required of an x - ray tomography machine ) for supporting both the detector and opposed x - ray source on opposite sides of the patient . referring now to fig7 a and 7 b , a simplified treatment plan may be developed to treat a tumor 62 in the patient 26 having circular cross - section . such a plan implemented with ion beam exposure over 360 ยฐ provides a central region 64 of a dose pattern 28 having a high dose value resulting from aligned bragg peaks 67 of ion beams entering the patient 26 over a range of angles of 360 ยฐ about the patient . this central region 64 is surrounded by a fringe 68 resulting from a reduced but measurable entrance dose of these proton beams . this fringe 68 can be problematic if there is radiation sensitive tissue 70 , as is often the case , directly adjacent to the tumor 62 . as shown in fig7 b , a constrained rotation of the gantry head 50 and hence the fan beam 34 can substantially limit the fringe 68 while preserving good conformity between the central region 64 and the tumor 62 . the ability to stop the ions within the tissue at the bragg peak 67 can wholly spare the radiation sensitive tissue 70 . the present inventors have determined that the limitation of the arc 56 to as little as 150 ยฐ still provides close conformance of the shape of central region 64 to the tumor 62 and minimization of hot / cold spots . referring now to fig8 , the limited width of the fan beam along axes 46 makes it desirable to translate the patient support 52 along axes 46 with respect to the gantry head 50 in order to obtain treatment volumes matching the longitudinal extent of the tumor while still preserving good spatial resolution determined by the thickness of the fan beam . the table may be translated by a table translation mechanism 61 such as a motorized carriage moving the patient support 52 or the gantry head 50 or both . in one embodiment of the present invention , the translation of the patient support 52 may be continuous as the gantry head 50 rocks back and forth over the treatment arc 56 in a so - called โ semi - helical โ scan pattern such as traces a sawtooth raster 66 along axes 46 on an imaginary cylinder 69 surrounding the axis 46 . referring now to fig9 , a sweeping of the cross - sectional area 71 of the fan beam 34 in this semi - helical scan pattern may be given a โ pitch โ by changing the relative speed of movement of the patient support 52 with respect to the speed of movement of the gantry head 50 in each cycle of reciprocation . the pitch determines the degree of overlap between successive sweep paths 72 of the sawtooth raster 66 moving cross - sectional area 71 , such overlap serving to reduce hotspots . the pitch shown here is greatly exaggerated and , in practice , would be reduced to a fraction of the width of the cross - sectional area 71 along axes 46 . the scanning of the cross - sectional area 71 serves also to eliminate inhomogeneities in the treatment caused by gaps between shutters used to modulate the beamlets 38 as will be described below . referring now to fig1 , alternatively a rectilinear raster 66 โฒ may be adopted where the gantry head 50 is allowed to complete one half of a cycle of its reciprocation about axis 46 and then is stopped at the limits of the arc 56 to allow translation of the patient 26 along axes 46 . when movement of the patient 26 is complete the next cycle of reciprocation along arc 56 is performed . referring now to fig1 and fig5 , motion gating may be incorporated into the radiation therapy system 10 โณ of the present invention in which a sensor system 73 senses movement of the patient 26 or internal organs of the patient 26 ( for example , using ecg or respiration signals ) to turn the fan beam 34 from the gantry head 50 on and off to treat the patient 26 at a constant phase of periodic motion . this gating process may be improved with a rectilinear raster 66 โณ shown in fig1 , essentially rotating the rectilinear scanning pattern of fig1 so that a full range of translation of the patient support 52 is completed before moving the gantry head 50 incrementally along arc 56 . referring now to fig1 , the magnetic beam former 32 ( shown in fig1 ) in a preferred embodiment may comprise two quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 receiving the pencil beam 14 ( as delivered to the gantry head 50 along gantry 44 ). the pencil beam 14 is first received by a first quadrupole magnet assembly 74 and then received by the second quadrupole magnet assembly 76 downstream from the first quadrupole magnet assembly 74 . both quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 include apertures 78 coaxially aligned along a center axis 20 of the pencil beam 14 and the fan beam 34 . referring momentarily to fig1 and 14 , quadrupole magnets of the type used in quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 are well known in the fields of high - energy accelerator physics and electron microscopy where quadrupole magnets with relative rotations of 90 ยฐ about the axis of the beam are used to help refocus a pencil beam 14 to maintain its narrow cross - section . each quadrupole magnet assembly 74 and 76 comprises two pairs of magnets : a first pair 82 a and 82 b opposed across the aperture 78 along axes 79 with facing north poles , and a second pair 84 a and 84 b opposed across the aperture 78 along axes 79 โฒ perpendicular to axes 79 . the magnets may be permanent magnets or preferably electromagnets so that the field strengths may be varied to allow the width and intensity profiles of the resultant fan beam 34 to be varied in both the convergent and divergent planes . referring again to fig1 , two quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 are aligned with respect to each other so that axes 79 โฒ of quadrupole magnet assembly 74 lies in the same plane as axes 79 โฒ of quadrupole magnet assembly 76 ( this plane also including axis 46 ) and so that axes 79 of quadrupole magnet assembly 74 lies in the same plane as axes 79 of quadrupole magnet assembly 76 . referring to fig6 , 14 and 15 , the quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 produce a magnetic field 86 that tends to widen a cross - section 35 of the fan beam 34 along the plane of rotation 54 and compress it in a z - direction normal to the plane of rotation 54 . as shown in fig1 , quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 act like diverging lenses when viewed in the plane of rotation 54 and converging lenses when viewed across the plane of rotation 54 . because the forming of the pencil beam 14 into a fan beam 34 is done without scattering in a solid material , the production of neutrons is largely eliminated . note the quadrupole system will work for heavy ions of either polarity with a simple reversal of dimensions . referring again to fig1 , the quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 may be connected by controllable actuator mechanism 88 ( such as a motor and rack and pinion mechanism ) that may separate each of the quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 along the axis 20 according to an electrical signal and / or by mechanical adjustment . this controllable separation allows adjustment of the cross - sectional dimensions of the fan beam 34 to reduce collimation that also produces neutrons . the ability to change the cross - sectional dimensions of the fan beam 34 without collimation further allows for better utilization of the fan beam energy . the adjustment of the fan beam size may also be used for dynamic change of the beamlets 38 during treatment . referring now to fig1 , the pencil beam 14 , ultimately received by the magnetic beam former 32 ( composed of quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 ) may first pass through an emergency beam stop 80 and an entrance dose monitor 81 of conventional design , the latter measuring the energy of the beam 14 . a pencil beam aperture collimator 83 may then shape the pencil beam 14 into a predictable cross - section for receipt by quadrupole magnet assembly 74 . after exiting from quadrupole magnet assembly 76 the fan beam 34 may pass through a segmented monitor measuring an energy or intensity profile of the beam 34 that may be used to further correct the energy profile of the fan beam 34 ( by compensation using the binary shutter system 36 as will be described ) or to correct a cross - section of the fan beam 34 , for example by controlling the field strengths of electromagnets of the quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 . the fan beam 34 is then received by a set of collimator blocks 87 sharpening the edges of the fan beam to conform with a binary shutter system 36 as will be described below . simulations have been performed modeling a 235 mev proton beam traversing two quadrupole magnet assemblies 74 and 76 having effective lengths of 20 cm and 40 cm with transverse gradients of 22 t / m and 44 t / m respectively and a center - to - center quadrupole separation of 50 cm . the results of these simulations indicate that a proton fan beam of suitable cross - section ( 40 ร 2 cm 2 ) can be generated from an entrant gaussian beam of protons ( 1 . 5 cm fwhm ) over a distance of 1 . 5 m . referring now to fig1 and 17 , the binary shutter system 36 may provide a set of attenuating arrays 90 each aligned with a separate beamlet 38 of the fan beam 34 . each attenuating array 90 may be composed of a set of attenuating elements 92 ( blade ) each attenuating element 92 of a single array 90 being aligned with a particular beamlet 38 . multiple arrays 90 are placed side by side to span the width of the fan beam 34 so that each beamlet 38 may be controlled independently by a different array 90 . referring now to fig1 , each attenuating element 92 comprises blade 94 of an energy absorbing material having a width 93 approximating the angular width of a beamlet within the plane of rotation 54 and a variable effective thickness 95 that will differ for different blades 94 as will be described . the term โ effective thickness โ is intended to include blades of different materials and different thickness that nevertheless operate as if they were of equal thicknesses of a single material . the blade 94 is attached to an actuator 96 that may move the blade 94 up and down along the y - axis generally perpendicular to the central axis 20 of the fan beam 34 . in a preferred embodiment , the blade 94 may be moved between two positions , one within the path of the fan beam 34 and the other completely removed from the path of the fan beam 34 . with this โ binary โ motion the actuator 96 may be extremely simple , for example , a pneumatic piston and cylinder ( controlled by fluid pressure controlled in turn by a valve mechanism not shown ) or electrical solenoid directly controlled by an electrical circuit . referring now to fig1 , a single array 90 may , for example , contain eight attenuating elements 92 having blades 94 a - 94 h . in a first embodiment , the effective thickness 95 of each blade 94 a - 94 h along axis 20 may be according to a binary power series so , for example , blade 94 a through 94 h will have relative effective thicknesses 95 corresponding to successive terms in a binary power sequence ( e . g . : 1 , 2 , 4 , 8 , 16 etc .). thus , for example , blade 94 d may be eight times as thick as the thinnest blade 94 a . in this way , as shown in fig2 , any one of 256 equal increments of attenuation may be obtained by drawing some of the blades 94 out of the beam 34 and placing some of the blades 94 into the beam . in the example of fig2 , a relative attenuation of 43 may be obtained consisting of the combined blades 94 d , 94 a , 94 b , and 94 f ( having attenuation &# 39 ; s 8 , 1 , 2 , and 32 respectively where 1 is the attenuation provided by the thinnest blade 94 a ). this โ binary โ sequence must be distinguished from the โ binary โ action of the shutters and a binary sequence need not be used for the binary shutter system 36 as will be described below . this binary power series provides the simplest blade structure and actuation mechanisms but it will be understood that other power series can also be used and in fact the variations in attenuations among blades 94 need not conform to a power series but , for example , may conform to other series and may include duplicate blades 94 of a single attenuation , for example to operate at higher speed or distribute wear . for example , the blades 94 may have the relative effective thicknesses 95 of 1 , 1 , 3 , 6 , 9 , 18 , etc . alternatively blades 94 positionable in any of three ( or more ) positions with respect to the fan beam 34 ( and hence capable of providing three effective attenuation levels per attenuating element 92 ) could be used providing attenuations in the series ( 0 , 1 , 2 ), ( 0 , 3 , 9 ), ( 0 , 9 , 18 ), ( 0 , 27 , 54 ) . . . . it will be further understood that attenuating elements 92 need not be constructed of a uniform material in which their effective thicknesses 95 corresponds to attenuation , but may be constructed of different materials having different densities to minimize their differences in effective thickness 95 for mechanical or structural reasons . the order of the blades 94 in the fan beam 34 need not conform to their relative ranking in attenuation , and in fact in the preferred embodiment this order is buried so as to provide for suitable clearance for the attached actuators 96 . in a preferred embodiment the combination of all attenuating elements 92 completely stops the fan beam 34 , and thus a proper selection of different attenuating elements 92 ( short of blocking the fan beam 34 ) may be used to control range shifting of ions of the fan beam 34 , while a selection of all attenuating elements 92 ( fully blocking the fan beam 34 ) may be used to control the intensity of the beam through duty - cycle modulation so that both range and intensity may be controlled with the modulator 36 . alternatively a separate blocking element ( not shown ) for each beamlet 38 may be used to provide this intensity modulation . the intensity modulation or range shifting effected by the binary shutter system 36 may be augmented by other mechanisms applied to some or all of the beamlets 38 , for example those correcting the profile of the fan beam 34 or serving to offset the range shifting of all the beamlets 38 based on patient size . the control of the individual blades 94 may be performed , for example , so that all of the attenuating blades 94 do not move simultaneously but are rather staggered to ensure the minimum deviation in range shifting during the transition of the blades 94 . thus , for example , the movement of blades 94 providing greater attenuation may be alternated with movement of blades 94 providing less attenuation to reduce variations in range shifting . referring now to fig2 , two binary shutter systems 36 and 36 โฒ may be opposed about the fan beam 34 effectively dividing the fan beam 34 along an x - y plane ( parallel to the plane of rotation 54 ) into two separately modulated fan beams 34 and 34 โฒ effectively allowing multi - slice treatment of the patient improving the speed / resolution trade - off of the treatment system . in this case the geometry of the actuators 96 and blades 94 allows all of the actuators 96 to be fully displaced out of the area of the beam 34 . the binary shutter system 36 may also be used for photon modulation ; the term โ radiation โ as used herein will include generally both photons and particles serving for treatment of tissue . referring again to fig4 , an electronic computer 100 executing a stored program may be associated with the radiation therapy system 10 โณ executing a radiation treatment plan that coordinates and controls all of the electrically controllable elements described above including but not limited to the binary shutter system 36 , the magnetic beam former 32 ( including magnetic field strength of the magnets and their separation ) and the movement of the gantry 44 and patient support 52 as well as receipt and control of the x - ray tomography ring 60 . this control may be done according to a stored radiation treatment plan , and in light of signals obtained from monitors 81 and 85 . data collected by the computer 100 then provide images for the assessment of the treatment plan , as well as inputs to feedback loops confirming the proper operation of the system according to techniques known in the art of intensity modulated radiation therapy . during the movement of the gantry head 50 with respect to the patient support 52 , the range and intensity of individual beamlets 38 will be modulated according to a treatment plan stored in the computer 100 and typically determined by a health care professional using an image of the tumor using the tomography ring 60 . determination of the proper modulation of the beamlets 38 may be done by techniques analogous to those used with prior art intensity modulated radiation therapy adapted to the unique properties of ion beams . these techniques include for example simulated annealing and gradient based optimization techniques . the present invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiment , and it is recognized that equivalents , alternatives , and modifications , aside from those expressly stated , are possible and within the scope of the appending claims . | 0 |
before describing the features of the present invention , it is appropriate to briefly describe the construction of one type of known prosthetic hearing implant system with reference to fig1 . known prosthetic hearing implants typically consist of two main components , an external component including a speech processor 29 , and an internal component including an implanted receiver and stimulator package 22 . the external component includes a microphone 27 . the speech processor 29 is , in this illustration , constructed and arranged so that it can fit behind the outer ear 11 and is held in place behind the outer ear 11 via an ear - hook arrangement ( not shown ). alternative versions may be worn on the body . attached to the speech processor 29 via a cable 13 is a transmitter antenna coil 24 that transmits electrical signals to the implanted package 22 via a radio frequency ( rf ) link . the implanted component includes a receiver antenna coil 23 for receiving power and data from the transmitter coil 24 . a cable 21 extends from the implanted receiver and stimulator package 22 to the cochlea 12 and terminates in an electrode array 20 . the signals thus received are applied by the array 20 to the basilar membrane 8 and the nerve cells within the cochlea 12 thereby stimulating the auditory nerve 9 . the operation of such a device is described , for example , in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 532 , 930 , the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference . fig2 shows in more detail the surgical placement of the implanted receiver and stimulator package 22 of fig1 , according to conventional practices . the package 22 is in the form of a capsule , for example a titanium capsule , which houses the necessary circuitry required for the implant to operate as desired . the receiver coil 23 is shown encapsulated in a material , such as silicone rubber , to provide a protective body and ensure fatigue resilience . a magnet 30 is shown positioned within the coil to assist in the alignment of the transmitter antenna coil 24 with the receiver antenna coil 23 as discussed previously . as is shown , a bed is drilled into the bone 31 to maintain the package 22 in position . this bed is typically round or ovoid to match the shape of the package . the bed is typically made in the mastoid bone and mastoid angle of the parietal bone in the region of the asterion . typically , the bed is fashioned initially with a cutting burr , and then completed with a diamond paste burr and a template is typically used to ensure that the bed is fashioned to the correct size . as is shown , the bed may be drilled down to the lining of the brain , or dura mater 32 , particularly for young children with thin skulls . it is for this reason that a diamond paste burr may be used when approaching the dura and when the dura is exposed , to minimise the risk of tearing of the dura 32 . as can be seen from fig2 , once the receiver and stimulator package 22 is secured in place in the mastoid bone , it remains rather unprotected , with only a layer of skin ( not depicted ) covering the skull protecting the package from any direct impact . further to this , it can be appreciated that any impact in the direction shown by the arrow a of fig2 , has the potential for the package to tear the dura 32 and enter the cranial cavity , potentially causing damage to the sensitive structures of the brain . as can also be appreciated from fig2 , an impact to the head region of the recipient , particularly in the direction shown by arrow b , has the potential to dislodge the implant from its bed within the skull bone . such dislodgement can cause damage to the area of the head adjacent the device as well as discomfort to the recipient . any dislodgment of the device also has the potential to require further surgical procedures to relocate the device in the desired position within the head of the recipient . the present invention aims to address the above potential problems by positioning the receiver / stimulator package in the head in a manner whereby the package preferably has a low profile and its contents are afforded some protection from impact and from being subsequently damaged and / or dislodged . during a typical surgical procedure for implanting a conventional cochlear prosthetic hearing device , such as this shown in fig1 and 2 , a mastoidectomy and posterior tympanotomy are typically employed to obtain access to the middle ear . the mastoidectomy procedure typically requires removal of material from the mastoid bone behind the ear of the patient via a cutting burr or drill . typically , the cortex of the mastoid superior and posterior to the external meatus is removed and the excavation is deepened and air cells are removed superior and posterior to the meatus , exposing the mastoid antrum and the middle ear via the tympanotomy . following the tympanotomy , the round window should be accessible , thereby allowing a cochleostomy to be performed and the electrode array inserted . it can be understood that by performing a mastoidectomy , a cavity is created which could thereby house the receiver / stimulator package at a location remote from the exterior wall of the skull . it is considered that by allowing the mastoid cavity to house the implant package , considerable advantages can be obtained in relation to the protection and safety of positioning the implant package and the other advantages as discussed previously . as discussed previously and disclosed in international pct patent application pct / au00 / 00936 , anatomical dissections have shown that there exists a โ gutter โ lying between the sigmoid sinus , posterior osseous ear canal , the mastoid tip and the floor of the middle fossa . this gutter can also form an ideal location to place the implantable receiver / stimulator package , in a position not exposed above the surface of the bone and protected by the pinna . fig3 is a view of one preferred embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the mastoid cavity is shown by the fine dotted line 35 , which is shown as being located behind the pinna 11 . an upper surface in the form of a top faceplate 37 of the implanted receiver / stimulator unit 38 ( heavy dotted line ) is shown positioned above and over the mastoid cavity 35 . as is evident in fig3 , the receiver / stimulator unit 38 has a lower surface that is shaped to be sunk into the mastoid cavity . the depicted faceplate 37 has flanges 39 which extend outside the perimeter of the implanted receiver / stimulator unit 38 to enable securing of the unit to the skull via surgical screws 36 . a receiver antenna coil 40 is shown external of the unit 38 and faceplate 37 , in much the same manner as a conventional design as discussed previously . fig4 a and 4 b show end and side views of the embodiment depicted in fig3 and where appropriate , the same reference numerals are used . as can be clearly seen in these figures , the receiver / stimulator unit 38 extends into the mastoid cavity 35 and is protected by the faceplate 37 which acts as a protecting shield for the unit 38 as well as a stabiliser and means for securing the unit 38 in place . a lead 41 connects the receiver / stimulator unit 38 to the intracochlear electrodes ( not shown ) which deliver the electrical stimulation to the nerves within the cochlea . the flanges of the faceplate 37 can be a simple extension of the upper surface of the receiver / stimulator unit and made from the same material as the rest of the receiver / stimulator unit . this material can , for example , be titanium , preferably a malleable titanium . alternatively , a titanium flange may be attached to the titanium case of the receiver / stimulator unit 38 by an appropriate welding or other method . the flanges 39 are formed so as to be relatively robust whilst also sufficiently malleable so that the entire faceplate 37 can be formed to the shape of the skull surrounding the mastoid cavity by the surgeon using finger pressure only . as the anatomy of this region of the head varies somewhat from individual to individual , it is desirable to form the flanges 39 so that they adopt a flush fit in abutment against the skull . as the faceplate 37 provides protection for the receiver / stimulator unit 38 , it is advantageous to form the faceplate from one of a number of different thicknesses of titanium sheet . in order to withstand impacts of considerable force it is desirable to form the faceplate 37 out of a suitable material such as titanium having a thickness of between 0 . 3 to 1 mm . as the flanges 39 must be malleable to enable a surgeon to alter their shape with a minimum of force , the flanges 39 are , in the depicted embodiment , made from a thinner material than that of the faceplate 37 . alternatively , the desired conformability of the flanges 39 could be achieved by altering their geometry rather than their thickness . in this regard , the flanges 39 could be of the same thickness as the faceplate 37 , provided that the flanges are in a narrower strip form rather than a wide flange form . however , in a preferred embodiment , the flanges 39 may be formed from a material , such as titanium , having a thickness of , for example , 0 . 1 to 0 . 2 mm . the lead 41 is preferably pre - coiled so that it can settle into the mastoid cavity 35 , below the receiver / stimulator unit 38 . as is shown in fig4 a and 4 b , the lead 41 exits the receiver / stimulator unit 38 from a bottom surface thereof . this facilitates routing of the lead to the cochlea via the posterior tympanotomy , which is at the bottom of the mastoid cavity . however , it is envisaged that the lead exit point and the form can have many other geometries and still remain within the spirit of the invention . for example , the lead 41 may exit from the side of the receiver / stimulator unit and may be straight . in order to prevent tissue erosion , the faceplate 37 , flanges 39 and screws 36 are preferably coated in a silicone rubber or other elastomeric material . in such a case , the screws 36 would be accessed by means of a slit or hole in the silicone above the screw 36 . it should be appreciated that the screws 36 used in the present invention may have a number of design variations to satisfy the design requirements of the present application . for example , the screws 36 may be countersunk for low profile , may have a round head , and may even be resorbable screws . resorbable screws would assist in holding the implant in place for a short period until the fibrous tissue surrounds and secures the device in place . fig5 depicts an alternative embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the faceplate has relatively narrow flanges 39 that are adapted to assist in enabling the faceplate 37 to conform to the contours of the skull . further to this , extra screw holes are provided to allow some redundancy in the variations in patient anatomy and the mastoidectomy performed . also , if there is a problem with securing the device at one screw site , such as a cavity from a past surgery or a skull growth line , then that screw may be omitted and an alternative screw site used . it should be stressed that this aspect of the present invention is important particularly as it is recommended against fixing the device with screws on both sides of the natural growth lines of the skull . in this embodiment , the basic size of the faceplate 37 is designed to be just larger than the size of the mastoid cavity 35 , allowing the faceplate 37 to be stabilised on the rim of the mastoidectomy . to assist in this stabilisation , the rim of the mastoid cavity may be easily flattened by the surgeon , for example by drilling , to create a stable seat for the faceplate 37 . fig6 depicts yet another embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the faceplate and flanges are not fixedly attached to the receiver / stimulator unit 38 . the primary difference between this embodiment and that described in fig4 a and 4 b is that the faceplate 37 is provided with mechanical catches or clips 45 to hold and maintain the receiver / stimulator unit 38 in place . in this manner , the receiver / stimulator unit is โ snap - fit โ into the faceplate 37 for securing in place . the benefit of this embodiment is that the use of the faceplate and flanges to secure the implant in place is optional and can be decided upon at the time of surgery . further , the securing mechanism can be used with non - metallic receiver / stimulator units as there is no need for the faceplate and flanges to be welded onto the unit casing . this enables the present device and method to be employed with ceramic cased implants . it is also envisaged that with a detachable system as shown in fig6 , the faceplate / flange combination could be made from a non - metallic material such as a biocompatible plastic , as welding to the implant case would not be required . such a feature would avoid the need to coat the surface of the faceplate and flanges with a coating of silicone rubber and the like to prevent tissue erosion . for example , the plate could be made of polypropylene or polytetrafluoroethylene ( ptfe ) which have the properties suitable for such an application . in each of the above - described embodiments of the present invention , the receiver / stimulator unit 38 is shown as an arbitrarily shaped unit capable of fitting within the bone cavity . it is considered that the receiver / stimulator unit 38 could also be conformable such that the shape of the unit 38 may be altered during the procedure to conform to the specific shape of the bone cavity . in this regard , the unit 38 can be made of a conformable material that allows the shape and form of the unit to be changed without effecting the hermiticity of the unit 38 . in each of the above - described embodiments , the procedure associated with implanting a device according to the present invention could generally be as follows : 1 . a mastoidectomy would be performed in the same manner as a conventional procedure ; 2 . device placement would be determined using a template shaped like the actual implant device ; 3 . drill holes would be marked for securing the device in place following the insertion of the electrode array ; 4 . a posterior tympanotomy and cochleostomy would be performed in the same manner as a conventional procedure ; 5 . the electrode array would be inserted into the cochlea ; 6 . the implant package would be placed in position . in this step , the coil connecting the package to the electrode array inserted into the cochlea would preferably coil itself up into the mastoid cavity due to the preformed coil in the lead ; and 7 . the implant package would be secured in place via screws or the like . in this manner , the process for implanting a device of the present invention would in no way complicate a conventional procedure and would eliminate the need to drill an additional bed in the mastoid bone for receiving the implant . while various embodiments of the present invention have been described above , it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only , and not limitation . it will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention . thus , the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents . | 0 |
the present invention , including the preferred embodiments , may be seen in fig1 - 12 , which show a re - attachable breakaway safety connector specifically designed for attachment to a boundary marker or rope closure . the re - attachable breakaway safety connector in one embodiment is generally comprised of two components . each component has an attachment end for attachment to a boundary marker such as a rope , cable , chain or webbing or any other type of material known in the art which may be used as a boundary material or closure . the two connectors are also capable of being releasably interconnected to one another and , if separated , selectively reconnected . with reference to fig1 a female component of the present invention is shown . the female component 10 is comprised of a female component body 12 with an attachment end 14 and a female connector end 16 . the attachment end 14 is designed to be connected to a rope or other boundary marker . thus , the attachment end 14 includes an attachment aperture 18 . a rope may be tied or looped to the attachment end 14 of the female component 12 by inserting an end of the rope through the attachment aperture 18 and knotting or looping the rope about the attachment end 14 or the rope itself . as shown in fig1 the attachment end 14 may also include a passage 20 for receiving the rope , clip or other attachment mechanism . with this feature , a looped end of rope may be attached to the attachment end 14 by sliding the looped end of rope through the passage 20 into the attachment aperture 18 . the passage 20 also may accommodate attachment to a chain or other object that cannot be tied to the attachment end 14 . the female connector end 16 of the female body 12 is designed to be connected to the male component , as described below . the female connector end 16 includes a connector socket 22 . a connector slot 24 may additionally be provided between an external surface of the female connector end 14 and the connector socket 22 . the female component body 12 may also include a reinforcing ridge 26 along at least a portion of the female component body 12 . the reinforcing ridge 26 is a raised portion of the female component body 12 used to provide increased structural integrity to the female component body 12 . as shown in fig1 the reinforcing ridge may also extend around at least a portion of the attachment aperture 18 to provide enhanced structural integrity and also to increase the bearing surface of the attachment aperture 18 . referring now to fig2 the female component 10 of fig1 is shown in a top plan view . in this embodiment , the female connector end 16 is formed by a first connector arm 28 and a second connector arm 30 . the first and second connector arms 28 and 30 define a channel 32 in the female connector end 16 . the channel 32 is designed to receive the body of the male component as described below . fig3 shows a right end elevation view of the female component 10 as seen from the female connector end 16 . fig4 depicts the female component 10 in an upper perspective view , and which again identifies the first connector arm 28 , second connector arm 30 and other components . referring now to fig5 one embodiment of a male component of the present invention is shown . the male component 34 is generally comprised of a male component body 36 having a attachment end 14 and a male connector end 38 . the attachment end 14 of the male component 34 of this embodiment is generally identical to the attachment end 14 of the female component 10 as described above , and is thus adapted to receive a rope or other type of barrier device . the male connector end 38 of the male component 34 includes a connector post 40 . the connector post 40 is sized to be received into the connector socket 22 of the female component 10 . the connector post 40 is a projected area at the male connector end 38 of the male component 34 . as shown in fig5 the connector post 40 may be a cylindrical wall with a hollow center . it is understood , however , that a connector post 40 may be comprised of a solid cylinder or other solid or walled geometries . it should also be understood that the connector socket 22 of the female component 10 should have a substantially corresponding and mating geometry , and the two are designed to be engaged with such a high degree of tolerance that it takes a predetermined force to disengage the two components . thus , high wind , drifting snow and other similar events will not prematurely disengage the connector . as in the female component 10 above , the male component body 36 may include a reinforcing ridge 26 along at least a portion of the male component body 36 . additionally , the reinforcing ridge may also be formed adjacent to the attachment aperture 18 for providing structural rigidity as well as increased bearing surface of the attachment aperture 18 . as further appreciated by one skilled in the art , the geometry of the male and female connectors are not critical as long as the two components matingly engage and can be selectively disconnected . thus these components may be round , oval , peg - shaped , triangular semispherical or any other shape which conceivably can be fit together with male and female components . referring now to fig6 the male component 34 of fig5 is shown in a top plan view . in this embodiment , the connector post 40 is shown extending outwardly from both sides of the male component body 36 . it should be understood , however , that other embodiments of the connector post 40 are possible . for example , the connector post may extend from only one side of the male connector body 36 , as opposed to both sides . preferably the connector posts 40 are comprised of a plastic , wood , rubber or other material which can be selectively reduced in size with an abrasive material such as sandpaper or rasping tools to effectively reduce the diameter and selectively reduce the amount of force required to detach the male component 40 from the female connector slot 24 . with reference to fig7 a , the male component 34 is shown in a right end elevation view as viewed from the male connector end 38 . similarly , fig7 b shows a cross section of the male component 34 as seen from cross section a โ a as indicated in fig5 . with reference to fig8 the male component 34 is shown in a front perspective view . referring now to fig9 one embodiment of the breakaway connector 42 of the present invention is shown with the corresponding male and female connections releasably interconnected . the breakaway connector 42 is the combination of a female component 10 and a male component 34 of the present invention as described above . the portion of the male component body 36 adjacent to the connecting post 40 is inserted into the connector slot 24 of the female component 10 such that the connecting post 40 is seated within the attachment aperture 18 . once property inserted , the connection of the female component 10 and the male component 34 require a predetermined tension level to be separated again . as shown in fig9 the reinforcing ridge 26 of the male component 34 may be abbreviated such that the male connector end 38 may be rotated within the female connector end 16 such that the reinforcing ridge 26 does not interfere with the female connector end 16 . the breakaway connector 42 , and all components and pieces thereof , may be formed of substantially any material . it is desirable , however , that the material used for the connector 42 have some resilience and elasticity such that when the necessary tensile force is applied , the first and second connector arms 28 and 30 expand to allow disconnection with the connector post 40 without structural damage . some such materials may include , but are not limited to rubber , nylon , polyvinyl chloride , polypropylene , polypropylene , polyethylene , or other plastics known in the art . alternatively , certain metallic materials such as stainless steel may be suitable for this purpose . additionally , the size and shape of the breakaway connector 42 may vary . thus it is possible to design a breakaway connector 42 with virtually any required tensile strength for failure . however , it is anticipated that the breakaway connector 42 and its component parts should be designed to require a tensile strength of between about 30 and about 50 pounds ( lbs ), and more preferably about 40 lbs , prior to disengaging the male component 34 from the female component 10 . referring now to fig1 , a preferred embodiment of the female connector end 16 is shown . in this embodiment marks 44 are provided on the female connector end 16 to indicate the tension strength of the connection between the female component 10 and the male component 34 if the connector slot is extended to corresponding marks 44 . a user may trim the female connector end 16 by removing that portion of the female connector end up to and including the mark 44 . in this way , the user may select the proper tension level for a given application . alternatively , the male connecting posts 40 may be selectively reduced in diameter to reduce the force required to separate the male and female components of the breakaway connector 42 . as shown in fig1 , the marks may have corresponding grooves 46 such that the user may properly locate a cutting utensil along the mark 44 . the grooves 46 simplify the trimming process . referring now to fig1 , a depiction of the present breakaway connector 42 in use is provided herein . as shown , the breakaway connector 42 is typically interconnected to a rope 48 or other barrier device , which is in turn positioned between two substantially non - movable objects such as trees , rock outcroppings , stanchions 50 , or other similar devices or objects . while various embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail , it is apparent that modifications and adaptations of those embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art . however , it is to be expressly understood that such modifications and adaptations are within the scope and spirit of the present invention , as set forth in the following claims . | 5 |
the present invention relates generally to high - speed printing systems and more particularly to a system and method for controlling distortion in a high - speed printing system . the following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements . various modifications to the preferred embodiment and the generic principles and features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art . thus , the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiment shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein . fig1 illustrates a block diagram of a printing environment in which certain described aspects of the invention are implemented . a printer 100 includes one or more printing stations 102 . the printing stations 102 may include a cyan printing station 102 a , a magenta printing station 102 b , a yellow printing station 102 c , and a black printing station 102 d , capable of printing with cyan , magenta , yellow , and black inks or toners respectively . the printer 100 may be any multi - component printer known in the art including an electrostatic printer , an inkjet printer , a laser printer , a plotter , a network printer , a stand - alone printer etc . alternative implements may use other devices that function in a manner analogous to printers such as digital duplicating machines , photocopiers , fax machines etc . while the current implementation describes a four - component printer , in alternative implementations printer 100 could be a two - or three - component printer . printer 100 could also be a single component printer , if each of at least two single component printers prints one color component . also , printer 100 could be a single component printer where the reticle - based method is used for ink jet alignment within the print head . while fig1 shows four printing stations 102 a , 102 b , 102 c , and 102 d , there may be fewer or more printing stations in alternative implementations . in some implementations , the black printing station 102 d may be omitted . the printing stations 102 a , 102 b , 102 c , 102 d may also print with inks or toners different from cyan , magenta , yellow and black . while the printing stations 102 a , 102 b , 102 c , 102 d are indicated within separate blocks in fig1 the printing stations 102 a , 102 b , 102 c , 102 d may be constructed as a single hardware unit or as multiple hardware units . if the printing stations are constructed as a single hardware unit , the single hardware unit may at different times print with a different colored ink or toner . printer 100 may also include a controller 104 coupled to a computational unit 106 . the computational unit 106 may be any computational unit known in the art , including a processor 106 a and memory 106 b . the computational unit 106 may be inside or outside the printer 100 . the memory 106 b may include volatile memory 107 a such as ram or non - volatile memory 107 b such as disk storage . the controller 104 may be implemented in several ways including software , hardware or a combination of software and hardware . the controller 104 may lie within or outside the computational unit 106 . in one implementation the controller 104 works cooperatively with the computational unit 106 . in some implementations , software or hardware present with or within the printer 100 may absorb the functions of the controller 104 . the controller 104 may be able to calibrate the printing stations 102 , a print media supply 108 and a print media cutter 110 , and other components of the printer 100 not shown in fig1 . the controller 104 may adjust the timing of the firing of the printing stations 102 , to compensate for distortion in a printed color plane . the controller 104 may also perform pixel shifts as part of rasterization , i . e . the controller 104 may shift a color plane an integral and / or fractional number of pixels in memory before printing the color plane . the print media supply 108 may include a collection of any type of print medium 108 a known in the art on which the printer 100 is capable of printing , including paper , transparencies , fabric , glass , plastic , labels , metal , cardboard , etc . the print medium 108 a may also be a container made up of a variety of material , including plastic , cardboard , metal etc . in one implementation the print medium 108 a is a roll of paper . the print medium 108 a passes through the cyan , magenta , yellow , and black printing stations 102 a , 102 b , 102 c , 102 d . subsequently , the print media cutter 110 may crop parts of the print medium 108 a . a scanning device 112 is coupled to the printing stations 102 and the computational unit 106 . the scanning device 112 may include any scanning device known in the art , including a charge coupled device ( ccd ) camera , a scanner , or any other imaging device capable of digitizing images printed on the print medium 108 a . the scanning device 112 can image the print medium 108 a as the print medium 108 a moves through the printing stations 102 . while fig1 shows only one scanning device , in alternative implementations multiple scanning devices may be positioned to scan the outputs of the cyan , magenta , yellow , and black printing stations 102 a , 102 b , 102 c , 102 d . in the current implementation , the scanning device 112 scans the print medium 108 a after the four printing stations 102 a , 102 b , 102 c , 102 d have printed on the print medium , i . e . a page is scanned after the printer 100 has overlaid all color planes on the page . an application 114 coupled to the printer 100 may implement aspects of the invention . while the application 114 has been shown in a separate block outside the printer 100 , part or all of the functions of the application 114 may be integrated into the computational unit 106 , into the controller 104 or into any other unit not illustrated in fig1 such as a printer driver resident on a computational device outside the printer 100 . fig2 illustrates a block diagram of software elements , hardware elements , and data structures in which certain described aspects of the invention are implemented . referring to fig1 and 2 together , a reticle pattern 200 is a predetermined marking pattern that is capable of being printed at an appropriate location on the print medium 108 a by the printing stations 102 . further details of reticle patterns are described in the publication โ reticles in electro - optical devices โ ( copyright 1966 by lucien m . biberman ), which publication is herein incorporated by reference . the scanning device 112 is capable of digitizing the reticle pattern 200 printed on the print medium 108 a and can produce a digital image of the reticle pattern 202 . when the printer 100 prints the reticle pattern 200 onto the print medium 108 a , if there is color image distortion or reticle image distortion on the printer 100 , the printed reticle pattern 200 may have interference patterns , such as moirรฉ patterns . the test patterns are patterns of light and dark lines , and the interference patterns appear when two repetitive patterns of lines , circles , or arrays of dots overlap with imperfect alignment . interference patterns magnify differences between two repetitive patterns . if two patterns are exactly lined up , then no interference pattern appears . the misalignment of two patterns will create an easily visible interference pattern . as the misalignment increases , the lines of the interference pattern appear thinner and closer together . interference patterns are well known in the art and some applications of interference patterns in imaging are described in the doctoral dissertation โ analysis and reduction of moirรฉ patterns in scanned halftone pictures โ ( may 1996 , virginia polytechnic institute and state university ). in the implementation , interference patterns may arise because the printer 100 prints the same reticle pattern 200 by overlaying ink or toner from at least two of the cyan , magenta , yellow , and black printing stations 102 a , 102 b , 102 c , and 102 d respectively . interference patterns may appear prominently when reticle patterns have comparable intensity values in the different color planes . fig2 also illustrates a digital image analyzer unit 204 , where the digital image analyzer unit 204 is capable of processing the digital image of the reticle pattern 202 and extracting a digital image of interference pattern 206 corresponding to the digital image of the reticle pattern 202 . the digital image analyzer unit 204 may include an edge detector 204 a that determines edges by applying prior art edge detectors such as the sobel operator , canney edge operator or other image gradient - based operators to the digital image of the reticle pattern 202 . the digital image analyzer unit 204 and the edge detector 204 a may be implemented in hardware or software , or via a combination of hardware and software . a distortion error analyzer 208 is capable of processing the digital image of interference pattern 206 and producing distortion adjustment control instructions 210 . analysis of patterns obtained from reticle patterns is well known in the art and described in the publication โ reticles in electro - optical devices โ ( copyright 1966 by lucien m . biberman ). the distortion adjustment control instructions 210 are instructions for adjusting the components of the printer 100 , such as the printing stations 102 and the print media supply 108 , that reduces the distortion . the controller 104 may be capable of processing the distortion adjustment control instruction 210 , and may produce printing station adjustment instructions 214 to adjust the printing stations 102 . the newly adjusted printing stations 102 may print the reticle pattern 200 on the print medium 108 a . fig3 illustrates logic , implemented in an application 114 of fig1 , coupled to the printer 100 to configure the printer 100 in accordance with an implementation of the invention . as stated earlier , the application 114 may reside within the printer 100 or may reside in an external computational device outside of the printer 100 and from the external computational device control the printer 100 . referring to fig1 , and 3 together , at block 302 , the application 114 enables an entity ( such as an operator , a programmer , a computer program , a predetermined data file etc .) to enter predetermined reticle patterns 200 , where each of the reticle patterns 200 may optionally be associated with one or more printing stations 102 . the application 114 stores ( at block 304 ) the reticle patterns 200 in the non - volatile memory 107 b . the application 114 may then enable the entity to enter ( at block 306 ) a predetermined periodicity of printing of each reticle pattern 200 . the periodicity of printing of each reticle pattern 200 may depend on how frequently printer 100 has to adjust for distortion . at block 308 , the application 114 stores the periodicity of printing of the reticle patterns 200 in the non - volatile memory 107 b . the application 114 may then enable the entity to enter ( at block 310 ) the predetermined positions on print medium 108 a for printing each reticle pattern 200 . control proceeds to block 312 , where the printer 100 stores the positions in non - volatile memory 107 b . control proceeds to block 314 where the print system configuration ends . in alternative implementations , the entire logic of fig3 may be preprogrammed such that no entity has to provide any input or predetermine any values . the entire system may come pre - programmed with default reticle patterns , values for periodicity of printing , and positions on print medium for printing each reticle pattern . fig4 illustrates logic implemented in the application 114 of fig1 for minimizing image distortion from the printer 100 in accordance with implementations of the invention , referring to fig1 - 4 together . the application 114 starts at block 400 , and the application 114 prints ( at block 402 ) a reticle pattern 200 on one part of the print medium 108 a via the printing stations 102 . the application 114 may print user requested data on the other parts of the print medium 108 a . the scanning device 112 scans the digital image and generates ( at block 404 ) a digital image of the reticle pattern 202 . at the conclusion of block 404 , control passes in parallel to blocks 408 and 406 . at block 408 , the printer 100 ejects the page . the reticle pattern may be removed by post - processing equipment such as the print media cutter 110 . the post processing equipment may process a job much later than the original printing . for example , the printed medium may be re - rolled after printing , stored somewhere , and postprocessed later . in alternate implementations , the reticle pattern may also be removed from the print medium 108 a without using the print media cutter 110 , such as for example by overprinting the reticle pattern with the same color on the print medium , or in any other manner known in the art . parallel to the execution of block 408 , control proceeds to block 406 from block 404 . at block 406 , the digital image analyzer unit 204 processes the digital image of the reticle pattern 202 and isolates a digital image of an interference pattern 206 . control proceeds to block 410 , where the distortion error analyzer 208 compares the digital image of the interference pattern 206 with the reticle pattern 200 . the distortion error analyzer 208 determines ( at block 412 ) if the printer 100 needs to make adjustments to minimize distortion . if no distortion adjustments are needed , control proceeds to block 414 and the process comes to a stop . if at block 412 , the distortion error analyzer 208 determines that distortion adjustments are needed , control proceeds to block 416 where the distortion error analyzer 208 generates distortion adjustment control instructions 210 . control proceeds to block 418 , where the application 114 adjusts the printing stations 102 . while the printing stations 102 may be adjusted in several ways , in one implementation the distortion error analyzer 208 sends the distortion adjustment control instructions to the controller 104 and the controller 104 adjusts the printing stations 102 by generating printing station adjustment instructions 214 . control proceeds to block 402 , and a control loop formed by blocks 404 , 406 b , 410 , 412 , 416 , 418 may be repeated . within the control loop the application 114 repeatedly adjusts the printer 100 until no further distortion adjustments are needed . the application 114 may periodically execute the logic of fig4 depending on how often distortion adjustment is required for the printer 100 . the printer does not have to stop printing during distortion adjustments . for example , with reference to fig4 , while the printing station 102 is being adjusted at block 418 , the reticle patterns 200 may be ejected ( at block 408 ) from the printer 100 . alternatively , the reticle patterns 200 may be printed in area of the media that may not be visible , may be cropped later or may be part of the desired print area . additionally , printed media may be rejected until distortion is minimized . fig5 illustrates logic implemented in an application to indicate how distortion adjustment of a printer is performed while printing a print job in accordance with certain implementations of the invention , referring to fig1 and 5 together . at block 500 , the application 114 starts processing a print job . after the application 114 processes ( at block 502 ) part of the print job , the application 114 performs ( at block 504 a ) distortion adjustment of the printer and optionally concurrently processes ( at block 504 b ) part of the print job . control proceeds to block 506 , at the conclusion of either of blocks 504 a or 504 b , where the application 114 determines if the print job is complete . if so , the application 114 stops ( at block 508 ) the processing of the print job . if at block 506 , the application 114 determines that the print job is incomplete , control passes to block 502 , and the logic of blocks 502 , 504 a , 504 b , and 506 are repeated . the method , system , and article of manufacture can perform distortion adjustment on a printer on - the - fly . in this way , the printer is adjusted while printing the print job , such that the distortion measured on a printed page is used to adjust the printer when printing subsequent pages of the print job . additionally , the periodicity of printing of reticle patterns may be adjusted depending on how frequently printing stations need to be adjusted for distortion . by performing periodic adjustments of the printing station while printing , a printer may print very long print jobs continuously without the intervention of a human operator . the interference patterns provide enough details to adjust the printer to minimize distortion . the described techniques for distortion adjustment may be implemented as a method , apparatus or article of manufacture using standard programming and / or engineering techniques to produce software , firmware , hardware , or any combination thereof . the term โ article of manufacture โ as used herein refers to code or logic implemented in hardware logic ( e . g ., an integrated circuit chip , programmable gate array ( pga ), application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), etc .) or a computer readable medium ( e . g ., magnetic storage medium , such as hard disk drives , floppy disks , tape ), optical storage ( e . g ., cd - roms , optical disks , etc . ), volatile and non - volatile memory devices ( e . g ., eeproms , roms , proms , rams , drams , srams , firmware , programmable logic , etc .). code in the computer readable medium is accessed and executed by a processor . the code in which implementations are made may further be accessible through a transmission media or from a file server over a network . in such cases , the article of manufacture in which the code is implemented may comprise a transmission media , such as a network transmission line , wireless transmission media , signals propagating through space , radio waves , infrared signals , etc . of course , those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope of the implementations , and that the article of manufacture may comprise any information bearing medium known in the art . while the implementations have been described with respect to analysis of interference patterns , such as moirรฉ patterns , analysis of other patterns similar to interference patterns , or patterns caused via phenomenon or principles similar to interference may also be used . furthermore , the implementations analyze the interference patterns after all the printing stations have laid down the color planes . in alternative implementations , the scanning device may scan the printed reticle patterns in between printing stations , and secure additional clues for minimizing distortion of the printer . the reticle pattern may also be printed on media to be used for distortion adjustment at a later time and even at a different location . the implementations of fig3 and 4 describe specific operations occurring in a particular order . further , the steps may be performed in parallel as well as sequentially . in alternative embodiments , certain of the logic operations may be performed in a different order , modified or removed and still implement preferred embodiments of the present invention . morever , steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the preferred embodiments . variations of the implementations may be constructed for various types of printing devices . for example , in an ink - jet printer the implementation may include reticle patterns that generate interference patterns only if the ink spots printed by an ink - jet printer are small enough not to bleed into each other . in such a case the implementation would attempt to secure interference patterns rather than eliminate interference patterns in the digital image of the reticle pattern . manual or automatic adjustments may be made to the ink - jet printer , if the spots are judged to be bleeding too much . alternatively , the presence of the interference patterns may be used as a security feature on printed materials such as legal documents or currency , where the presence of a correct interference pattern is used to validate the legitimacy of the printed matter . because only the superimposed reticles , with resulting interference pattern , will be present on the final printed matter , additional security is maintained , since counterfeiters will not have easy access to the original reticle patterns used to create the interference patterns . in variations of the implementation the calibration may be performed at a later time or at a location different from the printing device . in some printers , a color head on a printing station may comprise of a multiple head array , where each head of the multiple head array may have alignment errors . in one implementation , reticle patterns that cover most of a page may be used to provide diagnostics on each head of the multiple head array . the scanning device may be movable such that the scanning device can be moved over the reticle patterns to return diagnostics as to which heads in the multiple head array are providing the distortion , and to suggest a direction for correction . the implementation can have a test pattern of interference patterns that cover most of the page to give diagnostics on each of the head arrays . the implementation can have the ccd or scanner that reads the interference patterns be moveable . the implementation could also include a test pattern of interference patterns , either whole page or across the scan width , so that scan direction distortion of the paper can be measured and adjusted for on a component - by - component basis . the whole pages are used for calibration , where the single - line or - column interference patterns are used for on - the - fly adjustment . furthermore , rather than a whole โ scan line โ of interference patterns , one interference pattern can be used at each side ( and potentially between pages for n - up configurations ) to do coarse measurement of the scan direction distortion , based on the assumption that the distortion is uniform . since scan direction distortion is going to be less than process direction distortion ( because the web is under higher tension in the process direction ), the assumption of uniformity is probably sufficient for measurement of scan direction . a whole scan line of interference patterns can be used to measure and compensate for local changes in distortion ; i . e ., where distortion is not uniform across the entire scan width , but varies within a print job . the implementation could allow ink jet printers to have an interference pattern for the test pattern that can indicate if a single jet is out . interference patterns can be printed in areas where they do not need to be removed , e . g ., where they will be hidden by binding or other processing . in another embodiment , the interference patterns could be used to build a model to assist with on - the - fly or prerip adjustment . measured information could be used to develop a model for a closed - loop feedback system for predicting the stretch for this particular paper based on the component coverage ( e . g ., by pel counting ). this can be used to reduce the amount of on - the - fly calculation required . this model can also be used in prerip if the paper is known to be the same as the paper used in the model - building run , and if the job coverage / content is known to be comparable to that of the model - building run . this is particularly useful where a job does not need careful image distortion compensation , and where the run performance of the printer is more critical . if content / coverage / paper / environment may have changed โ somewhat โ from the measurement run , this information in prerip can be used to bring the print โ closer to feedback loop lock โ for the on - the - fly adjustment . model information can be part of the forms definition , for example . interference patterns can be used in calibration pages to precalibrate for the paper . then one may use the prebuilt model to prerip the data . these interference patterns can be laid out or chosen in such a way to emulate the range of coverage of jobs ; e . g ., light - to - heavy coverage . they can also be chosen and placed to emulate the actual layout of the non - variable parts of the actual job . a checksums on overlay projects could be stored , tied to distortion models and form definitions . when the checksum recurs , the distortion model can be pulled up . these stored checksums can be expired out of the database over time if not referenced again , or not stored at all unless the overlay occurs some threshold number of times . for paper with preprinted marks or pinholes , the measured information can be combined with this information to produce a more accurate model . this is also applicable to other printing technology that has not dealt with distortion of the paper , e . g ., due to fusing of wet papers on ep technologies . the present invention could be utilized for applications such as statements , books , or digital newspaper where the image must be registered , but the image distortion of the ( usually single - component ) text is not important . thus , only the image is adjusted on - the - fly or pre - adjusted in prerip , based on the measured or model information . although the present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiments shown , one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variations to the embodiments and those variations would be within the spirit and scope of the present invention . accordingly , many modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims . | 1 |
