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fig1 illustrates a front cross - sectional view of a bga module 20 attached to a circuit card 30 . the bga module 20 comprises a dielectric substrate 22 , a chip 26 attached to a top side 27 of the substrate 22 , a bga pad 24 attached to a bottom side 29 of the substrate 22 , and a solder ball 28 of height l attached to the bga pad 24 . the circuit card 30 comprises a dielectric board 32 and a circuit card pad 34 attached to a top side 37 of the board 32 . the circuit card may be any pre - wired board comprising dielectric material , such as a motherboard of a computer . the solder ball 28 is attached to pad 34 on circuit card 30 , thereby connecting the bga module 20 to the circuit card 30 . the thermally induced strain on the solder ball 28 generated during thermal cycles are distributed over the height l . the intent of the present invention is to modify the substrate 22 and / or the board 32 so as to redistribute the strain over a height greater than l in order to increase the fatigue life of the configuration of fig1 . fig2 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention that increases the effective height over which the strain is distributed when compared with the configuration of fig1 . fig2 shows a front cross - sectional view of a bga module 40 attached to a circuit card 50 . the bga module 40 comprises a dielectric substrate 42 , a chip 46 attached to a top side 47 of the substrate 42 , a bga pad 44 attached to a bottom side 49 of the substrate 42 , and a solder ball 48 of height h is attached to the bga pad 44 . the solder ball 48 may be attached to the bga pad 44 , inter alia , prior to the chip 46 being attached to the top side 47 of the substrate 42 . the circuit card 50 comprises a dielectric board 52 and a circuit card pad 54 attached to a top side 57 of the board 52 . the solder ball 48 is attached to the circuit card pad 54 , thereby connecting the bga module 40 to the circuit card 50 . an annular void 43 of height δh 1 within the substrate 42 surrounds substrate material underneath the bga pad 44 . an annular void 56 of height δh 2 within the board 52 surrounds board material underneath the circuit card pad 54 . without the annular voids 43 and 56 , the thermally induced strain would be distributed over height h in accordance with the prior art . with the annular voids 43 and 56 of the present invention , however , the deformation is distributed over the greater height h + δh 1 + δh 2 , thereby reducing the strain throughout the solder ball 48 . the annular voids 43 and 56 respectively provide space so that the substrate material underneath the bga pad 44 and the board material underneath the circuit card pad 54 are less constrained , thereby increasing their compliance and alleviating the thermally induced strain in the solder ball 48 . fig3 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention that increases the effective height over which thermal strain is distributed relative to the configuration of fig1 . fig3 shows a front cross - sectional view of a bga module 60 attached to a circuit card 70 . the bga module 60 comprises a dielectric substrate 62 , a chip 66 attached to a top side 67 of the substrate 62 , a bga pad 64 attached to a bottom side 69 of the substrate 62 , and a solder ball 68 of height y that is attached to the bga pad 64 . the circuit card 70 comprises a dielectric board 72 and a circuit card pad 74 attached to a top side 77 of the board 72 . the solder ball 68 is attached to the circuit card pad 74 , thereby connecting the bga module 60 to the circuit card 70 . an annular void 76 of height δy within the board 72 surrounds board material underneath the circuit card pad 74 . without the annular void 76 , the thermally induced strain would be distributed over height y in accordance with the prior art . with the annular void 76 of the present invention , however , the deformation is distributed over the greater height y + δy , thereby reducing the strain throughout the solder ball 68 . the annular void 76 provides space so that the substrate material underneath the circuit card pad 74 is less constrained , thereby increasing its compliance and alleviating the thermally induced strain in the solder ball 68 . fig4 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention that increases the effective height over which strain is distributed when compared with the configuration of fig1 . fig4 shows a front cross - sectional view of a bga module 80 attached to a circuit card 90 . the bga module 80 comprises a dielectric substrate 82 , a chip 86 attached to a top side 87 of the substrate 82 , a bga pad 84 attached to a bottom side 89 of the substrate 82 , and a solder ball 88 of height z that is attached to the bga pad 84 . the circuit card 90 comprises a dielectric board 92 and a circuit card pad 94 attached to a top side 97 of the board 92 . the solder ball 88 is attached to the circuit card pad 94 , thereby connecting the bga module 80 to the circuit card 90 . an annular void 83 of height δz within the substrate 82 surrounds substrate material underneath the bga pad 84 . without the annular void 83 , the thermally induced strain is distributed over height z in accordance with the prior art . with the annular void 83 of the present invention , however , the thermal shear stresses are distributed over the greater height z + δz , thereby reducing the strain throughout the solder ball 88 . the annular void 83 provides space so that the substrate material underneath the circuit card pad 84 is less constrained , thereby increasing its compliance and alleviating the thermally induced strain in the solder ball 88 . if an annular void in fig2 - 4 substantially but not totally surrounds dielectric material underneath a pad , a peninsula of dielectric material under the pad will have been defined by the annular void . alternatively , if an annular void in fig2 - 4 totally surrounds dielectric material underneath a pad , an island of dielectric material under the pad will have been defined by the annular void . fig5 - 7 illustrates a process of the present invention which forms an annular void that substantially but not totally surrounds dielectric material under a pad to create a peninsula of dielectric material . the process begins with the configuration of fig5 which shows a top view of a pad 112 on a substrate 110 with a wiring pattern 114 that is attached to the pad 112 . the substrate 110 represents either a dielectric substrate of a bga module , or a dielectric board of a circuit card , as described for fig1 - 3 . next , fig6 shows the result of forming an annular void 116 that substantially but not totally surrounds dielectric material underneath the pad 112 . as a result , a peninsula 119 of dielectric material is created under the pad 112 , wherein a strip 115 of dielectric substrate material connects the peninsula 119 to the remainder 118 of the substrate 110 ( see fig5 for substrate 110 ). the strip 115 serves to mechanically support the wiring pattern 114 , which electrically couples the pad 112 to the substrate 110 or to internal circuitry of the bga module or circuit card that comprises the substrate 110 . the peninsula 119 is shown in fig6 to comprise a larger area than the area of pad 112 which rests on the peninsula 119 . fig7 shows a perspective view of an alternative configuration of a substrate 128 with an annular void 126 that substantially but not totally surrounds a peninsula 129 of substrate material , wherein the area of the peninsula 129 is approximately the same as the area of the pad 122 that rests on the peninsula 129 . a strip 125 of dielectric substrate material connects the peninsula 129 to the substrate 128 and serves to mechanically support a wiring pattern 124 that is attached to the pad 122 . the wiring pattern 124 electrically couples the pad 122 to the substrate 128 or to internal circuitry of the bga module or circuit card that comprises the substrate 128 . fig8 - 11 illustrates a process of the present invention which forms an annular void that totally surrounds dielectric material under a pad to create an island of dielectric material . the process begins with the configuration of fig8 which shows a top view of a pad 212 on a substrate 210 . the substrate 210 represents either a dielectric substrate of a bga module , or a dielectric board of a circuit card , as described for fig1 - 3 . next , fig9 shows the result of forming an annular void 216 that totally surrounds dielectric material underneath the pad 212 . as a result , an island 219 of dielectric material is created under the pad 212 , leaving a remainder 218 of the substrate 210 ( see fig8 for substrate 210 ). fig1 illustrates a cross - sectional view of the configuration of fig9 showing a wiring pattern 222 within a via 220 , wherein the via 220 is contained within the island 219 . the wiring pattern 222 is routed upward to connect the pad 212 with internal circuitry of the bga module or circuit card that comprises the substrate 210 . the island 219 is shown in fig9 to comprise a larger area than the area of pad 212 which rests on the island 219 . fig1 shows a perspective view of an alternative configuration of a substrate 238 with an annular void 236 that totally surrounds an island 239 of substrate material , wherein the area of the island 239 is approximately the same as the area of the pad 232 that rests on the island 239 . there is a wiring pattern ( not shown ) similar to that in fig1 , wherein the wiring pattern is within a via that is contained within the island 239 , and wherein the wiring pattern is routed upward to connect the pad 232 with internal circuitry of the bga module or circuit card that comprises the substrate 238 . the annular voids of the present invention in fig2 - 11 may be formed by any method known to those of ordinary skill in the art . in particular , the annular voids my be formed by laser ablation using any one of various types of lasers as are known to those skilled in the art . a practical laser for this purpose is a frequency tripled neodumuim yag laser using ultraviolet emission , high peak power , high repetition rate , and a focused beam of 6 to 50 μm in diameter . generally , dielectric polymers absorb best at ultraviolet energies and the thermal damage to the nonablated portions is minimal . a useful wave length in the ultraviolet range is 355 mn . because the areas to be scanned are usually larger than the beam size , a raster scan may be created to cover the area to be scanned . scan spacing is typically 80 % of the spot size in order to provide some overlap of the guassian beam . depending on the material , repetition rates of 1 , 000 hz to 20 , 000 hz can be utilized , with the 1 , 000 hz rate providing the highest power per pulse of 12 kw which drops to 0 . 5 kw at 20 , 000 hz . an example of a specific process is ablating a circular pad on a carrier made of a glass - cloth reinforced epoxy material such as fr - 4 , with a 14 μm beam scanned over the target area at 2 , 000 hz , 8 . 3 kw per pulse , and a pulse spacing of 11 μm . each scan pass removes approximately 20 μm of material . to remove 200 μm ( 0 . 008 inch ), 10 scan passes would be needed . as an alternative to the preceding neodumuim yag laser , other laser technologies ( e . g ., co 2 and excimer ) can be used to achieve similar results . although the preferred embodiments described herein pertain to annular void regions surrounding dielectric matter underneath a pad on a bga module or on a circuit card , the present invention applies to any configuration having annular void regions surrounding dielectric matter underneath a pad on a dielectric substrate . while preferred and particular embodiments of the present invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration , many modifications and changes will become apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention .	8
the elements encountered in a gnss tolling system 10 illustrated in fig1 are a gnss satellite 11 , an obu 12 , a proxy 13 and a back office 14 . there is a first exchange of data communication 15 between the obu and the proxy , and a second exchange of data communication 16 between the proxy 13 and a back office 14 . there is no limitation with regard to the technology involved with the exchange of information between the different units . there is not necessarily a one - to - one relation between the shown elements ; there will e . g . typically be a number of satellites 11 disseminating information enabling the localization of the obu at any given point in time . all calculations made and / or conclusions drawn with regard to assessment of passages may be performed either locally , like in the individual obus , centrally in a back office or by a proxy or in any other combination found convenient therefore . fig2 illustrates the main components of the obu 12 . the obu includes a volatile memory 21 , a gnss receiver 22 , a processing unit 23 , a communication unit 24 and persistent storage 25 . the obu may be a physical device dedicated to the gnss tolling system , but it may also be present as a function integrated in other devices fit for the purpose , such as a tachograph or other device , portable , mounted in , or integrated in the vehicle . these components are standard components of an obu unit for gnss road user charging , and their function is therefore not explained in more detail here . it should be emphasized , though , that while the inventive concept makes use of such a system , the gnss 10 and the obu 12 are generally known . the gnss module 10 may be implemented with different levels of sophistication , ranging from a simple gps receiver to a complex navigation unit using information from multiple gnss systems , motion sensors with vehicle instruments and sensors . fig3 shows the general principles of the present method and system in a simplified embodiment . an outer polygon 31 and an inner polygon 32 are shown as well as a schematic representation of a roadway 33 running through the area delimited by the polygons . the arrow to the right of the roadway 33 indicates that this is a one - way street with traffic only from left to right . each polygon is described as an ordered sequence of points defining the vertices ( vi ) of the polygon , thus forming a closed area with non - intersecting vertices . the polygons need not be restricted to a two - dimensional plane . the number of vertices may be different between the outer polygon 31 and the inner polygon 32 . in the illustrated embodiment there are six vertices in the outer polygon 31 and eight vertices in the inner polygon 32 . the tolling zone 34 , typically defined by road operator or traffic authorities , will in its entirety be located in between outer and inner polygons . the area between will be a decision area . the distance r between the inner polygon and the outer polygon is allowed to vary around the perimeter of the polygons , depending on a number of factors assuming to influence the accuracy of the gnss system and other factors , like local geometry and topology , taking into account nominal driving speeds and typical gnss reception quality . these and other relevant factors are well known to persons skilled in the art of gnss systems . in fig3 , as an example , the distance r 1 is seen to be less than r 2 . for vehicles passing into the zone to be monitored , only passages p in across a border of the inner polygon 32 counts as a valid passing . for passing out , only passages p out across the border of the outer polygon 31 counts as a valid passage . thus the arrangement of two polygons introduces a higher level of confidence and reduces the risk of false zone crossing assessments . the decision of passage of the zone border is thus based on many gnss observations allowing the method to use observations with greater independence mitigating the effects from short term correlation in the measurements derived from satellite signals . fig4 illustrates a situation in which the detected positions for a vehicle follows a slightly uneven pattern , which may typically occur when the driving speed is rather low and when one or more error sources influence ( s ) the position detections . a total of thirteen ( unnumbered ) position detections are indicated , for a vehicle driving from left to right , the first one of these made inside the inner polygon being the seventh . thereafter two position detections are made outside the inner polygon before detections again are made within the inner polygon . the present system is sufficiently versatile to not be fooled by the apparent inconsistency of two measurements made outside the inner polygon after having made a first position detection within the same polygon . thus , it is not an absolute requirement that all position detections are made uninterrupted within the inner polygon for the system to positively conclude that a passage into the area has occurred . instead it could be defined as a requirement that “ n ” out of “ m ” position detections ( like e . g . 3 out of 5 as indicated by the dotted ellipse in fig4 ) in a series of position detections must be within the polygon in question to positively conclude that a passage has actually occurred . fig5 a illustrates a road network where latitude and longitude description is not alone enough to fully assess if a vehicle if travelling on the bridge 51 or on the road 52 below the bridge . altitude information can be taken into account to resolve the ambiguity . fig5 b illustrates how polyhedrons 51 b , 52 b may be created to enclose the two different road sections . also in the three dimensional case two boundaries are created , in this figure only the outer boundary ( polyhedron ) is shown for each of the roads 51 and 52 . the two polyhedrons are used for the same purpose as the two polygons in the two dimensional case , mitigating for positional errors also in the altitude axis . the polygons used to define the zone to be monitored may in some embodiments preferably consist of simple ( two dimensional ) polygons where no edges self - intersect . the polygons may also be three dimensional for reasons given above . the system may for certain embodiments be set up to conclude that a passage into the zone in question has occurred if — and only if — an uninterrupted succession of n positions have been registered within the first polygon , n being an integer chosen by the system provider . the integer n can typically be 3 or larger . similarly , for certain embodiments , it may be defined as a requirement that an uninterrupted succession of n registered positions outside the second polygon is registered to conclude that a passage out of the zone has occurred . for other embodiments , like e . g . in areas where low speed will typically occur from time to time , the system may rather be set up to conclude that a passage has occurred if at least “ n out of m ” position detections in a series of position detections for a given vehicle is inside the polygon in question . in such a case a typical requirement would be that more than e . g . 50 % of the position detections are within the polygon in question to conclude a passage into the zone , i . e . that n / m & gt ; 0 . 5 . correspondingly , more than e . g . 50 % of the position detections should be outside the polygon in question in order to conclude that a vehicle has left the zone . the threshold should be decided from local factors known to influence the system .	6
