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exemplary antenna designs described in the following description may be “ planar ” antennae . a “ planar ” antenna may have an extended shape that lies generally along a plane , i . e ., the antenna may have three dimensions but one of the dimensions may be an order of a magnitude less than the other two dimensions . fig1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 10 . wireless communication device 10 may include a housing 11 , a controller 101 , a memory 102 , a user interface 103 , a transceiver 104 , a key input unit 105 , a display unit 106 , and a multiband antenna 100 . transceiver 104 may interface wireless communication device 10 with a wireless network using antenna 100 . it is appreciated that transceiver 104 may transmit or receive signals according to one or more of any known wireless communication standards known to the person skilled in the art . controller 101 may control the operation of wireless communication device 10 responsive to programs stored in memory 102 and instructions provided by the user via interface 103 . embodiments of the pifa design according to the present invention allows the antenna to be tuned to the desired operating resonance frequency or resonance frequencies required , while not compromising the antenna size or the operation of the other frequency bands . for purposes of illustration , the following describes antenna 100 in terms of a low frequency wireless communication band and a high frequency band , wherein a switch between , for example , 850 mhz and 900 mhz , within the low gsm frequency band , and a switch between , for example , 1800 mhz and 1900 mhz within the gsm high frequency band , will take place . however , it will be appreciated that antenna 100 may be designed to cover additional or alternative wireless communication frequency bands . fig3 discloses a pifa according to the present invention . pifa 300 may include a ground plane 310 formed on a substrate 311 . in one embodiment , ground plane 310 may be embedded directly on substrate 311 ( i . e ., a pcb ), which also may carry other electrical components of the device . this provides the advantage that the antenna can be mounted relatively close to the pcb , thus saving volume in the wireless device . pifa 300 may also include a radiating element 309 , which may include a low frequency radiating element and a high frequency radiating element , respectively . radiating element 309 may comprise any known configuration or pattern and vary in size to optimize the bandwidth , operating frequency , radiation patterns , and the like . radiating element 309 may electrically connect to ground plane 310 via a tuning or shortening element 312 . feed element 313 may connect a signal source from a radio or other rf transmitter , receiver , or transceiver ( not shown ) to radiating element 309 . in one embodiment , feed element 313 may be at least partially electrically insulated from ground plane 310 to prevent grounding therefrom . to cover both , for example , gsm 850 and gsm 900 ( bandwidth at − 6 db s11 ), the resonance of the low band switches between these two bandwidths by changing the size of the ground plane , for example , the length of ground plane 310 , from an antenna point of view , with a microstrip 316 with specific dimensions , a × b , which is arranged on the antenna ground clearance and connected to the ground plane by means of switching element 307 . the microstrip antenna according to the invention , which may be a narrowband , wide - beam antenna , may be fabricated by etching the antenna element pattern in metal trace bonded to an insulating dielectric substrate with a continuous metal layer bonded to the substrate which forms a ground plane . possible microstrip antenna radiator shapes include any regular or irregular shape , such as square , rectangular , circular and elliptical , but any continuous shape is possible . the microstrip antenna may be , for example , a rectangular patch . the rectangular patch antenna may be approximately a one - half wavelength long section of rectangular microstrip transmission line . when air is the antenna substrate , the length of the rectangular microstrip antenna may be approximately one - half of a free - space wavelength . as the antenna is loaded with a dielectric as its substrate , the length of the antenna may decrease as the relative dielectric constant of the substrate increases . because of the orientation and location of microstrip 316 relative to feed element 313 and shortening element 312 , electromagnetic interaction between feed element 313 , shortening element 312 , and microstrip 316 may occur when antenna switching element 307 connects microstrip 316 to ground plane 310 . this electromagnetic interaction may cause microstrip 316 to capacitively couple feed element 313 to shortening element 312 . this coupling may effectively move the feed point between radiating element 309 and ground plane 310 and thereby change the overall electromagnetic impedance of antenna 300 . microstrip 316 may be configured to improve the impedance of antenna 300 in the first frequency band ( e . g . 850 mhz ) of the low frequency band , but may not impact the impedance of the antenna in the high frequency band . thereafter , by disconnecting microstrip 316 from ground plane 310 when the antenna is to operate in the second frequency band ( e . g . 900 mhz ), antenna switching element 307 may selectively remove the electromagnetic coupling between microstrip 316 and ground plane 310 , and enable normal antenna operation in the second frequency band , also now without affecting the higher frequency band . if the size ( e . g ., length and width ) of the microstrip is not sufficient , it is also possible to continue with the microstrip to the other side of the pcb or a suitable direction . this is illustrated in fig7 , where 316 ′ and 316 ″ denote extension of the parasitic element 316 over the edge and the other side , respectively , of pcb 311 . parasitic element 316 ′″ may also extend through a via . additional switches may be arranged to connect several microstrips and alter the total size of the microstrip . antenna switching element 307 may selectively control the electromagnetic coupling by selectively controlling the connection between microstrip 316 and ground plane 310 . this connection may be controlled using any means that creates an impedance connection when the antenna is required to switch between two frequencies within the low frequency band . antenna switching element 307 may be controlled by a controller 301 . closing switching element 307 may create an impedance connection . switching element 307 may be any of a mechanical or electrical element such as a mos or cmos transistor , etc . fig4 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a mobile communication terminal 40 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig4 , mobile communication terminal 40 may include a memory 402 , a key input unit 405 , a display unit 406 , a transceiver 404 , a pifa 400 , an antenna switch element 407 , and a controller 401 . controller 401 may process voice signals and / or data according to the protocol for a phone call , data communication , or wireless internet access , and may control the respective components of mobile communication terminal 40 . controller 401 may also receive key input from key input unit 405 , and control display unit 406 to generate and provide image information in response to the key input . controller 401 may receive current location information from the user or bs . through the received location information , controller 401 may identify a frequency band mapped to the current location from a region frequency memory 408 included in memory 402 . controller 401 may determine if a frequency band change is desired . when the frequency band change is desired , controller 401 may control antenna switching element 407 to selectively connect or disconnect a microstrip 416 from ground plane 410 . fig5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary operation for receiving current location information from the user or bs and changing a frequency band based on the location information . referring to the structure in fig4 , controller 401 of mobile communication terminal 40 proceeds to step 500 to determine if location information has been input from the user . if location information has been input from the user , controller 401 proceeds to step 503 . in step 503 , controller 401 may load information about a frequency band of a region corresponding to the location information input by the user from region frequency memory 408 of memory 402 and determine if a frequency band change is desired . if location information is absent , controller 401 proceeds to step 501 to determine if a roaming service is activated . if the roaming service has not been activated , controller 401 may determine that a frequency band change according to the current location is not required . however , if the roaming service has been activated as a result of the determination in step 501 , controller 401 proceeds to step 502 to receive location information about the current region from the bs of a cell in which the current roaming service has been activated . then , controller 401 proceeds to step 504 to control antenna switching element 407 and selectively connect or disconnect microstrip 416 from ground plane 410 according to the located frequency band . curves ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) in fig6 illustrate the reflection coefficients of antenna 402 with respect to frequency when microstrip 416 is not connected to ground plane 410 . curve ( 1 ) resonates at frequency 900 mhz and ( 2 ) at 1900 mhz . curves ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) illustrate the reflection coefficients with respect to frequency when microstrip 409 is connected to ground plane 410 . here curve ( 3 ) shows the resonation at 850 mhz and ( 604 ) at 1800 mhz frequency . the size of microstrip 416 used in this example is 4 × 7 mm . as shown by the reflection curves ( 1 ) and ( 3 ), using microstrip 416 to capacitively couple microstrip 416 to ground plane ( 410 ) induces a 40 mhz frequency shift ( pointed out with arrow ) in the low frequency band from about 900 mhz to about 850 mhz . the curves in the high frequency band are virtually unaffected . it should be noted that the word “ comprising ” does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed and the words “ a ” or “ an ” 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 “ means ”, “ units ” or “ devices ” may be represented by the same item of hardware . 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 .	7
type 1 diabetes involves autoimmune destruction of the insulin - producing pancreatic β - cells . insulin , an autoantigen in this process , is expressed in human thymus at levels dependent on alleles at the upstream ins vntr , to which the iddm2 susceptibility locus has been mapped ( bennett s t et al ., 1995 , nat genet . 9 ( 3 ): 284 - 292 ; bennett s t et al ., 1996 , ann . rev . genet . 30 : 343 - 370 ). chromosomes carrying the dominantly protective , long ins vntr alleles ( class iii ) produce 2 - 3 times higher levels of insulin gene ( ins ) mrna than those with predisposing , short class i alleles ( vafiadis p et al ., 1997 , nat . genet . 15 ( 3 ): 289 - 292 ; pugliese a et al ., 1997 , nat . genet . 15 ( 3 ): 293 - 297 ). higher thymic ins expression may promote better induction of immune tolerance to βcells . however , a few specific class iii ins vntr alleles are associated with complete silencing of thymic ins expression ( vafiadis p et al ., 1997 , nat genet . 15 ( 3 ): 289 - 292 ; pugliese a et al ., 1997 , nat . genet . 15 ( 3 ): 293 - 297 ). our hypothesis predicts that such alleles are predisposing rather than protective . to test this prediction , we examined the distortion of transmission of two such silencing alleles ( s1 and s2 ) from non - diabetic parents to 167 diabetic children , using a novel pcr - based method of restriction fingerprinting . transmission of s1 + s2 from heterozygous parents was significantly less frequent than expected , while all other class iii alleles ( i . e . non - s1 and non - s2 ) showed a significant undertransmission as expected . early reports suggested the presence on an insulin - like factor in the thymus . the applicants and others demonstrated that the insulin gene ( ins ) was transcribed and translated in human fetal ( vafiadis p et al ., 1997 , nat genet . 15 ( 3 ): 289 - 292 ) and postnatal thymus ( pugliese a et al ., 1997 , nat . genet . 15 ( 3 ): 293 - 297 ). in the majority of thymus samples selected to be ins vntr class i / iii heterozygotes , thymic ins expression was 2 - 3 times higher from the gene copy linked to the class iii allele as compared to the class i allele . in 5 of 22 samples , however , ins expression was completely silenced from the copy linked to the class iii allele , while the class i linked copy was expressed . monoallelic expression has been observed in genes subject to genomic imprinting , which involves silencing of either the paternal or the maternal allele . we showed that the difference in thymic ins expression levels between class i and iii alleles is independent of parental origin , thus ruling out partial imprinting as the cause of this difference ( vafiadis p et al ., 1997 , nat . genet . 15 ( 3 ): 289 - 292 ). however , parental dna corresponding to the thymus samples with “ silencing ” class iii alleles was not available , so it could not be determined whether genomic imprinting may explain this observation . insulin is the only known β - cell specific type 1 diabetes autoantigen . an autoimmune reaction against ins - encoded epitopes may thus result in specific targeting of the pancreatic β - cells for destruction , and increased thymic ins expression could explain the dominantly protective effect of class iii alleles through better tolerance induction , a thymic process that is known to be dose - dependent . if the above hypothesis that thymic ins expression has a dose - dependent effect on susceptibility to type 1 diabetes is correct , then alleles associated with silencing of thymic ins expression would be more predisposing than all other alleles . to test this hypothesis , we have compared the transmission frequency of class iii alleles matching two class iii alleles associated with silencing of ins expression ( which we call s1 and s2 ) to all other alleles , from heterozygous parents to diabetic offspring . we predicted that silencing - associated class iii alleles of the s1 and s2 type would be transmitted to diabetic offspring more often than other alleles . furthermore , we predicted that if silencing of thymic ins expression is due to genomic imprinting , the transmission distortion of s1 and s2 type class iii alleles would be confined to transmissions from only one parental sex . thus , silencing of ins in the thymus would be due to allele - specific genomic imprinting , similar to what we have described for the human igf2r gene . this is the major diabetes locus , accounting for almost half of the genetic component . it is located on chromosome 6p21 , and involves the cluster of class ii hla histocompatibility genes . pcr - based testing exists to identify several alleles , some of which are predisposing to diabetes while others are protective or neutral . individuals with the protective alleles are extremely unlikely to have the disease , but the predisposing alleles are common in the general population , and the specificity of predicting diabetes based on their presence is low . additional loci must be determined for meaningful prediction . this locus has been mapped to chromosome 11 p15 . 5 , to a polymorphism consisting of variable number of tandem repeats ( vntr ), 0 . 5 kb upstream of the insulin gene ( ins ). the number of repeats in each of the two copies of an individual &# 39 ; s chromosome 11 can range from 40 to several hundred . short vntr alleles ( 40 - 60 repeats ) are the most common and are classified together as class i . long alleles (& gt ; 120 repeats ) are called class iii and are found in about 20 % of caucasian chromosomes , while intermediate class ii alleles ( 60 - 120 repeats ) are extremely rare . individuals who have inherited a chromosome with a class iii allele from at least one parent have a 3 - 5 fold less probability of diabetes than those who have a class i allele on both chromosomes . therefore , class iii alleles , as a group , can be considered dominantly protective . recently , we demonstrated a putative mechanism for the protective effect of the class iii vntr : we found that the human thymus produces small amounts of insulin , and chromosomes with a class iii allele make 2 - 3 times more insulin mrna in the thymus than those with class i . however , in a small number of cases the class iii chromosome instead of producing more than the class i , produced no insulin at all ! we predicted that those specific class iii alleles associated with this paradoxical phenomenon ( called s alleles , for “ silencing ”) will not be protective ( as expected of class iii alleles ) but must be predisposing . indeed studies on 167 diabetic children and their parents confirmed that , although class iii alleles as a whole were inherited less often than expected by chance alone , the s alleles were actually transmitted much more often . to test our hypothesis , we first developed a pcr based method of identifying ins vntr alleles . the ins vntr is composed of a variable number of tandem 14 - 15 bp repeat sequences , with the consensus repeat unit aca gggg tgt gggg ( bennett s t et al ., 1996 , ann . rev . genet . 30 : 343 - 370 ). in caucasians , most alleles are either in the class i ( 26 - 63 repeats ) or the longer class iii ( 140 - 210 repeats ) category ( bennett s t et al ., 1996 , ann . rev . genet . 30 : 343 - 370 ). initially , these alleles were studied by southern blot , and later the class i alleles were studied by pcr ( bennett s t et al ., 1995 , nat . genet . 9 ( 3 ): 284 - 292 ; bennett s t et al ., 1996 , ann . rev . genet . 30 : 343 - 370 ). due to the high gc - rich content and repetitive nature of this sequence , resulting in a highly stable intramolecularly folded structure , amplification of the long class iii alleles has not been possible by pcr . here , we present the first report , to our knowledge , of pcr amplification for all classes of ins vntr alleles , including class iii and the intermediate - sized class ii alleles , by a single pcr protocol ( fig1 ). the first four samples have a class i / iii genotype , the next has a class i / ii genotype , and the final sample has two class iii alleles distinguishable by size . the number of repeat units in each class i allele is shown . co - dominant segregation of class iii alleles within families confirmed the high fidelity of the method and the stability of these alleles within families . this technique represents an important advancement in the study of the iddm2 susceptibility locus . we used this technique to clone the class iii allele from one of our two informative thymus samples with complete silencing of ins expression from the class iii chromosome ( allele s1 ) ( vafiadis p et al ., 1997 , nat . genet . 15 ( 3 ): 289 - 292 ). the identity and integrity of the cloned allele , s1 was repeatedly demonstrated by showing electrophoretic co - migration of pcr amplification products from both genomic and cloned dna templates ( n & gt ; 15 ). this indicates that the two products are the same size , and thus no major recombinational event resulting in loss of sequence has occurred in the cloned allele . similarly , both cloned and genomic dna demonstrated the same rflp band pattern after msp1 digestion ( msp1 recognizes an uncommon variant of the repeat unit ( bennett s t et al ., 1996 , ann . rev . genet . 30 : 343 - 370 )), suggesting the same arrangement of internal repeat sequences . in fact , any restriction enzyme recognizing an uncommon variant of the repeat unit could be used . hpa2 is an example of another useful restriction enzyme . to further verify the identity of the s1 clone , the clone was sequenced ( fig2 a ). using the same methods , we similarly cloned and confirmed a class iii allele ( e1 ) associated with enhanced expression of thymic ins as compared to a class i allele ( fig2 b ) and defined three sequence differences between them , likely responsible for the differential transcriptional effect . to test our hypothesis regarding the mechanism of iddm2 encoded susceptibility , 167 families consisting of mother , father and type 1 diabetes affected child were genotyped for the ins vntr by this pcr method . in caucasians , about 75 % of ins vntr alleles are class i and about 25 % are class iii alleles . the parental genotypes in our mostly caucasian population follow this distribution with 59 % class i / i , 37 % i / iii and 4 % iii / iii as compared to expected frequencies of 56 % i / i , 38 % i / iii and 6 % iii / iii . as expected , the genotype frequencies in affected offspring were skewed towards a higher percentage of predisposing class i / i genotypes : 68 % i / i , 28 % i / iii and 4 % iii / iii . from this group , 139 parental class iii alleles could be unambiguously determined to have been transmitted or not - transmitted to diabetic offspring from mothers or fathers . we used cloned and genomic dna to pcr amplify the s1 allele . similarly , we used genomic dna to amplify the class iii allele associated with silencing of thymic ins expression in a second sample ( which we call s2 ) and s2 - identical alleles ( see methods ). these were then used as markers against which all parental class iii alleles were compared and identified as s1 or s2 type alleles or as non - s1 / non - s2 type alleles . each allele was determined to either be the same size or a different size than alleles s1 or s2 by page on a long gel ( 38 . 5 cm ). all class iii alleles analyzed were either larger than both s1 and s2 , smaller than s1 and s2 or equal in size to either s1 or s2 ( fig3 ). the class iii ins vntr alleles in families with a type 1 diabetes offspring ( a to n ) are compared in terms of size to the class iii alleles associated with silencing of thymic ins expression ( s1 and s2 ) ( fig3 a ). these include father - affected offspring ( b & amp ; c ) and mother - affected offspring ( m & amp ; n ) pairs . the class iii ins vntr alleles in families with a type 1 diabetes offspring ( a to m , not the same samples as in a ) are compared in terms of msp1 rflp to the class iii alleles associated with silencing of thymic ins expression ( s1 and s2 ) ( fig3 b ). these include a mother - affected offspring pair ( a & amp ; b ). the size in bp of molecular weight standards are shown at the left . thus , the s1 allele is only slightly larger than the s2 allele , and there are no allele sizes between them that can be resolved by our method . furthermore , each class iii allele was loaded into two separate wells of the polyacrylamide gel for comparison to s1 and s2 separately . those that were equal in size to s1 were always larger than the s2 allele , and those that were equal in size to s2 were always smaller than s1 allele . this indicates that the same alleles behave in a consistent manner between separate loadings in page and that our method can consistently identify small differences in migration distance . in addition to size , we attempted to distinguish alleles by repeat unit composition through comparison of their msp1 rflp band pattern ( fingerprint ). class iii alleles were classified as either the same as or different from s1 or s2 ( fig3 ). most alleles had two large digestion fragments that were well above the largest digestion fragments from any of the class i alleles . thus for class 1 / 111 heterozygotes , we were able to distinguish between class i and iii digestion fragments in this size range ( see methods ). the size of the largest digestion fragment did not vary much between alleles . similarly , the second largest fragments from most alleles were all within a narrow size range . this indicates that most class iii alleles have a very similar sequence composition . the exception to this were the class iii alleles present in an uncommon haplotype , previously referred to as the very protective haplotype ( vph ) ( bennett s t et al ., 1995 , nat . genet . 9 ( 3 ): 284 - 292 ), which were much more thoroughly digested than those from the common protective haplotypes ( ph ) ( bennett s t et al ., 1995 , nat . genet . 9 ( 3 ): 284 - 292 ), resulting in much smaller digestion fragments . thus , class iii alleles found in the vph are smaller and likely contain more copies of the repeat sequence recognized by msp1 than the more common class iii alleles found in the ph . the size and msp1 analyses were also combined such that class iii alleles were considered as s1 or s2 type alleles only if they matched the s1 or s2 allele , respectively , in terms of size and msp1 rflp pattern . alleles were thus designated as s1 or s2 type alleles based on size only , msp1 rflp only , or based on both size and msp1 rflp . preliminary analysis of transmission disequilibrium in the first 167 samples is summarized in tables 1 - 3 . table 1 shows transmission of alleles determined to be non - s1 and non s2 from non - diabetic parents to diabetic children . as expected , they are undertransmitted because of their dominant protective effect , and there is no significant transmission distortion between maternal and paternal alleles ( table 1 ). tables 2 and 3 summarize transmissions of paternal or maternal s1 + s2 alleles , compared to all other non - s1 , non - s2 alleles . alleles that are identical to s1 or s2 by both size and msp1 rlfp are overtransmitted in contrast to non - s alleles that are undertransmitted , but because of the small numbers the difference is not statistically significant . the results became statistically significant when results from the 120 diabetic children in the 60 sibling pairs from the human biological data interchange were added to the analysis . this analysis is summarized in table 4 . we examined 287 diabetic children and 227 pairs of parents ( 908 parental chromosomes ). in the 60 hbdi families that had two children transmissions were calculated twice , once for each child . therefore , the total number of transmissions was higher than the number of parental chromosomes . the results of the transmission analysis as summarized in table 4 are as follows . non - s class iii alleles were transmitted at a frequency significantly less than 0 . 5 , as expected from the known dominant protective effect of class iii as a whole . as our hypothesis had predicted , s alleles behaved as predisposing rather than protective : they were much more frequently transmitted than all other class iii alleles ( p = 0 . 025 by fisher &# 39 ; s exact test ). because in most cases the transmitting parent &# 39 ; s other allele was a class i , s - type alleles seem to behave as more predisposing than even class i alleles , as our hypothesis would predict based on thymic insulin expression levels . in order to ascertain if all s1 and s2 type alleles , as determined by the above methods , are associated with silencing of thymic ins expression , we characterized the class iii alleles in 16 class i / iii samples which express both ins copies in the thymus . most of the class iii alleles ( 15 / 16 ) were different from s1 or s2 alleles by size and / or msp1 rflp analysis , while one was found to be identical to s1 by size and msp1 rflp pattern . despite this , it is associated with enhanced thymic ins expression relative to the class i allele . there may two likely explanations for this . first , since parental origin in this sample was unknown , the class iii allele could be of maternal origin , and therefore not expected to silence thymic ins expression . alternatively , it could be a paternal allele that is different from s1 and s2 in terms of small differences in size and / or sequence variation not differentiated by msp1 digestion . note that the e1 allele which we have cloned is from this individual , thus e1 is an s1 - type allele by size and msp1 analysis , although it behaves like most class iii alleles as an enhancer of ins expression in thymus relative to class i alleles . we have undertaken an analysis of the ins vntr role in type 1 diabetes . the results of this study provide further evidence that iddm2 contributes to the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes through an immunoregulatory mechanism . the ins vntr may affect the level of thymic ins expression and thus the efficiency of immune tolerance induction to this - cell restricted autoantigen . this may have important implications for clinical trials of insulin prophylaxis in type 1 dna was extracted using a phenol - chloroform method from 167 blood samples collected from patients of the montreal children &# 39 ; s hospital diabetes clinic and their parents , and from participants of the minneapolis branch of the multicenter study of the natural history of diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetes . samples were obtained with signed , informed consent and approval by the institutional review board of the maisonneuve - rosemont hospital . in addition , we examined 120 dna samples from 60 diabetic sibling pairs from the human biological data interchange ( hbdi ). dna from both parents was available in all cases . all patients developed insulin - dependent diabetes under the age of 19 , except for two hbdi patients who were 29 and 34 at onset but were included because the other sibling in the pair had young onset . human fetal thymus tissues were obtained at the time of pregnancy termination with written consent from the mother . the tissue was pulverized under liquid nitrogen and dna and rna were extracted using phenol - chloroform under neutral and acid conditions , respectively . the pcr reaction for amplification of all classes of ins vntr alleles contained approximately 100 - 200 ng genomic dna or 0 . 0000235 ng of pvull digested cloned dna , 0 . 2 mm of each dntp , 1 μci p32 - dctp , 1 mm mgcl2 , 2 . 5 μl 10 × nh4 pcr reaction buffer ( id labs ), 0 . 375 units id - zyme thermostable dna polymerase ( id labs ), 100 ng of sense primer and 100 ng of antisense primer . the primers used were either vntr5 ( tcaggctgga cctccaggtgcctgttctg ) ( seq id no : 2 ) and vntr6 ( gctggtcctgagg aagaggtgctgacga ) ( seq id no : 3 ) previously described by bennett et al ( vafiadis p et al ., 1997 , nat . genet . 15 ( 3 ): 289 - 292 ) or the newly designed vntr7 ( ggcatcttgggccat ccgggactg ) ( seq id no : 4 ) and vntr8 ( gcagggcggggctcuttgcgctg ) ( seq id no : 5 ) primers that directly flank the ins vntr and are present in the cloned dna . the pcr was carried out for 25 - 26 cycles of : 94 ° c ./ 30 sec denaturation , 62 ° c ./ 30 sec annealing and 70 ° c ./ 3 min 30 sec plus a 4 sec extension per cycle . products were visualized by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ( page ) and autoradiography . the ins vntr alleles to be cloned were pcr amplified using the vntr5 and vntr6 primers . the pcr product was double digested with ncoi ( recognizes a site 33 bp 5 ′ to the ins vntr ), and psti ( recognizes a site 28 bp 3 ′ to the ins vntr ). the ncoi / psti double digestion product was desalted with the wizard dna clean - up system ( promega corp . ), concentrated by evaporation and purified from a low melting agarose gel following electrophoresis using the wizard pcr preps dna purification system ( promega corp .) similarly , the promega t vector was digested in the polylinker region with ncoi and psti , dephosphorylated with ciap ( gibco - brl ), and purified from a low melting agarose gel using the wizard pcr preps dna purification system ( promega corp .). the ins vntr allele was then directionally ligated into the t - vector using t4 dna ligase ( gibco - brl ). the ligation reaction was transformed into jm109 competent cells ( promega corp .) and clones containing the ins vntr - t vector construct were identified by restriction analysis . the highly repetitive nature of the vntr precludes the use of restriction subcloning or internal primers for sequencing . therefore , the s1 allele and a class iii allele associated with enhanced thymic insulin expression ( e1 ), were sequenced by generating a series of overlapping unidirectional deletions from a ncoi - psti fragment subcloned into a pgem - t vector using the exo - size deletion kit ( new england biolabs inc ., beverly , mass .). exonuclease iii digestion of the construct linearized by double digestion with sphi and ncoi , both on the 5 ′ end of the insert shortens the insert but not the vector , which is protected by the 3 ′ overhang left by sphi . to determine if particular class iii alleles were the same size as either the s1 or s2 allele , they were amplified by pcr using the vntr7 / vntr8 primer pair and electrophoresed on a 38 . 5 cm long 8 % polyacrylamide gel for approximately 6 hours at 60 watts . to distinguish small differences in size , pcr product from the s1 and s2 alleles were loaded in every 2 to 4 lanes , interspersed throughout the alleles whose size was to be determined . the migration distance of the unknown allele was then compared to the adjacent s1 or s2 allele . the s1 allele was amplified from cloned and / or genomic dna , and the migration distance of the unknown alleles were compared to that of the s1 allele . almost every gel had at least one pcr product ( many had several ) amplified from s1 genomic dna loaded in a well next to pcr product from cloned dna . in all cases , the pcr product from cloned s1 and genomic s1 dna migrated to the exact same distance , indicating that pcr product from the cloned s1 allele dna template is identical to the genomic dna template . similarly , the s2 allele was amplified from genomic dna and compared in size to other class iii alleles . as this allele was not cloned and genomic dna quantities of the s2 allele were limited , an allele found to be identical in size to s2 was used as a size marker for the s2 allele . pcr product from this marker allele was electrophoresed with pcr product from genomic dna containing the s2 allele , and in all cases they migrated to the same distance , indicating that they are the same size by our method . furthermore , most gels had multiple loadings of pcr product from the s1 allele genomic dna next to the marker s1 allele and again , they migrated to the same distance in all cases . thus , pcr product of class iii alleles was loaded onto a polyacrylamide gel , adjacent to pcr product from s1 or s2 alleles , electrophoresed and determined to be either the same size or a different size than s1 and s2 alleles . the same pcr products were digested with msp1 and electrophoresed in a 38 . 5 cm long 8 % polyacrylamide gel for 4 hours at 60 watts . the same type of analysis and controls were used as for the size analysis described above . for most samples , the two largest msp1 digestion fragments were compared between the unknown class iii allele and the s1 and s2 alleles . in class i / iii individuals , these fragments are always located above even the largest class i allele digestion fragments and are of much lower abundance due to preferential amplification of the smaller class i alleles over the class iii alleles . this was determined by comparing the msp1 digestion fragments in a number of class i / iii individuals obtained from pcr product where only the class i allele is amplified ( using the previously described pcr conditions ( bennett s t et al ., 1995 , nat . genet . 9 ( 3 ): 284 - 292 )) and pcr product from our pcr protocol for all classes which amplifies both class i and iii alleles . the present invention will be more readily understood by referring to the following examples which are given to illustrate the invention rather than to limit its scope . a child is screened for diabetes risk , in a future implementation of a genetic screening to identify candidates for a preventive intervention . based on the cost , inconvenience , and risk of the intervention it has been decided that it is well worth treating five individuals exceeding the risk threshold , even though only one will develop diabetes if untreated . the threshold is therefore set to a value that requires a specificity of 20 %. the particular child tests positive for a paternally transmitted s1 allele , using the method of the present invention . the maternal allele is an ordinary class i . by existing technology , the assigned i / iii genotype will be deemed to confer an approximately four - fold less risk than i / i , the most common caucasian genotype ( bennett s t et al ., 1996 , ann . rev . genet . 30 : 343 - 370 ). by the method of the present invention , it will be assigned a four - fold higher risk than all other iddm2 genotypes . thus , without the present invention , the child will have been assigned a risk estimate of an order of magnitude lower than the correct value . no matter what the genotype in other loci is , this error is likely to result in misclassification of most individuals in this situation . based on the frequency of the untransmitted alleles ( tables 2 and 3 ) this misclassification will apply to 7 % of all individuals in a population screen . while the invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof , it will be understood that it is capable of further modifications and this application is intended to cover any variations , uses , or adaptations of the invention following , in general , the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth , and as follows in the scope of the appended claims .	2
fig1 illustrates that a robot 2 and control unit 4 ( e . g ., an operator controller unit , “ ocu ”) can communicate data over a wireless network , such as over a wi - fi data link 6 . the robot 2 and control unit 4 can transmit data : video , audio , robot and control unit operational status data ( e . g ., battery level , component failures ), position location data ( e . g ., latitude and longitude , area maps , building blueprints ), directional data ( e . g ., steering instructions , directions for walking with the control unit 4 to reach the robot 2 ), environmental data ( e . g ., temperature , humidity , atmospheric pressure , brightness , time , date ), hazardous chemical data ( e . g ., toxic chemical concentrations ), or combinations thereof . the transmitted data can be digital , analog , or combinations thereof . the robot 2 can have robot input elements , such as one or more robot video inputs ( e . g ., a first camera 8 and a second camera 10 ), robot audio inputs ( e . g ., a microphone 12 ), chemical and / or smoke sensors , environmental data inputs ( e . g ., thermometer , or combinations thereof . the robot 2 can have robot output elements , such as robot audio output elements ( e . g ., a speaker 14 ), robot video output elements ( e . g ., a visible light headlight 16 , an infrared light 18 , a high intensity strobe light , a projector , an lcd display ), a chemical emission element ( e . g ., a flare , a smoke generator ), or combinations thereof . the robot 2 can be mobile . the robot 2 can have four flippers . each flipper can have a track that can rotate around the flipper to move the robot 2 . the flippers can articulate , for example rotating about the axes with which they attach to the robot body . the robot input and / or output elements can have a fixed orientation with respect to the robot body or can be controllably oriented with respect to the robot body . for example , the robot 2 can have the first camera 8 mounted to the front face of the robot body in a fixed orientation with respect to the robot body . the second camera 10 can be mounted in a payload bay in the rear end of the robot body . the second camera 10 can be a 360 ° pan - tilt - zoom ( ptz ) camera . the second camera 10 can extend above the top of the robot body . the second camera 10 can be covered by a transparent ( e . g ., plastic , plexiglass or glass ) shell and / or one or more roll bars . the control unit 4 can have control unit input elements , such as one or more control unit video inputs , control unit audio inputs ( e . g ., a microphone 20 ), control unit user input elements ( e . g ., buttons , blobs , switches , keyboards , or combinations thereof assembled in the control array 22 ), any of the input elements described for the robot 2 , or combinations thereof . the control unit 4 can have control unit output elements , such as control unit audio output elements ( e . g ., a speaker , the speaker can be combined with the microphone 20 ) control unit video output elements ( e . g ., one or more displays 24 , such as a color lcd display ), or combinations thereof . the control unit 4 and robot 2 can each have a radio antenna 26 extending from or contained within the respective structural bodies . the radio antenna 26 can be configured to be a wi - fi antenna . the radio antennas 26 on the control unit 4 and robot 2 can transfer radio transmission data between each other , for example forming a wi - fi data link 6 between the robot 2 and the control unit 4 . the electronics and software of the robot 2 can be known as a robot system 28 . fig2 illustrates that the electronics and software robot system 28 can have one or more robot inputs , such as the first camera 8 and the second camera 10 . the first 8 and second 10 cameras can send analog video and / or audio data ( e . g ., if the cameras are combined with microphones or the data is audio and video is integrated ) to an analog - to - digital ( i . e ., “ a - to - d ”) conversion chip . the a - to - d chip can be in the camera case or separate from the camera in the robot 2 . the a - to - d chip can convert the analog signal ( s ) to digital signals by methods known to those having ordinary skill in the art . the digital signal can be sent to a video encoding chip , for example to be encoded ( e . g ., mpeg encoding ) or encrypted , or directly to a camera module on another processor 30 on the robot 2 . if the signal is sent to the video encoding chip , the video encoding chip can encrypt or encode the signal , and then send the encoded or encrypted digital signal to the camera module on the processor 30 . whether the video signal comes directly from the a - to - d chip or encrypted or encoded from the video encoding chip , the camera module can then receive and deliver the optionally encrypted digital video signal to the encoding / compression module . the encoding / compression module can receive signals from one or more input modules , for example the camera module , an audio module , a locomotion module , or combinations thereof . the audio module can deliver a digital audio signal from a microphone on the robot 2 . the locomotion module can deliver a signal of data from feedback regarding the motion and directional orientation of the robot 2 . the encoding / compression module can compress and encode the video signal into line - by - line or pixel - by - pixel packets ( or frame - by - frame packets ). the encoding and compression module can optionally encrypt the compiled signal front the different modules . the encoding / compression module can send the packets to a robot network module . the encoding / compression robot can interlace data from the different input modules , for example interlacing the video signal , audio signal , and locomotion signal with each other . the robot network module can establish a wireless telecommunication data link 6 ( e . g ., an rf link , such as over wi - fi ) with the control unit . the encoding / compression module can send the data packets for the video signal to the robot network module line - by - line , pixel - by - pixel , or frame - by - frame , or combinations thereof . the robot network module can transmit using transmission control protocol ( tcp ) or user datagram protocol ( udp ) communication protocols . if a packet or frame is improperly transmitted ( i . e ., missed or not properly received by the control unit ) dining transmission , the robot network module can retransmit the missed packet or frame , or drop ( i . e ., not try to retransmit ) the missed packet or frame ( e . g ., with udp ). for example , the robot network module can be configured to drop all missed packets , or to drop the oldest missed packets when the queue of packets to be retransmitted is over a desired maximum queue length . dropping packets or frames , rather than queuing packets or frames for retransmission , can reduce data transmission lag . the input modules ( e . g , the camera module , the audio module , the locomotion module ), the encoding / compression module and robot network module can comprise the software architecture 32 executing on one or more processors 30 on the robot 2 . the electronics and software control unit system 34 can have one of more processors 30 that execute a software architecture 36 to receive and process the received digital video signal ( and other signals interlaced with the video ). the wireless radio telecommunication signal from the robot system 28 can be initially processed by an ocu network module . the ocu network module can receive the data packets from the robot network module and communicate to the robot network module , for example to confirm receipt of data packets . the ocu network module can send the received data signal to the decoder / decompression module . the decoder / decompression module can receive the digital signal from the ocu network module and decode , decompress and decrypt , if necessary , the signal . the control unit can have one or more output modules within the software architecture 36 . for example , the control module can have a display module , a speaker module , a locomotion output module , or combinations thereof . the encoding / compression module can route data from the signals to the respective output module , for example sending the audio signal to the speaker module , the locomotion signal to the locomotion output module , and the video signal to the display module . the decoder / decompression module can reassemble the video frames from the line - by - line or pixel - by - pixel data , or the display module can reassemble the video frames . the display module can send the video signal data to a video decoding chip or , if the video data is not encrypted or encoded after passing through the decoder / decompression module , the display module can send the video signal data directly to the physical display . the display module can include a driver to display the video signal data on the physical display . the video decoding chip can decrypt the video signal data and send the decrypted video signal data to the physical display . the physical display can be , for example , an lcd , plasma , led , oled display , or a combination of multiple displays . the output modules ( e . g , the display module , the speaker module , the locomotion output module ), the encoding / compression module and robot network module can comprise the software architecture 32 executing on one or more processors 30 on the robot 2 . fig3 illustrates that the robot system 28 can have a first camera that can be connected to an a - to - d processor / chip . the a - to - d chip can be connected to ( e . g ., removably plugged into ) a digital usb huh or interface . other inputs can be attached to or removed from the usb hub , for example , additional cameras , microphones , chemical , temperature , humidity or radiation detection apparatus , speakers , strobe or flashlights , or combinations thereof . the usb hub can be connected to the robot software . the data telecommunication system 40 can include the robot system 28 and the ocu connected over a digital wireless data link 6 as described herein ( e . g ., wifi ). the robot system 28 can transmit data to the ocu from any of the components attached to the usb hub and receive data from the ocu for any of the components attached to the usb hub . the robot software can communicate the status of all of the usb hub components to the ocu . fig5 illustrates that the control unit system 34 can have ocu software that can send display data to a display driver software and / or hardware , and a display , such as an lcd . the display can be a touchscreen display and can send data to the ocu software . the ocu software can receive digital and / or analog data through an antenna 38 . fig6 illustrates that a telecommunication system 40 can have more than one robot , such as a first robot and a second robot . the telecommunication system 40 can have one or more ocus . the telecommunication system 40 can have an infrastructure network such as a wired and / or wireless lan within a building ( e . g ., a building wifi network ), the internet , or a company network ( e . g ., across a campus of one or more buildings or multiple campuses ), or combinations thereof . the infrastructure network can have one or more wireless access points that can be in data communication with the robots and / or the ocus . the infrastructure network can be connected in wired or wireless data communication to one or more computers , such as desktops , laptops , tablets , smartphones , or combinations thereof . the robots can be attached to each other or move independent of each other . each robot can communicate directly with one or more ocus and / or directly with infrastructure network . the infrastructure network can communicate directly with the ocus . the data links 6 between the robots , the infrastructure network and the ocus can be digital links as described herein ( e . g ., wifi ). for example , the first and second robots can send data to and receive data from the infrastructure network . the computer ( s ) can receive , process and view the data from the first robot and the second robot . the computer can control the robots , and / or assign one of the ocus to control each robot and / or assign one ocu to control multiple robots . the computer can send the respective ocu all or some of the data from the robot which the ocu is assigned to control . the computer can re - assign the ocus during use to a different robot or add or remove robots from each ocu &# 39 ; s control . the computer can override commands sent by the respective ocu to the respectively - controlled robot . the computer can record data ( locally or elsewhere on the network , such as to a hard drive ) from the robots and / or from the ocus . the computer can be connected to one or more visual displays ( e . g ., lcds ). each display connected to the computer can show data from one or more of the robots so a user of the computer can simultaneously observe data from multiple robots . the signals between the robots and the infrastructure network , and / or between the oucs and the infrastructure network can be encrypted . the computer can be located proximally or remotely from the robots and / or ocus . for example , the robots can be patrolling a first building , the computer can be located in a second building , and the ocus can be located in the first building or in multiple other locations . the computer can transmit data to or receive from the ocus not originating from or received by the robots , and / or the computer can transmit data to or receive data from the robots not originating from the ocus . for example , the operator of the computer can send and receive audio signals ( e . g ., having a private discussion with one or more of the operators of the ocus ) to one or more of the ocus that is originated at the computer and not sent to the robots . the computer can process data from the ocu and / or robot before transmitting the data to the other component ( e . g ., the robot and / or ocu , respectively ). for example , the computer can perform face recognition analysis on the video signal from the robot . also for example , the computer can send autonomous driving instructions ( e . g ., unless overridden by manual instructions from the ocu or computer &# 39 ; s user input ) to the robot to navigate a known map of the respective building where the robot is located to reach a desired destination . fig7 illustrates that the robot system 28 can have multiple cameras such as a first camera , second camera , and third camera . the cameras can be analog cameras . the cameras can transmit an analog ( e . g ., national television system committee ( ntsc ) format ) signal to a video switcher in the robot system 28 . the video switcher can transmit a selected camera &# 39 ; s signal to an analog radio transmitter in the robot system 28 . the camera to be used can discretely controlled ( e . g ., manually selected by instructions sent from the control system or from autonomous instructions programmed on a processor 30 in the robot system 28 ) or constantly rotated ( e . g . selecting 0 . 1 seconds of signal per camera in constant rotation between the cameras ). the radio transmitter can send analog video ( and audio if included ) data signals to the control system , for example to an ntsc receiver in the control system . the transmitted analog video can be unencrypted . the ntsc receiver can send the received signal to an a - to - d converter in the control system . the a - to - d converter can convert the received analog signal to a digital video and audio if included ) signal . the a - to - d converter can be connected to ( e . g ., plugged into ) a usb hub . other components , such as digital receivers receiving digital ( encrypted or unencrypted ) signals from the robot system 28 can be connected to the usb hub . the usb hub deliver all of the digital data received by the usb hub ( e . g ., the converted video and audio , as well as separately - transmitted digital data ) to a processor 30 for additional software processing including video processing , and resulting video data can be transmitted to the ocu &# 39 ; s display . fig8 illustrates that the robot system 28 can send the digitally - converted video signal from an a - to - d chip to hardware and / or software to perform the encoding and compression before the data is delivered through a usb hub on the robot . each robot can send data signals to one or more : ocus or network infrastructures . the transmission ( e . g ., wifi ) frequency used by each robot can be changed by swapping out the radios on the robot and / or having multiple hardware radios on board each robot and switching between the multiple radios with frequency - controlling software . for example , if the first frequency &# 39 ; s bandwidth becomes crowded and interference occurs , the frequency - controlling software ( or a manual signal from the ocu or inputted directly into the robot ) can select a difference hardware radio that can communicate on a second frequency . infrastructure networks can be configured to be controlled to prioritize robot and ocu data transmission over other data ( e . g ., office voip telephone conversations , web browsing not to or from the ocu or robot ), for example to reduce lag . the system ( e . g ., processors on the robot , ocu , computer , or combinations thereof ) can have a dynamic frame transmission rate , for example to minimize latency for example , the system can reduce frame rate transmission as latency increases , and increasing frame rate transmission as latency decreases . the system can have a dynamic compression quality . for example , the system can reduce compression when latency increases and can increase compression when latency increases . frame rate and compression changes can be performed in conjunction or independent of each other . the system can control the transmission frame rate and / or compression based on the robot motion and / or camera motion ( e . g ., by measuring zoom , camera pan - tilt - zoom motor , robot track speed , accelerometers , or combinations thereof ). for example , the system can transmit about 30 frames per second ( fps ) ( e . g ., ntsc is 29 . 97 fps ) at a higher compression when the robot or camera are moving and about 15 fps at a lower compression when the robot and camera are stationary . the robot processor 30 can process the image into black and white , a wire frame image , reduced imagery replacing objects with boxes and spheres ), or combinations thereof , for example to reduce the video data transmission size and latency . the robot , and / or ocu , and / or computer , can have a pre - loaded map and / or rendering of a site location of the robot ( e . g ., a building floorplan ). the robot can transmit a location of the robot relative to the map and / or rendering to the ocu and / or computer . the robot can transmit a partial video feed with the location of the robot to the ocu and / or computer . for example , the partial video feed can be images of objects near the robot ; and / or objects that do not appear in the floorplan or rendering ; and / or video around a tool attached . to the robot , such as a gripper ; and / or the robot can send a highly compressed image and the ocu or computer can select discrete objects in the image to transmit or retransmit at lower compression ( e . g ., higher resolution ). the robot system 28 can have image processing software and / or hardware that can identify identifying information ( e . g ., numbers , letters , faces ) in the video and blur autonomously or manually selected identifying information ( e . g ., just text , but not faces ) before transmission , for example for security and to transmit less data and reduce transmission latency . multiple robots and / or ocu can transmit on the same frequency . the transmitted signals can be encrypted or encoded . multiple video streams , for example displayed as split screen or picture - in picture , can be transmitted from one or more robots to one or more ocus or vice versa . optimized types of cameras can be attached to the robots ( e . g ., via usb connections ) depending on the expected use . for example , ccd , cmos , infrared ( ir ) cameras , or combinations thereof , can be connected to or removed from the robot , such as by plugging or unplugging the cameras into the usb ports on the robot . the robot and control units ( e . g ., ocus ) herein can be the robots , or elements thereof , described in u . s . pat . no . 8 , 100 , 205 , issued 24 jan . 2012 , and / or u . s . provisional application no . 61 / 586 , 238 , filed 13 jan . 2012 , both of which are incorporated by referenced herein in their entireties . the compression , encoding , decoding and other transmission - related methods described herein as being performed by the robot , the ocu , the infrastructure network or the computer can be performed by the other components ( e . g ., the other of the robot , the ocu , the infrastructure network or computer ) described herein . it is apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to this disclosure , and equivalents employed , without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . elements of systems , devices and methods shown with any embodiment are exemplary for the specific embodiment and can be used in combination of otherwise on other embodiments within this disclosure .	6
fig1 is a block diagram of a network environment 100 in which the present invention may be implemented . the environment 100 includes numerous client units 110 and a server 200 , interconnected through a network 120 . as illustrated in fig2 , the server 200 includes a processor 202 and a memory 204 for , among other functions , storing instructions executable by the processor 202 . the server 200 is connected to a data source 206 , such as a data storage drive , through an interface 208 . connections 210 to network clients 110 are made through interfaces 212 . threads 220 1 - 220 n are allocated , such as out of the memory 204 and used to direct the sequential flow of work , such as processing read requests . as will be described below , the server 200 further includes a service monitor 216 to monitor asynchronous reads , a stack ( generally a dedicated portion of the memory 204 ) and , optionally , an iteration counter 218 . referring to fig3 , a method of the present invention will be described . after a request is received by the server 200 from a client over a connection 210 ( step 300 ), a thread is created and an attempt is made to read the requested data in a non - blocking , synchronous manner ( step 302 ). if the read attempt is successful ( step 304 ), the server calls a callback on the same thread ( step 306 ). after the server transmits the data to the client ( step 308 ), the thread is released for subsequent re - use ( step 310 ). if , on the other hand , the synchronous read attempt is unsuccessful ( step 304 ), the connection over which the request was received is registered with the monitoring service 216 ( step 312 ) and the thread is released ( step 314 ). the monitoring service 216 monitors the connection ( step 316 ) and , when the data is ready ( step 318 ), the server calls a callback on a different thread ( step 320 ). after the server transmits the data to the client ( step 322 ), the thread is released for subsequent re - use ( step 324 ). thus , a synchronous read is employed initially and an asynchronous read is automatically employed if the synchronous read fails . frequently , data is not available immediately after a response to a request has been sent due to network delays as well as the time required by the client to process a response and send the next request . thus , the attempted synchronous read ( step 302 ) will frequently , but unnecessarily , fail , sending the process into the asynchronous mode ( beginning with step 312 ) and reducing the performance of the server . as illustrated in fig4 , one embodiment of the present invention addresses the inefficiency by introducing a predetermined delay before the synchronous read is attempted . after the read request is received by the server 200 ( step 400 ), the server waits for the predetermined delay period , such as 50 milliseconds ( step 404 ). the synchronous read attempt is then made ( step 302 ) and the process continues ( at step 304 ) as illustrated in the balance of fig3 . thus , the imposed delay accommodates network and other delays and increases the likelihood of a successful synchronous read . however , if the total chosen is too long , the thread may be tied up for an unnecessarily long time . and , if the total chosen is too short , the likelihood of a successful synchronous read may decrease . the embodiment of fig5 introduces flexibility into the delay to increase the likelihood of a successful read without tying up the thread for an unduly long period . in this embodiment , after the read request is received by the server 200 ( step 500 ), the iteration counter 218 is set to a value , such as five ( step 502 ), and the server waits for a predetermined delay period , such as 10 milliseconds ( step 504 ). the synchronous read attempt is then made ( step 506 ). if the attempt is unsuccessful ( step 508 ), the counter is decremented ( step 510 ); if the counter has not yet reached zero ( step 512 ), the process loops back and waits again for the delay period ( step 504 ) before making another attempt to read the data ( step 506 ). the process continues until the read is successful , in which case the callback is called ( step 306 , fig3 ), or until the counter 218 reaches zero . if the counter 218 reaches zero , the connection is registered with the service monitor 216 ( step 312 , fig3 ) to initiate the asynchronous read process . thus , the imposed delay accommodates network and other delays and increases the likelihood of a successful synchronous read . the total delay time is based upon the length of each individual delay selected and the number of iterations selected . it will be appreciated that the scope of the present invention does not depend upon the choice of the counter 218 . the counter 218 may thus be the described count - down counter , a count - up counter , which is incremented until it reaches a predetermined value , or any other kind of counter . alternatively , a timer may be employed which runs ( up or down ) for the total predetermined delay period in which case the step 502 of setting and starting the counter would be replaced with a comparable step of setting the timer and the step 510 of decrementing the counter would be eliminated . the embodiment of fig5 may be refined further , as illustrated in fig6 . after the request has been received ( step 600 ), the process pauses for a first delay ( step 604 ) before the synchronous read is attempted ( 606 ). if the read is successful ( step 608 ), the callback is called as in the other embodiments ( step 306 , fig3 ). otherwise , a second delay is encountered ( step 610 ) after which a second synchronous read attempt is made ( step 612 ). if this attempt is successful ( step 614 ), the callback is called ( step 306 , fig3 ). if not , the connection is registered as in the other embodiments ( step 312 , fig3 ). the first delay period may be manually selected to be a period , such as 40 milliseconds , which is the approximate average of the total delay required process other requests over the connection . the second delay may be a shorter delay , such as 10 milliseconds , to provide one more opportunity for the synchronous read before resorting to the asynchronous read . referring again to fig5 , if the synchronous read is successful during any of the iterations , the total delay period may be logged ( step 514 ) and later imposed as the first delay during subsequent requests . preferably , the server 200 will process a first request over a connection in the manner described with respect to fig3 and 5 , recording the total delay required for a successful read . the server 200 then switches to the process described with respect to fig3 and 6 . before processing subsequent requests , the server 200 adaptively adjusts the first delay ( step 604 ) to be approximately the same as the total delay recorded while the first request was processed . for example , if the first request was successful after 4 iterations of 10 milliseconds each , the first delay period would be automatically set to 40 milliseconds . the second delay may be set to , for example , 10 milliseconds , thereby providing a potential of 50 milliseconds for two synchronous read attempts before the connection is registered for an asynchronous read . when a read request is received and placed in a thread , a return address as well as information about the state of the system are added to the top of the stack 222 . if an attempt at a synchronous read is successful , the callback typically processes the request , sends the response and tries to read the next request , all without “ popping ” the previously added information from the stack 222 . the next request may also result in a successful synchronous read and a callback called on the same thread , also without popping the new information off of the stack 222 . if this sequence is repeated too often , the stack 222 may not be able to unwind , resulting in an overflow situation and possible loss of data and / or system crash . stack operations are described in more detail in commonly - assigned u . s . pat . no . 6 , 779 , 180 , entitled “ apparatus and method for preventing stack overflow from synchronous completion of asynchronous functions ”, which patent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . the risk of a stack overflow may be reduced in the present invention by implementing an optional stack “ unwinding ” subroutine as illustrated in the flow chart of fig7 . when a synchronous read attempt is successful ( step 304 ) and a callback is to be called on the current thread , a counter is incremented ( step 700 ). if the counter has reached a predetermined value ( step 702 ), indicating that the stack depth has reached a maximum safe level , an indicator in the thread may be set to delay the call to the callback ( step 704 ). the stack 222 is then unwound ( step 706 ) and the callback called ( step 306 , fig3 ). alternatively , rather than calling the callback , the request may be registered immediately with the monitoring service 216 , triggering the unwinding of the stack 222 . the counter is then reset ( 708 ) and the next read request will proceed with a fresh stack . the objects of the invention have been fully realized through the embodiments disclosed herein . those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various aspects of the invention may be achieved through different embodiments without departing from the essential function of the invention . the particular embodiments are illustrative and not meant to limit the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims .	7
tester overall timing accuracy ( ota ) is defined as : aggregate timing error comprised of input edge placement accuracy , output edge placement accuracy and input to output timing accuracy . see , for example , semi draft document # 2928 , s pecification for overall digital timing accuracy , section 7 . 1 ( semi g79 - 0200 s pecification for o verall d igital t iming a ccuracy , semiconductor equipment & amp ; materials international , mountain view , calif ., § 7 . 1 , five pages ). the tester &# 39 ; s strobe edge distribution inside that window is a function of the tester architecture . the dut valid data window ( dut propagation delay ) is a physical parameter that has a certain distribution as a function of the fabrication process and the design . fig1 illustrates that distribution as a gaussian bell curve ( normally distributed propagation delay with a certain σ ). the mean of the dut propagation delay is defined as μ_dut , relative to the tester timing reference ( t 0 ). the absolute limit ( al ), is the maximum acceptable time for the data to be valid . any transitions occurring to the right of al are outside of the specification requirements ( that is , a bad part relative to the specific speed requirement ). the challenge is to program the tester to the optimum limits . in the case of a perfect tester ( ota = 0 ps ), the test limit is set to the spec limit ( al ). the tester strobe edge is not a perfect parameter ; it has its own uncertainty region , as wide as the tester &# 39 ; s overall tester accuracy ( ota ). in reality , the test engineer needs to apply guard - bands for the tester uncertainty area . program strobe ( ps ) is the timing value which the tester edge strobe is programmed for . note , that the area between al and the left edge ( le ) of the tester uncertainty box represents a probability zone for a good part ( faster than al ) to be misjudged by the tester , as the tester compare edge can be more aggressive than al . this is considered a yield loss . yield loss is inherently a function of the width of the uncertainty area . to calculate the probability of such an event , we use conditional probability ( see equations in appendix b ). the hashed area between al and the right side ( rs ) of the uncertainty box for the tester edge reflects a probability zone for bad parts ( parts with propagation delay longer than the allowed limit ), escaping through as passed parts ( since the tester edge strobe might land to the right of the actual edge ). these escapes are measured in defect per millions ( dpm ). an acceptable value for such released defect rate depends on the actual part value and its usage . the more expensive the end application is , the more costly dpms are for the customer . note that shifting the test limit to the right ( looser guard - banding ) means less yield loss , but increases the dpm value . the tester edge placement accuracy translates into the uncertainty box width . the wider the uncertainty area is ( lower tester accuracy ) the bigger the losses are ( in terms of yield and dpm ). the purpose of applying a guard - band to a parameter being tested , is to minimize escapes due to tester edge placement inaccuracy . a common method for guard - band is to apply tighter test limits by the ota value . this in theory moves the tester uncertainty box to the left , as the programmed strobe gets tighter , narrowing the probability of escapes to zero , at the expense of yield . assuming the dut delay is normally distributed , x_dut ˜ n ( μ_dut , σ 2 _dut ), there are two parameters to evaluate : μ_dut — the average delay , and σ 2 _dut the process variance . the average is normalized to be zero , and all parameters referenced to it . to estimate the variance we use the expected process yield to fit a curve and estimate the amount of parts lost due to real performance failures ( not test issues ). fig2 is a plot showing dut edge timing distribution and expected yield , in which the dut delay x_dut ˜ n ( μ_dut , σ 2 _dut ) and the probability density function of x_dut is f ( x ), where μ_dut is the average delay , and ( 2_dut is the process variance . duts having dut delays outside the limits of − a . l and + a . l are yield losses , as shown in fig2 . we model the tester edge to be normally distributed within the ota window . as ate specs guarantee that the tester edge lands inside the ota window , the gaussian function gets cut at the edges . inside the ota region , we assume the dut gaussian distribution has a variance σ_tester : note that this translates into probability of & lt ; 1 % for the tester edge to get out of the combined uncertainty box (+/− ota wide ). in reality , any tester pin that falls outside of the ota window is replaced with a better one to guarantee the tester accuracy specs across all pins . appendix a outlines the relation between tester ota and the clock and data edge placement accuracy ( epa ). fig3 is a series of plots showing the impact of tester accuracy on yield . fig3 shows the actual yields achieved due to tester accuracy as a function of the tester ota . note that the better the accuracy ( smaller ota ), the closer the yield gets to the ideal yield . the ideal yield is set by the process , and its maturity . we chose the ideal yield to be 95 % for the above simulation , and absolute limits to be tq ( table 1 at 800 mbps ). the plots show different dpm points as well . tighter dpm requirements mean more severe yield impact . in high speed digital parts ( high - speed digital semiconductor components ), the key timing parameters are : propagation delay ( specified in rambus specifications as tq — see for example table 21 and fig5 of d irect rdram ™ p reliminary i nformation , d ocument dl0035 , version 1 . 0 , rambus inc .) and setup and hold times ( specified as tsh ). the two parameters are sensitive to tester accuracy . tq is defined as ctm - to - data output limit , i . e ., the valid window for rambus signal level ( rsl ) outputs relative to the internal clock ctm ( see fig4 ). fig4 illustrates the rambus timing — tq definition . the simulation we used focuses on tq . however , the same can be applied for tsh . as tsh for 800 mbps data rate is even tighter than tq ( latest tsh spec is +/− 200 ps ), the model results here are conservative . following the previously explained procedure , we can estimate the actual yields resulting from different testers accuracy . as the expected yields of rdram ™ parts at 800 mbps are not clear yet , we strobe the yield impact at different points . ideal yield is expected to go up with time as rambus manufacturing process and design mature . limiting the dpm to be 300 ( an acceptable value in most pc applications ), we can plot the yield loss as a function of the tester accuracy ( table 2 ). currently rambus speeds are : 800 mbps and 600 mbps . parts that fail at 800 mbps can be retested against the 600 mbps specifications . apparently , missing the 800 mbps performance due to tester accuracy means lower premium on these parts . the probability calculation needs to be conditioned to the fact that there is another tester edge with a new distribution : to translate the above numbers into dollars , we add two new parameters to the equation : device average selling price ( asp ). asp value can be either the market value for an 800 mbps rdram part , or the price premium between the two speeds . to be conservative , we shall assume a price premium of $ 5 between bin 800 mbps and bin 600 mbps . we also assume that all the parts that fail 800 mbps , pass the 600 mbps speed test . cost of escapes : this depends on the actual end application . we won &# 39 ; t be able to quantify the escapes impact in dollars , but we will limit the escapes to 300 dpm . for an ideal yield of 95 %, the yield enhancement between testers with a 60 ps ota difference ( 160 ps vs 100 ps ) was calculated to be 14 . 1 % ( see bold values in table 2 ). with the forecasted high volumes for the rdrams in the coming future , this yield difference translates into major profit difference . for a 100 million parts produced annually , savings of 14 % in yield mean savings of $ 70m . that is a value of $ 1 . 1m for every added pico - second of tester accuracy . the parameters of this example are summarized in the user interface display of fig1 showing input parameters and output results in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . a different way to look at the numbers is by estimating the savings per tester . assuming a tester output to be 10 million parts annually ( a typical volume for a memory tester with : 60 sec test time , 32 parts in parallel and 60 % utilization ), a single tester with 60 ps added accuracy can more than pay for itself in one year . better tester accuracy translates into better yield and dpm . a model was given to estimate the potential improvements on both ends , with enhancements to accommodate double binning for the rambus two proposed speeds ( 600 mbps and 800 mbps ). for the forecasted rambus asps , it was shown that every 1 ps of better tester accuracy means an added $ 1 . 1m to the bottom line on a 100 million parts volume . besides the ota , ate manufacturers use the term : edge placement accuracy ( epa ) for specifying timing accuracy . a single pin edge can have an error of +/− epa from its programmed value . for a propagation delay measurement tpd , the two errors need to be considered : clock input epa ( epa1 ), and data output measurement error ( epa2 ). if the clock input happens at + epa1 from its programmed value , and the output edge search has an error of + epa2 , the measurement would give tpd +( epa1 + epa2 ). on the other hand , if the clock input lands at − epa1 , while the output edge search has an error of − epa2 , the measurement will result in tpd −( epa1 + epa2 ). therefore , the total error width of such a measurement is +/−( epa1 + epa2 ). the total error was defined earlier as ota . apparently , improving the clock accuracy ( epa1 ) can easily improve the overall tester accuracy and reduce losses as shown in the description above : for a propagation delay parameter tpd , a good part means its edge transition happens faster than the maximum delay allowed . the equations below outline that case . in rambus specification however , tq is specified with min and max limits , requiring limits for both ends . in the model , we used two sided limits as well . ideal yield ( i . y )= p ( good )= p ( dut edge & lt ; absolute limit )= ∫ - ∞ absolutelimit  f  ( x_dut )    x_dut ( b . 3 ) actual yield ( a . y )= p ( dut edge & lt ; tester edge )= ∫ - ∞ ∞  g  ( x_tester )  ∫ - ∞ x_tester  f  ( x_dut )    x_dut    x_tester ( b . 4 ) yield loss ( y . l )= p ( tester edge & lt ; dut edg & lt ; absolute limit )= ∫ - ∞ absolutelimit  g  ( x_tester )  ∫ x_tester absolutlimit  f  ( x_dut )    x_dut    x_tester ( b . 5 ) dpm = p ( absolute limit & lt ; dut edge & lt ; tester edge absolute limit )/( actual yield )= ∫ absolutelimit ∞  g  ( x_tester )  ∫ absolutelimit x_tester  f  ( x_dut )    x_dut    x_tester actualyield the accuracy model was implemented using visual basic and excel micro . it involved numerical calculation of integration and parameter solving . fig5 outlines the flow chart of an algorithm implemented in accordance with the invention . the exemplary flow chart of fig5 provides for calculation of yields as follows : step 510 : set input parameters : ideal yield ( i . y ), absolute limit ( a . l ), acceptable step 515 : create a gaussian curve : ˜ n ( 0 , σ_dut ), calculate σ_dut to meet ideal step 535 : change test limit , then return to step 525 those of skill in the art will recognize that the method described provides a quantifiable measure of the relationship between tester edge placement accuracy and manufacturing cost of semiconductor devices under test . a sample case with rambus rdram devices is presented , though the method is applicable to other devices as well . data rates are estimated where accuracy matters . as shown in fig6 dut propagation delay ( t_dut ) is a physical parameter that has a certain distribution . tester strobe edge location ( t_ate ) has an uncertainty region measured by overall tester accuracy ( ota ). fig7 illustrates the dut edge probability , yield loss and dpm for a typical ota . fig8 illustrates the dut edge probability , yield loss and dpm for an ota which is less than that of fig7 . a comparison of fig7 and 8 shows that lower tester accuracy means a wider tester - edge - uncertainty box , which means higher yield loss and higher dpm . loosening the test limit moves the tester - edge - uncertainty box to the right , producing higher yield but increased dpm . fig9 graphically illustrates with plots of yield loss vs . dpm , assuming two different edge - placement - accuracy values . as shown in the examples of fig9 both yield loss and dpm improve with better edge - placement accuracy . fig1 shows a plot of dut edge - placement probability relative to timing specification limit . devices performing within the spec limit are within the process expected yield ; those performing outside the spec limit are considered yield loss . for dut modeling , dut timing ( propagation delay ) is normally distributed across the silicon process tpd ˜ n ( μ_dut , σ_dut ); μ_dut = 0 . dut expected yield based on the specific timing parameter determines the process distribution σ_dut . tester edge placement can be modeled as shown in fig1 , wherein : tester - edge - placement distribution model is normal : t_program_strobe ˜ n ( μ_ate , μ_ate ) within the uncertainty window of width ( 2 × ota ) fig1 illustrates the impact of accuracy on yield as a result of increased data rates . the plots assume propagation delay tpd is at 20 % ratio from tui [ tq : tui = 260 ps : 1 . 25 ns ]. an embodiment of the invention can be implemented as computer software in the form of computer readable code executed on a general purpose computer such as computer 100 illustrated in fig1 . a keyboard 110 and mouse 111 are coupled to a bidirectional system bus 118 . the keyboard and mouse are for introducing user input to the computer system and communicating that user input to processor 113 . other suitable input devices may be used in addition to , or in place of , the mouse 111 and keyboard 110 . input - output ( i / o ) units 119 coupled to bidirectional system bus 118 represents such i / o elements as a printer , audio / video ( a / v ) input / output devices , etc . computer 100 includes a video memory 114 , main memory 115 and mass storage 112 , all coupled to bidirectional system bus 118 along with keyboard 110 , mouse 111 and processor 113 . the mass storage 112 may include both fixed and removable media , such as magnetic , optical or magnetic optical storage systems or any other available mass storage technology . bus 118 may contain , for example , thirty - two address lines for addressing video memory 114 or main memory 115 . the system bus 118 also includes , for example a 32 - bit data bus for transferring data between and among the components , such as processor 113 , main memory 115 , video memory 114 and mass storage 112 . alternatively , multiplex data / address lines may be used instead of separate data and address lines . in one embodiment of the invention , the processor 113 is a microprocessor manufactured by motorola , such as the 680x0 processor or a microprocessor manufactured by intel , such as the 80x86 , or pentium processor , or a sparc ™ microprocessor from sun microsystems , inc . however , any other suitable microprocessor or microcomputer may be utilized . main memory 115 is comprised of dynamic random access memory ( dram ). video memory 114 is a dual - ported video random access memory . one port of the video memory 114 is coupled to video amplifier 116 . the video amplifier 116 is used to drive the cathode ray tube ( crt ) raster monitor 117 , and serves to convert pixel data stored in video memory 114 to a raster signal suitable for use by monitor 117 . monitor 117 is a type of monitor suitable for displaying graphic images . computer 100 may also include a communication interface 120 coupled to bus 118 . communication interface 120 provides a two - way data communication coupling via a network link 121 to a local network 122 . for example , if communication interface 120 is an integrated services digital network ( isdn ) card or a modem , communication interface 120 provides a data communication connection to the corresponding type of telephone line , which comprises part of network link 121 . if communication interface 120 is a local area network ( lan ) card , communication interface 120 provides a data communication connection via network link 121 to a compatible lan . wireless links are also possible . in any such implementation , communication interface 120 sends and receives electrical , electromagnetic or optical signals which carry digital data streams representing various types of information . network link 121 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices . for example , network link 121 may provide a connection through local network 122 to local server computer 124 or to data equipment operated by an internet service provider ( isp ) 124 . isp 124 in turn provides data communication services through the work wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the “ internet ” 125 . local network 122 and internet 125 both use electrical , electromagnetic or optical signals which carry digital data streams . the signals through the various networks and the signals on network link 121 and through communication interface 120 , which carry the digital data to and from computer 100 , are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information . computer 100 can send messages and receive data , including program code , through the network ( s ), network link 121 , and communication interface 120 . in the internet example , remote server computer 126 might transmit a requested code for an application program through internet 125 , isp 124 , local network 122 and communication interface 120 . in accord with the invention , such an application program may be suitable performing methods described herein . the received code may be executed by processor 113 as it is received , and / or stored in mass storage 112 , or other non - volatile storage for later execution . in this manner , computer 100 may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave . application code may be embodied in any form of computer program product . a computer program product comprises a medium configured to store or transport computer readable code , or in which computer readable code may be embedded . some examples of computer program products are cd - rom disks , rom cards , floppy disks , magnetic tapes , computer hard drives , servers on a network , carrier waves and digital signals . the computer systems described above are for purposes of example only . an embodiment of the invention may be implemented in any type of computer system or programming or processing environment . rambus , rdram and rimm are trademarks of rambus inc ., mountain view , calif . usa . those of skill in the art will recognize that these and other modifications can be made within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims .	6
referring to fig1 and 2 , a comparison may be made between a present conventional processing line 100 for vegetable processing for the two types of finger foods as heretofore mentioned and the block processing line of this invention 200 , both lines producing convenience type &# 34 ; finger food &# 34 ; pieces which are coated with batter and breading , which may be deep fat fried , and then individually quick frozen before packing . numerals assigned to the various operating stations are the same in each figure when the operating stations are identical . thus it may be seen that the main differences in the two processing lines , 100 and 200 , lie in the piece preparation between wash - and - trim 12 and coat - with - batter 30 , and piece packaging between freeze 36 and pack - mastercarton 50 . in each processing line 100 or 200 , identical facilities for receiving raw vegetables at a station identified at 10 are provided , along with facilities for temporary cold - cool storage at a station 11 to retard spoilage before use . such facilities at all stations in both processing lines may be interconnected by suitable conveying apparatus , such as a conventional mesh - belt type of conveyor or the like now in common use in the food processing industry as identified schematically at c . unwholesome parts and adhering debris must be removed at station 10 before vegetables are cut up or separated into small pieces . further , after each separation , either line 100 or line 200 has facilities for coating , possibly frying and freezing the product , such processing being accomplished in a batter machine at station 30 , a breading machine at station 31 , a second batter machine at station 32 , a second breading machine at station 33 , a fryer at station 35 and a freezer at station 36 . an alternate method common to both processing lines 100 and 200 of coating the food product may involve dipping product pieces into a suitable batter at station 34 rather than using the last set of batter - breading machines 32 , 33 . finally , the food product is packaged by weight , and master cartoned at 40 , temporarily stored in a freezer at 51 and shipped at station 52 . any variations in the equipment common to both lines , as described in this paragraph , can be identical for both lines 100 and 200 . such equipment for accomplishing these automatic operations are well known in the related art , and will be briefly described hereinafter . referring now to fig1 the special handling and equipment for a conventional vegetable processing line 100 will now be described . in general , for one type of product previously mentioned , i . e ., the natural state , most vegetables cannot be coated in their natural state because they are too large . exceptions include small mushrooms and some peppers . consequently , the vegetables selected for this process are taken out of the temporary storage at station 11 and washed and trimmed , and then presented to station 13 for further reduction in size . the equipment at station 13 is adapted to process all the vegetables that the processor wishes to utilize . for instance , zucchini requires slicing , eggplant may require slicing in two or three directions , onions may require slicing and separation into rings , cauliflower requires breaking into useful size buds , and so on . in each case much labor is generally required for handling pieces , especially odd shaped pieces like cauliflower buds . onion rings are a special case because many of the small diameter rings plus the end pieces do not make satisfactory product . in many cases of vegetable processing , a substantial proportion of the vegetables are scrap at this stage , not utilizable in prime product , but certainly wholesome and worth saving as will be described later . this work station 13 can be very labor intensive as indicated in fig1 by the double circle legend . cauliflower , for instance , can only be broken apart into buds , and the extent of break - apart , being normally manually accomplished , is a matter of judgment for the worker to decide , whereby many tiny buds may be inadvertently produced . individual mushrooms may be cut in two , in four or allowed to pass whole . onions are mostly automatically sliced and sorted with human inspection and correction . as a result it becomes necessary that the required equipment and personnel variations at station 13 are almost endless for different vegetables , so that the processor is frequently limited to processing those vegetables which &# 34 ; match &# 34 ; in separation requirements , or in the alternative he must have several different types of processing equipment available as needed . from work station 13 the food product pieces may be placed onto an interconnecting conveyor c at 14 which , in most cases , is done by hand in order to separate the pieces so that they do not later fry together , yet the pieces should be close enough on the conveyor so that the coating , frying and freezing machinery is well loaded . this operation can be extremely labor intensive as is also similarly identified by the double circle legend . as an illustration , if the product path through processing stations 30 to 36 is thirty inches wide as determined by the selected conveyor c and the conveyor travels at thirty feet per minute and product spacing is two inches one way by three inches the other way , then each square foot of belt should carry twenty - four pieces of food product , while the total belt may carry eighteen hundred pieces per minute . if each worker can place 150 pieces per minute ( a very high rate ), then twelve workers would be required to keep the conveyor belt loaded at station 14 . as mentioned above , considerable wholesome scrap may be generated at station 13 during separation into small pieces , scrap which should be utilized in the interest of economy . the flow diagram of fig1 illustrates one possible prior art method of using this scrap for the second type of product , i . e ., extruded , especially in the processing of onions . the scrap is collected at station 15 , transported to station 16 where it is chopped , ground , finely diced or otherwise minced . the scrap may then be transferred in batches or by a conveyor c to a mixing station 17 where it is blended into a porridge - like mixture with a matrix well known in the art which binds such scrap pieces together after extrusion at station 18 . transfer to the hopper of the extruder 18 may occur in any of several ways , either by batch or conveyor , but requires some labor . after extrusion onto a conveyor belt c in the pattern desired , the extruded pieces may be sprayed at station 19 with a special liquid known in the art , which creates a skin on the extruded piece so that it can be conveyed and transferred through the subsequent coating , frying and freezing process steps as illustrated at stations 30 , 31 , 32 - 36 . as aforementioned , this extruded product suffers in consumer acceptance principally by reason that it does not have a natural taste but rather a taste that is characteristic of the binder material used . when pre - packaging food of almost any kind , individual packages must contain a net weight of product no less than that pre - printed on the label , and as little excess as possible . any shortages in weight may be interpreted as mis - marking , while any excess weight is a free gift to the consumer . therefore , packaging closely to net weight is extremely important to the processor . however , when pieces to be placed into a package vary greatly in size and shape , it is difficult to package them automatically . thus , the finished food product received from the freeze station 36 may be hand packaged in a suitable carton by weight as at packaging station 36 which requires many workers but results in accurate weights , or an alternate method is to auto - fill the packages to a nominal weight as a packaging station 38 , and to then check weigh all packages at weighing station 39 , and have workers add or subtract pieces as indicated at weight correcting station 40 . fewer people are usually necessary in the latter case because fewer packages must be corrected . as indicated in fig1 intensive labor , i . e ., double ring legend , is required in at least three places , at stations 13 , 14 , and 37 or 40 . additional labor , though usually a lesser amount , is required at stations 12 , 15 , 16 , 17 . the elimination of some of this labor is one justification and patentable distinction for the block processing line 200 of this invention . referring now to fig2 and 3 the novel method of processing convenience foods of the present invention will now be described . as seen in the flow diagram of fig2 a typical processing line for practicing the process of the present invention as identified in its entirety at 200 , may include several of the same types of equipment at several of the process stations as previously utilized in the process line 100 of fig1 which is in present use today . for example , processing line 200 of the present method may incorporate the use of initial processing stations 10 , 11 and 12 for receiving the raw food product selected to be processed ; temporary cooling of the food product at a suitable temperature to prevent spoilage and for cold water washing and trimming the food product . the individual food product pieces are then presented to a conveyor c at station 21 which may include conventional equipment such as an overhead hopper or the like for automatically spreading said pieces evenly across the usable width of the conveyor c . the conveyor as thus loaded carries the individual pieces into a suitable quick freeze unit at station 22 which unit may be any one of a number presently commercially in use , such as a nitrogen or co 2 freezer unit wherein the individual food pieces are quick frozen to a suitable temperature which at present is within a temperature range of approximately - 10 ° to + 10 ° fahrenheit . from freeze station 22 the frozen food pieces may be placed , if desired , into a temporary freezer storage room at station 23 or alternatively may be conveyed directly by a conveyor c to weigh - batch equipment at station 24 , which equipment may comprise any suitable type of weighing apparatus such as a hanging scale or a platform or pan - type scale at which a preselected batch weight of the frozen food product is determined , as for example , a batch weight of sixteen ( 16 ) pounds . as will be understood other batch weights may also be selected as aforementioned , to the present time in the food processing industry to which this invention relates , it has been generally believed that it is not possible to form a frozen block of vegetable and / or fruit food products in their natural state by reason that they lack natural binding material such as protein that is in fish or poultry and which enables the processor to form a frozen block of such food product in the manufacture of fish or poultry convenience food products . however , the present applicants have discovered surprising and unusual results in that it is possible to form a frozen block of vegetable or fruit in their natural state by taking such in the size ( bite size or the like ) that is commercially available in the frozen food department of a typical market which as known in the art may conventionally be either raw or blanched , i . e . partially cooked , and while said products are at a temperature within the range of approximately - 10 ° to + 10 ° fahrenheit and then placing them into the mold cavity of a press at station 25 , as depicted in fig3 and exerting substantial pressure on said products in the range of approximately 100 - 1500 lbs / in 2 a satisfactory frozen block of food product is formed wherein the individual food pieces adhere to each other sufficiently to enable said block to be subsequently fabricated as will be hereinafter described . it is believed tha during this pressing operation binding of the individual food pieces occurs by reason that ice crystals in the frozen food pieces react with ice crystals on adjacent food pieces to affect welding of said pieces together sufficiently to adequately bind the same together into an integral block . one press readily adaptable to this process is the model 75 bettcher press made by bettcher industries , inc . of vermilion , ohio , which is capable of exerting a compressive force within the range of approximately 100 - 1500 lbs / in 2 of product . another press capable of this work is hydraulic press model bsp - 2p block sizing press made by pearce equipment , inc . of danvers , mass . which typically may exert approximately fifteen hundred pounds of compressive force per square inch on the food product . the press is operated to compress the individual food pieces into a frozen block b of food product in which the food pieces are pressed to thus form a substantially homogeneous food product dispersion throughout while the food product remains frozen . in the compression the individual food pieces retain their initial piece shape and texture with only possible very minor distortion , if any at all . the block b , as will be understood , may be of any desired geometric configuration , one selected configuration being a polygonal solid as illustrated in fig4 - 6 which may have a typical rectangular cross - sectional dimension of approximately four inches by ten inches with a length of approximately twenty inches . the press is capable of forming the block b at food product temperatures as low as - 10 ° fahrenheit . the block b is then placed onto a conveyor c and presented to station 26 whereat it is sawed into slabs , as identified at s in fig4 and 5 . a suitable saw as illustrated in fig3 at station 26 is an automatic feed band saw model afbs manufactured by pearce equipment , inc . of danvers , mass . the slabs s are then carried by conveyor c to a second saw station 27 whereat each slab may be turned on its narrow side or edge and cut into four slabs each of correspondingly thinner thickness . turning of the slab onto its narrow side may be automatically accomplished by the saw at station 27 or performed manually . one such saw capable of suitable performance is depicted in fig3 at station 27 and identified as a triple band saw also manufactured by pearce equipment , inc . of danvers , mass . the slabs exiting from station 27 are then deposited into a vertical magazine m as seen in fig3 at station 28 , at which station the slabs are further individually sawed or chopped into individual product or finger - size pieces p . one exemplary type of equipment for use at station 28 for this purpose is identified as a vertical cut portion cutter manufactured by pearce equipment , inc . of danvers , mass . the individual pieces are then conveyed by a conveyor c to a first batter stage at station 30 whereat the pieces are covered with a suitable liquid batter , one exemplary suitable machine for this purpose being the xl34 batter machine manufactured by stein associates , inc . of sandusky , ohio . the battered pieces are next conveyed to station 31 whereat a suitable first breading coat is applied to the battered pieces . one suitable exemplary machine for this purpose is the xl34 breading machine as manufactured by stein associates , inc . of sandusky , ohio . the breaded pieces are then conveyed to a second batter and breading stage as indicated at 32 and 33 whereat a second batter coat and breading coat are applied , wherein the second breading coat may be more coarse than the first coat . the second batter coat may be applied at station 32 with similar type of stein equipment as at station 30 and the second breading coat may be similarly applied at station 33 with equipment similar to the breading machine at station 21 . the pieces as thus battered and breaded may then be presented to a cooking station 35 whereat they may be deep fried , or alternatively conveyed by conveyor c directly to a suitable fast freeze station 36 whereat they may be quick frozen in an uncooked state . inasmuch as the food pieces are processed while they are in a frozen state as presented to the various work stations 26 - 33 , they should still be in a frozen state when exiting from the second stage breader at station 33 and conveyed to freeze station 33 and they may be simply lowered slightly in temperature to the desired temperature for storage of ± 10 ° fahrenheit . an optional coating such as tempura and / or a dehydrated fruit coating may , if desired , be applied at station 43 , which coated product may be either fried or frozen directly at station 36 . a suitable fryer for use at cooking station 35 may be the fb / fd custom direct fired fryer as manufactured by stein associates , inc . of sandusky , ohio . after frying , the individual food pieces are conveyed by conveyor c to the fast freeze station 36 to be quick frozen . any suitable freezer equipment may be employed at station 36 as for example the same type of equipment utilized at freezer station 22 . after quick freezing at station 36 , the individual food pieces are conveyed to station 41 for packaging by piece count . the packing operation in the block processing method of the present invention varies considerably from that of a conventional processing line 100 as depicted in fig1 . since in the present process all product pieces are the same size and shape , packages may be designed to accept any number of pieces desired . then , when product is properly oriented according to package design , the correct count of pieces is obtained . but very importantly , because product pieces are identical , it is possible to control package weight by count . occasional check weighing may be undertaken at station 42 to indicate whether packages are within desired weight tolerances . this information can be fed back to automatic batter mixers or portioning devices as schematically indicated by the dotted line l weight control which may continually correct for weight tolerances . by slight variations in batter viscosity , or portion thickness of vegetable sticks , package weights can be held to very close tolerances , and the judgment function of package fillers is reduced , therefore these workers can produce more than the workers of stations 37 or 40 of the conventional processing line 100 of fig1 . from the packaging station 41 , the package food pieces may be conveyed to a second packaging station 50 whereat they are placed into a master carton of larger volume and then placed into a temporary freezer storage at station 51 while awaiting future shipment at station 52 . several alternate processing steps are anticipated particularly in the initial stages of the block processing method of the present invention as is illustrated in line 200 especially when the industry becomes mature enough to support and recognize the variations that may be made thereto . for example , it is believed that it will be possible to receive already cleaned and trimmed vegetables in frozen bulk , as at station 10a , which may then eliminate work stations 11 , 12 , 21 , and 22 . it is also conceivable that certain processors will concentrate on making standard sized blocks which will then be made available to the processors of the present invention so that frozen blocks of the same size could be received as at station 10b which may be temporarily stored in freezer storage 29 to be subsequently presented directly to the saw equipment at station 26 to further eliminate stations 23 , 24 , 25 in the final processing plant . it will also be noted as seen in fig2 and 3 that only station 41 for package filling can be considered as labor intensive , while at six other stations 12 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 and 42 require some labor . as also seen in the processing line of fig3 an attendant as depicted by letter p may be stationed at station 28 to load themagazine m if it is to be hand fed and between stations 27 and 28 to monitor the conveyor c . monitoring attendants p may likewise be provided at the block press station 25 and in the area of the line between batter station 30 and fryer station 35 . as will be understood in the art , many different shapes and / or sizes may be selected for the individual portion or finger pieces , several of which are illustrated in fig4 and 5 . as seen in fig4 the frozen compressed food block b is divided into a plurality ( thirteen ) of slabs s with each slab extending longitudinally of the block b and with each slab s being cut or chopped into twenty - four individual portions of finger pieces p wherein the dimension of each piece is approximately four ( 4 ) inches by three - quarters inches square . the block b of fig5 of the same dimension as the block of fig4 is shown initially divided into five slabs s 1 , each of which is then again divided in the same transverse direction into seven ( 7 ) slabs s 2 and then cut or chopped into individual portions or finger pieces p , the dimensions of which each are approximately four ( 4 ) inches by one - half inch square . it is also contemplated that a block b may be formed of multiple layers of different food products and wherein it may also be desirable to retain each different food product within the boundaries of its respective layer . such a layered block b is illustrated in fig6 and merely as an example , said block is seen to comprise three layers a , b and c wherein layer a may be broccoli , layer b cauliflower and layer c a selected cheese . while not shown it is also contemplated that several or more different food products may be substantially evenly dispersed throughout the block b so that the resultant individual portion may consist of a plurality of different food products either layered or dispersed therethrough . it is also contemplated that other food products in their natural or processed state such as bacon pieces may be mixed with a suitable vegetable with the latter constituting the major ingredient of the end product may be readily adaptable to the present process . the new and novel &# 34 ; finger - food &# 34 ; product thus produced by the process of the present invention is thus seen to comprise the selected food product in its natural and frozen state and constitutes all or substantially all of the end food product in the resultant finger - food and has a natural taste and mouth feel characteristic of the selected food product . having thus described one embodiment of block press method for convenience foods and the like and several configurations of frozen food product blocks for use therein , it will be realized by one skilled in the art that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the inventive concepts as are defined in the claims .	0
with more particular reference to the drawings , it is seen in fig1 that a reaction chamber 10 is supported within the adiabatic reactor 3 by supports 16 and / or by springs 14 and 14 &# 39 ;. the reactor chamber wall 10 encloses the catalyst bed material 11 . inner fins 9 extend from the reaction chamber wall 10 to which they are attached . the inner fins extend from the reaction chamber wall inwardly into the reaction chamber defined by the reaction chamber wall . outer fins 13 are connected to the reaction chamber wall 10 . outer fins 13 extend outwardly from the reaction chamber wall 10 into the heat exchange chamber 12 . the heat exchange chamber 12 is defined by the inner surface of the heat exchange wall 17 and the outer surface of the reaction chamber wall 10 . the ends of reaction chamber wall 10 are preferably covered by a screen or wire mesh ( not shown ) to retain the catalyst bed 11 therein . as shown in fig2 the heat exchange wall 17 encloses the reaction chamber wall 10 . the supporting spring means 14 and 14 &# 39 ; are connected to the inner surface of the heat exchange wall 17 and the outer surface of the reaction chamber wall 10 . as shown in fig3 the adiabatic reactor 3 is connected by conduit 19 to a superheater 5 . the superheater 5 receives vapor phase alcohol from the vaporizer 2 through line 20 . air is pumped through line 15 from compressor 21 into line 20 . the mixture of air and methanol vapor passes through line 20 to the superheater 5 . alcohol from the alcohol tank 1 is pumped through line 22 by pump 23 to the vaporizer 2 . valve 24 in line 22 is provided to limit the flow of liquid alcohol to the vaporizer 2 from the alcohol tank 1 . the mixture of air and alcohol vapor passes through line 19 into the adiabatic reactor 3 . the adiabatic reactor 3 is heated by exhaust gas from the engine 4 . the exhaust gas passes through line 25 to the adiabatic reactor 3 . the line 25 has valve 26 therein to limit the flow of exhaust gas to the reactor 3 . exhaust gas leaves the reactor 3 through line 27 . the vaporizer 2 is provided with a line 29 through which hot engine coolant is passed from the engine to the vaporizer 2 . engine coolant passes from the vaporizer 2 through line 30 . line 30 is connected to engine 4 . the filter 6 is connected to the endothermic reactor 70 by line 71 . endothermic reactor 70 is connected to adiabatic reactor 3 by line 31 . the filter 6 removes solids from the hydrogen rich gaseous mixture passing therethrough . the filter 6 is connected by line 32 to the engine 4 . valve 36 in line 32 is provided to limit the flow of the hydrogen with gaseous fuel to the engine . the valves 24 and 36 completely block the dissociation system including vaporizer to the filter when the system is not in operation . line 8 is connected to the line 33 . line 33 is connected to the engine 4 . hydrogen rich gas in line 32 mixes with air from line 8 in the line 33 . liquid alcohol passes through line 7 to line 33 . the valve 34 in line 7 limits the flow of liquid alcohol therethrough . the liquid alcohol passing through line 7 is atomized prior to being fed to the engine 4 . the preferred alcohol for use as the alcohol fuel in the alcohol tank 1 is methanol . the fins 9 and 13 extend the length of the reaction chamber wall . both the inner fins 9 and the outer fins 13 serve to distribute heat along the reaction chamber wall . inner fins 9 serve to distribute heat into the reactor bed 11 from the reaction chamber wall 10 . the outer fins 13 serve to transfer heat from the heat exchange chamber 12 into the reaction chamber wall 10 . the engine is started by methods known in the art for starting internal engines for example by use of an alternate fuel such as liquid methanol delivered through line 7 or a gaseous fuel like propane . after starting the engine , the hot exhaust gases heat the adiabatic reactor 3 by passing through the heat exchange chamber 12 . the outer fins 13 conduct heat from those hot exhaust gases and transmit it to the reaction chamber wall 10 . the fins 9 transfer heat from the reaction chamber wall 10 into the reaction bed 11 . when the initial operating temperature is reached , the mixture of air and methanol vapor are fed to the reactor . preferably the reactor contains a dual catalyst bed . the initial catalyst contacted by the mixture of air and methanol vapor being a partial oxidation catalyst for example copper / nickel . the subsequent catalyst contacted by the alcohol and partial combustion product mixture being a dissociation catalyst such as copper / zinc catalyst . partial combustion occurs between the methanol and the air in the initial stage of the adiabatic reactor 3 . this partial combustion produces heat . the heat produced in the initial stage of the adiabatic reactor 3 is transferred to the subsequent stage by the inner fins 9 . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , once the catalyst bed is preheated to the initial reaction temperature by the engine exhaust gas , valve 26 is closed and valve 35 is opened by a temperature switch . valve 72 in line 73 is first opened to send hot exhaust gas to endothermic reactor 70 before closing valve 26 . the temperature switch in line 31 also opens valve 24 in line 22 to start the flow of liquid methanol from tank 1 and valve 36 in line 32 to start the flow of hydrogen rich fuel to engine 4 . the reaction temperature within the adiabatic reactor 3 is maintained by the rate of partial combustion . the rate of partial combustion is controlled by the amount of air injected through line 15 by control of valve 35 . valve 35 is temperature responsive to the outlet gas temperature in line 71 . valve 35 is connected to line 71 by temperature control signal . the temperature control in line 71 is shown . alternately valve 26 may be left open or can be an orifice with valve 72 opened allowing a portion of hot exhaust gas to flow through reactor 3 and reactor 70 via line 27 and 73 . in this manner , the heat loss from reactor 3 may be minimized and some heat recovery from the exhaust gas may be realized in the reactor . during cold starts , hot exhaust from the engine passes into the heat exchange chamber of reactor 3 through line 25 and valve 26 . the exhaust leaves the heat exchange chamber through line 27 . while the reactor is being heated up to the operational temperature , the valves 72 and 18 are closed so that exhaust from line 37 passes into line 25 and into the heat exchange chamber of the adiabatic reactor 3 . when the reactor has reached its operating temperature , the valve 26 is closed and valves 18 and 72 are opened so that exhaust no longer passes from line 37 into adiabatic reactor 3 but rather the exhaust from line 37 is channelled into line 39 and 73 . the exhaust from endothermic reactor 70 passes to the atmosphere through line 74 . the valve 18 controls the exhaust gas flow to the superheater to give the temperature of the methanol vapor from the superheater 5 at the desired inlet temperature for the adiabatic reactor 3 . thus , the adiabatic reactor is isolated from exhaust heat . after the adiabatic reactor 3 has reached its operating temperature the superheater 5 continues to be heated by heat from the exhaust . the vaporizer 2 is optional . thus , liquid methanol may be fed directly into the superheater 5 from the methanol or alcohol storage tank 1 . alternatively engine exhaust may be passed from the output line 40 of the superheater 5 into the feedline 29 of the vaporizer 2 . in which case , engine coolant would not be fed into the feedline 29 of vaporizer 2 . the air being fed through line 15 may be preheated by preheater 41 . the preheater 41 may be fed exhaust from line 37 or 74 to provide the preheating heat for air being fed through line 15 into line 20 . beneficially the preheated air does not lower the temperature of the liquid alcohol and / or alcohol vapor being fed to the superheater 5 through line 20 . the reactor 3 preferably is provided with insulation over the heat exchange wall 17 to maintain the temperature therewithin and minimize the transfer of heat therefrom . during idle , the air / alcohol feed ratio is close to the adiabatic ratio ( about 0 . 16 ) since the endothermic conversion is negligible in endothermic reactor 70 due to low exhaust temperature . during high speed driving the rate of alcohol feed is increased substantially while the rate of air feed is increased at a slower rate . thus , the air / alcohol feed ratio becomes substantially less than 0 . 16 . at idle the adiabatic reactor converts most of the feed methanol to hydrogen and carbon monoxide . however at high speed driving at the low air / alcohol ratio the percent conversion in the adiabatic reactor drops to a low level . the use of the endothermic dissociation catalyst in reactor 70 downstream of the adiabatic catalyst in reactor 3 substantially increases the percentage dissociation using waste heat from the exhaust during high speed driving . fig1 and 2 show the schematics of reactor 3 . the reactor has two divided sections : the inner section holding the catalyst bed and the surrounding empty chamber . the reaction chamber wall 10 , separating the catalyst bed 11 and the heat exchange chamber 12 , has inside fins 9 and outside fins 13 . during cold starts the hot engine exhaust gas flows through the heat exchange chamber to provide the heat required for preheating the bed to a desired temperature . the fins on the reaction chamber wall will enhance the heat transfer and , thus , reduce the preheating time . during normal dissociation operation , the heat exchange chamber is isolated from the exhaust gas flow and , thus , acts as insulation . the feed to reactor 3 is a mixture of superheated methanol and air . for thermally neutral conversion of methanol , the air / methanol ratio in the feed and the reactor inlet temperature are controlled . the fins inside and outside of the reaction chamber wall are placed parallel to the flow directions of the reactants in the bed and of the exhaust gas in the heat exchange chamber , respectively , in order to minimize the pressure drops in both flows . the inside fins on the reaction chamber wall have important functions for maintaining catalyst activity and physical integrity . during adiabatic operation the fins will help to maintain a more even temperature distribution in the bed by facilitating longitudinal heat transfer . this heat transfer effect is beneficial to the maintenance of the catalyst activity by reducing the peak temperature generated by the reaction between methanol and oxygen in the front partial combustion zone of the catalyst bed , since a higher temperature deactivates catalyst more by sintering . further , the inside fins may be beneficial for catalyst pellet integrity by restricting pellet motion resulting from sudden changes in car speed or car vibrations due to rough road conditions . as shown in fig2 springs 14 and 14 &# 39 ; or some other mechanical means of dampening motion may be installed in the heat exchange chamber to absorb any abrupt movements of the automobile without detrimentally affecting catalyst physical integrity . because a rapid preheating of the catalyst bed by the heat exchanger is required during cold starts , a reaction chamber wall shape that gives a larger heat transfer area is preferred at the same catalyst volume . for this reason the reaction chamber wall also has many inside fins 9 and outside fins 13 . fig1 and 2 show a configuration of the reactor . fig1 shows that the reaction chamber wall in the reactor has a large width - to - depth ratio in order to have a large peripheral surface area at the same volume . fig3 shows a schematic flow diagram of the automobile fuel system of the invention . major components of the fuel system are a vaporizer 2 , a superheater 5 , a filter 6 , and by - pass line 7 in addition to the adiabatic and endothermic reactors . in the vaporizer 2 the engine coolant , normally at 200 °- 220 ° f ., provides the heat for the methanol vaporization . in the superheater , the methanol temperature is raised to the desired reactor inlet temperature by heat exchange with the exhaust gas . the vaporizer 2 is optional because the superheater may be used for the methanol vaporization and superheating by directly feeding liquid methanol into it . air is injected through line 15 to the alcohol feed stream normally before the superheater in order to allow enough time for mixing of the air and alcohol prior to the reactor . the filter 6 collects fines from the catalyst bed . the by - pass line 7 delivers liquid alcohol directly to the engine as required during cold start or high load driving ( acceleration or high speed driving ). during cold start , the engine 4 must run on liquid or vaporized alcohol until the dissociation reactor completes its start - up phase . during high load driving the fuel requirement in excess of the maximum throughput of the reactor is provided with liquid alcohol from tank 1 delivered through the by - pass line 7 . the direct feeding of liquid alcohol in excess of the maximum throughput of the reactor may be beneficial for overall car performance without significantly reducing the benefits of the dissociation . the liquid alcohol fed to the engine will boost the engine power by increasing the energy density of the combined fuel when the power is needed at high load conditions . further , it may lower the no x emissions by reducing the combustion temperature in the engine . the preferred operating mode for the dissociated methanol engine is to operate for maximum efficiency at low - load driving conditions , and for maximum performance at high - load transient driving conditions . low - load operation consisting of idle and constant speed driving does not require a high power output from the engine . for low - power output , the engine can be operated at a maximum air - fuel ratio or a minimum equivalence ratio to give maximum efficiency . with dissociated methanol the equivalence ratio can be reduced as low as 0 . 3 without hampering smooth engine operation due to its high hydrogen content . for maximum power output , methanol in excess of the reactor throughput can be by - passed and fed directly into the engine . air flow is unthrottled . the result is an increase in fuel density up to an equivalence ratio of 1 . 0 , which gives maximum power output . operation can be accomplished with a driver controlled accelerator that sends a signal to a microprocessor , which in turn monitors and adjusts engine performance as necessary . adjustments such as spark advance , air - fuel ratio , etc . are made . the microprocessor maintains the required air - fuel ratio during low - load driving demand by throttling the air flow through valve 79 . during high - load transient demands , where acceleration to cruise speed and hill climbing is required , additional fuel as liquid methanol is injected by opening by - pass valve 34 . in this mode , air - fuel ratio varies as fuel density is adjusted to give the required engine power output and hence good driving performance . since the cold start of the adiabatic reactor requires hot engine exhaust gas for preheating of the adiabatic catalyst bed the engine 4 must be turned on by a method independent of the methanol conversion system . during this period the engine may run on liquid alcohol delivered through the by - pass line . once the adiabatic catalyst bed temperature in the reactor has risen to the initial operating temperature , superheated alcohol is fed to the reactor with air injection through line 15 . because of the exothermic heat generated by partial combustion of alcohol , the adiabatic catalyst bed temperature will further rise until endothermic alcohol dissociation becomes effective . for a 20 / 10 cu / ni catalyst on silica the bed temperature for initiating the partial combustion reaction for methanol is about 300 ° f . or above . a lower temperature is acceptable if a more active catalyst is used . during the cold start of the adiabatic reactor , the endothermic reactor is also preheated with the exhaust gas leaving the adiabatic reactor . after the preheating , the gas produced from the adiabatic reactor can be fed to the endothermic reactor without delay . the endothermic catalyst bed temperature will rapidly rise to be effective for the endothermic dissociaton by the sensible heat available from the product gas and the exhaust gas . the engine can be started independently with a gaseous start - up fuel such as propane , electrically vaporized methanol or finely atomized methanol . once the cold start phase of the adiabatic and endothermic reactors is completed , the adiabatic and endothermic reactors are operated with air injection rate to the adiabatic reactor is controlled to give a maximum waste heat recovery in the endothermic reactor . the o 2 / methanol feed ratio is normally 0 . 16 , if methanol is completely converted in the adiabatic reactor . the ratio is less than the theoretical number of 0 . 174 because of the exothermic formation of such by - products as methane and dimethyl ether in very small quantities . during idle the air / alcohol feed ratio to the adiabatic reactor is near the adiabatic ratio ( about 0 . 16 ), because of insufficient waste heat available from the exhaust gas for the endothermic dissociation in the endothermic reactor . during high speed driving the rate of alcohol feed is increased substantially while the rate of air feed is increased at a slower rate because the waste heat recovery in the endothermic reactor reduces the air requirement . at idle the methanol conversion to hydrogen and carbon monoxide is almost complete in the adiabatic reactor . however at high speed driving the low air / alcohol ratio reduces this percentage of dissociation in the adiabatic reactor to a low level . the endothermic reactor 70 downstream of the adiabatic reactor 3 converts the remaining unconverted methanol using waste heat from the exhaust . with a dual adiabatic catalyst bed of cu / ni and cu / zn catalysts , the following three reactions take place in the adiabatic reactor as major reactions ## str1 ## methanol is first converted via reactions ( i ) and ( ii ) in the cu / ni catalyst zone and the remaining methanol is converted via reactions ( ii ) and ( iii ) in the following cu / zn catalyst zone . because reaction ( i ) is very fast on a cu / ni catalyst , oxygen is rapidly consumed to completion in the zone . the rapid progress of reaction ( i ) creates a temperature peak in the zone . after the depletion of oxygen the endothermic reaction ( reaction ( ii )) becomes dominant and , thus , cools down the bed temperature . the gas leaving the adiabatic reactor is very close to equilibrium for the water / gas shift reaction because of the excellent shift activity of the cu / zn catalyst . having thus described the invention by reference to certain of its preferred embodiments it is respectfully pointed out that embodiments described are illustrative rather than limiting in nature and that many variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention . such variations and modifications may appear obvious and desirable to those skilled in the art upon a review of the foregoing description of preferred embodiments .	8
fig1 shows the main members of a vehicle equipped with a transmission with power bypass 5 , a power unit 21 and a control system 7 . the vehicle comprises a heat engine 1 , two electric machines 2 a and 2 b , driving wheels 3 a and 3 b , a battery 4 and an infinitely variable transmission 5 . the heat engine 1 is mechanically connected to the infinitely variable transmission 5 by the connection 14 in order to transmit torque . the infinitely variable transmission 5 is mechanically connected to a first electric machine 2 a by the link 15 a , to a second electric machine 2 b by the link 15 b and to the wheels 3 a and 3 b by a mechanical link 16 and a torque distribution system . the electric machines 2 a and 2 b are connected to the battery 4 by the electrical connections 13 a and 13 b respectively . the heat engine 1 is equipped with a means 12 of estimating the rotation speed . the infinitely variable transmission 5 handles the diverting and the regulating of the power supplied by the heat engine 1 . the two electric machines 2 a and 2 b operate independently of one another and make it possible either to supply a torque complementing that supplied by the heat engine 1 , or supply a resistive torque that is subtracted from that supplied by the heat engine 1 , the subtracted power being converted into electrical energy in a recycling manner . it is thus possible to sweep a continuous motive power range without changing the power supplied by the heat engine 1 . the control means 7 is connected to the heat engine 1 by the connection 8 , to the electric machine 2 a by the connections 9 a and 42 , to the electric machine 2 b by the connections 9 b and 42 b and to the rotation speed estimation means 12 by the connection 18 . the control means 7 is also connected to an interface 19 between the driver and the vehicle by the connection 20 via which the driver can express operation requests or receive information . the control means 7 checks the rotation speed of the heat engine 1 and controls the injection and ignition of said heat engine via the connection 8 . the control means 7 receives requests from the driver from the interface 19 . the elements included in the control means 7 are represented in fig2 . the control means 7 is connected to the interface 19 with the driver by the connection 20 . the connection 20 continues to the setpoint determination means 36 , which is in turn connected by the connections 37 and 38 to the torque setpoint determination means 39 . the torque setpoint determination means 39 is connected by at least one of its inputs to the determination means 44 of the observer by the connection 45 and by the connection 60 to the piloting means 58 of the feedback loop . the torque setpoint determination means 39 is connected by the connection 9 a to the electric machine 2 a , by the connection 9 b to the electric machine 2 b and by the connection 40 to the control means 41 of the heat engine . the determination means 44 of the observer is connected by its inputs to the electric machines 2 a and 2 b by the connection 42 and the branch 42 b , respectively . the determination means 44 is connected by the branch 43 of the connection 18 to the means 12 of estimating the rotation speed of the heat engine 1 and by at least one of its outputs to the operating phase determination means 47 by the connection 46 . the operating phase determination means 47 is connected by the connection 18 to the means 12 of estimating the rotation speed of the heat engine 1 , by at least one of its outputs to the control means 41 of the heat engine by the connection 48 , to the piloting means 58 of the feedback loop by the connection 49 and to the memory 51 by the branch 50 of the connection 49 . the operating phase determination means 47 is connected by one of its inputs to the memory 51 via the connection 61 . the memory 51 is connected by the connection 52 to the subtractor 53 , which is in turn connected to the computer 56 by the connection 55 . the subtractor 53 is connected to the means 12 of estimating the rotation speed of the heat engine 1 by the branch 54 of the connection 18 . the computer 56 is connected to the piloting means 58 of the feedback loop by the connection 57 . the piloting means 58 is connected by at least one of its inputs by the connection 59 to the memory 51 and by the connection 49 to the operating phase determination means 47 . the piloting means 58 of the feedback loop is connected by its output to the torque setpoint determination means 39 by the connection 60 . the purpose of the control device is to progressively raise the rotation speed of the heat engine without activating its operation . for this , several phases are defined and detected and make it possible to bring the heat engine 1 to a desired rotation speed . the regulation of the power unit during these phases is handled either in closed loop mode or in open loop mode . the feedback loop comprises in particular the determination means 44 of the observer , the operating phase determination means 47 , and the control means 41 of the heat engine , and is controlled by the piloting means 58 . the memory 51 contains in particular values wice 1 , wice 2 and wice 3 delimiting three operating phases . these values are communicated to the operating phase determination means 47 by the connection 61 . the operating phase determination means 47 then compares said values to the observed value of the rotation speed wice_obs of the heat engine obtained from the determination means of the observer 44 in order to determine the current operating phase . a first phase is handled in open loop mode , until the rotation speed is sufficient to be able to measure said rotation speed . the second phase is handled in closed loop mode so as to bring the heat engine to a sufficient rotation speed to produce the ignition thereof in a manner that is imperceptible to the driver , that is to say without jerks or without notable loss of motive power . the ignition is produced during the second phase before the rotation speed reaches the idle speed wice 2 . during the third phase , the heat engine is brought to a sufficient rotation speed for it to be able to contribute to the propulsion of the vehicle . said rotation speed should also make it possible to limit the risks of stalling the heat engine . in operation , the control means 7 receives the requests from the driver by the connection 20 . these requests are converted into operating setpoints by the setpoint determination means 36 . a setpoint value of the power passing through the battery pbat_cons is emitted by the connection 37 , and a setpoint value of the wheel torque t 0 _cons is emitted by the connection 38 . the determination means 44 of the observer receives , by the connection 42 , the values of the rotation speeds we 1 and we 2 of the electric machines 2 a and 2 b respectively . the determination means 44 of the observer also receives the value of the rotation speed wice_mes of the heat combustion engine 1 by the connection 43 . the determination means 44 of the observer emits , by its outputs , an observed value of the wheel resisting torque tdwh_obs and an observed value of the heat engine resisting torque tdice_obs by the connection 45 . the determination means 44 of the observer also emits , by at least one of its outputs , the observed value of the rotation speed of the heat engine wice_obs to the operating phase determination means 47 by the connection 46 . the expression “ observed value ” should be understood to mean a value that is indirectly estimated by a computation means from one or more other measured values . the operating phase determination means 47 receives the value of the rotation speed of the heat engine wice_mes by the connection 18 , and the values determining the first , second and third operating phases , wice 1 , wice 2 and wice 3 from the memory 51 . the phase determination means 47 compares the values wice 1 , wice 2 and wice 3 and the values wice_mes and wice_obs . in a first stage , the determination means 47 estimates the value to be considered from wice_obs and wice_mes . in a second stage , the determination means 47 estimates the current phase of the power unit . for this , the value of wice is compared to the values wice 1 , wice 2 and wice 3 . if wice 2 & gt ; wice & gt ; wice 1 , then the second phase is detected . if wice 3 & gt ; wice & gt ; wice 2 , then the third phase is detected . depending on the phase detected , a corresponding signal is emitted by the connection 49 . in parallel , the branch 50 of the connection 49 enables the memory 51 to receive an indication of the current phase in order to emit a stored value of the rotation speed of the heat engine wice_mem corresponding to said phase . the memory 51 contains a number of stored values of the rotation speed of the heat engine , corresponding to the different operating phases of said heat engine . the value wice_mem is emitted by the connection 52 to the subtractor 53 . the subtractor 53 receives , by another of its inputs , the measured value of the rotation speed of the heat engine wice_mes from the means 12 of estimating the rotation speed of the heat engine 1 . the subtractor 53 emits , by the connection 55 , a value corresponding to the subtraction of the stored value from the current value . the computer 56 determines the variable ui by applying the following equation : the variable ui is transmitted by the connection 57 to the piloting means 58 of the feedback loop . the piloting means 58 receives , from the memory 51 , a setpoint value ui_cons of the variable ui . the connection 49 enables the piloting means 58 of the feedback loop to receive an indication of the current phase in order to enable it to choose the value of the variable ui to be transmitted to the torque setpoint determination means 39 . if the phase indication corresponds to the first phase , the setpoint value ui_cons of the variable ui is chosen . if the phase indication corresponds to the second phase or to a subsequent phase , the value of the variable ui from the computer 56 is chosen . the torque setpoint determination means 39 estimates the torques of the electric machines 2 a and 2 b , respectively te 1 and te 2 , and the torque of the heat engine tice . the calculation used to obtain the three torques differs according to the operating phase of the power unit . { ui_cons = tice_obs - a · te ⁢ ⁢ 1 - b · te ⁢ ⁢ 2 - c · tdwh_obs t0_cons = α · te ⁢ ⁢ 1 + β · te ⁢ ⁢ 2 + γ · tdice_obs + tdwh_obs in which a , b , c , α , β , γ are known physical parameters dependent on the transmission . { ui = tice_obs - a · te ⁢ ⁢ 1 - b · te ⁢ ⁢ 2 - c · tdwh_obs t0_cons = α · te ⁢ ⁢ 1 + β · te ⁢ ⁢ 2 + γ · tdice_obs + tdwh_obs with ui =− k 2 ·( w ice_obs − w ice 2 ) and { ui = a · te ⁢ ⁢ 1 + b · te ⁢ ⁢ 2 + c · tice + d · tdwh_obs t0_cons = α · te ⁢ ⁢ 1 + β · te ⁢ ⁢ 2 + γ · tice + δ · tdwh_obs with δ being another known physical parameter dependent on the transmission it should be noted that , during the third phase , the engine is active and controllable . the resisting torque tdice_obs is therefore replaced by the engine torque tice . the duly defined system of equations comprises three unknowns for two equations . in order to determine the third unknown , an arbitrary torque of the heat engine is assumed , for example the duly described torque values te 1 , te 2 and tice are emitted toward the corresponding engine members . it should be noted that the torque value of the heat engine is not emitted directly to the heat engine . a control means 41 of the heat engine receives the value of the torque tice and an indication of the current operating phase by the connection 48 . thus , the torque value tice is transmitted to the heat engine only if the power unit is in the third operating phase . otherwise , a zero setpoint is transmitted . the system and the method for controlling the power unit make it possible to control the heat engine of a hybrid power unit in order to bring it from a zero rotation speed to a sufficient rotation speed to initiate its starting . from an idle speed , the control system brings the heat engine to a rotation speed that is sufficiently high to be able to participate in the propulsion of the vehicle . the control system mainly uses a closed - loop mode control so that the raising of the rotation speed is rapid but progressive . thus , the starting of the heat engine is imperceptible to the driver .	1
fig1 is a block diagram of a network switch 100 according to an embodiment . the switch includes a number of ports 102 , each of which may be connected to an end node ( e . g ., a workstation ) or another switch in a computer network . the switch 100 may include a switching module 104 to switch / route received packets . when a packet is received , the switching module may build a descriptor from header data in the packet and store the packet in a buffer memory 106 . the buffer memory 106 may include contiguous buffers , each large enough to store a packet of a given size a portion of a packet . a buffer management module 108 manages buffers in the memory to ensure that buffers are available for incoming packets . fig2 is a block diagram of a buffer management module 108 according to an embodiment . the buffer management module 108 supplies ( allocates ) available buffers in the buffer memory 106 in response to buffer requests and clears allocated buffers in response to clear requests . the buffer memory 106 may buffer short and long packets . packet types ( short / long ) may be assigned to the ports . the buffer management module 108 may allocate ( and clear ) short and long packets in a similar manner . the buffer management module 108 may provide a reclaim mechanism to reclaim buffers that may become stuck in the system ( i . e ., fail to release ) due to some malfunction . for example , data may not be transmitted if there are some errors in the network , such as a port being broken or a switch connected to a port being removed from the network . in either case , the buffers associated with those ports need to be cleared or else the associated buffers will become stuck . the buffer management module 108 may include an allocation sram 202 and a reclaim sram 203 . in an embodiment , the srams are 128 × 128 srams ( 16 kbits ). each buffer in the buffer memory 106 is associated with a bit in the allocation sram 202 . the number of available buffers in the buffer memory 106 may be smaller than the number of available bits in the allocation sram 202 . in that case , a number of lines in the allocation sram 202 and reclaim sram 203 may be masked off . a translation module may perform a translation between bit numbers in the allocation sram 202 and the corresponding addresses of buffer locations in the buffer memory 106 . the following description may refer to bit numbers in the allocation sram 202 and the corresponding locations where the packets are buffered in the buffer memory 106 as “ buffers ”. one of the lines from the allocation sram 202 may be stored in an allocation register 204 ( e . g ., a 128 - bit register for the 128 × 128 allocation sram 202 ) at a time . buffers may be taken from empty spaces ( bit = 0 ) in the line currently in the allocation register 204 in response to buffer requests ( buff_req_ ). when allocated , the value of the bit may be set to “ 1 ”, indicating a full buffer . a “ rd_pointer ” signal identifies which line from the allocation sram 202 is in the allocation register 204 . the allocation register 204 may include separate long and short allocation registers for the allocation of long and short packets , respectively . the buffer management module 108 may include a buffer management state machine ( bmsm ) 200 . the bmsm 200 may control which module in the buffer management module 108 has access to the allocation sram 202 and / or reclaim sram 203 and / or allocation register 204 ( for clearing buffers from the long / short allocation registers ). fig3 illustrates the branches in the bmsm 200 and corresponding states the bmsm 200 may transition between . the buffer management module 108 may include a short allocation branch 302 , a long allocation branch 304 , a clear branch 306 , and a reclaim branch 308 . an allocation arbiter 206 handles buffer requests from clients . the allocation arbiter 206 may be a first - come - first - serve ( fcfs ) arbiter . the allocation arbiter 206 decides which requests are to be forwarded to an allocation state machine ( alloc_sm ) 208 . the alloc_sm 208 may supply the next empty buffer in the line currently in the allocation register 204 . the allocation of the buffers may be done in a “ forward ” manner , e . g ., from buffer number 0 to the last available buffer . a buffer that was cleared from the allocation register may be reallocated again . the allocation / clear from the allocation registers may be done in the same cycle in parallel . when the line in the allocation register 204 is full ( i . e ., all bits = 1 ), the bmsm 200 issues a control signal to write the full line in the allocation register 204 to the allocation sram 202 and to the corresponding line in the reclaim sram 203 ( state “ wr_alloc_reg ” 310 in fig3 ). the next available line in the allocation sram 202 ( i . e ., a line including at least one empty buffer ) is identified and written to the allocation register 204 . the rd_pointer is updated to the address of the new line (“ wr_rd_pointer ” 312 ). new buffers may then be allocated from the new line in the allocation register 204 (“ rd_next_reg ” 314 ). allocation counters 210 may be used to count the number of allocated buffers . the allocation counters 210 may be used to indicate when there are no more buffers available . a maximum number of buffers may be allocated for a particular port to prevent other ports from being starved . the allocation counters 210 may also be used to count the number of allocated buffers per port and indicate to the allocation arbiter 206 when a port has been allocated its maximum number of buffers . the next available line ( i . e ., with at least one empty buffer ) in the allocation sram 202 may be determined by a line indication module 212 coupled to the allocation register 204 . the next available line is determined through a search of a free line vector generated by the line indication module 212 . the free line vector may have a number of bits corresponding to the number of lines in the allocation sram 202 ( e . g ., 128 ). initially , all bits in the free line vector may be set to “ 0 ”, indicating that all lines include empty buffers . when a line is written to the allocation sram 202 from the allocation register 204 ( i . e ., when the line is full ), a “ 1 ” may be written to the bit location in the free line vector corresponding to that line . if a clear operation ( described below ) is performed on a line in the allocation sram 202 to clear a bit , a “ 0 ” may be written to the bit location in the free line vector corresponding to that line . thus , full lines are indicated by “ 1 ” and lines with one or more empty buffers are indicated by “ 0 ” in the free line vector . the next available line ( with at least one empty buffer ) can be determined by searching the free line vector . a clear arbiter 214 may handle clear requests ( clear_req_ ). the clear arbiter may be an fcfs arbiter . the clear arbiter 214 decides which clear request will be forwarded to the bmsm 200 . the bmsm 200 checks to see if the buffer to be cleared is in the allocation register 204 (“ clear_bus_lock ” 320 ). if so , the buffer is cleared from the allocation register 204 , and the bmsm 200 returns to an idle state 300 . however , if the buffer to be cleared is not in the allocation register 204 , the line containing the buffer is read from the allocation sram 202 into a clear map bit register 216 and the corresponding line in the reclaim sram 203 is read into a reclaim clear map bit register 218 (“ read_clear ” 322 ). the bit is then cleared in both registers (“ clear_bit ” 324 ) and the line is rewritten to the allocation sram 202 and reclaim sram 203 (“ write_clear ” 326 ). a multiplexer 250 controls access to the allocation sram 202 from the allocation register 204 and the clear map bit register 203 . if the specific buffer subject to the clear request was not allocated , or already cleared by the reclaim mechanism , a signal is transmitted to the allocation counters 210 to prevent them from being decremented . there may also be an interrupt indicating that a malfunction occurred . the reclaim module 220 may operate in two modes : a trigger mode and an automatic mode . a reclaim trigger may be issued periodically or when needed . in response to the reclaim trigger , the entire allocation sram 202 is searched in one pass , and any full buffers in the allocation sram 202 are written to the corresponding bit locations in the reclaim sram 203 . in the automatic mode , the lines in the reclaim sram 203 may be searched continuously in a loop fashion ( i . e ., from line 0 to the last unmasked line and back to line 0 ). a configurable timer may be used to set the time between searching between lines . the reclaim module 220 reads a line from the allocation sram 202 and from the reclaim sram 203 (“ read_reclaim ” 330 ). the reclaim module 220 then waits for the data from the allocation sram 202 and from the reclaim sram 203 (“ wait_read_reclaim ” 332 ). the reclaim module 220 compares the line in the reclaim sram 203 to the corresponding line in the allocation sram 202 , and calculates an aging vector (“ wait_aging_vector ” 334 ). the reclaim module 220 may set bits in the aging vector corresponding to buffers that should be aged to “ 0 ”. the reclaim module 220 writes the line back to the reclaim sram 203 (“ write_reclaim ” 336 ). in subsequent searches in the trigger mode , the lines in the allocation sram 202 and the reclaim sram 203 are compared . as described above , when a new line is written back from the allocation register 204 to the allocation sram 202 ( a full line ), it is also written to the reclaim sram 203 . also , if a buffer is cleared from the allocation sram 202 , it is also cleared from the reclaim sram 203 . during the search in a line in the reclaim sram 203 , a buffer is set (=“ 1 ”), will be reset (=“ 0 ”). in the next pass , when the same line is searched again , if a bit corresponding to a buffer is set (=“ 1 ”) in the allocation sram 202 and the corresponding bit in the reclaim sram 203 is reset (=“ 0 ”), the buffer is cleared by resetting the bit in the allocation sram 202 to “ 0 ”, freeing that buffer to be allocated . this may prevent buffers from becoming stuck in the system . also , the counter are decremented by the number of cleared buffers . in both the trigger mode and the automatic mode , the line in the allocation sram 202 ( and reclaim sram 203 ) currently in the allocation register 204 is skipped during the search through the srams . this may prevent recently allocated buffers from being mistakenly cleared . fig4 is a block diagram of a line indicator module according to an embodiment . the line indicator module may include a line mask module 402 , a free line vector module 404 , an or gate 410 , and a next free line module 406 . the number of available buffers in the buffer memory 106 may be smaller than the number of available bits in the allocation sram 202 . in that case , a number of lines in the allocation sram 202 may be masked off by a “ line_ind_mask ” signal generated by the line mask module 402 based on a “ local_max_line_space ” input . the main inputs to the free line vector module are “ line_ind ” and “ rd_pointer ”. the line_ind input represents the entire possible allocation space , including the masked lines . the rd_pointer input is the address of the line in the allocation register 204 and provides the starting pointer for the search for the next empty line . the free line vector module 404 operates on the line_ind input to generate the 128 - bit free line vector used to determine the next available line . when a full line from the allocation register 204 is written back to the allocation sram 202 , the bmsm 200 generates a “ load_line_ind_alloc ” control signal , which indicates that the particular line is full . the free line vector module 404 sets the bit corresponding to the full line to “ 1 ”. if a buffer is cleared by the bmsm 200 ( in response a clear command ), a “ load_line_ind_clear ” control signal sets the bit corresponding to the line containing the buffer to “ 0 ”. if a buffer is aged by the reclaim mechanism , the “ load_line_ind_reclaim_ ” control signal sets the bit corresponding to the line containing the buffer to “ 0 ”. this line is identified by a “ reclaim2alloc_map_addr ” signal . fig5 is a block diagram of an allocation section according to an embodiment . a line_curr_ptr register 502 holds a pointer to the last allocated buffer in the allocation register 204 , which is used as a starting point for the search for the next empty buffer in the line . the input to the allocation register 204 is controlled by a multiplexer 550 , and the input to the line_curr_ptr register 502 is controlled by a multiplexer 552 . a rd_pointer register 504 holds the pointer to the address of the allocation sram 202 line that is loaded into the allocation register 204 . the input to the line_curr_ptr register is controlled by a multiplexer 554 . the alloc_sm 208 issues a “ load_nxt_addr_ ” control signal when a new buffer should be allocated . this signal locks the buffer pointer to the next empty buffer in the allocation register 204 into a bm_addr [ 7 : 0 ] 510 register and the rd_pointer address into a bm_addr [ 15 : 8 ] 512 , the inputs to which are controlled by multiplexers 556 and 558 , respectively . the combined address bm_addr [ 15 : 0 ] is the address of the buffer to be allocated . after the allocation of a buffer , the allocation register 204 is updated and a new empty buffer is searched . the allocation sm issues a “ load_alloc_reg_nxt_ ” control signal to lock the updated line in the allocation register 204 and update the line_curr_ptr register 502 . when a buffer in the allocation register 204 is to be cleared , the bmsm 200 issues a “ load_alloc_reg_cl_ ” control signal , and the buffer at the addresses provided on the clear bus ( clear_bus_arb_buf_data ) is cleared . an allocation and clear to the allocation register may be done in parallel in the same cycle . when the line in the allocation register 204 is full , the bmsm 200 issues a “ load_nxt_free_addr ” control signal . this loads the rd_pointer register 504 with the nxt_free_line signal from the free line vector module 212 ( fig4 ). the bmsm 200 issues a “ load_nxt_free_line_ ” signal to lock the new line in the allocation register 204 and update the line_curr_ptr register 502 . a number of embodiments have been described . nevertheless , it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , more than one bit may be used to represent the individual buffers . also , other values may be used to indicate full and empty buffers . accordingly , other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims .	6
a preferred embodiment of the method of the invention is illustrated in the flow chart of fig1 and apparatus for performing the method of fig1 is shown in fig2 . for the sake of clarity , the invention will be described with reference to the processing of a single document . however , it will be appreciated that the invention is applicable to the processing of a corpus of documents containing a plurality of documents . with reference first to fig2 the method is performed on an electronic image of an original document 5 , which may include lines of text 7 , titles , drawings , fig8 or the like , contained in one or more sheets or pages of paper 10 or other tangible form . the electronic document image to be processed is created in any conventional manner , for example , by input means , such as an optical scanner 12 and sensor 13 as shown , a copier machine scanner , a braille reading machine scanner , a bitmap workstation , an electronic beam scanner or the like . such input means are well known in the art , and thus are not described in detail herein . an output derived from , for example , a scanner sensor 13 is digitized to produce bit mapped image data representing the document image for each page of the document , which data is stored , for example , in a memory 15 of a special or general purpose digital computer 16 . the digital computer 16 can be of the type that performs data driven processing in a data processing system which comprises execution processing means for performing functions by executing program instructions in a predetermined manner , such computers now being well known in the art . the output from the computer 16 is delivered to an output device , such as , for example , a memory or other form of storage unit , or an output display 17 as illustrated , which may be , for instance , a photocopier , crt display , printer , facsimile machine , or the like . with reference now to fig1 the first phase of the image processing technique of the invention involves a low level document image analysis in which the document image for each page is segmented into undecoded information containing image units ( step 20 ) using conventional image analysis techniques ; or , in the case of text documents , using the bounding box method described in copending u . s . patent application no . 07 / 794 , 392 filed concurrently herewith by huttenlocher and hopcroft , and entitled &# 34 ; method for determining boundaries of words in text &# 34 ;. another method for finding word boxes is to close the image with a horizontal se ( structuring element ) that joins characters but not words , followed by an operation that labels the bounding boxes of the connected image components ( which in this case are words ). the process can be greatly accelerated by using 1 or more threshold reductions ( with threshold value 1 ), that have the effect both of reducing the image and of closing the spacing between the characters . the threshold reduction ( s ) are typically followed by a closing with a small horizontal se . the connected component labeling operation is also done at the reduced scale , and the results are scaled up to full size . the disadvantage of operating at reduced scale is that the word bounding boxes are only approximate ; however , for many applications the accuracy is sufficient . the described method works fairly well for arbitrary text fonts , but in extreme cases , such as large fixed width fonts that have large inter - character separation or small variable width fonts that have small inter - word separation , mistakes can occur . the most robust method chooses a se for closing based on a measurement of specific image characteristics . this requires adding the following two steps : ( 1 ) order the image components in the original or reduced ( but not closed ) image in line order , left to right and top to bottom . ( 2 ) build a histogram of the horizontal intercomponent spacing . this histogram should naturally divide into the small inter - character spacing and the larger inter - word spacings . then use the valley between these peaks to determine the size of se to use for closing the image to merge characters but not join words . after the bounding boxes or word boxes have been determined , locations of and spatial relationships between the image units on a page are determined ( step 25 ). for example , an english language document image can be segmented into word image units based on the relative difference in spacing between characters within a word and the spacing between words . sentence and paragraph boundaries can be similarly ascertained . additional region segmentation image analysis can be performed to generate a physical document structure description that divides page images into labelled regions corresponding to auxiliary document elements like figures , tables , footnotes and the like . figure regions can be distinguished from text regions based on the relative lack of image units arranged in a line within the region , for example . using this segmentation , knowledge of how the documents being processed are arranged ( e . g ., left - to - right , top - to - bottom ), and , optionally , other inputted information such as document style , a &# 34 ; reading order &# 34 ; sequence for word images can also be generated . the term &# 34 ; image unit &# 34 ; is thus used herein to denote an identifiable segment of an image such as a number , character , glyph , symbol , word , phrase or other unit that can be reliably extracted . advantageously , for purposes of document review and evaluation , the document image is segmented into sets of signs , symbols or other elements , such as words , which together form a single unit of understanding . such single units of understanding are generally characterized in an image as being separated by a spacing greater than that which separates the elements forming a unit , or by some predetermined graphical emphasis , such as , for example , a surrounding box image or other graphical separator , which distinguishes one or more image units from other image units in the document image . such image units representing single units of understanding will be referred to hereinafter as &# 34 ; word units .&# 34 ; advantageously , a discrimination step 30 is next performed to identify the image units which have insufficient information content to be useful in evaluating the subject matter content of the document being processed . one preferred method is to use the morphological function or stop word detection techniques disclosed in the copending u . s . patent application no . 07 / 794 , 190 filed concurrently herewith by d . bloomberg et al ., and entitled &# 34 ; detecting function words without converting a scanned document to character codes &# 34 ;. next , in step 40 , selected image units , e . g ., the image units not discriminated in step 30 , are evaluated , without decoding the image units being classified or reference to decoded image data , based on an evaluation of predetermined image characteristics of the image units . the evaluation entails a determination ( step 41 ) of the image characteristics and a comparison ( step 42 ) of the determined image characteristics for each image unit with the determined image characteristics of the other image units . one preferred method for defining the image unit morphological image characteristics to be evaluated is to use the word shape derivation techniques disclosed in copending u . s . patent application no . 07 / 794 , 391 filed concurrently herewith by d . huttenlocher and m . hopcroft , and entitled &# 34 ; a method for deriving wordshapes for subsequent comparison .&# 34 ; as described in the aforesaid application , at least one , one - dimensional signal characterizing the shape of a word unit is derived ; or an image function is derived defining a boundary enclosing the word unit , and the image function is augmented so that an edge function representing edges of the character string detected within the boundary is defined over its entire domain by a single independent variable within the closed boundary , without individually detecting and / or identifying the character or characters making up the word unit . the determined image characteristic ( s ) e . g ., the derived image unit shape representations of each selected image unit are compared , as noted above ( step 41 ), with the determined image characteristic ( s )/ derived image unit shape representations of the other selected image units for the purpose of identifying equivalence classes of image units ( step 50 ), such that each equivalence class contains most or all of the instances of a given word in the document . the equivalence classes are thus formed by clustering the image units in the document based on the similarity of image unit classifiers , without actually decoding the contents of the image units , such as by conversion of the word images to character codes or other higher - level interpretation . any of a number of different methods of comparison can be used . one technique that can be used , for example , is by correlating the raster images of the extracted image units using decision networks , such technique being described for characters in a research report entitled &# 34 ; unsupervised construction of decision networks for pattern classification &# 34 ; by casey et al ., ibm research report , 1984 , herein incorporated in its entirety . preferred techniques that can be used to identify equivalence classes of word units are the word shape comparison techniques disclosed in u . s . patent application nos . 07 / 796 , 119 and 07 / 795 , 169 , filed concurrently herewith by huttenlocher and hopcroft , and by huttenlocher , hopcroft and wayner , respectively , and entitled , respectively , &# 34 ; optical word recognition by examination of word shape ,&# 34 ; and &# 34 ; method for comparing word shapes &# 34 ;. depending on the particular application , and the relative importance of processing speed versus accuracy , for example , comparisons of different degrees of precision can be performed . for example , useful comparisons can be based on length , width or some other measurement dimension of the image unit ( or derived image unit shape representation e . g ., the largest figure in a document image ); the location of the image unit in the document ( including any selected figure or paragraph of a document image , e . g ., headings , initial figures , one or more paragraphs or figures ), font , typeface , cross - section ( a cross - section being a sequence of pixels of similar state in an image unit ); the number of ascenders ; the number of descenders ; the average pixel density ; the length of a top line contour , including peaks and troughs ; the length of a base contour , including peaks and troughs ; and combinations of such classifiers . in instances in which multiple page documents are processed , each page is processed and the data held in the memory 15 ( see fig2 ), as described above . the entirety of the data can then be processed . one way in which the image units can be conveniently compared and classified into equivalence classes is by comparing each image unit or image unit shape representation when it is formed with previously processed image units / shape representations , and if a match is obtained , the associated image unit is identified with the matching equivalence class . this can be done , for example , by providing a signal indicating a match and incrementing a counter or a register associated with the matching equivalence class . if the present image unit does not match with any previously processed image unit , then a new equivalence class is created for the present image unit . alternatively , as shown ( step 50 ) the image units in each equivalence class can be linked together , and mapped to an equivalence class label that is determined for each equivalence class . the number of entries for each equivalence class can then be merely counted . thus , after the entire document image , or a portion of interest , has been processed , a number of equivalence classes will have been identified , each having an associated number indicting the number of times a image unit was identified having similar morphological characteristics , or classifiers , thus determining the image unit frequency . a salient feature provided by the technique of the invention is the processing , identification , comparison , or manipulation of image units without an accompanying requirement that the content of the image units be decoded , even for output . more particularly , image units are determined , processed and delivered for output without decoding , so that in essence , the actual content of the image units is never required to be determined . thus , for example , in such applications as copier machines or electronic printers that can print or reproduce images directly from one document to another without regard to ascii or other encoding / decoding requirements , image units can be identified , and processed using one or more morphological characteristic or property of the image unit . in the comparison process described , for instance , each image unit , of undetermined content , in the area of the document image of interest is compared with other image units in the document also of undetermined content . selected image units , still of undetermined content , can then be optically or electronically delivered for output , for example , to an image reproducing apparatus of a copier machine , an electronic memory , a visual display , or the like , for example in producing a list of significant &# 34 ; words &# 34 ;, or image units in order of frequency of appearance in the document image . the technique described above can be used to determine the significance of the image units of a document , based upon the criterion of frequency of occurrence of a particular image unit . thus , for example , the number of times an image unit appears in its respective equivalence class can be used to construct a hierarchy of words , such hierarchy being useful for many purposes , such as for example , generating document summaries and annotations . it is noted , however , that the classifiers are determined without actually decoding the content of the image unit ; only the selected classifiers of the image unit itself are used . the method can be applied , of course , to documents of multiple page length in a similar manner to that described above . although the invention has been described and illustrated with a certain degree of particularity , it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example , and that numerous changes in the combination and arrangement of parts can be resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , as hereinafter claimed .	6
referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first , particularly , to fig1 thereof , there is shown , in a primarily schematic illustration , a first support 1 and a second support 2 , on which a guide rail 4 is fastened . a third support 3 is disposed between the two supports 1 and 2 . the guide rail 4 is fastened on the third support 3 in an articulated manner by means of a link 31 . the guide rail 4 comprises a multiplicity of sub - rails , which are connected to one another in an articulated manner but such that they cannot be displaced in relation to one another . fig1 illustrates the rest position of the installation , in which the two segments 41 and 42 of the guide rail 4 — similarly to a chain — sag more or less uniformly . as soon as the guide rail 4 , as is illustrated in fig1 a and 1 b , has a carriage 5 , holding at least one person , running on it , the guide rail 4 is subjected to large tensile forces due to the resulting loading . since , however , the guide rail 4 is fastened on the support 3 by means of the link 31 , it can sag to a more pronounced extent in the region in which the carriage 5 is located than elsewhere . as a result , the tensile forces to which the guide rail 4 is subjected are reduced . in addition , the tensile forces are absorbed by the respectively other section of the guide rail 4 . as a result , both the guide rail 4 and the support 3 may be of smaller dimensions than would be necessary if the guide rail 4 were fastened rigidly on the support 3 . fig1 a illustrates the operating position in which the carriage 5 is located in the segment 41 of the guide rail 4 . fig1 b illustrates the operating position which has the carriage 5 in the section 42 of the guide rail 4 . fig2 a and 2 b illustrate a variant of the installation according to fig1 a and 1 b , in the case of which there are provided two central supports 3 a and 3 b on which the guide rail 4 is fastened in an articulated manner by means of links 31 a and 31 b , the section 43 of the guide rail . the section 43 is located between the two supports 3 a and 3 b and it is , in particular , of curved design . the illustrations according to fig1 a and 1 b and fig2 a and 2 b show the installation according to the invention schematically . in an actual embodiment , there are located between a mountain station and a valley station a multiplicity of supports on which the guide rail extending from the mountain station to the valley station is fastened , it being possible for the guide rail to have a multiplicity of rectilinear and arcuately curved sections or segments . in addition , it is also possible for the guide rail to be fastened rigidly on some of the supports . the critical factor for such an installation is that the guide rail is fastened in an articulated manner on some of the supports , as a result of which the tensile loading to which individual sections of the guide rail are subjected is absorbed by the adjoining sections . with reference to fig3 and 3 a , the links 31 a and 31 b of the two supports 3 a and 3 b located one beside the other , and between which the curved section 43 of the guide rail 4 is located , are connected to one another via a tie bar 6 . by virtue of this tie bar 6 , the tensile forces to which one of the sections 41 and 42 of the guide rail 4 is subjected are transmitted to the respectively other section . fig4 and 4 a illustrate the construction of the supports . as is illustrated by way of the support 3 b , the latter is designed , at its top end , with a more or less horizontally projecting arm 32 b , at the free end of which the link 31 b is mounted about a more or less vertically running axis . in addition , the tie bar 6 is articulated in the central vertical region of the link 31 b . with reference to fig5 and 5 a , the abutting ends of the sub - rails 40 are designed with link plates 61 , 62 and 63 which project beyond the ends thereof and have a bolt 64 passing through them . as a result , the sub - rails 40 are connected to one another in a non - displaceable manner , i . e ., in a translatory sense in the longitudinal direction , although they can be pivoted slightly in relation to one another , as a result of which they can be pivoted in relation to one another in the respective loading regions , with the result that the sought - after sagging of the guide rail 4 is made possible . the cross - sectional profile of the sub - rails 40 , i . e ., of the rail itself , is of little impact with regard to this disclosure . the rail may , for example , take the form as it is disclosed in my copending application [ attorney docket no . wra 33127 ], the disclosure of which is herewith incorporated by reference .	1
the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the following diagrams ; fig1 illustrates the sirna sequences used , and expression of bcl - 2 in hct116 cells . a and b , bcl - 2 sirna sequences , equivalent to bcl - 2 mrna nucleotides 77 - 95 and 354 - 372 respectively ; and c , bcl - x l sirna sequence , nucleotides 347 - 366 ( see wo 03 / 008573 for methods of rna production ). predicted secondary structures with propensity for base - pairing out of register ( dimers ) or for forming stem - loop structures ( loops ) were derived using vector nti . anti - sense rna controls employed bcl - 2 anti - sense nucleotides 354 - 372 , and bcl - x l anti - sense nucleotides 347 - 366 . control sirna ( jiang and milner , 2002 ) and lamin a / c sirna ( elbashir et al ., 2001 ) were also used in this study . d - h , immunoblots of bcl - 2 protein ( arrowed ) in hct116 p53 +/+ and p53 −/− cell lysates using different anti - bcl - 2 antibodies : d , n19 , santa cruz ; e , = c - 2 , santa cruz ; f , = ab - 1 , oncogene ; this antibody gave non - specific cross - reactivity with multiple cellular proteins ( not shown ); g , = ab - 2 , oncogene ; and h , = bd pharmingen . the c - 2 antibody ( santa cruz ) was used in all subsequent experiments . i , immunoblots of p53 and p21 in hct116 p53 +/+ cells at different times after transfection with control sirna as indicated . fig2 illustrates sirna silencing of bcl - 2 induces p53 - dependent apoptosis . isogenic clones of p53 +/+ and p53 −/− hct116 cells were cultured and transfected with sirnas as described previously ( methods ). transfection efficiency = 70 - 80 %. a , immunoblots of bcl - 2 ( closed arrows ), and lamin a / c ( open arrow ). times post - transfection with control sirna , bcl - 2 sirnas and lamin a / c sirna are as indicated . b , phase contrast images of p53 +/+ and p53 −/− hct1 16 cells at 24 and 48 hr post - transfection with control sirna , bcl - 2 sirnas or with lamin a / c sirna . c , apoptotic cells confirmed by dna laddering . m = marker ; lanes 1 = control sirna ; lanes 2 = bcl - 2 ( a ) sirna ; lanes 3 = bcl - 2 ( b ) si - rna . cells were harvested for analysis 48 hr post - tranfection . d , annexin v - positive apoptotic cells detected by facs analysis ( methods ). cells were harvested at 24 and 48 hr post - tranfection as indicated . □= control sirna ; = bcl - 2 ( a ) sirna ; ▪= bcl - 2 ( b ) sirna ; = bcl - 2 ( b ) anti - sense rna . in all subsequent experiments bcl - 2 ( b ) sirna was employed to silence bcl - 2 expression , and apoptosis was confirmed by the independent techniques of dna laddering and annexin v labelling with facs analysis . e , cytochrome c distribution in cells at the time of transfection ( 0 hr ) and release into the cytosol of non - adherent cells collected 48 hr following transfection with bcl - 2 sirna in hct116 p53 +/+ cells . p = pellet fraction ; c = cytosolic fraction . p53 - independent apoptotic pathways in isogenic clones of hct116 cells . a - c , sirna silencing of the anti - apoptotic gene bcl - x l using the sirna sequence shown in fig1 c . a , immunoblot of bcl - x l protein at different times after transfection with control sirna or bcl - x l sirna . b , phase contrast images of cells at 48 and 72 hr post - transfection with control sirna or bcl - x l sirna . c , early apoptotic cells detected by annexin v labelling and facs analysis . cells were harvested for analysis at 48 and 72 hr as indicated . □= control sirna ; ▪= bcl - x l sirna ; = bc1 - x l anti - sense rna . d , apoptosis induced by treatment with sulindac methods ). phase contrast images of cells at 24 and 48 hr post - treatment with sulindac , which activates bax - dependent , p53 - independent apoptosis ( zhang et al ., 2000 ). apoptosis was confirmed by dna laddering and by facs analysis of cells labelled with annexin v ( not shown ). apoptosis following silencing of bcl - 2 or bcl - x l depends upon bax and caspase 2 . a , phase contrast images of isogenic clones of bax ± and bax −/− hct116 cells at 72 hr post - transfection with control sirna , with bcl - 2 sirna or with bcl - x l sirna , as indicated . b , apoptotic cells in isogenic clones of hct116 cells detected by labelling with annexin v and facs analysis . the cells were harvested at 72 hr post - transfection with control sirna , bcl - 2 sirna or bcl - x l sirna as indicated ; = bax ± cells and = bax −/− cells . c , apoptotic cells in hct116 p53 +/+ cells ( the same clone as used in fig2 and 3 ) 72 hr following transfection with caspase 2 sirna in combination with either bcl - 2 sirna or bcl - x l sirna as indicated . apoptosis correlates with p53 status in individual human colorectal carcinoma cell lines following silencing of bcl - 2 expression . cells were transfected with bcl - 2 sirna and apoptotic cells were determined after 48 hr ( as described in fig2 legend and methods ). = cell lines expressing endogenous wild - type p53 ; □= p53 - deficient cell lines . fig6 a and 6 b illustrate the bcl - 2 alpha and bcl - 2 beta mrna and protein sequence . paired isogenic clones of hct116 p53 +/+ and p53 −/− cells ( bunz et al ., 1999 ; zhang et al ., 2000 ) were used . to silence bcl - 2 expression we selected two bcl - 2 mrna target sequences ( fig1 a & amp ; b ). both are 100 % conserved between human and murine bcl - 2 . silencing of bcl - 2 expression was monitored by immunoblotting the bcl - 2 protein . it should be noted that a previous , well controlled study failed to clearly detect bcl - 2 in immunoblots of hct116 cell lysates ( zhang et al ., 2000 ). this observation was confirmed when using the same antibody ( n19 , santa cruz ; fig1 d ). however , other antibodies clearly detect bcl - 2 in the hct116 cells and , importantly , show that bcl - 2 protein levels are equivalent in the p53 +/+ and p53 −/− cells ( fig1 e - h ). the inevitable stress associated with the transfection process was not sufficient to activate p53 as a transcription factor in p53 +/+ cells as evident from the absence of up - regulation of p21 , a p53 target protein ( fig . li ). the bcl - 2 protein fell to barely detectable levels within 24 h transfection with bcl - 2 sirna ( fig2 a ). interestingly , only one of the two bcl - 2 sirnas silenced bcl - 2 expression ( bcl - 2 ( b ); fig2 ) indicating that the mrna sequence homologous to the non - effective sirna ( nucleotides 77 - 95 ; fig1 a ) must somehow be protected from recognition and / or degradation by rna interference . such protection may arise due to localised mrna secondary structure or protein - mrna interactions ( see jiang and milner , 2002 ). control transfections included a random sirna sequence ( control sirna , jiang and milner , 2002 ) and lamin a / c sirna previously shown to suppress lamin a / c protein expression without inducing apoptosis ( elbashir et al ., 2001 ). by 48 h massive apoptosis was observed in the p53 +/+ cells transfected with bcl - 2 sirna ( bcl - 2 ( b ); fig2 b - d ). apoptosis in cells transfected with bcl - 2 anti - sense rna ( anti - sense sequence 354 - 372 ) was negligible ( fig2 d ) and equivalent to that observed for control sirna . this confirms that apoptosis induced by bcl - 2 sirna in p53 +/+ cells is due to rna interference . sirna silencing of lamin a / c failed to induce apoptosis in either the p53 +/+ or p53 −/− cells ( fig2 b ). this demonstrates that the process of rna interference per se is not sufficient to activate apoptosis in hct116 p53 +/+ cells . unexpectedly the p53 −/− cells failed to undergo apoptosis following silencing of bcl - 2 expression ( fig2 b - d ). thus we conclude that selective silencing of bcl - 2 expression induces massive apoptosis of hct116 colorectal cancer cells and that this effect is dependent upon p53 . it has recently been demonstrated that bcl - 2 can regulate an apoptotic pathway that is activated independently of mitochondrial cytochrome c release and apaf - 1 / caspase 9 activation ( marsden et al ., 2002 ). this raises the possibility that p53 may enable this cytochrome c - independent pathway , thus accounting for the observed differences in apoptosis between p53 +/+ and p53 −/− cells following silencing of bcl - 2 ( fig2 ). however , analysis of cytochrome c distribution clearly demonstrates release of cytochrome c into the cytosol in p53 +/+ cells undergoing apoptosis following treatment with bcl - 2 sirna ( fig2 e ). in long exposures of the immunoblots mitochondrial cytochrome c release was also evident in adherent p53 +/+ cells treated with bcl - 2 sirna whereas no cytosolic cytochrome c was detectable in parallel cultures of p53 −/− cells treated with bcl - 2 sirna ( not shown ). these results indicate that bcl - 2 silencing induces p53 - dependent apoptosis via pathway ( s ) that involve the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria . the integrity of p53 - independent apoptotic pathways was next confirmed by silencing the bcl - x l gene , again using rna interference . bcl - x l is an anti - apoptotic gene ( boise et al ., 1993 ) and in colorectal epithelial cells a decrease in the ratio of bcl - x l : bax is sufficient to induce apoptosis ( zhang et al ., 2000 ). therefore we predicted that selective silencing of bcl - x l should induce apoptotic cell death in both p53 +/+ and p53 −/− cells . indeed this proved to be the case . first we ascertained that the selected bcl - x l sirna sequence ( see fig1 c ) effectively reduces bcl - x l protein expression ( fig3 a ), and then demonstrated its capacity to induce apoptosis ( fig3 b - c ). bcl - x l protein levels declined between 24 and 48 hr post - transfection with bcl - x l sirna and subsequently apoptosis was observed in both the p53 +/+ and p53 −/− cells . this demonstrates that p53 is not required for bcl - x l - regulated apoptotic pathway ( s ) in colorectal epithelial cells . further verification of p53 - independent apoptotic pathways was obtained by treating the cells with sulindac which is known to activate bax - dependent apoptosis ( zhang et al ., 2001 ). sulindac induced apoptosis in both p53 +/+ and p53 −/− cells ( fig3 d ; see also zhang et al ., 2000 ). on the basis of these overall results we conclude that the observed lack of apoptosis in p53 −/− cells treated with bcl - 2 sirna ( fig2 ) cannot be attributed to either loss of bax or other apoptotic pathway suppressed by bcl - x l . this is consistent with the isogenic nature of the two cell clones and indicates that p53 is a selective requirement for apoptosis induced by bcl - 2 silencing . bax and caspase 2 are required for apoptosis following silencing of bcl - 2 or bcl - x l . thus far our results indicate that bcl - 2 constitutively suppresses apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells grown in culture and that , following silencing of bcl - 2 expression , the process of apoptosis requires p53 . this is novel and places a pro - apoptotic function of p53 under bcl - 2 regulation . moreover , this pro - apoptotic function of p53 does not require treatment of cells with cytotoxic agents such as 5 - fu . ( note that the process of rna interference by itself is not sufficient to activate p53 - induced apoptosis , as demonstrated by lack of apoptosis in p53 +/+ cells treated with lamin a / c sirna , see above ). in addition , we show that silencing of bcl - x l induces apoptosis in a p53 - independent manner ( fig3 ). this is consistent with previous work identifying bax as a major player in the apoptotic response of colorectal cancer cells , ( ionov et al ., 2000 ; zhang et al ., 2001 ; leblanc et al ., 2002 ) and bcl - x l as its anti - apoptotic counterpart ( when expressed exogenously , zhang et al ., 2001 ). these combined observations led us to reason that bcl - 2 / p53 and bcl - x l / bax might represent functional partners governing apoptosis in human colorectal epithelial cells . within this scenario at least two putative apoptotic pathways might be envisaged : ( i ) bcl - 2 / p53 may define an apoptotic pathway that is essentially independent of bcl - x l / bax ; or ( ii ) bcl - 2 / p53 and bcl - x l / bax may govern inter - related transitions in the apoptotic process . to discriminate between these two alternatives we silenced , individually , bcl - 2 and bcl - x l expression in isogenic clones of bax ± and bax −/− hct116 cells ( note that the apoptotic response of bax ± cells is equivalent to bax +/+ cells ; zhang et al ., 2000 ). sirna silencing of bcl - 2 and of bcl - x l induced massive apoptosis in bax ± cells but failed to induce significant apoptosis in bax −/− cells ( fig4 c and d ). this clearly demonstrates that bax is required for apoptosis in both bcl - 2 - regulated and bcl - x l - regulated pathways . the above results demonstrate that in colorectal carcinoma cells the bcl - 2 and bcl - x l cell death pathways share commonalities in their requirement for bax , but differ in their requirements for p53 . it is possible that p53 is required to prine a pro - apoptotic pathway which is selectively suppressed by bcl - 2 , thus lowering the apoptotic threshold consequent to bcl - 2 silencing . to further dissect the functional links between bcl - 2 , bcl - x l , p53 and bax we next asked if caspase 2 is also involved . apoptosis induced by bcl - 2 or by bcl - x l silencing was blocked when caspase 2 sirna was co - transfected with either bcl - 2 sirna or bcl - x l sirna respectively ( fig4 c ; see lassus et al , 2002 for caspase 2 sirna sequence ). sirna silencing of caspase 2 alone ( fig4 c ), or transfection with anti - sense caspase 2 rna ( not shown ), had no apparent effect on cell viability . overall these results demonstrate that both bax and caspase 2 are required for apoptosis following silencing of either bcl - 2 or bcl - x l in p53 +/+ colorectal cancer cells . this is consistent with recent evidence that caspase 2 enables translocation of bax into the mitochondria and subsequent mitochondrial membrane permeabilisation marked by release of cytochrome c ( marsden et al ., 2002 ). effects of bcl - 2 sirna on individual colorectal carcinoma cell lines of varying p53 status . the above experiments involve isogenic clones of hct116 cells and are thus tightly controlled for genetic variation . to establish the generality of our observations we silenced bcl - 2 in other human colorectal carcinoma cell lines , also defective for dna mismatch repair and with defined p53 status ( see methods ). in each case the presence of wild type p53 correlated with induction of apoptosis detectable 48 hours post - transfection with bcl - 2 sirna , whereas p53 - deficiency correlated with background levels of apoptosis ( fig5 ). these results confirm our observations with isogenic clones of p53 +/+ and p53 −/− hct116 cells and are consistent with concept that bcl - 2 constitutively suppresses p53 - dependent apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells . hct116 clones were cultured in dmem with 10 % fcs . all the cell clones were cultured with penicillin 100 units ml − 1 and streptomycin 100 μg ml − 1 at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 in air . other human colorectal cancer cells lines , also defective for dna mismatch repair ( see branch et al ., 1995 ), were :- lovo and rko ( p53 wild type ); dld1 , ls174t , sw48 and ht29 ( all p53 mutant ). for transfection the cells were trypsinised and sub - cultured into 6 well plates ( 10 cm 2 ) without antibiotics , 1 . 5 × 10 5 cells per well . selected 21 - nucleotide rnas were synthesised and bplc purified ( mwg ; germany ) and annealed into sirna duplexes according to the instructions supplied . 24 h after sub - culture the cells were transfected with sirna formulated into liposomes ( oligofectamine , life technologies ) according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions . the protocol includes a short incubation in serum - free medium but controls demonstrated that this was not sufficient to activate a p53 response ( see results section ). sirna concentration was 0 . 58 μg per 1 . 5 × 10 5 cells per well . the final volume of culture medium was 1 . 5 ml per well . cells were harvested for analysis at various times thereafter as indicated in the results . each experiment with hct116 cells was carried out four or more times . transfection efficiencies were established by transfecting with liposomes containing fitc - dextran ( jiang and milner , 2002 ). anti - sense rna controls were included in each experiment using the respective anti - sense sequences for bcl - 2 ( b ), bcl - x l and caspase 2 ( see fig1 a . and text ). for immunoblotting the transfected cells were trypsinised , washed in pbs and an aliquot removed for cell counting . the remaining cells were lysed in 50 μl lysis buffer ( 150 mm nacl ; 0 . 5 % np40 ; 50 mm tris ph 8 . 0 ) on ice for 30 min . samples were diluted 1 : 1 in 4 × strength laemlli &# 39 ; s buffer . proteins were resolved by 15 % sds - page and electroblotted onto nitrocellulose membrane for antibody detection . molecular weight markers and purified recombinant human p53 were included as markers ( not shown ). the following antibodies were employed : for bcl - 2 = n19 and c - 2 ( sant cruz ); ab - 1 and ab - 2 ( oncogene ; note that ab - 1 gave non - specific background with multiple cellular proteins , not shown ); and bd ( pharmingen ) ( fig1 b ). the c - 2 antibody gave the cleanest results and was subsequently used throughout this work . lamin a / c = antibody 636 ; santa cruz ); bcl - x l = bcl - x antibody ( pharmingen ; this antibody gave a relatively high non - specific background ). p53 = do - 1 antibody ( oncogene ) and caspase 2 = caspase - 2l antibody ( f - 7 ; santa cruz ). visualisation of bound antibodies was by enhanced chemiluminescence ( roche ). cell fractionations and cytochrome c determinations were carried out as described in marsden et al ( 2002 , supplementary information ). cell growth curves were determined by cell counting . induction of apoptosis byi sulindac ( see fig3 ) employed sulindac sulphide 120 μm ( calbiochem ). for cell cycle analysis the cells were harvested , washed with pbs and fixed in 90 % ethanol overnight at - 20 ° c . the fixed cells were pelleted , washed in pbs and resuspended in pbs containing 0 . 1 μg / ml propidium iodide with 200 u / ml rnase a and analysed by facs . apoptotic cells were identified using annexin - v - fluos ( boehringer ) following the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocol . apoptosis was also verified by dna laddering using the suicide - track dna ladder isolation kit ( oncogene ) according to the manfacturer &# 39 ; s instructions . in the present study we have used isogenic cell clones and sirna to obtain defined combinations of pro - and anti - apoptotic gene expression in cells that are otherwise genetically equivalent . our observations indicate a new cell death pathway in which bcl - 2 constitutively suppresses p53 - dependent apoptosis . apoptosis can also be induced by treating the cells with agents such as 5 ′ fu to activate p53 ( zhang et al ., 2000 and results not shown ). this is consistent with established evidence that activated p53 functions up - stream of bcl - 2 in response to genotoxic stress ( see strasser et al ., 1994 ; and reviews by johnstone et al , 2002 ; cory and adams 2002 ). to accommodate our present observations within the context of previous studies we suggest that bcl - 2 constitutively suppresses a novel pro - apoptotic function of p53 and that exposure to genotoxic stress over - rides bcl - 2 suppression by inducing the transactivation potential of p53 . once activated as a transcription factor p53 has the capacity to alter the expression ratios of bcl - 2 and bc1 - x l ( down - regulated ) and bax ( up - regulated ) in favour of apoptosis ( see johnstone et al ., 2002 ). from a clinical point of view this has proved very useful for anti - cancer therapy but carries the inherent risk of non - specific cytotoxicity and genotoxicity caused by p53 - activating agents . the present invention shows that p53 possesses pro - apoptotic properties that appear to be constitutively active , albeit suppressed by bcl - 2 . bcl - 2 is identified as a potential and promising target for anti - cancer therapy for colorectal cancer ( see also reed et al ., 2002 ) and the accessibility of bcl - 2 for sirna silencing is demonstrated . the survival of other epithelial tumours may be similarly susceptible to bcl - 2 silencing . with the development of rna interference the selective silencing of specific genes is now a realistic possibility , and the continual inventive evolution of targeted delivery systems ( see , for example , hood et al ., 2002 ) should enable application of rna interference to prevent and to treat cancer . the present invention also carries important implications for patients with inherited dna mismatch repair deficiencies and associated pre - disposition to colorectal cancer . in particular it argues against the use of sulindac as chemo - preventative in such patients since it is well established that defective mismatch repair renders the bax gene susceptible to mutation and favours clonal expansion of bax - deficient cells . in the present study we demonstrate that bax is an essential mediator of apoptosis regulated by the newly discovered bcl - 2 / p53 pathway ( see above ). it follows that , in patients with mismatch repair defects , any selective pressure for bax - deficient cells may exacerbate tumorogenesis and should be avoided . the constitutive pro - apoptotic function of p53 may be linked with apical apoptosis in the normal colorectal epithelium . if so , failure of apoptosis in colorectal epithelial tumours might reflect inappropriate suppression of intrinsic p53 - induced apoptosis . a strong candidate in this regard is bcl - 2 which constitutively blocks p53 - induced apoptosis and enables the survival of colorectal cancer cells . such a model is consistent with the late onset of p53 mutation in the malignant progression of colorectal cancer . it also re - enforces bcl - 2 as a prime target for development of novel anti - cancer agents . viral homologues of cellular anti - apoptotic genes such as bcl - 2 represent promising targets for the treatment of viral - induced cancers . the silencing of human bcl - 2 expression identifies a bcl - 2 mrna sequence that is accessible for the rnai machinery . only one of two different anti - bcl - 2 sirnas has been found to be effective , underscoring the importance of target sequence selection and verification during the development of any anti - viral therapy based upon rna interference . viral homologues of bcl - 2 ( v - bcl - 2 ) containing viral - specific nucleotide sequences accessible for rnai will represent promising targets for rnai - based anti - viral / anti - cancer therapies . boise , l . h . et al . 1993 . bcl - x , a bcl - 2 - related gene that functions as a dominant regulator of apoptotic cell death . cell 74 , 597 - 608 . branch , p ., hampson , r . and karran , p . 1995 . dna mismatch binding defects , dna damage tolerance , and mutator phenotype in human colorectal , carcinoma cell lines . cancer research 55 , 2304 - 2309 . bunz , f . et al . 1999 . disruption of p53 in human cancer cells alters the responses to chemotherapeutic agents . j . clin . invest 104 , 263 - 269 . cory , s . and adams , j . m . 2002 . the bcl2 family : regulators of the cell life - or - death switch . nature reviews cancer 2 , 647 - 656 . elbashir , s . m . et al . 2001 . duplexes of 21 - nucleotide rnas mediate rna interference in cultured mammalian cells . nature 441 , 494 - 498 . he , t . c ., chan , t . a ., vogelstein , b . & amp ; kinzler , k . w . 1999 . pparδ is an apc - regulated target of nonsteroidal anti - inflammatory drugs . cell 99 , 335 - 345 . hood , j . d . et al . 2000 . tumor regression by targeted gene delivery to the neovasculature . science 296 , 2404 - 2407 . ionov , y ., peinado , m . a ., malkhosyan , s ., shibita , d . & amp ; perucho , m . 1993 . ubiquitous somatic mutations in simple repeated sequences reveal a new mechanism for colon carcinogenesis . nature 363 , 558 - 561 . ionov , y ., yamamoto , h ., krajewsli , s ., reed , j . c . & amp ; perucho , m . 2000 . mutational inactivation of the pro - apoptotic gene bax confers selective advantage during tumour clonal evolution . proc . natl . acad . sci . usa 97 , 10872 - 10877 . jiang , m . & amp ; milner , j . 2002 . selective silencing of viral gene expression in hpv - positive human cervical carcinoma cells treated with sirna , a primer of rna interference . oncogene 21 : 6041 - 6048 lassus , p ., optiz - araya , x . & amp ; lazebnik , y . 2002 . requirement for caspase 2 in stress - induced apoptosis before mitochondrial permeabilisation . science 297 : 1352 - 1354 . johnstone , r . w ., ruefli , a . a . & amp ; lowe , s . w . 2002 . apoptosis : a link between cancer genetics and chemotherapy . cell 108 : 153 - 164 . leblanc , h . et al . 2002 . tumor - cell resistance to death receptor - induced apoptosis through mutational inactivation of the proapoptotic bcl - 2 homologue bax . nature medicine 8 , 274 - 281 . lynch , h . t . 1999 . hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer ( hnpcrc ). cytogenet cell genet . 86 , 130 - 135 . marsden , v . s . et al . 2002 . apoptosis initiated by bcl - 2 - regulated caspase activation independently of the cytochrome c / apaf - 1 / caspase 9 apoptosome . nature 419 : 634 - 637 . rampino , n . et al . 1997 . somatic frameshift mutations in the bax gene in colon cancers of the microsatellite mutator phenotype . science 275 , 967 - 969 . reed , j . c . 2002 . apoptosis - based therapies . nat . rev . drug discov . 1 : 111 - 121 . strasser , a ., harris , a . w ., jacks , t . & amp ; cory , s . 1994 . dna damage can induce apoptosis in proliferating lymphoid cellsvia p53 - independent mechanisms inhibitable by bcl - 2 . cell 79 : 329 - 339 . yamamoto , y ., yin , m . j ., lin , k . m . & amp ; gaynor , r . b . 1999 . sulindac inhibits activation of the nf - kappab pathway . j . biol . chein . 274 , 27307 - 27314 . zhang , l ., yu , j ., park , b . h ., knizler , k . w . & amp ; vogelstein , b . 2000 . role of bax in the apoptotic response to anticancer agents . science 290 : 989 - 992 .	2