while this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms , there is shown in the drawings , and will herein be described in detail , one specific embodiment of the invention . it should be understood , however , that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment illustrated . in this sense it should be understood that the term &# 34 ; vertical well &# 34 ; is not limited to wells drilled exactly at ninety degrees to the earth &# 39 ; s surface . slant wells , directionally drilled wells and laterally drilled wells that deviate within thirty to sixty degrees of true vertical are to be included . this invention is , for the most part , a follow - up process to cyclic steam stimulation ( css ). however , the process of the invention could be applied to reservoirs previously produced by cold primary production methods . voidage created by prior production is beneficial as it results in enhanced steam injectivity . the process could also be applied to a virgin reservoir . for example , where vertical exploration and delineation wells have been drilled to locate and evaluate the extent of a reservoir , the process could be applied to take advantage of the existence of such wells . also as a further example , the process could be applied in situations where primary or cold production has been attempted using substantially vertical wells , but has failed due to water coming into the vertical wells from an acquifer underlying the reservoir . however in most situations , in the case of a virgin reservoir , this process would not be as economical or efficient as a combined drive - drainage ( cdd ) process ( see u . s . pat . no . 5 , 273 , 111 assigned to amoco corporation ) or a steam assisted gravity drainage ( sagd ) process . in this sense , it is not necessary to create voidage in the reservoir by having it &# 34 ; pumped - off .&# 34 ; prior processes that improved the permeability or reservoir communication and the mobility of the oil are highly desirable ; heating the oil and fracturing the reservoir are desirable examples . fracturing is useful in certain situations , but it is not always necessary . increased mobility is always desirable . the creation of voidage in the reservoir prior to the use of the inventive process is highly desirable if mobility is poor in order to improve steam injectivity . referring to fig3 the recovery scheme or process involves drilling one or more horizontal wells between rows of existing vertical wells at the base of a reservoir . the horizontal well is used as a production well while the existing vertical wells are used as continuous injection wells . no vertical well recompletions should be needed . the use of existing vertical wells , particularly when previously used as part of a css process , and the associated infrastructure adds to the overall economy and efficiency of the process . after the horizontal wells 10 are formed , it may be desirable for the horizontal wells to undergo some cyclic steaming in order to establish inter - well communication . next steam ( or some other heated fluid ) is applied to the vertical ( injector ) wells 15 . the scheme is dominated initially by steam drive . however , after thermal communication is established between the vertical injectors 15 and the horizontal producers 10 , gravity drainage dominates the recovery process . the process is enhanced by the heat left in the reservoir from cyclic steam stimulation . reservoir fluid mobility in the affected area is higher than at virgin reservoir conditions so inter - well communication and production are accelerated . further , the process steam requirements are lessened because of any heat left behind from the preceding process . reservoir simulation indicates that this follow - up process could improve ultimate recovery to as high as 50 % of the original oil in place . referring to the drawings , one embodiment of the invention well be tested at the wolf lake region in alberta , canada . the horizontal wells 10 were drilled from a new pad located roughly 600 meters southeast of an existing pad 12 into the reservoir for a length of approximately 1280 meters . each horizontal well 10 has four main parts : a conductor pipe , a surface casing , an intermediate casing , and a horizontal slotted liner section . the conductor pipe ( 339 . 7 mm , k - 55 mfk , 81 . 1 kg / m ) was set at 20 meters tvd and cemented ( 3 / 4 &# 34 ; construction cement , 3000 psi ) to the surface . the surface casing was cemented to a depth of approximately 150 meters . an intermediate hole was drilled utilizing a stabilized mud motor assembly and a mwd ( measurement while drilling ) system . the well was kicked - off at a depth between 50 mkb and 150 mkb , with a 6 ยฐ/ 30 meter build rate utilized to intersect the pay zone at 90 ยฐ at an approximate depth of 465 meters true vertical depth ( 800 meters measured depth ). a 298 . 5 mm intermediate casing ( l - 80 sl , 59 . 52 kg / m ) was run to this depth and cemented to the surface with a thermal cement ( class c + 40 % silica flour ). an mwd dual induction or gammaray log was run on the intermediate hole . a 222 mm horizontal hole was drilled using a slick mud motor assembly and a mwd system for a total 1280 meter horizontal displacement within a 2 meter vertical target . finally , a 177 . 8 mm slotted liner ( k - 55 , lt & amp ; c , 34 . 22 kg / m ) was run , which was not cemented . as shown in fig2 the horizontal wells extend beneath pads e , l and m . pads e , l and m were mature pads that can no longer economically be cyclically steamed . their production histories are summarized in table 1 . table 1______________________________________cumulative recovery through april 1 , 1993pad total / average recovered ( cycles ) cubic meters csor cwor c2 / c3 / c5______________________________________e ( 6 ) 121304 / 6065 6 . 513 5 . 382 0 . 155l ( 7 ) 124592 / 6922 6 . 857 5 . 008 0 . 145m ( 5 ) 123212 / 7701 6 . 364 4 . 535 0 . 122______________________________________ csor = cumulative steam oil ratio cwor = cumulative water oil ratio two pattern areas and configurations were tested using computer simulation . in fig2 the two horizontal wells 10 and 11 are approximately 165 meters apart . one horizontal well 10 was drilled between two rows of existing vertical wells 15 having an effective pattern area of approximately 38 acres . the second well 11 was drilled immediately adjacent to one row of vertical wells 19 and between two rows 15 and 17 of vertical wells to support production . its effective pattern area is estimated to be 60 acres . the vertical wells 19 immediately adjacent to the horizontal well 11 on the 60 acre spacing are not part of the method . future horizontal well spacing may depend on production results of and on the spacing of existing vertical wells . the orientation of the horizontal wells can be either parallel ( fig1 ) or perpendicular ( fig2 ) to a fracture trend or a major permeability trend found in the reservoir . the term &# 34 ; major permeability trend &# 34 ; refers to the preferred direction of permeability in a reservoir ( i . e ., connections between the pores in the rock formation that contain oil / gas ). it results from the way in which the formation was laid down or formed ( e . g ., if the rock resulted from sands being deposited in a river bed , the major permeability trend would be in the direction of the river flow , as the flowing water would have washed away any fine silt previously laid down with the sand -- had the silt remained it would have formed a barrier to oil flow between the resultant pores in the rock ). the depletion zones take on a generally oblong shape and follow the fracture trend or major permeability trend . reservoir simulation has shown that performance can be superior for horizontal wells oriented generally perpendicular to a fracture trend ( i . e ., fig2 ) or major permeability trend . in most situations , pressures are maintained below parting pressure ( e . g ., 8500 kpa ). under normal operations steam injection will occur at 4500 kpa . however , in some situations , in order to enhance injectivity by fracturing of the formation , injection pressures could temporarily exceed formation parting pressure . bitumen saturated unconsolidated sands form the reservoir unit in the tests performed at wolf lake . examination of drill cores cut through reservoir areas showed that the reservoir is divided in descending order into c1 , c2 and c3 sands . the c1 and c2 sands are separated by about 4 meters of sandy mud . the c2 and c3 sands are separated by 45 cm of interbedded sand and mud . tight to low permeability calcite cemented sands were abundant . a stratigraphic correlation of closely spaced wells in e , l and m pads revealed that these calcite cemented sands were laterally discontinuous . oil sand pay in the wolf lake test area was estimated to be 15 m . no gas or water legs were evident . the reservoir properties are summarized as follows : ______________________________________reservoir unit c3 c2______________________________________depth of pay ( meters ) 448 445net oil sand pay ( meters ) 15 . 1 1 . 8average porosity 32 % 28 % initial water saturation 36 % 34 % ______________________________________ by &# 34 ; net pay &# 34 ; is meant sand with porosity greater than or equal to 25 %, v sh ( i . e ., volume of shale ) less than or equal to 25 % and gwo greater than 8 %. gwo or &# 34 ; grain weight oil &# 34 ; is the weight percent bitumen of a dry bulk sample ( water removed ). in the wolf lake tests , since the horizontal sections of the wells are drilled through depleted cyclic steam pads , there is some potential for drilling difficulties . several precautions can be taken to minimize these difficulties . temperature and fluid level surveys conducted on the existing e and l pad wells can be used to determine reservoir temperatures and pressures prior to drilling . moreover , 2d seismic can be used to indicate temperature changes across the pattern area , which may be related to depleted areas . there is little potential for encountering pressurized zones near the surface . potential drilling difficulties are most likely to be either lost circulation or borehole sloughing . lost circulation may be rectified with lost circulation materials . observation wells may be drilled through a depleted zone to gauge the potential for sloughing , and to determine what action can be taken to remedy the problem . finally , a directional drilling and survey program may be used to minimize interference with any existing deviated wells . the horizontal wells can be produced using either conventional rod pumping or gas - lift systems . the wellheads in the wolf lake test were designed to handle the maximum steam injection pressure of 9 , 000 kpa ( formation fracture pressure is approximately 8 , 500 kpa ). vertical observation wells may be drilled over the project area to monitor pressure and temperature of the producing formation during steam injection operations . observation well information may be collected using a datalogger located at each site . on a regular basis , the dataloggers transmit data back to a central computer , located at the main plant site , for further processing and reporting . the first three years of operation are expected to produce 232 , 870 m 3 of oil , 1 , 431 , 530 m 3 of water and 2 . 3 mm m 3 of gas ( average gas to oil ratio or gor equal to 10 ). the cumulative steam - oil ratio ( csor ) is expected to be 5 . 1 . the cumulative water - oil ratio ( cwor ) is expected to be 6 . 5 . table 2 outlines the projected performance of the two combined wells . table 2______________________________________ bitumen production sor woryear m . sup . 3 / d instantaneous instantaneous______________________________________1 156 6 . 7 9 . 12 236 4 . 4 5 . 63 246 4 . 3 4 . 84 296 3 . 5 3 . 85 346 3 . 0 3 . 56 225 4 . 7 5 . 07 100 10 . 5 9 . 6average 229 5 . 3 5 . 9______________________________________ this information is based on numerical simulation , wherein it was assumed that the process of the invention is independent of other operations in the area . in practice , any excess water produced would be recycled to mak up for shortfalls elsewhere , rather than disposed . no modifications should be needed for the existing css control facilities which consist of equipment necessary for bitumen treatment , water disposal , steam generation , and fuel gas processing . moreover , this process should not necessitate immediate or long term increase in the consumption of fresh water for steam generation . table 3 illustrates the project steam and water requirements for the wolf lake test . table 3______________________________________ steam produced make - up excess cwe water water wateryear ( 1000 m . sup . 3 ) ( 1000 m . sup . 3 ) ( 1000 m . sup . 3 ) ( 1000 m . sup . 3 ) ______________________________________1 381 518 0 1372 379 482 0 1033 386 431 0 454 378 411 0 335 379 442 0 636 386 411 0 257 383 350 0 -- cumulative 2672 3045 0 406______________________________________ this information is based on numerical simulation , wherein it was assumed that the process of the invention is independent of other operations in the area . in practice , any excess water produced would be recycled to mak up for shortfalls elsewhere , rather than disposed . it should be noted that the simulation predicted greater water production than steam injection . this imbalance results because the produced fluids that are drained from the steam chamber have a greater volume than the condensed equivalent volume of steam . moreover , since the selected reservoir has higher than virgin water saturation due to prior cyclic steam operations , this also contributed to the imbalance . from the foregoing description , it will be observed that numerous variations , alternatives and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , this description is to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the manner of carrying out the invention . various changes may be made , materials substituted and features of the invention may be utilized . for example , the invention is applicable to reservoirs that have been depleted through water - flooding as well as to fractured and non - fractured reservoirs . moreover , while steam is the preferred fluid , other fluids , such as hot water , having a temperature greater than that of the underground formation , should be considered . in addition , the process of the invention may be applied to wells where prior production was achieved through primary pumping or other means . the process of the invention is applicable to almost any heavy oil reservoir where prior production has been attempted through almost any means involving the use of laterally spaced non - horizontal wells ( e . g ., slant hole , vertical and directionally drilled ). moreover , to a limited extent the process of the invention can also be applied in a heavy oil reservoir where substantial prior production has not occurred . thus , the process of the invention is not to be limited to being used as a follow - up to cyclic steam simulation . as long as there is mobility and communication , then the process of the invention can be applied ; voidage is needed if mobility and communication are not present . thus , it will be appreciated that various modifications , alternatives , variations , etc ., may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . it is , of course , intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications involved within the scope of the claims . | 4 |
a process to remove color byproducts and residues from a colored dtddds stream to produce a dtddds product is provided , said process comprising : ( a ) contacting nh 4 oh and the colored dtddds stream to produce a mixture ; ( c ) separating the washed mixture to produce a byproduct stream and a wet dtddds product , and the colored dtddds stream can be produced by any method known in the art . typically the colored dtddds stream is produced by oxidation of tertiarydodecylmercaptan using air . copper catalysts often are used in the production of dtddds . generally , the colored dtddds stream produced has a color in a range of about 3 to about 6 utilizing a gardner color test ( astm d - 1544 ). the color specification for the dtddds product is in a range of about 1 to about 2 on a gardner color test and most preferably , the color specification is 1 on a gardner color test . the first step of the process is contacting nh 4 oh with the colored dtddds stream to produce a mixture . the contacting can be conducted by any method known in the art . generally , a nh 4 oh solution containing about 25 % to about 35 % by weight nh 3 is utilized . preferably , the nh 4 oh solution contains about 28 % to about 32 % by weight nh 3 . typically , the nh 4 oh and colored dtddds stream are contacted in a ratio of about 1 to about 2 parts nh 4 oh to about 100 parts of the colored dtddds stream . generally , the contacting of the nh 4 oh with the colored dtddds stream is conducted at a temperature range of about 80 ยฐ f . to about 125 ยฐ f ., preferably at a temperature range of 85 ยฐ f . to 120 ยฐ f . the contacting of the nh 4 oh with the colored dtddds stream is for a duration of about 12 hours to about 72 hours . the duration of the contacting depends on the reactivity of the colored dtddds stream . preferably , the duration of the contacting is from about 24 hours to about 48 hours . the contacting yields a mixture comprising dtddds , nh 4 oh , and color byproducts and residues . the second step of the process is water washing the mixture to produce a washed mixture . generally , a quantity of water ranging from about 10 % to about 30 % by weight of the colored dtddds stream is used . the nh 4 oh is soluble in water so the water wash can proceed rapidly . typically , the water wash step is conducted at a temperature in a range of about 70 ยฐ f . to about 100 ยฐ f . the washed mixture comprises dtddds , nh 4 oh , water , and color byproducts and residues . the third step of the process is separating the washed mixture to produce a byproduct stream and a wet dtddds product . the separating occurs in a temperature range of about 70 ยฐ f . to about 100 ยฐ f . and over a period of time in a range of about 2 hours to about 72 hours . preferably , the separating occurs over a period of time in a range from about 48 hours to about 72 hours . the separating can be completed in any type of process equipment . for example , the separating can be accomplished in a tank to remove the wet dtddds product . then , wet dtddds product can be further separated by filtering , in order to remove water . the fourth step of the process is drying the wet dtddds stream to produce a dtddds product with a color range of about 1 to about 2 on the gardner color test and a moisture content of less than about 10 ppm by weight water . preferably , the dtddds product has a gardner color test number of 1 and a moisture content of less than 10 ppm by weight water . drying can be conducted by any process known in the art . generally , the wet dtddds stream is dried at a temperature in a range of about 70 ยฐ f . to about 100 ยฐ f . the drying is conducted for a duration sufficient to achieve a moisture content of less than 10 ppm by weight water . for example , drying can be accomplished by utilizing desiccant or a filtering system . the following examples are provided to assist a person skilled in the art with further illustrations of this invention . these examples are intended to be illustrative of the invention but are not meant to be construed as limiting the reasonable scope of the invention . in a laboratory test , 133 . 6 grams colored dtddds stream was mixed with 2 . 6 grams of a nh 4 oh solution ( 28 - 30 % by wt nh 3 ) in a quart jar at a temperature in a range of 85 ยฐ f . to 120 ยฐ f . to produce a mixture . since nh 4 oh does not readily dissolve in dtddds , the mixture was stirred using a magnetic stirrer for about 30 hours in the lab for acceptable color reduction . the mixture was then washed with 28 grams of water at a temperature range of 70 ยฐ f . to 100 ยฐ f . using a separatory funnel to produce a washed mixture consisting of dtddds , colored byproducts , water and nh 4 oh . the stirring was stopped and the washed mixture was allowed to separate over a period of 2 hours to produce a wet dtddds product and byproduct stream . the wet dtddds was first passed though a filtration paper and then dried with air to produce a dtddds product with a color range of about 1 to about 2 on the gardner color test and a moisture content of less than 10 ppm water by weight . in a commercial test , a colored dtddds stream was mixed with a nh 4 oh solution ( 28 - 30 % by wt nh 3 ) in a ratio of 100 parts of the colored dtddds stream to 1 to 2 parts of the nh 4 oh solution by weight in a tank at 85 ยฐ f . to 120 ยฐ f . to produce a mixture . since nh 4 oh does not readily dissolve in dtddds , the mixture was mixed and rolled in the tank for about 15 hours to about 24 hours depending on the color reduction . plant production yielded acceptable product after about 24 hours of mixing and tank rolling at 120 ยฐ f . the mixture was then treated with multiple water washings at a temperature range of 70 ยฐ f . to 100 ยฐ f . to remove nh 4 oh to produce a washed mixture . the washed mixture was allowed to separate in the tank to produce a wet dtddds product and a byproduct stream . the wet dtddds was dried to produce a dtddds product with a color range of about 1 to about 2 on the gardner color test and a moisture content of less than 10 ppm water by weight . | 2 |
in fig1 a cartridge 1 carrying an inked ribbon 11 is disposed on a receiving device 3 of a typewriter or similar office machine ready for operation , the receiving device 3 being arranged to be movable along a record carrier , such as a sheet of paper , 5 . the record carrier 5 is disposed to be transportable in a known manner over a platen 7 . the color or carbon ribbon 11 coming out of the exit slit 9 of the ribbon cartridge 1 is unwound from a supply reel 13 and brought past a tensioning lever 15 and over ribbon guide forks 17 and 19 so as to be interposed between the record carrier 5 and a type carrier 21 . the type carrier 21 is , for example , a type wheel having a plurality of radially separated elastic bars whose ends each carry a type character . such a type carrier is disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 235 , 664 . the type carrier 21 is rotated by means of a motor ( not shown ) which is also disposed on the receiving device 3 . positioning lever 15 is pivotal about an axis 15 &# 39 ; on receiver device 3 and is biassed by a spring 15 &# 34 ; connected to receiver device 3 for maintaining ribbon 11 under the desired tension . positioning lever 15 is associated with a control lever 118 for moving lever 15 into a retracted position for insertion and removal of cartridge 1 . lever 118 is articulated to lever 15 at a pivot 118 &# 39 ; and is pivotal about an axis 118 &# 34 ; on receiver device 3 . lever 118 is biassed into the position shown by a spring 118 &# 39 ;&# 34 ; connected to receiver device 3 . receiver device 3 is further provided with a conventional correction ribbon 73 &# 39 ; extending between a supply reel 71 &# 39 ; and a takeup reel 72 &# 39 ;, as well as positioning elements 74 &# 39 ; and 75 &# 39 ; which engage in recesses provided in cartridge 1 in order to accurately position cartridge 1 on receiver device 3 . the ribbon portion which has been used is returned into the cartridge 1 by means of a driven feed roller 23 and a pressure roller 25 which is pressed against the feed roller 23 . this ribbon portion is pulled into the cartridge 1 through an entrance slit 27 and is then brought to , and wound around , a takeup reel 29 . pressure roller 25 protrudes into cartridge 1 through an opening 30 in the side wall of cartridge 1 , as shown in fig2 . as can be seen in fig3 feed roller 23 is mounted on a shaft 23 &# 39 ; whose axial ends are rotatably mounted in the bottom plate 31 and the cover 33 , respectively , of the cartridge 1 . at its end facing the cover 33 , the feed roller 23 is provided with a circumferentially continuous flange 35 which prevents contact of the ribbon 11 with the cover 33 . in the vicinity of the ribbon entrance slit 27 a deflection roller 37 designed as a deflection guide is rotatably mounted in the cartridge 1 , thus increasing the length of the region of contact between ribbon 11 and roller 23 . this deflection roller 37 also is provided with a circumferentially continuous projecting flange 39 which assures accurate guidance of the ribbon 11 . to assure accurate guidance of the ribbon 11 on the takeup reel 29 , the bottom plate 31 is provided with guide faces 40 which rise toward the feed roller 23 and toward the deflection roller 37 in the region of the ribbon entrance slit 27 . this assures accurate guiding of the ribbon 11 . by means of a conventional lifting device ( not shown ), the ribbon 11 is raised , during typing , into the printing position so as to produce an imprint and , after printing , is lowered into a viewing position which exposes the printed line . to achieve this , the ribbon 11 is pivoted in the ribbon entrance slit 27 about a guide rib 42 disposed transversely behind the entrance slit 27 in the cartridge 1 , thus preventing excessive soiling of the cartridge 1 and of the machine . the ribbon 11 , which is driven by the feed - roller 23 and the pressure roller 25 , is then conducted to the takeup reel 29 via further deflection guide 38 mounted at the side of the takeup reel 29 opposite the entrance slit 27 in the vicinity of the periphery of the takeup reel flange 2 in the cartridge 1 . the deflection guide 38 , which is firmly connected to the bottom plate 31 of the cartridge 1 , assures tight winding of the ribbon 11 on the takeup reel 29 . the free end of this deflection guide 38 is supported at cover 33 by guide ribs 32 and 34 . the ribs 32 and 34 and the flange 2 of the takeup reel 29 prevent the ribbon 11 , when being deflected around the deflection guide 38 , from drifting upwardly and coming into contact with the cover 33 . the upper edges of the individual turns of the ribbon coil on reel 29 will therefore form a smooth surface after the takeup process . the pressure roller 25 is rotatably mounted on a pivot lever 26 which is mounted on the receiving device 3 to be pivotal about an axis 28 . this pivot lever 26 has two arms , 22 and 24 , the pressure roller 25 being rotatably mounted on the one arm 24 and the other arm 22 being provided with a control cam 20 presenting a detent recess 18 for engaging a detent pin 16 . this detent pin 16 is firmly attached to a locking lever 12 which is pivotal about an axis 14 in receiving device 3 and is provided with a manual handle 10 . the pivot lever 26 can be reset counterclockwise about axis 28 by the action of an articulated biassing spring 8 . the feed roller 23 and the pressure roller 25 have smooth surfaces and preferably consist of polyurethane elastomers . the surface of the feed roller 23 is made of a polyelastomer , e . g . a product sold under the trade name &# 34 ; hyrtel &# 34 ;, having a shore hardness a 75 - 95 , to assure accurate transporting of the ribbon 11 over a wide range of temperatures without the ribbon 11 sticking to the feed roller 23 . the feed roller 23 is provided with a slot 6 accessible from the bottom of the cartridge 1 for engagement by an axially displaceable blade - like drive element 4 , shown in fig7 . this drive element 4 is interlockingly connected with a drive gear 41 of a ratchet gear unit and is rotatably mounted on the receiving device 3 . this drive gear 41 is arranged to be drivable in a clockwise direction 45 via a drive pawl 43 . the drive pawl 43 is made in one piece with a plastic pivot lever 47 and lever 47 is mounted on the receiving device 3 to be pivotal about the axis 49 of the drive gear 41 , and thus to drive pawl 43 . as shown in fig7 the pivot lever 47 can be coupled in an articulated manner with a drive lever 53 which is pivotal about an axis 51 fixed in receiving device 3 , a toothed drive cam 55 being rotatably mounted , via a shaft 55 &# 39 ;, on the drive lever 53 . this drive cam 55 is biassed , or urged , in a counterclockwise direction by a spring 57 articulated to a point spaced from the axis of cam rotation . an abutment 59 mounted on cam 55 is arranged to engage an actuating tongue 61 of an actuating latch 63 so as to maintain cam 55 in an orientation in which it is kept out of engagement with a toothed wheel 65 which is driven by a drive motor 64 . the actuating latch 63 is connected , via a pull rod 67 , with a pivot lever 68 which is pivotable about a fixed axis 68 &# 39 ; and carries an armature 69 that cooperates with an electromagnet 71 . if the electromagnet 71 is excited , the pivot lever 68 is attracted , against the force of a resetting spring 73 , thus pivoting the actuating latch 63 clockwise about its pivot axis 75 fixed in the receiving device 3 . this brings the actuating tongue 61 out of the effective range of the abutment 59 of the drive cam 55 , permitting the cam 55 to be brought , by the action of spring 57 , into engagement with the rotating toothed wheel 65 . due to the eccentric design of the drive cam 55 , the drive lever 53 is pivoted counterclockwise about its axis 51 , causing the pivot lever 47 and , via the drive latch 43 , the drive gear 41 to be carried along in a clockwise direction . reverting to fig1 rotation of the toothed wheel 41 causes the feed roller 23 also to be rotated clockwise along with a pulley 77 which can be secured to feed roller 23 or engaged by blade - like drive element 4 driven by wheel 41 . pulley 77 is connected in a friction locking manner with a pulley 81 , which is fixed to the takeup reel 29 by means of an endless transmission element 79 which can be in the form of a helical spring and which will permit some slippage between pulleys 77 and 81 . rotation of the feed roller 23 and the pressure roller 25 causes the color or carbon ribbon 11 to be advanced from the supply reel 13 and wound onto the takeup reel 29 , the latter being rotated via transmission element 79 . when the electromagnet 71 is deactuated , the actuating latch 63 is returned to its starting position shown in fig7 causing the drive cam 55 , upon reaching the angular position shown in fig7 to be disengaged from the rotating toothed wheel 65 . the drive lever 53 and the pivot lever 47 are likewise returned to their starting positions , reverse rotation of the drive gear 41 in a counterclockwise direction being prevented by a blocking pawl 83 . as further shown in fig7 and as disclosed in federal republic of germany offenlegungsschrift ( laid - open application ) no . 29 04 488 , published aug . 21st , 1980 , toothed wheel 65 can additionally be coupled to a drive cam 133 which is rotatably mounted , via a shaft 133 &# 39 ;, on a pivot lever 135 which is pivotable about a fixed axis 121 . drive cam 133 is biassed , or urged , in a counterclockwise direction by a spring 139 connected between cam 133 and lever 135 . a latch 137 is pivotable about a fixed axis 137 &# 39 ; and carries an actuating tongue 138 arranged to engage an abutment 134 carried by cam 133 . latch 137 is connected , via a pull rod 111 , with a pivot lever 115 which is pivotable about a fixed axis 115 &# 39 ; and carries an armature 117 that cooperates with an electromagnet 119 . electromagnet 119 acts on lever 115 against the force of a resetting spring 113 . if electromagnet 119 is excited , cam 133 is caused to rotate and lever 135 is pivoted in the same manner as described above with reference to cam 55 and lever 53 . lever 135 carries a pusher 123 which acts , through a suitable known mechanism , to lift ribbon guide forks 17 and 19 of fig1 . in order to optimally utilize different types of color and carbon ribbons , such different ribbons must be subjected to transporting steps of different lengths in the longitudinal direction as the ribbon passes through the printing station . this is most easily accomplished by the present invention in that the position of a guide pin 85 engaging the drive lever 53 can be varied so as to change the angular extent of each step of rotation of the pivot lever 47 . for this purpose , the guide pin 85 is displaceable in a radial slot 87 in the drive lever 53 and can be engaged in various detent points 89 and 91 provided at the ends of a slot 97 in the pivot lever 47 . the guide pin 85 is fixed to a tilt lever 95 which is both displaceably and pivotally mounted on the drive lever 53 . the tilt lever 95 , on the one hand , can be displaced by movement of the guide pin 85 in slot 87 and , on the other hand , is mounted by means of a pivot pin 98 to be displaceable in a second slot 99 . the second slot 99 is arranged to be perpendicular to the first slot 87 . the slot 99 is arranged in the drive lever 53 . the tilt lever 95 is arrested in each of its two end positions , each corresponding to engagement of pin 85 in a respective one of detent points 89 and 91 , by means of a spring 101 tensioned between the tilt lever 95 and the drive lever 53 . as shown , spring 101 is held between pin 98 and a pin 53 &# 39 ; carried by lever 53 . pivoting of the tilt lever 95 out of the detent position 91 into the detent position 89 is effected by the action of an intermediate lever 102 , shown in fig1 which is arranged to be pivotal about an axis 103 fixed in the receiving device 3 . the intermediate lever 102 has a first arm 105 provided with a recess 104 which encloses the guide pin 85 , and a second arm 107 carrying an abutment pin 106 which is in cooperative connection with a recess 108 at the free end of pivot lever arm 24 carrying the pressure roller 25 . in order to remove the ribbon cartridge 1 from the receiving device 3 , the pivot lever 12 is pivoted , by acting on handle 10 , counterclockwise about its axis 14 , toward the position of handle 10 which is shown in broken lines in fig1 . when the abutment pin 16 abuts against the upper surface of control cam 20 , the pivot lever 26 is caused to be pivoted clockwise about the axis 28 until the abutment pin 16 has reached the detent recess 18 . levers 12 and 26 are then held in this position by recess 18 against the return force applied by reset spring 8 which is articulated at the pivot lever 26 to urge it in a counterclockwise direction . since the pressure roller 25 , when the pivot lever 26 is in the detent position , has been pivoted out of the cartridge 1 , the cartridge 1 can be removed from the receiving device 3 . insertion of a new cartridge 1 can now be effected in precisely the reverse manner . if a cartridge 1 holding a single - use carbon ribbon 11 , and shown in fig1 - 3 , has been inserted , the pivot levers 12 and 26 are released by manual action on handle 10 . the pivot lever 26 is here pivoted counterclockwise by the return spring 8 to the extent that the pressure roller 25 comes to rest against the feed roller 23 . this causes the pivot lever 26 to move so that the free end of its arm 24 shifts from position i to position ii as shown in fig1 without yet acting on the abutment pin 106 of the intermediate layer 102 so that the tilt lever 95 remains in the detent position 91 shown in fig7 . in this position , the pivot lever 47 is pivoted by each rotation of cam 55 to such an extent that the toothed wheel 41 is rotated by means of drive pawl 43 through the large step length required for a single - use carbon ribbon 11 . in this case , each surface portion of the carbon ribbon 1 can be used only once for printing . when a multi - use carbon ribbon 11 &# 39 ; installed in the cartridge 1 shown in fig4 - 6 is used , the cartridge 1 is provided with a feed roller 10 , which replaces and has a smaller diameter than , the feed roller 23 for single - use carbon ribbons 11 . in this case , the free end of arm 24 of pivot lever 26 can be pivoted from position i to position iii , shown in fig4 causing the intermediate lever 102 to be pivoted counterclockwise about the axis 103 in that the recess 108 abuts against , and displaces , the abutment pin 106 . this causes the tilt lever 95 of fig7 to be pivoted out of the detent position 91 and into the detent position 89 . since the guide pin 85 now is effective upon a longer lever arm of the pivot lever 47 , the latter is pivoted through a correspondingly shorter angular path . the drive gear 41 and the drive roller 110 fixed thereto are driven over a correspondingly shorter angular path so that the successively struck types are brought into contact with the ribbon 11 &# 39 ; in an overlapping manner . due to the small advancing step length , economical utilization of the multi - use carbon ribbon 11 &# 39 ; is assured . changing of the step width of the pawl drive takes place automatically together with the release of the pivot lever 26 and the pressure roller 25 . in the embodiment of fig1 - 3 , the smooth surface of the feed roller 23 and of the pressure roller 25 help to prevent soiling of the machine . the ribbon 11 is pivoted in the ribbon entrance slit 27 about the guide rib 42 , shown in fig2 disposed transversely behind the entrance slit 27 in the cartridge 1 , thus preventing excessive soiling of the cartridge 1 and of the machine . in the embodiment of fig4 - 6 , roller 110 also has a smooth surface which helps to prevent soiling . it will be understood that the above description of the present invention is susceptible to various modifications , changes and adaptations , and the same are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims . | 1 |
a method for enforcing group oriented workflow requirements for multi - layered documents will now be described . in the following exemplary description numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention . it will be apparent , however , to an artisan of ordinary skill that the present invention may be practiced without incorporating all aspects of the specific details described herein . in other instances , specific features , quantities , or measurements well known to those of ordinary skill in the art have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention . readers should note that although examples of the invention are set forth herein , the claims , and the full scope of any equivalents , are what define the metes and bounds of the invention . initial creation of a multi - audience document comprises setting up an audience inheritance hierarchy and entry and edit of data for each desired audience . the audience hierarchy may be implemented as a tree or linear structure or any other structure allowing for one audience to specify another audience in which to inherit data from . for example when obtaining a data value for a particular audience , if that value does not exist for that audience then the audience hierarchy may be utilized to find the data value for an inherited audience . a data value may exist in the main data table in the case of a non - lookup value or a data value may exist in a data attribute table in the case of a lookup value that is indirectly referenced via a link as will be explained below . fig1 shows a main data table comprising products for example . the name of a product in this example is entered into another table namely the data attribute table shown in fig2 . for each audience that has a unique value for the given data attribute , an entry in the data attribute table may be created . for example product number 220304 shown in the main data table comprises an audience specific name that is a lookup value that is obtained from the data attribute table when generating a document . specifically , name_id 17 is obtained from the data attribute table for a desired audience identifier . in this case if the audience identifier is 0 then the name โ tennis sweater โ is obtained . if the audience identifier is 1 then the name โ tennis jumper โ is obtained . for example when obtaining a data value for a particular audience , if that value does not exist for that audience then the audience hierarchy may be utilized to find the data value for an inherited audience . in this case , if audience 1 is used in obtaining the name of product 220305 , then reference name identifier 22 is used to look up the actual product name in the data attribute table . since there is no name identifier and audience identifier combination that yields a name ( no name_id 17 and audience_id 1 entry exists in the data attribute table ), then the audience order table shown in fig3 is referenced in order to obtain the next audience identifier to use in finding a suitable value via inheritance . since the next value in the audience order field for audience 1 is 0 , then audience 0 is used in looking up the value next in the data attribute table . in this way , only one entry for a given data entry is required since multiple audiences can share the value . in other words , the value โ tennis ball โ is obtained since the name_id 22 and audience_id 0 is used to obtain this inherited value . in fig1 , the accessory field shows a null value for product_id 220304 and a value of โ 29 ; 47 โ for product_id 220305 . the โ 29 ; 47 โ entry is a multi - value lookup field that specifies two links to the data attribute table . the weight column shows entries that are local to the main data table and are not obtained via lookup using the data attribute table . by adding regional , cultural or regulatory subdivisions within the audience hierarchy and inheriting large portions of existing audience specific data entries , a large number of audience specific documents may be generated with a minimal amount of data entry required . in the example shown in fig2 , if there a thousand separate entries related to tennis and only a few of the items differ in name between audiences , then the second audience addition comes at very little expenditure of labor in entering the data that differs . for example , audience 1 corresponding to english australia in the audience table shown in fig4 may be added taking advantage of nearly all of the entries of the english us audience . in addition , setting up a corresponding audience order entry in the audience order table shown in fig3 allows for the traversal of audiences in a hierarchical manner in order to obtain or search for values or the existence of values . for this example , audience 1 specifies that it first utilize its own audience identifier 1 in obtaining or searching for data , followed by audience identifier 0 . the semicolon specifies a stop flag that denotes that any data found lower ( to the right ) in the hierarchy should not be published , but may be shown on the user interface to aid in the publication of a multi - audience document . any other data layout allowing for traversal of hierarchies is in keeping with the spirit of the invention . there are at least three types of fields used with embodiments of the invention , non - lookup fields , lookup fields and multi - value lookup fields . non - lookup fields are traditional fields that have a value in a field such as the weight field shown in fig1 . lookup fields comprise a link to another table that specifies a value in the second table such as the name_id field shown in fig1 . multi - value lookup fields may comprise more than one link to another table or alternatively may comprise a link identifier to a number of fields in another table such as the accessory field shown in fig1 . although multi - value lookup fields that comprise more than one link per field are shown herein with semicolons separating the multiple links in a given field . one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that any method of indirectly associating multiple values with one field is in keeping with the spirit of the invention . although the example tables shown comprise one level of indirection , the data attribute table may comprise a link to a lookup table for lookup values and a text or numerical entry for a non - lookup value thereby removing non - lookup values from the main data table and providing another level of indirection . any level of indirection is in keeping with the spirit of the invention . use of an audience hierarchy eliminates redundant data entry , minimizes the maintenance required to support the data and allows for rapid addition of audiences to be utilized in generating a particular document . updating information for multiple audiences occurs automatically without the need to update all entries for a given hierarchy since inherited values are automatically available to audiences in the same hierarchy . for example , updating the name of a non - lookup value , lookup value or multi - value lookup is automatically available to any audience inheriting values from a given audience . the main data table is not required to be altered when adding an audience , as an audience is defined in the audience table and lookup values may be added for an audience to the data attribute table . audiences may be specified in a given order for traversal within the hierarchy and used in order to display data with visual characteristics to inform a user if the value for a particular piece of data is being used from the current layer or is inherited . for example as shown in fig2 , by adding any value such as was done for name identifier 22 , that value is available to all audiences that comprise the audience 0 in their inheritance chain as shown in fig3 . the main data table shown in fig1 is not required to be altered for all audiences , instead attributes are added or modified in the main data table or in the data attribute table shown in fig2 and are automatically available to audiences that inherit these values . data may also be imported into the system and associated with a particular layer . after importing data , the data may be validated , searched and tested . when importing data , the import can be directed to a particular audience layer by querying the user , or obtaining an associated audience identifier from the user or from a computer in any convenient manner . in this manner the supported audiences may be built up from external programs or data sources and independently entered into the system . exporting data may comprise exporting a particular audience layer or exporting all audience layers . import and export may make use of existing file formats and applications from various software manufacturers . validating , searching and testing multi - layered data occurs with respect to at least one audience identifier or current audience identifier after the audience hierarchy is set up and data has been entered or imported or otherwise exists for a plurality of audiences as per fig1 - 4 . the audience identifier ( s ) for searching and testing may be entered manually or automatically from the user or computer associated with a user . the audience identifier may specify the language , or the language and country , or the language , country and region , or the language , region and culture , or the culture and regulatory area or any other combination of audience identifying values . specifying the current audience identifier or multiple audience identifiers allows for the proper hierarchy to be used in the search as per the inheritance hierarchy defined for each audience as per the audience order shown in fig3 . initial entry of data specific to an audience may comprise adding a very small amount of data if the audience may be based extensively on another audience . for example if one region of a given country does not allow a particular picture or word to be used for a given document , then that region may be defined as a separate audience that uses all of the data of an inherited audience except for the word or picture that is not allowed . if a particular color is undesirable for display in a given culture , then that color may be altered just for that culture . the actual addition of the data specifying the audience itself comprises a small amount of data and defines the hierarchy to traverse when a data entry is not found for a particular audience . by viewing the data and the associated color or other visual representation associated with an audience , the minimal amount of data entries may be made to take advantage of other existing audience data . one embodiment of the invention utilizes three layers of inheritance called the current , primary and secondary inheritance layer levels . the visual representation may involve the color black for the current layer , green for the primary inheritance layer and red for the secondary inheritance layer . in this case , when viewing the data under a current audience setting , text that is inherited from a first inherited audience may be green , and text for an audience that uses a secondary inheritance audience may be red . pictures that are inherited may be surrounded by a black , green or red border to depict their inheritance level for example . any other method of visually displaying the different levels of inheritance is in keeping with the spirit of the invention such as for example showing the current audience layer in bold type , the primary inheritance audience layer in regular type and the secondary inheritance audience layer in italic . one or more embodiments of the invention use multiple inheritance levels separated by a stop flag shown in fig3 as an asterisk separating inheritance levels that are capable of being used for publication versus inheritance levels that are only used for obtaining data for the user interface . values may be searched for null or non - null entries for all layers at once or on a fine grained level . when searching for null entries , values or links to values are tested depending on the type of the field . for fields of type non - lookup , values themselves are checked . for fields of type lookup or multi - value lookup , the links themselves are tested . to determine if a value pointed at by a link is null , the sub - table itself may be tested for null values that are referenced by a given link . in practice , however , with a multi - audience repository and audience inheritance , the โ is null โ operator may not always be granular enough , since it does not distinguish between the various cases of missing data such as data missing entirely from all layers , missing from the current layer but inherited from some other layer , and so on . for example , if the current audience identifier is 1 , then for a lookup or multi - value lookup field , the audiences with identifiers 1 , 0 and 4 are checked as per the second row of the audience order table shown in fig3 in combination with the name_id for a particular name via the data attribute table . for example , if there is any value with a name_id of 17 and an audience identifier of 1 , 0 or 4 , then a value exists and โ is not null โ returns true . fig5 shows the possible outcomes for searching using the coarse grain operators โ is null โ and โ is not null โ. fig6 shows value or link location cases for a three level inheritance embodiment . for example , if a value or link exists in a particular layer , a bullet is shown in the respective cell . again , embodiments of the invention may utilize any level of indirection and the non - lookup values shown in the main data table of fig1 versus the lookup values shown in the data attribute table of fig2 are exemplary and are shown in this manner for ease of illustration . one skilled in the art will readily recognize that non - lookup values may be implemented one level of indirection lower as well as adding a second level of indirection to the lookup and multi - value lookup fields . to deal with the different cases of data locations with audience inheritance as shown in fig6 , the system may utilize audience layer operators that allow for searching for data or the existence of data with fine grained granularity in specified layers at shown in fig7 . for non - lookup fields , the audience layer operator used in a search returns true for fields that have a non - null value . for lookup fields , the audience layer operator used in a search returns true for fields that have a link to a given lookup value . for multi - value lookup fields , the audience layer operator used in a search returns true for fields that have at least one link to a given lookup value . in multi - audience data sets , searching for the existence of data using the coarse grained โ is null โ operator returns non - lookup fields that have all associated audience inheritance levels set to null or lookup fields that do not link to a sub - table . the fine grained โ has value โ operator checks for missing data in the current audience layer only as opposed to checking in all layers as the coarse grained โ is null โ operator does . other predefined audience layer operators may also be used for fine grain searching such as โ has value โ, โ is missing value โ, โ inherits primary โ, โ inherits secondary โ, โ inherits any โ, โ does not inherit โ. the โ has value โ and โ is missing value โ operators provide complementary functions used to determine if the current audience layer comprises a value or link or whether the converse is true . this corresponds to the current layer column of fig6 . the โ inherits primary โ operator returns true when the current audience layer inherits a value or link from the primary inheritance layer but not from the secondary inheritance layer or current layer and corresponds to rows 2 and 3 of fig6 . the โ inherits secondary โ operator returns true when the current audience layer inherits a value or link from the secondary inheritance layer but not from the primary inheritance layer or current layer and corresponds to row 1 of fig6 . the โ inherits any โ operator returns true when the current audience layer inherits a value or link from either the primary or secondary audience layer . the โ does not inherit โ operator returns true when the current audience layer does not inherit a value or link which corresponds to finding the value or link in the current audience or not finding any value at all in which to inherit from and this corresponds to rows 0 , 4 , 5 , 6 and 7 of fig6 . other embodiments of the invention may return the actual value or link for a positive result and a null reference for a negative result . the result set returned from a coarse grained and / or fine grained operator search may be presented to the user in a variety of ways . for testing multiple layers , a list of search results per audience layer may be presented to the user in list form , or tabular form or in any other method that allows the user to view the results of the search . any method of visually presenting the results of a search on one or more audience identifiers is in keeping with the spirit of the invention . depending on the results of the search or the results of any fields found to be null for example , a workflow message may be sent to a group or a log for further processing or performance monitoring or metrics analysis . fig8 illustrates an embodiment of an application comprising a validation user interface . the elements in application 800 comprise a validation tab 805 comprising rows of validations 802 , each of which extends horizontally showing the name of the validation ( e . g ., โ check category โ, โ check price โ, โ check price [ swimwear ]โ, โ check sku โ), the table ( s ) associated with the validation , the branch value ( s ) used for branching the validation , a description of the validation , the validation group ( s ) that the validation is associated with , the validation expression , an error message to display when the validation fails , an automatic execution value of none , warning or error , a callable flag for determining if the validation is callable from another validation and a parse result read - only success or failure field that shows the results of parsing the validation expression . the properties of a selected validation , in this case the โ check category โ row in rows of validations 802 are shown in validation properties edit area 801 . each row in validation properties edit area 801 corresponds to each column in rows of validations 802 . each row in validation properties edit area 801 is edited by clicking the mouse in the corresponding row and entering information . the result of executing a validation or validation group is shown as a column in the records list , for example โ[ check category ]โ 803 and โ[ check sku ]โ 804 showing the status of each validation for example as will be described further below . at least one workflow task may be associated with each validation by right clicking on the validation for example to select a desired action to take based on the result of the multi - layered operation , in this case a validation that may use inherited values . a validation expression may be performed manually or automatically . when a validation expression is performed with respect to one or more records , the success or failure may be indicated for each record in an interface . a validation expression may be performed automatically for a database update to warn against or prevent the entry of invalid data and ensure data integrity . a validation expression may also be automatically performed from one or more workflows to implement a business process with system - enforced data integrity . the validation metadata may comprise a setting that signifies the level of execution as being warning and error . executing the validation refers to executing the validation expression . any method of executing the validation or validation expression is in keeping with the spirit of the invention . fig9 illustrates a family hierarchy showing workflow status for families associated with a particular multi - layered document . family tree 900 displays the families that actually exist in the multi - layered data set . family 901 is shown in a particular color to indicate that it has failed validation . family 902 is shown in a different color to indicate that it has failed a test for null values . family 903 is shown in a different color to indicate that it has passed the pivoting step . family 904 is shown in a different color to indicate that it has been successfully reviewed . other status values are in keeping with the spirit of the invention . alternatively , icons representing the different status may be displayed to indicate the workflow related status of a family , or a different color in combination with a status icon may be utilized . any other method of visually displaying a workflow related status with respect to a family of a multi - layered document is in keeping with the spirit of the invention . fig1 illustrates an embodiment of a method for enforcing group oriented workflow requirements for multi - layered documents . processing starts at 1000 . data is accepted into the system at 1001 . this may involve importing data to a specific layer or entering data manually . a multi - layered operation is performed at 1002 that utilizes data from at least one layer of a multi - layered data set or document . the result of the multi - layered operation is communicated to a workflow engine at 1003 . this may involve use of message queuing or other message communication technologies include direct object call . optionally , a role to send the result to may be determined from the data that is being operated on at 1004 . for example , if the data being operated on is specific to a family then a particular operation may cause the result to be sent to a role that is currently operating on the family or the next role in the workflow line that is responsible for the next operation on the multi - layered data set if the task has been completed . if the role to send to is based on the data as determined at 1004 , then the role to send to is set at 1005 , otherwise , processing continues at 1006 . the system may wait for another operation at 1007 or exit . if the system is waiting for further operations , then processing continues when a multi - layered operation occurs , therein continuing processing at 1002 . u . s . pat . no . 6 , 754 , 666 entitled โ efficient storage and access in a database management system โ filed aug . 21 , 2000 , u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 960 , 902 entitled โ method and apparatus for structuring , maintaining , and using families of data โ filed sep . 20 , 2001 , u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 142 , 809 , entitled โ multi - layered data model for generating audience specific documents โ filed may 31 , 2005 , u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 193 , 014 entitled โ method for conditionally branching a single validation โ filed jul . 29 , 2005 , u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 217 , 068 entitled โ method for searching layered data โ filed aug . 31 , 2005 are all hereby incorporated herein by reference and used in combination with the embodiments of the invention enabled herein . while the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof , numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims . | 6 |