the preferred embodiment is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . it is chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and its application and practical use to thereby enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention . the platform 10 of this invention is intended for use in connection with an aerial boom vehicle 12 having a bucket 14 attached at one end of a boom 16 . boom 16 is preferably horizontal in its various adjustments . an operator of aerial boom vehicle 12 may move from bucket 14 to platform 10 via a ladder 18 . chains 20 extend between ladder 18 and an upright 22 at the end of platform 10 . platform 10 includes a walkway 24 having transverse gussets 26 or braces which project from the lower surface of walkway 24 . gussets 26 are spaced apart and are arranged in pairs between which the boom 16 is positioned as shown in fig3 when the walkway is carried by the boom . longitudinal braces 28 are secured to the bottom surface of walkway 24 and are spaced apart to engage the sides of boom 16 and to provide support for the walkway and the gussets 26 . gussets 26 have openings 30 at their lower portions through which may be passed a rope ( not shown ), or other fastening device , for anchoring walkway 24 to the boom 16 . gussets 26 , braces 28 and walkway 24 are preferably formed of fiberglass material for a high strength - to - weight ratio and for the dielectric properties of fiberglass . a non - skid pad may cover walkway 24 to sure footing for a person standing on the walkway . an angled longitudinal rail 32 is secured along each lateral edge of walkway 24 at spaced intervals and extends upwardly at the edge of the walkway . an arm 34 is pivotally connected at its lower end to the upturned portion 31 of rail 32 by bolts 36 or other fastening means . a sectional view of a bolt 36 is shown in fig9 and has a tubular casing 38 and a fiber core 40 . each bolt 36 has a head 42 and a nut 44 is fastened to casing 38 as by an epoxy - resin cap 46 . each arm 34 , except for end arm 22 , is positioned adjacent to a gusset 26 for strength and support . longitudinal rails 50 are pivoted to the arms 34 at one side of the walkway at their free ends 35 and at a point intermediate their length by bolts 36 . arms 34 and rails 50 are preferably square hollow fiberglass tubes and are pivotally connected so that the arms and rails may be shifted between an operative position shown in fig2 and a collapsed position as shown in fig7 . the lower end 52 of each arm 34 fits into a socket 54 of the walkway when in operative or extended position . each socket 54 is positioned adjacent and below a bolt 36 connecting an arm 34 to rail 32 . lower arm ends 52 fit within sockets 54 as shown in fig8 and 10 . end arms 22 include a lock 56 , as shown in fig5 - 8 . lock 56 includes a sleeve 58 which encompasses end arm 22 in a sliding fit and carries a bolt 60 . when each end arm 22 is in its operative position , lock 56 may be lowered to position bolt 60 within socket 54 in a snug fit from side to side and in a similar snug fit between the lower end 52 of the adjacent arm and the end of the socket , as best shown in fig5 and 10 . as shown in fig6 and 7 lock 56 has been shifted from socket 54 when arms 34 and rails 50 are to be lowered to their collapsed or storage position . the platform construction is readily mounted upon and removed from a boom . it is of lightweight and of adequate strength to support several workers and enable them to move thereon to different locations within an aerial zone at which work is to be done . also , it is formed of dielectric material which insures safety of workmen who work upon electrically charged elevated objects . it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the terms of the above description but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims .	1
fig1 and 2 show a cooking utensil 11 which generally includes a receptacle 13 , a pumping member 15 , and a heater 17 . the receptacle 13 in the embodiment illustrated is in the form of a shallow pan of square configuration in plan . the receptacle 13 includes a peripheral wall 19 , a flat bottom wall 21 , and an open top 23 ( fig3 ). the receptacle 13 is preferably constructed of metal and is adapted to contain batter 25 . of course , the construction illustrated for the receptacle 13 is merely illustrative , and other constructions which are capable of retaining the batter 25 can also be employed . the pumping member 15 may be of various configurations which can be received within the receptacle 13 and which are capable of displacing some of the batter 25 . in the embodiment shown in fig5 the pumping member 15 includes a peripheral wall 27 , a transverse wall 29 , and an open top 31 . the transverse wall 29 in the form shown in fig5 comprises a plurality of parallel slats 33 , adjacent pairs of which are separated by elongated slots 35 . the peripheral wall 27 extends continuously around the transverse wall 29 and is of the same configuration as the peripheral wall 19 of the receptacle 13 . the peripheral wall 27 has a recess 37 in the upper surface adjacent each of the corners . in the embodiment illustrated , the peripheral wall 27 comprises an inner member 39 of metal and an outer member 41 of a resilient sealing material such as silicone rubber . the peripheral wall 27 is sized and configured so as to be slidably receivable within the peripheral wall 19 . resilient means in the form of four springs 43 located respectively at the corners of the pumping member 15 are provided to support the pumping member . as best seen in fig3 each of the springs 43 may be in the form of a coil compression spring which acts between the peripheral wall 27 and the bottom wall 21 of the receptacle . the heater 17 may be of conventional construction and include , for example , a metal body 45 and a coiled electrical resistance heating element 47 suitably mounted on the body 45 . the heating element 47 has a cooking surface 49 , a major portion of which is planar . the cooking surface 49 has an upwardly projecting peripheral portion 51 which slopes inwardly as it extends upwardly . the planar portion of the cooking surface 49 is preferably sized and configured to be loosely receivable within the open top 31 of the pumping member 15 . the heater 17 has a bracket 53 suitably attached to each of its four corners as shown in fig1 and 3 . each of the brackets 53 includes a first leg 55 attached to the heater 17 and being generally parallel to the bottom wall 21 and a second leg 57 attached to the leg 55 and extending vertically downwardly . each of the legs 55 includes a projection 59 extending downwardly into a corresponding one of the recesses 37 whereby the heater is mounted on , and supported by , the pumping member 15 . a rigid stem 61 is suitably attached to a central region of the heater 17 and projects upwardly therefrom . a handle 63 is suitably attached to the upper end of the stem 61 . a plate 65 is slidably mounted on the stem 63 . a plurality of fingers 67 , which may be integral with the plate 65 , project downwardly from the outer periphery of the plate . a coil spring 69 acts between the underside of the plate 65 and a flange 71 which may be integral with the stem 61 to urge the plate 65 upwardly into engagement with a retainer 73 affixed to the stem 61 . the retainer 73 may be covered by a collar 75 of resilient material and each of the tips of the fingers 67 may also be covered by a cover 77 of resilient material . with this construction , the plate 65 and the fingers 67 can be manually forced downwardly against the biasing action of the spring 69 . this causes the resilient fingers 67 to ride along and resiliently bear against the peripheral portion 51 to assist in removing the crepe from the cooking surface 49 . a nozzle 79 is mounted on a bracket 81 which is in turn suitably mounted on the heater 15 . one end of the nozzle 79 is affixed to an air bulb 83 . the other end of the nozzle 79 is arranged to direct a blast of air against the peripheral portion 51 . the air bulb 83 can be manually squeezed to provide a blast of air to the nozzle 79 . the peripheral portion 51 of the cooking surface 49 is smoothly convexly curved below the nozzle 79 to assist the air from the nozzle to travel a maximum distance between the crepe and the cooking surface to thereby provide the maximum removal effect . in use of the utensil 11 , the receptacle 13 is filled to the desired level with the batter 25 , and the heater 17 is then mounted on the pumping member 15 by placing the ends of the projections 59 ( fig3 ) into the associated recesses 37 in the pumping member . assuming that the cooking surface 49 is heated to the desired temperature by the heating element 47 , the operator pushes downwardly on the handle 63 . this moves the heater 17 and the pumping member 15 downwardly as a unit toward the bottom wall 21 against the biasing action of the springs 43 . this advances the cooking surface 49 toward the batter 25 , and the movement of the pumping member 15 into the batter elevates the batter toward the cooking surface . as the downward movement of the heater 17 continues , the batter 25 is ultimately forced through the slots 35 and against the cooking surface 49 . any lumps in the batter are broken up or filtered out by the slots 35 . the spacing between the cooking surface 49 and the slats 33 remains fixed regardless of the depth of insertion of the heater 17 into the batter 25 . the pumping member 15 positively prevents the cooking surface 49 from contacting the bottom wall 21 . the cooking surface 49 is immersed in the batter 25 for the desired period of time with the longer immersion times providing a thicker crepe . thereafter , the springs 43 are allowed to move the pumping member 15 and the heater 17 toward the initial position shown in fig2 in which the cooking surface is out of the batter 25 . as the heater 17 and the pumping member 15 move upwardly , the level of the batter 25 drops and this produces waves or turbulence along the upper surface of the batter 25 . this in turn tends to exclude air from between the batter and the cooking surface 49 and assure that all regions of the cooking surface 49 are brought into contact with the batter 25 . the operator may then remove the heater 17 from the receptacle to allow the cooking of the crepe to continue out of the receptacle 13 . when the crepe is done , it can be removed by squeezing the air bulb 83 and / or by depressing the plate 65 . squeezing of the air bulb 83 directs a jet of air through the nozzle 97 and between the outer edge of the crepe and the adjacent region of the peripheral portion 51 . depressing the plate 65 causes the fingers 67 to push the peripheral region of the crepe away from the adjacent regions of the peripheral portion 51 of the cooking surface 49 . fig5 a shows a pumping member 15a which is identical to the pumping member 15 in all respects that the slats 33 have been removed from the pumping member 15a . accordingly , the pumping member 15a has an open top and an open bottom . portions of the pumping member 15a corresponding to portions of the pumping member 15 are designated by corresponding reference numerals followed by the letter a . although exemplary embodiments of this invention have been shown and described , many changes , modifications and substitutions may be made by one with ordinary skill in the art without necessarily departing from the spirit and scope of this invention .	0
a system and method 10 for transporting customers and their cars from an establishment is shown in fig1 according to an embodiment of the present invention . it should be noted that “ customer ” as used herein is intended to apply generally to a customer of a venue , with or without a car . if the customer is associated with a car , the driver and any other occupants of the car may be considered to be a customer . likewise , the term “ passenger ” may be used interchangeably with “ customer .” at step 11 a customer drives his or her car to the establishment and parks his or her car at step 12 . the car may be parked in a public parking space or a garage in proximity to the establishment , or may be parked in a parking space provided by the establishment . alternatively , the customer may leave the car with a valet service at an entrance to the establishment . the customer may register for a shuttle service upon arrival at step 14 , giving an attendant pertinent information including , but not limited to , customer name , address , home phone number , mobile phone number , location where keys are to be left , the number of customers to be transported , customer destination ( s ), and car delivery location . in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , the customer may pre - register at least a portion of the information of step 14 , as depicted at step 15 . the establishment may record and store the information for continuing use on future visits , allowing the customer upon arrival to merely check in with the service at step 15 . this may be advantageous if the customer regularly patronizes the establishment , adding a measure of convenience and time - savings for both the establishment and the customer . in still another alternate embodiment of the present invention , the customer may subscribe to a shuttle service used by a plurality of establishments , providing the customer with convenient and rapid check - in at those establishments . in yet another embodiment of the present invention , the customer may pre - register with or subscribe to a shuttle service that operates independently of any particular establishment . steps 14 and 15 may include a provision wherein the customer is not permitted to cancel the service and retrieve his or her keys after registration or check - in . this prevents the customer from changing their mind while their judgment is impaired and attempting to drive while incapacitated . pre - arrangements may optionally be made to transfer the keys from the establishment to a third party . at step 16 the customer enjoys the offerings of the establishment including , for example , various forms of visual and aural entertainment , food and beverages , including alcoholic beverages . if the customer did not register for shuttle service upon arrival at step 14 , the customer may subsequently register for the service at any time while at the establishment , as indicated at step 18 . during step 18 the customer provides an attendant with the necessary information as discussed above for step 14 . at any time during the visit the customer may schedule a departure time for a shuttle ride to a designated destination , as at step 20 . the shuttle service may be configured to depart on - demand or by appointment , or may be configured to depart at pre - determined or regular times , such as hourly . if a plurality of customers arrived in the car at step 11 they may each be transported to a common destination or to different destinations , at the same time , or at different times . at step 22 the customer boards the shuttle and at step 24 is returned to their designated destination , such as their home . the customer &# 39 ; s car is obtained by a driver for the service at step 26 and is separately transported to a previously - designated destination by the driver at step 28 . the customer &# 39 ; s car may be transported to the designated destination at any time . in various embodiments the car may be transported concurrently with ( but separately from ) the customer , earlier , or at a later time . delivering the car at a later time may deter the customer from subsequently using the car after delivery while still incapacitated . delivering the car at a non - concurrent time provides the shuttle service with a greater time span for delivery , reducing the number of drivers required at any given time . another advantage of non - concurrent car delivery is that the car may be during lull times for the shuttle , allowing the shuttle to return delivery drivers to the establishment . the driver leaves the car keys at a pre - determined location at step 30 . example locations include a secured box , a mail slot , or a third party who may optionally ensure that the customer cannot access the keys while still incapacitated . at step 32 the driver returns to the establishment . return may be accomplished by the shuttle picking up the driver , particularly for situations where car delivery is concurrent with customer drop - off . in an alternate embodiment the driver may be provided with a small vehicle that can be temporarily stored in or on the customer &# 39 ; s car . example vehicles include gas and electric motor scooters , and fixed - frame and folding - frame bicycles . a system and method 100 for transporting customers according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention is depicted in fig2 wherein the customer may be provided with a round - trip transportation service . at step 101 the customer makes a shuttle reservation . the reservation may be an appointment for a future time and date , or may be on - demand for pickup . at step 102 the shuttle picks up the customer at a time and location designated in the reservation and transports them to the establishment . at step 104 the customer enjoys the offerings of the establishment , including , for example , various forms of visual and aural entertainment , food and beverages , including alcoholic beverages . at any time during the visit , the customer may schedule a departure time for transport to a previously - designated destination , as at step 106 . the shuttle service may be configured to depart by appointment or on - demand , or may be configured to depart at pre - determined times , such as hourly . at step 108 the customer boards the shuttle , and is returned to their designated destination , such as their home , at step 110 . this embodiment allows the customer to enjoy the products and services of the establishment without concern for traffic , parking , security , and driving under the influence . the number of reservations made at step 101 during a predetermined period of time may be tallied by the venue at step 112 and used as a predictive element for statistical data relevant to the venue . the number of reservations for a particular period of time may be combined with other relevant data such as a total count of customer traffic at the venue during the time period at step 114 . in addition , other factors such as customer demographic data , the amount of revenue generated during the time period , the purchase of particular goods and services during the time period , types of entertainment , seasonal variations , and so on , may be used to derive at step 116 predictive data such as an algorithm to forecast business data . business data may include , without limitation , the number and types of customers ( i . e ., families , adults , couples , singles ), revenue , and amounts and types of goods and services ordered . this business data may be applied in a variety of ways including , without limitation , allocating a sufficient number of transportation vehicles and drivers at various times , ordering supplies , and scheduling venue staff . detailed data provided with the reservations may also be used to derive additional business data , such as algorithms , for forecasting . for example , the pick - up times listed in the reservations may also be used to allocate transportation vehicles and drivers commensurate with the expected demand at various times within a predetermined period of time , such as peak and lull hours at various days of the week and during special events such as scheduled entertainment at the venue . the predictive data may be used manually , such as in the form of lists , tables , graphs and charts , or may be made part of a computer program installed into a computer and adapted to provide predictions based on predetermined criteria , including , without limitation , days of the week , season , weather , entertainment type , time of day , events at the venue , events in the area surrounding the venue , special offerings at the venue , advertising . it should be noted that the establishment may be any type or form of business . in other embodiments the method may be beneficially employed by a medical facility for patients receiving outpatient surgery or other treatment that leaves the patient temporarily incapacitated . it should be further noted that the present invention may take on a number of alternate embodiments wherein the system and method may include various enhancements . for example , video and audio recordings of the interior of shuttles may be made when customers are aboard , to provide an added measure of safety and security for the customers and the shuttle driver . in addition , navigation aids such as a global positioning satellite ( gps ) system may be utilized to more efficiently locate car delivery and customer destinations . conventional radio communication equipment may also be utilized to coordinate the operation of shuttles and car drivers , and direct them as needed . the present invention may be employed by the establishment as a revenue - generating and / or goodwill effort . alternatively , the present invention may be employed by an individual or entity separate from the establishment . further , the present invention may be customer - focused rather than venue - focused wherein a plurality of customers may subscribe to a service utilizing the present invention . in this embodiment it is anticipated that subscribers may visit any of a plurality of venues and call upon the service when desired . while this invention has been shown and described with respect to a detailed embodiment thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the scope of the claims of the invention .	6