referring to the drawings , particularly fig1 and 2 , the machine 10 , illustrated by a vermeer model 475 four wheel drive tractor manufactured by vermeer mfg . corp ., includes the front rigid frame section 12 which has the rigid auxillary frame members 14 defining a housing for the prime mover , the muffler therefore being illustrated at 16 . aft of the frame 12 and integral therewith is the canopy 18 and drivers seat 20 . the housing portion for the prime mover is of low profile so the driver can check the operation of the machine at all times . the frame 12 ( see fig2 ) is connected to the rear frame section 22 by means of the heavy duty universal joint 24 wherein these parts are pivotally connected to the pin 26 through the yoke member 27 in a manner known in the art . the lower arm 28 of the yoke 27 has a side arm 30 to which the rod 32 of the ram 34 is pivotally connected at the pin 36 . the rear frame 22 is also pivoted on a second axis defined by the pin 37 oriented in the yoke at 90 ° to the axis of the pin 26 for full universal action , that is , allowing the front and rear frame sections to rotate on the axis 37 so that the wheels can negotiate obstructions on the grade . the other end of the ram 34 is pivotally connected to the frame 12 by means of the pin 38 . the hydraulic lines leading to and from the ram 34 are omitted for simplicity . each frame part 12 and 22 carries a pair of rubber tired drive wheels , indicated by the front drive wheels 40 and the rear drive wheels 42 , all driven in synchronism from the prime mover from a single transmission providing separate drive shafts ( not illustrated ) connected thereto through fixed axle differential units . the pairs of wheels 40 and 42 are fixed through their axles to the respective frame sections 12 and 22 there being no springs or other suspension means there between . it is obvious that the extension and retraction of the ram 34 will cause the frame parts 12 and 22 supported as they are on their separate pairs of wheels to articulate in a horizontal plane about the pin 26 . also as each wheel negotiates a change in the grade it is free to raise or lower as the case may be . this type of universal joint is of very rugged construction and only allows the frame parts these two degrees of movement , there being little or not tendency for the parts to pivot on a transverse axis . the frame section 12 carries the housing 44 for the gas tank , hydraulic oil tank and the other auxillary equipment for the machine , not involved in this invention except for operability as far as a source of motive power for the drive and hydraulic parts are concerned . across the front of the machine the tool support unit 50 is provided to comprise the transverse box beam 52 and a pair of upright rigid side members 54 and 56 affixed to its ends . the beam 52 extends in spaced relationship in front of the frame portion 14 and carries a pair of longitudinal arms 58 and 60 that extend in spaced relationship along the sides of the frame portion 12 - 14 where they are each attached to the frame by means of the respective pivot pins 62 and 64 , ( see fig7 ) aligned transversely of the frame . the arms 58 and 60 are of equal length and coplanar with the beam 52 . as before stated the frame section 14 of the vermeer machine is very rugged allowing its use for the attachment of the pair of rams 66 and 68 by means of the top pivots 70 and 72 and the bottom pivots 74 and 76 attached to the respective side members 58 and 60 . again the hydraulic lines therefore are omitted in fig1 for simplicity . simultaneous operation of the rams 66 and 68 raises and lowers the tool support means 50 in an arc of relatively long radius about the pivots 62 - 64 . the working tool 80 is illustrated by an arcuate open - bottom housing 82 which carries therein an auger or cutter supported on the shaft 84 carried between the end plates 86 and 88 upon suitable enclosed bearings of a heavy duty type . a separate motor drive for the tool is carried in the housing 90 at one end ( the outboard side ) of the housing 82 , in this instance a chain drive unit is intended so that the motor therefore can be located above the grade and out of the dust and dirt kicked up by the cutter . this motor is driven hydraulically , and under the control of the operator for stopping , starting and speed adjustment . the housing 82 is suitably rigidified by the reinforcing plates 92 spaced therealong which are tied together along the back edge by the box beam 94 . the entire working tool 80 with its housing and drive means 90 is pivotally mounted at one end by the pivot pin 96 carried longitudinally of the frame ( on the inboard side ) and spaced to one side by the upright member 56 of the tool support means 50 . the pin 96 is journaled in the pair of cleats 98 affixed to the side plate 86 . the working tool 80 is vertically supported at about its center point ( transverse the machine ) by the single ram 100 which is pivotally attached to the upright support member 102 , carried central of the box beam 52 and spaced forward of the frame unit 14 , by means of the pivot pin 104 as illustrated . the piston rod 106 of the ram 100 is pivoted to the center or balance point of the entire working tool 80 by means of the pivot pin 108 carried by the box beam 94 . the housing 82 and cross beam 94 are unattached at the end ( outboard side ) opposite the longitudinal pivot pin 96 but may oscillate in an arc in guided relationship against the forward surface of the vertical beam 54 . if desired rollers can be placed therebetween , the purpose being to provide some longitudinal ( fore and aft ) support for the working tool at this end so that the pivot pins 96 and 108 are under no strain as the tool progresses along and does work upon the rough grade 110 . the cuttings produced by the working tool are conveyed toward the outboard side of the machine and deposited therealong so that the wheels 40 and 42 of the machine travel on the finished grade 112 and the inboard side is clear for the placement of the grade reference line 114 supported by the posts 116 spaced therealong and having the vertically adjustable brackets 118 as are known in this art . if desired the rear top portion of the housing 82 can be open and an endless belt conveyor provided therealong on which the cutter deposites the earth cuttings for conveyance to the inboard side of the machine . it is clear that the operation of the ram 100 upon the cross pin 108 will raise and lower the working tool 80 upon the pivot pin 96 to make slope adjustments , and the simultaneous operation of the rams 66 and 68 will raise the working tool 80 in a substantially vertical manner to make the grade adjustments . the upright member 56 is provided with an extension 119 which carries the grade sensor 120 by means of the adjustable hand operated jack 122 , upon the side bracket 124 which is also adjustable in relation to the jack . the grade sensor has its sensing arm 126 extending over and in light contact with the top of the grade line 114 . the extension 119 also provides support for the hand operated jack 128 , supporting at its end the steering sensor 130 . the pendent sensing arm 132 of the steering sensor 130 rides along the inside of the grade line 114 . the purpose of the jacks 122 and 128 is to provide initial manual adjustment of the sensors to bring them into proper position in relation to the grade line 114 while having the rams 66 , 68 and 100 at about their mid - points of extension so that maximum travel in each direction is had . as previously described , the machine is articulated at the center and steering is performed by the operation of the ram 34 . this function is through the servo - valve 132 ( fig7 ) and hydraulic lines 134 - 136 in a manner known in the art . in fig3 the steering function of the machine is shown during the step of negotiating a right turn as sensed by the steering sensor 130 to turn the front portion of the machine in the direction of the arrow c as the back portion of the machine is turned in the direction of the arrow b by the ram 34 , with the machine traveling in the direction of the arrow 140 . in fig4 the opposite steering function is being performed wherein the front of the machine is being turned in the direction of the arrow c and the back portion is being turned in the direction of the arrow b under the guidance of the steering sensor 130 . in both of these maneuvers the primary swing of the frame parts is in the rear section 22 and the front section 12 remains on a practically straight path . referring to fig5 a slope control adjustment is illustrated by the arrow s , being made by the extension of the ram 100 to pivot the tool 80 about the longitudinal axis 96 . this function is under the control of the gravity operated slope sensor 142 located central of the frame 12 in a protected position ( see fig7 ) on the frame 12 . in fig6 the machine is shown responding to a grade correction as sensed by the grade sensor 120 ( not shown ), wherein the rams 66 and 68 are operated simultaneously to lower the arms 58 and 60 , the tool support unit 50 , along with the tool 80 , in making a grade adjustment indicated by the arrow g . it is to be noted that the lower forward edge of the housing 80 is beveled at 144 so that it will not dig into the grade during normal grade adjustments . fig7 illustrates the general geometry of the tool suspension system along with some of the parts for control of the servo - hydraulic system . the engine 146 drives the pump 150 and provides high pressure oil in the line 152 from the supply tank 154 , inlet line 156 , connected through a filter and return line 158 via the cooler 160 . the high pressure oil line 152 leads to the branch line 162 and the solenoid valve 164 supplying the servo - valve 132 . a second branch line 166 leads back through the solenoid valve 168 to the supply tank 154 . it is apparent that the grade sensor 120 and the steering sensor 130 are suitably connected electrically from the battery 170 through the amplifier 172 for control of the servo - valve 132 whereby those portions of the valve 132 are activated to accomplish , respectively , a grade correction by means of the simultaneous operation of the pair of rams 66 and 68 through the pairs of hydraulic lines 174 - 176 connected by branch lines to the top and bottom of the cylinders of their rams and a slope correction by means of the operation of the ram 100 through the hydraulic lines 178 - 180 . the pump 150 also supplies high pressure oil through the line 182 to the motor 184 to drive the cutter , and the return line 186 conveys the oil from this motor back to the supply 154 . the valve 188 controls the speed of the motor 184 while the valve 190 is the main control valve for all of the hydraulic systems . the main electrical switch for the grade , slope and steering controls is illustrated at 192 . the connections for the slope control 142 to the servo - valve 132 are not shown . in fig7 the geometric relationship of the rams 66 and 68 and the ram 100 to each other and to the tool support 50 and pivots 62 - 64 is an important consideration as concerns the accuracy and sensitivity of the slope and grade adjustments . the rams 66 - 68 are located sufficiently ahead of the mid - point between the center line of the pivots 62 - 64 and behind the center line of the tool so that the upward thrust during working and downward weight of the tool 80 are suitably balanced and the tool in a sense floats along as the machine progresses , there being very little actual working forces on these rams during operation . similarly the ram 100 in addition to being central of the rams 66 - 68 and ahead of them is at approximately the central balance point of the tool 80 thereby reducing the lateral thrusts that would otherwise be placed upon the longitudinal end pivot 96 or the central pivot 104 . during operation the tool 80 practically floats on the pivot 104 . during the operation of the machine the tool 80 tends to maintain the front frame portion 12 in its transverse position along the path of travel , indicated by the arrow 140 . when a steering correction is called for by the steering sensor 130 and the ram 34 extends , for example , to make a right hand correction , the rear section 22 of the frame tends to move outwardly from the string line , more than the front section 12 of the machine moves inwardly , or to the right . this is due to the resistance of the tool 80 against twisting in its horizontal plane because of contact with the grade . the reverse action is the same for a left hand steering correction . consequently a relatively greater ram movement to accomplish a given steering correction is necessary with the working tool suspended in this manner across the front of an articulated frame than would be required with no tool on the machine . a decided advantage results in that a very small movement of the ram 34 can accomplish a finite direction adjustment within the sensitivity of the steering sensor which can be used to its ultimate capacity without lag or hunting in the system . the tool naturally offers greater resistance to the hydraulic rams 66 and 68 in making a downward correction ( extending ) than in making an upward correction ( retracting ) but the slope adjustments , accomplished by the ram 100 are practically unimpeded in either direction . the extension of the rams 66 and 68 tends to either lower the tool 80 or raise the front wheels 40 from the grade . since the weight of the machine is far greater than the downward thrust necessary to cause the tool to dig deeper in making a grade adjustment , the geometry of the placement of the rams 66 - 68 ahead of the axles for the front wheels comes into play by giving the side beams 58 and 60 less lifting leverage than lowering leverage .	8
thick lines designate k character ( kl bit ) wide parallel bus lines . thinner contiguous connecting signal lines depict l bit wide lines . typically , control lines are not depicted ; those that are preferably necessary to understand procedures , are typically drawn as dash - dot - dash lines fig1 - 2 , taken together , form a simplified block diagram of a serial - parallel arithmetic logic unit ( alu ) constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the apparatus of fig1 - 2 , preferably include the following components : single multiplexers — controlled switching elements which select one signal or character stream from a multiplicity of inputs of signals and direct it this chosen signal to a single output . multiplexers are marked m 1 to m 13 , and are intrinsic parts of larger elements . the multiplexer and pre - adder , 390 , is an array of k l + 1 multiplexers , and chooses which of the four k or k + 1 character inputs are to be added into the csa , 410 . the b ( 70 ) and 80 ), sa ( 130 ), sb ( 180 ), and n ( 200 ) and ( 210 ) are the four main serial main registers in a preferred embodiment . the s a is conceptually and practically redundant , but can considerably accelerate very long number computations , and save volatile memory resources , especially in the case where the length of the modulus is 2 · k · m characters long . serial adders and serial subtractors are logic elements that have two serial character inputs and one serial character output , and summate or perform subtraction on two long strings of characters . components 90 and 500 are subtractors , 330 , and 460 are serial adders . the propagation time from input to output is very small . serial subtractors 90 and 500 typically reduce b * to b if b * is larger than or equal to n and / or s * to s if s * is larger than or equal to n . serial subtractor 480 , is used , as part of a comparator component to detect if b * will be larger than or equal to n . full adder 330 , adds the two character streams which feed the load buffer 340 , with a value that is equal to the sum of the values in the 290 and 320 load buffers . fast loaders and unloaders , 10 and 20 , and 30 and 40 , respectively , are devices to accelerate the data flow from the cpu controller . typically , these devices eliminate the necessity for other direct memory access components . 20 and 40 are for reversing the data word , as is necessary for reversing the data words for reverse format gf ( 2 q ) multiplications . data in , 50 , is a parallel in serial out device , as the present alu device is a serial fed systolic processor , and data is fed in , in parallel , and processed in serial . data out , 60 , is a serial in parallel out device , for outputting results from the coprocessor . the quotient generator is that part of fig2 , which generates a quotient character at each iteration of the dividing mechanism . flush signals on bd , 240 ; on s * d , 250 ; and on nd , 260 , are made to assure that the last k + 1 characters can flush out the csa . a second embodiment would reconcile the r data at the end of the second phase , and would perform a single parallel data dump to flush out the csa . load buffers r 1 , 290 ; r 2 , 320 ; and r 3 , 340 are serial in parallel out shift registers adapted to receive the three possible more than zero multiplicand combinations . latches l 1 , 360 ; l 2 , 370 ; and l 3 , 380 ; are made to receive the outputs from the load buffers , thereby allowing the load buffers , the temporal enablement to process the next phase of data before this data is preferably latched into l 1 , l 2 , and l 3 . latch l 0 is typically a “ virtual ” constant all zero input into 390 , which typically is not implemented in latched logic . y 0 sense , 430 , is the logic device , which determines the number of times the modulus is accumulated , in order that a k character string of ls zeros will exit at z in { circle around (×)} multiplications . one character delay devices 100 , 220 and 230 are inserted in the respective data streams to accommodate for computation synchronization between the data preparation devices in fig1 , and the data processing devices in fig1 . the k character delay shift register 470 , synchronizes n and the subtractor subtracts n from the result after disregarding the right hand output zero character string for the larger than n comparison . the carry save accumulator is almost identical to a serial / parallel multiplier , excepting for the fact that three different larger than zero values can be summated , instead of the single value as conventionally is latched onto the input of the s / p multiplier . when used in polynomial based computations “ all carry dependent ” functions are disabled . the insert last carry , 440 , is used to insert the ( m · k l + 1 )&# 39 ; th bit of the s stream , as the s register is only m - k characters long . the borrow / overflow detect , 490 , typically detects if a result is larger than or equal to the modulus ( from n ), or in gf ( p ) computations . in polynomial based computations the overflow is detected if the first significant result bit is a one . the control mechanism is not depicted , but is preferably understood to be a set of cascaded counting devices with finite state machines for specific functions with switches set for systolic data flow in both gf ( p ) and gf ( 2 q ). for modular multiplication in the prime and composite prime field of numbers , we define a and b to be the multiplicand and the multiplier , and n to be the modulus which is typically larger than a or b . n also denotes the register where the value of the modulus is stored . n , may , in some instances , be smaller than a . we define a , b , and n as m · k = n character long operands . each k character group will be called a segment , the size of the group defined by the size of the multiplying device . then a , b , and n are each m characters long . for ease in following the step by step procedural explanations , assume that a , b , and n are 512 bits long , ( n = 512 ); assume that k is 64 characters long because of the present cost effective length of such a multiplier , and data manipulation speeds of simple cpus ; and m = 8 is the number of segments in an operand and also the number of iterations in a squaring or multiplying loop with a 512 bit operand . all operands are positive integers . more generally , a , b , n , n , k and m may assume any suitable values . in non - modular functions , the n and s registers can be used for temporary storage of other arithmetic operands . we use the symbol , ≡, to denote congruence of modular numbers , for example 16 ≡ 2 mod 7 , and we say 16 is congruent to 2 modulo 7 as 2 is the remainder when 16 is divided by 7 . when we write y mod n ≡ x mod n ; both y and x may be larger than n ; however , for positive x and y , the remainders will be identical . note also that the congruence of a negative integer y , is y + u · n , where n is the modulus , and if the congruence of y is to be less than n , u will be the smallest integer which will give a positive result . we use the symbol , ¥, to denote congruence in a more limited sense . during the processes described herein , a value is often either the desired value , or equal to the desired value plus the modulus . for example x ¥ 2 mod 7 . x can be equal to 2 or 9 . we say x has limited congruence to 2 mod 7 . in the polynomial based field , the analog is a monic value , which we say is larger than n , and is reduced by xoring to the modulus . as in gf ( 2 q ), there is no overflow , this yen value is typically disregarded . when we write x = a mod n , we define x as the remainder of a divided by n ; e . g ., 3 = 45 mod 7 . in number theory the modular multiplicative inverse is a basic concept . for example , the modular multiplicative inverse of x is written as x − 1 , which is defined by x · x − 1 mod n = 1 . if x = 3 , and n = 13 , then x − 1 = 9 , i . e ., the remainder of 3 · 9 divided by 13 is 1 . the acronyms ms and ls are used to signify most significant and least significant when referencing bits , characters , segments , and full operand values , as is conventional in digital nomenclature . throughout this specification n designates both the value n , and the name of the shift register which contains n . an asterisk superscript on a value , denotes that the value , as stands , is potentially incomplete or subject to change . a is the value of the number which is to be exponentiated , and n is the character length of the n operand . after initialization when a is “ montgomery normalized ” to a * ( a = 2 n · a — to be explained later ) a and n are constant values throughout the intermediate step in the exponentiation . during the first iteration , after initialization of an exponentiation , b is equal to a . b is also the name of the register wherein the accumulated value , which finally equals the desired result of exponentiation resides . s designates a temporary value , and s , s a and s b designate , also , the register or registers in which all but the single ms bit of s is stored . ( s * concatenated with this ms bit is identical to s .) s ( i − 1 ) denotes the value of s at the outset of the i &# 39 ; th iteration ; so denotes the ls segment of an s ( i )&# 39 ; th value . we refer to the process in the gf ( p ) field ( defined later ) p ( a · b ) n as multiplication in the p field , or sometimes , simply , a multiplication operation . as we have used the standard structure of a serial / parallel multiplier as the basis for constructing a double acting serial parallel multiplier , we differentiate between the summating part of the multiplier , which is based on carry save accumulation , ( as opposed to a carry look ahead adder , or a ripple adder , the first of which is considerably more complicated and the second very slow ), and call it a carry save adder or accumulator , and deal separately with the preloading mechanism and the multiplexer and latches , which allow us to simultaneously multiply a times b and c times d , while continuously summate both results with a previous result , s , e . g ., a · b + c · d + s , converting this accumulator into a more versatile engine . additional logic is added to this multiplier in order to provide for an anticipated sense operation necessary for modular reduction and serial summation necessary to provide for modular arithmetic and ordinary integer arithmetic on very large numbers . the following description refers to montgomery arithmetic in the gf ( p ) of numbers . the present device may be used for montgomery arithmetic on polynomial based numbers in gf ( 2 q ), but would be degraded in performance , as computations would be in the p field , where all executable operands are multiplied by a factor of 2 n . in a classic approach for computing a modular multiplication , a · b mod n , the remainder of the product a · b is computed by a division process . implementing a conventional division of large operands is more difficult to perform than serial / parallel multiplications . using montgomery &# 39 ; s modular reduction method , division is essentially replaced by multiplications using two precomputed constants . in the procedure demonstrated herein , there is only one precomputed constant , which is a function of the modulus . this constant is , or can be , computed using this alu device . a simplified presentation of the montgomery process , as is used in this device is now provided , followed by a complete preferred description . if we have an odd number ( an ls bit one ), e . g ., 1010001 (= 81 10 ) we can always transform this odd number to an even number ( a single ls bit of zero ) by adding to it another fixing , compensating odd number , e . g ., 1111 (= 15 10 ); as 1111 + 1010001 = 1100000 ( 96 10 ). in this particular case , we have found a number that produced five ls zeros , because we knew in advance the whole string , 81 , and could easily determine a binary number which we could add to 81 , and would produce a new binary number that would have as many ls zeros as we might need . this fixing number must have a right hand one , else it has no effect on the progressive ls characters of a result . if our process is a clocked serial / parallel carry save process , where it is desired to have a continuous number of ls zeros , and wherein at each clock cycle we only have to fix the next bit , at each clock it is sufficient to add the fix , if the next bit were to be a one or not to add the fix if the anticipated bit were to be a zero . however , in order not to cause interbit overflows ( double carries ), this fix is preferably summated previously with the multiplicand , to be added into the accumulator when the relevant multiplier bit is one , and the y sense also anticipates a one . now , as in modular arithmetic , we only are interested in the remainder of a value divided by the modulus , we know that we can add the modulus any number of times to a value , and still have a value that would have the same remainder . this means that we can add y · n = σ y i · r i · n to any integer , and still have the same remainder ; y being the number of times we add in the modulus , n , to produce the required kl right hand zeros . as described , the modulus that we add can only be odd . ( methods exist wherein even moduli are defined as r i times the odd number that results when i is the number of ls zeros in the even number .) montgomery interleaved reductions typically reduce storage requirements , and the cost effective size of the multiplication devices . this is especially useful when performing public key cryptographic functions where we multiply one large integer , e . g ., n = 1024 bit , by another same length large integer ; a process that would ordinarily produce a double length integer . we can add in ns ( the modulus ) enough times to a · b = x or a · b + s = x during the process of multiplication ( or squaring ) so that we will have a number , z , that has n ls zeros , and , at most , n + 1 ms characters . we can continue using such numbers , disregarding the ls n characters , if we remember that by disregarding these zeros , we have divided the desired result by r a . when the ls n characters are disregarded , and we only use the most significant n ( or n + 1 ) characters , then we have effectively multiplied the result by r − n , the modular inverse of r n . if we would subsequently re - multiply this result by r n mod n ( or r n ) we would obtain a value congruent to the desired result ( having the same remainder ) as a · b + s mod n . as is seen , using mm , the result is preferably multiplied by r 2n to overcome the r − n parasitic factor reintroduced by the mm . a · b + s mod n =( 12 · 11 + 10 ) mod 13 =( 1100 · 1011 + 1010 ) 2 mod 1011 2 . l = 1 , r = 2 we will add in 2 i n whenever a fix is necessary on one of the n ls bits . and the result is 10001 0000 2 mod 13 = 17 · 2 4 mod 13 . as 17 is larger than 13 we subtract 13 , and the result is : in montgomery arithmetic we utilize only the ms non - zero result , 4 , and effectively remember that the real result has been divided by 2 n ; n zeros having been forced onto the mm result . we have added in ( 8 + 2 )· 13 = 10 · 13 which effectively multiplied the result by 2 4 mod 13 ≡ 3 . in effect , had we used the superfluous zeros , we can say that we have performed , a · b + y · n + s −( 12 · 11 + 10 · 13 + 10 ) in one process , which will be described possible on a preferred embodiment . in summary , the result of a montgomery multiplication is the desired result multiplied by 2 − n . to retrieve the previous result back into a desired result using the same multiplication method , we would have to montgomery multiply the previous result by 2 2n , which we will call h , as each mm leaves us with a parasitic factor of 2 − n . the montgomery multiply function p ( a · b ) v performs a multiplication modulo n of the a · b product into the p field . ( in the above example , where we derived 4 ). the retrieval from the p field back into the normal modular field is performed by enacting p on the result of p ( a · b ) n using the precomputed constant h . now , if p ≡( a · b ) n , it follows that p ( p · h ) n ≡ a · b mod n ; thereby performing a normal modular multiplication in two p field multiplications . montgomery modular reduction averts a series of multiplication and division operations on operands that are n and 2n characters long , by performing a series of multiplications , additions , and subtractions on operands that are n or n + 1 characters long . the entire process yields a result which is smaller than or equal to n . for given a , b and odd n there is always a q , such that a · b + q · n will result in a number whose n ls characters are zero , or : this means that we have an expression that is 2n characters long ( with a possible one bit overflow ), whose n ls characters are zero . now , for radix r = 2 l ; let i · r n ≡ 1 mod n ( i exists for all odd n ). multiplying both sides of the previous equation by i yields the following congruences : from the left side of the equation : p · i · r n ≡ p mod n ; ( remember that i · r n ≡ 1 mod n ) this also means that a parasitic factor i = r − n mod n is introduced each time a p field multiplication is performed . and we call this “ multiplication of a times b in the p field ”, or montgomery multiplication . the retrieval from the p field can be computed by operating p on p · h , making : we can derive the value of h by substituting p in the previous congruence . p ( p · h ) n ≡( a · b · i )( h )( i ) mod n ; ( see that a · b · i ← p ; h ← h ; i ← and any multiplication operation introduces a parasitic i ) if h is congruent to the multiple inverse of i 2 then the congruence is valid , therefore : ( h is a function of n and we call it the h parameter ) in conventional montgomery methods , to enact the p operator on a · b , the following process may be employed , using the precomputed constant j : 2 ) y =( x · j ) mod r n ( only the n ls characters are necessary ) 4 ) s = z / r n ( the requirement on j is that it forces z to be divisible by r n ) 5 ) p ¥ s mod n ( n is to be subtracted from s , if s ≧ n ) in order that z be divisible by r n ( the n ls characters of z are preferably zero ) and the following congruence will exist : [ a · b +( a · b · j mod r n )· n ] mod r n = 0 in order that this congruence will exist , n · j mod r n is congruent to − 1 or : j , therefore , is a precomputed constant which is a function of n only . however , in a machine that outputs a mm result , character by character , provision should be made to add in ns at each instance where the output character in the ls string would otherwise have been a zero , thereby obviating the necessity of precomputing j and subsequently computing y = a · b · j mod r n , as y can be detected character by character using hardwired logic . we have also described that this method can only work for odd ns . therefore , as is apparent , the process described employs three multiplications , one summation , and a maximum of one subtraction , for the given a , b , n , and a precomputed constant to obtain p ( a · b ) n . using this result , the same process and a precomputed constant , h , ( a function of the module n ) we are able to find a · b mod n . as a can also be equal to b , this basic operator can be used as a device to square or multiply in the modular arithmetic . the previous section describes a method for modular multiplication which involved multiplications of operands which were all n characters long , and results which required 2n + 1 characters of storage space . using montgomery &# 39 ; s interleaved reduction as described in p1 , it is possible to perform the multiplication operations with shorter operands , registers , and hardware multipliers ; enabling the implementation of an electronic device with relatively few logic gates . first we will describe how the device can work , if at each iteration of the interleave , we compute the number of times that n is added , using the j 0 constant . later , we describe how to interleave , using a hardwire derivation of y 0 , which will eliminate the j 0 + phase of each multiplication {( 2 ) in the following example }, and enable us to integrate the functions of two separate serial / multipliers into the new single generic multiplier which can perform a · b + c · n + s at better than double speed using similar silicon resources . using a k character multiplier , it is convenient to define segments of k character length ; there are m segments in n characters ; i . e ., m · k = n . j 0 will be the ls segment of j . j 0 ≡− n 0 − 1 mod r k ( j 0 exists as n is odd ). note , the j and j 0 constants are compensating numbers that when enacted on the unreduced output , tell us how many times to add the modulus , in order to have a predefined number of least significant zeros . we will later describe an additional advantage to the present serial device ; since , as the next serial bit of output can be easily determined , we can always add the modulus ( always odd ) to the next intermediate result . this is the case if , without this addition , the output character , the ls serial bit exiting the csa , would have been a “ 1 ”; thereby adding in the modulus to the previous even intermediate result , and thereby promising another ls zero in the output string . remember , congruency is maintained , as no matter how many times the modulus is added to the result , the remainder is constant . in the conventional use of montgomery &# 39 ; s interleaved reduction , p ( a · b ) n is enacted in m iterations as described in steps ( 1 ) to ( 5 ): initially s ( 0 )= 0 ( the ¥ value of s at the outset of the first iteration ). 1 ) x = s ( i − 1 )+ a i − 1 · b ( a i − 1 is the i − 1 &# 39 ; th character of a ; s ( i − 1 ) is the value 2 ) y 0 = x 0 · j 0 mod r k ( the ls k characters of the product of x 0 · j 0 ) ( the process uses and computes the k ls characters only , e . g ., the least significant 64 characters ) in the preferred implementation , this step is obviated , because in a serial machine y 0 can be anticipated character by character . 4 ) s ( i )= z / r k ( the k ls characters of z are always 0 , therefore z is always divisible by r k . this division is tantamount to a k character right shift as the ls k characters of z are all zeros ; or as will be seen in the circuit , the ls k characters of z are simply disregarded . 5 ) s ( i )= s ( i ) mod n ( n is to be subtracted from those s ( i )&# 39 ; s which are larger than n ). finally , at the last iteration ( after the subtraction of n , when necessary ), c = s ( m )= p ( a · b ) n . to derive f = a · b mod n , the p field computation , p ( c · h ) n , is performed . it is desired to know , in a preferred embodiment , that for all s ( i )&# 39 ; s , s ( i ) is smaller than 2n . this also means , that the last result ( s ( m )) can always be reduced to a quantity less than n with , at most , one subtraction of n . we observe that for operands which are used in the process : s ( i − 1 )& lt ; r n + 1 ( the temporary register can be one bit longer than the b or n register ), s ( i )= z / r k ( the value of s at the end of the process , before a possible subtraction ) x max = s max + a i · b & lt ; r n + 1 − 1 +( r k − 1 )( r n − 1 ) q max = y 0 n & lt ;( r k − 1 )( r n − 1 ) and as z max is divided by r k : because n min & gt ; r n − r , s ( m ) max is always less than 2 · n min , and therefore , one subtraction is all that is necessary on a final result . s ( m ) max − n min =( r n + 1 − r 1 − 1 )−( r n − 1 )= r n − 4 & lt ; n min . the following computations in the hexadecimal format clarify the meaning of the interleaved method : n = a59 , ( the modulo ), a = 99b , ( the multiplier ), b = 5c3 ( the multiplicand ), n = 12 , r = 2 , ( the character length of n ), k = 4 , ( the size in characters of the multiplier and also the size of a segment ), and m = 3 , as n = k · m . j 0 = 7 as 7 · 9 ≡− 1 mod 16 and h ≡ 2 2 · 12 mod a59 ≡ 44b . the expected result is f ≡ a · b mod n ≡ 99b · 5c3 mod a59 ≡ 375811 mod a59 = 220 16 . x = s ( 0 )+ a 0 · b = 0 + b · 5 c 3 = 3f61 step 1 y 0 = x 0 · j 0 mod r k = 7 ( y 0 — hardwire anticipated in supermap ) x = s ( 1 )+ a 1 · b = 87 d + 95 c 3 = 3c58 step 2 y 0 = x 0 · j 0 mod r k = 8 . 7 mod 2 4 = 8 ( hardwire anticipated ) x = s ( 2 )+ a 2 · b = 8 f 2 + 9 · 5 c 3 = 3 ccd step 3 y 0 = d · 7 mod 2 4 = b ( hardwire anticipated ) x = s ( 0 )+ c 0 · h = 0 + 1 · 44 b = 44 b step 1 x = s ( 1 )+ c 1 · h = 8 ad + 9 . 44 b = 2f50 step 2 x = s ( 2 )+ c 2 · h = 2 f 5 + 0 · 44 b = 2 f 5 step 3 if at each step we disregard k ls zeros , we are in essence multiplying the n ms characters by r k . likewise , at each step , the i &# 39 ; th segment of the multiplier is also a number multiplied by r ik , giving it the same rank as s ( i ). it can also be noted that in another preferred embodiment , wherein it is of some potential value to know the j 0 constant , if a i · b + s = 1 ; then y 0 =− n 0 − 1 = j 0 the following derivation of a sequence [ d . knuth , the art of computer programming , vol . 2 : seminumerical algorithms , addison - wesley , reading mass ., hereinafter referred to as “ knuth ”, explains a sequence of squares and multiplies , which implements a modular exponentiation . after precomputing the montgomery constant , h = 2 2n , as this device can both square and multiply in the p field , we compute : let e ( j ) denote the j bit in the binary representation of the exponent e , starting with the ms bit whose index is 1 and concluding with the ls bit whose index is q , we can exponentiate as follows for odd exponents : a * ¥ p ( a · h ) n a * is now equal to a · 2 n . b ¥ p ( b · a ) n e ( 0 )= 1 ; b is the last desired temporary result multiplied by 2 ″, after the last iteration , the value b is ¥ to a e mod n , and c is the final value . a = p ( a · h ) n = a · i − 2 i = a · i − 1 mod n b = p ( b · b ) n which produces : a 2 ( i − 1 ) 2 · i = a 2 · i − 1 j = 3 b = p ( b · b ) n = a 2 ( i − 1 ) 2 · i = a 4 · i − 1 e ( 3 )= 1 b = p ( b · a ) n =( a 4 · i − 1 )( a · i − 1 )· i = a 5 · i − 1 j = 4 b = p ( b · b ) n = a 10 · i − 2 · i = a 10 · i − 1 as e ( 4 ) was odd , the last multiplication will be by a , to remove the parasitic i − 1 . b = p ( b · a ) n = a 10 · i − 1 · a · i = a 11 a method for computing the h parameter by a reciprocal process is described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 513 , 133 . reference is now made to fig3 , which is a simplified block diagram showing how the present invention may be implemented in smart cards and other security devices . an internal bus , 500 , links components including a cpu , 502 , a ram , 504 , non - volatile memory , 506 , controlled access eeprom , 508 , and modular arithmetic coprocessor , 510 . as shown herein , the coprocessor , 510 , is connected via data , 512 , and control , 514 , registers to the internal bus , 500 . the controlled access rom , 508 , is connected via address and data latch means , 516 , and a control and test register , 518 . various other devices may be attached to the bus such as a physical sequence random generator , 520 , security logic , 522 , smart card and external port interfacing circuitry , 524 , and 526 , respectively . when a cryptographic program , such as verifying an rs a signature is executed , it may require modular arithmetic functions such as modular exponentiation . the cryptographic program that calls the cryptographic function is preferably run on the cpu , 502 . reference is now made to fig4 , which is another simplified block diagram of an implementation of the present invention for use in a smart card . parts that are the same as those shown in fig3 are given the same reference numerals and are not described again , except as necessary for an understanding of the present embodiment . in fig4 the cpu 502 is shown with an external accumulator 7350 . data disable switch , 7340 , detaches the cpu accumulator from the data bus 500 , while unloading data from the arithmetic coprocessor enables direct transfer of data from the smap to memory . fig5 is a simplified block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a data register bank , 6205 , within a coprocessor 6075 , as depicted in coprocessors of fig2 , 6 and 7 , with a j 0 generator , wherein the j 0 generator typically compiles an l bit primary zero forcing function . the coprocessor 6075 is connected to a data bus with a cpu as in previous figures . a register bank , 6205 , comprises a b register 6070 , an a register 6130 , an s register 6180 , and an n register 6200 . the outputs of each of the registers are connected to a serial data switch and serial process conditioner 6020 , which in turn is connected to an operational unit , 6206 , which carries out the modular arithmetic operations . connected between the n register , 6200 , and the operational unit , 6206 , is a j 0 generator , 552 . in the embodiment the j 0 generator compiles an l bit primary zero forcing function for use in the modular arithmetic functions described above . fig6 is a simplified internal block diagram of the operational unit of fig5 . the unit , preferably supports accelerated squaring operations , in that the additional y 0 b 0 serial buffer accepts y 0 in the first phase , and in the second phase a modular reduced b 0 for a subsequent squaring operation , wherein it is found that b is larger than n . reference is now made to fig7 a , which is a block diagram of the main computational part of the operational unit of fig6 . numbers appearing in circles relate to the sequence diagrams of fig7 b and 7d . reference is now made to fig7 b , which is an event timer pointer diagram showing progressively the process leading to and including the first iteration of a squaring operation . reference is now made to fig7 c which is a generalized event sequence showing a method of eliminating the next montgomery squaring delays in a first iteration of a squaring sequence . circled numbers refer to fig7 a , 7 b and 7 d . reference is now made to fig7 d which is a generalized event timer pointer diagram illustrating the timing of the computational output of the first iteration of a squaring operation . reference is now made to fig8 a , a set of look up tables , which typically show the choices of j 0 , which is the negative of the multiplicative inverse over modulus 2 l of the right hand character of n 0 . as n 0 is always either monic for gf ( 2 q ) or odd for gf ( p ), j 0 always exists . in fig8 a and 8b , we refer to this right hand character of the modulus as n 0 . we refer to n 0j as the j &# 39 ; th bit of the locally defined n 0 character fig8 b is a schematic for designing either a 4 bit or a 2 bit y 0 zero forcing function character . the variable inputs into the force function are the n 0 bits ( constant throughout a multiplication ), the l , s 0 bits , and the l right hand bits of the product of the l multiplier and multiplicand bits , a i0 and b 0j , and the carry switch , l , which determines whether functions work in gf ( 2 q ) or gf ( p ). the a and b bits are input into a { circle around (×)} multiplier and ⊕ added to the s 0 . when l = 0 , all carries are disabled . it is appreciated that various features of the invention , which are , for clarity , described in the contexts of separate embodiments , may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment . conversely , various features of the invention , which are , for brevity , described in the context of a single embodiment , may also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination . it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art , that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove . rather , the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the various features described hereinabove as well as variations and modifications thereof , which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description which are not in the prior art . in the following claims , symbols such as have the meanings given in the preceding description .	6
in the description which follows , like parts are generally marked throughout the specification and drawing with the same reference numerals , respectively . referring to fig1 a fluid sampling tool 2 , representing the high pressure sampler bottle , is lowered into an oil and gas wellbore prior to performing a drill stem test , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art . an apparatus and method of obtaining a reservoir fluid sample is disclosed and claimed in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 903 , 765 and 4 , 665 , 983 ; both of these disclosures having been referred , they are incorporated into the specification by express reference thereto . after obtaining a sample of fluid , the fluid sampling tool 2 , with high pressure sampler bottle contained within , are pulled out of the wellbore . the high pressure sampler bottle can be detached from the downhole tool apparatus ; it should be noted that the pressure contained within the sampler bottle has not been allowed to bleed off during this removal stage . in accordance with the teachings of the present invention , the sampler bottle , which may also be referred to as a sampler vessel , can now be drained into a sealed drain bottle , which may also be referred to as a drain vessel . as will be more fully understood following the detailed description of the present invention , the draining of the sampler bottle , and determination of the bubble point pressure can be carried out at the well site because of the compact size of the hydraulic draining circuit . referring now to fig3 the hydraulic circuit of the present invention is generally shown at 100 . the apparatus of the present invention comprises a fluid reservoir 102 which is filled with a suitable fluid such as distilled water 104 . other suitable fluids such as silicon oil can be used . the fluid reservoir is connected to first conduit 106 , the first conduit 106 being attached at the bottom 108 of the fluid reservoir 102 . the high pressure sampler bottle 4 is shown schematically in fig3 . sampler bottle 4 includes an inlet face 6 and an outlet face 8 located at the ends thereof . within the sampler bottle 4 , an isolation piston 10 defines a sample chamber 12 and a clean fluid chamber 14 . a valve 16 on the downstream end of sampler bottle 4 controls fluid flow therefrom . a second valve 17 downstream of valve 16 can also control fluid flow from sampler bottle 4 . the hydraulic circuit also includes a first pump 110 , which includes an inlet 112 and outlet 114 , the first pump being attached and in the stream of the first conduit 106 . the conduit 106 is connected to the high pressure sampler bottle 4 , at the inlet face 6 . a first branch 118 of the conduit 106 , contains a first circuit valve 116 . the outlet from the first circuit valve leads to a bleed off chamber 120 for bleeding pressure in conduit 106 . also included in the hydraulic circuit is a drain bottle 122 , which may also be referred to as a drain vessel 122 . the reservoir fluid sample taken from the wellhead of the oil and gas reservoir and located in sampler chamber 12 of the sampler bottle 4 will be transferred to the drain vessel 122 . a separation piston 124 is slidably disposed on the inner peripheral of the drain vessel 122 . the separation piston 124 forms two chambers , a first drain vessel chamber 126 and a second drain vessel chamber 128 . before the reservoir fluid sample is drained , the separation piston 124 will be located at the upper end 130 . at one end of the drain vessel , an inlet face 132 represents the inlet for fluids which will be entering the sample vessel 122 . a second circuit valve 134 is placed upstream of the inlet face 132 , the second circuit valve 134 being an on and off valve , such as can be purchased from autoclave incorporated . these types of valves are also referred to as needle valves , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art . an enlarged view of drain bottle 122 is shown in fig2 . at the opposite end of the drain vessel , relative to the inlet face 132 , is the outlet face 136 . placed downstream of the outlet face 136 will be a third circuit valve 138 , which is an on and off type of valve , and is similar to other on and off valves utilized in this hydraulic circuit . a second conduit 140 leads from the third circuit valve 138 . a means for pumping 141 the fluid located in the second conduit 140 is placed in line . generally , the means for pumping 141 is a displacement pump as shown in fig5 a and 5b ; the displacement pump will be discussed in further detail later on in this application . it should be appreciated , however , that other displacement pumps can be utilized in order to displace the fluid located in the conduit 140 . an on and off valve 143 is placed in tandem , with conduit 140 , downstream of the displacement pump 141 . the first conduit 106 and second conduit 140 intersect at 142 , at which point the two conduits are in fluid communication . the hydraulic circuit further comprises a third conduit line , 144 , with the third conduit line 144 being connected to the first conduit 106 , such that the two conduits are in communication . the point at where the two conduits connect , 146 , represent an area upstream of the inlet face 6 of the sampler bottle 4 , but downstream of the point of connection at the second conduit 140 and first conduit 106 , represented by numeral 142 the third conduit line 144 is also connected to the first conduit line 106 at a second point 148 , this second communication being downstream of the sampler bottle 4 . a fourth circuit valve , 150 , is placed in tandem with conduit 144 , with valve 150 being a two - way valve as previously described . the hydraulic circuit also includes means for gauging and recording the pressure of the hydraulic circuit . first , the first conduit 106 has attached at a point upstream of the inlet face 6 a two - way directional sleeve 152 . the first sleeve 153 directs the first conduit 106 to the sampler bottle 4 , while the second sleeve 154 directs the first conduit 106 to a pressure gauge 156 and data acquisition system 158 . the data acquisition system 158 is a pressure sensor which records pressure relative to time . the data acquisition system 158 can be connected to a microprocessor , and the pressure can be graphically represented in real time , and plotted continuously through the obtaining of a bubble point pressure and draining of the sampler bottle 4 . a fourth conduit 172 with an on and off valve 165 contained in tandem is disclosed . the fourth conduit 172 intersects the second conduit 140 at 174 , and the first conduit at 176 . the hydraulic circuit 100 can contain other pressure gauges located throughout the system which will enable the operator to determine the pressure in the conduit at any given time during either the calculation of the bubble point pressure or draining of the sampler bottle . for instance , pressure gauge 160 can be placed at the intersection of the first conduit and third conduit , downstream of sampler bottle 4 . pressure gauge 162 can be placed in the second conduit 140 , at a point downstream of the drain vessel 122 , but upstream of the displacement pump 141 . the hydraulic circuit 100 will also contain two bleed off drain vessel valves , 164 and 166 . both of these valves will lead to fluid basins 168 and 170 . fluid basins 168 and 170 can collect fluid which is bled off from the bleed off valves 164 and 166 . bleed off valve 164 and basin 168 can be referred to as an evacuation means 164 , 168 for evacuating fluids from the drain conduit 502 between the sampler vessel 4 and the drain vessel 122 . optionally , the hydraulic circuit 100 can also contain a vacuum pump ( not shown ). the preferred location of the vacuum pump would be down stream of the sampler bottle 4 and upstream of the drain bottle 122 . the vacuum pump will evacuate air and fluid which may be contained in the conduit between the sampler bottle 4 and drain bottle 122 . fig4 is a typical graphical representation of pressure of the high pressure sampler bottle 4 versus pump displacement . line 200 of fig4 represents the typical pressure increase in the sampler bottle 4 experienced from the fluid in the hydraulic line when being pumped , and when sampler bottle valve 16 is closed . in other words , fluid is being pumped into fluid chamber 14 , which acts against piston 10 and causes the reservoir fluid sample in sample chamber 12 to compress . it should be remembered that this reservoir fluid sample may contain oil , gas and water from the subterranean formation . in order to obtain the bubble point pressure of the reservoir fluid held in sampler bottle 4 , first , it is necessary to connect the reservoir of distilled water 102 to the first pump 110 with first conduit 106 . as shown in fig3 the first conduit 106 leads to the sampler bottle 4 , as well as to the two way directional sleeve 152 , which will also lead to the data acquisition system 158 . the sampler bottle valve 16 is closed . also valves 150 , 116 , 143 and 165 are closed . the first fluid pump 110 is used to increase the line pressure until the pressure inside the sampler bottle 4 is reached . the isolation piston 10 will begin to compress the gas and oil sample located within sample chamber 12 when the pump pressure of first pump 110 exceeds the sample pressure . as the pressure in sample chamber 12 is increased further , the gas in the oil and gas sample chamber 12 will continue to compress . when the pressure gets high enough in sample chamber 12 , all of the gas will be in solution with the oil of the fluid sample causing the compressibility of the fluid sample to decrease dramatically . this will cause a rapid pressure increase in the fluid chamber 14 and pump pressure as first pump 110 continues to pump at the same volumetric rate . referring again to fig4 line 200 shows the characteristic plot of pump displacement versus sample pressure as the gas was compressed into the liquid solution . the first change of slope , 201 , represents where the gas begins to compress and indicates the pressure of the oil and gas fluids in sample chamber 12 . this pressure is represented by p 1 , at 202 . the second change of slope , 204 , indicates the bubble point of the oil and gas fluid sample , which is represented by p 2 at 206 . in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure , the pressure of the oil and gas fluid sample can be observed visually on a pressure gauge 156 , or recorded and plotted by the data acquisition system 158 . the pressure at any given point in the system can be gauged and / or recorded , as deemed necessary and desirable by the operator . in order to drain the sampler bottle 4 , first , it is necessary to close valves 116 , 143 , 150 , and 166 . valves 165 , 138 , 134 and 164 are opened . then , with first pump 110 , pressure is pumped up to approximately 500 psi above the previously determined bubble point pressure . by doing this , the separation piston 124 in drain vessel 122 will move to the uppermost end , adjacent to the drain vessel inlet 132 . next , bleed off valve 164 and check valve 165 are closed . the sampler bottle valve 16 is then opened . valve 143 is also opened . the operator can then begin fluid displacement by starting up the displacement pump 141 . at this point , fluid is moving in the hydraulic circuit . as fluid is being displaced , isolation piston 10 moves relative to sample bottle 4 . this movement of isolation piston 10 causes the oil and gas sample to be displaced , exiting from sampler bottle 4 , into first conduit 106 , and into drain vessel 122 in the first drain vessel chamber 126 . once a predetermined amount fluid has been displaced inside the drain vessel , a displacement volume can now be calculated by subtracting the amount of fluid which has been displaced from this sample bottle . this information can now be utilized when a fluid analysis is performed on the fluid sample . that portion of conduit 106 connecting fluid reservoir 102 to the inlet 6 of high pressure sample bottle 4 may generally be referred to as a supply conduit 500 . the conduit connecting the outlet of sample bottle 4 with the inlet of drain bottle 122 may generally be referred to as a drain conduit 502 . the conduit connecting the outlet 136 of drain bottle 122 with the intersection 142 with supply conduit 500 can generally be referred to as a discharge conduit 504 . the first pump can be described as a first pump means 110 disposed in the supply conduit 500 for pumping fluid from the fluid reservoir 102 to the sampler vessel inlet 6 . the second pump 141 can generally be described as a second pump means 141 disposed in the discharge conduit 504 for pumping fluid from the drain vessel outlet 136 back to the intersection 142 with supply conduit 500 . the first pump 110 serves two general purposes . first as previously described , it can be utilized to pressurize the supply conduit 500 and the high pressure sampler bottle 4 to conduct a bubble point test on the well fluid sample trapped within the high pressure sample bottle 4 . after that test has been conducted , and before the sample is transferred from high pressure sample bottle 4 to drain bottle 122 , it is desirable to pressurize the remainder of the system as previously described wherein valves 165 , 138 , 134 and 164 are opened . the system is pressurized to move the piston 124 to the upper end of drain bottle 122 . as previously noted , the system is preferably pressurized to approximately 500 psi above bubble point pressure . this insures that the sample being transferred from high pressure sampler bottle 4 to drain vessel 122 will remain in single phase form as it is transferred . the actual transfer of the sample is accomplished through the use of pump 141 which will circulate fluid within the hydraulic circuit made up of that portion of supply conduit 500 running from intersection 142 to the inlet 6 of high pressure sampler bottle 4 , the drain conduit 502 , the drain bottle 122 , and the discharge conduit 504 . after the sample has been received in chamber 126 of drain bottle 122 , it is desirable to reduce the pressure in the system to below the bubble point pressure . this can be accomplished with the various drain valves previously noted . the purpose of reducing the pressure to below bubble point pressure after the sample is placed in drain bottle 122 is to insure that the sample is in two phase form for purposes of transportation of the drain bottle 122 . this prevents excessive pressures from being generated within the drain bottle 122 due to ambient temperature increases and the like , thus greatly increasing the safety of transportation of drain bottle 122 . with regards to the means for displacing fluid within the hydraulic fluid circle , please refer now to fig5 a to 5b . generally , the means for displacing fluid in the hydraulic circuit includes a cylindrical housing 300 with a first 302 and a second port 304 defined within said housing 300 . a power piston 306 is disposed and received slidably within said cylindrical housing 300 . the power piston 306 has defined on , one end a threaded portion 308 . also defined with the cylindrical housing , is a threaded sub 310 which has an internal bore 312a . defined on said internal bore are internal thread connection means 312 which will threadily mate with the threads located on the power piston 308 . on the outer diameter of the threaded sub 310 , is a first surface 311 which extends to shoulder 314 . a second surface , 316 , is defined thereon . the threaded sub terminates at radial flat surface 318 . a capped portion 320 with external thread connection means 322 is threadily connected to a spacer sub 324 . the spacer sub contains on the inner diameter thread connection means 326 which will be threadily mated with threads 322 of the capped sub 320 . the spacer sub 324 , also contains inner thread connection means at 328 at a second end . threads 328 located on said spacer sub 324 will be threadily connected to the cylindrical housing 300 . an internal spacer sub 330 is located on the inner peripheral of the cylindrical housing . the inner spacer sub 330 contains a first shoulder 332 which will abut the threaded sub 318 . the internal spacer sub 330 has an internal bore which defines a plurality of grooves 338 and 340 , containing elastomeric seal means 339 and 341 . on the outer periphery of said internal spacer sub 330 , is contained a plurality of recess grooves 334 and 336 , which contain elastomeric seal means 335 and 337 . the internal spacer sub 330 terminates at shoulder 339 . the power piston 306 contains a first surface 342 which terminates at radial flat shoulder 344 . a second surface , 346 , has defined thereon a recessed groove 348 , an elastomeric seal means 350 placed within the groove 348 . surface 346 terminates at radially flat shoulder 352 which abuts the shoulder 339 of the internal spacer sub . referring back to fig5 b , a third surface 354 of the power piston extends therefrom as a smooth cylinder until terminating at threads 308 . wrenching flats 309 are defined thereafter . referring to fig5 a , the cylindrical housing 300 contains internal thread means 360 . a top adapter sub 362 contains a first outer diameter surface 364 which terminates at shoulder 366 , which in turn leads to external threads 370 . external threads 370 of said top adapter sub 362 threadedly connects to the internal thread means 360 of the cylindrical housing . the thread means 370 terminate at shoulder 372 which is a radially flat shoulder extending to fourth surface 374 . surface 374 has defined thereon a plurality of grooves , 376 and 378 , which have defined therein elastomeric means 377 and 379 . the fourth bore ends at radially flat shoulder 380 . connected to the output 302 and input ports 304 , are two conduits . the first conduit 382 has a first branch 386 and a second branch 388 . the conduit 384 has two branches : 390 and 392 . the first branch conduit 386 has defined therein a check valve 394 which allows flow only into conduit 382 . the second valve 396 in branch 390 allows fluid flow only into conduit 384 . joining conduit 389 joins check valves 394 and 396 in fluid communication . joining conduit 391 joins check valve 398 and 400 in fluid communication . placed in conduit 388 is a check valve 398 ; placed in conduit 392 is check valve 400 . check valve 398 allows fluid only out of conduit 382 while check valve 400 allows fluid only out of conduit 392 . two conduits , representing an input line 402 and an output line 404 connect to joining conduits 389 and 391 . input line 402 is connected to conduit 386 at 406 . output line 404 is connected to conduit 388 at 408 . it should be noted that in order to move the power piston longitudinally the threaded sub 310 can be rotated either manually or by some automatic mechanical means . in order to move the piston , the threaded sub , which is slidably received within the cylindrical housing , is rotated in a counterclockwise or clockwise rotation . because of thread connection means 312 located on the inner diameter of the threaded sub 310 , as well as the external thread connection means located on said power mandrel 308 , the rotation of the threaded sub 310 causes the longitudinal movement of the power piston 306 . as the power piston 306 is moved longitudinally , the fluid in chamber 420 will be forced out of port 302 , through conduit 382 , check valve 398 and into conduit 404 . fluid from the circuit will be allowed to enter via conduit 402 , to conduit 389 , through check valve 396 , into port 304 , and accumulating in chamber 422 . thus , it is apparent that the apparatus of the present invention readily achieves the advantages mentioned as well as those apparent therein . while certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated for the purpose of this disclosure , numerous changes in the arrangement and construction of parts may be made by those skilled in the art , which changes are embodied within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined by the appended claims .	4
peritoneal equilibration tests date back to the work of zyblut twardowski et al . in peritoneal equilibration test , perit . dial bull , 7 ( 3 ), pp . 138 - 47 ( 1987 ) ( hereinafter “ zyblut 1987 ”), and clinical value of standardized equilibration tests in capd patients . blood purif , 7 , pp . 95 - 108 ( 1989 ). this work , and much work that followed , may be generally summarized with fig1 , which graphs on the abscissa or x - axis the ratio of d / d 0 , the ratio of a concentration of glucose in the used dialysis fluid to the initial concentration of glucose in the fresh dialysis fluid . the graph also presents on the ordinate or y - axis the ratio of the concentration of creatinine in the used dialysate to the concentration of creatinine in the plasma , the ratio d / p , that is , in the concentration in the spent dialysis fluid to the concentration in the patient &# 39 ; s blood plasma . dialysis patients , or indeed the general population , may be classified by the transport characteristics of their peritoneal membrane into one of four categories , as shown in fig1 . “ high ” or “ h ” transporters have a higher ratio of a concentration of waste - product solute in the dialysate fluid to that in their blood , and a lower ratio of glucose in the dialysis fluid to the initial concentration of glucose in the dialysis fluid , when compared to “ low ” or “ l ” transporters . patients with intermediate transport characteristics may be classified as “ high - average ” or “ ha ” transporters , or “ low - average ” or “ la ” transporters . in simpler terms , high transporters move the solutes through their peritoneum faster and achieve a higher d / p ratio , but glucose in the dialysis fluid also transports rapidly , and thus there is a lower ratio of glucose to initial glucose ( d / d 0 ) in the spent dialysis fluid . low transporters move the solutes through their peritoneum more slowly , but achieve higher ratios of solute in the spent dialysis fluid as compared with an initial value of the solute in the dialysis fluid . high - average and low - average transporters are intermediate between these two . in prescribing a therapy for high transporters , it is clear that a therapy should involve greater amounts of dialysis fluid and shorter dwell times for higher ultrafiltrate . for low transporters , lesser amounts of dialysis fluid may be combined with longer dwell times to achieve both higher ultrafiltration and more solute removal . fig1 is a summary chart that leaves off much of the details in how these charts were prepared . as is well known to those with ordinary skill in the art , these charts are actually first constructed as time - scales , with time plotted on the abscissa and d / d 0 or d / p plotted on the ordinate . see zyblut 1987 . the ratio of d / d 0 and d / p may then be plotted , leaving out the time element . the result is an elegant solution that appears to neatly categorize patients . in practice , a standard pet may involve an entire eight to twelve hour night exchange with 3 . 86 % or 2 . 27 % glucose solution preceding the test exchange , if it includes a kinetic analysis of the patient &# 39 ; s membrane . this is not strictly necessary to determine the patient &# 39 ; s membrane transport status . one technique is to then drain the abdomen completely over a twenty - minute period , and then infuse about two liters of 2 . 27 % glucose over a ten - minute period . to obtain the initial sample , the patient is turned side to side and 200 ml is drained immediately after infusion , including a ten - ml sample for glucose , urea and creatinine . the remaining 190 ml is then returned for the dwell and this sampling procedure is repeated at several intervals , such as thirty minutes , one hour , two hours and three hours , each with a drain and a subsequent two - liter infusion . after the two hour sample is taken , a blood sample is also taken for tests for blood urea nitrogen (“ bun ”) and creatinine . a final infusion and dwell is taken at the four - hour mark , followed by a drain and a measurement of total effluent volume . once the above measurements are taken , the d / d 0 glucose and d / p creatinine results are used in a chart similar to those described above to classify the patient &# 39 ; s peritoneal membrane in one of the four categories . this procedure takes a long time to accomplish and does not quickly yield the desired results . since 1989 , many attempts have been made to devise faster pet tests , but the method described above is still widely accepted and applied to assess peritoneal membrane function for peritoneal dialysis patients . adcock et al . suggested a faster method in which the initial glucose concentration and other intermediate samples were not measured , and used only the plasma sample and the last , four - hour time point . adcock et al ., clinical experience and comparative analysis of the standard and fast peritoneal equilibration tests ( pet ), advances in peritoneal dialysis , vol . 8 , pp . 59 - 61 ( 1992 ). la milia suggested a method in which the standard four - hour dwell is replaced with a one hour dwell using a 3 . 86 % glucose solution , but still required the blood sample . la milia et al ., mini peritoneal equilibration test : a simple and fast method to assess free water and small solute transport across the peritoneal membrane , kidney int &# 39 ; l 68 , pp . 840 - 846 ( 2005 ). the reality of classification schemes , however , is better depicted in fig2 . in studying about one - thousand patients for whom clinical data are available , it has been unexpectedly discovered that the above tests and the accepted categories do not correctly categorize about 40 % of patients . fig2 depicts the results of the survey for both the d / p and the d / d 0 axes . these data depict results using a standard pet as described above . approximately 40 % of the patient thus do not fit into any of the four categories . another way of saying this is that the long and involved pet procedure described above does not correctly classify about half of all patients . it is expected that the shorter pet &# 39 ; s discussed above will also misclassify or fail to classify at least about that percentage of patients . the present disclosure describes a new test , the simplified peritoneal equilibration test (“ s - pet ”), that is less labor intensive and uses what may be described as more effective sampling . the present disclosure also includes a variant of the s - pet , a “ fast ” peritoneal equilibration test (“ f - pet ”), as explained below . a peritoneal dialysis machine , such as a homechoice ® dialysis machine , is helpful in administering the test . in this test , samples of the dialysis fluid are taken for analysis of urea , creatinine and glucose content . no blood sample is taken and either 2 . 27 % glucose ( dianeal ™ 2 . 27 %) or 3 . 86 % glucose ( dianeal ™ 3 . 86 %) dialysis solution may be used . measurements may be taken initially , at thirty minutes and at the one , two and four hour marks . based on these tests , an estimate for a curve - fit is made for a final creatinine concentration in the dialysis fluid . tests may instead be based on only two or three readings , such as readings at four hours and eight hours , for example , or tests taken at one hour , two hours and eight hours . the reading at the start of the test may be taken as zero , for example , to spare the patient the discomfort and labor in taking what is likely the least - useful test . alternatively , other time points may be used . fig3 a to 3d depict graphically the result of tests for creatinine for the four categories of patients , including a blood sample . each of the graphs displays creatinine concentration test results plotted against the time period after infusion of the dialysis fluid . each graph also marks a plasma creatinine concentration taken at about two hours . the final point in each graph is an estimate of the equilibrium creatinine concentration for the patient using a standard curve - fitting program , such as excel ™ from microsoft corp ., redmond , wash ., u . s . a . or matlab ™ from the mathworks inc ., natick , mass ., u . s . a . in fig3 a , the dialysis fluid for a typical high transporter patient is seen to have a rapidly - growing concentration of creatinine . in this category of patients , the creatinine concentration reaches a maximum after about 4 to 5 hours . there is thus no benefit in creatinine removal after a dwell period of about 4 to 5 hours . the test result is achieved simply by infusing the patient and then removing a 10 ml sample at the intervals for which the dots are shown , at the test beginning and after 2 hours and 4 hours . a curve fit is then used to estimate a final or equilibrium concentration for the solute that would be achieved in a very long dwell time . a computer is useful in finding a curve fit for the data . as seen in fig3 a , the curve fit is excellent and a final estimate of about 8 mg / dl is very close to the four - hour measurement of about 7 . 5 mg / dl . at the time these tests were conducted , a blood plasma sample was also taken at about the 2 - hour mark for confirmation . the blood plasma sample for the high - transporter patient had a plasma creatinine concentration of about 8 . 5 mg / dl at the 2 - hour point . the plasma concentration samples taken and displayed at fig3 a to 3d confirm that the plasma concentration is inversely related to membrane transport speed , as expected . that is , as creatinine clearance decreases , more creatinine remains in the patient &# 39 ; s blood plasma . a similar result is seen in fig3 b , for patients who may be categorized as high - average transporters , that is , patients whose peritoneal membranes are somewhat less permeable than those of the high transporters . for these patients , the equilibrium concentration of creatinine is estimated at the end of the curve in fig3 b at about 7 mg / dl , which is very close to the 4 - hour sample concentration of about 6 . 5 mg / dl . a blood plasma sample showed a creatinine concentration of about 9 mg / dl , a little higher than the high transporter patients , indicating that less creatinine was removed from these patients than from the high transporter patients . fig3 c depicts results for patients with peritoneal membranes that may be categorized as low - average transporters . creatinine concentration in the 4 - hour sample was about 6 mg / dl , a little lower than that shown for the high - average transporters . however , the estimate for the equilibrium creatinine concentration was about 7 mg / dl , very close to that for the high - average transporters . the blood plasma sample shows significantly more creatinine , about 11 mg / dl , compared to high and high - average transporters . fig3 d depicts results for low - transporter patients , that is , those patients whose peritoneal membranes are least amenable to mass transfer . as fig3 d depicts , there is no rapid rise in creatinine concentration in the first four hours , compared with the other three categories of transporters . however , the concentration continues to rise over a longer period of time , with an eventual final estimate for the equilibrium concentration of about 7 . 5 mg / dl , which is close to low - average and high - average transporters . the blood plasma creatinine level at the two - hour mark was about 11 mg / dl , similar to low - average transporters , and significantly higher than patients with membranes classed as either high or high - average . thus , patients with peritoneal membranes classed as high or high - average are seen to have lower creatinine levels after two hours of dialysis than patients with low or low - average peritoneal membranes . fig3 a to 3d depict the rise of creatinine levels in spent dialysis fluid . if urea is used as the solute of interest , a similar series of curves would result . of course , glucose in the dialysis fluid would be expected to decrease , as the glucose is transported from the dialysis fluid across the peritoneal membrane and infuses into the blood of the patient . high transporters would be expected to see a rapid infusion of glucose , while low transporters would expect a slower infusion . since glucose is the osmotic agent in the dialysis fluid , the loss of glucose from the dialysis fluid lowers its effectiveness in providing the driving force for ultrafiltration . while conducting this work , it was discovered that the data depicted in fig3 a to 3d may be fit to a curve using the following equation : ( cd t − cd eq )=( cd 0 − cd eq ) e −( t / τ ) , where cd t is a concentration of the at least one substance at one of the separate times at which dialysis fluid samples are taken , cd eq is an equilibrium concentration of the at least one substance , cd 0 is an initial concentration of the at least one substance , t is the time a sample was taken and τ is an equilibration time constant that is representative of a transport property of a peritoneum or peritoneal membrane of the patient . cd eq and τ may be estimated using this equation and a curve fit program , based on the measure solute concentrations in the samples taken . the equilibrium concentration of the at least one substance in the dialysis fluid , cd eq , is taken as about equal to the concentration of the substance in the blood of the patient , that is , the equilibrium concentration of the solute in both the blood and the dialysis fluid . in the limited number of patients used in this work , the equilibration time constant for the four categories of transporters were found to be , respectively , 107 minutes , 175 minutes , 242 minutes and 406 minutes , for creatinine for high , high - average , low - average and low transporters , respectively . to determine a final set of numbers , clinical studies with larger numbers of patients should be conducted . time constants for glucose and urea are expected to be different . in one embodiment , the formula is made part of a computer software program , which is entered into a computer memory or placed onto a medium accessible to a computer for performing calculations necessary to derive the cd eq of the substance . the test results may be analyzed and graphed in a variety of ways to increase their utility and also to increase the confidence that the new test procedure performs as well as the longer , more arduous traditional pet . test results from blood plasma urea and creatinine , or other tests , may be used to supplement the results . while conducting the studies mentioned above for an improved peritoneal equilibration test , additional studies were conducted on how dialysis therapies are prescribed for peritoneal dialysis patients . as is well known to those with skill in dialysis , patient prescriptions are typically calculated using computers with suitable software , such as pdadequest ® or renalsoft ™ from baxter international inc ., deerfield , ill ., usa . the computer program may be run in two ways , calculating either an optimal therapy for a patient or a custom therapy for a patient . as is well known to those having skill in this art , calculating a peritoneal dialysis therapy includes calculating the parameters to be used for the therapy , e . g ., the materials and methods to be used in the therapy . these parameters may include therapy time and individual cycle times or portions thereof , such as a dwell time . the parameters may also include the concentration of glucose or other osmotic agent in the dialysis fluid . the parameters may also include the type of therapy , such as a tidal therapy , and if so , the percent fill used , e . g ., 75 % tidal therapy . note that some materials or methods may be used as inputs to a calculation ; in other calculations , the desired outcomes of a dialysis therapy may be specified and the needed inputs , e . g ., materials and methods calculated instead . in an optimal therapy , desired outcomes for a particular patient peritoneal dialysis therapy are input into a program , such as a desired ultrafiltration volume , a target urea clearance , a target creatinine clearance , and so forth . the user also inputs at least a few input parameters , such as a patient fill volume and optionally a glucose concentration or range , and also inputs an identifier for the patient . alternatively , the concentration of glucose or other osmotic agent may be calculated as an output . dialysis fluid is a limited resource , as is available time for the complete therapy for the patient . thus , computer programs typically use a range of possible therapy volumes , i . e ., the total volume of dialysis fluid to be used for a particular therapy . a therapy typically includes several cycles , including a fill , a dwell time within the patient &# 39 ; s peritoneal cavity , and a drain time . the sum of all the patient fill volumes for each cycle should sum up to the total volume for the therapy . by altering the desired inputs , an optimal therapy for a given patient can then be determined and prescribed , according to the specified outcome ( s ). in a custom therapy , on the other hand , dialysis conditions such as glucose concentration and patient kinetic parameters , and dialysis therapy parameters , such as materials and methods , are typically input into the computer , and the outcomes are then calculated . outcomes may include ultrafiltration volume , urea clearance , and so forth . by changing the input dialysis conditions and parameters , the changes in outcome can be varied and recorded . the therapy can then be adjusted for the desired outcome , and the necessary therapy prescribed . a patient with an acute or unplanned dialysis need is profoundly different from a typical patient being treated with peritoneal dialysis . with an acute or unplanned need , there is at least a possibility that the kidney function may be restored . there is also at least a possibility that peritoneal dialysis will suffice and that hemodialysis may not be needed at the moment . hemodialysis may be contraindicated , for example , for a trauma victim . in such a situation , it may be prudent to assume that the patient will benefit from peritoneal dialysis and to spend at least a short period of time to confirm the benefit by initiating peritoneal dialysis . in such a situation , normal treatment parameters of therapy volume and cycle time should not be considered , because of the urgency of the situation . thus , very high therapy volumes would not usually be considered because of economic and logistical considerations . very short cycle times would not ordinarily be considered because the rapid cycling is inconvenient for the patient . in an acute or unplanned situation , however , the patient is in urgent need of dialysis , and for at least a short period of time , it may be beneficial to calculate a therapy in which a dialysis outcome is maximized or optimized , regardless of the total therapy volume or the length of a single cycle . a single cycle includes a fill time , a dwell time , and a drain time . one or more cycles constitute a therapy , e . g ., a daily therapy for a patient . in such circumstances , it may also be advisable to ignore for a short period of time other considerations that are otherwise important for the long term survival of the patient . thus , in an acute or unplanned situation , the therapy temporarily ignore certain outcomes , such as glucose absorption , sodium removal or middle molecule clearances . normal parameters for calculating a peritoneal dialysis therapy include practical limits on therapy parameters . thus , for a simple therapy , available software will accept the desired treatment results and calculate a therapy time , a therapy volume and a cycle time based on typical limits , e . g ., a therapy of 9 to 10 hours including 4 to 7 cycles , using 10 to 16 liters of dialysis fluid , and cycle times that include at least an hour or two of dwell time . of course , a therapy time or other variables may also be specified at the start and used as an input parameter . it has now been unexpectedly discovered , using a standard three - pore model , that very short cycle times and higher dialysate volumes may help improve peritoneal dialysis outcomes . these outcomes include greater ultrafiltration volumes and higher clearance rates of small - molecule solutes from the peritoneum of the patient . thus , in calculating a peritoneal dialysis therapy , it may be desirable to perform the calculation without regard to the total therapy volume or the cycle times used . fig4 and 5 depict flowcharts for methods of performing these calculations , in all of which a digital computer is very useful . fig4 depicts a method for calculating an optimal therapy , in which desired outcomes are used to determine a therapy . data concerning a patient are input 41 , the data including , for example , a patient identifier , a patient age , a previous pet evaluation if available , and other pertinent medical or diagnostic information . if the patient &# 39 ; s membrane transport category is known , it may be input or a category selected 42 from among a group of accepted categories . alternatively , a default category , such as a high transporter may be used . desired therapy outcomes are then entered or selected 43 . these may include a therapy ultrafiltration volume , a urea or creatinine clearance , and so forth . in this embodiment , a total therapy time is also entered or selected 44 . in other embodiments , a concentration of glucose or other osmotic agent may be used as an input parameter , since dialysis fluid is commercially available with only a few osmotic agents and in only a few glucose concentrations . a fill volume suitable for the patient is then selected or entered 45 . the software then calculates 46 a therapy for the patient using a computer and without regard to at least one of a therapy volume and a cycle time for the therapy . cycle times are thus allowed to vary at will . the therapy volume will be the product of the fill volume multiplied by the number of cycles necessary to achieve the desired outcome . the flowchart of fig5 depicts how to calculate a custom therapy . in this method , data concerning a patient are input 51 , the data including , for example , a patient identifier , a patient age , a previous pet evaluation if available , and other pertinent medical or diagnostic information . if the patient &# 39 ; s membrane transport category is known , it may be input or a category selected 52 from among a group of accepted categories . alternatively , a default category , such as a high transporter , a high - average transporter , low - average transporter or a low transporter may be used . in one embodiment , a total time available or desired for the therapy is entered or selected 53 . an osmotic agent concentration 54 is then entered or selected , such as a glucose or dextrose percentage . a fill volume suitable for the patient is then selected or entered 55 . the software then calculates 56 therapy outcomes for the patient . these outcomes may include a therapy ultrafiltration volume , a urea clearance , a creatinine clearance , or other desired peritoneal dialysis result . fig6 and 7 depict test results for calculations using these disclosed methods . fig6 depicts a series of calculations of ultrafiltrate volume for an optimal therapy . fig6 is a graph of cycle time as an independent variable against a calculated resulting ultrafiltration volume in liters for the entire therapy , that is , for the total of all cycles in this particular therapy twelve - hour therapy . in fig6 , a series of optimal therapies were calculated using inputs of a high transporter patient , 2 . 27 % glucose dialysis solution , a fill volume of one liter and a therapy time of 12 hours . the program calculated the cycle times in minutes necessary to achieve a total therapy ultrafiltration volume in liters . the greatest ultrafiltration volume for a twelve - hour therapy is reached at a cycle time of about 22 minutes . this result could also be achieved with a custom therapy calculation , in which a series of desired ultrafiltration volumes , e . g ., one to two liters , is used to calculate the needed cycle times , in this case from about 10 to 90 minutes . if the patient has an acute or urgent need , the short cycle times will be preferred , especially those at about 20 to 25 minutes , as shown in fig6 . note that it is not necessary for the patient to have an acute need . these methods may used for any peritoneal dialysis patient with the understanding that these therapies are calculated on the basis of an urgent , short - term need and do not necessarily consider all possibilities , such as increased glucose absorption , potential deficiencies in sodium removal or middle molecule clearances . these therapies also may not include patient considerations , such as the discomfort involved in many short , successive fill and drain cycles and the lifestyle constraints caused by connection to the machine for extended periods to accommodate the many short cycles . fig7 depicts a graph of weekly urea clearance plotted against the cycle time used for another therapy , still including 2 . 27 % glucose solution . the urea clearance is maximized at a cycle time of about 18 minutes . this result may be achieved with an optimal therapy calculation using a series of the desired clearances as an input and calculating the resulting cycle times . alternatively , the same result may be achieved in a custom therapy calculation by inputting the possible cycle times and calculating the resultant urea clearances . fig8 depicts similar results for weekly creatinine clearance , with an optimized cycle time , that is , for maximum creatinine clearance , at about 18 minutes . those having skill in dialysis arts recognize that these cycle times are very short and unexpected , in comparison to typical peritoneal dialysis dwell times and cycle times of hours . while these results were achieved for helping patients with acute kidney needs , there is no reason to limit the application of these methods only to such patients . patients with peritoneal membranes having high transport properties will especially benefit from these results . for patients whose transport properties are unknown , peritoneal dialysis may be begun and if favorable results are achieved quickly , the therapy may continue . a standard or other pet test may be performed as desired , if necessary , to confirm that the patient is using the most beneficial therapy . 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 .	0
fig1 illustrates the wardrobe lift which includes a left side rotating arm 1 and a right side rotating arm 2 . these arms are connected to a left side base assembly 3 and a right side base assembly 4 . these parts can be made out of wood , metal or any strong attractive material . the base assemblies 3 , 4 can be attached to the sides of a clothes closet or the side panels of a typical standard shelving system and their purpose is to mount the wardrobe lift and to contain the rotating arms 1 and 2 . at the top of fig1 is shown a carrier means 5 for hanging clothes . the carrier means 5 is basically a standard closet rod for hanging clothes but could also be replaced by a shelving structure or cabinet structure that could hold and carry any objects . behind the carrier means 5 is a hollow tube 6 typically made out of aluminum . inside the tube 6 is a tubular motor 7 which is a cylindrically shaped low rpm gear motor . it has attached to it a conventional drive cap ( not shown ) which also resides within the tube 6 and is attached to the tube in conventional fashion , such as with screws , rivets , adhesive , welding or the like ( none of which is shown ). the drive cap purpose is to rotate the tube 6 and is driven by the motor 7 . the tubular motor 7 and the tube 6 and the drive cap ( not shown ) are available from somfy systems , 47 commerce drive , cranbury , n . j . 08512 but could also be sourced from other manufacturers . the tube 6 reaches from one side of the closet partition to the other side of the closet partition and is attached with brackets 8 that allow it to turn and rotate as it is driven by the tubular motor 7 . the tube 6 will automatically rotate and thus raise and lower the arms 1 and 2 utilizing a one inch wide left fabric lifting strap 9 and a one inch wide right fabric lifting fabric strap 10 . a left receptacle 11 and a right receptacle 12 hold the cloths rail 5 . fig2 a shows a side view of the rotating arms 1 , 2 and the base 3 , 4 and they are shown in the upright position . attached between the arm 1 , 2 and the tube 6 is the straps 9 , 10 which are made from a strong piece of flat fabric approximately 1 inch wide . it has the look and feel of an automobile seat belt strap except that it is less wide . when the rotating arms 1 , 2 is in the upright position the straps 9 , 10 are wrapped around the tube 6 . the color for the straps 1 , 2 would most likely be black . fig2 b shows the same side view of the rotating arms 1 , 2 and the base 3 , 4 and they are shown in the middle position . the position of the rotating arms 1 , 2 is as low as they are permitted to go as they are stopped by the design of the base 3 , 4 that blocks further downward travel . also shown in fig2 a is the receptacle 11 , 12 , the clothes rail 5 and a pulley 13 . fig2 c shows the same side view of the rotating arms 1 , 2 and the base 3 , 4 and they are shown in the lowered position . also shown in fig2 c is the receptacle 11 , 12 , the clothes rail 5 and a pulley 13 . the pulley 13 makes contact with the lifting straps 9 , 10 and enables them to lower effectively even as the rotating arms 1 , 2 have stopped moving due to being blocked by the design of the bases 3 , 4 . fig3 a - 3b show the clothes receptacle 11 , 12 and the pulley 13 . the clothes receptacle 11 , 12 has two identical plates that are separated by the pulley 13 . the lifting strap ( not shown in these figures ) rides over the top of the pulley . a basic operating switch with enclosure for the wardrobe lift and tubular motor is not shown in any figure but can be located anywhere . when installed the wardrobe lift would become a semi - permanent fixture of the home or building . an important purpose of the invention is to create more usable closet storage space and also increase the ease of selection when removing items from storage that is otherwise out of reach in the home or business . the invention is basically an electric motor driven lift that utilizes a tubular motor 7 ( fig1 , 2 a ) and can raise and lower a carrier means 5 ( fig1 , 2 a , 2 b , 2 c ) that pivots or oscillates approximately 100 degrees and then leaves the clothes rail receptacle 11 , 12 ( fig1 , 2 a , 2 b , 2 c , 3 a , 3 b ) and lowers further so that the user can reach the clothes . typically clothes would hang from the carrier means 5 but a shelf type structure or light weight cabinet that hangs freely from the carrier means 5 can also be incorporated into the design . the motion of the carrier means 5 can be accomplished without encroaching on the space below because of the unique pivot point of the rotating arms . this pivot point allows the rotating arms 1 , 2 ( fig1 , 2 a , 2 b , 2 c ) to lower storage and move it out so that it can be displayed in front of stationary storage that is below the bottom of the rotating arms 1 , 2 . the wardrobe lift is driven by flat fabric straps 9 , 10 ( fig1 , 2 a , 2 b , 2 c ) that are wrapped around each end of the tube 6 ( fig1 , 2 a ) that contains the tubular motor 7 . the motor 7 turns the tube 6 from within the tube 6 and the tube wraps the fabric straps 9 around the tube 6 as it turns . the straps 9 , 10 wrap around each other in circular fashion with each rotation increasing the diameter of the rolled up straps . when the fabric straps 9 are wound up they will have wrapped around the tube about 5 or 6 times and the rotating arms 1 , 2 ( fig1 , 2 a , 2 b , 2 c , 3 ) will be in the up position . when the tube 6 turns the opposite way the fabric straps 9 , 10 unwind and the rotating arms 1 , 2 move to the down position . the base 3 , 4 holds a spring assembly ( not shown ) that forces the rotating arms 1 , 2 to move to a downward position until gravity can take over . as the rotating arms 1 , 2 move down , the receptacle 11 , 12 ( fig1 , 2 a , 2 b , 2 c , 3 ) holds the carrier means by a slot in the receptacles 11 , 12 . the angle of the slot holds the carrier means in place until the rotating arms have sufficient gravitational force and lifting angle to keep the carrier means in the receptacle . as the rotating arms 1 , 2 continue to move past 90 degrees until the bases 3 , 4 ( fig1 , 2 a , 2 b , 2 c ) block further downward travel at about 100 degrees . at this point the tube 7 keeps turning and the straps 9 , 10 keep unraveling and the carrier means 5 drops out of the receptacle 11 , 12 . the straps 9 , 10 are riding on top of the pulley 13 that is above the slot in the receptacles 11 , 12 and the carrier means 5 continues to lower as the tube turns and the rotating arms remain temporarily stationary . the carrier means continues to lower until it is approx 20 to 30 inches lower than the receptacle 11 , 12 . this allows for easy access to the carrier means 5 for the user . after the user accesses the carrier means the switch can be moved to the up position and the tube 6 will start to rotate in the opposite direction . the lifting straps 9 , 10 will wind around the tube 6 and the carrier means 5 will rise and go in the upward direction . the lifting straps 9 , 10 will ride over the pulley and the rotating arms 1 , 2 will remain stationary due to the angle of their position that is determined by the bases 3 , 4 . when the carrier means rises to the receptacle 11 , 12 it will enter the slot in the receptacle and the rotating arms 1 , 2 will begin to rise and rotate while holding the carrier means . this travel will continue until the rotating arms are in the upright position . the wardrobe lift is operated by an on - off - on switch ( not shown ) that could be either a momentary switch or a maintained switch . the unit has basically 2 positions . in the upright position , the rotating arms 1 , 2 ( fig1 , 2 a , 2 b , 2 c , 3 ) are vertical and the items are being stored are out of reach . in the down position the rotating arms 1 , 2 have traveled 100 degrees from the upright position and the carrier means 5 has dropped further via the pulley 13 that is a part of the receptacle 11 , 12 that is attached to the rotating arms 1 , 2 . the stored items are now at a reachable level and are positioned in front of other stationary storage that could be below the wardrobe lift . the switch is used to turn on and off the tubular motor 7 ( fig1 ) and move the rotating arms 1 , 2 between the two positions . the tubular motor 7 also has built - in limit switches ( not shown )\ and they are standard on most tubular motors 7 . these limit switches ensure that the motor turns off automatically when it reaches the down position and turns off automatically when it reaches the up position . these limits are set before the wardrobe lift is shipped to a customer or they can be set during installation . the tubular motor 7 ( fig1 ) may illustratively be powered by any conventional power source , such as ac , dc , battery or solar panels . the wardrobe lift may alternatively or additionally include a remote control receiver ( not shown ) coupled to the tubular motor 7 . a user then uses a corresponding transmitter ( not shown ) to communicate with the remote control receiver to cause it to energize and de - energize the tubular motor 7 in the appropriate directions to wind and unwind fabric lifting straps 9 , 10 the wardrobe lift may also include a programmable control device , such as a microcomputer ( not shown ), that is programmed to control tubular motor 7 , such as by having pre - sets programmed therein to raise and lower the rotating arms 1 , 2 semi - automatically to any desired height . all of the above are optional equipment available from most tubular motor manufacturers such as somfy .	0
the process of this invention generally comprises elimination of contaminants through adding certain salts to the eluent , controlling the temperature , ph and concentration of the eluent , and finally pumping dilute scandium solutions over the column prior to stripping the scandium off of the column . the type of cation exchange resin employed is not critical for this process , and any such resin would be suitable . types of resins which have been employed include sulfonated resinous condensates of phenol and formaldehyde and nuclear sulfonic acid aromatic - type resins . the resin is packed into a suitable column and the solution containing the scandium ions in salt form is passed through this column to absorb the scandium ions onto the resin . this invention provides for elimination of contaminants in the process by altering the oxidation potential of the eluting solution . in this process , potassium chlorate and ammonium chloride are added to the eluent . it is necessary to add only a very small amount of the salt to the eluent , up to 0 . 1 of a gram per liter of the eluent solution . as little as 0 . 05 grams per liter can be effective . in fact , smaller amounts are also effective , but at a very slow rate . adding more than 0 . 1 of a gram per liter will possibly interfere with the results . these results may be used with any separation of this type and may be applied to chelating agent eluents such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid ( edta ), n - hydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetic acid ( hedta ), nitryl triacetic acid ( nta ), or citric acid . the worst problem with contamination usually comes from iron , since ferric or ferrous irons are nearly always present in eluents of hedta and edta , for example . the ferric iron is eluted near the front of most mixtures , while the ferrous iron elutes with calcium near the back . chelation with hedta promotes oxidation to the ferric ion , while the ion exchange resin promotes reduction to the ferrous ion . therefore , the scandium band nearly always contains a low level equilibrium amount of iron . when the potassium chloride or ammonium chloride is added , it will maintain the ion as the ferric ion . therefore , the iron elutes more readily since it is in the ferric ion form . while iron is one of the most problematic contaminants , this process will assist in removal of any metallic cation which has the ability to have a different oxidation state . tin is another example of the type of contaminant which may be eliminated . with this method , the purity of scandium is improved since the contaminants are removed . when the eluent used is hedta , controlling the ph , temperature , and concentration assists in maintaining scandium on the column resin while at the same time minimizing dilution of the band . the solution of hedta may consist of distilled pure water , with the hedta having up to five grams per liter concentration in the solution . the temperature of the eluent may range from 80 ° c . to 95 ° c ., and a temperature of 82 ° c . is most preferred . the eluent may be warmed by any acceptable method , and one method employed here is by maintaining the ambient temperature within the range desired , and placing the eluent in a tube where it is warmed slowly by the increased room temperature . because of the higher temperature , there is an increased tendency for dissolved gas in the eluent to form bubbles . when the temperature is below 80 ° c ., scandium is not retained and would be lost into the solution . at temperatures higher than 95 ° c ., the band of scandium is rapidly diluted with the hedta species . it is necessary to degas the eluent , and one way which this may be accomplished is by passing the eluent into a heated resin column where it is degassed following the slow warming . the range of ph of the eluent should be kept between 7 . 4 and 7 . 9 , with the ph of 7 . 9 being the most preferred for best retention of scandium while preventing dilution . any acceptable method of adjusting the ph may be employed . adjusting the ph with a base requires that the base must be one which will not impart impurities into the solution . examples of acceptable bases include ammonium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide . ammonium hydroxide is preferable because it can be prepared from a gas , so there are no other impurities , and because ammonium is innocuous and easily eliminated . the concentration of hedta is most effective in retaining scandium while preventing dilution of the band where it is up to 5 grams per liter concentration . as little as 1 gram per liter or even less is effective but works slowly . the preferred concentration is 5 grams per liter . as the eluent passes through the column , the band of scandium develops and moves forward , ordinarily having contaminants at the front and the back of the band . if , for example , the band was 10 columns long , scandium at the front , the first column , would contain the typical contaminants such as iron , nickel , and copper . at the back of the band , the last column would contain those elements which elute slower , as for example , calcium and magnesium . the middle eight purified columns would also have contaminants of hedta species as well as potassium from the salt added to the eluent , described above . at this point , the run would be stopped and these columns containing the high amounts of scandium stripped and the scandium precipitated from the strip solution . under the preferred method of this invention , however , when the run is stopped , a dilute solution of scandium is passed through the column prior to stripping and precipitation . it has been found that by passing this dilute scandium through the columns , the contaminants are displaced , while the scandium itself is retained . therefore , the hedta species and the potassium which was earlier added to the eluent are removed . the dilute scandium would include a solution of distilled water with scandium of from 0 . 5 gram per liter to about 5 . 0 grams per liter . if less than this concentration of scandium is in the solution , the process works too slowly . at above 5 . 0 grams per liter , the scandium itself will be moved . most preferred is about 2 . 0 grams per liter of concentration of scandium in the solution . it is also preferred that some acid be included in the solution so that hydroxide will not form . application of an acid to such eluent solution is generally known in the art , and an example of what would be acceptable includes nitric acid added to reach a ph of 2 . the process would then follow the well known procedures of stripping the scandium from the column . the stripping solution must be one which will not add contaminants , and which will dissipate upon heating . it also must be a solution which is capable of driving the stripping action , since scandium is a trivalent ion and adheres more readily than a monovalent cation to the complex . further , the solution must be a soluble species . examples include nitric acid and hydrochloric acid , but the most preferable is ammonium acetate . it is not as corrosive and difficult to handle as nitric acid and has all of the other desirable properties . stripping the scandium may be accomplished , for example , with one m - ammonium acetate solution at a ph of 6 . 5 . scandium in the strip solution is then precipitated . the precipitant must be highly insoluble so that scandium is recovered and not lost . further , it must oxidize easily , so that it disappears in firing . examples of acceptable precipitants are sodium hydroxide and fluoride . the most preferred is oxalic acid , as it does not contribute impurities and scandium oxalate is an easy to filter precipitate . the following examples are offered to illustrate but not limit the process of the invention . 10 columns were set up of pyrex flange glasspipe filled with teflon bed supports , plexiglass end pieces , kel - f , and glass and viton connections between the columns . the columns were packed with dowex50x8 , 40 / 50 mesh resin . temperature in the ambient atmosphere was varied from one run at 94 ° c . to 82 ° c . in another . a scandium nitrate solution obtained by dissolving scandium oxide in nitric acid was passed through the column . the eluent was an hedta solution of 4 grams per liter which was degassed continuously . potassium chlorate in the amount of 0 . 1 gram per liter and ammonium chloride in the amount of 0 . 1 gram per liter were added to the eluent . the eluent ph was controlled with cole parmer ph controller and in the first run was at 7 . 4 and was at 7 . 9 in the second run . flowrate was maintained at about 2 ml / cm 2 . after the band advanced so that the middle eight columns contained essentially pure scandium , dilute scandium solution of 2 grams per liter in distilled water was passed through the columns . fig1 demonstrates the amount of scandium recovered which was free of iron when potassium chlorate and ammonium chloride was added to hedta eluent . in fig2 results are shown of the amount of dilution in the scandium band in a first run where four grams per liter of hedta solution at 94 ° c . and a ph of 7 . 4 was passed through the column . in the second run , the hedta was maintained at 82 ° c . and a ph of 7 . 9 demonstrating improvement in avoiding dilution of the scandium band . dilute scandium passed through the column prior to stripping with one m - ammonium acetate solution at a ph of 6 . 5 and precipitation with oxalic acid is demonstrated in the table below . recovery of scandium was improved by a factor approximately 1 . 6 per column with the dilute scandium passage . table______________________________________comparison of scandium oxide yieldcolumn sc . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 recovered sc . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 recoverednumber without pre - elution ( g ) with pre - elution ( g ) ______________________________________21 630 103522 689 112023 839 129424 690 112213 592 105814 658 81315 687 100910 702 114211 715 117212 634 1063______________________________________ thus it can be seen from the foregoing that the invention accomplishes at least all of its objectives .	2
the notion that vns therapy could be a viable adjunctive treatment option for patients with refractory fms is based on the encouraging results of pre - clinical and clinical research studies suggesting that vns therapy may target cns processes involved in pain transmission at both spinal and supraspinal levels and could thus have a beneficial effect on pain associated with fms . vns therapy is generally well tolerated by most patients with epilepsy and depression and is rarely the cause for vns discontinuation and explantation . reported side effects are either associated with surgery and / or stimulation on - periods . the most common surgery - related events are infections . the most common side effects during actual stimulation can include voice alteration , hoarseness , cough , paresthesia , headache , throat pain , nausea , and dyspnea . in fact , in studies of vns for epilepsy the following side effects listed were the only ones occurring in more than 5 % of the study participants only during actual stimulation ( intermittently ), improved over time , and could be alleviated or minimized by changing the stimulation parameters : voice alteration ( 50 %), increased coughing ( 41 %), numbness / tingling ( 28 %), sore throat ( 27 %), nausea ( 19 %), shortness of breath ( 18 %) and indigestion ( 12 %) 21 . the manufacturer of the device , cyberonics , inc ., followed 253 refractory epilepsy patients up to 3 years after implantation . all patients received stimulation according to a standard epilepsy vns stimulation protocol . all of the reported stimulation - related side effects diminished over time ; only 7 . 8 % and 4 . 5 % of patient &# 39 ; s still reported hoarseness and headache , respectively , after two years . after three years , shortness of breath was the most common stimulation related side effect , reported by 3 . 8 % of the 253 patients followed . severe adverse events were limited to respiratory difficulties ( n = 3 ) and severe hoarseness ( n = 3 ). median seizure decreases of 31 . 1 %, 40 . 7 %, and 40 . 4 % were reported for one , two , and three - year follow - ups , respectively . thus , even though mild to moderate side effects may occur due to stimulation , the benefits of the treatment over time were considerable . the safety profile for patients with treatment resistant depression is similar to that seen in epilepsy . vns has been approved in the us for clinical use in treatment resistant epilepsy and in canada and europe also for treatment - resistant depression . at its most recent meeting on jun . 15 , 2004 , the fda &# 39 ; s center for devices and radiological health advisory committee , recommended vns therapy for approval as an adjunctive treatment for depression in the us . vns therapy ™ system is manufactured by cyberonics , inc ., houston , tex . the system consists of the implantable , multi - programmable vns therapy model 102 bipolar pulse generator , the model 302 vns therapy bipolar leads , and the external programming system used to set and change stimulation settings as well as to perform system diagnostics . the pulse generator is housed in a hermetically sealed titanium case and will deliver electrical signals to the vagus nerve powered by a single battery . electrical signals are transmitted from the pulse generator to the vagus nerve via the bipolar lead . the external programming system includes the model 201 programming wand , the model 250 software , and a compatible laptop computer . together these three components provide communication with the pulse generator , so called telemetry . telemetry allows for non - invasive programming , functional assessments ( device diagnostics ), device interrogation , and data retrieval . a system of multiple checks verifies the integrity of communications ; each parameter is programmed and verified individually . magnets for patient use are also provided as part of the vns therapy system . they can either be worn on the patient &# 39 ; s watchband ( watch - style ) or belt ( pager - style ) and can be placed over the pulse generator to activate stimulation or to inhibit stimulation . normal programmed stimulation resumes when the magnet is removed . all patients will be trained in the use of the magnet and will practice the use of the magnet as part of their first programming visit . the implantable vns therapy system has been reliable and safe when used in accordance with its labeling . nerve histology collected from two patients stimulated for more than one year indicates that no significant nerve damage occurs over time from normal vagus nerve stimulation . a wide range of animal studies indicates that stimulation at a frequency & lt ; 50 hz at duty cycles of less than 50 % should not cause nerve damage . additionally , continuous stimulation at lower frequencies ( 10 to 20 hz ) should not cause nerve damage and did not cause nerve damage in two patients treated in an epilepsy clinical study who inadvertently received continuous stimulation for two weeks ( pmaa , 1994 ). excessive stimulation at a combination of high frequency (& gt ; 50 hz ) and an excess duty cycle ( greater than 50 %) has resulted in degenerative nerve damage in laboratory animals . fibromyalgia ( fm ) is a potentially disabling chronic pain disorder characterized by 4 - quadrant plus axial pain of at least 3 months duration and at least 11 of 18 tender points . vagus nerve stimulation ( vns ) has been shown to be safe , tolerable , and efficacious for patients with treatment - resistant epilepsy and depression . in both patient groups , stimulation of the left vagus nerve has been reported to reduce pain perception . a phase i trial to evaluate the tolerability , safety and efficacy of vns implantation and stimulation in patients with fms refractory to conventional pharmacological treatment was carried out . patients were 21 to 55 years of age with at least average overall intellectual function and all were physician - diagnosed with fms for at least 2 years . in order to qualify for entry , potential study participants had to report widespread pain — i . e ., median scores of at least 5 — on a watch - type electronic diary ( minimitter ) that polled them about their pain five times a day on a 0 to 10 severity scale over 9 days . individuals were excluded from participation if they were in litigation at time of enrollment , reported the onset of fm following physical trauma , or had psychotic depression , bipolar disorder , psychotic disorders , or substance abuse / dependence within 10 years as determined by psychiatric diagnostic interview . additional exclusion factors included use of antipsychotic drugs within 3 months of enrollment , use of any non - pharmacological treatment for fms within 2 months of enrollment , history of heart disease , a pulmonary condition resulting in an asa score of greater than iii , or a unilateral or bilateral vagotomy . subsequent to recruitment into the study , participants signed a screening consent to allow the study team to gather additional information for final study inclusion for implantation . the diagnosis of fms was confirmed on two center visits by history ( patient reported having pain in all 4 bodily quadrants plus having axial pain in chest or neck — denoted as 4 + a in table 1 ) and physical examination ( palpation at each of the 18 tender points with 4 kg of force producing tenderness of 3 or greater on a 0 to 10 likert pain scale where 0 was no pain , 5 moderate pain and 10 worst pain possible ). once all information was obtained under the screening protocol , fms patients signed an enrollment consent . on average about 3 months after signing the enrollment consent , study participants were implanted with the vns device . most of this time period was utilized for pre - op testing , scheduling surgery , and other activities related to the startup of the individual trial . during the baseline period , the study participant came to the study center for 2 scheduled visits to obtain baseline measures . implantation of the device was followed by a 2 - week post - surgery recovery period , a 2 - week ramp - up / stimulation adjustment period , and a 12 week period of fixed stimulation treatment , referred to as “ acute study .” after completion of the acute study , participants were able to elect to be enrolled in the follow up study with study visits at 6 , 9 , and 12 months post implantation . patients were assessed approximately every 2 weeks after surgery until the end of the acute study phase 4 months later to assess safety , patient tolerance of vns and to do psycho - physical heat pain testing where participants were randomly presented 7 stimuli ranging from 43 ° c . to 49 ° c . in one - degree increments on 2 random trials for a total of 14 stimulus presentations . in addition , patients wore a watch - type electronic diary for a period of 9 days before surgery and before the end of the acute study phase ; the device queried them about their immediate pain level on a 0 to 10 likert scale five times a day . the treatment study of fibromyalgia used the model 102 vns therapy ™ system ( cyberonics , inc ., houston , tex .). following surgical implantation of the device into eligible participants and a 2 - week recovery period , stimulation ( 30 sec on , 5 min off duty cycle , 20 hz , pw = 250 usec ) was increased to as much as 2 ma over a 2 - week adjustment period and maintained during a 12 - week acute study period . the primary efficacy endpoints evaluated global impression of change and changes in ratings of pain intensity and ratings of physical function ( sf - 36 ). adverse events related to implantation and stimulation were recorded . table 2 provides a summary of the fms status of each participant on baseline and on each of the follow up evaluations . the diagnosis of fms requires 4 quadrant plus axial pain as well as at least 11 of 18 tender points . by the end of the acute study phase after 3 . 5 months of vns , 4 of the 12 patients fulfilled neither of these criteria , one no longer fulfilled the tender point criterion and one the widespread pain criterion . ten patients were followed out to 6 months : 5 no longer fulfilled both criteria and 3 no longer fulfilled the tender point criterion — leaving just 3 of 10 with formal criteria for fms . efforts to date have not suggested unusual safety or tolerability issues when implanting a vns system in patients with fm . this result , coupled with assessments of efficacy that are consistent with beneficial effects on pain intensity and physical function , encourage larger - scale evaluations of vns in the treatment of fm . although a best mode of practicing the invention has been described herein with reference to certain preferred embodiments and methods of treating fms , it will be understood by those skilled in the field from a consideration of the foregoing disclosure , that variations and modifications of the described embodiments and methods may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , it is intended that the invention shall be limited only to the extent required by the appended claims and the rules and principles of applicable law .	0
the apparatus of the invention consists generally of a frame and receiving tank , indicated generally at i ; trolley , drag bucket , and drag bucket suspension means , indicated generally at ii ; drive means , indicated generally at iii ( fig8 ); drag bucket elevating means , indicated generally at iv ( fig7 and 8 ); drag bucket pickup level control means , indicated generally at v ( fig7 and 8 ); an automatic electrical control circuit , indicated generally at vi ( fig1 , 11 , 18 and 19 ); and a hydraulic control system , indicated generally at vii ( fig2 ). referring to the drawings in detail , and referring first to fig1 and 2 , the frame and receiving tank i consists of a plurality of transverse base channel members 20 , upright angle members 21 welded at their lower end portions to the channels 20 and which provide side frame members for the tank , and inverted longitudinal top channels 22 which surmount the upright angles 21 and are secured thereto with reinforcing gussets 23 . additionally , the frame includes a supporting framework , indicated generally at 24 , for the principal parts of the drag bucket elevating means iv and the drag bucket pickup level control means v . the framework 24 includes an inverted bottom channel 25 , longitudinal bottom angles 26 at the two sides of the framework which are welded to the inverted bottom channel 25 and to the nearest of the upright angle members 21 , upright angle members 27 and 28 which are welded at their lower ends to the longitudinal angles 26 and which are connected at their upper ends by inclined frame members 29 , and end portions 22a of the inverted top channels 22 which are also connected to the upper ends of the upright angle members 27 . in addition to end portions 22a of the inverted channels 22 , end portions 22b of said inverted channels extend a substantial distance beyond the opposite upright end frame angles 21 to provide support for part of the drive means iii . additionally , a transverse upper channel member 30 extends across the end of the frame opposite the framework 24 . the receiving tank , indicated generally at 31 , consists of a bottom wall 32 , parallel longitudinal side walls 33 , a start end wall 34 which is adjacent the framework 24 , and a dump end wall 35 the upper end portion of which is welded along the transverse upper channel member 30 . also forming a part of the frame and tank i is a material support , indicated generally at 36 , which includes a downwardly and outwardly inclined bottom wall 37 supported upon the upper channel member 30 , and parallel side panels 38 . illustrated above the tank 31 in fig1 and 2 is a material feed hopper , indicated generally at h , and depending from the underside of the hopper h is a rectangular liquid seal , indicated generally at s , the lower end portion sl of which is below the surface level l of liquid in the receiving tank 31 . referring now particularly to fig2 to 6 , the trolley , drag bucket and drag bucket support ii consist of two independent trolley assemblies , indicated generally at 39a and 39b . each of the trolley assemblies is best seen in fig5 and 6 to consist of an elongated inverted channel frame member 40 at the opposite end portions of which are outer and inner spindles 41 and 42 , respectively , on which are journalled trolley rollers 43 and 44 which roll upon top webs 22c of the inverted upper frame channels 22 on opposite sides of longitudinal , median box beams 45 which are welded to the top webs 22c and support upper guide channels 46 . the respective rollers 43 and 44 have guide flanges 43a and 44a which roll along upright outer webs of the channels 22 and 46 to guide the trolleys 39a and 39b along the side walls 39 of the tank 31 . as best seen in fig3 to 5 , surmounting each of the trolley channels 40 is a linkage pivot bracket , indicated generally at 47 , which includes a base web 47a welded to the top of the trolley channel 40 , and laterally spaced upright journal webs 47b and 47c which carry an upper linkage pivot 48 ; and the web 47c extends downwardly along an inner web of the trolley channel 40 and carries a lower linkage pivot 49 . carried upon the linkage pivots 48 and 49 of the two trolleys are parallel linkages , indicated generally at 50 , which support a drag bucket , indicated generally at 51 , from the trolleys 39a and 39b . the drag bucket 51 consists of a bottom wall 52 , a rear wall 53 , end walls 54 , and a pair of rear link arms 55 which extend rearwardly and upwardly from the rear wall 53 of the bucket . additionally , as seen in fig2 the bucket is divided into a plurality of compartments by intermediate webs 56 . referring now particularly to fig3 and 4 , each parallel linkage 50 is seen to consist of a forward link 57 which is mounted upon the lower linkage pivot 49 and is pivotally connected at 58 to an end wall 54 of the drag bucket 51 . an upper link 59 is connected to the upper pivot 48 , and has a pivot 60 upon which is mounted a rear link 61 the lower end of which is pivotally connected at 62 to a back arm 55 of the drag bucket . thus , as a comparison of the full line and broken line showings of fig3 will show , the linkage 50 is of a type which maintains the angular disposition of the drag bucket at any level at which it is required to function . as seen in fig4 a load release means , indicated generally at 63 , comprises fixed trip bars 64 on the undersides of the end portions 22b of the inverted upper frame channels 22 a substantial distance beyond the dump end wall 35 of the tank , and trip arms 65 which are fixedly mounted on a rigid bracket 66 on the upper links 59 of the parallel linkages 50 . the trip arms 65 are provided with trip rollers 65a which strike the trip bars 64 to open the space between the front and rear links 57 and 61 , as seen by comparing the broken line showing of fig3 with the showing of fig4 so as to tilt the drag bucket 51 forwardly and release the entire contents of the bucket onto the material support 36 from which it slides into a mobile unit or onto a conveyor which removes it from the vicinity of the tank . referring now particularly to fig3 , 6 and 8 , the drive means 3 includes a pair of hydraulic motors 67a and 67b which are seen in fig 1 to be mounted at the extremities of the inverted top frame channel end portions 22b ; and chain and sprocket systems , indicated generally at 68a and 68b , by means of which the trolley members 35a and 39b are , respectively , caused to reciprocate along the top channels 22 between the start end and the dump end of the tank . referring particularly to fig8 the two chain and sprocket systems 68a and 68b are seen to be identical mirror images of one another . only 68b will be described in detail , because that is the one which also appears in fig3 and 6 . a roller chain 69b has an end secured to a drawbar 70b which is at the front of the trolley assembly 39b . from the drawbar 70b the chain 69b extends around a sprocket 71b which is on a shaft 70 that connects the motors 67a and 67b , and the roller chain 69b is seen in fig5 and 6 to ride in an upwardly open supporting channel 21b which is supported on the upright frame angle member 21 and the gussets 23 . the chain 69b passes over a sprocket 72b which is seen in fig1 to be journalled on the inclined member 29 of the framework 24 . a counterweight sprocket 73b is journalled in a yoke 74b on a counterweight 75b ( see fig7 ); and the counterweight sprocket 73b is suspended in a bight 69b1 of the chain 69b which is formed by a downward run of the chain from the sprocket 72b and an upward run of the chain to a sprocket 76b which is seen in fig1 to be supported on the framework member 29 diagonally above and outwardly from the sprocket 72a . from the sprocket 76b the chain 69b runs in a channel 46b that is mounted in the upwardly open channel 46 of the frame , and from there it extends around a sprocket 77b which is on a transverse axis , a sprocket 78b which is on a vertical axis , a sprocket 79b which is on a transverse axis , a sprocket 80b , and is anchored at 81b to one of the forward links 57 of the parallel linkage 50 . the sprockets 77b , 78b , 79b and 80b are seen in fig6 to be mounted upon the trolley member 39b , so the chain runs between those sprockets travel with the trolley , while the chain runs between the drive sprockets 71b and the sprockets 72b and 76b are fixed relative to the frame and tank i . the suspended counterweight sprocket 73b is free to move vertically as the parallel linkages 50 swing upwardly upon the trolleys . it is seen , therefore , that the chain 69b is a part of the drive means iii and is also a part of the drag bucket elevating means iv . the components of the chain and sprocket system 68a are identical to those of the system 68b , so they are not described ; but they are identified by corresponding reference numerals , each with an a suffix , in fig1 and 8 . as previously indicated , the chains 69a and 69b which form part of the drive mechanism iii also form part of the drag bucket elevating means iv ; and in addition , the drag bucket pickup level control means v and the elevating means iv cooperate in such a way that the level control means v is also effectively a part of the elevating means iv . as best seen in fig1 and 8 , the elevating means iv includes a hydraulic cylinder unit 82 which is carried in a vertical position upon the framework 24 by bracket means 83 . a piston rod 82a of the hydraulic cylinder unit carries a yoke 84 ; and a mounting plate 85 which is part of the framework 24 has vertical slots 86 which receive headed guide studs 87 on the yoke 84 . yoke sprockets 88a and 88b at the lateral extremities of the yoke 84 serve as parts of the drag bucket elevating means iv and also as parts of the pickup level control means v . connected to the yokes 74a and 74b on the counterweights 75a and 75b are slack sensor chains 89a and 89b which are identically arranged except for being of opposite hand , and which function identically . accordingly , only the arrangement of the slack sensor chain 89b will be described in detail . the chain extends vertically from the yoke 74b and passes around a sprocket 90b which is journalled in a bracket 91b on the framework 24 . the chain 89b extends beneath a movable sprocket 92b , around the yoke sprocket 88b , and downwardly to an anchor 93b the mounting of which will be described in more detail hereinafter . the movable sprocket 92b is journalled upon a slack sensor arm 94b which is pivoted at 95b on a bracket which is supported upon a part of the framework 24 . an arm 96b is mounted upon a pivot 97 on the plate 85 , and the outer end of the arm 96b rests upon a plate 98b on the slack sensor arm 94b . as the drag bucket 51 is moved along the tank 31 by the drive means iii in a pickup run , if the drag bucket encounters resistance to movement which is in excess of a predetermined maximum , then the linkage and drive bucket pivot upwardly about the pivots 48 and 49 from the initial drag bucket pickup level illustrated in fig3 . when this occurs , of course , depends upon the combined weight of the parallel linkages 50 and the drag bucket 51 , and the angle of the linkages with respect to the horizontal . it also depends upon the load in the drag bucket . upward swinging movement of the linkages and the drag bucket results in reducing the load on the counterweights 75a and 75b so that those counterweights may move downwardly ; and this in turn produces slack in the slack sensor chains 89a and 89b the result of which is to permit the slack sensor arms 94a and 94b to pivot downwardly and thus let the arms 96a and 96b also pivot downwardly . this , in turn , actuates limit switches cs1 and cs2 which are seen in fig7 to be mounted upon the plate 85 . the limit switches are part of the electrical control system vi , and operate through the hydraulic control system vii ( both of which will be described in detail hereinafter ) to admit hydraulic fluid to the cylinder of the unit 82 to retract the piston rod 82a and raise the yoke 84 far enough to take the slack out of the slack sensor chains 89a and 89b and thus cause the drag bucket to remain at whatever level had been attained by it when the slack sensor arms 94a and 94b dropped . it is apparent from the foregoing description that the vertical position of the drag bucket 51 depends , ultimately , upon the position of the yoke 84 which is controlled by operation of the hydraulic cylinder unit 82 . nevertheless , movement of the yoke 84 is transmitted to the drag bucket 51 only through the slack sensor chains 89a and 89b . the height at which the drag bucket 51 is operating at any given time during a pickup run depends upon the operation of the pickup level control means v ; but in addition , of course , the hydraulic cylinder unit 82 may also be actuated by means other than the limit switches cs1 and cs2 in order to position the bucket at the initial pickup level of fig3 move it to the discharge position of fig4 and again return it to the initial pickup level of fig3 . the reason for the independent slack sensor chains 89a and 89b is that the load upon the drag bucket 51 is rarely evenly distributed on the two sides of its vertical median plane , so it is essential that the slack sensing means be capable of responding to indications of attainment of maximum load which may come first through only one of the two linkages 50 . the two interconnected drive means iii are important because they keep the trolleys synchronized regardless of load variations . if for any reason a chain 69a or 69b remains slack , providing a continuing &# 34 ; raise &# 34 ; signal to the hydraulic cylinder unit 82 , the lifting pressure to the cylinder is reduced to prevent full lifting force from being applied only to the other chain . the mechanical means for accomplishing this is seen in fig9 . the anchors 93a and 93b for the tails of the slack sensor chains 89a and 89b are mounted upon a balance plate 99 which is pivoted at 100 upon the plate 85 , and which is biased to a neutral position by a pair of adjustable compression springs 101 . an upright balance arm 102 upon the balance plate 99 is surmounted by a cam plate 103 which retains the actuator of a chain load limit switch cl in a neutral position . if one chain remains slack , the balance plate tilts one way or the other against the bias of the springs 101 so as to actuate the limit switch c1 which acts through the electrical and hydraulic control systems vi and vii to reduce pressure to the cylinder 82 . the electrical control circuit vi includes sixteen limit switches , of which only cs1 , cs2 and cl have heretofore been identified . the locations of the limit switches are illustrated diagrammatically in fig1 and 11 , and the following table associates each switch with the element by which it is actuated , the condition of the apparatus when the switch is in normal position , and the function performed by the switch . ______________________________________ relays and their functions______________________________________control relays functionsrp power onro drive onrr reverserd dwellrc , rh , rm alarm relaystime delay relaystdu - 1 raise buckettdu - 2 stop trolleytdu - 3 stall alarmtds - 1 stall alarmtds - 2 stall alarmtd - d start dwellsolenoid valvessv - f forwardsv - r reversesv - h high speedsv - l low speedsv - u upsv - d downsr relief______________________________________ tdu - 1 is field adjustable for a time delay of about 11 / 2 to 3 seconds , to compensate for reaction time of the cylinder unit 82 . td - d is also field adjustable to establish any delay in the start of a pickup run that is consistent with operating conditions . one or another stall alarm operates if the apparatus takes too long to complete a particular part of a cycle . ______________________________________limit switch identification______________________________________limit when switches areswitch actuated by in normal position : ______________________________________cb counterweight counterweights 75a and 75b raisedcs sensor slack chains taut chains 89a and 89blv slider 104 on 104 between lvl and lvi yoke 74alh trolley trip 105 105 between wall 34 and lhrcl load sensor both chains 89a and 89b tautlimitswitch function______________________________________cb1 & amp ; 2 chain breakcs1 & amp ; 2 raise bucketlvd down limitlvl dwell bypasslvi intermediate limit up & amp ; downlvu up limitlhr reverse stop , forward medium speedlhm slow speed start and reverse approachlhd reverse medium speed , bucket lower forwardlhu bucket raise forward & amp ; slow speed , high speed reverselhi bucket lower reverselhs slow speed forward , medium speed reverselhf forward stop , reverse startcl chain load limiter______________________________________ as best seen in fig1 actuation of the lv limit switches is by a slider 104 which is fixed to the yoke 74a and embraces the upright member 28 of the framework 24 . actuation of the lh limit switches is by a trolley trip finger 105 which is seen in fig1 to be nearly at the extreme lefthand end of the trolley . the limit switches lhr , lhm and lhd are illustrated in fig1 and are carried upon individual mounting brackets 106 which are longitudinally adjustable upon a support bar 107 . also carried upon the brackets 106 are bell cranks 108 which are actually contacted by the trolley trip 105 and pivot 90 ° to actuate the respective switches lhr , lhm , and lhd . when the trolley 39a has moved from the position of fig1 toward the discharge end of the tank all the bell cranks 108 are rotated 90 ° clockwise so that the bell crank arms which are vertical in fig1 will be horizontal . accordingly , when the trolley 39a makes its return run the trolley trip 105 may rotate the bell cranks 108 90 ° counterclockwise to return them to the positions illustrated in fig1 and as a result the switches lhr , lhm and lhd are moved from the normal positions of fig1 to actuated positions during a pickup run of the trolley 39a , and returned to their normal positions when the trolley returns to the position of fig1 . the limit switches lhu , lhi , lhs and lhf are not illustrated in fig1 but in fact they are also supported upon brackets like the brackets 106 which are longitudinally adjustable on a support bar like the bar 107 , and each of the brackets carries a bell crank like the bell cranks 108 . the limit switches lvd , lvl , lvi and lvu are also not illustrated in fig1 but in fact are mounted for vertical adjustment along an upright bar in positions where they may be contacted by the slider 104 as the counterweight pulley yoke 74a moves up and down . pg , 18 the indications of limit switch function in the limit switch identification table show that several of the limit switches perform different functions in different phases of an operating cycle . thus , lhr stops the trolley drive at the end of a return run and also initiates medium speed movement of the trolleys in a pickup direction to initiate a pickup run . lhd reduces trolley travel from a high speed reverse to a medium speed , preparatory to stopping , on the return run of a cycle ; and on the pickup run of a cycle it functions to cause the drag bucket 51 to be lowered from the &# 34 ; cycle start &# 34 ; position of fig1 to the &# 34 ; ash collection &# 34 ; position of fig1 where the drag bucket is at its initial pickup level . actuation of lhu on a pickup run causes the drag bucket to be raised from the position of fig1 to the position of fig1 , and at the same time reduces the speed of the trolleys from a normal medium speed to a slow speed preparatory to stopping . on a return run actuation of lhu causes the bucket to go from a medium speed reverse travel to a high speed reverse travel . the foregoing discussion of varying limit switch functions is believed to be sufficient to clarify the remaining statements of limit switch function in the limit switch identification table . the functions of the lvd and lvu limit switches are believed to be entirely plain from the statement of function . this is not true of lvi or lvl . when the drag bucket is on a pickup run of a cycle , if operation of the pickup level control system v causes the drag bucket to approach the bottom of the water seal s , lvi places a limit upon the height to which the drag bucket may be raised so as to prevent striking the water seal s . on a return run lvi maintains the drag bucket as close as possible to the bottom of the water seal s so as to provide maximum clearance above the material in the tank 31 . with respect to the &# 34 ; dwell bypass &# 34 ; function of lvl , the apparatus is ordinarily adjusted so that when the trolley and bucket suspension means ii reaches the cycle start position of fig1 it will remain there for a predetermined dwell period in order to prevent unnecessary cycling of the apparatus , based upon a normal anticipated rate of collection of material in the tank . the dwell period could vary from a few minutes to several hours , depending upon the normal operating conditions of the equipment with which the apparatus is used . if the drag bucket is raised far enough during a pickup run for the slider 104 to actuate lvl , which occurs only if there is enough material in the tank to resist forward travel of the drag bucket and actuate the pickup level control , the actuation of lvl during a pickup run causes a bypass of a time delay switch which normally causes the dwell of the drag bucket before starting a pickup run . in that event the trolley means starts a new pickup run as soon as it reaches the cycle start position at the end of a return run ; and the apparatus continues to cycle without time delay as long as lvl is actuated on each pickup run . as shown by the indication of function , limit switches cb1 and cb2 are solely safety devices which are operated only in the event a counterweight 75a or 75b drops due to the breaking of a drive chain 69a or 69b . it is entirely possible for an apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention to be cycled manually if the conditions of use of the apparatus are such as not to require extended automatic operation . however , when the apparatus is used with a large coal burning furnace , continuous automatic cycling is essential . the means for accomplishing this is shown in fig1 and 19 , which show the automatic electrical control system . the electrical control system , of course , is useful primarily to control the hydraulic system vii which is illustrated in fig2 ; but the latter , of course , could also be controlled , in large measure , by a relatively simple electrical circuit utilizing manual push button switches to control the cycling of the apparatus . such controls are shown at lines 48 to 54 of fig1 , since manual operation may be needed temporarily . referring now primarily to fig1 to 20 , and secondarily to fig1 to 17 , a complete operating sequence of the apparatus is as follows . the apparatus is started in three stages , consisting of a system start , a pump start , and a drive start . the system is started by pressing a manual &# 34 ; power on &# 34 ; button which energizes control relay rp which holds in and energizes the control circuit as far as ps - 27 . ps - 9 energizes a hydraulic failure light and an alarm relay rh . these remain energized only if , after the &# 34 ; pump start &# 34 ; step , hydraulic pressure fails to reach a proper level . as a safety factor , the system is preferably provided with two hydraulic pumps , either one of which may be used to operate the hydraulic system ; and related to each of the two pumps is a set of oil condition indicator switches . if oil level in the reservoir is too low , ls - 1 - 13 or ls - 2 - 16 will energize relay rm and the maintenance light . if the oil is too cold for proper operation , lt - 1 - 14 or lt - 2 - 17 will energize rm and the maintenance light ; and if the oil supply is too hot for proper operation , lh - 1 - 15 or lh - 2 - 18 will energize rm and the maintenance light . if rm and the maintenance light are not energized , the second step in apparatus start - up is to press the &# 34 ; pump start &# 34 ; button . with the pump selector set to pump no . 1 , as shown , the motor starter m - 1 energizes and holds in through contact m - 1 - 20 ; and the motor m operates the pump p ( fig2 ). when hydraulic pressure reaches a proper level the pressure switch ps actuates , and this opens ps - 9 , deenergizing rh and the hydraulic failure light . the &# 34 ; pump start &# 34 ; button must be manually held in until the hydraulic failure light is extinguished . it will be noted that relays m - 1 and m - 2 both contain the usual overload switches ol . closing pressure switch ps also closes ps - 27 , which energizes electric line 27 . after ps has closed , as evidenced by the hydraulic failure light being extinguished , the &# 34 ; drive start &# 34 ; button ( fig1 ) is pressed to energize relay ro which is held in through ro - 29 and closes contacts ro - 34 and ro - 42 . thereupon the following operating sequences occur : ( 1 ) a safety feature of the apparatus is that it is provided with stall alarm time delay relays tds - 1 and tds - 2 , and upon energization of relay ro , rr - 31 and lhi - 32 set tds - 1 to begin its timing cycle . ( 2 ) sv - f ( fig2 ) energizes through ro - 42 , rr - 42 , lvu - 41 , tdu - 2 and lhf , moving drag bucket 51 forward and permitting lhr to reset to the positions shown on lines 34 and 43 . ( 3 ) sv - d ( fig2 ) energizes through rr - 45 , lhd - 45 , cs - 1 - 45 , cs - 2 - 45 and lvd - 45 . this lowers the drag bucket from the ready position illustrated in fig1 to the ash collection position illustrated in fig1 . at this time lvi resets to the positions shown on lines 36 , 44 and 46 . ( 4 ) lvl - 30 resets before lhd - 31 is actuated ; and this energizes rd through rr - 31 . rd holds in through rd - 30 after lhd - 31 actuates and closes rd - 35 . this also begins the timing of the dwell timer td - d ( line 30 ). ( 5 ) downward movement of the bucket must be stopped either when it reaches the initial pickup level , established by down limit lvd , or when it strikes material in the tank to cause a slack chain condition and actuate cs - 1 or cs - 2 . accordingly , actuation of lvd - 45 or cs - 1 - 45 or cs - 2 - 45 deenergizes sv - d , stopping downward bucket movement . ( 6 ) if , in the last preceding step , it was cs - 1 or cs - 2 which was actuated , rather than lvd , then tdu - 1 is energized through cs - 1 - 22 of cs - 2 - 23 . actuation of lhd energizes sv - u through lhd - 45 , tdv - 1 - 45 , lvi - 45 and lvu - 47 , so as to raise the bucket until ls - 1 and / or ls - 2 is reset . ( 7 ) it will be observed that lhu - 40 or lvl - 40 are actuated , and this energizes sv - l ( fig2 ) to provide for low speed forward movement of the bucket . ( 8 ) regardless of whether a particular pickup run is started at the initial pickup level established by actuation of lvd , or at an intermediate level caused by actuation of cs - 1 or cs - 2 , the bucket will be elevated incrementally if sufficient material buildup is encountered , as heretofore described ; and that will take place through operation of the control components heretofore described . ( 9 ) toward the end of a pickup run , trolley actuator finger 105 actuates lhu , and lhu - 47 energizes sv - u ( fig2 ) to operate the hydraulic cylinder unit 82 and raise the bucket . lhu - 31 closes before lvl actuates , thus maintaining rd and sd - d energized . lhu - 40 deenergizes sv - l , permitting the bucket to move forward at medium speed rather than slow speed . as the bucket continues upward , lvi actuates , and when the slider 104 contacts lvu , lvu - 47 deenergizes sv - u to stop the upward movement of the bucket at the discharge level illustrated in broken lines in fig3 and diagrammatically in fig1 . ( 10 ) trolley movement actuates lhi , which deenergizes tds - 1 and energizes tds - 2 . any inordinate delay in a pickup run occurring while the bucket is in the pickup phase would have resulted in timing out of tds - 1 before it could be deenergized by actuation of lhi . tds - 2 accounts for any time delay which may occur after tdi is actuated on a pickup run and until it is again actuated on a return run , at which point tds - 2 is deactivated and tds - 1 is reactivated . ( 11 ) the trolley actuates lhs , and lhs - 39 energizes sv - l , returning the trolley to slow speed . ( 12 ) lhf is positioned to be actuated by the trolley after the bucket dumps , and lhf - 40 stops forward movement by deenergizing sv - f ; and lhf - 34 energizes rr through lhr and rd and holds in through rr - 36 . ( 13 ) when rr is energized , rr - 31 opens and rr - 29 closes to maintain rd and sd - d after lsu resets . ( 14 ) further , with energization of rr , rr - 42 opens and rr - 43 closes , energizes sv - r ( fig2 ) to drive the motors in reverse and move the bucket rearwardly . lhf then resets . ( 15 ) lhi resets , reenergizing tds - 1 and deenergizing tds - 2 . at the same time , operation of lhi - 44 energizes sv - d ( fig2 ) to charge the hydraulic cylinder unit 82 and lower the bucket . when the slider 104 reaches lvi , the latter resets , stopping the bucket lowering through lvi - 44 . ( 16 ) lvi - 36 energizes sv - h ( fig2 ). this provides for high speed rearward movement of the bucket until sv - h is deenergized when lhd is reset by trolley actuating finger 105 , resetting lhd - 36 ; and at the same time lhm energizes sv - l to return the trolley to low speed operation . ( 17 ) actuation of lhr by the trolley actuating finger 105 opens lhr - 43 to stop the bucket by deenergizing sv - r which terminates motor operation . ( 18 ) the bucket remains in the position of fig1 until td - d times out , deenergizing rd through td - d - 31 which deenergizes rr through rd - 35 . td - d deenergizes through rd - 30 . there are various special conditions which have been described in a general way heretofore . it has previously been mentioned that if the drag bucket 51 is elevated far enough during a pickup run to actuate lvl , it deenergizes td - d and rd to eliminate the dwell period before the next cycle . at the same time , lvl - 40 opens , deenergizing sv - l to shift from low speed to medium speed . if the drag bucket encounters an immovable object during a pickup run , then cs - 1 and / or cs - 2 will remain actuated until tdu - 2 times out . when this occurs , tdu - 2 - 41 opens to deenergize sv - f ( fig2 ) and stop forward movement of the trolleys until the upward movement of the drag bucket is sufficient to reset cs - 1 and / or cs - 2 . during this operation the &# 34 ; stall &# 34 ; light and relay rs are energized . if the object is so large that upward bucket movement is stopped by deenergizing sv - u through actuation of lvi - 46 , then tdu - 3 times out together with tdu - 1 and tdu - 2 . tdu - 3 holds all three timers in through tdu - 3 - 24 , and the &# 34 ; stall &# 34 ; light and rs remain energized . if any failure prevents lhi from actuating and resetting at the correct intervals , then either tds - 1 or tds - 2 will time out through lhi - 32 or lhi - 33 , as the case may be . rs and the &# 34 ; stall &# 34 ; light will then be energized through tds - 1 - 7 or tds - 2 - 8 , as the case may be . if oil pressure falls below a preset level , then ps resets , opening all of the circuits beyond ps - 27 , stopping the pump through ps - 20 , and energizing rh and the hydraulic failure light . as previously indicated , if a drive chain breaks , a counterweight can drop , actuating cb - 1 or cb - 2 . cb - 1 - 26 or cb - 2 - 27 will open all circuits beyond cb - 1 - 27 ; and cb - 1 - 3 or cb - 2 - 4 will energize rc and the chain break light . the foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art .	1
the following description of example methods and apparatus is not intended to limit the scope of the description to the precise form or forms detailed herein . instead the following description is intended to be illustrative so that others may follow its teachings . turning now to the figures , wherein like elements are referenced using common identifiers , illustrated are various connectors for use with printed circuit boards (“ pcbs ”). by way of non - limiting example , a pcb 10 may have mounted thereon one or more light emitting diodes (“ leds ”) which leds are , in turn , electrically coupled to one or more contact pads 12 formed on a top side and / or a bottom side of the pcb 10 as illustrated in fig1 - 3 . for purposes that will be discussed in greater detail below , ends of the pcb 10 may additionally include one or more keyed features 14 . in the illustrated example , the keyed feature 14 comprises a shaped recess formed in the edge of the pcb 10 . it will be understood , however , that the shape and positioning of the keyed feature 14 as illustrated in the figures is not intended to be limiting . rather , it will be understood that keyed feature 14 may be provided with any shape and / or be arranged on the pcb 10 in any manner as needed to meet the objectives described hereinafter . for example , the keyed feature may include a hole defined in the pcb 10 and a corresponding post formed on the connector . for providing an electrical connection between two pcbs 10 , a center bridge connector 16 is illustrated in fig4 - 8 . the center bridge connector includes a housing 18 formed using an electrically insulating material , such as plastic . the housing 18 carries one or more connecting terminals 17 . opposite ends of the connecting terminals 17 are arranged to engage contact pads 12 provided on the underside of a pcb 10 . for example , as illustrated in fig4 and 5 , the center bridge connector 16 may be mounted in a cavity of a mounting surface 20 , e . g ., a heat sink , with the pcbs 10 then being mounted to the mounting surface 20 such that an end of each of the pcbs 10 is positioned over a one of the respective , opposite sides of the housing 18 as particularly shown in fig7 . preferably , the connecting terminals 17 have elasticity to thereby facilitate engagement with the contact pads 12 of the pcbs 10 , e . g ., the ends 17 a of the contacting terminals 17 that are exposed in the housing 18 may be curved and arranged over a hole , slot , recess , cavity , or the like as shown in fig8 so that the curved portion of the connecting terminal 17 is elastically moveable . as noted above , the center bridge connector 16 may be positioned in a recess , cavity , or the like formed in the mounting surface 20 to thereby allow the center bridge connector 16 to be positioned generally below the mounting surface to allow the pcbs 10 to lay directly on the mounting surface . as illustrated , the center bridge connector 16 and the pcbs 10 may be mounted to the mounting surface 20 via use of screws , snap - fit , or the like . to facilitate proper alignment of the pcbs 10 with the connector 16 , the housing 18 may optionally carry a keyed feature 22 ( an example of which is illustrated in fig6 - 8 ) which is complementary to the keyed feature 14 which may be optionally provided to the pcb 10 . in this regard , it is preferred that the keyed features 22 and 18 are arranged to ensure that an edge of a pcb 10 is not incorrectly placed from a given side of the connector 16 . it is also preferred that the keyed feature 22 have a low - profile , i . e ., a thickness that is no greater than the thickness provided to the pcb 10 , to thereby prevent the keyed feature 22 from blocking a path of light emitted from any leds mounted on the pcb 10 . it will be additionally appreciated that the keyed feature may be used to prevent a pcb 10 with an incorrect rating from being inserted into a lighting fixture . as noted previously , the keyed features 22 and 14 may have any desired cooperable locations and / or shapes without limitation . for example , the keyed feature 14 of the pcbs 10 need not be in the form of one or more slots positioned at an edge of the pcbs 10 but may be in the form of one or more holes provided to a pcb 10 where the holes are arranged and configured to accept a complimentary post or connector provided to the housing 18 . turning to fig9 - 14 , a further center bridge connector 30 having one or more conductor insertion ports 32 is illustrated . in the illustrated example , a conductor , e . g ., stripped end of wire , it to be inserted into the conductor insertion port 32 whereupon the conductor will be placed into electrical connection with contact pads 12 formed on the underside of pcbs 10 via connecting terminals 19 and 21 . more particularly , as illustrated in fig1 , the connecting terminals 19 and 21 are arranged to provide wire insertion port 32 with a push - in type electrical connector . to this end , a first end 19 b of connecting terminal 19 is provided with a resilient , spring - like member that is arranged to electrically engage a conductor inserted into the conductor insertion port 32 and to thereby drive the inserted conductor into electrical engagement with a first end 21 b of the other connecting terminal 21 as shown in fig1 and 14 . as previously described , the second end 19 a of the connecting terminal 19 and the second end 21 a of the connecting terminal 21 , which are exposed from the plastic housing 18 of the center bridge connector 30 , are preferably provided with curves to thereby facilitate engagement with the contact pads 12 of the pcbs 10 when the pcbs 10 are positioned over the center bridge connector 30 in the manner shown in fig9 , 10 , and 14 . when a conductor is not inserted into the wire insertion port 32 , the first end 19 b of the connecting terminal 19 and the second end 21 b of the connecting terminal 21 are preferably electrically engaged — owing to the spring force note previously — to thereby allow the center bridge connector 30 to place the contact pads of the pcbs 10 into electrical communication with one another via the connecting terminals 19 and 21 . as before , the housing 18 of the center bridge connector 30 may be provided with low - profile , keyed features 22 and the center bridge connector 30 may be positioned in a recess , cavity , or the like formed in the mounting surface 20 to thereby allow the center bridge connector 30 to be positioned generally below the pcbs 10 . while the example illustrated in fig9 - 14 disclose a center bridge connector 30 in which the wire insertion port 32 is vertically oriented and located on a side of the center bridge connector 30 that would be opposite of the pcbs 10 , it will be appreciated that the described components may be rearranged as needed to facilitate other locations for and / or orientations of the wire insertion port 32 as needed to meet any given connection requirements . turning now to fig1 - 17 , a still further center bridge connector 30 ′ having one or more conductor insertion ports 32 is illustrated . in the illustrated example , a conductor , e . g ., stripped end of wire , it to be inserted into the conductor insertion port 32 whereupon the conductor will be placed into electrical connection with contact pads 12 formed on the top side of pcbs 10 via connecting terminals 19 ′ and 21 ′. as with center bridge connector 30 , the connecting terminals 19 ′ and 21 ′ are preferably arranged to provide wire insertion port 32 with a push - in type electrical connector . to this end , a first end 19 b ′ of connecting terminal 19 ′ is provided with a resilient , spring - like member that is arranged to electrically engage a conductor inserted into the conductor insertion port 32 and to thereby drive the inserted conductor into electrical engagement with a first end 21 b ′ of the other connecting terminal 21 ′ as shown in fig1 . the second end 19 a ′ of the connecting terminal 19 ′ and the second end 21 a ′ of the connecting terminal 21 ′, which are exposed from the plastic housing 18 of the center bridge connector 30 ′, are preferably provided with downward curves to thereby facilitate engagement with the contact pads 12 located on the top side of the pcbs 10 when the pcbs 10 are positioned within pcb accepting slots 31 formed in the housing 18 . as additionally illustrated , the pcb accepting slots 31 are preferably covered by housing section 33 to thereby prevent an inadvertent touching of energized parts such as the top mounted contact pads 12 or connecting terminals 19 ′ and 21 ′ when the pcb 10 is inserted into the center bridge connector 30 ′ as well as the connecting terminals 19 ′ and 21 ′ when the pcb 10 is removed from the pcb accepting slot 31 . when a conductor is not inserted into the wire insertion port 32 , the first end 19 b ′ of the connecting terminal 19 ′ and the second end 21 b ′ of the connecting terminal 21 ′ are preferably electrically engaged — owing to the spring force note previously — to thereby allow the center bridge connector 30 ′ to place the contact pads of the pcbs 10 into electrical communication with one another via the connecting terminals 19 ′ and 21 ′. as before , the housing 18 of the center bridge connector 30 ′ may be provided with keyed features 22 ( not illustrated ). while the example illustrated in fig1 - 17 disclose a center bridge connector 30 ′ in which the wire insertion port 32 is vertically oriented and located on a side of the center bridge connector 30 ′ that would be opposite to the pcbs 10 , it will be appreciated that the described components may be rearranged as needed to facilitate other locations for and / or orientations of the wire insertion port 32 as needed to meet any given connection requirements . turning now to fig1 - 23 , an edge connector 40 having one or more conductor insertion ports 32 is illustrated . in the illustrated example , a conductor , e . g ., stripped end of wire , it to be inserted into the conductor insertion port 32 whereupon the conductor will be placed into electrical connection with a contact pad 12 formed on the underside of a pcb 10 via a connecting terminal 42 . more particularly , as illustrated in fig2 , the connecting terminal 42 is arranged to cooperate with an interior side of the housing of the edge connector 40 to provide wire insertion port 32 with a push - in type electrical connector . to this end , a first end 42 b of the connecting terminal 42 is provided with a resilient , spring - like member that is arranged to electrically engage a conductor inserted into the conductor insertion port 32 and to thereby trap the inserted conductor between the first end 42 b of the connecting terminal 42 and the interior side of the housing 18 of the edge connector 40 . as previously described , the second end 42 a of the connecting terminal 42 , which is exposed from the plastic housing 18 of the edge connector 40 , is preferably provided with curves to thereby facilitate engagement with the contact pad 12 of the pcb 10 when the pcb 10 is positioned over the edge connector 40 in the manner shown in fig4 , 21 , and 23 . similarly , the housing 18 of the edge connector 40 may be provided with low - profile , keyed feature 22 as described above for cooperating with keyed feature 14 provided to the pcb 10 . while the example illustrated in fig1 - 23 disclose an edge connector 40 in which the wire insertion port 32 is vertically oriented and located to allow for wire insertions from the underside of the pcb 10 , fig2 - 28 illustrate an edge connector 40 ′ in which the wire insertion port 32 is horizontally oriented and located to allow for wire insertions from a side of the pcb 10 . the edge connector 40 ′ includes the same components as those described above with respect to edge connector 40 with the components being oriented and arranged to accommodate wire insertion from the side of the pcb 10 . the edge connector 40 ′ can be used to engage contact pads 12 located on the top side or the underside of a pcb 10 . in the illustrated embodiment , the housing of the edge connector 40 ′ includes a housing section 55 to thereby prevent an inadvertent touching of energized parts such as the top mounted contact pads 12 or connecting terminal 42 ′ when the pcb 10 is inserted under the connecting terminal 42 ′ as well as the connecting terminal 42 ′ when the pcb 10 is removed therefrom . it will also be appreciated that the curves provided to the connecting terminal 42 ′ may function to urge the pcb 10 into engagement with the mounting surface 20 when used to engage a top side contact pad 12 of a pcb 10 . similarly , when used to engage a top side contact pad 12 of a pcb 10 , the top portion of the edge connector 40 ′ is desired to have a height that will minimize the blocking of light emitted from any leds mounted on the pcb 10 . turning now to fig2 - 33 , a further edge connector 50 having one or more conductor insertion ports 32 is illustrated . in the illustrated example , a conductor , e . g ., stripped end of wire , it to be inserted into the conductor insertion port 32 whereupon the conductor will be placed into electrical connection with a contact pad 12 formed on the upper side of a pcb 10 via a connecting terminal 52 . more particularly , as illustrated in fig2 , the connecting terminal 52 is arranged to cooperate with an interior side of the housing of the edge connector 50 to provide wire insertion port 32 with a push - in type electrical connector . to this end , a first end 52 b of the connecting terminal 52 is provided with a resilient , spring - like member that is arranged to electrically engage a conductor inserted into the conductor insertion port 32 and to thereby trap the inserted conductor between the first end 52 b of the connecting terminal 52 and the interior side of the housing 18 of the edge connector 50 . as previously described , the second end 52 a of the connecting terminal 52 , which is exposed from the plastic housing 18 of the edge connector 50 , is preferably provided with downward curves to thereby facilitate engagement with the contact pad 12 of the pcb 10 when the pcb 10 is positioned within insertion opening 54 as particularly illustrated in fig2 and 33 . in this regard , the pcb insertion opening 54 is preferably covered by housing section 55 to thereby prevent an inadvertent touching of energized parts such as the top mounted contact pads 12 or connecting terminal 52 when the pcb 10 is inserted into the edge connector 50 as well as the connecting terminal 52 when the pcb 10 is removed therefrom . it will also be appreciated that the curves provided to the connecting terminal 52 may function to urge the pcb 10 into engagement with the mounting surface 20 , i . e ., the lower surface of the pcb insertion slot 54 would be lower than the top of the pcb 10 . preferably , the top portion of the edge connector 50 is provided with a height to minimize the blocking of light emitted from any leds mounted on the pcb 10 . the insertion opening 54 may also be provided with keyed features ( not shown ) for the purposes described previously . while specific embodiments of the subject invention have been described in detail , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of this disclosure . for example , it is to be appreciated that features described with respect to the various embodiments are not to be limited to any particular embodiment but may be freely used across embodiments where applicable . yet further , while discussed with respect to examples involving pcbs carrying leds , it will be understood that the disclosed electrical connectors could be incorporated into other electrical apparatus and systems . still further , it will be appreciated that the size , shape , arrangement , and / or number of components illustrated and described can be changed as necessary to meet a given need . accordingly , the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any equivalents thereof .	5
printing devices may maintain a set of internal , digitally controlled “ gauges ”, also known as “ counters ”. these counters may reflect , for example , the amount of copies being printed , and are subject of manufacture &# 39 ; s specifications . polling may be carried out periodically to obtain the counter data , normally by utilizing some sort of scheduling mechanism . of particular interest here are so - called “ absolute counters ”. this means that their values reflect a total count value at a specific point in time . thus , in order to obtain the counter value for a printing device for a given time period ( referred to herein as a reporting time period ), one can subtract the counter value corresponding to the beginning of that time period from the counter value corresponding to the end of that time period . however , it is typically not possible to obtain counter data for every point in time and every device , over an arbitrary reporting time period of interest . for example , a printing device may simply not be physically available at a particular counter polling time , may be in an offline mode , may have a network communications problem , or the like . this results in “ gaps ” ( data discontinuity ) in the device counter data . generally speaking , there are three types of printing device data discontinuity to be found : 1 ) those occurring at the beginning of a reporting time period ; 2 ) those occurring at the end of a reporting time period ; and 3 ) those occurring at both the beginning and the end of a reporting time period . a special case exists where there is no counter data for the entire reporting time period . fig1 a to 1d schematically show the three types of data discontinuity mentioned above , for a reporting time period 102 for a single printing device . in this particular example , the reporting time period corresponds to a sequence of fourteen days , each day being represented as an ordinal integer . it will be appreciated that , in practice , other reporting time periods are possible , that time intervals other than days may be used , and that timestamps may be used instead of ordinal integers . in these figures , hashed slots represent days for which data is stored , while empty slots represent days for which no data is available . thus , in fig1 a , there are no data gaps for the reporting time period 102 ; in fig1 b , a data gap 104 exists at the beginning of the reporting time period 102 ; in fig1 c , a data gap 106 exists at the end of the reporting time period 102 ; and in fig1 d , data gaps 104 , 106 exist at the beginning and the end of the reporting time period 102 . as noted earlier , in order to determine the absolute counter value for a printing device for a given reporting time period , one can determine the counter data values corresponding to the earliest and latest timestamps , and then subtract one from the other . typically , this requires a linear search operation to skip any missing data . that is because many data structures , such as relational tables ( also known as heap tables ), store data in an unordered manner . this means the data is not stored in any particular order ( i . e . not organized by “ datetime ” for example ). it will also be appreciated that the data represented by the figures may constitute only a fraction of the available data . a search for the counter data values corresponding to the earliest and latest timestamps within a reporting time interval may therefore end up reading all of the counter data for that reporting time interval before it finds these counter data values . thus , as shown in fig2 a to 2d , while no search to skip missing data is required in the event that data exists for the entire reporting time period , where counter data is missing at the beginning of the reporting time period ( fig2 b ), a search 202 must be performed to identify the counter data value 204 corresponding to the earliest timestamp within the reporting time period . similarly , where data is missing at the end of the reporting time period , as shown in fig2 c , a search 206 must be performed to identify the counter data value 208 corresponding to the latest timestamp within the reporting time period . in the case where data is missing at both the beginning and the end of the reporting time period , two searches 210 , 212 , need to be performed to identify the counter data values 214 , 216 corresponding to the earliest and latest timestamp , respectively , within the reporting time period in practice , an end - user ( e . g . an organization ) is seldom interested in only a single printing device . within a relatively large printing infrastructure , one may consider n printing devices being used in parallel , where n can cover hundreds , thousands and even several thousands of printing devices . data discontinuities of one or more of the aforementioned type might be observed simultaneously for a significant proportion of the n printing devices . however , the sheer volume of data that may be accumulated presents challenges for efficiently retrieving data . in particular , it is difficult , if not impossible , to make any valuable prediction about data gap distributions . employing search operations in the case of n printing devices may require n search runs and thus require n search times , and is computationally time - consuming . furthermore , the end - user may be interested in a subset of the n printing devices , for example those at a specific physical ( or logical ) location within the organization . as a general rule , every installed printing device can be seen as a part of an already existing infrastructure . thus , end - users often have their own organizational infrastructure , reflecting their internal hierarchy . fig3 is a schematic diagram of an organization hierarchy represented as a tree - like structure 300 with the top - most ( or root ) node 302 representing the entire organization and the branches representing , in this example , different locations 304 , facilities 306 , departments 308 , units 310 and networks 312 . thus , in one embodiment , the hierarchy is such that the location corresponding to root the root node 302 includes all other locations within the hierarchy 300 . similarly , a node ( such as node 302 ) that is connected to one or more nodes appearing lower in the hierarchy ( such as nodes 308 , 310 and 312 ) contains all of those lower nodes . accordingly , there may be overlap between the different branches , i . e . a node may be part of two or more branches . typically , database management systems do not allow an end - user to distinguish between different locations in the customer &# 39 ; s infrastructure at any specified moment of time . fig4 schematically shows a database management system 400 , which , broadly speaking , functions to collect and store data obtained from printing devices 420 of an infrastructure 422 , and to provide a means of accessing the stored data by the end - user 418 . the database management system 400 comprises a database server 402 and a data storage system 404 , though these do not have to be separate sub - systems as shown . furthermore , any separation need not be “ physical ”, i . e . they may be integrated . the database server 402 comprises network protocols 406 , a query engine 408 and a reporting application 409 . the network protocols 406 provide the functions of connection handling , authentication , security , and so forth over network 416 . the network 416 can be a wide area network such as the internet . the query engine 408 is responsible for query optimization and execution . its components may comprise a parser , a query optimizer , and a query executor ( not shown ). in brief , the parser primarily functions to check query syntax . the query optimizer determines how to retrieve the data as quickly and efficiently as possible . it may , for example , choose from among several different ways to execute the query , and then creates a plan of execution that can be understood by the query executor . the query executor then interprets the execution plan and , based on the information it has received , makes requests of the other components of the system , such as the storage engine 410 of the data storage system 404 , to retrieve the data . once the data is retrieved , it is passed to the reporting application 409 for presentation to the end - user . the data storage system 404 comprises a storage engine 410 , which is responsible for the efficient storage and access of data to and from the first and second data storage structures 412 , 414 . the database server 402 communicates with the storage engine 410 through a storage engine application programming interface ( api ) ( not shown ). in embodiments , the database management system 400 may periodically poll the printing devices 420 . thus , there may also be a polling application for managing the polling process . however , this is not shown for reasons of clarity . in order to generate a report , the end - user 418 formulates and submits a query to database server 402 . in embodiments , the database management system 400 uses the structured query language ( sql ). in sql , queries refer to a widely available set of sql commands called clauses . each clause ( command ) performs some sort of function against the database . the query specifies some criteria by which the database server should select data from among all of the data contained in the database system . in one embodiment , the query comprises a sql select clause . the database server receives and executes the query . in executing the query , the database server forms a result set and sends the result set to the reporting application for 409 for presentation to the end - user . the result set is a selected subset of all of the data in the database system ( this is described in more detail below ). the result set consists only of the data that satisfied the criteria specified in the query . the database management system may be implemented as a data processing system having at least one processor . in one embodiment , the at least one processor is a conventional processing device , such as a general - purpose microprocessor . the data processing system also includes a memory , which includes program instructions or functional units that implement the aforementioned features , such as the query engine 408 and the storage engine 410 . fig5 schematically shows first and second data storage structures 412 , 414 according to an embodiment . in one embodiment , first ( or primary ) data storage structure 412 is a relational data structure . this is a logical data structure in which data is stored in relation tables . as shown in fig5 , table 512 stores data about devices , events occurring at those devices , and the time at which those events occurred . these are defined by the columns of the table 512 , named printing device id , counter value , and timestamp , respectively . thus , in one embodiment , each row is a record comprising three fields , storing a device identifier , a counter data entry , and a timestamp . these are generally not temporally ordered as shown in table 512 . timestamps are indicative of points in time at which counter data was , or was expected to be , obtained ( received by database management system 400 or sampled by the printing devices 420 ). it will be appreciated that the timestamps are shown in the fig5 as ordinal values ( 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . , n ) for the sake of clarity only . where no counter data is available , the counter data entry may be a “ null ” or simply left empty . since a null is not a member of any data domain , it is , strictly speaking , not a “ value ” but rather a marker ( or placeholder ) indicating the absence of value . in one embodiment , the counter data values are absolute counter values , meaning that each represents the total number of occurrences of events being counted , for example number of pages printed . the counter data therefore comprises numerical data values measured with respect to or bound by time . it will be appreciated that the occurrences of events being counted may not necessarily change over time , as shown by the counter data stored at address “ an03 ” and “ an04 ”. however , each still has an associated timestamp . in one embodiment , the counter data is collected repeatedly over time at fixed periods . the frequency , or “ granularity ”, of the time periods can be seconds , minutes , hours , days , weeks , months , or years . in one embodiment , the frequency is n - times a day ( either at regular or irregular time intervals ), for example n ranging from 2 to 8 depending on networking infrastructure . this is because polling may often impose substantial loads on networking bandwidth , even causing temporary network “ storms ” or “ collapses ”. in one embodiment , second ( or auxiliary ) data storage structure 414 is a multidimensional data storage structure 514 ( in mathematical terms , a hypercube ). for convenience , however , it is shown as a two - dimensional table . in one embodiment , the data storage structure 514 comprises an index object , which is a physical data structure that allows direct ( vs . sequential ) access to data . the data stored in the data storage structure 514 is based on the data stored in the table 512 . in embodiments , data storage structure 514 stores and maps between printing device identifiers , time stamps , and address data that identifies the storage location of the corresponding counter data where it is available . in one embodiment , data storage structure 514 also stores a hierarchical id corresponding to the location of the device within the end - users organizational infrastructure , as described with reference to fig3 . for example , a hierarchical id of “ 1 ” may correspond to the entire organization . in the embodiment shown with reference to fig5 , data storage structure 514 stores one hierarchical id per entry . the use of the aforementioned data storage structures will now be described with reference to fig6 and 7 . at step s 602 a polling application , which may be separate from , but communicatively connected to , the database management system 400 , sends polling messages to printing devices 420 . in response , those printing devices that are “ active ” send a response message that includes a counter data value ( s 604 ). the polling application then maps the received response messages to the device identifiers . the message may also include a location identifier , which may ultimately be determined based on input from a user . at step s 606 , the data is stored in the first data storage structure ( e . g . table 512 ). at step s 608 , the second data storage structure ( e . g . table 514 ) is updated . when database server 402 then receives a request for data ( in the form of an sql query for example ) from the end - user 418 via network 416 and network protocols 406 ( step s 702 ), the sql query is passed to the query engine 408 , where it is parsed , optimized and executed ( step s 704 ). the requested data is retrieved by the storage engine 410 of the data storage system 404 and the results passed back to the reporting application 409 , where it is prepared for presentation to the end - user 418 . as noted earlier , relational data structures have no “ understanding ” that the stored data is part of time - varying data collection . this means that a query specifying a particular time point for which there is no counter data value will return a null because no counter data value exists for that particular time point . furthermore , in the case of data discontinuity , the database management system 400 has to first find the counter data corresponding to the earliest and / or latest timestamp for the reporting time period . this requires n searches in the case of n printing devices . when making use of the second data storage structure , such a search becomes obsolete because , firstly , the database management system ‘ knows ’ whether or not a counter data value exists for a given point in time , and , secondly , can directly access it in the first data storage structure using the address information . thus , with reference to fig5 , for a reporting time period covering the time stamps “ 1 ” through “ 4 ” for example , no counter data values exist in respect of printing device 2 and time stamps “ 1 ” and “ 2 ”. accordingly , table 514 does not store address data in respect of these time stamps for this device . instead , address data is only stored in respect of time stamps “ 3 ” and “ 4 ”, for which counter data values do exist . this means that for this reporting time period the database management system 400 immediately proceeds to time stamp “ 3 ”, finds the address data value “ a207 ”, and accesses the counter data value at that address ( the value “ 10 ”). in other words , by storing and mapping between address data for which counter data values exist and timestamps , the second data storage structure provides an indication of where the storage engine should “ go ”. although in foregoing embodiments the first data storage structure in which the counter data for each device is stored in a column , in other embodiments the counter data for each device can be stored as a dedicated table , as a set of rows in a shared table , or as a single row in a shared table . although in foregoing embodiments the second data storage structure is an index object , in other embodiments it is a “ view ” or a “ materialized view ”. a view can be thought of as the parsed binary language implementation of a query that , when executed , extracts or derives data from a data storage structure that it references , in this case first data storage structure . as it is stored , the view ( i . e . query ) can be repeatedly used without having to re - write the same query many times . furthermore , as the view is based on the first data storage structure , it does not take up any storage other than storage for the definition of the view ( i . e . the query ) in a data dictionary . a materialized view , on the other hand , is a physical data structure defined by a result set produced when a query is executed . in other words , a materialized view comprises a pre - computed query result that may be stored in a persistent manner for quick access later . this may be implemented in the form of the second data storage structure described above with additional record logging mechanism , i . e . also storing the counter data . the materialized view is synchronized with the source of its data structure , i . e . the first data structure . if it is not , then the materialized view is rendered “ stale ” and the database query execution plan executor will not make use of it . although in foregoing embodiments , the database system is implemented in the context of networked office devices such as printers , copiers , and facsimile devices ( or devices providing a combination thereof ), it will be appreciated that the database system is relevant to other kinds of devices . broadly speaking , these kinds of devices provide , or rather posses , different kinds of information in a machine readable digital format , as well as digitally - aware devices , which represent the kinds of devices that possess information content that can be digitized . for example , these sorts of devices can contain , for example optical , mechanical and other data which can be measured , evaluated and converted into a machine - readable electronic format . although in foregoing embodiments , the second data storage structure stores one hierarchical id per entry , in other embodiments the second data storage structure 514 may store a plurality of hierarchical ids for each entry . an additional structure providing “ drill down ” functionality may be provided , for example mapping the hierarchy ids to the sort of a “ tree ” structure corresponding to the hierarchy . although in foregoing embodiments the data arrives from devices on a regular basis , the data may also arrive at an irregular basis , or a combination of both . whereas regular data arrives at predictable predefined periods , irregular data arrives at unspecified points in time or timestamps cannot be characterized by a repeating pattern . although in foregoing embodiments the timestamps are associated with time points ( i . e . a specific instant in time , based on the precision of the data type ), in other embodiments the timestamp may be associated with time periods . although in foregoing embodiments sql queries are used to specify information to be retrieved , in other embodiments the queries can be formulated in other query languages . it will be understood that a storage location address may not describe a physical location ; instead , it used as a means to request information from a controller . the controller converts the request from a logical to a physical address that is able to retrieve the data from an actual physical location on the storage device . in the foregoing detailed description of embodiments , references to “ one embodiment ”, “ an embodiment ”, “ an example embodiment ”, etc ., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature , structure , or characteristic , but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature , structure , or characteristic . moreover , such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment . further , when a particular feature , structure , or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment , it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature , structure , or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described . embodiments can be in the form of a hardware implementation , a software implementation , or a mixture of both . thus any of the “ means ”, “ components ” and “ parts ” defined herein can be implemented as code modules in different combination in a computer . embodiments encompass a computer program provided as a computer program product on a storage medium . the computer program can be stored on a storage medium such as a solid state memory , an optical disc , a magnetic disc , or tape device . the computer program product can be involved in the implementation of an embodiment , either as a complete set of computer executable instructions capable of configuring , on its own , the performance of one or more of the embodiments , or as a set of instructions engaging pre - existing operable software components on a computer , to cause the configuration of the computer in the desired manner . the computer program product may be directly executable , or may require local processing , such as decoding , decompression , or compilation , before it is in an executable condition . all examples and conditional language provided herein are intended for pedagogical purposes of aiding the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to further the art , and are not to be construed as limitations to such specifically recited examples and conditions , nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority or inferiority of the invention . although one or more embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail , it should be understood that the various changes , substitutions , and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	6