the various component parts and the novel features of this invention are best understood with reference to the accompanying drawings . the system begins at 20 where any of a wide variety of processes is using oil and causing the oil to become diluted and / or contaminated ( 5 - 20 % by volume ) amounts of water and varying amounts of solid pollutants , e . g ., dust , dirt , metal cuttings , and other solid materials used in processing plants . the polluted oil is collected and conducted via line 21 in the direction indicated by arrow 63 through check valve 22 to settling tank 23 where the mixture is allowed to stand quiescently and form two layers ; namely , an oil layer 24 lying above a water layer 25 . it is well known that the two phases separate readily and form a sharp line of demarcation . the water layer having an upper level 25 can be removed easily and substantially completely by drawing off water at any place below water level 25 . in this instance an intake head 32 rests on the bottom of vessel 23 and the water is drawn off through line 31 through strainer 40 by the propulsion of water pump 41 , the water moving through line 31 in the direction of arrow 33 . similarly , and perhaps simultaneously , oil is drawn off through line 20 through one or both of strainers 44 by the propulsion of oil pump 47 . in order to help the water and the oil entering settling tank 23 to separate quickly , a heating coil 37 is placed in settling tank 23 . the mixture should be heated to about 160 ยฐ f . to help the water and oil separate efficiently , and this is readily accomplished by circulating steam through coil 37 , the steam entering in the direction of arrow 38 and exiting in the direction of arrow 39 . the oil line 26 extends into tank 23 to the upper level 24 of the oil layer and is kept there automatically by a floating intake head 30 which is designed to float on the oil . since the oil level 24 will change from time to time , the line 26 includes a flexible portion 28 supported by a spring or a bungee cord that automatically extends or contracts to accommodate the intake line above floating head 30 . the water in the water layer below level 25 is generally treated as a waste stream , or alternatively , it may be treated for recycling . in this invention water pump and thus water level 25 , is automatically controlled by level sensors 34 , 35 and 36 to keep level 25 within certain depth limitations . when level 25 is at lower sensor 36 , pump 41 is turned off , thereby , leaving a thin layer ( e . g ., 4 inches ) of water as a lower layer in tank 23 . when the water level 25 reaches middle sensor 35 ( e . g ., 8 inches from the bottom of tank 23 ), pump 41 is automatically turned on . if for any reason the water level 25 should reach a level as high as upper sensor 34 ( e . g ., 12 inches above the bottom of tank 23 ) pump 41 is turned on , an alarm is sounded , and oil purification units 56 are closed . this sensor 34 and its actions prevent water from entering the oil purification system and sounds an alarm for an operator &# 39 ; s attention . these sensors 34 , 35 and 36 are normally supplemented by several sight gauges in the wall of tank 23 to permit the operators to note levels 24 and 25 at any time . sensors 34 , 35 and 36 are generally electronically connected , as per line 43 , to pump 41 . strainer 40 is intended to be a separator to catch solid particles of large sizes that might be a danger to pump 41 , such sizes generally being larger than about 0 . 10 inch . oil in line 26 is conducted in the direction of arrow 27 to either or both of strainers 44 , which is similar to strainer 40 in removing large particles , e . g ., larger than 0 . 10 inch . two strainers 44 are shown , generally for the purpose of using one while the other is by - passed while being cleaned or otherwise maintained . inlet valves 64 and outlet valves 45 permit either of strainers 44 to be removed from the oil processing stream . oil from strainers 44 passes through line 46 to oil pump 47 which pumps oil through line 48 in the direction of arrow 49 to either or both of heaters 51 . the oil is heated to about 160 ยฐ f . in heaters 51 , which preferably are electric resistance heaters , but which can be heated by steam coils or other heating medium . two heaters 51 are shown , each to be of sufficient size and capacity to operate alone while the other is by - passed for cleaning or other maintenance purposes . inlet valves 50 and outlet valves 52 permit either heater 51 to be removed from the main processing stream . hot oil leaving heaters 51 travels through line 53 in the direction of arrow 54 to an oil purification step accomplished by one or more oil purifiers 56 having inlet valves 55 and outlet valves 57 to permit any one or more of the purifiers to be on stream while others are off stream for cleaning and / or maintenance . each purifier 56 is substantially the same as the oil reconditioning device described and claimed in my u . s . pat . no . 4 , 758 , 338 containing in order from bottom to top ( a ) a first fabric bag full of filter material , ( b ) a second fabric bag full of filter material , ( c ) a felt pad , ( d ) a dispersion plate to cause the oil to pass through several tiers of tortuous passageways as a thin film , and ( e ) an electrically heated lid 66 having a vent 65 to release vapors but not to allow oil to pass through . lid 66 is heated to a temperature of about 150 ยฐ- 200 ยฐ f . causing vaporizable components , such as water , to be vaporized and to be expelled through vents 65 . this purifier removes water and vaporizable components down to about 0 . 05 % maximum , removes all solids down to 5 microns , and traps and neutralizes acids . the resulting hot oil is considered to be &# 34 ; polished &# 34 ;, i . e ., as good as new , and is passed through line 58 in the direction of arrow 59 to storage tank 60 to await future use in processes 20 or elsewhere . while the invention has been described with respect to certain specific embodiments , it will be appreciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . it is intended , therefore , by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention . | 8 |
fig1 shows a front view of the kiosk . it is important that an understanding of the laws and regulations both current and future , amendments , and their subsequent allowances and disallowances that the spirit , scope , and inchoative nature of this invention is based . any changes , alterations , or modification in this art are considered to be seen and included within this present invention however regulated on all levels of adjudication and legal precedence . a person needing notary services will โ personally appear โ through โ legal technological allowances โ and the remote notary will โ witness โ the signing of documents or attest a signature through โ legal technological allowances .โ the current art of this invention will function and be housed in an electronic device called the annam ( automated notary network access machine ) and will be interfaced to an authorized network of notaries that will employ registered p . d . a . ( personalized digital assistants ) and authorized servers that will interfaced with the satellite annam allowing for the remote electronic notarization transactions , verification and notary compensation . depending on the type of document clients will be assigned either a notary or a certified notary signing agent . by law notaries are given 15 days to comply with records requests โ half the time that attorneys typically are given to fulfill such requests for court purposes . this has caused undue pressure for notaries to comply with due to the necessary research and reliance on a manual journal that may or may not be accurate . the authorized servers of the proposed annam system can eliminate this pressure by providing immediate access to their electronic notary journal to create a profile for each generated annam transaction . notaries , with their registered commission identification number , can have 24 / 7 access to their personal electronic journals in order to create a journal profile of a particular transaction and simply forward the profile to the requesting party . this will not only save time but virtually eliminate the notary potentially being fined for non - compliance . regarding on - line notary transactions whether loan docs , deeds , e - commerce , etc ., with the required system components , an internet user will be afforded the opportunity to have their transactions notarized by using the on - line virtual annam , contact a live notary on the notary &# 39 ; s p . d . a . ( personal digital assistant ) and have their on - line transactions witnessed by a notary public and or a certified notary signing agent commissioned in their state or country . the kiosk 1 consists of a custom desk containing all the components necessary to fulfill the notary function . it is also contemplated that the kiosk can be an upright terminal . the configuration shown in fig1 is one contemplated embodiment , but other embodiments are contemplated including a vertical upright kiosk that includes the necessary components . the kiosk shown includes a keyboard 11 for entry of text information , but other data input devices can include but not be limited to a keyboard , mouse , scanner , touch screen , camera or trackball . a display screen 12 for visual viewing of the scanned documents , notary , signature and other visual information . the display can be a flat panel or crt and may include a touch screen . a camera 13 that interfaces with the internet or other similar data transfer medium . the camera 13 is used by the notary to visually verify the person , and any identification such as a driver &# 39 ; s license , bank card , photo identification , credit card , or military identification that would be used to verify that the person is correctly represented . it is also contemplated that the camera can record the transaction for future reference or verification . a printer 14 for printing receipts that prove the transaction took place and that payment was made for the notary service . a thumb pad signature 15 input device that is used to record and verify a finger print . several types of thumbprint devices are available that record a thumbprint and the image ( s ) are placed in the notary journal . it is also contemplated that other types of verification can be used including but not limited to retina scans , facial recognition , dna , signature voice and dna . a p . o . s . [ point of sale ] device 16 is used to enter credit card information or a driver &# 39 ; s license . the p . o . s . device is a card reader . a printer 17 with a storage cabinet 18 for storing supplies is provided to print a full sheet of information . fig2 shows a block diagram of the client sign - on steps . to engage in the process of this invention , the requirements are that a system meets the legal parameters set forth as its basis . heretofore , the current device incorporates several electronic components : ( electronic server authority ( esa ), audio / video transmission software / hardware for cellular / pda device or portable p / c device , electronic signature pad , electronic biometric thumbprint pad 15 , electronic biometric retina scan *( optional ), p . o . s . 16 [ point of sale ] device , electronic digital web cam 13 , electronic touch screen technology , electronic records delivery system , electronic notary seal , electronic notary journal , electronic scanner / printer ) 14 and 17 . the remote electronic notarization transaction commences when a potential signatory 5 requiring a notarization visits the annam at an authorized location . potential signatory 5 will , via the annam ( esa ) electronic server authority , log on 10 and accept 40 or deny 50 the contract authority 20 ( c / a ) by simply using the touch screen 12 technology the annam monitor is deployed . if c / a is denied 50 , the transaction will terminate . if c / a 20 is accepted , transaction will continue and potential signatory will create a personal encrypted pin number 30 for security and future access . signatory via video / audio 60 & amp ; 70 transmission software for cellular / pda or portable pc device will establish a broadband wireless cellular communication connection with a live notary . other connection means are contemplated including but not limited to internet , cellular phone , radio communication , microwave dish , cable line , or phone line . fig3 shows a block diagram of the authentication process 4 . the signatory 80 will implement the p . o . s . device using a valid i . d . 90 to submit magnetic stripped data for real - time identification validation 2 creating an electronic record . live notary 100 will conduct an interview consisting of a series of questions for potential signatory screening . potential signatory 110 will answer a series of yes / no questions creating an electronic record . implementing the annam ( esa ) electronic server authority 120 , signatory will have the option of scanning documents , or access the electronic document repository and select a document germane to the county , province , state , or country of their choice and retrieve electronic documents from an electronic records delivery system uploading or copying the electronic documents into the annam ( esa ) electronic server authority . the documents may include but not be limited to loan , mortgage , deed , assignment , voting or authorization . signatory , using the electronic signature pad 15 , will sign all signature alerts highlighted 130 on the selected documents satisfying the signature requirements for the specified documents to be electronically notarized . notary 140 will , instruct signatory to access the electronic notary journal . signatory 150 will implement the electronic signature pad to affix their signature execute retina scan and thumb - print scan 150 ( all live scan thumbprint will simultaneously be submitted to a authorized thumb - print verifier 160 for additional verification of signatory , and via digital web camera , capture a digital picture / video 150 of the signatory creating electronic record . upon completion of electronic journal entry potential signatory will be instructed to close journal . fig4 shows a block diagram of the payment process for the service between a live notary display 5 and a client 3 . signatory will submit to notary 170 via electronic records delivery system , the electronic record of documents to notary for verification of signatory information and electronic document record evaluation . upon notary authorization of payment 180 , signatory will input 80 into p . o . s . information for payment and deposit of notary fee into notary financial institute via third party payment verifier 180 . third party payment verifier 200 will confirm signatory payment information to notary . notary will affix electronic notary seal 190 and electronic notary signature and via electronic record delivery system submit electronic record of notarized documents to annam 210 ( esa ) electronic server authority location of signatory . signatory will retrieve electronic notarized documents via the electronic records delivery system and have the option to electronically archive documents e - vault 220 in an on - line repository for later retrieval , send documents via electronic records delivery system to authorized receiver of the county recorder or other locations by e - mail 230 , erds 250 , print documents 240 . notary and signatory sign - off 260 annam ( esa ) electronic server authority and program terminates . an e - vault is disclosed that allows a previous signer to log in and retrieve previously stored documents without the intervention of a live notary 225 . thus , specific embodiments of a virtual notary kiosk have been disclosed . it should be apparent , however , to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein . the inventive subject matter , therefore , is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims . | 6 |
fig1 illustrates an earpiece 102 of a headset , according to example embodiments . the earpiece may include an inner portion 104 which may be configured to fit in a user &# 39 ; s ear . the earpiece may also include a number of sensors 105 that may be used to measure the proximity of the earpiece in relation to a user &# 39 ; s ear . in an example embodiment , the sensor may be a capacitive touch sensor configured to detect when the earpiece has made skin contact on any number of predetermined positions on the earpiece . another example embodiment may include a sensor if the form of an accelerometer . the accelerometer may be used to measure movement of the earpiece as it is moved from a user &# 39 ; s ear to a location in front of a user &# 39 ; s mouth . it should be appreciated that other type of sensors known in the art may be employed . for example , sensors used for measuring changes in pressure , light , movement , or acoustics may be employed . it should further be appreciated that any number of sensors may be employed and the sensors may be placed in any location ( internally or externally ) on the earpiece . furthermore , it should be appreciated that the sensors employed in the earpiece need not be of a same type . it should also be appreciated that the type of earpiece employed need not be an internal earpiece . an earpiece configured to attach to , or rest on , an outer portion of a user &# 39 ; s ear may also be utilized . fig2 is a block diagram depicting various components which may be included in a portable communication unit 100 . the portable communication unit 100 may include a location unit 106 configured to receive measured data 108 obtained from the sensor . the location data may set a value of an estimation position based on the received measured data 108 . the estimation position may be near if the measured data 108 indicates that the earpiece 102 is in close proximity to , or placed in , a user &# 39 ; s ear . similarly , the estimation position may be far if the measured data 108 indicates that the earpiece is in far proximity to , or not placed in , a user &# 39 ; s ear . once determined , the estimation position 110 may be transferred to an operational switching unit 112 . the operational switching unit may be configured to receive a notification 114 if a communication signal ( e . g ., a mobile communication signal ) is present or if a communication is being initiated . the operational switching unit may be employed to change a current operation state of the earpiece . for example , the operational switching unit may set the operation state of the earpiece to a microphone function if two conditions have been met ; ( 1 ) a notification 114 has been received by the switching unit 112 , and ( 2 ) the estimation position of the earpiece is far . similarly , if the earpiece is in a near position , the operational switching unit may set the operation state of the earpiece to a speaker function . once the operation of the earpiece has been set , the operational switching unit 112 may send instructions 116 to associated circuitry and / or software to implement the necessary changes . the associated circuitry and / or software may be located within the earpiece itself . alternatively , the associated circuitry and / or software may be located anywhere within , or external to , the communications unit 100 . the operational switching unit 112 may also send instructions 118 to a noise cancellation unit 119 . the noise cancellation unit 119 may be used to eliminate ambient noise based on the instructions 118 which may indicate the current operation state , estimation position , and / or notification of a communication signal , or a communication initiation , associated with the earpiece . the noise cancellation unit 119 may also send noise cancellation instructions 120 to associated circuitry and / or software to implement the necessary changes . fig3 is a flow diagram depicting example operational steps which may be taken by the noise cancellation unit 119 . the noise cancellation unit 119 may first determine if the estimation position of the earpiece is near ( 200 ). if the earpiece is not in a near position , receiver type noise cancellation will be performed ( 202 ). receiver type noise cancellation may take place regardless of the type of media being transmitted from the earpiece . in fact , the receiver type noise cancellation may take place even if no media is being transmitted from the earpiece , which would result in the earpiece functioning in a manner similar to that of a noise cancellation headset . the noise cancellation unit may thereafter continue to monitor the position of the earpiece ( 200 ). if the of the earpiece is in a far position , the noise cancellation unit 119 may inquire as to whether or not a communication is in process or being initiated ( 204 ). the communication determination may be based on the notification 114 . if it is determined that a communication is not in process or being initiated , the unit 119 may end noise cancellation for the earpiece ( 206 ). thereafter , the noise cancellation unit 119 may continue to monitor the position of the earpiece ( 200 ). if a communication process , or initiation , is detected , the noise cancellation unit 119 may cancel transmission ambient noise . in cancelling the transmission ambient noise , the noise cancellation unit 119 may receive a detected communication signal observed from the far earpiece ( 208 ). the noise cancellation unit 119 may also receive a detected signal observed from a secondary earpiece , which may be a near earpiece employing a speaker function ( 210 ). it should be appreciated that the earpieces of the headset may include any number of microphone sensors dedicated to receiving the observed signals or surrounding noise . the two observed signals may be subtracted from one another ( 212 ) and the resulting signal may be transmitted as an outgoing communication signal ( 214 ). thus , during communication , the far earpiece may be utilized as a microphone held close to a user &# 39 ; s mouth for voice pick up , while the secondary earpiece may be concentrated on background noise . using the secondary earpiece to eliminate ambient noise may approve the quality of the outgoing communication signal . the noise cancellation unit 119 may thereafter continue to monitor the position of the earpiece ( 200 ). it should be appreciated that example embodiments of the earpiece may not include a noise cancellation unit . having the ability to place an earpiece with a microphone function close to a user &# 39 ; s mouth may greatly reduce the presence of background noise in a communication signal . while this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to example embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims . the above mentioned and described embodiments are only given as examples and should not be limiting to the present invention . other solutions , uses , objectives , and functions within the scope of the invention as claimed in the below described patent claims should be apparent for the person skilled in the art . it should be noted that the word โ comprising โ does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed and the words โ a โ or โ an โ preceding an element do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements . it should further be noted that any reference signs do not limit the scope of the claims , that the invention may be implemented at least in part by means of both hardware and software , and that several โ means โ, โ units โ or โ devices โ may be represented by the same item of hardware . it should also be understood that processes disclosed herein may be implemented in hardware , firmware , or software . if implemented in software , the software may be stored on any form of computer readable medium , such as random access memory ( ram ), read only memory ( rom ), compact disk read only memory ( cd - rom ), and so forth . in operation , a general purpose or application specific processor loads and executes the software in a manner well understood in the art . | 7 |
fig2 depicts a schematic representation of flexible paddle 200 according to one representative embodiment . flexible paddle 200 is preferably fabricated using laminated layers of biocompatible polymer ( s ) and one or several thin layers of suitable conductive material . the conductive material may cover almost all of the surface area of the polymer backing . specifically , the various structures ( electrodes , guides , connector elements ) are preferably defined by scribing or etching borders or edges between these structures . in such embodiments , the conductive material provides sufficient shape memory to cause the paddle structure to assume a planar shape in a relaxed state . in alternative embodiments , one or more layers of the polymer may be utilized to provide the desired mechanical characteristic . the width of paddle 200 is sufficient to provide suitable spacing between the two sets of electrodes 203 to enable stimulation of the pertinent nerve fibers across the physiological midline of the patient . the design of paddle 200 enables paddle 200 to be substantially maintained at a desired position within the patient &# 39 ; s epidural space . moreover , the design of paddle 200 ensures that electrodes 203 - 1 through 203 - 8 will remain in fixed relative positions , e . g ., electrodes 203 - 1 through 203 - 4 cannot be offset longitudinally from electrodes 203 - 5 through 203 - 8 . paddle 200 includes guide structures 202 - 1 and 202 - 2 which are proximate to distal end 201 of the paddle . guide structures 202 - 1 and 202 - 2 cause paddle 200 to fold upon itself when the guide structures 200 contact the lumen of an insertion tool . in some embodiments , the guide structures 202 - 1 and 202 - 2 are implemented by scribing longitudinal elements in the conductive material . when paddle 200 contacts the inner surface of the insertion tool , the longitudinal elements distribute force into the body of paddle 200 according to the shape of the respective longitudinal elements . additionally , guide structures 202 - 1 and 202 - 2 are preferably implemented to possess different amounts of rigidity ( e . g ., due to the shape of the respective guide structures 202 , the thickness of their respective longitudinal members , etc .). the difference in the amount of rigidity controls the manner in which paddle 200 folds . as will be discussed in greater detail below , one side of paddle 200 folds over the other side in a substantially lateral manner thereby minimizing the amount of open space within the epidural space required for paddle 200 to unfold . in the embodiment shown in fig2 , paddle 200 includes slit 204 in the middle of the lead paddle to provide a portion of the paddle with a very small modulus . slit 204 may be defined by removing at least the conductive material . if the outer insulative material provides an undue amount of rigidity at this point , the insulative material may also be removed or replaced with a lower modulus material with improved elasticity . when distal end 201 is initially inserted within a suitable insertion tool , guide structures 202 - 1 and 202 - 2 experience force associated with the contact with the inner wall of the insertion tool . the force associated the contact and the presence of slit 204 cause segment 210 of paddle 200 to fold over segment 220 . in one embodiment , after paddle 200 has been folded , the entire width of paddle 200 is fit within the insertion tool . thus , the paddle can be advanced through the tool into the patient &# 39 ; s epidural space . also , once the paddle is pushed through the insertion tool , the shape memory characteristics of the laminate structure cause paddle 200 to unfold thereby exposing electrodes 203 - 1 through 203 - 8 to the spinal tissue . preferably , the shape memory provides sufficient force to displace fibrous tissue or scar tissue within the epidural space . however , the expansive force of the shape memory is also preferably limited to avoid damage to other tissue . in some embodiments , one or more laminate film layers and / or the conductive material cause paddle 200 to possess memory or a spring characteristic . in a similar manner , if paddle 200 needs to be removed from the patient , distal end 205 and guide structures 202 - 2 and 202 - 3 are provided . specifically , proximal end 205 can be pulled by lead body 410 into the same or similar tool as used to insert paddle lead 200 . when guide structures 202 - 2 and 202 - 3 experience force due to contact of paddle 200 with the inner wall of the tool , segment 210 once again folds over segment 220 thereby enabling paddle 200 to be withdrawn from the patient &# 39 ; s epidural space through the tool . accordingly , it is not necessary to perform a partial laminectomy procedure for the insertion or removal of paddle 200 . numerous variations upon the design shown in fig2 are possible . for example , paddle 200 need not include slit 204 . the center portion of paddle 200 could be rigid and both of segments 210 and 220 could fold when paddle 200 is inserted into an insertion tool . alternatively , slit 204 could be moved from the middle of the paddle . also , multiple slits 204 could be used to create multiple folding segments . also , slit 204 need not necessarily remain as a void between the front and back sides of paddle 200 . instead , the conductive material and / or the original insulative material may be removed and a relatively thin portion of highly elastic polymer or hydrogel material , as examples , may be provided at slit 204 to prevent tissue growth from occurring through paddle 200 . also , paddle 200 could include more than two segments with all or some of the segments folding when inserted into a suitable tool . although eight electrodes are shown in fig2 , any suitable number of electrodes could be employed . additionally , any suitable pattern of electrodes could be formed . in some embodiments , multiple ( three , four , five , etc .) columns of electrodes are employed to enable โ field steering โ which is known in the art to facilitate selective stimulation of nerve tissues . also , although folding is the preferred mechanism to reduce the width of paddle 200 during insertion procedures , other deformations could be alternatively employed . for example , paddle 200 could be adapted to โ curl โ into a cylindrical structure upon entry into the insertion tool and โ uncurl โ upon exiting the tool . fig3 depicts a flowchart for fabricating paddle 200 according to one representative embodiment . in step 301 , a rectangle or other suitable portion of conductive material is provided . although the following discussion only refers to fabrication of a single paddle 200 , multiple paddles can be fabricated in parallel on suitably sized portion of conductive material according to the present invention . the conductive material can be medical grade stainless steel , platinum iridium , and / or the like . the thickness of the conductive material is selected to allow the conductive material to be relatively flexible while possessing a degree of memory or spring characteristic . in one embodiment , the thickness of the conductive material is selected to equal approximately 25 . 4 microns ( 1 mil ). in step 302 , a coating of urethane ( or a similar polymer ) is spin coated on one side of the conductive material for the purpose of achieving a surface with greater adhesive qualities . in step 303 , a urethane film ( or any other suitable biocompatible polymer ) is applied to the same side as the spin coat and is laminated to the conductive material . the urethane film and coating provide an insulative layer to electrically isolate the conductive material . the urethane film preferably has a thickness of preferably 25 . 4 to 152 . 4 microns ( one to six mils ). in step 304 , the paddle form is created by scribing the paddle form in the conductive material using a suitable laser ( e . g ., a programmable yag laser system ). a separate strip or โ feature โ of conductive material is defined in a pattern definition for each electrode that extends from a respective connector element 206 ( shown collectively as 206 - 1 through 206 - 8 in fig2 ) to the area where the corresponding electrode will be formed ( as will be discussed below ). in addition to defining the conductive paths , the laser scribing defines the guide structures that facilitate the self - folding functionality of paddle 200 . it shall be appreciated that the guide structures ( as well as any structure providing spring - like properties ) need not be conductive . the pattern definition is preferably provided to a programmable laser system . the programmable laser system then applies pulses of energy according to the defined pattern to ablate the conductive material between each strip of conductive material . the application of laser pulses is controlled to ablate the conductive material at the defined locations without cutting completely through the urethane film behind the ablated conductive material . the lamination between the urethane film and the conductive material holds the separate strips or features of conductive material at the defined locations . also , upon completion of the application of laser pulses to paddle 200 , each strip of conductive material is electrically isolated from every other strip or feature due to the laser scribed separations between them and the insulative characteristic of the urethane film . in an alternative embodiment , photo - etching techniques could be employed to create the paddle form . for example , the paddle form could be created using a photoresist and chemical etching in lieu of laser scribing . in another alternative embodiment , micro - printing is employed to create the paddle form . in step 305 , a spin coat of urethane is applied over the conductive material on the side opposite to the urethane laminate layer . the coating of the urethane material electrically insulates the top of paddle 200 . in step 306 , electrodes 203 are defined by removing the urethane material of the applied coating at the respective locations thereby exposing the conductive material at those locations . the removal of the urethane material may occur using the programmable laser . alternatively , a separate co 2 laser could be utilized for exposure of the conductive material and / or masked plasma etching . in step 307 , connector elements 206 are exposed on one or both sides of paddle 200 . after the completion of paddle 200 according to the flowchart of fig3 , paddle 200 is ready to be mechanically integrated with and electrically coupled to a medical lead . to provide electrical connections between an implantable pulse generator and electrodes 203 of paddle 200 , the medical lead provides a plurality of conductors ( e . g ., wires ) which are typically spirally wound around a mandrel . each conductor is contained within an insulative material to ensure that the plurality of conductors are electrically isolated from each other . also , the plurality of conductors are typically enclosed within a protective flexible body of biocompatible and biostable polymer . on a proximal end of the medical lead , a plurality of terminals are provided for coupling a pulse generator device to the various conductors . on the distal end of a medical lead , openings in the outer body and in the insulative coating of the conductors are made at suitable locations . conductive material can be provided within the openings to provide an electrical path from the conductors to the surface of the lead . the exposed connector elements 206 of paddle 200 are preferably coupled to the lead conductors at these locations to create the electrical connection between the conductors of the lead and electrodes 203 . alternatively , a wire connection could be employed between each conductor of the lead and a respective connector element 206 . additional details regarding specific medical leads and lead fabrication methods are available in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 216 , 045 entitled โ implantable lead and method of manufacture ,โ which is incorporated herein by reference . it shall be appreciated that paddle designs according to the present invention can be implemented with any type of suitable medical lead . fig4 a depicts a cross - sectional view of paddle lead assembly 400 according to one representative embodiment . medical lead 410 is shown at the bottom of the assembly . block 420 is utilized to facilitate the lead assembly process and as shown in fig4 a , is affixed to medical lead 410 . block 420 can be implemented using an extrusion of bio - compatible polymer . block 420 could also be implemented as an injection molded structure . paddle 200 is coupled to block 420 . block 420 may optionally include recess 430 that facilitates the folding of segment 210 . it shall be appreciated that other shapes and designs could be employed for block 420 . also , in an alternative embodiment , paddle 200 could be directly attached to a stimulation lead . one advantage of assembly 400 is the minimization of volume displacement associated with the folding and unfolding of the paddle . reference is made to fig7 for comparison , where foldable lead 700 folds in a manner similar to turning pages in a book . as shown in fig7 , this type of folding requires free space 750 to accomplish the folding and unfolding . specifically , if foldable lead 700 were inserted into the epidural space of a patient , space 750 must be free of tissue to allow foldable lead 700 to unfold . however , assembly 400 is adapted to fold in a different manner that requires significantly less volume displacement . recess 430 and the slit 204 enables portion 210 of paddle 200 to fold over portion 220 in a โ sliding โ or substantially lateral manner . slit 204 provides a degree of flexibility to the paddle and recess 430 guides portion 210 during the folding process . as shown in the progression of fig4 b through 4d , the upward displacement of portion 210 of paddle 200 during folding ( and , similarly , during unfolding ) is relatively minimal . that is , a โ bend โ develops in portion 210 which is moved across the portion of the paddle 200 during the folding and unfolding process . accordingly , assembly 400 can be unfolded within a much smaller volume than foldable lead 700 . fig5 a - 5h depict various steps of a method for placement of a paddle lead within the epidural space of a patient according to one representative embodiment . as shown in fig5 a , an epidural needle is inserted into the epidural space . the initial insertion of the epidural needle typically occurs an angle that is offset relative to the spinal column . also , the location for insertion of the needle is typically two to five vertebrae below the spinal tissue associated with the pain to be treated by the electrical neuromodulation . using fluoroscopic guidance , a guide wire is inserted with the stylet slightly withdrawn as shown in fig5 b . once the tip of the guide wire is fully within the epidural space and slightly beyond the distal tip of the needle , the stylet is fully re - inserted and the guide wire is advanced to the desired target location as shown in fig5 c . as shown in fig5 d , the needle is removed using the โ hold - and - push โ technique leaving the guide wire in the epidural space . the insertion tool 500 is inserted over the proximal end of the guide wire and advanced into the epidural space under fluoroscopy to appropriate position ( fig5 e ) and the guide wire is removed . for the purpose of the present application , an insertion tool refers to any catheter - like structure , having a lumen or an open channel , that can be inserted between the vertebrae into the epidural space without a partial laminectomy . the insertion tool may or may not comprise a sharp distal end . the insertion tool preferably expands the tissue surrounding the guide wire thereby enabling the insertion of the paddle lead . in practice , the insertion tool is preferably a flexible hollow plastic tube . the flexibility of the tube accommodates an offset insertion angle into the vertebrae used for the initial insertion of the epidural needle . an example of an introduction tool can be found in u . s . patent publication no . 20050288758a1 , which is incorporated herein by reference . if appropriate , a segment of the epidural space could be opened to accommodate paddle 200 ( step not shown ). for example , a cutting tool ( e . g ., having dual blades or scissor - like elements ) could be advanced through insertion tool 500 to open tissue to allow paddle 200 to be received and unfolded . the distal end of paddle 200 of lead assembly 400 is inserted within insertion tool 500 as shown in fig5 f . preferably , a guide wire is inserted within the lumen of the lead coupled to paddle 200 to facilitate the advancement of the lead and paddle . the contact of paddle 200 with the interior of insertion tool 500 causes paddle 200 to fold upon itself thereby fitting paddle 200 within the insertion tool as shown in fig5 g . paddle 200 is advanced through insertion tool 500 by advancing lead body 410 as shown in fig5 h . when paddle 200 exits insertion tool 500 , paddle 200 resumes its extended state to expose electrodes 203 to the target spinal tissue for stimulation . in an alternative embodiment , the lead could be mated to the insertion tool using a suitable mating component and the lead could be advanced concurrently with the placement of the insertion tool . fig6 depicts foldable paddle lead 400 coupled to implantable pulse generator ( ipg ) 600 according to one representative embodiment . an example of a commercially available ipg is the eon ยฎ rechargeable ipg available from advanced neuromodulation systems , inc . as shown in fig6 , paddle lead 400 is coupled to one of the headers 610 of generator 600 . each header 610 electrically couples to a respective lead 410 or an extension lead . also , each header 610 electrically couples to internal components contained within the sealed portion 620 of ipg 600 . the sealed portion 620 contains the pulse generating circuitry , communication circuitry , control circuitry , and battery ( not shown ) within an enclosure to protect the components after implantation within a patient . the control circuitry controls the pulse generating circuitry to apply varying pulses to the patient via electrodes 203 of paddle 200 according to multiple parameters ( e . g ., amplitude , pulse width , frequency , etc .). the parameters are set by an external programming device ( not shown ) via wireless communication with ipg 600 . although some representative embodiments have been discussed in terms of neurostimulation applications , alternative representative embodiments could be employed for other medical applications . for example , in one alternative embodiment , a paddle structure could be adapted for any suitable type of cardiac stimulation such as defibrillation and pacing . the paddle structure could be inserted through the vascular system of the patient using a suitable catheter and introduced within a suitable cardiac region . the paddle structure then could be adapted to unfold upon exiting the catheter to contact the cardiac tissue to be stimulated . in other alternative embodiments , the paddle could be utilized for cardiac mapping and / or tissue ablation . some representative embodiments may provide a number of advantages . some representative embodiments provide a paddle that can be inserted into and removed from the epidural space of a patient without requiring a partial laminectomy . furthermore , some representative embodiments provide a method of fabricating a paddle design that is highly repeatable and efficient . the fabrication method further does not necessarily require the use of any overly caustic chemicals . although representative embodiments and advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims . moreover , the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process , machine , manufacture , composition of matter , means , methods and steps described in the specification . as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from this disclosure , processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps , presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized without departing from the scope of the appended claims . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps . | 8 |
embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems for speeding up backup and restore operations performed by a hash file system (โ hfs โ)/ backup server and content addressed storage (โ cas โ) system by reducing required seek operations . in a typical embodiment , data entered into the cas system is assigned a probabilistically unique identifier ( such as a hash ) based on the contents of the data . the identifier is steered to an index stripe on a storage node of the cas system where it is stored . the index stripe also records a specific storage address ( on a data stripe of the same or a different storage node ) of the corresponding data . in this manner , the data can be retrieved by using the identifier to lookup the specific storage address in the corresponding index stripe and then retrieving the data from the storage address of the corresponding data stripe . data entered into the cas system as described may be of three basic types : ( 1 ) atomic data , also referred to as chunks or blocks of data , ( 2 ) composite data , or recipes for constructing larger chunks of data that includes probabilistically unique identifiers pointing to atomic data and / or other composite data with instructions of how to combine the atomic and / or other composite data , and ( 3 ) directory element data for every backed up file , which includes metadata , filename , modify times , sizes , attributes , acls , and one or more probabilistically unique identifiers pointing to the contents of the file ( in other words , directory element data also includes recipes for constructing larger chunks of data ( e . g ., files ) from atomics and / or composites ). as explained , the cas system stores data based on its content , thereby preventing the redundant storage of data . this enables one or more clients of the hfs server to generate de - duplicated backup data sets . a client generates a de - duplicated backup data set by assigning probabilistically unique identifiers to data within the backup data set based on content and compares them to probabilistically unique identifiers corresponding to data already entered into the cas system . for data that has already been stored in the cas system , the client provides the probabilistically unique identifiers to the hfs server without providing the corresponding data . for data not already stored in the cas system , the client provides the probabilistically unique identifiers and the corresponding data to the hfs server . to avoid data corruption , the hfs server verifies the existence of data making up composites or directory elements before entering composites or directory elements into a backup data set stored in the cas system . typically , this includes looking up the probabilistically unique identifiers referenced in the composite or directory element in the appropriate index stripe ( s ) to identify corresponding storage addresses . to reduce seek operations performed later during restore , the hfs server stores the corresponding storage addresses with the composites or directory elements . consequently , the storage address of each piece of data pointed to by probabilistically unique identifiers referenced in a composite or directory element can be retrieved when the composite or directory element is retrieved . to further reduce seek operations during both backup and restore processes , the hfs server can store data localized by a corresponding composite or directory element . for instance , when entering a new composite or directory element into the cas system , the probabilistically unique identifier derived from the composite or directory element is steered to an index stripe on a first storage node where the new composite or directory element is stored . the composite or directory element includes probabilistically unique identifiers corresponding to data that may or may not be currently stored in the cas system . for new data not currently stored in the cas system , the corresponding probabilistically unique identifiers are steered to index stripes on storage nodes that may be different from the first storage node . however , the new data is stored contiguously on the first storage node near the composite or directory element , rather than on the same storage nodes as the corresponding probabilistically unique identifiers . later during a restore operation , the hfs server retrieves a composite or directory element . since the storage addresses for data pointed to by probabilistically unique identifiers are stored with the composite or directory element , the hfs server does not have to do a seek operation on the corresponding index stripes to identify corresponding storage addresses . thus , a cache used by the hfs server to generate a restore data set can be immediately populated with probabilistically unique identifiers and storage addresses of data pointed to by the probabilistically unique identifiers once a composite or directory element has been retrieved . additionally , multiple data stored localized by a corresponding composite or directory element can be retrieved in one seek once the cache has been populated with storage addresses . in particular , the storage addresses for the localized data may be recognized as contiguous addresses such that the hfs server can retrieve localized data all at once without doing a seek on each address individually . advantageously , this can significantly reduce the number of seek operations performed during a restore process . additionally , the localized storage of data near a corresponding composite or directory element can reduce the number of seeks performed during a backup process . to practice the invention , the client , backup server , and storage may be any devices useful for providing the described functions , including data processing and storage and communication devices and systems such as computer devices typically used as hosts in user systems with processing , memory , and input / output components , and server devices configured to maintain and then transmit digital data over a communications network . data typically is communicated in digital format following standard communication and transfer protocols . the data storage resources are generally described as disk , optical , and tape devices that implement raid and other storage techniques and that may use scsi and other i / o , data transfer , and storage protocols , but the invention is not intended to be limited to the example embodiments or to specific hardware and storage mechanisms as it is useful for nearly any data storage arrangement in which backups of digital data are generated and maintained . with reference now to fig1 , a data storage ( or data protection ) system 100 is illustrated which implements aspects of the invention . the system 100 is shown in simplified or example form and is intended to represent a distributed network of computer systems / devices that generate digital data that is protected with copies stored in an archive or backup file system ( such as a disk , tape , or other archival solution ). the backup or data protection is managed by a backup server 140 that may be provided remotely as shown and / or be provided all or in part as part of a client system ( e . g ., client systems 110 , 120 may include an instance of a storage application ). the backup server 140 may also be referred to as a data storage management system , hash file system (โ hfs โ) server , or content addressed storage (โ cas โ) server . as shown , the system 100 includes a client system or network 110 such as a data center that includes a plurality of client nodes 112 such as desktops , laptops , or the like that are networked to one or more servers ( or other memory devices ) 114 . client data 116 generated and / or accessed by the client nodes 112 can additionally be stored on the servers 114 to allow ready access . one or more remote clients 120 can link to the client system 110 and / or to the data storage management system 140 via communications network 130 ( e . g ., a lan , a wan , the internet , or other wired and / or wireless digital communications networks ). in addition , the remote client 120 may store client data 126 generated and / or accessed by the remote client 120 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the client data 116 , 126 is managed for data protection by a high efficiency storage application 117 , 124 on each of the client systems 110 , 120 . generally , such data protection involves the high efficiency storage applications 117 , 124 generating backups for storage in the archive 144 . the archive 144 may take many forms such as content addressed storage (โ cas โ), disk storage , holographic systems , tape storage , other memory mechanisms , and combinations of such mechanisms that are useful for archiving large amounts of digital information . further , the archive 144 may be integrated with the hfs server 140 as shown and / or may be in a remote location . in the present embodiment , the archive 144 comprises a cas archive . in one embodiment of the invention , the storage applications 117 , 124 are high efficiency storage applications that control the size of the generated backups 146 such as by storing limited copies of data objects or atomics and / or changes to stored content . for example , the applications 117 , 124 may be cas or hfs applications . various embodiments of example cas / hfs systems and related methods are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 704 , 730 ( the &# 39 ; 730 patent ) and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 810 , 398 ( the &# 39 ; 398 patent ), both of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety . alternately or additionally , the backups generated at each of the client systems 110 , 120 may be transmitted to the backup server 140 prior to being data de - duplicated . in this case , the backup server 140 may include a high efficiency storage application 142 , similar to the storage applications 117 , 124 described above , for de - duplicating the backups 146 prior to their storage in the archive 144 . alternately or additionally , the storage applications 117 , 124 , 142 may be used to restore data . in one embodiment , the backup server 140 includes a cache 148 for use in restore operations . typically , each of the backups 146 represents a secondary copy of the production client data 116 , 126 as of a particular point in time . for instance , each storage application 117 , 124 may generate backups at different times , such as hourly , daily , weekly , and the like or any combination thereof . additionally , the size of a backup can be minimized , thereby conserving network resources , by including only new / changed data in the backup . the hfs server 140 receives and stores backups generated at each of the client systems 110 , 120 in the archive 144 . the hfs server 140 implements a hash file system to store and retrieve data from the cas archive 144 . as previously described , backup data stored in the cas archive 144 may be of three basic types : ( 1 ) atomic data , ( 2 ) composite data , and ( 3 ) directory element data . both composite data and directory element data include recipes for generating larger chunks of data from atomic data and / or other composite data . although not illustrated , the backup server 140 may further include a user accounting system which allows symbolic lookup of root hashes for file systems stored in the cas archive 144 . with reference additionally now to fig2 , a logic flow chart is shown depicting the process of entry of a computer file 202 into the cas archive 144 . the computer file 202 may be generated by a user on a client node or on a remote client , for example , and may correspond to the client data 116 or 126 . any digital sequence could also be entered into the archive 144 of the hfs server 140 in the present embodiment in much the same way , but the current example wherein the digital sequence entered consists of a computer file is instructive . the process 200 begins by performing 204 a hash function on file a 202 and the resulting hash value ( also referred to as a โ hash โ or โ content hash โ) 206 of file a is compared 208 to the contents of a database 212 containing hash file values . in one embodiment , the database 212 corresponds to the backup server 140 and / or archive 144 of fig1 . if the hash value 206 of file a is already in the database , then the file &# 39 ; s hash value is added 210 to a directory list or hash recipe . this hash recipe includes , in one embodiment , the data and associated structures needed to reconstruct a file , directory , volume , or entire system depending on the class of computer file data entered into the system . the contents of the database 212 comprising hash values and corresponding data is provided in the form of existing hash values 214 for the comparison operation of decision step 208 . on the other hand , if the hash value 206 for file a is not currently in the database , at step 216 the file is broken into pieces 302 and each piece is hashed to generate hash values 304 , illustrated in fig3 . in one embodiment , file a is divided into variably - sized pieces based on commonality with other pieces in the system or the likelihood of pieces being found to be in common in the future according to the sticky byte algorithm described in the &# 39 ; 730 and &# 39 ; 398 patents . alternately or additionally , file a may be divided into pieces using other algorithms that generate pieces of variable or fixed sizes . fig3 further depicts a comparison process 300 for the hash values 304 of each piece 302 of the file a to those of existing hash values 214 maintained in the database 212 of fig2 . particularly , the hash values 304 for each piece 302 of the file are compared 306 to existing hash values 214 and new hash values 308 and corresponding new data pieces 310 are added to the set 212 . in this way , hash values 308 not previously present in the database set 212 are added together with their associated data pieces 310 . the process 300 also results in the production of records 312 ( also referred to as recipes ) showing the equivalence of a single hash value 314 for all file pieces with the hash values 304 of the various pieces 302 . new / modified recipes 312 and hash values 314 derived from the new / modified recipes are also added to the set 212 . various hashing algorithms can be implemented by the storage applications 117 , 124 to obtain hash values of files , composites , atomics , and the like , including sha1 , md5 , and the like or any combination thereof . in one embodiment , the hashing algorithm implemented produces deterministic and probabilistically unique identifiers . the identifiers are deterministic in the sense that given an input , the output identifier will always be the same and probabilistically unique in the sense that the chance of hash collisions is small . while the probabilistically unique identifiers may be hash values , other probabilistically unique or actually unique identifiers can be used by adapting the methods described herein . with reference additionally now to fig4 , a conceptual representation 400 is shown illustrative of the fact that composite data ( such as composite data 402 and 404 ) derived by means of the system and method of the present invention is effectively the same as the data 406 represented explicitly but is instead created by a โ recipe โ or formula . each recipe may include the concatenation of data represented by one or more hashes ( selected from the hashes 408 ) within the recipe and / or the result of a function using the data represented by the hashes . for example , the recipe for composite data 402 includes the concatenation of data represented by hash values 403 . the data blocks or atomics 406 may be variable length blocks as shown and the hash values 408 are derived from their associated data blocks . note that composite data can reference other composite data . as one example , composite data 404 references composite data 402 . further , the hash values for the composite data 402 , 404 can be derived from the value of the data the recipe creates or the hash value of the recipe itself . with reference additionally now to fig5 , another conceptual representation 500 is shown of how the hash file system and method of the invention may be utilized to organize data 502 to optimize the reutilization of redundant sequences through the use of hash values 506 as pointers to the data they represent and wherein data 502 may be represented either as explicit byte sequences ( atomic data ) 508 or as groups of sequences ( composites ) 504 . the representation 500 illustrates the tremendous commonality of recipes and data that gets reused at every level . the basic structure of the hash file system of the present embodiment is essentially that of a โ tree โ or โ bush โ wherein the hash values 506 are used instead of conventional pointers . the hash values 506 are used in the recipes ( e . g ., composites or directory elements ) to point to the data or another hash value that could also itself be a recipe . in essence , then , recipes can point to other recipes that point to still other recipes that ultimately point to some specific data ( e . g ., atomic data ), eventually getting down to nothing but atomic data . at the topmost level of the tree 500 of fig5 , a hash can be performed to generate a root hash 510 . because the hashes performed at each level of the tree result in the production of probabilistically unique hash values for each corresponding data atomic , composite , or directory element upon which the hash is performed , the existence of the root hash 510 in the database 212 ( e . g ., on the backup server 140 ) implicates the existence of all the data beneath the root hash somewhere on the backup server . in other words , if the root hash 510 exists in the database 212 ( e . g ., as one of the existing hashes 214 ), then all of the data referenced at any level within the tree of the root hash 510 exists somewhere on the system 140 and can be restored by beginning with the root hash and retrieving the directory element , composite , and atomic data at every level beneath the root hash . with reference additionally now to fig6 , a simplified diagram 600 is illustrative of a hash file system address translation function for an example 160 - bit hash value 602 . the hash value 602 includes a data structure comprising a front portion 604 and a back portion 606 as shown and the diagram 600 illustrates a particular โ 0 ( 1 )โ operation that is used ( e . g ., by the hfs server 140 ) for enabling the use of the hash value 602 to go to the location of the particular storage node in the system that contains the corresponding data . the diagram 600 illustrates how the front portion 604 of the hash value 602 data structure may be used to indicate the hash prefix to stripe identification (โ id โ) 608 and how that is , in turn , utilized to map the stripe id to ip address and the id class to ip address 610 . in this example , the โ s 2 โ indicates stripe 2 of index node 37 612 . the index stripe 612 of node 37 then indicates stripe 88 of data node 73 indicated by the reference numeral 614 , and may also indicate a particular offset or object id within stripe 88 of data node 73 . in operation then , a portion of the hash value 602 itself may be used to indicate or steer the hash value being entered into the hash system to an index stripe which records a particular storage address ( including data node and offset / object id ) for the corresponding data . in one embodiment , the selection of the particular storage address may be based at least in part on a portion of the probabilistically unique identifier . for instance , the back portion 606 may be used to determine offset or object id information . thus , one portion of the hash value can be used to indicate which node in the system contains the relevant data , another portion of the hash value 602 may be used to indicate which stripe of data at that particular node and yet another portion of the hash value 602 to indicate where within that stripe the data resides . through this process , it can rapidly be determined if the data represented by the hash value 602 is already present in the system . to restore client data backed up in a conventional hfs system , an hfs server starts with a root hash ( or a hash pointing to a directory element to restore a single file , or the like ). the hfs server can use the method described with respect to fig6 to identify the corresponding index stripe that information about the root hash is recorded on . in this case , the hfs server has to do a seek on the index stripe to locate data node and offset / object id information and then do a seek on the data node to retrieve the particular underlying data , which may be one or more atomics , composites , directory elements , or any combination thereof . each composite or directory element includes hash values pointing to other data . for each hash value included in a composite or directory element , the conventional hfs server can do a seek in a corresponding index stripe to determine a specific storage address for data pointed to by the hash value . then the hfs server can do another seek in a corresponding data stripe to retrieve the appropriate data . thus , at each level of a restore , a conventional hfs server performs numerous seeks in corresponding index stripes to determine specific storage addresses for data associated with hash values and then performs numerous seeks in corresponding data stripes to retrieve the associated data . the hfs server typically populates a cache with the composite / directory element data , hash values , storage addresses and data atomics in order to properly reconstruct client data before sending it to the client requesting the restore . according to embodiments of the invention , however , the numerous seek operations performed by an hfs server to retrieve different data stored in different corresponding data stripes can be reduced by localizing storage of data near corresponding composites / directory elements . additionally , the numerous seek operations performed by an hfs server to determine specific storage addresses recorded in different index stripes can be almost completely eliminated by recording storage addresses for data pointed to by hashes in a recipe with the recipe when the recipe is committed to the hash file system . with additional reference to fig7 , a method 700 is depicted for localizing storage of data near corresponding recipes and for storing data addresses with recipes entered into a hash file system during backup . the method 700 typically begins by an hfs server receiving 702 for storage in a cas archive one or more new data pieces and a recipe for generating a data structure ( e . g ., a larger chunk of data , a file , or the like ) from a plurality of underlying data pieces that include the one or more new data pieces . the recipe may include hash values or other probabilistically unique identifiers corresponding to the plurality of underlying data pieces . the hfs server may additionally receive hash values corresponding to the recipe and / or to the one or more new data pieces . alternately , the hfs server may receive 702 for storage in the cas archive a recipe for generating a data structure from a plurality of underlying data pieces that do not include one or more new data pieces , in which case no new data pieces would be received with the recipe . after receiving the recipe , the one or more new data pieces , and the corresponding hash values , the hfs server identifies 704 a first storage node for storage of the recipe . this may include analyzing a portion of the hash value derived from the recipe to steer the derived hash value to a particular index stripe using the method of fig6 and selecting the storage node of the particular index stripe for storage of the recipe . if the recipe references 706 only old data already stored in the cas archive , the method 700 can proceed directly to step 714 . this may be the case when the hfs server only receives 702 a recipe without also receiving one or more new data pieces and where the recipe only includes old hash values corresponding to old data already stored in the cas archive . if the recipe references 706 one or more new data pieces not stored in the cas archive , the method continues by storing 708 the one or more new data pieces in the first storage node . for multiple new pieces , they can be stored contiguously in the first storage node such that they can all be retrieved in a single read . either before or after storing 708 the one or more new data pieces in the first storage node , the hfs server identifies 710 one or more other storage nodes for the one or more new hash values corresponding to the one or more new data pieces . this may include analyzing a portion of each hash value corresponding to a new data piece to steer the hash value to an index stripe using the method of fig6 . once one or more other storage nodes have been identified 710 for the one or more new hash values , the hfs server can record 712 the one or more corresponding new hash values and storage addresses in the appropriate storage node ( s ). for instance , the hash value for a new data piece and a storage location of the new data piece on the first storage node can be recorded in the index stripe of a second storage node . prior to entering the recipe into the cas archive 144 , the hfs server performs 714 a reference check on the underlying data pieces associated with the hash values included in the recipe . the reference check is performed to verify the existence of the underlying data and to prevent data corruption . performing the reference check may include , for each hash value included in the recipe , looking up the hash value in a corresponding index stripe / storage node to determine a storage address for the associated data . alternately or additionally , it may be unnecessary to perform 714 a reference check on new data pieces referenced by the recipe as they may have been received and stored concurrently with the processing of the recipe , in which case the hfs server already knows they exist and where . thus , when the recipe references only new data pieces without referencing any old data pieces , the step 714 of reference checking can be skipped altogether . for new data pieces , the hfs server 140 already knows specific storage addresses of the new data pieces ( as they were recorded by the hfs server with corresponding hash values in the other storage nodes in step 712 ). for old data pieces , the hfs server 140 can read the specific storage addresses for the associated data from the corresponding index stripes during the reference check . the specific storage addresses for all of the data associated with the hash values included in the recipe can then be appended 716 to the recipe . as will be explained more fully below , the inclusion of these storage addresses โ also referred to as โ location hints โโ with the recipe virtually eliminates index seeks performed to identify storage addresses during a restore process . once the storage addresses have been appended to the recipe , the recipe can then be stored 718 in the previously identified first storage node of the cas archive 144 . alternately or additionally , the recipe can be stored earlier in the method 700 , such as immediately after identifying 704 the first storage node for the recipe . in this case , the storage addresses can be appended to the recipe in the first storage node after the recipe has already been stored . the localized storage of underlying data pieces and appending of storage addresses to a recipe is conceptually illustrated in fig8 . as shown , the hfs server 140 receives a recipe a , new data pieces 1 and 4 , and hash values 810 , 812 , 814 corresponding to recipe a and new data pieces 1 and 4 . a hash steering module 816 of the hfs server 140 steers the hash values to corresponding index stripes on storage nodes according to the methods described herein . the new data pieces 1 and 4 are contiguously stored in storage node # 2 , which is the same storage node in which recipe a is stored . after storing data pieces 1 and 4 in storage node # 2 , storage addresses for these data pieces can be recorded with the corresponding hash values ( e . g ., hash # 1 and hash # 4 ) in the index stripes of the storage nodes that hash # 1 and hash # 4 were steered to . as shown , recipe a also references old data piece 2 and old data piece 3 with hash # 2 and hash # 3 . the hfs server 140 can perform a reference check on these data pieces to verify their existence prior to entering the recipe a into the cas system . during the reference check , the hfs server 140 identifies storage addresses for these data pieces . these storage addresses and the storage addresses of the new data pieces can be appended to recipe a as shown , and stored alongside recipe a in storage node # 2 . in the embodiment of fig8 , recipe a references only atomic data . however , embodiments of the invention also include localizing the storage of composite or directory element data referenced by a recipe . in this case , a lower level composite can be localized to an upper level composite or directory element , while data referenced by the lower level composite can be localized to the lower level composite . advantageously , the localized storage of data with a recipe reduces the number of seeks required to restore the recipe . for instance , if all of the data pieces making up a recipe are stored contiguously near the recipe , the data pieces can be retrieved in a single seek rather than in multiple seeks . this is facilitated by including storage addresses of underlying data pieces with recipes . further , the inclusion of storage addresses with recipes can be accomplished while adding little or no processing overhead to the hfs server 140 . in particular , the hfs server 140 performs reference checks when entering recipes into the cas archive 144 to prevent data corruption , whether or not storage addresses are stored with recipes . consequently , the hfs server has to read the storage addresses for the data associated with the hash values included in the recipe anyways , and these storage addresses can easily be appended to the recipe . additionally , the inclusion of storage addresses with recipes adds very little data to the cas archive 144 . for instance , in a typical cas archive , recipes , including composites and directory elements , make up less than 2 % of the stored data . the aggregate size of storage addresses stored alongside any given recipe is less than the size of the recipe itself . consequently , the addition of storage addresses to a cas archive typically amounts to less than 2 % additional data . however , this less than 2 % additional data can result in almost complete elimination of index seeks and up to 90 % or higher reduction in data seeks ( e . g ., if a recipe references 10 data pieces and all are stored contiguously near the recipe , only 1 data seek is required to retrieve all 10 data pieces , instead of 10 separate seeks ). with additional reference to fig9 , a method 900 is illustrated for reducing the number of seek operations performed by an hfs server 140 during a restore process to speed up the restore process . the method 900 typically begins by receiving 902 a restore request from a client 110 ( or 120 ). the restore request may comprise a request for a backup from a particular date / time , in which case the hfs server 140 may use a user accounting system to identify and retrieve a hash value or other probabilistically unique identifier assigned to the data for which restore is requested . alternately or additionally , the restore request received from the client 110 may include the hash value itself . the hash value may comprise a top level root hash , or a hash value at any other level within the hash file system . for instance , the hash value may comprise a root hash assigned to a complete backup when the client is requesting the restore of all of the client data 116 , or it may comprise a hash value assigned to a directory element when the client is requesting the restore of a single file , or the like . using the hash value , the hfs server 140 performs 904 an index seek on a corresponding index stripe to determine a storage address for an underlying recipe from which the probabilistically unique identifier is derived . as used herein , an โ index seek โ simply refers to a seek in an index stripe to identify a storage address for data associated with a hash value . typically , the storage address identifies a storage node , a data stripe on the storage node , and an offset or object id within the data stripe . advantageously , the first index seek can be the only index seek required to restore backup data , no matter how many levels of atomics / recipes extend beneath the starting hash value of a given backup . in contrast , a conventional hfs server typically performs index seeks on every hash value at every layer of a given backup during a restore process . once a storage address for the recipe is identified , the hfs server 140 performs a data seek to retrieve 906 the recipe from the identified storage address . as used herein , a โ data seek โ simply refers to a seek into a storage node to retrieve data at a particular storage address of the storage node . advantageously , the recipe includes appended location hints or storage addresses for data associated with the hash values included in the recipe . in this way , the hfs server 140 can populate 908 a cache 148 with the hash values included in the recipe and corresponding location hints or storage addresses without performing any additional index seeks . the hfs server 140 can use the populated cache to retrieve 910 contiguously stored data ( which can also populate the cache 148 ) in one data seek . where all of the data referenced by the recipe is contiguously stored , it can all be retrieved 810 in one seek . alternately or additionally , one or more data may be referenced by the recipe that are not contiguously stored , in which case more seeks may be required to retrieve all of the data . if the retrieved data includes 912 one or more recipes , a portion of the method 900 may be repeated to retrieve 906 each recipe , populate 908 the cache 148 with hash values included in the recipe and location hints for associated data , and retrieve 910 contiguously stored data in one seek , and non - contiguously stored data in additional seeks . this cycle can be repeated through all the layers of a restore process until the retrieved data no longer includes 912 recipes . finally , the hfs server 140 can generate 914 a restored data set from the retrieved data in the cache 148 . it will be appreciated by one of skill in the art , with the benefit of the present disclosure , that the methods 700 and 900 of fig7 and 9 can be combined in whole or in part to practice different embodiments of the invention . further , the methods 700 and 900 may be modified to include additional or fewer steps than those illustrated and discussed above . for instance , step 716 of fig7 ( appending location hints to a recipe ) may be included as part of step 718 ( storing a recipe with location hints in the cas archive ). alternately or additionally , performing 714 a reference check is not required in all embodiments as explained above . with respect to fig9 , for example , the method 900 for reducing seek operations during a restore process can begin at step 906 rather than at step 902 . the embodiments described herein may include the use of a special purpose or general - purpose computer including various computer hardware or software modules , as discussed in greater detail below . embodiments within the scope of the present invention also include computer - readable media for carrying or having computer - executable instructions or data structures stored thereon . such computer - readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer . by way of example , and not limitation , such computer - readable media can comprise ram , rom , eeprom , cd - rom or other optical disk storage , magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices , or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of computer - executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer . when information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection ( either hardwired , wireless , or a combination of hardwired and wireless ) to a computer , the computer properly views the connection as a computer - readable medium . thus , any such connection is properly termed a computer - readable medium . combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer - readable media . computer - executable instructions comprise , for example , instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer , special purpose computer , or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions . although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts , it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above . rather , the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims . as used herein , the term โ module โ or โ component โ can refer to software objects or routines that execute on the computing system . the different components , modules , engines , and services described herein may be implemented as objects or processes that execute on the computing system ( e . g ., as separate threads ). while the system and methods described herein are preferably implemented in software , implementations in hardware or a combination of software and hardware are also possible and contemplated . in this description , a โ computing entity โ may be any computing system as previously defined herein , or any module or combination of modulates running on a computing system . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics . the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive . the scope of the invention is , therefore , indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description . all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope . | 6 |
while this invention may be embodied in many different forms , there are shown in the drawings and described in detail herein specific embodiments of the invention . the present disclosure is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments illustrated . for the purposes of this disclosure , the term stent refers to stents , stent - grafts , grafts and other endoluminal prostheses whether self - expanding , balloon expandable , self - expanding and balloon expandable or otherwise expandable as are known in the art . in addition to the over - the - wire embodiments ( example also found in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 980 , 533 ) shown in the figures , the inventive catheter system and methods may also be provided in any catheter system , such as plain balloon angioplasty catheters and rapid - exchange configurations . examples of rapid - exchange catheters may be found in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 534 , 007 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 833 , 706 . the inventive stent delivery systems may also be made in fixed wire form . examples of fixed - wire catheters may be found in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 702 , 364 . the system may be adapted for use with a medical device such as a stent , for example , a self - expanding , balloon expandable or combination self - expanding and balloon expandable stent . the system may also be used for delivery of other medical devices for use in the body as well including , but not limited to , ultrasonic devices , laser devices , vena cava filters , drug coated sleeves and other implantable drug delivery devices and the like . the inventive medical systems disclosed herein may also be provided with any of the features disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 096 , 056 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 068 , 634 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 036 , 697 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 007 , 543 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 968 , 069 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 957 , 930 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 944 , 726 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 653 , 691 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 534 , 007 . the stent delivery system may also comprise various coatings as are known in the art , including lubricious coatings to facilitate movement of the various parts of the system , as well as collagen - type coatings . more information concerning suitable coatings may be found in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 443 , 907 , and u . s . application ser . nos . 08 / 382478 , 09 / 306939 and 09 / 316502 . the invention is also directed to medical device delivery systems and catheters produced using the inventive methods . for the purposes of the detailed description of the invention , figures of a portion of the distal end of a typical balloon catheter will be used . it should be understood , as mentioned above , that the present invention is applicable to other portions of the catheter as well as other medical devices , which use a constraining sleeve for bonding parts and joints together . it should also be understood that the materials used may be any of those materials known in the art where applicable . for the purposes of this disclosure , unless otherwise indicated , identical reference numerals used in different figures refer to the same component . [ 0036 ] fig1 illustrates the distal end of a typical balloon catheter 10 for delivering stent to a specific location within the body . the catheter 10 has an outer sheath 12 which extends over the body of the catheter 10 . the catheter also comprises an inner shaft 14 forming an inner lumen 18 , which allows access for a guide wire 15 . a balloon 16 is mounted on the catheter 10 at the distal end . the proximal end of the balloon 20 , in this type of catheter , is bonded to the distal end 22 of the outer sheath 12 at point 24 . in other embodiments , the proximal end of the balloon may also be bonded to the inner shaft . the catheter is typically guided through a guide catheter 53 ( shown in fig4 ). the distal end of the balloon 26 is mounted on the inner shaft 14 and will eventually be bonded to the inner shaft 14 at point 28 . there is a distal tip 30 at the distal end of the catheter , but , as will be explained later , it may not be needed due to the forming of a distal tip by the sleeve 32 ( hereafter called sleeve 32 ). marker bands 31 are also illustrated . the sleeves of the present embodiments suitably comprise non - cross linked thermoplastics , such as olefins and tecothanes , so that bonding and flowing is enhanced . the parts of the catheter to be made are held together via the sleeve 32 . as mentioned above , the sleeve 32 is heat shrunk around the parts to be permanently bonded to constrain them in place as a bonding aid . this is done typically at 200 - 250 ยฐ f ., however , the material dictates the temperature . in this instance , as shown in fig5 a heating element 41 , such as a heat gun , a hot block or hot jaws , is used to apply heat to a point 43 on sleeve 32 . the heating element can be applied directly on the surface of the sleeve 32 . the heating element 41 can be then moved along the length of the sleeve 32 , as shown , causing the sleeve 32 material to shrink , and optionally flow . depending on the type of heating element used , movement may not be needed . the temperature is dictated by the material used . the heat must be sufficient to shrink the sleeve , but not so hot as to break the material down so as to destroy the integrity of the sleeve . by heating the material at or slightly above its melt temperature , the material will flow and create a fuse bond where bonds are desired . this bonding may be dictated by the part which is being made . for example , in the case of forming a stent retaining sleeve , it may be desirable to only bond a part of the sleeve , leaving the remaining portion shrunk but not bonded . this allows the stent retaining sleeve to be capable of moving relative to the balloon for effective release of the stent during delivery . complete bonding of the parts together at desired spots can be completed during the welding procedures . the moving heating element seals the sleeve 32 to the catheter , holding the parts of the catheter together . the longitudinal moving of the heating element and the flow of the sleeve 32 material stretches the material out and removes any air pockets to result in a tight , uniform fit . the shrinking of the sleeve 32 can start at one end of the sleeve 32 , proceeding to the opposite end . however , it is contemplated that the shrink may start at any place along the sleeve , gradually moving longitudinally . the bonding of the parts of the catheter is then started , suitably done by laser welding . the sleeve remains as part of the final product and in some cases can be used to hold a loaded stent in place during sterilization . in fig1 sleeve 32 remains to form the distal tip of the catheter . in all cases , the sleeve may also act as an added protective layer and be lubricated for easy movement through body lumens . the port 34 of the inner lumen 18 may be closed due to the heat shrunk sleeve 32 until needed . if the catheter were a back loaded catheter , as shown , the guide wire 15 would pierce the closed port when needed . a sleeve 55 may also be used to secure the marker bands 31 to the inner shaft 14 during the securement of the marker bands 31 to the shaft 14 . sleeve 55 remains a part of the catheter and may be a soft protective cover over the marker band 31 to protect the balloon 16 from being damaged by the marker bands 31 . sleeve 5 may be used in any of the embodiments . in the embodiment shown in fig2 a larger sleeve 36 is used . the word larger is used in terms of length of coverage over the catheter . in addition to the functions of sleeve 32 , as described above , sleeve 36 also forms a distal stent retaining sleeve 38 . as mentioned above , stent retaining sleeves are known . the materials and methods for applying and using the sleeve 32 are similarly applicable here . retaining sleeve 38 can aid in holding the stent 40 in place . the invention also contemplates a sleeve which may extend up the cones of the balloon , but not over the end of the stent . such a sleeve may aid in balloon rewrap as well as provide leading lubrication for the catheter to aid in trackability of the stent . the use of retaining sleeves to retain a stent on a catheter has been disclosed in a number of patents including u . s . pat . no . 4 , 950 , 227 to savin et al ., u . s . pat . no . 5 , 403 , 341 to solar and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 108 , 416 to ryan et al ., as well as u . s . pat . no . 5 , 944 , 726 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 968 , 069 . one or more retaining sleeves typically retain the stent on the catheter when the stent is in an unexpanded state . upon expansion of the stent , the retaining sleeves release the stent . [ 0048 ] fig3 illustrates another embodiment . the method of applying the stent is the same . in this embodiment , an even larger sleeve 42 is used . in addition to the function of sleeves 32 and 36 , as described above , sleeve 42 also forms a proximal stent retaining sleeve 44 which extend down the proximal end of the balloon 16 , over the balloon waist 20 . it should be understood that , the sleeve 42 may extend further in the proximal direction to provide for bonding at point 24 . in this embodiment , sleeve 42 covers the entire balloon section , as well as the stent 40 . as described above , sleeve 42 constrains the parts of the catheter in this area until they are fully bonded , such as through laser welding . as with the other sleeves , sleeve 42 remains in place for sterilization and use . as part of the final catheter , sleeve 42 forms a distal tip 46 , a distal stent retaining sleeve 48 and a proximal stent retaining sleeve 44 . sleeve 42 also forms a tubular member 50 which surrounds the stent . this member may be used in the final product or discarded , according to the application . to allow the stent to eventually be separated from the catheter the stent retaining sleeves 44 , 48 are separated from the tubular member 50 by tear away perforations 52 . the tubular member 50 also may be drug eluting . it should be understood that an embodiment may comprise a catheter wherein the heat shrinkable sleeve covers the stent , but only provides one stent retaining portion , and therefore only one circumferential perforation . [ 0050 ] fig4 shows the embodiment of fig3 wherein the guide catheter 53 is withdrawn and the balloon 16 is expanded . as can be seen , the retaining sleeves 44 , 48 tear away , or are peeled , from the tubular member 50 and fall away from the stent 40 . the tubular member 50 must be made from a material which can expand with the stent . if the tubular member 50 is meant to be left in the body , it preferably should be biocompatible . in such a case , the stent effectively pushes it into the artery wall . biocompatible materials are well known in the art . they include , but are not limited to teflon and urethanes . the material may further include pharmaceutical agents to prevent restenosis . such agents may comprise proteins with small molecules , such as taxol - containing drugs , nucleotides and actinomycine . materials which eventually dissolves or disintegrates may also be used , such as polylactic acid . the tubular material 50 may also incorporated drugs which aid in the healing and acceptance of the stent , such as anti - thrombogenic agents . these types of agents are well known . teflon or a flouropolymer may also be used for the tubular member 50 to protect against hyperplasia or restenosis . the member prevents the vessels from growing back in on the delivered stent . the present invention contemplates a multi - material sleeve 42 , which is preassembled . in such a sleeve , the retaining sleeve portions 44 , 48 may be made of a material which has less elasticity than the tubular member . the sleeve 42 may vary in other characteristics as well , such as lubricity and strength . it should be understood that the invention contemplates the use of the sleeve in any welding application . fig6 shows the process of a catheter midshaft bonding between a proximal shaft 64 and a distal shaft 62 . shaft 64 may be a metal hypotube . the ends of the shafts are fitted onto a mandrel 68 for support . in accordance with examples of the methods , a support mandrel may be used as support for other parts to be bonded together . a sleeve 66 is shrunk around the junction to be bonded . the sleeve 66 is then bonded to shafts 64 , 62 , providing a tight connection . the sleeve allows for a connection which does not require that the shafts overlap , as seen in fig1 at 24 , and thus a smooth inner transition . it should be understood that the connection at 24 may also be created by this method . fig7 - 10 illustrate the use of a sleeve 84 in connecting and sealing between a mid - shaft 72 , a distal shaft 74 and a distal inner shaft 76 , which functions as a guide wire lumen , in a rapid exchange catheter . rapid exchange catheters are well known in the art . these catheters are generally characterized in that a port 78 allows for insertion of certain parts from the outside of the catheter to the inside anywhere along the length of the catheter . in typical rapid exchange catheters , the port is for insertion of a guide wire or an inflation lumen . only the portion showing the port 78 and connection between the mid - shaft 72 , distal shaft 74 and distal inner shaft 76 is shown . [ 0056 ] fig7 shows the distal end 82 of the mid - shaft 72 inserted into the proximal end 80 of the distal shaft 74 . it should be understood that the distal shaft 74 could be inserted into the midshaft 72 in an inverted manner . a port 78 is positioned in the wall of the distal shaft 74 and / or the wall of the midshaft , depending on the port s positioning . in this particular embodiment , the port 78 opens into a guide wire lumen 76 , which is bonded to the distal shaft 74 and extends distally to the end of the catheter . a sleeve 84 is shrunk around the juncture of the shafts 72 , 74 . the shafts are then bonded together . the sleeve 84 also allows for a connection between the shafts 72 , 74 with a smooth internal transition , as shown in fig8 - 10 . in these embodiments , as with the embodiment shown in fig6 the ends 82 , 80 of the shafts 72 , 74 are adjacent , but not overlapping . the shrunken sleeve 84 is used to connect the shafts 72 , 74 . the shafts 72 , 74 need not be bonded directly to each other . instead , the sleeve 84 may be bonded to each shaft . fig8 - 10 also show various positions of the port 78 . fig8 shows the port 78 in the proximal end 80 of the distal shaft 74 , fig9 shows the port 78 in the distal end of the midshaft and fig1 shows the port 78 being formed in the ends 80 , 82 of both shafts 74 , 72 . [ 0059 ] fig1 illustrates a further embodiment of the invention . this particular embodiment comprises a balloon 16 attached to the catheter , a proximal stent retaining sleeve 44 and a distal stent retaining sleeve 42 , an outer sheath 12 , a stent 40 and a proximal shrunken sleeve 100 and a distal shrunken sleeve 102 . the invention contemplates incorporating the proximal sleeve 100 or the distal sleeve 102 or both . as can be seen , the balloon is positioned on the catheter and then the stent retaining sleeves 108 , 110 are positioned . the stent retaining sleeves may extend beyond the ends of the balloon , as shown with sleeve 110 , to the ends of the balloon , as shown with sleeve 108 , or they may stop short of the ends of the balloons . it should be understood that the ends of the balloon 104 and the outer sheath 22 may overlap in either manner . only the manner in which the balloon end overlaps the sheath end is shown . in this particular embodiment , the shrunken sleeves 100 , 102 are shrunk down over these junctures . the bonds are then welded into place and the sleeves 100 , 102 are left in place . arrows 111 , 112 illustrate the preferred direction in which the sleeves 100 , 102 are welded . [ 0062 ] fig1 illustrates an alternative juncture configuration between the stent retaining sleeve , the balloon and the outer sheath . in this particular configuration , end of the balloon 104 does not overlap the end 22 of the outer sheath 12 . the stent retaining sleeve 108 extends beyond the end of the balloon and over or under the end of the outer sheath . the shrunken sleeve 100 is then shrunk down over the juncture and the components are then welded , as discussed above . for the examples shown , the medical balloon may be made of any suitable material including pebax . other suitable materials are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 024 , 752 , and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 036 , 697 . for the examples shown , suitable materials for the outer sheath / shaft are well known in the art and include high density polyethylene ( hdpe ) and surlyn and those materials disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 036 , 697 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 543 , 007 . the effectiveness of the bonding may be limited by the compatibility of the adjacent materials . adjacent materials which provide covalent bonding or molecular entanglement are examples of suitable material . for the examples shown , the inner shaft may be made of a flexible construction having any collapse strength . the inner shaft may also be made of an incompressible construction , such as a polymer encapsulated braid or coil . the flexibility of the braid / coil allows the medical device delivery system to navigate through body lumens and the incompressibility of the braid / coil aids in maintaining the integrity of the system and aids in deployment accuracy when during release of the medical device . the braid / coil may be comprised of stainless steel or nitinol , but desirably stainless steel encased in a polymer such as a polyimide , hdpe , teflon or urethane , but desirably polyimide or teflon . other suitable materials which may be used are well known in the art . portions of the sleeves may be radio opaque for the user to track the positioning within the body . methods of making the sleeve material radio opaque are well known . suitable examples include doping the raw material with radio opaque materials . the above sleeves also provide strain relief on joint of the catheter by diffusing the strain placed upon the catheter during storage and use . portions of the sleeves may be removed while other portions are maintained as part of the final catheter when desired . the sleeve may also take the form of a film / coating , paste or gel . typically , this embodiment may be used in parts of catheters which are not subject to a significant degree of contraction or pressure , such as a distal tip . a spray producing a dried film can be used , providing adequate axial resistance for welding purposes . suitable materials include urethanes , polystyrenes and polyesters . for pastes or gels , suitable ground up micro particles are dissolved and applied to the medical device where needed . axial resistance is provided with time drying or via a catalyst . the medical device delivery systems may be subjected to additional processing steps prior to and / or subsequent to disposing the retaining sleeve about the stent and balloon . for example , bumpers and / or marker bands may be disposed about the inner tube or other portions of the medical device delivery system . a retractable sheath may be provided over the balloon and stent . a manifold may also be provided at the proximal end of the medical device delivery system . other additional steps include providing to the inventive medical device delivery devices any of the features disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 096 , 056 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 007 , 543 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 968 , 069 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 957 , 930 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 944 , 726 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 653 , 691 . in addition to being directed to the embodiments described above and claimed below , the present invention is further directed to embodiments having different combinations of the dependent features described above and / or claimed below . every patent , application or publication mentioned above is herein incorporated by reference . the above examples and disclosure are intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive . these examples and description will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this art . all these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims , where the term โ comprising โ means โ including , but not limited to โ. those familiar with the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein which equivalents are also intended to be encompassed by the claims . further , the particular features presented in the dependent claims can be combined with each other in other manners within the scope of the invention such that the invention should be recognized as also specifically directed to other embodiments having any other possible combination of the features of the dependent claims . for instance , for purposes of claim publication , any dependent claim which follows should be taken as alternatively written in a multiple dependent form from all prior claims which possess all antecedents referenced in such dependent claim if such multiple dependent format is an accepted format within the jurisdiction ( e . g . each claim depending directly from claim 1 should be alternatively taken as depending from all previous claims ). in jurisdictions where multiple dependent claim formats are restricted , the following dependent claims should each be also taken as alternatively written in each single dependent claim format which creates a dependency from a prior antecedent - possessing claim other than the specific claim listed in such dependent claim below ( e . g . claim 6 may be taken as alternatively dependent from any of claims 2 - 5 , claim 4 may be taken as alternatively dependent from claim 3 ; etc . ). | 0 |
a description will now be given of embodiments of the present invention , with reference to the accompanying drawings . it should be noted that identical or corresponding elements in the embodiments are given identical or corresponding reference numbers in all drawings , and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted . moreover , where relevant , for ease of explanation directions in the drawings are given as x 1 - x 2 for the side - to - side direction , y 1 - y 2 for front - to - back direction , and z 1 - z 2 for the vertical direction . fig2 a and 2b are diagrams showing a foldaway portable communications device according to an embodiment of the present invention in a closed position and an unfolded position , respectively . fig3 a , 3 b and 3 c are diagrams showing top , side and rear views , respectively , of the portable communications device shown in fig2 a and 2b . it should be noted that the term โ foldaway โ as used herein is defined as that which can be folded together for easy storage and portability . as shown in the diagrams , the foldaway portable communications device 50 has a lock - release button . when the button is pushed the portable communications device 50 automatically opens . fig2 a , 3 a , 3 b and 3 c show the portable communications device 50 in a folded position . the two - dotted chain lines show the left hand 30 of a user supporting the portable communications device 50 with the latter in a folded position and the user attempting to release the lock and open the portable communications device 50 . fig2 b shows a state in which the portable communications device 50 is open for communications , in a state in which the user supports the portable communications device 50 with the left hand 30 , indicated by the two - dotted chain line . a hinge 53 lies along the horizontal x 1 - x 2 axis . as shown in fig2 a , 2 b , 3 a , 3 b and 3 c , the portable communications device 50 comprises a substantially rectangular key pad base unit 51 , a substantially rectangular display cover unit 52 that is movable with respect to the key pad base unit 51 , and a hinge 53 that connects the key pad base unit 51 with the display cover unit 52 . further , the rectangular key pad base unit 51 has guard portions 54 , 55 , a lock release button 56 , an operating key 57 and a microphone 58 . the display cover unit 52 has a liquid crystal panel 59 as a display , an antenna 60 and a speaker 61 . the display cover unit 52 is locked in a folded position to be described later , and , further , is impelled to an unfolded position in a direction away from the key pad base unit 51 by a spring , in a process to be described later . normally , the portable communications device 50 is , as shown in fig2 a , in a folded position , that is , in a state in which the display cover unit 52 is closed , that is , folded , atop the key pad base unit 51 . when the portable communications device 50 is to be used , the user ordinarily supports the portable communications device 50 by the key pad base unit 51 in the left hand 30 and uses the thumb 31 of the left hand to press the lock release button 56 . in so doing , the display cover unit 52 is unlocked and a spring disposed inside the hinge 53 rotatably impels the display cover unit 52 away from the key pad base unit 51 in the a 1 direction , to the unfolded position shown in fig2 b . fig4 is a diagram showing a cross - sectional view of the folded closed portable communications device 50 along a line iv โ iv shown in fig3 a . fig5 is a diagram showing a cross - sectional view of the folded closed portable communications device 50 along a line v โ v shown in fig3 a . fig6 is a diagram showing an exploded view of the hinge 53 and the lock mechanism of the portable communications device 50 in an unfolded position . fig7 a , 7 b and 7 c are diagrams showing side , top and side views , respectively , of the hinge 53 and lock mechanism of the portable communications device 50 . fig8 a , 8 b and 8 c are diagrams showing top , front and side views , respectively , of the lock member and the lock release button . fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c are diagrams showing cross - sectional views along lines a โ a , c โ c and b โ b shown in fig7 b , respectively . fig1 a , 10 b , 10 c and 10 d are diagrams showing cross - sectional views along lines d , e , f and g as shown in fig7 b , respectively . it should be noted that the key pad base unit 51 comprises chiefly a substantially box - like housing 62 and a cover 63 . a printed circuit board 64 for mounting various electronic parts is mounted within the box - like structure formed by the housing 62 and the cover 63 . similarly , the display cover unit 52 comprises chiefly a box - like housing 65 and a cover 66 , with another printed circuit board 67 for mounting various electronic parts contained therein . a description will now be given of the guard portions 54 , 55 . this description , where it may reference only one of the two guard portions 54 , 55 , applies equally to both such guard portions 54 , 55 . as shown in fig2 a , 2 b , 3 a , 3 b , 3 c , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 a , 7 b and 7 c , the guard portion 54 is disposed on an x 2 lateral surface 51 a of the key pad base unit 51 ( specifically the housing 62 thereof ) so as to project outwardly in the x 2 direction from the lateral surface 51 a of the key pad base unit 51 near the hinge 53 , in such a way as to extend above a top surface of the key pad base unit 51 in a z 1 direction as well as beyond a rear edge of the key pad base unit 51 in a y 1 direction . for the sake of descriptive convenience , that part of the guard portion 54 that projects above the top surface of the key pad base unit 51 in a z 1 direction is referred to hereinafter as projecting portion 54 z 1 , and , similarly , that part of the guard portion 54 that projects beyond the rear edge of the key pad base unit 51 in a y 1 direction is referred to hereinafter as projecting portion 54 y 1 . when the portable communications device 50 is folded closed the projecting portion 54 z 1 covers a portion of an x 2 lateral surface 52 a of the display cover unit 52 . it should be noted that , as will be described in more detail later , an inner lateral surface of the projecting portion 54 z 1 does not contact the lateral surface 52 a of the display cover unit 52 . instead , as shown for example in fig4 and 5 , a slight gap 68 exists between the inner lateral surface of the projecting portion 54 z 1 and the lateral surface 52 a of the display cover unit 52 . likewise , guard portion 55 has a structure identical to that of guard portion 54 , though located instead on an x 1 lateral surface 51 b of the key pad base unit 51 ( specifically the housing 62 ), extending in the z 1 and y 1 directions and projecting in the x 1 direction as well . similarly , that part of the guard portion 55 that projects above the top surface of the key pad base unit 51 in a z 1 direction is referred to hereinafter as projecting portion 55 z 1 , and , similarly , that part of the guard portion 55 that projects beyond the rear edge of the key pad base unit 51 in a y 1 direction is referred to hereinafter as projecting portion 55 y 1 . when the portable communications device 50 is folded closed the projecting portion 55 z 1 covers a portion of an x 1 lateral surface 52 b of the display cover unit 52 . additionally , similarly , it should be noted that , as will be described in more detail later , an inner lateral surface of the projecting portion 55 z 1 does not contact the lateral surface 52 b of the display cover unit 52 . instead , as shown for example in fig4 and 5 , a slight gap 69 exists between the inner lateral surface of the projecting portion 55 z 1 and the lateral surface 52 b of the display cover unit 52 . it should be noted that the key pad base unit 51 has a width at the location of the guard portions 54 , 55 that is wider than a width of the display cover unit 52 at the same location . it should be further noted that the width dimensions mentioned here run in the x 1 - x 2 direction , parallel to the hinge 53 . as a result , the guard portion 54 keeps the user &# 39 ; s thumb 31 from contacting the lateral surface 52 a of the display cover unit 52 when the user takes the folded portable communications device 50 into the left hand 30 , supports the portable communications device 50 by the key pad base unit 51 and presses the lock release button 56 with the thumb 31 of the left hand 30 in order to activate the portable communications device 50 and establish communications . the other guard portion 55 similarly prevents the fingers 32 of the left hand 30 from contacting the lateral surface 52 b of the display cover unit 52 on the opposite side 55 . accordingly , the display cover unit 52 can unfold and open without being restricted by the thumb and fingers 31 , 32 of the user and can thus open smoothly . a description will now be given of a lock mechanism 70 and a lock release operating mechanism 77 . the two parts are intimately related and thus will be described not separately but in tandem . fig6 shows an exploded view of the hinge and the lock mechanism 70 of the portable communications device according to an embodiment of the present invention . fig7 a , 7 b and 7 c are diagrams showing side , top and side views , respectively , of the hinge 53 and lock mechanism 70 . fig8 a , 8 b and 8 c are diagrams showing top , front and side views , respectively , of the lock release button member 71 which forms a part of the lock mechanism 70 . as shown in the diagrams , an interior of the guard portion 54 on the lateral surface 51 a on the x 2 side of the key pad base unit 51 comprises an empty space 54 a . the interior space 54 a is utilized to insert and provide the lock mechanism 70 and the lock release operating mechanism 77 . more specifically , the interior space 54 a contains the lock release button member 71 , a shaft 72 , a compression coil spring 73 and a cover member 74 as shown in fig8 a , 8 b and 8 c . the cover member 74 is engaged between the key pad base unit 51 and the guard portion 54 and fixedly mounted by a screw 75 on the y 2 edge thereof , thus covering an opening on the x 1 side of the interior space 54 a of the guard portion 54 . the lock release button member 71 itself comprises a bearing 71 a , arms 71 b and 71 c extending from both ends of the bearing 71 a , a hook 71 d at a tip end of arm 71 b , and the lock release button 56 at a tip end of arm 71 c . the lock release button member 71 is supported on the bearing 71 a by a vertical shaft 72 in the guard portion 54 and extends in the y 1 - y 2 lateral direction . the lock release button 56 engages an opening 54 b in a lateral surface of the guard portion 54 and exposed externally . the hook 71 d projects outward in the x 1 direction beyond a notched portion 74 b formed in the cover member 74 . the lock release button member 71 is impelled by the compression coil spring 73 in a b 1 direction as shown in fig6 . it will be appreciated that the lock release button 56 is positioned not concentrically with a hypothetical axis cl 53 of the hinge 53 but at a position offset from such axis cl 53 by a distance โ a โ in the forward y 2 direction , so as to be disposed not on but near the hinge 53 . the hook 71 d is positioned slightly above a top surface of the key pad base unit 51 , and , as previously mentioned , projects outward in the lateral x 1 direction so as to engage a concavity 52 a 1 formed in the lateral surface 52 a of the display cover unit 52 , the concavity 52 a 1 disposed opposite the hook 71 d when the portable communications device is folded closed . the engagement of the hook 71 d with the concavity 52 a 1 locks the display cover unit 52 to the key pad base unit 51 in a folded position such as that shown , for example , in fig2 a . when the lock release button 56 is pressed , the lock release button member 71 is rotated in the direction of arrow b 2 and the hook 71 d is thus drawn into the interior space 54 a and away from the concavity 52 a 1 , thus releasing the lock on the display cover unit 52 and thereby permitting the display cover unit 52 to swing open for use . the bearing 71 a acts as a fulcrum , the lock release button 56 acts as a force applying point , and a hook 71 d acts as a force acting point ( action point ). when the length of the arm 71 b is denoted by l 1 and the length of the arm 71 c is denoted by l 2 as shown in fig8 a , a relationship l 1 & lt ; l 2 stands . accordingly , the force required to push the lock release button 56 is reduced by the law of lever , and the lock release operation can be carried out by a small force of approximately 300 g , for example . the lock mechanism 70 has the arm - like lock release button member 71 and therefore has a relatively unwieldy structure . nevertheless the interior space 54 a enclosed within the guard portion 54 accommodates the lock mechanism 70 , so the compactness of the portable communications device 50 is not affected . the lock release button member 71 d , the concavity 52 a 1 in the display cover unit 52 and the compression coil spring 73 together form the lock mechanism 70 . the lock release button member 71 bearing 71 a , the arms 71 b , 71 c extending from both ends of the bearing 71 a , and the lock release button 56 provided at the tip of the arm 71 c together form the lock release operating mechanism 77 . a description will now be given of the hinge 53 , with reference to fig6 a , 9 b , 9 c , 10 a , 10 b , 10 c , 10 d , 11 a , 11 b , 11 c and 11 d . fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c are diagrams showing cross - sectional views along lines a โ a , c โ c and b โ b shown in fig7 b , respectively . fig1 a , 10 b , 10 c and 10 d are diagrams showing cross - sectional views along lines d , e , f and g as shown in fig7 b , respectively . fig1 a , 11 b , 11 c and 11 d are diagrams showing cross - sectional views along lines h , i , j and k as shown in fig7 b , respectively . as shown in the diagrams , the housing 65 of the display cover unit 52 is shaped at the location of the hinge 53 in such a way as to have , in order from the x 2 side to the x 1 side thereof , a cylindrical portion 65 a , a semi - cylindrical portion 65 b , a notched portion 65 c and another cylindrical portion 65 d . the housing 62 of the key pad base unit 51 is shaped at the location of the hinge 53 in such a way as to have , in order from the x 2 side to the x 1 side thereof , a projecting portion 54 y 1 , a notched portion 62 a , a semi - cylindrical portion 62 b , a notched portion 62 c , and a projecting portion 55 y 1 . the cylindrical portion 65 a and the semi - cylindrical portion 65 b engage the notched portion 62 a , the semi - cylindrical portion 62 b engages the notched portion 65 c and the cylindrical portion 65 d engages the notched portion 62 c . additionally , the semi - cylindrical portion 66 a of the cover 66 is disposed opposite and corresponds to semi - cylindrical portion 65 b , the two semi - cylindrical portions 66 a and 65 b together forming a cylindrical portion 80 . similarly , the semi - cylindrical portion 63 a of the cover 63 is disposed opposite semi - cylindrical portion 62 b , the two semi - cylindrical portions 63 a and 62 b together forming a cylindrical portion 81 . the cylindrical portions 80 , 81 thus formed are adjacent to and abut each other . a shaft member 82 engaging a torsion coil spring 83 is disposed inside the cylindrical portion 65 a . a squared portion 82 a of the shaft member 82 engages a squared aperture 54 c formed in the projecting portion 54 y 1 . the torsion coil spring 83 engages the shaft member 82 and is contained within the interior of the cylindrical portion 65 a , the x 2 end 83 a of the torsion coil spring 83 being engaged by the shaft member 82 and the x 1 end 83 b of the torsion coil spring 83 being twisted in a clockwise direction as viewed looking toward the x 1 side and engaged by an inside of the cylindrical portion 65 a . an e - shaped washer 84 is fixedly engaged at the tip of the squared portion 82 a of the shaft member 82 . a cap 85 is fixedly engaged to an aperture 54 d of the projecting portion 54 y 1 . a damper unit 86 is provided inside the cylindrical portion 65 d , with a case 86 a of the damper unit 86 being fixedly mounted to the cylindrical portion 65 d . a squared shaft portion 86 b of the damper unit 86 engages and is secured by a square aperture 55 b formed in the projecting portion 55 y 1 . an e - shaped washer 87 is fixedly engaged at the tip of the squared portion 86 a of the shaft member 86 . a cap 88 is fixedly engaged to an aperture 55 c of the projecting portion 55 y 1 . when the portable communications device 50 is folded closed as shown , for example , in fig2 a and 3 , the torsion coil spring 83 is twisted and the display cover unit 52 is impelled by the force of the torsion coil spring 83 in an a 1 direction , that is , away and apart from the key pad base unit 51 . accordingly , when the lock release button 56 is pressed and the lock is released , the force of the torsion coil spring 83 attempting to resume its original shape rotates the display cover unit 52 in the a 1 direction . at this time , the damper unit 86 causes the display cover unit 52 to open slowly , cushioning the shock when the display cover unit 52 reaches the final open position shown in fig2 b . additionally , a coaxial - type flexible cable 100 extends through the hinge 53 , and is connected at one end thereof to one connector 78 and at the other end thereof to another connector 78 . accordingly , the printed circuit board 67 inside the display cover unit 52 and the printed circuit board 64 inside the key pad base unit 51 are electrically connected . additionally , at the hinge 53 a coaxial flexible cable 100 is disposed in such a way that , when viewed from the display cover unit 52 toward the key pad base unit 51 from the x 2 side , the coaxial flexible cable 100 forms a counter - clockwise wound loop 101 . the loop 101 in the coaxial flexible cable 100 is accommodated within the adjacently positioned cylindrical portions 80 , 81 described above . the elasticity of that portion of the coaxial flexible cable 100 that forms the loop 101 rotatably impels the display cover unit 52 to open in the a 1 direction with respect to the key pad base unit 51 . in other words , the loop 101 formed by the coaxial flexible cable 100 at the location of the hinge 53 supplements the torsional spring force of the torsion coil spring 83 . accordingly , a coil spring having a torsional force smaller than usual by an amount equal to the supplementary rotational force supplied by the coaxial flexible cable 100 as described above is used for the torsion coil spring 83 . a description will now be given of the coaxial flexible cable 100 described above . fig1 a , 12 b and 12 c are diagrams showing top , side and rear views of a coaxial - type flexible cable according to an embodiment of the present invention . fig1 is a diagram showing the structure of the coaxial - type flexible cable shown in fig1 a , 12 b and 12 c . the coaxial - type flexible cable 100 is of a spacer insertion type , comprising a spacer 103 having an inner conductor pattern 102 at a center thereof , the spacer 103 being sandwiched between and enveloped by a base 104 beneath the spacer 103 and a top cover layer 105 above the spacer 103 . an upper cover 106 lies atop the top cover layer 105 and a lower cover 107 covers the base 104 . reinforcement plates 108 , 109 are positioned at either end for added strength . the spacer 103 comprises a bottom spacer 115 ( with the inner conductor pattern 102 disposed on a top surface of the bottom spacer 115 ) and a top spacer 116 disposed atop the bottom spacer 115 . a ribbon pattern 104 a is provided at a center portion of a bottom surface of the base 104 . a plurality of signal transmission patterns 104 b are provided along both sides of a top surface of the base 104 . each signal transmission pattern 104 b has terminals 104 c , 104 d at either end . additionally , inner conductor patterns 104 e , 104 f are formed along both sides of a center portion of the base 104 . each of the inner conductor patterns 104 e , 104 f has terminals 104 g , 104 h at ends thereof . the top cover layer 105 has a ribbon pattern 105 a on a center portion of a top surface thereof . the top cover layer 105 has a width identical to that of the base 104 and covers the spacer 103 , the inner conductor patters 104 e , 104 f and the signal transmission pattern 104 b . as described above , the spacer 103 is vertically sandwiched between and enveloped by the base 104 and the top cover layer 105 . in such a state , the inner conductor pattern 102 and the inner conductor pattern 104 e are connected to each other via a through - hole 110 , and the inner conductor pattern 102 and the inner conductor pattern 104 f are connected to each other via a through - hole 111 . additionally , as shown in the diagrams , lines of through - holes 112 , 113 are provided along both sides of the inner conductor pattern 102 . the line of through - holes 112 comprises a plurality of through - holes 112 a aligned at a pitch โ p โ that communicate with the top cover layer 105 and the base 104 so as to electrically connect ribbon pattern 105 a and ribbon pattern 104 a . similarly , the line of through - holes 113 comprises a plurality of through - holes 113 a aligned at a pitch โ p โ that communicate with the top cover layer 105 and the base 104 so as to electrically connect ribbon pattern 105 a and ribbon pattern 104 a . the pitch โ p โ is determined by the frequency of the high - frequency signals transmitted via the inner conductor pattern 102 , and is a sufficiently small value so that electromagnetic radiation does not leak from a space between adjacent through - holes 112 a , 113 a . the upper cover layer 106 covers the ribbon pattern 105 a formed on the top cover layer 105 . the lower cover layer 107 covers the ribbon pattern 104 a formed on the base 104 . as shown in fig1 b , one synthetic resin reinforcement plate 108 is fixedly mounted on a bottom surface of one end of the base 104 so as to strengthen terminals 104 c , 104 g , with the other synthetic resin reinforcement plate 109 fixedly mounted on the bottom surface of the other end of the base 104 so as to strengthen terminals 104 d , 104 h . the individual patterns described above may be made of copper . the top spacer 116 may be made of polytetrafluoroethylene . the base 104 , the top cover layer 105 , the upper cover layer 106 , the lower cover layer 107 and the bottom spacer 115 may all be made of polyamideimide . the inner conductor patterns 102 , 104 e , 104 f together form an inner conductor . the top spacer 116 , the bottom spacer 115 and those portions of the base 104 and the upper cover layer 105 disposed opposite the spacers 116 , 115 together form an internal insulator . the ribbon patterns 105 a , 104 a and through - hole lines 112 , 113 together form an outer conductor . the upper cover 106 and the lower cover 107 together form an outer insulator . as shown in fig6 the coaxial flexible cable 100 described above is connected at both ends to connectors 78 , 79 and included within the portable communications device 50 , with high - frequency signals transmitted through the inner conductor patterns 102 , 104 e , 104 f from antenna 61 . the flexible cable 100 is of coaxial construction , so electromagnetic radiation is prevented from leaking from the coaxial flexible cable 100 . a description will now be given of a portable communications device 50 a according to a second embodiment of the present invention . fig1 a , 15 b are diagrams showing a foldaway portable communications device 50 a according to a second embodiment of the present invention , in a closed and an unfolded position , respectively . as shown in the diagrams , the chief difference between the portable communications device 50 according to the first embodiment and the portable communications device 50 a according to the second embodiment is that the latter is provided with a projection 150 near a hinge 13 , with the lock release button 20 provided on the projection 150 . the projection 150 is formed in such a way as to project outward from a lateral surface 12 a of the display cover unit 12 . it should be noted that the key pad base unit 11 a has a width in the vicinity of the lock release button 20 that is greater than a corresponding width of the display cover unit 12 . fig1 a shows a state in which the portable communications device 50 a is folded closed . the double dot and chain line shows the outline of the left hand 30 , with which the user supports the portable communications device 50 a and which , by using the thumb 31 of the left hand , the user releases the lock and opens the portable communications device 50 a . fig1 b shows the portable communications device 50 a in an unfolded position . it will be appreciated that the button 20 is provided on the projection 150 , so when the user presses the button 20 with the left thumb 31 that part of the thumb 31 that exceeds the dimensions of the button 20 merely hits the projection 150 instead , without contacting the lateral surface 12 a of the display cover unit 12 . accordingly , the display cover unit 12 swings open smoothly , without being hampered by contact with the user &# 39 ; s thumb 31 . a description will now be given of a portable communications device 50 b according to a third embodiment of the present invention . fig1 a and 16b are diagrams showing a foldaway portable communications device 50 b according to a third embodiment of the present invention , in a folded position and an unfolded position , respectively . as shown in the diagrams , the chief difference between the portable communications device 50 according to the first embodiment and the portable communications device 50 b according to the third embodiment is that the latter is that a portion of a lateral surface 12 a of the display cover unit 12 b adjacent a lock release button 20 is notched so as to form a concavity 160 thereat . fig1 a shows the portable communications device 50 b in a folded position . the double dot and chain line shows the outline of the left hand 30 , with which the user supports the portable communications device 50 b and which , by using the thumb 31 of the left hand , the user releases the lock and opens the portable communications device 50 b . fig1 b shows the portable communications device 50 b in an unfolded position . it should be noted that the key pad base unit 11 has a width in the vicinity of the lock release button 20 that is greater than a corresponding width of the display cover unit 12 b . it will be appreciated that the concavity 160 is formed near the lock release button 20 , so when the user presses the button 20 with the left thumb 31 that part of the thumb 31 that exceeds the dimensions of the button 20 merely enters the interior of the concavity 160 instead , without contacting the display cover unit 12 b . accordingly , the display cover unit 12 b swings open smoothly , without being hampered by contact with the user &# 39 ; s thumb 31 . a description will now be given of a variation of a lock mechanism and lock release mechanism . fig1 a and 17b are diagrams showing a variation of a lock mechanism and lock release mechanism . as shown in the drawings , the lock release button 56 a is provided at a tip of an arm 121 , one end of which is supported by a shaft 120 . a pin 121 a projects from an intermediate portion of the arm 121 . the arm 121 and the lock release button 56 a is contained within an interior space of the guard portion 54 a . additionally , a cylindrical hinge module 130 is contained within a cylindrical portion 65 aa of the housing 65 a of the display cover unit 52 a . the hinge module 130 comprises a shaft 131 , a disk 132 rotatably supported by the shaft 131 in such a way as to be movable in an axial direction , a lock 133 that locks the disk 132 to the shaft 131 , a torsion coil spring 134 that impels the disk 132 in the a 1 direction with respect to the shaft 131 , and a spring 135 that impels the disk 132 in the x 2 direction . the shaft 131 is fixedly mounted to the key pad base unit 51 a . the disk 132 is accommodated within the interior of the cylindrical portion 65 aa in such a way as to be integrally rotatable in the a 1 - a 2 direction and movable in the x 1 , x 2 direction . when the lock release button 56 a is pressed , the pin 121 a pushes the disk 132 in the x 1 direction , the lock 133 is released , the torsion coil spring 134 rotates the disk 131 in the a 1 direction and the display cover unit 52 a is rotated in the identical a 1 direction . using the principle of the lever , the force with which the pin 121 a pushes the disk 132 is increased over the force with which the user presses the lock release button 56 a . accordingly , a minimal amount of force is sufficient to press the lock release button 56 a and thereby release the lock 133 . a description will now be given of a variation of the coaxial - type flexible cable 100 that forms the loop 101 described above . fig1 a , 18 b and 18 c are diagrams showing top , side and rear views , respectively , of a first variation of the coaxial - type flexible cable . fig1 is a diagram showing the structure of the coaxial - type flexible cable shown in fig1 a , 18 b and 18 c . fig2 a , 20 b , 20 c and 20 d are diagrams showing cross - sectional views of the coaxial - type flexible cable shown in fig1 a along lines a , b , c and e , respectively . the coaxial - type flexible cable 100 a is a standard type , though without the top spacer 116 and the upper cover layer 106 of the coaxial - type flexible cable 100 described above . the coaxial - type flexible cable 100 a is constructed so that a spacer 110 a is sandwiched between and enveloped by a base 104 a and a top cover layer 105 a . a lower cover layer 107 a is provided under the base 104 a , with reinforcing plates 108 a , 109 a provided at both sides of the lower cover layer 107 a . an inner conductor pattern 102 a comprises an inner conductor . the spacer 110 a and a portion of the base 104 a together form an inner insulator . ribbon patterns 105 aa , 104 aa and through - hole lines 112 a , 113 a together form an outer conductor . top cover layer 105 a and lower cover layer 107 a together form an outer insulator . as a result , the coaxial - type flexible cable 100 a as described above has a simple construction and has the same effect as that of the coaxial - type flexible cable as shown in fig1 a . a description will now be given of a second variation of the coaxial - type flexible cable . fig2 a and 21b are diagrams showing a side and an expanded cross - sectional view along a line b โ b , respectively , of the second variation of the coaxial flexible cable 140 . as shown in the diagram , the coaxial flexible cable 140 is constructed so that a narrow coaxial cable 142 having a diameter of approximately 1 mm is laid along a longitudinal center of a top surface of a flexible cable 141 , the coaxial cable 142 being fixedly mounted on the flexible cable 141 using adhesive tape 143 . the coaxial flexible cable 140 , as with the coaxial flexible cable 100 described above , is formed into a loop 101 and inserted in the portable communications device . as a result , the coaxial - type flexible cable 140 as described above has a construction that uses an ordinary flexible cable 141 and has the same effect as that of the coaxial - type flexible cable 100 shown in fig1 a . it should be noted that the above - described coaxial cable 142 may alone be formed into the loop 101 and in such a state inserted in the portable communications device . additionally , it should be noted that , although the embodiments described above pertain to a portable communications device , the invention is not limited to such devices but is applicable to any electronic device capable of sending and receiving email , for example , or to an electronic notebook . the above description is provided in order to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out the invention . the present invention is not limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments , and variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . the present application is based on japanese priority application no . 11 - 298803 , filed on oct . 20 , 1999 , the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference . | 7 |
in the following detailed description , repeated reference is made to the application of preferred lubricant composition / blends to 5000 series aluminum sheet product ( aluminum association designation ) or products consistent with such designations if not currently registered with the aluminum association . it is to be understood , however , that this same composition and method may have other applications to steel and other food or beverage can stock . when referring to any numerical value , or range of values throughout this detailed description and the accompanying claims , it is to be understood that each range expressly includes every full and fractional number between the stated range maximum and minimum , such that a compositional blend including about 60 - 85 wt % dos would cover any prelube - blend having 61 , 62 , 63 % dos , as well as 63 . 5 , 63 . 7 and 63 . 9 %, up to and including 84 . 999 % dos . a first principal component of the lubricant blend of this invention comprises bis ( 2 - ethylhexyl ) sebacate , also known more generically as dioctyl sebacate or dos . this compound exists as a diester of dicarboxylic acid having the general formula : c 8 h 17 ooc ( ch 2 ) 8 cooc 8 h 17 , or more precisely as : c 4 h 9 ch ( c 2 h 5 ) ch 2 ooc ( ch 2 ) 8 cooch 2 ch ( c 2 h 5 ) c 4 h 9 . it exists in liquid form and has been used alone as a thin layer lubricant for aluminum can tab stock , but never as a thick layer prelubricating compositional blend that obviates the need to add further ( i . e ., second ) lubricant layers to uncoiled sheet prior to conversion into can end or tab parts . the second principal component hereof is a mineral oil derivative , petrolatum , which is more commonly known as petroleum jelly . said material has a significantly higher viscosity than dos , which necessitates the full or partial melting of petrolatum prior to its typical sheet product application as a lone lubricant . because of this semi - liquid , semi - solid state , it is also very difficult to apply petrolatum to any sheet product in thin , film layers . several grades of petrolatum are sold commercially depending on the impurity levels therein . suitable grades include white and yellow petrolatum conforming to standards defined in 21 cfr ยง 178 . 3700 and ranging in color from white to amber . all grades may be used in conjunction with dos , with the use of higher grade , lower impurity level petrolatums , such as white petrolatum , depending on the cost upgrades associated therewith . for the practice of this invention , it has been determined that amber petroleum &# 39 ; s higher impurity level has no detrimental effect on lubricant performance . by &# 34 ; incidental additives and impurities &# 34 ;, it is meant that the dos being combined with commercially available petrolatum grades may include unknown quantities of other constituents . for example , the petrolatum obtained for purposes of this comparative study had trace amounts of an anti - oxidant . minor levels of still other additives , both desired and undesired , may be present in any given sampling of constituent parts . it has been determined through the practice of this invention that the application of a combination of these two lubricants , in preferred ratios of at least about 40 or 50 wt % dos or greater , results in a synergistic effect on overall lubricant performance . that is why preferred embodiments of this method for making prelubed can stock insist on a full blending of the two component parts before application to the cleaned , sheet product substrate . on a less preferred basis , this composition may be applied near simultaneously in separate lubricant layers , with the first dos layer positioned adjacent the metal surface and below an outermost layer of petrolatum when applied in multiple layers , the coiled can stock of this invention should have the opportunity to blend together between the layers during subsequent transfer and storage . table i that follows details the effect of various lubricant compositions on the coefficient of friction ( cof ) and scar rating of 5182 aluminum sheet according to various mofiss - type tests , mofiss being an acronym for &# 34 ; moving film stationary sled &# 34 ; type tests for lubricant / coating coverages . in such tests , a sled resting on a sheet sample makes contact on only the surfaces of fixed ball bearings which slide across the sheet during performance of the test . for this comparison , petrolatum and dos were applied individually to respective specimens and in various petrolatum - to - dos ratios ( by weight percent ). as can be seen below , the composition / blend consisting of 25 wt % petrolatum and a balance of bis ( 2 - ethylhexyl ) sebacate , or dos , outperformed its other blend counterparts and 100 % petrolatum alone . table i______________________________________ avg . thicknesslubricant composition coverage ball scarwt % petrolatum : dos ( mg / ft . sup . 2 ) cof rating * ______________________________________100 : 0 20 0 . 188 3 . 775 : 25 19 0 . 149 1 . 550 : 50 19 0 . 153 0 . 725 : 75 18 0 . 155 0 . 5______________________________________ * ranges from 0 ( no scar ) to 4 ( severe scarring ). in table ii , additional data were taken on respective samples of can stock prelubricated with dos - alone and in combination with various blends of petrolatum , differing in color , name , and , of course , price , by the amount of impurities therein . &# 34 ; amber petrolatum &# 34 ;, as sold by the penreco division of pennzoil in karns city , pa ., was the most impure of three petroleum jelly samplings compared . such impurities did not have any detrimental effect on the mofiss performance of blends to which this particular yellow grade of petrolatum was added , however . penreco &# 39 ; s &# 34 ; snow white &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; ultima &# 34 ; petrolatums , by contrast , did not perform any better as to warrant the additional costs associated with their acquisition . table ii that follows contains additional data on the performance of respective samples after having been heat treated to simulate the effect of long - term storing and transport ( or accelerated aging ) of these can stocks . for each lubricant , the ball scar rating ( 0 - 5 scale ) and sheet wear track rating ( 0 - 5 scale ) evaluations indicated the severity of wear observed on the contact surfaces of the sliding ball bearings and sheet , respectively , with higher numbers denoting more severe wear . table ii__________________________________________________________________________ avg . thickness coverage . sup . 1 room temperature after accelerated aginglubricant ( mg / ft . sup . 2 ) cof ball scar wear track . sup . 2 cof ball scar wear track__________________________________________________________________________pet ./ dos ( 25 : 75 ) low 0 . 16 1 . 0 2 . 0 0 . 13 1 . 0 2 . 0penreco amber low 0 . 15 1 . 0 3 . 0 0 . 14 1 . 0 3 . 5 high 0 . 16 1 . 0 2 . 0 0 . 13 1 . 0 2 . 0 high 0 . 15 1 . 0 2 . 5 0 . 13 1 . 0 3 . 0pet ./ dos ( 25 : 75 ) low 0 . 16 1 . 0 2 . 0 0 . 13 1 . 0 2 . 0penreco snow high 0 . 17 1 . 0 2 . 0 0 . 13 1 . 0 2 . 0pet ./ dos ( 25 : 75 ) low 0 . 16 1 . 0 2 . 0 0 . 15 1 . 0 2 . 0penreco ultima high 0 . 17 1 . 0 2 . 5 0 . 13 1 . 0 2 . 0dos only low 0 . 18 1 . 0 2 . 0 0 . 83 4 . 7 5 . 0 low 0 . 13 1 . 0 3 . 0 0 . 52 3 . 7 5 . 0 high 0 . 18 1 . 0 2 . 0 0 . 19 1 . 3 2 . 0 high 0 . 13 1 . 0 2 . 5 0 . 19 1 . 5 5 . 0__________________________________________________________________________ . sup . 1 coverage : low = 9 - 13 mg / ft . sup . 2 ; high = 25 - 31 mg / ft . sup . 2 . sup . 2 ranges from 0 ( very good ) to 5 ( poor ) having described the presently preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention may be otherwise embodied by the scope of the claims appended hereto . | 2 |
in compliance with the constitutional purpose of the patent laws &# 34 ; to promote the progress of science and useful arts &# 34 ; ( article 1 , section 8 ), applicant submits the following disclosure of the invention . a horse is generally shown by the reference numeral 10 in fig1 and 4 . for purposes of this description , several anatomical features of the horse 10 will be briefly and generally discussed as they relate to particular features of the present invention . to this end , the horse is described including a neck area designated at 11 and a frontal or breast area 12 . front shoulders are indicated at 13 . the upper neck where it joins the horse &# 39 ; s back is termed the &# 34 ; withers &# 34 ; and is indicated by the bracketed area 14 in fig1 and 4 . the back is shown at 15 and extends from the withers 14 to the hip area 16 . ribs 17 and brisket 18 are also identified in the drawings . both forms of the present deflector are indicated at 20 . each is formed of a flexible , water - impervious material such as plastic in sheet form to substantially cover the chest area of the horse . the deflector 20 offers protection by shielding the chest area of the horse against mud or other material &# 34 ; kicked up &# 34 ; by the leading horses in a race , and reduces the air resistance or drag normally produced by the relatively flat chest area of the horse . the deflector 20 shown in fig1 , and 5 is intended for use primarily with trotter or pacer horses as shown in fig1 . the form shown in fig2 and 4 is intended primarily for use in saddle riding . generally , both forms of the deflector 20 are preferably formed from a single sheet of flexible plastic material . the material may be a form of &# 34 ; abs &# 34 ; plastic currently sold under the trademark &# 34 ; kydex &# 34 ; and may include a thickness dimension between 0 . 040 and 0 . 125 inches ( 1 mm to 3 . 25 mm ). each deflector form includes a pair of side panels 21 that extend from rearward ends 23 forwardly to a front section 24 . the side panels 21 and front section 24 present smooth outwardly - facing surfaces 22 for the purpose of deflecting air and mud . the surfaces are smooth to present little drag during forward motion of the horse and are water - impervious to deflect or shield the chest and shoulder area of the horse . mud or other debris is deflected from these surfaces that would otherwise be thrown against and accumulate along the chest and shoulder area of the horse during racing . each deflector also includes a continuous peripheral edge 26 provided with a padding strip 27 . the pad strip 27 may be formed of an appropriate soft material to prevent chafing against the possible areas of contact with adjacent tissues when the deflector is mounted to the horse . other provisions are also made for comfort and to avoid distraction . for example , shoulder recesses 28 are provided . the recesses 28 are formed along the peripheral edge 26 to be positioned upwardly adjacent the front shoulders of the horse . the recesses will allow free motion of the front legs and shoulders during running , trotting , or pacing . a neck recess 29 is formed centrally between the shoulder recesses and along a top section of the peripheral edge . the neck recess is concave as shown in fig2 through 5 to receive the horse &# 39 ; s neck 11 at the nape or area where the neck 11 joins the breast area 12 . the neck recess may vary with the form of deflector being used . the deflector shown in fig1 includes a recess that can be closely positioned adjacent the neck of the pacer or trotter . this provision is made since these horses carry their heads in a more upright orientation as they trot or pace along . a saddle racing horse , however , runs with the head and neck lowered and stretched forwardly . the neck recess 29 is therefore somewhat deeper in the saddle horse version of the deflector shown in fig2 and 4 . fig4 shows a horse standing substantially upright . in this position , the pad at the neck recess area may be spaced somewhat forwardly of the horse &# 39 ; s chest . it is also positioned slightly below the nape of the neck . however , when the horse is running , the pad will come into close proximity or may actually touch the outstretched neck 11 at the nape area of the breast 12 . both forms of the present deflector 20 make use of a strap means generally shown at 30 for properly securing the deflector to the horse . the strap means 30 is provided to secure the front section 24 in centered relation to the horse &# 39 ; s breast 12 and with the side panels extending rearwardly over the front shoulders 13 and ribs 17 on opposite sides of the horse . the strap means is also used to position the rearward side panel ends 23 adjacent the horse &# 39 ; s back 15 just forward of the hips 16 . this relationship is best indicated in fig1 and 4 . the strap means 30 may include a first strap 38 along one of the side panels , positioned thereon to extend over the horse &# 39 ; s withers 14 to the opposite side panel . the first strap 38 and opposite side panel are provided with connector means 39 for releasably fastening the free end of the first strap member . the connector means may be comprised of a conventional ring and clip assembly . the strap means 30 may also include a second strap member 42 with an end secured adjacent the rearward end 23 of one side panel and extendable over the horse &# 39 ; s back 15 to the other panel . similar connector means 43 may be used to releasably secure the free end of the second strap member to the other side panel so the strap will extend between the side panels and over the horse &# 39 ; s back 15 . the two strap members 38 and 42 may be adjustable lengthwise by conventional buckles or length adjusting assemblies ( not shown ) to facilitate elevational positioning of the deflector to suit individual horses . adjustment of these two straps may also function to change the elevational position of the neck recess 29 . the strap means 30 may also include a breast strap member 46 . this strap includes an end 47 secured to the frontal section of the deflector and extends to a free end 48 having a clip or other appropriate fastener thereon for connection to the girth 50 typically used in both harness and saddle racing for securing a saddle member about the back , ribs , and brisket of the horse . the breast strap serves to prevent the deflector from undesired vertical or forward movement on the horse . it also functions to prevent the forward section of the deflector from bouncing . the front sections 24 of the two deflector forms are distinguishable as indicated in fig2 and 3 . the shape of each section is selected depending upon whether the deflector is to be used for saddle racing or harness racing . with harness racing , the frontal section 24 is integral with the side sections and may be defined simply by a substantially vertical crease or rounded area 25 extending between upper and lower portions of the peripheral edge . the crease 25 is to be centered in relation to the breast area of the horse . the side panels 21 diverge from this central crease which forms the vertex of an acute angle . the &# 34 ; rays &# 34 ; of the acute angle are comprised of the side panels 21 . the front section of the version shown in fig2 includes a web 34 that spans an area of the front section projecting forwardly of the breast area 12 of the horse . the webbing 34 can be provided as an integral part of the sides and front configuration or attached separately . the web functions also as a reinforcing member to hold the desired &# 34 ; acute &# 34 ; angular relationship between the two side panels . the web includes an indentation defined by a concave web edge 35 . the edge 35 is provided with a pad strip section 36 that may be integral with the peripheral pad strip 27 . the indentation is helpful to position the central crease 25 in centered relation with the horse &# 39 ; s chest . the web configuration with its forwardly projecting front section is intended for use with saddle racing horses since the forwardly projecting section 24 will not interfere with or endanger other horses in the race . the horse &# 39 ; s head , when running , projects further ahead than the front section 24 . there is also no danger to the riders since they sit astride the horses at an elevation substantially higher than the forward projecting front section . the advantage of this &# 34 ; pointed &# 34 ; configuration is a reduction in frontal surface area and a marked decrease in air &# 34 ; drag &# 34 ; normally produced as the horse runs . the deflector configuration shown in fig1 and 5 does not make use of the web 34 . instead , the frontal section 24 is placed more closely adjacent to the horse &# 39 ; s breast area 12 . this is a safety precaution since forward projection such as the frontal configuration shown in fig2 could possibly become a hazard to drivers riding the cart or sulky at an elevation substantially equal to that of the pointed deflector front . the crease 25 is still provided , however , and the side panels diverge at substantially acute angles . both forms therefore serve to reduce air drag as the horse moves forwardly and to shield the chest and shoulder areas of the horse against mud and debris . the harness racing version of the present deflector also includes apertures 56 formed in each of the panels 21 . the apertures 56 are of sufficient size to receive the forwardly projecting thimble ends of cart shafts 60 . the thimble ends of the shafts can extend through the apertures from inside the panels 21 substantially as shown in fig1 . the shafts therefore provide additional support and positioning for the deflector . the saddle horse version of the present deflector may be attached to a horse during the saddling procedure . the deflector is preferably mounted to the horse after saddling is complete . the deflector may then be initially mounted to the horse by slipping both side panels in a rearward motion to position the rearward ends between the saddle girth and stirrups . the first and second straps and associated connectors may then be fastened and adjusted to determine the proper elevation for the deflector in relation to the shoulder and chest area of the horse . care is taken to position the first strap member over the withers and the second over the back behind the saddle . finally , the breast strap can be drawn back between the front legs and attached to the saddle girth . length adjustments may also be made at this point to secure the deflector in a desired position . removal of the device from a saddle horse is accomplished simply by reversing the above procedures . attachment of the present harness racing version of the deflector to a harness racing horse involves a somewhat similar procedure to that described above . care is taken , however , to properly insert the shaft thimbles through the apertures 56 . removal is a simple reversal of the mounting procedures . during use as the horse moves forwardly , the deflector will function to &# 34 ; slice &# 34 ; through the air reducing air drag at the chest area of the horse to a minimum . this is due to the pointed configuration of the front section and the smooth surface and contours of the deflector material . furthermore , the flexible , yet tough , material of the deflector will shield the chest and shoulder area of the horse against mud and debris that is typically encountered during all forms of horse racing . the debris or mud will be deflected by the smooth surface and not allowed to accumulate , adding weight and drag . any mud will slide easily from the smooth plastic surfaces 22 and drop to the ground . the horse will therefore be encouraged to put forth a maximum running effort . in compliance with the statute , the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features . it is to be understood , however , that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown , since the means and construction herein disclosed comprise a preferred form of putting the invention into effect . the invention is , therefore , claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims , appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents . | 1 |
fig1 is a cross - sectional side view illustrating generally , by way of example , but not by way of limitation , an example of a strain - detecting or pressure - detecting acoustic - to - optical fbg sensor 100 in an optical fiber 105 . fbg sensor 100 senses acoustic energy received from a nearby area to be imaged , and transduces the received acoustic energy into an optical signal within optical fiber 105 . in the example of fig1 , fbg sensor 100 can include bragg gratings 110 a - b in an optical fiber core 115 , such as surrounded by an optical fiber cladding 120 . bragg gratings 110 a - b can be separated by a strain or pressure sensing region 125 , which , in an example , can be about a millimeter in length . this example can sense strain or pressure such as by detecting a variation in length of the optical path between these gratings 110 a - b . a fiber bragg grating can be conceptualized as a periodic change in the optical refractive index of a portion of the optical fiber core 115 . light of specific wavelengths traveling down such a portion of core 115 will be reflected ; the period ( distance ) 130 of the periodic change in the optical index determines the particular wavelengths of light that will be reflected . the degree of optical index change and the length 135 of the grating determine the ratio of light reflected to that transmitted through the grating 110 a - b . fig2 is a cross - sectional side view illustrating generally , by way of example , but not by way of limitation , an operative example of an interferometric fbg sensor 100 . the example of fig2 can include two fbg mirrors 110 a - b , which can be both partially reflective such as for a specific range of wavelengths of light passing through fiber core 115 . generally , the reflectivity of each fbg will be substantially similar , but can differ for particular implementations . this interferometric arrangement of fbgs 110 a - b can be capable of discerning the โ optical distance โ between fbgs 110 a - b with extreme sensitivity . the โ optical distance โ can be a function of the effective refractive index of the material of fiber core 115 as well as the length 125 between fbgs 110 a - b . thus , a change in the refractive index can induce a change in optical path length , even though the physical distance 125 between fbgs 110 a - b has not substantially changed . an interferometer , such as fbg sensor 100 , can be conceptualized as a device that measures the interference between light reflected from each of the partially reflective fbgs 110 a - b . when the optical path length between the fbg mirrors 110 a - b is an exact integer multiple of the wavelength of the optical signal in the optical fiber core 115 , then the light that passes through the fbg sensor 100 will be a maximum and the light reflected will be a minimum , so the optical signal is substantially fully transmitted through the fbg sensor 100 . this addition or subtraction can be conceptualized as interference . the occurrence of full transmission or minimum reflection can be called a โ null โ and occurs at a precise wavelength of light for a given optical path length . measuring the wavelength at which this null occurs can yield an indication of the length of the optical path between the two partially reflective fbgs 110 a - b . in such a manner , an interferometer , such as fbg sensor 100 , can sense a small change in distance , such as a change in the optical distance 125 between fbgs 110 a - b resulting from received ultrasound or other received acoustic energy . this arrangement can be thought of as a special case of the fbg fabry - perot interferometer , sometimes more particularly described as an etalon , because the distance 125 between the fbgs 110 a - b is substantially fixed . the sensitivity of an interferometer , such as fbg sensor 100 , can depend in part on the steepness of the โ skirt โ of the null in the frequency response . the steepness of the skirt can be increased by increasing the reflectivity of the fbgs 100 a - b , which also increases the โ finesse โ of the interferometer . the present applicant has recognized , among other things , that increasing the finesse or steepness of the skirt of fbg sensor 100 can increase the sensitivity of the fbg sensor 100 to the reflected ultrasound signals within a particular wavelength range but can decrease the dynamic range . as such , keeping the wavelength of the optical sensing signal within the wavelength range can be advantageous . in an example , a closed - loop system can monitor a representative wavelength ( e . g ., the center wavelength of the skirt of the filtering fbg sensor 100 ) and can adjust the wavelength of an optical output laser to remain substantially close to the center of the skirt of the filter characteristic of the fbg sensor 100 as forces external to the optical fiber 105 , such as bending and stress , cause the center wavelength of the skirt of the filter characteristic of the fbg sensor 100 to shift . in an example , such as illustrated in fig2 , the interferometric fbg sensor 100 can cause interference between that portion of the optical beam that is reflected off the first partially reflective fbg 110 a with that reflected from the second partially reflective fbg 110 b . the wavelength of light where an interferometric null will occur can be very sensitive to the โ optical distance โ between the two fbgs 110 a - b . the interferometric fbg sensor 100 of fig2 can provide another very practical advantage . in this example , the two optical paths along the fiber core 115 are the same , except for the sensing region between fbgs 110 a - b . this shared optical path ensures that any optical changes in the shared portion of optical fiber 105 will have substantially no effect upon the interferometric signal ; only the change in the sensing region 125 between fbgs 110 a - 110 b is sensed . however , the present applicant has recognized , among other things , that this sensing can be affected by birefringence of the optical fiber within fbg sensor 100 . optical birefringence is a measure of the difference in refractive index of an optical medium for light of different polarizations . the polarization of light can be defined as the orientation of the electric vector of the electromagnetic light wave . birefringence between two at least partially reflective fbgs , such fbgs 110 a - b , can cause different beams of light with different polarizations to effectively travel slightly different optical path lengths between the fbgs 110 a - b . therefore , a combination of birefringence between the at least partially reflective fbgs 110 a - b and a shift in the polarization of the optical signal within the optical fiber core 115 can cause a shift in the exact wavelength of the null of the fbg sensor 100 . when light is split between different polarization states , the light will be reflected or transmitted from different parts of the skirt of the null , which can lead to fading of the optically transduced signal . there are many possible states of polarization , such as linear , circular , and elliptical , but the worst signal fading generally occurs when the optical signal is split equally between linear polarization states that are orthogonally aligned . with this in mind , the present applicant has recognized , among other things , that birefringence should be reduced or otherwise addressed , if possible . the present applicant has also recognized that there can be two main sources of optical birefringence within the fbg sensor 100 . the first source is the intrinsic birefringence of the optical fiber 105 . the intrinsic birefringence is determined mostly during the manufacturing of the optical fiber 105 and is generally a function of the level of geometric symmetry , the uniformity of dopant distribution , and the level of stress in the fiber core 115 during the drawing of the fiber core 115 . the second source of optical birefringence in the fbg sensor 100 is the process of writing the fbgs 110 a and 110 b . the present applicant has also recognized that the birefringence induced by the writing of fbgs 110 a and 110 b can be reduced such as by controlling one or more aspects of the writing process , such as the polarization of the writing laser , the laser pulse energy , the writing exposure time , the amount of hydrogen or deuterium in the fiber during writing , or any combination thereof . in an example , an fbg sensor 100 senses pressure or strain such as generated by ultrasound or other acoustic energy received from a nearby imaging region to be visualized and , in response , modulates an optical sensing signal in an optical fiber . increasing the sensitivity of the fbg sensor 100 can provide improved imaging . a first example of increasing sensitivity is to increase the amount of strain induced in the fbg sensor 100 for a given dynamic pressure provided by the acoustic energy . a second example is to increase the modulation of the optical signal for a given change in strain of the fbg sensor 100 . any combination of the techniques of these first and second examples can also be used . one technique of increasing the strain induced in the fbg sensor 100 is to configure the physical attributes of the fbg sensor 100 such as to increase the degree of strain for a given externally - applied acoustic field . in an example , the fbg sensor 100 can be shaped so as to increase the strain for a given applied acoustic pressure field . fig3 is a cross - sectional schematic diagram illustrating such an example in which the fbg sensor 100 is shaped such that it mechanically resonates at or near the frequency of the acoustic energy received from the nearby imaging region , thereby resulting in increased strain . in the example of fig3 , all or a portion of the strain sensing region between fbgs 110 a - b is selected to provide a thickness 300 that promotes such mechanical resonance of the received acoustic energy , thereby increasing the resulting strain sensed by fbg sensor 100 . in an example , such as illustrated in fig3 , this can be accomplished by grinding or otherwise removing a portion of fiber cladding 120 , such that the remaining thickness of fiber core 115 or fiber cladding 120 between opposing planar ( or other ) surfaces is selected to mechanically resonate at or near the frequency of the acoustic energy received from the nearby imaging region . in an example , mechanical resonance can be obtained by making the thickness 300 of the strain sensing region substantially the same thickness as ยฝ the acoustic wavelength ( or an odd integer multiple thereof ) in the material ( s ) of fbg sensor 100 at the acoustic center frequency of the desired acoustic frequency band received from the imaging region . in other examples , such as for other materials , the thickness 300 can be selected to match a different proportion of the acoustic wavelength that obtains the desired mechanical resonance for that material . calculations indicate that obtaining such mechanical resonance can increase the strain sensitivity by a factor of 2 or more over that of a sensor that is not constructed to obtain such mechanical resonance . in a third example , a coating 305 can be applied to the fbg sensor 100 such as to increase the acoustic pressure as seen by the fbg sensor 100 over a band of acoustic frequencies , such as for improving its sensitivity over that band . the difference between the mechanical characteristics of water ( or tissue and / or blood , which is mostly comprised of water ) and glass material of the optical fiber 105 carrying the fbg sensor 100 is typically so significant that only a small amount of acoustic energy โ enters โ the fbg sensor 100 and thereby causes strain ; the remaining energy is reflected back into the biological or other material being imaged . for a particular range of acoustic frequencies , one or more coatings 305 of specific thickness 310 or mechanical properties ( e . g ., the particular mechanical impedance ) of the coating material can be used to dramatically reduce such attenuation due to the different mechanical characteristics . an example can use quarter wave matching , providing a coating 305 of a thickness 310 that is approximately equal to one quarter of the acoustic signal wavelength received from the region being imaged . using such matching , the sensitivity of the fbg sensor 100 , over a given band of acoustic frequencies of interest , is expected to increase by about a factor of 2 . however , for a mechanically resonant transducer , reducing the thickness of fiber cladding 120 , and therefore reducing the total size of the transducer , is limited by the wavelength of the acoustic energy to be received . in a fourth example , the thickness 300 of the strain sensing region is substantially less than half of the wavelength of the target acoustic energy . fig4 is a cross - sectional schematic diagram illustrating such an example . in this example , the thickness 300 of the strain sensing region can be less than 60 micrometers . as the acoustic width of the transducer is reduced , the cross - sectional area of the transducer is reduced , and the total strain due to acoustic pressure on the transducer is reduced . therefore , a smaller thickness 300 of the strain sensing region results in a smaller received acoustic signal , leading to reduced receive sensitivity of the fbg sensor 100 . this reduced receive sensitivity of the fbg sensor 100 can be improved by placing a backing 440 between the strain sensing region of the optical fiber 105 and a core wire 450 that can be configured to provide support , rigidity , and flexibility for the assembly . the backing 440 can include a high acoustic impedance material such as a metal or ceramic . in an example , the backing 440 can be separated from the optical fiber such as by an acoustically thin ( e . g ., less than a quarter wavelength thick ) tubular sheath 460 . the coating 305 can also be configured , in an example , for acoustic impedance matching . in an example , the backing 440 can be configured to reflect acoustic energy back to the strain sensing region , such as in a resonant manner , to increase the total amount of acoustic energy received by the strain sensing region and thereby increase the strain on the region . in this example , however , the receive sensitivity of fbg sensor 100 may depend on the polarization of the optical sensing signal because the backing 440 does not enhance the acoustic signal in all directions . the receive sensitivity generally is highest when the optical sensing signal is polarized parallel to an axis extending through the backing 440 and the fiber core 115 or an axis extending through the core wire 450 and the fiber core 115 . the receive sensitivity is generally lowest when the angle of the polarization of the optical sensing signal is parallel to the outline of the interface between the backing 440 and the sheath 460 , because the backing does not enhance the signal for this polarization orientation . the variable sensitivity in this example results at least partially from acoustic reflections from the backing 440 and from the core wire 450 . the present applicant has recognized , among other things , that sensitivity to polarization of the optical sensing signal should be reduced or eliminated , if possible , in an example . in an example , the backing 440 can be configured to absorb the acoustic energy that penetrates completely through the optical fiber to reach the backing 440 . in this example , the backing 440 can be configured both to not reflect any acoustic energy back to fbg sensor 100 and also to inhibit or prevent the core wire 450 from reflecting any acoustic energy back to fbg sensor 100 . the sheath 460 in this example can be configured to not reflect any substantial amount of acoustic energy . in an illustrative example , the sheath 460 can comprise a layer of uv - curable polyester such as with a thickness of about 10 micrometers or less . the backing 440 in this illustrative example can comprise microballoons filled with gas or microballoons filled with gas mixed into a polymer matrix . in an example of a device configured for imaging within a coronary vasculature , the room for the backing 440 is very limited , and therefore it can be advantageous if the backing 440 is relatively highly acoustically absorbent with a relatively small thickness . in an example in which acoustic energy that penetrates completely through the optical fiber to reach the backing 440 is substantially absorbed by a relatively small thickness of the backing 440 , microballoons can comprise 30 % to 50 % of the volume of the backing 440 . with such a polymer - microballoon mixture , the backing 440 can have a thickness of as little as 50 micrometers and can be configured to be capable of attenuating acoustic energy with a frequency of 20 megahertz by 17 decibels to 23 decibels per millimeter of thickness of the backing 440 . in an example , the sensitivity of fbg sensor 100 is relatively independent of the polarization of the output optical beam within fbg sensor 100 . in an example , a peak - to - peak amplitude of the oscillating output optical sensing signal varies by no more than one decibel as the polarization of the output optical sensing signal is rotated 90 degrees . in an example , the backing 440 attenuates ultrasound energy by at least 90 %. the above examples can be combined with each other or can include more or fewer elements than are recited in the examples and can still function as described in the examples . for example , an ultrasound - to - optical transducer that is relatively insensitive to the polarization of the optical sensing signal can include an optical fiber , a backing configured to absorb ultrasound energy that goes through the optical fiber to reach the backing , and an fbg interferometer configured to modulate an optical sensing signal in response to the ultrasound energy . the optical fiber can include a thickness of the optical fiber that is less than half the wavelength of the ultrasound energy that is sensed by the transducer . fig5 is a schematic diagram that illustrates generally an example of a side view of a distal portion 500 of an imaging guidewire 505 or other elongated catheter ( in an example , the guidewire 505 is sized and shaped and is of flexibility and rigidity such that it is capable of being used for introducing and / or guiding a catheter or other medical instrument , e . g ., over the guidewire 505 within a living body ). in this example , the distal portion 500 of the imaging guidewire 505 includes one or more imaging windows 510 a , 510 b , . . . , 510 n located slightly or considerably proximal to a distal tip 515 of the guidewire 505 . each imaging window 510 includes one or more acoustic - to - optical fbg sensors 100 . in an example , the different imaging windows 510 a , 510 b , . . . , 510 n are designed for different optical wavelengths , such that particular individual windows can be addressed by changing the optical wavelength being communicated through fiber core 115 . fig6 is a schematic diagram that illustrates generally an example of a cross - sectional side view of a distal portion 600 of a guidewire 605 . in this example , the guidewire 605 can include a solid metal or other core wire 450 that can taper down in diameter ( e . g ., from an outer diameter of about 0 . 