referring to the drawing there is illustrated a multilayer film assembly that is suitable for the fabrication of a register printed , thermoformable package . a biaxially oriented polyester ( opet ) layer 16 is printed with suitable ink 15 . an example of a preferred biaxially oriented polyester film is mylar ® 75 p25t available from dupont teijin films . a suitable ink is represented by the color converting industries &# 39 ; trade name axl ®. in a manufacturing operation separate from the printing step described immediately above , a multilayer coextruded film is prepared . a preferred multilayer film coextrusion has at its core an ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer ( evoh ) barrier layer 11 . an example of the barrier layer core is soarnol ® et supplied by noltex . disposed on either side of the barrier layer core are layers 10 a and 10 b comprised of a flexible polyamide . the flexible polyamide is preferably prepared from a blend of 85 % by weight of a semicrystalline polyamide and 15 % by weight of an amorphous polyamide . an example of a suitable semicrystalline polyamide is a nylon 6 polymer supplied by basf known as ultramid ® b36 . a suitable amorphous polyamide is nylon 616t , produced by dupont as selar ® pa 3426 . simultaneously extruded with the barrier core layer 11 and the flexible polyamide layers 10 a and 10 b are tie layers 12 a and 12 b and polyolefin layers 13 a and 13 b . tie layers are used to join flexible polyamide layers 12 a and 12 b to polyolefin layers 13 a and 13 b . appropriate tie layer materials include maleic anhydride - grafted polyolefins , wherein the grafted polyolefins include those based on ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer , polypropylene , low density polyethylene , high density polyethylene and ethylene alpha - olefin copolymers . a commercially available example of a suitable maleic anhydride - grafted polyolefin is supplied by rohm and haas as tymor ® 1 n05 . in a preferred version , tie layers 12 a and 12 b are comprised of a blend of 20 % by weight of rohm and haas tymor ® 1 n05 and 80 % by weight of an ethylene alpha - olefin copolymer . one such suitable ethylene alpha - olefin copolymer is attane ® 4201 supplied by the dow chemical company . joined to the tie layers 12 a and 12 b are polyolefin layers 13 a and 13 b . the polyolefin layers may be composed of polypropylene , low density polyethylene , high density polyethylene , ethylene alpha - olefin copolymers , ethylene ester copolymers like ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers or ethylene methyl acrylate copolymers , ethylene acid copolymers like ethylene acrylic acid copolymers or ethylene methacrylic acid copolymers , ionomers and the like . an example of suitable polyolefin layers 13 a and 13 b in this embodiment include those comprised of an ethylene alpha - olefin copolymer like dow attane ® 4201 ( uldpe ). layers 13 a and 13 b are advantageously modified with an antiblocking agent , slip agents and a processing aid . in this example , a suitable antiblocking agent is supplied as a concentrate of 20 % by weight diatomaceous earth in low density polyethylene by ampacet as grade 10063 . this concentrate is added to the dow attane ® 4201 at 3 . 5 % by weight . a suitable slip agent is supplied as a concentrate of 4 % erucamide and 2 * stearamide in low density polyethylene by ampacet as grade 10061 . this concentrate is added to the dow attane ® 4201 at 2 . 0 % by weight . a suitable processing aid is supplied as a concentrate of 3 % of a copolymer of hexafluoropropylene and vinylidene fluoride in linear density polyethylene by ampacet as grade 10562 . this concentrate is added to the dow attane ® 4201 at 0 . 3 %. further , to produce the composition given by example in fig1 , the printed biaxially oriented polyester film , layers 15 and 16 , are joined to the multilayer coextruded film , layers 13 b , 12 b , 10 b , 11 , 10 a , 12 a and 13 a by an adhesive layer 14 . an appropriate adhesive layer is produced from the combination of an isocyanate - terminated polyester and a polyol . the preferred joining technique is known in the art as dry bond adhesive lamination . an example of an appropriate adhesive is supplied by rohm and haas as adcote ® 522 . although we have only illustrated the compositions of layers 13 a and 13 b as having additives , it is understood that all of the compositions for the various layers can have additives such as slip agents , processing aids , antiblocking agents , antistatic agents , colorants , etc . also , even as the aforementioned example is an embodiment of the invention , it is important to understand that the intent of the invention is to combine a biaxially oriented film with a flexible polyamide - containing multilayer coextrusion . the important result of this combination is to substantially improve the thermoformability of a register - printed flexible packaging film . various features of the invention have been particularly shown and described concerning the illustrated embodiment of the invention . however , it must be understood that this particular arrangement does not limit , but merely illustrates , and the invention is to be given its fullest interpretation within the terms of the appended claims .	8
the design of a scarfing deburrer ( 1 ) as shown in fig1 - 13 and described in the following is basically characterized by a design and an action which correspond to a scarfer respectively to a scarfing process , i . e ., a cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ) or cutting beads ( 2 ) on a workpiece ( 3 ) are peeled or scarfed off and at that in an even continuous , rather slow motion of about 3 m / min . up to about 150 m / min . above the burr speed of a possibly burr long edge of the so - called scarfing blade ( 4 ), even if consisting of scarfing blade pieces of 20 mm . to 500 mm . long assembled forming the edge , along the workpiece ( 3 ) and pushing against the cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ). for this the scarfing blade ( 4 ) is arranged 15 ° with the oxygen burr and 75 ° with the forward movement direction of the scarfing blade ( 4 ). this scarfing blade ( 4 ) with a cutting = chisel angle = working angle of 30 ° to 90 ° is designed as a cutting blade spiral ( 4 ) or a double cutting blade spiral ( 4 ) with a burr corresponding entrance i . e . as a longitudinal spiral with a big diameter and a big pitch on the outside of a deburrer drum ( 1 ) or of a deburrer drum segment ( 1 ) as shown in fig2 - 40 . therefore only one point of the scarfing blade ( 4 ) comes into contact with the workpiece at one rotation and with the cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ), as well in forward or backward direction , whereas the latter develops at least on one side by an elastically dampened lifting , when the other is adjusted to the level of the lower surface and rotates in a bearing there . this lifting respectively a relative rotation on the other side can as well be designed to be in the area of the foundation support . the scarfing deburrer ( 1 - 18 ) suggested for this consists of the following elements with their relative functions ( fig1 - 13 ): the deburrer drum ( 1 ) carries a scarfing blade spiral ( 4 ) for the scarfing of the oxygen cutting burr from the workpiece , which consists of a number of 20 mm . to 500 mm . long scarfing blade pieces ( 4 ) bent and twisted into a spiral shape form , and it is rotated with its axle stubs ( 5 ) in shifting bearings ( 6 ) guided liftably in corresponding bearing blocks ( 7 ) via a gear box ( 8 ) by motors . a lifting function to press the deburrer drum ( 1 ) with its upper portion of the scarfing blade spiral ( 4 ) against the workpiece ( 3 ) traveling on a roller table ( 12 ) from below is performed by bellow cylinder ( 10 ) below the shifting bearings ( 6 ) in the bearing blocks ( 7 ). between gear boxes ( 8 ) and the bearing blocks ( 7 ) respectively the shifting bearings ( 6 ) anti - rotation levers ( 11 ) to prevent the drives to rotate are installed . it seems reasonable to adjust the one shifting bearing ( 6 ) corresponding to the normal level of the lower surface of the workpiece ( 3 ), to fix it and to operate with one continuously suitably following shifting bearing ( 6 ). as well in fig1 - 13 the invention corresponding design of the scarfing blades as scarfing blade spiral ( 4 ) in inverted t - grooves or swallow tail grooves in the shell of the deburrer drum ( 1 ) can be recognized as scarfing blocks ( 4 ) pushed in one after the other with easy to put in and take out locking pieces ( 13 ) and a locking spring ( 14 ) at the end . after the introduction of the scarfing blocks ( 4 ) into the spiral groove with a suitable angle of about 15 ° as suggested machined around into the deburrer drum ( 1 ), finally a suitable locking piece ( 13 ) with a locking spring ( 14 ) are pressed in . to take out locking piece ( 13 ) and scarfing blocks ( 4 ) for quick and easy replacement , only the first has to be lifted out with a simple tool like a screwdriver , using the ramp machined into the shell of the deburrer drum ( 1 ). whereas fig1 - 13 show the scarfing deburrer ( 1 - 18 ) with a scarfing blade spiral ( 4 ) laid around the shell of the deburrer drum ( 1 ) in relation to the pitch and the diameter as well as to the length of the shell , it is easy to recognize that the design in accordance with the invention as per fig1 - 26 more than one scarfing blade around in a scarfing blade spiral several of the scarfing blades in portions complete with locking pieces and are arranged in opposite directions around the shell . for this there are several reasons : in spite of the complete deburring by the scarfing burr , pieces are produced which can easier be discharged ; the drum area required to overtake the cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ) is smaller and the movement relations can easier be adjusted ; individual scarfing blocks are easier to be replaced in cases of wear or repair ; and for wider workpieces ( 3 ) i . e . slabs no bigger deburrer drum diameters ( 1 ) are required . these considerations finally led to the design of a scarfing deburrer ( 1 - 20 ) as per fig2 - 40 . instead of a cylindrical drum with big diameter only a deburrer drum segment ( 1 ) with a big radius of the basic cylinder is used and height adjustably arranged in the deburrer lever frame ( 15 ). the lever frame ( 15 ) in swiveling bearings ( 16 ) is installed on a support plate ( 18 ) and will be deburring the front end of an arriving workpiece ( 3 ) with its cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ) overtaking the latter when traveling from a starting position x via a middle position y into an end position z . a deburring motion in opposite direction is used to deburr the foot or end of the workpiece when it arrives in the deburring area . the deburrer drum segment ( 4 ) is height adjustable by means of lifting cylinders ( 19 ) and lifting slides ( 20 ) in slot guides at the upper part of the deburrer lever frame in order to balance out height motions , convex and concave shapes of the lower surface of the workpiece ( 3 ). other design variations can be derived from the above and later given parts of descriptions . a scarfing deburrer for narrow workpieces ( 3 ) i . e . blooms and billets operates similarly . a deburrer lever ( 15 ) rotating with axle stubs ( 5 ) in bearing supports ( 7 ) carries at its upper end in a t - or swallow tail groove a scarfing blade which can be pressed up and on by means of a lifting spring ( 21 ) and which has an edge corresponding to the ideal deburrer drum . the depth of the scarfing blade groove allows a guided depression of the scarfing blade ( 4 ). on the sides the scarfing blade groove is limited by wedge type formed holding plates wedged into suitable holding pieces and the lifting springs ( 21 ) sitting in guiding bores carry a pressure plate ( 22 ), which facilitates a pushing in of the scarfing blade ( 4 ) from the side after pressing it down . a drive pinion ( 26 ) in an elongated axle stub working with the rack portion of the pushing / pulling rod in the pushing rod guide on the bearing plate ( 18 ) and is traveling in synchronism of the relative movement of the cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ). a driving cylinder with joints could as well work directly with the deburrer lever . fig4 - 58 show a scarfing deburrer ( 1 - 30 ) which uses the principles of the scarfing deburring for an endless application , i . e . practically for long , longitudinally oxy - cut workpieces ( 3 ). on a base plate slightly inclined in the traveling direction of the workpiece ( 3 ) an axle stub ( 5 ) with a gear box ( 8 ) and a drive ( 9 ) rotate a deburrer plate ( 30 ). this is designed on its top surfaces in a conic shape corresponding to the inclination of the base plate ( 18 ), subsequently it is in its horizontal axis of its run - out side for the workpiece ( 3 ) parallel to its lower surface and also the edge of a scarfing blade ( 4 ). in this conic face the scarfing blades ( 4 ) are sitting alternately and sideways parallel beside a middle axis pair , whereby when rotating against the cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ) the latter is touched at first from the inner , sharply edged portion of the scarfing blade ( 4 ) nearer to the middle of the deburrer plate ( 30 ) and broken through , thereafter the scarfing of this portion of a cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ) with the edge of the scarfing blade is performed . with opposite rotation of the deburrer plate ( 30 ), a piece by piece continuous scarfing of a maybe uninterrupted oxygen cutting burr ( 2 ) is performed , arrangements of scarfing blades ( 4 ) on the middle axis are possible for this . apart from the design to press shear caps with upward pushing pistons in compressed air cylinders against the lower surface of the workpiece ( 3 ), the rotating lifting of the scarfing blades ( 4 ) with the help of the inclined arrangement of the deburrer plate ( 30 ) as well allows a spring loaded design of the scarfing blade ( 4 ) installation . as described before , the scarfing blade ( 4 ) is sitting in a t - or swallow tail groove ( inverted ) and on a pressure plate ( 22 ) over the elastic lifting springs ( 21 ). the only to one side open groove can be closed by a removable pin ( 29 ) for simple exchange . the design of the scarfing blade ( 4 ) can be extended at its inner portion to a parallelogram shape scarfing block ( 4 ) in order to increase its breaking effect of the oxygen scarfing burr ( 2 ) for a piece after piece deburring and for better discharge by a widening of the portion showing to the interior . as well a special form of the inner , primarily contacting corners by chisel type projections is possible , if these are arranged with an angle of 90 ° to 150 °. otherwise shear cap type , round scarfing blocks ( 4 ) are possible , but which should work only for scarfing with the quarter of their circumference direct towards the cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ) and which are made with vertical edges all around the round chisel - type edge , as shown in fig5 - 56 , in order to better break the oxygen cutting burr to be scarfed - off . such scarfing blocks ( 4 ) with round edges and projecting vertical edges can be used located very closely to each other as shown in fig5 - 58 in order that the teeth - like vertical edges comb with each other in a gear - wise manner and do not allow a sticking of rest pieces between the scarfing blocks ( 4 ), predominantly for cross - oxygen cutting burr after cross - cutting . in relation to the designs according to fig1 - 43 and the respectively following figs ., there is the possibility to build a scarfing deburrer ( 1 - 37 ) for crosswise separated workpieces ( 3 ) which does not need a motorized , pneumatic or hydraulic drive supplied from outside , but only driven by the thrust and the motions of the workpiece ( 3 ). this is reasonable and possible because the scarfing deburrer requires only a fraction of the deburring force compared with the deburring by pushing off or knocking off or shearing off with several shearing knifes , depending on material composition , temperature of the workpiece ( 3 ) and the oxygen cutting tip at standard working conditions . of course the workpiece ( 3 ) has to be long , thick and wide i . e . heavy enough to take enough friction force from the roller table and transfer it into deburring energy . such a self - acting and self - controlling , strand - driven scarfing deburrer ( 1 - 38 ) consists of a pair of driving levers ( 31 ) with a rotatable drive roller ( 32 ) in the starting position on the level of the workpiece ( 3 ), installed rotatably at their lower ends in bearing blocks ( 7 ) on a bearing plate ( 18 ) and on this end have a gear wheel ( 33 ), which drives a gear wheel pair ( 34 ) on an axle stub ( 5 ) in a bearing block ( 18 ) for direction change and speed increase , which drive on the other hand further gear wheel ( 33 ) on the deburrer lever ( 15 ) to overtake the cutting oxygen burr ( 2 ) at the head ( leading end ) of the workpiece ( 3 ) and subsequently deburrs by rotation of a drum - like formed scarfing blade ( 4 ) at the upper end of the deburrer lever . this latter design with lifting spring ( 21 ), pressure plate ( 22 ) and holding plate ( 23 ) and holding pieces ( 24 ) on a deburrer drum segment ( 1 ) has been described before . a spring pulling element ( 35 ) is connected to the driving lever ( 31 ), which pulls along a second drive lever pair ( 31 ) against the transport direction , when the first one is moved by the workpiece ( 3 ) and at such until it presses against the lower surface of the workpiece ( 3 ). now the spring pulling element ( 35 ) is tensioned until the end of the workpiece ( 3 ) travels over the driving roller ( 32 ) and releases the drive lever pair ( 31 ). the second drive lever pair ( 31 ) on the entrance side lifts up with the force of the spring pulling element , supported by the first drive lever pair ( 31 ) which presses against the lower surface of the workpiece ( 3 ) on the exit side ( trailing end ), and pulls a stationary installed and exactly positioned deburrer lever ( 15 ) with known equipment into working position for a counter - acting deburring . drive lever pair ( 31 ) and deburrer lever ( 15 ) are connected by a bolt ( 36 ) in suitable position with each other and the pulling weight ( 37 ) pulls the whole machine back into starting position , if the workpiece has passed the deburring area fully . in addition to machines and equipment described above following devices can be used reasonable , depending on material composition of the relevant workpiece ( 3 ) and on deburring principle . for though steels and for longitudinal deburring of workpieces ( 3 ), despite other known and suggested methods unlimited long , at least undefined long oxygen cutting burr ( 2 ) pieces scarfed - off can develop depending on material composition and can only be discharged with difficulties . under circumstances they can even get stuck and block the equipment . therefore a notching chisel ( 38 ) as seen in fig6 - 70 which is accompanied by two anvil disks ( 39 ), which sit together at the end of a rotatable notching lever ( 40 ) and are thrust by a knocking cylinder ( 17 ) on a common support plate in regular distances / intervals notching against the oxygen cutting burr ( 2 ) from below , whereby the anvil disks avoid damages of the lower side of the workpiece ( 3 ) by the notching chisel ( 38 ). an independent and uncontrolled design shows in fig6 - 70 and particularly in fig6 - 70 a compressed air cylinder ( 17 ) sits under a notching lever ( 40 ) and presses one of the two notching wheels ( 41 ) beside the notching chisel ( 38 ) against the lower surface of the workpiece ( 3 ). the notching wheel ( 38 ) is taken along by friction and rotates so that its spiral formed circumference presses down the notching lever ( 40 ) and the drive cylinder or a spiral spring . this tension will be released and jumping and notching occurs when the highest point of the notching wheel ( 41 ) is passed by the workpiece ( 3 ) and the notching lever ( 40 ) can jump up by the step in the notching wheel . if the workpiece ( 3 ) consist of higher carbon content steel , it may occur that smaller rests of the cutting oxygen burr are still sticking to the base material . as shown in fig7 - 73 these little rests can be eliminated by a scratching plate ( 44 ) made of hardened spring steel , which is fixed with a clamping plate ( 46 ) and some screws on a holder ( 42 ) which as well carries a guiding wheel ( 43 ), the latter is pressed against the oxygen cut surface , i . e . if this device is installed on the deburring ; machine for longitudinal deburring . 1 - 13 scarfing deburrer , — 20 scarfing deburrer with drum segment , — 28 scarfing deburrer for narrow workpieces , — 30 scarfing deburrer with deburrer plate , — 37 strand driven scarfing deburrer	8
reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout . hereinafter , a display apparatus in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . as shown in fig1 , a display apparatus 1 in accordance with this exemplary embodiment includes a display part 10 a to display an image and a bezel part 10 b formed at the edge of the display part 10 a . further , as shown in fig2 , the display apparatus 10 includes a light source 11 to generate light , a light guide member 12 formed in a rectangular plate shape to guide the light generated by the light source 11 forwards , an optical sheet 13 including a liquid crystal layer , formed in a shape corresponding to the shape of the light guide member 12 and disposed in front of the light guide member 12 , a glass member 14 formed in a rectangular plate shape , disposed in front of the optical sheet 13 and made of a transparent material so as to transmit light , a frame 15 formed in a rectangular ring shape to support four side surfaces of the glass member 14 , a support member 16 to maintain a state in which the glass member 14 is installed on the frame 15 ( i . e ., the support member 16 supports the glass member 14 with respect to the frame 15 ), and a rear cover 18 to support the rear surface of the light guide member 12 . the light source 11 includes a plurality of light emitting diodes 11 a to generate light and a substrate 11 b on which the plurality of light emitting diodes 11 a is arranged in a line . the light guide member 12 is formed in a plate shape . light irradiated by the light source 11 is incident upon the light guide member 12 through the side surface thereof , and is then guided forwards . a reflective sheet 12 a is disposed on the rear surface of the light guide member 12 so as to reflect the light forwards . in this exemplary embodiment , the front surface of the glass member 14 and the front surface of the frame 15 are substantially coplanar . in order to maintain such a state in which the front surface of the glass member 14 and the front surface of the frame 15 are coplanar , a support rib 15 a protruded integrally from the inner surface of the frame 15 to support the edge of the rear surface of the glass member 14 is formed on the frame 15 . in this exemplary embodiment , the support rib 15 a is formed at a position having the same depth as the thickness of the glass member 14 , and the optical sheet 13 and the light guide member 12 are sequentially installed on the rear surface of the support member 16 . here , light having passed through the edge of the light member 12 supported by the support rib 15 a is blocked by the support rib 15 a , and thus is not transmitted to the front of the support rib 15 a . therefore , a front support part 16 a of the support member 16 may have a width corresponding to that of the support rib 15 a . the support member 16 includes the front support part 16 a to support the edge of the front surface of the glass member 14 and the front surface of the frame 15 , and a side support part 16 b extended backwards from the front support part 16 a to support the side surfaces of the frame 15 . thereby , the support member 16 prevents the glass member 14 from being separated from the frame 15 . a film member 17 b is disposed on the remaining portion of the front surface of the glass member 14 excluding the edge of the front surface of the glass member 14 supported by the front support part 16 a . if the display apparatus 10 has the above structure , a region of the display apparatus 10 provided with the film member 17 b disposed thereon constitutes the display part 10 a , and a region of the display apparatus 10 provided with the front support part 16 a provided thereon constitutes the bezel part 10 b . the film member 17 b has the same thickness as that of the front support part 16 a . if the front support part 16 a and the film member 17 b have the same thickness and the front support part 16 a and the film member 17 b are disposed on the front surfaces of the frame 15 and the glass member 14 , which are substantially coplanar , the front surface of the front support part 16 a and the front surface of the film member 17 b become coplanar and thus the front surface of the display part 10 a and the front surface of the bezel part 10 b become coplanar . in this exemplary embodiment , two film members 17 a and 17 b , each of which is made of a polarizing film , are provided . the film member 17 a is disposed between the light guide member 12 and the optical sheet 13 and the film member 17 b is disposed on the front surface of the glass member 14 , as described above . in order to maintain a state in which the light guide member 12 is installed on the frame 15 , the rear cover 18 to support the rear surface of the light guide member 12 is disposed on the rear surface of the light guide member 12 . here , the side end of the rear cover 18 is fixed to the frame 15 . the side surface of the light guide member 12 is separated from the frame 15 so that light irradiated by the light source 11 is incident upon the light guide member 12 through the side surface thereof , and the light emitting diodes 11 a are disposed at the rear portion of a space between the side surface of the frame 15 and the side surface of the light guide member 12 . further , a reflective plane 15 b , which is formed to have a curved surface so as to reflect the light irradiated by the light emitting diodes 11 a toward the side surface of the light guide member 12 , is provided on the inner surface of the frame 15 facing the side surface of the light guide member 12 . in this exemplary embodiment , the frame 15 is made of a metal , such as aluminum , so as to reflect light . in order to install the light emitting diodes 11 a at the rear portion of the space between the side surface of the frame 15 and the side surface of the light guide member 12 , a light source installation part 18 a integrally extended backwards from the side end of the rear cover 18 is provided at the side end of the rear cover 18 such that the light source 11 is installed in the light source installation part 18 a . the light source 11 is installed in the light source installation part 18 a such that the rear surface of the substrate 11 b is supported by the light source installation part 18 a , and a spacer 19 , the front surface of which is supported by the rear surface of the light guide member 12 and the rear surface of which is supported by the front surface of the substrate 11 b , is disposed between the rear surface of the light guide member 12 and the substrate 11 b . since light generated by the light emitting diodes 11 a is irradiated in an approximate fan shape , overlapping and mixing of the light generated by the plural light emitting diodes 11 a occur . therefore , in order to obtain uniform brightness , a designated mixing distance or more is required . in order to secure such a mixing distance , the bezel part 10 b requires a width of more than a designated value , thus limiting reduction of the width of the bezel part 10 b . therefore , if the light emitting diodes 11 a are disposed at the rear portion of the space between the inner surface of the frame 15 and the side surface of the light guide member 12 and the reflective plane 15 b is provided on the inner surface of the frame 15 facing the side surface of the light guide member 12 , light irradiated by the light emitting diodes 11 a moves by a designated distance in the forward and backward directions , is reflected by the reflective plane 15 b , moves back to the side surface of the light guide member 12 , and is then incident upon the light guide member 12 through the side surface of the light guide member 12 . therefore , the movement distance of the light irradiated by the light emitting diodes 11 a to the side surface of the light guide member 12 may be greatly reduced and the mixing distance may be sufficiently secured . thus , the width of the bezel part 10 b may be reduced by the amount by which the movement distance of the light to the side surface of the light guide member 12 is reduced . although this exemplary embodiment describes the optical sheet 13 as being disposed on the front surface of the light guide member 12 , the position of the optical sheet 13 is not limited thereto . that is , as shown in fig3 illustrating a display apparatus 20 in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention , including display part 20 a and bezel part 20 b , an optical sheet 23 which may be disposed on the rear surface of a glass member 24 and a support rib 25 a may support the rear surface of the optical sheet 23 , film members 27 a and 27 b , reflective sheet 22 a , rear cover 28 , 28 a light source installation part , and light source 21 having light emitting diode 21 a and substrate 21 b . hereinafter , with reference to fig4 , a display apparatus 30 in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described . as shown in fig4 , the display apparatus 30 in accordance with this exemplary embodiment includes display part 30 a and bezel part 30 b , a light source 31 having light emitting diode 31 a and substrate 31 b , a light guide member 32 , an optical sheet 33 , a glass member 34 , a frame 35 , a support member 36 having front support part 36 a and side support part 36 b , film members 37 a and 37 b , and a rear cover 38 and light source installation part 38 a . in this exemplary embodiment , an installation recess 34 a in which a front support part 36 a of the support member 36 is installed is provided at the edge of the front surface of the glass member 34 . here , the thickness of the installation recess 34 a is equal to the thickness of the front support part 36 a . if the thickness of the installation recess 34 a is equal to the thickness of the front support part 36 a , the front surface of the front support part 36 a and the front surface of the glass member 34 excluding the portion of the glass member 34 provided with the installation recess 34 a become coplanar . a film member 37 b is disposed on the front surface of the front support part 36 a and the remaining portion of the front surface of the glass member 34 excluding the portion of the glass member 34 provided with the installation recess 34 a . thereby , a region of the display apparatus 30 provided with the remaining portion of the glass member 34 excluding the portion thereof provided with the installation recess 34 a constitutes a display part 30 a , and a region of the display apparatus 30 provided with the front support part 36 a constitutes a bezel part 30 b . light having passed through the edge of the light guide member 32 supported by a support rib 35 a is blocked by the support rib 35 a , and thus is not transmitted to the front of the support rib 35 a . therefore , the front support part 36 a of the support member 36 may have a width corresponding to that of the support rib 35 a . hereinafter , with reference to fig5 , a display apparatus 40 in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described . as shown in fig5 , the display apparatus 40 in accordance with this exemplary embodiment includes display part 40 a and bezel part 40 b , a light source 41 having light emitting diode 41 a and substrate 41 b , a light guide member 42 having reflective sheet 42 a , an optical sheet 43 , a glass member 44 , a frame 45 , film members 47 a and 47 b , and a rear cover 48 with light source installation part 48 a . the front surface of the glass member 44 is coplanar with the front surface of the frame 45 , and the film member 47 b is disposed on the front surface of the glass member 44 and the front surface of the frame 45 . in this exemplary embodiment , the side end of the film member 47 b is extended backwards so that the film member 47 b covers the side surface of the frame 45 as well as the front surface of the glass member 44 and the front surface of the frame 45 . since the film member 47 b covers the front surface of the glass member 44 and the front and side surfaces of the frame 45 , the film member 47 b serves to maintain a state in which the glass member 44 is installed on the frame 45 . a support rib 45 a protruded from the inner surface of the frame 45 to support the edge of the rear surface of the glass member 44 is formed on the frame 45 , and light having passed through the light guide member 42 does not pass through the support rib 45 a . therefore , a region of the display apparatus 40 provided with the front surface of the frame 45 and the edge of the glass member 44 supported by the support rib 45 a constitutes a bezel part 40 b , and a region of the display apparatus 40 provided with the remaining portion of the glass member 44 excluding the edge of the glass member 44 constitutes a display part 40 a . if the front surface of each of the display parts 10 a , 20 a , 30 a and 40 a and the front surface of each of the bezel parts 10 b , 20 b , 30 b and 40 b are coplanar , as described in the above exemplary embodiments , each of the display parts 10 a , 20 a , 30 a and 40 a and each of the bezel parts 10 b , 20 b , 30 b and 40 b are not indistinguishable in appearance , and thus display apparatuses 10 , 20 , 30 and 40 having a simpler design may be implemented . although the above exemplary embodiments describe that the light sources 11 , 21 , 31 and 41 are separated from the rear surfaces of the light guide members 12 , 22 , 32 and 42 by the spacers 19 , 29 , 39 and 49 , disposition of the light sources 11 , 21 , 31 and 41 is not limited thereto . that is , as shown in fig6 , in a display apparatus 50 in accordance with a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention , including display part 50 a and bezel part 50 b , a light source 51 , having light emitting diode 51 a and substrate 51 b , which is disposed at the rear portion of a space between the inner surface of a frame 55 and the side surface of a light guide member 52 ( including reflective sheet 52 a ) by a spacer part 58 b integrally extended backwards from the side end of a rear cover 58 to support the front surface of a substrate 51 b of the light source 51 and a light source installation part 58 a integrally extended from the spacer part 58 b to support the rear surface of the substrate 51 b of the light source 51 . the display apparatus 50 also includes optical sheet 53 , glass member 54 and film members 57 a and 57 b . although the above exemplary embodiments describe the frames 15 , 25 , 35 , 45 and 55 as being made of a metal , such as aluminum , so as to reflect light irradiated by the light emitting diodes 11 a , 21 a , 31 a , 41 a and 51 a , the frames 15 , 25 , 35 , 45 and 55 are not limited thereto . that is , the frames 15 , 25 , 35 , 45 and 55 may be made of a material , which does not efficiently reflect light , and a white or silver film member may be attached to the reflective planes 15 b , 25 b , 35 b , 45 b and 55 b or white or silver paint may be applied to the reflective planes 15 b , 25 b , 35 b , 45 b and 55 b so as to achieve efficient light reflection . as is apparent from the above description , a display apparatus in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention allows the front surface of a display part and the front surface of a bezel part to be substantially coplanar with each other such that the display part and the bezel part are indistinguishable in appearance , thereby achieving a simpler design of the display apparatus . further , in the display apparatus in accordance with the exemplary embodiment of the present invention , a light source is disposed at the rear portion of a space between a frame and a light guide member and a reflective plane to reflect light , irradiated by light emitting diodes located at the rear of the frame , to the side surface of the light guide member is provided on the frame , thereby causing the light irradiated by the light emitting diodes to move forwards by a designated distance and then to be reflected and be incident upon the side surface of the light guide member , thus being capable of reducing the width of the bezel part while securing a sufficient mixing distance . although a few exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described , it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these exemplary embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention , the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents .	6