an auto - ranging film densitometer 10 in accordance with the present invention is illustrated generally in fig1 . as shown , densitometer 10 includes a radiation or light emitting subsystem 12 , light detecting subsystem 16 and microprocessor 15 . light emitting subsystem 12 generates and impinges light of a known magnitude or intensity upon a predetermined portion of film 14 . light detecting subsystem 16 senses the portion of the impinged light which passes through film 14 , and generates amplified transmittance base signals and transmittance range signals which together characterize the transmittance ( t ) of the film ( the fraction of impinged light which passes through ). film density ( d ) is defined as the common logarithm of the inverse of the transmittance ( ie , d = log 10 ( t - 1 )), and is an indication of the degree of lightness or darkness of the image on film 14 . microprocessor 15 generates digital density value signals representative of the film density as a function of the transmittance base and transmittance range signals . as shown in fig1 light emitting subsystem 12 includes a light emitting diode ( led ) assembly 20 , photodiode 22 and emitter stabilization circuit 24 . led assembly 20 includes a red led 26 mounted within a barrel 28 . photodiode 22 , which is a p . i . n . photodiode in one embodiment , is positioned adjacent to an aperture 30 through the side of barrel 28 to monitor the intensity of light emitted by led assembly 20 . emitter stabilization circuit 24 utilizes signals received from photodiode 22 in a closed feedback loop to initiate a constant and stable light intensity output from led 26 . stabilized light intensity control is thereby achieved without having to position any optical components in the light path between led 26 and film 14 . light emitting subsystem 12 and its led 26 can be turned on and off by microprocessor 15 in response to signals received by emitter stabilization circuit 24 . emitter stabilization circuit 24 and its electrical interconnections to microprocessor 15 , photodiode 22 and led 26 are illustrated in greater detail in fig2 . as shown , emitter stabilization circuit 24 includes potentiometer 30 , operational amplifier 32 , inverter 34 , transistor 36 , resistors 38 , 42 , 44 , and 46 , and capacitor 48 . these circuit elements are electrically interconnected between ground terminal 50 and a positive supply potential v s . feedback capacitor 48 provides ac stabilization . a logic lo signal received at the input of inverter 34 from microprocessor 15 disables light emitting subsystem 20 . a logic hi signal at the input of inverter 34 enables drive current flow to and light emission from led 26 . the magnitude of the drive current supplied to led 26 , and therefore the intensity of the light beam produced by the led , is controlled by transistor 36 in response to a bias signal applied to the base of the transistor by amplifier 32 . amplifier 32 has an inverting (-) input terminal connected to receive feedback signals from the anode of photodiode 22 and the cathode of led 26 , and thereby regulates the intensity of the light beam produced by the led . the quiescent output level of led 26 is controlled by potentiometer 30 . referring back to fig1 light detecting subsystem 16 is shown to include a p . i . n . photodiode 52 and a detector circuit 54 . photodiode 52 is positioned to receive light transmitted through film 14 . in response , photodiode 52 generates currents ( ie ., transmittance signals ) representative of the amounts of light received . transmittance base signals representative of the magnitudes of the photodiode currents , and transmittance range signals characterizing the magnitudes of the photodiode currents as being within one of several ranges , are generated by detector circuit 54 as a function of the photodiode currents . the transmittance base signals generated by detector circuit 54 are digitized by analog - to - digital ( a / d ) converter 17 before being applied to microprocessor 15 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig1 detector circuit 54 generates digital transmittance range signals which are applied directly to microprocessor 15 . detector circuit 54 and its interconnections to photodiode 52 , a / d converter 17 and microprocessor 15 are illustrated in greater detail in fig3 . as shown , detector circuit 54 includes a transimpedance ( current - to - voltage ) amplifier 56 , amplifier 58 , range detector circuit 60 and gain control circuit 62 . transimpedance amplifier 56 is connected to receive the current signal from photodiode 52 and includes operational amplifier 67 , resistors 61 , 62 , and 63 , and capacitors 64 and 65 . the inverting (-) input terminal of amplifier 67 is connected to ground terminal 50 through photodiode 52 , while the noninverting (+) input terminal is connected directly to the ground terminal . resistor 61 and capacitor 64 are connected in a parallel circuit between the output and inverting input terminals of amplifier 67 . the output terminal of amplifier 67 is connected to ground terminal 50 through the series arrangement of resistor 62 and the parallel combination of resistor 63 and capacitor 65 . transimpedance amplifier 56 converts the current signals produced by photodiode 52 to voltage signals of proportional magnitudes . in the embodiment shown in fig3 range detector circuit 60 includes first range comparator circuit 66 and second range comparator circuit 68 . comparator circuits 66 and 68 compare the voltage transmittance signals to reference voltages representative of several adjacent factor of ten ranges of transmittance signal magnitudes , and provide range signals r a and r b indicating the ranges within which the transmittance signals lie . range comparator circuit 66 includes voltage comparator ( vc ) 70 , resistors 71 - 74 and inverter 76 . the inverting (-) input terminal of vc 70 is connected to the output of operational amplifier 67 . resistors 71 and 72 are connected in series between supply potential v s and ground terminal 50 . resistor 73 is interconnected between the noninverting (+) input terminal and output terminal of vc 70 to provide hysteresis . the output terminal of vc 70 is also coupled to supply potential v s through resistor 74 and to microprocessor 15 through inverter 76 . resistors 71 and 72 function as a voltage divider and are ratioed to provide a range reference voltage at the noninverting input terminal of vc 70 having a magnitude corresponding to a transmittance signal magnitude representative of a transmittance of 0 . 100 ( i . e ., a - 1 factor of 10 transmittance which corresponds to a density of 1 . 00 ). the transmittance range signals r a produced at the output of inverter 76 will therefore be at logic lo levels for transmittance signal magnitudes representative of transmittance values less than 0 . 100 , and at logic hi levels for transmittance signal magnitudes representative of transmittance values greater than or equal to 0 . 100 . range comparator 68 is configured in a manner similar to that of comparator 60 described above , and includes vc 78 , resistors 79 - 82 and inverter 84 . resistors 79 and 80 function as a voltage divider and are ratioed to provide a range reference voltage on the noninverting input terminal of vc 78 which corresponds in magnitude to the magnitude of transmittance signals representative of a transmittance value of 0 . 010 ( ie . a - 2 factor of 10 transmittance which corresponds to a density of 2 . 00 ). range comparator 68 therefore generates a logic lo transmittance range signal r b at the output of inverter 84 whenever the magnitude of the transmittance signals received at the inverting input terminal of vc 78 correspond to transmittance values less than 0 . 010 . for transmittance signals having magnitudes corresponding to transmittance values greater than or equal to 0 . 010 , range comparator 68 produces a logic hi transmittance range signal r b . in the embodiment described above , the outputs of range comparators 66 and 68 are digital signals r a and r b representative of transmittance values within three factor of ten ranges ( ie . 1 . 000 & gt ; t ≧ 0 . 100 ; 0 . 100 & gt ; t ≧ 0 . 010 ; and t & lt ; 0 . 010 ). these digital range signals are applied to microprocessor 15 as a two bit signal . the transmittance range signals r a and r b and corresponding transmittance values and density ranges are illustrated in fig4 . the amplification gain factor of amplifier 58 is controlled by gain control circuit 62 as a function of the transmittance range signals produced by range detector circuit 60 . amplifier 58 includes operational amplifier 86 , resistor 88 and capacitor 90 . the noninverting (+) input terminal of amplifier 86 is connected to receive the transmittance signals from the output of transconductance amplifier 56 . resistor 88 and capacitor 90 are connected in a parallel circuit between the output and the inverting (-) input terminals of amplifier 86 . amplifier 58 , range detector circuit 60 and gain control circuit 62 function as a nonlinear amplifier of the transmittance signals received from transconductance amplifier 56 , amplifying these signals as a function of their magnitudes to produce amplified transmittance base signals at the output of operational amplifier 86 . gain control circuit 62 includes fets 92 and 94 and resistors 96 and 98 . the gate of fet 92 is coupled to the output terminal of vc 70 of range comparator 66 . resistor 96 is interconnected between the inverting input terminal of operational amplifier 86 and the drain of fet 92 . the source of fet 92 is coupled to ground terminal 50 . in a similar manner the gate of fet 94 is connected to the output terminal of vc 78 of range comparator 68 , while resistor 98 and the source - drain channel of the fet are connected in a series circuit between the inverting input terminal of amplifier 86 and ground terminal 50 . fets 92 and 94 function as switches causing resistors 96 and 98 , respectively , to be electrically interconnected to amplifier 58 as a function of the output of respective range comparators 66 and 68 . the dc gain factor of amplifier 58 is determined as a function of the resistance value of resistor 88 and the value of whichever resistors 96 and 98 are electrically coupled to amplifier 86 . the outputs of vcs 70 and 78 will be at logic lo levels whenever the transmittance signals have magnitudes greater than the associated reference voltages of range comparators 66 and 68 . when the outputs of vcs 70 and 78 are at logic lo levels , fets 94 and 96 will be off , electrically disconnecting resistors 96 and 98 , respectively , from amplifier circuit 58 . amplifier 58 will therefore have a first dc gain factor for transmittance signals representative of transmittance values within the first range detected by range detector circuit 60 . in response to transmittance signals having magnitudes representative of transmittance values within the second range detected by circuit 60 , the output of vc 70 will be at a logic hi while the output of vc 78 will be at a logic lo . fet 92 is switched on in response to the logic hi signal applied to its gate , electrically interconnecting resistor 96 to operational amplifier 86 . amplifier 58 will therefore have a second dc gain factor determined by the resistance values of resistors 88 and 96 . in a similar manner , when the magnitudes of the transmittance signals are representative of transmittance values within the third range for which range detector circuit 60 is configured to detect , the outputs of vcs 70 and 78 will both be at a logic hi level . both fets 92 and 94 will therefore be switched on , electrically interconnecting their associated resistors 96 and 98 to operational amplifier 86 . amplifier 58 will therefore have a third dc gain factor determined as a function of the values of resistors 88 , 96 , and 98 . in the embodiment of detector circuit 54 described above , range detector circuit 60 is configured to determine whether the transmittance signals have magnitudes corresponding to transmittance values within either a first factor of ten range from 1 . 000 to 0 . 100 , a second factor of ten range from 0 . 100 to 0 . 010 or a third factor of ten range less than 0 . 010 . in this embodiment resistors 88 , 98 , and 96 can have resistance values which cause amplifier 58 to have a gain factor of one for transmittance values within the first factor of ten range , a gain factor of ten for transmittance values within the second factor of ten range , and a gain factor of one hundred for transmittance values within the third range . these gain factors and the corresponding range signals , transmittance values and density values are illustrated in fig4 . referring back to fig1 microprocessor 15 is connected to receive the amplified transmittance base signals and transmittance range signals from detector circuit 54 . the transmittance range signals r a and r b generated by detector circuit 54 in the example described above are in digital form and are applied directly to microprocessor 15 . the amplified transmittance base signals are converted to digital transmittance base values ( tbv ) by a / d converter i7 before being applied to microprocessor 15 . in one embodiment a / d converter 17 is a 10 - bit converter . emitter stabilization circuit 24 and detector circuit 54 are also configured in such a manner that the magnitude of the amplified transmittance base signals produced by amplifier 58 for the maximum transmittance signal ( ie ., that representative of a transmittance of 1 . 0 and a density of 0 . 0 ) is 80 % of the level required for the maximum output count for a / d converter 17 . in this configuration a / d converter 17 will produce a transmittance base value tbv of 818 ( 80 % of 2 10 ) for transmittance signal magnitudes corresponding to a transmittance of 1 . 000 . this arrangement prevents a / d converter 17 from being saturated or receiving input signals which exceed its maximum input voltage . microprocessor 15 includes associated memory ( ram or rom , not shown ), and is programmed to generate 16 - bit digital density value signals representative of the density of the image on film 14 as a function of the received 10 - bit transmittance base values tbv and the transmittance range signals r a and r b . to facilitate the digital density calculations from these input signals , microprocessor 15 includes a base memory portion programmed with information characterizing 16 - bit density base values ( dbv ) as a common logarithmic function of associated 10 - bit transmittance base values tbv . in one embodiment , microprocessor 15 includes base memory programmed with a lookup table of transmittance base values tbv and associated density base values dbv . the lookup table in the base memory portion is accessed as a function of the transmittance base values tbv to determine the associated density base values dbv . the functional relationship between transmittance base values tbv and density base values dbv is given by equations 1 and 2 below : the division of the transmittance base values tbv into 818 is done to scale the calculation to the expected full scale 0 - 818 range of base values received from 10 - bit a / d converter 17 . the multiplication factor of 100 is used to facilitate calculations in whole numbers , and as described below , is factored out during the final calculation of the digital film density values . the function &# 34 ; int &# 34 ; rounds the calculation of density base values dbv to the nearest integer . as shown by equation 2 , the density base value dbv associated with transmittance base values tbv of 0 is 291 . this special case occurs only for film 14 having an extremely high density image , or when no light is being generated by light emitting subsystem 12 . an ideal digital film density value d ideal , the density value which would be generated by densitometer 10 if light emitting subsystem 12 was absolutely stable , is calculated by microprocessor 15 as a function of the density base value dbv and a range gain value rgv in accordance with eq . 3 below . the range gain value rgv is a value determined as a function of range signals r a and r b . for the embodiment of detector circuit 54 described above , fig4 describes the appropriate range gain values rgv as a function of the range signals r a and r b received from range detector circuit 60 . range gain values rgv are equal to one hundred times the common logarithm of the amplifier gain factor for the associated range signals . the multiplication factor of 100 scales the range gain values rgv to the density base values dbv calculated in accordance with equations 1 and 2 . this multiplication factor is divided out in accordance with eq . 3 . microprocessor 15 also includes a range memory portion ( not separately shown ) programmed with information characterizing range gain values rgv as a function of range signals r a and r b . in a preferred embodiment , this information is programmed in a lookup table . the lookup table in the range memory portion is accessed as a function of signals r a and r b to determine the associated range gain values rgv . in practice , the intensity of the beam of radiation generated by light emitting subsystem 12 will vary somewhat over time . an actual or final density value d final which takes into account any possible variations in the intensity of light emitted by subsystem 12 is calculated by microprocessor 15 as a function of the ideal density value d ideal and a calibration density value d cal in accordance with equation 4 . calibration density value d cal is set equal to the value of d ideal generated in a calibration routine during which no film 14 is positioned between light emitting subsystem 12 and light detecting subsystem 16 . this calibration routine can be performed periodically , such as when densitometer system 10 is powered up , or prior to the receipt of each new piece of film 14 . the use of the calibration density value d cal in conjunction with the ideal density value d ideal in accordance with equation 4 will result in final density values d final of greater accuracy . densitometer 10 offers a number of advantages . this system eliminates the need for a relatively costly logarithmic amplifier , yet accommodates the large range of transmittance signals by providing the most gain for those signals representative of the highest film densities . by breaking up the transmittance signals into a number of ranges , density measurements can be made to an accuracy of 0 . 01 density units using a relatively inexpensive 10 - bit a / d converter . although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments , those skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	6
fig1 shows an arrangement to facilitate opening or closing of the connection between input and output ground points in a direct box by applying or removing dc phantom power from the balanced output audio line . a phantom power controlled relay is used to connect or disconnect the separate input and output ground points . other functions controlled by the switching mechanism are possible . the benefit of this arrangement is to allow the ground configuration to be remotely controlled from the audio console providing the dc phantom power rather than at the direct box itself . as shown in fig1 , a direct box 10 includes a three conductor connector 12 . the direct box 10 is referred to as a box because the components shown in fig1 are contained in a housing ( not shown ). the connector 12 functions as both the output of a balanced ac audio signal from the direct box 10 ( to , e . g ., an audio console ) and the input ( from , e . g ., the audio console ) for providing phantom power to the direct box 10 . a conductor 14 of the connector 12 carries the non - inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal , and a conductor 16 carries the inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal . both of the conductors 14 and 16 function as positive dc poles for the phantom supply from an audio console . phantom power is commonly 12 , 24 , or 48 volts . a conductor 18 of the connector 12 provides a return path for the phantom power back to the audio console . this return path is designated as ground gnd 2 . the conductors 14 , 16 , and 18 , for example , may be pins . a two conductor connector 20 of the direct box 10 receives the unbalanced input signal . a two conductor connector 22 is connected in parallel with the connector 20 to facilitate a direct output of the unbalanced input signal provided to the connector 20 . a shared ground connection of the connectors 20 and 22 is designated as a ground gnd 1 . a decoupling capacitor 24 blocks any dc voltage present on the unbalanced input signal . an input attenuation pad 26 comprises resistors 28 , 30 , and 32 . the attenuation pad 26 is switched into or out of the ac input line signal path by a toggle switch 34 . the attenuation pad 26 can be used to reduce the input signal to a level appropriate for a transformer 36 . in the position of the toggle switch 34 as shown in fig1 , the toggle switch 34 removes the attenuation pad 26 from the input signal . in the alternate position of the toggle switch 34 , the attenuation pad 26 is inserted into the signal path and creates a voltage divider to reduce the signal level induced across the transformer 36 . the conductor 14 of the connector 12 is connected to one end of the secondary of the transformer 36 , and the conductor 16 of the connector 12 is connected to the other end of the secondary of the transformer 36 . the unbalanced ac input signal provided to the connector 20 is converted into a balanced ac output signal by the transformer 36 . the transformer 36 also reduces the output impedance of the balanced signal for compatibility with the input of the audio console , allows the ground references gnd 1 and gnd 2 between the connectors 12 and 20 to be decoupled , and blocks or isolates the positive dc voltage of the phantom power on the conductors 14 and 16 of the connector 12 from the input of the direct box 10 . resistors 38 and 40 combine the phantom power currents on the conductors 14 and 16 of the connector 12 while maintaining a load impedance on the balanced output . diodes 42 and 44 may be included to isolate the load impedance from the resistors 38 and 40 across the balanced output when the phantom power is disengaged . the phantom power combined by the resistors 38 and 40 is fed to an electromagnetic coil 46 of a relay 48 such as a double pole , double throw , 2 - form - c relay . a first pole 50 of the relay 48 opens or closes the connection between the phantom power feed and an led 52 . a resistor 54 limits the current through the led 52 . a second pole 56 of the relay 48 opens or closes the connection between the ground gnd 2 and a first pole 58 of a switch 60 such as a double pole , double throw slide switch . the switch 60 also has a second pole 62 . the switch 60 is used to select whether the switching of the ground configuration is performed remotely from the audio console by the relay 48 or locally by a manually operated switch 64 . a capacitor 66 increases the voltage transition time across the coil 46 of the relay 48 , delaying the operation point of the relay 48 relative to the phantom power control voltage ( hysteresis ). a diode 68 across the capacitor 66 prevents a large voltage spike from being created by the electromagnetic coil 46 of the relay 48 if the return path for the phantom power is broken . a resistor 70 and a capacitor 72 form a low impedance conduction path between gnd 1 and gnd 2 above audio frequencies to minimize rf interference . in the switch positions of fig1 , the first pole 58 of the switch 60 connects gnd 1 to the switch 64 , giving control of the ground configuration to the switch 64 . the switch 64 , for example , may be a single pole , single throw toggle switch operated by the user at the direct box 10 to open or close the connection between gnd 1 and gnd 2 . the second pole 62 of the switch 60 breaks the phantom power return path gnd 2 , preventing the relay 48 from needlessly operating when phantom power is applied at the audio console . in the alternate position of the switch 60 , the phantom power return path to gnd 2 is completed through the second pole 62 of the switch 60 . also , the connection between gnd 1 and the switch 64 is broken by the first pole 58 the switch 60 . gnd 1 is then routed through the first pole 58 of the switch 60 to the second pole 56 of the relay 48 , giving remote control of the ground configuration to the switch position of the relay 48 . application of phantom power at the audio console is then able to operate the relay 48 , opening or closing the connection between gnd 1 and gnd 2 . thus , with no phantom power applied to the direct box 10 from the audio console , the ground gnd 1 is connected to the ground gnd 2 through the first pole 58 of the switch 60 and the second pole 56 of the relay 48 . also , the led 52 is off . however , when phantom power is applied to the direct box 10 from the audio console , the first pole 50 of the relay 48 makes a connection between the phantom power feed and the led 52 , turning on the led 52 . current through the led 52 is limited by the resistor 54 . the led 52 serves as a visual indicator to the user as to the state of the ground configuration in phantom power controlled mode . also , the connection between the ground gnd 1 and the ground gnd 2 is broken by the second pole 56 of the relay 48 . fig2 shows an arrangement to facilitate the input selection of an a / b box 100 by applying or removing dc phantom power from the balanced output audio line of the a / b box 100 . the a / b box 100 is also referred to as a box because the components shown in fig2 are contained in a housing ( not shown ). the benefit of this arrangement is to allow the input source to be remotely selected from the audio console rather than at the a / b box 100 itself . the a / b box 100 selects one of two ( or more ) ac inputs which is then routed to the one ac balanced output of the a / b box 100 . the selection is controlled by application of external phantom power on the balanced output of the a / b box 100 . the a / b box 100 of fig2 includes a relay 102 , such as a double pole , double throw , 2 - form - c relay , that is used to connect an output connector 104 to either of two input connectors 106 or 108 , depending on whether phantom power is applied . other functions controlled by the switching mechanism are possible but not shown . the connector 104 is a three conductor connector , functioning as both the output of the balanced ac audio signal and the input for the phantom power . a conductor 110 of the connector 104 carries the non - inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal , and a conductor 112 carries the inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal . both of the conductors 110 and 112 of the connector 104 function as positive dc poles for the phantom supply . as before , phantom power is commonly 12 , 24 , or 48 volts . a conductor 114 of the connector 104 provides a return path for the phantom power back to the audio console . the conductors 110 , 112 , and 114 , for example , may be pins . both of the connectors 106 and 108 are three conductor connectors functioning as inputs to the a / b box 100 . conductors 116 and 118 of the connector 106 carry the ac input signal from a first audio source . conductors 120 and 122 of the connector 108 carry the ac input signal from a second audio source . conductors 124 and 126 of the connectors 106 and 108 serves as a common ground connection . the conductors 116 and 118 of the connector 106 and the conductors 120 and 122 of the connector 108 are connected to a transformer 128 through switch contacts of the relay 102 . the conductor 110 of the connector 104 is connected to one end of the secondary of the transformer 128 , and the conductor 112 of the connector 104 is connected to the other end of the secondary of the transformer 128 . a first pole 130 of the relay 102 connects either the conductor 116 of the connector 106 or the conductor 120 of the connector 108 to the one end of the primary winding of the transformer 128 . a second pole 132 of the relay 102 connects either the conductor 118 of the connector 106 or the conductor 122 of the connector 108 to the other end of the primary winding of the transformer 128 . the transformer 128 blocks the positive dc voltage on the phantom power on the conductors 110 and 112 of the connector 104 from the first and second sources connected to the connectors 106 and 108 , while allowing the ac components of the audio signal from the connectors 106 and 108 to pass through to the connector 104 . resistors 134 and 136 combine the phantom power currents on the conductors 110 and 112 of the connector 104 while maintaining a load impedance on the balanced output of the a / b box 100 . the phantom power combined by the resistors 134 and 136 is fed to an electromagnetic coil 138 of the relay 102 . when phantom power is applied to the connector 104 and then through the combining resistors 134 and 136 to the relay 102 , the coil 138 is energized and the first and second poles 130 and 132 of the relay 102 switch to connect only the conductors 120 and 122 of the connector 108 across the primary of the transformer 128 . when the phantom power is off , the relay 102 is de - energized and only the conductors 116 and 118 of the connector 106 are connected across the primary winding of the transformer 128 through the first and second poles 130 and 132 of the relay 102 . accordingly , application of phantom power from the audio console to the connector 104 operates the relay 102 through the combining resistors 134 and 136 so as to switch the primary connections of the transformer 128 between the connectors 106 and 108 . variations on the use of phantom power can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims below . for example , one such variation is shown in fig3 by way of a direct box 200 . the direct box 200 includes a three conductor connector 202 . the connector 202 functions as both the output of a balanced ac audio signal from the direct box 200 and the input for phantom power to the direct box 200 . a conductor 204 of the connector 202 carries the non - inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal , and a conductor 206 carries the inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal . both of the conductors 204 and 206 function as positive dc poles for the phantom supply from an audio console . a conductor 208 of the connector 202 provides a return path for the phantom power back to the audio console . this return path is designated as ground gnd 2 . the conductors 204 , 206 , and 208 , for example , may be pins . a two conductor connector 210 of the direct box 200 receives the unbalanced input signal . a ground connection of the connector 210 is the ground gnd 1 . the unbalanced ac input signal provided to the connector 210 is converted into a balanced ac output signal by a transformer 212 . the transformer 212 also reduces the output impedance of the balanced signal for compatibility with the input of the audio console , allows the ground references between the connectors 202 and 210 to be decoupled , and blocks the positive dc voltage of the phantom power on the conductors 204 and 206 of the connector 202 from the input of the direct box 200 . the conductor 204 of the connector 202 is connected to one end of the secondary of the transformer 212 , and the conductor 206 of the connector 202 is connected to the other end of the secondary of the transformer 212 . resistors 214 and 216 combine the phantom power currents on the conductors 204 and 206 of the connector 202 while maintaining a load impedance on the balanced output . the phantom power combined by the resistors 214 and 216 is fed to an electromagnetic coil 218 of a relay 220 . a pole 222 of the relay 220 opens or closes the connection between the ground gnd 2 and the ground gnd 1 . the ground gnd 1 provides a return for both the connector 210 and the primary of the transformer 212 . when no phantom power is applied to the direct box 200 from the audio console , the pole 222 of the relay 220 connects the grounds gnd 1 and gnd 2 . when phantom power is applied to the direct box 200 from the audio console , the phantom power is combined by the resistors 214 and 216 , and the combined phantom power energizes the coil 218 to open the pole 222 and break the connection between the grounds gnd 1 and gnd 2 . fig4 is another variation . as shown in fig4 , a direct box 300 includes a three conductor connector 302 . the connector 302 functions as both the output of a balanced ac audio signal from the direct box 300 and the input for phantom power to the direct box 300 . a conductor 304 of the connector 302 carries the non - inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal , and a conductor 306 carries the inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal . both of the conductors 304 and 306 function as positive dc poles for the phantom supply from an audio console . a conductor 308 of the connector 302 provides a return path for the phantom power back to the audio console . this return path is the ground gnd 2 . the conductors 304 , 306 , and 308 , for example , may be pins . a two conductor connector 310 of the direct box 300 receives the unbalanced input signal and applies the unbalanced input signal across the primary of a center tap transformer 312 . the ground gnd 1 serves as a ground connection for the connector 310 and the primary of the transformer 312 . the unbalanced ac input signal provided to the connector 310 is converted into a balanced ac output signal by the transformer 312 . the transformer 312 also reduces the output impedance of the balanced signal for compatibility with the input of the audio console , allows the ground references between the connectors 302 and 310 to be decoupled , and blocks the positive dc voltage of the phantom power on the conductors 304 and 306 of the connector 302 from the input of the direct box 300 . the conductor 304 of the connector 302 is connected to one end of the secondary of the transformer 312 , and the conductor 306 of the connector 302 is connected to the other end of the secondary of the transformer 312 . the phantom power from the audio console is fed by the center tap on the secondary of the transformer 312 to an electromagnetic coil 314 of a relay 316 . a pole 318 of the relay 316 opens or closes the connection between the ground gnd 2 and a ground gnd 1 . the ground gnd 1 provides a return for both the connector 310 and the primary of the transformer 312 . when no phantom power is applied to the conductors 304 and 306 of the connector 302 of the direct box 300 from the audio console , the pole 318 of the relay 316 connects the grounds gnd 1 and gnd 2 . when phantom power is applied to the conductors 304 and 306 of the connector 302 of the direct box 300 from the audio console , the phantom power is fed by the center tap of the secondary of the transformer 312 to energize the coil 314 to open the pole 318 and break the connection between the grounds gnd 1 and gnd 2 . the center tap transformer 312 isolates the phantom power from the connector 310 and combines the two dc components of phantom power from pins 304 and 306 of the connector 302 . this manner of isolation can be used in the other embodiments described herein . fig5 a , 5 b , 5 c , and 5 d illustrate various solid state switches that may be used in place of the relays that are used in direct boxes . thus , for example , fig5 a , 5 b , 5 c , and 5 d illustrate various solid state switches that may be used in place of the relays 48 and 220 , and 316 of fig1 , 3 , and 4 . as shown in fig5 a , a solid state switch 400 includes a resistor 402 having a first end connected to receive the phantom power and a second end connected to a first end of a resistor 408 . for example , the first end of the resistor 402 may be connected to the output of the combiner or to a center tap of the transformer . the solid state switch 400 also includes a pair of n - channel enhancement mode mosfets 404 and 406 . the drain of the mosfet 404 is connected to the ground gnd 1 , and the drain of the mosfet 406 is connected to the ground gnd 2 . the sources of the mosfets 404 and 406 are connected together and to the second end of the resistor 402 . the gates of the mosfets 404 and 406 are connected together and to the first end of the resistor 402 . the second end of the resistor 408 is connected to the ground gnd 2 . fig5 b shows a solid state switch 500 that is similar to the solid state switch 400 and , therefore , the same reference numerals are used to depict similar elements . in the case of the solid state switch 500 , a zener diode 502 is used in place of the resistor 402 . otherwise , the elements and connections are the same . the cathode of the zener diode 502 is connected to receive the phantom power , and the anode of the zener diode 502 is connected to a first end of the resistor 408 . as shown in fig5 c , a solid state switch 600 includes a solid state relay integrated circuit 608 . the solid state relay integrated circuit 608 includes an led 602 , two n - channel depletion mode mosfets 604 and 606 , and internal circuitry to drive the gates of mosfets 604 and 606 . the anode of the led 602 is connected to receive the phantom power , and the cathode of the led 602 is connected to the ground gnd 2 . the drain of the mosfet 604 is connected to the ground gnd 1 , and the drain of the mosfet 606 is connected to the ground gnd 2 . fig5 d shows a solid state switch 700 that is similar to the solid state switch 600 and , therefore , the same reference numerals are used to depict similar elements . in the case of the solid state switch 700 , a photovoltaic mosfet driver 702 is used to drive the gates of mosfets 604 and 606 . the photovoltaic mosfet driver 702 includes an led 704 and one or more photo - sensitive diodes 706 . if more than one photo - sensitive diodes is used , they are connected in series . the anode of the led 704 is connected to receive the phantom power , and the cathode of the led 704 is connected to the ground gnd 2 . a cathode of the photo - sensitive diodes 706 is connected to the gates of the mosfets 604 and 606 , and an anode of the photo - sensitive diodes 706 is connected to the sources of the mosfets 604 and 606 . fig6 is an example of the use of solid state relays in connection with an a / b box 800 . the a / b box 800 includes phantom power controlled semiconductor relays 802 and 804 that are used to connect an output connector 806 to either of two input connectors 808 or 810 , depending on whether phantom power is applied . other functions controlled by the switching mechanism are possible but not shown . the connector 806 is a three conductor connector , functioning as both the output of the balanced ac audio signal and the input for the phantom power . a conductor 812 of the connector 806 carries the non - inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal , and a conductor 814 carries the inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal . both of the conductors 812 and 814 of the connector 806 function as positive dc poles for the phantom supply . a conductor 816 of the connector 806 provides a return path for the phantom power back to the audio console . the conductor 812 of the connector 806 is connected to one end of the secondary of the transformer 832 , and the conductor 814 of the connector 806 is connected to the other end of the secondary of the transformer 832 . the conductors 812 , 814 , and 816 , for example , may be pins . both of the connectors 808 and 810 are two conductor connectors functioning as inputs to the a / b box 800 . a conductor 818 of the connector 808 carries the ac input signal from a first audio source . a conductor 820 of the connector 810 carries the ac input signal from a second audio source . conductors 822 and 824 of the connectors 808 and 810 serve as a common connection to the ground gnd 1 . the semiconductor relay 802 includes a pair of n - channel depletion - mode mosfets 826 and 828 , an led 830 , and internal circuitry to drive the gates of the mosfets 826 and 828 . the drain of the mosfet 826 is connected to the conductor 818 of the connector 808 , and the drain of the mosfet 828 is connected to one end of the primary of a transformer 832 . the other end of the primary of a transformer 832 is connected to the ground gnd 1 . the sources of the mosfets 826 and 828 are connected together , and the gates of the mosfets 826 and 828 are connected together . a combiner 834 combines the phantom power . the combiner includes a resistor 836 having a first end connected to the conductor 812 of the connector 806 and a resistor 838 having a first end connected to the conductor 814 of the connector 806 . the second ends of the resistors 836 and 838 are connected together and to the anode of the led 830 . thus , the anode of the led 830 receives the combined phantom power . the semiconductor relay 804 includes a pair of n - channel enhancement mode mosfets 840 and 842 , an led 844 , and internal circuitry to drive the gates of mosfets 840 and 842 . the drain of the mosfet 840 is connected to the conductor 820 of the connector 810 , and the drain of the mosfet 842 is connected to the one end of the primary of the transformer 832 . the sources of the mosfets 840 and 842 are connected together , and the gates of the mosfets 840 and 842 are connected together . the cathode of the led 830 is connected to the anode of the led 844 , and the cathode of the led 844 is connected to the ground gnd 2 . absence of phantom power from the audio console to the connector 806 operates the semiconductor relays 802 and 804 to connect the connector 808 to the primary of the transformer 832 , and application of phantom power from the audio console to the connector 806 operates the semiconductor relays 802 and 804 to connect the connector 810 to the primary of the transformer 832 . as shown in fig7 a , a relay 900 and a switch 902 are in control of the ground configuration simultaneously . a change in the position of the switch 902 or a change of the phantom power results in a change of the ground connection . as shown in fig7 b , closing of a switch 910 causes the ground configuration to be dependent upon on the state of a relay 912 . when the switch 910 is open , the ground connection is open and is not dependent upon the state of the relay 912 . when the switch 910 is closed , the ground connection is dependent upon the state of the relay 912 . an led 914 indicates the presence of phantom power through a current limiting resistor 916 . fig8 shows the connection between a direct box 920 , an audio or mixer console 922 that provides the phantom power to the output connector ( such as 12 of fig1 ) of the direct box 920 and receives the balanced output of the direct box 920 , and a source 924 that provides the ac input to the input connector ( such as 20 of fig1 ) of the direct box 920 . a switch 926 on the audio or mixer console 922 is operated by a user to control the supply of the phantom power to the direct box 920 . fig9 shows the connection between an a / b box 930 , an audio console 932 that provides the phantom power to the output connector ( such as 104 of fig2 ) of the a / b box 930 and receives the balanced output of the a / b box 930 , a first source 934 that provides a first ac input to one of the input connectors ( such as 106 of fig2 ) of the a / b box 930 , and a second source 936 that provides a second ac input to another of the input connectors ( such as 108 of fig2 ) of the a / b box 930 . a switch 938 on the audio or mixer console 932 is operated by a user to control the supply of the phantom power to the a / b box 930 . fig1 shows an arrangement in which two capacitors are used to replace the transformers in fig1 , 2 , 3 , and 6 to perform the function of blocking dc voltage and passing ac voltage . an a / b box 1000 selects one of two ( or more ) ac inputs 1002 or 1004 which is then routed to the one ac balanced output of the a / b box 1000 . the selection is controlled by application of external phantom power on the balanced output of the a / b box 1000 . the a / b box 1000 includes a relay 1006 , such as a double pole , double throw , 2 - form - c relay , that is used to connect an output connector 1008 to either of the two input connectors 1002 or 1004 , depending on whether phantom power is applied . the connector 1008 is a three conductor connector , functioning as both the output of the balanced ac audio signal and the input for the phantom power . a conductor 1010 of the connector 1008 carries the non - inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal , and a conductor 1012 carries the inverted portion of the balanced output audio signal . both of the conductors 1010 and 1012 of the connector 1008 function as positive dc poles for the phantom supply . as before , phantom power is commonly 12 , 24 , or 48 volts . a conductor 1014 of the connector 1008 provides a return path for the phantom power back to the audio console . the conductors 1010 , 1012 , and 1014 , for example , may be pins . both of the connectors 1002 and 1004 are three conductor connectors functioning as inputs to the a / b box 1000 . conductors 1016 and 1018 of the connector 1002 carry the ac input signal from a first audio source . conductors 1022 and 1024 of the connector 1004 carry the ac input signal from a second audio source . conductors 1020 and 1026 of the connectors 1002 and 1004 serves as a common ground connection . the conductors 1016 and 1018 of the connector 1002 and the conductors 1022 and 1024 of the connector 1004 are connected to capacitors 1034 and 1036 through switch contacts of the relay 1006 . the conductor 1010 of the connector 1008 is connected to the capacitor 1034 , and the conductor 1012 of the connector 1008 is connected to the capacitor 1036 . a first pole 1028 of the relay 1006 connects either the conductor 1016 of the connector 1002 or the conductor 1022 of the connector 1004 to the capacitor 1034 . a second pole 1030 of the relay 1006 connects either the conductor 1018 of the connector 1002 or the conductor 1024 of the connector 1004 to the capacitor 1036 . the capacitors 1034 and 1036 block the positive dc voltage on the phantom power on the conductors 1010 and 1012 of the connector 1008 from the first and second sources connected to the connectors 1002 and 1004 , while allowing the ac components of the audio signal from the connectors 1002 and 1004 to pass through to the connector 1008 . resistors 1038 and 1040 combine the phantom power currents on the conductors 1010 and 1012 of the connector 1008 while maintaining a load impedance on the balanced output of the a / b box 1000 . the phantom power combined by the resistors 1038 and 1040 is fed to an electromagnetic coil 1032 of the relay 1006 . when phantom power is applied to the connector 1008 and then through the combining resistors 1038 and 1040 to the relay 1006 , the coil 1032 is energized and the first and second poles 1028 and 1030 of the relay 1006 switch to connect only the conductors 1022 and 1024 of the connector 1004 to the capacitors 1034 and 1036 . when the phantom power is off , the relay 1006 is de - energized and only the conductors 1016 and 1018 of the connector 1002 are connected to the capacitors 1034 and 1036 through the first and second poles 1028 and 1030 of the relay 1006 . accordingly , application of phantom power from the audio console to the connector 1008 operates the relay 1006 through the combining resistors 1038 and 1040 so as to switch the capacitors 1034 and 1036 between the connectors 1002 and 1004 . thus , the capacitors 1034 and 1036 block the positive dc voltage phantom power on the conductors 1010 and 1012 of the connector 1008 from the first and second sources connected to the connectors 1002 and 1004 , while allowing the ac components of the audio signal from the connectors 1002 and 1004 to pass through to the connector 1008 . certain modifications of the present invention have been described above . other modifications will occur to those practicing in the art of the present invention . accordingly , the description of the present invention is to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art the best mode of carrying out the invention . the details may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention , and the exclusive use of all modifications which are within the scope of the appended claims is reserved .	7
hereinafter , a detailed description will be given of the present invention . the present inventors have discovered that the energy metabolism of cells that make up organisms is similar to a principle of operation of lithium secondary batteries . more particularly , the present inventors have ascertained that flavin adenine dinucleotide ( fad ) molecules in mitochondria act to transfer energy through hydrogen and electron transport during cellular respiration , and energy may be stored even in lithium secondary batteries using the action thereof and have developed an electrode active material for a lithium secondary battery using a biomimetic heterocyclic compound which mimics the cellular respiratory function in vivo as a next - generation electrode material for a lithium secondary battery , by applying biomaterials involved in the redox reactions during metabolism to electrode materials of lithium secondary batteries , and also a lithium secondary battery including such an electrode active material , thus culminating in the present invention . the present invention is directed to an electrode active material for a lithium secondary battery , including a heterocyclic compound . as such , the electrode active material indicates a cathode or anode active material . according to the present invention , the heterocyclic compound is preferably a biomimetic heterocyclic compound . more specifically , the heterocyclic compound may include one or more of six - membered and five - membered rings containing one or more elements selected from the group consisting of nitrogen ( n ), oxygen ( o ) and sulfur ( s ). also , the cyclic compound may be a polycyclic compound including two or more six - membered rings . the heterocyclic compound may be substituted with one or more substituents selected from the group consisting of an alkyl group , an alkoxyl group , a hydroxyl group , a carbonyl group , a cyane group , an amine group , a halogen atom and a halogenated alkyl , and the heterocyclic compound may react with one or more lithium ions to reversibly form a lithium - containing compound . also , the heterocyclic compound may include one or more selected from the group consisting of purine , xanthine , adenine , quinine and uric acid . also , the six - membered ring is a diazine ring containing two nitrogen atoms , and the diazine ring may include one or more selected from the group consisting of pyrazine , pyrimidine and pyridazine . also , the polycyclic compound may include one or more selected from the group consisting of a pteridine group , an alloxazine group , an isoalloxazine group and a quiuoxaline group . in addition , the present invention is directed to a lithium secondary battery , including the electrode active material as set forth . as described hereinbefore , the present invention provides an electrode active material containing a heterocyclic compound for a lithium secondary battery and a lithium secondary battery including the same . according to the present invention , the electrode active material for a lithium secondary battery using the heterocyclic compound is preferably based on redox active materials in natural organisms and thus can be continuously used and is eco - friendly , and the capacity and voltage of the electrode material can be effectively changed and adjusted depending on the chemical modification treatment of organic molecules which are biomaterials , making it possible to ensure improved energy density of a lithium secondary battery including an organic electrode material in future . although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes , those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications , additions and substitutions are possible , without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims . electrochemical performances of flavin molecules were measured versus a li metal foil ( hohsen corp ., japan ) in coin - type cells ( cr2016 ). the electrodes were fabricated by mixing 50 % w / w active materials , 30 % w / w carbon black ( super p ) and 20 % w / w ptfe ( polytetrafluoroethylene , aldrich ) binder . a porous polypropylene membrane ( celgard 2400 ) was used as a separator . the electrolyte was 1m lipf 6 in ethylene carbonate ( ec )/ dimethyl carbonate ( dmc ) ( 1 : 1 v / v , techno semichem co ., ltd ., korea ). the cells were assembled in an inert atmosphere within an ar - filled glove box . the discharge and charge measurements were carried out at a constant current density of 10 mag − 1 in voltage ranges of 1 . 5 ˜ 3 . 8 v on a battery test system ( won - a tech , korea ), for gitt measurement the li / flavin cells were discharged and charged for 1 h at 5 mag − 1 with 2 h rest time , in galvanostatic mode . to confirm structural consistency , x - ray diffraction ( xrd ) patterns of riboflavin powder and the as - prepared riboflavin electrode were collected on a bruker d2phaser ( germany ) using cu kα radiation ( λ = 1 . 54178 å ) with a scanning speed of 1 ° per minute in the range 2θ cukα = 5 − 40 ° with a 2θ step size of 0 . 02 °. the photochemical stability of the riboflavin electrode with electrolyte ec / dmc was confirmed by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy ( ftir ) and uv / vis absorbance spectroscopy . the riboflavin powder , as - prepared electrodes , and as - prepared electrodes stored in ec / dmc for 24 h were compared . the electrode retrieved by disassembling as - prepared coin cells preserved for 24 h and rinsed with dmc was used as the sample stored in electrolyte . ftir spectra of pellets made of riboflavin powder ( or electrodes ) and kbr powder were recorded on a ft / ir - 4200 ( jasco inc ., japan ) at a resolution of 2 cm − 1 in argon atmosphere . for uv / vis absorbance spectroscopy , each sample was immersed in degassed , deionized water in argon atmosphere , resulting in immediate solubilization of the riboflavin molecules . uv / vis absorbance spectra were obtained using a v / 650 spectrophotometer ( jasco inc ., japan ) in the range of 200 - 600 nm . for ex situ analyses , the electrodes at the different states of charge ( as - prepared , fully discharged to 1 . 5 v , and fully recharged to 3 . 8 v ) were disassembled from coin cells and rinsed with dmc . to prevent exposure to air , all the samples were handled in an ar - filled glove box . x - ray photoelectron spectroscopy ( xps ) measurements were performed by using a thermo vg scientific sigma probe spectrometer ( u . k .) equipped with a microfocus monochromated x - ray source ( 90 w ). all the binding energies are referenced to c 1 s ( 284 . 5 ev ). ftir and absorbance spectra were collected by following the method described previously in stability confirmation . li magic - angle spinning ( mas ) nuclear magnetic resonance ( nmr ) analysis was performed for the riboflavin electrode after fully discharged to 1 . 5 v . the nmr spectrum was obtained using a solid - state 400 mhz nmr spectrometer ( avance 400wb , broker science , germany ) at room temperature . all energy calculations were conducted with spin - unrestricted density functional theory ( dft ) using the gaussian 09 quantum chemistry package . geometry optimizations were carried out with becke - lee - yang - parr ( b3lyp ) hybrid exchange - correlation functional and the standard tzvp basis set . to determine the sites and sequence of lithium occupation upon redox reactions , dft energies of various possible forms of fl rad li and fl red li 2 were compared . mulliken population analysis was used to analyze atomic charge . fig2 a and 2b are graphs illustrating the results of evaluation of the electrochemical properties of a lithium secondary battery manufactured using , as a cathode , riboflavin . discharge / charge profiles of a li / riboflavin cell and gitt profiles ( inset ) are illustrated in fig2 a . according to the galvanostatic measurements , riboflavin / li cells exhibited a reversible capacity of approximately 105 . 89 mahg − 1 , equivalent to 1 . 49 li atoms per unit formula between 1 . 5 and 3 . 8 v at a current rate of 10 mag − 1 . the theoretical capacity of two lithium ions in the riboflavin electrode is 142 . 43 mag − 1 . the present inventors also conducted galvanostatic intermittent titration technique ( gitt ) measurements with the riboflavin electrode under a low current density , which allowed sufficient time for full lithium access to riboflavin . based on the gitt result , which manifests a much higher reversible capacity ( 1 . 90 li atoms per riboflavin molecule ), it is demonstrated that the flavin electrode is capable of accepting and releasing two lithium ions per formula unit . the energy storage reaction of the riboflavin electrode was found to follow two consecutive one - electron transfer reactions . the differential capacity curves contain two sets of distinctive cathodic and anodic peaks with average potentials of 2 . 65 and 2 . 4 v , respectively ( fig2 b ). this indicates that the lithium - coupled electron - transfer reaction of the riboflavin electrode occurs in two different environments and evidences a relative stability of the intermediate phase , resulting in two consecutive one - electron reduction steps . also , fig3 a illustrates the chemical formulas of organic materials synthesized by substituting an isoalloxazine heterocyclic compound with functional groups different in mass and negative electricity , and fig3 b and 3c are graphs illustrating the results of evaluation of the electrochemical properties of lithium secondary batteries manufactured using such materials as cathodes . fig3 b illustrates differential capacity ( dq / dv ) curves of li / 7 - methyl - 8 - bromo - 10 -( 1 ′- d - ribityl ) isoalloxazine ( gray ) and li / 7 , 8 - dichloro - 10 -( 1 ′- d - ribityl ) isoalloxazine ( black ) cells compared to li / riboflavin cell ( gray , dotted ) calculated from the discharge / charge profiles ( inset ). the replacement of the methyl group by chlorine atoms at c7 and c8 ( 7 , 8 - dichloro - 10 - ribitylisoalloxazine ), and bromine atom at c8 ( 7 - methyl - 8 - bromo - 10 - ribitylisoalloxazine ) raised the operating voltage of flavin electrodes . the changes in the average redox potential for each analog were 0 . 14 and 0 . 09 v , respectively . fig3 c illustrates discharge / charge profiles of a li / lumiflavine cell ( black ) compared to the li / riboflavin cell ( gray , dotted ). the capacity retention of the li / lumiflavine cell compared to the li / riboflavin cell is shown in the inset , lumiflavine , with a theoretical capacity as high as 209 . 18 mahg − 1 . according to the observation , the gravimetric capacity of lumiflavine was much higher ( 174 . 32 mahg − 1 ) than that of riboflavin ( 105 . 88 mahg − 1 ) with negligible transition in the redox potential in a galvanostatic measurement under the same experimental conditions . in addition , the alternation of the side group from ribityl to nonpolar group reduced dissolution of flavin molecules in polar electrolytes . the lumiflavine electrode exhibited the capacity retention of 66 . 3 % after 10 cycles , which is higher than that of the riboflavin electrode ( 53 . 6 %; fig3 c inset ). the present inventors attribute this result to the differential solubility of the molecules .	2
in some microprocessor implementations , register dependency checking among instructions becomes difficult because of register windowing . in other words , in implementations using register windows , checking for dependencies among instructions is adversely affected by the interrelationship of particular registers in the register window scheme . to facilitate improved register dependency checking , embodiments of the present invention relate to architectural registers within an instruction that are flattened into flattened space before register dependency checking occurs . particularly , the present invention uses a working copy of the cwp to facilitate the flattening , where the flattening is conducted using flattener logic implemented with logic gates . the cwp is implementation specific and when incremented , allows a subroutine to make use of a new set of registers . cwp gets incremented / decremented by save / restore / return instructions . when a subroutine wants to make use a new set of registers , the subroutine inserts a save instruction within its code . [ 0025 ] fig4 shows register values for an exemplary register window scheme 40 in accordance with a description of an embodiment of the present invention . in fig4 the register values for cwp , cansave , canrestore , otherwin , and cleanwin are shown with respect to saves and restores of the register windows . [ 0026 ] fig5 a and 5 b show exemplary register space in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . particularly , fig5 a and 5 b show 7 - bit flattened values in both decimal and binary form of exemplary 5 - bit architectural registers belonging to an exemplary instruction . [ 0027 ] fig6 a , 6 b , and 6 c show circuit diagrams in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . particularly , fig6 a , 6 b , and 6 c show flattener logic that is used to flatten 5 - bit architectural registers into 7 - bit flattened space . in fig6 a , multiplexor select signals 41 , 42 , 43 , and 44 for the circuit shown in fig6 c are generated using particular bits of a 5 - bit architectural register , i . in fig6 b , multiplexor select signals 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , and 49 for the circuit shown in fig6 c are generated using cwp , where cwp is responsive to save / restore instructions via particular combinational logic ( cl ) 50 . in fig6 c , a multiplexor 52 outputs based on a value of a global field in a processor state register . for example , if the interrupt global registers are being used in a particular register windowing scheme , select ig to multiplexor 52 is enabled . selects gg ( for global registers ), ag ( for alternate global registers ), and mg ( for memory global registers ) to multiplexor 52 are similarly used . select inputs to multiplexors 54 , 56 , 58 , 60 , and 62 are received from the circuit shown in fig6 a . similarly , select inputs to multiplexors 64 , 66 , and 68 are also received from the circuit shown in fig6 a . multiplexors 54 , 56 , 58 , 60 , 62 , 64 , 66 , and 68 output to an output multiplexor 70 that receives select inputs from the circuit shown in fig6 b . the output multiplexor 70 outputs a 7 - bit flattened value that is used to address i . accordingly , because a 5 - bit architectural register , such as i , has its own 7 - bit flattened space , register dependency checking among instructions is made more efficient . those skilled in the art will note that by using the flattener logic shown in fig6 a , 6 b , and 6 c , an 5 - bit value of a register is flattened , i . e ., converted , into an 7 - bit value . in other embodiments , using similar logic , an n - bit value of a register may be flattened into an x - bit value , where x is greater than n . thus , the register flattening principles presented in the present invention may be applied to various register architectures . [ 0030 ] fig7 a , 7 b , and 7 c show a trace of the circuit diagrams shown in fig6 a , 6 b , and 6 c when i = 18d = 10010b and cwp = 1d = 00001b , where i is a 5 - bit architectural register . accordingly , as shown in fig7 a , 7 b , and 7 c , a 7 - bit flattened value of 0 111 010b = 58d is generated using i . thus , dependency checking may occur using 7 - bit flattened space that is less interdependent than values used to address 5 - bit architectural registers . further , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the flattened space formed by the flattener logic is used by a register dependency checker to check for dependencies among instructions . thus , the dependency checking becomes simpler and more efficient without being adversely affected by register dependencies present in register windowing implementation . in one or more embodiments of the present invention , a computer program ( i . e ., a computer readable medium ) or software tool may be used to flatten register space using logic similar to that described above with reference to fig6 a , 6 b , and 6 c . for example , instead of the flattening logic existing in hardware , the same logic may be implemented in software , where a computer program or other software tool interfaces with one or more registers of a register window . advantages of the present invention may include one or more of the following . in some embodiments , the ability to flatten register values of registers in a register window facilitates the simplification of instruction verification . in some embodiments , because flattening logic is used to flatten address space associated with a register , dependency checking on one or more instructions using that register is simplified . while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , those skilled in the art , having benefit of this disclosure , will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein . accordingly , the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims .	6
the invention will be more fully illustrated by the following detailed description of non - limiting specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures . in the figures , similar components and / or features may have the same reference label . fig1 is a perspective top - left - front view of a ruggedized general - purpose handheld computer ; fig2 is a perspective bottom - left - back view of the computer of fig1 , showing an access panel in the bottom surface of the computer ; fig3 is an exploded perspective top - left - front view of the computer of fig1 , with the access panel removed ; fig4 is an exploded perspective bottom - left - back view of the computer of fig1 , with the access panel removed ; fig5 is a perspective top - left - front view of the computer of fig1 , showing the access panel removed from the computer ; fig6 is a perspective bottom - left - back view of the computer of fig1 , showing the access panel removed from the computer ; fig7 is a plan sectional view of the computer of fig1 , viewed from the cutting plane a - a ; fig8 is a plan sectional view of the computer of fig1 , viewed from the cutting plane b - b ; fig9 is a lateral sectional view of the computer of fig1 , viewed from the cutting plane c - c ; and fig1 is an exploded lateral sectional view of the computer of fig1 , viewed from the cutting plane d - d . the invention will now be illustrated by way of explanation of non - limiting specific exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing figures and described in greater detail herein . fig1 shows a ruggedized general - purpose handheld computer , generally illustrated at 10 . the computer 10 includes a ruggedized case 12 which protects an input device ( here a keypad 14 ), an output device ( here a liquid crystal display or lcd 16 ), and a main circuit board 18 ( best seen in fig4 , 6 , 8 , 9 and 10 ) that provides the functionality of a general - purpose computer , including storage and processing of data and instructions and communication of data and instructions with peripheral devices , including the keypad 14 and the lcd 16 . to better enable communication with peripheral devices , the main circuit board 18 also includes a bus connector 20 , best seen in fig8 , 9 and 10 , to enable connection of a peripheral device to an address bus and / or a data bus ( not shown ) on the main circuit board 18 . the case 12 further includes an access panel 22 on its bottom surface . the panel 22 is secured to the case 12 by a set of fasteners 24 , for example threaded fasteners , generally distributed about its perimeter . as best seen in fig4 and 9 , the fasteners 24 engage the case 12 through a set of complemental couplings 26 , for example nuts , attached to or integrated with the case 12 . as best seen in fig3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 9 and 10 , the case 12 and the panel 22 sandwich between them a resilient dust gasket 28 . as best seen in fig3 , 5 , 7 and 10 , the panel 22 further includes a set of reinforcing ribs 30 , that desirably mate with the gasket 28 and frame a mounting area 32 , though neither the mating nor the framing need be continuous . as best seen in fig3 , 4 , 5 , 7 , 9 and 10 , the computer 10 might also include an rfid module 34 for providing the computer 10 with the ability to read data from and write data to rfid devices ( not shown ) and to process such data . although the rfid module 34 might be connected directly to the main circuit board 18 at the bus connector 20 , that arrangement could present a number of problems . first , an end - user might damage the main circuit board 18 when trying to insert the rfid module 34 into the bus connector 20 or might at least avoid making the connection for fear of causing such damage . second , the rfid module 34 might obstruct access to the main circuit board 18 , such that it might be difficult to add other components , for example expansion cards for providing additional functionality or capacity . third , when transmitting a radio frequency signal to an rfid device , the rfid module 34 is a source of electromagnetic radiation and should therefore be located remote from the main circuit board 18 to reduce interference . fourth , when communicating with an rfid device , the rfid module 34 needs to be sufficiently close to the rfid device to establish a good radio frequency communication path and sufficiently remote from other components in the computer 10 to avoid interference from their electromagnetic radiation . for reliable communication , the rfid module 34 should be no more than a few inches from an rfid device and so the rfid module 34 should be located close to the wall of the case 12 , most desirably the bottom of the case so that when the rfid module 34 is aimed at an rfid device , the keypad 14 and the lcd 16 face the end - user . for the above reasons , it has been found that the inside surface of the access panel 22 is a suitable location to mount the rfid module 34 . the rfid module 34 can be sized and shaped to fit within the mounting area 32 framed by the reinforcing ribs 30 , the ribs helping to retain the rfid module 34 therewithin and providing protection against impact . the rfid module 34 is additionally protected by the resilient dust gasket 28 , which provides shock absorption against impact to the panel 22 and by the set of fasteners 24 and complemental couplings 26 , which are distributed about the perimeter of the panel 22 to better diffuse impact forces throughout to panel 22 and the case 12 as a whole . with the rfid module 34 so mounted on the access panel 22 , the bus connector 20 can include , either at manufacture or after - market , a flexible ribbon cable ( not shown ) or equivalent that an end - user can easily connect to the rfid module 34 , without applying force to the main circuit board 18 . thus , it will be seen from the foregoing embodiments and examples that there has been described an advantageous way to mount a circuit board , and in particular an rfid module 34 , within a case 12 , for example the case 12 of a general - purpose handheld computer 10 . advantages of the invention can be obtained by singly or in combination : mounting a rfid module 34 , directly or indirectly , to the inside surface of an access panel 22 in the case 12 ; framing the rfid module 34 with reinforcing ribs 30 on the inside surface of the access panel 22 ; sandwiching a resilient gasket 28 between the access panel 22 and the case 12 ; connecting the access panel 22 to the case 12 with a set of fasteners 24 and complemental couplings 26 that are distributed about the perimeter of the panel 22 ; mounting the rfid module 34 proximate to an external wall of the case 12 for shortening the radio frequency signal path to external devices ; mounting the rfid module 34 proximate to that external wall of the case 12 , typically the bottom wall , that in typical operation would provide the shortest or otherwise best radio frequency signal path to external devices when the keypad 14 and lcd 16 face the end - user ; and mounting the rfid module 34 remote from other components , including the main circuit board 18 , to avoid either being a significant source of electromagnetic interference to the other . while specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated , such embodiments should be considered illustrative of the invention only and not as limiting the invention . it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes , modifications and substitutions can be made to the foregoing embodiments without departing from the principle and scope of the invention expressed in the claims made herein . while the invention has been described as having particular application to ruggedized , general - purpose handheld computers and rfid modules , those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects of the invention have wider application , for example for mounting other types of modules and circuit boards and for mounting in other types of devices , such as personal digital assistants , telephones , test equipment , and larger computers , including workstations , desktop computers and laptop computers .	8
the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown . fig5 is a block diagram setting forth a voltage booster circuit in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig5 , the inventive voltage booster circuit includes an oscillator 100 , a phase divider 200 , a first to a fourth charge pumps 320 , 340 , 360 and 380 , and a drive controller 400 . herein , the oscillator 100 generates a basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 . the phase divider 200 divides frequency of the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 so as to output a first to a fourth pulse signals osc 1 to osc 4 having each phase difference of 90 ° therebetween . the first to the fourth charge pumps 320 , 340 , 360 and 380 output a boosted voltage vpp in response to the first to the fourth pulse signals osc 1 to osc 4 respectively . the drive controller 400 controls operation of the oscillator 100 in order to maintain the outputted boosted voltage vpp to have a desired level . in accordance with the present invention , since the pulse signals osc 1 to osc 4 for driving the charge pumps 320 , 340 , 360 and 380 are generated through the phase divider 200 incorporating therein frequency dividers , it is sufficient for the oscillator 100 to generate only one basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 . this will be more fully described with reference to following drawings . fig6 is a circuit diagram setting forth the oscillator 100 of the voltage booster circuit in accordance with the present invention . referring to fig6 , the oscillator 100 is provided with a nand gate nd 2 , an inverter i 7 and an inverter chain 120 . herein , the nand gate nd 2 receives a drive control signal en and a feedback signal as input signals . the inverter i 7 inverts the output signal of the nand gate nd 2 so as to output the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 . the inverter chain 120 outputs the feedback signal after delaying and inverting the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 . in comparison of the inventive oscillator 100 with the conventional one which is shown in fig2 , the inventive oscillator 100 has inverters less than the conventional one . thus , it is understood that the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 has relatively short period . accordingly , a required area for the oscillator 100 becomes smaller than the conventional oscillator . fig7 is a circuit diagram setting forth the phase divider 200 of the voltage booster circuit in accordance with the present invention . referring to fig7 , the phase divider 200 is provided with a first divider 220 , an inverter i 8 , a second divider 240 , an inverter i 9 . the first divider 220 divides a frequency of the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 by two so as to output a first pulse signal osc 1 . the inverter i 8 inverts the first pulse signal osc 1 and then outputs a third pulse signal osc 3 . the second divider 240 divides a frequency of an inverted basic pulse signal by two so as to output a second pulse signal osc 2 . the inverter i 9 inverts the second pulse signal osc 2 to thereby output a fourth pulse signal osc 4 . in accordance with the inventive phase divider 200 , since the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 is divided through the first and the second dividers 220 and 240 , it is possible to generate the first to the fourth pulse signals osc 1 to osc 4 having accurate duty ratio of 50 %. in addition , since the first to the fourth pulse signals osc 1 to osc 4 are generated from only one basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 , the phase difference between the pulse signals is exactly 90 °, which is different from the conventional one . furthermore , the phase divider 200 divides the frequency of the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 by a desired period through the first and the second dividers 220 and 240 , it is unnecessary for the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 to have a specific period so that it is possible to reduce the occupation area of the oscillator 100 . fig8 is a circuit diagram setting forth the first divider 220 of the phase divider 200 in accordance with the present invention . herein , since the second divider 240 also has same configuration with the first divider 220 , detail descriptions are mainly focused on the first divider 220 . referring to fig8 , the first divider 220 has a first transfer gate tg 1 , a first latch 222 , a second transfer gate tg 2 and a second latch 224 . the first transfer gate tg 1 transfers an inverted output signal thereof when an input signal in is in logic low level . the first latch 222 is used for latching the output signal of the first transfer gate tg 1 . the second transfer gate tg 2 transfers the output signal of the first latch 222 when the input signal in is in logic high level . the second latch 224 latches the output signal of the transfer gate tg 2 so as to output an output signal out . each divider 220 and 240 is configured with the first and the second transfer gates tgl and tg 2 which transfer data according to a logic level of the input signal in . the first and the second dividers 220 and 240 render the level of the output signal out be changed once during one period of the input signal in . as a result , the output signal out of each divider 220 and 240 has a period two times longer than the period of the input signal in . meanwhile , since the first and the second dividers 220 and 240 receive the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 as the input signal in , it is understood that the period of the output signal out is also two times longer than that of the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 . fig9 is a circuit diagram setting forth the first charge pump 320 of the voltage booster circuit in accordance with the present invention . herein , each of the charge pumps 320 , 340 , 360 and 380 has same configuration so that descriptions will be restricted to the first charge pump 320 for the sake of convenience . the first charge pump 320 is provided with a first capacitor c 1 for receiving the first pulse signal osc 1 , a second capacitor c 2 for receiving an inverted first pulse signal and a differential amplifier 322 where charges stored at the first and the second capacitors cl and c 2 are applied as a differential input . fig1 is a timing diagram setting forth an operation of the voltage booster circuit in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention . to begin with , in case that the drive control signal en is in logic low level , the oscillator 100 outputs the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 of logic low level . on the other hand , if the drive control signal en becomes in logic high level , the oscillator 100 outputs the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 of which the period is two times longer than the delay time of its inverter chain 120 . thereafter , the phase divider 200 divides the frequency of the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 by two , which is applied through the first and the second dividers 220 and 240 . therefore , the phase divider 200 outputs the first to the fourth pulse signals osc 1 to osc 4 in which the phase difference between the nth pulse signal and the n + 1th pulse signal is 90 °. that is , the phase difference between the first and the second pulse signals osc 1 and osc 2 is 90 ° and so forth . accordingly , the first to the fourth charge pumps 320 , 340 , 360 and 380 generates the boosted voltage vpp according to the logic level of the correspondent pulse signal . in addition , the drive controller 400 maintains the drive control signal en to be in logic high level provided that the boosted voltage vpp does not reach to a desired level , whereby the oscillator 100 continuously generates the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 . meanwhile , if the level of the boosted voltage vpp becomes the desired level , the drive controller 400 maintains the drive control signal en to be in logic low level so that the oscillator 100 is turned off and the charge pumps 320 , 340 , 360 and 380 are disabled . likewise , in accordance with the voltage booster circuit of the present invention , since the phase divider 200 incorporates therein frequency dividers , i . e ., the first and the second dividers 220 and 240 , it is possible to control the period of the pulse signal through the frequency dividers 220 and 240 regardless of whether the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 has a specific period required for the charge pumps 320 , 340 , 360 and 380 or not . therefore , the basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 may have short period so that the required area of the oscillator 100 in the circuit layout can be reduced in comparison with the prior art . furthermore , since the phase divider 200 is provided with the frequency dividers , the pulse signals osc 1 to osc 4 outputted from the first and the second dividers 220 and 240 have duty ratio of 50 %. in addition , since the pulse signals are generated from only one basic pulse signal bs_osc 0 , the phase difference between the pulse signals can be uniform . accordingly , the voltage booster circuit of the present invention having the divider can be implemented within only small area in comparison with the prior art . moreover , the present invention provides another advantageous merit that it is possible to control the phase difference between the pulse signals and duty ratio in order that the inventive voltage booster circuit may have optimized drivability . meanwhile , since the boosted voltage vpp is generated through four charge pumps 320 , 340 , 360 and 380 , it is possible to generate the first to the fourth pulse signals in which the phase difference is exactly 90 ° from one another , for maintaining uniform intervals thereamong . herein , in case that the number of the charge pump is varied unlike the embodiment of the present invention , the phase difference between the pulse signals may be also varied so that the number of the divider and division ratio may be varied with various conditions . the present application contains subject matter related to korean patent application no . 2005 - 27391 , filed in the korean patent office on mar . 31 , 2005 , the entire contents of which being incorporated herein by reference . while the present invention has been described with respect to the particular embodiments , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims .	7
referring to the drawings , which represent preferred embodiments , and in particular to fig1 and 3 , one embodiment of the invention is shown generally as switch 10 . switch 10 comprises a substantially rectangular casing or housing 11 , which may be cast of metal such as aluminum , zinc and the like , having a rotor 12 mounted therein for rotation about pin 13 via hole 14 . rotor 12 is generally constructed from a synthetic plastic material , such as nylon , acrylonitrile - butadiene - styrene ( abs ), and the like , but could be made from other materials including wood and the like . as illustrated in fig1 and 2 , pin 13 is an integral part of housing 11 , with rotor 12 rotating freely about pin 13 . pin 13 will be made of the same material as the casing . alternatively , pin 13 may be keyed to hole 14 in rotor 12 , with pin 13 free to rotate about its axis in a hole ( not shown ) in housing 11 , and may be made of a nonconductive material , such as plastic and the like , or a conductive material . rotor 12 possesses handle 15 which extends through an appropriate edge opening 16 in housing 11 , and which is grasped to rotate rotor 12 . housing 11 is divided conveniently into a plurality of small compartments , such as compartment 20 , to house the terminals of the switch . one end wall of housing 11 is extended outwardly to form integral coaxial ferrules 21 , 22 and 23 . located centrally is output terminal 22 , and located on either side of the output are the input terminals 21 and 23 . terminals 21 - 23 are conventional coaxial terminals wherein the outsides 24 , 25 and 26 are electrically grounded to housing 11 and the insides 27 , 28 and 29 are adapted to receive connectors ( not shown ), such as coaxial cable tv connectors and the like . the outsides 24 - 26 of ferrules 21 - 23 may be threaded , as shown in fig2 so that a connector having an internally threaded jacket may be threaded on and secured to the coaxial ferrules . the ferrules need not be integral with housing 11 , and so could be made separately and subsequently welded , threaded or the like to housing 11 . the insides 27 - 29 of ferrules 21 - 23 , respectively , will normally be lined in some way with annular , cylindrical insulating material , such as linings 30 , 31 and 32 , which are comprised of plastic or the like so as to insulate the outer portions 24 - 26 from contact with the portion of a connector ( not shown ) inserted into the insides 27 - 29 of ferrules 21 - 23 , which contact would short out the cable connector . the linings 30 - 32 can be separately formed and inserted , or , as shown in fig1 - 3 , may be an integral part of the contact plugs . plugs , such as plug 40 , are mounted within compartments , such as compartment 20 , and are molded of a nonconductive material such as a synthetic plastic or the like . they are of a conventional construction , and are shown as cylindrically shaped . but , they could be other suitable shapes . the plugs hold spring contacts 41 , 42 and 43 which are of a conventional construction . spring contacts 41 and 43 are shown as comprised of resilient free ends which are in the shape of an open hook and extend interiorly of housing 11 and encapsulated ends which are within the plugs . the encapsulated ends are adapted to resiliently receive and make secure electrical contact with a cable inserted into the interiors 27 and 29 of the ferrules 21 and 23 . spring contact 42 is constructed similarly to contacts 41 and 43 except , as shown , the resilient free end is in the shape of an almost closed loop . a metal contact 45 , of copper , copper beryllium and the like , is mounted on the circumference of rotor 12 . contact 45 is for the purpose of contacting one of the inputs and the output to complete a conductive path from the input selected to the output . thus , a tv signal from a coaxial cable inserted in , for example , input 21 , travels from spring contact 41 across contact 45 to output 22 where it exits from the switch . a similar conductive path can be created between spring contact 43 of input 23 and the output 22 . rotating rotor 12 via handle 15 selectively brings contact 45 into engagement with either of spring contacts 41 or 43 . spring contact 42 being centrally located is engaged when either of contacts 42 or 43 is energized . rotor 12 will be rotatably held in the various switching positions by the pressure of the spring contacts alone . but , it may be desirable to include some additional means ( not shown ) to hold the rotor in the various switching positions . such a means could also provide the toggle action of the switch . one such means would be to provide a pin on the rotor which would act against a leaf type spring held by some stationary part of the switch , e . g ., the bottom face of the switch . another toggle means might be to use a ball and detent means , i . e ., a spring biased ball located in the casing which acts against an indent or series of indents in the peripheral surface of the rotor . such constructions are conventional in the art . even though an input is separated from and not electrically connected to the output when it is not in use , it may interfere with the output because of signals radiated from the exposed spring contact . in order to prevent the unused input from interfering with the input in use , barriers 50 and 51 are provided which isolate and shield the unused input . barriers 50 and 51 are shown as trapezoidially shaped chambers which are integral with and of the same material as casing 11 . but , they could be made separate and attached by some appropriate means , and could comprise other shapes such as rectangular wall - like pieces and the like . there is no criticality in the length , shape or spatial location of the barriers , as long as they serve to prevent straight line radiation between the unused terminal and spring contact and the connection in use . it may be desirable to provide a further shielding and / or terminating means for use with and in addition to barriers 50 and 51 . in this regard , any conventional terminating system employing a resistance means can be used in conjunction with the barrier system of the invention . the shielding means is set forth in greater detail hereinafter . contacts 41 and 43 will normally be spring biased toward contact 45 to insure firm physical and electrical contact when they are in use by being engaged by contact 45 . when they are not in use , contacts 41 and 43 will be engaged by a terminating means . the terminating means comprises terminating contacts 54 and 55 , which are also located on the peripheral surface of rotor 12 , and resistors 56 and 57 which are connected to a ground and can comprise , e . g ., 75 ohm resistors . contacts 54 and 55 are spaced further around the rotor from contact 45 , such that when , as shown for example in fig2 input contact 41 is engaged by rotor contact 45 , unused input contact 43 is engaged by terminating contact 55 . similarly , when contact 43 is in contact with contact 45 , contact 41 is engaged by terminating contact 54 . contacts 54 and 55 comprise conductive rivets or eyelets , as shown in fig2 which pass through the peripheral surface of rotor 12 . other structures or configurations can be used as long as they provide an electrical contact with the respective unused input . resistors 56 and 57 may be conveniently wired to shielding means 58 for grounding purposes , and are connected to the eyelets 54 and 55 and shielding means 58 by soldering or other appropriate fastening means . shielding means 58 , as shown in fig4 is broadly a unitary , generally u - shaped , generally full width ( as compared to the width of rotor 12 ) conductive strip which is principally comprised of a body portion 59 and arms 60 and 61 which are spring contacts . shield 58 is located on rotor 12 such that it partially surrounds rotor contact 45 , with arms 60 and 61 being located on either side of contact 45 and on the circumference surface of rotor 12 . contact arms 60 and 61 make grounding contact with the sides of casing 11 , as at bosses 66 and 67 , or with facing sides 68 and 69 of barrier chambers 60 and 51 , respectively . although the principal shield portions , including body portion 59 and arms 60 and 61 , are shown as a bent , generally rectangular , flat sheet having further arms or contacts 62 - 65 extending therefrom , its shape is not critical . what is important is that grounded shield 58 provides an additional barrier to the transmission of interfering signals from the unused terminal and spring contact . because the shield is located on the rotor , it provides a &# 34 ; moving &# 34 ; shield which is always located around the active terminals . further , the combination of barriers 50 and 51 and shield 58 provides a barrier which essentially totally surrounds and isolates the active terminals , such as in fig2 input 21 and output 22 , from the unused terminal , e . g ., terminal 23 . additionally , four spring contacts or wiper fingers 62 - 65 may be located on shield 58 to provide additional grounding contacts , with two of the fingers 62 and 63 being above the plane of the u - shaped , while the other two contacts 64 and 65 are located below the plane of the u - shape . the other fingers 62 - 65 also provide either direct or indirect grounding contacts . fingers 64 and 65 will be in contact with the bottom 70 of casing 11 , while fingers 62 and 63 will contact metal shield 71 which covers the switch and acts as an electrostatic shield . shield 71 is made of copper and the like and provides ground contact for fingers 62 and 63 since it is attached to casing 11 by screws 72 in appropriate holes 73 in shield 71 and screw holes 74 in casing 11 . the locations and number of screws are not critical and so could be varied . further , other attaching means could be employed . the housing may be removably mounted in synthetic plastic housing of a material such as abs , nylon or the like , such as outer covers 75 and 76 . covers 75 and 76 are preferably somewhat resilient , and protect the switch from possible physical damage , as well as providing shock hazard protection . the plastic covers are not necessary , though , and the switch can be used without them . further , holes 77 and 78 in shield 71 and casing 11 , respectively , are provided so that the switch can be attached by screws or the like ( not shown ) to a television or other support , or combined with other switches . in the embodiment shown in fig5 the switch is adapted to be used as a 300 ohm switch , as compared to fig1 - 3 where the output would be an unbalanced 75 ohms , so a conventional impedance matching circuit is provided to transform the unbalanced 75 ohm input of the coaxial tv cable to a 300 ohm balance output . a transformer is used as an impedance matching device and converts an unbalanced system to a balanced system . the structure and operation of the switch are identical with that of the embodiment of fig1 - 3 and so the same reference numerals are accordingly used for identical parts . spring contact 42 receives the signal from contact 45 on rotor 12 . contact 42 is connected to one of the loads of the primary side of a transformer 80 through a first dc blocking capacitor 81 . the opposite primary lead of the transformer is connected to one lead of a second dc balancing capacitor 82 , the opposite end of which is grounded to the housing . the secondary of the transformer 80 is connected to a pair of screws 83 and 84 , which are adapted to be connected to the antenna input of the television set . the center lead of the transformer secondary is electrically grounded by means not shown in the drawings . while the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferred embodiment of this invention , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise form of apparatus , and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims .	7
an overall block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig1 . the major components are an integrated circuit chip 110 , an external if filter 111 , a filter coefficient adjustment circuit 112 , an operating cycle timer 113 , and configuration changing gates 113a . the integrated circuit chip 110 includes thereon a radio receiver 110a , an on - chip filter 110c and a signal comparator 110b . the blocks shown in fig1 are not meant to show the actual layout of the components on the chip 110 since the layout of the chip can be conventional and it forms no part of this invention . the details of the radio receiver 110a and its associated external components are shown in fig6 and they will be explained in detail later . it is noted that what is generally termed an fm radio receiver includes if filters . herein for the sake of convenience the parts of the radio receiver on integrated chip 110 , that is , the radio receiver minus the if filter , is called a radio receiver . a key aspect of the present invention is that it reduces the number of external or off - chip components required . the invention is applicable to a receiver system that includes two if filters . with the present invention one of these filters , namely filter 110a , is implemented on - chip and the second filter 111 is an off - chip component . as will be explained later , the on - chip filter is made to conform to the off - chip filter prior to the activation of the receiver . while the on - chip filter may drift out of the acceptable range of specifications in a relatively short time , the receiver is only activated for a short period and during this period the on - chip filter 110a operates appropriately . the radio receiver 110a is designed for operation in a time slot paging system such as that shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 713 , 808 ( gaskill ) wherein the receiver is only active for very short periods , each active period being followed by a relative long period of inactivity . since the receiver is only active for very short periods , it uses relatively little power . this is important in applications such as where the radio receiver is part of a wristwatch where there are very severe power limitations . with the present invention the system operates with an operating cycle which has three portions : second : the receiver 110a is turned on for a short period . fig2 shows the relative length of the three portions of the operating cycle . key to the present invention is the fact that the first and second portions of the operating cycle are relatively short with respect to the third portion of the operating cycle . the length of the various portions of the operating cycle is shown in fig2 . the components within the system are connected in a different manner during the first and second portion of the operating cycle . fig3 shows how the components in the system are connected during the first portion of each operating cycle . fig4 shows how the components are connected during the second portion of each operating cycle . as shown in fig3 during the first portion of each operating cycle , the circuit is connected so that the on - chip filter 110c can be adjusted . during the first portion of each operating cycle , the frequency characteristics of on chip filter 110c are made to match the frequency characteristics of external filter 111 . this portion of the cycle requires approximately 4 . 3 milliseconds . after the first portion of each operating cycle , the on - chip filter 110c and the off - chip filter 111 are connected in series as shown in fig4 and the receiver is activated for approximately 33 milliseconds . as explained in the above referenced gaskill patent , while the receiver is only active for a short period of time , this is time enough to span one time slot in a time slot protocol . in the third , and relatively long portion of each operating cycle , the receiver is deactivated . fig5 shows the details of the on - chip filter 110c . on - chip filter 110c is a two pole filter which includes two coupled resonators 550a and 550b . the two resonators 550a and 550b are connected by a series coupling capacitor 550c . resonator 550a includes on - chip capacitors 501a and 502a , gyrator 503a , and variable resistor 504a . resonator 550b includes on - chip capacitors 501b and 502b , gyrator 503b and variable resistor 504b . the on - chip components shown in fig5 are connected in a conventional fashion to form a band pass filter . such filters are well know ; however , it is also well known that such on - chip gyrators working at 10 . 7 mhz are relatively unstable . that is , once they are adjusted to certain parameters , they will retain those values for only a short period of time . the present invention takes advantage of the fact that the receiver 110a is only active for a very short period , that is , for 33 milliseconds . thus , the parameters are adjusted during the first portion of each cycle and they only need retain their value for the 33 milliseconds that the receiver is active during the second portion of each cycle . unique to the invention is the fact that the parameters are automatically adjusted each time that the receiver 110 is activated . the particular adaptive algorithm used to adjust the parameters or gyrators 503a and 503b is not relevant to the present invention and such adjustment algorithms are known in the art . for example the algorithm shown in a paper by d . a . johns , w . m . snelgrove , and a . s . sedra entitled &# 34 ; continuous - time analog adaptive recursive filters &# 34 ; published in iscas 1989 pages 667 - 669 . as shown in fig3 during the first or &# 34 ; adjustment &# 34 ; portion of each operating cycle the antenna 116 is removed and the rf amplifier 22 is connected to a fixed voltage . mixer 28 and if amplifier 34 are connected in series , thus providing a &# 34 ; white noise &# 34 ; signal input to filters 110c and 111 . the output of filters 110c and 111 are compared by comparator 110b , and if they are not equal a signal is sent to adjustment circuit 112 . the adjustment process continues until both filters 110 and 111 produce the same output signal . at this point the on - chip filter 110c has the same frequency response as does external filter 111 and the first portion of each operating cycle ends . next the components are connected as shown in fig4 . the gates 113a for switching the connections are not specifically shown in fig3 and 4 since such gates can be conventional . the switching gates 113a are activated by cycle timer 13a as shown in fig1 . as shown in fig4 during the receive portion of each cycle , the components are connected as a receiver such as that shown in the previously referenced patent application . this connection will be explained in detail with reference to fig6 . the details of how receiver 110 is connected into the system during the second or &# 34 ; receive &# 34 ; portion of each cycle are shown in fig6 . the system as shown in fig6 includes an rf stage 10 , an if stage 12 and a baseband stage 14 . the rf stage 10 includes an antenna 116 which may be fabricated into the wristband 17 of the wristwatch 19 in which the receiver 8 is mounted . ( a suitable wristwatch enclosure is described in the gaskill et al patent ). the antenna 116 provides rf signals to an antenna tuner stage 18 . antenna tuner stage 18 is a conventional varactor controlled bandpass filter which also performs limited impedance match functions . a tuning voltage is applied to a tune voltage port 20 from a microprocessor based control system not shown earlier . such a microprocessor system is discussed in gaskill et al . the voltage supplied via port 20 tunes a voltage - variable capacitor in tuner 18 . the antenna tuner 18 also serves a limited impedance transformation function . the antenna 116 is typically a very small loop and consequently has a very small impedance . receiver performance and noise figure are optimized if this impedance is transformed up to more closely match the input impedance of the following rf amplifier stage 22 . rf amplifier stage 22 is a low noise broadband amplifier tuned for maximum gain in the fm broadcast band ( 88 - 108 megahertz ). the maximum gain of rf amplifier stage 22 is approximately 10 db . the actual gain is controlled by an agc control circuit discussed below . a receiver mixer stage 26 is provided with a wide band of amplified input signals . to minimize the effect of image signals which pass the tuner stage 18 , mixer stage 26 is configured in an image canceling topology . two individual quad mixers 28 and 30 are driven with quadrature local oscillator signals on lines 27 and 29 from a local oscillator synthesizer 31 . high side injection is used , so the local oscillator tunes the 98 . 7 to 118 . 7 megahertz range to yield a 10 . 7 megahertz intermediate frequency . the output of the mixer 28 driven from local oscillator line 27 is delayed 90 degrees and is combined with the output of the mixer 30 that is driven from the delayed local oscillator line 29 . the combination of these signals cancels any image response while reinforcing the desired signal response . mixer 26 has a conversion gain at the desired signal frequency of approximately 7 db . the output of mixer stage 26 is provided to an if chain 32 comprised of two if amplifiers 34 and 36 and ceramic band pass filters 111 and adaptive filter 110a . as shown in the previously referenced patent applied the filter 110 is of chip construction and may be of the sfec 10 . 7 series manufactured by murata . in accordance with the present invention only filter 40 is implemented using an ic chip . if amplifiers 34 and 36 have gains of approximately 20 db each and filters 38 and 49 have about 6 db each of loss . the if amplifiers 34 and 35 can be gain controlled , to optimize noise figure . the output of if chain 32 is provided to a synchronous , or coherent detector comprised of a mixer 49 injected with a 10 . 7 megahertz local oscillator signal . the synchronous detection process adds the side band signal voltage and the side band noise powers , resulting in a 3 db improvement in signal - to noise ratio . the technique also permits detection at a much lower signal level than would be possible if a limiter stage was employed . consequently , the if stage gain can be lower than would normally be the case , thereby reducing the risk of feedback . the local oscillator 48 which provides the 10 . 7 megahertz signal is locked to the frequency of the if by a feedback circuit 71 , discussed below . a 90 degree phase shift of the local oscillator signal by a phase shifter 47 causes the signal output by mixer 49 to an output line 51 to be proportional to the frequency of the signal modulating the 10 . 7 megahertz if . this baseband frequency modulated signal is fed to a low pass filter 52 and then to a baseband amplifier 53 . baseband amplifier 53 has a break point of about five kilohertz for discrimination against the left plus right fm stereo channel . the breakpoint also minimizes distortion caused by the main audio channel bleeding into the subcarrier channel . the high end rolloff breakpoint is at about 150 kilohertz . the output of the baseband amplifier 53 is provided to conventional decoder circuitry , as disclosed in the gaskill et al . patent . a second synchronous detector is also driven by the if chain 32 and provides an agc signal for application to the rf and if gain stages . this second synchronous detector again includes a mixer 60 , this one driven in phase with the 10 . 7 megahertz local oscillator signal . the output of this mixer 60 is thus related to the amplitude of the if signal and can be used to gain control preceding stages . the limiting stages found in most fm receivers were found disadvantageous in the present system . limiting does not benefit the receiver &# 39 ; s signal - to noise or signal - to - interference ratio due to the low modulation index of the subcarrier being decoded . consequently , the automatic gain control technique was employed . the agc circuitry 24 employed in the preferred embodiment of the present invention is disclosed in pending u . s . patent application ser . no . 07 / 146 , 446 of suter entitled &# 34 ; agc delay on an integrated circuit ,&# 34 ; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . an agc loop filter 70 is a single rc stage with a break point at about one kilohertz . all other bypassing of agc points is done with much higher break points so that the one pole is clearly dominant . radio receiver as shown herein is afc controlled in a relatively continual manner . afc is effected by a dc component on the feedback loop 71 produced by a synchronous detector 49 . an amplifier 74 is included to insure that the loop gain is high enough to control local oscillator drift . the afc loop controls two local oscillators : the synthesized local oscillator 31 used for high side rf injection and the 10 . 7 megahertz local oscillator 48 used by the synchronous detectors 49 and 60 . both oscillators respond to any dc component on the feedback loop 71 to adjust their frequencies to minimize the resulting dc output from synchronous detector 49 . the afc feature is included here not for threshold extension ( which is not viable with a low modulation index ), but to reduce cross - modulation of entertainment energy into the receiver &# 39 ; s subspectrum due to distortion in the filters 111 and 110b . afc of the synthesizer 31 can be disabled by a switch 72 , which can be operated to apply a fixed reference voltage to the synthesizer 31 instead of the afc signal . further details concerning the operation and system organization of the receiver shown in fig6 can be found in the previously referenced co - pending patent application . while the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the scope of the invention .	8
the applicants have unexpectedly discovered an improved adhesive composition that can be applied as a liquid dispersion ( aqueous or solvent ) on substrates as well as by hot melt application . the inventive adhesive composition not only has good aqueous adhesive properties but also has excellent hot melt adhesive properties and is totally recyclable when the products containing the adhesive are recycled by repulping . the present adhesive composition is easily repulpable and removed from the fibers from paper or wood pulp used in disposable products , particularly in the preferred hot melt applications . the adhesive according to the present invention permits recycling of disposable products at significantly reduced processing costs without affecting the physical properties of the adhesive and resulting article . certain water - dispersible polyester compositions are described in detail in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 734 , 874 ; 3 , 779 , 993 ; 4 , 233 , 196 ; and 4 , 335 , 220 , the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety . the water - dispersible adhesive composition according to the present invention that can be a single polyester is a branched water - dispersible polyester made of the residues or moieties of reaction products ; ( i ); ( ii ); ( iii ); ( iv ) and ( v ) above . alternatively , the water - dispersible adhesive composition according to the present invention is a blend of two different polyesters that comprises : ( 1 ) about 20 to 80 weight percent of the linear water - dispersible polyester composition made of the residues or moieties of reaction products ; ( i ); ( ii ); ( iii ); and ( iv ) above and ( 2 ) about 20 to 80 weight percent of the branched water - dispersible polyester made of the moieties of reaction products ; ( a ); ( b ); ( c ); ( d ); and ( e ) above . although the inventive single polyester water - dispersible adhesive composition and the inventive water - dispersible adhesive composition that is a blend of two different polyesters have different amounts of monomers and a different mix of groups of monomers , some specific groups of suitable monomers and preferred monomers of these groups are the same as is illustrated below . the sulfonate - containing , water - dispersible , adhesives and polyesters of this invention comprise polyesters , including polyesteramides , having repeating , alternating residues or moieties of one or more dicarboxylic acid which is not a sulfomonomer and one or more diols or a combination of one or more diols and one or more diamines wherein the mol percentages are based on 100 mol percent dicarboxylic acid residues and 100 mol percent diol or diol and diamine residues , for a total of 200 mol percent . alternatively , the polyesters can include residues of monomers having mixed functionality such as hydroxycarboxylic acids , aminocarboxylic acids and / or aminoalkanols . examples of suitable difunctional dicarboxylic acid monomers used to make the residue of ( i ), ( i ), and ( a ) include aliphatic dicarboxylic acids , alicyclic dicarboxylic acids , aromatic dicarboxylic acids , or mixtures of two or more of these acids . examples of preferred suitable dicarboxylic acids include succinic ; glutaric ; adipic ; azelaic ; sebacic ; fumaric ; maleic ; itaconic ; 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedicarboxylic ; 1 , 3 - cyclohexanedicarboxylic ; phthalic ; terephthalic ; and isophthalic . if terephthalic acid is used as the dicarboxylic acid component of the polyester , superior results are achieved when at least 5 mol percent of one of the other acids is also used . it should be understood that the use of the corresponding acid anhydrides , esters , and acid chlorides of these acids is included in the term &# 34 ; dicarboxylic acid &# 34 ;. the difunctional sulfo - monomer component of ( ii ), ( ii ), and ( b ) is preferably a dicarboxylic acid or ester thereof containing a metal sulfonate group or a glycol containing a metal sulfonate group or a hydroxy acid containing metal sulfonate group . the cation of the sulfonate salt can be nh 4 + , or the metal ions li + , na + , k + , mg ++ , ca ++ , cu ++ , ni ++ , fe ++ , fe +++ and the like . residue or reactant ( ii ), ( ii ), and ( b ) in the polyester of the present invention is a difunctional monomer containing a -- so 3 m group attached to an aromatic nucleus , wherein m is hydrogen , nh 4 + , or a metal ion . the difunctional monomer component may be either a dicarboxylic acid or a diol adduct containing a -- so 3 m group . the cation of the sulfonate salt group can be nh 4 + , or the metal ions li + , na + , k + , mg ++ , ca ++ , cu ++ , ni ++ , fe ++ , fe +++ and the like . preferred are monovalent cations , such as nh 4 + , li + , na + , and k + , when stability in water is desired . the -- so 3 m group is attached to an aromatic nucleus , examples of which include benzene , naphthalene , anthracene , diphenyl , oxydiphenyl , sulfonyldiphenyl , and methylenediphenyl . the cationic portion of a nonmetallic sulfonate group optionally present in reactant ( ii ), ( ii ), and ( b ) is a nitrogen - based cation derived from nitrogen - containing bases which may be aliphatic , cycloaliphatic or aromatic basic compounds that have ionization constants in water at 25 ° c . of 10 - 3 to 10 - 10 , preferably 10 - 5 to 10 - 8 . especially preferred nitrogen - containing bases are ammonia , dimethylethanolamine , diethanolamine , triethanolamine , pyridine , morpholine , and piperidine , due to availability , cost , and usefulness . such nitrogen - containing bases and cations derived therefrom are described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 304 , 901 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . it is preferred that reactant ( ii ) be present in a concentration of about 4 to 12 mol percent , more preferably about 6 to 10 mol percent , with a mol percent of about 8 being most preferred based on total acid equivalents . at amounts below 4 mol percent the polyester is less repulpable whereas at amounts above 12 mol percent the polyester is a little too water - sensitive . it is preferred that reactant ( ii ) and , independently , reactant ( b ) be present in an amount of 2 to 25 mol percent , more preferably about 4 to 15 mol percent , based on the total acid equivalents . examples of preferred diols of ( iii ) ( a ) and ( iii ) ( a ), due to availability , include diethylene glycol , triethylene glycol , and mixtures thereof . the preferred concentration of ( iii ) ( a ) is about 10 to 80 mol percent , however , when these are the preferred diols of ( iii ) ( a ) the concentration is about 20 to 80 mol percent . at amounts outside this range of 20 to 80 the polyesters have lower softening points and higher tg than what is most desired . the moieties of ( iii ) ( a ) and ( iii ) ( a ) can be the same as ( iii ) ( b ) and ( iii ) ( b ), respectively , when the value n is low . however , it is preferred that ( b ) be a different moiety and be a poly ( ethylene glycol ). examples of suitable poly ( ethylene glycols ) of ( iii ) ( b ) and ( iii ) ( b ) include relatively high molecular weight polyethylene glycols , some of which are available commercially under the designation &# 34 ; carbowax &# 34 ;, a product of union carbide . poly ( ethylene glycols ) having molecular weights of from about 500 to about 5000 are especially suitable . the moieties of ( b ) are preferably at a concentration of about 1 to 5 mol percent , particularly when n is 10 to 30 , due to the preferably higher softening points . the remaining portion of the glycol component of ( iii ), ( iii ), and ( c ) can consist of aliphatic , alicyclic , and aralkyl glycols . examples of these glycols include neopentyl glycol ; ethylene glycol ; propylene glycol ; 1 , 3 - propanediol ; 2 , 4 - dimethyl - 2 - ethyl - hexane - 1 , 3 - diol ; 2 , 2 - dimethyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol ; 2 - ethyl - 2 - butyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol ; 2 - ethyl - 2 - isobutyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol ; 1 , 3 - butanediol ; 1 , 4 - butanediol ; 1 , 5 - pentanediol ; 1 , 6 - hexanediol ; 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 6 - hexanediol ; thiodiethanol ; 1 , 2 - cyclohexanedimethanol ; 1 , 3 - cyclohexanedimethanol ; 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol ; 2 , 2 , 4 , 4 - tetramethyl - 1 , 3 - cyclobutanediol ; p - xylylenediol and neopentyl glycol . copolymers may be prepared from two or more of the above glycols . preferred glycols , due to availability , cost , and usefulness , include neopentyl glycol , ethylene glycol , 1 , 3 - propane diol , 1 , 4 - butane diol , 1 , 6 - hexane diol and cyclohexane dimethanols . advantageous examples of difunctional monomer component of ( iii ) and ( c ) which are diamines include ethylenediamine ; hexamethylenediamine ; 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethylhexamethylenediamine ; 4 - oxaheptane - 1 , 4 - diamine , 4 , 7 - dioxadecane - 1 , 10 - diamine ; 1 , 4 - cyclohexanebismethylamine ; 1 , 3 - cyclohexanebismethylamine ; heptamethylenediamine ; dodecamethylenediamine , etc . the amount of the moieties iii ( c ) present in the polyester is preferably a minor amount up to about 99 mol percent , more preferably 20 to 80 mol percent with a mol percent of about 30 to 70 being more preferred due to the preferred balance between the desired low tg and the desired high softening point . advantageous difunctional components which are aminoalcohols or aminoalkanols include aromatic , aliphatic , heterocyclic , and other types in regard to component ( iv ), ( iv ) and ( d ). specific examples include 5 - aminopentanol - 1 , 4 - aminomethylcyclohexanemethanol , 5 - amino - 2 - ethyl - pentanol - 1 , 2 -( 4 - β - hydroxyethoxyphenyl )- 1 - aminoethane , 3 - amino - 2 , 2 - dimethylpropanol , hydroxyethylamine , etc . generally these aminoalcohols contain from 2 to 20 carbon atoms , one -- nrh group and one -- cr 2 -- oh group . advantageous difunctional monomer components which are aminocarboxylic acids include aromatic , aliphatic , heterocyclic , and other types in regard to component ( iv ), ( iv ), and ( d ) and include lactams . specific examples include 6 - aminocaproic acid , its lactam known as caprolactam , omega aminoundecanoic acid , 3 - amino - 2 - dimethylpropionic acid , 4 -( β - aminoethyl ) benzoic acid , 2 -( β - aminopropoxy ) benzoic acid , 4 - aminomethylcyclohexanecarboxylic acid , 2 -( β - aminopropoxy ) cyclohexanecarboxylic acid , etc . generally , these compounds contain from 2 to 20 carbon atoms . these moieties ( iv ) ( iv ) and ( d ) are less preferred , due to cost and performance , but they can be present . the concentration of these moieties is preferably below 20 mol percent , more preferably below 10 mol percent , including zero . preferred water dispersible linear polyesters of ( 1 ) in the polyester blend contain diacid monomer residues that are about 75 to 90 mol percent isophthalic acid residues , and about 10 to 25 mol percent 5 - sodiosulfoisophthalic acid monomer residues ; and diol monomer residues of about 45 to 100 mol percent diethylene glycol monomer residues and 0 up to 55 mol percent 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol . the more preferred water dispersible linear polyesters of ( 1 ) have an inherent viscosity of 0 . 1 to 0 . 6 , preferably 0 . 2 to 0 . 5 , and a tg range of about 25 to 88 ° c ., preferably about 29 ° to 55 ° c . the branched water dispersible polyester of ( 2 ) is made of the moieties of the reaction products ( a ), ( b ), ( c ), ( d ), and ( e ) above . related branched water - dispersible polyesters of ( 2 ) above are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 218 , 042 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 218 , 042 is directed towards increasing the stability of dispersions in water and thus endcaps the acid groups or forms a diol adduct of a dicarboxylic sulfomonomer to maintain dispersion stability . however , the present inventive compositions are not directed towards maintaining a stable emulsion , simply producing an emulsion by pulping and dissolving the hot - melt adhesive in water until it is separated from the fibers . therefore , endcapping and forming a diol adduct of the sulfomonomer is not a requirement for the present invention . the polyester compositions are branched by virtue of the presence of a multifunctional reactant ( v ) and ( e ) that contains at least three functional groups selected from hydroxyl , carboxyl , and amino . examples of preferred multifunctional reactants of ( v ) and ( e ) are trimethylpropane ( tmp ), trimethylolethane ( tme ), glycerine , pentaerythritol , erythritol , threitol , dipentaerythritol , sorbitol , trimellitic anhydride , pyromellitic dianhydride , and dimethylolpropionic acid with tmp being most preferred , due to availability and effective results . the amount of this branching agent ( v ) and ( e ) is preferably below 20 mol percent , more preferably below 10 mol percent , ( including the range for ( v ) of 0 . 5 to 10 ), with a concentration of about 1 to 7 or 2 to 6 mol percent being most preferred . at very high amounts of branching agent the polyester is prone to gelation whereas at low amounts , such as below 0 . 5 and 0 . 1 , the polyester has poorer performance and properties . the dispersible linear polyester composition of ( 1 ) is blended with the branched water - dispersible polyester composition of ( 2 ) at temperatures greater than 200 ° c ., preferably about 225 ° c ., for at least one hour . in the adhesive blend composition according to the present invention the relative amounts of the two polyesters vary from about 20 to 80 weight percent of the polyester of ( 1 ) and about 20 to 80 weight percent of the polyester of ( 2 ). the concentration of these two polyesters in the hot melt adhesive composition according to the present invention is preferably greater than 30 but less than 80 weight percent polyester of ( 1 ) and greater than 20 but less than 70 weight percent of the polyester of ( 2 ). the concentration of the two polyesters is more preferably about 40 to 77 weight percent ( 1 ) and about 23 to 60 weight percent of ( 2 ), even more preferably about 60 to 75 weight percent of ( 1 ) and about 25 to 40 weight percent of ( 2 ) with a concentration of the two polyesters in weight percent of about 70 ( 1 ) and about 30 ( 2 ) being most preferred . higher amounts of the polyester of ( 1 ) increase the melting point of the final adhesive composition . at amounts of the polyester of ( 1 ) higher that 80 weight percent , the adhesive has too high of a melting point to be practical . higher amounts of the polyester of ( 2 ) decrease the melting point of the final adhesive . at amounts of the polyester of ( 2 ) higher that 80 weight percent , sometimes higher than 70 , the adhesive has too low of a melting point to be practical . the polyesters according to the present invention preferably have at least 50 weight percent of the linking groups linking the moieties of the monomeric units being ester linkages , more preferably at least 90 weight percent , with an ester linkage weight percent of 100 being most preferred . the water - dispersible polyesters described herein have an inherent viscosity of at least 0 . 1 dl / g , preferably about 0 . 2 to 0 . 5 dl / g , measured in a 60 / 40 parts by weight solution of phenol / tetrachloroethane at 25 ° c . and at a concentration of about 0 . 25 g of polymer in 100 ml of solvent . the final adhesive compositions preferably have a number average molecular weight of about 2 , 000 to 20 , 000 more preferably about 3 , 000 to 10 , 000 . although it is desirable to have as high a molecular weight as possible to achieve the maximum physical properties , such as tensile strength and peel strength , the melt viscosity also increase as molecular weight increases . therefore , at very high molecular weights the melt viscosity is too high for many useful applications . the preferred tg of the adhesive composition according to the present invention is below 10 ° c . and more preferably varies from about 4 ° to - 20 ° c ., with a tg of about 4 ° to - 13 ° c . being most preferred . the tg ( glass transition temperature ) of the adhesive compositions of the present invention are preferably as low as possible . thus tgs below 4 ° c . and even below 0 ° c . are preferred . tgs of greater than 0 ° c . have generally higher ring and ball softening point ( rbsp ) and heat resistance but are not as flexible . a low tg means that the adhesive compositions will not be brittle , thus , cartons adhered together with the adhesive compositions of the present invention when impacted , even at extremely cold temperatures will not shatter and thus maintain adhesion . however , extremely low tgs are not easily obtained or at least not easily obtained without greatly affecting some other property , such as lowering the ring and ball softening point . the hot melt adhesive composition according to the present invention preferably has a viscosity of about 1 , 500 to about 30 , 000 centipoise at 350 ° f . ( 177 ° c . ), more preferably about 3 , 000 to 15 , 000 cp at 350 ° f . ( 177 ° c .) due to ease in application . the ring and ball softening point ( rbsp ) of the adhesive composition of the present invention is preferably at least 80 ° c ., more preferably 80 ° to 100 ° c . the high temperatures of rbsp are better since this means at higher storage temperatures delamination will not occur . ( high rbsp provides delamination resistance ). the adhesive compositions according to the present invention are particularly useful due to their good combination of properties and are suitable for use as adhesives for many substrates including non woven assemblies ( such as non woven polypropylene ), paper products ( such as paper and paperboard ), and wood pulp and are easily recyclable and repulpable . the hot melt adhesives according to the present invention are recyclable / repulpable and improved over prior art repulpable hot melt adhesive compositions in that the set time , temperature sensitivity , compatibility , stability on storage , shear strength , tensile strength , viscosity , and cold flow resistance are improved . the adhesive composition according to the present invention is applied to one substrate with a second substrate being placed on top of the adhesive forming an article having the adhesive laminated between two substrates . the adhesive composition according to the present invention can be applied in liquid form in solvent or in an aqueous solution at a concentration of about 10 to 70 weight percent with the remainder being solvent or water or mixtures thereof . surfactants and other additives can also be present to aid in the dispersibility of the adhesive composition . when applied as a solution , the adhesive compositions are generally applied by conventional processes , such as extrusion coating , spray coating , roll coating , brush coating , dip coating , etc . the adhesive composition according to the present invention is preferably used as a hot melt adhesive . the hot melt adhesive composition is preferably applied in the melt at a temperature of about 150 ° to 200 ° c . to a surface of a substrate and , while remaining molten and pliable , applying a second surface of a substrate to the water - dispersible hot melt adhesive composition thereby forming an article of manufacture that comprises the water - dispersible hot melt adhesive composition laminated - between two substrates or two surfaces of a substrate . the adhesive compositions of the present invention are preferably not crosslinked since that would impair their water dispersibility and repulpability . however , they could be crosslinked , to a certain extent with diisocyanates to improve strength and heat resistance although this is less preferred . the adhesive composition according to the present invention can also contain standard additives including stabilizers , preferably about 0 . 1 to about 0 . 5 weight percent stabilizers . suitable stabilizers include the antioxidant type and generally consist of sterically hindered phenols , or sulfur or phosphorous substituted phenols . an especially useful antioxidant is irganox 1010 ( from ciba - geigy , hawthorne , n . y .) which is a pentaerythritol tetrakis - 3 ( 3 , 5 - di - tertiarybutyl - 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) propionate . additional additives can be added to raise and lower tg and rbsp . these include , for example , elastomers , plasticizers , low molecular weight polyolefins , resins , and tackifiers . although , elastomers can be added to the polyester composition , the presence of such elastomers may be adverse to certain desired properties of the composition . therefore , it is preferable that the composition of the present invention contain substantially no elastomer . additionally , the plasticizers such as dop , dotp , phenols , glycols , phthalate esters and the like that can be added , can distract from the heat resistance of the final composition lowering the rbsp . other additives such as uv light absorbers , nucleating agents , colorants , pigments , solvents , and fillers can be present in small amounts as needed and known in the adhesive art . tackifiers are added to the polyester composition to prevent cold flow and increase the softening point . tackifiers are typically selected from at least one of the groups consisting of hydrocarbon resins , synthetic polyterpenes , functional copolymers , and rosin esters . hydrocarbon resins are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 850 , 858 and functional copolymers , such as styrene - co - maleic anhydride , are well known in the art . hydrocarbon resins , prepared according to u . s . pat . no . 3 , 701 , 760 , polyterpenes , and rosin esters can be used alone or in combinations . these tackifying resins , which preferably have softening points of at least 100 ° c . and most preferably 120 ° c ., can be used in amounts of about 10 % to 50 % by weight of the adhesive composition , preferably about 25 % to about 40 % by weight . suitable resins and rosin esters are the terpene polymers having a suitable ring and ball softening point such as the polymeric , resinous materials including the dimers as well as higher polymers obtained by polymerization and / or copolymerization of terpene hydrocarbons such as the alicyclic , monocyclic , and bicyclic monoterpenes and their mixtures , including allo - ocimene , carene , isomerized pinene , pinene , dipentene , terpinene , terpinolene , limonene , turpentine , a terpene cut of fraction , and various other terpenes . commercially available resins of the terpene type include the zonarez terpene b - series and 7000 series from arizona chemical . also included are the rosin esters with acid numbers above 5 such as the zonatac resins from arizona chemical . particularly useful materials are terpene mixtures containing a mixture of sulphate terpene , and at least 20 % of at least one other terpene selected from the group consisting of pinene , limonene , or dipentene . these adhesive compositions can also be modified to increase the rbsp and reduce cold flow by including additives such as precipitated calcium carbonates and silicas such as fumed silica . a suitable fumed silica comes from cabot corp . as cabosil . the present copolyester composition can be modified with random or alternating styrenic copolymers useful in the compositions of this invention and may be prepared by any of the several methods available for their synthesis . for example , the copolymers may be obtained by solution copolymerization directly from the respective monomers by the incremental additions of the more reactive monomer as taught by u . s . pat . no . 2 , 971 , 939 or by a continuous recycle polymerization process described in u . s . pat . nos . 2 , 769 , 804 and 2 , 989 , 517 . suitable commercially available random or alternating copolymers include the &# 34 ; dylark &# 34 ; styrene / maleic anhydride copolymers . suitable blocked copolymers for example from shell chemical , include kraton fg - 1901x or kraton fg - 1921x linear styrene ethylene - 1 - butene styrene blocked copolymers . in formulating adhesives or sealants for use herein , the blocked copolymers should be used of 5 - 20 %, preferably 7 - 12 %. modified polyolefins suitable for use in the present invention are prepared by reacting a polyolefin with unsaturated polycarboxylic acid , anhydride or esters thereof , such as maleic anhydride . in formulating adhesive or sealants for use herein the modified polyolefins should be used in low amounts from 3 - 15 % preferably 5 - 9 %. these modified polyolefins can enhance heat resistance of the composition . the adhesive composition of this invention can be prepared using one or more modifiers to the branched copolyester , by blending with the polyester at melt temperatures of 177 - 200 ° c . and mixing until a homogeneous mixture is obtained . a cowles stirrer provides effective mixing for these preparations . the following examples are intended to illustrate the present invention but are not intended to limit the reasonable scope thereof . in the following examples gel permeation chromatography ( gpc ) is used for determination of the molecular weight distribution averages : mw , mn , mw / mn ( polydispersity ), and mz . in the following examples the peel adhesion failure temperature was determined according to the following procedure to find the 180 ° peeling tension fail . this is determined by subjecting a specimen to a continuous dead weight loading of 100 grams per inch ( 2 . 54 cm ) of bond width for 10 minutes at a given temperature . the adhesive is laminated onto 30 pound ( 13 . 6 kg ) kraft paper to a thickness of 1 mil ( 2 . 54 × 10 - 3 cm ) and a width of 1 . 5 inches ( 3 . 8 cm ). another section of kraft paper is placed on top of the adhesive laminate . the test specimen is heat sealed at 122 ° c . at 25 psi ( 0 . 17 kpa ) for 0 . 2 seconds . three specimens are prepared . the bonded peel specimens must condition overnight in a laboratory at 23 ° c . at 50 % humidity before testing . the oven temperature is set at 14 ° c ., the three specimens are placed therein , and a 100 gram weight is attached to each . the specimens are conditioned in the oven for 10 minutes , and the temperature is then raised 4 ° c . at 10 minute intervals . the peel adhesion failure temperature is the temperature in degrees c at failure ( 3 test average ). a 1000 ml round bottom flask equipped with a ground - glass head , agitator shaft , nitrogen inlet , and a sidearm was charged with 139 . 4 grams ( 0 . 84 mole ) of isophthalic acid , 23 . 4 grams ( 0 . 16 mole ) adipic acid , 95 . 4 grams ( 0 . 90 mole ) diethylene glycol , 31 . 2 grams ( 0 . 30 mole ) neopentyl glycol , 6 . 7 grams ( 0 . 05 mole ) trimethylol propane , 10 . 0 grams ( 0 . 01 mole ) of poly ( ethylene glycol ), mw = 1000 , and 1 . 05 ml of a 1 . 46 % ( w / v ) solution of titanium isopropoxide in n - butanol . the flask was purged with nitrogen and immersed in a belmont metal bath at 200 ° c . for 90 minutes and 220 ° c . for an additional 90 minutes under a slow nitrogen sweep with sufficient agitation . after elevating the temperature to 280 ° c . a vacuum & lt ;= 0 . 5 mm was installed 11 minutes to perform the polycondensation . the vacuum was then displaced with a nitrogen atmosphere and the polymer was allowed to cool after removing the flask from the metal bath . an inherent viscosity of 0 . 371 dl / g was determined for the recovered polymer according to astm d3835 - 79 and a glass transition temperature of 3 ° c . was obtained from thermal analysis by dsc . the polymer was clear and amorphous . molecular weights as determined by gpc were : mn = 10 , 400 , mw = 32 , 250 , and mz = 104 , 150 . the properties of this resin are illustrated in table 1 . this sample when placed in tap water , ph approximately equal to 8 , was insoluble and would not be suitable for application as a repulpable adhesive . a 1000 ml round bottom flask equipped with a ground - glass head , agitator shaft , nitrogen inlet , and a sidearm was charged with 192 . 0 grams ( 1 . 15 moles ) of isophthalic acid , 35 . 1 grams ( 0 . 24 mole ) adipic acid , 31 . 1 grams ( 0 . 105 mole ) dimethyl - 5 - sodiosulfoisophthalate , 143 . 1 grams ( 1 . 35 mole ) diethylene glycol , 46 . 8 grams ( 0 . 45 mole ) neopentyl glycol , 10 . 05 grams ( 0 . 075 mole ) trimethylol propane , 30 . 0 grams ( 0 . 03 mole ) of poly ( ethylene glycol ), mw = 1000 , and 1 . 67 ml of a 1 . 46 % ( w / v ) solution of titanium isopropoxide in n - butanol . the flask was purged with nitrogen and immersed in a belmont metal bath at 200 ° c . for 90 minutes and 220 ° c . for an additional 90 minutes under a slow nitrogen sweep with sufficient agitation . after elevating the temperature to 280 ° c . a vacuum & lt ;= 0 . 5 mm was installed for 15 minutes to perform the polycondensation . the vacuum was then displaced with a nitrogen atmosphere and the polymer was allowed to cool after removing the flask from the metal bath . an inherent viscosity of 0 . 258 dl / g was determined for the recovered polymer according to astm d3835 - 79 and a glass transition temperature of 9 ° c . was obtained from thermal analysis by dsc . the clear polymer was stabilized with 0 . 3 grams of irganox 1010 . molecular weights as determined by gpc were : mn = 6 , 500 , mw = 13 , 200 , and mz = 20 , 800 . the properties of this resin are illustrated in table 1 . a 1000 ml round bottom flask equipped with a ground - glass head , agitator shaft , nitrogen inlet , and a sidearm was charged with 184 . 0 grams ( 0 . 92 moles ) of dimethyl cyclohexanedicarboxylate , 23 . 7 grams ( 0 . 24 mole ) dimethyl - 5 - sodiosulfoisophthalate , 95 . 4 grams ( 0 . 90 mole ) diethylene glycol , 31 . 2 grams ( 0 . 30 mole ) neopentyl glycol , 6 . 70 grams ( 0 . 05 mole ) trimethylol propane , and 1 . 17 ml of a 1 . 46 % ( w / v ) solution of titanium isopropoxide in n - butanol . the flask was purged with nitrogen and immersed in a belmont metal bath at 200 ° c . for 90 minutes and 220 ° c . for an additional 90 minutes under a slow nitrogen sweep with sufficient agitation . after elevating the temperature to 280 ° c . a vacuum & lt ;= 0 . 5 mm was installed for 10 minutes to perform the polycondensation . the vacuum was then displaced with a nitrogen atmosphere and the polymer was allowed to cool after removing the flask from the metal bath . an inherent viscosity of 0 . 210 dl / g was determined for the recovered polymer according to astm d3835 - 79 and a glass transition temperature of - 4 ° c . was obtained from thermal analysis by dsc . the polymer was clear and nearly colorless . molecular weights as determined by gpc were : mn = 5 , 800 , mw = 10 , 400 , and mz = 15 , 500 . the properties of this resin are illustrated in table 1 . a 1000 ml round bottom flask equipped with a ground - glass head , agitator shaft , nitrogen inlet , and a sidearm was charged with 128 . 0 grams ( 0 . 77 mole ) of isophthalic acid , 23 . 4 grams ( 0 . 16 mole ) adipic acid , 23 . 7 grams ( 0 . 08 mole ) dimethyl - 5 - sodiosulfoisophthalate , 95 . 4 grams ( 0 . 90 mole ) diethylene glycol , 31 . 2 grams ( 0 . 30 mole ) neopentyl glycol , 6 . 70 grams ( 0 . 05 mole ) trimethylol propane , 10 . 0 grams ( 0 . 01 mole ) of poly ( ethylene glycol ), mw = 1000 , and 1 . 09 ml of a 1 . 46 % ( w / v ) solution of titanium isopropoxide in n - butanol . the flask was purged with nitrogen and immersed in a belmont metal bath at 200 ° c . for 90 minutes and 220 ° c . for an additional 90 minutes under a slow nitrogen sweep with sufficient agitation . after elevating the temperature to 280 ° c . a vacuum & lt ;= 0 . 5 mm was installed for 10 minutes to perform the polycondensation . the vacuum was then displaced with a nitrogen atmosphere and the polymer was allowed to cool after removing the flask from the metal bath . an inherent viscosity of 0 . 226 dl / g was determined for the recovered polymer according to astm d3835 - 79 and a glass transition temperature of 13 ° c . was obtained from thermal analysis by dsc . the clear polymer was stabilized with 0 . 3 grams of irganox 1010 . molecular weights as determined by gpc were : mn = 7 , 300 , mw = 14 , 000 , and mz = 22 , 600 . the properties of this resin are illustrated in table 1 . table 1__________________________________________________________________________properties of adhesive compositions ( d ) ( c ) peel ( f ) tensile adhesion ring and ( a ) ( b ) strength failure ballexampleset time viscosity @ ( mpa ) temperature ( e ) softeningno ., ( sec ) 177 ° c . cps elongation % ° c . tg ° c . point ° c . __________________________________________________________________________1 7 . 0 4 , 120 -- 34 3 702 6 . 1 3 , 840 . 09 & gt ; 1200 % 35 9 823 4 . 2 3 , 570 . 03 - 09 & gt ; 1200 % 30 - 13 824 3 . 6 4 , 630 1 . 0 , 873 % 40 13 90 elongation__________________________________________________________________________ ( a ) tappi symposium , recyclable / repulpable hot melts a summary , june 1990 , by michael j . ambrosini ( b ) astm d3236 test method ( c ) astm 412 test method ( d ) kraft to kraft bond ( e ) astm d3418 ( f ) astm e28 approximately 10 grams of each of the adhesives in examples 2 , 3 and 4 were melted , dyed , and coated onto white bond copier paper to a thickness of 1 . 5 to 3 . 0 mils ( 0 . 04 to 0 . 08 mm ) with a wire wound rod . the coated paper was then cut to obtain a piece weighing 12 grams . the weighed coated paper was then torn into 1 &# 34 ; by 1 &# 34 ; ( 2 . 54 cm by 2 . 54 cm ) pieces and placed into approximately 1000 ml of tap water in the bowl of a laboratory blender to obtain a solids to liquid consistency of ˜ 1 . 2 % and soaked from 1 to 4 hours . the coated paper and water were agitated at 500 rpm for 10 minutes , at 1 , 000 rpm for 10 minutes , and 1 , 500 rpm for 10 minutes . following agitation , a portion of the slurry was removed from the bowl and diluted to produce a 0 . 7 % solids mixture . this mixture was stirred for 30 seconds and quickly poured into a buchner funnel that contains a 100 mesh polyester screen . a vacuum pump was attached for a short interval until the water was evacuated from the funnel and a handsheet was formed . the handsheet and screen were then removed from the funnel and excess water was blotted away with watman 5 filter paper . the handsheet was then weighted and dried on a warm hot plate . the dried handsheet was then inspected for &# 34 ; stickies &# 34 ; using both transmitted and reflected light . all three examples were completely dispersible , in that during the hour soak in a room temperature neutral solution all dyed coating samples completely separated from copy paper . during agitation , the solution was foamy and a sweet odor was noticed . no adhesive residue ( stickies ) were on the hand sheet . thus , there was complete repulpability . this test showed that the compositions in examples 2 , 3 and 4 were highly water dispersible and repulpable under neutral conditions . an alkaline solution was prepared by adding 6 . 2 g of naoh pellets , 3 g of tetrasodium pyrophosphate ( tspp ) and 0 . 6 ml of triton x - 100 surfactant to 400 ml of h 2o at room temperature . the solution was warmed on a hot plate to 27 ° c . when the tspp had dissolved , it was diluted to 1000 ml and adjusted to a ph of 9 - 12 with h 2 o or base . the solution was then brought to 85 ° c . and then 1 &# 34 ;× 1 &# 34 ; ( 2 . 54 × 2 . 54 cm ) pieces of coated paper from examples 2 , 3 and 4 prepared as in example 5 were added as the solution was slowly stirred at the blend station . when coated paper began to de - fiber , the mixer speed was adjusted to give a gentle rolling of slurry . mixing was continued for 15 - 30 minutes . after defibering for 15 - 30 minutes , slurry was diluted to 1000 ml and stirred thoroughly to assure a uniform suspension . the handsheet was formed as in example 5 . the degree of adhesive repulpability was evaluated as in example 5 . all three examples were completely dispersible , in that dyed coating sample began separating from the copy paper within 5 minutes of entering the heated ( 85 ° c .) alkaline solution . during the 30 minute agitation the coating completely dispersed throughout solution . there was a pale orange color visible in handsheet ; however , no adhesive residue ( stickies ) was on hand sheet . thus , there was complete repulpability . the results indicate that examples 2 , 3 and 4 are repulpable under alkaline conditions . wood pulp ( 5 grams ) taken from a huggies brand diaper from kimberly clark , was coated with 1 . 5 grams of the adhesive from examples 2 , 3 and 4 at 350 ° f . ( 177 ° c .). the adhesive coated wood pulp was placed in one liter of tap water ( ph 7 . 9 ) at room temperature for one hour with hand stirring approximately every 10 minutes . the slurry was poured through a 600 ml hirsch funnel pulled under vacuum at 25 psi until water is completely removed out of the funnel . the wood pulp remained in the funnel without any sign of adhesive present in the funnel . all of the adhesive passed through the funnel into the container with the water . a one gram sample of each polyester from examples 2 , 3 , and 4 was placed in tap water ( ph 8 . 0 ), deionized water ( ph 7 . 2 ) and two simulated body fluids . the first simulated body fluid containing 10 gms . sodium chloride , 4 gms . ammonium carbonate , 1 gm disodium hydrogen phosphate , and 0 . 25 grams histidine monohydrochloride , dissolved in 1 liter of deionized water , with a final ph 8 . 0 . the second simulated body fluid containing 10 grams sodium chloride , 1 gram lactic acid , and 1 gram disodium hydrogen phosphate , and 0 . 25 gram histidine monohydrogenchloride , dissolved in 1 liter deionized water , with a final ph of 3 . 9 test results examples 2 , 3 , and 4 dissolved in less than one hour immersion in tap water and deionized water and remained insoluble in simulated body fluid solution after 24 hours immersion . the following examples 1b - through 9b are examples of the adhesive composition according to the present invention that is a blend of two polyesters . these examples were tested according to the test used in the prior examples except for gel permeation chromatography ( gpc ) which used a polystyrene standard . gpc is used for determination of the molecular weight distribution averages : mw , mn , mw / mn ( polydispersity ), and mz . approximately 60 milligrams of sample is weighed and dissolved in 20 ml . of tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) containing toluene ( internal std .) at a level of 0 . 3 % ( v / v ). the sample is filtered ( if necessary ) and then run on the gpc system . the data system generates a report showing : ( 1 ×) the molecular weight distribution averages , ( 2 ×) a time slice report , and ( 3 ×) standard , purchased from polymer laboratories , covering a molecular weight range of 580 to 1 , 030 , 000 . the mode of calibration is &# 34 ; narrow mw standard peak positions &# 34 ;. a 500 - ml , round bottom flask equipped with a ground - glass head , an agitator shaft , nitrogen inlet , and a sidearm was charged with 73 . 87 g ( 0 , 445 mol ) of isophthalic acid , 14 . 74 g ( 0 , 055 mol ) of 5 - sodiosulfoisophthalic acid , 81 g ( 0 . 75 mol ) of diethylene glycol , 0 . 19 grams of titanium tetraisopropoxide and 0 , 847 g ( 0 . 0055 mol ) of sodium acetate tetrahydrate . the flask was immersed in a belmont bath at 200 ° c . for two hours under a nitrogen sweep . heating was stopped and the copolyester was removed from the flask . the polymer had an inherent viscosity of 0 . 45 dl / g according to astm d3835 - 79 and a glass transition temperature of 29 ° c . as measured by differential scanning colorimetry ( dsc ) analysis . the polymer which was transparent and amorphous was extruded and pelletized . the polymer had a weight average molecular weight ( mw ) of 8 , 924 and a number average molecular weight ( mn ) of 5 , 422 by gpc using a polystyrene standard . to a three - neck round - bottom flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer , a stream partial condenser a dean - stark trap , and a water condenser were charged the following reactants : neopentyl glycol ( 363 . 38 g , 3 . 49 m ), 5 - sodiosulfoisophthalic acid ( 29 . 30 g , 0 . 109 m ) and the catalyst , fascat 4100 ( atochem north america , inc .) ( 0 . 56 g ). the mixture was heated to 150 ° c . and stirred under n 2 atmosphere and the temperature then gradually increased to 220 ° c . and the distillate ( water ) was collected in the dean - stark trap until the mixture was clear ( about 1 hr ). the acid number was determined to be close to zero , and the mixture was cooled to 150 ° c . the second stage reactants , trimethylolpropane ( 75 . 4 g , 0 . 563 m ), isophthalic acid ( 329 . 01 g , 1 . 98 m ) and adipic acid ( 202 . 25 g , 1 . 38 m ) were then added . the temperature was gradually raised to 220 ° c . and the reaction continued for four more hours to yield a resin with an acid number of 3 . 6 . the polymer had a weight average molecular weight ( mw ) of 6 , 241 , a number average molecular weight ( mn ) of 1 , 740 and a polydispersity index of 3 . 6 , determined by gpc using a polystyrene standard . a blend of the linear water - dispersible polyester polymer 1 prepared as in example 1b ( 70 parts ) by weight and the branched water - dispersible polyester polymer 2 of example 2b ( 30 parts ) by weight was prepared by combining the two polymers and stirring at about 225 ° c . for 2 hours to produce the adhesive composition . the composition had a tg of about 11 ° c ., a weight average molecular weight of 5 , 410 , a number average molecular weight of 1 , 554 , and a viscosity of 19 , 450 centipoise at 350 ° f . ( 175 ° c .) as determined on a brookfield hv : ii viscometer . the adhesive had a fast set time , as determined by a standard procedure ( tappi symposium , recyclable / repulpable hot melts -- a summary -- u . s . a . and europe , june , 1990 , by michael j . ambrosini ) on a corrugated kraftboard substrate , good lap sheer strength ( astm d1002 test method ) and good tensile strength ( astm 412 test method ). the results are reported in table 2 . into 100 ml of hot water ( 65 °- 80 ° c .) at a ph of 7 . 8 , were mixed 0 . 5 grams of adhesive chips . within 15 minutes under mild agitation the adhesive was completely dispersed in the water , forming a milky mixture . repulpability results are in tables 3 and 4 . an adhesive composition was prepared by blending 60 parts by weight of the linear water - dispersible polymer prepared as in example 1b with 40 parts by weight of the branched water - dispersible polyester of example 2b and the properties of the polymer and the polymer and adhesive properties determined as in example 3b above . the adhesive properties are reported in table 2 . the adhesive chips were dispersed in hot water as in example 3b within 15 minutes . the adhesive had good repulping properties ( see tables 2 and 3 ), a tg of about 8 . 4 ° c ., a weight average molecular weight of 5 , 272 , a number average molecular weight of 1 , 563 and a viscosity of 17 , 400 centipoise at 350 ° f . ( 175 ° c .). an adhesive composition was prepared by blending 40 parts by weight of the linear water - dispersible polymer prepared as in example 1b with 60 parts by weight of the branched water - dispersible polyester of example 2b and the properties of the adhesive composition determined as in example 3b . the adhesive properties are reported in table 2 . the adhesive chips were dispersed in hot water as in example 3b within 15 minutes . the adhesive had good repulping properties ( see tables 3 and 4 ), a tg of 4 . 2 ° c . a weight average molecular weight of 7 , 622 , a number average molecular weight of 1 , 715 and a viscosity of 2 , 500 centipoise at 350 ° f . ( 175 ° c .). an adhesive composition was prepared by blending 30 parts by weight of the linear water - dispersible polyester prepared as in example 1b with 70 parts by weight of the branched water - dispersible polyester of example 2b and the properties of the adhesive composition determined as in example 3b . the adhesive properties are reported in table 2 . the adhesive chips were attempted to be dispersed in hot water as in example 3b , however , only partial dispersion occurred . the adhesive had marginal repulping properties ( see tables 3 and 4 ), a tg of 4 . 4 ° c ., a weight average molecular weight of 7 , 316 , a number average molecular weight of 1 , 831 and a viscosity of 2 , 490 centipoise at 350 ° f . table 2______________________________________properties of adhesive compositions ( a ) ( d ) set ( b ) ( c ) peel adhesionexample time lap shear tensile failureno . ( sec ) ( mpa ) strength ( mpa ) temperature ° c . ______________________________________3b 1 . 7 8 . 6 2 . 9 434b 1 . 4 1 . 3 1 . 4 435b 1 . 8 4 . 3 . 3 306b 3 . 6 4 . 3 . 1 -- ______________________________________ ( a ) tappi symposium , recyclable / repulpable hot melts a summary , june 1990 , by michael j . ambrosini ( b ) astm d1002 test method ( c ) astm 412 test method ( d ) kraft to kraft bond approximately 10 grams of each of the adhesives in examples 3b , 4b , 5b , and 6b were melted , dyed , and coated onto white bond copier paper to a thickness of 1 . 5 to 3 . 0 mils ( 0 . 04 to 0 . 08 mm ) with a wire wound rod . the coated paper was then cut to obtain a piece weighing 12 grams . the weighed coated paper was then torn into 1 &# 34 ; by 1 &# 34 ; ( 2 . 54 cm by 2 . 54 cm ) pieces and placed into approximately 1000 ml of tap water in the bowl of a laboratory blender to obtain a solids to liquid consistency of ˜ 1 . 2 % and soaked from 1 to 4 hours . the coated paper and water were agitated at 500 rpm for 10 minutes , at 1 , 000 rpm for 10 minutes , and 1 , 500 rpm for 10 minutes . following agitation , a portion of the slurry was removed from the bowl and diluted to produce a 0 . 7 % solids mixture . this mixture was stirred for 30 seconds and quickly poured into a buchner funnel that contains a 100 mesh polyester screen . a vacuum pump was attached for a short interval until the water was evacuated from the funnel and a handsheet was formed . the handsheet and screen were then removed from the funnel and excess water was blotted away with watman 5 filter paper . the handsheet was then weighted and dried on a warm hot plate . the dried handsheet was then inspected for &# 34 ; stickies &# 34 ; using both transmitted and reflected light . the repulpability properties are reported in table 3 . this test showed that the adhesive of example 3b is the most highly water - dispersible . table 3 * __________________________________________________________________________repulp evaluations unconditional ( neutral ) example 3b example 6bcompletely example 4b example 5b not / very slightlydispersible partial partial dispersible__________________________________________________________________________dispersion of material began to polymer began to no dispersion ofmaterial began disperse from disperse from polymer from paperimmediately upon paper after 2 paper immediately was seen duringexposure of coated minutes in water . on exposure to soaking period ofpaper to water , material was off water . nearly 1 hr . producing a milky the paper and into complete disper - solution . milky solution sion after 20 handsheetappeared to be after 30 minutes minutes soaking . gummy residuecompletely in water . ring of formed milky noticed in pulperdispersed after 15 dispersed material solution during after agitation . minutes of soaking noticed at bottom soaking . in water with no of soaking beaker handsheet hadagitation . after 1 hr . handsheet sticky areas of gummy residue polymerhandsheet handsheet noticed in pulper throughout . very little gummy residue after agitation . difficult toevidence of noticed in pulping remove handsheetadhesive remaining vessel following undispersed from filter screenin handsheet . agitation . some polymer and after handsheet visible adhesive undefibered paper formed . some specks noticed in were noticed in sticky polymer handsheet . handsheet . remained on screen . __________________________________________________________________________ * tappi , 1993 , hot melt symposium procedure , barrett an alkaline solution was prepared by adding 6 . 2 g of naoh pellets , 3 g of tetrasodium pyrophosphate ( tspp ) and 0 . 6 ml of triton x - 100 surfactant to 400 ml of h 2 o at room temperature . the solution was warmed on a hot plate to 27 ° c . when the tspp had dissolved , it was diluted to 1000 ml and adjusted to a ph of 9 - 12 with h 2 o or base . the solution was then brought to 85 ° c . and then 1 &# 34 ;× 1 &# 34 ; ( 2 . 54 × 2 . 54 cm ) pieces of coated paper prepared as in example 7b were added as the solution was slowly stirred at the blend station . when coated paper began to defiber , the mixer speed was adjusted to give a gentle rolling of slurry . mixing was continued for 15 - 30 minutes . after defibering for 15 - 30 minutes , slurry was diluted to 1000 ml and stirred thoroughly to assure a uniform suspension . the handsheet was formed as in example 7b . the degree of adhesive repulpability was evaluated as in example 7b . the results are reported in table 4 . table 4 * __________________________________________________________________________repulp evaluations alkaline ( ph = 10 . 6 ) example 3bcompletely example 4b example 5b example 6bdispersible complete dispersion partial partial__________________________________________________________________________dispersion began dispersion began gummy residue some dispersionimmediately upon immediately on noticed in pulper before agitation . exposure to alkaline exposure of coated following agitation thick &# 34 ; pudding like &# 34 ; solution . final paper to alkaline and on filtration residue producedhandsheet appeared solution . no screen after during alkalinefree of dye and adhesive apparent in formation of agitation . driedadhesive . handsheet . handsheet . &# 34 ; circles &# 34 ; of residue were seen on filter side of handsheet . handsheet difficult to remove from filter screen . __________________________________________________________________________ * tappi , 1993 , hot melt symposium procedure , barrett the above results show that adhesive prepared in example 3b is best followed by example 4b . although the adhesive from examples 5b and 6b were only partially repulped in alkaline solution , this is significantly improved over conventional hot melt adhesives . wood pulp ( 5 grams ) taken from a huggies brand diaper from kimberly clark , was coated with 1 . 5 grams of the adhesive from example 5b at 350 ° f . ( 177 ° c .). the adhesive coated wood pulp was placed in one liter of tap water ( ph 7 . 9 ) at room temperature for one hour with hand stirring approximately every 10 minutes . the slurry was poured through a 600 ml hirsch funnel pulled under vacuum at 25 psi until water is completely removed out of the funnel . the wood pulp remained in the funnel without any sign of adhesive present in the funnel . all of the adhesive passed through the funnel into the container with the water .	8
referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first , particularly , to fig1 thereof , there is seen a tank 1 which is connected through a fuel inlet line 2 to a feed pump 4 . the feed pump 4 , which is not controllable , is connected through a feed line 5 and a regulating valve 3 to a high - pressure pump 6 . an outlet of the high - pressure pump 6 is connected to a high - pressure accumulator ( common - rail ) 7 . the high - pressure accumulator 7 has an injection line 8 which is led to an injector 9 of an internal combustion engine 22 . the high - pressure accumulator 7 is connected through a pressure - regulating valve 10 and a fuel return line 11 to the tank 1 . furthermore , a pressure sensor 12 is disposed at the high - pressure accumulator 7 . the pressure sensor 12 is connected through a first measuring line 13 to a first controller 14 which is connected through a first control line 15 to the regulating valve 3 . moreover , the pressure sensor 12 is connected through a second measuring line 16 to a second controller 17 which is connected through a second control line 18 to the pressure - regulating valve 10 . the first controller 14 and the second controller 17 are respectively connected through a first data line 24 and a second data line 25 to a computing unit 23 , which is moreover connected through a third measuring line 26 to the internal combustion engine 22 . furthermore , the computing unit 23 has input lines 27 , through which various input values , such as an accelerator pedal position of the motor vehicle , for example , are received . instead of the pressure sensor 12 , according to a development of the invention , a second pressure sensor 21 may be used for feeding the first controller 14 . the second pressure sensor 21 is disposed in the feed line 5 upstream of the low - pressure side of the high - pressure pump 6 and is connected to the first controller 14 . the regulating valve 3 can thus also be regulated according to the pressure in the feed line 5 . fig2 shows a configuration corresponding to that of fig1 but in which a controllable feed pump 20 is provided instead of the non - controllable feed pump 4 . the controllable feed pump 20 is controlled through the first control line 15 by the first controller 14 . a further difference is that the regulating valve 3 is dispensed with and a constant throttle 19 is inserted between the controllable feed pump 20 and the high - pressure pump 6 , instead of the regulating valve 3 . the configuration of fig2 corresponds in other details to the configuration of fig1 with identical parts being provided with the same reference symbols . according to a development of the invention shown in fig2 a second pressure sensor 21 for feeding the first controller 14 is used instead of the pressure sensor 12 . the second pressure sensor is disposed in the feed line 5 upstream of the low - pressure side of the high - pressure pump 6 and is connected to the first controller 14 . the controllable feed pump 20 can thus also be regulated according to the pressure in the feed line 5 . fig3 shows a diagrammatic illustration of the regulating method according to the invention . a desired pressure p des is predetermined for the high - pressure accumulator according to the operating state of the internal combustion engine 22 . in the following example , it is assumed , on the basis of the operating state of the internal combustion engine 22 , which includes , for example , the engine speed , the load and the exhaust - gas values , and using the input data supplied by the input lines 27 , such as the position of the accelerator pedal , for example , that the computing unit 23 ascertains the desired pressure p des for the high - pressure accumulator 7 and predetermines it for a first comparator 31 and a second comparator 32 . the pressure sensor 12 likewise transmits the current actual pressure of the high - pressure accumulator 7 to the first comparator 31 and to the second comparator 32 as an actual pressure p act . the first comparator 31 and the second comparator 32 subtract the actual pressure from the desired pressure and ascertain therefrom a differential pressure p dif : p des - p act = p dif . the differential pressure p dif is transmitted from the first comparator 31 to the first controller 14 , which activates the regulating valve 3 in the embodiment of fig1 or the controllable feed pump 20 in the embodiment of fig2 . the differential pressure p dif is also transmitted from the second comparator 32 to the second controller 17 , which activates the pressure - regulating valve 10 . the first controller 14 is preferably constructed as a pid controller which calculates a current first controller action u1 ( k ) from the differential pressure p dif , which is designated as a current control deviation e ( k ) for the following formula . the calculation is carried out according to the following rule : ## equ1 ## in which : u1 ( k ) denotes the current controller action , in this case , preferably the amplification factor k is 0 . 2 %/ m pascal , the sampling time t 0 is 20 msec , the differentiating time t d is 10 msec and the integrating time t i is 70 msec . the second controller 17 is preferably constructed as a two - position controller which calculates a current second controller action u2 ( k ) according to the following rule : ## equ2 ## in which : y denotes the stationary final value of the desired quantity with the controller at the upper switching point , in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the stationary final value is 60 m pascal , the amplification factor k is 0 . 045 %/ m pascal , the period duration t z is 2 msec and the duty cycle is 1 msec . in the exemplary embodiment described herein , the two - position controller 17 switches from its zero value to the current controller action u2 ( k ) when p dif is above a predetermined value which is preferably 100 bar . in a preferred embodiment , the current controller action u2 ( k ) of the two - position controller 17 is transmitted to the first controller 14 which corrects the current controller action of the first controller 14 or stops the regulation , as a function of the current controller action u2 ( k ) of the second controller 17 . the current controller actions of the first controller 14 and of the second controller 17 are supplied to a controlled system 30 . the pressure sensor 12 and / or the second pressure sensor 21 ascertain the pressure in the high - pressure accumulator or upstream of the high - pressure accumulator and transmit the pressure to the first comparator 31 and to the second comparator 32 as the actual pressure p act . as is evident from fig1 the first controller 14 transmits the current first controller action to the regulating valve 3 and the second controller 17 transmits the current second controller action to the pressure valve 10 . according to a further embodiment of the invention , the first controller 14 regulates the controllable feed pump 20 through the use of the current first controller action , as is illustrated in fig2 . the first and the second controllers 14 , 17 are selectively constructed as analog or digital controllers .	5
fig1 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a programmable duty cycle generator 10 . an electronic signal generator 12 provides a clock ( clk ) signal 15 at a predetermined clock period t per ( clk period ), to a periodic signal integrator circuit 25 . in the generator 10 , periodic signal integrator circuit 25 is of a divide - by - 2 architecture such that its output signal on time equals input clk period , i . e ., a 50 % duty - cycle divider architecture for period . in an embodiment , periodic signal integrator 25 includes a first integrator element 24 ( integrator 1 ) implementing saw tooth generator / integrator schemes to create the saw type waveforms of the incoming clk frequency that , in conjunction with sample - hold circuit 28 , digital - to - analog conversion circuit dac 20 and other circuit elements forming a pulse - shaping system 75 , is used to create an output signal 50 of a desired duty cycle . in one embodiment , the input periodic clk signal 15 is first converted by a divide - by - 2 circuit 16 providing an output periodic clkby2 signal 17 having an output on time equal to clk time period t per . that is , the provided divider output periodic clkby2 signal on time duration plus its off time duration is equal to 2 × clk &# 39 ; s tper . this clkby2 signal 17 is integrated in the voltage domain by first integrator element 24 to provide a linearly rising voltage signal i1out for the time length of tper . this integration is done each clk cycle for real time tracking of input clk period . use of nor gate reset element 27 ensures that the integration always starts from ground reference for each successive time period . the maximum voltage of the linearly rising voltage signal , i1out , is sampled and held to generate a reference voltage v3 . successive time periods can be isolated by the use of divide - by - 2 circuit 16 . in one embodiment , the divide - by - 2 architecture need not have a dependency that its output on time equals clk period . the on and off times of divider output are “ averaged ” in voltage domain to provide a reference for tper . as shown in fig3 , in this embodiment , the divide - by - 2 circuit 16 provides “ 50 % duty cycle ” signal 17 as a way of tracking each period of input clk — the divider &# 39 ; s output on time will now correspond to a full time period of clk , and so does its off time . this clk frequency is used as the on and / or off time pulse to trigger the integration . hence it operates as a time tracker to demarcate when a full time period has gone by , and when a next time period begins , etc . alternatively , any mechanism that can detect rising edges ( or falling edges ) of clk may be used to trigger integration from this rising ( or falling ) edge to the next rising ( or falling ) edge before resetting the integrator , may be used . hence , the integrator circuit 24 ( and other integrator circuits / saw tooth converter circuits described with respect to fig1 , 2 and 7 ) are able to function off edge detections ( instead of pulse on or off times that the div2 element provides ). such a front end mechanism can be implemented in many ways using digital gates as long as they enable the integrator 24 to integrate from one edge to the next before resetting . as further shown in fig1 , the clkby2 17 besides being provided to a clock signal input of first integrator 24 ( integrator 1 ) for integrator 1 integration ( or time to voltage conversion ). clkby2 signal 17 is additionally received as one input at a logic gate , e . g ., a nor gate logic circuit element 27 , providing an output reset signal to a reset input at integrator 1 for resetting integration operations to the ground reference at each cycle . in other words , when clkby2 is high ( on time ), the integrator is in integration mode ( or non - reset mode ). when clkby2 is low ( off time ), the integrator is in reset mode after sampling is done and before the next rising edge of clkby2 . other circuits besides the nor circuit may be configured to receive the clkby2 signal for reset functionality every period . for an integrator reset , nor circuit element 27 further receives a “ sclk ” signal 23 relating to the time base for sample - hold operations of the integrator 1 output i1out signal 21 as will be described . that is , as shown in fig1 , 2 and 3 , the arrival of the falling edge of clkby2 signal 17 signals that the “ i1out ” signal 21 has finished integrating and that its voltage can now be sampled . hence “ sclk ” is a sample signal 23 that may be a falling edge based pulse that can be used to sample the voltage of i1out signal 21 at sample and hold circuit . the sclk signal is hence used to give the consent to resetting the integrator after a delay equal or more than the time it takes the sample - hold 28 to sample . furthermore , integrator 1 receives an input supply voltage v2 , clkby2 and reset input signals and generates i1out signal ( e . g ., a signal waveform having a saw rise profile ) after every rising edge of clkby2 for the duration of its on time each cycle . output signal i1out is received as input to sample and hold ( sample - hold ) amplifier circuit 28 . sample - hold circuit 28 further receives the sampling clock signal sclk 23 generated from the clk used at integrator 1 providing time base for sample - hold circuit sampling operations . the integrator 1 &# 39 ; s charge - up slope is fixed irrespective of frequency change . thus the maximum voltage v3 at the end of each t per is unique ( e . g ., v3 ( f )) for a given clk frequency ( f = frequency ). integrator 1 is implemented using resistive - capacitive elements ( rc ) and provides gain such that its output voltage ( v3 ) roof for a chosen clk frequency range is less than its supply voltage ( i . e ., v3 & lt ; v2 ). the v3 output ( of the s - h circuit ) is used as the power supply input to the dac 20 . for any given tper , the integrator charges from 0 v to vper volts . then vper gets sampled as v3 at the arrival of sclk . vper can be different for a different frequency and pvt . the v3 is a supply reference input to the dac 20 . thus , referring to the above timing of the waveforms shown in fig3 , v3 is the sampled i1out signal 21 , i . e ., v3 &# 39 ; s voltage value is equal to i1out &# 39 ; s voltage value at the sample point . the dac 20 translates user - programmed duty cycle bits 30 , i . e ., bits dcyset & lt ; 1 : x & gt ;, to create another reference voltage 35 which is a measure of a required duty cycle or refdcy_v . the output duty cycle can be programmed in steps of ( ½ x )· tper . for example if a 6 bit dac is used , the output duty cycle can be adjusted in 64 steps starting with 1 . 56 % to 178 . 4 % in steps of 1 . 56 %. in generator 10 , sample - hold circuit 28 samples v3 before the falling edge of i1out . this ensures the maximum voltage is sampled at the end of the integration duration . in one embodiment , this is performed using an operational amplifier ( op - amp ) based structure ( not shown ) that uses the sampled v3 as reference and provides output voltage ( also v3 ) but with sufficient current drive . this v3 signal is used as the supply ( v3 ) for the dac 20 with linear characteristics matching the integrator slope . so v3 is a voltage domain measure of time period of input clk . the sampling signal sclk is a pulse of certain duration dependent on a minimum time needed to perform a sample operation by the sample - hold circuit . it is generated after the integration duration time is complete . it can be triggered and generated off the falling edge of the signal being integrated . the dac ( digital to analog converter ) 20 performs converting digital bits 30 to an analog voltage 35 providing a reference voltage significant of required output duty cycle — that portion ( time ) of t per that needs to be on . the structure of dac is as generally known in the art and different architectures are contemplated . programmable resistor dividers are used as the dac in one example architecture . the number of digital states that can be created from bits dcyset [ 1 : x ] 30 are first identified , which then translate to a unique reference voltage ( refdcy_v ) signal 35 between 0 and v3 volts that represents the indirect measure of required duty cycle to be achieved . the more the dac &# 39 ; s linearity matches the integrators &# 39 ; linearity across pvt , the more accurate the output duty cycle ( signal 50 ) will be with respect to the required duty cycle needed . in generator 10 of fig1 , a closed - loop pulse shaper 75 creates an output pulse 50 with the correct ( programmed ) duty cycle . this is accomplished using a pulse rising transition pulse 45 triggered off any one chosen edge of incoming clk 15 . in one embodiment , output pulse 50 generation is accomplished with the set function of an sr latch . as shown , an edge - based pulse generator circuit 40 receives clk input clock 15 providing up_out pulse 45 ( output rising transition based on an clk signal edge ). this output rising transition pulse 45 is provided as input to a set function of an sr latch 55 generating output pulse 50 . integrator 2 60 performs an integration of this pulse 50 after its output rising transition is started . the integrator 2 60 is configured to have the same rising slope characteristics as the integrator 1 ( i . e ., integrator 1 and 2 of fig1 are matched with respect to rc time constants to have matching rise slopes and reduce mismatch of time period to voltage ( t → v ) conversion . comparator device 70 performs a real - time comparison of the output 65 of the second integrator 60 with the analog reference refdcy_v 35 . once the output value equals or exceeds refdcy_v , the falling edge of the same output pulse 50 is forced . this is affected as drop_out signal 72 of comparator 70 . thus falling edge of output pulse 50 is accomplished with the reset function of the sr latch 55 receiving drop_out signal 72 . the integrator 60 is also reset to ground reference in the mean time , e . g ., via or circuit element 80 , before the arrival of the next cycle of out &# 39 ; s rising transition 45 . the out signal 50 then has the required duty cycle . more particularly , in view of the signal timing diagram of fig3 , the on_v signal 65 is of a saw like profile is input to the ( on +&# 39 ; ive terminal of comparator 70 ) while signal wave is refdcy_v signal 35 . when on_v signal 65 exceeds refdcy_v signal 35 ( on −&# 39 ; ive terminal of comparator 70 ), the comparator will create the rising drop_out signal 72 which will trigger a reset of the sr latch 55 , hence creating the falling transition of out signal 50 . the 0 → 1 rising drop_out signal is additionally input to the or gate 80 , making its output a logic “ 1 ”, hence initiating the reset function of the integrator2 60 and forcing the integrator2 &# 39 ; s output ( which is on_v ) start to decay . once it goes below the refdcy_v value , the drop_out signal created by comparator will be a falling transition from 1 → 0 . hence the delay of the elements from the above reaction determines the pulse width of drop_out signal . it is understood that the reset signal of integrator2 element 60 is to be completely asserted until the next rising edge of clk ( edge converted as the signal up_out 45 ). thus , the 1 → 0 transition of the out signal 50 now also is input to the or gate 80 at the inverter terminal input , hence forcing the or gate output to be 1 . this keeps integrator2 in reset mode , even after the other input ( drop_out 72 ) of the or gate goes low . thus integrator2 will stay in reset mode until the set (“ s ”) input of sr latch 55 gets asserted by up_out 45 . in an example implementation , an incoming clk frequency ( clk ) is equal to 1 ghz , with a dutycycle ( on vs . off time ) of 90 %. with signal refdcy_v 35 being 0 . 35 v and signal v3 being 0 . 875 v , the output duty cycle of signal 50 is 0 . 35 v / 0 . 875 v = 0 . 4 ( representing a required 40 % duty cycle ). output duty cycle of the 50 of the programmable duty cycle generator 10 in the example was about 40 % as shown in the timing diagram of the various waveforms as shown in fig3 . fig2 shows a schematic diagram of an alternate embodiment of a programmable duty cycle generator 10 ′. like elements shown in fig2 correspond to those of fig1 . in one respect generator 10 ′ replaces the periodic signal integrator 25 of fig1 with periodic signal integrator 25 ′ including a first integrator element 24 ′ ( integrator 1a ) and second integrator element 24 ″. the first integrator element 24 ′ ( integrator 1a ) functions identically as the first integrator element 24 ( integrator 1 ) of fig1 . it is preferred that integrator 1a , 1b , and 2 of fig2 are matched with respect to rc time constants to have matching rise slopes and reduce mismatch of input clk period time to voltage ( t → v ) conversion . in the embodiment of fig2 , programmable duty cycle generator 10 ′ implements an averaging technique : the div - by - 2 architecture with 50 % dutycycle output as shown in fig1 is not necessary as , in this generator embodiment , the divider circuit output &# 39 ; s on duration time is not necessarily equal to clk &# 39 ; s tper , and similarly , the divider circuit output &# 39 ; s off duration is not necessarily equal to clk &# 39 ; s tper . in this embodiment , the two signals ( divider circuit output &# 39 ; s on time and off time ) are averaged to represent the full tper . hence the v3a voltage ( voltage representation of divider output &# 39 ; s on time ) and v3b ( voltage representation of divider output &# 39 ; s off time ) are averaged . thus , while the divider circuit 16 is shown in fig2 as a divide by 2 component , it does not necessarily require a div - by - 2 device . however , the divider circuit 16 is shown in fig2 as further generating a complement clkby2 signal 17 ′ ( the complement of the clkby2 signal 17 ) that is provided to a clock signal input of second integrator ( integrator 1b ) 24 ″ for clock signal integration thereof clkby2 signal 17 ′ is additionally received as one input at an nor circuit element 27 ′ providing an output reset signal to a reset input at integrator 1b for resetting integration operations to the ground reference at each cycle ( period ). in other words , when clkby2 is high ( on time ), the integrator 1a is in integration mode ( or non - reset mode ) while the integrator 1b is in reset mode after sampling is done and before the next rising edge of the complement of clkby2 signal 17 ′. when clkby2 is low ( off time ), the integrator 1a is in reset mode after sampling is done and before the next rising edge of clkby2 while the integrator1b is in integration mode ( or non - reset mode ). the nor circuit may include a variety of other circuit elements and configurations as known in the art . the nor circuit element 27 ′ further receives the sclk_b signal for resetting the integrator 1b . integrator 1b particularly receives an input supply voltage v2 , clkby2 signal 17 ′ and reset input signals and generates i2out signal ( e . g ., a signal waveform having a saw rise profile ) after every rising edge of clkby2 for the duration of its on time each cycle . respective output signals i1out ( generated by integrator 1a ) and i2out ( generated by integrator 1b ) are received substantially simultaneously at respective sample and hold ( sample - hold ) amplifier circuits 28 ′ and 28 ″. each sample - hold circuit further receives a sampling clock signal , sclk , generated from the clk at the integrators 1a , 1b providing timing control for sampling operations as described with respect to sample and hold operations of the generator 10 of fig1 . thus , in this embodiment , a sampling of i1out occurs after the falling edge or clkby2 ; hence sclk is a falling edge triggered pulse ; and , a sampling of i2out occurs after the rising of clkby2 , hence sclk_b is a rising edge triggered pulse . the sclk ( and sclk_b ) signals are hence used to give the consent to resetting the integrators 1a ( and 1b ) respectively after a delay equal or more than the time it takes the sample - hold 28 ′ ( and 28 ″) to sample . in the embodiment of fig2 , each integrator 1a and integrator 1b generates a respective voltage domain measure v3a , v3b — voltage domain measure v3a being the on time of the divider ( divideby2 ) clock output ( input of integrator 1a ) and voltage domain measure v3b being the off times of the divider ( divideby2 ) clock output ( input of integrator 1b ). an averaging circuit element 29 receives both v3a , v3b and generates from the v3a and v3b voltage measures an average v3 signal 31 ′ that is used to supply the dac 20 . in one embodiment , the averager 29 is a dc averaging circuit to bring out the common mode value . one example is a form such as : fig4 is a flow chart depicting a method 100 performed by the duty cycle generator 10 of fig1 and the duty cycle generator 10 ′ of fig2 . as shown in fig4 , method 100 includes at 101 receiving at the integrator circuit the clock waveform ( or desired periodic electronic signal ) to be duty cycle corrected . in the embodiment depicted in fig1 and timing diagram of fig3 , this represents clock waveform 15 being received at the divider such that the divided clock waveform 17 is provided at the clk input of the period integrator 25 of the generator 10 for integration measurement . concurrently in time or simultaneously , at 102 , the desired waveforms duty cycle setting as represented as dcyset & lt ; 1 : x & gt ; bits 30 are input to the dac circuit 20 of the generator 10 . continuing at 103 , the integrator 1 device 24 performs an integration of the divided input clk signal as described in greater detail herein with respect to the method 250 of fig5 . integrator 1 outputs a signal i1out 21 as shown in fig1 and 3 . this i1out is provided to the input of the sample and hold circuit 28 . in the alternative embodiment on fig2 , integrator 1a outputs a signal i1out 21 ′ and integrator 1b outputs a signal i2out 21 ″ as shown in fig2 and 3 . this i1out 21 ′ and is i2out 21 ″ are provided to the input of the sample and hold circuits 28 ′ and 28 ″ respectively . at 105 , the output of sample and hold circuit provides the v3 voltage supply level ( this would be a dc average for the alternate embodiment shown in fig2 ) to be input to the dac 20 as shown in the generator 10 . in fig2 , at 107 , based on the desired duty cycle bit setting 30 and the v3 voltage at dac input , the dac performs the digital to analog conversion of the v3 signal to obtain the reference voltage of the required duty cycle measure refdcy_v voltage 35 . this dac processing is performed at 107 in fig2 and waveforms shown in fig4 . in this manner , there is obtained the voltage domain measures of the on and off times of divider output ( t → v ). the average , v3 signal 31 is used to supply the dac 20 . finally , at 109 , pulse shaper circuit elements forming a close loop system 75 using second integrator 60 and comparator 70 provides the desired output ( clock ) waveform 50 as shown in fig1 and 3 . generator circuit 10 of fig1 employs a pulse shaper methodology 300 described herein with respect to fig6 . fig5 shows a flow chart detailing method 250 of operating the periodic integrator circuits 25 and 25 ′ of fig1 and 2 . at 253 , clock signal of an original duty cycle is input to divide by 2 circuit which changes the frequency of the clock for input to an integrator 1 in the embodiment of fig1 ( integrator 1a and 1b in the embodiment of fig2 ). at 256 , the integrator performs an integration of the on time duration , representative as a transformation of the clk on - time period to a voltage ( i . e ., t → v ). then at 258 , fig5 , the maximum voltage is sampled at the end of the integration duration and the periodic integration process ends . with respect to the implementation of integrators 1a and 1b in embodiment of fig2 , fig5 shows a simultaneous parallel integration process performed where integrator 1a performs steps 253 , 256 and 258 using clkby2 signal 17 and simultaneously integrator 1b performs identical steps 254 , 257 and 259 using complement clkby2 signal 17 ′ to provide the dc average value v3 signal 31 ′. fig6 shows pulse shaper methodology 300 performed by elements forming closed - loop output pulse shaping system 75 of fig1 and 2 . first there is performed selecting an edge ( rise or fall ) of clk and using this reference edge to create a rising edge signal of output signal out . the out &# 39 ; s rising transition generated on that referenced clk edge triggers the integrator 2 to integrate out signal at 307 . an iterative process is initiated at 303 including first the arrival of the clk reference edge to trigger the sr latch element and at the same time the rising edge transition to trigger the integration of the out &# 39 ; s on time duration , i . e ., on_v output of integrator 2 . then , a determination is made at 309 as to whether the on_v signal ( on ) time becomes greater than the measure of the dac output , i . e ., whether on_v & gt ; refdcy_v . as shown , the integrator 2 integrates at 309 until the instant integrator 2 output ( measure of the output duty cycle ) becomes greater than the programmed refdcy_v reference level . at such time the integrator 2 output ( measure of the output duty cycle ) is greater than the refdcy_v level , a falling transition of the generator out signal 50 is created and drop_out signal 72 is created . simultaneously , at 311 , the integrator 2 is reset using drop_out signal 72 and a logic element 80 , e . g ., a nor gate or like equivalent . the integrator 2 output signal on_v 65 goes to 0 . then , the process returns to step 303 which depicts the detecting the selected edge of the clk signal of the next period from which the generator output clock on time is measured . in sum , there is “ integrated ” the entire clk input signal period by the “ period integrator ” blocks ( which repeats every cycle ) from a minimum (“ min ”) to a maximum (“ max ”) value . thus , a linear min to max value in voltage is generated equivalent to a full time period of clkin . in one embodiment , a div2 circuit approach is used with a 50 % duty cycle architecture ( its on time is equal to its off time ) where the divider &# 39 ; s circuit output signal on time represents a full clk time period . that duration is linearized by integration like a sawtooth &# 39 ; s linear rise . the linear dac generates a reference voltage ( signifying required duty cycle based on the user - programmed input bits ) that lies between the min and max value of the linear rise signal . the created closed loop 75 implementing a comparator is such that generator output signal out &# 39 ; s rising edge happens at the time of the “ min ” voltage is generated . the same out signal is integrated real - time . the comparator forces a falling edge at a time when the saw tooth &# 39 ; s rise voltage equals the reference voltage ( measure of desired duty cycle on time per period ) and additionally resets the integrator 2 , i . e ., the positive terminal of comparator 70 constantly ramps and resets every cycle . fig7 illustrates an alternate embodiment of a programmable duty cycle generator 400 with like elements indicated as in the generator 10 of fig1 . in the programmable duty cycle generator 400 , the integrator element 425 includes a saw tooth converter element 424 in place of divider2 and integrator 1 elements of the prior embodiments . in circuit 400 of fig7 , the generator is feed forward based ( unlike feedback based in the prior embodiments ), i . e ., the method and circuit structure includes a feed forward based correction pertaining to a voltage reference output pulse creation with respect to incoming time period using a feed forward path for pulse shaping . in circuit 400 of fig7 , the saw - tooth converter element 424 is a sine or square to saw tooth converter 424 employed to convert the incoming clock signal to a conventional saw wave with linear rise and negligible fall . hence , the time period of incoming clock signal is equivalent to the saw output &# 39 ; s rising time . a dac ( as in the prior embodiments ) is configured to be supply driven of the maximum saw voltage : either by sampling or direct set ( if known based on saw converter &# 39 ; s architecture ). user programmed duty - cycle bits are converted by the dac ( as in the prior embodiments ) to now provide a reference duty - cycle voltage ( refdcy_v ) that is a linear function of its supply . the feed forward mechanics is such that the clk edge creates an output pulse rising transition as well as it triggers the saw converter &# 39 ; s rising transition . this may be accomplished with the set function of an sr latch 455 . the saw - tooth converter output is forwarded and compared to the refdcy_v . once the saw - tooth converter output value equals or exceeds refdcy_v , the falling edge of the same output pulse is forced . this can typically be accomplished with the reset function of the sr latch 455 . the out signal 450 then will have the required duty cycle . more particularly , fig7 shows the generated saw tooth waveform saw - out signal 421 which is linear and has a negligible fall delay . the saw - out signal &# 39 ; s output slope is constant irrespective of input frequency changes . so maximum output voltage at the end of tper is , for example , v3 ( v3 & lt ; v2 ), where v2 is the supply of the saw converter . so v3 is a voltage domain measure of time period of the input clk . this v3 voltage is sampled just before the falling edge of saw_out . this can be performed using operation amplifier sample - hold techniques that uses the sampled v3 as vref and provides output voltage also v3 but with sufficient current drive . this is used to generate the supply for a dac with linear characteristics matching the saw converter slope . so v3 is a voltage domain measure of clk ( input ) time period . the sampling “ sclk ” signal is a pulse of certain duration dependent on minimum time needed to sample by the sample - hold circuit . it is generated after the saw output reaches maximum voltage and before the saw falling transition occurs . it can be triggered and generated off a time advanced version of the saw - falling edge . the dac ( digital to analog converter ) element 420 that converts digital bits to an analog voltage is used to provide reference voltage significant of required output dutycycle — that portion of tper that needs to be on time . the structure of dac may comprise any well - known architecture , e . g ., programmable resistor dividers . the number of digital states that can be created from bits dcyset [ 1 : x ] are first identified , which then translate to a unique reference voltage ( refdcy_v ) between 0 and dac &# 39 ; s supply that represents the indirect measure of required duty cycle to be achieved . fig8 illustrates is a flow chart depicting a method 500 performed by the duty cycle generator 400 of fig7 . as shown in fig8 , method 500 includes at 501 receiving the input clock waveform clk at the sawtooth converter circuit ( or desired periodic electronic signal ) to be duty cycle corrected as in the embodiments depicted in fig1 and 2 . continuing at 503 , the sawtooth converter device 424 performs a conversion of the input clk signal . sawtooth converter outputs a signal 421 as shown in fig7 which is provided to the input of the sample and hold circuit 428 . at 505 , the output of sample and hold circuit 428 provides the v3 voltage supply level to be input to the dac 420 as shown in the generator 400 . additionally , if needed , a ground signal “ vlo ” is generated for the dac . that is , as the lowest voltage from where the sawtooth output 421 rises each cycle , that voltage should be the same as the ground potential of the dac 420 to ensure that dac voltage scale matches the saw converter &# 39 ; s min to max voltage scale . if the saw converter architecture is such that the min voltage is different ( e . g ., vlo ), then the low point also needs to be sampled as the ground reference of the dac . concurrently in time , or simultaneously , at 509 , the desired waveforms duty cycle setting as represented as dcyset & lt ; 1 : x & gt ; bits 30 are input to the dac circuit 420 of the generator 400 . from received bits 30 , and the v3 voltage at dac input , the dac circuit 420 performs the digital to analog conversion of the v3 signal to generate a reference voltage 435 representative of the desired output duty cycle setting as indicated at 511 . then at 515 , feed forward pulse shaping is performed based on the received reference voltage 435 representative of the desired output duty cycle from 511 , and the sawtooth waveform 421 voltage level . the employing of pulse shaper methodology 600 is now described herein with respect to fig1 . fig9 shows saw - tooth conversion methodology 600 employed by the period integrator2 425 of fig7 for generating the sawtooth waveform representative of input clk frequency . at 601 , the sawtooth generator performs an integration of the time period of the input clock using the saw converter &# 39 ; s rise . then at 603 the max voltage ( v3 ) is generated by sampling the sawtooth waveform at the end of the integration duration . further , at 605 , the minimum or ground reference voltage vlo is generated by sampling at the end of integration . fig1 shows pulse shaper methodology 700 performed by programmable duty cycle generator 400 of fig7 . at 703 , first the delay of the first edge based pulse generator 440 providing up_out signal which triggers the latch to form the output signal rising edge and is adjusted or matched to equal or match the delay engendered by the feed forward processing performed by the comparator , the sawtooth generator , and a second edge based pulse generator element 442 . this may entail first selecting an edge ( rise or fall ) of input clk and using this reference edge to create a rising edge signal by edge pulse generator circuit 440 . the referenced input clk edge triggers the sr latch element 455 such that output signal 450 of the programmable duty cycle generator ( i . e ., out ) has a rising transition generated on that sr latch edge trigger to form the out &# 39 ; s signal on time duration as indicated at 705 . meanwhile , at 707 , a determination is made as to whether the rising saw_out signal 421 &# 39 ; s voltage becomes greater than the reference voltage output from the dac output , i . e ., whether saw_out & gt ; refdcy_v . that is , the comparator 460 performs real - time comparing of the saw_out signal 421 with the refdcy_v signal 435 , and when the saw_out signal 421 exceeds the refdcy_v , the falling edge of the same output pulse 450 is forced as indicated at 709 as comparator drop_out signal 472 is generated . the drop_out signal 472 is input to a second edge - based pulse generator 442 which generates a signal to reset the sr latch 455 and create the falling edge of the out signal 450 . the timing of the rising and falling edges of output out signal 450 complies with the programmed duty cycle . in each of the embodiment described herein , the output signal tracks changes in incoming frequency , and is independent of incoming duty cycle variations . 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 . various embodiments of the present disclosure can be employed either alone or in combination with any other embodiment , unless expressly stated otherwise or otherwise clearly incompatible among one another . 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
in the figures , there is a beverage can 1 that is intended for soft drinks , for example , and has a body 2 made of metal , for example an aluminum or aluminum alloy , that is manufactured by deep drawing . the can 1 has a sealed peripheral wall and a sealed bottom . on the top , the open can body 2 is sealed by a can lid 3 that is affixed in the customary manner and with the customary means by a lock seam 4 along one rim of the can with the can body 2 , that hermetically seals the interior 5 of the beverage can to the outside . the can lid 3 has a lid element 6 , that is preferably manufactured from a sheet of aluminum , or aluminum alloy , by deep - drawing ; a base 7 and a rim 8 that extends upward beyond the top of the base 7 and has an essentially circular ring shape and concentrically encompasses the middle axis m of container and lid and which is affixed to the can body 2 or with the rim 8 that encompasses the aperture of the can body by means of the lock seam 4 . at the transition to the rim 8 , a snap ring groove 9 that encompasses the middle axis m of the can lid in a circular ring shape , is molded into the base 7 and is open on the upper side of the lid base 7 , i . e . has its concave side there . connected to the snap ring groove 9 , and across from this in relation to the middle axis m and displaced radially inward , the lid base 7 likewise has a ring lip 10 , that concentrically encompasses the middle axis m , and that is arched convexly on the top of the lid base 7 . in the lid base 7 , which is essentially of circular disk shape , there is a sealing tab 11 , that is radially displaced to the middle axis m , that can be pushed inward in the usual manner in order to open the beverage can , or the can lid 3 , in such a way that this tab 11 , when the can is open , is still partially connected with the lid base 7 , in the interior 5 of the can , for freeing an aperture 11 , as illustrated in fig4 and 5 . the tab 11 is manufactured of one piece with the lid element 6 , or with its base 7 , in that the rim line of this tab 11 is formed at least partially from a breaking line on which the material of the lid base is reduced in cross section . the tab 11 is reinforced by means of a self - contained enforcement lip 12 , of circular ring shape , that extends beyond the surface of the tab 11 , or beyond the top of the base 7 . in order to open the beverage can 1 , i . e . to pull up and bend the tab 11 inward , a pull - ring 13 is provided on the top of the can lid 3 , that is formed in the usual manner in the top view of fig1 and 3 , as an oval ring 14 with a middle stay 15 , and two ring apertures 16 and 17 on either side of the middle stay 15 . a tab 18 by which the pull ring 13 is fastened , to the top of the lid element 6 , in the vicinity of the middle axis m , by means of a rivet - like fastener 19 that is formed from the material of the lid base 7 extends into the ring aperture 17 , which is closer to the sealing tab 11 , than the ring aperture 16 . the ring body 14 and the middle stay 15 are stationary . the tab 18 can be bent . the pull ring or its ring body 14 lies against the pull tab 11 , or the lip 12 , on the side away from the ring aperture 16 . on a can with the original seal intact the plane of the pull ring lies parallel or nearly parallel to the plane of the lid base , within the space encompassed by the rim 8 , i . e . below the upper lip of the beverage can 1 formed by the lock seam 4 . a further lid element 20 , on the fastener 19 , between the can base 7 and the tab 18 , is provided for that can rotate around - he middle axis m . this lid element 20 is of circular disk shape in the depicted embodiment and has a rolled - in , closed rim lip 21 that encompasses the middle axis m in the manner of a ring . the lid element 20 is guided in the snap ring groove 9 with the closed , rolled - in rim lip 21 . in several areas around the middle axis m , i . e . in the depicted embodiment in six areas surrounding the middle axis m , cams 22 are pressed into the rim 8 , extending beyond the inner side of the rim facing the base 7 and holding the rim 21 in the snap ring groove 9 . in the depicted embodiment , the lid element 20 is slightly bowl - shaped , and it has a base 23 of essentially circular disk shape , a ring - shaped rim 24 that extends diagonally downward into the snap ring groove 9 encircling the middle axis m and has a rim lip 21 . at the joining of the rim 24 and the base 23 , there is a ring lip 25 that encompasses the middle axis m , giving the lid element 20 additional stiffness . across from the middle axis m , radially displaced , in the base 23 of the lid element 20 an aperture 26 is provided for that has at least the same dimensions as the sealing tab 11 , or the drinking or pouring aperture 11 &# 39 ; after pressing in this sealing tab . in a can 1 , with the original seal intact , the aperture 26 is congruent with the sealing tab 11 . the lip 12 is located within the aperture 26 and extends into this aperture 26 so that rotation of the lid element 20 in relation to the lid element 6 is not possible . furthermore , a self - enclosed ring - shaped seal 27 that encompasses the sealing tab 11 or the aperture 11 &# 39 ; on its lip is provided for on the upper side of the lid element 6 , or the lid base 7 , between the latter and the base 23 . at the joining of the lid base 23 and the ring lip 25 , the bottom side of the lid base 23 lies against the ring lip 10 of the lid base 7 . this causes a gap to be formed between the two lid bases 7 and 23 , the width of which is approximately the same as the thickness of the elastic seal 27 stretched between the two bases 7 and 23 , i . e . the pressure of the lid base 23 against the ring lip 10 also prevents the seal 27 , by means of corresponding riveting in the vicinity of the fastener 19 from being deformed too strongly and thus damaged . on the lid base 23 , two carriers 28 that extend beyond the top of the lid base are also provided for . all components of the lid element 20 , and the lid element 6 , are manufactured from a single sheet of metal by punching and molding . the pull ring 13 , as well as all parts of the lid element 26 , are formed and arranged in such a way that there is sufficient free space on the inner side of the can lid 3 , to process it with the usual machines for sealing of the can body 2 . fig1 and 2 show the beverage can 1 with the original seal intact . in order to open the beverage can 1 , the pull ring 13 is lifted on the side opposite its sealing tab 11 corresponding to the arrow a in fig2 whereby the other side of the pull ring comes into position against the sealing tab 11 , or against the lip 12 there , causing the sealing tab 11 to be pushed inward , creating the aperture 11 &# 39 ; ( fig4 ). the contents of the beverage can 1 can then be poured or drank through the apertures 11 and 26 , which are now congruent . the beverage can 1 can be sealed during consumption . in order to do this , the lid element 20 is rotated on the carriers 28 around the middle axis m far enough that the aperture 26 is located outside of the aperture 11 and the latter is covered by the lid base 23 , as depicted in fig5 . in the depicted embodiment , the lid element 20 is intended to be turned 180 °. the two end positions are determined by means of stops 29 and 30 ( fig6 ) in the snap ring groove and on the rim or the ring lip 21 . turning of the lid element 20 for closing and opening the aperture 11 takes place on the carriers 28 . in the depicted embodiment the pull ring 13 is connected with the lid element 20 in such a way that it cannot be turned , in that the rectangular - shaped tab 18 fits into a depression in the lid base 23 corresponding to this tab . by means of the seal 27 a tight working seal is achieved , especially since the lid element 20 is guided firmly at its perimeter by the cams 22 in the snap ring groove 9 and is prevented by the cams 22 pressed against the rim lip 21 from unwanted lifting on the rim , so that even with carbonated beverages or beverages under pressure there is no danger of a lifting of the working seal . fig7 shows a beverage can la that has a can body 2 and a can lid 3a sealing the can on the top , which differs essentially from the can lid 3 , in that the lid element 31 affixed to the body of the can is the upper lid element and the rotatable lid element 32 for the working seal is the lower lid element , i . e . located in the interior 5 of the beverage can . the lid element 31 is again bowl - like with a lid base 33 , of essentially circular disk shape , and has a lid rim 34 that is affixed to the rim of the can body 2 by means of a lock seam . at the joining of the lid base 33 , and the rim 34 , a ring lip 35 is provided for on the lid element 31 that encompasses the middle axis m and extends into the interior 5 , i . e . beyond the bottom side of the base 33 and encircling the middle axis m . the lid element 31 also has an aperture 26 on the base 33 corresponding to the aperture 36 . with the help of this rivet - like fastener 19a , formed from the material of the lid element 32 , the pull ring 13 is attached to the upper side of the base 33 . in the depicted embodiment , the fastener 19a has a non - circular cross - section , for example a rectangular or square cross section . in the tab 18 of the pull ring 13 , an aperture adjusted to this cross section is provided for , so that by turning the pull tab 13 on the middle axis m , the lid element 32 is also turned . with the fastener 19a , the lid element 32 is pivoted in the middle of the lid element 31 , so that it can rotate . the circular ring - shaped rim of the lid element 32 is formed in such a way that it encompasses the ring lip 35 there with a positive fit , but also forming at the same time a guide for the lid element 32 when revolving on the middle axis m . in the base 38 of the lid element 32 , the sealing tab 11 is formed with the lip 12 that , with the original seal of the beverage can la intact , extends into the aperture 36 , thus preventing the lid element 32 from turning in relation to the lid element 31 on the middle axis m . on the upper side of the base 38 , the seal 27 , encompassing the sealing tab 11 , is again provided for . in order to open the beverage can 1a , the pull ring 13 is again lifted on the side opposite of the aperture 36 ( arrow a in fig8 ); this causes the sealing tab 11 to be broken out through the aperture 36 and pressed into the interior 5 allowing the contents of the can to be removed through the congruent apertures 36 and 11 &# 39 ; ( fig1 ). for the working seal , the lid element 32 can be turned by means of the pull ring 13 in such a way that the aperture 11 &# 39 ; is sealed by the upper lid element 31 , or its lid base 33 . in fig1 and 2 , a surface 39 is provided for on the upper side of the lid element 6 or its base 7 , is displaced in relation to the rotation axis of the lid element 20 ( axis of the fastener 19 ) by 180 ° opposite the sealing tab 18 . with the original seal of the beverage can 1 intact , this surface 39 is covered by the lid element 20 and not visible from the outside . not until the beverage can is opened and the lid element 20 is unlocked can the latter be turned in such a way that the aperture 26 is congruent with the surface 39 and this is visible . the surface 39 can be used for the attachment or imprinting of information , pictures etc ., for example for imprinting of ticket numbers or winning numbers , collective numbers , serial numbers , etc ., that are not visible with the original beverage can 1a seal intact . in the same manner , a surface 39 &# 39 ; is also possible for the beverage can la , in this case on the upper side of the can element 32 or the base 38 situated diametrically across from the tab 11 in relation to the rotation axis of this can element ( axis of the fastener 19a ). after opening of the original seal , the lid element 32 with the surface 39 &# 39 ; can , in this embodiment again , be rotated in such a way that it is visible through the aperture 36 . fig1 shows , in a depiction similar to fig1 and 3 , the lid 1 in resealed condition . in this position , the surface 39 is visible through the aperture 26 . as shown in fig1 and 14 , the seals 27 , that are made of rubber or an appropriate , elastic plastic suitable for food , for example with a silicone - rubber base , can also be formed as seals with a circular ring - shaped cross section ( fig1 ) or as a lip or labyrinth seal ( fig1 ). the possibility remains to form the seals by suitable deforming of the material used for the respective can element directly from this material or from metal as metallic labyrinth seals , as shown by 27 &# 39 ; in fig1 . the invention was described above using examples of embodiments . of course , numerous alterations and variations are possible without abandoning the inventive idea on which the invention is based . ______________________________________list of reference symbols______________________________________ 1 , 1a beverage can 2 body of can 3 , 3a lid of can 4 lock seam 5 interior 6 lid element 7 base 8 rim 9 snap ring groove10 ring lip11 sealing tab11 &# 39 ; aperture12 lip13 pull ring14 ring body15 middle stay16 , 17 ring aperture18 tab19 , 19a fastener20 lid element21 rim lip22 cam23 base24 rim25 ring lip26 aperture27 , 27 &# 39 ; seal28 carrier29 , 30 stop31 , 32 lid element33 base34 rim35 ring lip36 aperture37 rim38 base39 , 39 &# 39 ; surface______________________________________	2