011 inches ) at a suitable distance 615 ( e . g ., about 50 cm ) from the distal tip 620 , to which the tapered - down distal end of core wire 450 can be attached . in this example , optical fibers 625 can be distributed around the outer circumference of the guidewire core 450 , and can be attached to the distal tip 620 . in this example , the optical fibers 625 can be at least partially embedded in a binder material ( e . g ., uv curable acrylate polymer ) that bonds the optical fibers 625 to the guidewire core wire 450 or the distal tip 620 . the binder material may also contribute to the torsion response of the resulting guidewire assembly 605 . in an example , the optical fibers 625 and binder material can be overcoated with a polymer or other coating 630 , such as for providing abrasion resistance , optical fiber protection , or friction control , or a combination thereof . at least one metallic or other bulkhead 640 can be provided along the tapered portion of the core wire 450 . in an example , the optical fibers 625 and binder 635 can be attached to a proximal side of the bulkhead 640 such as near its circumferential perimeter . a distal side of the bulkhead 640 can be attached , such as near its circumferential perimeter , to a coil winding 610 that can extend further , in the distal direction , to a ball or other distal tip 620 of the guidewire 605 . in this example , the composite structure of the distal region 600 of the guidewire 605 can provide , among other things , flexibility and rotational stiffness , such as for allowing the guidewire 605 to be maneuvered to an imaging region of interest such as within a vascular or any other lumen . fig7 is a schematic diagram that illustrates generally an example of a cross - sectional end view of a proximal portion 700 of guidewire 605 , which can include core wire 450 , optical fibers 625 , binder material 635 , and outer coating 630 . in this example , but not by way of limitation , the diameter of the core 450 can be about 11 / 1000 inch , the diameter of the optical fibers 625 can be about ( 1 . 25 )/ 1000 inch , and the optional outer coating 1030 can be about ( 0 . 25 )/ 1000 inch thick . fig8 is a schematic diagram that illustrates generally an example of a cross - sectional end view of the distal portion 600 of the guidewire 605 , e . g ., adjacent to the distal tip 620 . in this example , but not by way of limitation , the diameter of core wire 450 has tapered down to about 1 . 5 / 1000 inch , circumferentially surrounded by a void 800 of about the same outer diameter ( e . g ., about 11 / 1000 inch ) as the core wire 450 near the proximal end 700 of the guidewire 605 . in this example , the optical fibers 625 can be circumferentially disposed in the binder material 635 around the void 800 . binder material 635 can provide structural support . optical fibers 625 can be optionally overlaid with the outer coating 630 . in an example , before one or more acoustic transducers are fabricated , the guidewire 605 can be assembled . fig9 is a cross - sectional end view illustrating an example of a structure of such a guidewire assembly such as at a location of a transducing window 510 . an example of such assembling can include placing the tubular sheath 460 on the core wire 450 such as at the locations selected for transducing , inserting the backing 440 into a gap between the core wire 450 and the tubular sheath 460 , and binding the optical fibers 625 to the sheath 460 and the distal tip 620 or bulkhead 640 . the coating 305 , which , in an example , can include the outer coating 630 , can then optionally be layered over the optical fibers 625 . in another example of such assembling , the backing 440 can be formed to the surface of the core wire 450 such as at the locations selected for transducing , and the tubular sheath 460 can be formed to the exposed surface of the backing , such as by heat - shrinking , for example . in an example , the optical fibers 625 can each have a diameter of less than half of the wavelength of the acoustic energy that the acoustic transducers are designed to sense , although the diameter of each of the optical fibers 625 can be larger than this in other examples . after the guidewire 605 has been assembled , the fbgs can be added to one or more portions of the optical fibers 625 , such as within the transducer windows 510 . in an example , an fbg can be created using an optical process in which a portion of the optical fiber 625 is exposed to a carefully controlled pattern of ultraviolet ( uv ) radiation that defines the bragg grating . then , a photoacoustic material or other desired overlayer can be deposited or otherwise added in the transducer windows 510 such as over the bragg grating . thus , in this example , the fbgs can be advantageously constructed after the optical fibers 625 have been mechanically assembled into the guidewire assembly 605 . an fbg writing laser can be used to expose the desired portion of the optical fiber 625 to a carefully controlled pattern of uv radiation to define the bragg grating . the fbg writing laser can be operated so as to reduce the amount of birefringence caused by the fbgs . this will reduce the dependence of the fbg sensor 100 on the polarization of the optical sensing signal that is modulated by the received acoustic energy . in an illustrative example , at least one of hydrogen or deuterium can first be optionally infused into the optical fiber core 115 . conditions for diffusion of the gas into the fiber can be 150 atm pressure at room temperature for 1 to 10 days . then , the optical fiber 625 can be exposed to the writing laser , such as for a time period of between about 30 seconds and about 10 minutes . in this example , the writing laser can have a pulse energy of between about 0 . 1 millijoules ( mj ) and about 10 millijoules and can have a polarization angle that is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the optical fiber core 115 . in an illustrative example , such as in which hydrogen is not infused into the optical fiber core 115 , the optical fiber 625 can be exposed to the writing laser such as for a time period of between about 30 seconds and about 10 minutes . in this example , the writing laser can have a pulse energy of between about 0 . 1 millijoules and about 10 millijoules and a polarization angle that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the optical fiber core 115 . in either this example or the above example in which hydrogen or deuterium is first optionally infused into the optical fiber core 115 , desired portions of all layers or coverings over the fiber cladding 120 can optionally be removed before the optical fiber 625 is exposed to the writing laser . in an example , the writing conditions can be controlled so that the fbg sensor 100 is relatively insensitive to the polarization of the output optical signal . this can include , for example , reducing the speed of writing by lowering the intensity of the uv lamp in order to reduce heating biases . in an example , the shift in the center wavelength of the skirt of the fbg sensor 100 as the polarization of the output optical sensing signal is rotated 90 degrees is less that half of the full width half maximum of the skirt of the fbg sensor 100 . in another example , a total birefringence induced on an optical signal with a wavelength of about 1550 nanometers transmitted within the optical fiber 625 is less than ( 3 ร 10 โ 6 ). in this document , the term โ minimally - invasive โ refers to techniques that are less invasive than conventional surgery ; the term โ minimally - invasive โ is not intended to be restricted to the least - invasive technique possible . although certain of the above examples have been described with respect to intravascular imaging ( e . g ., for viewing or identifying vulnerable plaque ), the present systems , devices , and methods are also applicable to imaging any other body part . for example , the guidewire or other elongated body as discussed above can be inserted into a biopsy needle , laparoscopic device , or any other lumen or cavity such as for performing imaging . moreover , such imaging need not involve insertion of an elongate body into a lumen , for example , an imaging apparatus can be wrapped around a portion of a region to be imaged . in an example , the present systems , devices , and methods can be used to process the doppler shift in acoustic frequency to image or measure blood flow . the operation can be similar to that described above , however , this would increase the length of the transmitted acoustic signal , and can use doppler signal processing in the image processing portion of the control electronics . the transmitted acoustic signal can be lengthened , in an example , such as by repeatedly pulsing the transmit optical energy at the same rate as the desired acoustic frequency . the above detailed description includes references to the accompanying drawings , which form a part of the detailed description . the drawings show , by way of illustration , specific embodiments in which the invention can be practiced . these embodiments are also referred to herein as โ examples .โ such examples can include elements in addition to those shown and described . however , the present inventors also contemplate examples in which only those elements shown and described are provided . all publications , patents , and patent documents referred to in this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety , as though individually incorporated by reference . in the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents so incorporated by reference , the usage in the incorporated reference ( s ) should be considered supplementary to that of this document ; for irreconcilable inconsistencies , the usage in this document controls . in this document , the terms โ a โ or โ an โ are used , as is common in patent documents , to include one or more than one , independent of any other instances or usages of โ at least one โ or โ one or more .โ in this document , the term โ or โ is used to refer to a nonexclusive or , such that โ a or b โ includes โ a but not b ,โ โ b but not a ,โ and โ a and b ,โ unless otherwise indicated . in the appended claims , the terms โ including โ and โ in which โ are used as the plain - english equivalents of the respective terms โ comprising โ and โ wherein .โ also , in the following claims , the terms โ including โ and โ comprising โ are open - ended , that is , a system , device , article , or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim . moreover , in the following claims , the terms โ first ,โ โ second ,โ and โ third ,โ etc . are used merely as labels , and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects . method examples described herein can be machine or computer - implemented at least in part . some examples can include a computer - readable medium or machine - readable medium encoded with instructions operable to configure an electronic device to perform methods as described in the above examples . an implementation of such methods can include code , such as microcode , assembly language code , a higher - level language code , or the like . such code can include computer readable instructions for performing various methods . the code may form portions of computer program products . further , the code may be tangibly stored on one or more volatile or non - volatile computer - readable media during execution or at other times . these computer - readable media may include , but are not limited to , hard disks , removable magnetic disks , removable optical disks ( e . g ., compact disks and digital video disks ), magnetic cassettes , memory cards or sticks , random access memories ( rams ), read only memories ( roms ), and the like . the above description is intended to be illustrative , and not restrictive . for example , the above - described examples ( or one or more aspects thereof ) may be used in combination with each other . other embodiments can be used , such as by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description . the abstract is provided to comply with 37 c . f . r . ยง 1 . 72 ( b ), to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure . it is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims . also , in the above detailed description , various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure . this should not be interpreted as intending that an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim . rather , inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a particular disclosed embodiment . thus , the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description , with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment . the scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims , along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . | 0 |
fig1 depicts a biomass conversion system 10 that employs a residual solids separator 12 to remove residual solids from bio - oil . it should be understood that the biomass conversion system shown in fig1 is just one example of a system within which the present invention can be embodied . the present invention may find application in a wide variety of other systems where it is desirable to efficiently and effectively remove residual solids from bio - oil . the exemplary biomass conversion system illustrated in fig1 will now be described in detail . the biomass conversion system 10 of fig1 includes a biomass source 14 for supplying a biomass feedstock to be converted to bio - oil . the biomass source 14 can be , for example , a hopper , storage bin , railcar , over - the - road trailer , or any other device that may hold or store biomass . the biomass supplied by the biomass source 14 is preferably in the form of solid particles having a mean particle size of 0 . 01 to 1 , 000 microns , 1 to 750 microns , or 50 to 500 microns . the biomass particles can be fibrous biomass materials comprising cellulose . examples of suitable cellulose - containing materials include algae , paper waste , and / or cotton linters . in one embodiment , the biomass particles can comprise a lignocellulosic material . examples of suitable lignocellulosic materials include forestry waste , such as wood chips , saw dust , pulping waste , and tree branches ; agricultural waste such as corn stover , wheat straw , and bagasse ; and / or energy crops such as eucalyptus , switch grass , and coppice . as depicted in fig1 , the solid biomass particles from the biomass source 14 can optionally be fed to a splitter 16 that splits the biomass into a feedstock fraction and a filter aid fraction . the biomass filter aid fraction can then be supplied directly or indirectly to the residual solids separator 12 , while the feedstock fraction can be supplied to a biomass feed system 18 . the splitter 16 can be any conventional device capable of dividing solid particulates into separate fractions . when the splitter 16 is employed , the biomass used as a filter aid in the residual solids separator 12 has the same composition as the biomass provided to the biomass feed system 18 . when the splitter 16 is not employed , the biomass filter aid supplied to the residual solids separator can be provided by a separate biomass filter aid source 20 . when all or part of the biomass filter aid is supplied by the separate biomass filter aid source 20 , the composition of the biomass filter aid employed in the residual solids separator 12 can be different than the composition of the biomass that is supplied to the biomass feed system 18 . as used herein , โ biomass filter aid โ means a biomass - containing medium that promotes the efficiency or effectiveness of a filtration process for removing solids from a fluid . the biomass filter aid described herein can be formed of at least 50 weight percent biomass , at least 75 weight percent biomass , or at least 90 weight percent biomass . as alluded to above , in one embodiment , the biomass filter aid can have the same composition , properties , and particle size as the biomass converted to bio - oil . referring again to fig1 , the biomass feed system 18 can be any system capable of feeding solid particulate biomass to a biomass conversion reactor 22 . as described in further detail below , in one embodiment , the biomass feed system 18 combines the fresh biomass received from the biomass source 14 with spent biomass filter aid recovered from the residual solids separator 12 . also , it may be desirable to combine the biomass with a catalyst in the biomass feed system 18 in order to promote conversion of the biomass to the desired bio - oil product . suitable catalytic materials that can be combined with the biomass prior to introduction into the conversion reactor 22 include , for example , zeolites , hydrotalcites , hydrotalcite - like materials , clays , and / or refractory oxides such as alumina . in one embodiment of the present invention , the biomass feed to the conversion reactor is unprocessed . as used herein , โ unprocessed biomass โ means biomass that has not been subjected to any pretreatments that significantly change the chemical make - up of the biomass . an example of a pretreatment that would significantly change the chemical make - up of biomass would be delignification . thus , unprocessed biomass excludes cellulose fibers extracted from lignocellulose . examples of pretreatment methods that do not significantly change the chemical make - up of biomass include particulating , grinding , agitating , drying , and mixing with a catalyst . in the conversion reactor 22 , biomass is subjected to a conversion reaction that produces bio - oil . the conversion reactor 22 can facilitate different chemical conversion reactions such as fast pyrolysis , slow pyrolysis , liquefaction , gasification , or enzymatic conversion . the conversion reactor 22 can be , for example , a fluidized bed reactor , cyclone reactor , ablative reactor , or a riser reactor . in one embodiment , the conversion reactor 22 can be a riser reactor and the conversion reaction is fast pyrolysis . fast pyrolysis is characterized by short residence times and rapid heating of the biomass feedstock . the residence times of the fast pyrolysis reaction can be , for example , less than 10 seconds , less than 5 seconds , or less than 2 seconds . fast pyrolysis may occur at temperatures between 200 and 1 , 000 ยฐ c ., between 250 and 800 ยฐ c ., or between 300 and 600 ยฐ c . the product exiting the conversion reactor 22 generally comprises gas , vapors , and solids . in the case of fast pyrolysis , the solids in the product exiting the conversion reaction generally comprise particles of char , ash , and / or catalyst . as depicted in fig1 , the product from the conversion reactor 22 can be introduced into a primary solids separator 24 . the primary solids separator 24 can be any conventional device capable of separating solids from gas / vapors such as , for example , a cyclone separator or a gas filter . the primary solids separator 24 removes relatively larger solids ( e . g ., greater than 20 microns ) from the reaction product , but small residual solids remain entrained in the gas / vapor phase . the relatively large particles recovered in the primary solids separator 24 , which can include any spent catalysts and char , are introduced into a regenerator 26 for regeneration , typically by combustion . the remaining gas / vapor phase conversion products from the primary solids separator 24 are introduced into a condenser 28 . the condenser 28 condenses at least a portion of the remaining conversion products into bio - oil , while the residual gas and uncondensed vapor are drawn off in a separate stream . the bio - oil recovered from the condenser 28 comprises a liquid phase and residual solids . the amount of residual solids in the bio - oil is generally about 0 . 05 to 5 weight percent , and the residual solids can have a mean particle size of about 0 . 1 to 200 microns or 1 to 100 microns . the condenser 28 may also function as a fractionator that separates and removes residual water from the conversion products and / or bio - oil . after exiting the condenser 28 , the bio - oil is introduced into a residual solids separator 12 for removal of the residual solids present in the bio - oil . the types of residual solids separators 12 that may be used can include , for example , centrifugal separators , gravitational separators , and / or pressure separators . specific examples of the residual solids separator 12 include a horizontal plate filter , a centrifuge , a rotary filter , and a bag filter . exemplary types of residual solid separators are depicted in fig2 - 5 and are described in more detail in a later section of this document . referring again to fig1 , the residual solids separator 12 comprises a porous filter element through which the bio - oil flows in order to remove the residual particles from the bio - oil . any sufficiently - fine conventional filter known in the art may be used as the filter element . the filter element has an inlet side and outlet side relative to the residual solids separator 12 . the inlet side is capable of being supplied with and supporting a biomass filter aid . in one embodiment of the present invention , the filter element of the residual solids separator 12 is pre - coated with a biomass filter aid prior to passing the bio - oil through the filter element . such pre - coating can be carried out by any method known in the art such as , for example , spraying the biomass filter aid onto the inlet side of the filter element . in another embodiment of the present invention , the biomass filter aid is combined with the bio - oil upstream of the residual solids separator 12 to create a pre - filter mixture . the pre - filter mixture is then passed through the filter element ( optionally pre - coated with biomass filter aid ), where both the biomass filter aid and the residual solids are retained by the filter element . as shown in fig1 , the biomass filter aid can be supplied to the residual solids separator 12 by a biomass filter aid transport mechanism 30 . the biomass filter aid transport mechanism can be any conventional device for transporting solids such as , for example , a pneumatic conveyor or simply a wheeled vehicle capable of carrying a container of the biomass filter aid . when pre - coating of the filter element is employed , the biomass filter aid transport mechanism 30 supplies the biomass filter aid directly to the residual solid separator 12 . when pre - mixing of the biomass filter aid and bio - oil is employed , the biomass filter aid transport mechanism 30 supplies the biomass filter aid to a mixing location upstream of the residual solids separator 12 . when the bio - oil ( optionally pre - mixed with the biomass filter aid ) is passed through the filter element ( optionally pre - coated with the biomass filter aid ), at least 50 weight percent , 75 weight percent , or 90 weight percent of the residual solids present in the bio - oil is retained by the filter element , while substantially all of the liquid phase of the bio - oil passes through the filter element . the resulting filtered bio - oil can then be used directly or further processed into a variety of end products . after filtering the bio - oil , the spent solids on the filter element ( i . e ., spent biomass filter aid and the residual solids retained thereon , therein , and / or therewith ) can be removed from the residual solids separator 12 . in one embodiment , the spent solids removed from the residual solids separator 12 can be routed by a spent solids transport mechanism 32 to the conversion reactor 22 for use as a conversion feedstock . in another embodiment , the spent solids can be routed to a combustor 36 to provide heat that can be used in the biomass conversion system 10 . fig2 - 5 illustrate examples of residual solids separators suitable for use in conjunction with the present invention . it should be understood that these examples are included merely for the purposes of illustration and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention unless otherwise specifically indicated . in one embodiment of the invention , the biomass filter aid may be used in a horizontal plate filter 100 , as depicted in fig2 . in this embodiment , a plurality of plate - type filter elements 102 are contained within a filter housing 104 . an unfiltered bio - oil ( optionally pre - mixed with a biomass filter aid 106 ) is introduced at the top of the horizontal plate filter 100 and passes by gravitational force through the filter elements 102 ( optionally pre - coated with a biomass filter aid 106 ). upon passing the bio - oil through the filter elements 102 , the residual solids 108 are retained on the filter element 102 , along with the biomass filter aid 106 . the resulting filtered bio - oil exits the bottom of the plate filter 100 . in another embodiment of the invention , the biomass filter aid may be used in a bag filter 200 as depicted in fig3 . in this embodiment , a bag - type filter element 202 is contained within a filter housing 204 . an unfiltered bio - oil ( optionally pre - mixed with a biomass filter aid 206 ) is introduced at the top of the bag filter 200 and passes by gravitational force through the filter element 202 ( optionally pre - coated with a biomass filter aid 206 ). upon passing the bio - oil through the filter element 202 , the residual solids 208 are retained on the filter element 202 , along with the biomass filter aid 206 . the resulting filtered bio - oil exits the bottom of the bag filter 200 . in a further embodiment of the invention , the biomass filter aid may be used in a centrifuge separator 300 as depicted in fig4 . in this embodiment , a rapidly - rotating filter element 302 is contained within a filter housing 304 . the filter element 302 ( optionally pre - coated with a biomass filter aid 306 ) surrounds an inner cavity where an unfiltered bio - oil ( optionally pre - mixed with a biomass filter aid 306 ) is introduced . the liquid phase of the bio - oil passes by centrifugal force through the filter element 302 , while the residual solids 308 and biomass filter aid 306 are retained on the filter element 302 . the centrifuge separator 300 includes a motor 310 for rotating the filter element 302 , thereby providing the centrifugal force required for separation . the resulting filtered bio - oil exits the bottom of the centrifuge 300 . in yet another embodiment of the invention , the biomass filter aid may be used in a rotary filter 400 as depicted in fig5 . in this embodiment , a cylindrical filter element 402 forming the outside surface of rotating drum is contained within a filter housing 404 . an unfiltered bio - oil ( optionally pre - mixed with a biomass filter aid 406 ) is introduced into the rotary filter 400 . upon passing the bio - oil through the filter element 402 ( optionally pre - coated with a biomass filter aid 406 ) the residual solids 408 and biomass filter aid 406 are retained on the filter element 402 . the unfiltered bio - oil may be drawn through the filter element 402 by pressurizing the outer chamber 410 and creating a pressure differential across the filter element . alternatively , a vacuum may be created in the inner chamber 412 , which draws the unfiltered bio - oil through the filter element 402 . the spent biomass filter aid 406 and residual solids retained 408 thereon may be removed from the filter element 402 by a knife 414 present in the outer chamber 410 . the filtered bio - oil exits the rotary filter after passing through the inner chamber 412 . biomass ( 2 g ; 32 . 3 weight percent of biomass particles ranging in sizes from 0 - 150 micron and 67 . 7 weight percent of biomass particles with sizes greater than 150 micron ) was evenly applied onto circular filter paper with a 7 cm diameter . a fresh bio - oil sample ( 47 g ) was filtered through the coated filter medium under vacuum conditions to obtain a filtered bio - oil ( 41 g ). pictures of the fresh / unfiltered bio - oil ( fig6 ) and the filtered bio - oil ( fig7 ) were taken under a 100 ร microscope . as shown in fig6 and 7 , the filtered bio - oil was visually particle free and significantly clearer than the fresh / unfiltered bio - oil . the preferred forms of the invention described above are to be used as illustration only , and should not be used in a limiting sense to interpret the scope of the present invention . modifications to the exemplary embodiments , set forth above , could be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention . | 2 |
this invention resides in a real time computer vision system capable of tracking the motion of objects , including the human body or portions thereof . the system is capable of tracking the gestures and behaviors through an unstructured and possibly cluttered environment , then outputs the position of the tracked features in each observed scene . to determine position in an immersive environment , a user is preferably outfitted with active infrared emitters which are tracked by custom linear cameras . a set of design specifications associated with an implemented system are shown in table 1 : the implemented system is capable of determining the location of 30 points , 30 times a second with a resolution of 2 . 5 mm within 5 meters of the tracking system . the field of view , range and accuracy have been specified to provide a reasonably large working volume to accommodate a variety of applications . the number of sensors was selected to allow for placement of multiple sensors on desired tracking points to allow the same point to be located irrespective of orientation to reduce the adverse effects of line - of - sight occlusion . virtual reality applications such as head tracking for head / helmet mounted display ( hmd ) generation dictate the high accuracy , sensor scan rate ( same as display update rate ), and low latency , all of which are desirable to help combat simulator sickness . the invention relies on an infrared - based , non - contact motion measurement system . referring to fig1 , small infrared ( ir ) light emitting diodes ( leds ) called tags ( 102 ) attached to the person or object are flashed in sequence using a controller 104 and tracked with a set of three linear optical sensors 106 . optical filters shown in fig6 are used to reduce background ir emissions and highlight the ir leds , thereby reducing the complexity of the image processing algorithms and improving system performance . the system works well in indoor conditions where diffuse incandescent or fluorescent light is present . the presence of direct incandescent light or sunlight can be tolerated somewhat . the absolute 3d position of each ir led ( tag ) is computed from the angle of arrival detected by the optical sensors using triangulation methods shown in fig2 . the ir led tags are button - sized devices ( preferably no greater than 0 . 25 inch diameter ) that are attached to the objects / points to be tracked as applicable to the object / point ( velcro ยฎ, double sided surgical tape , etc .). the tags preferably use 890 nm low directivity leds . the relative intensity of the ir radiation is 80 percent at 90 degrees off axis , allowing the tag to be readily imaged when the camera is in the half - plane field of view . each tag is preferably constructed by encapsulating the backside of the led in plastic both for a smooth mounting surface as well as to provide strain relief for the electrical connections . the total tag package is small , and so light that it may be unobtrusively affixed to a persons face and be used to resolve facial features . the wires from the tags are then run to the tag controller 104 , which is a walkman sized , untethered , battery powered device that may be attached to a person &# 39 ; s belt . the tag controller also has a rs - 232 serial port for local ( on the person ) communication , and an infrared data access ( irda ) compliant serial port for external communication and programming with a maximum baud rate of 115 . 2 kbps . the tag controller 104 turns the ir led tags on and off in sequence with precise timing to allow the position sensor array to view only one tag per camera exposure . fig3 is a block diagram of the ir led tag controller 104 . the controller allows for the tag illumination sequence to be initiated based on an external electrical signal ( which can be generated from the camera array controller ). if so connected , the controller synchronizes the tag sequence which the sync signal . if not , the tag controller cycles the tags based on its internal crystal clock timing circuits . the controller provides an incrementing output to decode circuits that directly drive the tag leds . the default mode of the tag controller is to scan 30 tags at 30 hz , but it can be programmed to scan fewer tags at higher rates or more tags at lower scan rates . thirty leds are sequenced in 33 . 333 milliseconds . if fewer than 32 leds are programmed , the sequence complete more quickly . the capabilities of the tag controller could be expanded to include more sensors at lower scan rates provided that the aggregate frame rate of 900 hz is not exceeded . a few alternate sensor scan rates are given in table 2 : fig4 shows the tracking system timing diagram assuming 30 leds are active and tracked . sync is the sync signal either generated electrically by the camera array controller or detected via the ir optical sync detector that is a part of the camera array controller . note that first led in the sequence is shorter in duration and brighter in intensity . in the preferred embodiment , this led is also modulated with a 200 khz signal which helps makes detection of the pulse easier against the constant background radiation presented to the optical sync detector photodiode by ambient lights ( overhead fluorescent and incandescent lights ). the optical sync detector shown in fig5 detects the first ( and all other led ) ir pulses using a photodiode 502 . because the signal from the diode is very low level , it is amplified by a high gain front - end circuit 510 . then the signal is filtered at 512 to remove all high frequency noise ( frequencies greater than the 200 khz modulation frequency ). then the signal is filtered by a narrow bandpass filter 514 set at 200 khz . because led 0 is modulated at this frequency and all ambient light and light from other higher numbered leds are not , only when led 0 is lit is there an output to the envelope detector 516 . this signal appears when led 0 is lit , or when the tag sequence begins . the start signal is conditioned by an isolation amplified - schmitt trigger pair 520 and present to the camera array controller ( fig7 ) as a signal to initiate frame capture of target 0 . the position sensor consists of three near infrared linear ccd cameras mounted on a 1 meter bar that views each tag from three separate locations , as shown in fig1 and 2 . in the preferred embodiment , two cameras are oriented horizontally and one vertically to provide a complete basis vector for computing three - dimensional location of the tags . each connects to the camera array controller through a serial digital interface . the camera system itself is controlled via a dsp that accepts commands from the array controller and send data back to the array controller via the serial digital interface . the dsp operates the linear ccd through a ccd controller circuit that handles all ccd timing and control and provides for digitizing the analog ccd circuit outputs for read into the dsp ( through a fifo buffer circuit ). the current implementation uses a 2048 element linear ccd circuit . analog outputs from the ccd bucket brigade are digitized to eight - bit accuracy . as shown in fig6 , each tag image is presented to the ccd active area 606 through a high pass optical filter 606 ( which moves a substantial portion of the visible band from the input light energy spectra ) and a cylindrical lens 604 which elongates the tag spot image perpendicular to the ccd linear extent . using cylindrical optics 604 and ir - pass filter 606 , the linear cameras measure the angular position of the tags in one dimension only . the dsp detects the bright area projected from a tag using a spot fitting algorithm so that the localization of spot position is not limited to the resolution set by the linear camera pixel density ( 2048 in this implementation ). rather , resolution along the ccd linear extent of nominally ten times better is achieved by the subpixel - processing algorithm . the ccd array 602 interfaces to a specialized linear ccd processor 610 . the processor 610 controls timing of the ccd readout , has variable gain amplifiers and an 8 - bit a / d converter and can support pixel scan rates of up to 2 . 5 megapixels / second . the image is processed in real time in the camera itself by digital signal processor ( dsp , 620 ) to determine the angle of arrival . the horizontal ( or vertical ) resolution of the proposed system can be adjusted by varying the field of view and the number of pixels in the ccd , as set forth in table 3 : the resolution in the depth dimension can be adjusted by varying the distance between the two horizontal resolution cameras . a 1 - meter separation of two 2048 pixel linear ccd cameras with a field of view of 45 degrees , results in a resolution of 4 . 56 mm in the depth dimension . at this point , it is important to note that the aforementioned resolution numbers assume that the location of the ir tag can be resolved to one pixel . this is a worst case resolution number since image processing algorithms that can easily achieve sub - pixel location and image registration are readily available . the camera array controller depicted in fig6 generates an electrical sync signal at the start of each target capture cycle that be directly connected to the tag controller . in this mode , the camera systems and tag controller are electrically synchronized and not subject to any ambient lighting noise or other effects . alternatively , the camera array controller accepts a sync signal at the beginning of each tag controller tag illumination sequence derived from the detected output of led 0 . in either case , the camera array controller signals the dsp to initial frame capture simultaneously on the three linear ccd imaging systems ( through the ccd controller integrated circuits that provide control and timing of the ccd circuits ). each camera subsystem produces digital output that locates the bright spot ( from one of the tags ) along the ccd linear extent . this location is read by the dsp from each camera and then used to compute the tag three - dimensional location based on factory calibration parameters . ( each camera system is placed on a fixed calibration frame at the factory . leds located at known places on the frame are lit in sequence so that where they project onto the linear cameras is determined . from this data it is possible to compute the transform which converts locations along each camera linear extent to three - dimensional points in the system field of interest . once the angles of arrival have been determined by the individual cameras , the three angles are transmitted to another dsp in the camera array . this dsp computes the three dimensional calibrated position of the infrared tag in real time using the relationships shown in fig2 , and transmits the result in the form of an output position value in x , y , and z via a serial rs - 232 interface . the output may be delivered to a workstation or pc which captures the motion tracking data set for display or use in computer animation or gesture control applications . in addition to position values , each output includes a tag detection confidence factor . this is necessary because tags can be blocked from view so that no valid x , y , and z value can be computed . the output and camera data input interfaces could be any other type of digital transmission interface including firewire , usb , ethernet , or other parallel or serial digital interfaces . the overall approach of this system is very cost effective due the reduced cost of the required hardware . this is accomplished in at least two ways : 1 ) by decoupling the horizontal dimension from the vertical using cylindrical optics , and 2 ) through the use parallel processing to speed up the image processing . each camera needs only to compute the angle of arrival , which is based on the location of the brightest spot on the ccd . an advantage of the invention over systems that use one or more two - dimensional ccd cameras is that high speed linear cameras are not as costly , and produce smaller raw images ( three images of 2048 pixels as compared to two or more images of 1024 ร 1024 pixels ), which can be processed with simpler algorithms faster . this , combined with processing of each 2048 pixel image separately is the key to minimizing the system &# 39 ; s latency . the system also has the advantage that 3d tracking may be accomplished in a noisy environment without interfering with the user &# 39 ; s experience . in table 3 , the accuracies quoted exceed the desired 1 centimeter resolution at 8 meters without the use of subpixel resolution algorithms . to meet the field of view specifications , it may be desirable to adjust the optical components of the linear cameras to widen the field of view , however , that would still provide a 1 centimeter resolution . this invention finds utility in a variety of more comprehensive systems , including human body tracking and gesture recognition . although different apparatus may be used , the optical body tracker described herein may be interfaced to the gesture recognition system disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 681 , 031 , or to the systems described in u . s . provisional patent application ser . nos . 60 / 183 , 995 ; 60 / 186 , 474 ; or 60 / 245 , 034 , all of which were incorporated herein by reference above . u . s . pat . no . 6 , 681 , 031 , for example , describes a system engineered to control a device such as a self - service machine , regardless of whether the gestures originated from a live or inanimate source . the system not only recognizes static symbols , but dynamic gestures as well , since motion gestures are typically able to convey more information . a gesture is defined as motions and kinematic poses generated by humans , animals , or machines . specific body features are tracked , and static and motion gestures are interpreted . motion gestures are defined as a family of parametrically delimited oscillatory motions , modeled as a linear - in - parameters dynamic system with added geometric constraints to allow for real - time recognition using a small amount of memory and processing time . a linear least squares method is preferably used to determine the parameters which represent each gesture . feature position measure is used in conjunction with a bank of predictor bins seeded with the gesture parameters , and the system determines which bin best fits the observed motion . recognizing static pose gestures is preferably performed by localizing the body / object from the rest of the image , describing that object , and identifying that description . further details regarding this and the other systems incorporated herein by reference may be obtained directly from the respective applications . in addition to the applications already described , the technology disclosed herein may also be used to detect and localize bright flashes of ir illumination over a longer distance . this could be useful for detecting the launch of man - portable air defense systems ( manpads ) or rocket propelled grenades ( rpg &# 39 ; s ). detection of these devices is currently very difficult . however , the capability is necessary to protect both commercial and military assets ( including aircraft ). firefly already localizes bright ir illumination and produces a 3d position for the light . the projectile tracking scenario extends these capabilities to work over a larger range . however the general calculations and tracking principles are the same . the system is therefore applicable to both tracking and detection . another application area is tracking head motions in a virtual reality simulator . such simulators are well known to those of skill in the art . | 0 |
reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention , one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings . each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention , and not meant as a limitation of the invention . for example , features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used on another embodiment to yield still a further embodiment . such modifications and variations are within the scope and spirit of the invention . in the following description , firstly , a state of the art storing and packing device will be described , illustrating features which apply generally for devices of the type to which the invention refers . the state of the art storage box illustrated in fig1 and 2 comprises a row of mutually hinge - connected oblong container elements 1 - 14 of equal length but of differing cross - sections . the container elements each have a flat rectangular bottom wall 15 and end walls 16 extending vertically upward therefrom , which end walls determine the different basic sectional forms of the container elements . the sectional form of the container elements 1 - 14 differs , as appears readily from fig1 or fig2 . the container elements are open on their upper sides and have vertical side walls 17 which connect at the upper corner points of the end walls 16 and consequently join the bottom walls 15 at a short distance from the side edges thereof . the container elements may be divided longitudinally into compartments by vertical cross - partitions 21 . the container elements 1 - 13 are hingeably joined to one another at adjoining longitudinal edges of the side walls 17 thereof by suitable hinge connections , some of which are indicated by 23 . through this arrangement , the container elements are successively linked together to form a continuous row thereof . in the illustrated known embodiment , the hinge connections between the container elements are constituted by flexible strips 25 ( fig1 and 2 ), said strips run parallel to one another across the undersides of the bottom walls 15 of the container elements in recesses provided therefor in the latter and to which they are adhesively fixed . the transverse dimensions and sectional forms of the container elements 1 - 14 or the end walls 16 thereof , respectively , are chosen such that an initially linearly extended row of container elements can be rolled up spirally into the form of a closed block 26 of regular hexagonal prismatic form as illustrated in fig1 . for proper functioning of the described storage box , it is of importance that , during unrolling of the block , the spiral windings of the as yet unrolled portion of the block cannot prematurely open and that during rolling up of the row of container elements , the already rolled up container elements cannot again move away from one another . in order to prevent this premature opening , a curved projection or detent 28 is formed on the upper edges of each of the end walls 16 of the container elements , said detent 28 extends obliquely upwardly in the direction in which the row of container elements is unrolled and said detent 28 , in the rolled - up position of the row , is fittingly received in a recess or groove 29 formed in the underside of the corresponding end wall 16 of the container element situated radially inwardly thereof . from fig2 it will be seen that the detents 28 and grooves 29 between the other container elements of the still rolled up portion of the block hold such container elements together and effectively prevent the premature opening of the spiral windings . a snap closure 30 is formed in the center of the outwardly directed side wall 18 of the outermost container element 1 of the row of elements . to this end , the side wall 18 is provided with notches extending downwardly from the upper edge thereof to form resilient lips 31 connected at their lower ends to the bottom wall 15 of the container element 1 . these lips 31 support an inwardly extending hook portion ( not shown ) and a sideways extending finger - grip 33 . the hook portion extends into an opening in the edge of the bottom wall 15 of the container element 7 and , in its closed condition , grips over a thickened edge portion of this opening . by pushing the grip 33 down with a finger , the lips 31 can be resiliently bent to lift the hook portion from the edge portion , so that the box can be opened to unroll the container elements . a hand grip 36 is formed in the container element 4 which lies opposite the outermost container element 1 in the rolled - up block 26 . if the closed block - shaped box 26 is picked up by the hand grip 37 to carry the same and is then again put down , it will thus automatically come to rest on the outermost container element 1 in the correct position for opening the box and unrolling the container elements thereof . for a more detailed description of the state of the art device , reference is made to u . s . pat . no . 4 , 320 , 846 , the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference . when seeking access to the contents of one of the innermost container elements , such as 13 or 14 , the row of mutually connected container elements has to be completely unrolled . it is to be noted that in the following description of preferred embodiments of the storing and packing device according to the invention , only those features will be shown and discussed which are considered to be essential for the inventive concept . however , these preferred embodiments of the storing and packing device may be provided with elements which correspond with like elements of the state of the art device described above . especially , cooperating projections or detents and grooves corresponding with the state of the art projections or detents 28 and grooves 29 , flexible strips defining the hinge connections between the container elements corresponding with the state of the art flexible strips 25 and snap closures corresponding to the state of the art snap closures 30 may be provided , although amended , if needed , to be applicable to an inventive device , as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art . for a proper understanding of the invention it suffices , that the novel devices are shown only in an end view illustrating the shape of , and relation between , the container elements constituting the storing and packing device . the device illustrated in fig3 is constructed in accordance with the inventive concept . it comprises a row of mutually hinge - connected oblong container elements 34 - 44 of equal length but of differing cross - section . as appears clearly , the device is constructed symmetrically about a plane indicated as a -- a . starting from an intermediate container element 34 , two identical , but mirror image , rows of mutually hinge - connected container elements are defined , i . e ., right from plane a -- a a row comprising elements 34 - 39 , and left from plane a -- a a row comprising elements 34 , 40 - 44 . thus , at both sides of plane a -- a two substantially closed blocks 45 and 46 of prismatic shape are defined , each comprising polygonal convolutions , said blocks 45 and 46 are interconnected through the intermediate element 34 of said row of interconnected elements . for exposing the contents of one of the innermost container elements , for example container element 38 or 39 , the device does not need to be unrolled completely , as applies for the state of the art device illustrated in fig1 and 2 . now only one of said two prismatic blocks , specifically said block 45 containing the container elements 38 and 39 , needs to be unrolled , whereas the other prismatic block 46 remains in its rolled - up state . thus , the dimensions of the device in this partly unrolled state are moderate compared to the device according to the state of the art . this improves the handling properties of the novel device . of course it is still possible to unroll both blocks 45 and 46 simultaneously , if needed . while the device illustrated in fig3 is of hexagonal shape , the inventive devices shown in fig4 - 7 are of rectangular shape . it is to be understood , however , that the cross - sectional shape of the inventive device is not limited to these specific shapes , but may be varied widely while still applying the inventive principles . further , it is noted that it is not necessary that both blocks of a device ( for example , blocks 45 and 46 of the device illustrated in fig3 ) need to be symmetrical or mirror images . the inventive principles will also apply to devices incorporating two blocks which are differently shaped . referring now to fig4 the rectangular device again comprises a row of mutually hinge - connected container elements 47 - 55 . these container elements are arranged in two blocks 56 and 57 which , respectively , comprise the elements 47 - 51 and 47 , 52 - 55 . whereas the hinge connections of the device of fig3 will be constituted by flexible strips as described with respect to the state of the art device , in this specific case , said hinge connections are shaped as pivot axes 58 . it is to be understood , however , that other hinge connections may be applicable without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appending claims . fig5 shows the device of fig4 in a partly unrolled state , such that the prismatic block 56 is unrolled to expose the contents of the container elements 47 - 51 , whereas the prismatic block 57 remains in its rolled up state . it is noted , however , that it is also possible to totally unroll the device , or to only unroll the other prismatic block 57 . a snap closure ( fig6 ) is formed for keeping the device in the rolled upstate . to this end , container elements 49 is provided with a resilient lip 59 , ending in a hook - like extension 60 . when rolling up the device , said hook - like extension 60 will engage behind a recess ( not illustrated ) defined in the adjoining container element 53 , such as to hold together blocks 56 and 57 . by pushing the lip 59 down with a finger , the lip 59 can be resiliently bent to disengage the hook - like extension 60 from said recess , so that the device can be opened to unroll at least one of said blocks 56 or 57 . finally , fig7 illustrates an embodiment of the novel device which basically corresponds with the device shown in fig4 . thus , corresponding items will have the same reference numbers . in the device according to fig4 the blocks 56 and 57 directly engage each other , i . e ., the corresponding container elements 50 and 54 and the corresponding container elements 51 and 53 face each other , and may even contact each other . in the embodiment illustrated in fig7 however , the intermediate container element 47 &# 39 ; is provided with an extension 61 ending in a hand - grip means 62 . the extension is positioned in between and engages said first and second prismatic blocks 56 and 57 when in their spirally rolled - up positions . in the illustrated embodiment the extension 62 and hand - grip means 62 both are substantially of equal length as the oblong rigid container elements 48 - 55 . snap closures ( not shown ) may be provided which basically correspond with the snap closure illustrated and described in fig6 . in this case , however , the extension 61 may be provided with recesses ( not shown ) cooperating with resilient lips and hook - like extensions of each of the adjoining container elements 49 and 53 . using the hand - grip means 62 , the device may be carried by a user while in the rolled - up state ( illustrated in fig7 ). to this end , the hand - grip means 62 projects upwardly beyond the upper limits of the first and second prismatic blocks 56 and 57 . however , also in a partly unrolled state ( for example , corresponding to fig5 ) or even in a completely unrolled state ( both blocks 56 and 57 totally unrolled ), the hand - grip 62 allows a user to carry the device . it is to be noted , however , that in the case where the device is carried in the partly or completely unrolled state , measures may be taken to ensure that the rows of consecutive container elements cannot unroll beyond the position illustrated in fig5 . this means that , starting from the position shown in fig5 the hinge connections 58 only allow a rotation of the container elements in the sense of rolling up , and do prevent a further rotation in the opposite direction . while the invention has been illustrated and described with reference to specific embodiments thereof , it will be understood that other embodiments may be envisaged within the scope of the following claims . it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . it is intended that the present invention include such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents . | 1 |