referring to fig3 , in one embodiment of the invention , there are two amplifiers 14 , 18 as in the doherty type system known to the prior art . however in this embodiment both input terminals 16 and 20 respectively are connected directly to a signal source 50 . again the output terminals 26 , 28 of primary amplifier 14 and auxiliary amplifier 18 respectively are connected together at node 32 . the output terminal 26 of primary amplifier 14 is connected to node 32 through an impedance inverter 30 . the node 32 acts as an output terminal supplying the amplified signal to load 34 . the output signal is fed back through a feedback connection 64 to the signal source 50 . the dc voltage source 54 for primary amplifier 14 is connected to primary amplifier 14 through a resistor 56 and the voltage drop across the resistor is monitored by the signal source 50 using connection 60 . similarly , in other embodiments , a voltage source is connected to auxiliary amplifier 18 through a resistor and the voltage across this resistor is measured by signal source 50 . by measuring the voltage drop across resistors in connection with primary amplifier 14 and auxiliary amplifier 18 , respectively , signal source 50 can determine the power being used by these amplifiers . this power consumption information may then be used by signal source 50 to optimize its output for efficiency . in this embodiment signal source 50 comprises a digital rf source . one skilled in the art will readily recognize that signal source 50 may also comprise a digital signal processor ( dsp ) or a variety of similar devices . a technique for predistortion is described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 613 , 372 entitled “ adaptive predistortion for a transmit system .” additionally , amplifiers 14 and 18 may comprise one or more of any of the standard classes of amplifiers . however , in one embodiment , primary amplifier 14 comprises a class f amplifier and auxiliary amplifier 18 comprises an inverse class f amplifier . furthermore , in some embodiments the impedance inverter 30 may comprise a quarter - wave transmission line or lumped impedance elements . such lumped impedance elements are described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 610 , 497 entitled , “ integrated circuit incorporating wire bond inductance ,” the entire content of which is incorporated herein . in operation , at low power levels , primary amplifier 14 amplifies a first signal from the signal source 50 , received at terminal 16 , and in turn transmits this amplified signal though the impedance inverter 30 to load 34 . at higher power levels , as primary amplifier 14 begins to saturate , auxiliary amplifier 18 turns on and amplifies a second signal from the signal source , received at terminal 20 , and transmits this amplified signal to load 34 via node 32 . in typical embodiments , auxiliary amplifier 18 is biased so that it does not begin to operate until primary amplifier 14 has reached its saturation point . as auxiliary amplifier 18 becomes more active driving more power into load 34 , its output current gradually reduces the effective load impedance as seen by primary amplifier 14 , thus allowing primary amplifier 14 to deliver even more power at the same output voltage at saturation . thus , in effect , primary amplifier 14 is able to deliver a higher power output at its saturation point . in this embodiment , the combined amplified signals from amplifiers 14 and 18 are transmitted to signal source 50 via feedback connection 64 . in one embodiment , signal source 50 receives feedback directly from output terminal 26 . moreover , in a second embodiment , signal source 50 receives feedback directly from output terminal 28 , and in a third embodiment signal source 50 receives feedback directly from output terminal 31 . signal source 50 may use the received feedback to modify the signals being transmitted to at least one of amplifiers 14 and 18 . in this way the predistortion is used to reduce non - linearities in the amplification . finally , in a fourth embodiment , signal source 50 receives no feedback . in one embodiment , the output voltage of primary amplifier 14 is determined by signal source 50 , by measuring the voltage across resistor 56 . signal source 50 may then use this voltage information to adjust the signal being transmitted to either or both of amplifiers 14 and 18 . the signal source 50 may also use this voltage information to measure the power consumption of primary amplifier 14 to determine when primary amplifier 14 has reached saturation . in a second embodiment signal source 50 may determine the output voltage and power consumption of auxiliary amplifier 18 in a similar fashion by measuring the voltage across a resistor in electrical communication with auxiliary amplifier 18 . signal source 50 may then optimize its output for efficiency by using the power consumption information from primary amplifier 14 and auxiliary amplifier 18 . referring to fig4 , in another embodiment of the amplifier , there are again two amplifiers 14 , 18 and in this embodiment both input terminals 16 and 20 respectively are again connected directly to the signal source 50 . again the output terminals 26 , 28 of amplifiers 14 and 18 respectively are connected together at node 32 and the output terminal 26 of primary amplifier 14 is connected to node 32 through the impedance inverter 30 . the node 32 again acts as an output terminal supplying the amplified signal to load 34 . the output signal is fed back through a feedback connection 64 to signal source 50 as in the previous embodiment . additionally , in this embodiment , auxiliary amplifier 18 has a control terminal 68 which is connected to the signal source 50 that allows the operating point of amplifier 18 to be optimized . in various embodiments not shown here , primary amplifier 14 may also have a control terminal connected to signal source 50 that allows the operating point of amplifier 14 to be optimized . this embodiment operates in an almost identical fashion to the embodiment described above in fig3 . however , in this embodiment the signal source controls the voltage of auxiliary amplifier 18 directly via a connection to control terminal 68 of auxiliary amplifier 18 . in typical embodiments , the signal source 50 uses the signal feedback along feedback connection 64 to control the voltage and / or voltage bias to auxiliary amplifier 18 . furthermore , in one embodiment , the signal source 50 controls the voltage and / or voltage bias to auxiliary amplifier 18 based on information received about the output voltage of auxiliary amplifier 18 via measuring the voltage of a resistor in electrical communication with auxiliary amplifier 18 . similarly , in a second embodiment , the signal source 50 uses the signal feedback , received from feedback connection 64 , to control the voltage and / or voltage bias of primary amplifier 14 . in a third embodiment , this control of the voltage and / or voltage bias of primary amplifier 14 is based on information received about the output voltage of primary amplifier 14 as measured across resistor 56 . by controlling the bias of primary amplifier 14 , the non - linearity caused by the turning on of the auxiliary amplifier 18 , and illustrated as point 37 in fig2 , may preferably be minimized ; the magnitude of this non - linearity depends on the bias of the primary amplifier 14 and tends to vary with temperature load impedance and supply voltage . referring to fig5 , in yet another embodiment of the amplifier , there are again two amplifiers 14 , 18 and in this embodiment both input terminals 16 and 20 respectively are again connected to signal source 50 through a common node 22 . the input terminal of auxiliary amplifier 18 is connected to node 22 through a phase shifter 24 . again the output terminals 26 , 28 of amplifiers 14 and 18 respectively are connected together at node 32 and the output terminal 26 of primary amplifier 14 is connected to node 32 through the impedance inverter 30 . the node 32 again acts as an output terminal supplying the amplified signal to load 34 . the output signal is fed back through a feedback connection 64 to the signal source 50 as in the previous embodiments and again in this embodiment the signal source 50 controls the voltage to auxiliary amplifier 18 directly . similarly , in some embodiments , the signal source 50 controls the voltage of primary amplifier 14 directly via a connection to a control terminal of primary amplifier 14 . in operation , a signal is transmitted from signal source 50 to both primary amplifier 14 and phase shifter 24 via node 22 . the signal is further transmitted through phase shifter 24 to auxiliary amplifier 18 . primary amplifier 14 amplifies the signal and in turn transmits the amplified signal though impedance inverter 30 to load 34 . as primary amplifier 14 begins to saturate , auxiliary amplifier 18 turns on and amplifies the phase shifted signal transmitted via terminal 20 , and then transmits the amplified signal to load 34 via node 32 . in typical embodiments , auxiliary amplifier 18 is biased so that it does not operate until primary amplifier 14 has reached its saturation point . as auxiliary amplifier 18 becomes more active driving more power into load 34 , its output current gradually reduces the effective load impedance as seen by primary amplifier 14 , thus allowing primary amplifier 14 to deliver even more power at the same output voltage at saturation . thus , as in the previously described embodiments , primary amplifier 14 delivers a higher power output at its saturation point . also , as in the previously described embodiments , in this embodiment the combined amplified signals from amplifiers 14 and 18 are transmitted to signal source 50 via feedback connection 64 . in the preferred embodiment , signal source 50 uses this feedback to modify the signal being transmitted to primary amplifier 14 and phase shifter 24 , so that non - linearities in the amplification may be reduced . additionally , in various embodiments not shown here , signal source 50 also receives feedback directly from at least one of terminals 26 , 28 , and 31 . embodiments of the devices and methods described herein offer several advantages over the prior art . as the primary and auxiliary amplifiers are independently controlled , they can both be optimized to remove non - linearities associated with the operation of the auxiliary amplifier . furthermore , there are several different means of removing non - linearities in the present invention . examples include controlling one or both amplifiers based on the signal received from at least one of terminals 26 , 28 , and 31 , via the feedback connection 64 , and controlling the voltage and / or voltage bias of either or both of the primary amplifier 14 and the auxiliary amplifier 18 based on their respective output voltages . these extra degrees of freedom allow for optimized efficiency in the linearization process . additionally , in embodiments utilizing a class f amplifier as the primary amplifier and an inverse class f amplifier as the auxiliary amplifier , the efficiency of the invention is increased over that of the prior art , especially when amplifying broadband signals . it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art , that various omissions , additions and modifications may be made to the methods and systems described above without departing from the spirit of the invention . all such modifications and changes are intended to fall within the scope of the invention as illustrated by the appended claims .	7
the present sheet folding method is diagrammatically illustrated in fig1 wherein a single sheet 10 is shown in various configurations as it is operated on while continuously moving along a substantially straight linear feed path 11 . specifically , the sheet 10 is moved through a first station where it is formed with two scored lines 12 and 13 which weaken the sheet material along these lines thus facilitating folding the sheet along said lines . the score lines effectively establish three sheet panels 14 , 15 and 16 . as the center panel 15 continues its movement in a substantially horizontal plane , the end panels 14 and 16 are progressively laterally bent or deflected downwardly and upwardly , respectively , through approximately 90 degrees and into vertical planes . thereafter during continued sheet movement along said path , the said panels 14 and 16 are each deflected laterally through an additional 90 degrees so that an accordian sheet fold is produced wherein the sheets 14 - 16 are substantially superimposed on one another in horizontal planes . when properly longitudinally aligned with the direction of the feed path 11 the folded sheet is then progressively creased along its fold lines as is indicated at 12a and 13a so as to form a tight folded document that may be easily inserted or otherwise enclosed in an envelope or the like . it is to be understood that the sheet 10 in fig1 has the various above described operations progressively performed thereon while the sheet remains in motion along said straight feed path 11 . in fig2 there is schematically shown an exemplary apparatus for progressively supporting , conveying and bending or folding the sheet 10 as described in connection with fig1 . along the feed path there is initially provided a sheet scoring means 20 which includes a pair of opposed driven shafts 21 , 22 which carry a first rotary knife 23 and resilient cooperating rotary anvil 24 , and a second rotary knife 26 , and a cooperating resilient rotary anvil 27 , the said knives and anvils being respectively rotatably secured to supporting shafts 21 , 22 shown and being axially spaced so that as the sheet 10 passes between said shafts said knives and anvils will not only continue the feed action on said sheet but will also progressively form said score lines 12 and 13 on said sheets . after leaving the scoring means the leading edge of the center sheet panel 15 successively engages , and is continued to be supported and fed along path 11 by means of , a first series of four sets 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 of cooperating feed rolls while the sheet panel 14 is laterally bent downwardly in end - to - end progression by a stationary curved deflector plate 34 and the sheet panel 16 is simultaneously and correspondingly , progressively , laterally bent upwardly by a similar curved deflector plate 35 . the leading edge of the sheet panel 15 then successively engages , and is continued to be supported and fed by means of , a second series of three sets 40 , 41 42 of cooperating feed rolls , the diameters of the feed rolls of each of these sets becoming progressively smaller , i . e ., the diameters of the rolls of sets 41 and 42 are less than those of sets 40 and 41 respectively . while the sheet center panel moves through roll sets 40 - 42 , the sheet panel 14 is further bent upwardly through 90 degrees into a horizontal plane in end - to - end progression by means of a twisted feed belt 50 which is operatively supported on , driven by and extends between a vertical roller 51 and a horizontal roller 52 . similarly the panel 16 is simultaneously progressively bent downwardly through 90 ° into a horizontal plane by means of another twisted belt 55 that is correspondingly supported on , driven by and extends between a vertical roller 56 and a horizontal roller 57 . as will be apparent the belts 50 and 55 in being driven by their associated rollers will impose a longitudinal feeding action on the sheet panels 14 and 16 respectively and this feed action will supplement that of said feed roll sets 40 - 42 , particularly at the downstream ends of the belt feed runs where no feed roll sets can be present to engage panel 15 in that the top and bottom panels 16 and 14 are now progressively closely approaching the top and bottom surfaces of panel 15 respectively . as will be seen when the leading end of the sheet panel 15 emerges from between the downstream ends of said belts 50 , 55 , the sheet 10 will have been loosely folded ; however , before final creasing is to be performed , the folded sheet is first moved between driven parallel aligning belts 60 , 61 that are carried by rollers 62 , 63 and 64 , 65 respectively . the mutually adjacent runs of said belts 60 , 61 are substantially parallel and disposed a relatively short distance apart so as to receive and continue the longitudinal feed movement of the loosely folded sheet 10 along said feed path 11 . disposed closely adjacent the sides of said mutually adjacent belt runs are opposed parallel aligning guides 66 and 67 which , if the longitudinal axis of the folded sheet is skewed , with respect to the feed path 11 , serve to cam the sheet back into proper alignment so that the longitudinal axis thereof is parallel to the direction of said feed path 11 . after leaving the belts 60 , 61 the aligned folded sheet moves between the cooperating rolls 70 , 71 so as to be thereby progressively tightly creased in end - to - end progression along said lines 12a and 13a illustrated in fig1 . the sheet 10 continuously moves along the feed path 11 as it is being so scored , folded , aligned and creased ; thus no inefficient sheet stops and starts have to be accommodated which might slow down the smooth progressive handling of each successive document or sheet as the latter moves along said path . it will be apparent that large numbers of serially fed sheets may be rapidly folded and otherwise similarly processed using the above described technique . referring particularly to fig3 - 5 there is shown apparatus for supporting the various rolls , deflector plates , etc . described in connection with fig2 . on a base 75 there is mounted a pair of parallel side frame plates 76 and 77 which rotatably support by any suitable means the outer ends of said scoring roll shafts 21 , 22 . u - shaped brackets 80 , fig5 are provided which rotatably support the respective upper rolls of the said sets 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , while the respective lower rolls of said sets are rotatably supported by a similar bracket 81 . the lower u - shaped bracket 81 is secured to the base 75 by means of suitable support members 82 and 83 , fig3 while the upper u - shaped bracket 80 is secured to the cross braces 84 and 85 by means of suitable support members 86 and 87 ; said cross braces being fixed to and between the top edges of said frame side plates 76 , 77 . the sheet panel deflector plates 34 , 35 are respectively secured to said roll brackets 80 and 81 as is illustrated best in fig5 . the respective upper rolls of roll sets 40 , 41 and 42 are rotatably supported by a tapered inverted u - shaped bracket 90 , fig3 corresponding to bracket 80 ; while the respective cooperating lower rolls of said sets are rotatably supported by a similar tapered u - shaped bracket 91 which corresponds to said bracket 81 . bracket 90 is secured to the frame in cantilever fashion by means of a support member 92 that is fixed to a cross brace 93 , fig3 secured to and between the upper edges of said frame side plates 76 , 77 . bracket 91 is secured to the machine base 75 in cantilever fashion by means of a support bracket 94 . the roll sets 30 - 33 and 40 - 42 are mutually positioned such that their respective nips are disposed in a substantially common horizontal plane . a wide conveyor - type belt 95 extends around all the lower rolls of said roll sets , the upper run of said belt extending through each of said roll nips . in that there is a light compressive force between the said upper run of the belt 95 and each of upper and lower rolls of each roll set , all the roll sets may be driven by driving the belt by means of one of the rolls in one of said sets ; e . g ., the lower roll of set 32 , as indicated in fig3 . thus each upper roll of said roll sets may , in cooperation with belt 122 , serve to drive a sheet therebetween along the feed path 11 . the said vertically disposed deflecting belt supporting rolls 51 , 56 are secured to vertical shafts 96 , 97 respectively which are rotatably supported by suitable bearings 98 carried by the machine base 75 and a cross brace 99 that is secured to and between the upper edges of said frame side plates 76 , 77 . the cooperating horizontal belt supporting rolls 52 , 57 are secured to shafts 100 , 101 respectively which are rotatably supported by suitable bearings 102 carried by the side plates 76 , 77 . the horizontal rolls 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 for the sheet aligning belts 60 , 61 are secured to shafts 110 , 111 , 113 and 112 respectively which are rotatably supported by suitable bearings 114 carried by said side plates 76 , 77 . the said lateral aligning guide plates 66 , 67 are carried by said shafts 62 - 65 ; the upstream ends of said plates being flared slightly as indicated in fig4 so as to facilitate the entry and aligning of the accordion folded sheet therebetween as the latter moves along said feed path 11 . the creasing rolls 70 , 71 are secured to shafts 115 and 116 respectively which are rotatably supported by suitable bearings 117 carried by said side plates 76 , 77 . the drive system for the present apparatus includes an electric motor mounted on the base 75 , said motor having a drive pulley 121 secured to the shaft thereof . cooperating with pulley 121 is a long closed loop belt 122 . first and second idler pulleys 123 , 124 , fig3 are rotatably carried in a conventional manner on the outside of side plate 77 as shown in fig4 . a drive pulley 125 , fig4 is secured to a cross shaft 126 that is rotatably supported by suitable bearings 127 carried by said plates 76 , 77 . also secured to shaft 126 is a second pulley 130 over which is entrained a crossed drive belt 131 that is also entrained over a pulley 132 , fig3 that is suitably secured to the lower roll of said roll set 32 . as is best illustrated in fig3 and 4 the main belt 122 is entrained over said idler pulley 123 , and then over suitable pulleys 134 , 135 , 136 , fig4 secured to shafts 115 , 62 and 100 , respectively , then over said drive pulley 125 , then over a pulley 137 , fig4 secured to said shaft 22 , and finally over said idler pulley 124 and the motor pulley 121 . the scoring rolls may be geared together by any suitable gear means designed at 150 , fig4 while shafts 62 and 64 , the shafts 100 and 101 , and shafts 115 and 116 may be similarly geared together respectively by any suitable similar gear means designated at 151 , 152 and 153 of fig4 respectively . all of the pulleys engaged by belt 122 are arranged so as to be disposed in a common vertical plane . as will be seen this power train will serve to drive the above described scoring rolls 26 , 27 , the roll sets 30 - 33 , 40 - 42 with belt 95 , the sheet deflector belts 50 , 55 , the sheet aligning belts 60 , 61 and the creasing rolls 70 , 71 ; this drive action being continuous so that a sheet 10 to be processed may be smoothly and progressively folded as previously described as it moves through the machine along said feed path 11 .	1