the invention is directed to improved herbicidal compositions . herbicides , such as those including fatty acids as the active ingredient can be formulated at low fatty acid concentration and have relatively low herbicidal activity or at higher fatty acid concentration and have enhanced activity . however , it has been found that certain additives , such as organic acids and their derivatives , which may have substantially no herbicidal activity can enhance the herbicidal activity of herbicidal fatty acids and other herbicides and provide herbicides with either enhanced activity or reduced fatty acid concentrations . preferred additives include those organic acids which are part of the krebs cycle and in particular , succinic acid as well as succinic acid derivatives . thus , substantially safe non - herbicidal additives are combined with g . r . a . s . ( generally recognized as safe by the fda ) herbicidal compounds such as fatty acids , and the result is a generally safe herbicide with enhanced activity . the following examples demonstrate the synergistic relationship between additives ( such as succinic acid ) and fatty acid herbicides such as caprylic acid , pelargonic acid and others . other synergistic relationships between organic acids ( for example , citric acid , tartaric acid , malic acid and lactic acid ) with caprylic acid as the fatty acid were also exhibited . in general , with the exception of tartaric acid , there was a general lack of correspondence between the acidity of the organic acid and the degree of synergy of the organic acid with caprylic acid . it was determined that tartaric acid ( e . g . l - tartaric acid ) exhibited particularly high performance enhancement of caprylic acid across a wide variety of plant types . a synergistic relationship between succinic acid and sodium salicylate was also demonstrated where the effect of succinic acid alone on the plants treated was negligible . accordingly , it has been determined that combining certain organic acids and compounds having a significant herbicidal effect , such as pelargonic , caprylic , caproic , capric and oleic acid , and also such acids as acetic , butyric , valeric , hexanoic and heptanoic acid and compounds such as sodium salicylate , glyphosate ( in round up ) or glufosinate - ammonium with other organic acids and additives including those having substantially no herbicidal effect could enhance herbicidal activity and reduce costs , environmentally undesirable effects or be otherwise more convenient to use . effective additives include succinic acid and succinic acid derivatives such as dimethyl succinic acid , calcium succinate , magnesium succinate , diammonium succinate and ammonium succinate as well as certain other organic acids , such as tartaric acid , citric acid , malic acid , lactic acid , adipic acid and plant oils such as limonene and pine oil , especially unipine ( a pine oil derivative available from busche , boake & amp ; allen , inc . ), as well as other additives including ammonium sulfate , ammonium tartrate , ammonium chloride and sodium salicylate . in order to confirm that additives in accordance with the invention provided an enhanced herbicidal effect , a number of experiments were performed in which only fatty acids or other herbicides were applied to plants , the additives alone were applied and the fatty acids plus the additives were applied . the herbicides were applied in the “ spray to drip ” amount or at a calibrated 20 - 60 gallons / acre . “ spray to drip ” is an uncalibrated application of fluid to foliage , where sufficient spray volume is used to sufficiently saturate the foliage surface until excess fluid begins to drip from the foliage . in general , about 5 to 200 gallons / acre , preferably 20 - 100 gallons / acre can be effective . fatty acids above 6 - 7 carbon atoms tend to be relatively insoluble in water . caprylic and pelargonic acids are 8 and 9 carbon acids respectively and require a solvent , such as acetone or an emulsifier to help prevent separation between aqueous and lipid phases . herbicides can be provided in concentrated form and then diluted at the point of use . aspects and embodiments of the invention will be described more clearly with reference to the following examples , which are intended to be interpreted as exemplary , and not in a limiting sense . * injury rating based on scale of 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of all plants / plot second application 5 days after 1 st application ; each at 87 g / a ( 45 psi ) treatments # 2 - 4 and 6 contained 0 . 83 % emsorb 6900 , 0 . 43 % mineral oil and 1 % hasten summary : all experimental treatments (# 2 - 6 ) better than treatment # 1 ( desiccate ii ) * injury rating , based on a scale of 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of all plants / plot . 1 % hasten in treatments 1 , 2 and 3 . for treatment 4 : 0 . 125 % wilfarm crop oil concentrate . treatments 1 , 2 and 3 also had 0 . 86 % emsorb 6900 and 0 . 43 % mineral oil plot size : 3 × 6 feet . each treatment group had 3 replicates 40 - 42 g / acre , with & lt ; 45 psi for 1 st application and 45 psi for 2nd application summary : 1 ) treatments 1 - 3 superior to treatment 4 ( desiccate ii ), 2 ) perlagonic acid enhanced by di - ammonium succinate * injury rating , based on a scale of 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of all plants / plot 1 % hasten in treatments 2 , 3 and 0 . 3 % sylgard 309 in treatment 4 . treatment 1 had 0 . 125 % wilfarm crop oil concentrate treatments 2 and 3 also contained 0 . 86 % emsorb 6900 and 0 . 43 % mineral oil plot size = 3 × 6 feet , with 4 replicates ( plots ) per treatment group * injury rating , based on a scale of 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of all plants / plot 1 % hastern in treatments 2 , 3 and 0 . 3 % sylgard 309 in treatment 4 . treatment 1 had 0 . 125 % wilfarm crop oil concentrate treatment 2 and 3 also contained 0 . 86 % emsorb 6900 and 0 . 43 % mineral oil plot size : 3 × 6 feet , with 2 replicates ( plots ) per treatment group * injury rating , based on a scale of 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of all plants / plot treatments 1 - 4 , 9 - 11 : each in 0 . 86 % emsorb 6900 , 0 . 43 % mineral oil , 1 % hasten plot size : 3 × 6 feet . each treatment group had 3 replicates summary : both succinic acid and di - ammonium succinate were synergistic with sodium salicylate and caprylic acid * injury rating , based on a scale of 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of all plants / plot treatments 1 - 4 , 9 - 11 : each in 0 . 86 % emsorb 6900 , 0 . 43 % mineral oil , 1 % hasten plot size : 3 × 6 feet . each treatment group had 3 replicates summary : both succinic acid and di - ammonium succinate were synergistic with sodium salicylate and caprylic acid * a rating of 1 - 5 given ( 5 = complete desiccation of all plants ), for each treatment ( 1 - 2 plants / pot ) effect of 1 % succinic acid on herbicidal activity of liberty and scythe * if injury rating based on 1 to 6 , where 6 = complete desiccation of plant . six independent evaluations performed and all scores , based on ratings for nutsedge , snapbeans and kentucky bluegrass , where given as a total score for each treatment kinetic at 0 . 2 % used for all treatments . applications of treatments made via spray to drip . snapbeans ( full bean production ), nutsedge ( 6 - 8 inches , height ) and bluegrass ( blade height 3 inches ) 1 % succinic acid -- zero rating . succinic was synergistic with those combinations given above . average rating based on 6 independent evaluations of injury to plants application rate of 1 . 25 % roundup ultra at 40 g / acre = 2 quarts / acre mature snapbeans ( with beans pods ) and potatoes at 6 - 8 inches in height were used * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants test plants for spray to drip application : kentucky bluegrass , velvetleaf , foxtail , tomato , potato and snapbeans caprylic acid was v / v and succinic acid and sodium salicylate were at wt / v * a rating of 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of all plants * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants test plants for spray to drip application : velvetleaf , corn snapbeans , foxtail and tomatoes caprylic / capric ( caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ). * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants test plants for spray to drip : lambsquarter , velvetleaf , foxtail , nutsedge and potatoes * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations for both 60 g / a and spray to drip applications * rating based on visual injury rating of 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of cotton foliage caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ; i . e . * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations for both 60 g / a and spray to drip applications for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 - 5 given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants * for 60 g / a : 8 total pots / treatment , testing lambsquarter , pigweed , velvetleaf and foxtail * for spray to drip : 2 total pots / treatment , testing velvetleaf and foxtail evaluations made : 2 for plants treated at 60 g / a and 1 evaluation for “ spray to drip ” for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 - 5 given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations done for both 60 gia and spray to drip test plants for 60 g / a : black nightshade , redroot pigweed , lambsquarter , foxtail , velvetleaf and snapbeans test plants for spray to drip : redroot pigweed , lambsquarter , velvetleaf and foxtail caprylic acid was at v / v and succinic acid and ammonium succinate were at wt / v * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations done for both 60 g / a and spray to drip test plants for 60 g / a : black nightshade , redroot pigweed , foxtail , lambsquarter and snapbeans test plants for spray to drip : redroot pigweed , velvetleaf , nutsedge and foxtail caprylic acid was at v / v and succinic acid and ammonium succinate were at wt / v efficacy of 1 . 5 % succinic acid with oleic , caprylic or pelargonic acid , * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations done for both 60 g / a and spray to drip test plants for 60 g / a : velvetleaf , black nightshade , redroot pigweed , foxtail and snapbeans test plants for spray to drip : black nightshade , velvetleaf , foxtail and snapbeans succinic acid , alone , had a rating of zero . succinic acid was synergistic with oleic , caprylic and pelargonic acids * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations done for both 60 g / a and spray to drip test plants for 60 g / a : redroot pigweed , velvetleaf ; snapbeans , cotton and potatoes test plants for spray to drip : black nightshade , lambsquarter , foxtail and snapbeans caprylic acid was at v / v and succinic acid and sodium salicylate were at wt / v succinic acid , alone , had a rating of zero . succinic acid was synergistic with oleic , caprylic and pelargonic acids * for 60 g / a : 7 total pots / treatment , testing redroot pigweed , foxtail and velvetleaf for spray to drip : 6 total pots / treatment , testing foxtail , dry beans and pigweed for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations ( ratings ) done for plants treated at both 60 g / a and spray to drip caprylic acid and succinic acid , as v / v and wt / v , respectively , in water succinic acid , alone , had a rating of zero . caprylic acid + succinic acid was synergistic herbicidal activity : comparison of fatty acids , when combined with succinic acid and sodium salicylate * for 60 g / a : 12 total pots / treatment , testing redroot pigweed , wheat , foxtail and velvetleaf for spray to drip : 6 total pots / treatment , testing redroot pigweed , foxtail and velvetleaf for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations ( ratings ) done for plants treated at both 60 g / a and spray to drip fatty acids at v / v and succinic acid ( 1 %) and sodium salicylate ( 1 %) at wt / v , in water caprylic / capric : caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 % respectively ( per henkel corporation ) no apparent correlation between ph of spray solutions ( including hasten ) and herbicidal activity . * average rating based on 1 - 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of foliage c / c = caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ; i . e ., treatment of plants with succinic acid , alone , had a rating of zero caprylic / capnc and succinic at these concentrations were synergistic test plants : cotton ( deltapine nucotn 33b ), potatoes ( snowden ), pigweed , sudan grass , wheat , foxtail , dry beans and velvetleaf c / c = caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ; i . e ., henkel &# 39 ; s emery 658 , used at v / v , in water treatment of plants with succinic acid , alone , had a rating of zero cotton ( deltapine nucotn 33b ) and potatoes ( snowden ) were at full maturity c / c = caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ; i . e ., treatment of plants with succinic acid , alone , had a rating of zero * for 40 g / a : 9 total pots / treatment , testing crab grass , pigweed , chick weed and foxtail * for 60 g / a : 10 total pots / treatment , testing pigweed , kentucky bluegrass , foxtail , crab grass and barnyard grass * for spray to drip : 7 total pots / treatment , testing kentucky bluegrass , pigweed , barnyard grass , foxtail and velvetleaf for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 - 5 given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants * for 60 g / a : 10 total pots / treatment , testing lambsquarter , pigweed , foxtail and barnyard grass * for spray to drip : 5 total pots / treatment , testing pigweed , sudan grass , foxtail , barnyard grass and velvetleaf for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete injury / desiccation of all plants c / c = caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ; i . e ., * for 60 g / a : 3 total pots / treatment , testing cotton ( deltapine nucotn 33b ) for each pot , a rating of 1 - 5 was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all foliage caprylic / capric ( caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ), since succinic acid tested alone had a rating of zero , caprylic / capric + succinic acid was synergistic * for 60 g / a : 10 total pots / treatment , testing nightshade , pigweed , foxtail barnyard grass , sudan grass and cotton ( deltapine nucotn 33b ) * for spray to drip : 5 total pots / treatment , testing kentucky bluegrass , nutsedge , barnyard grass , sudan grass and foxtail for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations ( ratings ) done for plants treated at both 60 g / a and spray to drip caprylic / capric ( caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ), henkel &# 39 ; s emery 658 , used at v / v , in water since succinic acid , alone had a rating of zero , caprylic / capric + succinic acid was synergistic * for 40 g / a : 10 total pots / treatment , testing chickweed , iarnbsquarter , kentucky bluegrass , redtop and rye * for 60 g / a : 10 total pots / treatment , testing giant and green foxtail , pigweed and crabgrass * for spray to drip : 7 total pots / treatment , testing kentucky bluegrass , nutsedge , pigweed , johnson grass , foxtail and sudan grass for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete injury / desiccation of all plants c / c = caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ; i . e ., henkel &# 39 ; s emery 658 , used at v / v , in water a rating of 1 - 5 was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants fatty acids were v / v and succinic acid was wt / v , in water note : ratings for individual fatty acid treatments (+/− succinic acid ), before and after storage , were similar * for 40 g / a : 10 total pots / treatment , testing crab grass , chickweed and common lambsquarter for spray to drip : 8 total pots / treatment , testing barnyard grass , foxtail , sudan grass and nutsedge for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations for both 40 and 60 g / a and one evaluation for spray to drip caprylic / capric ( caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 % respectively ), i . e ., amounts of succinic acid and ammonium succinate used were equimolar amounts since succinic acid ( or ammonium succinate ) tested alone had a rating of zero , pelargonic acid ( or c / c ) + succinic acid ( or ammonium succinate ) were synergistic . the exception was : 3 % pelargonic acid + 1 . 26 % ammonium succinate roundup ultra at 1 pint / acre ( no sylgard or any other surfactant used ) * 8 total pots / treatment , testing kentucky bluegrass , barnyard grass , crab grass , pigweed , redtop , nutsedge , wheat and foxtail . for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of ( 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete injury / desiccation of all plants roundup ultra was at 1 pint / acre and ammonium sulfate , when used , was at 2 % succinic acid tested alone had a rating of zero . roundup ultra , alone or roundup ultra + ammonia sulfate were synergistic with succinic acid roundup ultra at 1 pint / acre ( no sylgard or any other surfactant used ) * 9 total pots / treatment , testing barnyard grass , green foxtail , sudan grass and pigweed . for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete injury / desiccation of all plants roundup ultra was at 1 pint / acre and ammonium sulfate , when used , was at 2 % sylgard 309 ( 0 . 3 %) added immediately before spray application at 60 gallons / acre succinic acid tested alone had a rating of zero . roundup ultra , alone or roundup ultra + ammonium sulfate were synergistic with succinic acid . enhancement of roundup ultra (+/− ammonium sulfate or ams ) herbicidal activity , * 8 total pots / treatment , testing sudan grass , green foxtail , barnyard grass and pigweed for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete injury / desiccation of all plants roundup ultra was at 1 quart / acre and ammonium sulfate , when used , was at 2 %, wt / v sylgard 309 ( 0 . 3 %) added immediately before spray application at 60 gallons / acre succinic acid tested alone had a rating of zero . roundup ultra , alone or roundup ultra + ammonium sulfate were synergistic with succinic acid * 11 total pots / treatment , testing velvetleaf , crab grass , sudan grass , redtop , green foxtail and barnyard grass . for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete desiccation equimolar amounts of amendments used : 1 . 5 % succinic acid , 1 . 89 % ammonium succinate , 2 . 17 % ammonium tartrate , 1 . 91 % tartaric acid , 2 . 45 % citric acid , 1 . 71 % l - malic acid , 0 . 77 % acetic acid roundup ultra ( 1 . 5 pints / acre ) and 2 % ammonium sulfate ( ams ) used in all treatments amendments used independently had a rating of zero . all amendments had a synergistic relationship with ru / ams ; i . e ., each amendment enhanced ru / ams herbicidal activity over ratings for ru / ams ( containing no amendments ). no apparent correlation between ph of spray solutions ( including sylgard ) and herbicidal activity was found . * 8 total pots / treatment , testing chickweed , redtop , velvetleaf , crabgrass and green foxtail for each pot ( 2 - 20 plants / pot ), a rating of 1 to 5 given , where 5 was complete injury / desiccation of all plants c / c = caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 % respectively ; i . e ., henkel &# 39 ; s emery 658 , used at v / v , in water * visual rating of 1 to 5 , where 5 = complete desiccation of all cotton plants ( 4 plants per treatment group , each plant receiving a rating of 1 - 5 ) cotton variety = deltapine nucotn 33b , at open boll , when treated caprylic / capric ( caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 % respectively ), i . e ., henkels , emery 658 , used at v / v , in water * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants two independent evaluations were made for both 40 and 60 gallons / acre applications for 40 g / acre : canadian thistle , velvet leaf , johnson grass and giant foxtail for 60 g / acre : velvetleaf , johnson grass and giant foxtail were tested c / c = caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively ; i . e ., henkel &# 39 ; s emery 658 , used at v / v , in water all treatments included henkel &# 39 ; s emery 6900 and mineral oil ; i . e ., for each 1 % of caprylic / capric , 0 . 286 and 0 . 143 % of 6900 and mineral oil were included in each treatment * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants for 40 g / acre : chickweed , redroot pigweed , lambsquarter and green foxtail were tested for 60 g / acre : chickweed , redroot pigweed , lambsquarter , green foxtail , crabgrass and wheat were tested all treatments included henkel &# 39 ; s emsorb 6900 and mineral oil : for each 1 % of caprylic or pelargonic acid , 0 . 286 and 0 . 143 % of 6900 and mineral oil were included in each treatment . * for each pot , a rating ( 1 to 5 ) was given , where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants 60 g / a : pigweed , chickweed , crabgrass , green foxtail , velvetleaf , lambsquarter and wheat were tested spray to drip : nutsedge , velvetleaf , green foxtail , giant foxtail and barnyard grass were tested c / c = caprylic , capric , caproic and lauric at 58 , 40 , 1 and 1 %, respectively , i . e ., henkel &# 39 ; s emery 658 , used at v / v , in water the active ingredients in scythe , ( pelargonic acid ) and caprylic / capric ( henkel &# 39 ; s emery 658 ) were compared on equimolar basis overall effect : higher scores = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation ) overall effect : higher score = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation ) treatment effects 1 , 2 , 4 and 7 days after a single , foliar application overall effect : higher score = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation ) caprylic acid and dimethyl succinic acid added v / v ; all other compounds added at wt / v . all solutions in 50 % acetone , with solution ( 20 mls ) sprayed 2 feet from plant canopy . helena kinetic at 0 . 2 % included in each solution . all plants grown in green house ( day time temp = 80 - 100 degrees , fahrenheit ) higher evaluation scores represent greater degree of vine and foliage desiccation . a “ 6 ” = complete desiccation . summary : a ) addition of succinic or tartaric acid to 1 % caprylic acid & gt ;& gt ; 1 % caprylic acid , ( b ) combination of nasal + tartaric ( or succinic acid ) to caprylic acid were the best treatments treatment effects 3 days after a single , foliar application , testing soybeans overall effect : higher scores = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation solutions applied at 40 gallons / acre , containing 0 . 1 % helena kinetic . all plants grown in greenhouse ( day temperature was 80 - 100 degrees , fahrenheit ). higher rating scores represent greater degree of desiccation . a “ 6 ” = complete desiccation . scythe and caprylic acid added v / v . all other compounds added wt / v . summary : a ) all combinations with scythe ( except 0 . 5 % nasal ) improved performance , b ) best combination was 4 % scythe with 0 . 5 % tartaric + 0 . 5 % nasal , c ) increasing the concentration of tartaric acid with 4 % scythe had little effect overall effect : higher scores = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation ) overall effect : higher scores = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation ) overall effect : higher scores = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation ) treatment effects 1 , 3 , 6 , 7 and 11 days after a single , overall effect : higher scores = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation ) treatment effects 3 , 4 , 6 and 7 days after a single , foliar application overall effect : higher scores = greater effect ( where 5 equals profound desiccation ) adipic acid , tartaric acid , unipine , sodium salicylate , succinic acid , lactic acid and citric acid showed synergistic effects * a rating of 1 - 5 given for each of 2 plots per treatment group where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants * a rating of 1 - 5 given for each of 2 plots per treatment group where 5 was complete desiccation of all plants summary : 1 ) although pelargonic acid was more effective for c . thistle , caprylic / capric performed best on redroot pigweed , 2 ) addition of succinic acid was effective some foliage ( all treatments except succinic acid , alone ) beginning to drop it will thus be seen that the objects set forth above , among those made apparent from the preceding description , are efficiently attained and , since certain changes may be made in carrying out the above methods and in the compositions set forth , without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense . it is also understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which , as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween . particularly , it is to be understood that in said claims , ingredients or components recited in the singular are intended to include compatible mixtures of said ingredients wherever the sense permits .	0
referring to the drawings , there is shown in fig1 a schematic of the mass transfer apparatus 10 according to the present invention . the apparatus includes a liquid feed line 12 located proximal to an untreated liquid source 11 and connected to the suction side of a progressive cavity or helical rotor pump 14 . liquid entering the liquid feed line 12 is controlled by a foot valve 16 located at the inlet end of the liquid feed line 12 , the foot valve 16 being in communication with the untreated liquid source 11 . a second valve 18 located in the feed line 12 downstream from the foot valve 16 controls the amount of untreated liquid entering the pump 14 . when in operation , valve 18 is pinched , or partially closed , so as to maintain a slight vacuum at the pump inlet . a pressure indicator 20 is mounted at the inlet to the pump 14 , which is designed to show the amount of vacuum present at the pump inlet or suction . a gas feed line 22 is provided for introducing the intended gas , at atmospheric pressure , into the liquid stream . ozone , air , oxygen or any other suitable gas , depending on the type of process , may be used . the apparatus 10 is particularly well - suited for use with ozone gas since the gas is introduced at atmospheric pressure . due to the unstable nature of ozone gas , handling of the gas becomes more difficult when higher pressures are required ; therefore the present invention avoids any such difficulties as the ozone is introduced at atmospheric pressure . the gas feed line 22 connects with the liquid feed line 12 at junction 23 to create a mixed stream 24 of liquid and gas which then enters the pump 14 . a gas flow meter ( or rotameter ) 25 and needle valve 26 are used to control and provide a visual reading of the amount of gas that is being introduced into the liquid stream . progressive cavity / helical rotor pumps are able to accept the mixed stream 24 with the entrained vapours / gas without detrimental cavitation , which is what makes this type of pump ideal for use in the subject apparatus . once the gas has been introduced into the liquid stream and the mixed stream 24 enters pump 14 , the liquid and gas are pressurized to between about 80 - 150 psig depending on the type of gas and liquid stream involved in the process . when ozone is the gas being used , for instance in a water treatment process , the mixed untreated water ozone stream is pressurized to about 150 psig . this pressure has been found to be optimal for ozone , as much more ozone can be dissolved into the liquid at this pressure , thereby increasing its effectiveness as a disinfectant . conventional mass transfer systems have been unable to achieve the same level of dissolution of ozone into the liquid stream . if high - pressure gas ( i . e . more than 150 psig ) other than ozone is being introduced into the liquid stream , an alternate set - up can be used where a gas feed line 22 ′ connects with the liquid stream on the discharge side of the pump 14 ( as opposed to the suction side of the pump 14 ) at junction 23 ′ to create mixed steam 24 ′ on the discharge side of the pump 14 . once the mixed stream 24 ( 24 ′) has been created and is pressurized to the desired level , the mixed stream 24 ( 24 ′) enters a shearing hydrocyclone 28 where the gas is further sheared and dissolved and therefore is more completely mixed with the liquid . once again , this system proves advantageous when using ozone as the gas , since the ozone is completely dissolved in the liquid rather than being diffused or bobbled into the liquid , as is common with many conventional mass transfer systems . complete dissolution of the ozone gas into the gas is preferable as it provides the most complete contact with the liquid for more effective treatment / disinfection thereof . as shown in fig2 , the hydrocyclone 28 comprises an outer housing vessel 54 that is divided into two sections by mounting plate 56 . the hydrocyclone vessel 54 can have one or more tangential inlet ports 30 , which may be equipped with ramps to initially induce a rotational flow at the head of the hydrocyclone 28 . the vessel 54 contains one or more hydrocyclone liners 58 , depending on the desired flows and pressures of the system . not only can one or more hydrocyclone liners 58 be enclosed in one vessel 54 , but more than one vessel containing a number of hydrocyclone liners can be used depending on the size and economics of the apparatus . a spin inducer 60 ( see fig3 a - 3d ) is also housed within the vessel 54 and is attached to the upper portion of the hydrocyclone liner 58 . the spin inducer 60 includes one or more inlet openings 62 in communication with the one or more tangential inlet ports 30 of the vessel 54 . as the mixed stream of liquid and gas enters the hydrocyclone 28 through the one or more tangential inlet ports 30 , it is directed towards the openings 62 of the spin inducer 60 , which force the mixed stream 24 ( 24 ′) of liquid and gas to travel in a circular motion . according to one embodiment , the spin inducer 60 is secured to the hydrocyclone liner 58 by means of a flexible lip 64 ( fig3 b ) located on the bottom rim of the spin inducer 60 which mates with a corresponding lip 65 ( fig4 a ) on the hydrocyclone liner 58 , when the spin inducer 60 is made of a flexible material such as polyurethane . alternate materials for both the spin inducer 60 and the hydrocyclone liner 58 include various grades of stainless steel . if the material being used for the spin inducer 60 is of a rigid nature , such as steel or ultra high molecular weight polyethylene , the spin inducer 60 is preferably threaded to the hydrocyclone liner 58 . the hydrocyclone liner 58 with the spin inducer 60 attached thereto is shown in fig4 b . from the spin inducer 60 , the liquid and gas mixed stream 24 enters the neck of the hydrocyclone liner 58 . the reducing internal diameter of the hydrocyclone liner 58 ( see fig4 a and 4c ) causes the gas and liquid mixed stream 24 ( 24 ′) to accelerate to the single outlet 32 of the hydrocyclone 28 . the typical flow pattern created by the hydrocyclone liner 58 is shown in fig4 d . the cyclonic action of the entire feed stream ( i . e . the liquid and gas mixed stream 24 ) as it enters the hydrocyclone 28 promotes instantaneous , intimate contact between the liquid and the gas . as the mixture accelerates , any gas bubbles are sheared , then dissolved , and are dispersed evenly throughout the liquid forming a homogeneous , stable , aerated and blended product stream or more intimately mixed / dissolved stream 34 . with no other exit or outlet provided in the hydrocyclone 28 for the less dense , entrained gas to escape , the gas follows the liquid to the only outlet 32 provided which ensures the thoroughly mixed / dissolved and blended product stream 34 at the outlet 32 of the hydrocyclone 28 . referring back to the fig1 , the more intimately mixed / dissolved stream 34 of completely dissolved gas and liquid exits the hydrocyclone 28 via outlet 32 and is directed toward a pressure retention vessel 36 . the intimately mixed / dissolved stream 34 remains in the pressure retention vessel 26 for a pre - determined period of time required for the proper disinfection or treatment of the intimately mixed / dissolved stream 34 to create a treated stream 44 . the pressure within the pressure retention vessel 36 is maintained at a predetermined level to ensure that the gas remains completely dissolved in the liquid , and is not permitted to escape . this provides for more effective disinfection and / or treatment of the intimately mixed / dissolved stream 34 as there is more complete contact between the gas and the liquid to be treated . this is particularly true in the case of ozone . as well , the gas — liquid ( e . g . ozone — liquid ) contact time required in the present system is significantly reduced due to the complete dissolution of the gas within the liquid which , therefore , decreases the overall “ treatment time ”. furthermore , various sizes of pressure retention vessels may be used which allows for more complete usage of the gas . in the case of ozone gas , the more complete usage of the gas reduces ozone generation capacities for any given treatment or disinfection operation . the pressure across the hydrocyclone 28 and the pressure retention vessel 36 is controlled by a back pressure control valve 37 located downstream of the pressure retention vessel 36 . the back pressure control valve 37 can be hand controlled , controlled by a programmable logic controller ( plc ), or controlled by a conventional pressure control loop . a pressure indicator 38 is provided at the inlet to the hydrocyclone 28 , which provides a reading of the pressure of the mixed stream 24 ( 24 ′) as it enters the hydrocyclone 28 . a second pressure indicator 40 is located downstream of both the hydrocyclone 28 and the pressure retention vessel 36 which shows the pressure at the outlet 32 of the hydrocyclone 28 as well as the pressure within the pressure retention vessel 36 . as shown in fig5 and 5a , the pressure retention vessel 36 includes an inlet 66 for receiving the intimately mixed / dissolved stream 34 , and has two outlets 68 , 70 . the first outlet 68 is for the disinfected / treated intimately mixed / dissolved stream or treated stream 44 and the second outlet 70 provides a means for evacuating any residual gas that may have escaped from the liquid or accumulated in the pressure retention vessel 36 . the gas is evacuated through the second outlet 70 , and can then be recycled through a vapour - return line 42 to the inlet or suction side of the pump 14 , so that no gas is wasted . as is shown more clearly in fig5 , the first outlet 68 extends into the pressure retention vessel 36 so that it is in contact with the liquid in the vessel . this ensures that only the liquid , treated stream 44 exits through the first outlet 68 . once the disinfection / treatment period is complete , the treated stream 44 can be directed to a storage tank or can be put through additional processing steps . it is only once the disinfection / treatment period is complete that the pressure downstream of the pressure retention vessel is reduced , thereby allowing any remaining vapours to be released in micro - bubbles , which promotes additional contact between the liquid and the gas . if the treated stream 44 is going through additional processing steps , the micro - bubbles that are released as the pressure is reduced not only serve to promote further contact between the liquid and the gas , but also serve to facilitate additional processing steps . for instance , the treated stream 44 can be directed from the pressure retention vessel 36 and fed into a dissolved air flotation system 46 ( shown in dotted lines in fig1 ) for further treatment where the micro - bubbles act as a gas supply for the additional processing steps . the dissolved air flotation system 46 produces a purified stream 47 . when the gas being used is ozone , the purified stream 47 from the dissolved air flotation system then passes through a degassing vessel 48 . in the degassing vessel 48 , any residual ozone gas is separated out of the stream 47 and is directed to an ozone destruct chamber 49 for a final treatment before being released from the ozone destruct chamber as air 50 . the purified stream 47 exits the degassing vessel 48 as a disinfected , clean effluent stream 52 , in accordance with practices known in the art . alternatively , the treated stream 44 from the pressure retention vessel can pass directly to the degassing vessel 48 and ozone destruct chamber 49 . as well , a portion of the disinfected / treated intimately mixed stream 44 can also be recycled back into the liquid feed line 12 via a liquid return line 54 as it exits pressure retention vessel 36 . while the present invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments , it will be understood by persons skilled in the art that variations or modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as described herein .	2
the estimation method according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is described herein below , wherein estimated parameters are a time shift ε , a phase shift φ , a amplification \| c 1 \|, a constant level shift c 0 , a amplitude change α , and a frequency shift δω , which determine a reference signal s ( k ) in the transmission channel . the method according to the invention is not limited to this application example , and is also suitable for the estimation of other parameters , which characterize the transmission channel . the estimated parameters are determined through the minimization of the cost function : l  ( x ~ ) = ∑ k  \| e ~  ( k )  \| 2 ( 4 ) wherein k is the symbol number within the evaluation area (“ useful part ,” e . g . a burst ). generally , in this invention , a test parameter is represented by a “ snake ” and the estimated parameter is represented by a “ roof ,” that is , { circumflex over ( x )} describes generally the parameter that is to be estimated , and { tilde over ( e )}( k ) describes a therefrom resultant test - error vector . subsequently , the estimation according to a preferred embodiment is deduced . in the deduction , for the purpose of improving the overview , no iteration specific nomenclature is used . in c 1 the amplification ( gain ) \| c 1 \| and the remaining phase shift φ is modeled through the non - ideal preceding phase compensation according to : the amplitude change α in the measurement signal and the resultant frequency shift δω , is modeled . by substituting the equations ( 5 ) and ( 6 ) into equation ( 2 ) the error vector is determined e  ( k ) = 1 \| c 1 \| · z  ( k ) · e - α   k - j   δ   ω   kt s - j   ϕ - c 0 c 1 - s  ( k - ɛ ) ( 7 ) due to the preceding coarse estimation , a linearization in equation ( 7 ) is allowable : for a complex x , via taylor series expansion , e x is generally linearized by it is noted that the normed derivative s d ( k ) is not allowed to be calculated from s ( k ), because s ( k ) does not fulfill the sample theorem . rather , the over - sampled sequence s ov ( k ) should be used . by substituting equations ( 8 ) and ( 9 ) into equation ( 7 ), the linearization error vector is obtained : e  ( k ) = 1 \| c 1 \| · z  ( k ) · [ 1 - α   k - j · δ   ω   kts - j   ϕ ] - c 0 c 1 - [ s  ( k ) - ɛ · s d  ( k ) ] . ( 10 ) through substitution , the real parameters x i of the vector x is determined , according to : e  ( k ) = z  ( k ) · [ 1 \| c 1 \|  x 1 - α \| c 1 \|  x 7 · k - j · δ   ω   t s \| c 1 \|  x 2 · k - j · ϕ \| c 1 \|  x 3 ] - c 0 c 1  x 4 + j · x 5 + ɛ  x 6 · s d  ( k ) - s  ( k ) . ( 11 ) x =( x 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 ) t through conversion , according to equation ( 11 ), the estimation values to be focused on from the estimation value vector x are determined according to : c 0 = c 1 ·( x 4 + j · x 5 ) by defining the function f i ( k ), equation ( 10 ) results in : e  ( k ) = ∑ i = 1 n   x i · f i  ( k ) - s  ( k ) f 1 ( k )= z ( k ) f 2 ( k )=− j · k · z ( k ) f 3 ( k )=− j · z ( k ) f 4 ( k )=− 1 f 5 ( k )=− j f 6 ( k )= s d ( k ) f 7 ( k )=− z ( k )· k ( 13 ) through gradient development , the cost function l ( x ) and the subsequent zero setting of the gradient , the estimation value vector { circumflex over ( x )} is obtained according to : m ij = re  { ∑ k  f i *  ( k ) · f j  ( k ) } b i = re  { ∑ k  f i *  ( k ) · s  ( k ) } . ( 15 ) by substituting equation ( 13 ) into equation ( 15 ) the matrix m and the vector b is obtained , which is shown in fig2 . by linearizing equation ( 8 ) and equation ( 9 ), the error - prone to the estimation vector { circumflex over ( x )} in equation ( 14 ) is negligible . according to a preferred advancement of the method of the invention , several iterations are performed . the error can be desirably reduced through several iterations . in the norm , the error is negligible after 2 iterations . iteratio : the number of iterations to be performed ; loop =[ 1 , iteration ]: the parameter loop shows which iteration is currently being performed ; x ( loop ) : the index ( loop ) describes the value x of the loop - ed iteration ( example : { circumflex over ( ε )} ( loop ) , m ( loop ) ; z ov ( loop ) ( k ): over - sampled measurement signal of the loop - ed iteration , with the linearized estimated parameters compensated ; and z ( comp ) ( k ): measurement signal , with all estimated parameters compensated . from this sequence , the evm - error e { circumflex over ( v )} m ( k ) is calculated . [ 0052 ] fig3 is a block diagram illustrating the iterative method for estimating parameters . before the embodied refined parameter estimation , a coarse estimation and compensation of the frequency ω , phase φ , and time shift ε , has to be performed . on the inputs 2 and 3 of a refined estimator 1 , the over - sampled measurement sequence ( receiver sequence ) z ov ( k ), and the reference sequence s ov ( k ), are given , respectively . on outputs 4 a and 4 b the estimated parameters are present , and on an output 5 the relative c 0 and c 1 from a compensator 18 having a compensator receiver sequence z ( comp ) ( k ) ( in a symbol pulse ), are present . from the over - sampled reference signal s ov ( k ), the normed differential sequence is calculated with the impulse answer h diff ( k ) in a filter 6 . subsequently , in a reducing rate sampler 7 the down - sampling - factor ov is down sampled , followed by time slotting by a multiplier 8 . therewith , on the input 9 of the estimation block 10 , lies the sequence s d ( k ) in a symbol pulse . through a sampling rate reducer 11 and a multiplier 12 , in which the time slotting takes place , the unfiltered , down - sampled and slotted reference sequence s ( k ) can be fed to an input 17 of the estimation block 10 . for the estimation , only the valid symbols (“ useful symbols ”) are used , wherefore a slotting before the estimation must be performed . in the over - sampled input signals a pre - run and post - run are needed . the reason therefore is that a fir ( finite impulse response ) filter 6 needs a rise time for the differentiation and also for the non - pictured interpolation filter , to compensate the estimated time shift { circumflex over ( ε )}. if a plurality of iterations are performed , the measurement sequence z ov ( k ), at the beginning of the next iteration , has to be compensated with the actual total estimation value in a compensator 13 , and before the compensated measurement sequence z ov ( loop ) ( k ) is fed to an input 16 , it goes through the reducing rate sampler 14 and the multiplier 15 , in which the time slotting takes place . only the linearized estimation parameters ({ circumflex over ( ε )}, ŵ , and { circumflex over ( φ )}) are compensated at the beginning of a new iteration . for the linearized estimation parameters it applies that : the linearized ( refined )- estimation value of the loop - ed iteration are { circumflex over ( ε )} ( loop ) , ŵ ( loop ) and { circumflex over ( φ )} ( loop ) . the total estimation value according to the loop - ed iteration results through addition of all of the past estimation values according to : ɛ ^ = ∑ l = 1 loop   ɛ ^ ( l ) w ^ = ∑ l = 1 loop   w ^ ( l ) ϕ ^ = ∑ l = 1 loop   ϕ ^ ( l ) ( 16 ) with these instantaneous total estimation values , the measurement sequence will be compensated in the next iteration . with every new iteration , the measurement sequence z ov ( k ) is compensated with the actual total estimation values { circumflex over ( ε )}, ŵ and { circumflex over ( φ )} of the linearized parameters . the non - linearized estimation values ( ĉ 0 and \| ĉ 1 \|) are not compensated for , in the single iterations , but are newly calculated in every iteration . otherwise , false reproductions may arise because of the linearization error in the single iterations . it is to be heeded , that the estimated time shift { circumflex over ( ε )} is not compensated in the reference signal , but in the measurement signal ( input signal ). through which , according to the measurement regulation , the standards are achieved , in that the measurement signal is interpolated on the inter - symbol - interference - free symbol time point . after the last iteration loop - iteration , the equation ( 16 ) of the resultant total estimation value of the linearized parameter is present . the non - linearized parameters are taken from the calculation of the last iteration . finally , the compensated measurement sequence z ( comp ) ( k ) in fig3 must be calculated , which is needed for the calculation of the estimated evm - vector , according to : z ( comp )  ( k ) = z ( loop )  ( k ) \| c ^ 1 \| - c ^ 0 c ^ 1 ( 17 ) when the method according to the invention is utilized in a cdma ( code division multiple access ) signal , the reference signal comprises a plurality of superimposed partial signals from different code channels and always one parameter for every partial signal describes the different amplifications of the different code channels . the amplification - parameter of the different partial signals is estimated simultaneously with the method according to the invention . the invention being thus described , it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention , and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims .	7
referring now in detail to the figures of the drawings , in which components and elements that correspond to one another are denoted by the same designations , and first , particularly , to fig1 thereof , there is seen a section of a printing press 41 . the section shows an anilox printing unit 42 of the printing press 41 . the anilox printing unit 42 includes an engraved roll 1 , an ink applicator roll 7 and a printing form cylinder 17 . moreover , the anilox printing unit 42 includes a blanket cylinder and an impression cylinder which are not shown in the drawing . a doctor - type ink fountain 31 bears against the engraved roll 1 , in order to supply printing ink to the engraved roll 1 . rotational bearings 2 , which are mounted releasably in roll sockets 3 by the operator , are seated on axle journals of the engraved roll 1 . the rotational bearings 2 are roller bearings . the roll sockets 3 are disposed in each case on a pivoting lever 4 which can be pivoted about a joint 5 . each pivoting lever 4 is loaded by a spring 18 which is supported on the pivoting lever 4 at one end and is supported on a journal that is fixed in a machine frame at its other end . the pivoting levers 4 are coordinated in each case with a stop 6 , with which the respective pivoting lever 4 or a part that is fastened to it come into contact when the engraved roll 1 is removed from the roll sockets 3 . the stop 6 is not contacted when the engraved roll 1 is secured in the roll sockets 3 . as is seen in fig2 , the machine frame includes a side wall 29 on the drive side of the printing press 41 and a side wall 30 on the operator side . the rotation of the engraved roll 1 is driven by a main motor of the printing press 41 through a gear train 22 , to which a gearwheel that is seated on a drive shaft 21 belongs . the drive shaft 21 is connected to the drive - side journal of the engraved roll 1 through a coupling 20 , which is closed when the engraved roll 1 is introduced into the roll sockets 3 and is opened when the engraved roll 1 is removed from the roll sockets 3 . as is seen in fig1 , the ink applicator roll 7 is mounted rotatably on the drive side and the operator side in each case in an eccentric bearing 8 which includes a first eccentric bushing 9 and a second eccentric bushing 13 that is mounted rotatably in the first eccentric bushing 9 . the first eccentric bushing 9 has an arm , through which an actuating drive 10 for rotating the first eccentric bushing 9 is articulated on the first eccentric bushing 9 . the rotation of the first eccentric bushing 9 is delimited by a stop 12 which is fixed to the frame and with which a screw 11 that is attached to the first eccentric bushing 9 comes into contact . the switching position of the first eccentric bushing 9 , which is defined by the stop 12 , can be adjusted by screwing the screw 11 into the arm to a greater or lesser depth . the second eccentric bushing 13 is equipped with an arm , on which an actuating drive 14 is articulated for rotating the second eccentric bushing 13 . in order to adjust the switching position of the second eccentric bushing 13 , the screw 15 can be screwed into the arm to a greater or lesser depth . when it reaches the switching position , the screw 15 comes into contact with a stop 16 which is fixed to the frame . the actuating drives 10 and 14 are pneumatic working cylinders , the piston rods of which are connected to the eccentric bushings 9 , 13 , and could likewise be electric motors , the motor shafts of which are configured as threaded spindles . the ink applicator roll 7 can be thrown onto and off the engraved roll 1 by actuation of the actuating drive 10 . the ink applicator roll 7 can be thrown onto and off the printing form cylinder 17 by actuation of the actuating drive 14 . as is seen in fig1 , an angle α , which is more than 0 ° and at most 45 °, is enclosed between a connecting center line of the rotational axes of the engraved roll 1 and the printing form cylinder 17 and a connecting central line of the engraved roll 1 and the ink applicator roll 7 . the engraved roll 1 has one respective bearer ring 26 on each of the drive side and the operator side . during printing operation , the two bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 bear against the same type of bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 . the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 also bear against bearer rings 28 of the printing form cylinder 17 . the system which is shown in fig1 and 2 functions as follows : the pivoting levers 4 are kept in contact with the stops 6 by the springs 18 . in this state , the operator can set the pressure between the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 and the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 by rotation of the screw 11 . the coordination between the bearer ring prestressing force and the prestress of the springs 18 is selected in such a way that , during the setting of the bearer ring pressure , the contact between the pivoting levers 4 and the stops 6 is canceled , as is shown in fig1 . a minimum reduction in the external diameter of the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 as a consequence of cooling or an exchange of the engraved roll 1 is compensated for by the prestressing force of the springs 18 , with the result that the bearer ring pressure remains constant . a minimum increase in the diameter of the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 is likewise compensated for by the prestressing force of the springs 18 and the bearer ring pressure is kept constant . a minimum increase in the bearer ring diameter can be a consequence of an exchange of the engraved roll 1 , in which the diameters of the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 are greater than the diameters of the bearer rings of another engraved roll which was situated in the roll sockets 3 before the engraved roll 1 was inserted into the roll sockets 3 . a minimum increase in the bearing diameter can likewise result from heating of the engraved roll 1 and of its bearer rings 26 , in which the heating and the thermally induced bearer ring widening is caused by temperature control of the engraved roll 1 . in this temperature control , a temperature control fluid flows through an annular temperature control channel 43 within the engraved roll 1 . fig3 shows an exemplary embodiment which differs from the exemplary embodiment that is shown in fig1 and 2 , only with regard to the configuration of the eccentric bearings 8 and with regard to the sprung mounting of the pivoting levers 4 . as a result , the description of the remaining features of the previous exemplary embodiment is also valid for the exemplary embodiment which is shown in fig3 . in this exemplary embodiment , the eccentric bushing 13 is the only eccentric bushing of the respective eccentric bearing 8 and the respective pivoting lever 4 is connected to an actuating drive 25 for pivoting the pivoting lever 4 . the actuating drive 25 serves to pivot the pivoting lever 4 , counter to the force of a spring 23 which loads the pivoting lever 4 , in the direction in which the engraved roll 1 is thrown onto the ink applicator roll 7 . the actuating drive 25 loads the pivoting lever 4 through the spring 18 , the force of which is greater than that of the spring 23 . a nut 24 serves to set the prestress of the spring 18 . the actuating drive 25 is a pneumatic working cylinder , and the spring 18 , which is a compression spring , is seated on a piston rod of the pneumatic working cylinder . the spring 18 is supported on the pivoting lever 4 with one end and on the nut 24 with its other end , optionally through a washer , and the nut 24 is screwed onto the piston rod . the spring 23 , which loads the pivoting lever 4 in the opposite direction to the spring 18 , is supported on the pivoting lever 4 with one end and on the journal which is fixed to the frame with the other end . the system which is shown in fig3 functions as follows : as a result of the actuation of the eccentric bearings 8 on the drive side and on the operator side , which takes place through the use of the actuating drives 14 , the ink applicator roll 7 can be thrown onto the printing form cylinder 17 and can be thrown off the latter again . as a result of the actuating movement of the drive - side and operator - side actuating drives 25 , that is to say as a result of the extension of their piston rods , the springs 18 are prestressed , with the result that a prestress is set between the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 and the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 ( see fig2 ). this bearer ring pressure can be adjusted by the nut 24 of the respective actuating drive 25 being screwed toward the pivoting lever 4 or away from the latter . in order to cancel the contact between the engraved roll 1 and the ink applicator roll 7 and between the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 and the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 , the actuating drives 25 are actuated in the opposite direction , which can take place by switching off compressed air loading in the preferred configuration of the actuating drives 25 as pneumatic working cylinders . after the compressed air loading is switched off , the springs 23 are able to pivot the pivoting levers 4 counter to the clockwise direction with regard to fig3 , with the springs 23 pressing the piston rods of the actuating drives 25 into the latter . the springs 23 act , as it were , as restoring springs of the actuating drives 25 and , when the actuating drives 25 are deactivated , hold the pivoting levers 4 in a position in which the engraved roll 1 and its bearer rings 26 are thrown off the ink applicator roll 7 and its bearer rings 27 . if the diameters of the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 vary or change for the above - described reasons , the bearer ring diameter difference which results therefrom is compensated for by the springs 18 which keep the pressure between the bearer rings 26 , 27 substantially constant . fig4 shows an exemplary embodiment which differs from the exemplary embodiment that is shown in fig1 and 2 , only with regard to the configuration of the roll sockets 3 and the sprung mounting of the eccentric bearing 8 . the description of the remaining features of the exemplary embodiment according to fig1 and 2 is also valid for the exemplary embodiment in fig4 in a transferred sense . in this exemplary embodiment , the two roll sockets 3 are attached in a fixed manner to the frame , that is to say in a stationary manner on the machine frame . the actuating drive 10 , which rotates the first eccentric bushing 9 of the respective eccentric bearing 8 , is sprung through the use of the spring 18 ( in a manner which is comparable with the actuating drive 25 in fig3 ). it is possible for the prestress of the spring 18 to be set through the use of the nut 24 . the screws 11 and the stops 12 ( see fig1 ) are omitted in the exemplary embodiment which is shown in fig4 . the exemplary embodiment functions as follows : in order to throw the ink applicator roll 7 onto the engraved roll 1 , the piston rod of the actuating drive 10 is extended . in this case , the actuating drive 10 acts on the first eccentric bushing 9 through the spring 18 which is supported through the nut 24 on the actuating drive 10 with one end and is supported with its other end through a journal in the arm of the first eccentric bushing 9 . as a result of the switching movement of the actuating drive 10 , the spring 18 is prestressed if the first eccentric bushing 9 moves into its end position , that is to say if the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 come into contact with the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 ( see fig2 ). the magnitude of the prestress of the springs 18 on the drive side and on the operator side defines the magnitude of the bearing pressure and can be adjusted by the nut 24 of the respective actuating drive 10 . if the diameters of the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 vary or change for the above - described reasons , the bearer ring diameter difference which results therefrom is compensated for by the springs 18 , which keep the pressure between the bearer rings 26 , 27 substantially constant . fig5 shows an exemplary embodiment , in which the roll sockets 3 are disposed in a fixed manner on the frame , as in the exemplary embodiment according to fig4 . the ink applicator roll 7 is mounted rotatably on the drive side and on the operator side in one control cam 32 in each case . each respective control cam 32 is an annular disk and , on its circumferential surface , has a cam profile which includes an elevation 33 and a depression 34 . each control cam 32 is assigned a fixed supporting roll 35 , an adjustable supporting roll 36 and a supporting roll 37 which is sprung through the use of a spring 38 . a circumferential point of the control cam 32 , at which the adjustable supporting roll 36 bears against the control cam 32 , is diametrically opposed to a circumferential point of the ink applicator roll 7 , at which the printing form cylinder 17 bears against the ink applicator roll 7 . the adjustable supporting roll 36 is disposed , as it were , on the extension line of the connecting center lines of the rotational axes of the printing form cylinder 17 and the ink applicator roll 7 . the fixed supporting roll 35 is disposed on the connecting center lines of the rotational axes of the engraved roll 1 and the ink applicator roll 7 , and the sprung supporting roll 38 is disposed diametrically opposite the fixed supporting roll 35 on the extension of those connecting center lines . the direction of the last - mentioned connecting center lines also corresponds to the direction of action of the spring 38 which attempts to press the ink applicator roll 7 against the engraved roll 1 through the sprung supporting roll 37 and the control cam 32 and in the process to press the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 against the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 . an actuating drive 40 for rotating the control cam 32 is connected to the latter in terms of gear technology through a coupler mechanism 39 . the control cam ( which is not shown in fig5 ) on the machine side ( which is also not shown in fig5 ) can be rotated through a further coupler mechanism of this type . the two coupler mechanisms on the drive side and the operator side are connected to one another through a common shaft 45 . the actuating drive 40 is therefore a common actuating drive for the synchronous rotation of both control cams . it should be noted at this point that the actuating drives 10 , 14 and 25 which are shown in fig1 , 3 and 4 can also likewise be common actuating drives of this type for actuating both pivoting levers 4 or both eccentric bearings 8 . the adjustable supporting rolls 36 in fig5 are mounted in each case in an eccentric bearing which makes it possible to set the pressure between the ink applicator roll 7 and the printing form cylinder 17 . during printing operation when the ink applicator roll 7 is thrown onto the engraved roll 1 and the printing form cylinder 17 , a gap 44 is situated between the fixed supporting roll 35 and the control cam 32 . the force of the springs 38 of the sprung supporting rolls 37 on the drive side and the operator side is dimensioned in such a way that it applies the weight of the ink applicator roll 7 , the contact forces between the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 and the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 , and the contact forces in the contact zone of the role barrels or bodies of the rolls 1 and 7 . the system which is shown in fig5 functions as follows : if a temperature change of the engraved roll 1 leads to a change in the diameter of the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 , this is compensated for by the sprung supporting rolls 37 , with the result that the contact forces between the bearer rings 26 of the engraved roll 1 and the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 are kept substantially constant . the temperature change cannot therefore cause excess pressure of the bearer rings 26 , 27 nor underpressure . in order to throw the ink applicator roll 7 off the engraved roll 1 , the control cams 32 are rotated in the clockwise direction with regard to fig5 , with the result that the elevation 33 of the respective control cam 32 comes into contact with the fixed supporting roll 35 and , as a result , the control cams 32 together with the ink applicator roll 7 are displaced in the direction of the sprung supporting rolls 37 which yield with slight compression of the springs 38 . in this rotational position of the control cams 32 , the engraved roll 1 can be removed from the roll sockets 3 and another engraved roll can be inserted into the roll sockets 3 . when the ink applicator roll 7 is thrown onto the other engraved roll , which takes place after the engraved roll change , the correct pressure between the bearer rings 27 of the ink applicator roll 7 and the bearer rings 26 of the other engraved roll is set automatically by the sprung supporting rolls 37 . deviations as a result of manufacturing tolerances between the diameters of the bearer rings 26 of the removed engraved roll 1 and the bearer rings of the inserted other engraved roll , are thus compensated for . in order to throw the ink applicator roll 7 off the printing form cylinder 17 , the control cam 32 is rotated into a rotational position , in which the depression 34 is situated under the adjustable supporting roll 36 .	1
fig1 is a network diagram showing an automated inventory system integrated into a client &# 39 ; s own network ( lan / intranet ) in one embodiment of this invention . the client network originally comprises of a firewall 100 , and four workstations 102 , 104 , 106 , and 108 , before the implementation of the automated inventory system . the automated inventory system comprises of an administrative unit 110 , and three dispensing units 112 , 114 and 116 . the automated inventory system uses the client network as part of its communication infrastructure . the dispensing units 112 , 114 , and 116 are connected to available ports on the client network . the administrative unit 110 is connected to the client network via the internet , and is thus located beyond the firewall 100 . each dispensing unit has at least one bin , tray , or other compartment adapted to store supplies . the setup of the compartments depend on the supplies to be dispensed and the environment in which the dispensing unit is used in . for example , the dispensing unit maybe used in offices , hospitals , manufacturing operations , etc . usually , each compartment stores a single type of item . to access the supplies in the dispensing unit , a user first identifies himself . this may be accomplished in many ways , including but not limited to , user id ( and password , optionally ) entry , key cards or other electronic identification , fingerprint and iris scanning . as the user removes supplies from the dispensing unit , it tracks the quantities of items removed . there are many ways to do so , including but not limited to , compartments adapted to count and dispense a quantity input by the user , compartments programmed to dispense a preset quantity , and weight - sensitive compartments that senses the change in weight after a user removes supplies . an exemplary dispensing unit is disclosed in u . s . application ser . no . 10 / 008 , 612 , the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference . optionally the user may enter one or more accounts to which the costs of the supplies removed are to be billed . the transaction information thus collected needs to be periodically sent to the administrative unit . for security , the firewall 100 is often set to reject connection requests originating from outside the client network , with the exception of e - mail . for example , if the administrative unit 110 attempts to connect to the dispensing unit 112 , i . e . by polling , this connection request will be rejected by the firewall 100 . thus it is desirable to have the dispensing unit , for example , 112 , initiate the connection to the administrative unit 110 . to the firewall 100 , this is equivalent to a user accessing the internet from a workstation , for example , 102 . this connection may be via the hypertext transfer protocol ( http ) or its secured counterpart ( https ). after connection , the administrative unit 110 can upload files to , and download files from , a dispensing unit , for example , 112 , as though connected via the traditional file transfer protocol ( ftp ). these files include the regular incoming and outgoing ( from viewpoint of dispensing unit ) files with information on users , items and transactions . these files may also include error log files , communication configuration files , and dispensing unit executable files . the administrative unit 110 can also execute commands on the dispensing unit , for example , rebooting the dispensing unit . these commands are sent to the dispensing unit in a file during the file transfer , and contain parameters recognized as commands by the program running on the dispensing unit . the administrative unit 110 has an interface for an administrator to perform all the above functions . other functions available on this interface may include adding , changing and deleting users and dispensing units . the administrative unit 110 also keeps a connection log from each dispensing unit . in some embodiments events are triggered by an aberrant dispensing unit , one which has not communicated with the administrative unit 110 over a preset period of time . in one of these embodiments a message is dispatched to the administrator advising him to physically check on the aberrant dispensing unit . in another one of these embodiments the administrative unit 110 may prioritize the next connection attempt from the aberrant dispensing unit . fig2 is an overview flowchart of the program running on a dispensing unit . following an initialization step 200 , the program determines in step 202 whether it is time to connect to the administrative unit , by comparing a timer value to the communication interval . if so , it connects to the administrative unit in step 204 and transfer files . if not , it next determines in step 206 whether the file transfer request is urgent . if it is urgent , the program loops back to step 204 . step 208 represents an interrupt at which the program may be terminated , passing control back to the system handler in step 210 . in step 212 the dispensing unit determines if the communication configuration file has changed . if so it updates the changed communication parameters , such as the communication interval or the administrative unit &# 39 ; s ip address , in step 214 . the program runs in a loop , labeled the main loop , defined by steps 202 , 206 , 208 and 212 . fig3 is a detailed flowchart of step 202 in fig2 . the executable file containing the program is run in step 300 . in step 302 , the program opens a http port . in step 304 it checks the integrity of the files on the dispensing unit . in step 306 it reads the communication configuration file of the dispensing unit , and determines if the file is corrupted in step 308 . if so ; the file is reset with default communication parameters in step 310 . in step 312 , the timer is started , and the program returns to the main loop . steps 314 , 316 , and 318 are points at which the program may be terminated , passing control back to the system handler in step 320 . fig4 is a detailed flowchart of step 204 in fig2 . the program initiates the connection to the administrative unit in step 400 . in step 402 the program determines whether the connection has timed out . if so the program returns to the main loop . in step 406 the program attempts to log into the administrative unit . in step 408 the program determines whether the connection has timed out . if so the program returns to the main loop . in step 410 the program determines whether it has access to the administrative unit . if access is denied the program returns to the main loop . if access is granted the program next determines in step 412 whether an older version of the incoming file already exists . if not the incoming file is received in step 414 . if an older version of the incoming files exists in step 412 , that means it has not been processed by the dispensing unit , and program skips step 414 . in step 416 the outgoing file is sent to the administrative unit . steps 418 and 420 are points at which the program may be terminated , passing control back to the system handler in step 422 . fig5 is a detailed flowchart of step 414 in fig4 . in step 500 the program sends a http request to the administrative unit for the incoming file . in step 502 the dispensing unit receives a block of the incoming file . if the connection times out , as represented by step 504 , the temp file storing the blocks received so far is deleted in step 506 and the program returns to the main loop . in step 508 the checksum is calculated for error correction . if there is an error a nack is sent to the administrative unit in step 510 . if the number of nack &# 39 ; s exceeds a predetermined limit in step 512 , the temp file storing the blocks received so far is deleted in step 514 and the program returns to the main loop . if there is no error after the checksum is calculated in step 508 the received block is appended to the temp file in step 516 and an ack is sent to the administrative unit in step 518 . in step 520 the program determines whether the received block is the last block of the incoming file . if not the timer is reset in step 522 and the program loops back to step 502 . if the last block of the incoming file has been received , the temp file is renamed to the incoming file in step 524 . step 526 represents an interrupt at which the program may be terminated , passing control back to the system handler in step 528 . fig6 is a detailed flowchart of step 416 in fig4 . in step 600 the outgoing file is broken down into blocks . the next block is determined in step 602 and a checksum for error correction is calculated in step 604 . in step 606 this block is transmitted to the administrative unit . if the connection times out , as represented by step 608 , the program returns to the main loop . the program requests an acknowledgement from the administrative unit in step 610 . once again , if the connection times out , as represented by step 612 , the program returns to the main loop . if a nack is received in step 610 , the program determines if the number of nack &# 39 ; s exceeds a predetermined limit in step 614 . if so , the program returns to the main loop . if an ack is received in step 610 , the program determines whether there are more blocks to transmit in step 616 . if so the program loops back to step 602 . if there are no more blocks to transmit in step 616 , the outgoing file is deleted in step 618 and the program determines whether there are other files to be transferred to the administrative unit in step 620 . for example , the administrative unit may request that the error log file from the dispensing unit be transferred . steps 622 and 626 are points at which the program may be terminated , passing control back to the system handler in steps 624 and 628 , respectively . while certain embodiments of the inventions are described above , these embodiments have been presented by way of example only , and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions . indeed , the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms ; furthermore , various omissions , substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions . the accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the invention .	6
an internal combustion engine having an lpg fuel supply system according to the invention for use in conjunction with normal gasoline operation is illustrated in fig1 . the internal combustion engine is schematically shown at 10 , having the lpg fuel supply system 12 mounted on the carburetor ( not shown ). the lpg fuel is supplied from a storage tank 14 through lock - out valve 16 to the lpg fuel supply system 12 . the lock - out valve 16 is controlled by a toggle switch 18 mounted on a control panel 20 in the vehicle . the toggle switch 18 also controls a lock - out valve 22 for controlling the flow of gasoline to the engine 10 when the lpg fuel supply system is not in use . the toggle switch 18 is a two - positioned switch which turns lock - out valve 16 on , and lock - out valve 22 off , or vice versa . the toggle switch 18 is connected to the ignition by means of wire 28 , automatically shutting off both lock - out valves 16 and 22 when the ignition is off . the control panel 20 also includes a control 24 , connected by means of a cable 26 to the lpg fuel supply system for switching the air valve from lpg operation to gasoline operation of the internal combustion engine 10 . hot water lines 32 are connected to the heater 34 , as well as to the lpg fuel supply system 12 , as will be described in greater detail hereinafter . the lpg fuel supply system 12 can be seen in greater detail in fig2 and 3 . fig2 is a top view showing the hose connection 40 for supplying liquified gas through hose or pipe 38 to the fuel system 12 . hot water from the engine 10 is supplied by means of hoses 36 connected to the lpg housing 42 by means of fixtures 44 and 46 . water is circulated through the housing 42 , in fixture 44 and out fixture 46 , or vice versa . a circular chamber is formed between a top cover 48 , and a first stage cover 50 , having a center boss 52 . the chamber 54 formed between these two covers is separated by means of a web 56 , so that water circulated around the boss 52 , from one side of the circular chamber to the other . the first stage cover plate 50 also forms a vaporizing chamber 56 between the bottom plate 58 of the main frame 60 of the housing 42 . thus , the cover plate 50 is in heat exchange relationship between the vaporizing chamber 56 and the hot fluid circulating chamber 54 . liquified gas is delivered from fixture 40 through conduit 62 and regulating valve 64 to the vaporizing chamber 56 . the regulator valve 64 is responsive to the pressure in the vaporizing chamber , acting on a diaphragm 66 connected at 70 to lever 68 for operating the inlet valve 64 . a spring 72 , behind the diaphragm 66 , normally holds the valve 64 in the open position . as liquid gas flows into the vaporizing chamber 56 and expands , exerting a pressure on the diaphragm 66 , the valve 64 is slowly closed when the pressure reaches a predetermined amount . the amount of pressure to close the valve 64 can be varied by means of a screw 74 passing through a threaded washer 76 , securely fastened to the top of spring 72 . by rotation of the screw 74 , the amount of compressive force of the spring 72 is varied , changing the responsive pressure of the diaphragm 66 . the vaporized lpg fuel is delivered from the vaporizing chamber 56 to a low - pressure cavity 78 formed between a low - stage ( i . e . second stage ) cover 80 and the bottom plate 58 of the main frame 60 . the flow of vaporized fuel from chamber 56 to a low - pressure chamber 78 is controlled by dual flow control valve 82 . dual flow control valve 82 has dual concentric heads 84 and 86 , providing for idle adjustment and full load adjustment , as will be described in greater detail hereinafter . access to the dual flow control valve 82 is provided through a cap 88 , mounted in housing cover 48 . threaded sleeve 90 separates the dual flow control valve 82 from the hot water circulating chamber 54 . the vaporized fuel flows from the chamber 56 into the low - pressure cavity 78 , through holes ( not shown ) in the side wall 92 of the main frame 60 , into a mixing chamber 94 , for mixing with atmospheric air . atmospheric air is supplied through air valve 96 , surrounding the peripheral mixing chamber , 94 , between the outer wall of the main frame 60 and the inside of the cylindrical air valve 96 . the fuel - air mixture then flows through vanes 98 on the low pressure cavity cover 80 into the intake manifold of an engine , through a carburetor 100 , indicated by phantom lines . an adaptor 102 is provided for securing the lpg fuel supply system to a conventional carburetor . fuel flow into the low - pressure cavity 78 is responsive to the downstream pressure in the intake manifold because of the operation of diaphragm 104 controlling the operation of flow control valve 82 through operating arm 106 . the flow control operating arm 106 moves up and down , as illustrated at 108 , with the diaphragm 104 responsive to the vacuum in the engine . as the arm 106 , which is pivotally supported at 110 moves up and down with the diaphragm , it opens and closes the dual valve 82 , controlling the flow of vaporized fuel to the low - pressure cavity 78 . at idle , the vacuum will be low , and the actuating arm 106 will open only the idle valve head 84 attached to the rod 110 . spring 112 biases the valve head 84 toward a closing position , sealing ports 114 in second valve head 86 . at maximum load conditions , the actuating arm 106 will move the shaft 110 completely up until it engages the main valve head 186 opening that valve , allowing flow through port 116 in the main frame bottom plate 58 . thus , maximum vaporized fuel flow is accomplished around the valve head 86 through port 106 , as well as through ports 114 in the valve head itself . the main valve head 86 is biased toward a closed position by means of spring 118 compressed between the head 86 and the shank of adjustably threaded collar 120 . the idle valve head 84 is adjusted by means of insert 122 , threadably engaged in the collar 120 . the collar 120 has internal threads 124 , allowing the insert 122 to be adjusted , varying the compressive force on spring 112 , biasing idle valve head 84 toward a closed position . by this means , idle valve head 84 can be separately adjusted , as can the main valve head 86 , by means of threaded collar 120 . the threaded collar 120 is threadably engaged in the sleeve 90 , for adjustment , to vary the compressive force of spring 118 on the main valve head 86 . the calibration and adjustment of the idle valve head 84 , and the main valve head 86 , are illustrated in the partial sectional view of fig4 . the cap , or plug , 88 is first removed from the cover 48 , and a calibrating tool secured to this cover by means of a socket 128 . the calibrating tool has two concentric , rotatable members 130 and 132 . the rotating member 132 has pins 134 , engaging holes 136 in insert 122 , while the outer rotatable , adjustable member 130 has pins 138 engaging sockets 140 in collar 120 . a vacuum pressure gauge 142 is connected through a conduit 144 to the interior of the vaporizing chamber 56 . with the calibrating tool 126 installed as described , the idle adjustment can be performed by rotating concentric member 132 , which in turn rotates the insert or plug 122 , to vary the force on the spring 112 , thereby adjusting the opening and closing of ports 114 by idle valve head 84 . adjustment of the dual flow control valve 82 for full load operation is provided through rotation of concentric member 130 , having pins 138 engaging the collar 120 . the collar is threaded into the sleeve 90 , and by rotation of the member 130 , the collar 120 threads into the sleeve 90 , to increase or decrease the compressive force of the spring 118 on the main valve head 86 . thus , the amount of force and opening of the main port 116 is controlled . once the calibration for idle and full load conditions is complete , the calibrating tool 126 may be removed , and the cap 88 replaced , and the engine is now ready for operation . since the operation of the engine on lpg fuel is different from the operation on regular gasoline , an air valve 96 is provided to vary the air flow into the mixing chamber 94 . the air valve is comprised of two telescoping , tubular members 148 and 150 , which regulate the air flow into the mixing chamber 94 . the operation of the air valve can be seen in greater detail in fig5 through 11 . each of the tubular , telescoping members 148 and 150 has a plurality of apertures which move in and out of registration , as the two members are rotated with respect to each other . for purposes of the present invention , the inner tubular member 148 is secured to the main frame 60 , as shown at 152 . thus , the inner , tubular member 148 is held stationary , while the outer , tubular member 150 is permitted to move a predetermined amount to control the flow of air through apertures in each member . each of the members has three adjacent holes , equally spaced around the circumference at approximately 90 degrees . thus , the outer member 150 has four sets of three holes 154 , identical in size to holes 156 in the inner , tubular member 148 . thus , for purposes of the present invention , there are four sets of three identical holes , equally spaced , approximately 90 degrees , providing 12 holes in each member . two of the holes of each set in the inner member are covered by a flexible reed - like member , 158 for restricting the flow of air into the mixing chamber when the engine is operating on lpg fuel . for gasoline operation , some of the apertures in the tubular members 148 and 150 will be in registration , allowing substantially free unrestricted air flow through the air valve 96 . the outer , tubular member 50 is adjusted through a cable 26 attached to a tab 160 , secured to the outer , tubular member 150 . a slot ( not shown ) in cover member 162 limits the movement of the outer , tubular member 150 , with respect to the inner , tubular member 148 , thus providing an open or closed position for the flow of air into the mixing chamber 94 . in the position shown in fig6 and 8 , only the holes behind the flexible reed 158 are in registration , and the device is set for lpg fuel operation . air will flow in around the flexible reed - like member as indicated by the arrows . the cable control 24 would be labelled &# 34 ; lpg in &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; gasoline out &# 34 ; or vice versa , as desired . thus , with the cable control 24 pushed in , air would have to flow through the apertures in registration beneath the reed 158 , providing a slow control flow of air beneath the reed 158 , into the mixing chamber 96 . with the cable control knob 24 in the out position , two of the apertures 154 and 156 of each set will be in registration , allowing substantially unrestricted free flow of air into the mixing chamber 94 , for gasoline operation of the engine . air flowing through the apertures in the air valve 96 is delivered through a cylindrical air filter 166 , supported between outward extending covers 162 and 164 , securely attached to the housing 42 . the covers 162 and 164 are easily removed for replacing the air filter 166 at predetermined intervals . in operation , the lpg fuel supply system operates to deliver vaporized , butane or propane gas , or a mixture thereof , to the mixing chamber 94 for mixing with air , which is then delivered to the intake manifold or carburetor of an internal combustion engine . hot water , circulated through fitting 44 , around circular chamber 54 , divided by web or partition 56 , and out through fitting 46 , provides heat for vaporizing chamber 56 . lpg gas is delivered through fitting 40 to vaporizing chamber 56 when the switch 18 is in the lpg position , opening lock - out valve 16 and closing gasoline lock - out valve 22 . this allows lpg fuel to flow from storage tank 14 through line 38 into the lpg fuel supply system 12 . the lpg fuel flows through normally opened valve 64 into the vaporizing chamber 56 , wherein it expands , exerting a pressure on diaphragm 66 , closing the valve 64 at a predetermined pressure . the heat exchanged through the cover plate 50 causes the gas to expand for delivery through dual flow control valve 82 . flow of the vaporized fuel is controlled in response to the engine operation by means of actuating arm 106 , attached to diaphragm 104 , open to the intake manifold vacuum pressure through the carburetor throat . as the actuating arm 106 moves upward , it engages the rod or shaft 110 , opening the first valve head or idling valve head 84 . as demand is increased , the actuating arm 106 will move further upward to engage the end of the main valve head 86 , opening the main port 116 into the low - pressure cavity 78 , delivering a larger volume of vaporized fuel for mixing with air in the mixing chamber 94 . at the same time , air is flowing through air control valve 96 , having apertures above the entrance area of vaporized fuel for mixing with the vaporized fuel for delivery through vanes 98 in bottom plate 80 , to the engine for burning . when it is desired to switch to gasoline operation , switch 18 is operated , closing lock - out valve 16 , and opening lock - out valve 22 . at the same time , cable control knob 24 is moved to open the air valve 96 for the free flow of air into the intake manifold . thus , there has been disclosed a compact , relatively simple lpg fuel supply system for attachment to conventional internal combustion engines , to convert the engines for operation on either standard gasoline or lpg fuels , such as butane or propane , or mixtures thereof . obviously , many modifications and variations of the invention are possible in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that the full scope of the invention is not limited to the details disclosed herein , but only by the claims , and may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described .	5
in one embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in fig1 the present invention is directed to a flexible connection 10 for use in connecting train cabins in high speed train . although connection 10 is designed to supply a better means of connecting train cabins compatible with high speeds this is in no way intended to limit the scope of the present invention . for example , the same connection means can be used on standard or older model trains if the situation were to present itself . however , for the purposes of illustration , connection 10 will refer to a connection between the cabins of high speed , trains designed to travel in excess of 100 miles per hour . in one embodiment of the present invention , as illustrated in fig1 a first train cabin 12 , and a second train cabin 14 are linked at flexible connection 10 . for the purposes of illustration both cabins 12 and 14 are substantially tubular in shape , however , other shapes can be used . cabins 12 and 14 are preferably constructed of aluminum materials similar to a monocoque aircraft skin design , however any design using lightweight , durable metal can be used provided it meets the necessary specifications for high speed train cabins . as illustrated in fig1 first train cabin 12 has a tapered end portion 16 having an outer circumference 18 . tapered end portion 16 fits within a front portion 20 of second train cabin 14 in order to connect cabins 12 and 14 . in another embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in fig1 and 2 tapered end portion 16 of first train cabin 12 maintains first and second outer ring flanges 30 and 31 disposed about outer circumference 18 of first train cabin 12 and extends to inner perimeter 24 of front portion 20 of second train cabin 14 . first and second outer flanges 30 and 31 which extend across the gap between first and second train cabins 14 , form a closed volume 32 . additionally , a separator ring 34 may be located on outer circumference 18 of first train cabin 12 , disposed such that it bisects outer flanges 30 and 31 so as to further subdivide closed volume 32 into first and second chambers 36 and 37 . in an alternative embodiment of the present invention , as illustrated in fig1 front portion 20 of second train cabin 14 maintains first and second inner ring flanges 40 and 41 disposed about inner circumference 24 of second train cabin 14 and extends to outer perimeter 18 of tapered end portion 16 of first train cabin 12 . first and second inner flanges 40 and 41 , which extend across the gap between first and second train cabins 14 , form a closed volume 42 . additionally , a separator ring 44 may be located on inner circumference 24 of second cabin 14 , disposed such that it bisects inner flanges 40 and 41 of second train cabin 14 such that closed volume 42 is further subdivided into first and second chambers 46 and 47 . it should be noted that for the purposes of illustration , ring flange assemblies discussed below refer to flanges 30 , 31 and separator ring 34 disposed on first train cabin 12 , however , this is in no way intended to limit the scope of the present invention . for example , the entire flange assembly , such as those discussed above as flanges 40 , 41 and separator ring 44 , can be entirely located on second train cabin 14 . either configuration is acceptable provided that the entire flange assembly is disposed on one of the two connected train cabins . their operation in connection with train cabins 12 and 14 are discussed below in detai . in another embodiment of the present invention , as illustrated in fig1 and 2 , a flexible buffer ring 50 is disposed about outer circumference 18 of tapered end portion 16 of first train cabin 12 and configured to provided a cushion to fill the gap between tapered inner portion 16 of first train cabin 12 and front portion 20 of second train cabin 14 . additionally , consecutively placed buffer rings 50 can be used in order to provide additional stability to the connection . buffer rings 50 are preferably constructed in a flexible rolling diaphragm design of woven or rubberized fabric , however this is in no way intended to limit the scope of the present invention . the use of any substance , capable of being pressurized in some capacity , which provides an adequate cushion between first and second train cabins 12 and 14 , is within the contemplation of the present invention . buffer rings 50 , are preferably filled with air or water based liquids which provide adequate resistance to the opposing walls of front portion 20 of second train cabin 14 and tapered end portion 16 of first train cabin 12 such that when the train enters a curve at high speeds , buffer rings 50 will be sufficiently rigid so as to prevent first and second train cabins from contacting one another yet sufficiently elastic so as to allow cabins 12 and 14 to turn with respect to one another about the bend axis . buffer rings 50 may be filled , with either air or liquid , to a pressure sufficient to cushion cabins 12 and 14 . buffer rings 50 , based on their size and the surface area in contact with cabins 12 and 14 are preferably filled to a low pressure in the range of 5 - 25 psi , however , this is in no way intended to limit the scope of the present invention . any pressure capable of providing the necessary level of rigidity / elasticity , taking into account such variables as temperature , train speed and train weight , is within the contemplation of the present invention . in another embodiment of the present invention , as more clearly illustrated in fig2 buffer rings 50 are disposed around outer circumference 18 of tapered end 16 of first train cabin 12 such that rings 50 are disposed in closed volume 32 . for the purposes of illustration closed volume 32 formed by first and second outer flanges 30 and 31 will be used throughout . buffer rings 50 are disposed within closed volume 32 so as to keep rings 50 within a limited confines so that rings 50 do not slip off of the end of tapered end portion 16 of first cabin 12 so as to maintain a stable cushion between train cabins 12 and 14 . in another embodiment of the present invention , as illustrated in fig2 buffer rings 50 are disposed within closed volume 32 in first and second chambers 36 and 37 , such that rings 50 , which provide the bumper between inner circumference 24 of second train cabin 14 and outer circumference 18 of first train cabin 12 for movements transverse to the axis of train movement , will also be in contact with first and second train cabins 12 and 14 via separator ring 34 in the axis of train movement . in this configuration , not only will rings 50 provide a cushion between cabins for angled turn movements outside of the train movement axis between the cabins ( along the bend axis ), but also will provide addition cushioning when the train stops and starts , where first and second train cabins 12 and 14 move closer and further apart within the train movement axis . any number of rings 50 may be employed in first and second chambers 36 and 37 of closed volume 32 such that failure of a single ring 50 will not entirely destroy the overall connectivity benefits between first and second train cabins 12 and 14 . in another embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in fig3 a retractable separator mechanism 22 is disposed in either one of first train cabin 12 or second train cabin 14 , configured to securely attach the opposite train cabin . for the purposes of illustration , cabin separator mechanism 22 is located in second train cabin 14 , however this is in no way intended to limit the scope of the invention . retractable separator mechanism 22 is located within front portion 20 of second train cabin 14 . retractable separator mechanism 22 is comprised of a gear motor 26 and a gear locking ring 25 having cam surfaces located thereon . a series of locking pins 27 are disposed on the end of a connector ring 39 . locking pins 27 maintain gear notches 23 for accepting the cam surfaces of locking ring 25 . additionally , a separator ring 34 , rigidly coupled to connector ring 39 , is disposed between buffer rings 50 further adds stability to the connectivity between train cabins 12 and 14 as discussed above . separator ring 34 is preferably rectangular in shape , designed to press against separator ring 50 in closed volume 32 . as illustrated in fig3 connector ring 39 extends from locking pins 27 , past second outer flange 31 and upwardly towards the center of connection 10 to separator ring 34 . it should be noted that fig3 is a cutaway view of connection 10 and as such , only one locking pin 27 connection is illustrated . however , as both cabins 12 and 14 are cylindrical in shape it is within the contemplation of the present invention that the series of locking pins 27 are disposed around the circumference of cabins 12 and 14 so as to provide a more stable connection between the two . when connecting first train cabin 12 to second train cabin 14 , the entire assembly of first and second outer flanges 30 and 31 are attached to tapered end portion 16 of first train cabin 12 . as illustrated in fig3 separator ring 34 , coupled to connector ting 39 is disposed such that the separator ring 34 is placed in closed volume 32 , between at least on buffer ring 50 on the side of first outer flange 30 and a buffer ring 50 on the side of second outer flange 31 . after separator ring 34 is in place , locking pins 27 , coupled to separator ring 34 via connecting ring 39 are moved into proximity with retractable separator mechanism 22 located on second train cabin 14 . after train cabins 12 and 14 are in place and locking pins 27 are inserted into retractable separator 22 , gear motor 26 rotates gear locking ring 25 such that its cam surface engages gear notches 23 of locking pins 27 , thereby securing together first and second train cabins 12 and 14 . thus , in the attached position , connection and axial and compression movement between first and second cabins 12 and 14 is supported through the interaction between separator ring 34 and buffer rings 50 in closed volume 32 . in order to uncouple the cabins gear motor 26 simply rotates gear locking ring 25 so as to disengage its cam surface from gear notches 23 of locking pins 27 . while only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein , many modifications , substitutions , changes or equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art . it is therefore , to be understood that this application is intended to cover all such modifications and changes that fall within the true spirit of the invention .	1
the following is a description of a first embodiment of a surface processing apparatus of the present invention , for the case when used for spattering processing or cvd processing of a semiconductor wafer . as shown in fig1 the surface processing apparatus of the present invention is configured from a heater apparatus i , a gas chamber ii , a process container iii , a gas exhaust tube iv connected to the process container iii , and a throttle valve v and angle valve vi respectively connected to the gas exhaust tube iv . in addition , a gate valve vii is connected adjacent to the process container iii . then , a wafer which the object of processing is carried into the process container iii from the load - lock chamber and the transfer chamber ( not shown ) and via the gate valve vii . as shown in fig2 a semiconductor wafer 1 which is the object of heating and which is to be heated to an optimum temperature is mounted with its surface to be processed , facing upwards , on pusher - pins ( three , for example ) which are the mounting means provided inside the vacuum container 2 which is the process container , and is fixed by a clamp ring 3c of sic and as shown in fig4 . then , a lifter fixes these pusher pins 3 to rings 3a above and below . a light duct 4 formed with reflector mirrors on its inner surface is provided to concentrate the light irradiated to the central portion inside the vacuum container 2 and irradiate it to the wafer . the lower portion opening of the vacuum container 2 has a silica glass window 5 airtightly provided to lead the light from the light source provided on the outer side of the vacuum container 2 , and to inside the vacuum container 2 which is maintained at a degree of vacuum suitable for the processing of the semiconductor wafer 1 ( such as 50 torr ˜ 10 mtorr in the case of cvd processing ). in addition , a buffer 3b is provided to the periphery of the pusher pin 3 . furthermore , it is possible to have temperature control by a thermocouple 3d comprising alumina ceramic and as shown in fig5 provided to the distal end of the pusher pins 3 . in addition , an inert gas is made to flow in the vicinity of the pusher pins 3 to prevent an unnecessary film from sticking to the rear side of the semiconductor wafer 1 . a light source chamber 17 comprising a housing 15 and a frame 6 is provided underneath the outside of the vacuum container 2 , and this light source chamber 17 has a plural number of lamps 8 arranged on an upper surface of a turntable 7 . the turntable 7 is attached to a shaft 11 which is driven by an induction motor 12 via a pulley 13 and which is mounted externally . the configuration is such that the centerline of rotation 10 of the shaft 11 is in agreement with the center line of the wafer 1 , and the turntable rotates inside the light source chamber 17 at a speed of 30 ˜ 60 times per minute . the six lamps 8 for example , which are mounted on the turntable 7 are arranged off - center and equidistantly from the centerline of rotation 10 of the turntable 7 , along a circle having the center 9 . accordingly , the track traced by one of the lamps 8 in one rotation is not a single line , and the configuration is such that the centerline of rotation 10 of the turntable 7 is the center and a plural number of circles having a constant width are formed in the vicinity of the peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer 1 . in addition , power to the plural number of rotating lamps is supplied from a slip - ring 14 provided underneath the rotating shaft 11 , and to the periphery of each of the lamps is provided a reflector mirror 16 comprising a rotating elliptical surface or parabolic surface which has the filament of the lamp 8 at its focus . the following is a description of the position relationship of the arrangement of the semiconductor wafer 1 and the lamp 8 , with reference to fig6 . here , the semiconductor wafer 1 mounted on the ( for example , four ) pusher pins 3 is shown by the solid line . the center 9 of the turntable 7 mounted on the upper end of the shaft 11 is provided off - center from the center of the semiconductor wafer 1 which is the center 10 of the rotating shaft 11 . because of this , when the rotating shaft 11 rotates , the track of the light irradiated by the lamp 83 which is at the 3 o &# 39 ; clock position of fig6 rotates to describe a circle of small radius and having the same center as the semiconductor wafer 1 . also , the track of the light irradiated by the lamp 89 at the 9 o &# 39 ; clock position of fig6 rotates to describe a circle of large diameter and having the same center as the semiconductor wafer 1 . in the same manner , the lamps 81 and 87 at the 1 o &# 39 ; clock and 7 o &# 39 ; clock positions and the lamps 85 and 811 at the 5 o &# 39 ; clock and 11 o &# 39 ; clock positions of fig6 rotate to describe circles of sizes positioned between their respective concentric circles . the configuration is such that the plural number of circles traced by this rotation of the lamps 8 are all positioned above the peripheral edge portion of the semiconductor wafer 1 and so the amount of light which is supplied to the semiconductor wafer 1 increases towards the peripheral edge portion of the semiconductor wafer 1 . accordingly , with the present invention , an amount of heat proportional to the amount of heat escaping from the pusher pins 3 in contact with the peripheral edge portion , and the heat irradiated from the peripheral edge portion of the water , is supplied in excess when compared to the center portion of the wafer and so the temperature of the peripheral edge portions and the center portion of the semiconductor wafer 1 is maintained uniform and it is possible for a constant reaction to proceed across the entire surface of the semiconductor wafer 1 and for a superior wafer having uniform characteristics to be obtained . fig7 shows a comparison of the present invention and the conventional technology for the relationship between the intensity of irradiation and the temperature . when a conventional susceptor is used and the wafer is held and heated , the distribution of the heat which is irradiated to the wafer is uniform as shown by the thick , broken line in fig7 but since there is heat escape from the clamp ring in contact with the wafer , and heat irradiated from the peripheral edge portion of the wafer , the temperature of the wafer drops at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer and as shown by the thin , broken line , and it is not possible to obtain a uniform temperature across the entire surface of the wafer . however , with the surface processing apparatus of the present invention , it is possible for the center of heat irradiation from the heating lamps to be positioned over the peripheral edge of the wafer which is the object of heating and so the irradiation intensity of the light is maximum over the peripheral edge portion of the wafer , as shown by the thick solid line . accordingly , it is possible to compensate for heat escape from the clamp ring in contact with the wafer , and heat irradiated from the peripheral edge portion of the wafer , and a uniform temperature is held across the entire surface of the wafer , without the generation of differences in the temperatures between the peripheral edge portion and the central portion of the wafer , as shown by thin , solid line . the following is a description of a second embodiment of the present invention , with reference to fig8 . the ways in which this second embodiment differs from the first embodiment shown in fig2 are that the center of the arrangement of lamps 8 on the turntable 7 is provided on the same axis as the centerline of rotation 10 of the rotating shaft 1 , and that a lamp tilting mechanism is provided so that each of the lamps 8 arranged on the turntable 7 can be tilted in the direction of the radius . the other portions of the configuration are the same as the first embodiment shown in fig2 . in fig8 those portions of the second configuration which correspond to portions of the first embodiment shown in fig2 are indicated with corresponding numerals , and the corresponding descriptions of them are omitted . more specifically , in this second embodiment , when there is rotation of the turntable upon which the lamp array is arranged so as to be on the same axis as the center axis of the wafer 1 , the lamps 8 provided on the turntable are rotated in a circle concentric with the wafer 1 . here , as shown in fig9 the configuration is such that the lamp tilting mechanisms 19 respectively provided to each of the lamps 8 is configured so that it can tilt back and forth in the direction of the radius of the lamp array 8 , and so that the optical axes 18 can be freely tilted . accordingly , when the respective inclinations of the lamps 8 are different , it is possible to obtain a plural number of tracks of rotation for the lamps 8 , in the same manner as for the first embodiment shown in fig2 and for the amount of irradiation to be increased for a wide range as was possible for the embodiment of fig2 . in addition , when the angles of inclination of each of the lamps 8 are changed by the same amount , it is possible to easily obtain a required circle of irradiation corresponding to the size of the semiconductor wafer 1 . accordingly , even if the processes are changed and the irradiation pattern changes , it is possible to easily and promptly obtain a heating pattern to correspond to - the changes . in addition , as shown in fig1 , it is possible to uniform heating for the central portion as well as the peripheral edge portion of the semiconductor wafer 1 by arranging a plural number of lamps 8 on the inner side as well as a plural number of lamps 8 on the outer side and forming multiple heating zones ( such as three zones , with zone 2 being a track at the center of lamp irradiation in the case of fig1 ) and combining the tracks of rotation of the light through the use of reflector mirrors 16 . in this case , it is possible to have individual control of the temperature of each zone by using a separately provided power controlled to control the power supplied to each zone . by this , it is possible to reduce the individual differences between each of the lamps 8 and eliminate scattering . in addition , as shown in fig1 , the following method is used to perform power control for the three zones , using one of the temperature detection data from the thermocouple 3d . more specifically , the power supply ratio to each of the zones ( zones 1 ˜ 3 ) and which produces a uniform film growth for each wafer heating temperature is stored as data and selected by a controller in accordance with a required heating temperature , and the power supply ratio determined . furthermore , the temperature of the wafer is measured by a plural number of thermocouples for each wafer heating temperature , and the lamp power supply ratio which produces a uniform temperature inside the wafer is stored as data and selected by a controller and in accordance with a required heating temperature and the power supply ratio determined . in fig1 , there is only one place for temperature detection but a temperature detector is provided so as to correspond to the heating zone , and each zone is controlled to its respective temperature . as has been disclosed above , it is possible to obtain the following and other effects according to the first embodiment and the second embodiment of the present invention . ( 1 ) it is possible to use a direct heating method using lamps , to have fast heating of a wafer irrespective of the pressure of the reactive gas , and for the lamps to be rotated to have the amount of light irradiation to the wafer constant in the direction of the edge , for it not to be necessary to use a susceptor for lamp heating , and for contamination of the wafer due to impurities included in the susceptor to be prevented . ( 2 ) it is possible to increase the amount of light irradiation to a peripheral edge portion of a wafer and to have wafer heating so that there is compensation for the escape of heat from the clamp ring , thereby preventing the lowering of the temperature of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer when compared to the center portion , easily obtaining a uniform temperature for across the entire surface of the wafer , and allowing favorable wafer processing . ( 3 ) it is possible to have the center of the lamp arrangement off - center from the center of rotation of the turntable and so increase the amount of light irradiation to a wide range . ( 4 ) providing a lamp tilting mechanism enables the heating region to be easily changed by a simple configuration and so it is possible to quickly correspond to changes in the heating pattern even if there are changes in the pressure , the type of gas or other changes in the process . the following is a description of a third embodiment of the present invention , with reference to fig1 ˜ fig1 . in fig1 , the sheet - type cvd apparatus of the third embodiment , has a cylindrical process container 2 comprising aluminum for example , and in the center portion of this process container 2 is arranged a semiconductor wafer 1 for example , and which is the object of processing . this cvd apparatus uses a plate of silica glass , carbon or sic 21 as a susceptor wafer mounting platform . this susceptor 21 is mounted to a circular shaped opening 22d of a cylindrical support plate 22 having a bottom which faces downwards , and the semiconductor wafer 1 is mounted on the susceptor 21 . the rear surface of the susceptor 21 opposes a heating halogen lamp which is provided externally to the process container 10 via a silica glass plate 5 mounted to a circular opening in the central portion of the bottom surface of the process container 2 . when there is film growth processing , the light from the heater apparatus ( halogen lamp ) passes through the silica glass plate 5 and is irradiated to the rear surface of a semiconductor wafer 1 and via the susceptor 21 , and the semiconductor wafer 1 is heated . in addition , a circular opening 2c is provided to the central portion of the upper surface 2c of the process container 2 , and a cylindrical gas chamber 24 having a bottom facing downwards is mounted vertically so as to close the opening 2c . this gas chamber 24 is of a material such as aluminum or copper alloy and which has a high coefficient of thermal conductivity , and to the peripheral edge portion of the upper end is provided a ring - shaped mounting flange , inside which is provided a ring - shaped water path 24b in which flows cooling water . in addition , the gas chamber 24 is partitioned from the process chamber 2c inside the process container 2 . to the center portion of the upper surface of the gas chamber 24 is provided a large - diameter gas hole for the introduction of gas , and a gas introduction chamber 26 is provided above this gas hole 24c , while the inside of the gas introduction chamber 26 has gas exit holes for the two gas supply pipes 28 , 30 . when for example , this cvd apparatus is used to grow a tungsten film on a semiconductor wafer 1 , wf 6 gas which has been diluted to a required concentration by n 2 gas is supplied at a required flow rate , from the gas supply pipe 28 , while h 2 gas is supplied at a required amount from the other gas supply pipe 30 . to the inner side of the gas chamber 24 are respectively and horizontally mounted the three partition plates 32 , 34 , 36 at a required interval in the vertical direction . the first partition plate 32 which is at the uppermost stage , has a plate thickness of 20 mm for example , and has 153 holes for example , opened in the plate surface in a pattern such as that shown in fig1 for example , is a circular plate of aluminum provided with through holes 32a having a diameter of 0 . 5 mm , and is arranged via a spacer 38 at a position 20 mm for example , below the upper surface on the inner side of the gas chamber 24 . the second partition plate 34 of the middle stage , has a plate thickness of 10 mm for example , and has 252 holes for example , opened in the plate surface in a pattern such as that shown in fig1 . this second partition plate 34 is a circular plate of aluminum provided with through holes 34a having a diameter of 0 . 7 mm , and is arranged via a spacer 40 at a position 20 mm for example , below the lower surface of the first partition plate 32 . the third partition plate 36 of the lowest stage has a plate thickness of 3 mm for example , and has 1740 holes for example , opened in the plate surface in a pattern such as that shown in fig1 . this third partition plate 36 is a circular plate of aluminum provided with through holes 36a having a diameter of 1 . 1 mm , and is arranged at a position 20 mm for example , below the lower surface of the second partition plate 34 . these three stages of partition plates 32 , 34 , 36 and the spacers 38 , 40 partition the three stages of gas flow control chambers 44 , 46 , 48 which each have a suitable flow path area inside the gas chamber 24 . moreover , to the outer side of the gas chamber 24 are respectively provided insulating spacers 50 , 54 between the gas chamber 24 and the upper surface of the process container 2 , and between the upper surface of the gas chamber 24 and the gas introduction chamber 26 . the following is a description of the operation of a cvd apparatus having a configuration such as this . when there is film growth processing , the light energy from the halogen lamps beneath a semiconductor wafer 1 heat that semiconductor wafer which is mounted on a silica glass susceptor 21 while a mixed process gas ( wf 6 , n 2 , h 2 ) is blown onto - the semiconductor wafer 1 from the gas chamber 24 above . the excess process gas and the gas generated by the film growth process is sent to a removal apparatus ( not shown ) via a gas exhaust tube and from a discharge opening provided in the bottom surface of the process container 2 . more desirably , the configuration is such that discharge openings are provided at four or more places and the process gas exhausted uniformly from around the periphery of the semiconductor wafer 1 . in this cvd apparatus , the wf 6 gas , the n 2 gas and the h 2 gas introduced into the gas introduction chamber 26 from the gas supply pipes 28 , 30 are led together from the gas introduction chamber 26 to the upper most stage of the gas control chamber 44 of the gas chamber 24 , and is uniformly mixed there . this is to say that the first partition plate 32 provided to the bottom of this gas flow control chamber 44 has a large plate thickness with a small opening ratio and so there is a low conductance and a large pressure difference is generated between it and the gas flow control chamber 46 . by this , the wf 6 gas , the n 2 gas and the h 2 gas is strongly urged from the gas introduction chamber 26 and stay there are they move , strike each other and are mixed inside the gas flow control chamber 44 . in this manner , the uppermost stage of the gas flow control chamber 44 and the first partition plate 32 has the function of a buffer for the uniform mixing of the process gases . moreover , the through holes 32a in the first partition plate 32 are distributed in the lattice pattern shown in fig1 , and so a mixed process gas ( wf 6 gas , the n 2 gas and the h 2 gas ) having a constant flow rate and concentration per unit surface area is discharged from each of the through holes 32a to the side of the middle stage gas flow control chamber 46 . the mixed process gas ( wf 6 gas , n 2 gas and h 2 gas ) which has entered the middle stage gas flow control chamber 46 has the gas flow adjusted by the second partition plate 34 on the bottom of this chamber 46 so that the flow rate and concentration per unit surface area are uniform in the direction of the radius . this is to say that the through holes 34a of the second partition plate 34 are distributed at a uniform density in the direction of the radius , and are symmetrical about the axis and so the concentration and the flow of the mixed process gas ( wf 6 gas , n 2 gas and h 2 gas ) in the direction of the radius inside the cylindrical shaped gas chamber 24 is constant and symmetrical about the axis as shown in fig1 . in this manner , the middle stage gas flow control chamber 46 and the second partition plate 34 have the function of gas flow adjustment . moreover , the plate thickness of this second partition plate 34 is relatively large and so there is also a certain amount of buffer effect in the gas flow control chamber 46 as well , with further mixing of the mixed process gas ( wf 6 gas , n 2 gas and h 2 gas ). the mixed process gas ( wf 6 gas , n 2 gas and h 2 gas ) which has left the middle stage gas flow control chamber 46 passes at a relatively high speed through the lower stage gas flow control chamber 48 and is discharged from each of the through holes of the third partition plate 36 at a more uniform flow rate and a more uniform concentration , and flows uniformly over the entire surface ( upper surface ) of the semiconductor wafer 1 immediately beneath . the third partition plate 36 is a thin plate which has a large opening ratio and so there is a large conductance , while the through holes 36a are small holes at a high density and so the gas flow of the mixed gas ( wf 6 gas , n 2 gas and h 2 gas ) becomes finer . in this manner , the lower stage gas flow control chamber 48 and the third partition plate 36 function to make the gas flow finer . by making the diameter of the through holes 36a of the second partition plate 34 small while increasing the density , it is possible to omit the third partition plate 36 and the lower stage gas flow control chamber 48 . in addition , the first partition plate 32 can be configured from a ceramic plate or a metal particle sheet or the like and which has many holes , while the pattern of the through holes of the first partition plate 32 can be a symmetrical pattern which is the same as the second partition plate 34 . in addition , in accordance with necessity , it is possible to select an arbitrary pattern for the through hole patterns of each of the partition plates , while arbitrary intervals and thicknesses can be selected for the plate thicknesses of each of the partition plates . in addition , it is also possible to arbitrarily select the number and the diameters of the through holes . the gas flow control chamber can be filled with spherical beads or glass wool or the like . two process gases where introduced in the third embodiment described above , but there can be the introduction of only one process gas . also , the present apparatus is not limited in application to cvd apparatus , as it can be applied to plasma etching apparatus and other types of surface processing apparatus . as has been described above , according to a process apparatus of a third embodiment of the present invention , arranging a plural number of partition plates each provided with many holes , inside a gas chamber which receives a process gas from a gas supply pipe , at a required interval in a direction of gas flow enables a process gas to be blown onto an object of processing at a uniform flow and a uniform concentration , and thereby enables uniform film growth on the object of processing .	7
before proceeding to the description of various preferred embodiments of the invention , further note will be made of certain prior types of am modulators which produce waveforms similar to those of the present device . an examination of the basic methods of operation of these earlier systems will aid greatly in the analysis of the present invention . referring first to fig1 a general bandlimited analog input signal [ designated &# 34 ; m ( t )&# 34 ;] is introduced at 100 to be the modulation input of balanced modulator 101 . the balanced modulator is a product device which effectively multiplies its two input signals together to produce the desired output . some forms of 101 may produce additional spurious high - frequency signals ; these can be removed by the optional low - pass filter 104 . the carrier input of the balanced modulator 103 is fed from a single - frequency rf signal oscillator or generator 102 having an output mathematically described as : where w c is the rf carrier frequency in radians / second . the resultant dsb output signal at 105 is the product of m ( t ) and the carrier wave : this signal has the frequency spectrum indicated in fig4 a , where m ( t ) has the spectrum given by fig4 b . fig2 is a block diagram of a filter - type ssb generation circuit , where the output of a circuit such as in fig1 above ( shown at point 109 ) is fed to the input of a special - purpose filter circuit at 110 . this filter cuts off very sharply in amplitude near the carrier frequency w c and ( according to its design ) effectively removes either the upper sideband ( usb ) or lower sideband ( lsb ) of the dsb signal at 109 . the resultant wave at 111 is a single - sideband signal whose nominal carrier frequency is at w c . depending upon which sideband is selected by 110 , the spectrum will appear as in fig5 a or 5b . fig3 illustrates the more elegant but also more complex form of ssb modulator generally referred to as the &# 34 ; phasing &# 34 ; type generator . the operation of this circuit is in principle very similar to the preferred embodiment of the present invention . first , the bandlimited input signal m ( t ) at 112 ( typically audio ) is applied to the modulation port of the balanced modulator 113 and to the input of the baseband phase - shift network 114 . this network has the characteristic of a flat frequency - versus - amplitude response , but with a phase lag of 90 ° at all frequencies in the spectoral range of m ( t ). the resultant output signal at 115 , designated m ( t ), is mathematically the hilbert transform of m ( t ); it can be visualized as simply a phase - shifted version of m ( t ). this signal at 115 is fed to the modulation input of a second balanced modulator 116 . a carrier generator at 117 provides a stable single - frequency rf source which is applied to a quadrature rf phase shift network 118 which has two outputs separated by 90 ° in phase . the leading - phase output at 120 is of the form : the carrier ports of the balanced modulators 113 and 116 are fed by the signals at 120 and 119 respectively , as shown in the diagram . the signals at 121 and 122 are given by : these two signals are algebraically added in amplifier 123 to produce the desired ssb output wave at 124 . for the usb case , the signal of the present invention is most efficiently generated by the circuitry of fig6 ; this is the preferred embodiment for the svsb modulator . as before , the input signal m ( t ) [ at 132 here ] is applied to the modulation input of a balanced modulator 133 . the input signal is also applied to a high - pass filter 134 which cuts off all frequencies in m ( t ) below 1 / 2w max and thereby passes only the top octave of m ( t ); this high - pass version of the input is denoted m h ( t ), as at 135 . now m h ( t ) is applied to the - 90 ° phase shift network 136 , producing m h ( t ) at 137 . this phase - shifted , high - pass version of m ( t ) is then applied to the modulation input of balanced modulator 138 , just as in the ssb case above . again , a carrier source ( 143 ) feeds an rf phase - shift block ( 140 ) and produces quadrature carrier output at 141 and 139 , with the form : summing these two products in 145 yields the desired output signal : where the connecting sign is (-) for the enhanced usb case and (+) for the enhanced lsb form of the svsb signal . fig7 and 8 are included principally to aid in visualizing the svsb wave ; it is apparent from fig7 that the output of the top modulator 156 includes components from the entire frequency range of m ( t ), whereas the output of the lower modulator 160 possesses sidebands due to only the top octave frequencies present in m ( t ). from fig8 it becomes even more obvious that the svsb wave is simply the sum of a dsb signal modulated by the lower frequencies (≦ 1 / 2w max ) in m ( t ) and an ssb wave produced by the higher frequencies (& gt ; 1 / 2w max ) in m ( t ). from the signals at 174 and 175 , it can be seen that the svsb output can be rewritten as : ## equ1 ## observing that filters 167 and 169 are configured to have complementary responses , it is evident that : where m l ( t ) is the low - pass version ( at 168 ) and m h ( t ) the high - pass version ( at 170 ) of the original m ( t ). substituting in the equation above for v 177 , the form of v 146 is obtained : v . sub . 146 = v . sub . 177 =[ m . sub . l ( t ) cos ( w . sub . c t )+ m . sub . h ( t ) cos ( w . sub . c t )]± m . sub . h ( t ) sin ( w . sub . c t )= m ( t ) cos ( w . sub . c t )± m . sub . h ( t ) sin ( w . sub . c t ). fig9 depicts a filter - type svsb implementation which is apparently simpler than the preferred embodiment ; however , difficulties in synthesizing precisely the desired form of the svsb filter of block 183 may render this form of svsb modulator less attractive than the one of fig6 . fig1 and 11 show graphs of the spectra of the two basic forms of svsb signals and the relative amplitudes of each region of the spectra . from the mathematical form given in the previous equation , it can be verified that the svsb signal may be accurately demodulated by a conventional synchronous detector ( product detector ) generally employed for dsb reception , where the demodulation is accomplished by multiplying a local in - phase carrier with the svsb signal to get : now the term at 2w c can be removed by a low - pass filter , leaving : ## equ2 ## which is exactly proportional to the original modulating signal . the efficient use of spectrum space of the svsb signal ( only 3 / 4 of the dsb bandwidth ) is used to advantage in the broadcast - oriented applications shown in fig1 through 18 . the half - bandwidth vestigial sideband in each spectral plot is placed to permit guard bands at critical spots in the basebands of the tv and fm systems to enhance system performance and reduce crosstalk between the adjacent subcarrier channels . in the am case of fig1 , the reduced - bandwidth signal could be employed on adjacent - channel stations to reduce sideband overlap : the station on the lower frequency would employ the enhanced - lsb form of svsb modulation , while the higher - frequency station would use the enhanced - usb version . a variable vsb signal can be synthesized using the techniques of fig7 ; here , the high - pass filter cutoff frequency could be reduced to a value lower than the usual 1 / 2w max when the waveform of m ( t ) is predominantly sinusoidal and thereby produce a greater proportion of ssb to dsb in the composite wave . when m ( t ) contains more high - frequency transient information , which would tend to produce excessive peak amplitudes in the ssb component , the filter cutoff will then be adjusted upward until the high peak amplitudes are brought into control . several embodiments of an apparatus and method for generating special vestigial sideband signal for use in communication systems are described above . various details of the invention may be changed without departing from its scope . furthermore , the foregoing description of several preferred embodiments of the apparatus and method according to the present invention is provided for the purpose of illustration only and not for the purpose of limitation -- the invention being defined by the claims .	7
the present invention relates to systems , methods , and devices for the conversion of biomass , particularly lignocellulosic biomass , to carboxylic acids and alcohols , particularly primary alcohols . referring now to fig1 , pretreatment and filtration system 10 may be provided in which biomass pile 12 may be blended with lime or quick lime ( calcium carbonate or calcium oxide ) and carbon dioxide ( not shown ) and piled on top of pit 14 filled with gravel 16 . pit 14 may also be lined with liner 18 . biomass pile 12 may include any sort of biomass . in selected embodiments it may include lignocellulosic biomass , such as processed sugarcane or sorghum stalks or corn stover . perforated drain pipe 20 may be embedded in gravel 16 . biomass pile 12 may be covered by cover 22 to keep out rain and debris , particularly if system 10 is outside . pump 24 may circulate water 34 from pit 14 to the top of biomass pile 12 . as water 34 circulates through pile 12 , it may flow through heat exchanger 26 , which may regulate the temperature . cooling water or heat source 28 may also circulate through heat exchanger 26 . during approximately the first month after biomass pile 12 is assembled , air 38 may be blown through pile 12 using blower 30 . to remove carbon dioxide from the air , it may be bubbled through lime water slurry 32 . oxygen - rich air 28 may also be supplied . the combined effect of lime plus air 28 in pile 12 removes lignin from the biomass , rendering it more digestible . further , the lime removes acetyl groups from hemicellulose , which also helps digestibility . once the lime is exhausted , the ph drops to near neutral , at which point a mixed - culture inoculum may be added . the inoculum may be derived from any source , but in many embodiments it may be derived from soil . organisms derived from organic - rich soil in marine environments appear to be particularly well - suited for use with embodiments of the present invention . such organisms are able to be productive in high - salt environments . for example , the innoculum may include a salt - tolerant microorganism . after inoculation , the organisms digest the biomass and convert it to carboxylic acids . these acids react with the calcium carbonate or calcium oxiode in pile 12 , producing calcium carboxylate salts or other calcium salts that are dissolved in the water that circulates through the pile . this aqueous solution , called fermentation broth 36 may be harvested and sent for further processing . referring now to fig2 , fermentation broth 36 may be dewatered in dewatering system 40 . fermentation broth 26 may be pumped through heat exchanger 42 , which preheats the broth . preheated fermentation broth 36 may then be acidified with high - molecular - weight carboxylic acid 46 ( e . g . caproic , valeric , hepotanoic acids ). acidified fermentation broth 36 may be sent to stripping column 44 where steam 80 strips out dissolved carbon dioxide , a noncondensible gas that may interferes with evaporator 58 and cause calcium carbonate scaling on heat exchanger 56 . preferably , stripper 44 may operate at 1 atm , or higher , which allows exiting steam 86 to be used for heat elsewhere in the process . further , if heat exchanger 42 becomes fouled by dissolved calcium carbonate , the pressure in stripper 44 may be reduced , which lowers the temperature of steam exiting heat exchanger 42 and may reduce fouling . however , if stripper 44 is operated at a reduced pressure , a vacuum pump ( not shown ) may be needed to remove the noncondensible gases from fermentation broth 36 . steam - stripped , acidified fermentation broth 36 may then be sent to mixer 48 where the ph may be raised to between approximately 11 and 12 through the addition of lime 50 from reservoir 78 , which causes scum 54 to precipitate . scum 54 may then be removed in solids separator 52 . this degassed , descummed fermentation broth 36 may be further heated in heat exchanger 56 , after which it may enter evaporator 58 . compressor 60 may evaporate water from the low - pressure chamber of evaporator 58 . the heat of condensation released in the high - pressure chamber of evaporator 58 may provide the heat of evaporation needed in the low - pressure chamber . the energy needed to drive the evaporation process may be provided by an engine . in the embodiment shown in fig2 , a combined cycle engine may be used , which increases energy efficiency . gas turbine 88 may provide shaft power to compressor 60 . gas turbine may use fuel 74 . exhaust gas 72 from gas turbine 88 may be directed to boiler 62 , which may produce high - pressure steam that may drives steam turbine 64 . heat exchanger 66 may condense the low - pressure steam exiting steam turbine 64 . cooling water 76 may be used to facilitate this cooling . distilled water 82 from the high - pressure section of evaporator 58 may be cooled in heat exchangers 56 and 42 , and may be returned to pretreatment / fermentation system 10 . concentrated product 68 may be cooled in heat exchangers 56 and 42 , and sent to acid springing system 90 . liquid turbine 70 may recapture some work from the high - pressure liquids that exit evaporator 58 . pumps 84 may be included at various points in the system to facilitate fluid flow . referring now to fig3 , concentrated product 68 may next be sent to acid springing system 90 . in mixer 92 , concentrated product 68 from dewatering system 40 may be mixed with carbon dioxide 94 and low - molecular - weight tertiary amine 96 , such as triethyl amine . the carboxylate reacts with low - molecular - weight tertiary amine 96 to form a soluble salt . the calcium reacts with carbon dioxide 94 to form insoluble calcium carbonate 98 , which may be recovered using solids separator 100 . calcium carbonate 98 may then be washed with distilled water to remove adhering product and steam stripped in vessel 102 to ensure that all low - molecular - weight tertiary amine 96 is removed from calcium carbonate 98 . calcium carbonate 98 may then be sent to pretreatment / fermentation system 10 to act as a buffer or to a lime kiln ( not shown ) to be converted to lime . aqueous solution 104 contains dissolved low - molecular - weight tertiary amine carboxylate . it may then be preheated in heat exchanger 106 and sent to evaporator 108 , where most of the water may be removed using the same vapor - compression technology used in dewatering system 40 . specifically , turbine 130 may provide energy to compressor 132 . waste fluid exiting evaporator 108 may be sent to column 134 where it may be combined with lime 136 and steam 138 to provide additional product stream to mixer 92 and water 140 to pretreatment / fermentation system 10 . the concentrated low - molecular - weight tertiary amine carboxylate solution 104 may then be sent to column 110 where high - molecular - weight tertiary amine 112 , such as trioctyl amine or triethanol amine , may be added . low - molecular - weight tertiary amine 96 may be replaced and exit the top of column 110 , while high - molecular - weight tertiary amine carboxylate solution 104 may exit the bottom of column 110 . the high - molecular - weight tertiary amine carboxylate solution 104 may then be preheated in heat exchanger 114 and sent to column 116 . in column 116 , the temperature may be high enough to break chemical bonds , allowing the more volatile carboxylic acids 146 to exit the top of column 116 . the less volatile high - molecular - weight tertiary amine 112 may exit the bottom of the column and may be recycled to column 110 . any salts 120 that are in high - molecular - weight tertiary amine 112 may be removed using a solids separator 118 . recovered salts 120 may be washed with volatile solvent 122 , such as triethyl amine , to remove high - molecular - weight tertiary amine 112 in separator 118 . solvent 122 may be separated from the recovered high - molecular - weight tertiary amine in distillation column 124 . salts 120 may then be steam stripped in stripper 126 to remove volatile solvent 122 and form solids 144 . system 90 may contain various heat exchangers 140 that may be used to recycle process heat . various fluids may pass through these heat exchangers , such as cooling waters 142 , steam 148 , and fuel 150 . in one heat exchanger 140 , steam 86 from dewatering system 40 may be used as a heat source then collected in condensor 152 where carbon dioxide 154 may be separated from water 156 , which may be returned to fermentation / pretreatment system 10 . pumps 158 may also be included at various points in the system to facilitate fluid flow . referring now to fig4 , mixed carboxylic acids 146 from acid springing system 90 may be sent to hydrogenation system 170 . mixed acids 146 may be placed in column 172 and combined with high - molecular - weight alcohol 174 such as heptanol . carboxylic acids 146 react with alcohol 174 to form ester 176 and water 178 . water 178 may be separated in column 172 and sent to heat exchanger 180 then returned to column 172 or used elsewhere in systems 10 , 40 , 90 or 170 . ester 176 may be sent to hydrogenation reactor 182 which contains a suitable hydrogenation catalyst , such as a raney nickel . in reactor 182 , hydrogen 200 is added and ester 176 is converted to alcohol . solids may be separated from alcohol 184 using solids separator 186 . alcohol mixture 184 may be sent column 188 which may recover high - molecular - weight alcohol 174 from the bottom and alcohol product 190 from the top . alcohol product 190 may be a primary alcohol . system 170 may contain various heat exchangers 192 that may be used to recycle process heat . various fluids may pass through these heat exchangers , such as cooling waters 194 and steam 196 . pumps 198 may also be included at various points in the system to facilitate fluid flow . alternative systems to recover carboxylic acids without production of alcohol are known in the art any may be used in place of the hydrogenation system of fig4 . referring now to fig5 , system 300 may include as subsystems 302 pretreatment / fermentation system 10 , dewatering system 40 , acid sprining system 90 and optionally also hydrogenation system 170 . system 300 may reuse process heat , water , lime , carbon dioxide and other materials among different subsystems 302 . in an alternative embodiment not explicitly shown , ammonia may be used in place of low - molecular - weight tertiary amine 96 in acid sprining system 90 . further , if the ammonia is supplied earlier , the a reaction between calcium carboxylate , carbon dioxide and ammonia may occur prior to entry into dewatering system 40 . in this embodiment , an aqueous solution of ammonia carboxylate may be evaporated in dewatering system 40 rather than calcium carboxylate . this may help prevent scaling in heat exchangers or system 40 because ammonium salts have a lesser tendency to scale than calcium salts . ammonia is also cheap and lost ammonia may be diverted to pretreatment / fermentation system 10 where it may serve as a nitrogen source . however , ammonia may react with carboxylic acids to form amides , which may not be a desired byproduct . embodiments of the invention may include all processes involved in the operation of the above - described systems . referring now to fig6 , the invention may include an integrated method for producing carboxylic acids and alcohols . the method may include treating pile of biomass 12 with lime or quick lime , water 34 , an innoculum and air in step 400 to produce fermentation broth 36 . in step 410 , fermentation broth 36 may be acidified with high - molecular - weight carboxylic acid 46 then , in step 420 , stripped in stripping column 44 . in step 430 , the product may be concentrated in evaporator 58 to produce concentrated product 68 . concentrated product 68 may be mixed with carbon dioxide 94 and low - molecular - weight tertiary amine 96 in step 440 to form a low - molecular - weight tertiary amine carboxylate . this carboxylate may be exchanged with high - molecular - weight tertiary amine 112 in column 110 in step 450 to produce a high - molecular - weight tertiary amine carboxylate . the high - molecular - weight tertiary amine carboxlate may be heated in column 116 to a temperature high enough to break the acid to amine bonds in step 460 . this produces carboxylic acids 146 which may be recovered in step 470 . in some embodiments , carboxylic acids 146 may be combined with high - molecular - weight alcohol 174 to form ester 176 in step 480 . in step 490 , ester 176 may be hydrogenated in chamber 182 to form alcohol product 190 . in step 500 , high - molecular - weight alcohol 174 and alcohol product 190 may be separated in column 188 . alcohol product 190 may be a primary alcohol . in an alternative embodiment , ammonia may be used in place of low - molecular - weight tertiary amine 96 . ammonia may be added immediately after step 400 . various methods , systems and apparati useful in the present invention may also be described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 043 , 392 , issued mar . 28 , 2000 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 986 , 133 , issued nov . 16 , 1999 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 478 , 965 , issued nov . 12 , 2002 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 395 , 926 , issued may 28 , 2002 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 962 , 307 , issued oct . 5 , 1999 , and wo 04 / 041995 , published may 21 , 2004 , and their u . s . and foreign counterpart applications and patents . all of the above patents and applications are incorporated by reference herein .	2
embodiments of a closure for a cable connector according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 to 6 show a first embodiment of a closure for a cable connector according to the present invention , wherein the same reference numerals as those in fig9 to 11 designate the same or corresponding parts . in the first embodiment in fig1 to 6 , engaging recesses 16 for grasping fittings 14 are formed adjacent to engaging recesses 9 for end face plates 10 on the inner surfaces of a sleeve 3 . as apparent with reference to fig3 to 5 , the engaging recesses 16 are formed in noncircular recess shape of a circular - arc surface 16a and tapered surfaces 16b rising from both ends of the circular - arc surface 16a as well as of a rising wall surface 16c adjacent to the inside of the engaging recess 9 . the grasping fittings 14 are formed on the outer periphery thereof of a circular - arc surface 14a and a tapered surface 14b in noncircular shape to be contacted with the recess surface of the engaging recess 16 corresponding to the engaging recess 16 . as particularly apparent with reference to fig6 the grasping fittings 14 have a grasping opening 17 for the cable 1 at the center thereof , an engaging projection 18 for the cable 1 provided on the inner surface of the grasping opening 17 , and a split surface 19 formed to cross the grasping opening 17 so that the split surfaces 19 are coupled by a bolt 20 . connecting rods 15 are secured at the split surfaces 19 as a boundary over the right and left side grasping fittings 14 . the grasping fittings 14 are engaged within the engaging recess 16 . grooves 21 are formed longitudinally on the inner surfaces of the flanges 5 , and packings 8 are contained in the grooves 21 . pad metals 22 are contacted with both the flanges 5 to clamp the flanges 5 through the pad metals 22 . the pad metals 22 have threaded openings , with which bolts are engaged . supports 23 of tension members 24 are disposed in the sleeve 3 perpendicularly to both the connecting rods 15 adjacent to the insides of the grasping fittings , and the supports 23 are supported at both ends thereof through the connecting rods 15 passing the supports 23 . the tension members 24 of the cables 1 are clamped to be supported to the supports 23 known per se . core wire connector containing chamber 25 is formed between both the supports 23 in the sleeve 3 . in case that the core wires of the cables 1 consist of optical fibers , fiber containing sheets 26 are stacked in the core wire connector containing chamber 25 for containing the optical fibers . in the closure for the cable connector exemplified in fig1 to 6 , when tension load , compression load and / or twisting load are applied to the cable 1 , the enclosure can endure against the loads as below . when the tension load is applied to the cable 1 , the grasping fittings 14 contact the rising wall 16c of the engaging recess 14 in the sleeve 3 to prevent the grasping fittings 14 from moving along the longitudinal direction of the sleeve 3 . when the compression load is applied longitudinally to the cable 1 , both the grasping fittings 14 contact the rising wall 16c of the engaging recess 16 and the connecting rod 15 is installed over both the grasping fittings 14 of the contacted state to prevent the grasping fittings 14 from moving along the longitudinal direction of the sleeve 3 . when the twisting load is applied to the cable 1 , the grasping fitting 14 do not rotate with respect to the sleeve 3 since the grasping fittings 14 of engaged state and the engaging recess 16 are formed in noncircular shape in the profiles , and the sleeve 3 and the grasping fittings 14 do not relatively rotate and hence the cables of the connected state ( including the core wire connector ) do not generate a twisting stress . fig7 and 8 show a second embodiment of a closure for a cable connector according to this invention . in the second embodiment in fig7 and 8 , constructions of main components are similar to that of the first embodiment in fig1 to 6 except that a rising wall 16d is formed also on the inner end side of the engaging recess 16 . in the second embodiment in fig7 and 8 , the enclosure can endure against loads such as the tension , compressing and / or twist acting on the cables to enhance the effects in the amount of the additionally added rising wall 16d . in the second embodiment in fig7 and 8 , a connecting rod 15 may be omitted . the connecting rod 15 can , in some cases , operate as a jig for defining the distance between both the grasping fittings 14 . in the embodiments described above , the axial and rotational movements of the grasping fittings 14 are restricted in the sleeve 3 . however , the grasping fittings 14 may be restricted in the movements only by the axial restricting means or may be restricted in the movements only by the rotational restricting means . the above - mentioned means are arbitrarily employed as the means for restricting the movements of the grasping fittings in the axial direction . one of them is means for connecting both the grasping fittings 14 by the connecting rod 15 to contact the grasping fittings 14 of connected state with the rising wall 16c of the engaging recess 16 . another of them is means for connecting both the grasping fitting 14 by the connecting rod 14 to contact the grasping fittings 14 of the connected state with the rising wall 16d of the engaging recess 16 ( in which case the engaging recess 16 has no rising wall 16c ). still another of them is means for engaging the grasping fittings 14 within the engaging recess 16 having rising walls 16c , 16d . as the rotational restricting means , means for forming the noncircular shape of the profiles of the grasping fitting 14 and the engaging recess 16 as described above may be employed . according to this invention as described above , the closure for the cable connector prevents the grasping fittings from moving axially and / or rotationally through the axial restricting means provided in the sleeve and / or rotational restricting means . therefore , the closure of this invention can exhibit high mechanical strength against the loads such as tension , compression and / or twist of the cable . therefore , the enclosure of the invention can prevent the improper airtightness , the damage of the core wires and the transmitting characteristic in the sleeve from decreasing due to the unintentional movement of the grasping fittings .	6
[ 0046 ] fig1 is a graphic illustration of moisture permeation through different materials of seal with different thickness plotted on y - axis and the time for the interior of the device to reach 50 % of the exterior humidity plotted at the bottom of x - axis . at the top of x - axis is plotted the permeability in gms / cm , sec , torr for various materials . fig1 depicts the thickness of the sealant , through which moisture permeates , starting from 1 micron on y - axis . for a thickness of 1 micron , it is evident from fig1 that for metal seal , it takes years for the interior of the device to reach 50 % of exterior humidity . under these conditions , epoxy seals take only days to reach 50 % of exterior humidity . although the devices like oled will be terminating its life performance by the time the interior humidity reaches 50 %, the graph illustrates that the metal seals are the best against moisture permeation . [ 0047 ] fig2 is the bottom substrate 200 containing the transparent anode 22 of oled and cathode lead out 23 on a glass substrate 21 . the anode is of indium tin oxide ( ito ) layer , deposited and patterned on only one surface of substrate 21 , to a few fractions of a micron and is electrically conductive and optically transmissive . [ 0048 ] fig3 is the dielectric band coated glass substrate 300 that has dielectric band 31 formed at the perimeter . the dielectric layer 31 is preferably screen printed to a thickness of 25 microns , using a low melting glass frit paste such as corning 7570 , but not limited to , and thermally processed . the process temperature is around 450 c for 15 minutes in air to over - glaze the surface of ito , thereby forming an insulating perimeter band on the substrate 300 to a final thickness of 12 - 15 microns . [ 0049 ] fig4 shows the oled processed substrate 400 with the base glass plate 41 over which is the ito anode 43 , cathode lead out 42 with a perimeter band containing the dielectric layer 44 and a metal stack 45 . the center portion of the substrate 400 contains an oled stack 46 of organic layers with a reflective cathode . during the formation of oled layers , it is important that metal stack 45 is protected from having any residual deposit of any material during oled processing . the metal stack 45 is formed , on the dielectric layer 44 , by vacuum deposition . by employing a shadow mask ti ./ tio 2 is deposited to a thickness of 2000 a , followed by ni , to a thickness of 9000 a and finally by au to a thickness of 2000 a with a bandwidth of 1 mm . other materials for the stack 45 include , but not limited to , cr — ni — au , cr — ni — ag , cr — cu — ag , ti / tio 2 — ni — ag , cr — cu — ni and dupont 7713 silver . to obtain dupont 7713 silver , the substrate undergoes screen printing of 7713 silver paste to a thickness of 25 microns and thermal processing around 450 c for 15 minutes to result in a silver thickness of around 15 microns with a strong bond to the dielectric layer 44 underneath . if the stack 45 is obtained through vacuum deposition by any combination of the materials stated above , the range of thickness of bottom layer is 500 a - 5000 a , middle layer to 2000 a - 7000 a and the top layer to 5000 a - 10000 a . [ 0050 ] fig5 a shows the top lid 500 made of glass with a recessed region at the center containing getter / dessicant 57 and a perimeter metal stack 52 similar to the glass substrate shown in fig4 . the metal stack 52 is of the same materials , as described under fig4 . alternate combinations are also the same . the dessicant / getter is applied , after forming the metal stack 52 , to the center recessed portion employing preferably saes company &# 39 ; s gdo dessicant based on cao . alternative dessicant materials are bao or sro or mgo mixed in a suitable binder / solvent and screen printed or doctor - bladed in the recessed portion of the lid , dried . other alternative material is ‘ oledry ’, from futaba corporation , which can be dispensed in solution form and dried . the activation of the getter / dessicant is deferred till a low temperature melting solder paste is printed on top of metal stack 52 and dried . ‘ oledry ’ is transparent and hence can be applied to up - emitting oled structure as well . [ 0051 ] fig5 b shows the cross section taken from fig5 a . the glass lid 51 is first deposited with a strongly adhering metal layer 53 , like cr or alternatively ti . the second layer 54 is preferably ni , followed by the third layer 55 , preferably au . other alternative combinations of metal layers are as stated under fig4 . [ 0052 ] fig6 depicts the lid 600 with the addition of a low temperature melting solder alloy 63 on the tri - metal stack 62 laid on glass plate 61 . low melting eutectic screen printable solder alloy , in the form of ‘ no - clean ’ paste , from indium corporation of america can be used to screen print or doctor - blade or stencil over the top layer of tri - metal stack 62 . the print thickness is preferably around 75 microns . if alternate material dupont 7713 silver is employed , replacing metal stack 62 , then the top surface of thermally processed silver needs to be mildly buffed to remove oxides prior to the screen printing of low temperature melting solder paste . the screen - printed solder paste is dried around 70 c for 45 minutes . dispensing the getter / dessicant described under fig5 a takes place after drying the solder paste . pre - tinning of solder paste in nitrogen environment is done at a temperature depending on the material of solder paste , but in any case the temperature should be around the activation temperature of getter / dessicant selected . it is important that the getter / dessicant and solder paste be chosen so that the getter / dessicant activation temperature and pre - tinning temperature of solder paste are close to each other . another factor that is significant is the sealing temperature of the solder alloy in the final seal process . this temperature should be compatible with oled materials employed for protecting them from thermal degradation . exceeding activation temperature of getter / dessicant does not pose damage to the getter / desicant but exceeding the safe operating temperature of oled will result in irreversible damage to oled . hence , great emphasis is laid on the choice of solder materials . preferred solder alloys from indium corporation of america are listed in the following table : alloy composition melting point / bi in pb sn range in ° c . 49 23 18 12 58 46 — 20 34 96 — 52 — 48 118 58 — — 42 138 among the preferred alloys , the alloy containing 52 in and 48 sn is the most suitable because , it is lead free and has a temperature range of melting around 118 c , which is safe for oled materials . hence this solder paste , after printing on metal stack 62 , is pre - tinned around 120 c for 5 minutes under nitrogen atmosphere . as most of the materials of getter / dessicant , described in the foregoing section , have the temperature of activation in the range of 120 c , the getter / dessicant gets , activated during pre - tinning process . as the pre - tinning is done in nitrogen controlled atmosphere with the top lid open , all major out - gassing from the solder material is completed . [ 0054 ] fig7 is the cross section of a metal sealed assembly 700 that seals the top lid 79 to the bottom substrate 71 . the oled stack 76 is of ‘ down - emitting ’ type yielding light output through the transparent anode 72 . the pre - tinned solder metal 75 on metal stack 74 of the top lid 79 , that contains the getter / dessicant 77 in the recessed portion 78 , is sealed to the bottom substrate 71 through the metal stack 74 on the dielectric layer 73 . the sealing process is done , by aligning the top lid with bottom substrate so as to make the pre - tinned solder 75 contact , with light pressure , on the metal stack 74 symmetrically , on a hot plate , inside a controlled glove box , at a temperature of 125 c for 5 minutes . gradual heating and gradual cooling is preferred during the thermal cycle . [ 0055 ] fig8 is another embodiment 800 of top lid 81 made of metal tray that contains getter / dessicant 82 in the recessed portion 83 and at the edge of this metal tray is the pre - tinned solder alloy 84 . the solder application and thermal processes related to getter / dessicant activation are as described under fig6 . the metal tray is , preferably , made of nickel - plated steel . other preferred materials are nickel - plated copper or stainless steel or au plated nickel . [ 0056 ] fig9 is a multiple pattern 900 of the top lid shown in fig8 . the lid 900 is a single integrated piece , containing multiples of top lids of fig8 . the solder alloy paste is screen printed at the edges of these multiples in one operation and thermally processed to obtain the pre - tinned solder band 92 together with the activation of getter / dessicant 93 contained in the recessed portions 91 of these multiples . this lid is advantageous for sealing to the individual oled devices . as is known in the art of oled , the yield of oled devices decreases as the size increases because of the increase in defect density . this is especially true for backlight for lcds . under these circumstances , individual oled devices contained on the substrates can be sealed to a common lid as shown in fig9 . for illustration purpose , only four compartments are shown and in practice the number of these compartments can be any practically possible number . top lid 900 if made of glass should be deposited with metal stack prior to printing and pre - tinning of low temperature melting solder alloy . [ 0057 ] fig1 is the multiple sealed assembly 1000 looking through the bottom of glass substrates 103 . again for illustration purpose , only four oled substrates are shown . the number of substrates can be any practical number . the sealed portion 101 is shown as dotted underneath the glass substrate and the recessed areas 102 are opposite the interior surface of glass substrate but contained in the lids . as a summary , process flow of the metal seal process is shown in the flow diagram below :	7
the present invention , various forms of which are illustrated in fig8 - 22 , is an improvement over the symmetrical hammocks of fig1 - 7 . as fig8 - 10 show , as the shape of the bed is modified by shifting the lateral tension points of the hammock in opposite directions so that the tension axis is progressively more diagonal to the suspension axis , the bed effectively becomes longer and narrower . this reallocation of space within the hammock provides an improved geometric fit to the occupant , up to a point . in fig8 the occupant has a knee near one corner of the hammock and an elbow near the other corner . his head and feet are acceptably inside the new perimeter shape of hammock bed . the opposite lateral corners of the bed are near the knee to foot of the occupant , and his head to elbow , respectively , and form a parallelogram . when a rain fly of a similar proportion ( but slightly greater size ) is positioned above the hammock , it provides improved protection for the occupant , especially near his head and feet , which were previously exposed . in fig9 the situation is further improved : the occupant now rests comfortably fully extended on the diagonal without overhanging the sides . the angle a between the suspension axis “ s ” and the tension axis “ t ” here is between 35 ° and 65 °, which range i presently consider optimum . by fig1 , the lateral tension points have been shifted too far . the bed is now too narrow , and unnecessarily long . in fig8 - 10 , the bed shapes were parallelograms ( a = c and b = d ). in the embodiments of fig1 - 18 , however , the bed shapes are not parallelograms . [ 0046 ] fig1 for example , is a modification of fig9 still within the optimum range . even though there is the same total edge length on each side of the suspension axis , the segment lengths are all different . the lateral tension points have been displaced lengthwise unequally to more accurately accommodate the body shape , considering that a person is widest at the shoulders . the resulting shape is similar to the proportions of a conventional mummy style sleeping bag or the classic pine box coffin . [ 0047 ] fig1 is a further modification which allows both feet to extend more comfortably while narrowing the hammock only slightly . [ 0048 ] fig1 shows a modification in which the piece of fabric from which the hammock bed is made is cut six inches ( 0 . 15 meter ) shorter on one of its long sides . there are equal amounts of fabric on either side of the center line “ l ”. the resulting hammock is shown in fig1 . now there are different total segment lengths on either side of the suspension axis ( a + b c + d ). the fabric has been folded to the center line at each end , and sags from a ridge line 102 ″ ( 2 . 59 meters ) long , with ropes and side tension cords attached . the resulting hammock protrudes more to one side , allowing the lower half of the occupant &# 39 ; s torso to extend further on that side than the heavier upper torso on the other side . [ 0049 ] fig1 shows another piece of fabric , this one having ends of unequal length , resulting in a hammock having fewer folds at the end of the hammock accommodating the legs . again , the centerline bisects the fabric . in fig1 , the fabric has both a shorter side and a shorter end , thus combining the features of fig1 and 15 . the resulting hammock has both more perimeter on one side of the hammock , with fewer folds of fabric and less width at one end for the legs . [ 0051 ] fig1 shows the relocation of the point at which the folds from each side of the hammock meet . the point on each end of the fabric toward which the fabric is folded has been moved off center . this causes the bundle on one side to contain more fabric and the bundle on the other side to contain less fabric . the preferred location of this point is determined by establishing the balance point of an average occupant from head to foot . unlike the previous embodiments , here , the centerline is offset to one side of the hammock . [ 0052 ] fig1 shows another variation , in which an asymmetrically shaped hammock is cut from an asymmetrically shaped piece of fabric with an asymmetric point at each hammock end to which the fabric is folded . as shown by the fold marks at each end of hammock , 75 % of folds are on the widest side of the hammock at each end and that 25 % of folds are on the narrowest side of the hammock at each end . this combination of all three asymmetries ( unequal short side lengths , unequal long side lengths , unequal fabric folding at ends ) provides a hammock fabricator with a range of adjustments , thus allowing asymmetrical hammocks to be custom designed for occupants of specific weights and proportions . the table below shows the segment lengths and resulting axis intersection angles of fig7 - 12 , 14 and 18 . fig . no . a ( inch ) b ( inch ) c ( inch ) d ( inch ) α ( degrees ) 7 60 60 60 60 90 8 48 72 48 72 65 9 36 84 36 84 44 10 20 100 20 100 23 11 36 84 48 72 50 12 24 96 48 72 43 14 30 78 48 72 47 18 24 96 48 66 41 in any of the hammocks described above , the ends of the fabric may be modified to affect the effective depth of the hammock . in fig1 , a concave angle or curve is cut into one or both ends to raise the middle of the middle of the hammock relative to its sides . conversely , a convex angle or curve ( fig2 ) may be provided to lower the bottom of the hammock relative to its sides . [ 0054 ] fig2 depicts a spreader bar or stay in compression between asymmetric corners . the stay replaces the function of side tension cords . the spreader bar may be made expandable lengthwise , in order to maintain the tension on the asymmetric corners of an overhanging rain fly . while the invention has been described above as having a bed with an asymmetric shape , it should be noted that , actually , the outline of the piece of material from which the bed is made is not particularly important . what matters is the shape of that portion of the piece of material which is placed under tension by the primary and secondary tension devices , that is , the weight - supporting area , which is a polygon whose vertices are the tension points . for example , one could make a bed functionally identical to that of fig9 from a much larger piece of material . to illustrate , fig2 shows such a modification , where the peripheral outline of the material is oval , but the area under tension ( broken lines ) has the shape of a parallelogram . the area outside the parallelogram is substantially tension - free in use , and does not contribute to the functional properties ( e . g ., strength , comfort ) of the hammock . a skilled person would rightly expect the beds of fig9 and 22 to be substantially identical in performance , and would appreciate that the area outside the parallelogram in fig2 is wasted from a functional standpoint ; nevertheless , the extra material could conceivably contribute to the attractiveness of the hammock , and thus might be commercially important . the extra material may also serve other purposes , for example , to provide storage pockets , or to provide extra covering that can be pulled over the occupant . also , while i have described a hammock in which the suspension ropes are connected directly to the bed fabric , it would be possible to have intermediate connectors , e . g ., cords , between the ropes and the fabric . since the invention is subject to these and other modifications and variations , it is intended that the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as only illustrative of the invention defined by the following claims .	0
preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to drawings . however , the present invention is not limited to the contents described in the embodiments if there is no limitative description . fig1 is a cross sectional view of main parts of a sealing device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention . this sealing device is mounted in an annular space between a shaft hole provided at a housing and a shaft inserted into an inner periphery of the shaft hole . the sealing device 1 includes a seal ring 20 mounted in a mounting groove 10 provided on an outer peripheral surface of shaft 2 , and a backup ring 30 . the mounting groove 10 includes a tapered groove bottom part 12 inclined in such the direction that a distance between the tapered groove bottom part 12 and an inner peripheral surface 3 a of a housing 3 expands from a side wall surface 11 at a low pressure side l toward a high pressure side h , and a parallel bottom surface 13 which is in parallel to an inner peripheral surface 3 a of the housing 3 from an end part at a high pressure side h of the tapered groove bottom part 12 toward a high pressure side h . a seal ring 20 is formed with a rubber - like elastic body , and is an o - ring having an approximately circular cross section in a free state . when the seal ring 20 is mounted in a mounting groove 10 , the seal ring 20 is compressed in a radial direction by the inner peripheral surface 3 a of the housing 3 and the parallel bottom surface 13 of the mounting groove 10 so as to be in an ellipse shape , and the high pressure side h and the low pressure side l are separated by reaction force of the compressed seal ring 20 . a backup ring 30 is made of a resin such as ptfe , or nylon or a compound material of these resins , and is in a cylindrical shape . side end surfaces 31 and 32 are formed as surfaces which rectangularly cross the inner peripheral surface 3 a of the housing 3 at both the high pressure side h and the low pressure side l . a predetermined gap g is provided between a low pressure side end surface 32 and a side wall surface 11 at the low pressure side l of the mounting groove 10 . the size in a radial direction of the low pressure side end surface 32 of the backup ring 30 is set to be larger than a distance from the tapered groove bottom part 12 at the side wall surface 11 at the low pressure side l of the mounting groove 10 to the inner peripheral surface 3 a of the housing 3 . further , an inner peripheral surface 33 of the backup ring 30 is formed with a tapered part 35 , which opposites to the tapered groove bottom part 12 of the mounting groove 10 , has an approximately same inclination angle as that of the tapered groove bottom part 12 , and inclines in the same direction . an outer peripheral surface 34 includes tapered surface 36 , which opposites to the inner peripheral surface 3 a of the housing 3 and approaches the inner peripheral surface 3 a of the housing 3 from the high pressure side end surface 31 toward the low pressure side l , and a parallel surface 37 which is in parallel to the inner peripheral surface 3 a of the housing 3 from an end part at the low pressure side l of the tapered surface 36 toward the low pressure side l . as illustrated in fig2 , it is proper that the tapered surface 36 has a shape represented by the following formulas , where an inner diameter of the housing 3 is φd , an outer diameter of the backup ring 30 is φd1 , and an outer diameter of an angle part at a high pressure side of the tapered surface 36 of the backup ring 30 is φd2 . in addition , when a backup ring is otherwise mounted in a mounting groove provided at a housing , not like the embodiment of the present invention , the tapered surface 36 has a shape represented by the formula “ inner diameter of a backup ring ≦ outer diameter of a shaft ”. further , the inclination angle θ of the tapered surface is properly within the following range from viewpoints of insertability . in the above - described structure , when a shaft 2 is inserted into the housing 3 , a top end part 3 a of the housing 3 contacts to the backup ring 30 . however , since the backup ring 30 includes the tapered surface 36 , the top end part 3 a is guided by the tapered surface 36 without contacting to the high pressure side end surface 31 of the backup ring 30 . thus , the shaft 2 can be accurately inserted while an insertion load being reduced . further , since the top end part 3 a of the housing 3 does not contact to the high pressure side end surface 31 , it can be prevented to decrease sealing property by faulty setting of the backup ring 30 . furthermore , when the device is subjected to low - temperature and low - pressure fluid ( 25 ° c .× 5 mpa ) from the high pressure side h toward the low pressure side l , a radial directional gap 41 between the backup ring 30 and the housing 3 remains as illustrated in fig3 . however , since the fluid has a low pressure , the seal ring 20 is not protruded to a low pressure side l , and thus the seal ring 20 is not damaged . further , when the device is subjected to high - temperature and high - pressure fluid ( 80 ° c .× 15 mpa ) radial directional component force generated by moving of the backup ring 30 in the axial direction is applied since the gap g is provided between a low pressure side end surface 32 of the backup ring 30 and the side wall surface 11 at the low pressure side l of the mounting groove 10 . this radial directional component force generates as large compression force as to eliminate a radial directional gap 41 between the backup ring 30 and the housing 3 , which is created due to providing of the tapered surface 36 , as illustrated in fig4 . therefore , protrusion of the seal ring 20 to the low pressure side l , and deterioration of sealing property caused due to damage of the seal ring 20 can be prevented . an insertion load of embodiment 1 was measured to compare with that of a conventional product . as a result of this , the load was a 5 to 10 % level with respect to the conventional product , so that the load could be reduced by 90 % or more comparing with the conventional product . further , the device is subjected to high - pressure fluid under the conditions of ( 1 ) 5 mpa at an ordinary temperature and ( 2 ) 15 mpa at 80 ° c . after insertion of the shaft . as a result of this , it could be confirmed that the device could keep the function to prevent protrusion of an o - ring under the both conditions . in addition , this embodiment 1 discloses a case that the tapered surface 36 is formed at a part of the outer peripheral surface 34 of the backup ring 30 . however , as illustrated in embodiment 2 of fig5 , the tapered surface 36 can be formed on the whole surface of an outer peripheral surface 34 . further , the tapered surface 36 can be not only an inclined plane surface but also an inclined curved surface as illustrated in embodiment 3 of fig6 . of course , the inclined curved surface can be formed at a part of the outer peripheral surface 34 although this case is not illustrated . furthermore , in embodiment 4 illustrated in fig7 , an inner peripheral surface 33 of the backup ring 30 is formed as a two - stage tapered part with a high pressure side tapered part 35 a having an inclination angle α which is approximately equal to an inclination angle of the tapered groove bottom part 12 of the mounting groove 10 , and a low pressure side tapered part 35 b having an inclination angle β which is larger than the inclination angle α of the high pressure side tapered part 35 a . therefore , in this embodiment 4 , when the shaft 2 is inserted , the high pressure side tapered part 35 a contacts to the tapered groove bottom part 12 as illustrated in fig8 , and thus a top end part 3 a of a housing 3 is guided by a tapered surface 36 having the inclination angle α so as to move to the low pressure side l . as illustrated in fig9 , when the top end part 3 a moves from a position shown with a broken line to a position shown with a solid line toward a low pressure side in an arrow m direction so as to increase an insertion load , the backup ring 30 is deformed so as to escape from the insertion load since a clearance 42 is exists between the low pressure side tapered part 35 b and the tapered groove bottom part 12 . that is , the backup ring 30 is deformed from a shape shown with a broken line to a shape shown with a solid line in fig9 . as a result of this , since the low pressure side tapered part 35 b contacts to the tapered groove bottom part 12 , the top end part 3 a is guided by the tapered surface 36 having the smaller inclination angle β than an inclination angle α so as to move to the low pressure side l . therefore , the insertion load can be more reduced than that in embodiment 1 . under a condition that the collapse margin of the backup ring 30 when the backup ring 30 is fitted to the housing 3 is set to about 0 . 1 mm ( outer diameter of the backup ring 30 − inner diameter of the housing 3 = about 0 . 2 mm ), an insertion load of the shaft 2 in embodiment 4 is measured to compare with that of the above - described embodiment 1 , as a result of which , the insertion load is a 25 to 30 % level with respect to embodiment 1 , and thus the insertion load can be reduced by about 75 % comparing with embodiment 1 . further , when the device is subjected to low - temperature and low - pressure fluid ( 25 ° c .× 5 mpa ) from the high pressure side h toward the low pressure side l , a radial directional gap 41 remains between the backup ring 30 and the housing 3 as illustrated in fig1 , and a radial directional gap 43 also remains between the backup ring 30 and the shaft 2 . however , since the fluid has a low pressure , the seal ring 20 is not protruded to the low pressure side l , so that the seal ring 20 is not damaged . furthermore , when the device is subjected to high - temperature and high - pressure fluid ( 80 ° c .× 15 mpa ), radial directional component force generated by moving of the backup ring 30 in the axial direction is applied since a gap g is provided between the low pressure side end surface 32 of the backup ring 30 and the side wall surface 11 at the low pressure side l of the mounting groove 10 . thus , the backup ring 30 is deformed so as to eliminate the radial direction gaps ( 41 , 43 ) as illustrated in fig1 . therefore , protrusion of the seal ring 20 to the low pressure side l and deterioration of sealing property by damaging of the seal ring 20 can be prevented . in addition , the low pressure side tapered part 35 b is an inclined plane surface in this example . however , the low pressure side tapered part 35 b can be an inclined curved surface . in this case , the low pressure side tapered part 35 b is formed in the state of having a gap between the low pressure side tapered part 35 b and the tapered groove bottom part 12 of the mounting groove 10 , when the high pressure side tapered part 35 a contacts to the tapered groove bottom part 12 of the mounting groove 10 before insertion of the shaft . furthermore , the backup ring 30 can have a collapse margin which is compressed at the time of being fitted .	5
the soaps used in the preparation of the greases of this invention are the alkali and alkaline earth metal soaps of fatty acids , fatty glycerides , and fatty esters , and hydroxyl - containing fatty acids , fatty glycerides , and fatty esters . these materials , which may be either straight chain or branched , contain from about 10 to about 30 carbon atoms , and preferably from about 16 to about 20 carbon atoms . the choice of the metal component of the soap depends to an extent on the use for which the grease is intended . metal components include the alkali metals and the alkaline earth metals found in groups 1a and 2a of the periodic table of elements . useful alkali metals include lithium , sodium and potassium . particularly preferred of the alkali metals is lithium . useful alkaline earth metals include magnesium , calcium and barium . calcium , of the alkaline earth metals , is usually preferred . a preferred soap for use in the grease compositions of this invention is lithium 12 - hydroxy stearate . in addition to the soaps described , it is also possible to use complex soaps in the preparation of the grease compositions . complex soaps may be prepared from a variety of materials and are described in numerous patents and publications . as an example , complex soaps may be prepared from the reaction of alkali and alkaline earth metal hydroxides and carbonates with a dibasic acid , i . e . adipic acid , azealic acid or sebacic acid . the soaps which were used in the testing program previously described were prepared in a &# 34 ; stratco contactor .&# 34 ; a pressure vessel containing baffles and a mixer in which it is possible to obtain rapid circulation and thorough mixing . in the general procedure for making a soap in a &# 34 ; stratco contactor ,&# 34 ; the fatty material and a portion of the base oil are added to the vessel with the base , e . g . lithium hydroxide and a measured amount of water . after the vessel is closed , agitation and heating are carried on until a stated temperature and / or pressure is reached , at which point saponification will be complete . this usually occurs when the charge has reached a temperature of about 370 ° f . and a pressure of approximately 70 psig . most of the moisture present in the pressure vessel is then flashed off by releasing the pressure on the contactor . following blowdown the temperature in the contactor is increased to 400 ° f . to complete melting of the soap . at this point a part of the additional oil used in the grease is blended into the mixture . the soap - oil mixture is then transferred to an open vessel where the remainder of the oil can be introduced gradually , after which the entire mass can be smoothed down and cooled or allowed to cool . if desired , the smoothing or working step in processing the lubricating grease may be a part of the cooling operation . soaps are also prepared in open kettles at atmospheric pressure . in the basic open - kettle process , the fatty material is added to a portion of the base oil and heated with stirring until completely melted . a solution of alkali metal reactant , such as lithium hydroxide , is then added to the kettle with stirring to saponify the acid and form the soap which is dispersed in the base oil . heat is then provided to the kettle until the water is completely removed and the soap is melted . at this point the soap is combined with the remainder of the base oil while stirring and maintaining an elevated temperature . when the desired viscosity is obtained , ep agent is added to the grease . the major advantage of the pressure contactor over the open kettle is the time required for the manufacture of grease . because of more rapid circulation and mixing , the pressure contactor requires one - fourth to one - fifth the time needed for grease preparation in the open kettle . the pressure contactor also has the advantage of providing a grease in which the soap is more finely and evenly dispersed in the grease . the greases of this invention are prepared by both the open kettle and the pressure vessel methods , depending on the solubility of the ep agent incorporated in the grease . when the ep agent is oil soluble , a pressure contactor such as the &# 34 ; stratco contactor &# 34 ; is used . after the soap has been prepared utilizing the procedure previously described , it is combined with the ep agent . reaction of the oil soluble ep agent with the dispersed soap is very rapid and the agent quickly consumes dispersed soap until the reaction is complete . the reaction of soap and ep agent may be allowed to take place in the contactor or may be effected in the transfer line from the contactor or in a separate vessel . carrying out the reaction in the contactor may not be advantageous as the contactor may have to be cleaned after each operation in order to remove any residual ep agent . the amount of soap used in the contactor method is measured to provide for complete reaction of soap and ep agent and still leave sufficient soap to obtain the desired viscosity in the grease composition . after reaction of the ep agent and soap dispersion is complete , the soap is pumped to an open kettle where the remainder of the base oil is added and the mixture is circulated until the desired viscosity is reached . since the reactivity of the ep agent with the soap is no longer a factor , the grease may be used with the confidence that the viscosity will be maintained at the desired level . when an oil insoluble ep agent is used , the grease - making process is carried by a modified open kettle procedure . in this case the soap is not melted ; therefore , an excess must be blended with the base oil to produce the desired consistency as previously described ( and as set forth in more detail in example 1 ). after the desired viscosity has been obtained , the ep agent is blended into the grease . the open kettle process is carried out at a temperature between about 250 ° f . and about 350 ° f .. this temperature is sufficiently high to effect substantial dispersion of the soap in the grease , but not high enough to melt the soap . as a result , part of the soap remains in the grease as undispersed solids . the insoluble ep agent reacts preferentially with the dispersed soap . as dispersed soap is used up , undispersed solids in turn become dispersed in the grease through the shearing and milling action obtained when the grease is placed in use . by appropriately controlling the amount of soap used in the process , it is possible to provide a balanced system wherein sufficient soap is present in dispersion at all times to maintain the desired viscosity of the grease composition . while the procedures described are preferred , greases containing oil soluble ep agents may also be prepared in an open kettle by appropriately controlling mixing temperatures and other operating conditions to assure complete dispersion of the soap . also the grease - making process with oil - insoluble ep agents may be carried out in a pressure contactor by operating in an appropriate manner to limit dispersion of the soap and thus obtain a grease containing undispersed soap solids . a variety of mineral oils of lubricating viscosity may be used as the base oil in the grease compositions of the invention . included are such materials as bright stock , duosol extract , and neutral oils . the mineral oil base can be a single oil or it can be a mixture of oils . the combined oils should have a viscosity within the range of about of 50 to about 200 sus at 200 ° f . the oils may be napthenic base , paraffin base , or mixed base oils derived from petroleum , including lubricating oils derived from coal products . ep agents or film strength additives contain chemical elements in such a form that under high pressure between metal surfaces they react with the metal to form a coating which will either sustain the load or prevent welding of the two metals together . the active ingredient in ep agents is either chlorine , phosphorous , or sulfur compounds . the additives often consist of phosphates , phosphites , sulfurized esters , and sulfurized olefins . u . s . pat . no . 2 , 566 , 793 lists a variety of ep agents , including esters of phosphorous acids , neutral aromatic sulfur compounds , selenides , sulfurized fatty oils or esters , sulfurized long - chain olefins , phosphorous acid esters having sulfurized organic radicals and chlorinated hydrocarbons . commercial products available include the materials previously mentioned , viz ., lubrizol 6063 , lubizol 887 , sulperm 110 and hitec 2319 . other commercial products include such materials as anglalmol 33 , an olefin polysulfide ; vanlube 829 , substitutwd 1 , 3 , 4 thiodiazole ; vanlube 804 , a sulfurized olefin and organic phosphate ; cuvan 826 , 2 , 5 dimercapto 1 , 3 , 4 thiodiazole ; pennwalt tnps , a tertiary nonyl polysulfide ; mobil g - 305 and g - 500 , sulfurized ester organic phosphate ; elco l - 36556 , zinc dialkyldithiophosphate and organic boron ; and elco 36715 , zinc dialkyldithiophosphate , organic boron , sulfurized oils , alkyl phosphate and amines . some of the ep agents are substantially oil insoluble ; however , most of them are oil soluble . the grease compositions of this invention will normally contain from about 1 . 0 to about 5 . 0 weight percent dispersed soap . in any event , the amount of soap used in the grease preparation will be established to provide sufficient soap for reaction with the ep agent and the additional amount of undispersed necessary to provide a soap dispersion in the grease which is sufficient to maintain the desired grease viscosity . the amount of ep agent used will depend on the particular ep material , but will usually be from about 1 . 0 to about 3 . 0 weight percent of the grease . various other additives may be incorporated into the grease compositions of this invention subject only to the requirement that they are compatible with the required components of the invention and with each other . typical additives which may be incorporated include rust inhibitors , oxidation inhibitors , stringiness agents , dyes and other color additives , dispersants , antiwear agents and the like . these optional additives are present in the grease compositions in only small amounts , usually not exceeding about 3 % by weight . the greases of this invention are further illustrated in the following examples . three greases were prepared in an open kettle utilizing the procedure set forth in table 1 . table 1______________________________________1 . charge cooking oil to kettle . 2 . heat to 180 ° f . 3 . add 12 - hydroxystearic acid and hydrogenated castor oil . 4 . heat to 190 ° f ., stir until completely melted . 5 . prepare a solution of lithium hydroxide in hot water . 6 . add solution to kettle while stirring . 7 . adjust steam on cooking kettle to give a moderate release ofwater without excessive splattering . 8 . cook until water is gone . 9 . pump extract into blend tank . 10 . add soap while stirring . 11 . circulate with stirring at 190 - 200 °. 12 . shear at 60 psi pressure until desired viscosity is reached . 13 . when desired viscosity is attained , add ep additive shear inat 30 psi . 14 . sample for final viscosity . ______________________________________ table 2__________________________________________________________________________ no . 1 no . 2 no . 3 lb wt % lb wt % lb wt % __________________________________________________________________________hydrogenated castor oil 32 . 0 2 . 13 36 . 9 2 . 46 65 . 7 3 . 2912 hydroxy stearic acid 10 . 7 0 . 71 12 . 4 0 . 83 22 . 0 1 . 10lithium hydroxide 6 . 1 0 . 41 7 . 0 0 . 47 12 . 3 0 . 62bright stock 215 . 4 14 . 36 214 . 3 14 . 29 283 . 5 14 . 17duosol extract 1220 . 8 81 . 39 1214 . 4 80 . 96 1596 . 5 79 . 82van lube 829 15 . 0 1 . 00 15 . 0 1 . 00 20 . 0 1 . 00__________________________________________________________________________ the three greases were tested in the traction motors of a test locomotive pulling 88 cars of 100 tons each . test conditions and results are presented in table 3 . table 3______________________________________ no . 1 no . 2 no . 3______________________________________initial viscosity * - cp 7 , 000 9 , 400 8 , 250test mileage 500 500 2 , 760gear box temperature - ° f . 100 - 175 100 - 175 75 - 125final viscosity * - cp 53 , 000 55 , 000 63 , 800______________________________________ * brookfield viscosity at 200 ° f . the greases did not reach temperatures in the test which would be expected in normal railroad operations . to determine the effect of higher temperature the greases were heated in an oven at a temperature of 200 ° f ., with the results set forth in table 4 . table 4______________________________________ no . 1 no . 2 no . 3______________________________________heating time - hrs 192 192 168viscosity after heating - cp 23 , 000 25 , 000 24 , 000______________________________________ a grease is prepared by combining 1 , 400 lb of brightstock , 375 lb of hydrogenated castor oil , 125 lb of methyl - 12 - hydroxy stearate , 72 lb of lithium hydroxide monohydrate and 50 lb of water in a stratco contactor . with the contactor closed the mixture is agitated and heated to a temperature of 370 ° f . the pressure on the contactor is then released to blow off water and the contactor temperature is increased to 400 ° f . to complete melting of the soap . the temperature is then reduced to 350 ° f . by adding 1 , 000 lb of brightstock . the insoluble ep agent ( 500 lb of vanlube 829 ) is then added to the soap and reaction occurs between the ep agent and approximately 250 lb of the soap . following addition of the ep agent , the contents of the contactor are transferred to an open kettle and 13 , 000 lbs of dusol extract are added . thereafter the entire mass is smoothed down and allowed to cool . the viscosity of the cooled grease is 15 , 000 cp brookfield , measured at 200 ° f . when the grease is tested in a locomotive gear box in a similar manner to that set forth in example 1 , the viscosity remains essentially unchanged .	2