the following describes a reception device in one embodiment of the present invention , with reference to the drawings . fig1 is a functional block diagram showing a functional structure of a reception device 100 according to the present invention . the reception device 100 includes an antenna 101 , a tuner 102 , an a / d conversion unit 103 , a quadrature detection unit 104 , a fourier transform unit 105 , a channel characteristic estimation unit 106 , a window position control unit 107 , an equalization unit 108 , an error correction unit 109 , and a decoding unit 110 . data decoded by the reception device 100 is displayed by a display device 111 that is a device for displaying images . the display device 111 is realized by an lcd ( liquid crystal display ), a pdp ( plasma display panel ), or the like . the tuner 102 selects a channel set by a user , converts an ofdm signal in an rf band received by the antenna 101 into an ofdm signal in an if band or a baseband , and transmits the converted ofdm signal to the a / d conversion unit 103 . the a / d conversion unit 103 converts an analog signal transmitted from the tuner 102 into a digital signal , and transmits the digital signal to the quadrature detection unit 104 . the quadrature detection unit 104 performs quadrature detection on the digital signal transmitted from the a / d conversion unit 103 , and outputs in - phase axis ( i axis ) components and quadrature axis ( q axis ) components . the fourier transform unit 105 performs fast fourier transform ( hereinafter โ fft โ) processing on a signal in a time axis domain output from the quadrature detection unit 104 so as to convert the signal into a signal in a frequency domain , and outputs the signal in the frequency domain . the fourier transform unit 105 performs the fourier transform in an fft window position set by the window position control unit 107 . if the fft window position is not set , the fourier transform unit 105 performs the fourier transform in an fft window position determined with use of a conventional method for determining the fft window position ( e . g ., a method in which a position of the gi of a received ofdm signal is specified and the end position of the gi is determined to be the fft window position ). note that an appropriate fft window position is determined by the window position control unit 107 in the present invention . therefore , an initial fft window position may be set in any position as long as accurate demodulation is not required with respect to the ofdm signal that is initially received . the channel characteristic estimation unit 106 estimates channel characteristics , with use of a pilot signal that is included in the ofdm signal in the frequency domain and that is transmitted from the fourier transform unit 103 . the window position control unit 107 estimates an amount of isi ( hereinafter โ isi amount โ), with use of the channel characteristics estimated by the channel characteristic estimation unit 106 and notifies the fourier transform unit 105 of the timing for performing the fft . the details of the window position control unit 107 is described below . the equalization unit 108 compensates variations in the amplitude and the phase of the ofdm signal in the frequency domain that is output from the fourier transform unit 105 , based on the channel characteristics estimated by the channel characteristic estimation unit 106 . the error correction unit 109 corrects an error of the signal compensated by the equalization unit 108 . the decoding unit 110 decodes the signal whose error has been corrected by the error correction unit 109 . note here that the signal is coded according to mpeg - 2 ( moving picture experts group 2 ) standard or the like . the following describes the window position control unit 107 in detail , with reference to fig2 . fig2 is a functional block diagram showing the details of the window position control unit 107 . note here that fig2 also shows peripheral functional blocks of the window position control unit 107 . as shown in fig2 , the window position control unit 107 includes a window position candidate output unit 201 , an isi amount estimation unit 202 , and a judgment unit 203 . the window position candidate output unit 201 sets candidates for the time position of an fft window that is a timing for the fourier transform unit 105 to perform an fft computation , and transmits the candidates for the time position to the isi amount estimation unit 202 . the window position candidate output unit 201 transmits , to the isi amount estimation unit 202 , a predetermined number of candidates ( hereinafter โ fft window position candidates โ) for the fft window position per symbol . note that each of the above - mentioned fft window position candidates refers to a candidate shift time s that is a shift amount from a reference position of an fft window position . the reference position refers to an fft window position currently set for the fourier transform unit 105 to perform the fft . the candidate shift time s is a shift amount from the reference position , and is obtained by increasing a shift amount at a predetermined time interval before and after the reference position . in other words , the window position candidate output unit 201 outputs , for example , โ a , โ 2a , โ 3a , . . . , a , 2a , 3a , . . . , as the candidate shift times s , where the time interval is set to be a . the shift amount is shown by a positive value when the fft window position is shifted in the forward direction along a time axis with respect to the reference position , and shown by a negative value when the fft window position is shifted in the backward direction along the time axis . note that the value of the candidate shift time s is in the range of โ tu / 2 & lt ; s โฆ tu / 2 . upon receiving from the judgment unit 203 a signal indicating that a predetermined number of isi amounts has been accumulated , the window position candidate output unit 201 resets an output of the fft window position candidates , and generates and outputs fft window position candidates for the next symbol . the isi amount estimation unit 202 estimates , for each fft window position candidate output from the window position candidate output unit 201 , an isi amount that is likely to occur , with use of the channel characteristics output from the channel characteristic estimation unit 106 , and transmits the estimated isi amounts to the judgment unit 203 . the detail of this operation of the isi amount estimation unit 202 is described below . the judgment unit 203 accumulates a predetermined number of estimated isi amounts transmitted from the isi amount estimation unit 202 in one - to - one correspondence with the fft window position candidates transmitted from the window position candidate output unit 201 . when the predetermined number is reached , the judgment unit 203 selects an fft window position candidate corresponding to the smallest estimated isi amount from among the estimated isi amounts that have been accumulated , and designates the selected fft window position candidate as the fft window position . also , when the predetermined number is reached , the judgment unit 203 outputs to the window position candidate output unit 201 the signal indicating that the predetermined number of isi amounts have been accumulated . the fourier transform unit 105 performs the fft processing in the fft window position designated by the judgment unit 203 . the following describes in detail the isi amount estimation unit 202 . fig3 is a functional block diagram showing a detailed the functional structure of the isi amount estimation unit 202 . as shown in fig3 , the isi amount estimation unit 202 includes a delay profile calculation unit 301 , an evaluation function generation unit 302 , and a multiplier 303 . note that fig3 also shows peripheral functional blocks of the isi amount estimation unit 202 . the delay profile calculation unit 301 calculates a delay profile and transmits the delay profile to the multiplier 303 . the delay profile is calculated by performing the ifft processing on the channel characteristics transmitted from the channel characteristic estimation unit 106 . the evaluation function generation unit 302 generates an evaluation function corresponding to an fft window position candidate transmitted from the window position candidate output unit 201 , and transmits the evaluation function to the multiplier 303 . specifically , the evaluation function generation unit 302 generates an evaluation function e ( i ) as shown in fig5 , based on a shift amount shown by the candidate shift time s output from the window position candidate output unit 201 , and outputs the evaluation function e ( i ) to the multiplier 303 . the evaluation function e ( i ) has a fixed value ( zero in the present embodiment ) during the gi period tg , and a value greater than the fixed value in a period other than the gi period tg . note that the generated evaluation function is a function in which the center of the tg period is shifted by the candidate shift time s output from the window position candidate output unit 201 . the evaluation function e ( i ) shown in fig5 is used to estimate an isi amount with respect to the incoming time of an incoming wave . the horizontal axis of the evaluation function e ( i ) represents time and the vertical axis thereof represents an isi amount . if the incoming time of the incoming wave is within the gi (= tg ) period , the value of the evaluation function during the tg period is zero since isi does not occur . if the incoming time of the incoming wave is not within the gi (= tg ) period , the value of the evaluation function outside the tg period indicates an isi amount that is to occur at the timing when the incoming wave comes , since a neighboring symbol that enters in the fft window becomes isi . as shown in fig5 , the evaluation function e ( i ) has a pot - like shape composed of a bottom part and end parts . the bottom part takes a fixed value for the duration corresponding to the tg period because of the following reason . that is , in a case where a difference in incoming time between ( i ) a preceding wave positioned before the principal wave and ( ii ) a delay wave is within the tg period , isi does not occur as long as the fft window position is appropriately set . meanwhile , the value of the evaluation function e ( i ) monotonically increases with increasing distance from each end of the bottom part , in proportion to a time difference from each end of the bottom part . the monotonic increase in the value of each end portion indicates that an amount of a neighboring symbol entering in the fft namely an isi amount increases with increasing distance between a certain fft window position and the incoming time of an incoming wave . note that the rate of increase in the evaluation function e ( i ) at each end part may be variably adjusted as long as the rate is practically usable for the calculation of an estimated isi amount . the rate of increase may be calculated by manufacturing a reception device equivalent to the present invention , and run a simulation . the multiplier 303 calculates an estimated isi amount and transmits the estimated isi amount to the judgment unit 203 . the estimated isi amount is obtained by multiplying the delay profile transmitted from the delay profile calculation unit 301 by the evaluation function e ( i ) transmitted from the evaluation function generation unit 302 . the judgment unit 203 accumulates an isi amount transmitted from the multiplier 303 . the following describes an operation of the window position control unit 107 in the present embodiment , with reference to a flowchart shown in fig4 . a main feature of the present invention lies in that the fft window position is determined based on an isi amount estimated from the channel characteristics . therefore , processing for receiving and decoding a signal is assumed to be similar to that of a conventional reception device , and an explanation of the processing is omitted here . first , the window position candidate output unit 201 generates a plurality of fft window position candidates . note that the window position candidate output unit 201 generates a predetermined number of fft window position candidates , each of which is a shift amount obtained by shifting the fft window position at a predetermined time interval . the window position candidate output unit 201 transmits one of the generated fft window position candidates to the evaluation function generation unit 302 in the isi amount estimation unit 202 ( step s 401 ). upon receipt of the fft window position candidate , the evaluation function generation unit 302 generates an evaluation function as shown in fig5 , the center of which is shifted by the candidate shift time s shown by the fft window position candidate . then , the evaluation function generation unit 302 estimates an isi amount based on a value obtained by the multiplier 303 multiplying the generated evaluation function by the delay profile output from the delay profile calculation unit 301 ( step s 402 ). upon receipt of the estimated isi amount transmitted from the evaluation function generation unit 302 , the judgment unit 203 stores therein the estimated isi amount in association with information relating to the fft window position candidate transmitted from the window position candidate output unit 201 . the judgment unit 203 compares the number of estimated isi amounts that have been accumulated , with a number indicated by number information that indicates a predetermined number of isi amounts that need to be accumulated . when the number of , estimated isi amounts that have been accumulated has not reached the predetermined number ( no in step s 403 ), the judgment unit 203 instructs the window position candidate output unit 201 to output the next fft window position candidate . the window position candidate output unit 201 transmits the next fft window position candidate to the evaluation function generation unit 302 and the judgment unit 203 ( step s 404 ). then , the window position control unit 107 returns to the processing of step s 401 . meanwhile , when the judgment unit 203 judges that the number of estimated isi amounts that have been accumulated matches the predetermined number indicated by the number information ( yes in step s 403 ), the judgment unit 203 determines the smallest estimated isi amount among the estimated isi amounts . then , the window position control unit 107 shifts the fft window position by a shift amount indicated by an fft window position candidate corresponding to the smallest estimated isi amount , determines the shifted fft window position as a new fft window position , and sets the new fft window position for the fourier transform unit 105 ( step s 405 ). the fourier transform unit 105 performs the fft in the fft window position set by the window position control unit 107 . the above describes the processing for determining the fft window position . the following is a detailed explanation of a calculation method of the above - mentioned shift amount s min . assume here that a time interval of a useful symbol length tu is sampled with use of an arbitrary constant k , and that is an integer in a range of zero to k โ 1 inclusive . then , the time at the i th sampling point is represented by i ร tu / k . the evaluation function at the time of the ith sampling point is represented by e ( i ). in this case , the judgment unit 203 needs to accumulate k isi amounts . assume that p i represents a delay profile ( complex value ) calculated by the delay profile calculation unit 301 , s represents a candidate shift time set by the window position candidate output unit 201 , and n ( s ) represents an isi evaluation value that is an amount of isi likely to occur when a predetermined fft window position is shifted by the candidate shift time s . then , the isi evaluation value n ( s ) is calculated with use of the following expression 1 . the computation represented by the expression 1 is performed by the multiplier 303 . the multiplier 303 performs the computation represented by the expression 1 , for each candidate shift time s output from the window position candidate output unit 201 . the judgment unit 203 accumulates the isi amounts obtained by the above - described computation . then , the judgment unit 203 performs the computation represented by the following expression 2 when the number of accumulated isi amounts has reached the predetermined number . the judgment unit 203 performs the computation represented by the expression 2 to select an isi amount having the smallest value from among the accumulated isi amounts . then , the judgment unit 203 shifts the fft window position from a reference position thereof , by the shift time corresponding to the isi amount selected based on the expression 2 , and sets the shifted fft window position for the fourier transform unit 105 . finally , an explanation is provided of the shifting of the fft window position . the following describes processing for time shifting by searching for the fft window position with use of the evaluation function e ( i ), with reference to fig6 a - 8b . each of fig6 a , fig7 a , and fig8 a shows the delay profile of a two - wave multipath channel . in each of fig6 a to 8a , the horizontal axis represents time , and the vertical axis represents received power of each incoming wave . also , each of fig6 b , fig7 b , and fig8 b schematically shows a transmission symbol of an ofdm signal . each of the transmission symbols corresponds to fig6 a , fig7 a , and fig8 a , respectively . the symbol period of each ofdm signal is composed of a useful symbol period tu and a guard interval ( hereinafter โ gi โ) period tg ( shown by diagonally shaded parts ). each of the reference numbers 610 , 710 , and 810 in fig6 b - 8b indicates an fft window having a duration of tu . each of the reference numbers 600 , 700 , and 800 in fig6 a - 8a indicates a range in which no isi occurs , when the fft window is set in each of the positions 610 , 710 , and 810 in fig6 b - 8b . the duration of each of 600 , 700 , and 800 is the gi period tg . isi occurs when each of the signals is outside the ranges 600 , 700 , and 800 , respectively and the amount of isi increases with increasing distance from each of the ranges 600 , 700 , and 800 . here , a two - wave multipath channel is taken as an example . in this case , to find the fft window position where the isi amount is the smallest , the isi evaluation value n ( s ) is obtained by multiplying the delay profile by the evaluation function e ( i โ s ) at the candidate shift time s , as shown in fig6 a . as shown in fig7 a and 7b , the isi evaluation value n ( s ) is obtained for more than one candidate shift time s , by changing the candidate shift time s . the evaluation function e ( i โ s ) is time shifted by changing the candidate shift time s . corresponding to this time shift , the range 700 in which isi does not occur is also time shifted . in fig7 a and 7b , it is assumed that an isi amount that occurs when the fft window position is time shifted as shown in the reference number 710 is estimated . after each isi evaluation value has been obtained for the respective candidate shift times by repeating the above - described steps , a candidate shift time corresponding to the smallest isi evaluation value is detected and set to s min . as shown in fig8 a and 8b , the judgment unit 203 sets the fft window position by shifting the reference position of the fft window by s min . note that the delay profile used for the candidate shift times s is of the same time . therefore , the correlation of the isi evaluation value in each position of the fft window does not change . as described above , by taking into consideration the isi evaluation function that shows a time difference of , when an incoming wave is outside the gi period , the incoming time of the incoming wave from the gi period . this ensures the detection of the fft window position corresponding to the smallest isi amount . as a result , the reception quality of a reception signal is improved . also , equalization processing with use of channel characteristics having a high accuracy enables stable reception in various channel environments . furthermore , since the fft computation is not actually performed for each fft window position candidate to estimate the isi amounts , an amount of computation is generally smaller than that performed in the method described in patent document 2 . in the above - described embodiment , isi amounts are estimated with use of the evaluation function . however , isi amounts may be estimated with use of the following method . note that variation 1 is the same as the present embodiment except for a method for estimating isi amounts . therefore , the following only explains the method for estimating isi amounts . first , an explanation is provided of an isi amount estimation unit in variation 1 . fig9 is a functional block diagram showing the details of the ist amount estimation unit according to variation 1 . variation 1 is different from the present embodiment in that the reception device 100 includes an isi amount estimation unit 900 instead of the isi amount estimation unit 202 . the isi amount estimation unit 900 includes a filter 900 and a filter coefficient generation unit 902 . the filter 901 filters channel characteristics transmitted from the channel characteristic estimation unit 106 , in accordance with a filter coefficient set by the filter coefficient generation unit 902 . the filter 901 has filter characteristics based on the evaluation function described above in the present embodiment , and basically prevents a signal from passing for the duration corresponding to the tg period . this structure enables the filter 901 to pass a signal that occurs as isi . the filter coefficient generation unit 902 outputs a filter coefficient obtained by rotating the phase of the filter characteristics from its original position . here , the phase of the filter characteristics is rotated for the number of candidate shift times s shown by the fft window position candidates output from the window position candidate output unit 201 . the judgment unit 203 stores therein , for each fft window position candidate output by the window position candidate output unit 201 , an estimated value of an isi amount that is the electric power of a signal that passes the filter 901 . after obtaining a predetermined number of estimated isi amounts , the judgment unit 203 sets a new fft window position for the fourier conversion unit 105 , where the new fft window position is obtained by shifting the fft window position by the candidate shift time s of an fft window position candidate corresponding to an estimated isi amount having the smallest electric power . according to the embodiment described above , the fft window position is specified by performing computation in a time domain with use of the delay profile . however , according to the structure described in variation 1 , the fft window position is also specified by performing computation in a frequency domain . in variation 1 described above , the filter coefficient is changed to correspond to a change of the fft window position . however , in variation 2 , an explanation is provided of a method in which the filter coefficient does not need to be changed . note that , similarly to variation 1 , variation 2 is the same as the present embodiment except a method for estimating isi amounts . therefore , the following only explains the method for estimating isi amounts . fig1 is a functional block diagram showing the details of an isi amount estimation unit according to variation 2 of the present invention . variation 2 is different from the present embodiment in that the reception unit 100 includes an isi amount estimation unit 1000 instead of the isi amount estimation unit 202 . the isi amount estimation unit 1000 includes a computation unit 1001 and a filter 1002 . the computation unit 1001 calculates a phase rotation vector corresponding to a candidate shift time s shown by an fft window position candidate output from the window position candidate output unit 201 , multiplies the calculated phase rotation vector by the channel characteristics estimated by the channel characteristic estimation unit 106 , rotates the phase of the channel characteristics in accordance with the candidate shift time s , and transmits the rotated channel characteristics to the filter 1002 . the filter 1002 filters the signal output from the computation unit 1001 , in accordance with predetermined filter characteristics , and outputs the filtered signal to the judgment unit 203 . note that the filter characteristics of the filter 1002 are generated based on the evaluation function shown by the above - described embodiment , and show the similar characteristics to that of variation 1 although the filtering position does not change . note that , similarly to variation 1 , the judgment unit 203 stores therein , for each fft window position candidate , an estimated value of an isi amount that is the electric power of a signal that passes the filter 1002 . after obtaining a predetermined number of estimated isi amounts , the judgment unit 203 sets a new fft window position for the fourier conversion unit 105 , where the new fft window position is obtained by shifting the reference position of the fft window by the candidate shift time s of an fft window position candidate corresponding to an estimated isi amount having the smallest electric power . in variation 1 , the filter coefficient is changed to correspond to a shift of the fft window position . however , in variation 2 , the fft window position corresponding to the smallest isi amount is not determined by changing the filter coefficient , but is determined by rotating the phase of the channel characteristics , thereby changing the frequency domain . although the present invention has been explained based on the above - described embodiment and variations , the present invention is of course not limited to these embodiment and variations . for example , the following modifications are construed as being included as the technical idea of the present invention . ( 1 ) in the above - described embodiment , an isi amount is estimated for each of a plurality of fft window position candidates . then , based on the estimated isi amounts , the fft window position to be set for the fourier transform unit 105 is selected from among the plurality of fft window position candidates . however , the present invention is not limited to such , and the fft window position may be more accurately determined by including the following structure . that is , after accumulating the estimated isi amounts corresponding one - to - one to the fft window position candidates in the same manner as the above - described embodiment , the judgment unit 203 may further calculate an approximate expression for each of the estimated isi amounts with use of a least - squire method , etc . then , the judgment unit 203 may obtain the smallest estimated isi amount with use of the approximate expressions . subsequently , the judgment unit 203 may obtain an fft window position candidate corresponding to the smallest estimated isi amount that has been calculated , and may set the fft window position candidate as the fft window position for the fourier transform unit 105 . ( 2 ) each end part of the evaluation function e ( i ) as shown in the above - described embodiment has a quadratic shape . however , it is not limited to such as long as each end part has a tendency to increase . for example , the shape may be linear . ( 3 ) in the above - described embodiment , the explanations are provided by taking the ofdm transmission signal as an example . however , it is not limited to such . the signal may take any transmission form other than the ofdm transmission as long as it is a multicarrier signal . note that methods using the ofdm transmission include the following : a wireless lan ( ieee802 . 11a / g ); terrestrial digital broadcasting ( dvb - t / h / t2 , isdb - t ); wi - max ( iee802 . 16 ); a next - generation mobile communication ; and so on . such methods are applicable to the present invention . ( 4 ) in the above - described variations 1 and 2 , an isi amount is estimated by measuring the electric power of a signal that passes during a period other than the tg period , with use of a band elimination filter having a characteristic of preventing a signal from passing for the duration corresponding to the tg period . however , it is not limited to such . an isi amount may be estimated with use of a bandpass filter having a characteristic of letting a signal pass only for the duration corresponding to the tg period . in this case , the larger the isi amount is , the smaller the electric power of the signal that passes the bandpass filter becomes . therefore , a window position candidate that is set for the fourier transform unit 105 as the fft window position corresponding to the smallest isi amount is the one corresponding to an isi amount when the electric power of the signal that passes the bandpass filter is the largest . ( 5 ) in the above - described embodiment , the isi amount estimation unit 202 estimates an isi amount with use of the channel characteristics estimated by the channel characteristic estimation unit 106 without modification . however , it is possible to perform computation on the estimated channel characteristics in the frequency domain by decimating the channel characteristics at an n - sample interval . the following explains the above - described computation processing with use of fig6 a . for example , when the estimated channel characteristics in the frequency domain are decimated at every three sampling points , imaging of an incoming wave in the time domain occurs in a 1 / 3 cycle , in addition to the principal wave and the delay wave shown in fig6 a . this means that a principal wave , a delay wave , etc . also appear ( are imaged ) in the vicinity of the position of tu + tu / 3 , and in the vicinity of the position of tu + 2tu / 3 . even in this case , the search of the fft window position is conducted in the vicinities of tu and 2tu . however , if the tg period is long , namely the gi is long , or if a delay spread is large , aliasing such as an incoming wave imaged in the vicinity of the position of tu + tu / 3 occurs . in this case , the imaged incoming wave also becomes the evaluation target of the evaluation function , which makes it impossible to estimate an isi amount accurately . this problem arises because of the following reasons . that is , the longer the tg period is , the wider the evaluation range is in both end parts of the evaluation function . also , if the delay spread is large , the search range of the fft window position needs to be wide as well . in this case , when the evaluation target of the evaluation function is set at an end of the search range of the fft window position , even an imaging that occurs in a 1 / n cycle will be included as the evaluation target of the evaluation function . in other words , in a case where the tg period is short or the delay spread is small , an imaging that occurs due to the decimation at the n - sample interval can be ignored , namely the imaging occurs outside the evaluation range of the evaluation function . therefore , the computation may be performed by decimating the channel characteristics at the n - sample interval . in this way , the data amount of the channel characteristics multiplied by the evaluation function decreases . as a result , the computation amount is reduced and the time taken to determine the fft window position is shortened . note that the value n is determined in accordance with the pass band of a frequency axis interpolation filter , a gi length , and a search range of the fft window position . ( 6 ) in the above - described embodiment , the fft window position is calculated on a symbol - by - symbol basis . however , when the reception device is used in a place where the environment of a channel is relatively stable , the fft window position may be determined at an interval of a predetermined number of symbols . in this case , once the fft window position is determined for one symbol , the fft window position is also used for symbols subsequent to the symbol until the next fft window position is determined . it is also possible that the fft window position is averagely obtained for a plurality of symbols . ( 7 ) in the above - described embodiment , a period at the bottom part of the evaluation function is set to the tg period . however , the period at the bottom part may be flexibly changed in accordance with the system or conditions for implementation . ( 8 ) although not specifically described in the above embodiment , the fft window position determined by the window position control unit 107 is usually applied to the next symbol onwards . in other words , the fft window position obtained by estimating an isi amount from the channel characteristics of the n th symbol is applied to the fft processing performed for the n + 1 th symbol . however , the fft window position obtained from the n th symbol in the above - described manner may be applied to the n th symbol . in this case , the following processing is performed . the fft window position may be determined by estimating the isi amount from the channel characteristics of the n th symbol . a received signal may be temporarily stored in a buffer or the like before being transmitted . then , the fft may be performed by applying the determined fft window position to the n th symbol of the signal that has been temporarily stored , so as to demodulate the signal . the signal is more accurately demodulated by applying , to the n th symbol , the fft window position determined based on the isi amount that is estimated from the channel characteristics obtained from the n th symbol . ( 9 ) in the above - described embodiment , the reception device 100 and the display device 111 are described as different devices . however , the reception device 100 may be mounted inside the display device 111 . for example , the present invention may be realized as a digital television . in this case , the digital television displays a program in the following manner . first , the digital television receives a broadcast wave ( i . e ., ofdm signal ) from a broadcast station . after determining the fft window position with use of the method described in the above - described embodiment , the digital television demodulates the received signal by performing the fft processing in the fft window position , and displays the program . ( 10 ) a control program comprising program code for causing a processor ( e . g ., reception device or digital television ) and the circuits connected thereto to perform the processing fox determining the fft window position , etc . ( see fig4 ) described in the above embodiment may be recorded on a recording medium or distributed via various channels . the recording medium for storing the control program may be an ic card , a hard disk , an optical disc , a flexible disk , a rom , or the like . the distributed control program becomes available for use by being stored in a memory or the like that is readable by the processor . the functions described in the above embodiment are realized by the processor executing the control program . ( 11 ) each of the functional parts according to the above - described embodiment may be realized by one lsi ( large scale integration ) or a plurality of lsis . also , two or more of the plurality of functional parts may be realized by one lsi . note that although referred to as lsi here , the lsi may be referred to as an ic ( integrated circuit ), a system lsi , a super lsi or an ultra lsi in accordance with the degree of integration . in addition , a method for integrating circuits is not limited to an lsi , and may be realized by a dedicated circuit or a general - purpose processor . it is also possible to use an fpga ( field programmable gate array ) that is programmable after the lsi is produced , or a reconfigurable processor that allows the reconfiguration of the connection and setting of circuit cells in the lsi . in addition , if a technology of integration that can substitute for the lsi appears by a progress of semiconductor technology or another derivational technology , it is possible to integrate function blocks by using the technology . a possible field for integrating the function blocks can be an adaptation of biotechniques . a reception device according to the present invention performs , on a received ofdm signal , an fft in an fft window position appropriately set by estimating an isi amount based on channel characteristics , and can be used in a digital television or the like . | 7 |
referring to fig1 the typical functions of the blocks in the block diagram are generally well - known ; see for example s . cucchi , f . molo , dct based television codec for ds3 digital transmission , preprint no . 130 - 12 , 130th smpte technical conference , oct . 15 - 19 , 1988 , new york . the input iv ( 1 ) shown in fig1 receives data flow representing a color video signal in numerical form . the input words correspond to the information of three components forming the video signal , y ( luminance ) and the two differences r - y ( red minus luminance ) and b - y ( blue minus luminance ). the interface if ( 2 ) carries out the subdivision of the data flow into n paths , each of these paths corresponding to a zone of the image . the image is divided into zones by means of horizontal or vertical subdivisions . the bit rate or data speed in each of the n paths is reduced to one nth of the input data speed upon subdivision of the data flow . with reference to the first path i ( 3 ), the data passes to block dc ( 4 ) and is encoded in accordance with typical operations of the encoder systems ; in particular , the data is encoded using e . g . the differential pmc of the cosine discrete transform , and then encoded for transmission . the data to be transmitted is organized in fixed length words however , having a non - uniform time rate at the output u ( 5 ) of the encoding block . referring to fig2 b , words are generated by an encoder using a variable length code by vertical lines . this encoder also encodes the data sequences of zeroes and attributes them to the different length words , corresponding to the number of zeroes forming the sequences . this procedure results in the generation of encoded words at a varying bit rate over time , as the word is generated in conjunction with the last zero of the sequence , and thus , the sequence length is not constant . in reference to fig2 a , the prior art uses a 32 bit structure and transfers the data in variable length words , i . e . 4 bits , 6 bits , 12 bits , etc . to facilitate the data transfer in the system , it is necessary to organize the variable length words with fixed length words , as illustrated in fig2 b . this example shows that the fixed length words are formed with 32 bits . the first of these words is formed by 32 bit pb ( 1 ) comprised of the first four words and a part of the fifth word pa ( 2 ) having variable lengths shown in fig2 a . the remaining part of the word pa ( 2 ) is combined with the following words to form the next 32 bit fixed length word pc ( 2 ). the data then added to the next fixed length word pc ( 3 ) and so on . the variable length words are encoded so that they are compressed and include data which allow separation and expansion by the decoder from the fixed length words . this compression of the variable length words , generated with a non - uniform rate , causes a highly irregular generation rate of the fixed length of words at the output u ( 5 ), as the statistical distribution of the lengths of variable length words depends on the complexity of the encoded image zone . this complexity also depends on the generation rate of the fixed length words . the situation shown at the output u ( 5 ) of the block dc ( 4 ) is related to the first one of n paths in which the original data flow is subdivided . a similar situation occurs at the outputs of remaining n - 1 blocks of decorrelation and encoding , and for each of them the generation rate of the fixed length words is a function of the complexity of the image zone to which the corresponding path is referred . therefore , each one of the n paths is characterized by a different generation rate of the fixed length words . this rate varies over time according to the structure of the encoded image . the fixed length words are stored in the buffer memory b ( 6 ) from which they are combined , by means of the connection ub ( 7 ) to be multiplexed by the multiplexer mux ( 8 ) with the words coming from the other n - 1 paths . the number of words combined within the time unit in conjunction to each path varies over time . the decoder carries out the same operations in an inverse manner to the above - described operations , and therefore it is also organized by means of n paths . it is necessary that the words coming from the encoder are redistributed in a correct manner among the n paths of the decoder . this is achieved by supplying the fixed length words with an identifier for identifying the proper source path . for limiting the added repetitiveness for supplying this identifier , it is possible to increase the dimension of the fixed length words , but this can cause an increased number of connections among the encoder , buffer and multiplexer , which would result in an undesirable increase in circuit complexity . as an alternative , it is possible to group many fixed length words , coming from each path , to form a package . each package is formed by a fixed number of fixed length words , for example 100 words , and is supplied with an identifier ( heading ) that holds the address of the source and destination paths . it is possible for the dimensions of the package to be variable , but to facilitate the multiplexing and organization operations of the transmission frame , they are preferably constant . in particular , it is necessary to foresee the introduction of schemes to protect the information from errors introduced by the channel . for example , the block codes can be used for correction , and the data is organized according to interlaced structures ( interleaving ). the dimensions and the structure of packages can be established according to these schemes of error protection for optimizing its practical use and its efficiency . in the following , it is considered as well - known that the packages coming from the different sources are eventually completed with some error protection words , keeping all packages within the same dimension . the packages are transferred through one of the n buffers to the multiplexer mux ( 8 ). each one of the n paths generates fixed length words resulting in a non - constant bit rate , which is a function of the complexity of the processed image zone . also , each package can correspond to a more or less extended image area , according to its complexity . the buffer controller cb ( 9 ) assures that each of the n buffers do not encounter complete emptying conditions ( underflow ) or overload ( overflow ) and that the packages are drawn from the multiplexer according to the time order of their generation . each time the generation of a new package is started in one of the n buffers , this event is signaled by means of the connection sp ( 10 ) to the buffer controller . the controller provides , by the connection ip ( 11 ), the package heading , storing the address of the source and destination paths . when the multiplexer requires the transmission of a new package , by means of the connection rp ( 12 }, the controller can establish a previously generated package and can order , by means of the connection ip ( 11 ), the related buffer to make the transfer of the package to the multiplexer . in the case where a plurality of packages are formed contemporaneously in two or more of the n paths , the corresponding buffers prevent underflow problems on the decoder side from occurring as a result of the arbitrary assignment of the transmission order to these packages . according to the situation of buffer seizure , the controller changes , by means of the connection cd ( 13 ), the running mode of the decorrelator / encoder to adapt the generated information flow . generally speaking , the lateral information block ul ( 18 ), and for example , the video sources ( connection ud ( 19 )) generate the data with a fixed bit rate , which is much less than the bit rate of the transmission line ( output tx ( 20 )). the remaining part of the line bit rate is filled with video data , whose mean bit rate is controlled as indicated above . the control of the buffers corresponding to the n paths can be made according to different modes , according to the applied compromises . in particular , the buffers can be controlled individually . in this case , if each buffer has a capacity equal to mp package , the controller prevents the summation of seizures of the various buffers from exceeding the limit mp and causes the decorrelators / encoders to work with the same precision . this solution does not allow an optimal use of the total buffer capacity , equal to mnp , but allows a notable simplification of the buffer controller . as an alternate embodiment , the control of the individual buffers can be carried out as they were a single buffer , operating onto the single decorrelators / encoders . it is also possible to use a single buffer joined to the outputs of the n decorrelators / encoders . these alternate solutions allow optimization of the dimensions of the buffer memory , but increase the controller complexity and can be advantageous in the case of an high n value . as the discussion of the package transmission of information coming from a plurality of sources is not satisfactory for explaining the running of the codec of fig1 ( video signal is processed into more processing paths , each path being supplied with a buffer ), further details are given in the following with reference to the running manner of the buffers connected in transmission and in reception into the n processing paths of the video signal and making reference to fig3 and 4 . fig3 shows the invention with 3 video signal processing paths with corresponding buffers b ( 1 ), b ( 2 ), b ( 3 ) connected in the encoding side where the data flow enters respectively the inputs e ( 1 ), e ( 2 ), e ( 3 ). this data flow has , for example , the structure indicated in fig2 b and holds the words that supply the package heading , so that the data packages enter the transmission buffers , even when the words forming the package enter the buffers at a varying bit rate . the packages are stored in the buffers b ( 1 ), b ( 2 ), b ( 3 ) and are transmitted , according to suitable sequences and by means of the connections c ( 1 ), c ( 2 ), c ( 3 ), to the transmission path , indicated schematically in fig3 by means of the connection tr ( 1 ) that includes the transmission path and the signal multiplexer and demultiplexer . at the reception side , using the connections c ( 4 ), c ( 5 ), c ( 6 ) the packages are sent , without their heading , to the reception buffers b &# 39 ;( 1 ), b &# 39 ;( 2 ), b &# 39 ;( 3 ). the reception buffer outputs read the data ( for example the words included in the 32 bits , as indicated in fig2 b ) with an irregular bit rate which allows reconstruction of the parts of video images in reception . the information transmitted from input e ( 1 ) is delayed in the buffers b ( 1 ) and b &# 39 ;( 1 ) and the transmission line tr ( 1 ) and is sent to output u ( 1 ). the transmission line transmits the data on e ( 1 ) to u ( 1 ) at a mean speed determined over a short period , with a rate r1 variable over time but equal with one another . in other words , the data speed ( bit per second ) on the connection e ( 1 ) for a particular part of the television image is equal to the speed present in u ( 1 ) for the same part of the television image upon reconstruction . a similar result is achieved in the other two processing paths of the signal indicated in fig3 . if oi ( i = 1 , 2 , 3 ) relates to the input data rate of the buffer b ( 1 ) and r ( i ) relates to the variable data rate on the path i , and further oi relates to the input rate of buffers b &# 39 ;( i ), the delay ฮดo , introduced by the buffers onto the path of index i , is given by the expression : ## equ1 ## the values of ri , oi and oi &# 39 ; are generally different among the three processing paths , however , the delay value ฮดo is equal for the three paths and constant over time . in fact , if the three image parts corresponding to the three paths are processed simultaneously in transmission , they are also processed simultaneously in reception . therefore , the data present in the same instant ( excepting for minor variations over time , due e . g . to the storage of data in 32 bit words by the buffers ) in the paths e ( 1 ) must be shown in the same time frame as on the paths ui . equation ( 1 ) supplies really 3 equations for the 3 values of the index i and , summing the three equations provides : where ro = r1 + r2 + r3 , oo = 01 + 02 + 03 , oo &# 39 ;= 01 &# 39 ;+ 02 &# 39 ;+ 03 &# 39 ;. ro is the data speed in a connection line ( or at least the part of the line speed provided for the video data ) and it is constant . now the product ro ยท ฮดo is constant , therefore it is obtained that the total storage of the buffers , in transmission and reception , are complementary with one another . the manner for controlling the storage value ( filling condition ) of oo ( and then , as consequence , the value of oo &# 39 ;) is shown in the above mentioned article by s . cucchi and f . molo . the values of oo , oo &# 39 ;, oi , oi &# 39 ; and ri are variable over time , but generally equations ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) remain valid . in detail , ro being a constant value , the equation : is valid only in a long period . when the mean complexity of the television image changes , the speeds r1 , r2 , r3 change suddenly , and the above - mentioned equation would no longer be valid , and the difference between the summation of r1 , r2 and r3 and the value of ro is absorbed by the variations of transmission buffer filling , in particular by the variation of oo . the variation of oo is used as feedback for the blocks dc ( 4 ) of fig1 for increasing or reducing the data generation speed . equation ( 1 ) shows that each single oi can approach the maximum allowed value of oo , in relation to the values assumed by ri . therefore , each of the three buffers b ( i ) must have a capacity equal to the maximum allowed capacity , that is to say the maximum value of oo . fig4 represents three time axes s ( 1 ), s ( 2 ), s ( 3 ) related to the inputs e ( 1 ), e ( 2 ), e ( 3 ) or the outputs u ( 1 ), u ( 2 ), u ( 3 ), and in each axis , the time intervals necessary for forming the data packages are limited by vertical lines . for example , in the first path , in which the time axis is indicated by s ( 1 ), the data package is filled in the time elapsed from t ( 1 ) and t ( 2 ), the package p ( 2 ) is filled in the time elapsed from t ( 2 ) and t ( 3 ) and so on . with a static condition , in which the data is generated at speed ri on the three axes s ( i ), and the data are not sent to the transmission line tr ( 1 ) of fig3 the data are stored into the transmission buffers b ( i ), so that at each instant the following equations are satisfied : ## equ2 ## the data transmitted along the transmission path must include information corresponding to the three paths s ( i ) respectively and their respective speeds ri . this is accomplished by sending whole packages along the three paths , according to the order of their transmission or according to the order of initial generation time ( time t ( 1 ) for p ( 1 ) in fig4 ) or according to the completion time ( t ( 2 ) for the package p ( 1 )). the condition can also be achieved by utilizing the relationships outlined in equations ( 1 )-( 3 ) wherein each value oi can be assumed in general as a function of the related value ri , and further in a time period to , information proportional to ri must be transmitted in line in each path . the conditions are then achieved where the sum 01 + 02 + 03 is minimum under the condition that , in the time period to , information is transmitted to ( r1 30 r2 + r3 ). also , oi tends to approach zero with ri . similar reasoning can be made on the reception path , obtaining the following condition : ## equ3 ## the equations ( 3 ) and ( 4 ), in which all quantities are variable over time , remain valid in normal running conditions , notwithstanding the data variations in the short period , and are in any case sufficient , together with the equations ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) to outline a control strategy of buffers ( intended on the whole ) in transmission and reception . package transmission is more convenient according to the corresponding ordering at the start of its generation . in this case , it is necessary to control the filling condition of each buffer b ( i ) on the transmission side , so that in each one of the buffers , the storage of more than a single package is achieved . this can be obtained by accelerating the generation of the package before transmission by means of the insertion of recognizable encoded data . the data is decoded in the corresponding reception buffer and thus , artificially accelerating the speed r ( i ). a similar provision can be used in transmission to the buffer considered on the whole . the buffers for the reception side do not require particular provisions , as in the moment the single words of a package are inserted on a reception buffer , they can be used immediately . in the case in which a single buffer is used in common to all processing paths as opposed to a single buffer for each processing path , the control criteria of the buffer , similar to the above mentioned criteria , can be used . in particular , the buffer is made in a structure holding sequentially ordered packages , where each package is assigned to a single processing path at the instant in which it starts to be formed . once formed within the buffer , ordering of packages is accomplished according to the generation start time . the packages are transmitted according to this ordering . it is necessary to apply the precaution of the above - described accelerating of the generation of a package before its transmission of the line or , when few packages precede it in the transmission order , to the transmission line . the disadvantage of using a single buffer for all the processing paths is the loss of the modularity in the buffer . another disadvantage is that the introduction of information onto the buffer is that the introduction of information onto the buffer is contested by n processing paths , thus complicating the access control of the information buffer . a yet another disadvantage is that the buffer must operate at a higher speed both in writing and in reading phases . the lateral information block il ( 4 ) collects all information coming from the various blocks by means of the connections si ( 15 ), sd ( 16 ), sc ( 17 ) coming respectively from the input interface , from n decorrelation / encoding paths and from the buffer controller . these data can be transmitted to the multiplexer mux ( 8 ) by means of the connection ul ( 18 ) and can be organized as packages in the same format and dimensions of the packages holding the video information . the source and destination data of the various packages can be established by means of the use of a heading . similarly , other ancillary and / or audio information can be organized in packages of the same format and sent to the multiplexer mux ( 8 ) by means of the input ud ( 19 ). in packages coming from the sources of a different type , such as video , audio , etc ., different criteria can be used for the data organization and different codes can be used for the error protection , so that they are suited to the particular source characteristics . the multiplexer mux ( 8 ) can be used for all package types , according to the transmission path on the channel . it can interact by means of the connection rp ( 12 ) with the buffer controller cb ( 9 ). in this manner , the system can be adapted to different transmission speeds . the transmission frame holds a frame alignment word in the form of packages . some words being for ancillary services ( for example a phone - in service channel ). some corresponding to the data related to the video signal or to the lateral information and audio channels . the priority assigned in transmission is different for the different package types . for example , it is convenient to assign a higher priority to the lateral information and lower priority to the video data . it must be noted that , in any case , except the data related to the video signal , the other data requires a fixed line bit rate . the fixed line bit rate is a fraction of the bit rate of line ro , where the remaining part of ro is assigned to the video signal coming from the adapted sources . thus , the higher transmission priority is assigned to the signals that occupy ( in mean value ) a fixed part of the line bit rate . the priority to be assigned to the inside of the data coming from the sources generating a fixed bit rate shall be established on the basis of transmission delays that these data can support . the multiplexer mux ( 8 ), provides the transmission of the data , serialized and encoded according to the present line code , to the output tx ( 20 ). as above described , the decoder is organized in a similar manner with respect to the encoder . in particular , the incoming packages are shunted according to the address hold in the heading , but the buffer controller must keep the filling condition of the different buffers under control . the controller further causes the filling to be complementary to the filling of the encoding side buffers . although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof , many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art . it is preferred , therefore , that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein , but only by the appended claims . | 7 |