the adamantyl group is preferably attached to the carbonyl group in formula ( 3 ) at a bridgehead ( 1 -) position , as shown below in formula ( 6 ) ## str6 ## the invention includes optically active forms of the compounds of formula ( 3 ). for the chiral monomethyl compounds in the 4 - pyridyl series ( r 1 = me , r = h ) the s - enantiomer is about 100 times more potent than the r - enantiomer , but surprisingly the dimethyl compound ( r 1 , r 2 = me ), which would be expected to have activity around half - way between the r and s enantiomers , is almost equipotent to the active s - enantiomer . the a group in formula ( 3 ) is preferably -- o --, but when it is -- ch 2 -- potentially hydrolysable ester bonds are not present , which is also advantageous . preferably at least one of r 1 and r 2 represents alkyl , especially methyl and most preferably both are methyl . in the ketones , r 4 and r 5 are preferably hydrogen , one is methyl and the other hydrogen or both are methyl . the compounds of the invention can be prepared in various ways , conveniently starting from adamantanecarboxylic acid or a reactive derivative thereof . the starting compounds have the general formula wherein x represents -- oh or a reactive substitutent such as cl or br , or an ester residue and r 3 is as defined for formula ( 3 ). reaction with an alcohol of formula ( 8 ), or the alkali metal alkoxide thereof , ## str7 ## where py , r 1 and r 2 are as defined for formula ( 3 ) leads to the esters of formula ( 3 ). to prepare the ketones of formula ( 3 ) in which a =-- ch 2 --, a suitable procedure involves the reaction between adamantyl methyl ketone enolate and a pyridylmethyl sulfonate derived from the alcohol of formula ( 8 ). alternatively ketones of formula ( 3 ) may be prepared by aldol condensation between an adamantyl alkyl ketone and a 3 - or 4 - pyridyl ketone or aldehyde of formula ( 9 ) where r 1 is as defined for formula ( 3 ), and subsequent dehydration to give the enone ( 10 ) ## str8 ## where r 1 , r 3 and r 4 and py are as defined for formula ( 3 ) conjugate addition of an alkylcuprate or copper hydride complex with ( 10 ) leads to ketones of formula ( 3 ). the compounds may be prepared as salts , e . g . the hydrochloride and converted to the free base form and thereafter to such other conventional pharmaceutically acceptable salts as acetates , citrates and lactates , as may seem appropriate . the present invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition which comprises a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of the invention , in association with a therapeutically acceptable carrier or diluent . the composition of the invention can , for example , be in a form suitable for parenteral ( e . g . intravenous , intramuscular or intracavital ), oral , topical or rectal administration . particular forms of the composition may be , for example , solutions , suspensions , emulsions , creams , tablets , capsules , lipsomes or micro - reservoirs , especially compositions in orally ingestible or sterile injectable form . the preferred form of composition contemplated is the dry solid form , which includes capsules , granules , tablets , pills , boluses and powders . the solid carrier may comprise one or more excipients , e . g . lactose , fillers , disintegrating agents , binders , e . g . cellulose , carboxymethyl - cellulose or starch or anti - stick agents , e . g . magnesium stearate , to prevent tablets from adhering to tabletting equipment . tablets , pills and boluses may be formed so as to disintegrate rapidly or to provide slow release of the active ingredient . where national patent law permits , the present invention also includes a method of treating androgen - dependent tumours in the mammalian body , especially prostatic tumours , which comprises administering a compound of the invention to a mammalian patient in a therapeutically effective dose , e . g . in the range 0 . 001 - 0 . 04 mmole / kg body weight , preferably 0 . 001 - 0 . 01 mmole / kg , administered daily or twice daily during the course of treatment . this works out ( for humans ) at 20 - 800 mg / patient per day . alternatively the invention includes the compounds of the invention for use in said treatment and their use in the manufacture of medicaments for that purpose . the following examples illustrate the invention . &# 34 ; ether &# 34 ; means diethyl ether . &# 34 ; petrol &# 34 ; refers to light petroleum ( bp = 60 °- 80 ° c .). concentrations for the solutions in which optical rotation is measured are in units of mol . dm . - 3 . &# 34 ; b --&# 34 ; indicates a substituent attached to a boron atom . the symbol &# 34 ; ee &# 34 ; stands for enantiomeric excess as given by the expression ## equ2 ## are relative proportions of r and s isomers . thus , an r : s ratio of 9 : 1 ≡ ee of 80 %. to 4 - pyridylcarbinol ( 1 . 2 g , 11 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 40 ml ) at - 18 ° c . was added n - butyllithium ( 2 . 5 m , 4 . 2 ml , 10 . 5 mmol ) in hexane dropwise with stirring . after 10 minutes a solution of 1 - adamantanecarbonyl chloride ( 2 . 0 g , 10 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 10 ml ) was added and stirring continued at room temperature for 30 minutes . the mixture was poured into water , basified with saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate , and extracted with ether . the ether extracts were combined , dried ( na 2 co 3 ) and concentrated , chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 100 : 50 : 1 , gave the title compound ( 0 . 95 g , 35 %), which crystallised from 60 - 80 petrol , m . p . 57 °- 58 ° c ., ir ν max 1730 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 74 and 1 . 96 ( 12h , 2s , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 05 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 5 . 12 ( 2h , s , och 2 ), 7 . 24 ( 2h , d , j 5 . 7 hz , py 3 and 6h ), 8 . 60 ( 2h , d , j 5 . 7 hz , py 2 and 6h ). anal . calcd : c , 75 . 24 ; h , 7 . 80 ; n , 5 . 16 . found : c , 75 . 34 ; h , 7 . 92 ; n , 5 . 04 %. the method followed that described in example 1 , but using (+)-( r )- 1 -( 4 - pyridyl ) ethanol ( 369 mg , 3 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 12 ml ), n - butyllithium ( 2 . 5 m , 1 . 2 ml , 3 . 0 mmol ) in hexane , and 1 - adamantanecarbonyl chloride ( 656 mg , 3 . 3 mmol ) in thf ( 3 ml ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 200 : 50 : 1 , afforded the title compound ( 754 mg , 88 %). [ α ] d + 25 . 8 ° ( c 1 , chcl 3 ); ir ν max 1730 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 50 ( 3h , d , j 6 . 6 hz , chch 3 ), 1 . 73 and 1 . 93 ( 12h , 2s , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 04 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 5 . 80 ( 1h , q , j 6 . 6 hz , och ), 7 . 23 ( 2h , d , j 6 . 1 hz , py 3 and 5h ), 8 . 58 ( 2h , d , j 6 . 1 hz , py 2 and 6h ); ms m / z 285 ( m + ). by passing hydrogen chloride gas through a solution of the product in ether , the hydrochloride was obtained , m . p . 164 °- 166 ° c . anal . calcd : c , 67 . 17 ; h , 7 . 52 ; n , 4 . 35 . found : c , 67 . 58 ; h , 7 . 51 ; n , 4 . 36 %. the method was the same as for example 2 , but using (-)-( s )- 1 -( 4 - pyridyl ) ethanol ( 369 mg , 3 . 0 mmol ), and provided the title compound ( 774 mg , 90 %). [ α ] d - 24 . 4 ° ( c 1 , chcl 3 ); ir , nmr and ms data were the same as given in example 2 . the hydrochloride had m . p . 164 °- 166 ° c . a solution of methyllithium ( 1 . 4 m ; 30 ml , 42 mmol ) in diethyl ether was added dropwise to a stirred solution of 4 - acetylpyridine ( 4 . 65 ml , 42 mmol ) in dry thf ( 100 ml ) at - 76 ° c ., and the deep blue solution allowed to reach ambient temperature . after 24 hours the mixture was partitioned between ether and saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate , and the ether phase was concentrated . chromatography , on elution with ethyl acetate - dichloromethane - triethylamine 60 : 40 : 1 , gave the title compound ( 2 . 59 g , 45 %) as an oil . 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 58 ( 6h , s , cme 2 ), 7 . 40 ( 2h , d , j 6 . 2 hz , py 3 and 5 - h ), 8 . 55 ( 2h , d , j 6 . 2 hz , py 2 and 6 - h ); ms m / z 137 ( m + ). the method followed that described in example 1 , but using 2 -( 4 - pyridyl ) propan - 2 - ol ( 0 . 69 g , 5 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 20 ml ), n - butyllithium ( 2 . 5 m ; 2 . 0 ml , 5 . 0 mmol ) in hexane , and 1 - adamantanecarbonyl chloride ( 1 . 09 g , 5 . 5 mmol ) in thf ( 6 ml ). chromatography , on elution with ether - petrol - triethylamine 50 : 50 : 1 , gave the title compound ( 1 . 06 g , 71 %) as an oil . ir ν max 1730 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 71 ( 6h , s , cme 2 ), 1 . 71 and 1 . 90 ( 12h , 2s , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 02 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 7 . 23 ( 2h , d , j 6 . 1 hz , py 3 and 5 - h ), 8 . 56 ( 2h , d , j 6 . 1 hz , py 2 and 6 - h ). anal . calcd : c , 76 . 22 ; h , 8 . 42 ; n , 4 . 68 . found : c , 76 . 17 ; h , 8 . 47 ; n , 4 . 64 %. the method followed that described in example 1 , but using 3 - pyridylcarbinol ( 240 mg , 2 . 2 mmol ) in thf ( 10 ml ), n - butyllithium ( 2 . 5 m ; 0 . 84 ml , 2 . 1 mmol ) in hexane , and 1 - adamantanecarbonyl chloride ( 397 mg , 2 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 2 ml ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 200 : 50 : 1 , gave the title compound ( 422 mg , 78 %) as an oil . ir ν max 1728 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 71 and 1 . 91 ( 12h , 2s , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 02 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 5 . 11 ( 2h , s , och 2 ), 7 . 30 ( 1h , m , py 5 - h ), 7 . 66 ( 1h , m , py 4 - h ), 8 . 56 ( 1h , m . py 6 - h ), 8 . 61 ( 1h , m , py 2 - h ). anal . calcd : c , 75 . 24 ; h , 7 . 80 ; n , 5 . 16 . found : c , 75 . 09 ; h , 7 . 84 ; n , 5 . 03 %. the method followed that described in example 1 , but using (+)-( r )- 1 -( 3 - pyridyl ) ethanol [ 87 % ee ; prepared by asymmetric reduction of 3 - acetylpyridine with (+)- b - chlorodiisopinocampheyl borane , j . chandrasekharan , p . v . ranachandran and h . c . brown , j . org . chem ., 50 , 5446 - 5448 ( 1985 )] ( 0 . 62 g , 5 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 20 ml ), n - butyllithium ( 2 . 5 m ; 2 . 0 ml , 5 . 0 mmol ) in hexane , and 1 - adamantanecarbonyl chloride ( 1 . 09 g , 5 . 5 mmol ) in thf ( 5 ml ). chromatography , on elution with ether - petrol - triethylamine 100 : 50 : 1 , gave the title compound ( 1 . 16 g , 81 %) as an oil . [ α ] d + 29 . 9 ° ( c 2 , meoh ), 87 % ee . recrystallisation of the (-)-( 1r )- 10 - camphorsulfonate salt from ethyl acetate , and reliberation of the free - base , afforded the title compound with 98 % ee , [ α ] d + 33 . 7 ° ( c 2 , meoh ). ir ν max 1728 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 54 ( 3h , d , j 6 . 5 hz , chch 3 ), 1 . 72 and 1 . 90 ( 12h , 2s , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 03 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 5 . 88 ( 1h , q , j 6 . 5 hz , chch 3 ), 7 . 30 ( 1h , m , py 5 - h ), 7 . 65 ( 1h , m , py 4 - h ), 8 . 56 ( 1h , m , py 6 - h ), 8 . 63 ( 1h , m , py 2 - h ); ms m / z 285 ( m + ). anal . calcd : c , 75 . 76 ; h , 8 . 12 ; n , 4 . 91 . found : c , 75 . 30 ; h , 8 . 18 ; n , 4 . 46 %. (-)-( s )- 1 -( 3 - pyridyl ) ethyl 1 - adamantanecarboxylate the method followed that described in example 1 , but using (-)-( s )- 1 -( 3 - pyridyl ) ethanol [ 80 % ee ; prepared by asymmetric reduction of 3 - acetylpyridine with (-)- b - chlorodiisopinocampheyl borane ] ( 0 . 49 g , 4 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 16 ml ), n - butyllithium ( 2 . 5 m ; 1 . 6 ml , 4 . 0 mmol ) in hexane , and 1 - adamantanecarbonyl chloride ( 0 . 87 g , 4 . 4 mmol ) in thf ( 4 ml ). work - up and chromatography , as described in example 6 , afforded the title compound ( 0 . 92 g , 81 %) as an oil . [ α ] d - 27 . 6 ° ( c 2 , meoh ), 80 % ee . recrystallisation of the (+)-( 1s )- 10 - camphorsulfonate salt , and reliberation of the free - base , afforded the title compound with 95 % ee , [ α ] d - 32 . 7 ° ( c 2 , meoh ). ir , nmr and ms data were the same as given in example 6 . the method followed that of example 4a , but using methyllithium ( 1 . 4 m ; 14 ml , 20 mmol ) in diethyl ether and 3 - acetylpyridine ( 2 . 2 ml , 20 mmol ) in dry thf ( 40 ml ). work - up and chromatography , on elution with ether - petrol - triethylamine 30 : 10 : 1 , afforded the title compound ( 1 . 26 g , 46 %) as an oil . 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 58 ( 6h , s , cme 2 ), 7 . 22 ( 1h , m , py 5 - h ), 7 . 85 ( 1h , m , py 4 - h ), 8 . 32 ( 1h , m , py 6 - h ), 8 . 65 ( 1h , m , py 2 - h ); ms m / z 137 ( m + ). the method followed that of example 4b , but using 2 -( 3 - pyridyl ) propan - 2 - ol ( 0 . 69 g , 5 . 0 mmol ), and provided the title compound ( 1 . 06 g , 71 %) as an oil . ir ν max 1730 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 71 ( 6h , s , cme 2 ), 1 . 77 and 1 . 94 ( 12h , 2s , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 02 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 7 . 25 ( 1h , m . py 5 - h ), 7 . 65 ( 1h , m , py 4 - h ), 8 . 48 ( 1h , m , py 6 - h ), 8 . 63 ( 1h , m , py 2 - h ). anal . calcd : c , 76 . 22 ; h , 8 . 42 ; n , 4 . 68 . found : c , 75 . 87 ; h , 8 . 52 ; n , 4 . 34 %. to a stirred solution of 3 - pyridylmethanol ( 0 . 29 m , l , 3 . 0 mmol ) in dry thf ( 20 ml ) at 0 ° c . was added butyllithium ( 1 . 6 m ; 1 . 87 ml , 3 . 0 mmol ) in hexane followed after 5 minutes by p - toluenesulfonyl chloride ( 0 . 57 g , 3 . 0 mmol ) and stirring continued for 1 hour . in a separate flask butyllithium ( 1 . 6 m ; 5 . 63 ml , 9 . 0 mmol ) in hexane was added to a stirred solution of diisopropylamine ( 1 . 26 ml , 9 . 0 mmol ) in dry thf ( 40 ml ) at 0 ° c . followed after 5 minutes by 1 - adamantyl methyl ketone ( 1 . 60 g , 9 . 0 mmol ). after stirring for 30 minutes at 0 ° c . the resulting solution of the lithium enolate of 1 - adamantyl methyl ketone was then added to the solution of 3 - pyridylmethyl p - toluenesulfonate and the clear solution allowed to attain room temperature . after 18 hours the mixture was partitioned between diethyl ether and water , and the ether layers were concentrated . chromatography gave , on elution with 150 : 100 : 1 ether - petrol - triethylamine , the title compound ( 0 . 52 g , 65 %) as an oil , which was further purified by short - path ( kugelrohr ) distillation at 225 ° c . and 0 . 2 mm hg . ir ν max 1697 cm - 1 ; h - nhr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 68 - 1 . 77 ( 12h , m , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 02 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 2 . 74 - 2 . 91 ( 4h , m , coch 2 ch 2 ), 7 . 21 ( 1h , m , py 5 - h ), 7 . 51 ( 1h , m , py 4 - h ), 8 . 43 ( 1h , m . py 6 - h ), 8 . 46 ( 1h , m , py 2 - h ); ms m / z 269 ( m + ). anal . calcd : c , 80 . 26 ; h , 8 . 61 ; n , 5 . 20 . found : c , 80 . 04 ; h , 8 . 71 ; n , 5 . 07 %. the method essentially followed that described in example 9 , but using (±)- 1 -( 3 - pyridyl ) ethanol ( 0 . 37 g , 3 . 0 mmol ). chromatography , on elution with ether - petrol - triethylamine 125 : 50 : 1 , afforded the title compound ( 0 . 35 g , 41 %) as an oil . ir ν max 1698 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 25 ( 3h , d , j 6 . 9 hz , chch 3 ), 1 . 71 - 1 . 81 ( 12h , m , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 02 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 2 . 74 - 2 . 77 ( 2h , m , coch 2 ), 7 . 21 ( 1h , m , py 5 - h ), 7 . 51 ( 1h , m , py 4 - h ), 8 . 43 ( 1h , m , py 6 - h ), 8 . 50 ( 1h , m , py 2 - h ); ms m / z 283 ( m + ). anal . calcd : c , 80 . 52 ; h , 8 . 89 ; n , 4 . 94 . found : c , 80 . 38 ; h , 8 . 87 ; n , 4 . 74 %. to a stirred solution of diisopropylamine ( 0 . 42 ml , 3 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 10 ml ) at 0 ° c . was added butyllithium ( 1 . 6m ; 1 . 87 ml , 3 . 0 ml ) in hexane followed after 5 minutes by a solution of 1 -( 1 - adamantyl )- 3 -( 3 - pyridyl ) propan - 1 - one in thf ( 8 ml ). after stirring for a further 20 min at 0 ° c ., methyl iodide ( 0 . 19 ml , 3 . 0 mmol ) was added dropwise and the solution was allowed to attain room temperature . after 1 hr the mixture was partitioned between ether and water . the ether extracts were dried ( na 2 co 3 ) and concentrated . chromatography on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 100 : 50 : 1 afforded the title compound ( 0 . 62g , 73 %), which crystallised from pentane , m . p 69 - 70 c ; ir ν max 1696 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 06 ( 3h , d , j 6 . 7 hz , chch 3 ) 1 . 51 - 1 . 72 ( 12h , m , adamantyl ch 2 ), 1 . 96 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 2 . 57 and 2 . 92 ( 2h , m , chch 2 ), 3 . 28 ( 1h , m , chch 3 ), 7 . 18 ( 1h , m , py 5 - h ), 7 . 43 ( 1h , m , py 4 - h ), 8 . 43 ( 2h , m , py 6 - h and 2 - h ); ms m / z 283 ( m + ). anal . calcd : c , 80 . 52 ; h , 8 . 89 ; n , 4 . 94 . found : c , 80 . 56 ; h , 8 . 95 ; n , 4 . 91 %. the method essentially followed that described in example 9 but using (-)-( s )- 1 -( 3 - pyridyl ) ethanol [ 91 % e . e ; prepared by asymmetric reduction of 3 - acetylpyridine with (+)- b - chlorodiisopinocampheylborane ] ( 0 . 37g , 3 . 0 mmol ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 125 : 50 : 1 , afforded the title compound ( 0 . 35g , 41 %) as an oil . 81 % ee , [ α ] d + 12 . 50 ° ( c 0 . 8 , meoh ). ir , nmr and ms data were the same as given in example 10 . the method essentially followed that of example 9 but using (+)-( r )- 1 -( 3 - pyridyl ) ethanol ( 91 % ee ; 0 . 37 g , 3 . 0 mmol ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 125 : 50 : 1 , afforded the title compound ( 0 . 33 g , 39 %) as an oil . 83 % ee , [ α ] d - 12 . 8 ° ( c 0 . 8 , meoh ). ir , nmr and ms data were the same as given in example 10 . the method followed that described in example 9 but using (±)- 1 -( 4 - pyridyl ) ethanol ( 0 . 37 g , 3 . 0 mmol ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 100 : 50 : 1 , gave the title compound ( 153 mg , 18 %), which crystallised from hexane . m . p . 100 °- 101 ° c . ; ir ν max 1698 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 22 ( 3h , d , chch 3 ), 1 . 62 - 1 . 81 ( 12h , m , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 02 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 2 . 72 ( 2h , m , coch 2 ), 3 . 37 ( 1h , m , chch 3 ), 7 . 15 ( 2h , d , j 6 . 1 hz , py 3 - h and 5 - h ), 8 . 49 ( 2h , d , j 6 . 1 hz , py 2 - h and 6 - h ); ms m / z 283 ( m + ). anal . calcd : c , 80 . 52 ; h , 8 . 89 ; n , 4 . 94 . found : c , 80 . 38 ; h , 8 . 99 ; n , 4 . 87 %. the method followed that described in example 9 but using (-)-( s )- 1 -( 4 - pyridyl ) ethanol ( 1 . 84 g , 15 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 80 ml ), butyllithium ( 1 . 6m ; 9 . 4 ml , 15 . 0 mmol ) in hexane , p - toluenesulfonyl chloride ( 2 . 86 g , 15 . 0 mmol ), diisopropylamine ( 6 . 31 ml , 45 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 120 ml ), butyllithium ( 1 . 6m ; 28 . 12 ml , 45 . 0 mmol ) in hexane and 1 - adamantyl methyl ketone ( 8 . 0 g , 45 mmol ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 100 : 50 : 1 gave the title compound ( 765 mg , 18 %), which crystallised from hexane . m . p . 46 °- 48 ° c . ; [ α ] d + 6 . 8 ° ( c 1 . 0 , meoh ). ir , nmr and ms data were the same as given in example 14 . the method followed that described in example 9 but using (+)-( r )- 1 -( 4 - pyridyl ) ethanol ( 1 . 84 g , 15 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 80 ml ), butyllithium ( 1 . 6m ; 9 . 4 ml , 15 . 0 mmol ) in hexane , p - toluenesulfonyl chloride ( 2 . 86 g , 15 . 0 mmol ), diisopropylamine ( 6 . 31 ml , 45 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 120 ml ), butyllithium ( 1 . 6m ; 28 . 12 ml , 45 . 