the invention relates to a method for cooling a bus bar 10 . as used herein , the term “ bus bar ” embraces one or more bus bars and their electrical equivalents . the method invokes the step of exposing the bus bar to an evaporative cooling system which is primed with a dielectric fluid having a sufficiently high breakdown voltage for the intended application ( e . g ., twice the voltage carried by the bus bar ). the evaporative cooling system carries heat away from the electrical bus bar and increases its current - carrying capacity for a given temperature rise . consequent reduction in the component &# 39 ; s dimensions saves space and weight , so that the packaging density of the components may be increased . the evaporative fluid is in fluid and thermal contact with the bus bar . the electrical fluid undergoes at least a partial phase change to the vapor state . during that process , latent heat of vaporization is extracted from the component . in general , the factors that limit the current - carrying capacity of a bus bar are a function of the temperature rise in the bar and the increase in resistance due to heating from the flow of electrical energy . higher temperatures can create a safety hazard and increased resistance to the flow of electrical current . this results in unacceptably high drops in current flow . the present invention aims to carry away the heat , thereby enabling an increase in the amount of current that a given bar can carry for a given temperature rise . preferably , the fluid is a dielectric fluid having a sufficiently high breakdown voltage . as is known , a dielectric is a substance with very low electrical conductivity , i . e ., is an insulator . liquid dielectrics include hydrocarbon oils , askarel , and silicone oils . as used herein , the term “ breakdown voltage ” refers to the maximum voltage that the dielectric can withstand without breakdown . beyond that voltage , considerable current passes as an arc , usually with more or less decomposition of the fluid along the path of the current . preferably , the evaporative fluid of the subject invention is a thermally stable liquid , such as a perfluorocarbon . one example is the fluorinert ™ electronic liquid fc - 77 that is available from the 3m company of minneapolis , minn . an alternative dielectric is sold under the name flutec ™ which is manufactured by f2 chemicals limited of lancashire , england . the inertness of such fluids permits their use as a direct contact , single and multiple phase coolant in the electrical environment . their high dielectric strength and low electrical conductivity render them suitable for applications in high voltage transformers and power electronics . ideally , such fluids have a low global warming potential and zero ozone - depletion potential . in the environment under consideration , the evaporative fluid is dispensed in liquid droplets that impact upon the electrical components . ideally , the temperature of the liquid droplets prior to impact is just below the fluid &# 39 ; s boiling point . in this manner , at least a portion of the incident evaporative fluid becomes vaporized , with a desired efficiency of 15 - 20 %. as defined in this disclosure , “ efficiency ” is defined as the ratio of the actual heat transferred to the theoretical maximum heat transfer . the theoretical maximum heat transfer is the sensible and latent heat associated with 100 % vaporization of the liquid impacting the surface . an acceptable temperature rise depends upon the application . for example , if the bus bar has a lacquer surface , an acceptable temperature rise might be up to about 165 ° f . up to that temperature , the lacquer - covered bus bar retains its structural integrity without drooping . if a bus bar is rubber - coated , an acceptable temperature would be below that at which degradation of the rubber or other insulating layer occurs . for example , consider a 1 , 000 amp bus bar ( fig1 ). using traditional passive cooling approaches , each bus bar 12 , 14 in the pair would need to be about 0 . 5 by about 1 . 8 inches in order to carry this current with an acceptable temperature rise , i . e ., a temperature that can be controlled by natural convection in air . a major factor governing its size is the ability to dissipate heat that is generated , with an acceptable temperature rise . using an evaporatively cooled bus bar , the size of each bar 16 , 18 in the pair to carry this current would be about 0 . 06 by 0 . 64 inches for a 28 volt dc bus bar . this equates to a reduction in size and weight of over 24 : 1 . with cooling alone as the governing parameter , size reductions of the order of 100 : 1 can be achieved . with this significant reduction in size and weight , packaging options for power distribution are expanded . as the bus bar gets smaller , with heat dissipation no longer a significant issue , voltage drop actually becomes the controlling factor in sizing the bus bars . lower voltage bus bars are more sensitive to this voltage drop factor . if 0 . 5 % is considered an acceptable voltage drop , then for a 28 volt dc bus bar , as depicted , the acceptable drop is 0 . 14 volts . with a 270 volt dc bus bar , the allowable drop is 1 . 35 volts . the voltage drop then becomes a governing factor in determining the cross sectional area and the length . in table i , two different thicknesses of bus bar are considered in specimens having widths of 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 inches : first , a ⅛ - inch thick bus bar ; and second , a ½ - inch thick bus bar . the empirically - derived data describe the current - carrying capability of bus bars with the dimensions shown . also shown is the heat generated per unit length . thus , table i offers a benchmark comparison of the dc - carrying capacity for bus bars that are subjected to traditional cooling techniques , i . e ., natural convection and radiant heat transfer . with the exception of heat generation data , table i is taken from electromechanical design handbook , r . walsh , tab . prof &# 39 ; l & amp ; ref . books , p . 257 ( 1st edition ). the data of table ii evaluate the effect of evaporative cooling using 3m &# 39 ; s fluorinert ™ ( fc - 72 ), which has a boiling point of 56 ° c . the observations assumed that ( 1 ) a conservative heat flux of 160 w per square inch prevailed ; and ( 2 ) only 10 % of fc - 72 vaporized when the component was cooled . the current - carrying capacity for various sizes of bus bar was determined with widths ranging from 0 . 05 to 0 . 8 inches and a thickness of 0 . 06 inch . in table i , consider the case where the bus bar is 0 . 5 - inch thick and 2 - inches wide . this is the closest case to the illustration of fig1 ( each bar in the pair 12 , 14 being 0 . 5 - inch thick and 1 . 8 - inch wide ). the current - carrying capacity that is shown in table i is 1040 amps ( traditional cooling ). in table ii , consider the case of a 0 . 06 - inch thick bus bar that is evaporatively cooled . the width is specified . at about 0 . 6 inches in width , the maximum current capacity for a 28 volt bar ( 8 inches in length ) is 945 amps . that value is fairly close to the non - evaporatively cooled bus bar . it affords a comparison between the size and volume of a naturally convection - cooled bus bar and an evaporatively - cooled bus bar . the natural convection - cooled bus bar that carries the same current is 0 . 5 inch by 2 - inches . the evaporatively - cooled bus bar is 0 . 06 - inch by 0 . 6 - inch — which is much smaller and lighter in weight . turning now to fig2 the current - carrying capacity of a bus bar under various loads is shown . fig2 portrays the bus bar widths for a given thickness and voltage under traditional and evaporative cooling conditions . the data reveal that utilizing evaporative ( spray ) cooling , equivalent currents can be carried by bus bars which are smaller in width and thickness . while embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described , it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention . rather , the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation , and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	5
referring now to fig1 the general organization of the present invention is illustrated . a low profile roller unit 10 is shown in an incubator 12 which has a controlled source of heated air . if desired , the sources of air and heat can be separate . roller unit 10 is a commonly used laboratory device for rotating vessels with an outer cylindrical wall about a horizontal axis of the vessel . thus , drive units are presently readily available and already in use in commercial labs . the roller unit 10 provides a roller driven mechanism in a well known manner to provide a desired drive speed for the culture vessel . suitable devices are available from stoveall life science , inc . of greensboro , n . c . as shown in fig1 a culture vessel 16 with a cylindrically formed outer wall is supported and rotated by rollers 17 on the roller unit 10 . the vessel 16 is a one piece integral unit with an endcap 18 . referring now to fig2 the culture vessel 16 is annularly shaped with an inner cylindrical wall 20 and an outer cylindrical wall 22 which are connected by a transverse end wall 24 . the walls 20 and 22 are concentrically arranged about a longitudinal axis 26 and define an annular chamber 27 . an annularly shaped endcap 18 is provided to close the open end of the annular chamber 27 . the end cap 18 has an inner cylindrical wall 30 and an outer cylindrical wall 32 . the inner surfaces of the walls 30 and 32 can have a beveled end portions 34 to guide the initial coupling of the endcap 18 to the open end of the vessel 16 . the fit of the endcap 18 and the open end of the vessel 16 can be a force or snug fit to be liquid tight , or if desired , a sealant can be employed to insure the liquid tight interconnection of the endcap 18 and the vessel 16 . as can be appreciated , the endcap 18 and vessel 16 define an annular enclosed chamber 27 about the horizontal axis 26 and when in place , forms a smooth continuation of the wall 22 . in the endcap 18 are portals or openings 29 which sealingly engage the ends of conventional disposable hypodermic syringes 31 . the inner wall 20 and the outer wall 22 contain microperforations 36 ( see fig3 ) along their length and about their periphery which are sized relative to the thickness of the walls and the wall material to make the walls gas permeable . thus , oxygen in the atmosphere can enter the annular chamber from both the inside wall 20 and the outside wall 22 while liquid is retained within the chamber 27 . the culture vessel can be made from a culture compatible material such as polystyrene or polypropylene which can be molded or formed to the desired configuration with a wall configuration which provides a rigid construction yet can be microperforated for gas permeation to the culture within the vessel . as an example of the invention , a sheet of polypropylene having the dimensions of 20 cm × 20 cm × 1 mm thick may be vacuum formed in steps in a conventional manner in a vacuum form mold to an annular vessel having general dimensions of an i . d . of 1 cm for the wall 20 and an o . d . of the wall 22 of 2 . 5 cm and the axial length being approximately 5 cm and having an approximate volume of 100 ml . the above unit can be subjected to neutron beam bombardment by rotating the vessel about its longitudinal axis as shown in fig4 and the wall 22 bombarded with a neutron beam from a neutron generator 23 at a direction normal to the axis of the vessel . the neutron generator is moved transversely relative to the axis of the vessel while the vessel is rotated on a roller device 25 which results in the production of holes in the walls 20 and 22 which can have hole diameters of approximately 5 to 20 microns . the hole spacing can be on the order of 50 microns . it will be appreciated that particle , laser , proton or electron beams can be used to perforate the walls . as an example of use of the culture vessel , ham &# 39 ; s f10 media can be sterilized and placed into the chamber 27 of the culture vessel . the endcap 28 can be securely fastened to the vessel 16 . a syringe can be filled with ham &# 39 ; s f10 media and attached to one of the endcap ports 29 so that the chamber can be completely filled with cells with a zero headspace . such cells are of commercially available origin , being baby hamster kidney ( bhk ) cells which can be obtained from american tissue culture corporation ( atcc , rockville , md .). after cells are injected into the chamber , a new syringe with fresh media can be placed in the port in the endcap . by utilizing another syringe in the other port , any excess air bubbles can be removed according to standard procedures , thereby maintaining a zero head space . the entire rotating culture vessel with the attached syringes is transferred to a standard incubator and placed upon a commercially available standard roller bottle rotating unit 10 . the speed of rotation is adjusted until the cells and beads are normally distributed in suspension throughout the culture vessel 16 . as the cells consume culture media products , 50 % of the media is replaced with fresh media and a new syringe is placed in the portal opening as previously described for removing air bubbles . the cells are continued on maintenance feeding until they achieved such size as to be useful for additional morphological studies . functional sizes should range from 100 microns to 1 , 000 microns . as tissue or cell densities increase , glucose and oxygen requirements increase . the glucose requirements are fulfilled by replacing media with fresh media containing high concentrations of glucose . oxygen diffusion is enhanced by virtue of increasing the surface area of oxygenation . it has been established that the oxygenation efficiency decreases as a function of the travel distance in the culture media and effectiveness is limited to about one inch or less from the oxygenation surface . mass transfer and mixing of nutrients is facilitated by movement of suspended cells . it will be appreciated in the present invention that the core or inner wall and the outer cylinder wall provide both a structural function and an oxygenation function . use of both the inner and outer walls increase the oxygenation capacity of the rotating oxygenator on the order of 2 to 10 - fold as compared to use of a single central core oxygenator member . as will be appreciated , use of both the inner and outer wall surfaces for oxygenation also increases the oxygen capacity of the culture vessel and thus permits both increased cell production and larger cell growths . additionally , the oxygen effective surface is increased and the spacing between the oxygenation surfaces can be increased while maintaining effective oxygenation of the culture . as discussed before , the oxygenation is provided by access through perforations sized to admit oxygen yet retain liquid . due to the inherent hydrophobicity of the structural polymer , large size perforations can be made that allow rapid diffusion of oxygen through the structural element without liquid media leakage . the number of perforations is controlled by the strength of the material and wall thickness required to maintain it &# 39 ; s rigidity . the size of the perforations can be increased to the extent that the wall material remains non - permeable with respect to the liquid and maintains it &# 39 ; s structural rigidity . alternatively , holes or perforations can be etched into a vessel body as shown in fig4 by utilizing an excitamer laser . an excitamer laser beam can be swept parallel to the horizontal axis while the vessel is rotated . the laser pulses etches holes in the vessel body across and through the outer and inner walls of the vessel . the etched holes can be approximately 100 microns apart and approximately 90 microns in diameter . the criterion for hole size is that the holes should be small enough to prevent the liquid media in the container from leaking or escaping from the container . with polymeric walls having the properties of hydrophobicity , opposing capillary forces prevent culture media from escaping the vessel or container and permit larger diameter pores to be utilized . consequently , use of a hydrophobic material allows for larger porosity or hole size . also inherent with larger pore diameters is greater diffusivity and mass transfer of gases through a thicker structural material . alternatively , a flat sheet of hydrophobic polymeric material can be etched to make a hole pattern with a selected hole diameter or diameters . the porosity , the spacing and the diameters of the pores or holes can be as previously described . the porous sheet of structural material is then vacuformed to a molded annular shape that approximates the previously described vessel structure . in some instances , there can be an advantage of first creating a flat sheet of perforated material and then molding that sheet into the proper shape . in an alternate form of the invention , porous plastics ( available from porex technologies , fairburn , ga .) can be injection molded or formed into the vessel shape as previously described . these porous plastics are polymeric and hydrophobic by nature . once formed , the plastic is both porous and hydrophobic . examples of available porous plastic are nylon , polycarbonate , polypropylene , polytetrafluoroethylene and kynar . other similar polymers can be used . the porous plastics are sintered to the desired structure configuration with the particles of polymer being fused together to obtain a specific porosity and pore diameter . the pore diameter is defined as the orifice diameter ; porosity is defined as the number of pores per unit area or the volume of gas per volume of polymer . the pores are generally continuous through a wall but can have a non - linear path . a non - linear path will impart a greater flow restriction to prevent fluid leakage . consequently , given the hydrophobic nature of the material and a non - linear or tortuous path , the general pore size can be made larger without allowing liquid media to escape . this also permits the plastic to be formed in a thicker wall having greater mechanical and structural integrity . the net result is a good mass transfer of gas from outside the vessel through the walls and , because of increased surface area , there is improved transfer from the air to liquid interface . if desired , the material can be molded into a variety of shapes and sheet configurations . since good tensile strength can be maintained , the vessel can be machined into a variety of shapes . due to the variety of plastics that can be sintered , the vessel can be configured to various cell types and culture requirements , as desired . also , with sintering injection molding , a cost - effective disposable cell culture unit can be made which is both autoclavable or gamma radiation sterilizable . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is disclosed in the drawings and specifications but only as indicated in the appended claims .	8
a dot matrix type wire printer printing head 1 is composed of a head support member 2 ( fig3 ), a printing wire guide 3 , a printing element 4 ( fig2 ) and a sound absorbing cover 5 . the head support member 2 is so made of aluminum material as to have large heat capacity and small mass , and is shaped substantialy like a semicircular disk having flat left and right surfaces 2a and 2b . a guide hole 6 is perforated from the left surface 2a to the right surface 2b of the support member 2 is formed at the center of the support member 2 . seven inserting bores 7 are formed from left surface 2a to the right surface 2b of the support member 2 at equal intervals on the same circumference around the hole 6 as a center . a bed 8 is provided at the right surface 2b of the support member 2 and projects from the lower portion of the guide hole 6 to be elevationally extended in blade shape in fig1 . the printing wire guide 3 is composed of a plastic trough member 9 including groove 9a formed thereon , a metallic dustproof cover 10 over the top of groove 9a , and four guide plates 11 provided in the groove 9a . the trough member 9 is fixed to the bed 8 with screws 12a in such a manner that the rear end of the groove 9a matches the guide hole 6 of the support member 2 . the dustproof cover 10 is also fixed to the right surface 2b of the support member 2 with screw 12b for coating the top of the groove 9a . more particularly , the support member 2 is fixed to the printing wire guide 3 so that the guide hole 6 coincides in the same axial direction as shown in fig2 with the groove 9a of the trough member 9 . further , since the support member 2 is formed of different material with respect to resonant point from the trough member 9 of the wire guide 3 , vibrations of both the materials are mutually restricted without increase . the flap - armature electromagnet 13 is secured to the front end 15a of an iron core 15 wound with a coil 14 thereon and with a yoke 16 of substantially u - shape surrounding the coil 14 and is further secured to a base member shaped in a rod 17 of aluminum at the thread portion of the front end 15a of the core 15 . annular groove 17a is formed at the right end of the rod 17 in fig2 . a flap - armature 18 is rockingly supported at the base end between projection 19 ( only one is shown ) formed at the rear top of the yoke 16 , and has an actuating portion 18a formed in narrow width at the end thereof . synthetic resin auxiliary frame 20 is attached to the yoke 16 by engaging a dove - tail shape projection 21 projected from the lower surface of the yoke 16 in fig2 with a dove - tail shape groove 22 . a hole 20a elevationally perforated through one end of the auxiliary frame 20 is formed as shown in fig2 and the actuating portion 18a of the flap - armature 18 is movably inserted into the hole 20a . a supporting portion 20b is downwardly projected from the frame 20 for supporting a printing wire 23 slidably . a button 24 is secured to the rear end of the printing wire 23 , and a compression spring 25 is interposed between the button 24 and the supporting portion 20b . this spring 25 serves to urge the printing wire 23 leftwardly in fig2 and also to urge the actuating portion 18a of the flap - armature 18 leftwardly . after the printing elements 4 thus constructed are assembled , the rods 17 are inserted into respective inserting bores 7 of the support member 2 so that the printing wire 23 is inserted through the guide hole 6 to the guide plate 11 ( only one rod 17 is shown in fig2 ). an eccentric pin 26 is rotatably supported on the support member 2 so that a lower projection 26a of the pin 26 is engaged with the annular groove 17a . so the rod 17 inserted into the inserting bore 7 is slid rightwardly and leftwardly in fig2 in the inserting bore 7 by suitably rotating the eccentric pin 26 using a tool from outside of the support member . more particularly , upon rotating the eccentric pin 26 , the printing element 4 is integrally moved laterally with respect to the support member in fig2 to adjust the projected amount of the printing wire 23 from the printing wire guide 3 so the aforementioned adjusting operation does not affect the compression force of the compresssion spring 25 . accordingly the printing pressure of each printing element 4 can always have a predetermine force . if the rod 17 is once positioned by the eccentric pin 26 , the rod 17 and accordingly the printing element 4 is positioned via aluminum washer 28 by tightening a lock screw 27 operable from outside of the support member 2 . when the electromagnet 13 is energized , the flap - armature 18 is rotated so that the printing element 4 thus assembled with the support member 2 is so operated as to move the printing wire 23 rightwardly in fig2 against the compression spring 25 to carry out a printing operation . when the electromagnet 13 is deenergized , the flap - armature 18 is returned to the original position before rotation by the compression spring 25 and thus returns the printing wire 23 . when the electromagnet 13 is rapidly and continuously operated repeatedly as aforementioned , it produces an extremely large quantity of heat , but this heat is transmitted to aluminum rod 17 having relatively large thermal transmission rate via the iron core 15 or the yoke 16 , and the heat is immediately transferred from the rod 17 to aluminum support member 2 having a large heat sink capacity . such aluminum support member 2 may have relatively large volume and accordingly have large heat capacity to quickly absorb the heat from the electromagnet 13 and to rapidly radiate the heat to the atmosphere . since the aluminum support member 2 can efficiently absorb and exhalate the quantity of heat , the temperature of the printing head 1 can be maintained at a relatively low temperature . the sound absorbing cover 5 will now be described in detail . this cover 5 is composed of an aluminum core plate 29 and thermal foaming sound absorbing material 30 secured to cover both surfaces of the core plate 29 . after the core plate 29 is formed as shown in fig1 or 2 , sound absorbing paint such as polyvinyl chloride foaming plastisol is coated on both surfaces of the core plate 29 , and after the core plate 29 is heated to foam the sound absorbing paint for solidification . thereby the thermal foaming sound absorbing material 30 is secured to both surfaces of the core plate 29 . the cover 5 thus constructed is secured to the support member 2 with screws 32 for surrounding the all printing elements 4 via rubber vibration insulator 31 . more particularly , the printing element 4 is isolated from the external field by sound absorbing cover 5 and the support member 2 . thus , most sound produced from the printing element 4 is absorbed in the sound absorbing cover 5 with the result that the sound amount leaked to the external field is extremely little . the sound absorbing cover 5 thus attached to the support member 2 may efficiently absorb the sound produced from the printing element 4 and may easily be fabricated and assembled . reference numeral 33 represents a guide port provided at the sound absorbing cover 5 for introducing lead wires 34 of the electromagnet 13 .	1
referring to the embodiment of fig1 and 2 , reference number 10 refers generally to the transport apparatus of this invention . reference number 12 refers generally to the platform of the present invention , which platform receives a mobility device 14 as shown in fig1 and 5 . reference number 16 refers generally to the lifting apparatus of the present invention . as shown in fig1 and 5 , the mobility device 14 comprises two drive wheels 18 ( only one of which is shown ), two support wheels 20a positioned to the rear of the drive wheels 18 , and two anti - tip wheels 20b positioned to the front of the drive wheels 18 . referring specifically to fig1 and 2 , the platform 12 comprises a pair of ramps 22 on a first side a of the platform 12 , and a pair of ramps 22 on a second side b of the platform 12 , each of which ramps 22 is wide enough to accommodate the drive wheel 18 and support wheels 20a that are in alignment with the respective ramp 22 . the ramps 22 permit a mobility device 14 to drive onto the platform 12 from side a and to drive off of the platform 12 from either side a or side b . located between each opposing pair of support ramps 22 is a first drive wheel well 24 and a second drive wheel well 25 . adjacent each drive wheel well 24 and 25 and parallel thereto , on the side nearest the center of the platform 12 , is a support wheel path 26 . the support wheel path 26 allows the support wheels 20a to travel over the platform 12 during loading and unloading . preferably , when the transport apparatus 10 of the present invention is being used with a jazzy ® power chair , wheel well 24 should have a width of approximately three and one - quarter inches , and wheel well 25 should have a width of about four inches , to allow the platform to lower fully without binding on the drive wheels 18 as they touch the ground . in particular , by making wheel well 25 wider than wheel well 24 , it is possible to reduce , if not eliminate , the tendency of the drive wheel 18 located in the wheel well 25 to rub on the inside of the wheel well 25 during lowering of the platform 12 . while the width of the wheel wells 24 and 25 can be altered without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention , a sizing of the wheel wells 24 and 25 that is too large may result in the mobility device 14 swivelling within the wheel wells 24 and 25 , preventing the latching apparatus ( described below ) from functioning properly . located at each of the short sides of the wheel wells 24 and 25 are centering devices 28 , which centering devices 28 are substantially stirrup - shaped . the centering devices 28 rotate about shafts 30 , with such rotation being limited by torsion springs 32 which are attached about shafts 30 and which connect a side member of each center device 28 to the nearest short side of the respective wheel wells 24 and 25 , as shown in fig2 . the torsion springs cause the centering devices 28 to maintain a position that is substantially parallel to the support wheel paths 26 , and thus prevent the centering devices 28 from hanging below the plane of the platform 12 when the transport apparatus 10 is not in use . when a mobility device 14 is located on the platform 12 so that the drive wheels 18 are located in the wheel wells 24 and 25 , the drive wheels 18 rest on the centering devices 28 , and the centering devices 28 substantially center the drive wheels 18 within their respective wheel wells . additionally , the centering devices 28 provide an easier exit and entrance of the mobility device 14 by providing a ramp effect and thereby limiting the amount of drop when the drive wheels 18 enter the wheel wells 24 and 25 . referring specifically to fig7 the automatic latching apparatus 34 of the transport apparatus 10 is shown . the latching apparatus 34 comprises a first shaft 36 , preferably having a diameter of three - fourths of one inch , and a second shaft 38 substantially parallel to the first shaft 36 , and preferably having a diameter of one - half of one inch . the first shaft 36 is rotatably mounted at both ends to the platform 12 , as shown in fig2 . the second shaft 38 is rotatably mounted at one end to the platform 12 , as shown in fig2 and passes through openings 39 in the platform 12 . proximate both ends of the second shaft 38 are l - shaped latches 40 , which latches 40 can be made of flat stock , metal rods , or any other appropriate material . a cable 42 is wound around each of the first shaft 36 and the second shaft 38 . one end of the cable 42 is connected to the first shaft 36 , while the second end of the cable 42 is connected to a spring 44 , which spring 44 is attached to a wall 45 that abuts the support ramp 22 located on side a of the platform 12 as shown in fig2 . the spring 44 provides tension during the automatic latching and unlatching of the mobility device 14 . referring specifically to fig7 and 8 , located along first shaft 36 is a latch engaging mechanism 46 . the latch engaging mechanism 46 is substantially l - shaped , with a base member 48 comprising a pair of opposing rectangle - shaped members , an arm member 50 which is rotatably coupled to the base member 48 , and a wheel 52 which is rotatably coupled to the arm member 50 . adjustably connected at substantially a ninety degree angle to arm member 50 distal the wheel 52 is a push rod 54 . the end of the push rod 54 that is adjustably connected to the arm 50 is threaded , and the push rod 54 is adjustably connected to the arm 50 with a nut 55 . the length of the push rod 54 below the arm 50 determines the amount of travel of the latches 40 . that length can be adjusted with the nut 55 . the second end of the push rod 54 is rotatably connected to a substantially y - shaped member 56 , which extends from and is fixedly connected to the first shaft 36 , and which y - shaped member 56 is substantially parallel to the arm member 50 . referring to fig1 and 5 , the lifting apparatus 16 is capable of lowering the platform 12 to a position adjacent the ground , so that a mobility device 14 may be safely driven onto or off of the platform 12 . the lifting apparatus 16 is also capable of lifting the platform 12 , with a mobility device 14 located thereon , until the platform 12 is at a height above the ground that is safe for travel . as shown in fig3 and 4 , if no mobility device 14 is located on the platform 12 , then the transport apparatus 10 will &# 34 ; fold &# 34 ; by causing the platform 12 to automatically move toward the lifting apparatus 16 , until the platform 12 and the lifting apparatus 16 are nearly in contact with each other . prior art machines have the capability of automatically &# 34 ; folding &# 34 ; in this manner . when a mobility device 14 is located on the platform 12 , the platform 12 will remain at substantially a ninety degree angle relative to the lifting apparatus 16 while the platform 12 is lifted to a height that is safe for travel , as shown in fig1 . as shown in fig7 and 8 , as the platform 12 is being lifted , the wheel 52 will contact an angled face 58 , which angled face 58 is located at one end of a body 60 , which is attached at a second end at substantially a ninety degree angle relative to the lifting apparatus 16 . as the wheel 52 moves upward along the angled face 58 , the arm member 50 will rotate toward the push rod 54 , causing the first shaft 36 to turn . that turning , which is communicated through cable 42 to the second shaft 38 , causes the second shaft 38 and thus the l - shaped members 40 to turn in a clockwise direction . the l - shaped members 40 will continue to turn until the short ends of the l - shaped members 40 pass over a portion of the undercarriage ( not shown ) of the mobility device 14 , thereby retaining the mobility device 14 in position . the l - shaped members 40 may not actually contact the undercarriage of the mobility device 14 ; rather , the short ends are positioned over the undercarriage so as to prevent it from lifting up from the platform 12 during travel . a plurality of eyelets 62 may be attached to the platform 12 as shown in fig1 to provide fastening locations for bungee cords or other similar devices , used to further secure the mobility device 14 to the platform 12 if desired . referring to fig9 and 11 , certain models of mobility devices 14 lack an undercarriage portion positioned so that the mobility device 14 may be retained with one or more of the l - shaped members 40 . for example , one model of the jazzy ® power chair has a leg rest feature , the creation of which results in the omission of a portion of the undercarriage that would otherwise be positioned under one of more of the l - shaped members 40 . referring first to fig9 reference fig1 refers to a portion of the undercarriage of a mobility device 14 of this particular type . it is necessary to provide an extension perpendicularly from the undercarriage portion 100 so that this particular mobility device 14 may be retained by one or more of the l - shaped members 14 . the extension 110 comprises a tube member 120 , an l - shaped lip portion 130 , and an l - shaped removable plate 140 . the extension 110 is secured in position by placing the l - shaped lip portion 130 over the undercarriage portion 100 as shown in fig9 by placing the l - shaped removable plate under the undercarriage portion 100 so as to be in line with the l - shaped lip portion 130 , and to secure the l - shaped plate 140 relative to the tube member 120 and the undercarriage portion 100 with a screw 150 which passes through an opening 160 in the l - shaped plate 140 . referring now to fig1 , shown is an undercarriage portion 200 of another type of mobility device 14 . an example of a mobility device 14 having an undercarriage portion 200 of this dimension is a jazzy ® power chair having a remote control feature . the undercarriage portion 200 has a projection 210 , into which an extension 220 of appropriate dimension may be inserted . the extension 220 may be secured into position using a screw 230 that is inserted through an opening 240 in the in the projection 210 . referring now to fig1 , 4 , 6 and 10 , the locking apparatus 300 of the present invention is shown . while other transport apparatuses are capable of folding automatically when a mobility device is not present on the platform -- a feature of the present invention as well -- the apparatus of the present invention also has the capability of mechanically locking the platform 12 in an up position proximate the lifting apparatus 16 . the locking apparatus 300 comprises a piston 310 , which is coupled to an extension 320 , which extension 320 is slidably retained within a housing 330 . rotatably coupled to housing 330 is an outer housing 340 , which rotates about bolt 350 . as shown in fig1 , located in an upper portion of the outer housing 340 is a first roller 360 located nearer the side that is distal the bolt 350 , and slightly below the roller 360 and located nearer the side that is proximate the bolt 350 is a second roller 370 . slidably retained to the outer housing 340 is a locking leg 380 , which is capable of sliding in a vertical direction relative to the outer housing 340 along bolts 390 , which are retained within grooves 400 . the housing 330 is rotatably coupled to the lifting apparatus 16 along bolt 410 . at a distal end of the locking leg 380 , there is located a projection 420 . at the proximate end of the locking leg 380 , there is a plate 430 having a substantially u - shaped opening 440 therein . attached at a proximate end of the housing 330 is a substantially rectangular member 450 , which member 450 has located thereon a bolt 460 and a bolt 470 . bolt 470 is substantially parallel to the roller 370 , while the bolt 460 is substantially parallel to the roller 360 . a pair of springs 480 are coupled on both sides to the exposed ends of bolt 460 and roller 360 . the locking apparatus 300 operates in the following manner . when the platform 12 is lifted by the lifting apparatus 16 , piston 310 will travel in an upwards direction . if a mobility device is not present on the platform 12 , the platform 12 will ascend in a parallel manner while the springs 480 maintain the member 450 and the outer housing 340 in an adjacent position . as the platform 12 proceeds higher , a bolt 490 ( see fig1 ) on the platform 12 will contact the projection 420 . this will cause the locking leg 380 to travel upward , until the bolt 470 enters the u - shaped opening 440 as shown in fig3 . at this point , the platform 12 will be locked in position relative to the lifting apparatus 16 . if a mobility device 14 is present on the platform 12 , the weight of the mobility device 14 will cause the extension 320 to force apart the springs 480 , causing the outer housing 340 to rotate away from the member 450 along bolt 350 . this rotation will prevent the bolt 470 from entering the u - shaped opening 440 and will prevent the plate 430 from contacting the bolt 470 , as shown in fig1 . the transport apparatus 10 of the current invention may be used to lift and transport a mobility device 14 . to lift a mobility device 14 , the user will first wheel or drive the mobility device 14 onto the ramps 22 from side a of the platform 12 . the anti - tip wheels 20b and the drive wheels 18 will first ascend the ramps 22 , and the drive wheels 18 will enter the wheel wells 24 and 25 , coming to rest on the centering devices 28 . the anti - tip wheels 20b will pass next to the wheel wells 24 and 25 , along support wheel paths 26 , and down the opposing ramps 22 . the user will stop the mobility device 14 when the drive wheels 18 are each in their respective wheel wells 24 and 25 , resting on the centering devices 28 . the user will next activate the lifting apparatus 16 of the present invention , causing the l - shaped members 40 to secure the mobility device 14 to the platform 12 , as shown in fig7 and 8 and as described above . when the platform 12 has been raised to a secure position for travel , the lifting apparatus 16 is turned off . the user may then , optionally , further secure the mobility device 14 to the eyelets 62 with bungee cords , cables , or like devices . when the user is prepared to unload the mobility device 14 , the process is reversed . if bungee cords , cables or like devices have been used to further secure the mobility device 14 to the platform 12 , those devices are removed . the lifting apparatus 16 lowers the platform 12 until the platform 12 reaches the ground . as the platform 12 is lowered , the l - shaped members 40 rotate in the opposite direction , until they are fully open and are no longer in position to prevent the movement of the mobility device 14 from the platform 12 . the drive wheels 18 will settle on the ground , allowing the platform 12 to continue to descend until it also rests on the ground . at this point , the mobility device 14 may be driven off of the platform 12 from side b or backed off from side a . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	8
as required , detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein ; however , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms . the figures are not necessarily to scale ; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components . therefore , specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting , but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention . a vehicle system may include an external keypad , where individual sensors are used as buttons . each sensor may correspond to a numeric character , an alpha character or a combination of alpha - numeric characters . using the sensors of the keypad , a user may enter in a code . when a correct code is entered , the user may be able to unlock the vehicle . the system may further implement a timeout feature , in which the user may be required to enter the correct code within a specified time . in an example , the timeout may be controlled by the body control module ( bcm ) of the vehicle . the system may also implement a lockout feature which limits a number of incorrect code attempts by the user before locking out the keypad . keyless entry systems accordingly provide a convenient way for people to access a vehicle without the key fob or other authentication device . such systems may be used by people who go jogging , working out , or on an excursion , and prefer to leave the key fob inside the vehicle . the systems can also be used to provide access to the interior of the vehicle to a friend or a child , without providing them with the ability to start the vehicle . while numerical keypads are intuitive and quick to use , traditional numerical keypad may place rigid constraints in exterior vehicle design , requiring the specific numerical graphical interface to be presented to the user . additionally numerical keypads may suffer from security concerns whereby unauthorized users may utilize thermal imaging or other techniques to reconstruct access codes . for example , despite the lockout feature , an unauthorized user may be able to observe the user entering the code , and then use the code at a later time to gain access to the vehicle . an improved keypad may implement multi - touch technology configured to recognize multiple finger contacts . in an example , the system may include a keypad having a plurality of individual capacitive pads or other switches . other examples of improved keypads utilizing a single touchpad are described in detail in co - pending application ser . no . 14 / 635 , 650 , filed mar . 2 , 2015 , the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference herein . in an example , to enter a number , rather than pressing a button assigned to the number , the user may instead simultaneously press a number of the pads corresponding to the number . thus , to enter to enter the number ‘ 2 ’, the user simply touches any two pads simultaneously . when entering the numbers , in some implementations the keypad may optionally be configured to include a display configured to indicate the current number being entered . using the improved keypad , if a code of a user is 35234 , the user will place ‘ 3 ’ fingers on the pad , then ‘ 5 ’ fingers , then ‘ 2 ’ fingers , then ‘ 3 ’ fingers , and finally ‘ 4 ’ fingers . in another example , the numbers may be entered based on sliding gesture inputs across multiple pads or switches , rather than through simultaneous contact . the fundamental still remains the same that to enter ‘ 2 ’ the user may touch two individual pads . however , instead of touching two pads simultaneously , the user may enter the ‘ 2 ’ by sliding a finger across two pads . the direction of sliding can be in any available direction ( e . g ., right to left , left to right , top to bottom , bottom to top , etc .). such a keypad may also optionally be configured to include a display configured to indicate the current number being entered . thus , as a code may be entered via the keypad using multiple touches or swipes across the keypad switches , it may be difficult for the unauthorized user to learn the user &# 39 ; s code merely by watching . moreover , as the keypad receives input according to how many buttons are presses or swiped across , numbers or other indications need not be placed on the keys of the keypad , improving keypad aesthetics . yet further , as the resultant multiple touches or swipes may be used to generate numeric inputs , the multiple touch / swipe key codes may be backward compatible with existing numeric codes , and / or may allow for a keypad to accept numbers entered either as direct presses of the number , or according to the multiple touch / swipe techniques described herein . fig1 illustrates an example keyless entry system 100 for a vehicle 102 having a keypad 122 . the system 100 may include a body controller 104 having a radio frequency ( rf ) transceiver 106 . a key fob 108 may be in communication with the rf transceiver 106 of the controller 104 utilizing a fob transceiver 110 powered by a battery 112 . an antenna 114 of the rf transceiver 106 may receive rf signals from an antenna 116 of the fob transceiver 110 , and may deliver the signals to the rf transceiver 106 . an unlock / lock mechanism 118 is operably coupled to the controller 104 . the controller 104 is configured to control the unlock / lock mechanism 118 to unlock / lock doors of the vehicle 102 in response to the rf signals transmitted by the key fob 108 . the key fob 108 may include one or more fob controls 120 , such as a lock switch and an unlock switch . accordingly , the controller 104 controls the unlock / lock mechanism 118 to lock the doors of the vehicle 102 in response to a user depressing a lock fob control 120 of the key fob 108 , and to unlock the doors of the vehicle 102 in response to the user depressing an unlock fob control 120 of the key fob 108 . the keypad 122 is in electrical communication with the controller 104 . the keypad 122 may be positioned on an exterior portion or section of the vehicle 102 . in one example , the keypad 122 may be hardwired to the controller 104 . in another example , the keypad 122 may be in rf communication with the controller 104 ( e . g ., via the rf antenna 114 ). the keypad 122 includes a plurality of mechanical pads , capacitive pads or other switches 124 a - 124 n which correspond to numeric characters , alpha characters or any combination of alpha - numeric characters . the keypad 122 may further include a display 126 configured to display to the user the current character being entered into the keypad 122 . in an example , the keypad 122 may transmit commands via hardwired signals to the controller 104 which correspond to a sequence of numeric characters , alpha characters , or alpha - numeric characters in response to the user selecting various switches 124 a - 124 n . in another example , the keypad 122 may transmit commands via rf signals which correspond to the alpha , numeric , or alpha - numeric characters to the controller 104 in response to the user selecting various switches 124 a - 124 n . the controller 104 controls the unlock / lock mechanism 118 to unlock / lock the doors in response to receiving the commands , e . g ., two or more signals ( rf or hardwired ) which correspond to a valid sequence of alpha , numeric , or alpha - numeric characters . the key fob 108 may be implemented in connection with a base remote entry system , a passive entry passive start ( peps ) system or a passive anti - theft system ( pats ). with the peps system , the controller 104 may control the unlock / lock mechanism 118 to unlock the door in response to the controller 104 determining that the key fob 108 is a predetermined distance away from the vehicle 102 . in such a case , the key fob 108 automatically ( or passively ) transmits encrypted rf signals ( e . g ., without user intervention ) in order for the controller 104 to decrypt ( or decode ) the rf signals and to determine if the key fob 108 is within the predetermined distance and are authorized . it is to be noted that with the peps implementation , the key fob 108 also generate rf signals which correspond to encoded lock / unlock signals in response to a user depressing a lock fob control 120 or an unlock fob control 120 . in addition , with the peps system , a key may not be needed to start the vehicle 102 . the user in this case may be required to depress the brake pedal switch or perform some predetermined operation prior to depressing a start switch after the user has entered into the vehicle 102 . in the pats implementation , the key fob 108 may operate as a conventional key fob in order to unlock / lock the vehicle 102 . with the pats implementation , a keys ( not shown ) is generally needed to start the vehicle 102 . the key may include a rf transmitter embedded therein to authenticate the key to the vehicle 102 . the controller 104 includes an ignition switch authentication device 128 . the ignition switch authentication device 128 may also include an rf receiver ( not shown ) and an antenna ( not shown ) for receiving rf signals transmitted by the rf transmitters of the keys . it should be noted that the ignition switch authentication device 128 may be implemented as a standalone controller ( or module ). the ignition switch authentication device 128 is configured to authenticate the particular type of mechanism used to start the vehicle 102 . for example , with the pats implementation , the key is inserted into an ignition switch 130 to start the vehicle 102 . in such a case , the rf transmitter of the key transmits rf signals having encrypted data therein to the receiver of the ignition switch authentication device 128 . the ignition switch authentication device 128 decrypts the data to authenticate the key prior to allowing the user to start the vehicle 102 . with the peps implementation , as noted above , a key is not needed to start the vehicle 102 . in such a case , the ignition switch authentication device 128 authenticates the rf encrypted data passively transmitted by the transmitter 108 a - 108 n to allow the user to start the engine of the vehicle 102 . as noted above , in addition to the authentication device 128 authenticating the rf encrypted data , the user may perform a predetermined operation ( e . g ., pull handle of a door , or open door , toggle the brake pedal switch , or other operation ) prior to depressing a start switch to start the vehicle 102 . the system 100 contemplates a number of other operations from those listed prior to depressing the start switch to start the vehicle 102 . the keypad 122 may implement multi - touch technology configured to recognize multiple finger contacts . rather than pressing a switch 124 of the keypad 122 assigned to a number or letter to input that character , the user may instead simultaneously press a number of the pads corresponding to the desired number . thus , to enter a digit of an access code , such as a personal code or factory code , the user may simply simultaneously touch or swipe across a number of the pads representative of the digit of the code being entered . as a code may be entered via the keypad 122 using multiple touches or swipes across the keypad switches 124 , it may be difficult for the unauthorized user to learn the user &# 39 ; s code merely by watching . moreover , as the keypad 122 may receive numerical input according to a number of button presses or number of pads swiped across , numbers or other indications need not be placed on or near the switches 124 of the keypad 122 . fig2 a illustrates an example of a keypad 122 - a receiving multi - touch user input of a number . as shown , the keypad 122 - a includes five switches 124 - a through 124 - e and a display 126 element , all in a relatively upright orientation suitable for vertical use on a b - pillar or elsewhere on the outside of the vehicle 102 . also as shown , the user is pressing all five of the switches 124 - a through 124 - e , and the display 126 indicates a ‘ 5 ’ to provide feedback of the entered number to the user . variations on the design of the keypad 122 - a are possible . for instance , keypads 122 may be implemented having a greater or fewer number of switches 124 . additionally or alternately , some keypads 122 may exclude the display 126 , and / or may include switches 124 or displays 126 in different orientations or designs . fig2 b illustrates examples of keypads 122 receiving multi - touch user input of various numbers . as shown , each of keypads 122 - b and 122 - c is receiving input from two of the switches 124 to designate the number ‘ 2 ’, and includes an indication on the display 126 of the number ‘ 2 ’. it should be noted that these are only two of the possible ways to enter the number ‘ 2 ’. for a keypad of five switches 124 as illustrated in fig2 b , there may be ten different ways to enter the number ‘ 2 ’. each of keypads 122 - d and 122 - e is receiving input from three of the switches 124 to designate the number ‘ 3 ’, and includes an indication on the display 126 of the number ‘ 3 ’. it should similarly be noted that these are only two of the ten possible ways to enter the number ‘ 3 ’ using the multi touch keypad 122 . similarly , each of keypads 122 - f and 122 - g is receiving input from four of the switches 124 to designate the number ‘ 4 ’, and includes an indication on the display 126 of the number ‘ 4 ’. it should again be noted that these are only two of the five possible ways to enter the number ‘ 4 ’ using the multi touch keypad 122 . when the user releases the switches 124 of the keypad 122 , the number may be considered to be entered by the keypad 122 , and may be provided to the controller 104 for processing . fig2 c illustrates example keypads 122 receiving swipe user input of various numbers . as shown , each of keypads 122 - h , 122 - i , 122 - j , and 122 - k is receiving swipe input across two of the switches 124 to designate the number ‘ 2 ’, and includes an indication on the display 126 of the number ‘ 2 ’. for instance , the keypad 122 - h illustrates a swipe from switch 124 - a to switch 124 - b , the keypad 122 - i illustrates a swipe from switch 124 - b to switch 124 - a , the keypad 122 - j illustrates a swipe from switch 124 - b to switch 124 - c , and the keypad 122 - k illustrates a swipe from switch 124 - c to switch 124 - d . it should be noted that these are only four of the possible ways to swipe the number ‘ 2 ’. for a keypad of five switches 124 as illustrated in fig2 c , there may be fourteen different ways to swipe the number ‘ 2 ’. similarly , each of keypads 122 - l , 122 - m , 122 - n , and 122 - o is receiving swipe input across three of the switches 124 to designate the number ‘ 3 ’, and includes an indication on the display 126 of the number ‘ 3 ’. for instance , the keypad 122 - l illustrates a swipe from switch 124 - a over switch 124 - b to switch 124 - c , the keypad 122 - m illustrates a swipe from switch 124 - c over switch 124 - b to switch 124 - a , the keypad 122 - n illustrates a swipe from switch 124 - b over switch 124 - c to switch 124 - d , and the keypad 122 - o illustrates a swipe from switch 124 - d over switch 124 - c to switch 124 - b . it should be noted that these are only four of the possible ways to swipe the number ‘ 3 ’. for a keypad of five switches 124 as illustrated in fig2 c , there may be six different ways to swipe the number ‘ 3 ’. notably , the number illustrated by the display 126 may increment as the magnitude of the swipe increases . for instance , when the user presses a first switch 124 , the display 126 may show the number ‘ 1 ’. when the user swipes to a second switch 124 adjacent to the first switch 124 , the display 126 may increment to the number ‘ 2 ’ to indicate the swiped value . when the user continues to swipe in the same direction to a third switch 124 adjacent to the second switch 124 , the display 126 may increment to the number ‘ 3 ’ to indicate the increased value that was swiped . when the user released from the keypad 122 , the number may be considered to be entered by the keypad 122 , and may be provided to the controller 104 for processing . fig3 illustrates an example process 300 for receiving multi - touch or swipe user input using the keypad 122 . the process 300 may be performed , for example , by a keypad 122 such as one or more of the keypads 122 - a through 122 - o illustrated above with respect to fig2 a - 2c . at operation 302 , the keypad 122 identifies initiation of a multi - touch input character sequence . in an example , the keypad 122 may detect the initiation by a signal received from one or more of the switches 124 of the keypad 122 indicating that the user has pressed one or more of the switches 124 . at operation 304 , the keypad 122 updates the keypad display 126 . in examples where the keypad display 126 is present and enabled , the keypad 122 may update the keypad display 126 to indicate the value of the currently entered input character . for instance , when a multi - touch input character is initiated by a user pressed down on one of the switches 124 , the keypad 122 may determine that the value is ‘ 1 ’, and may direct the keypad display 126 to display the numeral ‘ 1 ’. in another example , when a multi - touch input character is initiated by a user pressed down on three of the switches 124 , the keypad 122 may determine that the value is ‘ 3 ’, and may direct the keypad display 126 to display the numeral ‘ 3 ’. in yet another example , responsive to the user pressing an additional one of the switches 124 or swiping across an additional one of the switches , the keypad 122 may determine that the input value is increased , and may direct the keypad display 126 to display the increased value . at operation 306 , the keypad 122 determines whether additional input was provided to the switches 124 that would require an update to the character being input . in an example , when entering a character using a swipe technique , such as shown in fig2 c , when the user swipes to a switch 124 adjacent to a previously swiped or pressed switch 124 , the keypad 122 may determine that an increment may be required to the input value . in another example of a swipe scenario , when the user reverses direction and backs off from a previously swiped switch 124 , the keypad 122 may determine that a decrement may be required to the input value . in an example of a multi - touch scenario , when the user additionally presses an additional switch 124 without releasing the currently pressed switch 124 or switches 124 , the keypad 122 may determine that an increment may be required to the input value . in another example of a multi - touch scenario , when the user removes from pressing one of a plurality of switches 124 currently being pressed , the keypad 122 may determine that a decrement may be required to the input value . if additional input was provided to the switches 124 that requires an update to the character being input , control passes to operation 308 . otherwise , control passes to operation 310 . at operation 308 , the keypad 122 updates the character being input . for instance , responsive to the user swiping to an additional switch 124 , backing off from a previously swiped switch 124 , pressing additional ones of the switches 124 , or releasing from some of the currently pressed switches 124 , the keypad 122 updates the character in accordance with the currently swiped or simultaneously pressed value . after operation 308 , control returns to operation 304 to update the keypad display 126 . at operation 310 , the keypad 122 determines whether entry of the multi - touch character is complete . in an example , when the keypad 122 determines that all of the switches 124 have been released , control passes to operation 312 . in another example , when the keypad 122 detects that there has been no change to the entered value being input for a multi - touch timeout value ( e . g ., one second , two seconds , etc . ), the keypad 122 considers the value to be complete and control passes to operation 312 . otherwise , control returns to operation 306 to determine whether additional input has been provided . at operation 312 , the keypad 122 sends the entered character to be processed . in an example , the keypad 122 may transmit the entered character to the controller 104 via a wired or wireless connection . after operation 312 , the process 300 ends . fig4 illustrates an example process 400 for utilizing a code input via a multi - touch keypad 122 to access the vehicle 102 . the process 400 may be performed , in an example , by the controller 104 in communication with the keypad 122 . at operation 402 , the controller 104 receives input from the keypad 122 . in an example , the input may be entered into the multi - touch keypad 122 using the plurality of switches 124 of the keypad 122 according to the process 300 . at operation 404 , the controller 104 determines whether a lock doors command was input to the keypad 122 . in an example , the lock doors command may be specified by a user pressing and holding two of the switches 124 of the keypad 122 , or swiping across two of the switches of the keypad 122 ( or by entering another predefined value ). as shown , the lock doors command may be entered without a user having to enter a personal code , but it should be noted that in other examples the personal code may be required for the lock command . if the lock doors command is input , control passes to operation 406 . at operation 406 , the controller 104 locks the vehicle 102 doors . in an example , the controller 104 may command the unlock / lock mechanism 118 to lock the doors of the vehicle 102 . after operation 406 , the process 400 ends . at operation 408 , the controller 104 determines whether an access code was input to the keypad 122 . in an example , the controller 104 may determine wither the input matches a previously set up personal code or a factory code included in the controller 104 as shipped . if an access code is entered , control passes to operation 410 . otherwise , the process 400 ends . at operation 410 , the controller 104 receives input from the keypad 122 . in an example , once authenticated using the personal code , the user may enter an unlock command to be performed by the vehicle 102 . at operation 412 , the controller 104 determines whether an unlock doors command was input to the keypad 122 . in an example , the unlock doors command may be specified by a user pressing one of the switches 124 of the keypad 122 ( or by entering another predefined value ). if the unlock doors command was entered , control passes to operation 414 . otherwise , control passes to operation 416 . at operation 414 , the controller 104 unlocks the vehicle 102 doors . in an example , the controller 104 may command the unlock / lock mechanism 118 to unlock the doors of the vehicle 102 . after operation 414 , the process 400 ends . at operation 416 , the controller 104 determines whether a trunk release command was input to the keypad 122 . in an example , the trunk release command may be specified by a user pressing or swiping across two of the switches 124 of the keypad 122 ( or by entering another predefined value ). if the trunk release command was entered , control passes to operation 416 . otherwise , the process 400 ends . at operation 418 , the controller 104 releases the vehicle 102 trunk latch . in an example , the controller 104 may command the unlock / lock mechanism 118 to release the trunk latch of the vehicle 102 . after operation 414 , the process 400 ends . while exemplary embodiments are described above , it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention . rather , the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation , and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . additionally , the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the invention .	6
referring now to fig1 and 2 , and as disclosed and shown in the co - pending application , there is depicted therein a first embodiment of the present invention generally , depicted at 12 , which functions in conjunction with a water supply tank 14 and a water collection tank 16 . the water treatment apparatus 12 includes a generally cylindrical housing 18 . the housing , preferably , comprises a first generally cylindrical housing portion 20 and a second generally cylindrical housing portion 22 . both housing portions are formed from water impermeable material , and are constructed as disclosed in the co - pending application . the housing portions 20 , 22 are removably sealably interconnected , as disclosed in the co - pending application . disposed within each of the housing portions 20 , 22 is at least one and , preferably , a plurality of treatment sections , each treatment section comprising at lease one discrete particulate layer . the treatment sections cooperate to help rid water of impurities such as bacteria , heavy metals , chlorine , etc . at least one of the treatment sections in the second housing member defines means for removing organic , inorganic , and radiological contaminants . the specific constituents of the treatment sections , their functions , and their relative positioning within the housing 18 will be discussed further . as shown in fig3 , the water supply tank 14 seats atop the top surface 24 of the housing 18 and the water collection tank seats below the housing 18 . these are attached and cooperate as disclosed in the co - pending application . water flows from the water supply tank 14 through the water treatment apparatus 12 and is collected in the water collection tank 16 . fig4 depicts the various distinct treatment sections within the housing 18 of the water treatment apparatus 12 , and the particulate layers that form the treatment sections . each of the layers has a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the housing , ensuring that water flows through each of the layers and does not leak in any space between the housing and the respective layer . the first housing portion 20 of the housing 18 , which serves as the top of the housing 18 , includes a topmost layer comprising a separator member , such as a plastic disk 80 having a multiplicity of holes 82 formed therethrough . the holes are evenly distributed on the disk and control the flow of water through the apparatus 12 . the disk 80 functions to disperse water flowing in through the housing inlet 30 and to reduce the flow rate of the water through the treatment apparatus 12 . the disk 80 is seated between two radially inwardly directed shoulders 87 , 89 which hold the disk 80 in place . the disk 60 has a diameter substantially equal to that of the first housing portion 20 , ensuring that water flows through the plurality of holes 82 formed through the disk 80 . it is vital to the function of the water treatment apparatus 12 that water flowing through each of the layers is dispersed and permeates throughout each layer . this helps to increase the life of the water treatment apparatus , generally , by causing water to flow throughout each layer , instead of forming channels within each layer , reducing the life of an individual layer and , thusly , the line of the water treatment apparatus . the plastic disk 80 is located a distance from the top surface 24 of the first housing member 20 . this provides a small reservoir area 84 within the first housing member for holding water received through the housing inlet 30 and helps prevent water from backing up into the water supply tank 14 . disposed below the plastic disk 80 is a first treatment section which is , preferably , a “ halogen removal and ph neutralization section .” the first treatment section has a first separator , preferably a first filter paper 85 , and includes layers one through three as described hereinafter . the first filter paper 85 filters out and traps large impurities in the water . additionally , the first filter paper 85 serves to help distribute the water within the first housing member 20 , in the same manner as noted above . any type of filter paper may be used herein and includes felt filter papers nylon filter paper , and other filter paper known to the skilled artisan . all of the filter paper referred to herein may be one of these types of filter paper . additionally , each piece of filter paper serves to slow the progress of water through the water treatment apparatus 12 and has a diameter substantially equal to that of the housing ensuring water does not leak around the edges of the filter paper . some pieces of filter paper may be thicker or thinner , depending upon the flow rate required to achieve sufficient contact time between the water and the discrete layer disposed above the filter paper . beneath the first filter paper 85 is a layer of silver impregnated , activated carbon ( silver carbon ) 86 . the silver carbon 86 primarily serves to remove chlorine from water passing therethrough . the silver blocks the growth of bacteria within the activated carbon layer 86 . if bacteria were to grow in the activated carbon layer 86 , the water treatment apparatus 12 would function inefficiently . silver carbon is a well - known and commercially available product , such as that sold by bestech , inc . beneath the silver carbon layer 86 , a second filter paper 90 is disposed which aids in distributing water flow and filters out any silver or carbon particulates which become entrained in the water . as shown , a layer of activated carbon 92 is disposed below the second filter paper 90 . this layer filters out any remaining chlorine in the water . the activated carbon layer 92 also removes any chloromethane that might be present , which is a source or unpleasant odor in water . activated carbon is , also , a commercially available product , such as that sold by the calgon carbon corporation . the carbon further serves to protect the silver carbon 86 from redox alloy in a later layer , as described hereinbelow . this protection is needed because redox alloy that comes in contact with silver carbon will strip silver from the silver carbon . below the layer of activated carbon 92 is disposed a third filter paper 94 . the third filter paper 94 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the third filter paper 94 is a layer of redox alloy 96 . redox alloy is a well - known and commercially available product ; one example is kdf , which is manufactured by kdf fluid treatment . the redox alloy will kill any microbiological contaminants in the water . the layer 96 of redox alloy completes the first treatment section . disposed below the first treatment section , still within the first housing portion 20 , is a second treatment section , a “ microbiological treatment section .” the second treatment section starts with a fourth filter paper 98 , and includes layers four and five as described hereinbelow . the fourth filter paper 98 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the fourth filter paper 98 is a layer of iodine particles or resin 100 . the iodine particles or resin , which may be of the trivalent , pentavalent , or septavalent variety or a combination of these , serves to kill microbiological contaminants in the water , such as viruses and bacteria . iodine particles or resin with an odd valence are used because the intramolecular bonds of such molecules are weaker than those of iodine molecules with an even valence , and the weaker bonds will allow the iodine to attack microorganisms more quickly . odd - valence iodine is a well - known and commercially available product ; one example is mcv resin , sold by umpqua research company . a hybrid of odd - valence and even - valence iodine may also be used . also , an optional second layer of iodine ( not shown ) may also be used . below the layer of iodine particles or resin 100 is disposed a fifth filter paper 102 . the fifth filter paper 102 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the fifth filter paper 102 is disposed , as a fifth treatment layer , means for lengthening dwell time 103 . the means for lengthening dwell time 103 may comprise any suitable construction for holding the water for an extended period of time . for example , the means 103 may comprise an elongated tube 105 , as shown in fig5 , or a retention cup or tank 106 , as shown in fig6 . the means for lengthening dwell time 103 may contain a layer of iodine particles or resin . if the means for lengthening dwell time 103 contains a layer of iodine particles or resin , the means 103 should be sufficiently large to allow a dwell time of about 1 to 10 minutes before the water passes from the means 103 to the next layer , depending on the iodine concentration in the water . adjusted iodine concentrations of less than 0 . 9 ppm should not be used . if the means for lengthening dwell time 103 does not contain a layer of iodine particles or resin , the only iodine in the water is what is the water from the previous layer 100 brings with it . the means 103 should be sufficiently large to allow a dwell time of 8 to 10 minutes before the water passes from the means 103 to the next layer . as shown in fig6 , at least one probe 108 may be used to measure the iodine concentration in the means for lengthening dwell time 103 . a timer 109 in communication with the at least one probe 109 calculates the necessary dwell time by the formula “ dwell time = 60 minutes divided by ppm of iodine .” the means for lengthening dwell time 103 completes the second treatment section , and is the last treatment section in the first housing portion 20 . as discussed hereinabove , the first housing portion 20 may be removed , thereby passing water through only the second housing portion 22 , it there are few enough contaminants in water entering the system that the treatments in the first housing portion 20 are not needed . disposed below the second treatment portion , within the second housing portion 22 , is a third treatment section , an “ iodine removal section .” the third treatment section starts with a sixth filter paper 108 and includes layers six through eight , as described hereinafter . the sixth filter paper 108 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the sixth filter paper 102 is disposed a layer 110 of anionic resin in the chloride form . anionic resin in the chloride form is a well - known and commercially available product ; one example is iodosorb ii , sold by umpqua research company . anionic chloride removes iodine and iodide from the water . below the anionic resin 110 is disposed a seventh filter paper 112 . the seventh filter paper 112 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the seventh filter paper 112 is disposed a layer of silver carbon 114 . the silver carbon removes iodide from the water . below the silver carbon 114 is disposed an eighth filter paper 116 . the eighth filter paper 116 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the eighth filter paper 116 is disposed a layer of activated carbon 118 . the activated carbon removes iodine from the water . the activated carbon 118 may have silver carbon admixed therewith . this is necessary if the water has high levels of microorganisms , to prevent microorganism growth from occurring on the activated carbon 118 . the layer of activated carbon 118 completes the third treatment section . disposed below the third treatment section , still within the second housing portion 22 , is a fourth treatment section , an “ organic , inorganic , and radiological removal section .” the fourth treatment section starts with a ninth filter paper 120 and includes layers nine through fifteen , as described hereinafter . the ninth filter paper 120 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the ninth filter paper . 120 is disposed a layer of activated carbon 122 . the activated carbon protects the anionic resin layer 110 and the silver carbon layer 114 from redox alloy in a later layer , as described hereinbelow . this protection is needed because redox alloy that comes in contact with the anionic resin layer 110 will strip chloride therefrom , and redox alloy that comes in contact with the silver carbon layer 114 will strip silver from the silver carbon . alternately , the layer 122 may consist of a mixture of cationic resin in the hydrogen form and activated carbon . this latter mixture may also contain silver carbon . below the activated carbon 122 is disposed a tenth filter paper 124 . the tenth filter paper 124 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the tenth filter paper 124 is disposed a layer 126 of redox alloy . the redox alloy removes inorganic contaminants from the water and neutralizes ph in the water . the ph neutralization is necessary for implementation of an ion exchange resin layer in a later step to work , as described hereinbelow . the redox alloy also kills any microbiological contaminants in the water , which may have been introduced by trace microbiological contaminants in the water growing on the layers of activated carbon 118 and 122 . activated carbon may also be admixed with the redox alloy in this layer . below the redox alloy 126 is disposed an eleventh filter paper 128 . the eleventh filter paper 128 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the eleventh filter paper 128 is disposed a layer of activated carbon 130 . the activated carbon protects the ion exchange resin in a later layer , as described hereinbelow , from the redox alloy 126 ; the activated carbon removes “ glue taste ,” which might have been introduced into the water by the redox alloy 126 , from the water ; and the activated carbon removes organic contaminants from the water . below the activated carbon 130 is disposed a twelfth filter paper 132 . the twelfth filter paper 132 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the twelfth filter paper 132 is disposed a layer of ion exchange resin 134 . the ion exchange resin 134 is a mixed bed resin of cationic and anionic resins . the mixed bed resin is a well - known and commercially available product ; one example is nm60 - sg , sold by sybron chemicals . the ion exchange resin 134 removes inorganic and radiological contaminants from the water . if the water entering the system is hard , i . e . has high levels of ca ++, mg ++, etc ., the mixed bed resin is mixed with activated carbon in the layer 134 . if the water entering the system is very hard , i . e . has very high levels of ca ++, mg ++, etc ., then a water softener layer is substituted for the ion exchange layer 134 . suitable water softeners are well - known and commercially available ; one example is that sold under the designation c - 249 , by sybron chemicals . if the water entering the system is extremely hard , i . e . has extremely high levels of ca ++, mg ++, etc ., the water softener is mixed with activated carbon in the layer 134 . water hardness is calculated by dividing the total dissolved solids ( tds ) in ppm by 17 . 1 ; this calculation gives grains of hardness per gallon . turning now to fig7 , if the water entering the system is very hard or extremely hard , and water softener with or without activated carbon is used as the layer 134 as described hereinabove , then below the layer 134 is disposed a thirteenth filter paper 136 . the thirteenth filter paper 136 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the thirteenth filter paper 136 is disposed a layer of activated carbon 138 . the activated carbon 138 protects the water softener in the layer 134 from redox alloy in a later layer , as described hereinbelow . disposed below the activated carbon 138 is a fourteenth filter paper 140 . the fourteenth filter paper 140 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the fourteenth filter paper 140 is disposed a layer of redox alloy 142 . the redox alloy removes inorganic contaminants from the water and neutralizes ph in the water . the ph neutralization is necessary for the water leaving the system to be potable . the redox alloy also kills any microbiological contaminants in the water , which may have been introduced by trace microbiological contaminants in the water growing on the layer of activated carbon 138 . below the redox alloy 142 is disposed a fifteenth filter paper 144 . the fifteenth filter paper 144 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the fifteenth filter paper 144 is disposed a layer of activated carbon 146 . the activated carbon removes “ glue taste ,” which might have been introduced into the water by the redox alloy 126 , from the water . the layer of activated carbon 146 , or the ion exchange layer 134 , if the incoming water is not hard enough to necessitate the thirteenth through fifteenth particulate layers , completes the fourth treatment section . disposed below the fourth treatment section , still within the second housing portion 22 , is a sixteenth filter paper 148 . the sixteenth filter paper 148 serves further to distribute water flow and to filter out any impurities that may have passed through the previous filter papers . below the sixteenth filter paper 148 , water then flows from the water purification apparatus through the downwardly extending spout 56 into the water collection tank 16 through the aperture 74 in the top 72 of the water collection tank 16 . a user may then remove the water collection tank 16 from the water purification apparatus and utilize the water collection tank 16 as a pitcher for pouring water into an appropriate drinking apparatus such as a glass or a mug . it is to be appreciated that the construction hereof enables the “ stacking ” of housing portions to tailor the filtering to be effected . thus , and turning now to fig8 and 9 , there is shown this stacking of sections of treatment material , comprising more distinct particulate layers , disposed within the housing 18 . as shown in fig8 and 9 , the housing 18 comprises six housing portions 201 , 211 , 221 , 231 , 241 , 251 . the housing portions are shaped as are the housing portions in the first embodiment , each having a cylindrical sidewall defining a hollow interior . the housing portions are removably sealably interconnected to one another as described hereinabove . each housing portion houses one treatment section . the treatment materials in the distinct particulate layers making up the treatment sections are the sane as the treatment materials in the embodiments described hereinabove , and their purposes are the same as those described hereinabove ; therefore , in the interest of efficiency , only the composition of the various treatment sections and constituent particulate layers in the second embodiment , and not their purposes , will be discussed hereinibelow . the housing portions 201 , 211 , 221 , 231 , 241 , 251 are separable and stackable in prescribed order as indicated above , thus passing incoming water through more or fewer treatment sections as necessary depending on the quality of the incoming water . as in the two housing portion array described hereinabove , a layer of filter paper is , preferably , disposed between every two adjacent layers of treatment material , though most of the filter papers may be dispensed with in a less - preferred embodiment . at a minimum , there should be one layer of filter paper per section , as described hereinbelow . in a six - housing portion array , disposed below the plastic disk 80 in the first housing section 201 is a first treatment section , a “ pretreatment section .” the first treatment section starts with a first filtering layer 200 , the first filtering layer 200 containing filter paper 202 . below the first layer 200 is a first treatment layer 204 , the first treatment layer 204 containing silver carbon 206 . below the first treatment layer 204 is a second treatment layer 208 , the second treatment layer 208 containing activated carbon 210 . below the second treatment layer 208 is a third treatment layer 212 , the third treatment layer 212 containing a combination of silver carbon and activated carbon 214 . below the third treatment layer 212 is a fourth treatment layer 216 , the fourth treatment layer 216 containing redox alloy 218 . below the fourth treatment layer 216 is a fifth treatment layer 220 , the fifth treatment layer 220 containing a combination of redox alloy and activated carbon 222 . the fifth treatment layer completes the first treatment section . below the first treatment section is a second treatment section , a “ microbiological treatment section .” the second treatment section is housed within the second housing portion 211 . the second treatment section starts with a sixth treatment layer 224 , the sixth treatment layer 224 containing iodine articles or resin 226 , the iodine particles or resin 226 being in the trivalent , pentavalent , or septavalent form or a combination of these . a hybrid of odd - valence and even - valence iodine may also be used . also , an optional second layer of iodine ( not shown ) may also be used . below the sixth treatment layer 224 is a second filtering layer 228 , the second filtering layer 229 containing filter paper 230 . the second filtering layer completes the second treatment section . below the second treatment section is a third treatment section , an “ iodine dwell section .” the third treatment section is housed within the third housing portion 221 . the third treatment section starts with a seventh treatment layer 232 , the seventh treatment layer 232 containing means for lengthening dwell time 234 , as described hereinabove and shown in fig5 or 6 . below the seventh treatment layer 232 is a third filtering layer 236 , the third filtering layer 236 containing filter paper 238 . the third filtering layer completes the third treatment section . below the third treatment section is a fourth treatment section , an “ iodine removal section .” the fourth treatment section is housed within the fourth housing portion 231 . the fourth treatment section starts with an eighth treatment layer 240 , the eighth treatment layer 240 containing anionic resin 242 . below the eighth treatment layer 240 is a ninth treatment layer 244 , the ninth treatment layer 244 containing silver carbon 246 . below the ninth treatment layer 244 is a tenth treatment layer 248 , the tenth treatment layer 248 containing activated carbon 250 . below the tenth treatment layer 248 is an eleventh treatment layer 252 , the eleventh treatment layer 252 containing a combination of silver carbon and activated carbon 254 . below the eleventh treatment layer 252 is a twelfth treatment layer 256 , the twelfth treatment layer 256 containing a combination of activated carbon and anionic resin 258 . below the twelfth treatment layer 256 is a thirteenth treatment layer 260 , the thirteenth treatment layer 260 containing anionic resin followed by a combination of silver carbon and activated carbon 262 . below the thirteenth treatment layer 260 is a fourth filtering layer 264 , the fourth filtering layer 264 containing filter paper 266 . the fourth filtering layer completes the fourth treatment section . below the fourth treatment section is a fifth treatment section , a “ ph neutralization and organic removal section .” the fifth treatment section is housed within the fifth housing portion 241 . the fifth treatment section starts with a fourteenth treatment layer 268 , the fourteenth treatment layer 268 containing redox alloy 270 . alternately , the fifth treatment section may start with a layer of activated carbon ( not shown ) preceding the fourteenth treatment layer 268 containing redox alloy 270 . also , activated carbon may be admixed with the redox alloy in this layer . below the fourteenth treatment layer 268 is a fifteenth treatment layer 272 , the fifteenth treatment layer 272 containing activated carbon 274 . below the fifteenth treatment layer 272 is a sixteenth treatment layer 276 , the sixteenth treatment layer 276 containing silver carbon 278 . below the sixteenth treatment layer 276 is a seventeenth treatment layer 280 , the seventeenth treatment layer 280 containing a combination of redox alloy and activated carbon 282 . below the seventeenth treatment layer 280 is an eighteenth treatment layer 294 , the eighteenth treatment layer 284 containing a combination of silver carbon and activated carbon 286 . below the eighteenth treatment layer 284 is a nineteenth treatment layer 288 , the nineteenth treatment layer 288 containing redox alloy followed by a combination of silver carbon and activated carbon 290 . below the nineteenth treatment layer 288 is a fifth filtering layer 292 , the fifth filtering layer 292 containing filter paper 294 . the fifth filtering layer completes the fifth treatment section . below the fifth treatment section is a sixth treatment section , an “ inorganic and radiological removal section .” the sixth treatment section is housed within the sixth housing portion 251 . the sixth treatment section starts with a twentieth treatment layer 296 , the twentieth treatment layer 296 containing mixed bed resin 298 . below the twentieth treatment layer 296 is a twenty - first treatment layer 300 , the twenty - first treatment layer 300 containing water softener 302 . below the twenty - first treatment layer 300 is a twenty - second treatment layer 304 , the twenty - second treatment layer 304 containing redox alloy 306 . below the twenty - second treatment layer 304 is a twenty - third treatment layer 308 , the twenty - third treatment layer 308 containing activated carbon 310 . below the twenty - third treatment layer 308 is a twenty - fourth treatment layer 312 , the twenty - fourth treatment layer 312 containing a combination of mixed bed resin and activated carbon 314 . below the twenty - fourth treatment layer 312 is a twenty - fifth layer 316 , the twenty - fifth treatment layer 316 containing a combination of redox alloy and activated carbon 318 . below the twenty - fifth treatment layer 316 is a twenty - sixth treatment layer 320 , the twenty - sixth treatment layer 320 containing a combination of redox alloy and activated carbon followed by mixed bed resin 322 . below the twenty - sixth treatment layer 320 is a twenty - seventh treatment layer 324 , the twenty - seventh treatment layer 324 containing a combination of water softener and activated carbon 326 . below the twenty - seventh layer 324 is a twenty - eighth treatment layer 328 , the twenty - eighth treatment layer 328 containing a combination of redox alloy and activated carbon followed by water softener 330 . below the twenty - eighth treatment layer 328 is a sixth filtering layer 332 , the sixth filtering layer 332 containing filter paper 334 . the sixth filtering layer completes the sixth treatment section . below the sixth treatment section , water then flows from the water purification apparatus through the downwardly extending spout 56 into the water collection tank 16 through the aperture 74 in the top 72 of the water collection tank 16 . a user may then remove the water collection tank 16 from the water purification apparatus and utilize the water collection tank 16 as a pitcher for pouring water into an appropriate drinking apparatus such as a glass or a mug . as noted hereinabove , the number of housing portions can be added or subtracted depending on the quality of the water to be treated . in a second embodiment hereof , and with reference to fig1 , a forcing means , such as a pump 400 , a faucet containing filter paper 334 . the sixth filtering layer completes the sixth treatment section . below the sixth treatment section , water then flows from the water purification apparatus through the downwardly extending spout 56 into the water collection tank 16 through the aperture 74 in the top 72 of the water collection tank 16 . a user may then remove the water collection tank 16 from the water purification apparatus and utilize the water collection tank 16 as a pitcher for pouring water into an appropriate drinking apparatus such as a glass or a mug . as noted hereinabove , the number of housing portions can be added or subtracted depending on the quality of the water to be treated . in a second embodiment hereof , and with reference to fig1 , a forcing means , such as a pump 400 , a faucet attachment with a flow regulator ( not shown ), or the like is deployed to force water through a treatment housing 405 . water is fed into the forcing means from a collector 402 which collects water from any suitable source ( not shown ). suitable sources include , for example , and as contemplated herein , a condenser of an air conditioner , a vehicle radiator , etc . in this manner , potable water may be obtained during , for instance , an automobile trip in which the automobile &# 39 ; s air conditioner is used . the forcing means forces water from the water source ( not shown ) through the treatment housing 405 , where treatment occurs via separate treatment sections , each treatment section comprising distinct particulate layers as described hereinabove . in this embodiment , as gravity is not used to feed water through the apparatus , the portions of the housing 405 need not be vertically stacked as in the first and second embodiments , but may be configured in any suitable way . preferably , the housing 405 comprises a plurality of housing sections 406 , 410 , 414 , 418 connected to each other via fluid delivery conduits or hoses 404 , 408 , 412 , 416 , respectively , with treated water exiting the treatment housing 405 via an outlet hose or pipe 420 . adding a forcing means to the first embodiment is also envisioned . this would allow the housing sections of the first embodiment to be connected in configurations other than vertical stacking . as will be realized , the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects , all without departing from the invention .	2
in fig1 a and 1b , a structure of an soi - type semiconductor device according to a basic embodiment of the present invention is shown . fig1 a shows a schematic sectional view of a part of an soi - type semiconductor device and fig1 b shows a partial circuit diagram in part of the soi - type semiconductor device . in fig1 a , low resistivity semiconductor regions 2a and 2b are formed within an insulating region 1 on a surface of a support semiconductor substrate 3 of the soi - type semiconductor device . a v ss line 5 and a v dd line 6 are connected to the low resistivity semiconductor regions 2a and 2b , respectively . here , the low resistivity semiconductor regions 2a and 2b is mutually isolated by a dielectric region 1a , and the surfaces thereof are covered by an insulating layer 4 . the insulating layer 4 has contact holes 7a and 7b formed therein , to thereby enable the v ss line 5 and v dd line 6 to contact the low resistivity semiconductor regions 2a and 2b , respectively . a capacitor c is formed between the low resistivity semiconductor regions 2a and 2b . the capacitor may be formed directly by closely disposing the low resistivity semiconductor regions 2a and 2b interposing the dielectric region 1a , or may be formed through capacitors formed by the low resistivity semiconductor regions 2a and 2b with the support semiconductor substrate 3 through the soi insulating region 1 . the low resistivity semiconductor regions 2a and 2b are regions provided only for forming the capacitor and do not have any other circuit function . here , at a part not shown in fig1 a , there are formed a series connection of pmos and nmos , which in turn is connected between the voltage supply lines v ss and v dd . fig1 b shows an equivalent circuit of such an esd protection circuit . the supply voltage v dd , an input signal , and the other supply voltage v ss are applied on pads 10a , 10b , and 10c , respectively . a pmos 11a is connected between a line connected to the pad 10a and a line connected to the pad 10b , and an nmos 11b is connected between the line connected to the pad 10b and a line connected to the pad 10c . a capacitor c is further connected between the lines connected to the pads 10a and 10c . when an esd noise comes on the pad 10b , an electric charge flows into the line connected to the pad 10a or to the pad 10c according to a polarity thereof . since the capacitor c is connected between the lines connected to the pads 10a and 10c , the incident charge is absorbed by the capacitor c . fig2 a to 2e show an embodiment of a method for forming two semiconductor regions buried in an insulating region as shown in fig1 a . in fig2 a , masks 13a and 13b made of resist are formed on a semiconductor substrate 12 for forming a semiconductor device . as shown in fig2 b , by using these masks 13a and 13b , etching , such as reactive ion etching ( rie ), is performed to leave protruding semiconductor regions 12a and 12b unetched beneath the masks 13a and 13b . the masks 13a and 13b are removed thereafter . as shown in fig2 b , on the semiconductor substrate formed with the protruding regions , an insulating layer 14 of sio 2 and a polycrystalline semiconductor layer 15 of polycrystalline si are laminated by chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ), or the like . the polycrystalline semiconductor layer 15 , just after having laminated , has an uneven surface . the surface is then polished to obtain a flat surface as shown in the figure . next , as shown in fig2 d , a support substrate 16 made of si substrate is prepared . the semiconductor substrate to be adhered is disposed thereon in such a way that the polycrystalline semiconductor layer 15 is disposed on a surface of this support substrate 16 . by maintaining this state at a high temperature of , for example , 1 , 000 ° c ., the support substrate 16 and the substrate 12 to be adhered are adhered . the adhering step can be simplified and stabilized by employing such measures as application of a voltage , or application of both pressure and temperature . as shown in fig2 e , when the adhering step is finished , the adhered substrate 12 is polished away from the top , as shown in the figure , leaving only the protruded portions 12a and 12b . at this stage , the semiconductor regions 12a and 12b formed on the adhered substrate 12 are in a state left isolated in the insulating layer 14 . here , the semiconductor regions 12a and 12b must have been doped with high concentration impurities at any stage of the process . the low resistivity semiconductor regions as shown in fig1 a are thus formed . here , the similar method can be employed to form a multiplicity of semiconductor regions buried in an insulating layer for forming such elements as pmos , nmos , or the like on each regions . after forming an insulating layer on the adhered soi substrate and contact holes therein , a semiconductor structure as shown in fig1 a is obtained by forming a wiring layer on an soi structure thus obtained . here , in a structure as shown in fig2 e , the semiconductor regions 12a and 12b are disposed facing to a polycrystalline semiconductor layer 15 disposed on the support substrate 16 through the insulating layer 14 . namely , the semiconductor regions 12a and 12b form capacitors with the support substrate 16 . various shapes of semiconductor regions are possible for forming capacitors for esd protection . fig4 shows a planar configuration of an esd protection capacitor according to an embodiment of the present invention . a low resistivity semiconductor region 23 disposed within an insulator region 25 has a shape that three branch - shaped parts 23a , 23b , and 23c extend from a common trunk part . another semiconductor region 24 disposed within an insulator region 25 similarly has a shape that three branch - shaped parts 24a , 24b , and 24c extend from a common trunk part . the semiconductor region 23 and the semiconductor region 24 are disposed inter - digitally that their respective branch - shaped parts 23a to 23c and 24a to 24c engage one another . the semiconductor region 23 is connected to a v ss supply line 21 , and the semiconductor region 24 is connected to a v dd supply line 22 . the employment of such inter - digital structure increases an area of facing of the semiconductor region 23 and the semiconductor region 24 , and also a capacitance of a capacitor formed therebetween . fig5 shows an example of disposition for distributing capacitors as shown in fig4 on an integrated circuit chip . the semiconductor chip 20 has an integrated circuit part 30 formed at the central part thereof , and pads 31a , 31b , . . . formed at the peripheral part thereof . the v ss supply line 21 and the v dd supply line 22 are disposed between the central circuit part and the peripheral pad part in a way to surround the central part . at plurality of positions between the v ss supply line 21 and the v dd supply line 22 , esd protection circuits 26 as shown in fig4 are disposed . in a configuration as shown in the figure , three of the esd protection circuits 26a , 26b , and 26c are shown . by disposing the capacitors distributedly , a uniform protection function along the whole dimensions of the supply lines is obtained . here , the number of the esd protection circuits can be adjusted according to the necessity . the esd protection circuits can also be formed on the full length of the v ss supply line 21 and the v dd supply line 22 facing to each other . in a ultra thin film soi - type cmos circuit , a semiconductor film for forming a semiconductor device is provided to be extremely thin , for example , 0 . 1 μm . in such a case , the area of side surfaces of semiconductor regions which form a capacitor becomes smaller in accordance with a thickness thereof . to increase a capacitance , the thickness of a dielectric layer between the semiconductor regions may be reduced . however , when the thickness becomes very small , the withstand voltage of the capacitor becomes insufficient . for example , when a dielectric layer of sio 2 is used , a dielectric region with a width of approximately 0 . 5 μm is left between semiconductor regions disposed facing to each other . it is necessary to set the width of the dielectric layer between semiconductor regions sufficient for securing a width that does not allow a leak current of an order of non - negligible amount , and should be broad enough not to be dielectrically broken down . as a measure , a dielectric layer having a width of the order of minimum rule for optical exposure is to be taken . an esd noise which is generated by a human body or the like , typically , has a voltage of the order of 500 v . for relieving such esd voltage , capacitance is preferably as large as possible . fig6 shows a planar shape adequate to increase a capacitance of a capacitor formed between semiconductor regions . a semiconductor region 23 having two branch - shaped parts 23a and 23b is disposed facing to another semiconductor region 24 having similar two branch - shaped parts 24a and 24b . these branch - shaped parts 23a , 23b and 24a , 24b are disposed inter - digitally to engage one another . further , on each of the branch - shaped parts disposed facing to each other , protruded parts 28 protrude further from the branch - shaped part 23a , and protruded parts 27 also protrude from the branch - shaped part 24a . the protruded parts 27 and 28 are disposed to engage each other interchangingly . the length of circumference of parts facing to the other of the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 are increased by these protruded parts 27 and 28 . this means that an area of side surfaces of the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 is increased . by disposing these expanded area of the side surfaces facing to each other , a capacitance of a capacitor formed therebetween is also increased . fig7 shows another example of the configuration of an esd protection capacitor according to another embodiment of the present invention . semiconductor regions 23 and 24 are disposed two - dimensionally in an alternative manner to form a pattern of a checker - board . a dielectric region is disposed around each of the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 . over these semiconductor regions , voltage supply wirings 21a , 21b , 21c , 21d , and 22a , 22b , 22c , . . . are obliquely disposed alternatively as shown in the figure . namely , the semiconductor regions 23 are connected with a v ss supply line 21 and the semiconductor regions 24 are connected with a v dd supply line 22 . consequently , each of the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 is surrounded by semiconductor regions connected to a different supply line , and capacitors are formed at the whole area of the side surface thereof . in the present embodiment , it is also possible to reduce a voltage drop within the semiconductor regions to a negligible amount , as well as to increase a capacitance , by reducing the area on a main surface of each semiconductor region and by contacting the main surface thereof to a metal supply line . since the esd noise has a high voltage , when there is a sharp edge of an angle smaller than 90 ° on a conductive region , the esd noise is easily discharged thereat . fig8 shows a configuration of the esd protection capacitor with a high withstand voltage according to another embodiment of the present invention . a circular semiconductor region 24 and a ring - shaped semiconductor region 23 concentrically encircling therearound are formed within an insulating region , and a capacitor is formed therebetween . a v ss supply line 21 and a v dd supply line 22 are disposed over these semiconductor regions via an insulating layer , and are connected with ohmic contacts to the ring - shaped semiconductor region 23 and the circular semiconductor region 24 through contact holes 28 formed in the insulating layer . in this configuration , no sharp projection is formed on the facing surfaces of the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 . thus , an enhanced withstand voltage is obtained . it is thus possible to reduce a thickness ( width ) of the dielectric region between the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 . here , the shape of these semiconductor regions are not necessarily be a circle , and may be any form like an ellipse or an elongated circle which forms a smooth curve ( large radius of curvature ). it may also be an obtuse angled polygon . when one of the supply wirings is grounded , the grounded supply wiring is preferably designed to be disposed outside . in an soi - type structure , semiconductor regions formed in a surface layer can form capacitors not only mutually with other regions , but also with a support substrate when a semiconductor substrate is employed as the support substrate . fig9 shows a configuration of an esd protection capacitor of an soi - type semiconductor device according to another embodiment of the present invention . on a support si substrate 29 , an insulating layer 25 is disposed , wherein isolated semiconductor regions 23 and 24 are disposed within the insulating layer . the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 are disposed facing to the support substrate 29 through part of an insulating layer 25 , and form capacitors c1 and c2 . surfaces of the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 are covered with an insulating layer 31 . the insulating layer 31 has contact holes 28 provided therethrough , and thereby to expose parts of the semiconductor regions 23 and 24 . a v ss supply line 21 and a v dd supply line 22 are formed to cover these contact holes . namely , the v ss supply line 21 and the v dd supply line 22 have an esd protection capacitor connected therebetween and formed of the semiconductor region 23 , the support substrate 29 , and the semiconductor region 24 . here , in fig1 a , and fig4 through 9 , only capacitor parts of the circuits for esd protection are shown . however , mos transistor structures , as shown in fig3 c , and esd protection circuits , as shown in fig1 b , are also formed on other parts of the same semiconductor chip . the configuration as shown in fig1 and 4 through 8 and the configuration as shown in fig9 can also be joined or combined to be used for an esd protection circuit . the esd protection capacitance is formed by a close disposition of doped semiconductor regions separated dielectrically . these semiconductor regions do not play the role of a constituent element in other circuit elements . although the present invention has been described in relation to preferred embodiments , it is not limited thereto . it will be apparent to those skilled in arts that various changes , substitutes , combinations and improvements can be made within the scope and spirit of the appended claims .	7
as described herein , modulation of the molybdenum cofactor biosynthetic pathway returns cells that are under inflammatory stress to homeostasis by reducing shunting of gephyrin away from stabilization of inhibitory synapses and renormalizing inhibitory control of neural networks . therefore , as described herein , cpmp can be administered to an individual to treat a number of different neurological inflammatory diseases or relieve the symptoms that are a result of a number of different neurological disorders . all of the molybdenum ( mo ) containing enzymes of humans , animals , plants , arachaea and bacteria , with the exception of nitrogenase from prokaryotes , require a co - factor that includes an organic moiety , molybdopterin ( mpt ), and molybdenum . this molybdenum cofactor ( moco ) possesses , across all phylogenetic groups , the same base structure that is very unstable in its free form , in particular under aerobic conditions when it is not bound to an apoprotein . the biosynthetic pathway , discussed in more detail below , is evolutionarily conserved and the corresponding proteins from various organisms are extremely homologous . a mutational defect in moco - biosynthesis leads to simultaneous loss of the activities of all mo enzymes , inclusive the sulphite oxidase . human moco deficiency is a severe , autosomal - recessive genetic disorder , which clinically cannot be differentiated from the less frequently occurring sulphite - oxidase deficiency . most afflicted patients exhibit neurological abnormalities such as non - treatable seizures and lack of development of the brain , which can be traced back to the toxicity of sulphite , a lack of sulphate or both . most afflicted patients usually die in early childhood . a eukaryotic gene encoding a protein involved in moco - biosynthesis was obtained from arabidopsis thaliana . subsequently , a human gene encoding a protein involved in moco - biosynthesis , was obtained and designated mocs1 . due to alternate splicing of the mocs1 gene , the mocs1a and mocs1b proteins are produced and convert a guanosine derivative into the sulphur - free precursor z ( i . e ., cpmp ). patients having a mutation in the mocs1 gene are referred to as having moco - deficiency type a . in a subsequent step , precursor z ( i . e ., cpmp ) is converted to mpt by an enzyme , which is encoded by a gene designated mocs2 and activated by the protein encoded by the mocs3 gene . patients having a mutation in the mocs2 gene are referred to as having moco - deficiency type b . finally , mo is inserted into mpt by a protein referred to as gephyrin . patients having a mutation in the gene encoding gephyrin , gephn , are referred to as having moco - deficiency type c . inflammation triggers neuronal and axonal injury via multiple mechanisms . however , perhaps the most physiologically relevant mechanism of neuronal injury is inflammation - induced synaptic dysfunction and derailment of homeostatic electrophysiological activity in neural circuits . for example , tnfalpha and ifngamma are known to induce hippocampal injury by triggering excitotoxicity . there are multiple mechanism by which these inflammatory cytokines alter synaptic function — for example , by altering excitatory receptor function and increasing synaptic calcium levels . however , an equally important mechanism of cytokine - mediated synaptic dysregulation may be down - regulation of inhibitory receptors . reduced inhibition will raise the overall level of synaptic activity and create a feedback loop in which excitatory synaptic activity builds , calcium accumulates in the synapse , and calcium - dependent proteases degrade synaptic connections . this feedback loop likely exacerbates the loss of inhibition , creating spreading synaptic dysregulation , neural injury , and neural circuit hyperactivity and / or failure . gephyrin is a critical scaffolding protein that controls the localization , clustering , and inhibitory function of glycine and gaba receptors at synaptic sites . gephyrin function is directly tied to inhibitory control of neural circuitry , and down - regulation of gephyrin is linked to seizures and hyperexcitability of neurons . genetic defects in gephyrin are associated with autism , epilepsy , and schizophrenia . the inhibitory receptor scaffolding function of gephyrin is mediated by a c domain that links evolutionarily conserved g and e domains . crucially , the g and e domains of gephyrin are necessary for the synthesis of molybdenum cofactor ( moco ), a molecule that is required for activation of molybdenum - dependent enzymes necessary for survival . humans with mutations in the non - scaffolding domains of gephyrin exhibit moco deficiencies and severe neurological and developmental abnormalities . under homeostatic conditions , guanosine triphosphate ( gtp ) is converted to a coordination complex of molybdopterin and a molybdenum oxide ( moco ) by the action of several catalytic enzymes including gephyrin . moco must be sulfurated by the molybdenum cofactor sulfurase ( mocos ) in order to function as a co - factor for xanthine dehydrogenase and other molybdenum - dependent enzymes . xanthine dehydrogenase catalyzes the conversion of xanthine and nad + to urate and nadh , providing a fundamental reducing agent necessary for redox metabolism and the production of cellular energy stores in the form of atp . increases in cellular calcium lead to the activation of calcium - dependent proteases such as calpain . calpain targets two components of the moco biosynthesis pathway , resulting in disruption of cellular homeostasis . calpain irreversibly converts xanthine dehydrogenase to xanthine oxidase , creating a powerful source of reactive oxygen species that directly damage the cell . moreover , the conversion of xanthine dehydrogenase to xanthine oxidase shunts cellular metabolism away from the production of nadh and atp , compromising cellular energy balance . calpain also cleaves gephyrin , resulting in loss of scaffolding function and down - regulation of inhibitory synaptic function . calpain - cleaved gephyrin also exhibits altered moco synthesis function caused by the physical separation of the g and e domains . calpain - mediated cleavage of gephyrin at synapses creates a feedback loop in which reduced inhibitory receptor function results in increased excitatory receptor activity , increased calcium influx , and further activation of calpain . inflammatory cytokines such as ifngamma and tnfalpha directly alter calcium flux in target cells and increase expression and activation of calpain . inflammatory cytokine exposure will therefore reduce inhibitory synaptic function , increase excitatory load , alter moco synthesis , and drive the target cell toward reactive oxygen species production . inflammatory cytokines also increase the expression of gtp cyclohydrolase i , the rate limiting step in the de novo synthesis of 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydrobiopterin from gtp . inflammatory cytokine exposure will therefore shunt gtp away from mocs1a / mocs1ab - mediated production of cyclic pyranopterin monophosphate ( cpmp ), resulting in decreased moco synthesis . febrile seizures are the most common type of neurologic complication in infants and preschool children . febrile seizures occur at body temperatures over 38 ° c . in the absence of acute electrolyte imbalance or dehydration , in the absence of direct cns infection , and without previous evidence of unprovoked seizures ( commission on epidemiology and prognosis , 1993 , epilepsia , 34 : 592 - 6 ). it is estimated that 1 in 25 children will experience at least one febrile seizure , and the occurrence of febrile seizure is associated with heightened susceptibility to future seizures — 1 in 3 individuals with childhood febrile seizure will experience another seizure of some type within 20 years . moreover , the risk of epilepsy among individuals experiencing a childhood febrile seizure is higher than the general population , with incidence reports ranging from 6 % to 13 %, rates that are more than 10 times higher than in the general population . of note , an increased frequency of febrile seizure is associated with some vaccines in children , including measles - containing and pertussis vaccines . for example , the diptheria - tetanus - pertussis vaccine is associated with an increase of 6 - 9 cases of febrile seizure per 100 , 000 vaccinations and fever is observed in 50 % of vaccinated infants . the measles - mumps - rubella ( mmr ) vaccine is associated with an increase of up to 16 cases of febrile seizure per 100 , 000 vaccinations , and the addition of varicella to the same vaccine increases the risk even further . finally , acute seizures associated with viral , bacterial , and parasitic infections in children , whether systemic or localized to the cns , are a primary factor in the development of epilepsy . for example , during the 2009 - 2010 influenza a ( h1n1 ) pandemic , in which more than 70 % of infected individuals were younger than 24 years of age , up to 6 % of infections resulted in neurological complications , with over 10 % of children less than 15 years of age presenting with neurological symptoms . of these complications , seizure and abnormal eeg were the most common . likewise , infection with enterovirus 71 , a picornavirus with widespread epidemic infectivity throughout the asia - pacific region , is associated with neurologic complications in almost 20 % of infected children . a high incidence of seizure also occurs in children infected with plasmodium , taenia solium and other parasites . the common factor across all of these seizure events , whether febrile or afebrile , is the production of inflammatory cytokines in the cns . interleukin - 1beta ( il - 1beta ) and tumor necrosis factor alpha ( tnfalpha ) are powerful pyrogens that are elevated in the brain during febrile seizures , and experimental evidence directly supports a role for these factors in the initiation of seizures . likewise , tnfalpha , interleukin - 6 ( il - 6 ), and interferon gamma ( ifngamma ) are produced and / or released in the cns during acute infection . as described herein , bypassing gtp - to - cpmp conversion by providing exogenous cpmp can stabilize moco synthesis and provide regulatory feedback control to drive a dysregulated system back toward homeostasis . similarly , blocking gtp cyclohydrolase i to push gtp back into the moco pathway ; increasing expression or activity of mocs1a and / or mocs1ab activity to push gtp to cpmp ; or increasing expression or activity of mocs2a , mocs2b , and / or mocs3 activity to push cpmp to mpt also can stabilize moco synthesis and provide regulatory feedback control to drive a dysregulated system back toward homeostasis . likewise , increasing expression or activity of gephyrin to increase moco synthesis and to stabilize inhibitory synapses ; or blocking calpain to prevent the conversion of xanthine dehydrogenase to xanthine oxidase can stabilize moco synthesis and provide regulatory feedback control to drive a dysregulated system back toward homeostasis . supplementation with cpmp may be enhanced by simultaneously blocking calpain to prevent aberrant xanthine oxidase - dependent production of reactive oxygen species during an inflammatory drive and to maintain gephyrin - dependent synaptic stabilization . in addition , given the link between inflammation - induced seizures and gephyrin / gabar , treatment with glycogen synthase kinase 3beta ( gsk3beta ) inhibitors may increase gephyrin activity . for example , gsk - 3 inhibitor ix ( cas 667463 - 62 - 9 ) or lithium chloride may suppress seizures by enhancing gephyrin function and overcome inflammation - induced shunting of gephyrin away from inhibitory synapse stabilization . thus , methods of treating a neurological inflammatory disease are described herein . as used herein , neurological inflammatory diseases include , without limitation , central nervous system ( cns ) autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis ( ms ), neuromyelitis optica ( nmo ), anti - nmda receptor encephalitis , and autoimmune epilepsies ; alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease ; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( als ); schizophrenia ; autism ; epilepsy and other seizure disorders ( e . g ., febrile seizures without underlying infection ); cns infectious diseases ( e . g ., viral , bacterial , parasitic ); moco deficiencies ( e . g ., due to genetic mutations ); and other neurodegenerative diseases involving microglial and astrocytic inflammatory responses . a neurological inflammatory disease for which the methods described herein are particularly useful is neuroinflammation - induced seizures . “ treating ” as used herein refers to relieving , reducing or ameliorating the symptoms of any of such neurological inflammatory diseases . as described herein , methods of treating a neurological inflammatory disease can include administering an effective amount of cpmp to an individual . in some instances , an individual may be identified as having a neurological inflammatory disease ( e . g ., central nervous system ( cns ) autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis ( ms ), neuromyelitis optica ( nmo ), anti - nmda receptor encephalitis , and autoimmune epilepsies ; alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease ; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( als ); schizophrenia ; autism ; epilepsy and other seizure disorders ( e . g ., febrile seizures without underlying infection ); cns infectious diseases ( e . g ., viral , bacterial , parasitic ); moco deficiencies ( e . g ., due to genetic mutations ); and other neurodegenerative diseases involving microglial and astrocytic inflammatory responses prior to being administered an effective amount of cpmp . in some instances , an individual may be identified as having a mutation in the mocs1 or mocs2 gene or the gene encoding gephyrin prior to being administered an effective amount of cpmp . cpmp can be administered on a long - term basis ( e . g ., when genetic mutations are present ) or cpmp can be administered as an acute intervention to renormalize inhibitory synapses . also as described herein , methods of treating a neurological inflammatory disease can further include monitoring the individual . simply by way of example , the amount of mpt , moco , moco — s or another intermediate or by - product of the moco biosynthesis pathway ( e . g ., levels of xanthine , hypoxanthine , uric acid , sulfite , and s - sulfocysteine ) can be monitored in an individual ( e . g ., in urine ) and can be used as biomarkers for effective cpmp dosing . in some instances , the individual &# 39 ; s symptoms can be monitored ( e . g ., for improvement ) or feedback from eeg can be used to monitor treatment and / or establish dosing . depending upon the results of the monitoring step , the effective amount of cpmp can be adjusted as desired . typically , an effective amount of cpmp is an amount that treats ( e . g ., ameliorates , relieves or reduces the symptoms of ) a neurological inflammatory disease without inducing any adverse effects . an effective amount of cpmp can be formulated , along with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier , for administration to an individual . the particular formulation , will be dependent upon a variety of factors , including route of administration , dosage and dosage interval of a compound the sex , age , and weight of the individual being treated , the severity of the affliction , and the judgment of the individual &# 39 ; s physician . as used herein , “ pharmaceutically acceptable carrier ” is intended to include any and all excipients , solvents , dispersion media , coatings , antibacterial and anti - fungal agents , isotonic and absorption delaying agents , and the like , compatible with administration . the use of such media and agents for pharmaceutically acceptable carriers is well known in the art . except insofar as any conventional media or agent is incompatible with a compound , use thereof is contemplated . pharmaceutically acceptable carriers are well known in the art . see , for example remington : the science and practice of pharmacy , university of the sciences in philadelphia , ed ., 21st edition , 2005 , lippincott williams & amp ; wilkins ; and the pharmacological basis of therapeutics , goodman and gilman , eds ., 12th ed ., 2001 , mcgraw - hill co . pharmaceutically acceptable carriers are available in the art , and include those listed in various pharmacopoeias . see , for example , the u . s . pharmacopeia ( usp ), japanese pharmacopoeia ( jp ), european pharmacopoeia ( ep ), and british pharmacopeia ( bp ); the u . s . food and drug administration ( fda ) center for drug evaluation and research ( cder ) publications ( e . g ., inactive ingredient guide ( 1996 )); and ash and ash , eds . ( 2002 ) handbook of pharmaceutical additives , synapse information resources , inc ., endicott , n . y . the type of pharmaceutically acceptable carrier used in a particular formulation can depend on various factors , such as , for example , the physical and chemical properties of cpmp , the route of administration , and the manufacturing procedure . a pharmaceutical composition that includes cpmp as described herein typically is formulated to be compatible with its intended route of administration . suitable routes of administration include , for example , oral , rectal , topical , nasal , pulmonary , ocular , intestinal , and parenteral administration . routes for parenteral administration include intravenous , intramuscular , and subcutaneous administration , as well as intraperitoneal , intra - arterial , intra - articular , intracardiac , intracisternal , intradermal , intralesional , intraocular , intrapleural , intrathecal , intrauterine , and intraventricular administration . for intravenous injection , for example , the composition may be formulated as an aqueous solution using physiologically compatible buffers , including , for example , phosphate , histidine , or citrate for adjustment of the formulation ph , and a tonicity agent , such as , for example , sodium chloride or dextrose . for oral administration , a compound can be formulated in liquid or solid dosage forms , and also formulation as an instant release or controlled / sustained release formulations . suitable dosage forms for oral ingestion by an individual include tablets , pills , hard and soft shell capsules , liquids , gels , syrups , slurries , suspensions , and emulsions . oral dosage forms can include excipients ; excipients include , for example , fillers , disintegrants , binders ( dry and wet ), dissolution retardants , lubricants , glidants , anti - adherants , cationic exchange resins , wetting agents , antioxidants , preservatives , coloring , and flavoring agents . specific examples of excipients include , without limitation , cellulose derivatives , citric acid , dicalcium phosphate , gelatine , magnesium carbonate , magnesium / sodium lauryl sulfate , mannitol , polyethylene glycol , polyvinyl pyrrolidone , silicates , silicium dioxide , sodium benzoate , sorbitol , starches , stearic acid or a salt thereof , sugars ( e . g ., dextrose , sucrose , lactose ), talc , tragacanth mucilage , vegetable oils ( hydrogenated ), and waxes . cpmp as described herein also can be formulated for parenteral administration ( e . g ., by injection ). such formulations are usually sterile and , can be provided in unit dosage forms , e . g ., in ampoules , syringes , injection pens , or in multi - dose containers , the latter usually containing a preservative . the formulations may take such forms as suspensions , solutions , or emulsions in oily or aqueous vehicles , and may contain other agents , such as buffers , tonicity agents , viscosity enhancing agents , surfactants , suspending and dispersing agents , antioxidants , biocompatible polymers , chelating agents , and preservatives . depending on the injection site , the vehicle may contain water , a synthetic or vegetable oil , and / or organic co - solvents . in certain instances , such as with a lyophilized product or a concentrate , the parenteral formulation would be reconstituted or diluted prior to administration . polymers such as poly ( lactic acid ), poly ( glycolic acid ), or copolymers thereof , can serve as controlled or sustained release matrices , in addition to others well known in the art . in accordance with the present invention , there may be employed conventional molecular biology , microbiology , biochemical , and recombinant dna techniques within the skill of the art . such techniques are explained fully in the literature . the invention will be further described in the following examples , which do not limit the scope of the methods and compositions of matter described in the claims . mouse cortical neurons were cultured in a two - chamber device that separates cell bodies from axons . a schematic of the chambered device constructed in pdms polymer is shown in fig4 a . the experimental design is shown in fig4 f . ifn gamma was added to the pure axons in the axon chamber , and rna was collected from the cell body chamber 72 hours later . the rna was analyzed by microarray to identify changes in gene expression . a low - magnification image of the regions shown in panel a designated “ c ,” “ d ” and “ e ” are shown in fig4 b , and were stained with an antibody against neurofilament , an axon - specific protein . higher magnification images were obtained of the cell body chamber ( fig4 c ), of the axon grooves ( fig4 d ), and of the axon chamber ( fig4 e ). dapi staining indicated the complete absence of any cells in the axon chamber . the results of these experiments demonstrated ifn gamma - induced dysregulation of the moco pathway and down - regulation of inhibitory synaptic proteins . ifn gamma stimulation of the distal axons stimulated a transcriptional program in the neuron cell bodies that is marked by simultaneous down - regulation of numerous components of inhibitory synapses including , for example , gephyrin ( fig5 a ), glycine receptor beta subunit ( fig5 b ), numerous gaba receptor elements ( not shown ), and multiple gephyrin - binding scaffolds ( not shown ) as well as robust up - regulation of mocos ( fig5 c ). at the same time , gtp cyclohydrolase i ( fig5 d ), xanthine dehydrogenase ( fig5 e ), and aldehyde dehydrogenase ( fig5 f ) are significantly up - regulated . taken together , these results indicate substantial changes in the moco pathway . while it is known that inflammatory cytokines alter neuron excitability , the underlying mechanism by which this occurs is poorly understood . some evidence indicates that cytokines such as tnf alpha induce changes in the distribution of excitatory and inhibitory receptors on the plasma membrane of synapses , resulting in an overall alteration in excitability ( stellwagen et al ., 2005 , j . neurosci ., 25 : 3219 - 28 ). and while the impact of inflammatory cytokines on synaptic function has been widely reviewed ( see , e . g ., fouregeaud and boulanger , 2010 , eur . j . neurosci ., 32 : 207 - 17 ; koller et al ., 1997 , prog . neurobiol ., 52 : 1 - 26 ; schafers and sorkin , 2008 , neurosci . lett ., 437 : 188 - 93 ), the field stills lacks a therapeutically tractable pathogenic model for the described phenomenon . it is proposed herein that a key mechanism of hyperexcitability and seizure induction by inflammatory cytokines is the destabilization of the homeostatic molybdenum cofactor biosynthesis pathway via a reduction in gephyrin - mediated transition from mpt to moco , a disruption of gephyrin - mediated inhibitory neurotransmitter receptor synaptic clustering , a metabolic switch from energy production via xanthine dehydrogenase to energy failure via xanthine oxidase activity , the reversal of cpmp production from gtp to the production of 7 , 8 - dhnp - 3 ′- tp with concomitant amplification of nitric oxide production , the stress - dependent down - regulation of multiple components of the inhibitory neurotransmitter receptor machine , and the compensatory up - regulation of elements of the molybdenum biosynthetic apparatus . this is a novel hypothesis that places molybdenum cofactor synthesis , and particularly cpmp , at the center of a pathogenic cascade that results in severe clinical sequelae for many children . fig2 and 3 outline variations of this proposed model . cortical neurons were prepared from embryonic day 15 c57bl / 6 mouse fetuses , following published protocols ( sauer et al ., 2013 , neurobiol . dis ., 59 : 194 - 205 ). in preliminary experiments , after one week in vitro , the neurons were stimulated for 24 hr with ifn gamma ( 500 u / ml ). quadruplicate rna samples were collected under treated and untreated conditions , and changes in gene expression were assessed using the illumina beadarray system . only genes that were detected at p & lt ; 0 . 05 on the array were considered for further analysis . expression levels were un - normalized and the relative level of expression following ifn gamma stimulation was compared to untreated controls . table 1 provides mean ± 95 % confidence intervals ; the appropriate statistical test was chosen based on normality and equal variance tests . in order to determine the relevance of these genes to acute inflammatory events in vivo , c57bl / 6 mice were infected with the theiler &# 39 ; s murine encephalomyelitis virus , as per standard protocols ( howe et al ., 2012a , j . neuroinflamm ., 9 : 50 ; howe et al ., 2012b , sci . rep ., 2 : 545 ; lafrance - corey and howe , 2011 , j . vis . exp ., 52 : 2747 ). the hippocampus was excised at 24 hr after infection , rna was collected , and illumina beadarray analysis was performed to compare gene expression levels to sham infected mice . this time point coincided with a robust inflammatory infiltrate present in the hippocampus , and it was shown that this infiltrate triggers hippocampal neural circuitry changes that result in seizures between 3 and 7 days after infection , followed by the development of epilepsy after 60 days post - infection . it was found that gtp cyclohydrolase i was up - regulated more than 4 - fold in the tmev infected mice ; likewise , mocos was up - regulated over 3 - fold , xdh was increased by 5 - fold , several aldehyde dehydrogenase isoforms were up - regulated , as was collybistin . in contrast , the delta subunit of the gaba a receptor was down - regulated by 30 %, and numerous gaba receptor subunits and binding proteins were down - regulated by 10 %. example 5 — the impact of inflammatory cytokines on molybdenum co - factor biosynthesis gene expression and inhibitory neurotransmitter receptor function gene expression cortical and hippocampal neurons are prepared from c57bl / 6 mice and are cultured under conditions that promote formation of mature synaptic networks . cultures are exposed to tnfalpha , il - 1β , il - 6 , and ifngamma at several doses ( 0 , 1 , 3 , 10 , 30 , 100 , 300 ng / ml ) and for different times ( 6 , 12 , 24 , 48 , 72 , and 96 hr ). in parallel cultures , the amount of cell death is assessed using the mtt assay , and doses that kill greater than 10 % of the culture are excluded from analysis . rna is collected using qiagen rneasy kits and cdnas are generated using the roche transcriptor first strand cdna synthesis kit and random hexamer primers . probe - based real - time pcr is performed on the samples using the roche lightcycler 480 probes master system , and the primer pairs and roche universal probe library hydrolysis probes defined in table 2 . expression is normalized to aco2 and urod , genes that previously have been defined as suitable housekeeping factors . a multi - factor normalization scheme is used to quantify relative differences in gene expression between controls and cytokine treated samples ( anderson et al ., 2004 , cancer res ., 64 : 5245 - 50 ). example 6 — the impact of inflammatory cytokines on molybdenum co - factor biosynthesis and inhibitory neurotransmitter receptor function protein expression similar cultures and treatment conditions as described in example 5 are used to generate protein lysates for analysis of expression of gaba receptor subunits , glycine receptor subunits , gephyrin , gtp cyclohydrolase i , and mocos . neurons grown in glass multi - well chambered slides are used for the analysis of expression of these targets by immunofluorescence microscopy . for if , cells are stimulated for 24 , 48 , 72 , or 96 hrs at 100 ng / ml ( or at a dose defined in example 5 as optimal for gene induction ) prior to fixation and immunostaining . table 3 lists the relevant antibodies that are employed . neurons are cultured in glass imaging chambers under conditions that promote formation of mature synaptic networks . cells are infected with an aav1 . syn . gcamp6f calcium reporter that provides fast optical tracking of intracellular calcium levels ( akerboom et al ., 2012 , j . neurosci ., 32 : 13819040 ; chen et al ., 2013 , nature , 499 : 295 - 300 ). calcium levels are monitored in real - time using a zeiss 5 - live confocal microscope equipped with environmental chamber . following collection of baseline spontaneous activity levels at low magnification , inflammatory cytokine is added at the optimal cytokine concentration determined above , and cells are followed for up to 60 minutes . images are post - processed in image j to measure calcium transient amplitudes and frequencies within defined cells . in some experiments , an olympus multi - photon microscope is used at high magnification to track activity in individual synapses . in addition to spontaneous activity , calcium flux elicited by addition of glutamate to cultures that have been pretreated with inflammatory cytokines for different times ( 0 , 1 , 3 , 6 , 12 , 24 , 48 , 72 , or 96 hr ) prior to stimulation also is measured . see fig6 and 7 . example 8 — the effect of cpmp supplementation on synaptic changes induced by inflammatory cytokines hippocampal and cortical neurons are treated with inflammatory cytokines at the optimized dose and time identified above in the presence of different concentrations of cpmp . extrapolating from the field of purinergic signaling , concentrations ranging from nanomolar to millimolar ( 1 , 3 , 10 , 30 , 100 , 300 nm ; 1 , 3 , 10 , 30 , 100 , 300 μm ; 1 , 3 mm ) are tested . in preliminary experiments , the survival of naive neurons treated with cpmp for different times ( 1 , 3 , 6 , 12 , 24 , 48 , 72 , or 96 hr ) is assessed by mtt or ldh assay , and doses that kill more than 10 % of cells are excluded from further analysis . in some instances , the cpmp is encapsulated in liposomes ( for example , lipofectin or lipofectamine ) ( hughes et al ., 2010 , methods mol . biol ., 605 : 445 - 59 ). after optimizing cpmp delivery , neurons are stimulated with inflammatory cytokines in the presence or absence of cpmp under conditions that alter spontaneous and / or evoked calcium flux . if cpmp treatment reverses the effect of inflammatory cytokines on dynamic synaptic activity , the effect of cpmp on expression and localization of the protein targets explored in example 6 also is examined , and the effect of cpmp on the expression of genes measured in example 5 is tested . example 9 — moco pathway and neurotransmitter receptor changes induced by acute virus infection of the brain young ( 4 week old ) mice were infected with the theiler &# 39 ; s murine encephalomyelitis virus for 24 hr to model acute childhood brain infection . illumina microarray was employed to assess transcriptional changes . table 4 shows maximal up - regulation or down - regulation of relevant genes during the first 24 hr of infection . these measurements indicate that acute infection of the brain , consistent with elevated tnf alpha ( 6 - fold increase at 24 hr ) and il1 beta ( 10 - fold increase at 24 hr ) in this model system , induces increased synthesis of moco pathway - related factors , increased production of oxidative stress factors , up - regulated calpain production , and increased expression of excitatory neurotransmitter receptors . simultaneously , acute infection triggers down - regulated expression of gephyrin and a host of gabaergic receptors , resulting in suppression of synaptic inhibition . example 10 — moco pathway and neurotransmitter receptor changes in human neurons induced by inflammatory cytokines neurons were induced from human neural stem cells and grown under conditions that foster mixed excitatory and inhibitory neuron phenotypes . these cells were then stimulated with tnf alpha , il1 beta , or ifn gamma for 24 hrs , and transcriptional changes were assessed by microarray . responses were variable between cytokines but , in general , the inflammatory stimuli induced changes that are summarized in table 5 . neurons were cultured from neonatal mice and stimulated with tnf alpha ( 100 ng / ml ) or ifn gamma ( 500 u / ml ) for 24 hr . following transduction with an aav - encoded gcampf reporter , fast calcium transients were imaged in the cells . regions of interest outlining individual neurons were defined in each frame of movies collected over several minutes , and the fluorescence intensity of each cell was graphed through time to reveal patterns in the population response . fig8 shows the averaged calcium response traces calculated for dozens of cytokine - stimulated neurons in each experiment and are representative of more than 4 separate experiments and more than 4 separate cell preps within each experiment . fig8 a shows the basal level of calcium activity in the neuron cultures . non - synchronized calcium responses occur in the control cultures , resulting in an overall low level of synaptic activity in the network . fig8 b and 8c show the stimulation of calcium activity in neurons following treatment with ifn gamma or tnf alpha , respectively . fig8 b and 8c show that treatment with ifn gamma or tnf alpha results in network bursting and highly synchronized synaptic activity in which many cells in the culture flux calcium at the same time . fig8 d shows that treatment of control cultures with 2 . 4 μm picrotoxin , a small molecule inhibitor of inhibitory gabaergic channels , induces network synchrony and bursting that phenocopies the response observed in cytokine - stimulated cultures ( compare with fig8 b and 8c ). fig8 e shows that addition of 27 μm gaba to control cultures completely suppresses synaptic activity , consistent with enhanced inhibition . these findings indicate that tnf alpha and ifn gamma induce the suppression of inhibitory neurotransmission in the neuronal network , resulting in synchronous bursting behavior . given the transcriptional profiles measured in cytokine - stimulated neurons , this network behavior is consistent with a reduction in inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors linked to reduced gephyrin expression and alteration of the moco synthesis pathway . it is to be understood that , while the methods and compositions of matter have been described herein in conjunction with a number of different aspects , the foregoing description of the various aspects is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the methods and compositions of matter . other aspects , advantages , and modifications are within the scope of the following claims . disclosed are methods and compositions that can be used for , can be used in conjunction with , can be used in preparation for , or are products of the disclosed methods and compositions . these and other materials are disclosed herein , and it is understood that combinations , subsets , interactions , groups , etc . of these methods and compositions are disclosed . that is , while specific reference to each various individual and collective combinations and permutations of these compositions and methods may not be explicitly disclosed , each is specifically contemplated and described herein . for example , if a particular composition of matter or a particular method is disclosed and discussed and a number of compositions or methods are discussed , each and every combination and permutation of the compositions and the methods are specifically contemplated unless specifically indicated to the contrary . likewise , any subset or combination of these is also specifically contemplated and disclosed .	0
referring to fig1 , a cup rack 1 in accordance with the present invention is shown for holding a plurality of cups 2 or like objects in a good order . in this embodiment , the cups 2 each comprise a cup body 21 , and a seal film 22 for sealing coffee , tea , or any of a variety of other powdered or grained food or brewing materials in the cup body 21 after filling of nitrogen gas in the cup body 21 . the cup rack 1 comprises an upright rack body 11 and a base 12 . the upright rack body 11 defines a top opening 13 , a bottom opening 14 , and a passage 15 in communication between the top opening 13 and the bottom opening 14 for accommodating the cups 2 in such a manner that the top and bottom sides of the cups 2 respectively face the opposing left and right sides of the passage 15 and the body of each cup 2 faces the opposing front and rear sides of the passage 15 , i . e ., the cups 2 are individually put into the passage 15 through the top opening 13 . the base 12 is adapted to receive the cups 2 , wherein the lowest cup 2 can be taken out of the cup rack 1 through the base 12 . this will be explained further . referring to fig2 , an enlarged view of the base 12 of the cup rack 1 is shown . as illustrated , the base 12 comprises two limiter members 16 , a rear baffle member 17 , and a receiving member 18 . the two limiter members 16 have the respective top ends thereof connected to the upright rack body 11 and respectively disposed at the left and right sides relative to the passage 15 . the rear baffle member 17 has the top end thereof connected to the upright rack body 11 and disposed at the back side relative to the passage 15 . the receiving member 18 has the rear end thereof connected to the bottom end of the rear baffle member 17 , and the front end thereof defining with the two limiter members 16 an access port 19 . the receiving member 18 is adapted to receive the cups 2 shown in fig1 , wherein the cups 2 can pass through the access port 19 , i . e ., the access port 19 allows the cups 2 to pass therethrough . in this embodiment , the two limiter members 16 , the rear baffle member 17 and the receiving member 18 are preferably made of stainless steel wire rods , iron wire rods , or plated metal wire rods . iron wire rods electroplated with chrome to provide corrosion resistance . other corrosion resistant material may be used . the rear baffle member 17 comprises two baffle rods 171 ; 172 . the receiving member 18 comprises two support rods 181 ; 182 and one upright rod 183 . the two support rods 181 ; 182 have the respective rear ends thereof respectively connected to the two baffle rods 171 ; 172 in a downwardly inclined manner relative to the two baffle rods 171 ; 172 . the upright rod 183 has the two opposing ends thereof respectively connected to the front ends of the two support rods 181 ; 182 and kept in vertical on the support rods 181 ; 182 . subject to the configuration of the receiving member 18 , the lowest cup 2 will naturally move along the support rods 181 ; 182 to the front ends of thereof and will be prohibited by the upright rod 183 from moving out of the base 12 . referring to fig3 , a left side view of fig2 is shown . the bottom end 171 a of the baffle rod 171 is disposed below the elevation of the bottom ends 16 a of the limiter members 16 . the upright rod 183 is disposed below the elevation of the limiters 16 . actually , the two baffle rods 171 ; 172 have the same length , i . e ., the bottom ends of the baffle rods 171 ; 172 are disposed below the elevation of the bottom ends of the limiter members 16 . the elevational clearance between the bottom end 171 a of the baffle rod 171 and the bottom ends 16 a of the limiter members 16 facilitates finger access to pick up the cup 2 . in actual practice , the bottom ends 16 a of the limiter members 16 can be lower than the elevation of the bottom ends 17 a of the baffle rods 171 ; 172 , and therefore what illustrated in fig3 is not a limitation . referring to fig4 , the upright rack body 11 comprises two rings 110 ; 111 , two rear upright rods 112 ; 113 , two left upright rods 114 ; 115 , two right upright rods 116 ; 117 , and a front rod 118 . each ring 110 ; 111 comprises a left straight segment 119 ; 120 , a right straight segment 121 ; 122 , a front arched segment 134 ; 124 , and a rear arched segment 125 ; 126 . the top and bottom ends of the rear upright rods 112 ; 113 are respectively connected to the respective inner sides of the rear arched segments 125 ; 126 of the rings 110 ; 111 in a parallel manner . the top and bottom ends of the left upright rods 114 ; 115 are respectively connected to the respective inner sides of the left straight segments 119 ; 120 of the rings 110 ; 111 in a parallel manner . the top and bottom ends of the right upright rods 116 ; 117 are respectively connected to the respective inner sides of the right straight segments 121 ; 122 of the rings 110 ; 111 in a parallel manner . the top and bottom ends of the front rod 118 are respectively connected to the respective inner sides of the front arched segments 123 ; 124 of the rings 110 ; 111 in a parallel manner . further , the two rings 110 ; 111 define the top opening 13 and the bottom opening 14 respectively . the passage 15 is defined by the two rear upright rods 112 ; 113 , the two left upright rods 114 ; 115 , the two rear upright rods 116 ; 117 and the front rod 118 . it is to be noted that the two limiter members 16 of the base 12 are respectively formed integral with the left upright rods 114 ; 115 and the right upright rods 116 ; 117 . the rear baffle members 17 and receiving member 18 of the base 12 are formed integral with the two rear upright rods 112 ; 113 , i . e ., these components are made by bending one single piece of metal wire rod into shape . in actual application , the upright cup body 11 can be made of a meshed or plate member and arranged around the two rings 1110 ; 111 to constitute an enclosed or semi - enclosed passage structure , forming the aforesaid passage 15 , and therefore , the upright cup body 11 is not limited to the aforesaid design . more particularly , the front rod 118 comprises a long straight segment 128 and two short straight segments 129 . the two short straight segments 129 are respectively disposed at the top and bottom ends of the long straight segment 128 at a predetermined angle and kept facing each other . thus , by means of changing the lengths of the short straight segments 129 , the front - back width of the passage 15 is relatively controlled . fig5 illustrates 5 pcs of the cup racks arranged together , forming a cup rack combination . as illustrated , these cup racks are abutted against one another side by side , and each two adjacent cup racks are connected together . in actual application , any predetermined number of cup racks can be arranged together . although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration , various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims .	0
referring to fig9 to 14 , one embodiment of the invention will be illustrated . the steps of the preparation of the complementary mos integrated circuit will be illustrated . as stated on the structure of fig1 the p - well 2 , the field oxide membrane 3 , the gate oxide membrane 4 , and the gate polycrystalline silicon 5 are formed at parts of the n - type silicon substrate . ( fig1 ). then a photoresist membrane 14 having a thickness of 1 micron is coated on the entire surface and holes are formed in the source - drain - gate regions of the p - channel transistor by the photo - engraving method , and the p - type impurity such as boron is injected as ions into them at the energy of 60 kev by the conventional ion injection . the resulting first source - drain 15 can be quite thin ( such as the thickness of 0 . 2 micron and the surface concentration of 5 × 10 15 atoms / cm 2 ). the structure in the stage is shown in fig9 . then , the photoresist membrane 14 is removed and a photoresist membrane 16 having a thickness of 1 micron is newly coated on the entire surface and holes are formed in the source - drain - gate regions of the n - channel transistor and the n - type impurity such as phosphorus , arsenic is injected as ions into them at the energy of 180 kev by the ion injection . the structure in the stage is shown in fig1 . the depth of the resulting first source - drain 17 can be remarkably shallow ( 0 . 2 micron ). then , an oxide membrane 18 and a silicon nitride membrane 19 are respectively formed on the entire surface each in thickness of 1000 to 1500 a . the contact holes 20 are formed on the source , drain and gate by the photo - engraving method . ( the gate is not shown ). the structure in the stage is shown in fig1 . after forming an oxide membrane 21 on the entire surface , the oxide membranes 4 , 18 , 21 for the contacts 20 in the p - channel transistor region are removed by the photo - engraving method whereby the surface of silicon and the surface of the polycrystalline silicon 5 are exposed . the oxide membranes 4 , 18 are etched off by masking with a silicon nitride membrane 19 , whereby the position and size of the exposed surface of the silicon are matched to those of the contact holes 20 . then , the p - type impurity such as boron is diffused ( the depth of 1 . 5 microns ) by the conventional thermal diffusion to form the second source drain 22 . the structure in the stage is shown in fig1 . then , an oxide membrane 23 is formed on the entire surface and the oxide membranes 21 , 23 in the n - channel transistor region and the oxide membranes 4 , 18 in the contact parts 20 are removed by the photo - engraving method whereby the parts of the source - drain 17 and the gate polycrystalline silicon 5 of the n - channel transistor are exposed . the n - type impurity such as phosphorus is diffused in a depth of 1 . 5 microns by the conventional thermal diffusion whereby the second source - drain 24 is formed . the second source - drain 24 is self - aligned to the contact holes 20 as the case of the p - channel transistor . the structure in the stage is shown in fig1 . then , the oxide membrane 23 covering the entire region of the p - channel transistor is removed whereby the surface of the silicon and the surface of the polycrystalline silicon at the contact holes 20 are exposed . the aluminum wiring 11 is made on it . the structure in the stage is shown in fig1 . as stated above , in accordance with the invention , the source - drain 22 , 24 below the contact holes 20 are departed from the gate polycrystalline silicon 5 whereby the depth of the diffusion can be relatively deeper and the electrodes can be formed by the conventional method . the source - drains 15 , 17 adjacent to the gate polycrystalline silicon 5 are formed by the ion injection whereby the depth of the diffusion can be sufficiently shallow , and the diffusion below the gate polycrystalline silicon ( the diffusion in lateral direction ) can be minimized and the width l of the gate polycrystalline silicon can be shortened . moreover , it is unnecessary to give the allowance for masking on the pattern because the contact holes 20 are self - aligned to the source - drains 22 , 24 and the integrated circuit density can be improved corresponding to the decrease of the allowance . these advantages are attained . in accordance with the invention , it is possible to obtain a short channel complementary mos integrated circuit having a gate length of less than 5 microns . obviously , numerous additional modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be pacticed otherwise than as specifically described herein .	7
fig1 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in accordance with aspects of the present invention . in fig1 a laser modulator driver circuit includes a differential amplifier circuit receiving differential input signals 35 a , b and providing differential modulation outputs 37 a , b the differential amplifier circuit includes amplifier transistors 11 and 13 . the differential input signals are provided to the bases of transistors 11 and 13 , respectively . differential modulation outputs 37 a , b are taken from collectors of transistors 11 and 13 respectively . emitters of transistors 11 and 13 are coupled together at a node b , which may be considered a first node of the differential amplifier circuit . a collector of a modulation current source transistor 27 is tied to node b . the emitter of the modulation current source transistor is coupled to a first terminal of a current limiting resistor 31 . the current limiting resistor has a second terminal tied to v ee 29 , which may be considered a first voltage . the modulation current source transistor receives at its base a modulation signal 33 . the modulation signal sets the maximum voltage of the output of the circuit . the collector of transistor 11 is coupled to a first terminal of a resistor 15 . similarly , the collector of transistor 13 is coupled to a first terminal of a resistor 17 . second terminals of resistors 15 and 17 are coupled together at a node a , which may be considered a second node of the differential amplifier circuit . node a is in turn coupled to the drain of a bias transistor 19 . in one embodiment , the bias transistor is a pfet transistor . the source of the bias transistor is coupled to v cc , which may be considered a second voltage . the base of the bias transistor receives a signal from an operation amplifier 21 . the operation amplifier has a first input 23 , its non - inverting input as illustrated in fig1 , coupled to node a . the operation amplifier receives a bias signal at its other input 25 , a second or inverting input as illustrated in fig1 . the output of the operational amplifier is provided to the gate of the bias transistor . adjusting the output of the operational amplifier varies the resistance of the bias transistor . in operation , differential input signals are provided to the bases of the amplifier transistors via input signal lines 35 a , b . the differential amplifier amplifies the differential input signals . when transistor 11 receives a positive voltage at its base , it allows current to flow . as amplifier transistor 11 is in series with resistor 15 , the same current flows through resistor 15 . the current flowing through resistor 15 creates a voltage drop across the resistor . by varying the flow of current , the voltage drop across resistor 15 is varied . as an output 37 a output of the modulator driver is taken from the collector of amplifier transistor 11 , the output voltage on the output 37 a is also varied . amplifier transistor 13 , in conjunction with resistor 17 and output 37 b , operate in an analogous manner . thus , the voltage amplified versions of the modulation input signals are provided at the modulation outputs . the modulation signal applied to the modulation current source transistor sets the maximum amount of current that may be drawn by the differential amplifier . as resistor 31 is in series with the modulation current source transistor , the maximum current that may pass through resistor 31 is limited . in turn , the maximum current sets the maximum voltage drop across resistor 31 . the modulation outputs are therefore adjustably limited to a maximum voltage . the maximum voltage is determined by the value of resistor 31 , the power supply voltages , the signal supplied to the base of limiting transistor 27 , and the characteristics of the amplifier transistors . the non - inverting input of the operational amplifier is coupled to node a , and accordingly , the operational amplifier compares the voltage at node a to the bias signal the operational amplifier receives at its inverting input . the operational amplifier produces a difference signal at its output 21 in response to the difference between the bias signal and the voltage at node a . the difference signal is provided to the gate of the bias transistor . in one embodiment , the bias transistor operates in its linear range . thus , the bias transistor 19 may be thought of as a variable resistor . as the effective resistance of the bias transistor is varied , the voltage drop across the bias transistor is also varied . thus , node a is adjustably biased between v cc and v ee at a bias voltage . the bias voltage is determined by the characteristics of the bias transistor , the current flowing through the bias transistor , and the bias signal received by the operational amplifier . the current flowing in the bias transistor is primarily the current generated by the modulation current source . the current flows through transistor 11 or transistor 13 , depending on the state at the complementary input signals . consequently , the differential modulation outputs are adjustably biased between v cc and a bias level . in this way , the voltage that the output signals may obtain is bounded by a maximum and minimum voltage , with the maximum voltage set by the modulation signal and the minimum voltage set by the bias signal . fig2 illustrates an alternate embodiment in accordance with aspects of the present invention . in fig2 , resistors 39 a and 39 b have a first terminal tied together at node c . node c is also coupled to v cc 48 . a second terminal of resistor 39 a is coupled to the collector of transistor 41 a . similarly , a second terminal of resistor 39 b is coupled to the collector of transistor 41 b . emitters of input transistors 41 a , b are coupled together at node d . node d is tied to v ee 43 via a resistor 45 . input transistors 41 a , b receive at their bases differential input signals , on differential input signal lines 42 a , b . thus , resistors 39 a , b and input transistors 41 a , b form a differential amplifier . the differential input signal lines are coupled by series coupled bridging resistors 49 a , b . thus , the common mode level of the differential input signals is the voltage at a node between the bridging resistors , with the node being node e as illustrated in fig2 . a first terminal of an input resistor 49 a is coupled to the base of input transistor 41 a . a first terminal of an input resistor 49 b is coupled to the base of input transistor 41 b . the second terminals of the input resistors are tied together at node e . operational amplifier 47 has its inverting input coupled to node d . the operational amplifier receives a bias signal at its noninverting input 49 . the output of the operation amplifier is provided to node e . in operation , modulation input signals are applied to the bases of input transistors 41 a , b . the differential amplifier amplifies the modulation input signals . when input transistor 41 a receives a positive voltage at its base , it allows current to flow . as input transistor 41 a is in series with resistor 39 a , the same current flows through resistor 39 a . the current flowing through resistor 39 a creates a voltage drop across the resistor . by varying the flow of current , the voltage drop across resistor 39 a is varied . as an output 40 a of the modulator driver is taken from the collector of input transistor 41 a , the output voltage on the output 40 a is also varied . input transistor 41 b , in conjunction with resistor 39 b and output 40 b , operate in an analogous manner . thus , the voltage amplified versions of the modulation input signals are provided at the modulation outputs 40 a , b . the operational amplifier compares the voltage at node d with the control signal the operational amplifier receives at its noninverting input 44 . the operational amplifier outputs a signal in response to the difference between the control signal and the voltage at node d . the output of the operational amplifier is coupled to node e , and sets the common mode level of the inputs to the transistors 41 a , 41 b . thus , the feedback generated by the operational amplifier serves to drive node d to a desired voltage by adjusting the common mode of the input differential signals . the voltage at node d determines the voltage drop across resistor 45 . the voltage drop across resistor 45 limits the maximum voltage that the output signals may achieve . to ensure maximum coupling between the modulator and the modulator driver , the impedances of the modulator and modulator driver are generally matched . that is , the input impedance of the modulator is generally the same as the output impedance of the modulator driver , over a specified range . however , the intrinsic capacitance of the output transistors of the modulator driver often degrades the impedance matching , especially at high frequencies . consequently , the performance of the modulator driver is often compromised at high frequencies . fig3 illustrates a differential output stage of a modulator driver 51 that has been separated into n differential distributed output stages 51 a – n . each of the distributed output stages include a differential amplifier 55 a – n . in some embodiments the differential amplifiers are distributed in space on a die or other semiconductor device to minimize heating between differential amplifiers . the differential amplifiers receive an input differential signal on a differential input line 57 , and provide an output differential signal on a differential output line 59 . both the differential input line and the differential output line are controlled impedance lines , with the differential input lines coupled to ground by input termination resistors 61 a , b and the differential output lines coupled to ground by output termination resistors 54 a , b . each transmission line has an associated capacitance and inductance . the inductance of the output transmission lines serves to isolate the modulator from the intrinsic capacitance of the output transistors at each stage of the modulator driver . in some embodiments the length between stages and inductive characteristics of the differential output line is selected to effectively cancel the capacitive effects of the transistors of each differential amplifier . the capacitive effects of the output transistors increase with increasing frequency . however , as the operating frequency increases , the inductance of the transmission lines provides increased isolation of the output transistors and the laser modulator . thus , the output impedance of the modulator driver is nearly constant over its operating range . accordingly , the present invention provides a system and method for biasing a laser modulator driver with nearly constant output impedance . although this invention has been described in certain specific embodiments , it is to be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth in the claims and their equivalents .	6
a loom w according to fig1 is an air - jet loom 1 provided with a shed 2 and a reed 3 . sections of a weft yarn are inserted into the shed 2 in accordance with the operating cycle of the loom ; at least one main nozzle 5 and , along the shed 2 , auxiliary nozzles 4 are provided for transporting the weft yarn sections ; said nozzles being activated and deactivated in accordance with the operating cycle of the loom . a cutting device 6 is provided downstream of the main nozzle . the weft yarn y is drawn off a weft yarn feeder 7 which keeps a plurality of turns at a stand - by position on a storage body 8 . the yarn feeder 7 has provided therein a stopping device 9 with a stopping element 11 which is retracted for releasing a weft yarn section of exactly measured length and which is returned to the stopping position shown when the weft yarn section has been drawn off . furthermore , a passage sensor 10 is provided near the stopping device 9 , said passage sensor 10 producing a passage signal whenever the weft yarn passes during the insertion process and transmitting said passage signal to a control device 12 which controls , among other components , also the stopping device 9 . a programming part 13 of a control circuit is provided near the control device 12 , said programming part 13 serving to control a weft yarn insertion brake 14 , which is arranged downstream of the weft yarn feeder 7 , during each insertion process . the insertion brake 14 is provided with a driving motor 15 for movable braking elements 17 , which are adapted to be displaced relative to stationary rerouting elements 16 . a driving motor proven to be particularly useful in practice is an escap stepping motor , type p 430 , with a winding in series or a winding in parallel and with a torque of up to 80 nmm and up to 10 , 000 steps per second . in fig1 an insertion process has been finished . the weft yarn y has reached the shed end lying opposite the yarn feeder . the insertion brake 14 decelerated the weft yarn toward the end of the insertion process . the stopping element 11 is in the stopping position . the next step is that the inserted weft yarn is cut and beaten up by the reed 3 . subsequently , a new insertion process is initiated by the main nozzle 5 and the stopping element 11 is retracted again . the insertion brake 14 can be moved to its position of rest where it permits free passage of the weft yarn y . the diagram of fig2 clearly shows , in the upper part thereof , an insertion process on the basis of the tension behavior of the weft yarn y . curve a , which consists of a solid line , represents the tension behaviour achieved by use of the controlled insertion brake 14 . the part p of the curve consisting of a broken line represents a tension peak of the type occurring at the end of the insertion process due to a stretching or whipping effect in the weft yarn stopped by the stopping element 11 . this tension peak is to be reduced because it interferes with the insertion process and is dangerous to the weft yarn ( weft yarn breakage ). the tension drop a at the beginning of the curve a represents the start of movement of the weft yarn at the beginning of the insertion process as soon as the stopping element 11 has released the weft yarn . following this , the weft yarn is accelerated until it has reached its insertion speed , the tension behaviour being comparatively constant in this area . towards the end of the insertion process , viz . a certain period of time prior to the expected occurrence of the tension peak p at the moment tp , the insertion brake 14 is moved to its braking position so that the weft yarn will be deflected and rerouted and decelerated by means of friction . this will cause a first increase in tension b and a second increase in tension c which is approximately time - coincident with the tension peak p . subsequently , the tension decreases before a small , significant tension drop d represents the cutting of the weft yarn and before an increase in tension e finally represents the beating up by the reed . the time required for an insertion process is shown on the horizontal axis , whereas the vertical axis indicates , in the upward direction , the tension in the weft yarn . the passage signals no . 1 - 7 of the passage sensor 10 , which occur by way of example during an insertion process , can be seen on the lower horizontal time axis in fig2 . without any braking , the tension peak p would occur during each insertion process in a fixed temporal relationship with a passage signal , e . g . passage signal no . 7 . the control of the insertion brake 14 is therefore related to the passage signals so as to permit the insertion brake to be moved in the opposite direction by means of the control device 12 in due time . curve b represents the movement of the insertion brake 14 for a predetermined period of time and with a positive magnitude of a deflection stroke e . g . an angular stroke of 30 °. the front part of curve b , which consists of a broken line , clearly shows the response time r of the insertion brake 14 . in order to achieve a movement of the insertion brake 14 over the area represented by the solid - line curve b , the brake has to be activated at the moment ta after the passage signal no . 4 . the curve , which consists of a dot - dash line and which is superimposed on the solid - line curve b , shows clearly that also the control of the insertion brake 14 can be varied , e . g . in a steplike manner , for achieving first an abrupt and intensive deceleration with strong rerouting and deflection of the weft yarn and for reducing afterwards the rerouting and the deflection to a certain extent , along with releasing the weft yarn stored in the insertion brake 14 so as to counteract an undesired increase in the tension of the weft yarn , so as to have the weft yarn in the shed in a stretched condition , the stretching being effected by the then additionally activated last auxiliary nozzles 4 . when the passage signal 4 has occurred , the control device 12 will wait for the moment ta prior to activating the insertion brake 14 . curve c , which consists of a solid line , represents e . g . a movement of the insertion brake 14 beyond the position of rest into the other direction , e . g . for activating ( as will be explained later on ) a threading nozzle for automatic threading of a weft yarn or a nozzle of the insertion brake . the insertion brake 14 according to fig3 a and 3b comprises a basic body 18 at which a stationary rerouting point 19 is defined by an eyelet . two spaced stationary rerouting elements in the form of pins , 20 and 21 , are secured to the basic body 18 on one side of the path of the weft yarn through the insertion brake 14 . furthermore , a carrier 25 for two movable braking elements 26 and 27 is adapted to be rotated on the basic body about a vertical adjustment shaft 22 . the carrier 25 is constructed as an inelastic lever , and it is connected to a driving motor 24 via an inelastic connection shaft 23 , thereby assuring a slack - free coupling between the drive motor and brake element . the driving motor 24 is arranged below the basic body 18 , and driving motor 24 is a fast - response stepping motor or d . c . motor ; it will be expedient to provide said stepping motor or d . c . motor with a resolver for determining the rotary or angular movement of the motor shaft . as soon as the driving motor 24 is moved from its position of rest , as shown in fig3 a , in a counterclockwise direction through the control device 12 within the framework of the program for controlling the insertion brake 14 , the braking elements 27 and 26 will pass between the stationary rerouting elements 19 , 20 and 21 and move across the yarn path . the weft yarn will be rerouted and deflected as well as decelerated . at the same time , a yarn section whose length depends on the geometry of the individual elements and the stroke of the driving motor 24 will be stored in the insertion brake 14 . as soon as the braking process has been finished , the driving motor 24 will again be moved in the opposite direction , either with a predetermined stroke or fully up to its position of rest . in addition , a clockwise control movement of the driving motor 24 in fig3 a , in accordance with curve c in fig2 is also possible for displacing the movable braking elements 26 , 27 even farther than the position of rest and for initiating a different function . in the case of the embodiment of the insertion brake 14 according to fig4 a and 4b , a total number of six rerouting points for the weft yarn is provided . in this embodiment , expediency is maximized when an overall rerouting angle of up to 700 ° is achieved . the two stationary rerouting elements 19 and 19 &# 39 ;, which are defined by eyelets , are provided on the basic body 18 in the weft yarn path . two inner stationary rerouting points 20 and 21 are formed at a tube 28 held coaxially with the weft yarn path by means of a component 38 of the basic body . the movable braking elements 26 and 27 are attached to their lever - like carrier 25 and adapted to be rotated together therewith about the central adjustment shaft 22 . fig4 a represents the position of rest and , with the aid of the drive means 24 and via the connection shaft 23 , the carrier 25 is adapted to be moved from said position of rest in a counterclockwise direction for deflecting and decelerating the weft yarn . in the course of this process , the two movable braking elements 26 , 27 move across the weft yarn path from opposite sides between the inner stationary rerouting elements 20 and 21 and the outer stationary rerouting elements 19 and 19 &# 39 ;, respectively . the part of the basic body 18 where the feed yarn is supplied is provided with a threading nozzle 29 comprising a funnel - shaped inlet 30 for the weft yarn and a nozzle means 31 , where compressed air coming from a pressure source 34 can be guided through the insertion brake and the tube 28 . the threading nozzle 29 is used for automatically threading the weft yarn after yarn breakage or for the initial threading operation . the threading nozzle 29 is connected via a line 32 to an on - off valve 33 , which is adapted to be switched between a passage position and a blocking position by means of a switching magnet 35 and which interconnects the pressure source 34 and the threading nozzle 29 in said passage position . the magnet 35 is connected to a switch 37 via a line 36 , said switch 37 being arranged in the area of movement of e . g . the carrier 25 on the insertion brake 14 or in the vicinity thereof . if the carrier 25 is displaced clockwise to a certain extent from its position of rest ( in accordance with curve c of fig2 ), the switch 37 will be closed and the on - off valve 33 will be switched to its passage position . this switching process can be initiated in accordance with the program in question via the control device as soon as said control device has supplied thereto e . g . an error message or a yarn breakage message . the tube 28 supports correct flow guidance during the weft yarn threading process . the on - off valve 33 may also be actuated directly by the carrier 25 . if it is constructed as a control valve , the flow through the nozzle 29 can be modulated continuously or in steps by means of the driving motor 24 . the tube 28 can be constructed as a secondary stationary main nozzle used for threading and / or for purposefully moving the weft yarn and can be actuated by controlling the driving motor 24 in an adequate manner . in the case of the embodiment according to fig5 the movable braking elements 26 , 27 of the insertion brake 14 are adapted to be moved linearly between the stationary rerouting elements 19 , 20 , 21 for rerouting the weft yarn y and for deflecting and decelerating it . the braking elements 26 , 27 are located on the carrier 25 , which , via a slide member 39 , is controlled by the driving motor 24 &# 39 ; constructed as a linear motor . it will be expedient when the driving motor 24 &# 39 ; is a stepping motor or a d . c . motor . by means of the electronically , cam - controlled insertion brake described above , along with its adaptive control system , the following advantages and important functions are obtained : an overall low tension is maintained within the weft yarn , from which a considerable reduction in the number of thread breakages or of other insertion faults results . in view of the fact that , due to the cam control , the weft yarn is less abruptly stopped than in previous systems , and in view of the fact that the weft yarn no longer retracts either , the function of the auxiliary nozzles arranged in the shed can be throttled towards the end of the insertion process , resulting in a lower nozzle pressure combined with a lower consumption of air for cases of filament or broad - width fabric looms . due to the fact that the weft yarn is quickly stabilized at the end of the insertion process , it is possible to adjust , after the insertion process , shorter periods of time which will elapse until the shed changes . this will result in a longer period of time which is actually available for transporting the weft yarn . this is achieved without any increase in pressure in the main nozzle , which frequently leads to additional malfunctions . the insertion brake is , at least , self - compensating , since the use of lower weft yarn speeds and lower tensions has the effect that the frictional force effective during the braking operation is reduced as well . for the purpose of rapid stabilization of the weft yarn and the end of the insertion process , it is , due to the individual and fast - responding controllability of the insertion brake , possible to move the free weft yarn end to a comparatively advanced position and to draw it then slightly back or to release , after a minor delay , at least part of the weft yarn length stored in the brake . furthermore , the insertion brake can be used for repositioning the whole weft yarn length at the end of the insertion process and before the reed beats up , e . g . with respect to an improvement of the means processing the boundary edge of the fabric . if several weft yarns are processed alternately , the free end of a weft yarn in a stand - by position can be drawn back in the channel so that one fluttering weft yarn end will not interfere with the other weft yarn . this drawing back by means of the controlled insertion brake , or a to - and - fro movement of the weft yarn end in the main nozzle , will distribute the mechanical influence ( fibre dissolution ) in the case of weft yarn which is not inserted for a prolonged period of time , said mechanical influence being thus reduced to a negligible extent . furthermore , by means of a program - dependent displacement of the insertion brake at the beginning of the insertion process , a weft yarn length is released which has been stored previously , i . e . after the end of the preceding insertion process , so that the weft yarn end , supported by the main nozzle or the auxiliary nozzle , will already start its movement before the stopping element in the weft yarn feeder releases the weft yarn . this permits a reduction of the peak velocity of the weft yarn during the insertion process without exceeding the necessary insertion period . by resupplying the stored weft yarn length in a very rapidly controlled manner after the end of the insertion process and during the beating up of the reed and the cutting operation , respectively , the tension variations resulting from these operations are reduced . for this purpose , the control circuit may have provided therein a special logical driver circuit . the braking operation is carried out with a complex stroke / time program so that an adaptive control of the weft yarn speed can be achieved . it is , in this connection , possible to control not only a correct maximum stroke of the insertion brake , but to follow a specific position / time diagram for the insertion brake movement in the course of which the insertion brake carries out a plurality of functions at the weft yarn . since similar type yarn , under unchanged insertion conditions , will move faster towards the end of a supply coil than it did when the supply coil was still full , a weak deflection effected by the insertion brake can throttle the weft yarn speed to the desired value when this part of the yarn is being processed . the insertion brake is , so to speak , an insertion brake that realizes a plurality of braking steps . a particularly effective reduction of the tension peak at the end of the insertion process is achieved when , in the maximum deflection condition and , consequently , in a condition in which the maximum braking effect is produced , the insertion brake releases the stored yarn length very rapidly , at a speed of up to 20 m / sec , before the weft yarn develops its tendency to spring back . this necessitates the rapid reversal of the direction of movement and the positive connection in the insertion brake as well as a driver logic section in the control program . in summary , it is seen that an insertion brake with a multi - functional range of use is created by positively connecting a precise and controllable driving motor with the necessary braking elements . then by including an intelligent and flexible control device , the subsequently formed insertion brake fulfills its main task of damping or suppressing the whipping effect within the weft yarn , along with optimizing the insertion process of the loom .	1
one embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 is a schematic structure diagram of an internal combustion engine ( engine 1 ) with a variable valve gear according to the present embodiment . as shown in fig1 , the engine 1 of the present embodiment comprises a dohc valve train . a cam sprocket 5 is connected to the front end of an exhaust camshaft 3 of the engine 1 . the cam sprocket 5 is coupled to a crankshaft 7 by a chain 6 . further , the exhaust camshaft 3 and an intake camshaft 2 are coupled to each other through gears 60 a and 60 b . as the crankshaft 7 rotates , therefore , the exhaust camshaft 3 is rotated together with the cam sprocket 5 , while the intake camshaft 2 is rotated by the gears 60 a and 60 b . intake valves 12 and 13 are opened and closed by intake cams 10 and 11 on the intake camshaft 2 , and exhaust valves 16 and 17 by exhaust cams 14 and 15 on the exhaust camshaft 3 . fig2 is a schematic structure view of the engine 1 . as shown in fig2 , the engine 1 is provided with a first cam phase change mechanism 20 on the front end portion of the exhaust camshaft 3 and a second cam phase change mechanism 50 on the front end portion of the intake camshaft 2 . each cylinder of the engine 1 is provided with two intake valves ( first and second intake valves 12 and 13 ) and two exhaust valves 16 and 17 . the first and second intake valves 12 and 13 are arranged longitudinally on the right of the central part of a combustion chamber 18 . the two exhaust valves 16 and 17 are arranged longitudinally on the left of the central part of the chamber 18 . the first and second intake valves 12 and 13 are driven by the first and second intake cams 10 and 11 , respectively . as the first and second intake valves 12 and 13 are arranged in place , the first and second intake cams 10 and 11 are alternately arranged on the intake camshaft 2 . a vane - type cam phase change mechanism formed of a conventional vane - type hydraulic actuator is used as the first cam phase change mechanism 20 . the first cam phase change mechanism 20 is configured so that a vane rotor is pivotably disposed in a housing to which the gear 60 a is fixed and the exhaust camshaft 3 is fixed to the vane rotor . the cam sprocket 5 is fixed to the exhaust camshaft 3 . as shown in fig1 , an oil control valve ( hereinafter referred to as ocv ) 34 is connected to the first cam phase change mechanism 20 . the first cam phase change mechanism 20 has a function to vary the rotational angle of the gear 60 a relative to the cam sprocket 5 by pivoting the vane rotor with a hydraulic fluid , which is supplied from an oil pump 35 of the engine 1 to an oil chamber between the vane rotor and the housing as the ocv 34 is switched . specifically , the first cam phase change mechanism 20 can continuously adjust the phase of the intake camshaft 2 relative to the crankshaft 7 , that is , the opening and closing timings of the first and second intake valves 12 and 13 . fig3 to 5 are structure views of valve trains of the intake valves . fig3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the structure of the intake camshaft 2 , fig4 is a top view showing the structure of a mounting portion for the second intake cam 11 , and fig5 is a sectional view of the mounting portion . as shown in fig3 to 5 , the intake camshaft 2 has a dual structure comprising a hollow first intake camshaft 21 and a second intake camshaft 22 inserted in the first intake camshaft . the first and second intake camshafts 21 and 22 are arranged concentrically with a gap between them and pivotably supported by a support portion 23 formed on a cylinder head of the engine 1 . the first intake cam 10 is fixed to the first intake camshaft 21 . further , the second intake cam 11 is pivotably supported on the first intake camshaft 21 . the second intake cam 11 comprises a substantially cylindrical support portion 11 a and a cam portion 11 b . the first intake camshaft 21 is inserted in the support portion 11 a . the cam portion 11 b protrudes from the outer periphery of the support portion 11 a and serves to drive the second intake valve 13 . the second intake cam 11 and the second intake camshaft 22 are fixed to each other by a fixing pin 24 . the fixing pin 24 penetrates the support portion 11 a of the second intake cam 11 and the first and second intake camshafts 21 and 22 . the fixing pin 24 is inserted in a hole in the second intake camshaft 22 without a substantial gap , and its opposite end portions are crimped and fixed to the support portion 11 a . a slot 25 through which the fixing pin 24 is passed is formed in the first intake camshaft 21 so as to extend circumferentially . the second cam phase change mechanism 50 is an electric motor configured so that the gear 60 b and the first intake camshaft 21 are fixed to its main body portion 50 a and the second intake camshaft 22 is connected to a rotating shaft 50 b . thus , the second cam phase change mechanism 50 can continuously adjust the phase of the second intake camshaft 22 relative to the first intake camshaft 21 , that is , the opening and closing timings of the second intake valve 13 relative to those of the first intake valve 12 , toward the delay - angle side . if the opening and closing timings of the second intake valve 13 are delayed relative to those of the first intake valve 12 , a period between the opening timing of the first intake valve 12 and the closing timing of the second intake valve 13 , that is , an intake valve - open period , is extended . in contrast with this , the intake valve - open period is reduced if the phases are equalized by advancing the opening and closing timings of the second intake valve 13 relative to those of the first intake valve 12 . an ecu 40 is provided with an input - output device ( not shown ), storage devices such as rom and ram , central processing unit ( cpu ), etc ., and generally controls the engine 1 . various sensors , such as a crank angle sensor 41 and a throttle sensor 42 , are connected to the input side of the ecu 40 . the crank angle sensor 41 detects the crank angle of the engine 1 . the throttle sensor 42 detects the opening of a throttle valve ( not shown ). besides the ocv 34 , moreover , the second cam phase change mechanism 50 , a fuel injection valve 43 , a spark plug 44 , etc . are connected to the output side of the ecu 40 . the ecu 40 determines the ignition timing , injection quantity , etc ., based on detected information from the sensors , and drivingly controls the spark plug 44 and the fuel injection valve 43 . based on the detected information from the sensors , moreover , the ecu 40 drivingly controls the ocv 34 , that is , controls the operations of first cam phase change mechanisms 20 . the ecu 40 drivingly controls the second cam phase change mechanisms 50 . fig6 is an example of a map used in operation setting for the first cam phase change mechanism 20 . the ecu 40 operatively controls the first cam phase change mechanism 20 in accordance with a speed n and a load l of the engine . specifically , as shown in fig6 , the ecu 40 controls the mechanism for the most delayed angle in low - load , low - speed operation , and advances the angles as the load or speed is increased . an intermediate phase is established in high - load , high - speed operation , and the most advanced angle position is reached in low - speed , high - load operation . fig7 is an example of a map used in operation setting for the second cam phase change mechanism 50 . the ecu 40 operatively controls the second cam phase change mechanism 50 in accordance with the engine speed n and load l . specifically , in the low - load , low - speed operation , as shown in fig7 , the ecu 40 controls the opening and closing timings of the second intake valve 13 relative to those of the first intake valve 12 toward the delay - angle side , thereby extending the intake valve - open period . further , the ecu 40 operatively controls the second cam phase change mechanism 50 so that the valve - open period is reduced as the load or speed increases . fig8 is a time chart showing transitions of lifts of the intake valves . in the low - load , low - speed operation of the engine 1 of the present embodiment , as shown in fig8 , the valve timing of the second intake valve 13 is delayed by the first cam phase change mechanism 20 and its valve - open period is extended by the second cam phase change mechanism 50 . thus , the closing timing of the second intake valve 13 can be greatly delayed . thus , pumping loss can be considerably mitigated to greatly improve the fuel efficiency . by setting a variable phase range by the second cam phase change mechanism 50 to be greater than that by the first cam phase change mechanism 20 , in particular , phase differences between the respective opening and closing timings of the first and second intake valves can be increased . consequently , the closing timing of the second intake valve 13 can be delayed to the second half of a compression stroke , and pumping loss can be mitigated . if this is done , in - cylinder flow is enhanced , combustion stability can be improved even with mitigated pumping loss and at a low actual compression ratio with a small amount of air , and the fuel efficiency can be further improved . since mixing between air and fuel is also enhanced , moreover , emission of unburned components in exhaust gas can be reduced . since the variable phase range of the second cam phase change mechanism 50 is set independently of that of the first cam phase change mechanism 20 , furthermore , the design flexibility and vehicle mountability can be improved . thus , the range setting can be easily achieved with the enlargement of the entire variable valve train and increase in the longitudinal dimension of the engine suppressed . further , the layout flexibility for application to the engine can be enhanced . in the high - load , high - speed operation , on the other hand , the second intake valve 13 is brought to the intermediate phase by the first cam phase change mechanism 20 , and the valve - open period is reduced by the second cam phase change mechanism 50 . therefore , the closing timing of the second intake valve 13 is advanced relative to the case of the low - load , low - speed operation . if the second intake valve 13 is closed in , for example , the first half of the compression stroke , that is , near a region where intake air is pushed back into an intake port by a piston , the charging efficiency of the intake air can be enhanced to secure the output . in the high - load , low - speed operation , moreover , the opening timing of the first intake valve 12 is advanced by the first cam phase change mechanism 20 . thus , by advancing the opening timing of the first intake valve 12 to or just ahead of the top dead center ( tdc ), for example , pumping loss in an initial stage of an intake stroke can be mitigated , and a strong inertial or pulsating supercharging effect can be obtained . in the high - load , low - speed operation , e . g ., in a start mode , therefore , the starting performance can be improved by securing good combustibility along with improved fuel efficiency . in the present embodiment , the first and second cam phase change mechanisms 20 and 50 are located on the front end portions of the exhaust and intake camshafts 3 and 2 , respectively . thus , the cam phase change mechanisms 20 and 50 can be easily installed , and the engine 1 can be compactified without substantially increasing its transverse dimension . moreover , the first cam phase change mechanism 20 is expected to drive the first and second intake valves 12 and 13 and the second cam phase change mechanism 50 . even if the mechanism 20 is enlarged to increase its ability for this purpose , however , the longitudinal dimension and the like of the engine can be prevented from increasing . further , the vane - type cam phase change mechanism and electric motor are used as the mechanisms for changing the opening and closing timings of the intake valves 12 and 13 . therefore , friction can be reduced when compared with the case of a mechanism that changes the closing timing of an intake valve by increasing or reducing the valve lift , and the operation reliability and durability of the valve train can be improved . in the present embodiment , furthermore , the second cam phase change mechanism 50 is an electric motor , so that highly responsive drive can be achieved even at low temperature . thus , the phases of the intake cams can be quickly controlled even in , for example , a cold start mode . further , the fuel efficiency can be improved relative to that of the hydraulic actuator . like the first cam phase change mechanism 20 , moreover , the second cam phase change mechanism 50 may be of a hydraulic drive type . in the low - load , low - speed operation , moreover , the ecu 40 controls the second cam phase change mechanism 50 to extend the valve - open period after controlling the first cam phase change mechanism 20 for the most delayed angle . thus , the cam phase change mechanisms 20 and 50 are not simultaneously activated but sequentially controlled , so that accurate operation control can be achieved without involving a deficiency of oil pressure even in the case where both the cam phase change mechanisms 20 and 50 are of the hydraulic drive type . in the present invention , the map used in the operation setting for the first cam phase change mechanism 20 is not limited to the one shown in fig6 . further , the map used in the operation setting for the second cam phase change mechanism 50 is not limited to the one shown in fig7 . at least in the low - load , low - speed operation , according to the present invention , it is necessary only that the first cam phase change mechanism 20 be controlled for the most delayed angle and that the second cam phase change mechanism 50 be set so as to make the valve - open period relatively long . setting for other regions depends on the engine properties . furthermore , the first and second cam phase change mechanisms 20 and 50 should preferably be provided with a most - delayed - angle locking mechanism and a most - advanced - angle locking mechanism , respectively . by doing this , an accurate switching point can be set for the cam phase change mechanisms 20 and 50 . a spring should preferably be provided for urging the second cam phase change mechanism 50 in the direction to reduce the phase difference between the first and second intake camshafts 21 and 22 . by doing this , variation of the phase difference between the first and second intake valves 12 and 13 can be suppressed , so that the valve - open period can be stably controlled .	5
some preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings . fig1 a - 1c are perspective views schematically showing a method for manufacturing a high critical temperature superconducting josephson device according to a first embodiment . fig2 a is a plan view schematically showing the structure of the josephson device manufactured by the process shown in fig1 a - 1c , and fig2 b is a sectional view along a line ii -- ii of fig2 a . when the josephson device of the first embodiment is manufactured , as shown in fig1 a , a bicrystal substrate 3 is first formed by joining the end faces of a single crystal 1 and a single crystal 2 having different crystal orientations . the junction surface of the single crystal 1 and the single crystal 2 forms a bicrystal line 4 . the single crystal 1 and the single crystal 2 may , for example , be srtio 3 ( commercial product ). as shown in fig2 a , the crystal angle θ between crystal faces of the single crystal 1 and the single crystal 2 is , for example , 24 degrees , however the crystal angle θ may be another angle . further , the single crystal 1 and the single crystal 2 may be made from other materials such as mgo , laalo 3 , zro 2 , si or sapphire which can form high critical temperature superconducting thin films . next , the surface of the bicrystal substrate 3 is washed with an organic solvent . next , as shown in fig1 b , a high temperature superconducting thin film of yba 2 cu 3 o 7 ( ybco ) is grown on the bicrystal substrate 3 by epitaxial growth to form the uniform film of approximately 100 [ nm ], and patterning is performed using photolithography technique and etching process . the thickness of the high temperature superconducting thin film is not limited to 100 [ nm ]. in the aforesaid fine patterning , a superconducting electrode 5 on the single crystal 1 , a superconducting electrode 6 on the single crystal 2 , and a superconducting bridge 7 connecting the superconducting electrodes 5 and 6 are formed . the superconducting bridge 7 is formed such that its longitudinal direction is perpendicular to the bicrystal line 4 . as a result , crystal grain boundaries collect in a part 7a of the superconducting bridge 7 situated precisely on the bicrystal line 4 . according to the first embodiment , the length of the superconducting bridge 7 is ten or more micrometers and its width is several micrometers . instead of the high critical temperature superconducting material yba 2 cu 3 o 7 , copper oxide high critical temperature superconducting materials such as bi 2 sr 2 cacu 2 o 8 , ( bi , pb ) 2 sr 2 ca 2 cu 3 o 8 and tlba 2 cacu 2 o 8 , tlba 2 ca 2 cu 3 o 10 , or isotropic oxide superconducting materials such as ( bak ) bio 3 and ( barb ) bio 3 , may be used . next , a metallic film of au is vapor deposited to a thickness of approximately 100 [ nm ] on the superconducting bridge 7 , and the fine working is performed to the metallic film , thereby forming a weak link 8 ( i . e ., a region of weakened superconductivity ) on the part 7a of the superconducting bridge 7 . according to the first embodiment , the length of the weak link 8 is several micrometers , and it is formed such that its width is no greater than that of the superconducting bridge 7 . herein , the term &# 34 ; weak link &# 34 ; means that two parts of a superconductor are joined together by a weak interaction . instead of au , metals of good conductivity such as ag , al and cu , or semiconductors such as si , ge and gaas , may be used . next , the action of the josephson device according to the first embodiment will be described in comparison to the action of a josephson device without the weak link 8 . when the weak link 8 is not provided on the superconducting bridge 7 , as the thickness of the superconducting bridge 7 is very small , for example , approximately 100 [ nm ], it may occur that the part 7a of the superconducting bridge 7 situated precisely on the bicrystal line 4 does not become superconducting , i . e . that the assembly does not function as a josephson device , even when the superconducting electrodes 5 and 6 become superconducting at or below the critical temperature . fig3 shows the measurement results for temperature dependence of the resistance of the part 7a including the crystal grain boundaries of the superconducting bridge 7 . fig3 shows that even at or below the critical temperature of the superconducting thin film ( in fig3 approximately 65 [ k ]), the part 7a including crystal grain boundaries does not become superconducting ( i . e ., resistance value 0 [ ω ]), that it has a residual resistance of approximately 8 [ ω ], and that this value has almost no temperature dependence at or below the critical temperature . on the other hand , the weak link 8 of the josephson device according to the first embodiment has superconducting properties due to a proximity effect of the superconducting bridge 7 . in this context , the term &# 34 ; proximity effect &# 34 ; signifies a phenomenon wherein , when a superconductor forms a bond with an ordinary conductor , the superconducting properties are induced in a part of the ordinary conductor adjacent to the superconductor at or below the critical temperature of the superconductor . comparing the au metal which is the material of the weak link 8 and the crystal grain boundaries , the coherence length of the superconducting pair electrons in au is far longer than that of the crystal grain boundaries of the part 7a . superconducting properties of the crystal grain boundaries disappear at the ybco coherence length having the wavelength of several angstroms . this is described in the paper by g . deutscher and k . a . muller , published in phys . rev . lett . vol . 59 , pp . 1745 , 1987 . on the other hand , superconducting properties of the metal link functioning as the weak link are induced in the range of coherence length ξ n : ξ n =( h d / 4π 2 k b t ) 1 / 2 , where h denotes plank constant , d denotes a diffusion constant , k b denotes boltzman constant , t denotes temperature . this is described in the book &# 34 ; principles of the superconductive devices and circuits &# 34 ;, t . van duzer and c . w . turner , elsevier , new york , 1981 , chap . 7 . for example , when ag is in contact with the high critical temperature superconductor , an experimental result is obtained that ξ = 100 [ nm ]/ t 1 / 2 . this is described in the paper by m . a . m . gijs , et al ., in appl . phys . lett ., vol . 59 , pp . 1233 , 1991 . accordingly , the weak link of the superconductors is formed in ag instead of the grain boundary . consequently , as shown in fig4 a superconducting current 9 that cannot cross the crystal grain boundaries in the part 7a of the superconducting bridge 7 situated precisely on the bicrystal line 4 , flows into the weak link 8 from one side of the superconducting bridge 7 , and flows out the other side of the superconducting bridge 7 from the weak link 8 . hence , according to the first embodiment as described hereinabove , by suitably choosing the material of the metal film weak link 8 and its dimensions , the properties of the weak link 8 which acts as a superconducting barrier can easily be controlled , and the production yield of the josephson device can thereby be improved . further , as the crystal grain boundaries of the superconducting oxide are not used as a superconducting barrier , there is no problem of reduction of critical temperature due to the crystal grain boundaries , and the josephson device having a similar high critical temperature as a superconducting film can be implemented . the josephson device according to the first embodiment is particularly suitable when used as a squid ( superconducting quantum interference device ). or as an oscillator in a microwave or milliwave circuit . fig5 is a vertical sectional view schematically showing the structure of a high critical temperature superconducting josephson device according to a second embodiment . in fig5 the same symbols are used for parts which have an identical or corresponding structure to that of fig1 a - 1c and fig4 . the second embodiment is identical to the first embodiment excepting that a groove 7b having a depth of several nanometers is formed on the surface of the superconducting bridge 7 by etching a part directly on and near the bicrystal line 4 in the superconducting bridge 7 , and the weak link 8 is formed over the groove 7b . the reason why the surface of the center part of the superconducting bridge 7 is removed by etching , and the weak link 8 is formed over the groove 7b that is formed as shown in fig5 is that depending on the method used to manufacture the high critical temperature superconducting film , there is a possibility that a thin , deteriorated layer may form on the surface of the superconducting bridge 7 which might interfere with the proximity effect of the weak link 8 . according to the second embodiment , a superconductor / ordinary conductor metal interface is formed between the superconducting bridge 7 and the weak metal link 8 , which easily gives rise to a josephson effect , and the production yield of the device is consequently further improved . the remaining features of the second embodiment are identical to those of the first embodiment . fig6 is a schematic perspective view showing a high critical temperature superconducting josephson device according to a third embodiment . in fig6 the same symbols are used for parts which have an identical or corresponding structure to those of fig1 c . the third embodiment is identical to the first embodiment except that the width of a superconducting bridge 10 is formed much larger than the width of a weak link 11 . the width w b3 and thickness t b3 of the superconducting bridge 10 are , for example , w b3 = 10 [ μm ] and w b3 = 300 [ nm ]. the width w c3 , the length l c3 and the thickness t c3 of the weak link 11 are , for example , w c3 = 3 [ μm ], l c3 = 20 [ μm ], t c3 = 100 [ nm ]. the properties of the josephson device according to the third embodiment are determined by the shape of the weak link 11 and are not much affected by the shape of the superconducting bridge 10 . the remaining features of the third embodiment are identical to those of the first embodiment . fig7 is a schematic perspective view showing a high critical temperature superconducting josephson device according to a fourth embodiment . in fig7 the same symbols are used for parts which have an identical or corresponding structure to those of fig1 c . the fourth embodiment is identical to the first embodiment except that the width and the length of a superconducting bridge 12 are formed equal to the width and the length of a weak link 13 . the width w c4 , the length l c4 and the thickness t c4 of the superconducting bridge 12 are , for example , w c4 = 2 [ μm ], l c4 = 30 [ μm ] and t c4 = 100 [ nm ]. the thickness t b4 of the superconducting bridge 12 is , for example , t b4 = 200 [ nm ]. the advantage of the fourth embodiment is that the weak link 13 and the superconducting bridge 12 can be worked together . the remaining features of the fourth embodiment are identical to those of the first embodiment . fig8 is a schematic perspective view of a josephson device according to a fifth embodiment . in fig8 the same symbols are used for parts which have an identical or corresponding structure to those of fig1 c . the fifth embodiment is identical to the first embodiment except that the width of a superconducting bridge 14 is formed much larger than that of a weak link 15 , and that the weak link 15 is circular . the width w b5 and the thickness t b5 of the superconducting bridge 14 are , for example , w b5 = 8 [ μm ] and t b5 = 200 [ nm ]. the diameter φ c5 and the thickness t c5 of the weak link 15 are , for example , φ c5 = 5 [ μm ] and t c5 = 50 [ nm ]. in general , it is difficult to form a thin film having strict right - angle corners by photolithography technique using a photomask which has a slit with right - angle corners , because the corners of the thin film is chamfered . it is therefore easier to manufacture the circular weak link 15 of to the fifth embodiment than an angular weak link , hence the production process is simplified . the remaining features of the fifth embodiment are identical to those of the first embodiment . fig9 is a schematic perspective view showing a high critical temperature superconducting josephson device according to a sixth embodiment . in fig9 the same symbols are used for parts which have an identical or corresponding structure to those of fig1 c . the sixth embodiment is identical to the first embodiment except that a weak link 17 is formed covering not only the surface ( generally including the &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; axes in crystal system ) but also the sides ( generally including the &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; axis in crystal system ) of the superconducting bridge 16 . in general , the high critical temperature superconducting oxide film is grown on the single crystal substrate so as to make &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; axis in crystal system normal to the surface of the substrate and make &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; axes in crystal system normal to the &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; axis ( i . e ., parallel to the surface of the substrate ). since a superconductor such as ybco has a strong electrical anisotropy , the coherence length of the electron pair along the &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; axis is several angstroms , and the coherence length of the electron pair along the &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; axis is several ten angstroms . the proximity effect along the &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; axis therefore become larger than that along the &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; axis . according to the sixth embodiment , a strong proximity effect is obtained on the weak link in contact with the sides of the superconducting bridge 16 . the width w b6 and the thickness t b6 of the superconducting bridge 16 are , for example , w b6 = 2 [ μm ] and t b5 = 300 [ nm ]. the width w c6 , the thickness t c6 and the length l c6 of the weak link 17 are , for example , w b6 = 6 [ μm ], t b5 = 100 [ nm ] and l c6 = 20 [ μm ]. the remaining features of the sixth embodiment are identical to those of the first embodiment .	8
now referring to fig1 and 3 which show a first embodiment of the present invention , in fig1 a housing 19 is comprised of an inner tube 20 , an outer tube 21 and a pair of bearing members 24a , 24b . the outer tube 21 formed in a short cylindrical shape is securely fitted over the inner tube 20 also formed in a short cylindrical shape . a rotating member 22 is comprised of a cylindrical member 22a and a pair of flange plates 23a , 23b . the cylindrical member 22a having an outer diameter of about 50 to 150 mm is inserted through the inside of the inner tube 20 . the pair of flange plates 23a , 23b are secured to the respective ends of the cylindrical member 22a . a pair of bearing members 24a , 24b are secured to the inner tube 20 and the outer tube 21 at the end surface thereof , respectively , and have a bearing surface 25a and a bearing surface 25b , respectively . the axially inside surfaces of the flange plates 23a , 23b oppose the bearing surface 25a and the bearing surface 25b of the pair of bearing member 24a , 24b . the bearing members 24a , 24b are interposed between the inner tube 20 and the outer tube 21 and are secured to the end surfaces of the inner tube 20 and the outer tube 21 . the axially outer surfaces of the bearing members 24a , 24b provide the bearing surfaces 25a and 25b . at least the bearing surfaces 25a and 25b are formed from an aluminum or copper type soft alloy which contain either carbon fiber or graphite or both . a pair of slotted grooves 26a , 26b is provided between the flange plate 23a and the bearing member 24a and between the flange plate 23b and the bearing member 24b , respectively , such that the slotted groove 26a is formed in the bearing surface 25a and the slotted groove 26b is formed in the bearing surface 25b . the slotted grooves 26a , 26b are formed from a plurality of concentric arc sections and a plurality of continuous radiating sections which connect the concentric arc sections to each other . the slotted grooves 26a , 26b are respectively communicated with a compressed gas supply source such as a compressor ( not shown ) through a pair of through - holes 44 with an inner diameter of about 1 to 3 mm , a pair of distribution channels 27a , 27b with an inner diameter of about 2 to 4 mm , a throttling control valve 28 provided in the outer tube 21 , and a feed channel 29 . therefore , the rotating member 22 is supported in a non - contacting state in the housing 19 by the supply of compressed gas in the slotted grooves 26a , 26b . specifically , the compressed gas fed into the slotted grooves 26a , 26b is contained in the bearing gap between the bearing surfaces 25a and 25b and the inside surfaces of the flange plates 23a , 23b , so that the rotating member 22 and the housing 19 freely rotate without coming into contact with one another . the throttling control valve 28 is provided between the feed channel 29 and the distribution channels 27a , 27b , which are communicated with the slotted grooves 26a , 26b . the throttling control valve 28 has the same function as the first and second throttling control valves 6 , 7 in the conventional static pressure gas bearing shown in fig1 , 13 . specifically , the throttling control valve 28 regulates the feed volume and pressure of the compressed gas supplied to the slotted grooves 26a , 26b . the throttling control valve 28 therefore acts to prevent a big difference from being produced between the magnitude of the bearing gap between the inner surface of the flange plate 23a and the bearing surface 25a and the magnitude of the bearing gap between the inner surface of the flange plate 23b and the bearing surface 25b . the throttling control valve 28 is provided inside an indented section 30 formed in the outer peripheral surface of the outer tube 21 which forms the housing 19 . specifically , the throttling control valve 28 housed in the indented section 30 comprises a diaphragm 31 fabricated from a metal plate spring and a pair of valve seat plates 32a , 32b between which the diaphragm 31 is interposed as shown in fig3 . the open section of the indented section 30 is covered by a cover plate 43 . the distribution channel 27b which is communicated with the slotted groove 26 is partly formed in the cover plate 43 . as a result , the pair of distribution channels 27a , 27b is connected to the throttling control valve 28 from the respective side thereof . because the basic structure and action of the throttling control valve 28 are the same as the first and second throttling control valves 6 , 7 ( fig1 , 13 ), a detailed description is omitted . the plate spring which forms the diaphragm 31 of the throttling control valve 28 is rectangular and preferably has a thickness of about 0 . 1 to 0 . 35 mm . by forming the plate spring in the form of a rectangle , space is saved when a plurality of throttling control valves are installed as shown in fig9 . in the case where the thickness of the plate spring is less than 0 . 1 mm , the diaphragm excessively overreacts to a change in pressure , so that the control by the throttling control valve 28 is unstable , and self - induced vibration is readily produced . conversely , if the thickness exceeds 0 . 35 mm , the action of the diaphragm becomes sluggish and control by the throttling control valve 28 deteriorates . the inner diameter of a through - hole 45 formed in the center section of the valve seat plate 32a , 32b is preferably about 1 to 3 mm . when the inner diameter of a through - hole 45 is less than 1 mm , the volume of compressed gas supplied to the slotted grooves 26a , 26b is insufficient , so that the rotating member 22 is inadequately supported . conversely , when the inner diameter of a through - hole 45 exceeds 3 mm , the width in the radial direction of a first throttling flow channel 51 and a second throttling flow channel 52 is small , so that the throttling effect is small , causing the amount of turbulent flow of the compressed gas to increase and the support of the rotating member 22 to be unstable . in this embodiment of the static pressure gas bearing of the present invention , the compressed gas for supporting the rotating member 22 passes through the slotted grooves 26a , 26b and is fed into the bearing gap between the inside surfaces of the flange plates 23a , 23b and the bearing surfaces 25a , 25b , so that the rotating member 22 is supported in a state of non - contact . in the case where the rotating member 22 shifts in the axial direction ( the lateral direction in fig1 ), this shift is corrected by the throttling control valve 28 . the characteristics of the static pressure gas bearing of the present invention are improved in the comparatively high frequency region from the action of the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , and the characteristics are improved in the comparatively low frequency region from the action of the throttling control valve 28 . therefore , it is possible to obtain adequate characteristics over almost all frequencies . the present invention will now be explained with reference to actual tests performed relative to the combination of the slotted groove and the throttling control valve . in the case where the slotted grooves were formed in the bearing surface but the throttling control valve was not provided , the relationship between the compliance , which is the inverse of the bearing rigidity (= load volume / displacement ), and the vibration frequency is shown by the broken line a in fig4 . as shown in fig1 , 13 , when the throttling control valve is provided but a simple indented section is formed in the bearing surface , the relationship between the compliance and the vibration frequency takes the form of the chain line b in the drawing . in addition , as shown in fig1 in the case where the slotted groove is formed in the bearing surface and the throttling control valve is provided , the relationship between the compliance and the vibration frequency takes the form of the solid line c in the drawing . as clearly shown by fig4 adequate characteristics are obtained with the static pressure gas bearing of the present invention over almost all the area of freqencies . in addition , in the static pressure gas bearing of the present invention , the throttling control valve 28 is accommodated in the housing 19 , and the distribution channels 27a , 27b , which link the throttling control valve 28 and the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , respectively , are short , so that it is not only possible to make the static pressure gas bearing itself small , but in the case where the rotating member 22 is displaced , the response characteristics of the throttling control valve 28 are improved . further , because the bearing surfaces 25a , 25b of the static pressure gas bearing of the present invention are fabricated from a soft alloy , the slotted grooves 26a , 26b are easily formed . even in the case where a foreign material such as dirt enters the bearing gap , because the friction factor of the bearing surface is small , the occurrence of non - repairable breakdowns such as seizure and the like is greatly reduced . because large numbers of slotted grooves 26a , 26b are formed in the bearing surfaces 25a , 25b of the static pressure gas bearing of the present invention , and the compressed gas is fed through these many slotted grooves 26a , 26b to the bearing gap , the pressure distribution is comparatively uniform over the entire bearing gap , so that an adequate load volume is ensured , and an adequate damping area is ensured , whereby self - induced vibration is produced only with difficulty . fig5 to fig7 illustrate a second embodiment of the static pressure gas bearing of the present invention . the inner tube 20 which forms the housing 19 is fabricated from a soft alloy such as an aluminum or copper type alloy which contains either carbon fiber or graphite or both . the rotating member 22 is fabricated from steel for improved strength and endurance . the inner peripheral surface of the inner tube 20 forms a bearing surface 42 . four slotted grooves 33 of the shape illustrated in fig7 are formed in the bearing surface 42 at two positions in the axial direction . as shown in fig5 fig6 and fig9 a pair of throttling control valves 34 is accommodated in a pair of indented sections 30 , respectively , formed in the outer peripheral surface of the outer tube 21 . the compressed gas passes through each of the throttling control valves 34 and is supplied to each of the slotted grooves 33 . the operation to form this type of slotted groove 33 on the bearing surface 42 of the inner peripheral surface of the inner tube 20 can be achieved in any conventionally known processing method . for example , when the bearing surface 42 is formed from a soft alloy , the slotted grooves 33 can be formed by utilizing a component rolling process method such as the method disclosed in japanese laid open patent application no . 63 - 230219 . specifically , the component rolling process method is implemented in the manner shown in fig8 . a pair of steel balls 37 is provided sot hat these steel balls 37 are each supported in a freely rolling manner in one of a pair of supporting holes 36 of a cylindrical holder 35 . the outer peripheral surface of a pressure rod 38 comes into contact with the steel balls 37 , and the pressure rod 38 is rotated while the steel balls 37 are pressed against the bearing surface 42 , or is displaced in the axial direction . as a result , the slotted grooves 33 are formed in the bearing surface 42 conforming to the impression of the pressed steel balls 37 . in addition , a waste gas channel 41 is provided in a part of the housing 19 at a position separated from the throttling control valves 34 . the compressed gas injected from the slotted grooves 33 into the bearing gap is freely expelled from the system through the waste gas channel 41 to the outside . an operation with good characteristics can also be obtained with the radial bearing of the second embodiment of the present invention from the coaction of the slotted groove 33 and the throttling control valve 34 in the same manner as with the thrust bearing of the first embodiment . when the material used for the bearing surfaces 25a , 25b , 42 is a copper alloy containing carbon fiber and lead , tin , or the like , the advantage is obtained that these softer materials are easier to process than steel . in the case where the copper alloy contains carbon fiber in order to improve the sliding and wear resistance characteristics , the amount of carbon fiber contained is in the range of 1 to 10 wt %, for , if the carbon fiber content is less than 1 wt % or greater than 10 wt %, the sliding characteristics deteriorate . accordingly , if the sliding characteristics are not of prime importance , the amount of carbon fiber used may be less than 1 wt % or greater than 10 wt %. the material used for the bearing surfaces 25a , 25b , 42 may also be a copper alloy containing graphite instead of carbon fiber . graphite is added in the range of 1 to 10 wt % to improve the sliding and wear - resistance characteristics . if the graphite content is less than 1 wt %, the sliding characteristics deteriorate and if the graphite content is greater than 10 wt %, the strength of the material decreases . however , if the sliding characteristics are not of prime importance , the amount of graphite used may be less than 1 wt %, and if strength is not too important , the amount of graphite used may be greater than 10 wt %. graphite tends to separate from metal with greater ease than carbon fiber . a copper alloy containing carbon fiber , therefore , is stronger than a copper alloy containing graphite . in addition , if an aluminum alloy is used as the material for the bearing surfaces 25a , 25b , 42 , the advantage is obtained that , because this material is softer than steel , it is easier to process . an aluminum alloy containing carbon fiber in order to improve the sliding and wear - resistance characteristics and to reduce the weight can be , for example , a composition of 9 to 16 wt % si , 1 to 4 wt % cu , 1 to 3 wt % mg , 1 to 5 wt % fe , and 1 to 10 wt % carbon fiber with the balance being aluminum . if the carbon fiber content is less than 1 wt % or , conversely , greater than 10 wt %, the sliding characteristics deteriorate . however , if the sliding characteristics are not of prime importance , the amount of carbon fiber used may be less than 1 wt % or greater than 10 wt %. the material used for the bearing surfaces 25a , 25b , 42 may also be an aluminum alloy containing graphite instead of carbon fiber . an aluminum alloy containing graphite to improve the sliding and wear resistance characteristics and to reduce the weight can be , for example , a composition of 9 to 16 wt % si , 1 to 4 wt % cu , 1 to 3 wt % mg , 1 to 5 wt % fe , and 1 to 10 wt % graphite , with the balance being aluminum . if the graphite content is less than 1 wt %, the sliding characteristics deteriorate . conversely , if the graphite content is greater than 10 wt %, the strength of the material decreases . however , if the sliding characteristics are not of prime importance , the amount of graphite used may be less than 1 wt %. if strength is not too important , the amount of graphite used may be greater than 10 wt %. graphite tends to separate from metal with greater ease than carbon fiber . an aluminum alloy containing carbon fiber , therefore , is stronger than an aluminum alloy containing graphite . the cross section of the slotted grooves 25a , 26b , 33 may be in the shape of an arc or may be rectangular . as shown in fig1 and fig1 , the depth d of the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 is preferably three to eight times the dimension h , which is normally 5 to 20 μm , of the bearing gap 18 [ d = 3h to 8h ]. the width w of these slotted grooves is preferably one to five times the depth d [ w = 1d to 5d ]. when the dimensions of the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 are set in this manner , self - induced vibration is more difficult to produce . it is therefore possible to operate precision machining equipment incorporating a static pressure gas bearing under stable conditions . in addition , it is possible to increase the gas pressure and increase the bearing rigidity . when the dimensions are set in this range , an adequate bearing rigidity can be obtained at the practical amount of gas consumed in practice ( for example , 5 to 50 l / min per bearing ). the reasons for setting the dimensions of the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 are as follows . first , the reason that the depth d of the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 is set at three to eight times the dimension h , that is [ d = 3h to 8h ] is because , in the case where the depth d is smaller than three times the gap dimension h , that is [ d & lt ; 3h ], it is difficult to distribute the compressed gas generally throughout the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 and to provide the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 with the pressure of the compressed gas at a uniform level , so that the bearing rigidity is lowered . conversely , in the case where the depth d is greater than eight times the gap dimension h , that is [ d & gt ; 8h ], the volume of the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 increases to the point where self - induced vibration is easily produced . the following is the reason that the width w of the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 is set at one to five times the depth d , that is [ w = 1d to 5d ]. in the case where the width w is smaller than the depth d , that is [ w & lt ; d ], the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 are difficult to machine , so that the manufacturing costs for the static pressure gas bearing are high with providing no merit . in addition , because it is difficult to distribute the pressure of the gas in the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 uniformly , the bearing rigidity is lowered . conversely , in the case where the width w is greater than five times the depth d , that is [ w & gt ; 5d ], the volume of the slotted grooves formed in the bearing surface 2 increases to the point where self - induced vibration is easily produced . in some applications of the invention , however , the depth d and width w of the slotted grooves 26a , 26b , 33 may also be outside the abovementioned range . at least three throttling control valves are required when throttling control valves are used to regulate the displacement in both the radial direction and the thrust direction for a static pressure gas bearing provided with both a radial bearing and a thrust bearing . also , five throttling control valves are required in the case where two radial bearings are provided in the axial direction to restrain the inclination of the rotating shaft 3 . in addition , four throttling control valves for use with thrust bearings are required to restrain the inclination of the rotating shaft 3 with the one pair of thrust bearings shown in the drawings .	5
a simplified block diagram view of a typical dmm 100 of the prior art is shown in fig1 . dmm 100 includes a battery 110 for providing operating power to the dmm . dmm 100 also includes a microprocessor ( μp ) and display unit 120 , a comparator 125 , and a signal conditioning circuit 130 . signal conditioning circuit 130 includes an a / d converter 133 coupled to a pair of input terminals input hi and input lo . the signal line coupled to the input lo terminal is biased to a predetermined level by a connection to the centerpoint of a resistor divider comprising resistors r 101 and r 102 . in operation , signals to be measured are applied to terminals input hi and input lo . signal conditioning circuit 130 received the output of a / d converter and the resulting processed digital signal is applied to μp and display unit 120 for display on the lcd of dmm 100 . the battery voltage of battery 110 is applied to an input of comparator 125 for comparison against an internal reference level . when the battery voltage drops below the internal reference voltage threshold , a signal is generated and applied to μp and display unit 120 which causes the battery low warning indicator to light . the battery low warning indicator is generally a display on the lcd , although it could be a separate warning lamp . fig2 shows typical battery life over time in terms of its terminal voltage . note that the battery starts at a given voltage and decreases slowly and fairly linearly to a point at which the rate of decline increases dramatically . the low battery indicator voltage threshold is usually set as shown , around the knee of the curve . this explains the nonlinear behavior of the thermometer type bar graph battery life displays , in that the first quarter of battery life has a much lower slope than does the final quarter of battery life . the circuit of fig3 helps explain the graph of fig2 . when one considers batteries , one usually thinks of an ideal voltage source having a constant terminal voltage which is independent of the current being provided . unfortunately , batteries in the real world are not ideal voltage sources for all current conditions . in practical voltage sources the terminal voltage e t decreases as the load current drawn from the source increases . it is common to account for this effect by representing a practical battery as an ideal voltage source having a voltage e s coupled in series with an internal series resistor r s , as shown in fig3 . the output voltage e t of the practical battery is developed across a pair of battery terminals 302 and 304 . the load ( i . e ., current drawing element ) is represented in fig3 as a resistor r l . thus , load resistor r l and voltage source resistance r s form a voltage divider network , and as load resistor r l draws current , a voltage drop er s occurs across the voltage source internal resistance r s causing the terminal voltage to drop . the equation for the terminal voltage is : e t = e s × r l /( r l + r s ) ( equation 1 ) thus , with a fixed value for r s , the terminal voltage e t decreases in an inverse relationship to the current drawn . unfortunately , the internal resistance of the battery r s also increases with age as the battery becomes exhausted . for that reason voltage source internal resistance r s is represented in fig3 as a variable resistor . the increasing internal series resistance r s of the battery explains decreasing terminal voltage e t of the battery over time , as shown in the graph fig2 . apparatus in accordance with the subject invention is shown in fig4 wherein a dmm generally designated 400 includes a pair of signal input terminals input hi and input lo , a first signal conditioning circuit 410 , a second signal conditioning circuit 420 , a microprocessor ( μp ) and display unit 430 , a battery 440 , a first boost regulator 450 and a second boost regular 460 . dmm input terminal input hi and input lo receive the signal to be measured from the circuit under test , and couple it to first signal conditioning circuit 410 . the signal developed at the output of first signal conditioning circuit 410 is conditioned to be in the range of 2 . 5 volts plus or minus 0 . 5 v . this signal is then applied to one input of an a / d converter 424 within second signal conditioning circuit 420 . the input lo terminal is coupled to a second input of a / d converter 424 , and to the centertap of a resistor divider comprising equal value resistors r 401 and r 402 . the resistor divider is arranged between the 5 - volt power supply rails which provide operating power to a / d converter 424 . this arrangement biases the reference input terminal ( i . e ., that terminal coupled to input lo ) of a / d converter 424 to 2 . 5 volts . this is essentially the same as operating the a / d from bipolar rail voltages of + 2 . 5 volts and − 2 . 5 volts and biasing the reference terminal to 0 volts . battery 440 is nominally 3 volts , but may actually measure anywhere from 1 . 5 volts to 3 volts depending upon its usage and condition . the battery voltage is provided to first boost regular 450 which provides a regulated output voltage at 3 volts , and couples the 3 volt regulated power supply to μp and display unit 430 . the regulated 3 volt supply is also applied to the input of second boost regulator 460 which develops a 5 volt regulated power supply voltage at its output . the 5 volt regulated power supply voltage is applied to the aforementioned resistor divider , and to second signal conditioning circuit 420 to power a / d converter 424 and other circuitry , not shown for simplicity . boost regulators 450 and 460 may be an mc33463 regulator circuit manufactured by motorola corporation , for example . as noted above , input a / d 424 is a high precision device which operates most effectively within a dynamic range which is centered about the middle of the power supply range , and which is bounded to stay at least one volt above the lower rail and at least 1 volt below the upper rail . clearly then , a primary reason for employing second boost regulator 460 is to apply a higher power supply voltage to the rails of input a / d converter 424 , in order to increase the useable dynamic range of the device . in practice , raising the power supply to 5 volts enables the a / d dynamic range boundaries to be positioned 2 volts away from the respective power supply rails . for a 5 - volt supply , the upper boundary of the dynamic range is 3 volts , and the lower boundary of the dynamic range is 2 volts . one can now begin to appreciate the difficulty in using input a / d 424 to measure the battery voltage . if one attempts to connect the negative lead from input lo to the negative terminal of the battery , that would effectively short out r 402 , removing it from the circuit and upsetting the bias for input a / d converter 424 . on the other hand , one might choose to ignore the negative connection , and apply only the voltage from the positive battery terminal directly to the input terminal of input a / d converter 424 . however , in this case , the dmm would not measure 3 volts ( as expected ) but would instead read the difference between the 2 . 5 volt reference level and 3 volts , or 0 . 5 volts . this is a somewhat strange reading to convey to a user . moreover , if the battery had depleted to 2 . 5 volts , the dmm would measure and display it as 0 volts , again an unacceptable answer . apparatus according to the invention includes a second a / d converter 438 for measuring the battery voltage and applying the measurement value to a microprocessor for display . it is herein recognized that second a / d converter 438 does not have to be a high precision a / d converter and can therefore operate with a dynamic range which extends all the way between its own power supply rails . advantageously , such a second a / d converter is found in several commercially available control microprocessors , such as the nec μpd 78064 , manufactured by nec corporation . by connecting the input lead of a / d converter directly to the positive terminal of battery 440 , microprocessor ( μp ) and display unit 430 can control a / d converter 438 to sample the battery voltage and report back the voltage level of the battery . microprocessor ( μp ) and display unit 430 can then display the actual battery voltage on the lcd display of dmm 400 . unlike the bar graph display of the prior art , the user is presented with a numeric display of actual battery terminal voltage with which the user can determine battery condition . it is also noted that the battery is always measured under load ( i . e ., with the lcd display energized ) because the display is used to present the measurement to the user . referring to fig5 a digital multimeter dmm 500 in accordance with the invention comprises a housing or case 510 , and an lcd display 520 . lcd display 520 is shown displaying digits 525 indicative of the state of the internal battery voltage . a low battery warning indicator 527 is also provided as a reminder to check the internal battery voltage . other features of dmm 500 are softkeys 530 a , 530 b , 530 c , and 530 d which are utilized to select various dmm measurement parameters . dmm 500 includes a single amps input terminal 541 , a volts input terminal 545 , and a common input 543 . a rotary function selection switch 550 has only a single position for each function to be exercised . there are five other buttons 551 , 553 , 555 , 557 , and 559 which are used for accessing further features of the dmm . a sixth button 560 activates a backlight to provide easier viewing in low light conditions . unfortunately , there is no magic backlight device that uses little or no power . therefore , as in the prior art , the backlight device of the subject invention also causes the current drawn from the battery to increase by a factor of ten . this causes the battery to discharge at a rate which is ten times faster than the discharge rate when the backlight is non - illuminated . the advantage in the subject invention is that the user knows specifically what the battery voltage is , and therefore what the condition of the battery is , before turning on the backlight . thus , there should be no surprises such as were described with respect to the prior art . the term “ microprocessor ”, as applied to element 430 is intended to encompass microcomputers , and other forms of controllers such as dedicated hardware controllers including asics . while the invention has been described with respect to a digital multimeter , it is herein recognized that it would is also applicable to other types of test and measurement equipment , and such modification is deemed to lie within the scope of the following claims .	6
there is shown in fig2 and 2a a connector locating and positioning apparatus 30 which is attached to the frame 32 , only a portion of which is shown , of the automated cable making machine 10 . the apparatus 30 includes a connector track 34 for guiding a group 36 of connectors 38a through 38e into the terminating station 14 . the connector track 34 has a slot 40 formed in the surface 42 having side walls 44 and 46 spaced to closely guide the connectors 38 in the direction of the slot 40 . an undercut 48 is formed in the bottom surface of the slot 40 for clearance . a blade guide body 50 is attached to the frame 32 adjacent the connector track 34 and may be formed integral therewith as shown in fig2 . a series of vertical slots 52 are disposed in the blade guide body 50 , each of which contains a thin guide blade 54 . the blades and slots are dimensioned so that the blades 54 may undergo vertical reciprocating motion within the slots 52 , as viewed in fig2 without appreciable lateral play . a retaining plate 56 is attached to the blade guide body 50 , with the screw fasteners 58 , across the series of slots 52 thereby maintaining the guide blades 54 in their vertical alignment while permitting them to reciprocate upwardly and downwardly within the slots 52 . as will be explained below , the guide body 50 , blades 54 , and retaining plate 56 together comprise an alignment means for engaging and positioning the connectors 38 within the track 34 . the guide blades 54 are caused to reciprocate within their respective slots 52 by means of a slide 60 arranged to undergo left and right movement , as viewed in fig2 transverse to the reciprocating movement of the blades 54 . the movement of the slide 60 may be effected , for example , by an air cylinder under the control of the computer 24 . as is shown in fig4 the slide 60 includes a cam track 66 having a lower tracking surface 68 , an upper tracking surface 70 , and a ramp surface 72 that smoothly connects an end 74 of the lower surface 68 with an end 76 of the upper surface 70 . the track 66 has a substantially constant width w with respect to the vertical for its entire length for a purpose that will be explained below . fig3 shows one of the guide blades 54 contained within the slot 52 . as is shown , the guide blade 54 includes a notch 80 having a width slightly greater than the width w of the track 66 . the notch 80 embraces the track 66 , one edge 82 of which tracks the surfaces 68 , 72 , and 70 as the slide 60 is made to move from left to right , as viewed in fig2 thereby causing the blade 54 to move upwardly in its slot 52 . the blade 54 includes a chamfered end 84 which is positioned adjacent the track 34 and a rake back portion 86 which diverges away from the chamfered end 84 . this rake back portion 86 assures that only the chamfered end 84 will first engage the connector 38 as the blade 54 is moved upwardly by the track 66 . this function will be more fully explained below . the group 36 of connectors shown in fig2 comprises a connector 38a having five terminals 39 , a connector 38b having three terminals 39 , a connector 38c having 6 terminals 39 , two connectors 38d having two terminals 39 each , and a connector 38e having four terminals 39 . a carrier strip 41 interconnects the ends of the terminals 39 of each connector 38 in the usual manner and is removed after conductors are terminated to the terminals and the terminals fully inserted into the connector . the terminals 39 of each connector 38 are spaced on a desired spacing , such as 0 . 100 inch in the present example . the length l of each connector 39 is a multiple of this spacing , for example the connector 38a having four terminals 39 has a length of 0 . 400 inches . additionally , each connector 38 has a manufacturing tolerance on its length l of minus 0 . 004 inch and plus 0 . 000 inch . therefore , the overall length of the group 36 can vary by as much as 0 . 004 inch per connector or 0 . 024 inch in the present example . with all of the connectors 38 of the group 36 in abutting engagement as best seen in fig5 a , and assuming the maximum tolerance deviation on the negative side , it would be impossible to position the group 36 so that all of the terminals 39 are simultaneously in alignment with the wire termination tooling . by moving the connectors 38 out of abutting engagement , however , such alignment can be achieved . to accomplish this a stop 90 is positioned adjacent the connector track 34 as shown in fig2 and 5a . the group 36 of connectors is then positioned in the connector track 34 with the connectors 38a through 38e in side by side abutting engagement , the connector 38a being against the stop 90 as best seen in fig5 a . fig5 is a front view of the apparatus 30 while fig5 a is a top view of the connector group 36 and stop 90 as shown in fig5 . therefore , fig5 and 5a are to be considered together as a pair , as are fig6 and 6a , and fig7 and 7a . the stop 90 is positioned so that the first guide blade 54a is in vertical alignment with the space 92a between the two left most terminals 39 of the connector 38a . since the four spaces between the five terminals 39 of the connector 38a are on 0 . 100 inch centers , the corresponding first four guide blades beginning with 54a are in alignment therewith and will enter these spaces as the slide 60 is moved from left to right as viewed in fig5 and 6 . the spacing of the guide blades 54 , as was stated above , is substantially 0 . 100 inch center to center , but the connectors 38a through 38e , in this example , are all slightly shorter than their nominal lengths that are multiples of 0 . 100 inch . therefore the terminals 39 of each connector are slightly closer to the stop 90 than they otherwise would be . therefore , as the first guide blade 54a enters the space 92a , its chamfered end 84 engages an edge of the second terminal 39 , camming it and its connector 38a a slight amount to the right , as viewed in fig5 a . this necessarily moves the other connectors in the group 36 the same amount to the right . as the slide 60 continues moving toward the right , see fig6 and 6a , the guide blade 54b begins to enter the space 92b between the first and second connectors , 38a and 38b , the chamfered end 84 engaging and camming the first terminal 39 of the connector 38b slightly to the right , thereby moving the connectors 38c through 38e to the right the same amount . continued movement of the slide 60 similarly causes the guide blade 54c to move upwardly into the space 92c thereby causing the connectors 38c through 38e to shift slightly to the right . this process continues until all of the guide blades 54 have moved up the ramp surface 72 and are now in engagement with the upper surface 70 of the track 66 , as seen in fig7 . in the example just described where each connector 38 has a length l corresponding to the low end of the dimensional tolerance , slight gaps 94 will appear between the connectors as shown in fig7 a . note that these gaps 94 are shown exaggerated in the figure and in reality are much smaller . in the case where each connector 38 has a length l corresponding to the high end of the dimensional tolerance , no gaps will appear because the spacing of the terminals 39 of all the connectors 38 relative to the stop 90 will be substantially identical to the spacing of the respective blades 54 relative to the stop 90 . in actual operation , it is unlikely that either of these two extremes will occur . it is more likely that some of the connectors 38 will be manufactured toward the low end of the dimensional tolerance and some toward the high end . in any such case , the guide blades 54 are caused to move upwardly toward and into the spaces 92 between the terminals 39 , starting with the guide blade and connector closest to the stop 90 , and continuing rightwardly in seriatim as viewed in fig5 through 7 , until all of the guide blades 54 have moved fully upwardly and all of the connectors 38 have moved into alignment on the desired spacing . conductors , not shown , are then terminated to the terminals 39 in the usual manner at the wire terminating station 14 and the slide caused to move leftwardly , as viewed in fig7 until all of the guide blades 54 are made to move downwardly by following the ramp surface 72 to the lower surface 68 of the track 66 . at this point all of the blades 54 have disengaged from the connector group 36 which may be removed and the process repeated with a new group of connectors to be terminated . an important advantage of the present invention is that connectors having a relatively wide dimensional tolerance an be automatically aligned with the tooling for terminating wires to the connector terminals . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the alignment apparatus of the present invention lends itself to operating within a completely automated environment .	8
the invention will be explained in greater detail below with reference to fig1 - 5 . the starting point for the method is a base material 100 . the base material 100 may be either a strip conductor or a plug pin or the like , and may be made of copper or a copper alloy , such as tin bronze , brass , high - strength brass or a cuni , cumn , cunisi , cual alloy . in the embodiments shown in fig1 and 2 , only the region which is important for the electrical contacting is shown , that is to say , for example , the region of a press - in plug pin which is in contact with a contact hole . a tin - free metal coating which forms a contact layer 102 is applied to the base material 100 in this region . a surface of the contact layer 102 is textured , having defined indentations 104 and elevations 106 . the textured surface allows a lubricant ( not illustrated in the figures ) to be retained on the surface of the contact layer 102 so as to be able to be stored for a long time . the elevations 106 may have extremely different shapes depending on how they are produced . they may be constructed , for example , to be pyramid - like , conical , spherical , clod - like , or columnar . in an embodiment , a height difference between the indentation 104 and the elevation 106 is generally between 0 . 4 μm and 10 μm . in an embodiment , the height different between the indentations 104 and the elevations 106 may be between 0 . 8 μm and 5 μm . if a lubricant having a viscosity between 1 . 5 mm 2 / s and 680 mm 2 / s is used in conjunction with the textured surface of the contact layer 102 , an application of oil is capable of being stored for a long period of time without negatively influencing subsequent pressing - in operations . the lubricant may comprise , for example , a highly viscous oil . for application , the lubricant is mixed with a highly flowable solvent which acts as a carrier substance and which at least partially volatilises after application . a significant aspect for preventing tin whiskers is that , in the region of the actual contacting ( shown in fig1 and 2 ), there is no tin coating at the direct surface . to this end , the contact layer 102 is formed , for example , from iron , cobalt , nickel , rhodium , iridium , palladium , silver or an alloy comprising such elements . in an embodiment , the tin - free contact layer 102 is deposited by means of electroplating technology . the parameters of the electroplating deposition , such as a composition of the bath , the addition of catalysts or acids , and current strengths and voltage values , may be adjusted in such a manner that the desired surface roughness is produced . those of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that there may also be other deposition techniques which allow sufficient surface roughness with good adhesion , for the formation of the tin - free contact layer 102 . in an embodiment , a smooth metal coating layer may firstly be deposited , and then be roughened accordingly in a second process step , such as through an etching step . the roughened metal coating layer forms the tin - free contact layer 102 and the roughness is high enough to bond a lubricant therein in a durable manner . in an embodiment shown in fig2 , the tin - free contact layer 102 is not applied directly to the base material 100 but instead is applied to an intermediate layer 108 positioned on the base material 100 . the intermediate layer particularly facilitates the deposition of the contact layer 102 and improves the adhesion to the base material 100 . in an embodiment , a smooth intermediate nickel layer 108 may be used for a nickel contact layer 102 . in other embodiments , other metals and alloys may also be used as an intermediate layer 108 . it should be noted that the thickness relationships of fig2 are not intended to be interpreted to be true to scale in any manner . in an embodiment , an intermediate layer 108 made of nickel has a thickness of 1 to 2 μm to the base layer 100 , and the subsequently applied contact layer 102 is then formed from nickel having a thickness of 0 . 5 μm . fig3 is an electron scanning microscope image of a nickel contact layer 102 with the corresponding elevations 106 and indentations 106 . in an embodiment shown in fig4 , a press - in contact pin 110 is shown prior to insertion into a contact pin receiving hole disposed on a printed circuit board 114 . in particular , the printed circuit board 114 has a socked receiving opening 116 , in which an electrically conductive socket 112 is fitted . the press - in pin 110 has a surface portion 118 that is curved in a convex manner in the pressing - in direction ( arrow p ), being curved over a predetermined longitudinal length l . the curved surface portion 118 is formed on mutually opposing contacting members 118 a , 118 b which are formed on the press - in pin 110 in the region of the longitudinal length l , curve outwards from cylindrical longitudinal portions of the press - in pin and enclose a central empty space . in the embodiment shown , the socket 112 is formed from substantially pure copper . the press - in pin 110 is also formed from copper , and , in the region of the curved surface portion 118 , the contact layer 102 has a coating of oil prior to an assembly of the press - in pin to the socket 112 . in order to produce the press - in connection , the press - in pin 110 is moved relative to the printed circuit board 114 and the socket 112 in a mating direction ( arrow p ). the press - in pin 110 is firstly centered in the socket 112 with the mating end tip ( not labelled ), whose outer diameter is smaller than the inner diameter of the socket . with continuing movement in the mating direction p , the curved longitudinal portion 118 is finally introduced into the socket 112 . in this instance , first the spacing between the outer peripheral surface of the press - in pin 110 and the inner peripheral face 120 of the socket 112 is reduced until both surfaces move into contact with each other . with continuing movement in the mating direction , the contacting members 118 a , 118 b are first resiliently deformed in a radially inward direction and finally , with further continuing movement , the material of the outer layer is plastically deformed . in this state , the oil application retained at the surface of the contact layer 102 becomes effective as a lubricant so that a necessary insertion force remains sufficiently low during further movement in the mating direction p . with continuing movement in the mating direction p , material from the contact layer 102 is sheared off from the outer peripheral surface of the press - in pin 110 , and a metallic plug 122 is formed between the rear flank of the curvature 118 in the mating direction p and the inner peripheral face 120 of the socket 112 . the press type connection produced in this manner is , on the one hand , retained by resilient restoring forces of the contacting members 118 a , 118 b which are biased radially outwards and , on the other hand , by a possible cold welding between the surface material of the press - in pin 110 and the socket 112 . the lubricant is also displaced outwards in this operation so that a reliable electrical contacting is ensured . if no tin is involved in the region of the electrical contacting between the surface portion 118 and the socket 112 , which is mechanically loaded by the pressing action , that is to say , the printed circuit board 114 also , does not contain any tin , the occurrence of tin whiskers can be prevented with complete certainty . if the printed circuit board 114 does contain tin , the growth of whiskers is substantially prevented by using press - in pins 110 with the contact layer 102 . the contact layer 102 may also advantageously be used with a large number of other electrical connections . for example , contact springs in plug type micro - connectors may be provided with the contact layer 102 . furthermore , the contact layer 102 is suitable for use for injection - moulded contact elements , solder connections , or film conductor contacts . as a result of the complete omission of tin in the contact region , a technology which does not have any tin whisker growth has been shown . therefore , the shearing of tin whiskers can also be prevented , as can short circuit bridging between adjacent electrically conductive structures .	2
referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purpose of illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention only and not for the purpose of limiting same , fig1 shows a charcoal briquet 10 in plan view . charcoal briquet 10 has a generally square periphery with four sides 12 , 14 , 16 , and 18 . each side has an outer peripheral edge 20 which is gently bowed outwardly towards its center , but relatively straight . the four edges 20 are interconnected by corners 22 with a radius of curvature significantly smaller than the radius of curvature of the gently bowed edges 20 . a hole 26 is located in the cental area of the briquet 10 between the sides 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 . referring now to fig4 one sees the charcoal briquet of fig1 in cross section . the charcoal briquet 10 has an upper surface which is generally convex with a hole 26 in the center . the lower surface of the charcoal briquet 10 is generally concave . the briquet back side 12 is bounded by a generally planar horizontal bottom surface 30 , a rounded outer peripheral edge 32 , an upwardly and inwardly extending lower surface 34 , an upwardly and inwardly extending upper surface 36 and a vertically extending inner surface 38 extending between the lower surface 34 and upper surface 36 . the lower surface 34 is gently concave but overall extends inwardly and upwardly at an angle of about 30 ° from the horizontal . the upper surface 36 is gently convex and extends inwardly and upwardly at an angle of about or slightly greater than 30 °. the lower surface and upper surface are generally parallel to one another . however , a slight divergence away from one another as one moves towards the center of the briquet may be used . the front side of the briquet 16 is the mirror image of the back side of the briquet 12 . that is , the briquet 10 is symmetrical about its central axis as viewed in the cross section shown in fig4 . moreover , if one rotates the briquet by 90 °, one still sees the cross section seen in fig4 . that is , the briquet 10 is symmetrical with respect to the side walls 14 and 18 , as well as with respect to the side walls 12 and 16 , and all the side walls 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 have identical cross sections at their centers and curve identically towards the corners 22 . the central portion of the charcoal briquet 10 is occupied by a hole 26 bounded by the vertically extending inner surface 38 of each of the sides 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 . as can be seen in fig1 and 3 , the side walls are interconnected by curved hole corners 42 . of course , the hole 26 could have a circular periphery rather than the rounded square periphery illustrated in the figures . additionally , a briquet having a rectangular outline in the horizontal plane rather than a square outline accomplishes many of the objects of the present invention . in the preferred embodiment , the briquet is approximately 2 . 39 inches wide when measured from the center of the outer periphery of one edge to the opposite edge . thus , the width dimension from the center of the right side 14 to the center of the left side 18 is approximately 2 . 39 inches . similarly , the dimension from the center of the front side 16 to the center of the back side 12 is approximately 2 . 39 inches . the overall height of the briquet from the bottom of the bottom surface 30 to the periphery of the hole 26 is approximately 0 . 8 inches . the thickness of the sides 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 measured from the inner surface 34 to the outer surface 36 is approximately 0 . 42 inches . the width of the hole 26 measured diametrically at its narrowest portion is 0 . 42 inches . this gives an overall volume of the briquet of 2 . 16 cubic inches , with an approximate weight of 0 . 056 pound . the surface area of the briquet is about 13 . 7 square inches . this compares to a standard pillow shaped briquet as is commercially available having a volume of 2 . 12 cubic inches , an approximate weight of 0 . 055 pound , a surface area of 8 . 98 square inches . thus , the briquet of the present invention having an approximately equal weight is provided with 150 % of the surface area of the standard briquet . all of the above figures are approximate , as individual briquets vary considerably . referring now to fig6 - 8 , one sees a stack of 19 identical briquets contained within a close fitting cardboard box . the box 50 has a back side 52 , a right side 54 , a front side 56 , and a left side 58 . the box is created from a single sheet of cardboard with an extension of the left side 58 being creased and then overlaying a portion of the front side 56 and adhered , as by gluing , to the front side 56 . thus , a sealed square container containing a stack of briquets 10 is illustrated . the box 50 is approximately 2 . 53 inches wide ( outside ) in both the right to left and front to back dimensions . this provides inside dimensions snugly accommodating the stack of charcoal briquets 10 . preferably , the box is made from cardboard coated with wax or a similar coating . as can be seen in fig7 and 8 , extensions are provided on the box side walls 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 forming flaps which are folded and glued or otherwise interconnected forming a box bottom 62 and a box top 64 . the flaps connected to the box side walls are conventional and glued together or fastened together in conventional ways . as can be seen in fig7 and 8 , the bottommost charcoal briquet 10 a rests upon the bottom 62 of the box 50 . the bottom surface 30 of the bottommost briquet 10 a rests upon the cardboard bottom 62 around its entire periphery . a substantial bearing area is provided between the bottom 30 of the briquet 10 a and the bottom of the box 62 . the second lowest briquet 10 b rests upon the lower briquet 10 a with the lower surface 34 of each of the sides 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 of the second briquet 10 b resting on the upper surface 36 of the sides 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 of the bottom briquet 10 a . as can thus be seen in fig8 the briquets engage one another over a substantial portion of the upper surface 36 of one briquet and lower surface 34 of the next higher briquet . the briquets are substantially rectangular or square in outer peripheral shape . the downwardly facing lower surfaces 34 create a somewhat segmented downwardly facing concavity 70 having four separate continuous distinct surfaces on the four sides 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 . in the preferred embodiment , the concavity is not a surface of rotation resembling a cone . however , such a shape could be used in implementing the invention . the downwardly facing concavity 70 mates with an upwardly facing convexity 72 formed by the upper surfaces 36 of the four sides 12 , 14 , 16 , 18 . the mating of the concavity 70 and the convexity 72 as shown in the stack of fig8 is self - centering . the most compact and stable disposition of the stack is with each of the briquets 10 centered and in full contact with the next lower briquet as illustrated in the figures . the box 50 containing the single stack of charcoal briquets 10 is a stand alone retail package . box 50 is printed with appropriate merchandising information , including a universal product code , and is shipped and sold as - is . the box 50 is rectilinear and therefore easily packed into cartons and palletized for handling and distribution . the box 50 is rectilinear and therefore easily stocked onto shelves , into end caps , or center - of - aisle displays at the retailer . the box 50 is sealed and therefore less likely to become contaminated with charcoal dust . the box 50 contains briquets 10 which are stacked in a stable , tight manner minimizing extra air space as well as friction and the creation of charcoal dust . the box 50 is easily purchased by the consumer , as its overall dimensions are approximately 2½ × 2½ inches by 10⅔ . this box weighs approximately one pound and is very easily picked up , placed into a shopping cart , taken home for use , easily stored at home , and easily and cleanly transported in a consumer &# 39 ; s vehicle for use at a park or picnic . in use , the consumer can simply place the box as - is in a grill bed . the wax coated box 50 is ignited and as the box 50 burns , it in turn ignites the periphery 32 of the contained charcoal briquets 10 . as can be best seen in fig8 the peripheral portions 32 are spaced from one another when compactly packed , with air gaps 76 provided between the briquet peripheries within the box to promote air flow as the box 50 burns , encouraging ignition of the briquet peripheral edges 32 . after the briquets are ignited , the stack is broken up by use of a poker or other appropriate implement . thereupon , a jumbled random bed of briquets is provided which has a greater surface area per unit mass than conventional briquets . the greater surface area encourages quick combustion to the ready - to - cook state . moreover , the holes 26 in the centers of the briquets 10 provide an air flow passage causing a vortex action of air passing through the briquets 10 , further encouraging combustion to the ready - to - cook temperature . referring now to fig9 - 11 , a different method of packing the briquets 10 of the present invention is disclosed . fig9 - 11 illustrate a box of five pounds of identical briquets 10 . the five - pound box contains six stacks of briquets disposed in two rows of three . each of the six stacks comprises an identical number ( 15 ) of briquets and the briquets are tightly contained in a rectangular box 80 having four sides 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 . the box is constructed from a single sheet of wax - coated paper or cardboard with the sheet of cardboard having a tab extending slightly beyond the end of one of the sides 82 into an overlapping relationship with a second side 88 to which it is adhered . flaps extend from the sides 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 forming a box bottom 92 and a box top 94 . the flaps are engaged as is conventional , forming a completely closed container . this five - pound box 80 of briquets is much more compact , easily handled , and less subject to damage than equivalent bags of briquets . the five - pound boxes are rectilinear , easing stacking and palletization . this greatly eases shipping of the product and prevents damage to the product in shipment . the rectangular boxes are easily stacked onto shelves , displayed as aisle end caps or otherwise displayed at the retailer for purchase by consumers . moreover , the packages are fabricated from linear cardboard stock , and are therefore easily printed with merchandising information prior to forming into the box . the sealed boxes are relatively easy for consumers to handle , use and store . optionally , the box is provided with an attached handle by fixing a plastic ( or similar material ) strap to the top or two opposite sides . the briquets in the box 80 stack in a self - centering manner identical to that seen in the box 50 of fig6 . a stable , compact mass of charcoal briquets is thereby provided . in use , the consumer can either use the entire five - pound box in a manner similar to the one - pound box described above , or open the top of the five - pound box and pour a desired amount of briquets into a pile at the center of a grill . the pile of briquets can then be ignited as conventional . such a pile of briquets has more favorable ignition characteristics when compared to conventional briquets because of the large surface area - to - mass provided by the briquet shape , and because of the vortex air flow created by the holes 26 in the middles of the briquets in the stack . [ 0054 ] fig1 illustrates the progression from initial ignition ( 0 minutes ) to the ready - to - cook condition of the charcoal briquets of the present invention , as compared to conventional standard charcoal briquets . line 110 connects data points for the temperature of briquets in accordance with the invention . line 112 connects data points for standard briquets . it can be seen that the charcoal briquets of the present invention reach a temperature in excess of 1000 ° approximately 15 minutes after initial ignition , whereas such a temperature is not reached for conventional briquets for approximately 25 minutes . moreover , the briquets of the present invention hold their ready - to - cook temperature of about 1000 ° reasonably constantly thereafter . temperature readings for tests conducted comparing the temperature at 5 - minute intervals after initial ignition for the briquets of the present invention when compared to conventional briquets is set forth in table 1 below . as can be seen with reference to the above table and the accompanying fig1 , obtaining appropriate cooking temperature is hastened , and maintenance of that temperature is greatly improved . an alternative arrangement for packing multiple - pound units of briquets is shown in fig1 and 13 . in fig1 , one sees a top view of eight boxes 50 identical in all respects to the package seen in fig6 - 8 . the eight boxes 50 are held together by an outer wrapper 100 surrounding the sides 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 of the closely - packed boxes 50 . the outer wrapper 100 lays closely against boxes 50 . the outer wrapper 100 is shown slightly spaced from the boxes 50 in the drawings for purposes of clarity only . the outer wrapper 100 is a wrap , such as a wide plastic wrap , which tightly binds the individual boxes 50 together into a single commercial product bearing its own universal product code 102 and marketing information . the outer wrapper 100 obscures the universal product code of the individual boxes 50 and allows the retailer to sell multiple units as a single package to consumers requiring or desiring more than a single pound of product . the consumer can easily handle the compact package , take it home , and remove separable one - pound boxes as desired . moreover , the retailer can sell multi - unit packages in outer wrappers 100 or remove the outer wrapper 100 and sell individual one - pound packages 50 bearing their own marketing information . an outer box or similar container can be used in place of the wrapper 100 . the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment . modifications and alterations of this preferred embodiment will occur to others upon the reading and understanding of the specification . it is our intention to include all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the inventive claims or the equivalents thereof .	2
as seen in fig1 the three main blocks of the apparatus include the culture units ( cu ) 1 , the analog conditioning unit , the control and processing unit ( accpu ) 2 , and the printer 3 . the culture unit ( cu ) 1 consists of two air incubators that maintain the culture cells at a constant temperature , which can be independently adjusted . accpu 2 contains the analog preprocessing block that selects and conditions the analog voltages measured in each culture cell for their subsequent digitalization . further processing allows monitoring growth curves for interface reactance and resistance , medium resistance and turbidity . monitoring allows detecting , quantifying or assessing the behavior of microorganisms under different circumstances . finally , the printer 3 is useful to produce printed reports of the growth curves . [ 0058 ] fig2 shows a diagram of the apparatus that includes two large main blocks indicated with a dotted line . the block on the left contains one or more incubators ( since it may be used at one or two different temperatures for the assays ) with the culture cells ; and the block on the right performs the analog processing of the electrical signals . fig3 shows a culture cell . this cell comprises a body 27 made of pirex ® glass , having a volume of 10 ml , a removable , disposable lid 28 made of teflon ® or neoprene with two electrodes 29 made of stainless steel ( dentaurum ®, φ = 1 mm ), immersed 10 mm in the culture medium . the electrodes are connected to the measurement circuit through a connector typically seen in electronic circuit boards . the teflon ® lid has , on top , an orifice from which inoculation or the outflow of the gases produced during the culture of the microorganisms may occur . the cells used for anaerobic bacteria measurements 30 ( shown in the same figure ) are made of glass , provided with a neoprene lid 31 , and an aluminum crimp seal 32 . in the case of impedance measurements , these lids contain the electrodes . [ 0059 ] fig2 shows the incubator containing the culture cells 4 , and the emitters and light detectors for each of these cells . in this device , a led ( light emitting diode ) can be used in each cell as a light emitting source together with a resistance that varies with the light ( light detector resistance , ldr ) as a detector . if different wavelengths are needed , the apparatus allows to use supports with different emitters , depending on the wavelength to be used . the possibility of using a single white light source and a wavelength selector has been also foreseen . this allows to transfer the light beam to each cell using fiber optics . if two incubators are used , each one can accept up to approximately 100 culture cells . each cell consists of a series resistance of approximately 80 kohms connected to a culture cell to simulate a current generator . the value in ohms measured by the ldr is proportional to the light intensity it receives , which depends on the number of microorganisms present in the sample . then , a calibration of the resistance measured is made in terms of absorbance or transmittance values , which are the units usually used to measure turbidity . the apparatus makes it possible to use different wavelengths depending on the application , and cell supports provided with different wavelengths leds can be used . the incubator additionally comprises a temperature control 5 , and the elements needed for cooling 6 , heating 7 , sensing the temperature 8 , and recycling the air 9 , thus making it possible to maintain a constant temperature ranging from 10 ° c . to 75 ° c ., with a variation of less than 0 . 2 ° c . the output of the incubators block 10 is an array of wires through which all voltage measurements will be made for each of the 200 cells inside the apparatus and the respective 200 light detectors in each of them . input 11 to the culture cells allows to apply sine currents of 20 hertz ( low frequency ) and 20000 hertz ( high frequency ) during the resistance and reactance measuring process . each cell uses two measurement channels , one to measure impedance and the other one to measure turbidity . output 10 gets into the next main analog processing block . first , it gets into a set of multiplexers implemented with reed - relays 12 , which remain open between measurements , thus limiting the shift that the continuous polarization current at the input buffers introduce into the measurements . relays are digitally controlled through 13 by computer 14 , enabling the selection of a determined cell at each impedance measurement . with the addition of another selection board , measurements using three electrodes have been foreseen for this block . turbidity measurement channels are selected using analog multiplexers that no longer experience the shift problem caused by polarization . analog output 15 of multiplexers ( mechanical and analog ) is applied to the analog processing sub - block 16 . this sub - block contains high impedance buffers , with an extremely low continuous polarization current and unit gain , differential amplifiers with a high common - mode rejection and a gain that is controlled by the computer using 13 . the output 17 from this sub - block is analogically processed in 18 . at 18 , a high - pass filter is applied to the high frequency analog signal to eliminate the continuous component of the input signal . then , this signal gets into a variable gain amplifier that can be controlled by the computer using 13 . the amplified signal is then available for each of the analog / digital converter channel 20 at the output 19 . at 18 , the low - frequency analog signal follows the same path of the high - frequency one and is present as a low - frequency sine wave at output 19 . the turbidity signals receive the same analog processing applied to output 15 . the analog processing sub - block 18 also comprises a differential amplifier used when measuring the impedance phase angle of each cell at a low frequency . the output of this amplifier is applied to the second channel of the analog / digital converter 20 . the output 19 gets into an analog / digital converter 20 . the values already converted are then used by the programs installed at the computer to obtain the bipolar impedance components and the turbidity resistance values . the logics controlling sub - blocks 12 , 16 and 18 is handled through the input / output ports 21 inside the acquisition board 23 . in addition , this board has a programmable timer that makes it possible to obtain low and high frequency square signals at output 24 . band - pass filters are applied to these square signals at sub - block 25 , thus obtaining pure sine signals are subsequently obtained at 11 . these are then sequentially applied to each culture cell in 4 . the data entered into the computer are then processed in order to draw the growth curves for ri , xi , rm as well as for absorbance or transmittance values . this curves are the electrical and optical expression of the microorganisms growth . the apparatus can express them as impedance module , phase angle , resistance , conductance , reactance , capacity or absorbance , or transmittance as time function in the computer monitor or the printer 26 . in addition , these curves may be expressed as absolute or percentage values with respect to their initial values . it is noted that the foregoing example have been provided merely for the purpose of explanation and is in no way to be construed as limiting of the present invention . a culture medium having the following composition was prepared : kh 2 po 4 , 0 . 5 g ; nh 4 cl , 1 . 0 g ; na 2 so 4 , 4 . 5 g ; cacl 2 2h 2 o , 0 . 06 g ; mgso 4 7h 2 o , 2 . 0 g ; sodium lactate solution , 3 . 5 g ; sodium citrate , 0 . 3 g ; feso 4 7h 2 o , 0 . 004 g ; yeast extract , 1 . 0 g ; a fragment of an iron needle and distilled water , 1000 ml ( postgate c medium ). additional nacl should be added to adjust the salinity in the medium to the one in the analyzed samples . 1 mm sodium thioglycolate plus 1 mm sodium ascorbate were used as reducing agents . the medium is dispensed into the tubes under a nitrogen atmosphere . then they are sealed using neoprene rubber lids and the metallic crimp seal . the tubes are sterilized for a period of 15 minutes in an autoclave kept at 121 ° c . the sample to be analyzed was extracted using 1 ml syringes through puncture in pre - sterilized plastic bags fed with a sample taken from the extraction points . then , the tubes are inoculated through the neoprene lid . the inoculated tubes are maintained at a low temperature until they are introduced into the incubators . for mesophilic sulfate - reducing bacteria , samples must be kept in the incubators for a period of 30 hours at a temperature ranging from 25 to 42 degrees , depending on the microbiological sample to be analyzed . in the case of thermophilic sulfate - reducing bacteria , samples must be kept in the incubators for a period of 48 hours at a temperature ranging from 50 to 80 degrees , depending on the microbiological sample to be analyzed . a previous calibration of the apparatus must be done , in order to quantify a certain sample . this procedure consists of simultaneously measuring the sulfate - reducing bacteria concentration in the sample when the inoculation is perform using a reference method , and determining the time at the inflection point for the impedance or turbidity growth curves . we refer to this temporary value as growth threshold detection time ( tdt ). these two values make it possible to produce a table including concentration vs . threshold detection time . fig4 depicts an impedance module curve indicated as z , also showing the inflection point for the growth curve . the curve in fig4 was obtained by measuring the bipolar impedance between two electrodes immersed in a postgate c medium having a salinity of 20 g / l nacl , at 37 ° c ., with an inoculum of 1 ml of cutoff tank - water taken from an oil drilling system , measuring continously for a period of 48 hs . the procedure used for quantification is as follows : the initial ci concentration [ cfu / ml ] of the microorganisms , and the threshold detection time for the samples of the sulfate - reducing bacteria material are measured . the total number of samples will be determined by the concentration range of interest and by the error level wished in the data statistical analysis ( firstenberg eden & amp ; eden , 1984 ). ci is drawn as a function of the threshold detection time in a semi - logaritmic scale . the calibration line is obtained by the power law regression as shown in fig5 for the mesophilic planktonic sulfate - reducing bacteria . each threshold detection time was obtained by measuring the inflection point of the turbidity curves formed after the inoculation of the natural samples ( all the points over 15 hours in fig5 ) taken from oil fields facilities and from the dilute samples taken from culture media inoculated with samples previously incubated for a period of 72 hours . the cells contained 8 ml of postgate c medium at 37 ° c . the quantification of the initial concentration of the samples was conducted using the most probable number method . in order to quantify an unknown sample , the apparatus measures the tdt in the interface resistance , interface reactance , medium resistance and / or turbidity curves . tdt is calculated as it appears in each cell . the initial concentration of the unknown sample can then be obtained using the calibration curve and this measured tdt . cady p ., welch w . ; u . s . pat . no . 3 , 743 , 581 ; microbiological detection apparatus ; assignee : bactomatic inc . ; jul . 3 , 1973 . pratt a s , rutzen j p , wolstenhom j ; gb patent 2177801 ; detecting microorganism growth using titanium electrodes in nutrient medium in disposable cell ; assignee : malthus instr . ltd . ; jan . 28 , 1987 . seureau j , mondeil l , ausseur j , magot m , protin j , sourbe j . 1989 ; wo 89 / 09832 ; method and device for detecting sulphate reducing bacteria ; assignee : societe nationale elf aquitaine ( production ). gawel l j , ng t , odom j m , ebersole r . 1991 . u . s . pat . no . 4 , 999 , 286 . sulfate reducing bacteria determination and control ; assignee : e . i . du pont de nemours and company ( wilmington , del .). felice c j , madrid r e . 1997 . argentine pending patent # 960101249 . equipo para analizar el crecimiento de microorganismos midiendo impedancia en dos frecuencias [ apparatus for the analysis of microorganisms growth by measuring impedance at two frequencies ]. felice c j , madrid r e . 1998 . argentine pending patent # 980106505 . equipo para analizar contaminación microbiana por impedancia and turbidez [ apparatus for the analysis of microbial contamination by impedance and turbidity ]. cady p . ( 1975 ). rapid automated bacterial identification by impedance measurement , in new approaches to the identification of microorganisms , carl - goran heden and tibor illeni , editors , john wiley , new york , pp 73 - 99 . felice c j ( 1995 ). microorganisms digital monitor : theoretical and technological aspects . doctorate thesis , insibio , universidad nacional de tucumán [ national university of tucumán ], tucumán , argentina . felice c j , valentinuzzi m e , vercellone m i , madrid r e ( 1992a ). impedance bacteriometry : medium and interface contributions during bacterial growth . ieee bme , 39 ( 12 ), pp 1310 - 1313 . felice c j , seggiaro v n , valentinuzzi m e ( 1992b ). input amplifier current components in the electrode interface impedancimetric bacterial growth curves . 14th annual international conference of the ieee engineering in medicine and biology society . october 29 - november 1 , pp 2763 - 2764 . firstenberg - eden r , eden g ( 1984 ). impedance microbiology , john wiley , new york , 170 pp . madrid r e , vercellone m i , felice c j , valentinuzzi m e . ( 1994 ) “ bacterial growth analyzer by impedance and turbidity ”. med . & amp ; biol . eng . & amp ; computing , 32 , pp 670 - 672 . richards , j c s , jason , a c , hobbs , g , gibson , d m and christie , r h ( 1978 ). electronic measurement of bacterial growth . j . phys . e : sci instrum , 11 , pp 560 - 568 . de bruyn e e , croukamp e ., cloete t . ( 1994 ). the malthus system for biocide efficacy testing against desulfovibrio desulfuricans . water s a , 20 ( 1 ), pp 23 - 26 . silley p , forsythe s ( 1996 ). impedance microbiology — a rapid change for microbiologists . journal of applied bacteriology , 80 : 233 - 243 . nace standard tm0194 - 94 , item no . 21224 ( 1994 ). field monitoring of bacterial growth in oilfield systems . nace international , p . o . box 218340 , houston tex . 77218 - 8340 .	2
while the tone ring may be embodied in many applications , including automotive and non - automotive applications such as power take - offs , generators and others , a detailed description of the tone ring or exciter ring assembly and its auxiliary components including the detector or sensor will be given first in an application wherein a vehicle drive axle shaft rotates the tone ring , the sensor is located in a fixed position in the axle tube housing just radially outside or removed from the tone ring surface , and an optional flange on the tone ring holds the ring in a fixed position by reason of contact between the flange and a flange of the retainer , preferably with an optional spacer between the tone ring and the retainer . referring now to the drawings in greater detail , fig1 - 4 show a tone ring assembly generally designated 10 , preferably located axially inside the wheel bearing within an axle tube housing assembly generally designated 12 , wherein a sensor 14 is held in fixed position within an opening generally designated 16 in the housing assembly 12 . the tone ring body , generally designated 18 , includes an axially extending portion 20 , a radial flange 22 defined by axially inner and outer surfaces 24 , 26 and a radially outermost , stepped surface generally designated 28 . the body generally designated 18 includes a radially outer surface generally designated 30 on the axially extending portion 20 , the axially inner portion of which is defined by alternately radially extending lands 32 and grooves 34 , preferably extending directly purely axially . the radial flange 22 has a stepped surface 28 , having a major diameter surface 35 and a minor diameter surface 36 therein for the axial passage of oil . the inside of the tone ring body 18 includes a rubber portion generally designated 38 , and this portion includes a beveled lead - in area 40 . in addition , there are plural axially extending ribs 46 , each of which includes a lead - in area 44 . the ribs 46 are spaced apart by axially extending grooves 48 . the ribs 46 snugly engage the outer diameter 49 of the axle shaft shown as 50 , by engaging a portion 52 thereof which is of intermediate size , being slightly larger in diameter than the axially inner portion 53 of the shaft and smaller size than the portion 54 engaging the inside diameter 56 of the bearing generally designated 58 . the bearing 58 is shown to include roller elements 60 , and an outer retainer 64 . the actual type of bearing may vary , and , for example , may feature the rollers 60 indirectly engaging the shaft , or being free from a bearing cage or other locator . oil may pass axially through the grooves 48 in the tone ring 18 from the differential ( not shown ) to the bearings 58 and to the seal generally designated 66 . although not a necessary part of the invention , the seal 66 is shown typically to include a casing or stamping 68 and a rubber primary lip 70 . the seal is shown with an auxiliary or dirt lip 71 as is typical with vehicle axles , but this is not strictly necessary . the tone ring body 18 does not move measurably axially once it is finally installed in the appropriate position over a portion 52 of the shaft 50 . in addition to being held by the friction of the ribs 46 , the body 18 is also held in a final axial position by a tone ring retainer generally designated 75 . preferably , but not necessarily , the retainer generally designated 75 is made from two components , a thicker gauge radially outer indented casing generally designated 76 and a thinner gauge radially inner casing generally designated 78 . the radially inner casing 78 includes an axially extending portion 80 and a radially inwardly extending retaining flange 82 , while the outer casing generally designated 75 , into which the inner , thinner casing 80 is pressed , includes a radially inwardly extending retainer flange 83 , a generally axially extending portion 84 which includes a corrugated exterior surface portion generally designated 88 . thus , the portion of the casing generally designated 88 includes both raised portions 90 which engage the counterbore 92 and depressed portions 94 which permit axial passage of oil . there are also scalloped cut - outs 97 or relieved areas in the radial flange 83 of the retainer 88 . thus , oil flow may be inside the body 18 , outside of the retainer 88 , or between the tone ring 18 and the retainer 88 . the result upon final assembly of the components is a u - shaped retainer in cross - section having flanges 82 , 83 which will prevent undesired axial movement of the tone ring body 18 in either direction . referring now to another preferred element of the invention , a spacer generally designated 96 is shown to be confined between the radial flange 82 of the inner casing 78 and the axially outer surface 26 of the radial flange 22 of the tone ring 18 . this spacer 96 includes a continuous inner portion 98 and a plurality of teeth 100 separated by spaces 102 . preferably , the teeth 100 include beveled end portions 104 and flat , axially inner and outer surfaces 106 , 108 to facilitate engagement of the radial flange 82 of the radially inner casing 78 and the axially outer surface 26 of the tone ring radial flange 22 . the tone ring body 18 may also have a groove 110 or relieved portion adjacent the radial flange 22 to provide extra clearance between the body 18 and the radial flange 83 of the retainer 75 . assembling the tone ring with its mating parts is a fairly straightforward operation . the axle shaft 50 includes a smaller diameter portion 53 throughout most of its length . as the axle shaft 50 approaches its axially outer end , however , the diameter is very slightly enlarged as at 52 , and the axle shaft 50 includes another step lying toward a larger diameter surface 54 terminating before the flange generally designated 57 . the sensor generally designated 14 is positioned properly relative to the lands and grooves on the tone ring body 18 at this time or later . since it does not interfere with the tone ring , it can be inserted at any time . the retainer 75 is then placed in the counterbore 92 with a light press fit , while the tone ring body is held within the retainer . the tone ring is held such that it does not tilt excessively , and thus is positioned to receive the axle . no other means is required to guide the axle shaft into position within the body 18 . next , the bearing unit 58 is positioned with its outer retainer 64 pressed into its just larger counterbore 95 , and finally , the casing 68 of a seal unit 66 is pressed into the largest counterbore 101 . the axle shaft 50 is then inserted gradually until it engages the tone ring 18 on its inner diameter ribs 46 . then , with the tone ring resisting further inward movement by reason of engagement between the radial flange 83 of the retainer 75 and the tone ring flange surface 24 , the axle shaft 50 is pushed gradually axially inwardly ( to the right as shown in fig4 ) until the innermost end of the axle shaft is positioned to receive a c - clip ( not shown ) for holding the axle shaft in position . thereafter , the axle shaft is withdrawn axially a few millimeters so the c - clip is properly engaged and seated in the differential . this moves the tone ring slightly to the left as shown in fig4 and insures that the axially outer surfaces 108 of the spacer teeth 100 will engage the retainer flange , if necessary , sliding the tone ring body 18 slightly axially inwardly relative to the axle shaft and insuring that the body is properly positioned against spacer 96 which is positioned against retainer flange 82 . thus , the installation is self - aligning and self - centering , which is very desirable . once the installation is made , another axle shaft may be reinserted in the application by simply pushing it , usually by hand , into place within the tone ring body . of course , if the original axle shaft were removed , it could be reinserted inside the tone ring . the materials from which the tone ring are made are conventional for this application . for example , the tone ring itself may be made from a ferromagnetic powdered metal , which is die - formed then sintered into the desired finished form . other materials may be used , but powdered metal technology may be preferred by reason of its affording relatively deep , square lands and grooves as well as its cost - effective magnetic properties . metal embedded in plastic can also be used , including magnetic strips laid out axially , and then covered with an elastomer or a plastic material which is permitted to harden . the rubber used to form the ribs 46 and the surrounding material is an epdm or other suitable elastomer such as so - called nitrile ( nbr ), hnbr , fkm , aem , acm or other elastomer . plastics or thermoset materials can also be used as outlined above in another suitable form . the ribs 46 and surrounding portions 40 , 42 of the elastomer may be coated with a dried ptfe material for lubrication , and the substrate may be made from a thermoplastic or thermoset material . for purposes of lubrication , a wet lubricant such as oil , grease or an ammonium alkyl phosphate may be placed on the id of the tone ring . both parts of the retainer are preferably made from mild steel but plastic could also be used . the spacer is an insulating , lubricous material such as delrin or acetal material , but it possibly could be replaced by a low friction coating on the retainer or on the tone ring flanges , or both , or eliminated completely . the retainer is fabricated for convenience in two pieces , an inner , thinner piece and an outer , thicker piece , but it could be made in a single piece . the illustrated form has the corrugations in one part of the retainer , which is then combined with a thinner , flat portion to make the radial flanges . the rubber material used in forming the ribs 46 is of the type that will swell in the presence of oil or grease , including oils with extreme pressure additives therein . consequently , when the tone ring is installed over the axle , it may be located easily , but after the tone ring has been in place for a time , the oil further swells the rubber and the tone ring is held much more firmly in place . as alternate designs , one may also provide several other constructions . in one such construction , which would be the simplest of these , and is illustrated in fig5 the tone ring generally designated 18 a could simply not have the radial flange , which now affords the simplest way for the retainer to insure that the tone ring does not excessively move axially on the shaft during installation . instead , there is a groove 110 a in the body 20 a of the tone ring 18 a , and a flange 82 a extending into the groove 110 a . in such a construction , the axial extent of the tone ring would be much larger than the axial extent of the retainer in the first embodiment , but the counterbore 92 a would have the axial flange 80 pressed into it . the sensor 14 a rests in an opening 16 a . in this way , a unitized construction would also be provided . another alternate construction is shown in fig6 . here , there is no groove or flange , but the retainer 78 b is allowed to span the entire axial length of the tone ring with both flanges 82 b , 82 b thereby confining the body 18 b against the axial movement . in such a construction , of course , it would be necessary to provide an opening or window 99 in one portion of the retainer so that the sensor 14 b could function properly . as previously indicated , the spacer may be eliminated , and in its place , a lubricous coating could be placed on the face of the radial flange 26 of the body , or on the inner face of the flange 82 , or both . this expedient could be used in the interest of ultimate cost savings , particularly where there would be little or no risk of significant axial movement of the tone ring after installation , that is , during operation . in the further alternative , the spacer could be made of a hard grease block material , thereby being adapted to dissolve after significant contact with the radial flange of the body and the radial flange of the retainer . it is important that there be at least one axial oil passage in the assembly , and preferably , several passages . the most advantageous way of providing these passages is to space the tone ring body apart from the axle shaft by a series of shallow ribs , and then also provide passages in the spacer , the retainer , and in the tone ring flange which periodically come into registration to allow the passage of oil through the part . still further , the outside diameter of the retainer is also preferably provided with a corrugated or like outside diameter to permit the passage of oil around the retainer . these are all useful ways to provide lubrication to the bearings with oil traveling from the differential . it is sometimes thought advantageous for ease of axle shaft installation that the inside diameter of the tone ring be especially adapted to slip more readily over the shaft , without however , compromising the ability of the tone ring inside diameter ( i . d .) to swell in the presence of oil and hence tightly grip the shaft . this may be done in two different ways , merely by way of example . referring now to fig7 and 8 , there is shown a modified tone ring generally designated 200 and a retainer generally designated 275 . the other features of the tone ring , such as its spaced apart lands and grooves on its o . d ., etc . are identical to its earlier shown embodiments . it is only in the construction of the rib 246 that a difference occurs . here , the rib itself , about halfway along its extent , contains a reduced diameter portion generally designated 247 having a generally flat inwardly directed contact surface 250 and tapered entry and exit surfaces 248 , 249 . the surface 250 is offset from the remainder of the rib 246 , typically about ten thousandths of an inch . ( 0 . 010 inches ). the surface 250 is about 5 mm or 200 thousandths ( 0 . 200 inches ) long . typically , every third rib 246 contains one raised portion 247 , although more or fewer ribs 246 may each have a raised portion 247 . in use , the portions 247 of the ribs 246 in some cases render the tone ring easier to install . this is because only the raised portions 247 are in contact with the shaft during installation . however , when the grease or oil on the shaft has an opportunity to react with the rubber , the rubber expands and secures the tone ring in a more fully locked position relative to the axle shaft . the design of the portion is such that it includes two tapered areas 248 and 249 which protect the raised portions from damage during installation , and accommodate axial movement during installation . as pointed out , once the oil or grease reacts with the rubber , the ribs 246 are more securely locked in place . another manner of achieving the same effect is illustrated in fig9 and 10 . here , the tone ring generally designated 300 is identical in all respects with its counterpart shown in fig1 - 3 , for example . the only exception to this identity is in the construction of the ribs generally designated 346 . the spaces between the ribs 48 are identical , and the makeup of the modified , textured ribs 346 is the only difference in these tone rings . here , the surface designated 350 contains a texture . the surface thus contains a series of generally flat portions lying in a plane , but also contains a very large number of smaller portions 354 having an indented or textured random pattern . the pattern shown in fig1 is merely for illustration , it being understood that the portions with the slightly enlarged diameter or countersunk portions are from 2 to 10 thousandths of an inch ( 0 . 002 - 0 . 010 ), preferably about 5 or 6 thousandths ( 0 . 005 - 0 . 006 inches ). the manner of making this pattern in the molded rubber part is relatively simple . the electrical discharge machining ( edm ) anode tip used to form the rib geometry on the molding tool is designed to be very rough , and as a result , the tooling used to make the rubber products in this area takes on a rough , textured appearance . consequently , the rubber that is formed or molded in this tooling has a mirror image impression of the texture on the molding tool . consequently , the ribs generally designated 350 take on a textured character on their inner surface . this texturing can alternately be achieved by chemical “ etching ” of the subject tool area . for example , acid is used in selected areas to create “ pockets ” similar to the edm approach . when it comes to installing these units , the textured portion creates “ pockets ” to hold the residual oil or grease against the shaft . consequently , these “ packets ” hold lubricant and effectively create a film thickness of lubricant between the rubber and the shaft . this , in theory reduces the installation force . consequently , this more lubricated construction may in some cases be preferred for ease of installation , especially bearing in mind that the axle shaft is made to a certain tolerance , which may be larger or smaller by a few thousandths of an inch . the simplest application of the tone ring assembly would be for use in controlling speeds of a single shaft , for example , a generator shaft . however , a more typical use of the tone ring and its associated parts is with two wheel drive vehicles , where the feedback from the sensor is sent to a computer which then determines relative velocities of the two axles . for example , such a use would be in abs systems ( anti - lock braking systems ), and differential control systems . the tone rings are most advantageously used in four wheel drive systems , where the speed of each axle is desired to be governed by a computer having four or more inputs . thus , the tone rings are useful , not only in various braking systems , but also in traction control systems where front wheel versus rear wheel speeds must be determined instantaneously , and where right versus left wheel speeds may be also measured instantaneously and then corrected , according to the design of the system . it will thus be seen that the present invention provides an improved tone ring assembly having a number of advantages and characteristics including those expressly pointed out herein , and others which are inherent in the invention . a few embodiments of the product of the invention , having been shown and described , it is anticipated that variations to the described form of apparatus will occur to those skilled in the art and that such modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims .	6
hereinafter , a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . in the following description and drawings , the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar components , and so repetition of the description on the same or similar components will be omitted . fig1 is a block diagram illustrating a memory core unit to which a memory test method of the present invention is applied . for reference , the memory core unit includes a memory bank for storing data and an adjacent part of the memory bank . referring to fig1 , the memory bank includes a plurality of memory cell blocks 110 to 117 , each of which contains a plurality of cell matrixes . herein , the cell matrix represents a cell array including a plurality of memory cells . for example , each cell matrix may be configured with 512 × 256 bits . for reference , when there are eight memory cell blocks per memory bank and there are 512 word lines per memory cell block , a 9 - bit row address is required in order to select 512 word lines of one memory cell block , and a 3 - bit address is required in order to select the eight memory cell blocks . block control units 120 to 127 control signals relating to the word lines of the memory cell blocks 110 to 117 . that is , the block control units 120 to 127 enable or disable the word lines in response to an active command or precharge command . as shown in fig1 , the block control units 120 to 127 are constructed to correspond one - to - one with the memory cell blocks 110 to 117 . sense amplifier control units 130 to 138 control signals relating to the operation of sense amplifiers . in a normal operation mode , the sense amplifier control units 130 to 138 enable or precharge the sense amplifiers in response to an active command or precharge command . also , each of the sense amplifier control units 130 to 138 controls not only signals ‘ bish ’ and ‘ bisl ’ for controlling upper and lower bit line isolation transistors to connect its corresponding memory cell block to the corresponding sense amplifiers , but also relevant sub - hole blocks ‘ s / h ’. in a test mode , the sense amplifier control units 130 to 138 activate or precharge the sense amplifiers based on a burst stop command or precharge command . also , each of the sense amplifier control units 130 to 138 controls not only signals ‘ bish ’ and ‘ bisl ’ for controlling upper and lower bit line isolation transistors to connect its corresponding memory cell block to the corresponding sense amplifiers , but also relevant sub - hole blocks ‘ s / h ’. in an active operation , the sense amplifier ‘ s / a ’ senses and amplifies a fine voltage difference between a pair of bite lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’. each sub - word - line driver ‘ swld ’ functions to drive sub - word lines for controlling cell transistors , which are contained in , cell matrixes located at both sides of the relevant sub - word - line driver . in detail , when a sub - word line is enabled to a high level by a row address in response to an active command , the cell transistor connected to the sub - word line is enabled , and data stored in the cell transistor are transferred to a corresponding bit line . also , when a sub - word line is disabled to a low level in response to a precharge command , the cell transistor connected to the sub - word line is disabled , and data stored in the cell transistor is maintained . the sub - hole block ‘ s / h ’ includes main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’, local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’, and block switch transistors for connecting the main input / output lines and the local input / output lines . the sub - hole block ‘ s / h ’ transfers data applied through a data pin to a bit line during a write operation , and transfers data of a bit line , which have been amplified by a sense amplifier , to an input / output data pad during a read operation . fig2 is a detailed circuit of a cell matrix , a sense amplifier and a sub - hole block shown in fig1 . herein , reference numerals ‘ 201 ’ and ‘ 202 ’ represent cell matrixes , reference numeral ‘ 203 ’ represents a sense amplifier , and number ‘ 204 ’ represents a sub - hole block . in addition , signal ‘ rto ’ represents a restore signal , and signal ‘ se ’ represents a sense enable signal . the signals ‘ rto ’ and ‘ se ’ control the sensing operation of the sense amplifier . signal ‘ bish ’ represents a ‘ bit line isolation high ’ sign , and controls upper - side bit line isolation transistors of the sense amplifiers connected to a cell matrix . signal ‘ bisl ’ represents a ‘ bit line isolation low ’ signal , and controls lower - side bit line isolation transistors of the sense amplifiers connected to a cell matrix . ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ represent local input and output lines , and are connected between a sense amplifier and main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’. the ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’ represent main input and output lines . first ends of the main input / output lines are connected to the local input / output lines , and second ends of the main input / output lines are connected to a main sense amplifier and a write driver ( not shown ). in a read operation , read data are transferred to a data pin via bit lines , the local input / output lines and the main input / output lines . in contrast , in a write operation , write data are transferred to the bit lines via the data pin , the main input / output lines and the local input / output lines . in a normal operation mode , signal ‘ bleq ’ shifts to a low level when an active command is applied to select a memory cell block , and signal ‘ bleq ’ shifts to a high level when a precharge command is applied . in a test mode , signal ‘ bleq ’ shifts to a low level when a memory cell block is selected by a burst stop command while the memory is being in an active state , and signal ‘ bleq ’ shifts to a high level when a precharge command is applied . signal ‘ yi ’ represents an interior column address . when a read command ( or a write command ) is inputted while the memory is being in an active state , an interior column address signal ‘ yi ’ corresponding to an exterior column address applied from the exterior is enabled . accordingly , the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ are connected to bit lines connected to the sense amplifier . as a result , data of bit lines , which have been amplified by the sense amplifier , are outputted through the local input / output lines to the exterior . signal ‘/ bleq ’ represents the inverted signal of signal ‘ bleq ’, and controls the on / off operations of transistors which are connected between the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ and the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’. signal ‘ liopc ’ represents a local input / output line precharge signal , and controls a transistor connected between the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’. fig3 is a view illustrating a test method according to an embodiment of the present invention , fig4 is a view illustrating a write operation according to an embodiment of the present invention , and fig5 is a view illustrating a read operation according to an embodiment of the present invention . hereinafter , description will be made with reference to fig1 to 5 in relation to a method for sequentially activating , sensing , writing ( or reading ) and precharging the odd - numbered memory cell blocks 111 , 113 , 115 and 117 after sequentially activating , sensing , writing ( or reading ) and precharging the even - numbered memory cell blocks 110 , 112 , 114 and 116 from among a plurality of memory cell blocks . for reference , the method for sequentially testing odd - numbered memory cell blocks after even - numbered memory cell blocks have been sequentially tested is called an ‘ interleave ’ test method or a ‘ ping - pong ’ test method . a test mode starts when a test mode signal ‘ tm ’ is set to a high level as shown in fig3 . for reference , in fig3 , reference numeral ‘ 110 ’ represents a memory cell block 110 , reference numeral ‘ 112 ’ represents a memory cell block 112 , and reference numeral ‘ 114 ’ represents a memory cell block 114 . the following description will be given according to an application sequence of signals for testing a memory device . when an active command ‘ act ’ is inputted from the exterior together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 110 and a row address for selecting a specific word line in the memory cell block 110 appointed by the block address , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 0 & gt ;’, ‘ bish & lt ; 1 & gt ;’, ‘ bisl & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ shift to a low level . therefore , the upper - side and lower - side bit line isolation transistors of a corresponding sense amplifier are all disabled , and the bit lines are isolated from the sense amplifier . in this case , a selected word line & lt ; 0 & gt ; is enabled to a high level , and cell data are transferred to the bit lines through charge sharing . herein , the word line & lt ; 0 & gt ; represents a first word line of the memory cell block 110 . after a predetermined time period elapses , when an active command is inputted together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 112 and a row address for selecting a specific word line in the memory cell block 112 appointed by the block address , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 2 & gt ;’, ‘ bish & lt ; 3 & gt ;’, ‘ bisl & lt ; 2 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 3 & gt ;’ shift to a low level . therefore , the upper - side and lower - side bit line isolation transistors of a corresponding sense amplifier are all disabled , and the bit lines are isolated from the sense amplifier . in this case , a selected word line & lt ; 1024 & gt ; is enabled to a high level , and cell data are transferred to the bit lines through charge sharing . herein , the word line & lt ; 1024 & gt ; represents a first word line of the memory cell block 112 . when an active command is inputted together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 114 and a row address for selecting a specific word line in the memory cell block 114 appointed by the block address , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 4 & gt ;’, ‘ bish & lt ; 5 & gt ;’, ‘ bisl & lt ; 4 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 5 & gt ;’ shift to a low level . therefore , the upper - side and lower - side bit line isolation transistors of a corresponding sense amplifier are all disabled , and the bit lines are isolated from the sense amplifier . in this case , a selected word line & lt ; 2048 & gt ; is enabled to a high level , and cell data are transferred to the bit lines through charge sharing . herein , the word line & lt ; 2048 & gt ; represents a first word line of the memory cell block 114 . when a burst stop command ‘ bs ’ is inputted from the exterior together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 110 , signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ shift to a low level . therefore , transistors controlled by signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ are disabled . at the same time , block switch transistors connecting the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ and the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’ are enabled by signal ‘/ bleq ’, thereby being in a ready state for a write or read operation . then , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ shift from a low level to a high level , so that bit line isolation transistors are disabled . as a result , the electric potential levels of the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’, to which charge has been shared , are transferred to the sense amplifier . then , signal ‘ rto ’ for the sense amplifier is activated to a high level and signal ‘ se ’ for the sense amplifier is activated to a low level , so that a voltage difference ( δv ) between the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’ is sensed and amplified . 5 ) write ( or read ) of memory cell block 110 : when a write command ‘ wt ’ ( or read command ) is inputted together with a column address , an interior column address signal ‘ yi ’ is generated ( in this case , signal ‘ liopc ’ shifts to a low level ). accordingly , data of the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’, which have passed through the block switch transistors via the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’, are transferred to the bit lines connected to the sense amplifier . for reference , in the case of a read operation , when an interior column address signal ‘ yi ’ is enabled , data of bit lines having been amplified by the sense amplifier are transferred to the main input / output lines via the local input / output lines and the block switch transistors . when a precharge command ‘ pcg ’ is applied together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 110 , a word line ‘ wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ shifts to a low level , and memory cell data are protected . then , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 1 & gt ;’, which have been in a low level , shift to a high level , thereby enabling the bit line isolation transistors to which the signals ‘ bish & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ are inputted . then , signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ shift from a low level to a high level , thereby precharging the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’ and the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ to a voltage level of ‘ vblp ’. at the same time , the block switch transistors connecting the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ and the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’ are disabled by signal ‘/ bleq ’, thereby shutting off the transmission of the data . when an active command is inputted together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 116 and a row address for selecting a specific word line in the memory cell block 116 appointed by the block address , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 6 & gt ;’, ‘ bish & lt ; 7 & gt ;’, ‘ bisl & lt ; 6 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 7 & gt ;’ shift to a low level . accordingly , the upper - side and lower - side bit line isolation transistors of a corresponding sense amplifier are all disabled , and the bit lines are isolated from the sense amplifier . in this case , a selected word line & lt ; 3072 & gt ; is enabled to a high level , and cell data are transferred to the bit lines through charge sharing . herein , the word line & lt ; 3072 & gt ; represents a first word line of the memory cell block 116 . when a burst stop command ‘ bs ’ is inputted from the exterior together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 112 , signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 2 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 3 & gt ;’ shift to a low level . therefore , transistors controlled by signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 2 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 3 & gt ;’ are disabled . at the same time , the block switch transistors connecting the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ and the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’ are enabled by signal ‘/ bleq ’, thereby being in a ready state for a write or read operation . thereafter , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 3 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 2 & gt ;’ having been at a low level shift to a high level , so that corresponding bit line isolation transistors are disabled . as a result , the electric potential levels of the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’, to which charge has been shared , are transferred to the sense amplifier . then , signal ‘ rto ’ for the sense amplifier is activated to a high level and signal ‘ se ’ for the sense amplifier is activated to a low level , so that a voltage difference ( δv ) between the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’ is sensed and amplified . 9 ) write ( or read ) of memory cell block 112 : when a write command ‘ wt ’ ( or read command ‘ rd ’) is inputted together with a column address , an interior column address signal ‘ yi ’ is generated ( in this case , signal ‘ liopc ’ shifts to a low level ). accordingly , data of the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’, which have passed through the block switch transistors via the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’, are transferred to the bit lines connected to the sense amplifier . for reference , in the case of a read operation , when an interior column address signal ‘ yi ’ is enabled , data of bit lines having been amplified by the sense amplifier are transferred to the main input / output lines via the local input / output lines and the block switch transistors . when a precharge command ‘ pcg ’ is applied together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 112 , a word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1024 & gt ;’ shifts to a low level to protect memory cell data . then , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 2 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 3 & gt ;’, which have been at a low level , shift to a high level , thereby enabling the bit line isolation transistors to which the signals ‘ bish & lt ; 2 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 3 & gt ;’ are inputted . therefore , signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 2 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 3 & gt ;’ shift from low levels to high levels , thereby precharging the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’ and the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ to a voltage level of ‘ vblp ’. at the same time , the block switch transistors connecting the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ and the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’ are disabled by signal ‘/ bleq ’, thereby shutting off the transmission of the data . when an active command ‘ act ’ is inputted together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 110 and a row address for selecting a specific word line in the memory cell block 110 appointed by the block address , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 0 & gt ;’, ‘ bish & lt ; 1 & gt ;’, ‘ bisl & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ shift to a low level . therefore , the upper - side and lower - side bit line isolation transistors of a corresponding sense amplifier are all disabled , and the bit lines are isolated from the sense amplifier . in this case , a selected word line & lt ; 1 & gt ; is enabled to a high level , and cell data are transferred to the bit lines through charge sharing . herein , the word line & lt ; 1 & gt ; represents a second word line of the memory cell block 110 . when a burst stop command ‘ bs ’ is inputted from the exterior together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 114 , signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 4 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 5 & gt ;’ shift to a low level . therefore , transistors controlled by signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 4 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 5 & gt ;’ are disabled . at the same time , the block switch transistors connecting the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ and the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’ are enabled by signal ‘/ bleq ’, thereby being in a ready state for a write or read operation . next , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 5 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 4 & gt ;’ having been at a low level shift to a high level , so that corresponding bit line isolation transistors are disabled . as a result , the electric potential levels of the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’, to which charge has been shared , are transferred to the sense amplifier . then , signal ‘ rto ’ for the sense amplifier is activated to a high level and signal ‘ se ’ for the sense amplifier is activated to a low level , so that a voltage difference ( δv ) between the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’ is sensed and amplified . 13 ) write ( or read ) of memory cell block 114 : when a write command ‘ wt ’ ( or read command ‘ rd ’) is inputted together with a column address , an interior column address signal ‘ yi ’ is generated ( in this case , signal ‘ liopc ’ shifts to a low level ). accordingly , data of the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’, which have passed through the block switch transistors via the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’, are transferred to the bit lines connected to the sense amplifier . for reference , in the case of a read operation , when an interior column address signal ‘ yi ’ is enabled , data of bit lines having been amplified by the sense amplifier are transferred to the main input / output lines via the local input / output lines and the block switch transistors . when a precharge command ‘ pcg ’ is applied together with a block address for appointing the memory cell block 114 , a word line ‘ wl & lt ; 2048 & gt ;’ shifts to a low level to protect memory cell data . then , signals ‘ bish & lt ; 4 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 5 & gt ;’, which have been at a low level , shift to a high level , thereby enabling the bit line isolation transistors to which the signals ‘ bish & lt ; 4 & gt ;’ and ‘ bisl & lt ; 5 & gt ;’ are inputted . next , signals ‘ bleq & lt ; 4 & gt ;’ and ‘ bleq & lt ; 5 & gt ;’ shift from low levels to high levels , thereby precharging the bit lines ‘ bit ’ and ‘/ bit ’ and the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ to a voltage level of ‘ vblp ’. at the same time , the block switch transistors connecting the local input / output lines ‘ lio ’ and ‘/ lio ’ and the main input / output lines ‘ mio ’ and ‘/ mio ’ are disabled by signal ‘/ bleq ’, thereby shutting off the transmission of the data . when charge sharing time is kept for a very long period of time while sequentially performing the above active ‘ act ’, burst stop ‘ bs ’, write ‘ wt ’ ( or read ‘ rd ’) and precharge ‘ pcg ’ operations with respect to even - numbered memory cell blocks in regular sequence ( that is , in the interleave scheme ), it is possible to screen current leakage caused by pvt variation and defects in a memory cell . in addition , it is possible to perform a write ( or read ) operation even while several memory blocks are being in an active state , so that the test time can be efficiently reduced . when the test of the even - numbered memory cell blocks 110 , 112 , 114 and 116 has been finished , the active ‘ act ’, burst stop ‘ bs ’, write ‘ wt ’ ( or read ‘ rd ’) and precharge ‘ pcg ’ operations sequentially performed with respect to the odd - numbered memory cell blocks 111 , 113 , 115 and 117 with the interleave scheme in the same method as described above . fig3 is a waveform diagram for explaining the test method described above with reference to fig1 and 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig3 , it can be understood that an active operation is performed for the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 110 , an active operation is performed for the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1024 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 112 , and an active operation is performed for the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 2048 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 114 . that is , it can be understood that active operations are performed in the interleave scheme . thereafter , sense , write and precharge operations are sequentially performed for the memory cell block 110 , and then sense , write and precharge operations are sequentially performed for the memory cell block 112 . next , an active operation is performed for the second word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 110 ; sense , write and precharge operations are sequentially performed for the memory cell block 114 ; and then an active operation is performed for the second word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1025 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 112 . then , an active operation is performed for the second word line ‘ wl & lt ; 2049 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 114 . thereafter , sense , write and precharge operations are sequentially performed for the memory cell block 110 . for reference , ‘ yi ’ in fig3 represents an interior column address signal . fig4 is a waveform diagram illustrating the test method of the present invention by means of signals for the memory device , in which a procedure of performing a write operation is shown . therefore , fig4 may be considered as another waveform diagram of fig3 . in fig4 , ‘ cmd ’ is an abbreviation of ‘ command ’, ‘ clk ’ represents an exterior clock signal , ‘/ cs ’ represents a chip select signal , and ‘ tm ’ represents that the test mode is on . ‘ add ( blk )’ represents an address for appointing a memory cell block , ‘ b0 ’ represents that the memory cell block 110 is selected , ‘ b2 ’ represents that the memory cell block 110 is selected , ‘ b2 ’ and ‘ b4 ’ represent that the memory cell blocks 112 and 114 are selected , respectively . in addition , ‘ din ’ represents that data are inputted . finally , ‘ blk & lt ; 0 & gt ;’, ‘ blk & lt ; 2 & gt ;’, ‘ blk & lt ; 4 & gt ;’ and ‘ blk & lt ; 6 & gt ;’, shown in the lower portion of fig4 , represent memory cell blocks 110 , 112 , 114 and 116 , respectively . fig5 is a waveform diagram illustrating the test method of the present invention by means of signals for the memory device , in which a procedure of performing a read operation is shown . compared with the procedure for the write operation described with reference to fig4 , the procedure of the read operation shown in fig5 is equal to that for the write operation , except that a test is performed . for reference , ‘ dout ’ represents that data are outputted . as shown in fig4 and 5 , a time period required to perform the active , sense , write ( read ) and precharge operations for a specific word line ( e . g ., wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;) of a specific memory cell block ( e . g ., memory cell block 110 ) is equal to that required to perform the same operations for another word line of another memory cell block . that is , since it takes a time period of ‘ 11tclk ’ ( herein , ‘ tclk ’ is a period of ‘ clk ’) to perform the active , sense , write ( read ) and precharge operations for the word line ‘ wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 110 , it also takes the time period of ‘ 11tclk ’ to perform the active , sense , write ( read ) and precharge operations for the word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1024 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 112 . similarly , the same time period is required for the other cases . as shown in fig4 and 5 , when ‘ 4tclk ’ elapses after the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 110 is enabled , the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1024 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 112 is enabled . next , when ‘ 4tclk ’ elapses after the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1024 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 112 is enabled , the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 2048 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 114 is enabled . then , when ‘ 4tclk ’ elapses after the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 2048 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 114 is enabled , the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 3072 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 116 is enabled . next , when ‘ 4tclk ’ elapses after the first word line ‘ wl & lt ; 3072 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 116 is enabled , the second word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 110 is enabled . then , when ‘ 4tclk ’ elapses after the second word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 110 is enabled , the second word line ‘ wl & lt ; 1025 & gt ;’ of the memory cell block 112 is enabled . thereafter , the same procedure is repeated . as shown in these drawings , the memory cell blocks are sequentially and circularly activated in a period of ‘ 4tclk ’, and each activated memory cell block is precharged when ‘ 11tclk ’ elapses from its activated time point . those skilled in the art will appreciate that the above - mentioned test period can be adjusted based on the number of memory cell blocks . when the test procedure for the even - numbered memory cell blocks 110 , 112 , 114 and 116 have been finished , the test for the odd - numbered memory cell blocks 111 , 113 , 115 and 117 is performed in the same method as described above . according to the present invention , as shown in fig1 and 2 , since a sense amplifier is connected between an upper memory cell block ( or cell matrix ) and a lower memory cell block , the test is separately performed with respect to the even - numbered memory cell blocks and the odd - numbered memory cell blocks , respectively . however , in the case of testing a memory device in which memory cell blocks correspond one - to - one with sense amplifiers , it does not need to separate the even - numbered memory cell blocks and the odd - numbered memory cell blocks . therefore , in this case , all the memory cell blocks can be tested in regular sequence . in addition , although the embodiment of the present invention is described with respect to the method for first testing the even - numbered memory cell blocks and then testing the odd - numbered memory cell blocks , the above - mentioned procedure may be applied to a method for first testing the odd - numbered memory cell blocks and then testing the even - numbered memory cell blocks . in this case , the same test method as described above may be applied , except that the test sequence is reversed , so description thereof will be omitted . the conventional method for testing a plurality of memory cell blocks is performed one after another in regular sequence in such a manner that when the test for one memory cell block has been finished , the test for another memory cell block is performed , so that a very long test period is required . however , according to an embodiment of the present invention , while the test operation for one memory cell block is being performed , test operations for multiple other memory cell blocks can be performed , so that it is possible to significantly reduce the total test time . although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes , those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications , additions and substitutions are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims .	6
referring to fig1 and 2 , the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes both a fluorescent ink for a display device , and a display device comprising fluorescent ink . in a preferred display as in fig1 a panel 10 such as an automotive instrument display panel incorporates indicia 12 and a background 14 . as most preferred , both the background 14 and indicia 12 are on a polycarbonate substrate . the background 14 is black ink , and the indicia 12 are formed according to the invention with inks comprising resin , phosphor pigments , and transparent pigments . the transparent pigments supply colors to the indicia under ambient , daytime lighting , and the phosphor pigments supply colors to the indicia under ultraviolet lighting . less preferred , available substrates include acrylic , aluminum , polyester and the like . referring to fig1 and 2 both , a display device 16 incorporates the panel 10 in combination with additional elements , to form an instrument panel suitable for day and nighttime operation of a car . a viewing panel 18 , such as a formed sheet of clear plastic , defines a surface near an observer , such as an automobile operator ( i . e ., a driver ). a space 20 exists behind the panel 18 , which defines the interior of the display device 16 . a rear wall 22 , and surrounding top , bottom and side walls complete the definition of the interior 20 . as necessary , working elements such as speedometer needle 23 extend into the space 20 . the display panel 10 is mounted on or comprises the rear wall 22 of the display device 16 . as above , the display panel 10 incorporates indicia 12 formed of inks comprising daytime and fluorescent pigments . an ultraviolet light source 24 , such as a black light tube , extends along the bottom of the interior space 20 , inside a reflector housing 26 . the light source 24 emits 340 to 380 , and most preferably 365 , nanometer light , under the control of the driver , through the operation of a switch ( not shown ). thus , as desired , the driver may actuate the light source 24 as needed , typically at night . referring again to fig2 the light source 24 is in front of the display panel 10 , where &# 34 ; in front of &# 34 ; has the meaning of the light source being positioned proximate the face of the display panel 10 , i . e ., on the &# 34 ; side &# 34 ; of the display panel nearer the observer , i . e ., the driver . as shown , the light source 24 may be offset laterally to the bottom , top , or side of the panel 10 , while remaining in front of the panel 10 . ultraviolet light from the source 24 radiates off the source 24 , onto the panel 10 . radiation may be direct , if so desired , but is preferred to be indirect . louvers 27 may be , and most preferably are , interposed between the light source 24 and panel 10 , and prevent direct radiation of light from the source 24 onto the panel 10 . alternately , light from the source 24 reflects onto the housing 26 , which incorporates a reflective surface 28 . light also radiates onto the inner surface of the viewing panel 18 , which itself reflects light onto the panel 10 , as represented by arrows 29 . light finally radiates to an opposed reflective surface 30 , opposite the light source 24 across the span of the display panel 10 , and thereby onto the panel 10 , as represented by arrow 31 . all of the reflective surface 28 , viewing panel 18 , and opposed reflective surface 30 are angled , arranged and composed to reflect ultraviolet light onto the display panel 10 , and thereby the indicia 12 . in the daytime , in ambient light , the indicia 12 are visible on the background as a result of the daytime pigments of the indicia &# 39 ; s ink . at night , under the light of the ultraviolet source 24 , the indicia 12 fluoresce , and are visible as fluorescent , as ultraviolet light reflects off the fluorescent pigments of the ink . because the source 24 emits low intensity , 365 manometer light , night viewing is safe and vivid . an ink according to the present invention incorporates a resin , preferably an acrylic resin . a particularly desired resin is available from summit screen inks , of north kansas city , mo ., as k - 89510 plas - tec clear resin . k - 89510 plas - tec clear resin is a formulation of k - 85541 plas - tec mixing clear resin , without flow agents or bubble breaker additives . k - 89510 is also a proprietary blend of summit screen inks , of acrylic resins , without any substantial vinyl modification or alkyd modification . k - 89510 plas - tec clear resin has a manufacturing viscosity of z1 - z2 gardner holdt ( bubble type ) and a density of 8 . 3 pounds per gallon . while the identified resin is preferred , as is acrylic resin , it is believed possible to employ epoxies , urethanes and acrylic resins , although vinyl modified or alkyd modified resins are not , at this time , considered to be suitable . daytime color pigments may be added to the resin , as are phosphors and additives . preferred daytime color pigments are transparent pigments . these pigments are &# 34 ; transparent &# 34 ; in that they pass 365 nanometer ultraviolet light . desirable transparent pigments are available from summit screen inks at k - 85530 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 74 and 75 plas - tec ink toners . all the identified pigments have excellent light fastness . preferred phosphor pigments (&# 34 ; phosphors &# 34 ;) are also added to the resin . preferred phosphors are photostable , white in body color , and insert to moisture . most preferred are y 2 o 2 s : eu , zn 2 geo 4 : mn , bamg 2 al 16 o 27 : eu and 3 ( ba , mg ) 0 . 8al2o3 : eu , mn . less preferred are zno : zn , sr 5 ( po 4 ) 3 cl : eu and y 2 o 2 s : eu . these phosphors are &# 34 ; white in body color &# 34 ; in that they exhibit a milky white appearance in ambient light . under ultraviolet light , y 2 o 2 s : eu is red , zn 2 geo 4 : mn is green , bamg 2 al 16 o 27 : eu is blue , and 3 ( ba , mg ) 0 . 8al2o3 : eu , mn . is also green . whether daytime color pigments are to be added is a matter of choice , dependent on the daytime color desired for the ink and the resulting display . in the absence of daytime color pigments , the white body color of the phosphors gives the indicia 12 a white appearance . where daytime color pigments are desired , to achieve a particular daytime color , the color co - ordinates of the desired color are identified -- using a color - coordinate scheme which plots colors on a color space , such as cie 1931 , and assigns co - ordinates to the colors -- and combinations of daytime color pigments are added to achieve the desired co - ordinates . as necessary , spectrophotometry is used to identify the color co - ordinates of the resin - pigment mixture resulting from a first combination of resin and daytime color pigment ( s ), and iteration between pigment addition and spectrophotometric analysis is used to correct the resin - pigment mixture to the desired daytime color . phosphor pigments are added to the resin system in a preferred proportion of 4 - 6 parts total phosphor to 4 parts resin system . excess phosphor results in a paste , while excess resin results in an undesirable graininess of phosphor . intuitively , the proportions of phosphor to resin system are believed to range suitably between 3 : 7 and 3 : 1 parts of resin system to parts of phosphor . the desired proportions of 4 : 6 resin to phosphor is believed to provide a most desirable combination of workability and nighttime brightness . as with the daytime pigments , the phosphor pigments may be combined to achieve a specific desired phosphor color . the color co - ordinates of the desired color are identified . using 365 nanometer black light , an estimate of the combination of red , blue and green phosphors necessary to achieve these color co - ordinates , and the combination , with resin , is created . the color is examined by spectrophotometry and as necessary , iteration between spectrophotometry and pigment combination is used to achieve the desired color . only one green is used , in combination with a red and a blue , to achieve desired color . of the two preferred green phosphors , the green is chosen which permits achievement of desired color . where possible , zn 2 geo 4 : mn is used . as preferred , the process is aided by the technique known as the designed experiment technique , as explained , for example , in the test &# 34 ; design of experiments &# 34 ;, the computer program xstat of the publisher wiley , and &# 34 ; how to run mixture experiments for product quality &# 34 ; by john a . cornell , am . soc . for q . c ., statistics division , milwaukee , wis ., 1990 . also as most preferred , the spectrophotomer utilized is a photo research model 704 , and analysis occurs in a darkroom . as above , without daytime pigments , daytime color is white . added daytime pigments result in a daytime color which may be the same as , or different from nighttime fluorescent color . limitations of such color &# 34 ; flips &# 34 ; result from daytime pigments shifting the emissive , nighttime color toward the daytime color . a non - white daytime color and a white nighttime color are not thought to be possible in combination . with resin and pigments , i . e ., inks , as provided , where particle size is held to less than 15 microns , all indicia 12 to be created can be created by screen printing . alternatives to screen printing , such as pad printing , dip coating and the like are also viable . with a panel which is to have some fluorescent markings and some non - fluorescent markings , or fluorescent markings of differing colors , multiple screen printings are suitable . all decoration is accomplished , however , on a single surface , or otherwise as desired . unlike past display decorations , back surface decoration for any nighttime graphics may be eliminated . the described phosphors are readily combined with resin through mixing , with slow addition of phosphor during stirring with a high speed disperser . the preferred embodiment , and the manner of making and using it , are now described . to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter regarded as invention , the following claims conclude this specification . numerous variations in the specific details of the invention and its application will be understood to be within the spirit and scope of the invention and the claims .	2
referring first to fig1 of the drawings is a schematic view of the optical components of a probe head 10 for conducting remote fiber optic raman spectroscopy . light from a remote excitation source , such as a laser , is conducted down the fiber core 12 with a cladding of lower index of refraction 13 . the light 14 exiting the fiber is divergent , and is collimated ( made parallel ) by lens 16 ( or an equivalent assembly of lenses ). lens 16 may be made of glass or plastic , and may be of traditional circular shape or may be a graded index lens ( grin lens ) of cylindrical geometry . lenses of small dimensions are preferred to minimize the overall size of the probe . after collimation , the light 18 is passed through an optical filter 20 at an angle of approximately 45 ° with respect to the light path . in the preferred embodiment , the filter has the property of passing light within a narrow band of wavelengths and rejecting other wavelengths by reflection . the filter is specifically chosen to pass the laser excitation wavelength at the 45 ° angle of incidence . the rejected light 22 contains any fluorescence or raman scattering arising from within the excitation fiber . the filtered excitation light 24 next encounters a focusing lens or assembly of lenses 26 in the optical path . the emerging light is thus directed onto sample 28 . the light 30 scattered from the sample contains both the high intensity excitation source rayleigh wavelength and the weaker raman wavelengths . this light is collected by the same lens 26 used originally for focusing the collimated excitation light . in reverse , lens 26 collimates scattered light 30 . the collimated beam next strikes the back side of filter 20 , where again the intense light of the excitation wavelength passes straight through ( beam 32 ). thus , a requirement of filter 20 is that it reject light off of its back side by reflection . the light containing the raman spectrum is reflected off filter 20 at approximately 90 °. the raman beam 34 next enters prism 36 , where it is reflected off the back surface situated at an angle to direct the beam in a direction approximately 180 ° with respect to the input beam 18 . the reflected beam 38 is then focused by lens or lens assembly 40 into the face of exit optical fiber 42 , where it is returned to a detector or spectrometer . prism 36 could be replaced by a mirror , but a prism is generally preferred because total internal reflection at the prism air interface is higher than most mirrors and is less susceptible to environmental fouling . the above geometry is preferred because the input and output optical fibers are parallel . thus , the fiber bundles are directed into one end of the probe , while the other end of the probe is placed in contact with the sample . however , it is possible to remove the prism 36 and to arrange lens 40 so that the return optical fiber is approximately 90 ° with respect to the input fiber . because of the high intensity of the scattered light at the exciting wavelength , it is desirable to place a second selective filter 44 in the beam path at the entrance to prism 36 . in the preferred embodiment , this filter is a long wavelength passing edge filter , with a sharp cutoff of transmission of all wavelengths equal to and shorter than the excitation wavelength . this provides a second level of discrimination against the excitation light , since dichroic filter 20 is typically not 100 % efficient . alternatively , filter 44 may be replaced by a bandstop filter , which selectively absorbs or reflects back only the very narrow excitation wavelength , allowing all other wavelengths to pass . filters having this characteristic include so - called bragg filter , made from an oriented dispersion of monodispersed colloidal particles , and rugate filters comprised of multiple layers of sinusoidally modulated refractive index . if only a narrow band of wavelengths is being monitored , filter 44 can be a selective bandpass filter . a principal objective of the invention is to provide a probe which efficiently removes spurious signals from the raman spectrum before the spectrum is introduced into the return optical fiber 42 . the optical elements responsible for isolating the raman spectrum are filters 22 and 44 . fig2 shows an alternative embodiment 50 which may show improvements over the preferred embodiment in some applications . fig2 shows a combination of two filters , 20a and 52 , each tuned to pass the laser excitation wavelength at the angle of incidence and reflect other wavelengths . the second filter 52 replaces filter 44 and prism 36 ( fig1 ), and is separated from but in close spatial parallel arrangement with filter 20a . filter 52 is also translated linearly with respect to 22a to permit entrance of collimated light beam 30a in one end of the separated pair ; the beam is then multiply reflected between the two filters , each reflection giving rise to rejection of & gt ; 90 % of the remaining rayleigh component . the linear shift in filter 52 finally enables the light beam to exit the filter pair after a final reflection off filter 52 and to be directed into the focusing optics at the desired angle of 180 ° from the direction of the excitation beam . other filtering optical elements may augment the dichroic bandpass filter element 20 when placed between lens 16 and filter 20 . these may include bandpass filters which are made for use at normal incidence and which absorb or reflect nearly all but a narrow range of wavelengths or volume holograms , which disperse in back - reflection all but a narrow band of wavelengths tuned to the laser source , the latter being transmitted . fig3 shows the preferred embodiment of an encasement 60 used to contain the optics shown in fig1 and to shield them from a potentially corrosive environment . case 60 is preferably machined from a black , light absorbing polymer to minimize multiple internal reflections of scattered light . the case contains optical fiber feedthroughs , 64a and 64b , which serve the dual functions of providing a seal around the circumference of the incoming and outgoing fibers or fiber bundles , and also holding the fibers in a rigid optical configuration with respect to the internal optics . the other end of the case is sealed with an optical window , 66 , through which the exciting light is focused onto the sample . spacers 68 may be used to maintain an optimal distance between the window and a solid sample . baffles such as 70 may be used to prevent scattered light from interfering with the spectrum either directly or through internal reflections within the case . an angled case wall , 72 , is shown to provide convenient angular mounting of prism 36 as well as to narrow the probe end to enhance specificity of probe placement . as shown in fig4 an adaptor coupling , such as a threaded adaptor 74 , can replace spacers 68 ( fig3 ) for convenient mounting of various sampling accessories . for example , the probe configuration is also useful in surface enhanced raman spectroscopy ( sers ). in this technique , molecules adsorbed onto certain highly roughened metal surfaces have been seen to give rise to raman spectra with up to 10 6 enhancement in scattering intensity . suitably rough metal surfaces ( e . g ., silver ) may be prepared by high vacuum techniques , by casting colloidal dispersions of the metal onto a substrate , by photolithographic patterning , or by electrochemical roughening . fig4 a shows an addition of an electrochemical cell to the probe base for conducting sers experiments . it consists of a threaded adaptor 76 mated to probe adaptor 74 . incorporated into the base of adaptor 76 are metal electrodes , including a sers - active working electrode 78 , and auxiliary reference and counter electrodes , 80 and 82 . electrical leads 84 are attached to the electrodes and join the electrodes to appropriate electrochemical control instrumentation . a similar attachment may be configured for gas phase sampling using sers , in which adsorption / desorption of the gaseous species is controlled via an externally controllable heating element in contact with the sers - active substrate . the adaptor coupling can also be used to attach a secondary optical fiber , also shown in fig4 . for example , if a high temperature environment were being sampled , this could damage the probe optics , particularly the filters . thus , a short segment of optical fiber 86 would extend from the probe head across a barrier 88 into the adverse environment where it would be focused by lens or lens assembly 90 onto the sample 28 . the optical fibers connecting the light source and spectrometer to the probe would be much longer , and would give rise to the vase majority of spurious signal , which would be removed by the probe head . the invention has been demonstrated in various embodiments . one example consist of the following . one hundred milliwatts of laser light at 514 . 5 nm exits 50 meters of an excitation fiber , a 50 μm core diameter fiber from polymicro technologies , inc . ( 50 / 70 / 120 ), and is collimated by a grin lens ( nsg america , somerset , n . j .). the collimated light passed through an omega optical filter ( 550bp10 ) which is at a 45 ° angle . the filtered collimated light is then focused by newport corporation lens ( kpx010 ) onto a solid naphthalene sample . the scattered raman light is then collected and collimated by the same kpx010 lens . the light is directed onto the back of the 55bp10 filter so that the raman light is reflected 90 ° and the unwanted rayleigh scattering is passed through the filter . the collimated raman scattered light is then passed through another omega optical filter ( 530eflp ) to remove any remaining rayleigh scattering . the twice filtered raman light is then focused by a newport corporation kpx010 lens onto the collection fiber which is a 200 μm core diameter polymicro technologies fiber optic ( fhp ) 200 / 240 / 270 ). the output from 50 meters of the collection fiber is then coupled to a raman spectrometer . the spectrum obtained using the filtering arrangement is shown in fig5 . this is to be compared with the spectrum of the same sample recorded without the optical filter arrangement , also shown in fig5 . it can be seen in the latter case that the raman spectrum of additional spurious components is superimposed on the naphthalene spectrum . these components arise from the optical fibers themselves and are efficiently removed by the filtering system . the detailed specifications of the invention described above should not be construed as limitations of the scope of the invention , but rather as examples of preferred embodiments . many other variations and modifications are possible within the scope of the following claims .	6
referring generally to the drawings and , in particular , to fig1 thereof , the new and novel in - flight , variable geometry and wedge - shaped airfoil of the present invention is indicated generally at 10 as including a first , relatively short , solid leading edge segment 11 incorporating the leading edge of the airfoil at 11a , and a second relatively long , hollow , main airfoil segment , indicated generally at 12 as including an upper airfoil surface 13 , and a lower airfoil surface 14 , both upper and lower airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 being uniquely and individually adjustably mounted at their forward ends to the aft end of the leading edge - airfoil segment 11 , as for example by appropriate and separate hinges indicated in somewhat schematic form at the reference numerals 15 and 16 and which may be of any appropriate typical , conventional or standard form , as desired . of course , since the overall configuration of the present airfoil is a wedge - shaped , upper and lower airfoil surfaces 13 and 14 , naturally diverge away from their hinges at 15 , 16 to respectively terminate in aft ends that may be interconnected in a predetermined spaced apart relation to each other , the degree of which separation depending on their length and the particular angle of wedge existing between the said upper and lower airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 when the latter are disposed in their neutral or normal airfoil position , as illustrated in the aforementioned fig1 . the specific interconnecting means between the said upper and lower airfoil surface - aft ends consist in an interconnecting hinge device , indicated generally at 17 as incorporating a pair of relatively short hinge arms , at 18 and 19 , hinged or pivoted to each other at their inner ends at the centrally - disposed , hinge or pivot point 20 and at their outer ends to the corresponding aft ends of the airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 at the pivot or hinge points indicated respectively at the outer hinge or pivot points 21 and 22 . a flexible - type of base cover element of an arcuate configuration , as denoted at 23 , is used to enclose the rear ends of the said upper and lower airfoil surfaces 13 and 14 and thereby provide what is , in effect , the trailing edge of the inventive airfoil 10 . said base cover element 23 , along with the aft end - hinge device 17 , in addition to providing a positive and relatively stable interconnecting support to the aft ends of the said airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 , also provide a very positive restraint or , more accurately , a definite constraining means to limit the outward or extension movement of one of the other or both of the said airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 relative to each other so that a greater than the intended deflection of the said airfoil surfaces , at least at the design maximum wedge angle , may not occur through any inadvertent action . to achieve the desired alteration of the forces and movements being experienced by an aircraft moving particularly at greater than supersonic speeds , the above - referred to upper and lower plane , flat airfoil surfaces 13 and 14 may be deflected , either individually or collectively , a measured degree to accomplish the desired result either by varying the wedge angle existing between both airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 or half - wedge angle existing between one of the surfaces 13 , 14 and the airfoil longitudinal axis or center line . in this connection , it is to be noted that the inventive airfoil 10 may be used in any of the tail surfaces of the aircraft to include the horizontal or vertical stabilizer , the rudder and elevators . it also may be used as the main lifting surface or the wing of the aircraft . similarily , the airfoil 10 of the present invention is equally applicable to provide either or both of the control and stabilizing means on spacecraft , missiles and other high speed vehicles . thus , where the airfoil 10 would be applied to one of the aircraft tail surfaces , such as the rudder , while operating at relatively low angles of attack for the purposes of acting as a stabilizing device or , alternatively , as a trim device or trim tab , one or the other of the airfoil surfaces 13 or 14 , depending on which surface is appropriated , may be retracted , or , in other words , adjusted inwardly to a shielded position , as seen , for example , in the phantom line position of fig3 to thereby decrease the amount of airfoil surface area being exposed to the free stream flow . the latter operation of retracting the airfoil surface , as at 13 or 14 , that is positioned on the appropriate side of the stabilizing or control device utilizing the invention uniquely results , as taught by the present invention , in a significant reduction in both trim drag by effecting less surface area exposure to the free stream flow , and an alleviation of aerodynamic heating by ensuring a reduction in heat transfer through to the retracted airfoil surface . also , where both airfoil surfaces 13 and 14 are to be adjusted together , as for example where the inventive airfoil 10 is being used , in still another application thereof , as the main lifting device or wing of the aircraft so that both of the airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 would be exposed to the free stream flow , the said surfaces 13 and 14 may be deflected inwardly together from their normal , unadjusted position of fig1 to thus achieve a specifically controlled alteration of the pressure distribution on their respective surfaces , enabling the required trim control of the aircraft without an accompanying increase either in the retardation ( drag ) force or aerodynamic heating that would otherwise occur but for the use of the inventive variable geometry airfoil 10 . the plot shown in fig2 provides support for the proposition that by using the novel variable geometry airfoil 10 either for a high speed stabilizer , control and trim device or as the main lifting surface ( wings ) itself , the wedge angle thereof , that is , the angle existing between the upper and lower airfoil surfaces 13 and 14 , may be quite easily varied in accordance with the mach number for any particular design . thus , as is evidenced from the plot of the foregoing fig2 by utilizing the present variable wedge angle - airfoil 10 , there is uniquely offered the capability of enabling the continuous or substantially continuous adjustment in flight of the lift - curve slope near zero angle of attack , c l . sub . αo , so as to allow both the stability and drag to vary as required at mach numbers below the maximum design mach number , because the adjustable wedge angle feature of the present device allows the use of a reduced airfoil surface area required to be exposed during operations while still delivering the stabilizing or control force needed for a particular operation . thus , by the use of the graph of the aforementioned fig2 which includes a plot of two lift curve slopes at a and b , for a mach number equal to 10 , for example , along the ordinate as indicated at the point c on the curve a , a deflection or wedge half angle of a valve of 6 . 5 ° may be selected from the abscissa , as denoted at the point d . various other such angles of deflection or wedge half angles for adjusting the inventive airfoil 10 may be rather easily selected from the fig2 graph and utilized to produce the correct adjustment for the said airfoil 10 at various mach numbers to which the aircraft or other vehicle using the inventive airfoil may be accelerated during a particular flight mission . in this manner , the new and improved airfoil 10 clearly provides the inherent capability of greatly facilitating the alteration of the forces and moments experienced by an aircraft or other vehicle moving at relatively high speeds and , in particular , at greater than mach 1 speeds , merely by adjusting the wedge or wedge - half angle of the said airfoil 10 to thhat precomputed for a particular mach number and phase of flight operations . to adjust the wedge angle or wedge half angle between each of the deflectable , upper and lower airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 of the present airfoil 10 , a separate hydraulic actuator , as denoted at the areas indicated generally at 24 and 25 ( fig1 and 3 ), may be separately enclosed within an individual housing or , alternatively located within a common hydraulic actuator housing , as at 26 , which common housing 26 may be fastened to a cantilevered rod or beam 27 suitably fixed within and to the structure of the airfoil 10 , as desired . a fastener is used , as at 28 and 29 , for each of the airfoil surfaces 13 and 14 , to respectively restrain the outer end of a separate push - pull rod , as seen at 30 and 31 , being respectively operable by the hydraulic actuators 24 and 25 . the inner ends of the said push - pull rods 30 , 31 are , of course , attached to the corresponding hydraulic actuator . thus , by operating one or the other or both of the said hydraulic actuators 24 , 25 , the push - pull rod 30 , 31 corresponding thereto may be likewise separately or collectively actuated either inwardly or outwardly , as desired for the particular flight condition , to selectively depress or raise either one or the other or both of the airfoil - upper or lower deflectable airfoil surfaces 13 , 14 to the particular wedge angle ( where both surfaces are being adjusted together ) or wedge - half angle ( where only one surface is being adjusted ) that may be required to achieve the desired increase in the lift effectiveness , while , simultaneously , reducing the stabilization or control surface area needed for a particular operation to be exposed to the free stream flow with a resultant significant decrease in both drag and aerodynamic heating at the retracted surface or surfaces . in this regard , it is noted that fig1 depicts the neutral , nonadjusted position of the invention airfoil 10 , whereas , fig3 illustrates one of the airfoil surfaces ; namely , airfoil surface 13 adjusted to a retracted position , depicted in phantom , as previously mentioned . thus , a new and improved variable geometry , wedge - shaped , high speed airfoil has been developed whereby the forces and moments experienced by a vehicle equipped with the novel airfoil of the present invention and moving at supersonic speeds may be rather easily altered in flight by the simple depression or extension of the inventive , separate and adjustably mounted airfoil surfaces 13 and 14 . although a hydraulic actuator in schematic form has been depicted as the means for adjusting the said airfoil surfaces , it is to be understood that other mechanical , electrical or fluidic means may be used without departing from the true spirit or scope of the invention as is set forth in the appended claims . finally , although the foregoing disclosure is made with primary reference to an aircraft , it is to be understood that the invention , in addition to its application to the control and lifting surfaces of supersonic aircraft such as the b - 1 , x - 15 type aircraft and perhaps the f - 15 , also has application to missiles and controllable re - entry vehicles such as the space shuttle and high lift - to - drag ratio hypersonic vehicles .	8
the present invention is directed to a lighter having an improved resistance to inadvertent or unintended operation . as shown in fig2 the lighter 8 includes a housing 18 or body portion that holds a fuel supply 28 , a valve 30 associated with fuel supply 28 to selectively release fuel therefrom , a selectively depressible actuator 10 to operate the lighter , an ignition mechanism 32 for igniting the fuel , a latch member 16 to render the lighter more difficult to inadvertently or unintentionally operate , an optional catch mechanism 22 ( not shown ) to temporarily hold the latch member 16 , and an optional release mechanism 14 to release the latch member from the catch mechanism 22 . the ignition mechanism 32 of the lighter 8 preferably includes a piezoelectric ignition mechanism , although the present invention is not limited to a particular type of ignition mechanism . one suitable piezoelectric mechanism for the lighter 8 is disclosed in u . s . pat , no . 5 , 262 , 697 , entitled “ piezoelectric mechanism for gas lighters ” which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety . another suitable type of ignition mechanism that can be used with the present invention is disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 468 , 144 to iwahori . other ignitors may include those disclosed and described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 228 , 849 and 6 , 022 , 211 . because ignition mechanisms and related components for lighters are well - known in the art , one of ordinary skill in the art would readily appreciate how to select suitable materials for the various components for a lighter ignition system . the fuel supply 28 of the lighter 8 is preferably controlled by a valve 30 that allows a user to selectively release fuel from the fuel supply 28 . preferably , the valve 30 is controlled by actuating the actuator 10 . fig3 a - b , 5 a - b , 6 a - b , and 7 a - b illustrate an enlarged view of one or more of actuator 10 , latch member 16 , catch mechanism 22 and release mechanism 14 of one embodiment of the present invention . preferably , the ignition mechanism 32 and valve 30 are configured and adapted so that a user presses actuating pad 34 of the actuator 10 to both release and ignite fuel gas . in operation , when actuator 10 is depressed it moves the top portion of the ignition mechanism 32 and contacts a valve controller 11 to move valve 30 to release fuel . alternatively , a portion of the ignition mechanism may contact and move controller 11 to release fuel . in the embodiment illustrated in fig2 and 4 a - 4 b , the actuator 10 is formed with a downwardly extending skirt 36 that fits inside the lighter housing 18 . the latch member 16 preferably is formed as a longitudinally downwardly projecting tongue that is integrally connected with the actuator 10 . it is preferred that the latch member 16 is formed integrally with the actuator 10 to form a bending connection 38 . alternatively , the latch member can be formed separately from the actuator and may be connected to the actuator by almost any type of connection , such as , for example , a pivoting connection . preferably , the latch member 16 is sized and configured to further include a stop 20 which blocks activation of the actuator 10 when the latch member 16 is in an interfering relationship with the lighter housing . the stop 20 may be formed as a bump or step - profile on the outer surface of the latch member 16 located above the lighter housing 18 so that downward movement of the actuator 10 is blocked by stop 20 abutting against and interfering with lighter housing 18 . as one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate , many variations of a stop 20 are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . for instance , the latch member 16 may be configured with a cavity that corresponds to a tab or step formed on the inside surface of the housing 18 . fig2 and 4 a - b illustrate the latch and lighter housing when the latch is in its initial state where the latch blocks movement of the actuator 10 . the latch 16 may be pre - loaded when it is assembled into the lighter housing such that the resiliency of the latch biases it toward the interfering initial position shown in fig2 and 4 a - 4 b . the lighter 8 preferably includes a catch mechanism 22 which engages with and holds the latch member 16 in a ready position where it does not significantly interfere with movement of the actuator 10 . as shown in fig4 a - b and 5 a - b , the actuator 10 may be formed with a downwardly extending skirt 36 , portions of which may form catch mechanism 22 . in a preferred embodiment , the catch mechanism 22 is formed from at least one downwardly extending tongue 6 , preferably two tongues 6 , in proximity to the latch member 16 so that when the latch member 16 is moved by a user from a blocking position to a ready position ( i . e ., the latch member 16 is no longer positioned to block movement of the actuator 10 ) the catch mechanism 22 engages with and holds the latch member 16 in the ready position as shown in fig5 a - 5 b . in the embodiment shown in fig4 - 7 , at least one flexible tab shaped member ( s ) 40 extends outwardly from the side edge of the latch member 16 , as shown , for example , in fig4 b and 5 b , so that when the latch member 16 is pressed by a user , the tabs 40 contact the edge 12 of skirt 36 that forms catch mechanism 22 . application of sufficient force upon the latch member 16 by the user will flex the catch mechanism 22 and / or tabs 40 until the tabs 40 pass from the outside surface 46 of the skirt 36 to the inside surface 44 . ( see fig4 a - 5 b ). while the tabs 40 and / or skirt 36 are sufficiently flexible to permit a user to push the latch member 16 and tabs 40 through the skirt 36 , the tabs 40 and skirt 36 are preferably sufficiently stiff to counter any force , for example from the latch member 16 or other components or mechanisms , so that the tabs 40 are held in position behind the skirt 36 upon release of the latch member 16 by the user . once the latch member 16 is securely held in position by the catch mechanism 22 as illustrated in fig5 a - b , the lighter is in the ready position where the latch no longer interferes with the housing and the user may then operate the lighter 8 by pressing down the actuator 10 . one skilled in the art would appreciate that the latch member 16 and catch mechanism 22 may be sized and configured in many ways so that the catch mechanism 22 engages with and holds the latch member 16 in the ready position . for example , flexible tabs may extend from the edge 12 of the side skirts 36 to hold the latch member 16 in place . the lighter 8 also preferably includes a release mechanism 14 which causes the latch member 16 to disengage from the catch mechanism 22 . the release mechanism may comprise a cam 14 to dislodge the latch member 16 from the catch mechanism . as shown in fig6 a and 6 b for example , the catch mechanism 22 and latch member 16 are brought into contact with cam 14 as the user depresses the actuator 10 so that the cam separates or dislodges the latch member 16 from the catch mechanism 22 . as shown in fig4 a , 5 a , 6 a , and 7 a , the cam preferably has an angled surface 42 . the angled surface and position of cam 14 may be configured to apply sufficient force to release the latch member 16 from the catch mechanism 22 when the user presses the actuator 10 to operate the lighter 8 . alternatively or in addition to , the cam 14 also may have angled side surfaces 24 as illustrated in fig5 b and 6 b which cause the side skirts 36 to spread apart and release latch member 16 . as the cam surface 24 spreads side skirts 36 apart , cam surface 42 may move the lower end of the latch so that the tabs are positioned on the outside surface 46 of the side skirts 36 . the cam 14 is sized and positioned so that the forces it imparts on the latch member 16 and catch mechanism 22 are sufficient to disengage the tabs 40 from the inside surface 44 of the catch mechanism 22 . as stated above and shown in fig6 a - 6 b , the lower surface 26 of the latch member 16 may be sized and configured to assist in releasing the latch member 16 from the catch mechanism 22 as the latch member 16 travels across the cam 14 . preferably , the surfaces 26 and 42 of the latch member 16 and cam 14 that contact each other are configured and adapted to permit sliding with respect to each other . for example , as shown in fig9 the latch lower surface 26 may have an angle α approximately corresponding to , and preferably the same as , the angle u of the cam surface 42 that it contacts when the user presses the actuator 10 . in addition , components other than cam 14 may be utilized as the release mechanism , such as , for example , portions of the ignition mechanism or housing . the latch can have an inclined lower surface 26 shaped to assist in releasing it from the catch mechanism . one skilled in the art would appreciate that the release mechanism 14 may be sized , shaped and configured to apply different forces or combinations of forces to the latch member 16 and the catch mechanism 22 . for example , the release mechanism 14 may apply a force on one component before the other or the release mechanism 14 may only impart a force on the latch member 16 but not the catch mechanism 22 or vice versa . further , one skilled in the art would appreciate that the forces imparted on the catch mechanism 22 and latch member 16 by the release mechanism 14 can occur at different locations than those illustrated or can occur simultaneously or at different times , again depending on the size , shape and configuration of the release mechanism 14 , latch member 16 ( including the tabs 40 ), and catch mechanism 22 . in addition , while the release mechanism of fig4 , 6 and 7 remains stationary with respect to the lighter housing 18 during operation of the lighter 8 , one skilled in the art can appreciate that the release mechanism may move with respect to the latch and lighter housing . one skilled in the art would appreciate that connection 38 need not impart a biasing force to return the latch to the initial blocking position . however , the latch may be pre - loaded when assembled in the lighter such that it is bent at connection 38 so that it is biased towards a position which blocks or interferes with movement of the actuator as shown in fig4 a - b . it is preferred that the lighter contain additional or alternative forces on the latch member to improve the ability of the latch member to return to the blocking position over the life of the lighter . in some of the embodiments of the present invention , this additional or alternative biasing force is provided by an additional flexure or bending moment imparted to the latch member . for example , a force or forces may be applied to the latch member so that the entire latch member or at least a portion of the latch member flexes or is imparted with a bending moment . the flexure or bending moment imparted to the latch member 16 to flex the latch member may be provided , for example , by configuring the release mechanism and / or catch mechanism to apply appropriate forces to the latch member 16 to improve the ability of the latch member to return to the blocking position over the life of the lighter . when the actuator is depressed as shown in fig6 a - 6 b , the cam or release mechanism 14 imparts a force to the lower surface 26 of the latch member 16 to flex the bottom portion of the latch member 16 outwardly as the cam 14 spreads apart the side skirts 36 to release the tabs 40 . as the actuator 10 travels upward toward its initial position as shown in fig7 a - 7 b , the release mechanism 14 , is disengaged from the latch member 16 and side skirts 36 . as the cam 14 disengages from the side skirts 36 , the gap between the side skirts and latch member 16 closes . as the side skirts close , the tabs 40 of latch member 16 are on the outside surface 46 of the catch mechanism as the cam surface 42 disengages from the lower end 26 of the latch so that the tabs 40 contact and press against the outer surface 46 of the catch mechanism 22 as the latch member 16 travels back up towards its initial position . the pressing of the tabs 40 against the catch mechanism 22 keeps the bending or flexing force on the bottom portion of the latch member 16 to flex or bend the latch . the latch flexes or bends until the latch member 16 returns to its blocking position . the latch member and the catch mechanism preferably are configured so that the latch member does not re - engage with the catch mechanism without assistance from a user as a result of the forces applied to the tabs on the latch by the outside surface of the catch mechanism in order to flex the latch . in other words , the latch member 16 preferably is configured and adapted so that the forces imparted by its flexing do not cause the latch member 16 to re - engage with the catch mechanism 22 without assistance from the user . in this embodiment , the stop 20 may act as a fulcrum 50 which contacts the housing and counter acts the force imparted on the tabs 40 of the latch by the catch mechanism 22 . one skilled in the art would appreciate , however , that portions of the latch member other than the stop 20 may contact the housing or similar structure to provide a counteracting force until the latch is free to move into a blocking position . for instance , the upper edge of the housing 18 could act as a fulcrum and apply a counteracting force against the latch member 16 until the stop 20 is moved above the housing . in any embodiment using a fulcrum , the fulcrum may be positioned at any location along the length of the latch member 16 although it is preferred that the fulcrum be positioned between the connection 38 and the force imparted to the latch member 16 to flex the latch member . as the actuator 10 returns to its initial position , the latch moves upwards in its flexed state until the stop is free to return to its blocking position . once the stop is above the housing , the forces imparted by the catch mechanism are no longer counterbalanced and the latch moves into its blocking position , where it may or may not further contact the catch mechanism . in the embodiment shown in fig4 , 6 and 7 the clearance or gap 52 between the tabs 40 and the catch mechanism 22 ( the tongues 6 ) when the latch is in the initial position of fig4 a - b may be on the order of 0 . 1 - 0 . 2 mm , although these values are only exemplary and should not be limiting . while fig7 a - b illustrates latch member 16 flexing along its entire length , the latch member and components of the lighter may be sized , shaped and configured to flex the latch member only along a portion of its length or to flex the latch member 16 in multiple locations along its length . for example , the portion between mechanical stop 20 and latch lower surface 26 or between the mechanical stop 20 and connection 38 or other locations and portions may be adapted and configured to flex . alternatively , other parts of the lighter besides the catch mechanism may be used to apply a bending or flexing force on the latch . the bending or flexing force may be applied to the latch as it is released or forced from the catch mechanism , or applied to the latch during its travel up towards its blocking position . for instance , the release mechanism 14 may be configured and adapted so that it continues to apply an outwardly force on the lower surface 26 of the latch member 16 from when it is released from the catch mechanism until the actuator 10 returns to its initial position . one skilled in the art could envision many variations of the size and configuration of the latch member 16 , tabs 40 , side skirts 36 , cam 14 and various other structures to impart a force to the latch to flex or bend the latch without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . for example , in the embodiment shown in fig8 a , the latch member is moved into a ready position and held in position by a catch mechanism which is not shown . when the user depresses actuator 10 as illustrated in fig8 b , the lower portion 126 of latch 116 contacts portion 158 of the piezoelectric ignition mechanism 132 and dislodges the latch 116 from its ready position by applying an outwardly force on lower surface 126 to move tabs 140 ( not shown ) out of the catch mechanism ( not shown ). once the latch member is dislodged from its ready position , the piezoelectric ignition mechanism continues to apply a force on the latch 116 to move it in an outwardly direction until the actuator has almost returned fully to its non - activated or initial position . the forces applied to the latch member 116 by the piezoelectric ignition mechanism are counteracted by the stop member 120 acting as a fulcrum 150 as it is pushed against lighter housing 118 . the latch member 116 flexes or bends which encourages the latch member to return to the blocking position after the user has completed using the lighter . as the actuator and latch member travel upwardly , the stop member 120 eventually passes above the lighter housing 118 and the latch member 116 is moved to its initial position ( fig8 c ) by the forces imparted on the latch by the piezoelectric ignition mechanism . stated differently , the flexing of the latch member creates a reactive force to return the latch member to the locked position after the actuator returns to its initial , at rest , position . as would be appreciated by one skilled in the art , the forces applied to the latch member 116 may be applied at any location along the latch member , such as , for example , at a location below the stop member 20 , as shown in fig8 b . it is preferred , however , that the forces are applied at a location near the lower end 126 of the latch . furthermore , other lighter components or additional structure also may be configured and adapted to flex the latch member to the blocking position instead of the piezoelectric ignition mechanism . additional biasing forces to return latch member 16 to its initial blocking position may also be provided by a spring 45 , as shown in fig9 . as would be readily appreciated by one skilled in the art , the spring 45 may be configured and adapted to provide a force sufficient to bias the latch member 16 toward its blocking position while not imparting enough force to prematurely disengage the latch member 16 from the catch mechanism 22 . examples of spring types that may be used include a leaf spring , torsion spring or a helical spring , although no particular type of spring is preferred over another . the spring 45 also may work in combination with additional structures to bias the latch member 16 toward its blocking position , such as in any of the embodiments described herein . for instance , the spring 45 may be used in combination with the cam 14 or catch mechanism 22 applying a force on the latch member as described in the embodiments above . the interaction between the release mechanism 14 , catch mechanism 22 and latch member 16 to free the latch member 16 from the catch mechanism 22 may be accomplished in a number of ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , the release mechanism 14 may be configured and adapted to apply a releasing force on the latch member 16 at all times , even when the latch member 16 is in a blocking position and the lighter 8 is not in use . in this embodiment , the release mechanism 14 may be configured and adapted so that the forces imparted to the latch member 16 are insufficient to prematurely release the latch member 16 from the catch mechanism 22 but can increase as the actuator 10 is pressed by a user . in yet another embodiment , illustrated in fig1 a - 10 h , the catch mechanism 222 remains stationary relative to the lighter housing 218 . in fig1 a - b the latch 216 is shown in its initial blocking position where stop 220 interferes with housing 218 and tabs 240 are on the outside surface 246 of the catch mechanism 222 . in this embodiment the catch mechanism 222 has an elongated slot 248 through which the latch member 216 is inserted when pressed inwardly by a user . as shown in fig1 c - d , the latch member 216 , and more particularly tabs 240 , engage the catch mechanism 222 , and more specifically tab holding members 243 , at the top end of the slot 248 so that the latch member 216 is held in a ready position . as the user presses the actuator 210 , the latch member 216 travels along the inside surface of the catch mechanism 222 until the latch member 216 contacts the release mechanism 214 as shown in fig1 e - f . as the actuator is further pressed by the user , the release mechanism 214 applies a force which releases the latch member 216 from the catch mechanism 222 , and flexes the latch . as the actuator 210 moves upward toward its initial position , the latch member 216 and more particularly tabs 240 travel along the outer surface 246 of the catch mechanism 222 flexing latch 216 as illustratively shown in fig1 g - h until the latch member 216 returns to its blocking position . in this embodiment , the slot 248 of the catch mechanism 222 may be configured and adapted to be more flexible or pliable at the portion of the slot 248 where the latch member 216 engages the slot 248 and / or the portion where the latch member disengages the slot , while having more rigid portions preventing the latch member 16 from re - engaging with the catch mechanism 222 as the latch member 216 is returning to its initial blocking position . as one skilled in the art can appreciate the shape , size , configuration , materials and dimensions of the tabs , latch member and catch mechanism can be designed and adapted so that the force to engage , retain and release the latch member can be tailored to specific design criteria and needs so that the components will interact and release under desirable forces at the desired time and location during motion of the actuator pad . the present invention is not limited to the structure described above ; rather , all reasonable variations are intended to be included within the scope of the claims . for example , one skilled in the art would appreciate that the catch mechanism and latch member may be sized and configured in many ways to hold the latch member in a ready position when desired by a user while also allowing for the latch member to be released from the catch mechanism once the actuator is activated . in addition , other mechanisms other than those shown and described herein can impart a flexure or bending moment to the latch member to assist the latch in returning to its blocking position during the life of the lighter and should be included within the spirit and scope of the invention . moreover , the embodiments above can be modified so that some features of one embodiment may be used with the features of another embodiment . for instance , a spring may be used in combination with a flexing latch member to further assist returning the latch member to a blocking position after the actuator is released by the user . it is intended that the present invention cover all such modifications and embodiments as falling within its true spirit and scope .	5