a detailed description of embodiments of the present invention is provided with reference to the figures . fig1 shows two components 10 , 11 connected with an interconnection medium , referred to as link 12 . component 10 has a transmitter circuit 13 which drives symbols ( bits ) on link 12 in response to timing events on the internal clkt signal 14 . this series of bits forms signal datat . component 11 has a receiver circuit 15 which samples symbols ( bits ) on link 12 in response to timing events on the internal clkr signal 16 . the datat forms signal datar at the opposite end of the link , which is sampled by the receiver . the transmit clock clkt is generated by a transmit clock generator 40 . the receive clock clkr is generated by a receive clock generator 49 that is responsive to a phase control signal stored in a phase calibration register 48 . a communication channel between the components 10 and 11 comprises the transmitter circuit 13 , the link 12 and the receiver circuit 15 . delay block 50 in the link 12 represents delay encountered in the communication channel , which may drift during operation due to changing operational and environmental conditions in the components and in the link . for successful data transmission , the relative phases of the transmit clock clkt and the receive clock clkr must account for the delay represented by block 50 . as the delay represented by block 50 drifts , the relative phases of the transmit clock clkt and the receive clock clkr must also be adjusted in order to maintain successful data transmission . a tracking circuit 45 on component 11 is coupled to a monitored signal ms on line 46 . line 46 represents a channel , which has a characteristic , such as the drift in phase , which correlates with drift in delay 50 in the communication channel across link 12 . the tracking circuit 45 generates an indication on line 47 used to control the value in the phase register 48 , which is coupled to the receive clock generator 49 . the indication is generated when the drift in the monitored signal on line 46 reaches a predetermined level in some embodiments . in one embodiment , the tracking circuit 45 generates the indication on line 47 on each phase change of the monitored signal , and adjusts the phase control signal in phase register 48 in response to a function of the phase changes indicated by the drift tracking circuit 45 . in another alternative , the indication on line 47 is provided to calibration resources , such as special purpose logic , a host processor executing calibration routines , or other resources , which execute a calibration sequence for the link 12 to update the phase control signal in phase register 48 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the tracking circuit is on the receive side of the channel . in alternative embodiments , the tracking circuit is implemented on the transmit side of the channel , or on both the transmit and the receive sides of the channel . fig2 illustrates an embodiment with drift tracking for a parameter of a transmitter in a communication channel between first and second components . thus , fig2 shows two components 10 , 11 connected with an interconnection medium , referred to as link 12 . component 10 has a transmitter circuit 13 which drives symbols ( bits ) on link 12 in response to timing events on the internal clkt signal 14 . this series of bits forms signal datat . component 11 has a receiver circuit 15 which samples symbols ( bits ) on link 12 in response to timing events on the internal clkr signal 16 . this series of bits forms signal datar . the transmit clock clkt is generated by a transmit clock generator 40 . the receive clock clkr is generated by a receive clock generator 49 . a communication channel between the components 10 and 11 comprises the transmitter circuit 13 , the link 12 and the receiver circuit 15 . delay block 50 in the link 12 represents delay encountered in the communication channel , which may drift during operation due to changing operational and environmental conditions in the components and in the link . for successful data transmission , the relative timing for the communication channel is determined by the phase of the transmit clock clkt and the phase of the receive clock clkr . the difference in phase between the two clocks is absorbed by the delay represented by delay block 50 . a tracking circuit 45 on component 10 is coupled to a monitored signal ms on line 46 . line 46 represents a channel , which has a characteristic such as the drift in phase , that correlates with drift of a parameter in the communication channel across link 12 . the tracking circuit 45 generates an indication on line 47 used to control the transmit timing , which is coupled to the transmitter circuit 13 . the indication is generated when the drift in the monitored signal on line 46 reaches a predetermined level in some embodiments . fig3 illustrates a system including a first integrated circuit 200 and a second integrated circuit 201 which communicate via a communication bus , generally 202 . in the system of fig3 , a clock generator 250 is included , which provides a reference clock to the master ctm on the first integrated circuit 200 . the first integrated circuit 200 , in this example provides the reference clock from the master cfm to the second integrated circuit 201 . the communication bus includes a plurality of communication channels that comprises a transmitter , a communication link and a receiver . for example , the communication bus includes a plurality of bi - directional data links represented by line 203 , a plurality of bidirectional address links represented by line 204 , and a plurality of bidirectional control links represented by line 205 . in other embodiments , the communication bus comprises multidrop links , uni - directional links , or combinations of multidrop , uni - directional and bi - directional links . the first integrated circuit 200 and the second integrated circuit 201 include interface circuits supporting the communication bus . for simplicity , an interface circuit for one of the bi - directional data links 203 on the communication bus is shown . the interface includes an input / output driver 210 . the input / output driver includes a transmitter 211 and a receiver 212 . the transmitter 211 accepts input from a normal path used for the mission function of the first integrated circuit 200 and drives the corresponding data on the communication link 203 . a transmit clock clkt is coupled to the transmitter 211 and sets a drive timing point . a receiver ( not shown ) on the second integrated circuit 201 samples the data from the line 203 in response to a corresponding receive clock . the drive timing point on the transmitter 211 is set by calibration logic 213 , using for example a calibration routine as described below , so that the receiver on the second integrated circuit 201 is able to capture correct data . likewise , a receive clock clkr is coupled to the receiver 212 , and sets a sample timing point . the sample timing point is set by the calibration logic 213 , in cooperation with a transmitter ( not shown ) on the second integrated circuit 201 in exemplary embodiments . the transmit clock and the receive clock are produced by clock generator circuits . the clock generator circuits include a phase locked loop 214 , which produces a set of reference clocks , and supplies those clocks to mixers 215 , 216 , 217 in the interface . the mixer 215 is used for generating the transmit clock in response to a mixer control signal stored in register 218 . the mixer 216 is used for generating the receive clock in response to a mixer control signal stored in register 219 . in the illustrated embodiment , registers 218 and 219 are managed by the calibration logic 213 . in alternative embodiments , the registers could be managed by higher - layer circuits which implement the equivalent of the calibration logic 213 in software . the mixer 217 is used for generating a tracking clock tr - clk , which is also based on the reference clock ctm so that tracking relative to the tracking clock tr - clk is , thereby , tracking relative to the reference clock ctm in some embodiments . the tracking clock tr - clk is supplied to a phase detector 228 , which also receives as input a monitored signal from another channel 204 on the communication bus . in this example , the monitored signal is supplied on line 229 from the input to the receiver 227 . the phase detector 228 includes a transition detector , so that transitions in the monitored signal and transitions in the tracking clock are utilized for detecting shifts in phase of the monitored signal . the output of the phase detector 228 is supplied to a counter 230 , which counts up and counts down to follow shifts in phase . the output of the counter 230 is used as a phase control signal for the mixer 217 . monitor logic 231 is coupled to the counter 230 , and issues indications to the calibration logic 213 , in response to changes in the counter value . input / output drivers , like driver 210 , are coupled to each of the links in the communication bus . the tracking circuit including the mixer 217 , the phase detector 228 , and the counter 230 , can be repeated for each input / output driver , or shared amongst sets of input / output drivers on the communication bus , or shared among all the links on the bus , depending on level of accuracy needed , the environment of operation for the particular implementation , and other trade - offs . the calibration logic 213 may include additional registers , such as registers storing edge values for use during calibration routines as described below , in addition to registers storing the operation value for each of the clocks . the registers 218 and 219 are loaded by the calibration logic 213 depending on the mode of operation . accordingly , the system shown in fig3 performs timing calibration during normal communication between integrated circuits in the system . the calibration of read and write clocks in the integrated circuits may be executed without affecting the normal communication between the integrated circuits . in the embodiment shown , the system includes a clock - data recovery loop which tracks drift by locking itself to an arriving monitored signal , such as read data sent from another integrated circuit device . based on this clock - data recovery loop , timing correction of the sample clock used to receive data , and the drive timing clock used to transmit data , may be derived . according to the present invention , long - term variances in system timing parameters , such as time - of - flight of a data signal , can be detected . based on this detection , various timing calibration adjustment processes can be initiated . for example , the present invention can be designed so that changes in phase in the tracking circuit of more than a threshold , for example changes of 10 percent , from the state recorded during an initial calibration , result in generation of an indication to the calibration logic that a re - calibration sequence should be executed . alternatively , when the phase of the tracking clock is shifted by a threshold amount , a compensating adjustment could be made to the phase control values for the input / output driver being monitored . fig4 shows calibration steps executed by calibration logic in one exemplary embodiment of the invention , which is suitable for use in combination with the drift tracking circuit described above , in some embodiments to set up initial operation values of the parameters , to periodically update the operation values in response to indications from the drift tracking circuits , or to otherwise supplement the drift tracking circuit . ( step 301 ) on initialization , or upon an indication from a drift tracking circuit that a drift measurement is due , suspend transmit and receive operations that are in progress . ( step 302 ) change the sample point of the receiver component from the normal operation value ( used for normal operations ) to a value used for calibration operations , such as an edge value representing an edge of a timing window for successful reception . it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new drive point to become stable . ( step 303 ) decouple the transmitter from the normal data path . ( step 304 ) create and transmit a pattern onto the โ link .โ note that the drive point of the transmitter is fixed relative to the reference clock of the system and is not adjusted . ( step 305 ) the pattern set is received in the receive component using the calibration value of the sample point . ( step 306 ) the received pattern set is compared to an expected pattern set produced in the receive component . the two pattern sets will either match or not match . as a result of this comparison ( and possibly other previous comparisons ) a pass or fail determination will be made . ( step 307 ) adjust the sample point operation value in the receiver component as a result of the pass or fail determination . ( step 308 ) repeat steps 302 - 307 to locate edge values in phase for the sample point outside of which the calibration pattern is not successfully received . ( step 309 ) change the sample point of the receiver to a new operation value ( used for normal operations ). it may be necessary to impose a settling delay at this step to allow the new drive point to become stable . ( step 310 ) reselect the โ normal path โ input of the transmitter . ( step 311 ) resume normal transmit and receive operations . fig5 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention for a communication channel 203 between a first chip 600 which may be a memory controller as labeled in the drawing , and a second chip 601 which may be a memory like a double data rate ddr dynamic random access memory dram as labeled in the drawing , that provides a dqs data strobe signal during read operations . the reference numerals in fig5 are the same as those for components of fig3 , with the exception of items relating to the data strobe channel 602 . other components of fig5 are not described again , as they correspond with like numbered components of fig3 . in one advantageous embodiment of fig5 , the monitored signal for the drift tracking circuit comprises the dqs data strobe control signal produced by the ddr dram during read operations ( or other data strobe signals or other control signals as appropriate for a particular implementation ), and received in data strobe i / o 610 by receiver 603 and provided to read control logic ( not shown ). the monitor logic 231 is configured to monitor the received read strobe , the transmitted read strobe , or both . when it is configured to track drift from both transmitted read strobes and received read strobes , the logic includes mode control to switch between the two modes . in these embodiments , the monitor function can use shared resources to track drift in the local transmitter , and drift in the combination of the transmission line and the remote transmitter . of course the shared resource embodiment can be applied to other types of monitored signals . also , the data strobe i / o has calibrated transmit and receive clocks , generated by mixers 604 and 606 respectively , in response to operation value parameters stored in registers 605 and 607 . fig6 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention for a communication channel 203 between a first chip 200 and a second chip 201 , where the monitored signal is provided on a loop back link 650 . the reference numerals in fig6 are the same as those for components of fig3 , with the exception of the loop back channel including the link 650 , the monitored signal transmitter 651 , the pattern source 653 , and the monitored signal receiver 652 . other components of fig6 are not described again , as they correspond with like numbered components of fig3 . in the embodiment shown , a pattern source 653 is coupled to the transmitter 651 . the transmitter transmits the pattern , and the receiver receives the looped back pattern . the monitor logic 231 tracks changes in the phase of the looped back pattern . the pattern source 653 can be replaced by any available signal on the chip 200 , such as the ctm reference clock , that has transition density or other characteristics making it suitable for use in tracking drift . the link 650 is implemented in some implementations using the same transmission line design as used for the links 203 of the communication channels being adjusted . for example , the chip - to - chip bus is implemented using printed circuit board traces optimized for frequency , length , amplitude of the signal and other parameters . the loop back channel 650 uses the same or similar printed circuit board trace technology , and has a length of for example one - half the average length of the traces forming the channels in the bus , so that the round trip time of flight is close to the time of flight for signals on the bus . in one advantageous embodiment of fig6 , the loop back channel comprises a transmitter 651 and a link 650 which emulate behavior of the transmitter 211 and link 203 of the communication channel being adjusted . thus , the looped back signal being monitored from the receiver 652 tracks the behavior of a loop back transmitter 651 on the same chip as the transmitter 211 being adjusted . in other embodiments described above , the transmitter driving the monitored signal is located on a remote chip . also , in embodiments like that of fig6 , the step 301 shown in fig3 may not be necessary during period calibration operations , if the periodic calibration operations are performed using the loop back channel . in the embodiments described above , a communication channel is provided having an additional phase mixer , which generates a tracking clock , coupled to a phase detector . the phase detector circuit compares the alignment between the tracking clock and a monitored signal . the monitored signal can consist of either a looped back clock signal , a signal from the memory chip on the opposite end of the communication channel , one of the data bits transmitted on the channel , one of the control bits or address bits transmitted on the channel , or any other signal which correlates with the drift on the communication channel . the tracking circuit , which consists basically of a clock - data recovery control block for systems tracking timing parameters , processes the output of the phase detector and affects adjustments in a counter plus register circuit which controls the phase mixer that generates the tracking clock . a monitor circuit periodically compares the current value stored in the register , with previous values , and generates outputs based on that comparison . this output can be used simply to indicate that a re - calibration is required , or for real - time adjustment of the operation value of the parameter being monitored . according to the present invention , communication systems are provided that track drift , while conserving resources of the communication channels being calibrated . the invention reduces the hardware and storage requirements needed for calibration , reduces the impact on bandwidth and throughput across the communication channel , and maintains accuracy of the operation values of the parameters being calibrated while using less of the resources of the communication channel . also , the techniques of the present invention improve overall latency characteristics of the communication channel in changing operating conditions . while the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferred embodiments and examples detailed above , it is to be understood that these examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense . it is contemplated that modifications and combinations will readily occur to those skilled in the art , which modifications and combinations will be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims . what is claimed is : | 7 |
a high level block diagram of an exemplary design system 100 is illustrated in fig1 . the illustrated system 100 includes one or more designer terminals 102 ( the designer terminal 102 may be a policy designer terminal , grammar designer terminal , function designer terminal , a single terminal for the different design needs or any other combination thereof ), one or more policy servers 104 , and one or more policy databases 106 . each of these devices may communicate with each other via a connection to one or more communications channels 108 such as the internet or some other data network , including , but not limited to , any suitable wide area network or local area network . it will be appreciated that any of the devices described herein may be directly connected to each other instead of over a network . the policy server 104 stores a plurality of files , programs , and / or web pages in one or more policy databases 106 for use by the designer terminals 102 . the policy database 106 may be connected directly to the policy server 104 or via one or more network connections . the policy database 106 preferably stores policy data , rules , functions , entity definitions , etc . one policy server 104 may interact with a large number of designer terminals 102 . accordingly , each policy server 104 is typically a high end computer with a large storage capacity , one or more fast microprocessors , and one or more high speed network connections . conversely , relative to a typical policy server 104 , each designer terminal 102 typically includes less storage capacity , a single microprocessor , and a single network connection . a more detailed block diagram of a designer terminal 102 is illustrated in fig2 . the designer terminal 102 may include a personal computer ( pc ), a personal digital assistant ( pda ), an internet appliance , a cellular telephone , or any other suitable communication device . the designer terminal 102 preferably includes a main unit 202 which preferably includes one or more processors 204 electrically coupled by an address / data bus 206 to one or more memory devices 208 , other computer circuitry 210 , and one or more interface circuits 212 . the processor 204 may be any suitable processor , such as a microprocessor from the intel pentium ยฎ family of microprocessors . the memory 208 preferably includes volatile memory and non - volatile memory . preferably , the memory 208 stores a software program that interacts with one or more of the other devices in the system 100 as described below . this program may be executed by the processor 204 in any suitable manner . the memory 208 may also store digital data indicative of documents , files , programs , web pages , etc . retrieved from one or more of the other devices in the system 100 and / or loaded via an input device 214 . the interface circuit 212 may be implemented using any suitable interface standard , such as an ethernet interface and / or a universal serial bus ( usb ) interface . one or more input devices 214 may be connected to the interface circuit 212 for entering data and commands into the main unit 202 . for example , the input device 214 may be a keyboard , mouse , touch screen , track pad , track ball , isopoint , and / or a voice recognition system . one or more displays , printers , speakers , and / or other output devices 216 may also be connected to the main unit 202 via the interface circuit 212 . the display 216 may be a cathode ray tube ( crts ), liquid crystal displays ( lcds ), or any other type of display . the display 216 generates visual displays of data generated during operation of the designer terminal 102 . for example , the display 216 may be used to display web pages received from the policy server 104 . the visual displays may include prompts for human input , run time statistics , calculated values , data , etc . one or more storage devices 218 may also be connected to the main unit 202 via the interface circuit 212 . for example , a hard drive , cd drive , dvd drive , and / or other storage devices may be connected to the main unit 202 . the storage devices 218 may store any type of data used by the designer terminal 102 . the designer terminal 102 may also exchange data with other network devices 220 via a connection to the network 112 . the network connection may be any type of network connection , such as an ethernet connection , digital subscriber line ( dsl ), telephone line , coaxial cable , etc . users of a designer terminal 102 may be required to register with the policy server 104 . in such an instance , each user of a designer terminal 102 , may choose a user identifier ( e . g ., e - mail address ) and a password which may be required for the activation of services . the user identifier and password may be passed across the network 108 using encryption built into the designer terminal 102 browser . alternatively , the user identifier and / or password may be assigned by the policy server 104 . a more detailed block diagram of a policy server 104 is illustrated in fig3 . like the designer terminal 102 , the main unit 302 in the policy server 104 preferably includes one or more processors 304 electrically coupled by an address / data bus 306 to a memory device 308 and a network interface circuit 310 . the network interface circuit 310 may be implemented using any suitable data transceiver , such as an ethernet transceiver . the processor 304 may be any type of suitable processor , and the memory device 308 preferably includes volatile memory and non - volatile memory . preferably , the memory device 308 stores a software program that implements all or part of the method described below . in particular , the memory 308 preferably stores a designer module 312 and a policy interpretation module 314 . the designer module 312 may interface with the designer terminal 102 to create the different elements of a policy . the policy interpretation module 314 may interface with the policy database 106 to store and retrieve policy information and execute policies during system runtime . the designer module 312 allows the designer at designer terminal 102 to create the necessary components for a policy . for example , the designer terminal 102 allows a designer to program a function , create a rule , create a policy , etc . the designer module 312 allows for the development of a number of layers of elements . for example , the designer module 312 may allow a function designer to create functions that interface with a legacy system layer , a complementary system layer , etc . a function may be a section of code . the function may receive variables as inputs . the function designer or grammar designer may set the scope of a variable so that the variable may be used across multiple functions . for example , a โ& lt ; product & gt ;โ variable may be scoped so that a โ& lt ; productcondition & gt ;โ and โ& lt ; productprice & gt ;โ function use both contain the same โ& lt ; product & gt ;โ variable . when a policy designer sets the object to be used as the โ& lt ; product & gt ;โ variable , that object may used in both the โ& lt ; productcondition & gt ;โ and โ& lt ; productprice & gt ;โ functions . the designer module 312 may have a function editor section that aids in the creation of functions based on the legacy system layer , complementary system layer , etc . the designer module 312 may store created functions into the policy database 106 or any other suitable storage media . the designer module 312 also allows a grammar designer to utilize the functions created by a function designer , or other pre - existing functions to create grammars through a graphical user interface . an example graphical user interface for a grammar designer is shown in fig5 . a grammar designer may contain an interpreter that recognizes a syntax , the syntax being the native executable parts that the interpreter may execute to do calculations on data or to direct the flow of logic . the syntax may support the execution of functions as well as static methods in third party assemblies . functions and static assembly methods may be included in syntax expressions that the interpreter executes . grammars may comprise rules that utilize functions in a user friendly , understandable manner . rules include logical connections between functions . rules may contain operators and variables that the grammar designer can set options for . for example , a rule in a grammar may be โ if & lt ; productcondition & gt ; then & lt ; statement & gt ;โ an example of the rule in the example graphical user interface is provided in fig6 . the grammar designer may specify the options that may be selected for โ& lt ; productcondition & gt ;โ and โ& lt ; statement & gt ;.โ for example , the โ& lt ; productcondition & gt ;โ may be bound so that only a product &# 39 ; s legal age requirement for purchasing is selectable during policy design . by binding the variables , a grammar designer may create a domain specific rule , where the domain specific rule &# 39 ; s variable is limited by the options available in a specific domain or execution environment ( e . g ., to one of a predetermined set of variables names and / or a specific numeric range ). a grammar designer may bind a variable to multiple layers of functions or other rules . for example , the grammar designer may bind the variable โ& lt ; productcondition & gt ;โ so that only another function or rule may be selected for that variable . rules may then be stored in the policy database 106 or any other suitable storage device . the designer module 312 allows a policy designer to utilize a business process workflow , a function created by a function designer or a rule created by a grammar designer , to create policies . for example , the designer module 312 may provide a graphical user interface for incorporating elements into a policy . an example graphical user interface for a policy designer is shown in fig7 . the policy designer may choose from a rule created by the grammar designer or from common pre - existing rules from the policy database 106 or any other suitable storage device . the policy designer may then select the option for a variable in a rule , as shown in fig8 . for example , using the rule โ if & lt ; productcondition & gt ; then & lt ; statement & gt ;,โ the policy designer may utilize the rule and select the productcondition ( e . g ., legal age purchasing requirement is met ) and statement ( e . g . allow a sale ) which may be limited to certain options by the grammar designer . for example , the grammar designer may limit โ& lt ; productcondition & gt ;โ to a purchaser meeting the legal age requirement or the purchaser having appropriate credit . as the policy designer selects rules and options , the graphical user interface may incorporate the changes into the view of the policy . for example , by selecting the โ& lt ; productcondition & gt ;โ option , the graphical user interface may change a display of โ if & lt ; productcondition & gt ; then & lt ; statement & gt ;,โ to โ if the purchaser is over the state legal limit for purchasing alcohol then & lt ; statement & gt ;.โ in this manner the designer module 312 may present the policy designer with an interface to design a policy in a natural language manner . the graphical user interface updates the display to present a more intuitive environment for policy design based on the rule or variable value selection . the policy designer may then store the policy in the policy database 106 , or any other suitable storage device . the policy interpretation module 314 analyzes the stored policies in the policy database 106 , or any other suitable storage device . the policy interpretation module 314 may translate a policy into a declarative model ( e . g . xml format ). the policy module 314 may ensure that the declarative model conforms to the bindings that are supported for the rule , grammar or function . for example , the policy interpretation module 314 may ensure that only the proper objects are bound to the variables as defined by the grammar designer . the policy interpretation module 314 also tracks changes made to a policy . the policy interpretation module 314 may track two types of changes , major changes and minor changes . for example , changes to a function interface or bindings may be major changes and internal logic changes may be minor changes . for example , changing โ if a customer &# 39 ; s age is less than 21 โ to โ if a customer &# 39 ; s age is greater than 21 โ may be a minor change and the change may be tracked via a versioning system . in this way , a policy designer is able to determine what policy was in place at any given time and execution of the policy . the policy interpretation module 314 may also ensure that major changes are propagated through the system when necessary . for example , the policy interpretation module 314 may detect a change to a function and ensure that proper procedures are followed to update any rules or policies that utilize the function . additionally , the policy interpretation module 314 may ensure that a policy designer is informed before a major policy replaces the older existing policy . the policy interpretation module 314 may execute the policy at runtime . for example , the policy interpretation module 314 may translate the declarative model into code and create an instance of the policy in memory . the policy interpretation module 314 sets the variable bindings of the policy using values from the client application . for example , the โ product โ value in the client application may be used as the input for functions in a policy requiring a โ product โ variable . the policy interpretation module 314 evaluates the policy using the variable inputs and returns the results to the calling client application . a flowchart of an example process 400 for building and executing a natural language policy is shown in fig4 . preferably , the process 400 is embodied in one or more software programs stored in one or more memories and executed by one or more processors . although the process 400 is described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in fig4 , it will be appreciated that many other methods of performing the acts associated with process 400 may be used . for example , the order of many of the acts may be changed , and some of the acts described may be optional . in this example , the function designer creates a function ( block 402 ). for example , the function designer at designer terminal 102 may create a function using a graphical user interface . the function designer may create the function by allow a user to enter code in a c , c ++, java , etc . programming language or graphically using components from the graphical user interface . for example , the function may be a function to retrieve a condition associated with a product . for example , a product object may have a legalage attribute , and a function may take the product object and return the legalage attribute . in block 404 , a grammar designer creates a domain specific rule . for example , using a graphical user interface , an example of which is show in fig5 and 6 , the grammar designer may create a rule to perform processing if a certain condition of a product is met . a rule may have functions as components and incorporate workflow processes , statements or entity properties . for example , a rule may be โ if & lt ; productcondition & gt ; then & lt ; statement & gt ;โ where & lt ; productcondition & gt ; and & lt ; statement & gt ; are functions from the policy database 106 . the grammar designer may set limits on the types of entities that can satisfy the variables in the rule . for example , the grammar designer may specify the types of entities that can be selected for the & lt ; productcondition & gt ; function . the grammar designer may specify that only an alcohol object entity can be selected for the & lt ; productcondition & gt ; function . in this way , the grammar designer may tailor the rule for a given domain . in block 406 , a policy designer creates a policy . for example , the policy designer may use a graphical user interface to create a policy from rules and other elements stored in the policy database 106 , or any other suitable storage device . the policy designer may select a rule and an option available for a variable within the rule . for example , the rule may state that a & lt ; customervariable & gt ; is required , and the policy designer can select that the customer &# 39 ; s age would be used for the rule . the rules may be in a natural language so that the resultant policy is in a natural language as well . the natural language aspect of the rule and policy allow a non - technical policy designer to construct policies without needing to know complicated technical information about the low level systems that the policy relies upon . in block 408 , the process may store the policy . for example , the designer module 312 may store the policy into policy database 106 , or any other suitable storage device . in block 410 , the process executes the policy . for example , the policy interpretation module 314 may retrieve all existing policies associated with the particular environment from the policy database 106 and incorporate the code representing the policies into the runtime environment . when the runtime environment is instantiated the policies may be included and executed . it should be understood that various changes and modifications to the process described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art . for example , the function designer , grammar designer and policy designer may be the same individual or a group of individuals . a screenshot of an example grammar design screen 500 is presented in fig5 . although the example grammar design screen 500 is described in reference fig5 , it will be appreciated that many other configurations are possible . for example , elements could be in different locations , elements could have different names , and elements could have different graphical representations . the grammar design screen 500 includes graphical representations 502 of various elements that comprise a grammar . for example , functions ( e . g . retrieve a product condition ) may have a particular graphical representations and logic elements ( e . g . if statement ) may have another graphical representation . the grammar design screen 500 may also have a listing of elements 504 that may be used in the rule . for example , a rule may allow for the drag and drop insertion of a function , rule , data , etc . a screenshot of an additional example grammar design screen 600 is presented in fig6 . although the additional example grammar design screen 600 is described in reference fig6 , it will be appreciated that many other configurations are possible . for example , elements could be in different locations , elements could have different names , and elements could have different graphical representations . the additional grammar design screen 600 includes a graphical representation 602 of a rule and the rule &# 39 ; s elements . for example , a completed rule may be displayed with the individual logic elements , functions , etc . that comprise the rule displayed . a screenshot of an example policy design screen 700 is presented in fig7 . although the example policy design screen 700 is described in reference fig7 , it will be appreciated that many other configurations are possible . for example , elements could be in different locations , elements could have different names , and elements could have different graphical representations . the policy design screen 700 provides a listing of elements 702 that may be used to construct the policy . for example , a policy may comprise inputs ( e . g . a sales tax ), entities ( e . g . a liquor product ), rules , workflow processes , etc . the policy designer may be able to drag and drop elements into the workspace . a screenshot of an example variable selection screen 800 is presented in fig8 . although the example variable selection screen 800 is described in reference fig8 , it will be appreciated that many other configurations are possible . for example , elements could be in different locations , elements could have different names , and elements could have different graphical representations . the variable selection screen 800 provides a selection box 802 for variables in a rule . for example , when a rule requires a certain variable to be passed to the underlying function , the designer module 312 may allow the policy designer to select from appropriate variables as set by the grammar designer . a screenshot of an additional example policy design screen 900 is presented in fig9 . although the additional example policy design screen 900 is described in reference fig9 , it will be appreciated that many other configurations are possible . for example , elements could be in different locations , elements could have different names , and elements could have different graphical representations . the additional example policy design screen 900 may provide a workspace 902 that displays a policy in natural language with the variables of the policy highlighted for ease of use . it should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art . such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages . it is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims . | 6 |
in this disclosure a number of terms and abbreviations are used . the following definitions are provided . the term sender or creator refers to a person or entity that may create a message . the terms recipient , user , or participant refer to any entity that may receive or view a message or engage in a live session . message or content refers to any digital information that a user has created or sourced that could be original and unique or copied from another application , or any other source material such as text , email message , html content , photo image , video , location information and / or other digital data conceivable that is transmittable from an electronic device be it live or previously recorded . the term session refers to but is not limited to an instant message ( im ), short message service ( sms ), live video , audio conference , or a recording of any kind on a device . the term transmitted , sent or send refers to the action of passing any digital content from one device or entity to another one or more devices or entities . an electronic device capable of sending and receiving messages may be a personal computer , whether desktop or laptop connected via wi - fi ( wireless ) or wired to the internet , a handheld mobile device that may be connected wirelessly to the internet or through a cellular signal to the internet , a cellular phone that may be connected via wi - fi or cellular signal , and or any other device conceived for sending and receiving text , voice , picture and video content , messages or digital content of any kind . the term message may refer to a textual message , a message that is or contains an electronic or digital picture file , a message that is or that contains an electronic or digital video file . a software program or application is a digitally coded medium that contains computer readable instructions . an application is a software program with computer readable instructions . before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the present invention in detail , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the particular arrangement shown , since the invention is capable of other embodiments . also , the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation . now referring specifically to fig1 , fig1 schematically illustrates an example system and method for sending time - sensitive messages . a sender , being a person ( s ) 102 or a business entity 102 b who are โ creators โ, may create content or message , being an image or video , or location , or the like , using a mobile handheld device or mobile phone or a computing device such as a laptop or desktop computer 100 . these devices 100 are connected to recipients &# 39 ; 103 b and users &# 39 ; 103 devices 100 , through a network 101 , in a wired or wireless manner , via an internet or other communication network , such as a cellular network . the recipients or users 103 , 103 b may be persons and / or other business entities . computer readable instructions for software applications may be encoded to the hard drive of a computing device 100 for use on various user devices 100 via access of the internet or cellular network 101 . copies of computer readable instructions being a software application program for the example system and method for sending time sensitive messages may be downloaded and saved on user &# 39 ; s devices 100 from computing devices storing the software application program via the internet or cellular network . various hardware and software components may be used to implement these actions . fig2 illustrates a flowchart for a sender ( fig1 , 102 ) to determine whether or not a recipient ( fig1 , 103 ) will be able to respond to transmitted content . a sender generates or defines content 105 on a device 100 . following content generation 105 , the sender may define which recipients or users will be allowed to view or receive 104 the content . the sender can indicate whether a recipient will be allowed to respond to message 107 . if manually determined , one example of how this action may be applied by sender is to answer a query prompted by the message system which may read : allow recipient to respond : yes 108 or no 111 . this may be applied to one or more recipients or a network of individuals who may have access to the sender &# 39 ; s content . this process 104 may also transpire automatically , based on a software interface setting or preference or due to a particular circumstance . optionally , this step could be bypassed completely as this is not a requirement of this invention . the sender &# 39 ; s message 102 will then be transmitted from the sender &# 39 ; s device to recipient ( s ) devices ). if applicable , each recipient will have the ability to view some or all of the sender &# 39 ; s content in either scenario . if the sender allowed for responses ( e . g . allow for responses : yes ) 108 , the software will enable recipient ( s ) to respond to the same message thread or in any other possible means of response 109 . if the sender did not allow for responses ( one possible example : allow for responses : no ) 111 , the recipient will have limited ability to respond to content . in one example 110 , the recipient will not be able to respond in any capacity . in another possible application of this invention , a recipient may have some limited response capabilities . fig3 illustrates a flowchart for a method for a sender to determine the nature in which a recipient or group of recipients might interact with the sender . applications of this concept might be utilized in a messaging application or social networking platform . a sender defines content 105 on a device 100 . a list of recipients may automatically be defined or the sender may manually define who will be allowed to view or receive a message 104 . this process may take place automatically or could be entered by the sender manually via a list of other users or potential recipients . in this example of the invention &# 39 ; s application , a sender indicates whether or not list of recipients should be grouped ( e . g . included in one message thread ) 112 . if the sender chose to group recipients ( e . g . combine recipients into one message thread : yes ) 116 , the software will enable recipient ( s ) to respond to some or all of the list of other recipients 116 in one or more message threads or in any other possible means of response . if the sender chose to send to each recipient , separately ( e . g . send to each recipient , separately : yes ), the recipients will be enabled to only respond to the creator 115 โ or possibly not at all . in this path 113 , each individual recipient may or may not be made aware of the other recipient ( s ) in the list or group of recipients and may only be allowed to respond to the sender or have limited or no ability to respond to the other recipient ( s ). fig4 is a schematic illustrating a method of determining the nature in which a recipient or group of recipients might interact with a creator &# 39 ; s content . applications of this concept might be utilized in a messaging application or social networking platform . a sender 117 defines content 105 on a device 100 . a list of recipients may automatically be defined or the sender may manually define who will be allowed to view or receive a message 104 . this process may take place automatically or could be entered by the sender manually via a list of other users or potential recipients . in this example of the invention &# 39 ; s application , a sender 117 indicates whether or not list of recipients should be grouped ( e . g . included in one message thread ). if the sender chose to group recipients , as in path b 123 , the software will enable recipient ( s ) 118 - 121 to respond to some or all of the other recipients 118 - 121 and the sender 117 in one or more message threads or in any other possible means of response . one example result of path b 123 is a multi - way conversation between the creator and all recipients . in this example there are four recipients 118 - 121 . however , note that this invention can be applied to any conceivable number of recipients . if the sender chose to send to each recipient , separately path a 122 , the recipients 118 - 121 will be enabled to only respond to the sender 117 โ or in some possible applications , there will be no response allowed at all . one example result of path a 122 is multiple two - way threads between the creator and each recipient . in this path 122 , each individual recipient may or may not be made aware of the other recipient ( s ) in the list or group of recipients and may only be allowed to respond to the sender 117 or have limited or no ability to respond to the other recipient ( s ) 118 - 121 . fig5 illustrates a flowchart for a method of sending content in a time sensitive manner where recipients are required to view the content before a set expiration time . in this example , a sender begins by opening the software application on his / her device and the messaging interface is present or viewed on the device 123 . this step is applicable to all previous figures as a preliminary step to generating a message 105 . the user , by generating content 124 or establishing a session with selected participants , as described above in previous examples fig2 , 3 and 4 105 , 104 and determines how long that content will be viewable 125 or in other words the length of the session , before transmitting message . the amount of time allowed before deleted 125 may be chosen by the sender or automatically assigned by the application based on predetermined settings or preferences . the time expiration 125 settings or preferences may be automatically generated by the software . as described above the sender establishes a session 124 , and the length of time that the session is viewable is determined 125 . participants may be alerted or notified of sent content or live session as to ensure that they do not miss the opportunity to view content . the participant may view the session 126 or not 127 . at the set expiration time the session will expire 128 . in this example , the expiration of content or the ability to view a session is independent from the expiration time of the content . likewise , a recipient ( s ) will only have the ability to view content and / or participate in a session 126 until the expiration time is achieved 128 . the expiration time quantity can be equal to any conceivable amount of time , being at least about one second , ten seconds , one minute , ten minutes , or even thirty minutes , or one hour , or two hours , or twenty - four hours , or longer . the expiration might also take place based on the achievement of specific parameters , activities or methodology . one example of one of these parameters would be a setting that would delete the content only after it has been viewed by all recipients . if the participants do not view content or participate in the session 127 before the expiration time is achieved , the content may be automatically deleted by the software 129 or manually deleted by a user ( s ) or sender and the recipient ( s ) will not be allowed to view content . fig6 illustrates a flowchart for a method of sending content in a time sensitive manner . if a recipient ( s ) view content or participate in a session before the expiration time is achieved , said recipient ( s ) may have additional viewing capabilities even after the expiration time is achieved . in this fig6 example , to begin a session , content is defined 105 or a session is established on a device . a sender may set a list of recipients manually or the list may be automatically generated 130 . a live session may also be established 131 and / or invited recipients are allowed to view and receive content until the session expires or expiration time is achieved 136 . a length of time may be determined for the session 132 . after transmission 133 , if the content is not viewed or session is not joined before expiration time 136 is achieved , content will automatically be deleted 137 and will no longer be accessible by recipient ( s ). if content is viewed or session joined by recipient ( s ) 135 before expiration time is achieved 136 , said recipient ( s ) will be allowed to view specific information regarding the content , for instance other recipients , sender , time message sent , and the time the message expired , even after the expiration time is achieved 138 . if the message is not viewed before expiration no information about the message including sender , content , or time may be available to the recipient . additional information may be available indefinitely 139 or may be automatically or manually deleted a specific amount of time after expiration 140 ( e . g . 24 hours ). fig7 illustrates a flowchart for a method and style of notifications regarding a message or session . some software systems and devices allow for notifications regarding incoming messages or data . this invention takes this process a step further by providing additional information to senders and recipients . as in previous examples , content is created on a device 105 , a list of recipients is produced 130 , a live recording session may be started 131 , the length of time for the session is determined 132 , and the content is transmitted to the recipients 133 . further , in this example the system that uses visual and sound alerts to notify a recipient ( s ) or sender ( s ) of when a message has been viewed or a session has been joined 141 . if a system detects that a recipient has viewed a message 143 , a notification is automatically generated to alert the sender and / or other recipients in real time . if the content is not viewed then the sender and / or recipients may be alerted with a visual or sound cue 142 . a visual cue for example , may be text displayed on the sender &# 39 ; s or recipient &# 39 ; s device , such as the phrase โ message not viewed โ. this system fig7 may be especially important when sending time sensitive messages or content with an expiration time 132 so recipients and senders know who viewed the content before and after it expires . fig8 schematically illustrates one example software user interface and features . in this example interface , there is a device 100 with an interactive screen 144 that is possibly responsive to human touch . illustrated is a diagrammatic screenshot showing how some various features might be presented to a user or sender at the time of message generation , before transmission . there is a timer 145 that users can control by spinning or turning in a counter clockwise or clockwise motion 157 or simply touching a circular timer 145 or two - dimensional wheel with their fingers to manually manipulate the amount of time that a time sensitive message will be viewable before expiration . the color of the timer 145 may change indicating the changing increments of time in real - time , direct relation with the manual manipulation . this function would be helpful in visually alerting a user that the amount of time is changing as they manipulate the timer 145 . there may be arrows 146 or a simple symbol that will visually indicate the direction or manipulation possibilities 147 of the timer . another indication of the effects of manually manipulating the timer might be displayed to the user by indicating the quantity of time the message might remain 149 or what time the message might expire 148 . this timer could be used and helpful for any other conceivable digital timer utility . a user might be allowed to take a picture from the same screen with the tap of a digital button or icon 150 . the camera aperture might be active , displaying the visual content in the background . a user might also have the capability of sending location 151 or geographical information 154 in a message for a specified period of time 148 . with access to additional functions 153 this example application could be useful in many ways . once the content has been defined , the user could choose to transmit the data 156 to recipients or could cancel all actions and start over 155 . fig9 illustrates a flowchart for a method of utilizing changing visual color cues to indicate or reflect changes made to a digital timer apparatus 145 . the example method may be useful to visually indicate when a digital timer is being manipulated to adjust a quantity of time by an incremental or random percentage 159 . a system might use two or more colors to achieve this purpose . in this example , the timer might have a default color 158 . this default color 158 would change 160 if the timer is manually adjusted 159 by a user or even automatically by the application software . this process could be repeatable in many definite increments or indefinitely to reflect continued timer manipulation 161 . fig1 illustrates a flowchart for an example method of utilizing changing visual color cues to indicate or reflect level of urgency of a message . this invention would be useful for a user to visually recognize the โ potentially fluctuating โ extent of urgency for time - sensitive messaging application . this could also be used for any conceivable method of indicating static or changing level of urgency for digital communications or messaging . a system might use two or more colors to achieve this purpose . in this example , a sender or user would generate time sensitive content 163 , manually or automatically define the level of urgency 164 , transmit content 165 to one or more recipient devices 166 . the recipient ( s ) device software would assess the level of urgency indicated 167 and automatically assign a color ( s ) to visually indicate the extent or level of urgency of the message . if there is a change in the state of urgency โ which could be manually changed by the sender or automatically assessed by the application software โ the color would change to reflect the altered state of urgency 170 . if the level of urgency does not change 169 , the color will not change 171 . a level of urgency may correlate to how important the content is or the time length of the session , for example . fig1 illustrates a flowchart for an example method of revealing limited information on a device notification system until user interacts with notification at which time , more information about the message is revealed . for instance identity of other recipients , identity of sender , time message sent , and the time the message expires may be revealed only after opening the message . this invention would be useful for incentivizing a recipient ( s ) to open or view a message in its entirety . in other words , digital message notifications often show most or all of a message &# 39 ; s content and thus a user may not need or want to further engage with the sender or the messaging software application . in this application of this invention , a sender or user would generate content 105 , manually or automatically define the list of recipients 130 , transmit content 165 to one or more recipient devices . upon receiving a message , a recipient &# 39 ; s device will allow for a condensed notification message to alert the recipient of the received message 172 . this notification would contain a condensed version of the message &# 39 ; s content 173 . the notification would withhold crucial or trivial information about the content 173 to encourage the recipient to interact with the message further . the additional information would not be revealed until the user engages with the notification 174 . an example of engagement might be simply viewing the notification , tapping on or swiping over notification or any other conceivable means of user interaction . when a user further engages with the notification , the withheld information would be revealed 175 . fig1 illustrates a flowchart for how a database of users may assess specific information on a user before sending content . this invention would be useful for a business entity or individual to send content and know that it will only be received by individuals who fit their predefined target audience . this would be especially useful for sending time - sensitive content or advertisements to individuals or entities who are in a specific geographical location within a specific period of time . fig1 illustrates several example parameters 179 , 180 , 181 , 182 for a possible use of this invention , though this concept might not be limited to only these examples . for instance the program may query how many and which users are connected to an internet connection 179 , which and / or how many users are within a certain geographic location 180 , how many or which users qualify based on the predefined parameters within a specific period 181 , and / or how may or which users are of any number of certain demographics 182 . these demographics may include but not be limited to location , age , gender , ethnicity , frequency of use , interests , education , frequency and content of queries , professional interests , occupation , background , and other specific user related data . in this example of the invention , a sender โ be it a business or user generates content 105 , defines the parameters or requirements for the desired recipients 176 , transmits content to a centralized database 177 which would contain a list of users and the automated ability to cross check 178 the parameters against the user database list to assess whether or not the potential user ( s ) will be eligible to receive the content and automatically assess if the content will be transmitted 185 to user ( s ) or not 184 . the sender may have the ability to assess information on which users viewed the message before expiration time and the level of engagement of a specific or a group of users to better understand the effectiveness of the message campaign . fig1 illustrates a flowchart for how a content creator might utilize a device to record and send information , simultaneously . this invention would be useful in a live video or audio streaming session if a user desires to access the live session to then send the recorded content to a given list of recipients , after the session has expired . in this example , a sender sets the list of recipients โ this could happen manually or automatically 130 . the sender then begins a live video or audio streaming session with previously determined list of recipients 188 . while the live session is taking place , the device and software will automatically begin recording 186 for potential use later reference . recipients may or may not receive a notification which would be automatically generated as an alert that a live session has begun 189 . when applicable , this notification would act as an invitation to the event or live streaming content 188 . recipient ( s ) may or may not join while the session is live but because there will be a recording of the session , the sender will have the option to transmit recordings 191 , after the session has expired 190 . if the creator chooses to send the recorded session , the content will be transmitted to recipient ( s ) 193 . the sender may also have the option to not send the recorded content 192 and the content may or may not be saved for later use . fig1 schematically illustrates an example software user interface and features regarding a notification menu 194 . in this example interface , there is a device 100 with an interactive screen 144 that is possibly responsive to human touch . this is a diagrammatic screenshot demonstrating how some various notification features might be presented to a user or sender . messages that have not yet been opened may have a notification bar 195 that displays limited if any of the message &# 39 ; s content until the recipient engages the notification 203 . in this example , an engagement may consist of a recipient swiping a finger across the device screen 203 to reveal or open a message 201 . in other possible examples , the user might only need to tap , double tap , or engage with the message or notification intentionally in any way to reveal the additional content or any conceivable method of conscious interaction . once a message has been revealed , there may be a colored bar 197 to indicate the level of urgency 198 or the amount of time remaining 196 before the message expires . another type of notification is indicative of after a message and some or all of its content have expired and whether that message was viewed before expiration 199 , or not 200 . there may also be an option to generate a completely new message or respond to senders existing message thread 202 . although the present invention has been described with reference to the disclosed embodiments , numerous modifications and variations can be made and still the result will come within the scope of the invention . no limitation with respect to the specific embodiments disclosed herein is intended or should be inferred . each apparatus embodiment described herein has numerous equivalents . | 7 |
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