0 mmol ) in hexane and 1 - adamantyl methyl ketone ( 8 . 0 g , 45 mmol ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 100 : 50 : 1 gave the title compound ( 722 mg , 17 %), which crystallised from hexane , m . p . 48 °- 49 ° c . ; [ α ] d - 6 . 6 ° ( c 1 . 0 , meoh ). ir , nmr and ms data were the same as given in example 14 . this example illustrates an alternative method for preparing the compound already prepared in example 10 . to a stirred solution of diisopropylamine ( 1 . 54 ml , 11 mmol ) in thf ( 40 ml ) at 0 ° c . was added butyllithium ( 1 . 6m ; 6 . 25 ml , 10 . 0 mmol ) in hexane , followed after 5 minutes by 1 - adamantyl methyl ketone ( 1 . 96 g , 11 . 0 mmol ). after stirring for 30 minutes at 0 ° c . the resulting solution of the lithium enolate of 1 - adamantyl methyl ketone was then added to a stirred solution of 3 - pyridinecarboxaldehyde ( 0 . 94 ml , 10 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 12 ml ) at room temperature . after 3 hours the mixture was partitioned between diethyl ether and water , and the ether layers were concentrated . chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine , 100 : 50 : 1 afforded the product as a solid ( 1 . 87 g , 70 %), which crystallised from hexane , m . p . 98 °- 101 ° c . ; ir ν max 1679 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 65 - 1 . 84 ( 12h , m , adamantyl ch 2 ), 2 . 10 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 7 . 27 ( 1h , d , j 15 . 8 hz , cochch ), 7 . 38 ( 1h , m , py 5 - h ), 7 . 68 ( 1h , d , j 15 . 8 hz , cochch ), 7 . 93 ( 1h , m , py 4 - h ), 8 . 55 ( 1h , m , py 6 - h ), 8 . 81 ( 1h , m , py 2 - h ); ms m / z 267 ( m + ). to a suspension of cuprous bromide - dimethylsulfide ( 1 . 28 g , 6 . 25 mmol ) in thf ( 20 ml ) cooled to - 18 ° c ., was added dropwise methyllithium ( 1 . 4 m ; 8 . 93 ml , 12 . 5 mmol ) in ether . the resulting clear solution was left to stir for a further 45 minutes before a solution of 1 -( 1 - adamantyl )- 3 -( 3 - pyridyl )- 2 - propen - 1 - one ( 1 . 34 g , 5 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 8 ml ) was added at - 18 ° c . after 4 hours at 0 ° c . the reaction mixture was quenched with aqueous ammonium hydroxide solution and extracted with ether . the ether extracts were combined , dried ( na 2 co 3 ) and concentrated . chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 125 : 50 : 1 , provided the title compound ( 1 . 16 g , 82 %) as an oil . analytical data were the same as given in example 10 . this example illustrates an alternative method for preparing the compound already prepared in example 14 . the method essentially followed that described in example 17a but using 4 - pyridinecarboxaldehyde ( 0 . 48 ml , 5 . 0 mmol ) in thf ( 6 ml ), diisopropylamine in thf ( 20 ml ), butyllithium ( 3 . 13 g , 5 . 0 mmol ) and 1 - adamantyl methyl ketone ( 0 . 48 ml , 5 . 0 mmol ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 100 : 100 : 1 , gave the title compound ( 881 mg , 66 %), which crystallised from hexane , m . p . 128 °- 129 ° c ., ir ν max 1690 cm - 1 ; 1 h - nmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ1 . 72 - 1 . 89 ( 12h , adamantyl ch 2 ) 2 . 12 ( 3h , s , adamantyl ch ), 7 . 36 ( 1h , d , j 15 . 6 hz , cochch ), 7 . 56 ( 1h , d , j 15 . 6 hz , cochch ), 7 . 71 ( 2h , d , j 5 . 5 hz , py 3 - h and 5 - h ), 8 . 71 ( 2h , d , j 5 . 5 hz , py 2 - h and 6 - h ); ms m / z 267 ( m + ). anal . calcd : c , 80 . 86 ; h , 7 . 92 ; n , 5 . 24 . found : c , 80 . 96 ; h , 8 . 13 ; n , 5 . 04 %. the method essentially followed that desribed in example 17b but using 1 -( 1 - adamantyl )- 3 -( 4 - pyridyl )- 2 - propen - 1 - one ( 1 . 34 g , 5 . 0 mmol ). chromatography , on elution with petrol - ether - triethylamine 100 : 50 : 1 , provided the title compound ( 1 . 0 g , 71 %), which crystallised from hexane , m . p . 100 °- 101 ° c . analytical data were the same as given in example 14 . the following table shows the activities of the compounds prepared in examples 1 - 10 as inhibitors of aromatase , lyase and hydroxylase . also included , for comparison , are &# 34 ; reverse amide &# 34 ; analogues of formula ( 3 ) and a cyclohexanecarboxylic acid reverse amide compound according to ep - a 253 , 681 above . table______________________________________ ## str9 ## ic . sub . 50 ( μm ) hy - aro - droxy - ex r . sup . 3 a r . sup . 1 r . sup . 2 py r / s matase lyase lase______________________________________ 1 ad o h h 4 -- 0 . 58 0 . 025 0 . 04 2 &# 34 ; o me h 4 r 16 . 1 0 . 06 0 . 3 3 &# 34 ; o h me 4 s 5 . 6 0 . 0015 0 . 003 4 &# 34 ; o me me 4 -- 20 . 5 0 . 002 0 . 009 5 &# 34 ; o h h 3 -- 8 . 0 0 . 5 1 . 5 6 &# 34 ; o me h 3 r 35 . 6 0 . 15 0 . 6 7 &# 34 ; o h me 3 s 4 . 6 0 . 2 0 . 8 8 &# 34 ; o me me 3 -- 50 . 7 0 . 09 0 . 4 9 &# 34 ; ch . sub . 2 h h 3 -- 3 . 4 0 . 45 2 . 210 &# 34 ; ch . sub . 2 me h 3 rac . 1 . 4 0 . 5 1 . 311 &# 34 ; chme h h 3 rac . 2 . 7 0 . 7 1 . 0 -- &# 34 ; nh h h 4 -- 1 . 5 1 . 4 6 . 8 -- &# 34 ; nh h h 3 -- 32 . 5 20 70 -- cy nh h h 4 -- n . d . 10 40______________________________________ n . d . = not determined ; rac . = racemic mixture . the methods of assay used in connection with the table are substantially as described for the majority of compounds in gb - a 2 , 253 , 851 , using human sources of the enzymes . thus , for hydroxylase determinations , the microsomal preparation , prepared according to s . e . bartie et al ., 3 . steroid biochem . 33 , 1191 - 1195 ( 1979 ) which refers back to f . l . chasalow , 3 . biol . chem . 254 , 3000 - 3005 ( 1979 ), in 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 7 . 4 , was added to the other components of the reaction mixture . the mixture consisted of 250 μm nadph , 10 mm d - glucose 6 - phosphate , 3u / ml . d - glucose 6 - phosphate dehydrogenase , 1 mm mgcl 2 , 0 . 1 mm dithiothreitol , 0 . 2 mm edta , 3 μm 3 h - progesterone ( 1 mci / μmol ), 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer ph 7 . 4 , the compound under test dissolved in 50 % dmso , 1 % dmso ( final concentration ), 1 % ethanol and the microsomal preparation diluted with the buffer , in a total volume of 100 μl . in the hydroxylase assay , the &# 34 ; nucleosil &# 34 ; pre - column for separation of steroids was also &# 34 ; c18 &# 34 ;. in the lyase assay , the reaction was stopped after 1 / 2 hour . in the hplc , ignore the diameter given for the pell column , the &# 34 ; ecoscint a &# 34 ; contained 5 % methanol and 5 % acetonitrile ( not 10 % methanol ). the enzyme activity was measured from 3 ( not 4 ) concentrations of compound . the resistance of the esters of examples 1 - 8 to hydrolytic cleavage was measured by the method of r . mccague et al ., ( 1990 ) supra . it was found that the compounds of examples 4 and 8 in which r 1 = r 2 = methyl were considerably more resistant to cleavage than the other esters . these compounds also had low lyase : aromatase inhibition ratios .	2
as mentioned above , there are various factors limiting the performance of hdmi cables , whether a pure electrical cable or a combination of optical fibers and copper wires ( i . e ., an “ active ” hdmi cable ). the fiber - based connection of the present invention addresses these concerns by providing the ability to simultaneously transmit all three channels of the tmds data signals over a single optical fiber without the use of multiple wavelengths or serdes components by , instead , performing a pulse amplitude modulation ( pam ) conversion on the tmds data channels and transmitting the pam signal over an optical fiber . reference is made to fig2 , which illustrates an active hmdi cable connection 10 that is proposed for use in place of hdmi cable 4 of the prior art . as will become apparent during the course of the following discussion , inventive hdmi cable connection 10 may be used as a direct replacement for existing hdmi cables ( electrical cables or active cables ) deployed in various systems . referring to fig2 , active hdmi cable connection 10 is shown as including an optical fiber 12 to transmit channels 0 , 1 and 2 of the tmds data ( these three channels are shown in a dotted box in fig1 ) as a pam - 8 optical signal . in particular , tmds channels 0 , 1 and 2 as created by hdmi transmitter 3 ( see fig1 ) are first applied as an input to a phase alignment element 14 ( which may comprise , for example , a d - type flip - flop circuit arrangement ). the operation of phase alignment element 14 is controlled by tmds clk to create a set of aligned data signals , shown as bit - 0 , bit - 1 and bit - 2 , at the output of phase alignment element 14 . the phase - aligned streams represented as bit - 0 , bit - 1 and bit - 2 are then applied as separate electrical inputs to an optical pulse amplitude modulator 16 . a continuous wave ( cw ) optical source 18 operating at a known wavelength λ is used to supply an optical input signal i to modulator 16 . as will be described below , modulator 16 functions to create a pulse amplitude modulated ( pam ) optical output signal that is representative of the values of the original three electrical input signals — that is , representative of tmds channels 0 , 1 and 2 . in this case , a pam - 8 configuration is utilized , meaning that a total of 8 different amplitude levels are required to completely define all the various possibilities of the three digital input streams . the output pam - 8 optical signal from modulator 16 is thereafter applied as an input to an optical fiber 12 , where optical fiber 12 is defined as one component of active hdmi cable connection 10 . the remaining signals , including tmds clk , ground , power , and the like , are transmitted in electric form over copper wires 20 also included in active hdmi cable connection 10 . the use of an active hdmi cable including both copper and fiber for connection 10 allows for the phase alignment , encoding and decoding at both the transmit and receive sides of the cable to be simplified , without sacrificing on the distance travelled by the signals , the signal integrity , or requiring additional / complicated circuitry to perform signal processing / filtering to removing timing jitter . indeed , by using this technique of transmitting only the tmds channels 0 , 1 and 2 over an optical fiber , the electronics continue to operate at the 3 . 4 gbps rate , as compared to the 10 . 2 gbps rate required for the serdes implementation mentioned above . at the receive side , the pam - 8 signal propagating along optical fiber 12 is first re - converted into the electrical domain within an optical - to - electrical ( o / e ) conversion device 22 and then applied as an electrical input to a 3 - bit a / d converter 24 to recover the digital data signals bit - 0 , bit - 1 and bit - 2 , as controlled by the received ( electrical ) tmds clk signal . thereafter , the clocked data bits are applied as separate inputs to a tmds output driver 26 to recover the original three tmds data channels . fig3 illustrates an exemplary pam - 8 optical modulator 16 that may be used to convert the phase - aligned bit - 0 , bit - 1 and bit - 2 representations of the tmds data channels into a phase amplitude modulated optical output signal . in this particular embodiment , modulator 16 comprises a multi - segment mach - zehnder interferometer ( mzi ) 30 . as shown , optical input signal i from source 18 is supplied to an incoming optical waveguide 32 , which then splits along a pair of waveguide arms 34 and 36 . in this case , a differential mzi is shown , with a plurality of segments formed along both waveguide arms 34 and 36 . that is , a first set of segments 38 - 1 , 38 - 2 and 38 - 3 are formed along waveguide arm 34 and a second set of segments 40 - 1 , 40 - 2 and 40 - 3 are formed along waveguide arm 36 . phase - aligned data streams defined as bit - 0 , bit - 1 and bit - 2 are shown as applied as the electrical inputs to segments 38 - 1 , 38 - 2 and 38 - 3 , respectively , with their inverse values similarly applied as inputs to segments 40 - 1 , 40 - 2 and 40 - 3 . the presence of these electrical signals will modify the properties of the optical signals propagating along arms 34 and 36 , introducing a fixed amount of phase delay between the signals propagating along each arm as a function of the logic “ 0 ” or logic “ 1 ” values of each bit at each point in time . these optical signals thereafter recombine along an output optical waveguide 42 to form the pam - 8 optical output signal o . a complete discussion on the use of an mzi to create such a pam optical output signal can be found in u . s . pat . no . 7 , 483 , 597 issued to k . shastri et al . on jan . 27 , 2009 , assigned to the assignee of this application and hereby incorporated by reference . it is also possible to further encode the phase - aligned set of three bit streams to create a plurality of n separate data bit streams and utilized the n separate streams as input to a pam modulator . by increasing the number of electrical inputs ( and also , perhaps , increasing the number of segments forming an mzi modulator ), the pam output signal will be defined at an increased level of precision by improving the linearity of the transfer function of the phase response . fig4 illustrates this aspect of the present invention , where phase - aligned signals bit - 0 , bit - 1 and bit - 2 are first applied as inputs to an encoder 42 that is used to introduce an additional level of differentiation between the signals and generate an increased number of output ( still phase aligned ) data streams . in a simple arrangement , encoder 42 may generate a set of four output signals from the three input signals and an associated mzi would be formed to include an additional segment to receive the additional input . while the arrangement of fig3 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention utilizing an mzi optical modulator , it is to be understood that there are other types of optical arrangements that may also be used to create the pam - 8 output signal . for example , as mentioned above , a directly - modulated vcsel source may be used to generate the desired pam - 8 optical output signal . as mentioned above , it is also possible to first create a pam - 8 signal in the electrical domain , directly from the phase - aligned bit - 0 , bit - 1 and bit - 2 signals . fig5 illustrates this aspect of the present invention , where a digital - to - analog converter ( dac ) 50 is used to create a pam - 8 output signal from the parallel bit streams . this electrical pam - 8 signal is then applied as an input to an electrical - to - optical ( e / o ) conversion element 52 , which may simply comprise a lasing device . the output signal from e / o device 52 is therefore an optical version of the pam - 8 signal , which is thereafter coupled into optical fiber 12 in the same manner as described above . when compared to implementations requiring the use of serdes , the pam - 8 rate as used in the various embodiments of the present invention is much lower and enables the use of less expensive multimode fiber without any sacrifice in performance of the system . indeed , the active hdmi cable of the present invention may be used as a plug - in replacement for any conventional hdmi cable already in use . utilizing multimode fiber also has the extra benefit of providing greater tolerances for optical alignment , enabling lower cost , high volume manufacturing . the proposed arrangement of the present invention has the further advantage of extending the span over which the hdmi tmds signals can travel to distances beyond 100 meters , depending upon the fiber type and various other operating parameters . indeed , when using single mode fiber in place of multimode fiber , much greater distances can easily be achieved . the fiber itself will , in most cases , comprise a glass ( silica - based ) material . however , it is also possible to use certain polymer ( plastic ) materials in the formation of an optical fiber for this purpose . while the present invention has been described with reference to different embodiments thereof , those skilled in the art will recognize that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention . accordingly , the invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification , but only as indicated in the claims appended hereto .	6
referring to fig1 and 2 , a manufacturing method in accordance with the invention is adapted for manufacturing , for example , but not limited to , mems ( microelectrical - mechanical system ) microphone packages . this manufacturing method includes the following steps : at first , in step s 1 , prepare a metallic plate 10 , which comprises a plurality of cover portions 13 arranged in an array , each cover portion having a sound hole 11 for the passing of sound waves , and a bridge portion 15 connecting the cover portions 13 . there are no special restrictions on the material of the metallic plate 10 . materials commonly seen in electronic packaging can be selectively used . according to this embodiment , the metallic plate 10 is prepared by using the method illustrated in fig3 and fig5 - 10 . detailedly speaking , the preparation of the metallic plate 10 includes sub - steps of s 11 - 15 , as shown in fig3 . during sub - step s 11 , as shown in fig5 , forming a release layer 51 on the surface of a substrate 50 , and then forming an array of spaced insulative blocks 53 on the release layer 51 . the substrate 50 can be a silicon substrate , metallic substrate , glass substrate or plastic substrate . preferably , the substrate 50 is a silicon substrate . the release layer 51 can be selected from the group of thermal tape , uv tape , photoresist , metal material and dielectric material . the insulative blocks 53 are preferably prepared using photoresist . thereafter , proceed to sub - step s 12 . during sub - step s 12 , as illustrated in fig5 , form a seed layer 55 on the release layer 51 and the insulative blocks 53 , enabling the seed layer 55 to provide a plurality of protrusions 551 corresponding to the insulative blocks 53 for forming the said cover portions 13 and a plurality of connection portions 553 connected with the protrusions 551 for forming the said bridge portion 15 . at this time , the material for the seed layer 55 is preferably selected from the group of chromium / copper ( cr / cu ), titanium / copper ( ti / cu ) and titanium tungsten / copper ( tiw / cu ). thereafter , proceed to sub - step s 13 . during sub - step s 13 , as illustrated in fig6 , form a plurality of insulative blocks 57 on the protrusions 551 of the seed layer 55 for forming the said sound holes 11 . at this time , these insulative blocks 57 are preferably prepared using photoresist , and the size of these insulative blocks 57 must be relatively smaller than the size of the aforesaid insulative blocks 53 . thereafter , proceed to sub - step s 14 . during sub - step s 14 , as illustrated in fig7 , electroplate a metallic layer 59 on the seed layer 55 for forming the aforesaid metallic plate 10 , leaving the insulative blocks 57 exposed to the outside . at this time , the metallic layer 59 is preferably selected from the group of nickel ( ni ), copper ( cu ) and nickel - chrome alloy ( nico ). thereafter , proceed to the last sub - step s 15 , during this last sub - step s 15 , remove the substrate 50 and the release layer 51 ( see fig8 ), and then remove the insulative blocks 53 57 ( see fig9 ), and then remove the seed layer 55 ( see fig1 ), thereby obtaining the desired metallic plate 10 , which comprises an array of cover portions 13 each cover portion provided with a sound hole 11 , and a bridge portion 15 connecting the cover portions 13 . there are no special restrictions on removing the insulative 53 ; 57 and the seed layer 55 . removing the insulative 53 57 and the seed layer 55 can be achieved using conventional techniques , for example , using a stripper to remove the insulative 53 ; 57 and employing an etching technique to remove the seed layer 55 . after preparation of the metallic plate 10 , proceed to step s 2 . during step s 2 , as shown in fig1 and 2 , solder the metallic plate 10 to a circuit board 20 having a plurality of encapsulated areas ( not shown ) corresponding to the cover portions 13 , enabling the cover portions 13 to cover the respective encapsulated areas . during this step , the metallic plate 