in fig1 is schematically depicted a process module of type i preferably employed for carrying out the method according to the invention . a chamber wall 1 of a vacuum container 3 encompasses a process volume pr . in the process volume pr is provided a substrate carrier 5 . the process volume pr is pumped down via a pumping connection 11 , such as is shown schematically with vacuum pump 13 , to the pressure p v required for carrying out the production method according to the invention of the structure of the container satisfies uhv conditions ( for example metallic sealed vacuum vessel , heatable ). the by far predominant surface region of the surface facing the process volume pr of chamber wall 1 , which is conventionally comprised of stainless steel or inox , is fabricated of an inert material as will be explained later . according to the embodiment depicted in fig1 of the process module of type i , for this purpose the chamber wall 1 is coated on the inside with said inert material , or on the chamber wall 1 wall portions on the inside are mounted at least with inner surfaces comprised of said inert material . this coating or these inert material surfaces are denoted in fig1 with 15 . as explained in the introduction , the production process according to the invention comprises two phases which do not necessarily need to be carried out in the same vacuum container , specifically phase 1 , ph 1 : exposing the substrate surface to a reactive gas or reactive gas mixture until the termination of this exposure , phase 2 , ph 2 : exposing the substrate surface to a low - energy plasma discharge and thus reaction of the adsorbed reactive gas . with the development of the plasma discharge in ph 2 as a low - energy plasma discharge with ion energies e as specified above , the atmosphere in which the plasma discharge is maintained can contain a second reactive gas or reactive gas mixture , in particular preferred hydrogen and / or nitrogen and / or oxygen . the process module of type i depicted in fig1 is excellently suitable for carrying out phase ph 1 and / or phase ph 2 . according to fig1 as shown schematically , a gas supply line 7 leads into the process volume pr of the vacuum container 3 . as schematically shown with a selection switch s a , the supply line 7 is connected solely for carrying out phase ph 1 in container 3 with a gas tank configuration 9 ph1 , which contains the reactive gas or reactive gas mixture r 1 to be adsorbed by the substrate surface . if , in contrast , the vacuum container 3 is employed exclusively for carrying out phase ph 2 , the supply line 7 is connected to a gas tank configuration 9 ph2 , which contains , on the one hand , an inert gas , preferably argon ar , and / or — as indicated with the dashed line — a second reactive gas r 2 , preferably hydrogen , oxygen and / or nitrogen . if in vacuum container 3 phase ph 1 as well as also phase ph 2 are carried out , then as depicted with the time control unit 10 and the change - over switch 12 in fig1 in a predetermined time sequence gas tank 9 ph1 as well as also 9 ph2 are connected to the supply line 7 . furthermore , in vacuum container 3 , as shown in block 10 ph2 , a plasma discharge gap pl , namely a low - energy plasma discharge gap , is provided if ph 2 alone or combined with ph 1 is carried out in vacuum container 3 . reference is made to the representation in fig1 according to which the double arrow to the block 10 ph2 indicates the integration of the plasma discharge gap into container 3 and block s a , represented with a double line , indicates that this block represents schematically alternatives in the realization of the process module of type i . after a substrate has been placed onto substrate carrier 5 , in phase ph 1 via the supply line 7 the reactive gas or reactive gas mixture r 1 is allowed to flow in and be adsorbed by the surface of the substrate . the substrate is subsequently transferred to phase ph 2 , be that in the same container 3 or a correspondingly developed further container 3 . to terminate the adsorption process , the container 3 , employed for both phases , is at any rate again pumped down to the specified ultrahigh vacuum conditions or it is the further container which is pumped down or becomes pumped down to this ultrahigh vacuum before the substrate with the adsorbed gas is introduced . subsequently inert gas , preferably argon ar , is allowed to flow in and / or the further reactive gas and the low - energy plasma discharge , in particular preferred a dc discharge , is set up . in the dc discharge , furthermore preferred , a non - self - sustaining discharge is employed , preferably with a thermionic cathode , preferably with a directly heated thermionic cathode . by the specific and intentional control of the time period during which the substrate is exposed to the reactive gas r 1 or the reactive gas mixture in phase ph 1 , and / or of its surface composition and / or of the supplied reactive gas or reactive gas mixture quantity , the degree of coating of the surface of the substrate with adsorbed gas atoms or molecules can be specifically controlled . in this phase ph 1 preferably reactive gas or reactive gas mixture is allowed to flow in at a partial pressure p p for which applies moreover , the adsorption rate , i . e . the time period which is required until the substrate surface is saturated out to a predetermined percentage with reactive gas or reactive gas mixture atoms or molecules , can be controlled by ( not shown ) heating and / or cooling of the substrate surface through the corresponding heating and / or cooling of the substrate carrier 5 . as had already been explained in the introduction , in phase ph 2 the gas adsorbed on the surface of the substrate is allowed to react in any event with the cooperation of gas ions and electrons , optionally also by means of radicals formed in the plasma discharge , of a second reactive gas or reactive gas mixture r 2 . through the corresponding dimensioning of the time period during which the substrate surface with the adsorbed gas is exposed to the plasma discharge as well as of the energy of the gas ions and electrons , and thus to the discharge as well as the quantity of optionally provided radicals and their activity , it is also possible in this phase ph 2 to control also the quantity of “ stabilized ”, previously adsorbed gas atoms or molecules and thus the degree of coating resulting lastly of the surface with atoms or molecules . in most cases the intent is realizing a continuous monomolecular or monoatomic monolayer on the substrate surface , thus with one hundred percent saturation , at which atom is in contact with atom or molecule with molecule . as the material of the surface 15 facing the process volume pr according to fig1 is preferably employed a dielectric material . depending on the method phases for which the vacuum container 3 is employed , it must be inert against the reactive gas or reactive gas mixture r 1 and / or against the plasma - activated second reactive gas or reactive gas mixture r 2 optionally used in phase ph 2 . for this surface 15 is preferably applied at least one of the materials listed in the following group g : quartz , graphite , silicon carbide , silicon nitride , aluminum oxide , titanium oxide , tantalum oxide , niobium oxide , zirconium oxide , diamond - like carbon or diamond , the latter surface materials as coating materials . in fig2 is shown in a representation analogous to that of fig1 further schematically , a preferred embodiment of the process module according to fig1 of type i according to the invention . with respect to process operation , provided gas supplies as well as optionally provided plasma discharge gaps , the explanations made in connection with fig1 apply identically , also with respect to the method operation . in fig2 the same reference symbols are used for the parts already described in fig1 . in contrast to the embodiment according to fig1 in the embodiment according to fig2 the process volume pr is further delimited by a process volume wall 14 spaced apart along predominant sections of the chamber wall 1 , furthermore preferably comprised of stainless steel or inox . at least its surface 15 a facing the process volume pr is fabricated of the inert material already described in connection with fig1 as stated preferably of a dielectric material , preferably furthermore of at least one of the materials of group g . the wall 14 proper , forming a process volume encasing within the vacuum chamber with wall 1 , can therein comprise the material forming surface 15 a , or the inert material forming surface 15 a is built up on a bearing wall ( not shown ) facing wall 1 , such as for example built up of coatings . this bearing wall in this case , since it is not exposed to the process volume pr , is preferably for example of a stainless steel or inox . through the pumping connection 11 or the pump 13 the process volume pr is pumped down to the partial pressure of the residual gas explained in connection with fig1 while , for example , as shown in fig2 the interspace zw between vacuum chamber wall 1 and encasing 14 is pumped down via a separate pumping connection 11 a by the same or by another vacuum pump . it is readily apparent to a person skilled in the art that even when employing the same pump 13 for pumping out both volumes , namely the process volume pr as well as the interspace zw , corresponding controllable choke members can be installed in the associated pump connecting pieces 11 or 11 a . with respect to the low - energy plasma which is also applied for carrying out phase ph 2 of the method according to the invention , in the module according to fig2 the explanations apply which were already offered in connection with fig1 . the process volume encasing formed by the wall 14 and provided in the embodiment according to fig2 is preferably implemented on the container 3 a such that it is exchangeable . the process module of type ii , which will be explained in the following and is depicted in fig3 and 4 , is preferably applied within the production method according to the invention as a cleaning module . as had been explained in the introduction , it is highly advantageous to condition or to clean the substrate surface before it is supplied to the gas adsorption . this takes preferably place with plasma - activated reactive gas or reactive gas mixture , preferably by means of plasma - activated hydrogen . here also a low - energy plasma is used which has ion energies e r on the substrate surface in the above stated range . as the plasma discharge is therein preferably applied a dc discharge , especially preferred a non - self - sustaining discharge . as a preferred embodiment variant , again , a discharge with thermionic cathode , especially preferred with directly heated thermionic cathode , is employed . apart from providing such a substrate surface conditioning or cleaning step before the gas adsorption phase ph 1 , in particular before the initial one , it can also be appropriate to provide such a surface treatment step after completion of the above defined phase ph 2 of the method according to the invention . as stated , for this purpose preferably the process modules of type ii according to fig3 or 4 are applied which will be explained subsequently . the module depicted in fig3 differs from those depicted in fig2 only thereby that the surface 15 b encompassing process volume pr does not meet the requirements of being inert , explained in connection with the process module according to fig2 in that the wall 14 a , for example , like wall 1 is fabricated of stainless steel or inox or another metal . the gas tank configuration 9 r contains a reactive gas or reactive gas mixture r r employed in particular for purposes of cleaning , and in container 3 a a ( not shown ) low - energy plasma discharge gap satisfying the above requirements is provided . the metallic wall 14 a is preferably exchangeable such that the process module of type ii in the embodiment according to fig3 can be readily converted into a process module of type i according to fig2 and conversely . in fig4 furthermore in a representation analogous to fig1 to 3 , a further simplified embodiment of the module of type ii is depicted . in contrast to the explanations made in conjunction with fig3 here the process volume pr is directly delimited by chamber wall 1 having a surface which comprises , for example , stainless steel or inox . it is readily evident that the modules of type i according to fig1 or fig2 and of type ii according to fig3 or 4 , can be converted one into the other by the corresponding removal or application of process volume encasing 14 , 14 a . in fig5 is depicted a preferred realization of a type i process module according to fig2 . it should be pointed out that all measures developed from the module according to fig2 additionally and specifically preferably employed in the module according to fig5 can be realized on the principle according to fig2 individually or in any desired partial combinations . the process module according to fig5 is layed out such that both phases ph 1 and ph 2 of the production method according to the invention can be carried out thereon . the timing ratios are also correspondingly driven under time control and the gas supplies dependent of phase . the container wall 101 of the process module according to fig5 preferably fabricated of stainless steel or inox , supports centrally , preferably at its upper front plate 103 , an electron source 105 for cooperating in the generation of the plasma discharge in process volume pr in phase ph 2 of the production method according to the invention . within the framework of the low ion energies , required according to the invention , in the substrate vicinity , also for the employment of a second reactive gas or reactive gas mixtures in phase ph 2 , other plasmas can optionally be applied , such as for example microwave plasmas , as will be described in the following . an electron source , such as the electron source 105 , is preferably employed which emits electrons with an electron energy of maximally 100 ev , preferably of maximally 50 ev . in a preferred embodiment the non - self - sustaining discharge with the electron source is therein realized as a dc discharge . the electron source 105 according to fig5 is preferably formed by a thermionic cathode , preferably a directly heated thermionic cathode 107 built into a cathode chamber 109 , with a cathode chamber wall electrically insulated from container wall 101 , 103 . the cathode chamber communicates via a nozzle 111 with the process volume pr . the inert gas , preferably argon , employed in phase ph 2 is further preferably ( not shown ) allowed to flow into cathode chamber 109 , inter alia in order to protect the thermionic cathode 107 against the effects of a second reactive gas or reactive gas mixture optionally also employed in phase ph 2 and to make possible an increased electron emission rate . spaced apart from the container wall 101 , 103 and with it fixing interspace zw , encompassing the process volume pr is mounted the process volume encasing 113 such that in analogy to fig2 it is preferably exchangeable . the process volume pr within encasing 113 as well as the interspace zw are here pumped via the same pumping connection 115 . therein optionally different pumping cross sections can lead from this connection 115 , on the one hand , to interspace zw , on the other hand , to process volume pr . within process volume pr acts an anode configuration for the method phase ph 2 . this is preferably formed by two or several anodes 117 a or 117 b disposed concentrically with the nozzle axis a . they can ( not shown ) each independently of the other be connected to ground potential or to particular electric anode potentials , which , further preferred , can be adjusted independently of one another . further preferred the metallic container wall 101 , 103 is connected to reference potential , preferably ground potential . the anodes 117 a , 117 b , offset along the nozzle axis a , in addition to being electrically operatable independently of one another , are also preferably ( not shown ) heatable or coolable independently of one another . this is realized thereby that lines for temperature - conditioning media are carried and / or heating coils are installed in these anodes . the plasma beam pl formed by the preferably employed plasma generation configuration is shown in dot - dash line with a plasma density distribution , drawn at v purely heuristically , coaxially with respect to the nozzle axis a . in phase ph 2 the substrate surface with the absorbed reactive gas is directly exposed to the plasma discharge pl . through the corresponding impression of anodes 117 a and 117 b with anodic potentials or by controlled temperature - conditioning of these anodes , the plasma density distribution v can be adjusted specifically in particular via the substrate surface at least approximately with constant distribution . in process volume pr a substrate retainer 119 is mounted or , as will yet be explained , supplied under control to process volume pr . although it is entirely possible to dispose the substrate retainer 119 for the preferred treatment of disk - shaped substrates 120 , defining a carrier surface 119 a , with this carrier surface 119 a parallel to nozzle axis a , with respect to it at oblique angles or , with respect to it according to fig5 perpendicularly but eccentrically , in a more preferred embodiment substrate retainer 119 is disposed with its carrier surface 119 a concentrically with axis a of nozzle 111 and substantially perpendicularly . in a further preferred embodiment by means of an external drive 121 the substrate retainer 119 , as indicated with the double arrow f , can be moved toward the internal receiving opening 123 , or again away from it . after the substrate retainer 119 has been moved up by means of drive 121 completely toward the process volume pr , its margin portion 125 closes the internal opening 123 of the process volume encasing 113 at least such that in phase ph 2 charge carriers are prevented from exiting from process volume pr and in the method phase ph 1 it is sustainingly prevented that reactive gas or reactive gas mixture to be adsorbed exits into the interspace zw . a substrate 120 , as stated preferably planar or disk - shaped , is deposited through a slot valve 129 onto stationary receiving struts 126 while the substrate retainer 119 is lowered . the substrate retainer 119 is subsequently raised and with its carrier surface 119 a extends under the substrate 120 and lifts it from the stationary strut 126 . the substrate 120 is moved upwardly into process volume pr , therewith upon reaching the working position the substrate retainer 119 closes the process volume to said extent with its margin surface 125 . the struts 126 are mounted on a substrate temperature - conditioning device 127 , which via inlet and outlet lines 128 , conducting temperature - conditioning media , is acted upon with temperature - conditioning media . as stated , through the corresponding control of the substrate surface temperature , in particular in phase ph 1 , the rate of gas adsorption can be controlled . the substrate retainer 119 is depicted in dashed lines in fig5 in its working position . the container wall 101 and its front - side closure plates 103 or 131 are temperature - conditioned , preferably cooled , in particular in phase ph 2 of the production method according to the invention . for this purpose , the wall 101 forming the encasing is developed as a double wall with a temperature - conditioning medium system installed in - between . in the front plates 103 or 131 are also installed line systems for temperature - conditioning media . outside of the vacuum container are mounted helmholtz coils 133 as well as distributed deflection coils 135 . by means of the helmholtz coils 133 a magnetic field pattern , substantially parallel and symmetric with respect to it , is generated in process volume pr , in particular in phase ph 2 of the production method according to the invention . this magnetic field pattern can be shifted with the aid of the deflection coils 135 in planes e perpendicular to axis a , as shown schematically in fig6 . through this “ shifting ” of the magnetic field strength distribution h a a “ shifting ” of the plasma density distribution v along the substrate 120 results . therewith a “ relative motion ” between plasma density distribution v and the substrate surface to be treated is attained as if the substrate with respect to plasma pl were shifted with a plasma density distribution constant in time . through this control of the field distribution , at the substrate consequently the same effect results as if it were moved mechanically with respect to plasma pl , but without providing a mechanical substrate movement . for the realization of phase ph 1 of the method according to the invention , reactive gas or reactive gas mixture to be adsorbed , after the substrate 120 , preferably previously cleaned , has been moved into the working position , is allowed to flow via reactive gas inlet 137 into the process volume pr . therein , as shown , the reactive gas inlet is disposed coaxially with axis a , in the immediate proximity of the substrate 120 or substrate carrier 119 in the working position , with inlet openings substantially parallel to the substrate surface to be treated . as has been stated , the vacuum container 101 , 103 preferably built of stainless steel , is intensively cooled especially in phase ph 2 . uhv conditions are sufficient . the intensive cooling in phase ph 2 prevents the heating of the steel and the freeing of carbon - containing gases entailed therein from the steel , in particular during phase ph 2 . with respect to the material of the process volume encasing 113 , in particular of the surface exposed to the process , the explanations offered already in conjunction with fig1 apply : the inert material , preferably a dielectric and , as stated , preferably selected from the material group g , even under substantially higher temperatures than the process temperature , is stable with respect to the applied reactive gases r 1 to be adsorbed ( fig1 ) and the second reactive gases ( r 2 ) optionally supplied to the plasma discharge atmosphere in phase ph 2 , such as in particular with respect to hydrogen , silane , germanium , boroethane , chlorine , nf 3 , hcl , sih 3 ch 3 , geh 3 ch 3 , n 2 , clf 3 , ph 3 , ash 4 . therewith is attained that no contamination of the substrate 120 occurs . an interfering coating of the interior surface of the process volume encasing 113 is only critical under the aspect of particle formation . a thin interfering coating through gas adsorption and subsequent plasma treatment can even be preferred in order to ensure an even higher purity of the process which is subsequently virtually encompassed exclusively by material inherent to the process . in type i process modules the vacuum chamber wall , conventionally of stainless steel , is not coated since it is protected by the process volume encasing 113 against the reactive gases and the plasma , since further the intensive cooling depicted in fig5 strongly reduces there a precipitation from the gas phases . that which applies with respect to the interior surface of the process volume encasing 113 , applies also to the surfaces of the substrate retainer 119 exposed to the process . the process volume encasing 113 is preferably developed such that it is composed of multiple parts ( not shown ), such that it can be removed or exchanged without disassembling the configurations 117 a , 117 b . by removing the process volume encasing 113 depicted in fig5 a preferred embodiment of the process module type ii is realized or by replacing the process volume encasing 113 with a likewise formed encasing of a metal , a process module of type ii according to fig3 . it should be repeated that in the process module of type i , preferably developed according to fig5 phases ph 1 and / or ph 2 of the production method according to the invention are carried out , whereas preferably in - modules of type ii surface conditioning or cleaning steps are carried out preceding phase ph 1 and / or succeeding phase ph 2 , preferably in a low - energy hydrogen plasma . in fig7 and 8 in the form of flow charts two possible realization forms of the production method according to the invention are depicted . according to fig7 several different atom monolayer are assumed to be deposited one above the other , for example in order to produce a heteroepitaxially grown coating . the substrates are first supplied to a cleaning module r , preferably developed according to modules type ii , wherein , further preferred , surface cleaning takes place in a low - energy hydrogen plasma as defined . a substrate under consideration after cleaning r is supplied to a process module of type i , wherein the method phase ph 11 with adsorption of a first reactive gas takes place . the substrate is subsequently supplied for the realization of phase ph 2 to a process module , preferably of type i , with , as stated , gas inlet — inert gas and / or reactive gas — and low - energy plasma discharge . after carrying out phase ph 2 the substrate is supplied to a further process module of type i and there charged with a further reactive gas or reactive gas mixture — ph 12 — to be adsorbed . again , it is subsequently subjected in the central process module of type i to method phase ph 2 in order to be subsequently optionally supplied to further process modules of type i where the substrate is subjected to further reactive gas mixtures or reactive gases , ph 13 , to be adsorbed . thereby , should epitaxial coatings be grown , heteroepitaxial coatings are deposited . if the substrate , as shown in dashed lines , moves back and forth between process phase ph 2 and a process phase , such as for example ph 11 , in the case of epitaxial growth a homoepitaxial layer is grown . in contrast to carrying out the method according to the invention according to fig7 when carrying out the method according to fig8 preferably after each deposition of an atom monolayer a cleaning step of the substrate surface is carried out . this cleaning step r can preferably always be developed identically to the cleaning step which is carried out on the substrate surface before it is even subjected to the first adsorption step according to a first method phase ph 11 . thus , also after the deposition of an atomic monolayer , surface cleaning on the substrate is carried out in a low - energy plasma , preferably a low - energy hydrogen plasma . let us again follow a substrate under consideration . after the cleaning in process r , it is supplied to a first process module of type i , where it adsorbs a first reactive gas or reactive gas mixture ph 11 . subsequently it is supplied to a further process module of type i , in which the method phase ph 2 , i . e . plasma treatment is carried out optionally with the inclusion of ions and radicals of a second plasma - activated reactive gas , especially preferred of hydrogen and / or nitrogen and / or oxygen . after completing this method phase ph 2 , the substrate is again supplied to the cleaning process r , preferably in a module of type ii , subsequently to a further module of type i , where it adsorbs a further reactive gas or reactive gas mixture in phase ph 12 . it is subsequently supplied to cleaning step r , again via the method phase ph 2 , etc . it is here evident that at the output side of the modules carrying out process phases ph 1x , a transport via a module carrying out phase ph 2 to the cleaning module takes place from where , the process modules carrying out phase ph 1x are virtually centrally supplied with substrates . these or similar , relatively complex process sequences are preferably carried out flexibly in a preferably freely programmable vacuum treatment installation within which a central transport module loads the particular process and conditioning or cleaning modules . schematically , and purely by example , such an installation is depicted in fig9 with two cleaning modules r of type ii , two modules of type i for carrying out method phases ph 2 as well as two modules of type i for carrying out the method phases ph 12 and ph 11 .	2
the pet restraint of the present invention attaches to a vehicle such as a bike by way of at least one fastening means . in an example embodiment the attachment to a vehicle is , via one fixed bracket and one adjustable bracket as shown in fig1 . the fixed bracket attaches to either the seat pole or the section of the bike frame that the seat pole slots into . the adjustable bracket attaches to the front of the bike frame . this bracket may be adjustable to accommodate bicycles , which come in different shapes and sizes . a lead attachment attaches the restraint to a dog &# 39 ; s lead . the lead is attached to the dog via a harness as shown in fig3 . the rider of the vehicle is given freedom to have full functionality of the bike &# 39 ; s steering , gears and hand brakes ; as the rider does not have to hold onto the dogs lead . as in the related art , if the dog lead is held by hand , this will increase the risk of an accident , as a dog can pull up faster and take off faster than a rider . like a sled , the restraint of the present invention can also be used by the dog to pull the bike along . this is great for working breeds that require a lot of exercise . the design of the present invention prevents the dog from running off , as he / she is secure on a lead . the present invention &# 39 ; s unique angular shape has a number of functions , these include the following . keeps the dog lead away from the front wheel or other movable parts of the bike ( vehicle ), thus preventing any damage or harm to property , animal or person . keeps the dog to the bike rider &# 39 ; s left , so that the dog is not in the rider &# 39 ; s path , and therefore limits the chances of the dog being hit by the bike . it is to be noted that a dog can stop quicker than a bike rider . if the restraint was a straight design , and the dog suddenly stopped , even if the rider is able to swerve around the dog , the final position of the dog will be in line with the lead attachment part of the restraint . therefore the dog will end up hitting the bike as illustrated in fig5 c . the restraint keeps the dog away from oncoming traffic . as the bike rider will be in between the dog and oncoming traffic . referring to fig5 a , when the dog suddenly pulls at a right angle to the bicycle , the rider has an advantageous ability to steer into the direction that the dog is pulling , as the dogs attachment to the bicycle is in front of the turning axis of the bicycle . by having the second portion angled away from the line of the vehicle greater safety and control of both the pet and the vehicle is provided . furthermore , having the lead attachment well out in front of the bicycle means that the dog and its lead are in the rider &# 39 ; s normal viewing area . this is in comparison to having the lead attachment at the center of the bicycle which will mean that the dog is out of the rider &# 39 ; s general viewing area in most instances . with the present arrangement the dog is encouraged to be spaced towards the front of the vehicle , so as to be visible , and be spaced laterally from the vehicle so as to limit accidental contact therewith . being able to see what the dog is doing provides more time to react in avoiding dangerous obstacles such as trees and poles . it also allows a person to discipline his or her dog when the dog begins or looks like it will begin to misbehave . being able to see the lead at all times also helps with preventing the lead from contacting the ground and being entangled in the wheels of the bicycle and so on . the restraint allows even body tone in exercising a pet as the position of the lead attachment is in line with the centre of the dog &# 39 ; s back when the dog is pulling the bike , and not to the dog &# 39 ; s side . the restraint helps keep the dog to the left of the bike , so that the dog can run on the soft grass while the owner rides on the bike track ( bitumen / concrete ). generally a dog prefers to sprint on soft surfaces . the restraint controls the dog &# 39 ; s running direction . if the dog was directly in front like it is with a sled , the dog can run off to the left or right as it chooses ( if you don &# 39 ; t take into consideration the reins ). with the present restraint the direction of the bike controls the direction of the dog . the dog can &# 39 ; t run to the right because the bike is there , and it can only run to the left as far as the lead allows . basically , the dog will be pulled in the direction of the bike if it tries to run off course . the restraint can also be turned over to keep the dog on the right hand side of the rider , for countries like the usa where they ride / drive on the right hand side . there may be modifications made to the bracket attachments , which will not affect functionality and , which would be recognised by the person skilled in the art . these attachments may be made from plastic , steel or other materials and the shape of these brackets may vary as would be recognised by the person skilled in the art . in comparison to other arrangements , the angled portion extends away from the line of the vehicle to allow for greater safety and control of both the pet and the vehicle . in situations when standing on the pedals of the bicycle , when riding up a steep incline , the device does not limit the rider &# 39 ; s leg movement and therefore avoids injury . this is achieved by the device being of a relatively narrow configuration such that a person &# 39 ; s knees can easily move past the device . in this embodiment the device is 25 mm wide so that a person &# 39 ; s knees easily move past the device . the device is designed to allow the rider to maintain sufficient functionality of the bicycle while having a relatively small impact on the rider &# 39 ; s position and control . the fastening means provide a mechanism that can be considered under local law as being a sufficient restraint for a dangerous dog . furthermore , the arrangement is detachable and is not a permanent part of the bicycle . it is designed to be detachable to bicycles of varying shape and size and does not require any tools to connect it to the bicycle as it uses hand tightened wing nuts . as discussed , the device allows substantially even body tone in exercising pet as the position of the lead attachment is substantially in line with the centre of the dogs back when the dog is pulling the bike , and not merely to the dog &# 39 ; s side . devices that attach to low lying sections of the bike will cause the dog to pull from its side , if the dog &# 39 ; s shoulders are higher then the lead attachment . with a low lying device the dog also runs the risk of being hit by the device if the dog suddenly stops while running directly in front of the device and the bicycle . if the dog is running directly behind the device and the bicycle suddenly stops , the dog runs the risk of running into the device . when attached to a woman &# 39 ; s bicycle the device allows easier mounting of the bicycle to a car bicycle rack as shown in fig7 . thus the bicycle does not need to be lifted as high to mount on the rack , making it easier for people who aren &# 39 ; t strong enough to lift a bicycle high up off the ground , such as the elderly . less lifting and effort is required . the device is accordingly adapted to the bicycle such that the bicycle sits horizontally on the rack , rather diagonally via the bicycle &# 39 ; s diagonal center bars . this results in the bicycle being more balanced on the rack , that is , less likely to rotate or slip than when mounted diagonally . in arrangements this allows both hands free while placing another bicycle on the rack and while doing up the rack &# 39 ; s clamp . the location of the second portion is advantageous for mounting on a rack in comparison to other protruding devices . if the second portion were to protrude at pedal level on the side of the bicycle which faces the car , once placed on the rack , it would have a high risk of hitting the car . if the protrusion were to face away from the car at pedal level then this would make it harder for another bicycle to be placed on the rack . the second portion advantageously protrudes out in front and to the side , rather than at right angles allowing for multiple bicycles can be placed on the rack . in alternative arrangements the device more closely conforms to the construction of a female bike . one such arrangement is shown in fig8 . while this invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof , it will be understood that it is capable of further modification ( s ). this application is intended to cover any variations uses or adaptations of the invention following in general , the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth . as the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit of the essential characteristics of the invention , it should be understood that the above described embodiments are not to limit the present invention unless otherwise specified , but rather should be construed broadly within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . various modifications and equivalent arrangements are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention and appended claims . therefore , the specific embodiments are to be understood to be illustrative of the many ways in which the principles of the present invention may be practiced . in the following claims , means - plus - function clauses are intended to cover structures as performing the defined function and not only structural equivalents , but also equivalent structures . for example , although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together , whereas a screw employs a helical surface to secure wooden parts together , in the environment of fastening wooden parts , a nail and a screw are equivalent structures . “ comprises / comprising ” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features , integers , steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features , integers , steps , components or groups thereof .	1
although it is to be understood that the present invention in a box light projection source has general application to photoreproduction apparatus , fig1 illustrates one such image projector in which the invention has utility . examples of such projectors are also disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 734 , 615 , 3 , 762 , 816 and 3 , 998 , 546 , owned by my assignee to which reference may be had for a more complete description thereof . however , for purposes of understanding this invention and its utility , it should be understood from fig1 that such an apparatus comprises an optical head indicated generally at 20 which is suspended from an overhead supporting structure 22 and is movable along tracks or rails ( not shown ) extending longitudinally of the top of said structure 22 . in fig1 said overhead supporting structure 22 is shown supported at one end by a first columnar structure 24 and at its opposite end by a second columnar structure 26 which supports a vertically disposed easel 28 . as shown in fig2 its optical head 20 comprises a horizontally disposed rigid mounting plate 30 which provides rigid fixed support for a film holder embodying a vertically disposed opaque back - up plate of the film holder 32 having a rectangular shaped transparent platen 34 ( fig3 ) over which a film of a particular size or one of a plurality of auxiliary holders dimensioned for different and / or smaller size films is mounted . supported by said plate 30 behind said back - up plate 32 is a box light 36 for rear illumination of said transparent platen 34 and film mounted thereto or indirectly by an auxiliary holder . forwardly of the back - up plate member 32 is an objective lens 38 supported by a lens board 40 which in turn is mounted on massive - sized and rigid precisely - related tubular ways 42 which are fixed to the under side of mounting plate 30 and accommodate spatial adjustment of the objective along its optical axis toward and away from film holder 32 and more particularly the light exiting surface of the transparent platen 34 . optical head 20 as thus described is utilizable as a camera with its box light source 36 dark or as a projector with its boxlight energized . in either of said modes the spatial setting of the platen 34 from the easel 28 is adjustable to introduce a required image reduction or enlargement factor ; and the spatial setting of the objective is adjustable independently of the optical head adjustment for sharpening focus of the projected image . considering now also fig3 and 4 , it will be seen that the film holder or its back - up member 32 is provided with an ` air channel ` or moat 44 in the order of 0 . 050 to 0 . 100 inches wide surrounding the periphery of its transparent platen 34 on its forward side toward easel 28 which connects via bore 46 to an evacuating pump ( not shown ). along the upper run of said channel are regularly spaced pins 48 which precisely locate cut film sections to be mounted over the platen and image projected . for this purpose as is known the film section has similarly - spaced apertures along the upper edge therof . the film sections also have a width and length greater than that of the transparent platen such that they lap said evacuating channel wherefore when located by pins 48 they are drawn into intimate conformity with the platen surface . differently - sized and / or shaped film sections may also be mounted over said platen 34 utilizing an auxiliary holder 50 such as illustrated by fig4 . as shown , such an auxiliary holder also comprises an opaque frame 52 having a transparent platen 54 provided with registration pins 56 along its upper edge and a surrounding peripherally disposed channel 58 with which the smaller or differently shaped film section may be mounted as aforesaid . preferably , back - up plate of the film holder 32 is provided with a shelf 60 on which the auxiliary holder may be rested for convenience in mounting . the auxiliary holder 50 is also provided with appropriately located openings 62 which receive the guide pins 48 of the back - up plate when properly mounted on the film holder 32 . the film holder 32 is further provided with location pins 64 at its two upper corners and the auxiliary holders have guide rings 66 which mate with said locating pins 64 . when thus properly aligned , torque screws 68 in the four corners of the auxiliary holder are tightened into threaded inserts 70 provided at the four corners of the transparent platen 34 to secure the auxiliary holder 50 . when thus located , its port 72 aligns with port 74 in member 32 to establish connection with bore 76 thereby connecting channel 58 of the auxiliary holder 50 to the evacuating pump . preferably , finger recesses 80 are provided for convenience in mounting and dismounting the auxiliary holder on the back - up member of the film holder 32 . considering now fig2 with fig3 it will be appreciated that operator - access to the forward side of the transparent platen 34 and / or holder 50 mounted thereover is obtained by withdrawing the film platen compartment 84 against foldable bellows 86 which connect the lens board to said film compartment . it will be further appreciated that when closed against film holder 32 , the free edge of the film compartment engages a gasket 88 so as to light - seal the film compartment to the film holder 32 . it may be held thereto by means such as a magnet or a suitable clamp member ( not shown ). thus in the camera mode only light admitted by the objective will illuminate film mounted on the film holder within the confines of the film platen compartment . in accordance with this invention , box light 36 is equipped with a high intensity light emitting source for example pulsed xenon lamps 360 . such a source characteristically also emits large quantities of harmful radiations including infrared and ultra violet which must be dealt with for the reasons expressed above . this is accomplished utilizing a novel ventilating system in the boxlight 36 which continuously draws room termperature air from the outside environment , collects heat generated by the lamps and discharges said air with its assumed heat load back to the surrounding environment . also utilized therewith are means disposed between the box light and film holder 32 which effectively isolate and / or insulate the film holder ( back - up member 32 ) and its film platen 34 from the heat generated in the boxlight and not removed by the box light ventilating system . referring therefore first to fig2 and 5 , boxlight 36 is generally rectangular in shape having top and bottom opaque walls 361 , 362 , a pair of opaque sidewalls 363 , an opaque rear wall 364 and an open end which faces the film holder 32 and is centered on the optical axis oa of said apparatus as is also the transparent platen 34 of the film holder 32 and the objective 38 . said open end is closed by a first transparent member or panel 366 of light diffusing material such as opal glass or white plexiglass . the diffusing panel is removably mounted in its rigid supporting frame 367 immediately behind its open end of the boxlight in any suitable convenient manner . ventilation of the boxlight is obtained by a continuously operated first blower fan 368 which is mounted in its rear wall 364 and centrally thereof so as to charge the interior of the boxlight with room temperature air from the surrounding environment . said blower fan has a balanced impeller assembly and is isolated from the boxlight itself with rubber or other dampening means to minimize vibration . as illustrated in fig7 the xenon tube lamps 360 are arranged in a continuous pattern inwardly of the boxlight periphery and are backed by a reflector 369 which has a back wall spaced off the boxlight rear wall 364 and inwardly sloping sides which extend to adjacent the open end of the boxlight . when energized , the blower charges the box light with room temperature air on both sides of the reflector , entering through boxlight interior through centrally located opening 370 in the reflector and exiting into the area behind the reflector through provided openings 373 , in the reflector adjacent the ends of the xenon tubes to maximize collection of generated heat . said circulating air discharges its load through a line of spaced openings 371 in the top and bottom walls of the boxlight behind the reflector and adjacent the rear wall of the boxlight . as shown best in fig8 said openings 371 are covered by an open ended channel member 372 which is light - tight sealed to the top and bottom walls 361 , 362 . said open ended channel members 372 are sometimes described as a &# 34 ; hat &# 34 ; because of their configuration in cross section . as illustrated in fig8 they comprise a base wall having right - angularly disposed sidewalls and are outwardly flanged at their open side which are soldered or otherwise light - tight sealed over said lines of openings to the reflective top and bottom walls of the boxlight . thus the heated air can reach the openings 371 for discharge only through the two open ends of the hat member . however , light rays move in straight lines and cannot turn corners wherefor if the dimensions of the base and sidewalls of the hat member of baffle 372 are properly proportioned little or no ingress or egress of light through the openings 371 is possible . referring back to fig2 and 5 , the light emitted by the xenon tubes 360 must pass through the light diffusing panel 366 into a second or isolation chamber 90 in order to impinge on the rear surface of the transparent glass platen 34 of the film holder 32 to back light film mounted thereon for images projection to the easel 28 . said isolation chamber 90 comprises a rectangular - shaped open ended frame 900 comprising four opaque walls 901 , the forward ends of which are light - tight sealed to the surrounding outer edge of the back - up member or primary film holder 32 . the rear ends of said isolation chamber four walls are flanged as at 902 to receive the forward end of the box light 36 which engages gasket 903 located thereon ( fig5 ) to effect a releasable light and air tight seal between the box light and the isolation chamber . as illustrated best in fig2 the boxlight 36 is slidably supported for fore and aft movement along supporting rails 92 from which it depends ; and a releasable clamp member 94 is centered between the sides of the light box and includes a knurled screw 96 which tightens into a threaded opening in aluminum block 98 fixed to the lower edge of the isolation chamber . upon tightening screw 96 , the boxlight is drawn into light - and air - tight seal with the isolation chamber . upon loosening of said screw it is possible to withdraw the boxlight from the rear edge of the isolation chamber so as to provide operator - access into the interior of the boxlight following removal of the light diffuser . this is necessary in order to replace light tubes 360 . as illustrated in fig2 because the power supply 100 for exciting the xenon tubes is shown hung on the rear end of mounting plate 30 , it may be necessary to remove said power supply unit 100 after first disconnecting it from the electrical power source . this however is conveniently accomplished by loosening torque screw 102 and lifting the power supply unit off the mounting plate by means of its handle . referring again to fig2 and 5 , it will be noted that the interior of the isolation chamber is continuously charged with room temperature air by operation of a second blower 904 which is centered in the bottom wall 905 of said isolation chamber forming frame and is similarly mounted thereto as described for the first air blower . considering also fig1 with said fig2 and 5 , it will be appreciated that isolation chamber blower 904 has a pipe - like intake 904a disposed at right angles to its discharge end 904b through which the blower 904 communicates with the interior of the isolation chamber 90 . at 904c is an oversize cap spaced over the intake of the blower and having a depending shroud 904d about said intake providing an entrance space 904e which permits air to flow through the blower to charge the isolation chamber following a circuitous path such as to inhibit passage of light through the blower into the surrounding environment . the blower 368 for the boxlight is of similar construction and serves the same role in ventilating the boxlight 36 . as illustrated in fig2 the air and its collected heat load discharges through light trap vents 906 which are mounted on the upper wall 907 of said frame and through vent slots 908 in the bottom wall 909 thereof on either side of the opening 911 through which blower 904 charges the isolation chamber 90 . as in the case of the light box 36 , said exits through which the admitted air discharges its collected heat load are also suitably baffled to prevent ingress and egress of light therethrough . as illustrated best in fig2 air striking the top wall of the isolation chamber discharges through exits 912 located at its opposed sides which communicate with light trap vents 906 . said vents 906 are shown provided with curved interior plates whose configuration effectively smooths the flow of air therethrough with minimal turbulence as it discharges over the light box . at the same time , because said vents enforce a 180 ° flow path , ingress and egress of light therethrough is effectively inhibited . similarly , at the bottom of the isolation chamber , are aligned interior and exterior open - ended channel member 913 , 914 having the &# 34 ; hat &# 34 ; configuration previously described , which effectively stall ingress and egress of light through opening 908 . end baffles 916 may be located at either open end of the exterior hat member to maximize inpedance of light entry and discharge from the isolation chamber . alternatively , the channel members may be arranged at right angles to each other as illustrated by fig1 in which event the end baffles can be dispensed with . this latter arrangement has the advantage that it entails less obstruction to discharge of heat loaded air . preferably , isolation chamber 90 houses a second transparent panel 920 of heat retarding or absorbing glass . as seen in fig2 and 5 , said heat retarding glass panel is fixed to an access door 921 which resiliently engages within a receiving slot in one sidewall of the isolation chamber . upper and lower ways 923 are provided along which the upper and lower edges of said glass panel are slidably supported . as illustrated best in fig6 a magnetic rubber strip 924 on either side of the access opening 922 which receives the door 921 serves to hold the access door in place once the door is pushed into the receiving slot . said heat retarding plate 920 serves to more effectively channel the entering room temperature air through the isolation chamber . it also provides a heat barrier which shields the film positioned against the transparent platen in the image projection function . optionally , the light diffusing panel of the box light and the heat retarding panel of the isolation chamber can be substituted one for the other . the isolation chamber is preferably also provided with a heat sink or shield 930 shown best in fig5 and 12 . said shield 930 as there illustrated is mounted by standoffs 932 to the rear side of the subject holder 32 which is located within the isolation chamber and it is provided with a central opening illustrated in fig1 corresponding to the size and shape of the transparent plate 34 of said film holder . preferably , it is painted white or has a shiny surface to reflect heat away from the metal subject holder which supports the transparent platen 34 . being spaced therefrom it also permits convection of air between the film holding plate 32 and the heat sink plate itself . thus it will be apparent that the invention realizes all the objects and features thereof previously recited and in doing so makes it safe to use a pulsed xenon or similar high intensity box light -- safe for the operator because it shields the light from the operator &# 39 ; s eyes , safe in that it prevents unintentional exposure of sensitized materials and safe in that it prevents extensive overheating of films being projected .	6
accordingly , fig1 illustrates a turret 10 which comprises a portion of an optical system , such as a flir ( forward looking infrared system ). turret 10 includes a generally spherical turret housing 12 which is secured to a base 14 . the base is affixed , for example , to an aircraft . turret housing 12 is adapted to rotate through substantially 360 ° about an axis normal to base 14 and approximately 270 ° in any plane perpendicular to the plane of the base . thus , the turret has a substantially full azimuth field of regard or view . to permit electrical connection with such pivoting , a conventional electrical cable 16 with coils 16a and 16b joins housing 12 and its electrical components to the base . to enable optical signals to be received within housing 12 , a window 18 is positioned generally on its periphery . for infrared viewing , the preferred material of window 18 is germanium . it is through window 18 that infrared radiation is received within the system . it is , therefore , desired that housing 12 can pivot in any direction with respect to base 14 so that window 18 may be directed in almost a 360 ° spherical direction . such a window 18 is preferrably of circular shape , as explained previously , so as to be sized as close as possible to the extent of the incoming ray or radiation bundle . further , because of its circular configuration , such a window will exhibit non - uniform heat loss , which results in non - uniform temperature or temperature gradients within the window , when heated in a conventional manner . as contrasted to a window of rectangular design , the gradients between electrodes placed at opposite edges is uniform . in a circular window , however , the gradients do not proceed across the window uniformly but expand toward the center and then decrease as they approach the opposite electrode . because germanium , in particular , has a high index of refraction and a high change of refractive index with a change in temperature , non - uniform heating of the window will cause severe optical distortion . therefore , to control the nonuniformity in heating and , therefore , the temperature gradients within the window , a series of electrodes 20 are equally spaced about the circumference of window 18 . to evenly distribute the heat thereby generated , the electrodes are energized in a periodic manner by alternating the electric current thereto . such energization includes an alternating of the electric current among the electrodes by a switching circuitry . while various alternating voltage patterns may be tailored to any specific window , it is preferred to rotate the applied voltage at a frequency that is large compared to the thermal response time of the window , thereby minimizing thermal gradients . a typical arrangement for supplying the electric current to the electrodes is depicted in fig2 . the circuit arrangement is coupled to diametrically opposed electrodes 20 . while this is the preferred arrangement , it is not necessary that the connected electrodes be diametrically opposed , if the desired or thermal pattern in window 18 has different requirements . in the preferred arrangement , each opposed pair of electrodes 20 has its own power switching mechanism 22 connected thereto . power is supplied to mechanism 22 from a source 24 . mechanism 22 is also coupled to a controller 26 . the controller defines which power switching mechanism 22 is to be closed and , therefore , which electrode pair 20 is to be energized . included within controller 26 is an oscillator and timer 28 , which is coupled through a plurality of and gates 30 , each of which is coupled to its individual power switching mechanism 22 . oscillator and timer 28 define the timed sequence of closure of the power switching mechanisms as , for example , illustrated in the accompanying waveforms x1 through x4 . also coupled to and gates 30 are a voltage comparator 32 and an over - temperature control 34 . the voltage comparator is coupled to a thermister 36 through a connection 38 . the purpose of voltage comparator 32 is to set the upper and lower limits of temperature within window 18 . over - temperature control 34 is coupled to another thermister 40 on window 18 through a connection 42 . overtemperature control 34 is designed to prevent any runaway temperatures which might exist within window 18 in the event that voltage comparator 32 does not function . coupled also to controller 26 and to each of and gates 30 is an opto - isolator 44 which is an isolation &# 34 ; on - off &# 34 ; switch . power switching mechanism 22 is of conventional design and includes a pair of solid state relays 46 with a pair of opto - isolators 48 , respectively coupled to the pairs of electrodes . in operation , oscillator and timer 28 provide pulses of any preset duration , herein shown by curves x1 - x4 , as being one quarter of the time . however , it is to be understood that any timing period may be utilized in order to obtain the desired thermal results in window 18 . depending upon the timing pulse from oscillator and timer 28 , the signal is sent through one of and gates 30 and from thence to appropriate power switching mechanism 22 . operation of each and gate is dependent upon &# 34 ; on - off &# 34 ; signals from opto - isolator 44 , voltage comparator 32 , over - temperature control 34 and oscillator - timer 28 . if any one is not in an &# 34 ; on &# 34 ; condition , the signal from oscillator and timer 28 will not be permitted to pass through its and gate 30 to thereby cause power switching mechanism 22 to close and permit power from power source 24 to energize the appropriate electrode pair 20 . an alternative embodiment of the fig2 arrangement is depicted in fig3 in which all the components are the same , with the exception of independent voltage regulators 32 - 1 , 32 - 2 , etc ., respectively for each of and gates 30 - 1 through 30 - 4 . each of voltage comparators 32 - 1 through 32 - 4 are coupled to their respective thermisters 36 - 1 through 36 - 4 on the window . the purpose of having individual voltage comparators and thermisters is to provide greater flexibility in the event that it desired that any electrode pair be operated at different temperature ranges . heating of a window may be understood with respect to fig4 in which it is shown some of the curvilinear squares , denoted by indicium 50 , for a particular arrangement of small electrodes . this pattern is taken from an actual experiment using conductive paper to simulate the electrical conductivity of doped single crystal germanium . two effects are discernable from the diagram . first , because each square has equal heat dissipation , it can be seen that the dissipation is highest near the energized electrodes , next highest in the center , and lowest at the sides . secondly , shorting at the unused electrodes can also be observed . thus , by chosing the correct number of electrodes along with their size and spacing , it is possible t achieve a more uniform heating , including the accounting for lateral conduction losses into the mount . although the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments thereof , it should be realized that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	7
a battery generates its energy by the chemical action of an electrolyte between electrodes of opposite polarity . generally , the electrolyte is contained in a separator between the electrodes . the chemical action taking place during discharge ( or charge ) generates heat that must be dissipated by the battery structure . too great or too fast a release of thermal energy within the battery frequently warps the mechanical structure causing shorting of the electrodes and frequently an explosion of the battery . this release of thermal energy within a battery may be throughout the entire battery structure due to an abnormal amount of current ( an overload ) being drawn by an exterior malfunctioning load ; or the release of thermal energy within the battery may be localized in a &# 34 ; hot spot &# 34 ; on or between the electrodes due to slight uncontrollable imperfection in the manufacture of the battery . a substance that will stop the chemical reaction , i . e ., a poison to the battery action , will deactivate the battery wherever the substance is released to interfere with electrolyte . this may be locally or throughout the battery . by making the release of the poisoning agent responsive to temperature and strategically distributing it within the battery , hot spots , or the complete battery , may be deactivated before thermal runaway with a probable battery explosion occurs . generally , the preferred deactivation structure is a mat of material , similar to a conventional battery separator , that has a poisoning agent , encapsulated in a thermoplastic material , dispersed on and / or through it . such an assembly is illustrated in fig1 . this assembly is inserted in the battery during its fabrication . the woven mat contains a plurality of small spheres or globules 12 of an encapsulated poison . the globules encapsulating the poison may be held in place in a thin loosely woven mat by a suitable adhesive , or by mechanical friction , e . g ., entanglement within a more closely woven mat of separator like material . generally , the later means of retaining the encapsulated poison globules is preferred due to variations in the thermal release of the poisoning agent brought about by variations in the adhesive . however , the thicker the mat containing the globules the higher the normal internal resistance of the battery becomes , and the lower the power capabilities of the battery for a given size . the amount of resistance increase depends also on the type of battery to which the invention is applied . an internal resistance increase of approximately 10 % is a typical value that will generally provide sufficient deactivation to assure safety from thermal runaway and explosion . a convenient estimation of the increase in the normal internal resistance may be obtained by considering the proportion of the additional thickness added by the deactivation assembly to the overall effective separator package thickness . those practicing this invention will readily adapt the materials used in fabricating the invention to the particular battery structure in which the invention is utilized . two specific embodiments will be described in detail later . generally , suitable encapsulating materials are thermoplastic plastic compounds such as the polyethylenes , and polyvinyl chlorides . both materials are conventionally fabricated to have various determined specific melting temperatures . wide ranges of diameters and wall thicknesses are readily available . diameters from 20 to 500 microns with wall thicknesses from 2 to 25 microns are ranges generally suitable for this invention . the poisoning agents contained in the thermoplastic globules may deactivate either by serving as merely blocking agents to the flow of current between the electrodes , i . e ., as by inserting an insulator , without chemically reacting with the conventional chemicals in the battery , or the released poison may deactivate the battery action by chemically combining with one or more of the elements in the battery altering their properties . for example , the poison may react with one or both electrodes forming passivating layers , or it may react with the electrolyte greatly increasing its resistance in the effected area . in addition , poisoning agents having combined properties may be used . typical examples of the blocking type poisoning agents are the various waxes . melting temperatures ranging from 30 °- 40 ° c to over 200 ° c may be chosen . some waxes are inert enough that encapsulation is unnecessary . typical examples of a combination type poisoning agent are nonflammable mineral oils with a passivating compound in solution such as hexachloroethane . materials that are suitable from which to fabricate the mat holding the encapsulated poison include nylon , cellophane , polyethylene , and fiberglas . in general , materials that are suitable for the separator in a particular battery are also suitable for the mat containing or holding the deactivation material . specific applications of the invention to two common batteries follow . referring to fig2 the conventional lithium anode 21 is placed on an approximately horizontal surface and globules of encapsulated poison are distributed over the surface of the lithium electrode . a convenient and suitable way of distributing the capsules uniformly over the electrode is by sifting them through a mesh screen having openings slightly larger than the capsules . the capsules are covered with a relatively finely woven fiberglas mat 23 . typical mat thicknesses are 25 to 50 microns . the mat holds the capsules in place irrespective of later motions or positions of the battery . this assembly of lithium anode and mat containing the poisoning agent is then assembled with the remaining conventional battery elements , e . g ., the separator 24 and the carbon cathode 25 in the same conventional manner as the lithium anode in the prior art batteries . the elements of the battery including the new deactivating element are conventionally encased in a case with exterior electrical connectors connected to connecting tabs 26 and 27 . suitable poisoning agents for this battery are antimony trichloride , carbon tetrachloride , disulfur dichloride , hexachloroethane , and conventional transformer mineral oils . paraffin wax may also be used . generally , conventional transformer mineral oil is preferred . suitable encapsulating agents are polyethylenes , and polyvinylchlorides . the generally accepted maximum safe temperature for this particular battery is approximately 170 ° f , thus , the encapsulating agent must become liquid and release the poisoning agent at approximately this temperature . the fabrication of polyethylenes to melt at this temperature is well known and conventionally accomplished . generally , polyethylenes are the preferred encapsulating agent . the encapsulating of materials is a well known art . sizes of the capsule globule is readily controlled over a wide range from a few microns in diameter to larger than a centimeter . typical suitable sizes of the approximately spherical capsule globules for this particular embodiment are approximtely 50 to 100 microns diameter , with wall thicknesses of approximately 5 to 10 microns . a density of approximately 200 to 1000 capsules per square centimeter of electrode surface area is a typical suitable value of capsule density for this battery . the preferred encapsulating material is polyethylene conventionally formulated to melt at approximately 200 ° f . the encapsulate retaining mat is woven nylon of approximately two mils thickness . fig2 as an illustrative schematic drawing is also applicable to this embodiment when electrode 21 is considered to be nickel , electrode 25 is cadmium , the woven nylon mat is 23 , the encapsulate 22 , and 24 is the conventional separator . the encapsulated poison 22 is held in place by entanglement in the woven nylon mat 23 . an alternative means of holding the capsules in place on the electrode is to coat them with an adhesive , such as latex or commercial products such as fuller resweld and coast proseal , before depositing them on the electrode . when the capsules are retained by an adhesive the mat 23 is not used . suitable poisoning agents for encapsulating in the globules are low melting point waxes , e . g ., beeswax and paraffin . ( note that the melting point of the poisoning agents must be equal to or lower than the melting point of the encapsulate .) mineral oils that are substantially insoluble in the electrolyte are also suitable poisoning agents . it is to be observed that this invention is applicable to both primary and secondary cells and that it will provide thermal protection both during discharge and charge operation .	7
although the description hereinafter focuses on systems which comply with is - 54b , the principles of the present invention are equally applicable to a variety of wireless communication system , e . g ., cellular and satellite radio system , irrespective of the particular mode of operation ( analog , digital , dualmode , etc . ), the access technique ( fdma , tdma , cdma , hybrid fdma / tdma / cdma , etc . ), or the architecture ( macrocells , microcells , picocells , etc .). as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art , the logical channel which carries speech and / or data may be implemented in different ways at the physical channel level ( layer 1 ). the physical channel may be , for example , a relatively narrow rf band ( fdma ), a time slot on a radio frequency ( tdma ), a code sequence ( cdma ), or a combination of the foregoing . for purposes of the present invention , the term &# 34 ; channel &# 34 ; means any physical channel which can carry speech and / or data , and is not limited to any particular mode of operation , access technique or system architecture . this application contains subject matter which is related to u . s . pat . no . 5 , 353 , 332 to raith et al ., entitled &# 34 ; method and apparatus for communication control in a radiotelephone system &# 34 ;; to u . s . patent application ser . no . 07 / 956 , 640 , entitled &# 34 ; digital control channel ,&# 34 ; filed on oct . 5 , 1992 ; to u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 047 , 452 , entitled &# 34 ; layer 2 protocol for the random access channel and the access response channel ,&# 34 ; filed on apr . 19 , 1993 ; to u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 147 , 254 , entitled &# 34 ; a method for communicating in a wireless communication system ,&# 34 ; filed on nov . 1 , 1993 ; to u . s . patent application ser . no . 07 / 967 , 027 , entitled &# 34 ; multi - mode signal processing ,&# 34 ; filed on oct . 27 , 1992 ; and to u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 140 , 467 entitled &# 34 ; a method of effecting random access in a mobile radio system ,&# 34 ; filed on oct . 25 , 1993 . these six co - pending applications are incorporated herein by reference . fig7 represents a block diagram of an exemplary cellular mobile radiotelephone system according to one embodiment of the present invention . the system shows an exemplary base station 110 and a mobile station 120 . the base station includes a control and processing unit 130 which is connected to the msc 140 which in turn is connected to the pstn ( not illustrated ). general aspects of such cellular radiotelephone systems are known in the art . the base station 110 for a cell includes a plurality of voice channels handled by voice channel receiver 150 which is controlled by the control and processing unit 130 . also , each base station includes a control channel transceiver 160 which may be capable of handling more than one control channel . the control channel transceiver 160 is controlled by the control and processing unit 130 . the control channel transceiver 160 broadcasts control information over the control channel of the base station or cell to mobiles locked to that control channel . when the mobile 120 is in an idle mode , the mobile periodically scans the control channels of base stations like base station 110 to determine which cell to lock on or camp to . the mobile 120 receives absolute information ( information about the particular cell corresponding to the control channel on which the information is being broadcast and may include the service profile of that cell , the control channel organization , and the type of cell ) and relative information ( generally the same kind of information as absolute information but is information concerning the characteristics of other cells ) broadcast on a control channel at its voice and control channel transceiver 170 . then , the processing unit 180 evaluates the received control channel information which includes the characteristics of the candidate cells and determines which cell the mobile should lock onto . the received control channel information not only includes absolute information concerning the cell with which it is associated , but also contains relative information concerning other cells proximate to the cell which the control channel is associated . according to the present invention , the digital control channel dcc comprises the logical channels shown in fig8 . the dcc logical channels include : a broadcast control channel ( bcch ), comprising a fast broadcast control channel f - bcch , an extended broadcast control channel e - bcch , and a broadcast short - message - service control channel s - bcch ; a short - message - service / paging / access channel spach , comprising a point - to - point short - message - service channel ( smsch ), the paging channel ( pch ), and an access response channel ( arch ); the random access control channel ( rach ); and the reserved channel . the dcc slots can be organized into higher level structures called superframes as illustrated in fig5 or as preferably illustrated in fig9 which depicts the frame structure of a forward ( base station to mobile station ) dcc and shows two successive hyperframes , each of which preferably comprises a respective primary superframe and a respective secondary superframe . three successive superframes are illustrated in fig9 each comprising a plurality of time slots that are organized as the logical channels f - bcch , e - bcch , s - bcch , and spach . in general , one or more dcc slots may be allocated for each logical channel in the superframe . each superframe in a forward dcc preferably includes a complete set of f - bcch information ( i . e ., a set of layer 3 messages ), using as many slots as are necessary , and each superframe preferably begins with a f - bcch slot . after the f - bcch slot or slots , the remaining slots in each superframe include one or more ( or no ) slots for the e - bcch , s - bcch , and spach logical channels . the bcch , which in the example shown in fig5 is allocated six dcc slots , carries overhead messages . one of the overhead messages is used to define the end of the bcch section within the superframe . the pch , which is allocated one dcc slot , carries paging messages . the arch , which is also allocated one dcc slot , carries channel assignment and other messages . the exemplary superframe of fig5 may contain other logical channels , including additional paging channels , as indicated by fig9 . if more than one pch is defined , different groups of mobile stations identified by different traits may be assigned to different pchs . the bcch acronym is used to refer collectively to the f - bcch , e - bcch , and s - bcch logical channels . these three logical channels are used , in general , to carry generic , system - related information . the attributes of these three channels are that they are unidirectional ( downlink ), shared , point - to - multipoint , and unacknowledged . the fast bcch is a logical channel used to broadcast time critical system information . the extended bcch is a logical channel used to broadcast system information that is less critical than the information sent on the f - bcch . the broadcast short message service s - bcch is a logical channel that is used to broadcast short messages used for an sms broadcast service . the spach channel is a logical channel that is used to send information to specific mobile stations regarding sms point - to - point , paging and to provide an access response channel . the spach channel may be considered to be further subdivided into three logical channels : smsch , arch , and pch . the paging channel pch is a subset of the spach dedicated to delivering pages and orders . the access response channel arch is a subset of the spach to which the mobile station autonomously moves upon successful completion of an access on the random access channel . the arch may be used to convey analog voice channel or digital traffic channel assignments or other responses to the mobile access attempt . the sms point - to - point channel smsch is used to deliver short messages to specific mobile stations receiving sms services , although the messages could also be addressed to more than one mobile . similarly , the paging messages on the pch may also be directed to more than one mobile . the spach is unidirectional ( downlink ), shared , and unacknowledged . the pch is generally point - to - multipoint , in that it can be used to send paging messages to more than one mobile station , but in some circumstances the pch is point - to - point . the arch and smsch are generally point - to - point , although messages sent on the arch can also be addressed to more than one mobile station . for communication from the mobile stations to the base stations , the reverse ( uplink ) dcc comprises a random access channel rach , which is used by the mobiles to request access to the system . the rach logical channel is unidirectional , shared , point - to - point , and acknowledged . all time slots on the uplink are used for mobile access requests , either on a contention basis or on a reserved basis . reserved - basis access is described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 140 , 467 , entitled &# 34 ; method of effecting random access in a mobile radio system &# 34 ;, which was filed on oct . 25 , 1993 , and which is incorporated in this application by reference . one feature of rach operation is that reception of some downlink information is required , whereby mobile stations receive real - time feedback for every burst they send on the uplink . this is known as layer 2 arq , or automatic repeat request , on the rach , and may be provided by a flow of information called shared channel feedback on a downlink sub - channel . it may be important sometimes to be able to distinguish between the bcch slots and the spach slots within a superframe . for example , upon being switched on , a mobile station does not know which slots are bcch slots and which slots are spach slots . the mobile station needs to find the overhead information at the beginning of the bcch section to be able to determine its paging slot . also , the boundary between the bcch section and the spach section may have changed for a variety of reasons . for example , if a system has been using twelve slots of a thirty - two - slot superframe for the bcch and wants to use thirteen slots for the bcch , mobile stations assigned to the first paging slot after the bcch slots must be informed that they should monitor another paging slot . according to one aspect of the present invention , one way to distinguish between bcch slots and spach slots is to use different cyclic redundancy check ( crc ) bits in these channels . for example , the crc bits in the layer 2 frames sent in the bcch slots may be inverted , while the check bits in the layer 2 frames sent in the spach slots are not inverted . thus , when a mobile reads the crc bits , it obtains an indication of the kind of slot it has read . using the check bits in this way is advantageous in some situations where it is necessary to re - assign a mobile station to another paging slot . the mobiles could obtain this information by decoding one or two bits that would identify the type of slot being decoded , but at a cost of reduced bandwidth . in applicants &# 39 ; system , the mobile stations will recognize that something has changed when they spot the inverted crc bits , and in response they will re - read the f - bcch , including the new dcc structure and paging slot assignment . furthermore , as illustrated in fig8 the dcc logical channels may include reserved channels that make the communication system more flexible : new features , services , or functions which can be used by future mobiles can be added at a later time without affecting existing mobiles . according to this embodiment of the present invention , the bcch overhead messages include a field which indicates where the reserved channels are located in the superframe . these reserved channels have a potentially wide variety of uses , such as carrying messages specific to a system operator and / or mobile station manufacturer . while existing mobile stations may not be able to use the new features described in the reserved channels , the existing mobile stations will take the location and number of reserved slots into consideration when determining the location of their respective paging channels . the spach layer 2 protocol is used whenever a tdma burst , or time slot , is used to carry point - to - point sms , paging , or arch information . a single spach layer 2 protocol frame is constructed so as to fit within a 125 - bit envelope . an additional five bits are reserved for use as tail bits , resulting in a total of 130 bits of information carried within each slot assigned for spach purposes . fig1 a - 10o show a range of possible spach layer 2 protocol frames under various conditions . a summary of the possible spach formats is provided in the first table below . a summary of the fields comprising layer 2 protocol frames for spach operation is provided in the second table below . similar frame formats are used for all spach channels such that all frames have a common header a . the contents of the header a determine whether or not a header b is present in any given spach frame . the header a discriminates among hard page frames ( containing no layer 3 information ), pch frames , arch frames and smsch frames . a hard triple page frame containing three 34 - bit mobile station identifications ( msids ) can be sent on the pch ( burst usage ( bu )= hard triple page ). a hard quadruple page frame containing four 20 - bit or 24 - bit msids can be sent on the pch ( bu = hard quadruple page ). one or more l3 messages may be transmitted in one frame , or continued over many frames . it is currently preferred that msids are only carried within frames where bu = pch , arch or smsch with the burst type ( bt )= single msid , double msid , triple msid , quadruple msid , or automatic retransmission request arq mode begin . the mobile station identity type idt field identifies the format of all msids carried within a given spach frame ( i . e ., no mixing of msid formats is allowed ). pages carried on the pch are preferably not allowed to continue beyond a single spach frame , although the protocol allows for it . all other pch messages may continue beyond a single spach frame . for non - arq - mode operation , the l2 spach protocol supports sending a single l3 message to multiple msids in addition to the fixed one - to - one relationship between msids and l3 messages . a message mapping field ( mm ) is used to control this aspect of the layer 2 frame operation . a valid spach frame requires that all l2 header information pertinent to a given l2 frame be included entirely within that frame , i . e ., the l2 header from a given spach frame cannot wrap into another spach frame . an offset indicator field ( oi ) is used to allow both the completion of a previously started layer 3 message and the start of a new layer 3 message to occur within a single spach frame . ______________________________________ can be sms pch arch continued______________________________________single msid y y y ydouble msid n y y ytriple msid n y y yquadruple msid n y y yhard triple page ( min ) n y n nhard quadruple page n y n n ( mini ) continue y y y yarq mode begin y n y yarq mode continue y n y ygroup id y y y y______________________________________ fig1 a illustrates the spach header a according to one embodiment of the present invention . the spach header a contains burst usage ( bu ) information and flags for managing mobile stations in a sleep mode . the bu field provides a high - level indication of burst usage . according to the present invention , the operation performed on each spach channel is not predetermined . the bu field indicates whether the burst is being used for paging , access response , or short message services . the flags indicate changes in sleep mode configuration as well as in broadcast control channel information . this header is always present in all possible spach frame types . fig1 b illustrates the spach header b according to one embodiment of the present invention . the spach header b contains supplementary header information used to identify the remaining contents of the layer 2 frame . this header is present when header a indicates a burst usage of type pch , arch or smsch . in one alternative , the bit used for the offset indicator oi shown in fig1 b as part of the header b may be used as a spach response mode srm indicator , i . e ., as information about the layer 2 access mode ( contention or reservation ) to be used in the next access attempt made by the receiving mobile station . the srm indicator indicates how a mobile is to respond once it has received all frames associated with a given spach message . fig1 c illustrates a null frame . the null frame is sent when necessary by the cellular system when there is nothing else to be transmitted for any given spach burst . the null frame also contains a go away ga flag which will be described below . fig1 d , 10e illustrate a hard triple page frame and a hard quadruple page frame . a hard triple page is a single frame page message containing three 34 - bit mins . a hard quadruple page is a single frame page message containing four 20 - bit or 24 - bit mins as determined by the mobile station identity type . a single msid frame , as illustrated in fig1 f , is used for starting the delivery of arch or smsch l3 messages in a non - arq mode . in addition , this frame may also be used for sending l3 pch messages ( pages or otherwise ), which are non - arq by definition . page messages sent using a single msid frame cannot be continued into another frame . if an arch or smsch l3 message is too long to fit into a single msid frame then the remaining l3 information is carried using additional continue frames or msid frames as necessary . if a complete arch or smsch l3 message does fit within a single msid frame , it is padded with filler , i . e ., bits having a predetermined value like zero , as necessary . if a non - page pch 13 message is too long to fit into single msid frame then the remaining l3 information is carried using additional continue frames or msid frames as necessary . if a complete pch l3 message does fit within a single msid frame , it is padded with filler as necessary . a double msid frame , as illustrated in fig1 g , is used for starting the delivery of two arch messages in a non - arq mode or two pch l3 messages . the number of msids is indicated in the bt field with the same idt format used for both instances of msid . page messages sent using a double msid frame cannot be continued into another frame . fig1 h shows a double msid frame with continuation . fig1 i shows a continue frame . fig1 j shows an offset single msid frame . a triple msid frame , as illustrated in fig1 k , is used for starting the delivery of three arch l3 messages in a non - arq mode or three pch 13 messages . the number of msids is indicated in the bt field with the same mobile station identity type format used for all instances of msid . page messages sent using a triple msid frame cannot be continued into another frame . a quadruple msid frame is used for starting the delivery of four arch l3 messages in non arq mode or four pch l3 messages . the number of msids is indicated in the bt field with the same mobile station identity type format used for all instances of msid . page messages sent using a quadruple msid frame cannot be continued into another frame . a continue frame , as illustrated in fig1 l , is used for continuation of the l3 messages which are too long to fit into the previous frame . note that a l2 header which is specific to any given spach frame must always be carried entirely within that frame ( i . e ., the l2 header associated with a given spach frame is not completed by using a subsequent spach frame ). an arq mode begin frame , as illustrated in fig1 m , is used for starting the delivery of a l3 arch or smsch message in the arq mode . the arq mode begin frame contains only one msid within its l2 header as well as a portion of the l3 message itself . if the l3 message is too long to fit into a single arq mode begin frame , then the remaining l3 information is carried using additional arq mode continue frames as necessary . if the l3 message does fit within a single arq mode begin frame , it is padded with filler as necessary . the pe field in conjunction with the transaction identifies tid field identifies the transaction initiated by the arq mode begin frame and serves to associate any subsequent arq mode continue frames with this same transaction . an arq mode begin frame has an implicit frame number frno value of zero associated with it . the arq mode continue frame , as illustrated in fig1 n , is used for continuing a l3 arch or smsch message which is too long to fit into the previous arq mode frame ( begin or continue ). the frame number frno field identifies the continue frames within the context of the overall l3 message . the frno field value is incremented for each continue frame sent in support of a given transaction ( i . e ., multiple continue frames may be sent to complete the transaction initiated by the arq mode begin frame ). the arq mode continue frame is also used to repeat any previously sent arq mode continue frames received incorrectly by the mobile station . according to one embodiment of the present invention , a group identity field ( gid ) can be included in the spach layer 2 protocol . the group identity field indicates that a mobile is part of a group . by using this group identity , the communication system can page the entire group using one page . a group id frame is illustrated in fig1 o . the group id frame is used for starting the delivery of arch or smsch l3 messages in a non - arq mode . in addition , this frame may also be used for sending l3 pch messages ( pages or otherwise ), which are non - arq by definition . page messages sent using a group id frame cannot be continued into another frame . if an arch or smsch l3 message or a non - page pch l3 message is too long to fit into a group id frame , then the remaining l3 information is carried using an end frame or additional continue frames as necessary . if a complete arch or smsch l3 message or a non - page pch l3 message does fit within a group id frame , it is padded with filler as necessary . according to another embodiment of the present invention , a go - away flag ga can be included in the spach layer 2 protocol for example in the null frame illustrated in fig1 c . the ga flag can be used by the cellular system to indicate that the mobile stations should not attempt to use a certain cell . fir example , this would permit a system operator to test a base station without risk of mobile stations trying to lock onto it . __________________________________________________________________________ lengthfield name ( bits ) values__________________________________________________________________________bu = burst usage 3 000 = hard triple page ( 34 bit msid ) 001 = hard quad page ( 20 or 24 bit msid ) 010 = pch burst 011 = arch burst 100 = smsch burst 101 = reserved 110 = reserved 111 = nullpcon = pch continuation 1 0 = no pch continuation 1 = pch continuation , activatedbcn = bcch change notification 1 transitions whenever there is a change in f - bcch information . smsn = sms notification 1 transitions whenever there is a change in s - bcch information . pfm = paging frame modifier 1 0 = use assigned pf 1 = use one higher than assigned pfbt = burst type 3 000 = single msid frame 001 = double msid frame 010 = triple msid frame 011 = quadruple msid frame 100 = continue frame 101 = arq mode begin 110 = arq mode continue 111 = reservedidt = identity type 2 00 = 20 bit tmsi 01 = 24 bit mini per is - 54b 10 = 34 bit min per is - 54b 11 = 50 bit imsimsid = mobile station identity 20 / 24 / 34 / 50 20 bit tmsi 24 bit mini 34 bit min 50 bit imsigid = group identity 24 / 34 / 50 24 bit min 1 34 bit min 50 bit imsimm = message mapping 1 0 = one instance of l3li and l3data per instance of msid . 1 = one instance of l3li and l3data for multiple msids . oi = offset indicator 1 0 = no message offset included . 1 = message offset included . orsrm = spach response mode 0 = next access attempt made on rach to be contention - based . 1 = next access attempt made on rach to be reservation - based . cli = continuation length indicator 7 number of bits remaining in the previous l3 message . ga = go away 1 indicates if the cell is barred 0 = cell not barred 1 = cell barredl3li = layer 3 length indicator 8 variable length layer 3 messages supported up to a maximum of 255 octets . l3data = layer 3 data variable contains a portion ( some or all ) of the layer 3 message having an overall length as indicated by l3li . the portion of this field not used to carry iayer 3 information is filled with zeros . pe = partial echo 7 the 7 least significant bits of the mobile station is - 54b min . tid = transaction identity 2 indicates which arq mode transaction is being transmitted on the arch or smsch . frno = frame number 5 uniquely identifies specific frames sent in support of an arq mode transaction . filler = burst filler variable all filler bits are set zero . crc = cyclic redundancy code 16 same generator polynomial as is - 54b ( includes dvcc ) __________________________________________________________________________ according to the present invention , the mobile station can be in any of a plurality of states . for example , a mobile station would be in a &# 34 ; start random access &# 34 ; state before the first unit of a message that is to be transmitted by a random access has been transmitted . the mobile station would be in a &# 34 ; start reserved access &# 34 ; state before the first unit of a message that is to be transmitted by a reservation - based access has been transmitted . the mobile station would be in a &# 34 ; more units &# 34 ; state if there are more units associated with the same access event pending for transmission . the mobile station would be in a &# 34 ; after last burst &# 34 ; state if the last unit of an access event has been transmitted . finally , the mobile station would be in a &# 34 ; success &# 34 ; state after a message has been sent successfully . the layer 2 protocol also provides for a plurality of flags . forward shared control feedback ( scf ) flags are used to control the reverse channel , i . e ., the rach , as noted above . these scf flags are a bri flag , a r / n flag , and a cpe flag that are interleaved and transmitted in two fields in each downlink slot ( layer 1 ); the total length of the two fields is twenty - two bits . a preferred information format in the slots of the forward dcc is shown in fig1 . this format is substantially the same as the format used for the dtcs under the is - 54b standard , but new functionalities are accorded to the fields in each slot in accordance with applicants &# 39 ; invention . in fig1 , the number of bits in each field is indicated above that field . the bits sent in the sync field are used in a conventional way to help ensure accurate reception of the csfp and data fields , and the sync field would be the same as that of a dtc according to is - 54b and would carry a predetermined bit pattern used by the base stations to find the start of the slot . the csfp field in each dcc slot conveys a coded superframe phase ( sfp ) value that enables the mobile stations to find the start of each superframe . the busy / reserved / idle ( bri ) flag is used to indicate whether the corresponding uplink rach slot is busy , reserved or idle for reserved - basis accesses , which is described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 140 , 467 . six bits are used for these flags and the different conditions are encoded as shown in the table below : ______________________________________ bri . sub . 5 bri . sub . 4 bri . sub . 3 bri . sub . 2 bri . sub . 1 bri . sub . 0______________________________________busy 1 1 1 1 0 0reserved 0 0 1 1 1 1idle 0 0 0 0 0 0______________________________________ the received / not received ( r / n ) flag is used to indicate whether or not the base station received the last transmitted burst . a five - times repetition code is used for encoding this flag as shown in the table below : ______________________________________ r / n . sub . 4 r / n . sub . 3 r / n . sub . 2 r / n . sub . 1 r / n . sub . 0______________________________________received 1 1 1 1 1not received 0 0 0 0 0______________________________________ according to the present invention , partial echo information is used to identify which mobile station was correctly received after the initial burst of random access and / or which mobile station is intended to have access to the reserved slot . for example , the seven least significant bits of an is - 54b - type min can be assigned as the partial echo information , and these are preferably encoded in a manner similar to the manner in which the digital verification color code ( dvcc ) is encoded under is - 54b , i . e ., a ( 12 , 8 ) code , producing eleven bits of coded partial echo information . the following table shows how the mobile decodes received flags according to the layer 2 state . note that only the flags relevant to the layer 2 state are shown . in the &# 34 ; start random access &# 34 ; state , the bri flag is the only relevant flag . during a multiburst message transmission , both the bri and r / n flags are relevant . in the summary in the following table , b i is the bit value . __________________________________________________________________________ received / not received busy / reserved / idle notlayer 2 state busy reserved idle received received__________________________________________________________________________ 111100 001111 000000 11111 00000start random access 1 # str1 ## n / a n / astart reserved reserved if & lt ; 3 bits difference to n / a n / aaccess reserved flag code valuemore units busy if & lt ; 4 bits difference to busy flag code value 2 # str2 ## 3 # str3 ## after last burst busy if & lt ; 4 bits difference to busy flag code value 2 # str4 ## 3 # str5 ## the mobile station interprets a received coded partial echo value ashaving been correctly decoded if it differs by less than three bits from a mobile station is allowed a maximum of y + 1 , where y =( 0 , 1 , . . . , 7 ), transmission attempts before considering the attempt to transfer a message as a failure . the random delay period used in the mobile station after a not idle condition or after a transmission attempt is uniformly distributed between zero msec and 200 msec with a granularity of 6 . 667 msec ( the duration of a time slot ). a mobile station is preferably not allowed to make more than z consecutive repetitions of an individual burst , where z =( 0 , 1 , . . . , 3 ). according to one embodiment of the present invention , the bmi ( base station , mobile switching center and interworking function ) can page a mobile station by using spach notification and thereby save much system bandwidth in some situations . for example , when a spach message is to be delivered to a mobile in the system illustrated in fig1 all ten base stations would transmit it since the system would generally not know in which cell the mobile was located . if the spach message required a total of ten slots to transmit , 100 slots would be used by the system to send the spach message , ten slots per base station . to avoid this waste , a spach notification message would be broadcast in all ten cells , or whatever the appropriate number of cells for the mobile station happened to be , rather than the entire spach message . in essence , the spach notification message asks the mobile station if it is able to receive a message . when the mobile station responds ( on the rach ), the bmi can determine in which cell the mobile station is located and thus can send the spach message through that cell &# 39 ; s base station . in addition , the spach notification message may also indicate what type of spach message will be sent to the mobile station . for example , if the mobile station receives a spach notification which indicates that an ssd ( shared secret data ) update is coming , the mobile station issues a response containing a spach confirmation and starts a timer . the bmi then transmits the ssd update order message . upon receipt of the message , the mobile stops the timer and enters the ssd update proceeding state . however , if the timer expires prior to receiving the ssd update order message , the mobile returns to the dcch camping state . the spach notification could also be used to notify the mobile that a sms message is coming . in another aspect , the system may dynamically assign temporary mobile station identities ( tmsis ) to the mobile stations . such a tmsi would be a 20 - bit or 24 - bit msid sent by the system over the air interface to a mobile . the tmsi would be used by the network to page or deliver a message to the corresponding mobile station on the spach , and the tmsi would be used by the mobile station to make accesses on the rach . using 20 - bit tmsis increases the paging capacity in comparison to using 24 - bit tmsis at the expense of reducing the address space , i . e ., the number of mobiles that can be paged , in the same way that using 24 - bit msids increases paging capacity in comparison to using 34 - bit mins ( compare fig1 e to fig1 d , for example ). as seen from fig1 e , a single layer 2 paging frame can carry five 20 - bit tmsis , or pages , instead of four 24 - bit tmsis ( or msids ). by providing a plurality of tmsi formats , one has the flexibility to trade off address space for paging capacity . it is currently preferred that the bmi assign a tmsi to a mobile in response to the mobile &# 39 ; s registration , in which case the tmsi can be provided in an information element called msid assignment that is included in a registration accept message sent on the spach . advantageously , the mobile station would treat the assigned tmsi as valid until it is switched off or until it decides to carry out any of the following system accesses : a new system registration ; a forced registration ; a power - up registration ; a tmsi timeout registration ; a deregistration registration ; or the first system access of any kind made after receiving various other messages , such as a registration reject message . a mobile station assigned a tmsi in a registration accept message sent by the bmi using arq mode advantageously would only treat the assigned tmsi as valid if the arq transaction were completed successfully from a layer 2 perspective . while a particular embodiment of the present invention has been described and illustrated , it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto since modifications may be made by persons skilled in the art . the present application contemplates any and all modifications that fall within the spirit and scope of the underlying invention disclosed and claimed herein .	8
various exemplary embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the drawing figures . one embodiment of the invention can be described in the general context of method steps , which may be implemented in one embodiment by a program product including computer - executable instructions , such as program code , executed by computers in networked environments . embodiments of the invention may be implemented in either hardware or software , and can be placed both within a transmitter and / or a receiver . fig1 shows a system 10 illustrating one embodiment of the invention , comprising multiple communication devices that can communicate through a network . the system 10 may comprise any combination of wired or wireless networks including , but not limited to , a mobile telephone network , a wireless local area network ( lan ), a bluetooth personal area network , an ethernet lan , a token ring lan , a wide area network , the internet , etc . the system 10 may include both wired and wireless communication devices . for exemplification , the system 10 shown in fig1 can include a mobile telephone network 11 and the internet 28 . connectivity to the internet 28 may include , but is not limited to , long range wireless connections , short range wireless connections , and various wired connections including , but not limited to , telephone lines , cable lines , power lines , and the like . exemplary communication devices of the system 10 may include , but are not limited to , a mobile telephone 12 , a combination pda and mobile telephone 14 , a pda 16 , an integrated messaging device ( ind ) 18 , a desktop computer 20 , and a notebook computer 22 . the communication devices may be stationary or mobile as when carried by an individual who is moving . the communication devices may also be located in a mode of transportation including , but not limited to , an automobile , a truck , a taxi , a bus , a boat , an airplane , a bicycle , a motorcycle , etc . some or all of the communication devices may send and receive calls and messages and communicate with service providers through a wireless connection 25 to a base station 24 . the base station 24 may be connected to a network server 26 that allows communication between the mobile telephone network 11 and the internet 28 . the system 10 may include additional communication devices and communication devices of different types . a communication device may communicate using various media including , but not limited to , radio , infrared , laser , cable connection , and the like . one such portable electronic device incorporating a wide variety of features is shown in fig4 . this particular embodiment may serves as both a video gaming device and a portable telephone . the communication devices may communicate using various transmission technologies including , but not limited to , code division multiple access ( cdma ), global system for mobile communications ( gsm ), universal mobile telecommunications system ( umts ), time division multiple access ( tdma ), frequency division multiple access ( fdma ), transmission control protocol / internet protocol ( tcp / ip ), short messaging service ( sms ), multimedia messaging service ( mms ), e - mail , instant messaging service ( ims ), bluetooth , ieee 802 . 11 , etc . fig2 and 3 show one representative mobile telephone 12 within which one embodiment of the present invention may be implemented . it should be understood , however , that the present invention is not intended to be limited to one particular type of mobile telephone 12 or other electronic device . the mobile telephone 12 of fig2 and 3 comprises a housing 30 , a display 32 in the form of a liquid crystal display , a keypad 34 , a microphone 36 , an ear - piece 38 , a battery 40 , an infrared port 42 , an antenna 44 , a smart card 46 in the form of a universal integrated circuit card ( uicc ) according to one embodiment of the invention , a card reader 48 , radio interface circuitry 52 , codec circuitry 54 , a controller 56 and a memory 58 . generally , program modules can include routines , programs , objects , components , 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 program code 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 . software and web implementations of the present invention could be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule - based logic and other logic to accomplish the various database searching steps , correlation steps , comparison steps and decision steps . it should also be noted that the words “ component ” and “ module ” as used herein , and in the claims , are intended to encompass implementations using one or more lines of software code , and / or hardware implementations , and / or equipment for receiving manual inputs . by taking into account the density evolution of messages passed in belief propagation decoding , random constructions of irregular ldpc codes can be developed that approach shannon limits for an assortment of channels ( e . g . additive white gaussian noise ( awgn ), binary erasure channel ( bec ), binary symmetric channel ( bsc )). these are typically described as ensembles with variable and check edge polynomials λ ⁡ ( x ) = ∑ i = 2 d l ⁢ λ i ⁢ x i - 1 ρ ⁡ ( x ) = ∑ j = 2 d r ⁢ ρ j ⁢ x j - 1 , respectively , where λ i and ρ j are the fraction of total edges connected to variable and check nodes of degree i = 2 , 3 , . . . , d , and j = 2 , 3 , . . . , d , respectively . these random constructions sometimes require the relatively long codeword lengths to approach the capacity limit and do not always provide the strong bler performance required by packet - based communication systems . in actual communication terminals , these random constructions can require storage of the entire parity - check matrix , and for systems employing variable packet - length , the storage of multiple random constructions is both necessary and costly . alternatively , structured approaches to ldpc code designs that allow for reduced storage requirements and simple code description may be used . one such example is the ldpc code construction based upon array constructions . for code rates 0 . 85 and above , these code constructions can have acceptable performance with good error floors and blers . however , with respect to random constructions , these constructions sometimes suffer at lower code rates because they have edge distributions that result in relatively poor asymptotic performance and thus poor performance in general . it is desirable thus , to provide irregularly structured ldpc codes that have good overall error performance for a wide range of code rates with attractive storage requirements that make communication terminals cost effective . the result of such ldpc codes can do a better performing communication system with lower cost terminals . these factors can make such a fec attractive for applications over a wide range of products including but not limited to wireless lan , next generation cellular systems , and ultra wide band systems . as discussed herein , an irregular “ seed ” parity - check matrix can be used as the “ seed ” for irregular structured ldpc code some embodiments according to the present invention . one embodiment invention involves the construction of an irregular “ seed ” low - density parity check - matrix h seed of dimension (( n seed − k seed )× n seed ) derived from an edge distribution , λ seed ( x ) and ρ seed ( x ), with good asymptotic performance and good girth properties . in one embodiment , good asymptotic performance may be characterized by a good threshold value using belief propagation decoding and good girth may be characterized by having very few if no variable nodes with a girth of 4 . this can be accomplished manually or via a software program once given the code ensemble and / or node degrees . although there are no limits on the maximum values of k seed and n seed , which represent the number of information bits and the resulting codeword length , respectively in one embodiment , for the code defined by h seed , these values can be relatively small in comparison to the target message - word and codeword length . this can allow for more potential integer multiples of n seed within the target range of codeword lengths , reduced storage requirements , and simplified code descriptions . in one embodiment of the invention , the smallest possible value for h seed can be used with edge distributions defined by λ seed ( x ) and ρ seed ( x ), while still maintaining good girth properties . one function of the seed matrix can be to identify the location and type of sub - matrices in the expanded ldpc parity - check matrix h constructed from h seed and a given set of permutation matrices . the permutation matrices in h seed can determine the location of sub - matrices in the expanded matrix h that contain a permutation matrix of dimension ( n spread × n spread ) from the given set . one selection within the given set of permutation matrices is defined below . as an example only , the given set of permutation matrices used herein can be finite and consist of the set { p spread ∞ , p spread 0 , p spread 1 , p spread 2 , . . . , p spread p - 1 } where p is a positive integer ( a prime number in a preferred embodiment of the invention ), p spread 0 = i is the identity matrix , p spread 1 is a full - rank permutation matrix , p spread 2 = p spread 1 p spread 1 , etc . up to p spread p - 1 . one example embodiment of p spread 1 is a single circular shift mutation matrix p spread 1 = [ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 ] ⁢ ⁢ for ⁢ ⁢ n spread = 5 another example embodiment of p spread 1 is an alternate single circular shift permutation matrix p spread 1 = [ 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ] ⁢ ⁢ for ⁢ ⁢ n spread = 5 . for notational sake , p spread ∞ denotes the all zeros matrix 0 of dimension ( n spread × n spread ) ( i . e . p spread ∞ = 0 where every element is a zero ), and the zeros in h seed indicate the location of the sub - matrix p spread ∞ = 0 in the expanded matrix h . thus , the expanded ldpc matrix h can be of dimension ( n spread ( n seed − k seed )× n spread n seed ) with sub - matrices consisting of permutation matrices of dimension ( n spread × n spread ) raised to an exponential power from the set of { 0 , 1 , . . . , p − 1 , ∞}. furthermore , the expanded ldpc code can have the same edge distribution as h seed and hence can achieve the desired asymptotic performance described by λ seed ( x ) and ρ seed ( x ), provided both h seed and the expanded matrix h have satisfactory girth properties . the following description concerns one embodiment of the invention that constructs a structured array exponent matrix that may be described as e array = [ e 1 , 1 e 1 , 2 … e 1 , p e 2 , 1 e 2 , 2 … e 2 , p ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ e p , 1 e p , 2 … e p , p ] , where ⁢ ⁢ e i , j = ( i - 1 ) ⁢ ( j - 1 ) ⁢ ⁢ mod ⁢ ⁢ p using modulo arithmetic ( but not limited to ) of a number p . in one embodiment of the invention , p can be a prime number , but this is not necessary for the principles of the present invention . p can be at least the column dimension of the irregular “ seed ” parity check matrix and the column dimension of the spreading permutation matrix . in one embodiment , n seed ≦ p and n spread ≦ p . however , other values are also possible . other embodiments of the present invention can use transformed versions of e array . in particular , one such transformation involves the shifting of rows to construct an upper triangular matrix while replacing vacated element locations with ∞, i . e . e shift = [ e 1 , 1 e 1 , 2 e 1 , 3 … e 1 , p ∞ e 2 , 1 e 2 , 2 … e 2 , p - 1 ∞ ∞ e 3 , 1 … e 3 , p - 2 ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ ∞ ∞ ∞ … e p , 1 ] . another embodiment of the present invention transforms e array by the truncation of columns and / or rows to select a sub - matrix of e array for implementation with a specified h seed . still another embodiment of the invention uses the combination of both shifting and truncation . for example , given n seed + 1 ≦ p and n spread ≦ p ( with p being a prime number in a particular embodiment of the invention ) e truncate1 = [ e 1 , 2 e 1 , 3 e 1 , 4 … e 1 , ( n seed - k seed ) … e 1 , ( n seed + 1 ) e 2 , 1 e 2 , 2 e 2 , 3 … e 2 , ( n seed - k seed - 1 ) … e 2 , n seed ∞ e 3 , 1 e 3 , 2 … e 3 , ( n seed - k seed - 2 ) … e 3 , ( n seed - 1 ) ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋰ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ ∞ ∞ ∞ … e ( n seed - k seed ) , 1 … e ( n seed - k seed ) , ( k seed + 2 ) ] for n seed + 2 ≦ p and n spread ≦ p ( with p being a prime number in a particular embodiment of the invention ) e truncate2 = [ e 2 , 2 e 2 , 3 e 2 , 4 … e 2 , ( n seed - k seed ) … e 2 , ( n seed + 1 ) e 3 , 1 e 3 , 2 e 3 , 3 … e 3 , ( n seed - k seed - 1 ) … e 3 , n seed ∞ e 4 , 1 e 4 , 2 … e 4 , ( n seed - k seed - 2 ) … e 4 , ( n seed - 1 ) ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋰ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ ∞ ∞ ∞ … e ( n seed - k seed + 1 ) , 1 … e ( n seed - k seed + 1 ) , ( k seed + 2 ) ] . many shift and truncate embodiments can be used with the present invention , as well as column and row permutation transformations performed either prior to or after other individual transformations in a nested fashion . more generally , the transformation of the e array matrix can be described using the functional notation t ( e array ) that represents a transformed exponent matrix of dimension (( n seed − k seed )× n seed ). yet another embodiment of this family of transformations may include an identity transformation . for example , in another embodiment of the invention , t ( e array )= e array . in one embodiment of the present invention h seed and t ( e array ) can be used to construct the final exponent matrix in order to expand the seed matrix into h . the final exponent matrix may be defined as f final = [ f 1 , 1 f 1 , 2 … f 1 , n seed f 2 , 1 f 2 , 2 … f 2 , n seed ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ f ( n seed - k seed ) , 1 f ( n seed - k seed ) , 2 … f ( n seed - k seed ) , n seed ] of dimension (( n seed − k seed )× n seed ) by replacing each one in h seed with the corresponding matrix element ( i . e . the same row and column ) in the transformed structured array exponent matrix t ( e array ) and each zero in h seed with ∞. thus , the elements of f final can belong to the set { 0 , 1 , . . . , p − 1 , ∞} if modulo arithmetic is used in the construction of e array . the following is a discussion of one embodiment of the expansion of h seed using f final to construct a final ldpc parity - check matrix h that describes the ldpc code . the matrix h seed of dimension (( n seed − k seed )× n seed ) can be spread or expanded using the elements of the permutation matrix set { p spread ∞ , p spread 0 , p spread 1 , p spread 2 , . . . , p spread p - 1 } with elements of dimension ( n spread × n spread ), where p spread ∞ = 0 is the all zeros matrix , p spread 0 = i is the identity matrix , p spread 1 is a permutation matrix , p sread 2 = p spread 1 p spread 1 , p spread 3 = p spread 1 p spread 1 p spread 1 , etc . ( but not limited to ) to construct h = [ p spread f 1 , 1 p spread f 1 , 2 … p spread f 1 , n seed p spread f 2 , 1 p spread f 2 , 2 … p spread f 2 , n seed ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ p spread f ( n seed - k seed ) , 1 p spread f ( n seed - k seed ) , 2 … p spread f ( n seed - k seed ) , n seed ] of dimension ( n spread ( n seed − k seed )× n spread n seed ). thus , this embodiment of the present invention can be used to describe an expanded ldpc code with sub - matrices of dimension ( n spread × n spread ) in the ( i , j ) th sub - matrix location consisting of the permutation matrix p spread raised to the f i , j power ( i . e . p spread f i , j ) the following is one particular example of the implementation of one embodiment of the present invention . in this example , h seed = [ 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 ] , thus ⁢ ⁢ n seed = 6 , p spread 1 = [ 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 ] , thus ⁢ ⁢ n spread = 3 , therefore , p = 11 is the smallest prime number that satisfies the example conditions n seed + 2 ≦ p and n spread ≦ p . the interim and final exponent matrices as defined above can be : e truncate2 = [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 2 4 6 8 10 ∞ 0 3 6 9 1 ∞ ∞ 0 4 8 1 ] ⁢ ⁢ and f = [ 1 ∞ ∞ 4 ∞ ∞ 0 2 ∞ 6 8 ∞ ∞ 0 3 ∞ ∞ 1 ∞ ∞ 0 ∞ 8 1 ] , one embodiment of a method for constructing irregularly structured ldpc codes according to the present invention is depicted in fig4 . at step 100 , an irregular “ seed ” parity check matrix h seed of dimension (( n seed − k seed )× n seed ) can be constructed , being derived from an edge ensemble , λ seed ( x ) and ρ seed ( x ), with good asymptotic performance . in one embodiment , good asymptotic performance can be characterized by good threshold value using belief propagation decoding and good girth properties such as by having very few if no variable nodes with girth of 4 . at step 110 , a structured array exponent matrix can be constructed , as shown below : e array = [ e 1 , 1 e 1 , 2 ⋯ e 1 , p e 2 , 1 e 2 , 2 ⋯ e 2 , p ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ e p , 1 e p , 2 ⋯ e p , p ] ⁢ ⁢ where ⁢ ⁢ e i , j = ( i - 1 ) ⁢ ( j - 1 ) ⁢ ⁢ mod ⁢ ⁢ p this matrix can be constructed using modulo arithmetic of a number p that can be at least the column dimension of the irregular “ seed ” parity check matrix and the column dimension of the spreading permutation matrix . in other words , n seed ≦ p and n spread ≦ p . at step 120 , the structured array exponent matrix can be transformed using a transform t ( e array ) that may perform shifts , truncations , permutations , etc . operations to construct an exponent matrix of dimension (( n seed − k seed )× n seed ) from e array . at step 130 , a final exponential matrix can be constructed , f final = [ f 1 , 1 f 1 , 2 ⋯ f 1 , n seed f 2 , 1 f 2 , 2 ⋯ f 2 , n seed ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ f ( n seed - k seed ) , 1 f ( n seed - k seed ) , 2 ⋯ f ( n seed - k seed ) , n seed ] of dimension (( n seed − k seed )× n seed ) by replacing each one in h seed with the corresponding element in the transformed structured array exponent matrix t ( e array ) and each zero in h seed with ∞. thus , the elements of f final belong to the set { 0 , 1 , . . . , p − 1 , ∞}. at step 140 , the expanded parity check matrix can be constructed , h = [ p spread f 1 , 1 p spread f 1 , 2 ⋯ p spread f 1 , n seed p spread f 2 , 1 p spread f 2 , 2 ⋯ p spread f 2 , n seed ⋮ ⋮ ⋰ ⋮ p spread f ( n seed - k seed ) , 1 p spread f ( n seed - k seed ) , 2 ⋯ p spread f ( n seed - k seed ) , n seed ] of dimension ( n spread ( n seed − k seed )× n spread n seed ) that describes the expanded ldpc code with sub - matrices of dimension ( n spread × n spread ) in the ( i , j ) th sub - matrix location consisting of the permutation matrix p spread raised to the f i , j power , i . e . p spread f i , j , where f i , j is the matrix element in the ( i , j ) th location of f final . fig5 is an example of one embodiment of a rate ½ irregular parity - check matrix . fig6 is an example of one embodiment of a rate ⅔ irregular parity - check matrix . fig7 is an example of one embodiment of a rate ¾ irregular parity - check matrix . the foregoing description of embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise form disclosed , and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the present invention . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the present invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the present invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated .	7
referring to fig1 and 2a , two embodiments of a dual upper deck airplane 10 formed in accordance with the present invention are provided . the craft includes a fuselage 12 having a main passenger seating deck 14 , a forward upper passenger seating deck 16 , and an aft upper passenger seating deck 18 . the forward upper deck is located aft of the cockpit . the aft upper deck 18 is substantially located behind the center - section of the wing . a middle upper region 20 is situated at a longitudinal location between the forward and aft upper decks . the middle region includes a cross - sectional area that is significantly smaller than either of the cross - sectional areas of the forward or aft upper decks . the middle upper region is not available for passenger seating and hence is not considered to be a passenger seating cabin . the middle upper region may be formed in a variety of ways , including the embodiments described below and shown in fig1 a , and 2b . in the embodiment of fig1 the middle region 20 includes a fairing 22 that transitions the outer fuselage shape between the forward and aft upper passenger decks . the middle region itself , though formed as a part of the fuselage , is separate from the cabin structures and therefore may not be pressurized . fig3 illustrates a representative fuselage cross - section in the double - deck regions , which are preferably formed as the combination of a lower circle having radius r 1 and an upper circle having radius r 2 that is smaller than r 1 . other , non - circular arcuate shapes may be used . in one embodiment , the fuselage at the forward double deck is similar in cross - sectional size to the fuselage section at the aft double deck . the fuselage region located between the forward and aft double decks has a cross - sectional shape corresponding to the lower circle only . the middle region fairing is of less height than either of the forward or aft double deck fuselage portions . this gives the upper surface of the fuselage an appearance of having two &# 34 ; humps &# 34 ;, or conversely , a middle &# 34 ; dip &# 34 ;, as shown in fig1 and labeled item 24 . still referring to the embodiment of fig1 the middle region 20 does not include a through passage or connection between the forward and aft upper decks in any way . to exit the airplane during emergencies , one or more side door pairs 26 , 28 are available in each of the forward and aft upper decks , respectively . the main deck 14 includes a number of pairs of side doors 30 spaced longitudinally along the fuselage . the exit doors are preferably conventional type &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; doors . it is important to alternate the placement of the upper deck exit doors longitudinally with the main deck exit doors , so that their respective evacuation slides will not interfere with one another during use . further , one or more stairs are provided between the forward upper deck and the main deck as indicated at item 34 , and between the aft upper deck and the main deck as indicated at item 36 . a second embodiment of a dual upper deck airplane formed in accordance with the present invention is shown in fig2 a . in this embodiment , the middle region 20 is similar to the first embodiment , including having a reduced cross - sectional area relative to the forward and aft double deck cross - sectional areas . the middle region of the second embodiment , however , further includes a structural carry - through segment 40 in which a pressurized passageway is provided to connect between the forward and aft upper decks . alternatively , the middle upper region may be pressurized and used for crew and / or passenger sleeping facilities , lavatories , galleys , stowage and / or other storage uses . fig2 b illustrates one embodiment in which the middle upper region 20 includes a number of sleeping bunks or personal space units 25 , usable as a passenger sleeping facility or crew rest facility . the embodiment further includes a galley 41 incorporating a galley cart storage area , a lavatory 42 , and a closet or storage area 43 . note that alternate arrangements of these features , e . g ., the use of transversely oriented bunks instead of longitudinally oriented bunks , are also feasible in variants of this embodiment . the addition of a passageway between the forward and aft upper decks is desirable in that it provides an alternate exit route for the forward and aft upper deck passengers . in one embodiment , the pressurized passageway is sized to accommodate a standing adult of average height and width . as in the first embodiment , the middle region is of less height than either of the forward or aft double deck fuselage portions , thus maintaining the fuselage &# 39 ; s two - humped appearance . the amount of dip at the middle upper region will depend greatly on the particular aircraft size and configuration . in one embodiment , the upper exterior surface ( crown line ) of the middle upper region 20 is in the range of about 0 . 5 meters to about 1 . 5 meters below the upper exterior surface of the forward upper region . the exterior shape of the present invention is not congruent with known aircraft design practices . in particular , the present invention two - humped exterior shape is contrary to typical structural design goals of providing maximum fuselage height to efficiently react fuselage bending moments . thus , compared with a constant section double - deck airplane configuration , the upper surface dip in the fuselage has the appearance of being structurally non - optimal . compared with a main deck only airplane or a partial upper deck only airplane having the same passenger count , the present invention two - humped configuration is more efficient on a per seat basis , since the single deck cross section over the wing will have to carry an even higher bending moment due to the considerably longer aft fuselage required to accommodate additional passengers . the inventors herein have discovered that providing an upper surface dip can actually decrease aerodynamic drag , both parasite and wave drag . the benefits of these drag reductions exceeds any associated structural and weight penalties . fig5 is a plot of volume distribution of an airplane formed in accordance with the present invention compared with the whitcomb body volume distribution curve . as background regarding area - ruling theory , an important aerodynamic consideration in designing supersonic and high subsonic aircraft configurations is to minimize wave drag , a type of pressure drag due to the formation of shocks along the aircraft surfaces . wave drag has been shown to be related to changes in the aircraft &# 39 ; s cross - sectional area in the longitudinal direction , also referred to as &# 34 ; volume distribution .&# 34 ; several optimal body shapes have been found , the reference curve of fig5 being that of a whitcomb body . thus , a good area distribution from a wave drag viewpoint has aircraft cross - sectional area changes distributed longitudinally in a fashion that fills the most area under the curve and that includes smooth transitions . if a supersonic ( and high subsonic ) aircraft could be designed with a volume distribution similar to the whitcomb distribution , such an aircraft would have minimum wave drag upon reaching supersonic speed , mach 1 . 0 . since the main contributors to the cross - sectional area are the wing and the fuselage , the goal for most designers is to smooth the volume distribution shape . some designers have done this for supersonic aircraft by narrowing the width of the fuselage at the wings , so that in planform view , the fuselage is given an hourglass or &# 34 ; coke - bottle &# 34 ; shape . coke - bottling has been applied to military airplanes having various weapon - type payloads and to fuselage structures housing fuel tanks . horizontal area - ruling with integer passenger seats leads to inefficiencies within the transition areas , and as such is not considered a viable alternative . the inventors herein have discovered that coke - bottling the fuselage in the vertical plane to reduce the fuselage cross - sectional area at the location of the wings will also provide the desired area - ruling benefits . in addition , it allows a more efficient integer passenger seating arrangement . furthermore , contrary to conventional aerodynamic fuselage design wisdom , an airplane having a fuselage formed in accordance with the present invention actually reduces the total amount of drag of the airplane on a per seat basis relative to either a full upper deck or a forward or aft upper deck alone . with the area ruling , a cruise speed benefit will also accrue , for a given wing design . in more detail and referring to fig5 the solid line 50 represents the area distribution curve for an aircraft configuration formed in accordance with the present invention . the dash line 60 represents an area distribution plot for known aircraft configurations having only a forward upward deck . thus , the shaded region labeled 80 corresponds to a reduction in drag in the present invention plot 50 relative to the single upper forward deck configuration plot 60 . the fineness ratio , that divides the total length by an equivalent diameter , is favorable ( high ) as the reduced body cross - sectional area coincides with the maximum wing cross section . the dash - dot line 70 represents an area - ruling plot for a configuration having a full upper deck . the dash - dot line 70 would require a higher whitcomb body curve since the largest area of the full upper deck configuration extends above the whitcomb body curve shown . increasing the whitcomb body curve appropriately would leave an even larger void forward and aft of the wings , resulting in greater drag for this configuration . as will be appreciated from viewing fig5 the contracted fuselage shape at the middle region of the present invention reduces the cross - sectional area thereat , thereby avoiding this excess . referring to fig4 a third embodiment of a dual upper deck airplane 10 formed in accordance with the present invention is provided . in this arrangement , the fuselage 12 has a main passenger seating deck 14 , a forward upper passenger seating deck 16 , and an aft upper passenger seating deck 18 . a middle upper region 20 is provided within which a support box 19 of a high wing 21 is held . the fuselage at the middle region 20 has a cross - sectional area that is roughly the same size as either of the fuselage cross - sectional areas at the forward or aft upper decks . still referring to the embodiment of fig4 the middle region 20 does not include a through passage or connect the forward and aft upper deck interiors in any way . the middle upper region is not available for entry into during flight . to exit the airplane during emergencies , one or more side door pairs 26 , 28 are available in each of the forward and aft upper decks , respectively . the main deck 14 includes a number of pairs of side doors 30 spaced longitudinally along the fuselage . it is important to alternate the placement of the upper deck exit doors longitudinally with the main deck exit doors , so that their respective evacuation slides will not interfere with one another during use . further , one or more stairs are provided between the forward upper deck and the main deck as indicated at item 34 , and between the aft upper deck and the main deck as indicated at item 36 . as will be appreciated from the above , forward and aft upper deck designs of the above - described embodiments significantly increase passenger seating capacity without having to stretch the airplane . the first and second embodiments , have an additional benefit of avoiding the performance penalties of a full passenger upper deck design . these unique body geometries result in less wave drag and acceptable fuselage air flow characteristics . in all embodiments , the use of one or more upper deck exit door pairs in each upper cabin and spaced alternately with the main deck exit doors , allows passenger evacuation to be accomplished quickly and with minimal conflict . while various preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated herein , it will be appreciated that various modifications can be made to the dual upper deck airplane without departing from either the spirit or scope of the present invention . the illustrated and described embodiments are thus to be considered as exemplary and the invention itself should be evaluated only as defined in the claims which follow .	1
fig1 illustrates the use of flexible supports in the form of two stretch - proof flexible strips 2a which are glued or welded to one another and between which the wire ends 1 of a group 1a of wires are immovably fixed . the strips possess apertures 3a across which the formed - out or fanned and bent wire ends 1 are drawn . the top strip 2a has been removed for this showing . later , during the splicing process , the appropriate wire connecting strips 3 are inserted into these open portions . the wire connecting strip 3 is applied from both sides and is closed by being pressed . the projecting strips 2a , which under certain circumstances are provided with a perforation , can be cut off following the splicing process . in this exemplary embodiment , the strip 2a is simultaneously employed to fix the interval between adjacent groups of wires and its extension is used to transmit tension forces from the tip of the cable to the wire 1 . this also ensures the intervals between the wire connecting strips which are to be applied later . fig2 illustrates a strip 2b having a similar construction and identical fixing of the wires 1 as in the case of the strip 2a of fig1 although it corresponds only to the region of one wire connecting strip and does not exceed the contours of such wire connecting strip . the wire ends 1 have already been cut to the correct length and the strip 2b includes recesses 5 in the region of the later strip contacts 4 . the advantages of the above constructions lie in improved facilities for matching the strips 2a and 2b to the space conditions within a coupling box in comparison to earlier wire connecting strips or wire support strips . this allows a reduction in the diameter of the transport box , as indicated in fig3 . this also favors the use of synthetic sheath cables having prepared wire ends in metal fittings , for example coil boxes , because in these cases the cable must be threaded through solderable metal reducing pipes or adaptor pipes . the reduction in the diameter of these transport boxes 6 is achieved in that the formed out , divided , or pre - spliced wire end groups 3 are accommodated over a longer length . the accommodation of the associated larger supply of wire lengths does not require a larger box , provided the guidance and accommodation in the slicing area is effected in accordance with a predetermined system adapted to the size and type of box . during assembly , the group of wires 1a which project beyond the length of the splice box 7 , which is to be used later and has only been indicated by dot - dash lines in fig3 are withdrawn in accordance with their marks and under extreme circumstances even folded twice . to enable the group of wires 1a to be folded at their folding location with the smallest space requirement and without any danger of damage , here the use of a bending clip 8 is provided at two locations which permits a smaller bending diameter in that the strand elements of a group of wires are arranged one beside another . a bending clip of this type fundamentally consists of a channeled mandrel in the channels of which the individual strand elements are inserted . following the insertion of the strand elements into the channels , an elastic and slotted sleeve is applied so that the strand elements are fixed in their positions . fig4 and 5 illustrate a flexible , pressure - tight transport box 6 , which in part can be re - used . the box comprises a dome 14 in the form of a corrugated tube at one end of which can be arranged a valve 15 in order , for example , to be able to monitor the internal gas pressure . the actual force produced by the inner gas pressure is fixed and accommodated by means of clips 16 of corrugated tube formation arranged on the outside and which can slide into position onto prism - like cable clips 17 . with their corrugated tube - like exterior , the clips engage in form - locking fashion into the profile of the outer dome 14 whereby they are axially fixed . the clip 16 and the cable clip 17 can be mutually fixed by a fixing screw 18 when they have been positioned in the dome 14 . the cable clips 17 can be attached to the cable 20 by commercially available clamps 19 . sealing vis - a - vis the cable 20 can be effected with a shrink tube 21 which can also comprise a detachable support 22 fixed by a clamping strip 19 in order to acquire rigidity vis - a - vis the internal pressure . within the transport box 6 , the accommodation of the wire ends 1 with the corresponding supports 2a , 2b in accordance with the invention has been indicated . fig6 and 6a illustrate , in two views , a device with the aid of which the accurate positioning of the cable end and the cable box is effected . cable which has been inserted too far is then brought into the requisite position with the aid of this device from the box location , whereas cable which has not been inserted sufficiently far is adjusted from the next manhole . since this adjustment does not relate to an entire length of lay , but only to a partial length to the next manhole , the cable can be directly gripped on its sheath , since the sheath stability is sufficient for the tension forces needed for this operation . for simplicity , the device has merely been represented on a cable 20 which is just projecting out of the cable drawing tool 9 . the device comprises a double , longitudinally - adjustable shackle 23 including an extendable arm 24 , at the end of which is laterally arranged a lug for the suspension of a commercially - available drawing element 26 such as , for example , a gripping and pulling device , pulling lifter , pulley block and the like . the transmission of tension force to the cable 20 here is effected with an open cable grip 27 . if a protective box in accordance with the invention is arranged at the end of a cable , the cable can be gripped behind the box by a clip or the like . another method of transmitting tension to the cable 20 consists , for example , of using a form of lever shears wherein the tension force originating from the traction rope is transferred to the cable as a pressure force via lever elements . slipping on the cable prior to the tension force taking effect can be prevented by means of corresponding springs on the central articulation . for regripping , it is merely necessary to overcome the spring force by raising the lever . fig7 and 7a illustrate a splicing aid for splice - correct shaping and alignment of the cable ends . this represents a realization comprising an assembly shackle which is adjustable in the longitudinal and lateral directions and which permits the cable ends which are to be connected , which prior to the start of assembly are arranged beside or above one another in an overlapping fashion with their domes or transport boxes 6 to be gripped and by means of longitudinal or transverse adjustment , following the removal of the protective boxes , to be automatically brought into the position most favorable for splicing with the least possible exertion of force . furthermore , by means of additional devices 28 , the assembly shackle can also be used to temporarily receive devices for the support , forming out , and splicing of the wires . if , as illustrated in fig7 a , it is provided with feet 29 which are adjustable in height , this device can also be used in underground boxes . when appropriately designed , it can also be used for attachment to cable holders . the assembly shackle comprises a central pipe 30 in which two adjustable pipes 31 automatically slide away from one another or towards one another depending upon the direction of rotation when the spindles 32 are rotated . the pipes 31 are prevented from rotating by means of grooves 33 . a pair of pipes 34 and 35 have similar adjustment facilities and rotation safeguards . at the lower end of the pipe 35 , the cables 20 with their transport boxes 6 are fixed in direction and spacing from one another by way of known prismatic quick - acting clamps 36 . in fig7 a , the side view additionally illustrates the position of the two transport boxes relative to one another , and as an addition , here , the foot 29 which is adjustable in height is attached to the assembly shackle by means of a clamping connection . the arrows and double - headed arrows illustrated in fig7 and 7a indicate the possible directions of movement in which the transport boxes 6 can be moved until they agree in location . a device , similar to that illustrated in accordance with fig7 for aligning the cable ends and the transport boxes 6 is shown in fig1 . here , the adjustment devices having the spindles 32 are replaced by a lever system operating in accordance with a known lifting jack system . fig1 illustrates only one of these adjustment possibilities as the principle of the device is always the same . the two pipes 31 and 35 on which the adjusting device 38 is arranged have been illustrated as orienting features . this adjustment device 38 slides on the pipe 31 when one of the levers 37 is actuated by being turned in the direction of the arrow . the adjustment device 38 is prevented from rotating by a projection which engages into a groove ( as the groove 33 in fig7 ). a similar adjusting device 38 is arranged on the perpendicular pipe 35 in the same manner , so that displacement is also possible in this direction . it should also be added that the transport boxes 6 ( fig7 ) can under certain circumstances be replaced by appropriate widening of the cable sheath at the end of the cable in the region of the exposed wires 1 which are fixed by means of the strips 2a or 2b . this form of protection for the wires results in a considerable economy of material and likewise assembly costs . when large - capacity cables are deflected in narrow manholes , a danger exists that the cables will bend at the deflection points , in which case a fold formation may also appear . fig8 illustrates a bend protection device 40 which is preferably manufactured as a cast component from thermoplastic material . the bend protection device 40 , which must be rigidly attached to the cable 20 on the inside of the intended curve prior to the bending , prevents the described disadvantages in the event of narrow curves so that the possible bending radii can be used without danger to the cable . this is particularly advantageous when such is necessary for the positioning of the cable ends which have been prepared in the factory . for better matching to the cable 20 , advantageously the radial and axial ends of the bend protection device 40 are tapered . the fixing to the cable is effected either by integral buckles 41 or commercially available clamps 42 . the dash - dot line indicates a possible bending radius for the installation of the cable 20 . fig9 a - 9e illustrate further embodiments of the invention . in these cases , the wires 1 of the cable which has been prepared for splicing in the factory are introduced into supports which have the form of tear - resistant filaments 44 arranged in a chain ( fig9 d ), juxtaposed synthetic sleeves ( fig9 c ), synthetic strips 51 welded to one another in the gaps therebetween ( fig9 b ) or a carrier strip 10 ( fig9 a ) upon which a filament 52 is sewn in the form of a loop . the wires 1 extend at a distance from one another in the resultant loops or openings . in order to facilitate splicing , lugs 45 or similar elements with holes are arranged at the edges of the assembled groups of wires for attachment to a splicing head . these supports are , in accordance with the invention , arranged at the ends of the cables in the factory so that the cables are dispatched with their ends prepared for splicing and can be drawn into the cable lines . preparation of this kind has the further advantage that the individual wires can be fixed on the supports , which are referred to as division devices , in a numerical sequence . this division device is not to be substantial as far as possible , and is to conduct the wires at their latest spacings . if necessary , it is also to be able to be arranged on a group of strands which at this stage is not divided . the splicing operations at the assembly location can be simplified and shortened with these supports for the wires 1 which have been applied in the factory , in accordance with the invention , in an advantageous manner by means of commercially - available splicing aids , for example , a splicing head manufactured by the company 3m deutschland gmbh ( information und arbeitsanleitung : ms 2 3m adernverbindungsleisten , edition 2 , august , 1977 , ep - ms 2 - a ). fig1 and 11 illustrate a portion of such a splicing head 47 with such details as are of interest here . therefore , the supports ccontructed in accordance with the invention , for example the tear - resistant filaments 44 with the wires held therein , are each provided with the above - described lugs 45 in order to facilitate tightness and suspension in hooks 46 of the splicing head 47 of the above - described type . in this manner , it is possible to introduce and position the wires in a rational form in the gaps of a two - part division comb 43a and 43b . the second portion of the division comb 43b which is arranged in the splicing head 47 can be withdrawn from the fixed portion 43a following the action of a retaining device 43c , and in this manner the wires 1 can be inserted in the gaps of the underlying lower portion of the wire connecting strip 3a . the hooks 46 and the dividing combs 43 would have to have been applied to the commercially - available splicing heads . the retaining device 43c is advantageously coated with elastic material 48 ( fig1 ) on the side facing toward the wires 1 . the wire ends can be inserted , as desired , into a support , such as a wire support spring 49 , and the mobile comb section 43b can be reused to follow the removal of the retaining device 43c and the application of the central portion of the wire connecting strip for the positioning and insertion of the corresponding wires . the mobile comb section 43b can also remain in its end position and the second group of wires 1a can be positioned , guided and inserted by a second mobile comb section 43b and retaining device 43c . which of the indicating supports is selected for the positioning of the wires is irrelevant as regards the principle of the invention . it is also irrelevant whether this division device is applied to the group of wires prior to the stranding to form the cable core or thereafter . it is advantageous to mark the position of the box , determined by the position of the division device , actually on the cable sheath . furthermore , it is also possible to arrange such devices several times , in series , at the cable ends in order to reduce the dependency of the cable length and the cable ends upon the location of the box . fig1 is a side view of the splicing head 47 with the wire support spring 49 by way of which the wires 1 are supported . also shown is a hook 46 into which the described lugs 45 of the supports of the invention can be suspended . fig1 , 12a , 13 and 13a illustrate how , in the case of large capacity cables , it is possible for the wire connecting strips 3 , which can otherwise be grouped only with a large expense and skill , to be uniformly distributed over the cable splice . an additional advantage resides in the fact that with this method the wires 1 are exposed to less danger of damage . the wire connecting strips 3 are fixed by means of two longitudinally - divided rings which , on the completion of the splice , are positioned about the splice at intervals corresponding to the length of the wire connecting strips , and are locked in position . as shown in fig1 and 13a , each ring comprises two similar , externally grooved synthetic strips 61 of trapezoidal cross - section which are cut to length at the assembly location in accordance with the spliced diameter and having been positioned around the splice are connected with , for example , u - shaped cast components as connecting elements to form a ring . the rings are each positioned at the end of the wire connecting strips by engaging trapezoidal grooves in the spacing elements 53 . the wire connecting strips are inserted between the rings in an oblique position , are rotated into the cable axis , and are brought into their final position at the periphery where they are positioned by laterally placing the supports 54 which can be anchored in the grooves of the synthetic strips 61 . another possibility of positioning the wire connecting strips 3 is indicated by the support 54a . here , the external ring is omitted and the support 54a is attached to the inner ring 61 . the rings can be spaced by a u - shaped support 62 , in which case the lateral edges are impressed into the grooves of the synthetic strip 61 . in order possibly to facilitate assembly , this can also be effected with two u - shaped supports 53a which likewise laterally engage into the grooves in the synthetic strips 61 and which are then additionally connected in the center to an attachable connector 53b and are locked in position . although i have described my 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 . i 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 my contribution to the art .	8
the receptacle or bag 10 of the present invention is similar to that illustrated , described and claimed in the above - mentioned application . the handle 11 and the wheel supporting arms 12 are of tubular construction being made from tubular stock having the same outside diameter . a receptacle attaching unit 13 is made of a u - shaped tubular element 14 and a straight element 15 which is welded to the tubular section 14 at the center thereof . bolts or rivets 16 secure the unit 13 to the receptacle 10 . a cross strap 17 may be welded to the upper part of the tubular section 15 if further support is needed for the unit 13 by securing the ends 18 of the strap 17 to the side edge of the receptacle by rivets or screws 19 . while the receptacle 10 may be made from a rolled up sheet of plastic , metal or like material , it is preferably molded from a die to provide a bottom and side walls , the latter along with the rolled up sheets having a thin top edge 21 . a plastic molding unit or strap 22 is centrally split to receive the top edge 21 of the receptacle 10 when disposed in the split portion provided in the plastic unit . when made from sheet material , the bottom 23 has an outer vertical flange secured to the outer bottom edge of the rolled up sheet 10 . otherwise , the bottom 23 is molded when the side of the bag is molded in a die as a unit with the bottom . the portion of the element 15 above the strap 17 is deflected outwardly at 24 at a substantially 30 ° angle to the bag . this provides an end 25 which is of u - shape and to which the handle 11 is secured by a pivot 26 . this permits the handle 11 to be disposed in extension of the angular portion 24 or in an angular position thereto parallel to the bag 10 , as illustrated in fig5 . similarly , the wheel supporting arms 12 which form the legs for supporting the wheels 9 are likewise secured to the ends of the u - shaped tubular element 14 by pivots 26 , as illustrated in fig8 similar to that which secures the handle 11 on the extending angular portion 24 of the upstanding element 15 . the ends 25 of the u - shaped element 14 are similarly formed as u - shaped sections for supporting the arms 12 . the ends of the handle 11 and the wheel supporting arms 12 are provided with like latching tubular elements 27 which have a flange 28 at one end and a flange 29 at the other end . the end portion 31 adjacent to the flange 29 is expanded in diameter to receive the upper portion of the adjacent end of the channel sections 25 to form the latch . the latching tubular element 27 has a rivet 32 extending therethrough and through opposite slots 33 in the ends of the wheel supporting arms 12 and the handle 11 . one end of a spring 34 is secured to the rivet 32 with the opposite end 35 hooked over the end of the wheel supporting arms 12 and the handle 11 , as illustrated in fig5 and 8 . when the tubular section 27 is moved along the ends of the tubular portions 11 and 12 to stretch the spring 34 , the handle and wheel supporting arms are released so that the handle 11 may be pivoted to a position parallel to the bag 10 and the wheel supporting arms 12 pivoted to have the wheels move into engagement with the bottom of the bag , as shown in the above - mentioned patent application . in view of the provision of a sloping end 37 on the end of the tubular elements 14 and 15 , the tubular element 27 is automatically actuated by the flange 29 to retract the locking sleeve 27 and permit the handle 11 and wheel supporting arms 12 to move into latched position automatically when the handle is moved upwardly and the wheel supporting arms are moved outwardly . the wheels and handle are released from locked position when the tubular elements 27 are manually moved from latched position permitting the wheels to be moved into engagement with the bottom of the bag as shown in the abovementioned application . the handle is moved substantially parallel to the forward face of the bag where it is latched by an element 38 which has an arcuate end portion 39 with which the latching tubular element 27 latches automatically when moved into carrying position . the bottom face of the latch 38 has an angular section 37 which automatically operates the latch element 27 outwardly along the handle until the spring moves it into latch position , as illustrated in fig5 . fig9 is a sectional view taken through the front face of the bag or receptacle 10 showing the use of reinforcing means 43 for the bag when secured to the tubular unit 13 as above setforth . the reinforceing means 43 is a flat elongated element 45 having arcuate end portions 44 . the arcuate end portion 44 could form a circular reinforcing element in which the bolts or rivets 16 may extend to reinforce the area thereabout . as shown in fig9 the elongated element 43 has the arcuate end portions 44 and a straight channel section 45 therebetween . the center and end sections 44 are flanged for forming a bolt head receiving opening 46 and a closure for the sections 44 . a central bolt or stud 47 may be provided through the central stem portion 15 of the attaching unit . the inside of the bag 10 is smooth for preventing the roughing of the club handles when inserted and removed therefrom .	1
reference will now be made in detail to one or more embodiments of the invention , an example of which is shown in the drawings . the embodiments are provided by way of explanation of the invention , and not as a limitation of the invention . the invention includes modifications and variations to the embodiments described herein . fig1 shows a sectioned , profile view through a separation and removal apparatus 1 . the separation apparatus 1 is partially immersed in a liquid 2 flowing in the direction of the arrow in a channel 3 . the liquid 2 , upstream of the separation apparatus 1 , has a higher level than downstream , due to the flow resistance of the separation apparatus 1 . consequently , liquid 2 suffers a delaying loss in velocity through the invented apparatus 1 . the separation apparatus 1 is affixed to the channel 3 by a holder 4 . in order to avoid accumulation solid wastes , the separation apparatus is erected upon an indented step 5 in the bottom of the channel 3 . this step - down contour also favors improved hydraulic relationships . the separation apparatus 1 consists essentially of a conveyor band which continuously circulates between two turnaround pulleys 6 . the endless conveyor band itself comprises two chains 7 which run parallel to one another , of which , in the presentation of fig1 , principally only one chain can be seen in the profile . between the two chains 7 are mounted sieve elements 8 . on each chain 7 and in the zone of the lower , immersed turnaround pulley 6 , a brush 9 is installed on that side which faces the oncoming liquid flow . the brush 9 cleans the chain 7 as well as functions as a sealing means protecting the clean liquid 2 ′, since the bristles of the brush 9 prevent solid waste from passing through between the separation apparatus 1 and the wall of the channel 3 . near the upper turnaround pulley 6 , is located an additional brush 10 , which has a power drive . this brush 10 acts to remove such solid waste that has agglomerated on the separation apparatus 10 and the brush performs , simultaneously , a cleaning of the sieve elements 8 . an additional cleaning function of the sieve elements 8 and therewith an impact removal of deposited waste material from the sieve elements 8 is carried out by a plurality of nozzles 11 . these nozzles 11 eject liquid from the inside of the separation apparatus 1 against the said sieve elements 8 and thereby clean both the sieve perforations as well as the inside of the sieve element 8 . the waste material loosened thereby and the cleaning water are conducted through a shaft 12 out of the separation apparatus 12 , and to a ( not shown ) means of removal transport , or to a waste reservoir . in order that heavier solid waste , such as stones , may be removed from the liquid 2 , on every fifth sieve element 8 is placed a rake 13 . the waste material is retained on the rake 13 and , in the course of the chain movement , passes over the turnaround pulley 6 , allowing the heavy material , namely stones , to fall through the chute 12 into the ( not shown ) above mentioned removal means . fig2 shows a detail near the upper turnaround pulley 6 of the separation apparatus 1 . the linkage axles 16 , which pivotally bind the chain links 15 together , engage in recesses of the turnaround pulley 6 . the links 15 possess , respectively , an elongation , which corresponds , essentially , to the length of a sieve element 8 . in the zone of the linkage axles 16 , two neighboring sieve elements 8 overlap one another , so that a kind of labyrinthine sealing is created in regard to the liquid 2 which is flowing against the sieve elements 8 . the overlapping is formed by a bent end edge 20 of the leading sieve element 8 and the other end 21 of the following sieve element 8 . the surface of the sieve element 8 is bulged outward , so that its capture of the waste material is improved . the stability of the sieve element 8 is enhanced , first by the bent end 20 and second , by certain reinforcing , metal webs 22 and 23 , which run along the bulging of the sieve element 8 and which abut the collection surface of the sieve element 8 proximal to the chain 7 . the true filter surface of the sieve element is to be found between the two said reinforcement webs 22 , 23 . where these are placed on the sieve element 8 , the sieve element is not perforated , whereby , at the overlapping zones of the sieve element 8 , the throughflow of the liquid 2 is considerably reduced and moreover , the fastening of the reinforcement web 22 is easier . between the sieve element 8 ends 20 and 21 and the reinforcement web 22 , a hollow space is created , which acts in the manner of a labyrinthine sealant . furthermore , the end 21 of one sieve element 8 extends itself nearly to the surface of the other neighboring sieve element 8 , so that even here , another sealing function is performed . in the neighborhood of the turnaround pulley 6 , the two ends 20 and 21 pass by each other in such a way , that the hollow space between the ends 20 and 21 and the reinforcement web 22 opens , and an essentially unbroken , continuous surface of the sieve element is formed . this surface can be very easily cleaned by the brush 10 , so that upon the completed turnaround of the chain , the hollow space between the overlapping ends of the sieve element 8 is once again fully functional . by means of the sieve elements 8 , which stand near to one another in this position , assurance is given that none of the solid waste material from the sieve elements 8 falls between the two chain ends and so into the already cleaned liquid 2 ′. in order to hold the abrasive wear , as well as the development of noise , to the least possible level , the ends 20 , 21 of the sieve element 8 do not touch one another , but rather run closely adjacent to one another . by means of this non - touching overlapping , in connection with the labyrinthine sealing , a penetration of solid waste material into the opening between the two sieve elements 8 is effectively prevented . as an example for all sieve elements , fig2 shows , respectively , on two sieve elements 8 , the placement of a cover 25 . in this manner , the sieve element 8 is closed off at its two ends which are proximal to the chains 7 . the covers 25 are welded onto the sieve element 8 . the cover 25 , and therewith the sieve element 8 , are held by bolts 26 onto a chain link 15 , thus forming a firm binding of the sieve element 8 with the chain 7 . the sieve element 8 and the link 15 thus form a rigid , integral unit . fig3 shows an excerpt from the area of the immersed turnaround , in which a brush 9 is shown . the arrow , which is directed at the sieve element 8 , indicates the direction of the liquid 2 flow against the sieve element 8 . the brush 9 presses the brush bristles onto the link 15 , which is attached to the cover 25 of the sieve element 8 . moreover , the brush 9 is placed in the opening between the cover 25 and a housing wall 30 where it serves the purpose of sealing this opening , so that contaminating particles in the liquid 2 , which were to be separated out by the separation apparatus 1 cannot penetrate into the said opening . the brush 9 , in this arrangement , is affixed to that side of the housing wall 31 by a metal clamp 31 , which is proximal to the end of the sieve element 8 and its cover 25 . in this way , a lateral stabilization of the bristle assembly of the brush 9 is achieved , whereby additionally the sealing is accomplished of the sieve element 8 in relation to the housing wall 30 , which is placed on the channel . the brush 9 , in like manner to the overlapping zone of the individual sieve elements 8 , takes care that the zone behind the sieve element 8 is substantially sealed off from solid wastes and thus an excellent cleaning of the liquid 2 can take place . the present invention is not limited to the presented embodiment changes can be made , especially in regard to the sieve elements , which would be alterations permissible within patent protection , and would be still in accord with the formulation of the patent claims . for example , the overlapping of the sieve elements 8 need not be carried out in the here described art and manner with the same sieve elements 8 , but also can be made differently with larger and smaller sieve elements 8 , which likewise can allow an overlapping form . principally , the current preferred embodiment of the invention was described in the present embodiment .	1
the present invention provides a new method of optioning a base design to offer a smaller device density with the same number of i / os as in the higher density device . the higher density device may provide enough logic blocks that have zero i / o macrocells so that only some or all of these logic blocks are disabled for the smaller density device . the present invention may require that a device includes heterogeneous logic blocks ( e . g ., one set of logic blocks having zero i / o macrocells and a second set of logic blocks having a homogeneous , non - zero number of i / o macrocells ). referring to fig2 a cpld 200 is shown having 16 logic blocks ( e . g ., logic block a - p ). however , each of the logic blocks a - p does not have an associated number of i / os . for example , the logic block c , the logic block f , the logic block k and the logic block n are shown without any i / os . as a result , a more convenient mapping of the logic blocks during a design migration may be accomplished . each of the logic blocks a - p , except for logic block c , logic block f , logic block k and logic block n , have an n number of i / os . therefore , the particular number of i / os per logic block may be varied accordingly to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation . additionally , the total number of logic blocks a - p may also be varied accordingly to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation . additionally , the particular number of logic blocks ( e . g ., logic block c , logic block f , logic block k and logic block n ) that do not have a corresponding number of i / os connected , may also be varied accordingly to meet the design criteria of a particular implementation . using the mapping of table 3 , the 192p160 and 256p160 both have 120 i / os . this may be accomplished by introducing some of the logic blocks a - p having zero i / o macrocells ( e . g ., the logic blocks c , f , k and n ) while still having the 16 macrocells of the logic block available within the device without direct i / o capability . the 384p208 has 160 i / os total that may be derived from 10 i / os in each of 16 logic blocks , with eight logic blocks having no i / o pins and eight logic blocks being disabled so that only 384 total macrocells are enabled . the 512p208 also has 160 i / os total that may be derived from 10 i / os in each of 16 logic blocks having no i / o pins . likewise , the 384p256 and 512p256 both have 192 i / os , with the 384p256 having eight logic blocks disabled . the 512p352 , which has 256 total i / os , is also shown in table 4 . the present invention may provide design migration from a smaller density to a larger density that is guaranteed . the present invention may be easier to execute the logic design , physical design and associated verification of the density options . the sort , class , characterization , and reliability programs may be easier to generate and verify . the bonding diagrams are the same for different densities in the same package . a single probe card can be used for sorting two different densities . referring to fig3 an alternate method of the present invention is shown . the alternate method may allow a device and package combination that is not intended to provide design migration to be compatible with another device and package to provide ( i ) logic blocks with a non - zero number of i / o macrocells and ( ii ) package combinations from the same base design have zero i / o macrocells in those same physical logic blocks . the embodiment in fig3 may allow a cpld to be implemented differently to optimize aspects of the design or software development other than i / o flexibility . examples of such i / o mapping according to this alternate embodiment of the present invention may be shown in the following table 5 : comparing table 5 to the similar device and package in table 4 , table 5 has 22 logic blocks with 12 i / o macrocells while table 4 has 16 logic blocks with 16 i / o macrocells . the differences are mainly with logic blocks ab , ai , ao , bb , bh , and bo , as these logic blocks have 12 i / os in table 5 instead of zero in table 4 . the other difference is that the logic blocks for the 512p352 in table 5 with i / os have 12 i / os instead of the 16 i / os in table 4 . the implementation in table 5 spreads the i / os more broadly among the logic blocks , thus providing more product terms , more reset and preset conditions , and more output enable conditions for the i / os available . the total number of i / os is different in the two cases , as table 5 has 264 i / os versus table 4 with 256 i / os , but this is unimportant for design migration purposes . the present invention may provide a cpld that may have ( i ) a number of heterogeneous logic blocks and ( ii ) a number of completely buried logic blocks . for example , no i / o macrocells may be present in a particular logic block and no programmable routing may be present between the macrocells and the i / o pins . the present invention may make logic design , physical design and associated verification of the density options easier , which may save engineering time . making the sort , class , characterization , and reliability programs easier to generate and verify may also save engineering time . making the bonding diagrams the same for different densities in the same package may save assembly engineering time and may help to avoid errors . the present invention may facilitate using a single probe card for sorting a wide variety of cplds . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	7
it should be understood at the outset that although several illustrative embodiments are described below , the present disclosure may be implemented using any number of techniques whether currently known or later developed . the present disclosure should in no way be limited to the illustrative embodiments described and illustrated herein , and may be modified within the scope of the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents . certain terms are used throughout the following claims and discussion to refer to particular system components . this document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function . in the following discussion and in the claims , the terms “ including ” and “ comprising ” are used in an open - ended fashion , and thus should be interpreted to mean “ including but not limited to ”. also , the term “ couple ” or “ couples ” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct electrical connection . thus , if a first device couples to a second device , that connection may be through a direct electrical connection , or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections . additionally , the term “ system ” refers to a collection of two or more hardware components , and may be used to refer to an electronic device or circuit , or a portion of an electronic device or circuit . embodiments of the invention will be described in connection with an example of its implementation in an exemplary transceiver , for example a wireless network adapter such as according to the nasa gsfc standard . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having reference to this specification that this invention is particularly well - suited for use in such an application . however , it is also contemplated that this invention will be of similar benefit in many other applications that involve error correction coding , including communications according to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ( ofdm ), discrete multitone modulation ( dmt ) for example as used in conventional digital subscriber line ( dsl ) modems , and other modulation and communication approaches , whether carried out as land line or wireless communications . it is therefore to be understood that these and other alternatives to and variations on the embodiment described below are contemplated to be within the scope of the invention as claimed . a low - density parity - check (“ ldpc ”) code is a type of redundant code that enables accurate detection and correction of the bits of signals sent over a communication channel . the “ parity - check ” adjectives refer to verifying the transmission using a matrix h , which defines the code , in conjunction with the parity bits to detect and correct errors . the “ low - density ” adjectives refer to the sparsity of h . any sparse matrix , including h , has zero for the value of the majority of its elements . the matrix h is designed such that a zero matrix results when h is multiplied by t , as described by the equation : wherein t is a non - erroneous , or valid , set of bits . hence , whenever ht ≠ 0 , it is known that t contains erroneous bits . each set t consists of the source message , s , combined with the corresponding parity - check bits for that particular s . when a set t is transmitted , the receiving network element receives a vector r , which is equal to t plus n , as described by the equation : wherein n is the noise added by the channel . because an ldpc decoder at the receiver designed to recognize the coding scheme , and hence matrix h , it can compute a vector z = hr . because r = t + n , and because ht = 0 , the vector z is computed using the equation the decoding process thus involves finding the sparsest vector x that satisfies the equation : the vector x becomes the best guess or predictor for noise vector n , which can be subtracted from the received signal vector r to recover set t , thus detecting and correcting errors in the transmitted signal t . the decoding process involves the iterative manipulation of the signal vector expressed as fractional values in several bits . in at least some preferred embodiments , parity check matrix h is arranged into a composite of circularly shifted identity matrices . this composite is represented by a macro matrix h m , with a 1 value symbolizing a z × z circularly shifted identity matrix and a 0 value symbolize a z × z zero matrix . fig1 illustrates data flow in part of an ldpc decoder , which implements the computations above . specifically , fig1 illustrates an interconnection system 100 that passes data messages in a decoder . messages are passed in the form of wide words , i . e ., a string of more than 8 bits . as such , and due to the decoding process described above , the data messages must be manipulated into correct form , i . e ., from storage order to processing order , as represented by the circularly shifted identity matrices . such manipulation is performed by an alignment bank 116 and a reverse alignment bank 118 . alignment units 104 and reverse alignment units 106 manipulate the data messages and output p values at a time , wherein p is the number of parity check rows being processed in parallel . the choice of p value is dependent on multiple system requirement such as operational clock frequency , required data rate , etc . alignment units 104 and reverse alignment units 106 are not maintained in a one - to - one ratio with column store units (“ csus ”) 102 . the alignment units 104 and reverse alignment units 106 are disassociated from the csus 102 are independently placed within the alignment bank 116 and reverse alignment bank 118 respectively as depicted in fig1 . in at least some preferred embodiments , the number of alignment units 104 is equal to the number of reverse alignment units 106 . the alignment units 104 are coupled to a shuffle network 112 , also in the alignment bank 116 . the alignment bank 116 is coupled to a router 108 , which includes address generation logic ( not shown ) to ensure delivery to the csus 102 . the csus 102 are coupled to a reverse router 110 , which performs the reciprocal function of the router 108 . the reverse alignment bank 118 comprises the reverse alignment units 106 coupled to another shuffle network 114 . in at least some preferred embodiments , the number of alignment units 104 is equal to the maximum row weight in macro matrix h m , which is equal to the maximum row weight of parity - check matrix h , used by the decoder . the maximum row weight of h m ( as well as h ) is the number of non - zero elements appearing in the row with the maximum number of non - zero elements . because the number of csus 102 is equal to the number of columns in h m , the maximum row weight is preferably less than the number of csus 102 . in various embodiments , the number of csus is less than the number of columns in h m . in other preferred embodiments , the number of alignment units 104 is not equal to the number of reverse alignment units 106 , but both numbers are less than the number of column store units 102 . in yet other preferred embodiments , the number of alignment units 104 and the number of reverse alignment units 106 are greater than the maximum row weight , but less than the number of column store units 102 . for well - defined , low - density parity - check codes , there is a large discrepancy between the maximum row weight of h m and number of columns in h m . exploiting this characteristic by implementing the described embodiments allows for reduction of logic complexity due to a reduction in both the number of alignment units 104 and reverse alignment units 106 . a reduction of this type is significant because for macro matrices with a large number of columns , and hence a large number of csus 102 , the duplication of alignment units 104 and reverse alignment units 106 in order to maintain a one - to - one ratio with the csus 102 constitutes a large source of redundancy in the decoder . depending upon how many units are excised , the described embodiments can eliminate hundreds of thousands to millions of logic gates as compared to designs that maintain a one - to - one ratio . for instance , applying the described architecture to the wimax ( 802 . 16e ) context , the number of alignment / reverse alignment pairs can be reduced , saving about 120 , 000 logic gates . the broad nature of this efficiency boosting implementation allows the architecture to be applied to a decoder used for a variety of code rates and sizes . a code rate is a ratio of non - redundant bits and total bits per message , e . g ., 1 / 3 . a code size is the number of columns in the matrix h and can vary over a large range depending on the complexity of the encoding and number of bits in the message . ldpc codes used in practical systems are composite of sub - matrices each of which being superimpose of one or more ( w ) permuted identity matrices of dimension z × z . w is referred as the degree of the sub - matrix . for example , fig2 shows an example of ldpc code with m block rows and n block columns where the dimension of each sub - matrix is z . among the n sub - matrixes in a block row , the maximum number of non - zero sub - matrixes is t , where t is no greater than n . each non - zero sub - matrix has a degree of w = 2 or 4 . the permutation of the identity matrix shown here is a simple circularly shift of identity matrix , but the actual permutation could be arbitrary . in texas instruments &# 39 ; issued u . s . pat . no . 7 , 178 , 080 : hardware - efficient low density parity check code for digital communications , and u . s . application ser . no . 11 / 744 , 357 ( published as us2007 / 0283215 ) parity check decoder architecture , a horizontally layered decoder architecture was presented for sub - matrix degree w = 1 case . in this application , a method to extend the decoder architecture to handle w =& gt ; 1 case is disclosed . a block diagram of the decoder is shown in fig3 . phy design can be split into several modules — top level controller , downlink receiver and uplink transmitter . fig3 shows a decoder in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . the decoder 300 comprising configuration storage ( cfg ) unit 305 and main control block 310 . the main control block 310 may containing processing circuitry such as micro processor , digital signal processor or the like . the main control block may also contain firmware and storage to store machine readable media which may be read by the processing circuitry to execute instructions to perform processes in accordance with embodiments of the invention . decoder 300 also comprising column sum block unit ( csb ) bank 380 . the csb bank 380 may containnindividual csb units . each csb units may contain memories which store the updated soft information about each codeword bit . the soft information is in form of log - likelihood - ratio ( llr ). the csb bank contains controller which handle the read and write control of the llr during the input , decoding and output process . during the decoding process , the write address from alignment bank 370 and read address from reverse alignment bank 390 is input into csb bank 380 . decoder 300 also comprising r memory 320 , which is preferably a local random access memory ( ram ) for storing the r mj estimates . these r mj estimates are the most recent estimates generated by p parity check update blocks ( pcubs ) of pcub bank 340 . decoder 300 further comprises parallel adder pab bank 330 having p modules and a second parallel adder bank pab b bank 350 having p modules . as described above the data messages must be manipulated into correct form , i . e ., from storage order to processing order , as represented by the circularly shifted identity matrices . such manipulation is performed by an alignment bank and a reverse alignment bank . decoder 300 comprises alignment bank 370 and reverse alignment bank 390 each having t modules . the main control block 310 is coupled to r memory 320 through write address and read address signals . it also controls the operation of pab bank 330 , pcub bank 340 , pab bank 350 alignment bank 370 csb bank 380 , and reverse alignment bank 390 . r memory 320 is shown in detail in fig4 . r memory 320 stores the check - to - bit information . each memory word contains the check - to - bit information from p rows , each of which is compacted stored in scaled min - sum algorithm . in the compacted storage scheme using one row r 2 410 as example , the information stored for each row is the minimum 420 and second minimum 430 of the r mj value ( min 1 , min 2 ), the position of min 1 ( pos ) 440 and the sign bits for each of the individual check - to - bit information ( a bit array of size w · t ) 451 , . . . 45 w . . . 45 w . to reduce the requirement for storage , the pos does not need to be the absolute position of the min 1 in the codeword . the index number in the w · t non - zero positions is stored instead . because r memory requires read and write operation performed at the same time in the worst case , the r memory should use two - port memory for preferred implementation . the reason why the alignment 370 and reverse - alignment blocks 390 exist is that the column sum block stores the llr data in column order while in the decoding process they are picked up in row order based on the circularly shift values . these shift values vary from block to block . so we need a general hardware to perform this pseudo - random reordering of the llr data . basically , three operations are involved in the alignment and reverse - alignment , namely , left shift , right shift and segmented selection mux . left shift and right shift move the data within one big word , and segmented selection mux select either higher part or lower part from the two input words and assemble a new word . in stop 360 , the updated llr values nl ( q j ) and current iteration number are used by decoder termination detection logic . the decoder stops decoding once it reaches maximum number of iterations or meets early termination criteria . in at least some embodiments , the detection logic keeps track of the number of rows meeting the parity check equation . once the total number of rows which passed parity check exceeds a preset threshold , the decoding is early terminated . l ( q j ) is initialized as the llr based on the received soft data inputed into csb bank 380 l ⁡ ( q j ) = log ⁡ ( prob ⁡ ( q j = 0 ) prob ⁡ ( q j = 1 ) ) . for bpsk modulation over awgn channel , the llr is l ( q j )=− 2r j / σ 2 , the check - to - bit information is initialized as r mj = 0 , fig5 shows one layer ( block - row ) of the matrix h in fig2 . the iteration is performed in block row order . for each row m in a block row m , the positions of ‘ 1 ’ in the h matrix are n ( m )=[ j 11 , j 1w , . . . , j 1w , . . . , j t1 , j tw , j tw ], where j nw corresponds to the position in the w - th permutation of the n - th sub - matrix . fig5 shows the generic case where there may be w positions wherein w can be from 1 to w . the iterative update process of each row m involves three operations : bit node processing ( performed in pab bank ) 330 of fig3 , check node processing ( performed in pcub bank ) 340 of fig3 , and bit update ( performed in pab_b bank ) 350 of fig3 . the architecture is shown in fig3 and described below . before each iteration , the llr information l ( q j ) is read out from the memory in csb bank 380 . after reverse alignment operation in reverse alignment bank 390 , the l ( q j ) values are sent to pab bank 330 . the check - to - bit information r mj is generated from r - memory 320 output ( min 1 m , min 2 m , pos m , and sign bits s mj for each j ): r mj = { s mj · min ⁢ ⁢ 1 m , if ⁢ ⁢ j ≠ pos m s mj · min ⁢ ⁢ 2 m , if ⁢ ⁢ j = pos m ( 1 ) for each jεn ( m ), the bit - to - check information from bit j to check m is the min 1 m , min 2 m , pos m and all sign bits for each jεn ( m ) is stored in r - memory . nr mj is used to represent the updated check - to - bit information generated in the current iteration , thus differentiate from the r mj values obtained from previous iteration . the nr mj value from check m can be generated as the following . here the f s , and f o are optional multiplicative and additive factor for scaled min - sum or shifted min - sum implementation . nl ( q j )= l ( q mj )+ nr mj ( 10 ) here nl ( q j ) used to represent the updated information about codeword bit j thus differentiate from the l ( q j ) values obtained from previous iteration . the nl ( q j ) values updated by folded bit update operation are written back to csb bank 380 after alignment operation in alignment bank 370 . after the final iteration , the soft information l ( q j ) or the hard decision of l ( q j ) is output from csb bank 380 . for sub - matrix with degree w & gt ; 1 , the folded operation described in this section may be used to perform the update . the operation is depicted in fig6 . to simplify the description , we assume each non - zero sub - matrix has degree w here . for each row in a group , there are w · t positions of ‘ 1 ’ in h matrix which is represented by a set n ( m )=[ j 11 , j 1w , . . . , j 1w , . . . , j t1 , j tw , j tw ]. each j nw in n ( m ) corresponds to the ‘ 1 ’ generated by the w - th circularly shifted identity within the n - th sub - matrix . the set n ( m ) is divided into w folds with each fold w contains t positions n w ( m )=[ j 1w , j 2w , . . . , j tw ]. similar to the w = 1 case , the iterative update process contains three operations : bit node processing , check node processing and bit update . for w & gt ; 1 case , the bit node processing and check node processing is first performed for all the w folds , after the new check - to - bit information nr mj is generated , the bit update is performed to all w folds . the fold operation requires temporary registers to store min 1 , min 2 , pos , all sign bits vector signfd 1 , . . . , signfd w and the xor result of all sign bits totalsign . before the folded bit node processing and check node processing is performed , the temporary registers min 1 , min 2 , totalsign are initialized . min 1 and min 2 are initialized to maximum positive number , totalsign is initialized to 0 . for each jεn w ( m ), the bit - to - check information from bit j to check m is the min 1 , min 2 , pos , totalsign and signfd w , which is all sign bits of l ( q mj ) for each jεn w ( m ), are stored in the registers . after the w folds are all processed , the new check - to - bit information nr mj is generated as the min 1 m , min 2 m , pos m and signfd 1m , signfd wm , signfd wm are stored in r - memory . here the f s , and f o are optional multiplicative and additive factor for scaled min - sum or shifted min - sum implementation . for each fold w in 1 to w , the nrmj values are generated from the min 1 m , min 2 m , pos m and signfd 1m , signfd wm , signfd wm values . for each jεn w ( m ), the sign bits s mj are obtained from signfd wm and the amplitude is obtained from with this fold operation , the number of major blocks such as alignment and reverse - alignment modules in alignment bank 370 and reverse alignment bank 390 respectively do not need to grow with the degree w . the critical path in pcub bank 340 is determined by t and does not increase with degree w . thus , the fold operation greatly reducing the complexity of the decoder . the folded operation described here is applicable to the case where the non - zero sub - matrixes have different degree no greater than w . slight modification in controller is needed to mask out the non - exist folds . for example , if a sub - matrix has degree w ′& lt ; w , then for each row m the mask operation is needed for positions j mw , w =[ w ′+ 1 , . . . , w ]. one preferred way of masking out the non - exist positions is to substitute their corresponding l ( q mj ) values with maximum positive number in folded check node operation and disable the write back of the nl ( q j ) values after bit update operation . fig7 is a pcub unit 340 of fig3 in accordance with embodiments of the invention . pcub unit comprises find min 2 block 710 , min_pos block 720 coupled to find min 2 710 , and as fifo 730 . the find min 2 block 710 find the two minimum values ( min 1 _fd , min 2 _fd ) of the t inputs within one fold . the position of the min 1 _fd ( pos_fd ) and the sign bits are also generated . the min_pos 720 is used to combine the results of all fold and generated nr mj . fifo 730 are temporary storage for synchronizing the l ( q mj ) and nr mj values for folded bit update operation . fig8 is a block diagram illustrative of a min_pos unit 720 of fig7 in accordance with embodiments of the invention . min_pos unit 720 is used to update the min 1 , min 2 , and pos values from fold to fold . the shaded blocks represent registers which is initialized before processing one block row . fig9 is a block diagram illustrative of a preferred implementation of the find min 2 unit 710 of fig7 with 16 inputs . fig1 comprising 10 ( a ), 10 ( b ), and 10 ( c ) shows cs ( a ), sort - 2 ( b ) and merge - 2 unit ( mg 2 ) of fig9 . in fig9 and 10 , sort - 2 unit fig1 ( b ) output the two inputs in order and the position of the minimum number . mg 2 unit fig1 ( c ) merges two sorted input pair and outputs the minimum and second minimum of the four inputs . it also outputs the pair index of the minimum number . the compare - select ( cs ) unit in mg 2 unit takes two input and output the minimum number among the two inputs . it output the position of the minimum as well . the block diagram of cs unit is also shown in fig1 ( a ). while the invention has been described according to its preferred embodiments , it is of course contemplated that modifications of , and alternatives to , these embodiments , such modifications and alternatives obtaining the advantages and benefits of this invention , will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to this specification and its drawings . it is contemplated that such modifications and alternatives are within the scope of this invention as subsequently claimed herein . other items shown or discussed as directly coupled or communicating with each other may be coupled through some interface or device , such that the items may no longer be considered directly coupled to each other but may still be indirectly coupled and in communication , whether electrically , mechanically , or otherwise with one another . other examples of changes , substitutions , and alterations will become apparent to those skilled in the art . it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such changes , substitutions , and alterations .	7
broadly , this invention is a 2d image alignment algorithm which is augmented to three dimensions by introducing the depth maps of the images . the method provides an ideal way to extend the existing matching framework to handle general 3d camera motion , allowing one to directly solve for the extrinsic parameters of the camera and localize it within its environment . for the purpose of explaining the method in a very concrete fashion , discussion shall focus on a situation similar to that used in guided bronchoscopy . in a typical bronchoscopic procedure , a ct scan is initially performed and can subsequently be processed to extract the airway tree surfaces . the interior of the hollow airway tree constitutes the known environment . during bronchoscopy , the bronchoscope is inserted into the airways and a camera mounted on the tip transmits in real - time a sequence of real bronchoscopic ( rb ) video images . assuming that the calibration parameters of the endoscope are known , virtual bronchoscopic ( vb ) images ( endoluminal renderings ) can be rendered at arbitrary viewpoints within the airway tree . it is also clear that the depths corresponding to each pixel of the vb image can be immediately calculated and form a virtual depth map ( vdm ). the problem is that we have a fixed real - time rb image from an unknown location within the interior of an airway , but we also have a known vb source with known location and 3d information that enables us to create manifestations of the same hollow airway structure from arbitrary viewpoint . given the above setup , the goal is to locate the source of the rb image by attempting to find the best match between that fixed rb image and any possible vb endoluminal rendering . a fairly straightforward approach to accomplish this is by employing a gauss - newton gradient descent algorithm that attempts to minimize a difference measure between the rb image and the vb image with respect to the viewing parameters ( i . e ., viewpoint ) of the virtual image . the method for doing this is similar to the lucas - kanade image alignment algorithm [ 5 ]. the objective function used in [ 5 , 6 ] is the sum squared difference ( ssd ) between the pixel intensities of the two images , although weighted ssd is equally viable , and weighted or unweighted normalized cross - correlation ( cc ) can be used if some additional weak assumptions are made . using the ssd , the objective function can thus be written as e = ∑ u , v ⁢ [ i v ⁡ ( u , v ; p + δ ⁢ ⁢ p ) - i r ⁡ ( u , v ) ] 2 ( 1 ) where p is the vector of viewing parameters , i v ( u , v ; p + δp ) is the virtual vb image rendered from the viewpoint p + δp , u and v are the row and column indices , and i r is the real rb image . following the procedure of [ 5 ], it is shown that that the gauss - newton parameter update δp can be found as δ ⁢ ⁢ p = h - 1 ⁢ ∑ u , v ⁢ [ ∂ i ∂ p ] ⁡ [ i v ⁡ ( u , v ; p ) - i r ⁡ ( u , v ) ] ( 2 ) h = ∑ u , v ⁢ [ ∂ i v ∂ p ] u , v ; p t ⁡ [ ∂ i v ∂ p ] u , v ; p ( 3 ) [ ∂ i v ∂ p ] ( u , v ; p ) is a vector that gives the change in the intensity of a pixel ( u , v ) in a vb image i v rendered at viewpoint p with respect to each of the components of the parameter vector δp . can also be interpreted as a vector of steepest descent images , where each component of the vector is actually an image that describes the variation of the image intensities with respect a component of the parameter vector . because the steepest descent images change at every viewpoint p , they , and the hessian must be recomputed every iteration , leading to a very computationally costly algorithm . to speed up the iteration , the inverse compositional algorithm was proposed [ 6 ]. under this strategy , instead of moving the virtual viewpoint towards the real viewpoint using the parameter update , we instead move the real viewpoint toward the virtual viewpoint using the inverse of the parameter update . since the computer obviously has no control over the location of the bronchoscope tip , this may seem to be an unfeasible strategy . however , using a depth - based warping , the rb image can be warped to simulate its appearance from other viewpoints . this strategy results in comparing a warped version of the real image to a stationary virtual image . under this formulation , the objective function we seek to minimize is : e = ∑ u , v ⁢ [ i v ⁡ ( u , v ; δ ⁢ ⁢ p ) - i r ⁡ ( w ⁡ ( u , v , z r ; p ) ) ] 2 ( 4 ) the warping function w (. ) warps the image coordinates of the rb image i r and hence warps the image itself . it is important also to note that the warp in this case is dependent on the depth map of the real image z r . solving for the gauss - newton parameter update associated with 4 yields δ ⁢ ⁢ p = h - 1 ⁢ \| p = 0 -& gt ; ⁢ ∑ u , v ⁢ [ ∂ i ∂ p ] u , v ; 0 -& gt ; ⁡ [ i r ⁡ ( w ⁡ ( u , v , z r ; p ) ) - i v ⁡ ( u , v ) ] ( 5 ) while this may seem to add unnecessary complexity and error to the problem , it actually serves to greatly speed the iteration and has the additional side benefit of eliminating the need to render arbitrary viewpoints on the fly if you instead have a collection of pre - rendered ( or pre - captured ) images and corresponding depth maps . the reason for this significant increase in speed is that the vb image and vb image gradients are always evaluated at p = 0 , the reference viewing site , and as such allows all of the following operations to be pre - computed before iteration begins : 1 . the known environment is sampled as a set of viewing sites . 2 . virtual images i v are pre - rendered at each viewing site . 3 . virtual depth maps z v are computed at each site . are computed with respect to each of the viewing parameters in vector p . 5 . the inverse hessian h − 1 is gauss - newton estimated from the steepest descent images the iterative portion of the algorithm may then be carried out in the following steps : 1 . warp the real image from pose p to the nearest reference site . 2 . compute the error image i r ( w ( u , v , z r ; p ))− i v ( u , v ;{ right arrow over ( 0 )}). 4 . find the new values of p by incrementing the old parameters by the inverse of the update ( δp ) − 1 . these steps are illustrated in fig1 . ignoring the warp function , all the equations presented thus far are general and can apply equally well to 2d transformations , such as affine or homography , or 3d rotations . the focus is now narrowed , however , to the full 3d motion case with our choice of coordinate system and parameters . one may realize from inspection of the warps in ( 4 ) that the problem is defined in terms of several local coordinate systems as each reference view is defined to be at p ={ right arrow over ( 0 )}, yielding a different coordinate system for each viewing site used . it is , however , a trivial matter to relate each of these coordinate systems to a global coordinate frame in order to perform parameter conversions between frames . therefore , given a camera pose with respect to the global camera frame , we can define our parameter vector as with three euler rotation angles and three translations with respect to the nearest reference view . with this parameterization , the warping w ( u , v , z ; p ) is governed by the matrix equation [ u ′ ⁢ z ′ f v ′ ⁢ z ′ f z ′ ] = r ⁡ [ uz f vz f z ] + [ t x t y t z ] ( 7 ) where r is the rotation matrix defined by the euler angles ( θ r , θ p , θ y ), u and v are the columns and rows of the image , f is the focal length , and z is the entry on the depth map z corresponding to the point ( u , v ). here ( u ′, v ′) gives the warped image coordinate of interest , and z ′ gives the warped depth corresponding to that point . note that in the problem statement , we assume only that the virtual depth map z v is known . however , when using the inverse compositional algorithm , the warp is applied to the real image i r and the real depth map z r must first be calculated by warping the virtual depth map z v to the current estimated pose of the real camera via p . this can also be performed using ( 7 ) and then interpolating the resulting warped depth map onto the coordinate system of the real image . in doing so , we are implicitly assuming that our estimate of p is relatively close to its actual value . if this is not the case , the parameter error can lead to large errors in the real depth map z r , and therefore large errors in the image warping . under such circumstances , the forward gradient descent method governed by ( 1 - 2 ) may be better suited to the problem . in order to apply the warping function , at each pixel coordinate ( u , v ), with intensity i ( u , v ) and depth z ( u , v ), a new coordinate ( u ′, v ′) and depth z ′ ( u ′, v ′) are found via ( 7 ). the original intensities and depths may then be mapped onto the new image array i ( u ′, v ′). some special care must be taken when performing the warping . firstly , the image difference in ( 4 ) requires that the coordinate locations be the same for both images . the resultant array must therefore be interpolated onto the same coordinate grid as the original arrays . because of this interpolation , and because the depth - based warping may result in occlusion , it can be difficult to choose the proper intensity corresponding to an output pixel . this can be mitigated somewhat if the intensities corresponding to larger depths are discarded when they overlap with those of smaller depths . there are several ways to generate the steepest descent images . they may be generated numerically by taking the difference of the reference images warped to small positive and negative values of each parameter . they may also be generated analytically by expanding the derivative via the chain rule : ∂ i ∂ p = [ ∇ u ⁢ i ∇ v ⁢ i ] ⁢ j p ( 8 ) where ∇ u i and ∇ u i are the image gradients with respect to the rows and columns of the image , and j p is the jacobian of the warped coordinates with respect to p and thus can be found by differentiating u ′ and v ′ from ( 7 ) with respect to each of the warp parameters and evaluating it at a particular current value of p . in the case of the inverse compositional algorithm , the image derivatives are always evaluated at p ={ right arrow over ( 0 )} and thus the jacobian is constant for each reference viewing site : j p = [ - v - uv f - f - u 2 f f z 0 - u z - u - f - v 2 f - vu f 0 f z - v z ] ( 9 ) we now have all the necessary information to calculate the iterated parameter update δp . the final step is to invert this update , and compose it with the current estimate of p . the euler angles can be found from the rotation matrix resulting from where r d is the incremental rotation matrix associated with the rotation angles in δp . the updated translations can be found from ( t x l t y l t z l ) = ( t x t y t z ) - rr d t ⁡ ( δ ⁢ ⁢ t x δ ⁢ ⁢ t y δ ⁢ ⁢ t z ) ( 11 ) where δt i are the translation elements of the parameter update δp . in order to improve the performance when applying the above approach , several optimizing techniques are used . operations performed on full - resolution images can be very computationally intensive . therefore , a resolution pyramid is used wherein all images , depth maps , and gradients are down - sampled , preferably by a factor of 4 , at each level . as we are not particularly concerned with computation time regarding the precomputed virtual views and gradients , and most video capture hardware provides real - time hardware subsampling for the real image , the computational cost of this subsampling is inconsequential and provides much quicker iteration times . when implementing the above registration algorithm using pyramid decomposition , the algorithm is begun at the lowest resolution level of the pyramid ( experimental results in this paper were performed starting at level 3 ; i . e ., a factor of 64 reduction in resolution ) and run until a reasonable stopping criteria was met before proceeding to a higher resolution level . this pyramidal approach not only speeds computation , it also serves to prevent convergence to local optima , because only the largest features are present in the highly subsampled images , while sharper features are introduced in higher resolution levels to aid in fine adjustment . a second optimization that is used in practice is the use of the weighted normalized cross - correlation objective function e = - ∑ u , v ⁢ w u , v ⁢ [ i v ⁡ ( w ⁡ ( u , v , z ; δ ⁢ ⁢ p ) ) - μ 0 σ v ] [ i r ⁡ ( w ⁡ ( u , v , z ; p ) ) - μ r σ r ] ( 12 ) that allows images of different mean intensities and intensity ranges to be compared and also allows weighting of individual pixel values . it should be noted that in order to use this objective function under the inverse compositional algorithm , the weights must be constant and they must be chosen prior to the computation of the steepest descent images ( i . e . they must be based off features of the virtual images ). taking advantage of the equivalence of normalized ssd and normalized cross - correlation , the update can be found as : δ p = h - 1 ⁢ ❘ p = 0 ⁢ ∑ u , v ⁢ w u , v ⁢ [ ∂ i ∂ p ] _ p = 0 t ⁡ [ i _ r ⁡ ( w ⁡ ( u , v , z ; p ) ) - i _ v ⁡ ( u , v ) ] ( 13 ) h = ∑ u , v ⁢ w u , v ⁢ [ ∂ i ∂ p ] _ t ⁢ [ ∂ i ∂ p ] _ , ( 14 ) is the set of mean - subtracted steepest descent images divided by the variance of the virtual image i v , and i i i are the normalized images . to validate the algorithm , sample results for the virtual - to - real and virtual - to - virtual registration cases are given . in both of the cases outlined below , the virtual environment is a ct chest scan of a human patient designated h005 . the airway surfaces were automatically generated using the methods of kiraly et al . [ 10 ]. airway centerlines were extracted using the methods of swift et al . and the virtual viewing sites were chosen along these airway centerlines at intervals varying between 0 . 3 mm and 1 mm , with the viewing direction chosen parallel to the airway centerline [ 11 ]. virtual images and depth maps were generated by an opengl renderer assuming a spot light source at the camera focal point , a field of view of 78 . 2 degrees and a 264 × 264 image size to match the calibration parameters of the bronchoscope camera . the virtual - to - real registration was performed using pyramid decomposition starting from level 3 and ending at level 1 . to account for the difference in intensity characteristics between the imaging sources , the weighted normalized cross - correlation ( 12 ) was used as the objective function , with weights w u , v chosen as in order to emphasize dark areas , which tend to have more information in bronchoscopic video . the video frame , taken from a bronchoscopic procedure performed on h005 was first processed to remove the geometric barrel distortion from the lens to obtain the real image i r . in the virtual - to - real registration case , it is difficult to give ground truth locations as the location of the scope tip is in practice unknown . without external localization , the quality of a good registration is somewhat qualitative in nature . fig2 shows a sample of the registration results , with edges from the virtual image overlaid on the unregistered and registered real views . the results show that the alignment is qualitatively very satisfying . in the virtual - to - virtual registration case , the “ real ” image is actually a rendering generated at a specified location in the airway , but with all depth information discarded . the algorithm uses pyramid decomposition starting from level 3 and ending at level 1 , and the weighted ssd objective function was used where the weights w u , v were chosen as in ( 15 ) as before . fig3 shows the “ real ” image i r prior to registration , the virtual image i v at the nearest reference site and the warped real image i r ( w ( u , v , z ; p )) after registration is complete . x y position position z position θγ viewpoint ( mm ) ( mm ) ( mm ) θα ( deg ) θβ ( deg ) ( deg ) initial 147 . 5 149 . 2 71 . 1 − 20 . 2 − 1 . 7 0 reference 146 . 7 149 . 4 73 . 3 − 7 . 3 5 . 1 − 19 . 9 site registered 147 . 6 149 . 0 73 . 9 − 20 . 9 1 . 2 − 3 . 2 ground 147 . 1 148 . 9 73 . 8 − 20 . 24 − 1 . 8 − 0 . 4 truth error 0 . 6 0 . 1 0 . 5 − 0 . 7 3 . 0 2 . 8 at least four different alternatives are available for registering the real and virtual sources in the case of bronchoscopy . these scenarios are outlined below : 1 . virtual - to - real registration : real - time or pre - recorded video images i r from a bronchoscope at an unknown location are registered to a set of endoluminal ct renderings i v and depth maps z v . 2 . virtual - to - virtual registration : an endoluminal rendering i r with unknown location and with or without an associated depth map z r is registered to a set of endoluminal ct renderings i v and depth maps z v . 3 . real - to - real registration : real - time video images i r from an endoscope at an unknown location is registered to a set of previously recorded video images i v with known or estimated depth maps z v . 4 . real - to - virtual registration : an endoluminal rendering i r with unknown position and with or without an associated depth map z r is registered to a set of previously recorded video images i v with known or estimated depth maps z v . the application has far - reaching applications , particularly in the field of assisted endoscopy . the registration between a ct volume and real - time bronchoscopic video allows the fusion of information between the ct realm and the bronchoscope . this allows regions of interest ( rois ) defined only in the ct volume to be superimposed on the real video frame to assist the physician in navigating to these rois . likewise , airway centerlines , branch labels and metric information such as distances to walls can be displayed on the video frame . a natural extension of this concept is to other forms of endoscopy such as colonoscopy , where similar guidance information could be displayed on the registered colonoscopic image . virtual - to - real registration can also be applied to pre - recorded endoscopic video , and opens the door to many post - processing options , such as mapping textural and color information available only in the endoscopic video onto the ct - derived surfaces to enable their visualization from viewpoints not available in the video alone . an application of the real - to - real registration scenario that can be envisioned for this approach , is for aerial navigation . satellite imagery , combined with topographic terrain information provides the known 3d environment , while real - time images from a mobile camera aboard an aircraft can be registered to this environment to give the aircraft &# 39 ; s location and orientation without gps or radar information . similarly , this method also assists in ground - based robotic navigation within a known environment . reference images and depth maps can be captured at known locations throughout the robot &# 39 ; s working environment using a stereo camera setup , and a camera mounted on the robot can be registered to this set of images and depth maps . 1 . h . minami , y . ando , f . nomura , s . sakai , and k . shimokata , “ interbronchoscopist variability in the diagnosis of lung cancer by flexible bronchoscopy ,” chest 105 ( 2 ), pp . 1658 - 1662 , june 1994 . 2 . i . bricault , g . ferretti , and p . cinquin , “ registration of real and ct - derived virtual bronchoscopic images to assist transbronchial biopsy ,” 17 , pp . 703 - 714 , october 1998 . 3 . j . helferty , image - guided endoscopy and its application to pulmonary medicine . phd thesis , the pennsylvania state university , 2002 . 4 . d . deguchi , k . mori , j . hasegawa , j . toriwaki , and h . natori et al ., “ camera motion tracking of real bronchoscope using epipolar geometry analysis and ct derived bronchoscopic images ,” spie medical imaging 2002 : physiol . func . from multidim . images a clough and c . chen ( ed . ), v . 4683 , pp . 30 - 41 , 2002 . 5 . b . lucas and t . kanade , “ an iterative image registration technique with an application to stereo vision ,” proceedings of the international joint conference on artificial intelligence , pp . 674 - 679 , 1981 . 6 . s . baker and i . matthews , “ equivalence and efficiency of image alignment algorithms ,” proceedings of the ieee conference on computer vision and pattern recognition 1 , pp . 1090 - 1097 , 2001 . 7 . h .- y . shum and r . szeliski , “ panoramic image misaiming ,” technical report msr - tr - 97 - 23 , microsoft research . 8 . h .- y . shum and r . szeliski , “ construction of panoramic image mosaics with global and local alignment ,” international journal of computer vision 16 ( 1 ), pp . 63 - 84 , 2000 . 9 . t . okatani and k . deguchi , “ shape reconstruction from an endoscope image by shape from shading technique for a point light source at the projection center ,” computer vision and image understanding 66 , pp . 119 - 131 , may 1997 . 10 . a . p . kiraly , e . a . hoffman , g . mclennan , w . e . higgins , and j . m . reinhardt , “ 3d human airway segmentation for virtual bronchoscopy ,” spie medical imaging 2002 : physiology and funct . from multidim . images , a . v . clough and c . t . chen , eds . 4683 , pp . 16 - 29 , 2002 . 11 . r . swift , a . kiraly , a . sherbondy , a . l . austin , e . a . hoffman , g . mclennan , and w . e . higgins , “ automatic axes - generation for virtual bronchoscopic assessment of major airway obstructions ,” computerized medical imaging and graphics 26 , pp . 103 - 118 , march - april 2002 .	6
referring now in greater detail to the drawings , in which like numerals indicate like elements throughout , there is shown in fig1 an elevational view , partially broken away and partially in section , of a motor operated gate valve combination 10 of the type presently employed . the motor operated gate valve lo is a type which is generally well known in the art and is commercially available from a variety of sources . the motor operated gate valve 10 includes a valve member 12 and a valve operator 14 which are connected together by a valve yoke 16 . the valve member or valve 12 includes a movable valve gate 18 , a fixed valve seat 20 and a fixed valve backseat 22 . the valve gate 18 is movable between a &# 34 ; seated &# 34 ; position in which it engages the valve seat 20 thereby closing the valve 12 and a &# 34 ; backseated &# 34 ; position in which it engages the valve backseat 22 , thereby fully opening the valve 12 . as shown in fig1 the valve gate 18 is in an intermediate position part way between the seated and backseated positions . the valve gate 18 moves between the seated and backseated positions by the action of a valve stem 24 , one end of which is secured to the valve gate 18 . the valve stem 24 extends through suitable openings in the valve 12 and valve yoke 16 with the other end extending into the valve operator 14 , as shown . the valve operator 14 is comprised of a motor 26 which in the present embodiment is shown as being an electric motor . the output shaft of the motor 26 is connected through suitable reduction gears 28 to a combination worm and worm gear , shown collectively as 30 . the worm gear surrounds and is drivingly engaged with a drive sleeve ( not shown ) which in turn is drivingly engaged with a stem nut ( not shown ). the stem nut threadingly engages acme type threading on the upper end of the valve stem 24 . the stem nut is prevented from moving axially by a shelf on the bottom of the drive sleeve and a stem nut locking means or lock nut which is secured to the drive sleeve above the stem nut . rotation of the drive shaft of the motor 26 results in rotation of the worm and worm gear 30 , the drive sleeve and the stem nut . since the stem nut is restrained from axial movement , rotation of the stem nut results in corresponding vertical or axial movement of the valve stem 24 . the direction of movement of the valve stem 24 depends upon the direction of movement of the output shaft of the motor 26 and the corresponding direction of rotation of the stem nut . of course , the vertical movement of the valve stem 24 results in corresponding movement of the valve gate 18 . during operation , both thrust and torque exist between the valve stem 24 and the stem nut as a result of the acme threads . as the valve gate 18 engages the valve seat 20 compressive stem thrust is absorbed by the operator housing through a tapered roller thrust bearing ( not shown ) at the upper end of the drive sleeve . similarly , during unseating of the valve gate tensile valve stem thrust is returned to the housing through a similar bearing on the lower end of the drive sleeve . the distal ( rightmost ) end of the worm is connected to a spring pack 32 in a manner well known in the art . a separate small gear 34 is also connected to the worm by way of the spring pack 32 . the gear 34 , in turn , is connected to a torque switch ( not shown ) for deactivating or stopping the motor 26 when the gear 34 is turned due to a displacement of the spring pack 32 . also associated with the valve operator 14 is a manual actuator 36 to permit the valve operator 14 to be operated independently of the motor 26 . the structure thus far described is typical of that of a motor operated gate valve of the type with which the present invention may be employed . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the motor operated gate valve 10 is merely an illustrative example of one valve with which the present invention may be employed and that the present invention may alternatively be employed with any other type of valve ( such as a globe valve ) or with any other type of valve operator , such as a pneumatic or hydraulic valve operator ( not shown ). further details of the structure and operation of the motor operated gate valve 10 will be presented only insofar as is necessary for an understanding of the structure and operation of the present invention as described below . with the motor operated gate valve 10 , during operation , as the valve operator 14 is developing torque on the valve stem 24 it is also developing compressive forces through the forces of the acme threads on the valve stem 24 and stem nut . for most such threads , the thrust for a give torque is nearly halved as the friction is doubled . since the coefficient of friction may easily vary between 0 . 01 and 0 . 02 , a substantial decrease in delivered thrust may arise as lubricant between the threads is squeezed out in use or , alternatively , as such lubricant hardens due to lack of use . in order to determine whether the valve operator is delivering sufficient closing thrust to fully seat the valve gate 18 on the valve seat 20 and thereby fully close the valve 12 , a test is usually conducted under zero differential pressure conditions , primarily because of the great difficulties involved in actually placing a particular differential pressure across the valve 12 . generally , after the valve gate 18 is seated , but before the motor 26 is turned off , thrust within the valve stem 24 can build up very rapidly . since it takes time for the worm to move in response to the force being exerted on it by the worm gear , the displacement of the spring pack 32 is usually delayed with respect to the development of such thrust or the torque . thus , when the spring pack displacement finally gets to the position in which the torque switch is opened to deactivate the motor , the force or torque may be much higher than what it would have been had the loading been much slower . however , under severe differential pressure conditions for which the valve is supposed to achieve its specified thrust , the loading rate is substantially slowed down by the differential pressure impeding the motion of the valve gate or globe as it moves toward and engages the valve seat 20 . thus , for valves which load up rapidly when seating under no differential pressure , there may be a substantial reduction in the thrust at motor turnoff in the differential pressure condition where the thrust is really needed to properly and fully close the valve . some comparison tests have indicated that thrust reductions of up to 30 % may arise . in such situations , a motor operated valve of this type may not effectively operate to fully close the valve during an emergency condition . the solution offered by the prior art as outlined in the above - identified publication is to replace the lock nut that keeps the stem nut from moving upwardly under compressive stem loading with an assembly that rests on the top of the stem nut , but allows the stem nut to move upwardly to compress an additional bellville spring pack . the compression of the second spring pack , which is proportional to the compressive thrust experienced by the valve stem and stem nut is then used to open a thrust actuated switch . the assembly proposed to accomplish this result is comprised of a large , fairly massive , annular housing positioned above the stem nut . the housing supports a roller element bearing , an upper annular piece which rests on the bearing and supports and guides the bellville spring elements , an upper or top plate to restrain the bellville spring elements and side supports to support the top plate from the upper surface of the operator housing . the thrust switch which is employed to deactivate the motor is mounted to the top plate and is actuated from a rod affixed to the upper annular piece . the assembly probably weighs in excess of 100 pounds , even for the smallest sized valve operator , and the use of the bellville spring assembly may still result in a lagging displacement at high load rates of the valve . the primary drawback of the prior art system is that the total weight and size of the additional structure and the requirement of approximately a foot or more of additional space is burdensome with respect to motor operated valves already installed and functioning within existing plants , particularly nuclear power plants . in such plants , such a considerable amount of additional weight requires a new seismic analysis , which is time consuming and costly . in addition , because all of the thrust with this prior art system goes through the new bellville spring pack and is then returned back to the upper operator housing , motor operators made by other manufacturers will not be able to employ this prior art system , since their operator housings may not be designed to support such additional force . fig2 is a greatly enlarged sectional view of a portion of the valve and valve operator 10 of fig1 with certain portions thereof modified to incorporate the thrust actuated control 50 of the present invention . as shown in fig2 the valve stem 24 includes acme threads 52 which engage corresponding threads on the stem nut 54 . the stem nut 54 is shown as being drivingly engaged for rotation with the drive sleeve 56 , in the presently preferred embodiment employing a spline connection shown in phantom as 58 . as previously discussed , the drive sleeve 56 is drivingly connected to the worm ( not shown in fig2 ) for rotation upon rotation of the motor 26 . as previously indicated , the drive sleeve 56 is rotatably supported by a tapered roller thrust bearing 60 secured to the operator housing 14 . a stem nut lock means or lock nut 62 is threadingly secured to the drive sleeve 56 in the manner and for the reasons as discussed above . in the case of the prior art valve operator , the lock nut 62 would extend further downwardly ( when viewing fig2 ) to engage the stem nut 54 . however , in the embodiment shown in fig2 approximately 40 % of the lock nut 62 has been removed for purposes which will hereinafter become apparent . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , the drive sleeve 56 , the lock nut 62 and stem nut 54 are all generally annular and rotate together about a central axis 64 . as previously indicated , the stem nut 54 is prevented from moving axially downwardly by a drive sleeve shelf 56a . in this manner , rotation of the stem nut 54 in a first direction results in axial movement of the valve stem 24 in a first or downward direction , thereby moving the valve gate 18 toward and into engagement with the valve seat 20 as discussed in detail above . correspondingly , rotation of the stem nut 54 in a second , opposite direction results in axial movement of the stem in a second or upward direction , thereby moving the valve gate 18 out of engagement and away from the valve seat 20 . a thrust sensor means or thrust sensor shown generally as 66 is positioned between the stem nut 54 and the lock nut 62 . in the presently preferred embodiment , the thrust sensor is comprised of a spring assembly including a plurality of generally annular spring members 68 . the spring members 68 are generally v - shaped in cross section and are oriented so that the apex of the v has the largest diameter . preferably , the spring members are made of a high strength spring material , such as berryllium cooper or any other suitable material known to those skilled in the art . the spring members 68 are position between a first and a second generally annular spring holders 70 and 72 respectively . the first spring holder 70 is secured to the lock nut 62 in any suitable manner well known to those skilled in the art for rotation with the lock nut 62 . the second spring holder 72 engages and preferably is secured to the stem nut 54 for rotation therewith . the legs of the spring members 68 are preferably installed within suitably sized and aligned annular grooves 74 within the facing surfaces of the first and second spring holders 70 and 72 to retain the spring members in a generally parallel spaced relationship as shown in fig2 . the second spring holder 72 includes a generally annular , generally axially upwardly extending extension member 76 which surrounds at least a portion of the valve stem 24 . a generally annular switch actuator member 78 is threadingly secured to the axially upper end of the extension member 76 . the switch actuator member 78 is positioned proximate a switch means or switch shown generally as 80 , which is secured to the operator housing 14 . the switch 80 is of a type well known in the art and generally commercially available and is adapted to deactivate or stop the operation of the motor to stop further rotation of the stem nut 54 . the switch 80 includes a pivotally mounted striker arm 82 which pivots about pivot point 84 upon upper movement of the switch actuator member 78 against the bias of switch spring 86 . pivotal movement of the switch striker arm 82 results in the separation of switch contracts 88 . in operation , under the action of upward thrust on the stem nut 54 which is equal to the downward thrust on the valve stem 24 less minimal friction force in the stem nut to drive sleeve spline 58 , the stem nut 54 pushes in the second axial direction ( upwardly when viewing fig2 ) against the second spring holder 72 , thereby compressing the spring elements 68 . the compression of the spring elements 68 results in an upper displacement of the stem nut 54 and the second spring holder 72 . of course , the displacement of the second spring holder 72 results in a corresponding upward displacement of the extension member 76 and the switch actuator member 78 . the upward displacement of each of these elements is directly proportional to the upward thrust on the stem nut 54 . the size , thickness and number of spring elements is selected so that displacement of the foregoing elements will be at least 0 . 1 inch upon the application of full rated thrust from the valve operator . the switch actuator member 78 may be adjusted with respect to the extension member 76 so that the switch actuator member actuates the switch 80 at the desired stem nut thrust . as previously indicated , upon actuation of the switch 80 , contacts 88 are separated and the motor 26 is deactivated or stopped , thereby stopping rotation of the stem nut 54 . in the embodiment shown , once contact is made between the switch actuator member 78 and the switch striker arm 82 , any further upward displacement of the switch actuator member 78 results in amplified displacement between the switch contact 88 once the striker arm has been moved a small distance ( b ). it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the essential feature of the present invention is the direct return of the thrust from the stem nut 54 to the drive sleeve 56 after the spring assembly so that the original force path beyond the drive sleeve 56 is maintained . it should also be appreciated that the present invention can be easily retrofitted within existing motor operated valve structures without the need for substantial modifications and without the addition of any significant weight . moreover , the additional space requirements for the present invention are negligible , and the present invention can be installed and employed in virtually any type of motor operated valve . from the foregoing description , it can be seen that the present invention comprises a thrust actuated control system for a motor operated valve which facilitates control of the valve utilizing thrust and which is easily adaptable and retrofitable to motor operated valves . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof . it is understood , therefore , that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiment disclosed , but it is intended to cover all modifications which are within the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	5
this invention generally relates to refiners for lignocellulosic materials , and more specifically to a method and system for changing refiner plate segments in such a refiner . in certain embodiments , the present invention may be applicable to a broad range of refiners , e . g ., those operated from a consistency range of 1 to 90 %. in certain embodiments , the present invention comprises a segment transportation and installation fixture that is attached to the grinding face of the refiner segments . depending upon the particular grinding machine type and design , these segments may comprise a full 360 degree circle or some smaller portion , e . g ., a 180 degree half - circle . the fixture with the attached segments may be positioned as a unit onto the refiner . the plate segments may then be fixed to the rotating and stationary machine surfaces utilizing a similar attachment method as when the segments were installed individually . once the segments are fixed to the machine surfaces , the attachment method of the face - mounted installation fixture to the segments is released , and the fixture may be removed from the machine and stored until the segments become worn and are replaced . the fixture may also be used in removing the worn segments . the carrying fixture may be attached to the face of the worn segments . the segments may then be unbolted from the machine mounting surface and removed as a full or partial ( e . g ., half ) circle assembly from the machine . the segments may be fixed directly to the machine mounting surfaces . alternatively , a thin ( e . g ., 1 to 4 mm thick ) plate carriers may be clamped between the segment and machine surfaces to protect the machine surface from fiber and resin deposits that must be removed prior to installing another new set of segments . suitable thin plate carriers may be described in u . s . application ser . no . 12 / 269 , 285 to gingras . the thin backing plate need not be attached to the machine surface ; it may be sandwiched between the segment and the machine surface . in certain embodiments , a thin plate holder may be temporarily fixed to the segments and / or to the face - mounted installation fixture . in an embodiment , the face - mounted segment carrier and installation fixture has at least one hole through which a temporary installation bolt may slide . this hole facilitates attachment of the bolt to a threaded potion of the refiner plate segment ( e . g ., a threaded insert ). the face - mounted segment carrier along with the segment ( s ) may then be moved to the rotor or stator disk of the refiner . the temporary installation bolt may be removed , and a second installation bolt may be used to connect the plate segment to the refiner disk using the same threads on the plate segment as used to secure the temporary installation bolt . in some embodiments , substantially the same installation bolt may be used . the threaded portion of the refiner plate segment may be machined directly into the refiner plate itself if the hardness of the grinding segment material is low enough to allow direct machining . alternatively for higher hardness materials where the segment cannot be directly machined , a lower hardness insert ( e . g ., when compared to the refiner plate &# 39 ; s bars and grooves ) can be placed in the casting mold and the segment metal poured around it . the softer insert material can then be drilled and tapped for the attachment bolts . such inserts are currently drilled and tapped and used for attaching the segments individually from the back side into the grinding machine but the insert surface is only exposed on the back non - grinding side of the segments . in preferred embodiments of the present invention , an insert face would be exposed on the face side of the segment for drilling and tapping to attach the installation fixture . that is , the threaded portion of the plate segment may be accessed from both the face - side of the segment and the disk - side of the segment . most preferably , the refiner segment has a hole completely therethrough . in some embodiments , the refiner segment has one or more holes solely accessible from one side , either the top or the bottom . in a preferred embodiment , the same insert location in the segment may be used for face attachment of the installation fixture and backside attachment of the segment to the grinding machine mounting surface . a common insert location would allow drilling through and tapping in one operation from either the back or face side reducing machining steps and set - up time . in some embodiments , longer bolts for segment - to - machine attachment may be used . these bolts may extend through the full length of the tapped hole and remain just below the grinding face of the segment . filling the face side of the tapped hole with the bolt might prevent material from the grinding process from filling and plugging the tapped hole . if the tapped hole ( s ) were plugged with solidified material during the refining process , the face fixture attachment bolts might be difficult to insert into the tapped holes when used segments are removed . if the bolts for segment - to - machine attachment fill the full length of the tapped insert , the bolts for carrier - to - segment attachment cannot be simultaneously threaded into these same holes . in some embodiments , there may be two ( or more ) holes per plate segment . only a portion of the holes would be used to attach the segment to the carrier . that is , the carrier may be fixed to the plate segment using at least one hole , while the plate segment is fixed to the refiner disk using another hole . once the face - mounted carrier is unbolted and removed , the now - available set of holes may be used to further bolt the segment to the refiner disk . fig1 schematically illustrates an assembly comprising a face - mounted fixture and refiner plate segment in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . refiner plate segment 102 has a top surface 120 and a bottom surface 122 . top surface 120 interfaces the lignocellulosic material during operation of the refiner , and the lignocellulosic material is pulverized using bars and grooves 104 near the top surface 120 . the precise pattern ( if any ) of the grooves is relatively unimportant . face - mounted carrier 106 is connected to refiner plate segment 102 via a bolt 110 interlocking with threads 112 of insert 114 . as bolt 110 is rotated into place , head 108 cinches against face - mounted carrier 106 at interface 116 . once assembled , the face - mounted carrier and refiner plate segment may be positioned for attachment to the rotor or stator disk of a refiner . fig2 schematically illustrates a refiner plate segment mounted to a refiner in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . as illustrated , the face - mounted carrier 206 may be unbolted and removed from the refiner plate segment 202 , such that grooved portion 204 may exposed to lignocellulosic material during operation of the refiner . plate segment 202 is attached to refiner disk 216 via bolt 210 . bolt 210 interfaces with threads 212 of insert 214 . as bolt 210 is rotated , head 208 cinches against disk 216 at interface 218 , pulling the refiner segment against the refiner disk . the same threads used to bolt the face - mounted carrier to the refiner plate segment ( e . g ., threads 112 of fig1 ) may be used to bolt the refiner plate segment to the refiner disk ( e . g ., threads 212 of fig2 ). fig3 schematically illustrates a face - mounted fixture 350 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . as illustrated , face - mounted fixture 350 may carry eight refiner plate segments ( with the segment positions illustrated by the broken lines ), and may be carried and positioned using lifting hole 358 . as illustrated , there are two attachment holes for each refiner plate segment : one dual - purpose hole 356 for attaching the segment to the face - mounted fixture 350 and for attaching the segment to the refiner disk , and one single - purpose hole for attaching the segment to the refiner disk . other arrangements of dual - and single - purpose holes may also be used . in this manner , the plate segment may be partially secured to the refiner disk before being unbolted from the face - mounted fixture . fig4 schematically illustrates an assembly comprising a face - mounted carrier and refiner plate segment in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . refiner plate segment 402 has a top surface 420 and a bottom surface 422 . top surface 420 interfaces the lignocellulosic material during operation of the refiner , and the lignocellulosic material is pulverized using bars 404 and grooves near the top surface 420 . the precise pattern ( if any ) of the grooves is relatively unimportant . as illustrated , top surface 420 is beveled and is thus not parallel to the bottom surface 424 of face - mounted carrier 406 . face - mounted carrier 406 is connected to refiner plate segment 402 via bolt 410 interlocking with threads 412 of insert 414 . as bolt 410 is rotated into place , head 408 cinches against face - mounted carrier 406 at interface 416 . as illustrated , face - mounted carrier 406 has a collar 440 that extends beyond the bottom surface 424 . collar 440 rests against insert 414 at interface 442 . because face - mounted carrier 406 is beveled , face - mounted carrier only contacts refiner plate segment 402 at interface 442 ( at the collar 440 ) and interface 434 ( where top surface 420 contacts the bottom surface 424 of face - mounted carrier 406 ). thus , gap 430 and gap 432 are formed between face - mounted carrier 406 and refiner plate segment 402 . in this respect , collar 440 ( which may comprise a complete cylinder or only a portion of a cylinder ) facilitates transport of various surface configurations ( e . g ., beveled or otherwise ) of refiner plate 402 . in yet further embodiments , face - mounted carrier 406 may only contact the refiner plate segment at collar 440 and not contact the plate segment grinding face at any other location . while the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment , but on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims .	1
in view of the advantages of using a higher operating frequency for an sef lamp and ballast configuration , applicant decided to develop an sef ( solenoidal electrodeless fluorescent ) lamp ballast which would operate in the 13 . 56 mhz band , which is assigned to industrial , scientific and medical ( ism ) use . this frequency and its first harmonic have historically been used in industrial applications , such as for rf heating . in addition , the second and third harmonics are similarly allocated for this use . since these frequencies are reserved for industrial use , the level of emi and incidental radiation from the ballast can be relatively much greater than would be allowed at frequencies not included within an ism frequency band . this is of particular advantage in a lamp application at 13 . 56 mhz . power can be transferred to the lamp discharge with good efficiency using only a small , solenoidal air - core coil made resonant at the operating frequency . with this coil geometry , the radiated fraction ( leakage ) of the total rf field is much larger than it is for a toroidal ferrite core and coil typically used in an sef lamp which operates at 100 khz . when operating at about 13 . 56 mhz , fcc regulations require that the frequency of the rf voltage used to supply power to the lamp must be held within a deviation of plus / minus 6 . 78 khz . applicant has determined that this can most easily be accomplished by using crystal control of the ballast oscillator frequency . although the description and operation of the ballast of the present invention will be described for the 13 . 56 mhz band , it is to be understood that the results of the present invention may be accomplished at other frequencies by adhering to the principles taught and suggested by the present invention . referring to the figure , a circuit for a ballast for operating an sef lamp is shown . diodes cr1 - cr4 form a rectifying diode bridge supplied from power source 10 , such as an ac line . one side of the source is connected through fuse f1 to the anode - cathode junction of cr1 and cr3 , respectively , and the other side is connected to the anode - cathode junction of cr2 and cr4 . the cathode junction of diodes cr1 and cr2 is connected to one ( positive ) side of filter capacitor c4 , to bypass capacitor c8 and the drain d of field effect transistor ( fet ) q1 . the other ( negative ) side of filter capacitor c4 and the bypass capacitor c8 are each connected to the anode junction of diodes cr3 and cr4 , corresponding to the local ground point of the ballast circuit . capacitor c8 bypasses rf current from the drain d of fet q1 to ground so that rf current does not flow through filter capacitor c4 and / or to power source 10 . a dc supply voltage for the ballast circuitry is thereby established across filter capacitor c4 by the bridge rectifier comprising diodes cr1 - cr4 . the positive side of the diode bridge is connected to the drain d of fet q3 through dropping resistor r3 . filter capacitor c7 is connected between source s of fet q3 and ground potential . fet q3 may comprise a device like fet q1 , but of lower power rating , such as a metal - gate fet developed by siliconix corp ., santa clara , california , or the like . the source s of fet q3 is connected to ground potential through the series combination of resistor r4 and inductor l4 . bypass capacitor c5 is connected in parallel across resistor r4 . the junction of resistor r4 and inductor l4 is connected to ground potential through the series combination of coupling capacitor c6 and the primary winding of transformer t1 . capacitor c6 prevents dc current from flowing through and thereby saturating the primary winding of transformer t1 . transformer t1 comprises a trifilar wound ( i . e ., 3 windings , wound on the same core ) transformer having a ferrite core . the phasing reference of the primary winding of transformer t1 , as indicated by the heavy dot , is at the junction of capacitor c6 and the primary of transformer t1 . inductor l4 , capacitor c6 and the input impedance seen across the primary coil of transformer t1 comprise a resonant circuit having a resonant frequency near the rf output frequency of the ballast circuitry . thus , a sinusoidal rf voltage appears across the primary coil of transformer t1 . a crystal resonator x1 is connected between the gate g of fet q3 and the junction of resistor r4 and choke l4 . the junction of dropping resistor r3 and filter capacitor c7 is connected to gate g of fet q3 through r2 and r1 . the cathode of a zener diode z1 is connected to the junction of resistors r1 and r2 and the anode thereof is connected to the junction of resistor r4 and inductor l4 . zener diode z1 ensures that high voltage is not applied to the gate g of fet q3 . resistors r1 , r2 and r4 , zener diode z1 , crystal resonator x1 , fet q3 , capacitors c5 and c6 , and inductor l4 comprise a crystal controlled oscillator and cooperate to produce an rf sinusoidal voltage across the primary winding of transformer t1 . the first secondary winding of transformer t1 is connected between gate g of fet q2 and ground potential and has a phasing reference as indicated by the heavy dot at the gate side of the winding . resistor r6 is connected between gate g of fet q2 and ground potential to aid in damping spurious oscillations when fet q2 is turned on and off . one side of the second secondary winding of transformer t1 is connected to gate g of fet q1 and the other side of the second secondary winding of transformer t1 is connected to source s of fet q1 . the phasing reference of the second secondary winding of transformer t1 , as indicated by the heavy dot , is connected to source s of fet q1 . resistor r5 is connected between gate g and source s of fet q1 to aid in damping spurious oscillations when fet q1 is turned on and off . source s of fet q1 and drain d of fet q2 are connected together and this junction , switch point a , is connected to a first side of inductor l1 . fets q1 and q2 and the first and second secondary windings of transformer t1 comprise an alternately switched half - bridge amplifier for amplifying the rf power delivered via fet q3 across the primary winding of transformer t1 . inductor l1 is thereby supplied with a square voltage waveform at switch point a . heat sinks for fet q1 and fet q2 should be provided with an insulating material which maintains a low capacitance between junction a and ground . that is , the insulating material used should present a high impedance to ground for dc and at the amplifier operating frequency and yet have a high thermal conductivity . a material such as beryllium oxide may be used . fet q1 and fet q2 may each comprise a power fet device such as a type irf710 , manufactured by international rectifier co ., el segundo , california , or the like . each of power fet &# 39 ; s q1 and q2 includes an intrinsic diode ( not shown ) which provides a path for conducting reverse current which flows when the load current ( i . e ., current to lamp coil l3 ) is not in phase with switch point a voltage . the other side of inductor l1 is connected to ground potential through capacitor c1 . inductor l1 and capacitor c1 comprise one stage of a load matching and harmonic filtering network . additional stages may be added as desired , such as a second stage comprising inductor l2 having an end connected to the junction of inductor l1 and capacitor c1 and the other end thereof connected to ground potential through capacitor c2 . the value of components for the network should be selected to provide the required filtering for producing a sinusoidal output voltage and to optimize power transfer from the ballast circuitry to a lamp load . the junction of inductor l2 and capacitor c2 is connected to one side of dc blocking and tuning capacitor c3 , which is preferably variable . the other side of capacitor c3 which constitutes the output of the ballast circuitry may be connected to one side of lamp coil l3 . the other side of the lamp coil l3 is connected to the negative rail of the dc power supply of the ballast circuit through a fourth winding of transformer t1 having a phase as indicated by the heavy dot . for instance , if transformer t1 includes a toroidal core , the current through the load , i . e ., lamp coil l3 , can be returned to the negative rail via a wire which first passes through the central hole of the toroidal core of transformer t1 and is then connected to the negative rail . the operation of the ballast circuitry will now be described . the half - bridge amplifier comprises fets q1 and q2 connected in series and driven by sinusoidal gate voltages of opposing phase from second and first secondary windings of transformer t1 , respectively . the common junction or switch point a of fet &# 39 ; s q1 and q2 is switched alternately from the positive rail ( cathodes of cr1 and cr2 ) of the dc supply to the negative rail ( anodes of cr3 and cr4 ) so that the voltage between switch point a and either rail is a biased square wave . this square wave voltage has a peak amplitude which is equal to or slightly less than the dc supply voltage , by an amount which depends upon the transistor ( i . e ., fet q1 or fet q2 ) on - resistance and switch point a current . the load matching and harmonic filtering network comprises one or more lc sections and harmonic traps which convert the square wave voltage input available at switch point a to a sine wave of low harmonic content at the output of the network ( i . e ., input to capacitor c3 ). a two - stage network comprising circuit components l1 , l2 , c1 , and c2 is shown in the figure as an example . a nearly sinusoidal output voltage waveform from the ballast circuit is preferred to reduce radiated emi from the lamp load at harmonic frequencies . the fundamental frequency of the ballast circuit output voltage provided to lamp coil l3 is determined by the frequency of the voltage supplied to the gate of fet q1 and to the gate of fet q2 . capacitor c3 blocks the dc component of switch point a voltage from reaching lamp coil l3 and is tuned near resonance with lamp coil l3 at the operating frequency of the amplifier in order to transfer the highest output power from the ballast circuit to lamp coil l3 . typically , a high sinusoidal voltage near 1500 v peak - to - peak is produced across the coil l3 in order to initiate the discharge of the lamp ( not shown ). this voltage falls to a much lower level as soon as the lamp has started . the intensity of the light from the lamp can be dimmed by decreasing the value of capacitor c3 away from the near - resonance value so as to decrease the power supplied to lamp coil l3 by the ballast circuit . sinusoidal rf voltage for driving the half - bridge switch is produced across the primary winding of transformer t1 by a crystal controlled oscillator comprising rf transistor q3 and crystal x1 . the crystal - controlled oscillator supplies an rf current at the junction of inductor l4 and capacitor c6 ( point b ) to a resonant circuit comprising inductor l4 , coupling capacitor c6 , and the input impedance seen across the primary winding of transformer t1 . the input capacitances of fet q1 and fet q2 are reflected in sum to the primary winding of transformer t1 to be in series with capacitor c6 . the resonant current flowing through t1 must be large enough to produce a level of gate voltage for driving fet &# 39 ; s q1 and q2 which will alternately turn each device into conduction as soon as the gate voltage exceeds the device gate threshold level . the resonant current is several times larger than the rf current supplied by fet q3 , and adequately high gate voltage for fet &# 39 ; s q1 and q2 can be developed with a low power consumption in fet q3 of about one watt . the crystal controlled oscillator is supplied by a dc voltage obtained from a half - wave rectifier connection to a full - wave bridge comprising diodes cr1 - cr4 at the anode of diode cr3 through dropping resistor r3 . power to fet q3 can also be supplied by connecting r3 directly to the dc voltage across filter capacitor c4 , except that considerably more power is dissipated in resistor r3 and fet q3 using this alternate embodiment since the average voltage drop across r3 and q3 is higher . in either case , the quiescent ( non - oscillating ) current through fet q3 is made insensitive to supply voltage by the action of zener diode z1 and resistors r4 and r2 . the rf current supplied by fet q3 is also insensitive to changes in dc supply voltage so that the gate drive voltage to fet &# 39 ; s q1 and q2 is likewise made insensitive to dc supply voltage changes . the circuitry between drain d of fet q3 and point b ( at the junction of resistor r4 and inductor l4 ) is self - oscillatory at the frequency of crystal x1 . a portion of the rf voltage across crystal x1 is coupled to x1 via the interelectrode capacitances of fet q3 . resistor r1 provides a series impedance to allow rf voltage to be developed across crystal x1 since the adjacent zener diode z1 acts like a bypass capacitor at rf frequencies and would greatly reduce any rf voltage across crystal x1 if resistor r1 were not present . the crystal - controlled oscillator circuit , including the resonant circuit at point b , produces a voltage of sufficient amplitude across the first and second secondary of transformer t1 to turn each of fet q1 and fet q2 on in alternating sequence for at least a portion of each half rf cycle to develop an output voltage across coil l3 sufficient to start the lamp . however , a higher respective sinusoidal gate voltage is required to keep each of fet q1 and fet q2 fully turned on over most of each respective rf half cycle so that the ballast will operate with good efficiency and at a power level close to that for which the transistors are rated for switching service . additional power to drive the gate capacitances to a higher voltage is required . the overall ballast efficiency is significantly reduced if this additional power is supplied only by the oscillator . efficiency suffers as a result of increased power loss in dropping resistor r3 and because the crystal - controlled oscillator circuit is not highly efficient . in this invention the additional gate drive power for the half - bridge amplifier which is needed to operate the ballast circuit at high efficiency is provided by feeding back a portion of the rf power output to the inputs of the power transistors . this is preferably accomplished by returning the current from lamp coil l3 through a fourth or feedback winding of transformer t1 . the polarities of the first and second secondary windings of transformer t1 are such that the voltage induced in the first secondary winding and supplied to gate g of fet q2 turns fet q2 on and the voltage induced in the second secondary winding and supplied to gate g of fet q1 turns fet q1 off during the period when lamp current is flowing through lamp coil l3 toward the negative rail . therefore , the feedback connection from the lamp coil l3 to transformer t1 is regenerative . the amplifier will not start to oscillate in the absence of rf voltage from the crystal controlled oscillator . however , when the rf voltage at the primary winding of transformer t1 is made sufficient to turn on fet &# 39 ; s q1 and q2 by the turning on of the crystal controlled oscillator , the amplifier will begin to produce both output power and feedback gate drive power . the amplifier output is held close to the unloaded crystal frequency by the component of current from the crystal oscillator which is supplied from point b to the gate drive transformer t1 . when the input drive voltage is sufficient , the regenerative feedback of lamp current from lamp coil l3 to transformer t1 causes the half - bridge amplifier to run as a power oscillator whose free - running frequency is governed mainly by the reactive components of the output network and the interelectrode capacitances of the amplifier transistors . the ballast output frequency is a function of the difference between the free - running frequency of the power oscillator and the free - running frequency of the crystal oscillator . the operating frequency is a function of the relative magnitude and phase of the current - feedback voltage from lamp coil l3 with respect to the crystal oscillator voltages which are developed across the windings of transformer t1 . it is found that for a given output network the free - running amplifier frequency is lower than the free - running crystal oscillator frequency and voltage - tunes upwardly with increasing supply voltage as power supplied to lamp coil l3 is increased . when the ballast circuit output is connected to a discharge type lamp ( not shown ), the act of simply touching the glass envelope with a hand places a small capacitive load across the lamp coil l3 and increases the phase angle of the current through lamp coil l3 with respect to the voltage at switch point a . this causes an advance in the phase of the gate signal to fet q1 so that power delivered to the lamp from the ballast circuitry is increased . in practice , it is found that the power increase just compensates the additional loading and that the change in light level from the lamp is almost imperceptible . if the ballast amplifier is fully driven but no current feedback from lamp coil l3 is used , the light output from the lamp decreases when such additional loading is applied to the lamp . changes in lamp loading cause small changes in operating frequency to compensate for corresponding changes in phase referenced from the switch point a voltage to the voltage applied to either the gate of fet q1 or fet q2 . the changes in frequency are typically held within 2 khz by the frequency - locked loop action resulting from the regenerative feedback of lamp current . the frequency stability of the system with respect to changes in load as well as in line voltage is improved by increasing the amplitude of the crystal oscillator current which circulates in the primary winding of transformer t1 . it is found further that the magnitude of the sinusoidal current through lamp coil l3 tends to remain constant over a wide range of supply voltage from power source 10 when the ballast is operated with a discharge lamp load . this effect is due in part to the rise in discharge resistance with increasing lamp power . also , the gate drive level changes very little with supply voltage due to the constant current action of the crystal oscillator portion of the circuit as heretofore described . this is an important advantage of the circuit since the gates of fet &# 39 ; s q1 and q2 do not become starved of drive voltage at low input voltages from power source 10 . such an occurrence would quickly overheat and destroy the transistors . it is evident that the crystal used in the ballast circuit could be cut to a slightly higher frequency in order to center the operating frequency range of the ballast amplifier at 13 . 56 mhz . depending on lamp and ballast circuit component values , the ac ripple at low dc supply voltage could cause the ballast circuitry output frequency to swing outside allowable limits during intervals when the phase of the ripple voltage is such that it subtracts from the supply voltage . this frequency sensitivity at low supply voltage limits the minimum size of filter capacitor c4 which can be used , and thus determines the maximum input power factor of the ballast circuitry which can be attained . thus has been illustrated and described lamp ballast circuitry having a high efficiency wherein the output frequency of the ballast is in an ism band and can be held within allowable limits of the ism band against changes in lamp load impedance , ballast supply voltage and temperature of the ballast circuitries . further , the ballast circuitry has a dimmer control and may be integrally packaged with an sef lamp . while only certain preferred features of the invention have been shown by way of illustration , many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art . it is to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as will occur to those skilled in the art .	7
the following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention . this description is not to be taken in a limiting sense , but is made merely for the purpose of describing one or more preferred embodiments of the invention . the scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims . a front view of a restraint system 10 according to the present invention is shown in fig1 a , and a side view of the restraint system 10 is shown in fig1 b . the restraint system 10 includes a skull cap assembly 11 , a garment assembly 24 , and a harness comprising a saddle assembly 29 . the restraint system 10 provides a flexible and lightweight system which may be worn under flight clothing which restrains the head and neck against ejection seat motion and windblast forces encountered upon initiation of the ejection sequence . the restraint system 10 also restrains the spinal column against dynamic overshoot resulting from ejection seat motion . the skull cap assembly 11 includes the skull cap 12 , a head cradle 13 ( see fig2 a and 2b ) under the skull cap , right front tension cord 14 a , left front tension cord 14 b , right rear tension cord 14 c , and left rear tension cord 14 d attached to the head cradle 13 , and tension limiters 15 a , 15 b , 15 c , and 15 d attached to respective tension cords 14 a - 14 d . the tension cords 14 a - 14 d are measured and shortened during initial fitting of the restraint system 10 to the crew member . the length of the tension cords 14 a - 14 d is sufficient to cover the maximum size in the anthropometric range of the crew member population . the tension limiters 15 a - 15 d may function as stops to reduce travel of the tension cords 14 a - 14 d , thereby controlling head alignment . during fitting to the crew member , the tension limiters 15 a - 15 d are crimped , sewn , or tightened to the tension cords 14 a - 14 d according to individual anthropometric requirements . upon system initiation , the tension cords 14 a - 14 d are retracted until the tension limiter 15 a - 15 d encounters a grommet 27 a - 27 d in the garment 25 , thereby limiting the travel of the tension cords 14 a - 14 d . the retraction force is then transferred to the crew member shoulders through a yoke portion 28 of the garment assembly 24 . the yoke portion 28 is a structural panel across the shoulders , preferably residing on the interior of the garment 25 . the purpose of the yoke 28 is to transfer load to the crew member &# 39 ; s shoulders if the tension limiters 15 a - 15 d bottom out on the grommets 27 a - 27 d . the tension limiters 15 a - 15 d may be used to ensure that excessive force is not exerted on the crew member &# 39 ; s head . pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d and gas generators 22 a and 22 b ( see fig2 a and 2b ) provide tension to the tension cords 14 a - 14 d and are sized to prevent over tensioning , and the tension limiters 15 a - 15 d may be used as an added limit on tensioning . the garment 25 is preferably made from fabric and houses tensioner subsystems 16 a , 16 b ( see fig2 a and 2b ) and may include channels or guides for locating the tensioner subsystems 16 a , 16 b and the saddle assembly 29 properly about the crew member . the channels or guides may be attached , for example , sewn , in the garment 25 to guide the straps 30 a - 30 b and restrain the pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d , the manifold assemblies 21 a , 21 b , and tension cords 14 a - 14 d preventing them from slipping out of position or off the crew member &# 39 ; s body . in alternative embodiments , a flight suit or anti - g suit could be modified to position the tensioner subsystem 16 a - 16 b and saddle assembly 29 . the garment assembly 24 incorporates a closure 26 , for example , a zipper or zip - lock device or the like , which enables ease of donning . the garment 25 may be manufactured from a number of modern textiles , preferably soft , thin , breathable , and pliable with wicking characteristics for cooling and transmission of perspiration . in alternative embodiments , the restraint system 10 may also be incorporated into other clothing , such as a flight suit or an anti - g suit . such alternatives are dependent upon the desires of the users . the saddle assembly 29 attaches to the manifold assemblies 21 a and 21 b of the tensioner subsystems 16 a and 16 b ( see fig2 a and 2b ). the saddle assembly 29 consists of two side straps 30 a and 30 b , one saddle strap 31 , two adjustable connectors 32 a and 32 b , and two leg straps 33 a and 33 b . the side strap 30 a connects to the manifold assembly 21 a and the side strap 30 b connects to the manifold assembly 21 b . the side straps 30 a and 30 b are adjustable to the crew member . during the one - time fitting process , each side strap ( which slides through adjustment slots on the manifold assembly ) may be adjusted to the anthropometric needs of the wearer , to provide a comfortable and secure fitment . excess strap length may be trimmed or stowed accordingly . each side strap 30 a and 30 b connects to opposing sides of the saddle strap 31 . the saddle strap 31 is a wide “ u ” shaped structural strap which is preferably approximately 1 . 75 inches wide and preferably forms a flexible seating surface beneath the buttocks which transmits head loads to lower torso extremities of the crew member . the leg straps 33 a and 33 b are attached to the base and sides of the saddle strap 31 forming loops around the upper thigh and crotch to preferably prevent the saddle strap 31 from moving on the crew member regardless of the crew member &# 39 ; s posture . adjustable connectors 32 a and 32 b attach to the leg straps 33 a and 33 b respectively and enable adjustment of the lengths of the leg straps 33 a and 33 b by the crew member . a front view of the restraint system 10 with the garment assembly 24 and skull cap 12 removed to reveal the components housed within the garment assembly 24 and skull cap 12 is shown in fig2 a , and a side view of the restraint system 10 with the garment assembly 24 and skull cap 12 removed to reveal the components housed within the garment assembly 24 and skull cap 12 is shown in fig2 b . the restraint system 10 includes the skull cap assembly 11 which includes a skull cap 12 ( see fig1 a and 1b ), the head cradle 13 , the four tension cords 14 a - 14 d , and the four tension limiters 15 a - 15 d . the skull cap 12 is formed to reside over the head cradle 13 and minimize pressure points applied to the head by the head cradle 13 . the skull cap 12 may be manufactured from a number of modern textiles and is preferably soft , thin , breathable , and pliable with wicking characteristics for cooling and transmission of perspiration . the skull cap 12 may be attached to the head cradle 13 or be separate . in alternative embodiments , the skull cap 12 may be eliminated if the customer chooses to attach the tension cords to a helmet or to wear the cradle over an existing crew member &# 39 ; s skull cap . the head cradle 13 resides on the upper portion of the crew member &# 39 ; s head , and when tensioned , restricts the head from moving . the tension cords 14 a - 14 d connect to the tensioner subsystems 16 a , 16 b via adjustment fittings 17 a - 17 d respectively . the tension cords 14 a - 14 d enter the garment assembly 24 through tension limiter grommets 27 a - 27 d respectively , which grommets 27 a - 27 d are built into or attached to the garment assembly 24 . the tension limiters 15 a - 15 d , one for each tension cord 14 a - 14 d respectively , are positioned according to the anthropometric requirements of the crew member and secured to the tension cords 14 a - 14 d above the garment assembly 24 entrance , such that upon activation of the tensioner subsystem 16 the load applied to the head and neck is controlled . further , upon activation of the tensioner subsystems 16 a , 16 b , the tension limiter grommets 27 a - 27 d transfer the remaining load applied by the tensioner subsystems 16 a , 16 b from the head into the torso through the yoke 28 ( see fig1 a and 1b ). the torso load , dictated by the placement of the tension limiters 15 a - 15 d , is distributed across the shoulders of the crew member by the yoke 28 built into the garment assembly 24 . the restraint system 10 includes a right tensioner subsystem 16 a and a left tensioner subsystem 16 b . the tensioner subsystems 16 a and 16 b include adjustable fittings 17 a - 17 d , pneumatic muscle assemblies 18 a - 18 d , port connectors 20 a - 20 d , manifold assemblies 21 a and 21 b , and gas generators 22 a and 22 b . the manifold assemblies 21 a and 21 b house or connect to the gas generators 22 a and 22 b . the manifold assemblies 21 a and 21 b receive and route a flow of gas through a filter 42 ( see fig4 ) and to the pneumatic muscle assemblies 18 a - 18 d . the filter 42 slows the speed of the expanding gas and removes particulates from the gas . alternate embodiments of the manifold assembly 21 may include provisions for 1 ) a button - type battery 43 or a connection to an external power source , 2 ) a g - sensor 44 or a wireless communications receiving device 45 , 3 ) a connection 47 for manual pressurization / depressurization , 4 ) a device for relieving gas pressure 47 from the system after parachute opening , and / or other such devices . the outlet port for the flow of gas includes a fitting for connection to the pneumatic muscle ( s ) 18 a - 18 d . the manifold assemblies 21 a and 21 b also provide for attachment to and / or adjustment 48 of the side straps 30 a and 30 b on the saddle assembly 29 . the manifold assemblies 21 a and 21 b are a sealed environment to prevent pressurized gas from escaping and coming into contact with the crew member &# 39 ; s body . the gas generators 22 a and 22 b are preferably cool gas generators and the burn rate of the gas generators 22 a and 22 b will preferably be selected to reduce heat production to an acceptable level . initial heat produced by the generation of the gas flow will be reduced by the filter and conducted to the manifold mass . the gas generators 22 a and 22 b are similar to an automobile airbag gas generator , which generates some heat , but remains cool to the touch . channels or pockets for retaining the tensioner subsystems 16 a and 16 b in the garment portion 24 provide additional protection from heat and by the time the pressure is released from the system , any excessive heat will have been dissipated . the tensioner subsystems 16 a and 16 b are attached to the skull cap assembly 11 by the adjustable fittings 17 a - 17 d . the tensioner subsystem 16 a includes the two adjustment fittings 17 a and 17 c and the tensioner subsystem 16 b includes the two adjustment fittings 17 b and 17 d . the adjustment fittings 17 a - 17 d connect to the tension cords 14 a - 14 d respectively . the gas generators 22 a and 22 b preferably use a chemical reaction system initiated by a mechanically , ballistically , or electrically initiated gas generator , similar to an automobile airbag gas generator . the preferred chemical reaction produces a cool gas which rapidly expands to fill the available space , which space in the case of the present invention is provided by the pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d . the burn rate of the gas generators 22 a , 22 b is limited to minimize heat generation . the pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d and the gas generators 22 a , 22 b are preferably sized to preclude over pressurizing the system , although other means may be exercised to prevent over pressurizing . the right front pneumatic muscle assembly 18 a connects between the adjustable fittings 17 a and the port connector 20 a , the left front pneumatic muscle assembly 18 b connects between the adjustable fittings 17 b and the port connector 20 b , the right rear pneumatic muscle assembly 18 c connects between the adjustable fittings 17 c and the port connector 20 c , and the left rear pneumatic muscle assembly 18 d connects between the adjustable fittings 17 d and the port connector 20 d . the port connectors 20 a and 20 c are connected to the right manifold assembly 21 a and the port connectors 20 b and 20 d are connected to the left manifold assembly 21 b . the right gas generator 22 a is connected to the right manifold assembly 21 a , and the left gas generator 22 b is connected to the left manifold assembly 21 b . the gas generators 22 a and 22 b provide a flow of gas which activates the restraint system 10 . the gas generators 22 a and 22 b may be triggered by a built - in g - sensor or by an external signal , for example , from the crew member seat or vehicle , in other embodiments . when triggered , the gas generators 22 a and 22 b provide a gas flow through the manifold assemblies 21 a and 21 b , which directs the flow into a pressure vessel of the front and back pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d . the pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d consequently inflate and contract , thus tensioning and activating the restraint system 10 . a support adjustment source 23 may be connected to the manifold assemblies 21 a and 21 b to provide the crew member with an option of inflating selective pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d to improve comfort and / or reduce fatigue on the neck caused by an unbalanced helmet weight over time . the source of gas may be a hand pump / bulb for ambient air , a separate pressurized tank , or a tap onto the anti - g suit or other acceptable source which would tension the pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d . the particular source is dependent on the customer &# 39 ; s needs . a detailed view of the pneumatic muscle 18 a in a relaxed state is shown in fig3 a , and a detailed view of the pneumatic muscle 18 a in an inflated state is shown in fig3 b . the pneumatic muscles 18 b - 18 d are preferably similar to the pneumatic muscle 18 a , but the pneumatic muscles 18 c and 18 d ( the rear pneumatic muscles ) may be different from the pneumatic muscles 18 a and 18 b ( the front pneumatic muscles ), for example , may have a different length or a different percentage contraction . the pneumatic muscles 18 a - 18 d preferably comprise four basic components : a braided mesh sheathing 36 ; a bladder 35 located inside the sheathing 36 that is capable of expanding when pressurized ; the adjustment fitting 17 a on one end of the pneumatic muscle 18 a , and a port connector 20 a on an opposite end of the pneumatic muscle 18 a . upon pressurization , the bladder 35 expands forcing the sheathing 36 to increase in diameter and shorten from a relaxed length l 1 to an inflated length l 2 . the shortening length l 2 may be shortened by as much as approximately 40 percent of the relaxed length l 1 ( i . e ., l 2 may be as small as approximately 0 . 60 times l 1 ). the adjustment fitting 17 a and the port connector 20 a on the pneumatic muscle 18 a cause attached items to be drawn together by the retraction , providing a strong tensioning element in a small simple device which will function when twisted or curved . the port connector fitting 20 a also serves as a passage for the pressurizing gases . a diagram of the manifold assembly 22 a and a generic seat 60 of the present invention is shown in fig4 , wherein alternative elements are described . the manifold assembly 21 b is generally similar to the manifold assembly 21 a . the manifold assembly 21 a may be designed to receive electrical or pressure signals 66 via a direct connection port 46 or to receive wireless signals 62 via a receiver 64 , depending on the capabilities of the seat , vehicle , or customer requirements . the seat 60 may produce signals from 1 ) an electronic sequencer 68 transmitted via a wireless communications device 49 , 2 ) an electronic sequencer 68 transmitted via direct electrical or pressure signals 66 , 3 ) a gas pressure or electrical signal device 50 transmitted via direct electrical or pressure signals 66 , and / or 4 ) an on - seat g - sensor 51 transmitting signals via direct electrical or pressure signals 66 ; and for vehicle crash situations , a signal may be produced by 5 ) a vehicle - mounted g - sensor 52 transmitted via direct electrical or pressure signals 66 . clearly , a combination of signal sources may be employed , depending on customer design requirements . within the manifold assembly 21 a , a wireless signal 62 would be processed by a signal processor 45 to fire the gas generator 22 a , with supplemental power from a battery 43 if needed . a signal from a g - sensor 44 within the manifold assembly 21 a would be processed by a signal processor 45 to fire the gas generator 22 a , with supplemental power from a battery 43 if needed . an electrical signal 66 received by direct connection 46 would either be processed by the signal processor 45 or would immediately fire the gas generator 22 a , depending on design requirements . finally , a gas pressure signal 66 received by direct connection 46 would either be processed by the signal processor 45 or would immediately fire the gas generator 22 a . an outlet port 41 is provided for connecting to the port connector fittings 20 a - 29 d ( see fig2 a and 2b ). continuing with fig4 , the gas generator 22 a is shown residing in the manifold assembly 21 a . the gas generator 22 a may also be attached to the exterior of the manifold assembly 21 a , or be connected by tubing to the manifold assembly 21 a . a filter 42 filters gasses generated by the gas generator 22 a prior to entry into the pneumatic muscle 18 a or 19 c . a pressure relief / support adjustment port 47 allows regulation of the gasses provided by the gas generator 22 a to the pneumatic muscle 18 a - 18 d . a g - sensor 44 may be included in the manifold assembly 21 a to detect the ejection event , and to trigger the gas generator 22 a . in a first alternative embodiment of the restraint system 10 , the support adjustment source 23 provides adjustable inflation pressure from outside source ( s ) to tension selected pneumatic muscles to support the head against head - borne mass . in a second alternative embodiment of the restraint system 10 , the direct input connector 46 provides direct interface with the aircraft or ejection seat for precise timing of gas generator 22 a and 22 b initiation within the ejection sequence . in a third alternative embodiment of the restraint system 10 , portions of the restraint system may be incorporated into other flight gear , such as a flight suit , jump suit , pressure suit , vest assembly , or similar garment . additionally , a fourth alternative embodiment of the restraint system may include an upper arm restraint which is an optional use of the existing pneumatic muscle retraction of the tension cords . such supplemental retraction of the upper arm or elbow of a flight suit or other garment may be used to restrain the arms against limb abduction during high - speed windblast , and may be provided dependent upon the desires and needs of the crew members . 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 .	1
the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention . reference numeral 1 denotes a screw mounted at a distal end of a screw shaft 2 . a ball screw 4 as a male screw is coaxially mounted on the other end of the screw shaft 2 through a coupler 3 such as a flange . reference numeral 5 denotes a servo motor . a sensor 6 is arranged on the servo motor 5 for position detection . a drive gear 8 is mounted at the distal end of a motor shaft 7 . a transmission gear 9 is meshed with the drive gear 8 . the transmission gear 9 is mounted on a transmission shaft 13 and is coupled to a transmission gear 14 mounted on a transmission shaft 14a through a clutch 12 having clutch plates 10 and 11 . the transmission gear 9 is meshed with an operation gear 16 integral with a nut 15 meshed with the ball screw 4 . reference numeral 17 denotes an energy accumulation device . in this embodiment , the energy accumulation device 17 comprises a flywheel . the flywheel 17 is mounted on a wheel shaft 18 and is coupled to a transmission gear 23 mounted on a rotating shaft 22 through a clutch 21 having clutch plates 19 and 20 . the transmission gear 23 is meshed with the drive gear 8 . in operation , when the clutch 12 is turned off , the clutch 21 is turned on , the servo motor 5 is operated in the non - injection / non - metering mode and the drive gear 8 mounted at the distal end of the motor shaft 7 is rotated , so that a rotational force is transmitted to the transmission gear 23 meshed with the drive gear 8 . the flywheel 17 is rotated through the clutch 21 having the coupled clutch plates 19 and 20 . when the speed of the flywheel 17 reaches a predetermined value , the clutch 21 is turned off and the servo motor 5 is stopped until an injection signal is generated . during injection , the clutches 12 and 21 are simultaneously engaged , i . e ., the clutch plates 10 and 11 and the clutch plates 19 and 20 are coupled to each other , and at the same time the servo motor 5 is operated . the drive gear 8 is rotated at a high speed upon rotation of the servo motor 5 in coordination with the rotational force of the flywheel 17 . the transmission gear 14 and the transmission gear 9 are also rotated at a high speed . the operation gear 16 meshed with the transmission gear 14 is rotated counterclockwise at a high speed . therefore , the nut 15 integral with the operation gear 16 is rotated counterclockwise at a high speed . the ball screw 4 threadably engaged with the nut 15 is moved to the left in fig1 and the screw 1 is also moved together with the ball screw 4 to the left in fig1 thereby injecting a molten molding material at a high pressure and a high speed . injection control is performed by the sensor 6 mounted on the servo motor 5 . during metering for determining the quantity of molding material being injected , the clutch 12 is turned on to couple the clutch plates 10 and 11 to each other . the clutch 21 is turned off . every time a drag generated by the molten molding material upon rotation of the screw 1 reaches a predetermined pressure , the servo motor 5 is rotated in the reverse direction . the screw 1 is moved backward to a predetermined position while a back pressure is kept constant . when the screw 1 is detected at the predetermined position by the sensor 6 , the clutch 12 is turned off and , at the same time , the clutch 21 is turned on . the servo motor 5 is rotated in the forward direction , and energy is accumulated in the flywheel 17 . the same operation as described above is repeatedly performed . in the above embodiment , the flywheel 17 and the clutch 21 are coupled to the transmission gear 23 meshed with the drive gear 8 driven by the servo motor 5 . however , the transmission gear 23 need not be used . the clutch 21 may be coupled to the transmission gear 9 through the clutch 12 of the transmission shaft 13 , so that the clutch 21 can be coupled to the flywheel 17 . when energy is accumulated by the flywheel 17 , the clutch 12 is turned off and the clutch 21 is operated . the rotational force of the servo motor 5 is transmitted to the flywheel 17 through the drive gear 8 , the transmission gear 9 and the clutch 21 , thereby accumulating energy . during injection , the clutches 12 and 21 are simultaneously operated . fig2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , the energy accumulation device comprises an accumulator , such as a gas accumulator 24 . a screw shaft 2 is mounted integrally with one end of a screw 1 . a ball screw 4 is mounted coaxially with the rear end of the screw shaft 2 through a coupler 3 such as a flange . a piston rod 25 of the gas accumulator 24 is coupled to one end of the ball screw 4 through a coupler 48 . a shaft 27 is coupled to one end of a cylinder 26 of the gas accumulator 24 filled with a high - pressure gas . a ball screw 29 is mounted to the distal end of the shaft 27 through a coupler 28 . an abutment plate 30 is mounted on the distal end of the ball screw 29 . an operation gear 16 having a nut 15 meshed with the ball screw 4 is mounted thereon . an operation gear 32 having a nut 31 meshed with the ball screw 29 is mounted thereon . reference numeral 33 denotes a shock absorber for damping the impact of the abutment plate 30 . a servo motor 5 integrally formed with a sensor 6 is coupled to a drive gear 8 mounted at the distal end of a motor shaft 7 in the same manner as in the first embodiment . reference numeral 34 denotes a transmission gear meshed with the drive gear 8 . the transmission gear 34 is mounted at the center of a transmission shaft 35 . the transmission shaft 35 is coupled to a rotating shaft 39a of a transmission gear 39 meshed with the operation gear 16 through a clutch 38 having clutch plates 36 and 37 near one side of the transmission gear 34 . a brake plate 40 is mounted integrally at the distal end of the transmission shaft 39a . a rotating shaft 44a of a transmission gear 44 meshed with the operation gear 32 is connected to one end of the shaft 35 through a clutch 43 having clutch plates 41 and 42 . a brake plate 45 is integrally mounted on the other end of the rotating shaft 44a . the operation of the second embodiment having the arrangement described above will be described hereinafter . the injection process is divided into four states : ( i ) a state for accumulating energy in the gas accumulator during a non - injection / non - metering mode ; ( ii ) a state awaiting generation of the accumulated energy ; ( iii ) an injection state ; and ( iv ) a metering state . the operation modes of the clutches 38 and 43 and the brake units 46 and 47 in the four states are summarized in the next table . ______________________________________ clutch brake 38 43 46 47______________________________________ ( i ) accumulation state off on on off ( ii ) waiting state off off on on ( iii ) injection state on off off on ( iv ) metering state on off off off______________________________________ on represents an operative state of the clutch or brake , and off represents an inoperative state of the clutch or brake . during the energy accumulation state , the clutch 38 is turned off and the brake unit 46 is turned on , so that the operation gear 16 is locked . since the clutch 43 is turned on and the brake unit 47 is turned off , the transmission gear 44 is rotated through the drive gear 8 mounted on the motor shaft 7 , the transmission gear 34 and the clutch 43 upon rotation of the servo motor 5 . the operation gear 32 meshed with the transmission gear 44 is rotated counterclockwise . the nut 31 integral with the operation gear 32 is also rotated counterclockwise , so that the ball screw 29 is moved to the left in fig2 . the cylinder 26 of the gas accumulator 24 is moved to the left , and the high - pressure gas filled in the cylinder 26 is compressed to accumulate a compression force . when the cylinder 26 is moved to a predetermined position , the clutches 38 and 43 are turned off , and the brake units 46 and 47 are turned on . the servo motor 5 is stopped . the gas accumulator is stopped until the compression force is released while energy is accumulated in the gas accumulator 24 . during injection , the servo motor 5 is driven , the brake unit 46 is turned on , and the clutch 38 is turned on . the rotational force of the servo motor 5 is transmitted to the nut 15 . the clutch 43 is turned off and the brake unit 47 is turned on . the rotation of the gear 44 and the nut 31 and axial movement of the ball screw 29 are locked . for this reason , rotation of the servo motor 5 is transmitted to the gears 8 and 34 , the clutch 38 , the gear 39 and the nut 15 , thereby moving the ball screw 4 to the left in fig2 . in this case , the gas accumulator 24 urges the ball screw 4 by accumulated compressed gas energy through the piston rod 25 to the left in fig2 . the screw 1 coupled to the ball screw 4 is moved at a high speed to the left in fig2 while high - pressure , high - speed injection is being performed , thereby injecting the molten molding material . during metering , the clutch 38 is turned on , and the clutch 43 and the brake units 46 and 47 are turned off . when the clutch 43 and the brake unit 47 are turned off , the gear 44 and the nut 31 are kept free . in this state , the compressed gas energy left in the gas accumulator 24 urges the ball screw 29 to the right in fig2 . the ball screw 29 causes the nut 31 and the gear 44 to rotate without a load and is moved backward to the right in fig2 . in this case , the impact of the abutment plate 30 is absorbed by the shock absorber 33 . the screw 1 is rotated to inject the melted molding material . when the pressure generated by injection reaches a predetermined pressure , the servo motor 5 is rotated in the reverse direction through a predetermined angle . the nut is rotated in the reverse direction through the gears 8 and 34 , the clutch 38 and the gear 39 , and the screw 1 is moved backward by a predetermined distance to the right in fig2 . when the sensor of the servo motor 5 detects that the screw has reached the predetermined position , the motor 5 is stopped and the energy accumulation described above is repeated .	8
a light scanning device in accordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown generally at 2 in fig1 a , in use with an optical fiber 8 . the light scanning device 2 includes a scanning element 14 , a fixed , plane mirror 16 supported on a transparent plate 18 at a converging lens 20 . the scanning element 14 includes a plane , pivotable mirror 22 , with a reflecting surface facing the reflecting surface of fixed mirror 16 . pivotable mirror 22 is flanked by a counterbalance comprising twin counterbalancing elements 24 a , 24 b , one each side of pivotable mirror 22 . pivotable mirror 22 and counterbalancing elements 24 a , 24 b are mounted on silicon torsion bar 26 . pivotable mirror 22 has a central , circular aperture 28 , which coincides with tip 30 of optical fiber 8 , so that light emitted from optical fiber 8 can pass unimpeded through aperture 28 in pivotable mirror 22 . the diameter of circular aperture 28 is thus greater than that of optical fiber 8 , so that the central aperture 28 does not act a spatial filter for outgoing or returning light . similarly , return light can be received by tip 30 of optical fiber 8 after passing through aperture 28 in pivotable mirror 22 . in use , light from a suitable source ( not shown ), generally a laser source , is transmitted along optical fiber 8 towards tip 30 , and emitted from tip 30 and through circular , central aperture 28 of pivotable mirror 22 towards fixed mirror 16 . this light is reflected from fixed mirror 16 towards pivotable mirror 22 , and reflected by pivotable mirror 22 towards converging lens 20 . in this process , as will be appreciated , some light may be lost through reflection from fixed mirror 16 back into central aperture 28 or otherwise . the light that reaches converging lens 20 is converged towards point 18 , at which will be located a sample . similarly , light returned by that sample ( whether by reflection or fluorescence ), which will be collected by converging lens 20 and returned along the same optical path to tip 30 of optical fiber 8 . by suitable beam splitting techniques , this return light — or a portion thereof — can then be directed to a detector ( not shown ). though not shown in fig1 a , scanning element 14 includes an electrostatic drive for pivoting pivotable mirror 22 about torsion bar 26 in an oscillatory fashion , so that light reflected from pivotable mirror 22 is scanned ( in the view shown in fig1 a ) in and out of the plane of the figure . counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b are also pivoted , but 180 ° out of phase with the motion of pivotable mirror 22 , to thereby provide a counterbalancing effect . a variation of the light scanning device 2 is shown generally at 4 in fig1 b , again in use with optical fiber 8 . though in most respects identical with scanning device 2 of fig1 a , scanning device 4 includes a beamsplitter 10 to divert return light through 90 ° into return fiber 12 ( connected to a suitable light detector , not shown ). another variation of the light scanning device 2 is shown generally at 6 in fig1 c , again in use with optical fiber 8 . in this variation , the tip 30 of optical fiber 8 is located within ( or , optionally , marginally forward of ) central aperture 28 of the scanning device 6 . the central aperture 28 has , in this variation , a slightly larger diameter than in the variations shown in fig1 a and 1b , so that the fiber 8 can be accommodated — including when the mirror 22 is , in use , pivoting — without interfering with the motion of the mirror 22 . in still another variation of the scanning device 2 , a second ( return ) fiber is located adjacent to optical fiber 8 and the scanning device 2 includes an additional optical element located either between scanning element 14 and plate 18 or between plate 18 and converging lens 20 for diverging light returning from the sample by a small amount . this returning light is therefore collected by the second fiber rather than by fiber 8 , thereby avoiding the need provide fiber 8 with a beamsplitter for directing return light out of fiber 8 and towards a detector . the scanning element 14 is shown in greater detail in fig2 . also visible in this figure are silicon microfabricated support pillars 30 a and 30 b extending from the rear wall 32 of frame 34 of scanning element 14 to torsion bar 26 , and located between mirror 22 and , respectively , counterbalancing element 24 a and counterbalancing element 24 b . support pillars 30 a and 30 b are provided to inhibit waves from being induced in torsion bar 26 by the motion of mirror 22 and counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b . light from optical fiber 8 ( not shown ) is emitted through central aperture 28 in direction 36 . the electromagnetic drive can assume any suitable form , including that taught in u . s . pat . nos . 6 , 057 , 952 and 6 , 172 , 789 . that being the case , the reflective surface 38 of mirror 22 may be in the form of an applied conducting and reflective material to act both as an electrode and a reflector . another suitable , alternative drive comprises an electromagnetic drive , comparable to that disclosed in wo 99 / 04301 . as will be appreciated , counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b are designed to precisely counterbalance the mirror 22 to minimize the coupling of uncoupled forces being transmitted to frame 34 and from there to whatever optical head contains the device 2 . counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b can be driven out of phase with mirror 22 in at least two ways . firstly , they can be driven by the electrostatic drive that drives mirror 22 , but out of phase with mirror 22 . alternatively , the electrostatic drive can be used to drive mirror 22 and , through the mechanical coupling of mirror 22 and counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b via torsion bar 26 , also to drive counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b . in either case , however , the drive drives both the mirror 22 and the counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b . mirror 22 and counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b are driven with a resonant oscillatory motion , as will be understood by those in the art . the system has a high q value , so that as little energy as possible must be input to sustain the oscillation . the scanning device 2 is provided with a lock - in sensor ( not shown ) which , in conjunction with the drive , enables the mirror 22 and counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b to be driven and maintained at the resonant frequency . the scanning device 2 is constructed within a case or optical head ( not shown ) such that mirror 22 is contained within a reduced atmosphere . this reduces the resistance of the atmosphere to the motion of the mirror 22 and the counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b , but more generally the sealed optical head makes the elements contained therein less vulnerable to contamination from moisture , oil or dust . indeed , in one embodiment a transparent seal is located over the converging lens 20 ; this seal can be cleaned without the risk of damaging the focusing optics provided by converging lens 20 . fig3 a is a cross - sectional plan view of scanning element 14 , in which may be seen mirror 22 , counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b , torsion bar 26 , support pillars 30 a and 30 b , and optical fiber 8 . as is apparent from this view , optical fiber 8 is secured within an aperture 40 in rear wall 32 of the frame 34 of scanning element 14 . aperture 40 is aligned with central aperture 28 of mirror 22 . optical fiber 8 may , optionally , be additionally supported if necessary , such as with a collar extending from rear wall 32 towards central aperture 28 . optical fiber 8 extends as far towards central aperture 28 as possible , without interfering with the pivoting motion of mirror 22 . fig3 b is similar to fig3 a , but illustrates scanning element 14 according to the variation shown in fig1 c , that is , with a somewhat larger central aperture 28 to accommodate fiber 8 . referring to fig4 , according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention the scanning element is substantially identical to that shown in fig2 , but with an essentially circular mirror 122 and with a counterbalance in the form of a single counterbalancing element 124 comprising an annular element located so as to surround mirror 122 , co - centered with the mirror 122 . this arrangement has a number of benefits : the counterbalancing element 124 , as it surrounds mirror 122 , has a significant portion of its mass located further from torsion bar 126 than does mirror 122 itself . consequently , the moment of inertia of counterbalancing element 124 is relatively high for its mass , compared with that of counterbalancing elements 24 a and 24 b of fig1 to 3 . consequently , the same degree of counterbalancing can be provided by counterbalancing element 124 for a relatively lesser mass , so that the overall scanning element can be less massive . in this embodiment , silicon microfabricated support pillars may also be provided behind ( in the view of fig4 ) torsion bar 126 , between mirror 122 and counterbalancing element 124 . the scanning element of the second embodiment is also provided with an electrostatic drive , shown schematically in fig4 . the electrostatic drive comprises two alternating power supplies 142 a and 142 b , each connected to electrodes 144 a and 144 b respectively and attached to the mirror 122 and counterbalancing element 124 in the following manner . electrode 144 a extends from power supply 142 a , proceeds along torsion bar 126 to counterbalancing element 124 , then around counterbalancing element 124 in approximately a semicircle until it again reaches torsion bar 126 , follows torsion bar 126 to mirror 122 , and passes around the periphery of mirror 122 in approximately a semicircle remote from its path around counterbalancing element 124 until it reaches torsion bar 126 . by means of power supply 142 a , therefore , the upper ( in the view of fig4 ) portion of counterbalancing element 124 and the lower portion of mirror 122 can be simultaneously charged . electrode 144 b of power supply 142 b is arranged in a complementary fashion so that the lower ( in the view of fig4 ) portion of counterbalancing element 124 and upper portion of mirror 122 can be simultaneously charged by means of power supply 142 b . in use , power supply 142 a and power supply 142 b have outputs that are 180 ° out of phase . the output of power supply 142 a is essentially sinusoidal between a maximum negative value and 0 , while that of power supply 142 b is positive and sinusoidal , between a ( lesser ) maximum positive value and 0 . a reference electrode ( not shown ) is provided behind mirror 122 and counterbalancing element 124 , within the frame ( also not shown ) of the element of this embodiment and the reference electrode is maintained with a charge , either + ve or − ve . when power supplies 142 a and 142 b apply the above described voltages across respective electrodes 144 a and 144 b and the ground electrode , 180 ° out of phase , the resulting electrostatic forces between the ground electrode and electrodes 144 a and 144 b cause the mirror 122 and counterbalancing element 124 to pivot in an oscillatory fashion about torsion bar 126 , simultaneously but 180 ° out of phase , so that uncoupled forces are minimized . fig5 is an exploded , schematic view of the scanning element 214 of a third embodiment of the present invention . the scanning element 214 includes a forward frame 234 , including a mirror 222 pivotably mounted on a torsion bar 226 . mirror 222 includes a circular , central aperture 228 . optical fiber 208 is arranged with its exit tip 230 behind ( in the view of fig5 ) and aligned with central aperture 228 . mirror 222 is driven in an oscillatory or swinging manner by means of an electrostatic or electromagnetic drive ( see above ). scanning element 214 also includes a rear frame 250 , mechanically coupled to forward frame 234 by means of four corner pillars 252 . rear frame 250 is , in most respects , similar with forward frame 234 . however , instead of having a pivotable mirror , rear frame 250 includes a similarly arranged pivotable circular counterbalance mounted on a torsion bar . the scanning element 214 is configured , however , so that the counterbalancing element of rear frame 250 is driven 180 ° out of phase with mirror 222 . the configuration of the pivotable elements ( i . e . mirror 250 and counterbalance ) is shown more clearly in partial cross section fig6 , in which it can be seen that , located behind pivotable mirror 222 , is pivotable counterbalance 254 . counterbalance 254 has a circular , central aperture 256 , coaxial with central aperture 228 of mirror 222 . central aperture 256 of counterbalance 254 has a greater diameter than does central aperture 228 of mirror 222 , because optical fiber 208 passes through central aperture 256 of counterbalance 254 , while merely terminating behind central aperture 228 of mirror 222 . central aperture 256 of counterbalance 254 has a sufficiently large diameter that counterbalance 254 can pivot as required without making contact with optical fiber 208 . referring to fig7 , which is a side cross sectional view similar to fig6 , in use , mirror 222 and counterbalance 254 are driven 180 ° out of phase , to minimize the transmission of uncoupled forces to other components . in this embodiment , the scanning element 214 is preferably provided with an electrostatic drive comparable to that shown in fig4 , but with the ground electrode located between mirror 222 and counterbalance 250 . the placement of the electrodes is adjusted accordingly . in each of the above embodiments , the preferred technique for manufacturing the counterbalance ( comprising one or more counterbalancing elements ), so that it as closely as possible balances the mirror includes the following steps . the counterbalance is initially manufactured heavier than necessary , and tuned by the progressive laser ablation of the counterbalance until it is found to accurately counterbalance the mirror . this is assessed by mounting the scanning element on three piezo - sensors , and driving the scanning element while measuring the signal from the piezo - sensors . uncoupled forces in the scanning element can then be detected by the piezo - sensors , and the counterbalance progressively laser ablated until no ( or negligible ) output is detected from the piezo - sensors . this tuning process can also be performed in a reduced atmosphere , to more precisely simulate the ultimate , preferred operating conditions . if the counterbalance is metallic , a readily ablated coating can be applied so that tuning comprises the laser ablation of the coating , rather than the counterbalance itself . alternatively , in such embodiments the coating could be applied to the mirror or other counterbalanced element , and that coating ablated . modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may be readily effected by those skilled in the art . it is to be understood , therefore , that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described by way of example hereinabove . further , any reference herein to prior art is not intended to imply that that prior art forms or formed a part of the common general knowledge .	6
the phosphates of the present invention which contain at least one m - ethylphenyl group , are easily prepared by known methods . the starting m - ethylphenol should contain less than about 1 % of its ortho - isomer and , preferably , should be practically free from this ortho - isomer . indeed tri -( ortho - alkylaryl ) phosphates are neurotoxic and mixed esters containing only one or two ortho - alkylphenyl groups are even more toxic . tri -( para - ethylphenyl ) phosphate is also toxic but mixed esters containing one or two meta - ethylphenyl groups and respectively two or one para - ethylphenyl groups are of quite reduced toxicity . it is therefore safe to use as a starting material , a meta - ethylphenol containing up to 10 % but preferably , no more than 5 % of para - isomer . for a sake of brevity , unless otherwise specifically indicated , the term meta - ethylphenol as hereinafter used includes not only substantially pure meta - ethylphenol , but also meta - ethylphenol containing less than 1 % of ortho - isomer and also less than 10 % of para - isomer . the plasticizers of the present invention may contain 1 to 3 m - ethylphenyl groups and respectively 0 to 2 phenyl groups , impart noticeable properties to polyvinyl chloride and to copolymers containing primarily polyvinyl chloride . they are used in the usual range of concentration , more particularly in amounts which are higher than 20 parts per hundred parts by weight of polyvinyl chloride and which do not generally exceed 100 parts per hundred parts of pvc . the specific amount of plasticizer employed usually depends upon the required flexibility of the composition . the plasticizers according to the present invention may be selected from the group consisting of diphenyl - mono ( m - ethylphenyl ) phosphate , phenyl - di -( m - ethylphenyl ) phosphate , tri ( m - ethylphenyl ) phosphate , and mixtures thereof . although all of these plasticizers impart to polyvinyl chloride noticeably improved properties , tri ( m - ethylphenyl ) phosphate ( hereinafter referred to as t - m epp ) preferably is used . in fact , compositions containing t - m epp are characterized by good flexibility at low temperature and also by the stability of flexural properties as temperature is increased . comparative experiments have shown that polyvinyl chloride compositions containing t - m epp are more flexible at low temperature than similar compositions containing other known organic phosphates . table i gives the results of tests carried out on compositions containing 100 parts ( by weight ) of polyvinyl chloride , 50 parts of substantially pure t - m epp and 5 parts of a conventional stabilizer ( 4 parts of tribasic lead sulphate and 1 part of lead stearate ). flexibility characteristics of these compositions at low temperatures have been measured according to astm procedure d - 1043 - 69 , with a clash and berg torsional tester . the value recorded is the temperature at which the sample had a modulus of elasticity of 3160 kg / cm 2 ( or 45 , 000 pounds per square inch ) and this value is designated as tf . these results show that the polyvinyl chloride composition containing t - m epp retains its flexibility at low temperature more efficiently than compositions containing other known plasticizers of the phosphate type . another important feature of the compositions of the present invention is the stability of their flexural properties as temperature is increased . previously used plasticizers , such as tricresyl phosphate , have a detrimental effect on the flow temperature of the composition . polyvinyl chloride containing such known plasticizers in the usual range of concentration rapidly become too soft even at moderate temperatures . the variations in the rubbery state of compositions as hereinabove described have been measured with a torsional tester . the results are given in the following table ii . table ii______________________________________ modulus at modulus atplasticizer 25 ° c ( a ) 40 ° c ( b ) ratio a / b______________________________________tricresylphosphate 240 36 6 . 6t - m epp 85 50 1 . 7______________________________________ the modulus and consequently the retention of mechanical strength of the compositions according to the present invention are less influenced by an increase of temperature , the ratio of the modulus being only 1 . 7 , while this ratio is 4 times higher with the use of tricresylphosphate . the better performances of the compositions according to the present invention are achieved without substantial loss or other valuable properties . more particularly , tests have been carried out on compositions containing respectively t - m eep ( substantially pure ) and tricresylphosphate or other known phosphate plasticizers , with regard to efficiency of the plasticizer and resistance to extraction by environmental agents . the efficiency of the plasticizer has been determined by the 100 % modulus , following the procedure outlined in astm - d - 638 . the 100 % modulus is the load ( in pounds per square inch ) required to extend the polyvinyl chloride sample 100 % in length ; the lower the modulus , the greater the plasticizer efficiency . the % elongation ( also according to astm - d - 638 ) is the length to which a sample may be extended before rupture . extraction tests have been carried out with hexane by dipping films of plasticized vinyl resin ( 0 . 5 mm thickness ) into hexane at 23 ° c during 1 hr . and by measuring the weight loss . the vinyl resins were prepared from polyvinyl chloride , plasticizer and stabilizers as hereinabove defined . with respect to 100 % modulus and % elongation ( tests carried out at 25 ° c ), t - m epp is better than tricresylphosphate , as shown in table iii . table iii______________________________________ 100 % modulus % elongationtricresylphosphate ( psi ) 1115 155t - m epp 900 170______________________________________ such results have not been obtained with other plasticizers of the phosphate type previously suggested as substituents for tricresylphosphate . in addition to the above results , t - m epp gives better results than said other substituents with respect to extraction by such agents as hexane , as shown in table iv . table iv______________________________________ hexane extraction % loss______________________________________t - m epp 3 . 1tri ( 2 - ethylhexyl ) phosphate 55 . 52 - ethylhexyldiphenylphosphate 5 . 50______________________________________ these results show that t - m epp is a particularly suitable plasticizer for vinyl resins . a similar test with t - m epp prepared from meta - ethylphenol containing 5 % of its paraisomer has given practically the same results , the % loss being 3 . 2 . other phosphates containing m - ethylphenyl groups are also efficient plasticizers . for example , compositions have been prepared by mixing 100 parts ( by weight ) of polyvinyl chloride , 5 parts of the above specified stabilizers and : for each of these compositions , the % elongation was about 170 %. in the usual range of concentration , plasticizers of the phosphate type containing m - ethylphenyl groups impart to the plasticized compositions a number of improved important properties and are better than other flame - retardant plasticizers of the phosphate type . some improvements depend upon the amount of added plasticizer is shown in the following table v , which gives results obtained from compositions containing 100 parts by weight of polyvinyl chloride , 5 parts of the above specified stabilizers and varying amounts of substantially pure t - m epp ( in parts per 100 parts of polyvinyl chloride ) table v______________________________________amount of plasticizer 30 50 70______________________________________elongation 100 % 130 170 260tensile yield , psi 3340 1950 1290modulus at 100 % elongation , psi 1210 900 505______________________________________	2
referring to fig1 a purification vessel , denoted generally by the numeral 10 , and generally formed of an inert material such as silica , nickel or stainless steel , has an upper vessel section 12 for holding the amalgam 20 and means 25 for vibrating the lower end thereof . the upper vessel section 20 has a removable upper vessel section cap 14 which may be removed to permit mercury and sodium or a preformed sodium amalgam to be introduced into the upper vessel section . the upper vessel section cap 14 is provided with an outlet 16 for the egress of various gases therefrom . the upper vessel section 12 is substantially surrounded by a conventional furnace 18 to heat and maintain the melt above the melting point of the amalgam . the upper vessel section 12 terminates in a nozzle 26 formed with an aperture 28 through which molten amalgam may exit the upper vessel section . a silica or stainless steel filter 24 may be disposed above the nozzle 26 . the vibrating means 25 may consist of an electromagnetic transducer 30 mechanically connected to nozzle structure 26 by a quartz rod 32 whereby vibrations are transmitted to the molten amalgam as it passes through aperture 28 , separating the molten amalgam into discrete droplets 33 of controlled particle size . the size and positioning of the discrete droplets are observed by optical means 34 under the illumination of stroboscopic light source 36 . the upper vessel section 12 is hermetically sealed in axial relationship with a lower vessel section 38 which comprises a cooling gas inlet 40 , a condensation chamber 42 and a collection chamber 50 . the droplets 33 of molten amalgam fall freely through condensation chamber 42 containing an inert cooling fluid to solidify the droplets into solid amalgam particles of regular size and shape . the cooling fluid , which may be introduced into lower vessel section 38 through gas inlet 40 , may be maintained at a temperature well below the melting point of the amalgam by indirect heat exchange with a coolant jacket 44 , typically containing liquid nitrogen , which coolant jacket 44 may be surrounded by an evacuated insulation jacket 46 . a vacuum is induced in the insulation jacket 46 by application of suction through vacuum draw tube 48 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , solidified particles of amalgam exit lower vessel section 38 through funnel 49 and enter a cooled collection receptacle 50 . the collection receptacle 50 is maintained at a temperature well below the melting point of the amalgam by second coolant jacket 52 , typically containing liquid nitrogen and surrounded by a second evacuated , thermal insulation jacket 54 . in operation , the upper vessel section 12 may be heated to a temperature above the melting point of the sodium amalgam . a vacuum may be applied through outlet 16 by conventional suction means ( not shown ) while the upper vessel section is being heated . when the upper vessel section 12 is heated to the desired temperature , an inert gas ( such as argon ) is passed through gas inlet 40 and withdrawn through outlet 16 at a pressure sufficient to maintain the amalgam in the upper vessel section 12 . while the argon is thus flowing through the aperture 28 and upper vessel section 12 , the cap 14 may be removed and solid sodium inserted into the upper vessel section 12 . the sodium melts inside the upper vessel section 12 and the flowing argon gas pressure maintains the molten sodium in the upper vessel section 12 . mercury is added incrementally to the molten sodium because of the large amount of heat evolved when mercury is added to sodium . after the desired amount of mercury is added , argon flow may be continued until the amalgam melt is cooled to the desired temperature . the sodium amalgam may also be added to the upper vessel section 12 as a pre - formed amalgam . when so added , the pre - formed amalgam is heated in the upper vessel section 12 under inert gas flow and formed into discrete particles in the same manner as an amalgam formed in the upper vessel section 12 . thereupon , an inert cooling fluid such as helium is placed in the lower vessel section 38 and in the upper vessel section 12 so that the molten amalgam is forced downwardly through the nozzle 26 and separated by vibration as it passes through the aperture 28 into the discrete droplets 33 of controlled particle size . the inert cooling fluid in the lower vessel section 38 is maintained at a temperature well below the melting point of the sodium amalgam and sufficient to solidify the particles . the present invention is particularly suited to the production of sodium amalgams containing from about 2 to about 30 , preferably from about 10 to about 26 , weight percent sodium and , concomitantly , from about 98 to about 70 , preferably from about 90 to about 74 , weight percent sodium . relatively pure sodium and mercury or sodium amalgam should be utilized in order to maintain the purity of the final product particles as high as possible . preferably , the sodium is relatively potassium free ( i . e ., contains less than 100 ppm potassium ) and the mercury is triple distilled . these amalgams have melting points in the range of from about 50 to about 353 , preferably from about 60 to about 220 ° c . the inert cooling fluid in the lower vessel section is generally maintained at a temperature below minus 150 ° c ., preferably below about minus 180 ° c . the boiling temperature of the liquid nitrogen in coolant jacket 44 is minus 196 ° c . referring to fig2 a purification vessel of an alternate embodiment of the present invention is denoted generally by the numeral 70 . the embodiment utilizes an upper vessel section 71 , nozzle 72 , conventional furnace 73 , and electromechanical transducer 74 in substantially the same configuration as the equivalent elements of the embodiment depicted in fig1 . in the alternate embodiment of fig2 molten amalgam 75 may pass through nozzle 72 and is formed into droplets 76 of generally uniform size . the droplets may then pass into a volume 77 containing an inert gas ( e . g ., helium ) which enters the purification vessel via inert gas input conduit 78 and which exits the purification vessel through inert gas egress conduit 80 . said inert gas may also exit the purification vessel by passing through upper vessel section 71 and exiting via gas outlet 82 . after passing through volume 77 , amalgam droplets contact an inert cooling liquid 84 , typically dry , high purity , substantially water - free liquid nitrogen in lower vessel section 83 which inert cooling liquid is maintained at a temperature sufficient to solidify the amalgam droplet particles . the lower vessel section 83 may be provided with a collection receptacle 90 for receiving solidified amalgam particles . the apparatus of fig2 is otherwise constructed similar to and may be utilized in the same manner as the apparatus of fig1 . referring to fig3 a nozzle structure which may be advantageously employed to form regular sized droplets of molten amalgam is denoted generally by the numeral 100 . vibrating means 101 causes nozzle 102 to transmit vibrations to molten amalgam 110 and thereby cause the molten amalgam to separate into discrete droplets 114 to regular size . surface tension draws the molten amalgam droplet into substantially spherical form . the frequency of the vibrations and the velocity of the stream 112 of molten amalgam issuing from nozzle 102 causes predictable separation of the continuous stream into individual droplets 114 . the theory of producing orderly drop formation from a liquid jet by use of a controlled vibration was discussed in detail by lord rayleigh in 1877 in theory of sound , 2nd edition , vol . ii ; chapter 20 , new york , dover publications . rayleigh showed that the optimum droplet size uniformity is achieved when the wavelength , λ , of the imposed vibrations is equal to approximately 4 . 5 times jet diameter , φ j . assuming a design choice of uniform droplets with a radius r , the volume of each such droplet is given by the expression the contraction of an amalgam droplet on solidification is slight and can be neglected , so that the volume of said particle is approximately equal to the volume of the droplet . the volume of the formed droplet is equal to the volume of liquid contained in one wavelength , λ , of the molten amalgam stream 112 before it breaks into droplets . to a first approximation , this volume is given by the expression where r j is the radius of the amalgam stream as it leaves the nozzle . neglecting the contraction coefficient of the melt , r j will equal the radius of the nozzle . since the volume of the droplet is equal to the expression ( 3 ): thus , for example , to produce a solid particle with a radius r , a nozzle aperture with a radius of a magnitude of approximately r / 2 should be chosen . when forming droplets the frequency , f , of the vibrating transducer and velocity of the amalgam stream , v , should be maintained at values which will establish a wavelength approximately equal to 4 . 5 φ j . this can be done because where δ p = the pressure differential in the direction of a principle axis of the aperture in the nozzle and g = the acceleration due to the force of gravity . optimum results and best droplet size control are achieved where the frequency of vibration is given by the expression the droplet size can be varied somewhat by changing δ p and f . however , for a reasonable yield of uniform particles , the wavelength should be limited according to the expression droplet uniformity , size control , and purity may be improved by employing the nozzle structure depicted in fig3 . in that embodiment , upper vessel section wall 104 may have an inwardly concave indentation 106 in a lower portion of said vessel wall . an upper portion of the concave indentation 106 may be formed with at least one bore 108 with an entrance end 109 . the upper vessel section may be formed with sump volumes , 110 , which volumes are lower than the entrance end 109 of the bore 108 and which volumes may serve to trap relatively heavy impurities which may sink to the bottom of the melt . the filter 24 ( fig1 ) or 79 ( fig2 ) disposed in the upper vessel section above the nozzle 26 ( fig1 ) or 72 ( fig2 ) serves to remove any solid impurities , e . g ., sodium oxide , carbon or the like , within the melt . any such solid impurities which pass through the filter and coming into contact with the inner walls of the concave indentation 106 will tend to sink by gravity and remain in the sump volumes 110 . in this manner , the purity of the particles formed will be enhanced . the sodium amalgam particles of the present invention generally contain less than about 10 ppm of sodium oxide impurity . the process and apparatus of the present invention are advantageously utilized to form discrete , free - flowing sodium amalgam particles of generally spherical form and having a diameter of from about 240 to about 480 , preferably from about 315 to 385 , microns . it has also been found that the particles produced are generally uniform in size for a given set of conditions . that is , essentially all of the particles ( e . g ., 90 % or more ) produced with a particular nozzle structure , vibration frequency , composition , temperature and the like , will be within about ± 10 % of the theoretical particle diameter . the particles of the present invention offer substantial advantages in the production of sodium amalgam gas discharge lamps . for example , the amalgam composition used to dose the lamps is uniform . dosing with the relatively small , uniformly sized particles of the present invention can easily be performed by machines at ambient temperature and can also be pre - calculated on a volume basis due to the uniformity of composition and size . the invention is additionally illustrated in connection with the following examples which are to be considered as illustrative of the present invention . it should be understood , however , that the invention is not limited to the specific details of the examples . high purity , free - flowing sodium amalgam particles containing 17 weight percent sodium and 83 weight percent merciry and of generally uniform size are prepared employing the apparatus of fig1 in the manner hereinafter set forth . upper vessel section 12 is heated to 125 °- 130 ° c . while being evacuated . this temperature is slightly above the melting point ( about 118 ° c .) of the 17 weight percent sodium amalgam . the vessel is then filled with purified argon gas , which argon gas flows into the vessel via imput tube 40 and flows up through nozzle 26 to fill upper vessel section 12 . while the argon gas is flowing , upper vessel section cap 16 is removed and a precisely weighed quantity of high purity solid sodium ( containing less than 100 ppm . potassium ) is placed on filter 24 . the sodium melts inside the upper vessel section . the flowing argon keeps the melt on top of the filter . with argon flowing through the upper vessel section , triple - distilled mercury is incrementally introduced into the upper vessel section a small amount , e . g ., 1 / 2 to 1 cc ., at a time until a sufficient quantity ( 83 weight percent of the resulting amalgam ) has been added . the mercury is added slowly because a great amount of heat is evolved in the amalgam formation . after adding mercury , helium is passed up through the molten amalgam for 1 / 2 hour to cool the amalgam to 125 ° c . thereafter , 7 . 9 psi of helium is placed in the upper vessel section 12 above the amalgam while 2 . 2 psi of helium is maintained within the coolant column 38 . the pressure differential δ p , thereby created , forces the molten amalgam through the filter 24 and the nozzle which is vibrated at a frequency of 7 . 2 hz using a conventional quartz rod 32 and a radio speaker 30 , with a conventional variable oscillator and amplifier being used to drive the speaker . the molten sodium amalgam comes out of the nozzle in a continuous stream which then breaks up into individual droplets . the droplets solidify during their fall in the condensation chamber 42 containing high purity helium gas essentially at the temperature of the boiling liquid nitrogen ( minus 196 ° c .) which surrounds the condensation chamber and is in indirect heat exchange with the inert helium cooling gas . after the droplets have solidified by passing through coolant column 38 , they are received in cooled collection receptacle 50 . the product particles contained less than 10 p . p . m . of sodium oxide and had a particle size of from about 160 to 320 μ with 95 % of the amalgam particles having a diameter being 220 and 275μ . a quantity of the sodium amalgam particles produced is introduced into a conventional aluminum oxide gas discharge lamp housing . the lamp is sealed ( with a noble gas at about 15 torr pressure ) and in operation shows excellent and uniform spectral properties and uniform starting potentials . high purity , high sodium content amalgam particles of generally uniform size are prepared employing the apparatus of fig2 . using the procedure of example i , a sodium amalgam containing 25 weight percent sodium , 75 weight percent mercury ( melting point about 66 ° c .) is formed in the upper vessel section 75 . particles are formed in the manner of example i . the resulting particles have a size of from about 250 to about 425μ with 95 % of the particles having a diameter between about 315 and 385μ . the particles have a sodium oxide content of less than 10 p . p . m . and are used to dose a conventional sodium amalgam discharge lamp in the same manner as the particles of example i . the resulting lamp exhibits excellent spectral properties and uniform starting potentials . the principles , preferred embodiments and modes of operation of the present invention have been described in the foregoing specification . the invention which is intended to be protected herein , however , is not to be construed as limited to the particular forms disclosed , since these are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive . variations and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention .	2
fig1 shows a processing system 10 . the processing system 10 includes a computer 12 , such as a personal computer ( pc ). computer 12 is connected to a network 14 , such as the internet , that runs tcp / ip ( transmission control protocol / internet protocol ) or another suitable protocol . connections can be via ethernet , wireless link , telephone line , and so forth . computer 12 contains a processor 16 and a memory 18 . memory 18 stores an operating system (“ os ”) 20 such as windows2000 ® or linux , a tcp / ip protocol stack 22 for communicating over network 14 , and machine - executable instructions 24 executed by processor 16 to perform a block diagram modeling process 50 below . computer 12 also includes an input / output ( i / o ) device 26 for display of a graphical user interface ( gui ) 28 to a user 30 . in fig2 , the block diagram modeling process 50 includes generating ( 52 ) a block diagram model of a dynamic system to be simulated and displayed on the graphical user interface ( gui ) 28 . the block diagram model graphically depicts the time - dependent mathematical relationships among the dynamic system &# 39 ; s inputs , states , and outputs . the process 50 receives ( 54 ) a time span from the user 30 . the process 50 incorporates ( 56 ) the time span into the block diagram model and simulates ( 58 ) the behavior of the dynamic system using the block diagram model for the specified time span . in fig3 , a block - diagram model 70 of a signal processing system is represented schematically as a collection of blocks 72 interconnected by lines ( directed arrows ) that represent signals 74 . each block 72 represents an elemental dynamic system . a line 74 emanating at one block and terminating at another signifies that the output of the first block is an input to the second block . each distinct input or output on a block is referred to as a port . signals 74 correspond to the time - varying data values represented by each line connection and are assumed to have values at each time instant . each block also includes a set of states for the corresponding elemental system . blocks with states are said to have memory because such blocks store their states at a given time in memory in order to compute the states for the next time when the block is executed . the equations corresponding to a block are generally implemented as methods corresponding to the block object in software . while there are a number of equations and methods used in the representation of dynamic systems , we concentrate here primarily on two types of methods ( and equations ) that are of importance in the context of signal processing systems : output and update . these methods are called repeatedly during the execution of the block - diagram in order to track the evolution of the dynamic system &# 39 ; s response . a sample time of a block is the interval of time between calls to the output , update , and / or derivative methods for a given block ( collectively called the execution of a block ). in computing this interval , repeated calls at the same time instant ( not in real - world time but the time corresponding to the execution of the dynamic system ) are counted as the same call . a block &# 39 ; s sample rate can be thought of the interval between successive executions of the block . when a block executes at a particular time , it is said to have a sample hit . if there is no uniform or regular interval between calls , then the block is said have a continuous sample time . if a uniform time interval can be found , then the block is said to have a discrete sample - time equal to that interval . while we confine ourselves to examples with discrete sample time , invention is applicable to even systems containing blocks with continuous sample time . in the block diagram model 70 , signals can include multiple data values . the signal can have a wide range of attributes , such as name , data type ( e . g ., 8 - bit , 16 - bit , or 32 - bit integer ), numeric type ( e . g ., real or complex ), and dimensionality ( e . g ., one - dimension array , two - dimension array , or multi - dimensional array ). the collection of data elements for a given signal is generally stored in a memory buffer that is called a block input / output ( i / o ) buffer because of the association of the signals with the ports of blocks . traditionally , block - diagram modeling processes have supported a basic flat buffer model for block i / o . a flat i / o buffer can be described in terms of four major attributes listed below . a first attribute of a flat i / o buffer is size . each i / o buffer generally has a fixed memory size ( equal to the size of one data element in the buffer times the size of the buffer ) and all the memory is allocated once before executing the block diagram . the allocation restriction is imposed to allow efficient real - time execution of a block diagram . a second attribute of the flat i / o buffer is addressing mode . an i / o buffer is made up of a collection of elements that are accessible sequentially from a base memory address . that is , given a base memory address for the buffer , one can sequentially access the elements in the buffer by using the base address in conjunction with an integer counter that tracks the element index . if , for example , the buffer is a simple c - language array with base pointer address u , then one can access elements of this array as ( u + 0 ) . . . ( u + n − 1 ). accessing elements beyond the end of the array during block - diagram execution generally results in an error or a memory segmentation violation . we use the common notation u [ i ] to indicate access to the i - th memory element . a third attribute of the flat i / o buffer is dimensionality . a dimensionality attribute is usually attached to each i / o buffer in order to allow a set of contiguous memory elements to be interpreted as elements of an m - dimensional matrix . an i / o buffer with n elements can be viewed as a vector of dimensionality [ n ]. in addition , an i / o buffer could be viewed as matrix of dimensionality [ p × q ] with elements from the same column ( or columns ) appearing adjacent to each other in memory . when a matrix is stored in memory with elements from a column appearing adjacent to each other , the matrix is said to be stored in column - major order . if elements from a row appear adjacent to each other , the matrix is said to be stored in row - major order . in examples used herein we assume that the matrix is stored in column - major order . in fig4 , an i / o buffer 100 in memory 18 includes nine elements u [ 0 ], u [ 1 ], u [ 2 ], u [ 3 ], u [ 4 ], u [ 5 ], u [ 6 ], u [ 7 ], and u [ 8 ], and their corresponding vector interpretation 102 , in which x 1 represents u [ 0 ], x 2 represents u [ 1 ], x 3 represents u [ 2 ], x 4 represents u [ 3 ], x 5 represents u [ 4 ], x 6 represents [ 5 ], x 7 represents u [ 6 ], x 8 represents u [ 7 ], and x 9 represents u [ 8 ]. in general , x i = u [ i ]. in fig5 , an i / o buffer 110 in memory 18 includes nine elements u [ 0 ], u [ 1 ], u [ 2 ], u [ 3 ], u [ 4 ], u [ 5 ], u [ 6 ], u [ 7 ], and u [ 8 ], and their corresponding matrix interpretation 112 in column - major order , in which x 00 represents u [ 0 ], x 10 represents u [ 1 ], x 20 represents u [ 2 ], x 01 represents u [ 3 ], x 11 represents u [ 4 ], x 21 represents u [ 5 ], x 02 represents u [ 6 ], x 12 represents u [ 7 ], and x 22 represents u [ 8 ]. in general , x ij represents u [ i + jm ], where m = the number of rows . a fourth attribute of the flat i / o buffer is i / o mapping . for a given block , there are two basic types of relationships between the input and output buffers of that block , i . e ., disjoint i / o buffers and shared i / o buffers . with disjoint i / o buffers , blocks supporting this input - output relationship have completely separate input and output buffer spaces . this relationship is used either when the input needs to be persistent even after the output has been generated or when the input and output buffer have different attributes . in fig6 a , 6b , 6 c , 6 d , an example illustrating disjoint input and output buffers is shown . the illustration includes a source block 120 and a frame delay block 122 . the frame delay block 122 includes an input buffer 124 , a state buffer 126 and an output buffer 128 . as an optimization , the output buffer of the source block is assumed to be same as the input buffer of the frame delay block . in block - diagram software , i / o buffers are generally allocated only for block outputs . the input buffer of a block simply points to the output buffer of the block that generates the corresponding input signal . this optimization is assumed to have been carried out in all of our examples . in fig6 a , the source block 120 writes ( 130 ) directly into the input buffer 124 of the frame delay block 122 because the input buffer of the frame delay block is the same as the output buffer of the source block . this write operation happens when the source block has a sample hit and its output method is executed . when the output method of the frame delay block executes at the sample hit of the frame delay block , as shown in fig6 b , the state buffer 126 is transferred ( 132 ) to the output buffer 128 . next , when the update method of the frame delay block is then called during the same sample hit , as shown in fig6 c , the input buffer 124 is transferred ( 134 ) to the state buffer 126 . in fig6 d , the source block 120 writes ( 136 ) next values to the input buffer 124 of the frame delay block 122 when the source block has its next sample hit . in the illustration of fig6 a , 6b , 6 c , 6 d , the input buffer 124 and the output buffer 128 need to be disjoint because the input buffer values need to be persistent after the output has been generated . with shared i / o buffers , the output buffer and input buffer have the same memory space . this relationship is generally used in blocks that perform identity data transformations or transformations that can be implemented using in - place computations . in fig7 a , 7b , an example illustration of how blocks can be implemented to use shared input and output buffers is shown . the illustration includes a source block 150 and a logarithm block 152 . the logarithm block 152 includes an input - output buffer 154 . in fig7 a , the source block 150 writes into the input - output block 154 of the logarithm block 152 when the source block &# 39 ; s output method executes at its sample hit . in fig7 b , the logarithm block 152 overwrites input - output buffer 154 with log ( input ) by using an in - place computation when the output method of the logarithm block is executes at a sample hit of this block . the logarithm block 152 has a common buffer for both input and output because the block 152 can perform in - place computations . the flat i / o buffer described above allows users to conceptualize and build complex application systems and to generate code ( e . g ., embeddable code for a hardware platform ) for such systems . while the generated code can be made to accurately mimic desired system computations , there can be instances where this generated code could be inefficient , e . g ., in terms of memory consumption or computational efficiency or both , when compared to a hand - coded implementation . such inefficiencies can come as a result of a knowledgeable hand - code programmer using advanced software engineering constructs . we describe below a set of such constructs that can be incorporated into a model for block i / o buffers to achieve better efficiency while generating code from a block - diagram design . for each construct , we provide examples that demonstrate a gain in computational and memory storage efficiency . in fig8 , an i / o buffer 160 using offset addressing is shown . offset buffers are i / o buffers in which an entire memory segment allocated for the i / o buffer is not accessed at a given time in a block - diagram &# 39 ; s execution . instead , a portion of the i / o buffer &# 39 ; s total memory is accessed beginning at an offset from a starting memory location in the i / o buffer . in other words , if u represents a starting memory address of an offset buffer 162 and x [ i ] represents the i - th element accessed at a given execution time , then x [ i ]= u [ i + z ], where z is the offset from the beginning of the offset buffer . z can be either fixed over the course of a block - diagram &# 39 ; s execution or vary at each execution step . in fig9 , a utility of the above offset buffer 162 is illustrated using a signal selector block 170 in a block diagram modeling environment . in simulink ®, a signal selector block generates as output selected elements of an input vector or matrix . a behavior for the signal selector 170 in the block diagram produces an output signal 172 by selecting n consecutive points from an input signal . in fig1 , an approach for implementing such a buffer block using a flat i / o buffer , with input and output buffers as separate buffers of different lengths , is shown . at each sample hit of the selector block , n contiguous values of the input are copied over to the output buffer ; w + n memory elements are needed , w + n copy operations per sample hit . in fig1 , the block 180 has a single buffer 182 of length w . at each sample hit , the output buffer 184 is specified to be the same as the input buffer 186 but with an offset of z = n . we can decrease the memory and number of assignment operations by using an offset buffer for the output buffer 184 of the signal selector block 180 ; w memory elements are needed , w ( or w + 1 ) copy operations per execution step if z remains fixed ( or z changes ) over the execution . with a flat i / o buffer , one can access the i - th element in a flat buffer by adding the index value i to the base address of buffer and accessing the value at this new address . therefore , by varying i from 0 . . . n − 1 , one can access all n elements within the buffer . now , if i & gt ; n , we usually get an error or a memory segmentation violation . in certain examples , it is beneficial to avoid such an error ( or violation ) and simply wrap around to the start of the memory space when i & gt ; n . that is , if u is the base memory address of the i / o buffer , then accessing the i - th element can be written as x [ i ]= u [ i % n ], where n is the size of the buffer and % represents the modulo operator . in fig1 , a desired behavior for a block 190 that buffers up a frame of data is shown . the frame buffer block 190 produces an output signal 192 that is a vector of the previous n samples of the input signal 194 . using a flat buffer implementation , as shown in fig1 , the output buffer is a contiguous memory buffer that stores n samples of the input . at each sample hit of the buffer block , previous values in the output buffer are shifted to the memory location preceding their current location . the value at the first memory location is discarded . the value at the last memory location is then updated with the value from the input buffer ; n + 1 memory elements and n + 1 copy operations per sample hit are required resources . we can substantially decrease the number of assignment operations by using a circular i / o buffer 196 that is shared between the input and output of the block , as shown in fig1 . a new input sample 198 is assigned to an appropriate location in the circular buffer 196 . the start 200 of the output buffer 202 is then moved by one memory element to “ update ” the values in the output buffer 202 ; n memory elements and one copy operation and one increment operation per execution step are the required resources . the number of computations per execution step is significantly smaller for the circular buffer 196 than the flat buffer when n is large . we can decrease both the number of assignment operations and the total memory needed by a frame rebuffer block by using a circular i / o buffer that is shared between the input and output of the block as shown in fig1 . new input samples are assigned to an appropriate location in the circular buffer . the start of the output buffer is then moved to “ update ” the values in the output buffer . in this approach , we only require one assignment operation for producing a new output and four assignment operations every time a new input is available . this approach saves three memory locations and one assignment operation ( at each execution step ) over the implementation based on the flat buffer . in fig1 , we decrease the number of assignment operations and the total memory needed by a unit delay block by using a circular i / o buffer 234 that is shared between the input and output of the block . the input samples are assigned to an appropriate location in the circular buffer 234 when the delay block has a sample hit . the start of the output buffer is then moved to “ update ” the values in the output buffer . resources needed are six memory elements , three copy operations , and two increment operations per execution step . in the general case where the input buffer length is m and the desired delay is n , we need m + n memory elements and m copy operations plus two increment operations per execution step . we see that as m increases , we would get significant savings in both memory and computations over the implementation that uses the flat buffer . for example , if m = 256 , we would save 256 memory locations and 256 copy operations per execution step . in fig1 , stride buffer 240 is shown . using a flat i / o buffer , one can access the elements in the stride buffer 240 by striding sequentially from one element of the buffer to the next . in some application contexts , it is beneficial to use a stride of length greater than one element . for example , a stride length of two results in access of every alternate element in the original buffer , and a stride length of three results in access of every third element in the original buffer . if u is the base address of the i / o buffer , then such stride - based access can be written as x [ i ]= u [ si ], where s is an integer corresponding to the stride factor . s can either be fixed or varying over the course of execution of a block - diagram . in fig1 , a desired behavior for a block performs downsampling on a frame input data is shown . here we assume that the downsampler is reducing the sampling rate by a factor of two for illustrative purposes . we can extend the same concepts to other downsampling rates . in fig1 , a downsampler 242 implemented as a stride buffer is shown . this implementation results in savings of n / 2 memory locations and n / 2 assignment operations ( every execution step ) over an implementation that uses flat buffers . at each sample hit of the downsampler block , the downsampler block &# 39 ; s i / o buffer is assigned the input values . since the input and output buffer share the same memory space , the output is updated automatically . every block that is connected to the downsampler 242 can get the appropriate input values by simply using stride - based addressing on the downsampler block &# 39 ; s output buffer . the resources needed are n memory elements and n copy operations per execution step . this approach results in significant memory and computation savings over the flat buffer for large n . to be able to obtain more optimal memory allocation during the execution of block - diagram models , it becomes necessary to support multiple models of block i / o other than the traditional flat buffer model . furthermore , it becomes imperative to be able to mix different models of block i / o in the same block - diagram . allowing different models of block i / o in the same block - diagram implies that blocks now need the ability to negotiate among them to be able to determine the specific models to use for the various i / o buffers in the model . this is important for two main reasons : ( 1 ) the input i / o buffer for one block is the output buffer of another block , and ( 2 ) i / o buffers are shared between various blocks when they are marked explicitly as shared buffers . our invention includes a propagation mechanism that helps determine the most suited memory model for each block i / o buffer in the model . in order to support multiple models of block i / o , we have also developed a generic block is i / o model that helps encompass various buffer models such as offset , circular , and strided illustrated in our earlier examples . we can describe this generic model in terms of the four attributes that we used to describe the traditional flat buffer : size , addressing models , dimensionality , and i / o mapping . the size of our block i / o model is assumed to be fixed . we retain the same behavior for size because such fixed - size i / o buffers are the most amenable in the context of real - time systems . addressing modes : in the case of a flat buffer , a particular element in the i / o buffer was addressed by using two pieces of information : base memory address for the buffer and the element offset of the element that is being currently accessed . here we assume that an i / o buffer is addressed with five distinct pieces of information : a first piece of information is base address ( u ). this is simply the starting memory address of the sequentially accessible elements of the i / o buffer . a second piece of information is element offset . the i - th element in the i / o buffer can be obtained by using the offset index i in conjunction with the base address . we denote the i - th element in buffer to be x [ i ] and the access of the i - th memory location in the i / o buffer using the notation u [ i ]. a third piece of information is wrap - around size ( w ). this is an integer element index after which the i / o buffer is considered to wrap around on itself . therefore , the access of the i - th element in the i / o buffer can now be written as : x [ i ]= u [ i % w ], where ‘%’ denotes the modulo operator . a fourth piece of information is starting offset ( z ). this is an integer offset that determines the relative position of the first element in the buffer with respect to the base address . for example , a starting offset of s = 5 implies that the first element is given by x [ 0 ]= u [ i + 5 ]. a fifth piece of information is stride factor ( s ). in certain cases , every element in an i / o buffer can not simultaneously be in use . instead , we can only be using every second ( or third , or fourth , . . . ) element . therefore , the i - th element in the i / o buffer would be written as : x [ i ]= u [ si ], where s is the stride factor that determines the spacing between elements in the i / o buffer . by combining each of the five distinct pieces of information , we would address the i - th element in the i / o buffer as : x [ i ]= u [( si + z ) % w ]. we note that by choosing s = 1 , z = 0 , and w = infinity , we would obtain the flat buffer . the various addressing - related attributes provide offset , circular , and stride addressing as illustrated in fig2 . s , z , and w can be either fixed or dynamically varying over the course of the block - diagram &# 39 ; s execution . if these attributes vary with the execution step , then we can rewrite access of the i - th element in the i / o buffer as : xn [ i ]= un [( sni + zn ) % wn ], where n is the execution step . as discussed above , an i / o buffer can be interpreted as an m - dimensional matrix . however , the dimensionality of the buffer was assumed to be unchanging over the course of the block - diagram &# 39 ; s execution . in our new model for block i / o buffers , we allow the buffers to have flexible dimensions during the course of the execution of the block - diagram . two different ways in which i / o buffers can have flexible dimensions are shown in fig2 and fig2 . fig2 shows a dynamic dimension i / o buffers . the i / o buffer has dynamic dimensions as the execution proceeds . but the i / o elements are constantly remapped to different elements on the i / o buffer &# 39 ; s memory map . fig2 shows the i / o buffer has dynamic dimensions as the execution proceeds . the mapping of individual elements to the memory map of the i / o buffer remains unchanged . in fig2 , we introduce a notion of partially shared buffers , i . e ., buffers in which the memory spaces for the input and output partially overlap . here , the input and output buffers share the same memory space . the input buffer is mapped to the first five elements of the memory space and the output buffer is mapped to the last six elements of the same memory space . while we have focused primarily on time - based block diagrams so far , our invention also extends to other block diagram models of computation where the notion of memory buffers is defined . one such model is data - flow block diagrams that describe a graphical programming paradigm which uses the availability of data ( tokens ) to drive execution of blocks , where a block represents a single operation and lines represent execution dependencies between the blocks . our invention can be extended to the memory buffers used to store data tokens in such dataflow block - diagrams . the invention can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry , or in computer hardware , firmware , software , or in combinations of them . : the invention can be implemented as a computer program product , i . e ., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier , e . g ., in a machine readable storage device or in a propagated signal , for execution by , or to control the operation of , data processing apparatus , e . g ., a programmable processor , a computer , or multiple computers . a computer program can be written in any form of programming language , including compiled or interpreted languages , and it can be deployed in any form , including as a stand alone program or as a module , component , subroutine , or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment . a computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network . method steps of the invention can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing a computer program to perform functions of the invention by operating on input data and generating output . method steps can also be performed by , and apparatus of the invention can be implemented as , special purpose logic circuitry , e . g ., an fpga ( field programmable gate array ) or an asic ( application specific integrated circuit ). processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include , by way of example , both general and special purpose microprocessors , and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer . generally , a processor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory or a random access memory or both . the essential elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data . generally , a computer will also include , or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to , or both , one or more mass storage devices for storing data , e . g ., magnetic , magneto optical disks , or optical disks . information carriers suitable for embodying computer program instructions and data include all forms of non volatile memory , including by way of example semiconductor memory devices , e . g ., eprom , eeprom , and flash memory devices ; magnetic disks , e . g ., internal hard disks or removable disks ; magneto optical disks ; and cd rom and dvd - rom disks . the processor and the memory can be supplemented by , or incorporated in special purpose logic circuitry . a number of embodiments of the invention have been described . nevertheless , it will be understood that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims .	6
referring initially to fig1 vibratory drilling tool 10 is shown as a component of drill string 12 in borehole 14 . tool 10 is attached at lower end 16 to drill bit 18 and at upper end 20 to drill collar 22 . referring now to fig2 and 3 , tool 10 consists primarily of housing 30 , made up of top sub 32 and barrel 34 , mandrel 36 and spring 38 . top sub 32 forms the upper encasement of the tool and has internal threads 40 to attach upper end 20 to drill collar 22 . barrel 34 is generally tubular in shape and is connected to top sub 32 at threaded connection 42 . seals 44 and 46 are provided to fluid - tightly seal barrel 34 and mandrel 36 . seals 44 and 46 are disposed adjacent bearing surfaces 48 and 50 respectively on mandrel 36 . in preferred form , bearing surfaces 48 and 50 are widely spaced and specially hardened . barrel 34 includes a series of internal longitudinal splines 52 . mandrel 36 includes matching external splines 53 engaging splines 52 . inner surface 54 of barrel 34 and outer surface 56 of mandrel 36 define chamber 58 , which contains spring 38 . chamber 58 is intermediate of seals 44 and 46 and is fluid - tight irrespective of the relative axial placement of barrel 34 and mandrel 36 . sealable passageways 60 and 62 are provided through the walls of barrel 34 and communicate with chamber 58 to facilitate the addition or removal of the fluid of spring 38 . in the preferred embodiment , spring 38 is a compressible silicone fluid . retainer 64 is attached at the upper extremity of mandrel 36 . retainer 64 is split through the center and is secured to mandrel 36 by o - ring 66 . lower end 16 of tool 10 includes threads 67 for connection to bit 18 . mandrel 36 includes an internal surface 68 which defines drilling fluid passageway 70 . retainer 64 and shoulder 69 of mandrel 36 limit the axial movement of mandrel 36 relative to housing 30 . in operation , torque from drill string 12 is transferred through housing 30 to mandrel 36 through splines 52 and 53 , such that housing 30 and mandrel 36 rotate in unison . splines 52 and 53 permit limited axial relative movement between mandrel 36 and housing 30 . mandrel 36 may thus be oscillated in response to periodic impulsive bit vibrations . oscillation of mandrel 36 relative housing 30 will be effected by the spring rate of spring 38 and the combined mass of bit 18 and mandrel 36 . the applied weight or other force applied by drill string 12 will be resiliently transferred through spring 38 to mandrel 36 . as more clearly illustrated in fig4 the present invention uses bit vibrations to raise the bit energy level for more efficient drill bit penetration . drill bit 18 vibrates when rotated during drilling , especially when hard brittle earth strata are being drilled . f 1 indicates the relative steady state of drill string force acting through string 38 and mandrel 36 . f 1 tends to push drill bit 18 against the bottom of borehole 14 . while drilling , drill bit 18 is under rapid impulsive force f 2 at frequency ω . f 2 excites mass 80 , which is the equivalent mass of mandrel 36 and drill bit 18 , causing reciprocation of mass 80 in phase with f 2 . the spring rate of spring 38 is chosen such that spring - mass system 82 , composed of mass 80 and spring 38 , has a natural frequency of the same order as ω . the oscillation amplitudes x of mass 80 are magnified and are many times the amplitudes experienced in normal drilling . where mandrel 36 and bit 18 have a combined mass of m , and spring 38 has a spring rate of k , spring - mass system 82 has an undamped fundamental frequency ## equ1 ## and a somewhat lower damped fundamental frequency . when f 2 oscillates at a frequency substantially equal to the damped fundamental frequency of spring - mass system 82 , resonance occurs , and amplitudes x are magnified to ## equ2 ## where is a constant related to the damping of the system . amplitude x can be magnified by several orders of magnitude even when the frequency match should be in the range of 0 . 25 to 1 . 5 , and the ratio should be less than 0 . 5 . the frequency of f 2 can be adjusted from the well surface by adjusting the rotational speed of the drill string to take account of the formation being drilled . it should be noted that the device described herein may also be used as a drilling shock absorber to absorb vibrations produced by the drilling bit if so desired . tool 10 may be converted to a shock absorber by setting the spring rate k of spring 38 such that the fundamental frequency of spring - mass system 82 , ω n , is relatively low and out of phase with the bit vibration frequency , ω . alternatively , tool 10 may be constructed such that the internal damping of the tool is above the critically damped condition . a combination of both low natural frequency and high damping may also be employed to convert tool 10 to a drilling shock absorber . referring now to fig5 , 7 and 8 , there is shown a vibratory drilling tool 110 incorporating a second embodiment of the present invention . the drilling tool 110 incorporates numerous elements and features which are substantially identical in construction and operation to the elements and features of tool 10 , which is illustrated in fig1 and 3 . for purposes of orientation , fig5 shows drilling tool 110 as a component of drill string 112 in borehole 114 . tool 110 is attached at lower end 116 to drill bit 118 and , at upper end 120 , to drill collar 122 . drilling tool 110 differs from drilling tool 10 primarily in the structure of mandrel 136 and the quantity and placement of spring 138 . such structural differences cause the damped fundamental frequency of drilling tool 110 to be substantially greater in magnitude than that of drilling tool 10 . therefore , drilling tool 110 is most suitable for use in drilling operations where the impulsive force f 2 acting on the drill bit has a relatively high frequency . since the magnitude of the damped fundamental frequency of drilling tool 110 will vary in close relation to the magnitude of its undamped fundamental frequency ω n , which may be expressed as ## equ3 ## it will be apparent that the magnitude of the damped fundamental frequency of drilling tool 110 may be increased substantially by reducing the value of mass m and by increasing the value of the spring rate k for the spring - mass system of drilling tool 110 . accordingly , the damped fundamental frequency of drilling tool 110 is increased substantially over that of drilling tool 10 by providing a mandrel 136 having a relatively low mass . in addition , fluid chamber 158 is provided for containing a relatively small volume of spring 138 , thereby causing the value of the spring rate k to be relatively high . mandrel 136 is generally tubular , having an internal surface 168 and an outer surface 156 . the lower end of mandrel 136 comprises the lower end 116 of drilling tool 110 and has threads 167 for connection with drill bit 118 . a drilling fluid passageway 170 , for conducting drilling fluid from channel 172 to drill bit 118 during drilling operations , is defined by the internal surface 168 of mandrel 136 . the mass of mandrel 136 is reduced substantially by shortening the length thereof . as a result , the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 is disposed at a substantial distance from the upper end 120 of drilling tool 110 . channel 172 serves as a conduit for drilling fluid and extends from an aperture 124 in the upper end 120 of drilling tool 110 and into passageway 170 of mandrel 136 . channel 172 is affixed to the upper end 120 of drilling tool 110 so that mandrel 136 oscillates with respect to channel 172 during drilling operations . seals 174 provide a fluid - tight fit between channel 172 and the upper end 120 of drilling tool 110 . the lower portion of channel 172 is slideably inserted within drilling fluid passageway 170 at the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 . drilling fluid passageway 170 has a first diameter , between the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 and transition step 171 , which is suitable to slideably accept channel 172 . at transition step 171 , the diameter of passageway 170 decreases abruptly toward the lower end 116 of drilling tool 110 . the transition step 171 is located at a predetermined distance from the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 so that mandrel 136 will oscillate freely with respect to channel 172 . a fluid - tight seal is established between channel 172 and the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 by seals 149 , which are affixed to mandrel 136 . a bearing surface 151 is provided on the outer surface 176 of channel 172 to prevent excessive wear of channel 172 , which may be caused by friction as mandrel 136 oscillates . bearing surface 151 is preferably composed of hard chrome , although other known wear - resistant materials may also be utilized , and includes at least that portion of the outer surface 176 of channel 172 which may be susceptible to frictional wear caused by the oscillation of mandrel 136 . although channel 172 is affixed to housing 130 in fig6 and 8 , channel 172 may alternatively be affixed to mandrel 136 for reciprocation therewith . it will be apparent that sealing means similar to seals 149 and 174 may be interposed between channel 172 and the upper end 120 of drilling tool 110 and between channel 172 and mandrel 136 , respectively , to establish a fluid - tight relationship therebetween . if such an alternative is utilized , a bearing surface ( not shown ) similar to bearing surface 151 would be provided on that portion of the outer surface 176 of channel 172 which would be susceptible to frictional wear caused by contact with the upper end 120 of housing 130 as mandrel 136 oscillates . a portion of mandrel 136 , including upper end 184 thereof , is slideably disposed for axial oscillation within housing 130 . housing 130 is generally tubular and includes top sub 132 and barrel 134 , which are joined by threaded connection 142 . external threads 140 , located at the upper end of housing 130 , allow the connection of drilling tool 110 to the drill string 112 . the housing 130 will remain in a fixed position relative to drill string 112 during drilling operations . collar 146 is affixed to mandrel 136 about the upper end 184 thereof and includes two semi - annular halves which are bound together by o - ring 147 . collar 146 serves to guide the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 within housing 130 as mandrel 136 oscillates . to avoid the problem of excessive frictional wear caused by the oscillation of collar 146 with mandrel 136 , collar 146 is preferably made of a durable wear - resistant material , such as bronze . likewise , a portion of the inner surface 154 of housing 130 comprises a bearing surface 150 , which is preferably composed of a wear - resistant material such as hard chrome , at least within the oscillating range of collar 146 , to avoid excessive frictional wear of housing 130 . spring 138 is contained by chamber 158 , which is defined by a portion of the outer surface 156 of mandrel 136 , a portion of the inner surface 154 of housing 130 and a portion of the outer surface 176 of channel 172 . a relatively large portion of chamber 158 is disposed immediately above the collar 146 and the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 while the remaining portion of chamber 158 is disposed immediately below collar 146 . the portions of chamber 158 , which are disposed immediately above and below collar 146 , are in fluid communication through several passageways located between collar 146 and the outer surface 156 of mandrel 136 . such passageways may be defined by portions of spines 153 adjacent the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 having whole depths suitable for receiving collar 146 and by the inner surface of collar 146 . spring 138 is contained within chamber 156 by seals 149 and 145 such that the volume of chamber 158 varies in accordance with the axial displacement of mandrel 136 relative to housing 130 . sealable passageways 160 and 162 are provided through the walls of housing 130 and communicate with chamber 158 to facilitate the addition or removal of the fluid of spring 38 . seal 145 comprises seals 144 and o - rings 143 which are integrated with seal ring 141 . seal 145 is affixed to housing 130 , about mandrel 136 , and adjacent shoulder 180 . seals 144 are disposed immediately adjacent mandrel 136 while o - rings 134 are positioned immediately adjacent housing 130 . both seals 144 and o - rings 143 serve to prevent the flow of fluids , such as drilling fluid , into chamber 158 and to contain spring 138 therein . during drilling operations , seal 145 will remain fixed in relation to housing 130 . accordingly , seal 145 may be affixed to housing 130 by appropriate means such as a press - fit , a lock - tight fluid or a snap ring . seal ring 141 is preferably composed of a wear - resistant material , such as bronze . accordingly , a bearing surface 148 is provided on the outer surface 156 of mandrel 136 to prevent excessive frictional wear of mandrel 136 and covers at least that portion of mandrel 136 which is susceptible to frictional wear from seal 145 . bearing surface 148 is preferably composed of a wear - resistant material , such as hard chrome . the outer surface 156 of mandrel 136 and the inner surface 154 of housing 130 define external longitudinal splines 153 and internal longitudinal splines 152 , respectively , as well as a portion of spring fluid chamber 158 . external longitudinal splines 153 extend radially from mandrel 136 to engage internal longitudinal splines 152 of housing 130 , as shown in fig7 . torque is transmitted from drill string 112 and housing 130 to mandrel 136 through splines 152 and 153 such that mandrel 136 will rotate about its longitudinal axis in a fixed relation to the rotation of housing 130 . however , splines 152 and 153 are slideably engaged with respect to their longitudinal axis so that mandrel 136 remains free to oscillate along its longitudinal axis within housing 130 . therefore , mandrel 136 will rotate at the same speed as housing 130 during drilling operations , but may simultaneously oscillate along its longitudinal axis with respect to housing 130 . a relatively steady force , represented by f 1 in fig4 is transmitted to mandrel 136 and drill bit 118 through spring 138 . spring 138 is preferably a quantity of compressible fluid , such as silicone fluid . the portion of chamber 158 which is intermediate of collar 146 and seal 145 includes passageways between splines 152 and 153 of mandrel 136 and housing 134 , respectively , as depicted in fig7 . likewise , chamber 58 further includes passageways defined by collar 146 and splines 152 of mandrel 136 . movement of spring 138 through these passageways as mandrel 136 oscillates contributes to the damping force on the spring - mass system . force f 1 is resiliently transmitted from housing 130 to mandrel 136 by the compression of spring 138 . as f 1 is applied to drilling tool 110 , housing 130 will tend to move in the direction of f 1 , toward shoulder 169 of mandrel 136 . therefore , the volume of chamber 158 will tend to decrease with the application of f 1 as the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 approaches the upper end 120 of housing 130 , thereby pressurizing spring 138 . as a result of the pressurization of spring 138 , pressure is exerted against the upper end 184 of mandrel 136 such that a force roughly equivalent to f 1 is imposed on mandrel 136 by spring 138 . in like manner , spring 138 also serves as the spring 82 of the spring - mass system in fig4 . the volume of chamber 158 is of great significance to the embodiment shown in fig5 , 7 and 8 . as noted previously , a high spring rate k value is desirable when utilizing the present invention in drilling operations where the impulsive force f 2 acting on the drill bit has a relatively high magnitude of frequency . by decreasing the volume of chamber 158 substantially as compared with chamber 58 of the embodiment shown in fig2 and therefore the quantity of spring 138 contained thereby , a substantially increased magnitude of spring rate k is achieved . such an increase is easily understood by considering the general expression for the spring rate k of the spring - mass system : where f is the magnitude of force required to deflect the mass a unit distance of δ . it will be apparent that if the volume of chamber 158 is decreased substantially in comparison with chamber 58 of the embodiment in fig2 a substantially greater proportionate change in the volume of chamber 158 will occur per unit deflection of mandrel 136 . the increase in the porportionate change in the volume of chamber 158 per unit deflection of mandrel 136 corresponds with a substantial increase in the change in pressure of spring 138 per unit deflection of mandrel 136 . hence , since the magnitude of force acting on mandrel 136 through seal 146 is directly related to the pressure change in spring 138 , as discussed previously , a substantially greater force f is required to deflect mandrel 136 a unit distance δ . it is desirable , in most applications of drilling tool 110 , to provide a lubricant within chamber 158 , thereby reducing frictional wear of various components of drilling tool 110 . therefore it may be desirable to contain a mixture or solution of spring 138 and a lubricant within chamber 158 , such that substantially all potential wear surfaces remain lubricated during drilling operations . in the alternative , it may be desirable to contain a quantity of lubricant within chamber 158 which has a specific gravity greater than that of spring 138 such that a substantially greater concentration of lubricant will be present in the lower portion of chamber 158 between splines 152 and 153 during drilling operations . the latter alternative is particularly effective in preventing frictional wear of splines 152 and 153 , which may be subjected to considerable stress during drilling operations . it will be apparent that a mixture or solution of spring 138 and a lubricant having a specific gravity substantially equivalent to that of spring 138 may be combined within chamber 158 with a quantity of lubricant having a specific gravity greater than such mixture or solution , for certain applications of drilling tool 110 . the type of lubricant used , as well as the quantity of lubricant used , may also affect the spring rate k and therefore the damped fundamental frequency of the spring - mass system of drilling tool 110 . for example , the spring rate k may be increased by utilizing a lubricant which is relatively incompressible . when a quantity of incompressible fluid , such as an incompressible lubricant , is contained within chamber 158 , the effective volume of chamber 158 is reduced since an equivalent volume of spring 138 is displaced thereby . therefore , as discussed previously , since a reduction in the volume of chamber 158 causes an increase in the spring rate k and the damped fundamental frequency of the drilling tool 110 , the same change may be effected by displacing a quantity of spring 138 with a quantity of incompressible lubricant . it will be apparent that the magnitude of change in the damped fundamental frequency of drilling tool 110 will be proportionate to the relative quantity of spring 138 displaced by the incompressible fluid . referring now to fig9 and 10 , there is shown a partial side view of a drilling tool 185 incorporating a third embodiment of the invention . the drilling tool 185 incorporates numerous component parts which are substantially identical in construction and operation to the component parts of drilling tool 110 illustrated in fig5 - 8 . such identical component parts are designated in fig9 and 10 with the same reference numeral utilized in the description of drilling tool 110 , but are differentiated therefrom by means of a (&# 39 ;) designation . drilling tool 185 differs from the embodiments shown in fig1 - 8 primarily in that drilling tool 185 can be modified to vary the damped fundamental frequency thereof . such modifications alter the spring rate k of drilling tool 185 , and thus the damped fundamental frequency thereof , without changing significantly the size of chamber 158 &# 39 ;, the quantity of spring 138 &# 39 ; utilized or the mass of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. referring more specifically to fig9 there is shown a partial cross sectional view of the portion of drilling tool 185 which surrounds the upper end 184 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. the remaining portion ( not shown ) of drilling tool 185 is substantially identical in structure and operation to drilling tool 110 , which is depicted in fig5 - 8 . an annular collar 186 is interposed between the outer surface 156 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; and the inner surface 154 &# 39 ; of housing 130 &# 39 ; adjacent the upper end 184 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. collar 186 is held against splines 153 &# 39 ; by snap ring 194 such that collar 186 oscillates with mandrel 136 &# 39 ; during drilling operations . it will be apparent that other suitable means for affixing collar 186 to mandrel 136 &# 39 ; may be utilized . collar 186 includes o - rings 190 and 192 which are integrated with ring 188 . o - rings 190 and 192 are disposed immediately adjacent the inner surface 154 &# 39 ; of housing 130 &# 39 ; and the outer surface 156 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; respectively . collar 186 performs a number of functions during the operation of drilling tool 185 . collar 186 serves as a sealing means for containing spring 138 &# 39 ; within chamber 158 &# 39 ;. collar 186 also serves as a bearing for guiding the upper end 184 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; within housing 130 &# 39 ; as mandrel 136 &# 39 ; oscillates during drilling operations . in addition , collar 186 defines a substantial portion of the surface area against which pressure from spring 138 &# 39 ; acts . as will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter , the thickness of collar 186 , or the distance between the inner and outer surfaces of collar 186 , determines the effective surface area exposed to spring 138 &# 39 ; and is one variable upon which the damped fundamental frequency of drilling tool 185 depends . although longitudinal splines 153 &# 39 ; are substantially identical in construction and operation to the longitudinal splines 153 incorporated by drilling tool 110 in fig5 - 8 , splines 153 &# 39 ; differ from splines 153 in certain respects . the importance of such differences will be apparent after discussion of fig1 . as splines 153 &# 39 ; approach the upper end 184 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; their whole depth , or the distance they extend radially from their respective roots , decreases abruptly at transition step 196 , which is located at a predetermined distance from collar 186 &# 39 ;, thereby causing a sudden decrease in the outside diameter of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. further , splines 153 &# 39 ; terminate at collar 186 and do not define a plurality of passageways which communicate with chamber 158 &# 39 ; and spring 138 &# 39 ;, thus facilitating the establishment of a fluid - tight relationship between collar 186 and mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. lubrication of drilling tool 185 may preferably be provided by mixing a quantity of lubricant with spring 138 &# 39 ; within chamber 158 &# 39 ; and by containing a suitable quantity of lubricant 198 between splines 152 &# 39 ; and 153 &# 39 ; in a manner similar to that discussed with reference to drilling tool 110 . referring now to fig1 , drilling tool 185 is shown having modifications which alter and substantially reduce the damped fundamental frequency thereof . the modifications include the substitution of collar 206 for collar 186 ( shown in fig9 ) and the interposition of sleeve 200 between collar 206 and housing 130 &# 39 ;. the purpose of the modifications is to allow the acceptance by drilling tool 185 of collar 206 having a thickness substantially less than that of collar 186 . a sleeve 200 , having a thickness substantially equivalent to difference in thicknesses between collars 206 and 186 , abuts barrel 134 &# 39 ; and splines 152 &# 39 ; at the lower end thereof . sleeve 200 is cylindrical , and is sized to fit tightly within housing 130 &# 39 ; such that sleeve 200 will be held in a fixed relation to housing 130 &# 39 ; during drilling operations while being removable from housing 130 &# 39 ; if desired . o - rings 204 are provided adjacent the lower end of sleeve 200 for sealing the interface between the external surface of sleeve 200 and the inner surface 154 of housing 130 &# 39 ;. a bearing surface 202 , preferably composed of a wear resistant material such as hard chrome , is provided along the inner surface of sleeve 200 preferably within the oscillating range of collar 206 . bearing surface 202 serves to protect sleeve 200 from excessive wear caused by the oscillation of collar 206 during drilling operations . collar 206 is substantially identical to the construction and operation of collar 186 , shown in fig9 . accordingly , collar 206 is disposed about mandrel 136 &# 39 ; adjacent the upper end 184 &# 39 ; thereof and is held against splines 153 &# 39 ; by snap ring 194 . collar 206 includes a plurality of o - rings 210 which are disposed immediately adjacent the inner surface of sleeve 200 and o - rings 212 which are disposed immediately adjacent the outer surface 156 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. o - rings 210 and 212 serve to establish a fluid - tight seal between the collar 206 and the respective surfaces of sleeve 200 and mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. collar 206 may preferably be composed of a wear - resistant material such as bronze . during drilling operations , mandrel 136 &# 39 ; and collar 206 will oscillate relative to housing 130 &# 39 ; and sleeve 200 . therefore , transition step 196 is located at a predetermined distance from collar 206 such that mandrel 136 &# 39 ; may oscillate freely without significant contact between splines 153 &# 39 ; and sleeve 200 . since it may be preferable that drilling tool 185 be capable of accommodating a wide range of sleeve and collar sizes for various applications , the reduction in the outside diameter of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; at transition step 196 should be suitable to accommodate a wide range of sleeve thicknesses . as mentioned previously , the incorporation of collar 206 , having a thickness which is substantially less than that of collar 186 , adapts drilling tool 185 for application in drilling operations where a relatively lower damped fundamental frequency is desirable . a lower damped fundamental frequency may be desirable , for example , when drilling tool 185 is used with two - cone drill bits rather than the standard three - cone drill bits or when drilling operations require slower drill bit revolutions . the decrease in the damped fundamental frequency of drilling tool 185 is accomplished by a reduction in the magnitude of the spring - rate k of drilling tool 185 , which is caused by a reduction in the combined effective surface area of the upper end 184 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; and collar 206 . since the combined effective surface area of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; and collar 206 of fig1 is less than that of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; and collar 186 of fig9 a correspondingly smaller quantity of spring 138 &# 39 ; is displaced per unit deflection of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; and collar 206 . a smaller displacement of spring 138 &# 39 ; per unit deflection of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; causes a lesser pressure differential of spring 138 &# 39 ; per unit deflection of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. since the reduction of the pressure differential of spring 138 &# 39 ; per unit deflection of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; translates directly into a reduction in the change in force applied downwardly against mandrel 136 &# 39 ; and collar 206 by spring 138 &# 39 ; per unit deflection of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;, the result is a reduced spring - rate k for drilling tool 185 in fig1 . it will be apparent that the damped fundamental frequency of drilling tool 185 may be varied across a broad range depending upon the thickness of the collar utilized adjacent the upper end 184 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. therefore , drilling tool 185 may be adapted for use in drilling operations having an impulsive force f 2 acting on the drill bit with a frequency within a correspondingly broad range . drilling tool 185 is easily adapted by substitution of collar 206 for collar 186 . top sub 132 &# 39 ; may be disconnected from barrel 134 &# 39 ; at the threaded connection 142 &# 39 ;, thereby allowing insertion of sleeve 200 into housing 130 &# 39 ; and allowing access to the upper end 184 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ;. collar 206 may be slipped over the upper end 184 &# 39 ; of mandrel 136 &# 39 ; until it abuts splines 153 &# 39 ;. collar 206 may then be secured against splines 153 &# 39 ; by means of snap ring 194 . tops sub 132 &# 39 ; and barrel 134 &# 39 ; may then be reconnected by threaded connection 142 &# 39 ;. drilling tool 185 will then be ready for operation following the addition of spring 138 &# 39 ; and lubricant 198 in their respective locations . this procedure may be followed whenever adaptation of drilling tool 185 to operations requiring a different damped fundamental frequency is desired . while certain embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail herein and shown in the accompanying drawings , it will be evident that various further modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention .	4
fig1 is a format diagram showing one example of serial data in a communications system according to this invention . the format in the figure represents the voltage states of a sending clock sc on the clock line and sending data sd or serial data on the data line . in other words , this communications system employs a so - called two - line circuit in which the clock sc is transmitted on the clock line ( clock pulse circuit ) and the serial data sd on the data line ( data bus circuit ). one packet of information consists of serial data data whose data length is variable , 8 bits or 16 bits , an 8 - bit address address , and a tail mark tail . mark attached at the end of the packet . except for the tail mark tail . mark , the information packet has a specification compatible with the serial port of the existing microcomputer . the transition of data data and address address is synchronized with the high - to - low trailing edge of the clock sc . at the low - to - high leading edge of the clock sc the data data and the address address have already been established . the tail mark tail . mark is an exception . it is allowed to change its voltage level on the data line even when the clock sc is on the fixed high level . the tail mark tail . mark is given two different meanings , a hold tail hold . tail of fig2 and a latch tail latch . tail of fig3 . the hold tail hold . tail shown in fig2 is defined to have , for example , two high - to - low transitions ( one pulse ) on the data line when the clock sc is high . the hold tail hold . tail represents information that tells a receiving station to go to a standby state after taking in data data . hence , the receiving station specified by the address address , when it recognizes the reception of the hold tail hold . tail , holds the data data received without executing it . the latch tail latch . tail shown in fig3 is defined to have , for example , three high - to - low transitions ( two pulses ) on the data line when the clock sc is high . the latch tail latch . tail is information that tells a receiving station to execute data data received . hence , the receiving station specified by the address address , when it recognizes the reception of the latch tail latch . tail , executes the data data already taken in . the data data preceding the address address is regarded as a mode change command ( or mode change information or mode change data ) calling for a state change in the receiving station . therefore , executing the data data by the receiving station means changing the state of the receiving station . while in the above description , the hold tail hold . tail and the latch tail latch . tail are defined as having two and three high - to - low potential transitions on the data line , respectively , it is easily understood that they can be changed as required . further , only two tail marks , hold tail hold . tail and latch tail latch . tail , are described , it is possible to add other kinds of tail marks as required . for example , when information calling for data transfer is newly added , a tail mark requesting the data transfer need be defined to have four high - to - low potential transitions on the data line . defining a new tail mark as having only one high - to - low transition on the data line should be avoided . this is because where there is a possibility of noise being applied to the data line and lowering its potential , the high - to - low transition of the data line potential caused by noise may be mistaken for the new tail mark . fig4 and 5 show examples of data transfer utilizing tail marks of fig2 and 3 . fig4 shows an example of data transfer performed when the receiving stations . ( station a - c ) sequentially execute the serial data in response to the reception of the latch tail latch . tail . the station a receives data dataa and address adda successively and recognizes from the address adda that it is selected . then in response to the latch tail latch . tail received next , the station a executes the data a . at this tee , station b and c also receive the data dataa and address adda successively and they recognize from the address adda that they are not selected , so that when the latch tail latch . tail is received , they do not execute the data dataa . after this , the station b receives data datab and address addb and recognizes from the address addb that it is selected , so that when it receives the latch tail latch . tail , it executes the data datab . at this time , the station a and c also receive the data datab and address addb successively . they find from the address addb that they are not addressed and hence do not execute the data datab when the latch tail latch . tail is received . then , the station c receives data datac and address addc successively . it recognizes from the address addc that it is selected and , when the latch tail latch . tail is received next , executes the data datac . at this tithe , the station a and b also receive data datac and address addc successively , but recognize from the address addc that they are not chosen and therefore do not execute the data datac when the latch tail latch . tail is received . fig5 shows an example of data transfer performed when the receiving stations ( station a - c ) hold data successively in response to the hold tail hold . tail received and , upon reception of the latch tail latch . tail at the last , simultaneously execute the data . the station a receives data dataa and address adda in that order and recognizes from the address adda that it is selected . in response to the hold tail hold . tail received next , the station a holds the execution of the data dataa . at this time , the station b and c successively receive data dataa and address adda . from address adda , they find out that they are not chosen and hence neither execute nor hold the data dataa when the hold tail hold . tail is received . then , the station b receives data datab and address addb in that order . it recognizes from the address addb that it is addressed and hence holds the execution of data datab in response to the hold tail hold . tail received next . at this time , the station a and c similarly receive the data datab and address addb but recognize from the address addb that they are not addressed and therefore neither execute nor hold the data datab when the hold tail hold . tail is received . then , the station c receives data datac and address addc and finds from the address addc that it is selected . hence , when it receives the latch tail latch . tail next , the station c executes the data datac . at this time , in response to the latch tail latch . tail received , the station a and b also execute the data dataa and datab that has been held . this control will become apparent from the explanation of fig8 described later . in fig5 if the station a and b do not have a data hold function , the data dataa and datab is executed successively . fig6 shows a system block diagram as one embodiment of a vtr that applies the serial communications system of this invention . a microcomputer 100 which controls the system according to the program generates , as necessary , clock , data , address and tail mark that were described by referring to fig1 to 5 , and works as a sending station that outputs them to receiving stations . one example method of generating the tail mark using the microcomputer 100 will be explained in detail by referring to fig7 . a bus 120 includes one clock line that carries the transfer clock sc and one data line that carries the serial data sd . semiconductor integrated circuit devices 102 , 104 , 106 , 108 , 110 are electrically connected through the bus 120 to the microcomputer 100 and constitute receiving stations that receive the clock , data , address and tail mark output from the microcomputer 100 through the bus 120 . the device 102 is a preamplifier and record signal processing ic ; 104 a brightness / color signal processing ic ; 106 a digital servo ic ; 108 a peripheral ic ; and 110 a serial / parallel converting driver ic , which will be detailed later . in the vtr system shown in the figure , when the operation modes of the ic 102 , 104 , 106 are to be switched to the record mode from the playback mode simultaneously , the microcomputer 100 outputs the data format shown in fig5 onto the bus 120 . that is , with the ic 102 , 104 , 106 considered to correspond to the station a , b , c , respectively , the microcomputer 100 outputs the data , address and tail mark as follows . the microcomputer 100 outputs data dataa for changing the operation mode of the ic 102 to the record mode , an address adda specifying the ic 102 , and a hold tail hold . tail in that order . the ic 102 receives the data dataa and address adda and , from the address adda , becomes aware that it is selected . then , in response to the hold tail hold . tail received next , the ic 102 holds the execution of the data dataa . at this time , ic 104 and 106 also receive the data dataa and the address adda but find from the address adda that they are not addressed and therefore neither execute nor hold the data dataa when they receive the hold tail hold . tail . after this , the microcomputer successively outputs data datab for changing the operation mode of ic 104 to the record mode , an address addb specifying the ic 104 , and a hold tail hold . tail . the ic 104 receives the data datab and address addb in that order and , based on the address addb , finds that the ic 104 is chosen , so that when the hold tail hold . tail is received next , the ic holds the execution of the data datab . at this time , the ic 102 and 106 also receives the data datab and address addb but recognize from the address addb that they are not addressed , so that when the hold tail hold . tail is received , they neither execute nor hold the data datab . then , the microcomputer 100 outputs data datac for changing the operation mode of the ic 106 to the record mode , an address addc specifying the ic 106 , and a latch tail latch . tail in that order . the station c receives the data datac and address addc and , from the address addc , recognizes that it is addressed . hence , in response to the latch tail latch . tail received next , the station c executes the data datac . at this time , the ic 102 and ic 104 , in response to the latch tail latch . tail received , execute the held data dataa and data datab . as a result , the operation modes of ic 102 to 106 are switched from the playback mode to the record mode simultaneously . as shown in this embodiment , the microcomputer 100 can treat an electric system and a mechanical drive system as one system and control them synchronously . in addition , the microcomputer 110 is not required to have high speed operation for synchronization , has no problem with the data transfer interruption , and requires no processing for determining the priority of the data to be transferred . all this facilitates the manufacture of software program for the microcomputer 100 . fig7 shows one example circuitry of a drive circuit on the sending side of the communications system according to this invention . as shown in the figure , one output terminal of the serial data output port serial . port and one output terminal of the general port general . port are wired - ored . with this drive circuit , the central processing unit ( cpu ) of the microcomputer 100 can put the hold tail hold . tail or latch tail latch . tail on the serial data line sd by writing into a data output register 130 in the general port data corresponding to the hold tail hold . tail that calls for data holding or data corresponding to the latch tail latch . tail that calls for data execution . as shown in the figure , the output transistor of the serial port serial . port is formed of open - drain n - channel mosfets ( insulated gate type field - effect transistors ) m1 and m2 . the output transistor of the general port is formed of an open - drain n - channel mosfet m3 . since the drains of the mosfets m2 and m3 are drawn out from the chip as external output terminals et2 and et3 , these external output terminals et2 and et3 are connected outside the chip to readily realize the wired - or logic . thus , the hold tail hold . tail and latch tail latch . tail can be sent on the data line ( bus circuit ) sd through the serial port of the microcomputer 100 without requiring the port switching by software . the data line ( data bus circuit ) sd and the clock line ( clock bus circuit ) sc are , as shown , connected to a voltage source vcc of say 5 volt through pull - up resistors r1 , r2 . hence , the potentials of the data line sd and the clock line sc are set to that of the voltage source vcc , say 5 volt , after the address and clock signals are output . fig8 shows one example block diagram of a serial / parallel converting driver ic 110 provided on the receiving station side of the communications system of this invention . in the figure , designated 1 is a tail mark counter which identifies the kind of the tail mark , i . e ., checks if the signal at the end calls for data holding or data execution . denoted 2 is a clock gate that closes the gate after receiving the hold data to protect the data . an address decoder 3 generates an address from input information ( 3 bits of ov / 5 v binary signal ) at terminal 4 to terminal 6 . it is therefore possible for one chip to set eight kinds of addresses . the address decoder 3 compares the input data address with the set address . the input information at terminals 4 - 6 is determined by whether each terminal 4 - 6 is connected to ov or 5 v at time of system assembly . denoted 4 is an address shift register that picks up an address address of the input data sd . a data shift register 5 picks up data data of the input data sd . an output latch register 6 outputs data data to the output terminals 7 , 9 - 15 ( da1 - da8 ). denoted 8 is a ground terminal gnd , 16 a power source terminal vcc , and 1 a terminal for resetting the registers 4 , 5 , 6 when power is turned on . the operation of the serial / parallel converting driver ic is as follows . when the data sd is entered to the terminal 2 and the clock sc to the terminal 3 , data is taken into the address shift register 4 and the data shift register 5 . when the tail mark tail . mark is detected , a comparison is made between the contents of the address shift register 4 and the address decoder 3 . when they agree and the tail mark tail . mark is a hold tail hold . tail , then the hold signal ht is set high as shown in fig2 closing the gate 2 and holding the data in the data shift register 5 . when on the other hand the contents of the address shift register 4 and the address decoder 3 agree and the tail mark tail . mark is a latch tail latch . tail , the latch signal lt is set high as shown in fig3 transferring the contents of the data shift register 5 to the output latch register 6 and parallelly outputting data da1 - da8 from the terminals 7 , 9 - 15 . when the contents of the address shift register 4 and the address decoder 3 do not agree , the serial / parallel converting driver ic does not take in the tail mark tail . mark or hold tail hold . tail . even under the data holding state the tail mark counter 1 is operating and when the latch command ( latch tail latch . tail ) is entered , the latch signal lt is set high to transfer the contents of the data shift register 5 to the output register 6 and parallelly output data d1 - d8 from terminals 7 , 9 - 15 . the above description has dealt with the serial / parallel converting driver ic 110 . the input stage of the ic 102 , 104 , 106 , 108 shown in fig6 includes the circuitry of fig8 consisting of the tail mark counter 1 , clock gate 2 , address decoder 3 , address shift register 4 , data shift register 5 and output latch register 6 . it is easily understood that the output of the output latch register 6 is supplied to the input of the mode control circuit of each ic 102 , 104 , 106 , 108 . fig9 shows more detailed circuitry of the tail mark counter 1 , clock gate 2 , address decoder 3 , address shift register 4 , data shift register 5 and output latch register 6 as well as the input stage of the ic 102 , 104 , 106 , the tail mark counter 1 counts the high - to - low transitions of the data sd when the clock sc is high . it is reset when the clock sc goes low . when the tail mark counter 1 counts two high - to - low transitions of the data sd ( hold tail hold . tail ) when the clock sc is high , it makes its output q1 low . when it counts three high - to - low transitions of data sd ( latch tail latch . tail ), it sets its output q2 high . when the output of the address decoder 3 goes high and the output q1 of the tail mark counter 1 goes low , a hold latch 11 is triggered . as a result , the hold latch 11 controls the clock gate 2 to set low the clock pulse input cp of the shift register 12 that includes the address register 4 and the data register 5 . under this condition , since the clock pulse input cp is low , the shift register 12 does not shift the data contained even when the next data is sent in . hence , the output of the address decoder 3 is kept high . whether it receives an independent latch tail latch . tail or receives the latch tail after data transmission to other addresses , the tail mark counter 1 , when it has counted three high - to - low transitions of the data sd ( latch tail latch . tail ), drives the clock pulse input cp of the output register 6 and resets the hold latch 11 . fig1 shows another example of data format of the communications system according to this invention . although fig1 to 9 are shown in relation to the tail mark , the communications system of this invention can also be applied for a head mark . in the communications system shown in fig1 through 9 , the control mark ( tail mark ) is added after the data string including data and address . therefore , when there is a large number of bits of data being transferred , the receiving side cannot determine what should be done with its own state until it receives the tail mark . in that case , it is easily expected that the responsiveness of the receiving side will degrade . by putting the head mark mead . mark before the data string to be transferred to the receiving side , as shown in fig1 , it is possible to secure a high responsiveness of the receiving side even when the number of data bits is large . ( 1 ) this invention permits simultaneous control of a plurality of receiving stations without requiring a specially high speed of transfer , i . e ., by using a relatively slow clock , for example , 500 khz or lower . since it is not necessary to consider the sequence of data transfer or interruption of data transfer due to interrupts , the control of a sending station becomes simple . ( 2 ) the communications system of this invention employs a two - line circuit . this reduces the equipped area of the system , contributing to a reduction in the system cost . ( 3 ) since the bus interface can readily be realized by taking a wired - or logic of the drains of open - drain mosfets of the serial output port and of the general i / o port in a common single - chip microcomputer , no dedicated i / o for the bus of this invention is needed . further , the input circuit on the receiving station side is simple in configuration and not large in circuit scale . the input circuit on the receiving station side can be formed by as few as 200 gates if , for example , it is constructed of an iil circuit which has a good affinity with linear circuit . representative advantages offered by this invention disclosed in this application are briefly explained below . by sending from the sending station side to the receiving station side standby data ( instruction ) which requests individual receiving stations to come into a standby mode and execution data ( instruction ) which requests all the receiving stations to simultaneously enter an execution mode , it is possible to secure the simultaneous operation of all the receiving stations . this invention is not limited to the above - mentioned embodiments alone but various modifications may be made . for example , the number of high - to - low transitions of the data sd , which defines the number of pulses in the tail mark , is not limited to two or three but may be set to four or five . it is also possible to add different kinds of tail mark . in that case , the configuration of the tail mark counter 1 in fig8 and 9 need be modified .	6

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