10 is soldered to a circuit board 20 by means of ( but not limited to ) applying a solder 30 , for example , tin paste to the metallic plate 10 and then employing a reflow soldering technique . in actual practice , the solder material 30 can also be applied to the circuit board 20 . at final , proceed to step s 3 . during step s 3 , cut the metallic plate 10 and the circuit board 20 along the bridge portion 15 , thereby obtaining multiple electronic packages 40 . because the aforesaid embodiment is an example of the present invention for manufacturing mems ( microelectrical - mechanical system ) microphone packages , each cover portion 13 of the metallic plate 10 must provide a sound hole 11 for the passing of sound waves . however , in actual application , the metallic plate 10 can be prepared without the aforesaid sound holes 11 . detailedly speaking , the preparation of the metallic plate 10 can be alternatively achieved subject to the manufacturing flow chart shown in fig4 . after formation of the structure shown in fig5 subject to the sub - steps of s 11 and s 12 , proceed to sub - step s 13 ′ to electroplate a metallic layer 59 on the seed layer 55 , and then proceed to sub - step 14 ′ to remove the substrate 50 and release layer 51 , the insulative blocks 53 and the seed layer 55 , thereby obtaining the desired metallic plate 10 . it is to be noted that the configuration of the metallic plate 10 used in the manufacturing method of the present invention is not limited to the aforesaid example . in other alternate forms shown in fig1 a and 12b , the metallic plate 10 further comprises a plurality of through holes 17 located on the bridge portion 15 to reduce material consumption for the metallic layer 59 for forming the metallic plate 10 and the stress - induced deformation in soldering the metallic plate 10 to the circuit board 20 , facilitating the follow - up cutting process . in more detail , perform sub - steps s 11 - s 13 to form the structure shown in fig6 , and then , as shown in fig1 , form insulative blocks 58 on the connection portions 553 of the seed layer 55 for forming the through holes 17 ( only on insulative block is shown in the drawing ), and then electroplate the metallic layer 59 on the seed layer 55 for forming the aforesaid metallic plate 10 , leaving the insulative blocks 57 ; 58 exposed to the outside , and then remove the substrate 50 , the release layer 51 , the insulative blocks 53 ; 57 ; 58 and the seed layer 55 , thereby obtaining the desired metallic plate 10 , as shown in fig1 a and 12b . further , the through holes 17 can be , but not limited to , circular or oblong through holes configured subject to the configuration of the insulative blocks 58 . further , during the preparation of the metallic plate 10 , the seed layer 55 can be made to provide the protrusions 551 and the connection portions 553 subject to the following procedures . in more detail , as shown in fig1 , the release layer 51 ′ that is formed on the substrate 50 comprises a plurality of protrusions 511 arranged in an array and a plurality of connection portions 513 connecting the protrusions 511 . after formation of the release layer 51 ′ on the substrate 50 , form the seed layer 55 on the release layer 51 ′, wherein the seed layer 55 comprises a plurality of protrusions 551 corresponding to the protrusions 511 of the release layer 51 ′, and a plurality of connection portions 553 corresponding to the connection portions 513 of the release layer 51 ′. alternatively , as shown in fig1 , use a substrate 50 ′ comprising an array of protrusions 501 and a plurality of connection portions 503 connecting the protrusions 501 , and then form the seed layer 55 on the release layer 51 , wherein the seed layer 55 comprises a plurality of protrusions 551 corresponding to the protrusions 511 of the release layer 51 , and a plurality of connection portions 553 corresponding to the connection portions 513 of the release layer 51 . it is to be noted that the preparation of the metallic plate 10 is not limited to the aforesaid methods ; die - casting or stamping techniques may be employed to make the metallic plate 10 . in conclusion , the invention is to directly stack a metallic cover array - like metallic plate 10 having an array of cover portions 13 on a printed circuit board having multiple encapsulating areas . when compared to conventional techniques , the invention enables multiple cover portions to be accurately positioned on a printed circuit board , effectively shortening the manufacturing time , reducing the manufacturing cost and simplifying the manufacturing process . although particular embodiments of the invention have 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 .	8
turning to fig1 , a financial transaction authorization system , denoted generally as 100 , is shown comprising an identity proofing system 120 , and a financial transaction executive facility 500 in communication with the identity proofing system 120 . as will be described , when used in the context of the financial transaction authorization system 100 , the identity proofing system 120 provides an identity confidence level which the financial transaction executive facility 500 uses ( typically amongst other parameters ) to authorize a financial lending transaction . however , the invention is not limited to this context , but instead may be used in other environments where a confidence level of the identity of a user is desired . by way of example , the identity proofing system 120 may be configured to provide an identity confidence level for use in the context of approving a passport application , a driver &# 39 ; s license application , or providing access to a secure database , a web site , or a communications device . the identity proofing system 120 comprises a credential management facility 200 , a plurality of credential sample acquisition facilities 300 , an identity scoring facility 400 , a personal communications device 102 , a primary network 104 , and a secondary network 106 . although the financial transaction authorization system 100 is shown including two credential sample acquisition facilities 300 , the financial transaction authorization system 100 may instead include more than two credential sample acquisition facilities 300 , or only one credential sample acquisition facility 300 . preferably , the credential management facility 200 , the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 , and the identity scoring facility 400 are deployed on distinct computer servers . however , one or more of these facilities may be integrated onto a common computer server . the personal communications device 102 typically comprises a wireless or wired telephone handset . however , other forms of communications devices are contemplated , including a personal computer , and a personal data assistant ( pda ), provided that the communications device allows the user thereof to provide a biometric sample . the primary network 104 interconnects , and facilitates communication between , the financial transaction executive facility 500 and the identity scoring facility 400 of the identity proofing system 120 . the primary network 104 also interconnects , and facilitates communication between , the credential management facility 200 , the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 , and the identity scoring facility 400 . preferably , the primary network 104 comprises an internet protocol ( ip )- based network . however , the primary network 104 is not limited to any particular form of network , as long as the primary network 104 facilities communication between the facilities 200 , 300 , 400 , 500 . the secondary network 106 interconnects , and facilitates communication between , the identity scoring facility 400 , one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 , and the personal communications device 102 . preferably , the secondary network 106 comprises a telephony network . however , are network forms are contemplated , including ip - based network , provided that the secondary network 106 facilities communication between the identity scoring facility 400 , the credential sample acquisition facility 300 and the personal communications device 102 . the credential management facility 200 is a computer server repository having a database of reference credential records 202 for all the users registered with the financial transaction authorization system 100 . as will be explained , the identity scoring facility 400 uses the reference credential records 202 to verify the identity of a user of the financial transaction authorization system 100 . each credential record 202 is uniquely associated with a specific registered user , and includes both non - biometric credential data and biometric credential data . preferably , the non - biometric credential data of each credential record 202 includes the user &# 39 ; s name , mailing address , and one or more network addresses at which the user can be contacted via the personal communications device 102 . alternately , the non - biometric credential data may specify that the user will initiate communication with one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 using the personal communications device 102 at the specified network address . the network addresses are uniquely associated with the registered user , and will typically include a telephone number , a pager number , an e - mail address , a dedicated ip address , and / or a sms address assigned to the registered user . in addition , the non - biometric credential data may also include the day / time ( specified either as an absolute time or a relative time ) at which the user can be contacted at each network address ( or from which the user will contact the credential sample acquisition facility 300 ); the number of contact attempts for each network address ; and / or a secret question and answer ( known to the user ). preferably , the biometric credential data of each credential record 202 includes a digitized human - verifiable biometric , and one or more digitized electronically - verifiable biometrics . however , the invention is not limited to this number of biometrics . accordingly , each credential record 202 can include more or less than the foregoing number of biometrics , provided that the credential record 202 includes at least one electronically - verifiable biometric . typically , the human - verifiable biometric is a digitized picture of the registered user , and the electronically - verifiable biometrics include a digitized fingerprint and a digitized voice - sample of the registered user . ideally , the biometric credential data of each credential record 202 includes an index that is uniquely associated with the electronically - verifiable biometrics . preferably , the index is generated using a suitable hash algorithm which has , as its inputs , several artifacts ( points of interest ) of the respective electronically - verifiable biometrics . the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 are configured to acquire and / or provide credential samples of a user of the financial transaction authorization system 100 . as shown in fig2 , preferably each credential sample acquisition facility 300 is provided as an electronic data terminal , and comprises a display device 302 , and a data processing unit 306 connected to the display device 302 . the data processing unit 306 includes a primary network interface ( not shown ) that interfaces the credential sample acquisition facility 300 to the primary network 104 , and a secondary network interface ( not shown ) that interfaces the credential sample acquisition facility 300 to the secondary network 106 . in addition , preferably the credential sample acquisition facility 300 includes one or more non - biometric sample acquisition devices and one or more biometric sample acquisition devices connected to the data processing unit 306 . in fig2 , the non - biometric sample acquisition devices include a keyboard 304 , and a smartcard reader 316 ; and the biometric sample acquisition devices include a digital camera 308 , a fingerprint scanner 310 , an optical image scanner 312 , and a microphone 314 ( or other similar voice - sample recording device ). as will become apparent , the credential sample acquisition facility 300 acquires credential samples from the non - biometric and biometric sample acquisition devices over a communications channel that is local to the data processing unit 306 . the credential sample acquisition facility 300 acquires credential samples from the personal communications device 102 over a communications channel that is remote from the data processing unit 306 . the identity scoring facility 400 interfaces with the credential management facility 200 and the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 over the primary network 104 , and is configured to provide the financial transaction executive facility 500 with an indication ( ultimate identity proof score ) of the level of confidence in the alleged identity of a user of the financial transaction authorization system 100 . however , as discussed above , the identity scoring facility 400 is not limited for use in authorizing a financial transaction , but may be deployed in other environments where a confidence level of the identity of a user is desired . as shown in fig3 , the identity scoring facility 400 is provided as a computer server , and comprises a data processing unit 402 , and a network interface 404 that interfaces the data processing unit 402 to the primary network 104 . the data processing unit 402 includes a non - volatile memory ( rom ) 406 , a volatile memory ( ram ) 408 , and a central processor ( cpu ) 410 coupled to the rom 406 and the ram 408 . the rom 406 includes computer processing instructions which , when loaded into the ram 408 and executed by the cpu 410 , define in the ram 408 a first credential sample acquisition procedure 412 , a second credential sample acquisition procedure 414 , and an identity proofing procedure 416 . the first credential sample acquisition procedure 412 configures the identity scoring facility 400 to receive from a user of the financial transaction authorization system 100 a first credential over a first communications channel , and to determine a second communications channel that is different from the first communications channel and is provisionally associated with the first credential . the first credential is provisionally associated with an identity . preferably , the first credential includes a first biometric . the second credential sample acquisition procedure 414 configures the identity scoring facility 400 to receive a second credential over the second communications channel . the second received credential includes a second biometric . the identity proofing procedure 416 is in communication with the sample acquisition procedures and the credential management facility , and configures the identity scoring facility 400 to authenticate the provisional identity of the user in accordance with a verification of the second credential . to do so , the identity proofing procedure 416 generates a first identity proof score from the first received credential and a first reference credential stored in the credential management facility 200 , generates a second identity proof score from the second received credential and a second referenced credential stored in the credential management facility 200 , and generates an ultimate identity proof score from the first identity proof score and the second identity proof score . the first identity proof score is indicative of a first correlation level between the first credential and the first reference credential . the second identity proof score is indicative of a second correlation level between the second biometric credential and the second reference biometric . the ultimate identity proof score is indicative of a confidence level in a correlation between the received credentials and the provisional identity of the user . depending on the configuration , the identity proofing procedure 416 may generate the second identity proof score either subsequently or concurrently with the first identity proof score . the operation of the first credential sample acquisition procedure 412 , the first credential sample acquisition procedure 414 , and the identity proofing procedure 416 will be discussed in greater detail with reference to fig7 . the financial transaction executive facility 500 interfaces with the identity proofing system 120 , and receives the ultimate identity proof score from the identity scoring facility 400 via the primary network 104 . preferably , the financial transaction executive facility 500 is provided as a computer server that is operated by a financial institution , and is used by the financial institution to assist with the authorization of a financial lending transaction requested by the user . to assist with the authorization step , the financial institution will use the ultimate identity proof score received from the identity scoring facility 400 . however , as will be apparent , typically the financial institution will base the transaction authorization step on a number of factors in addition to the ultimate identity proof score , including ( but not limited to ) credit rating , type of transaction ( e . g . secured , unsecured ), and monetary sum involved in the transaction . the method by which the financial transaction authorization system 100 authorizes a financial lending transaction will now be discussed generally first , with reference to fig4 , followed subsequently by a more detailed explanation with reference to fig7 . as will be apparent , the following method is not limited to the authorization of financial lending transactions , but can be applied to other scenarios where proof of identity of an individual is required . at step 502 , the first credential sample acquisition procedure 412 of the identity scoring facility 400 receives a first credential from a user of the financial transaction authorization system 100 ( via one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 ). typically , the first received credential includes a first biometric . at step 504 , the second credential sample acquisition procedure 414 of the identity scoring facility 400 receives a second credential from the personal communications device 102 ( via one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 ). typically , the second received credential includes a second biometric . at step 506 , the identity proofing procedure 416 of the identity scoring facility 400 generates a first identity proof score from the first received credential and a first reference credential reference credential stored in the credential management facility 200 . the identity proofing procedure 416 also generates a second identity proof score from the second received credential and a second reference credential stored in the credential management facility 200 . the first identity proof score is indicative of a first correlation level between the first credential and the first reference credential . the second identity proof score is indicative of a second correlation level between the second biometric credential and the second reference biometric . the identity scoring facility 400 may generate the second identity proof score either subsequently or concurrently with the first identity proof score . at step 508 , the identity proofing procedure 416 generates an ultimate identity proof score from the first identity proof score and the second identity proof score . the ultimate identity proof score is indicative of a confidence level in a correlation between the received credentials and the provisional identity of the user . at step 510 , the financial transaction executive facility 500 either authorizes or disallows the financial lending transaction based on at least the ultimate identity proof score . as discussed above , typically the financial transaction executive facility 500 will base the transaction authorization step on a number of factors in addition to the ultimate identity proof score , such as credit rating , type of transaction , and monetary sum . the method by which the identity scoring facility 400 authenticates the identity of a user of the identity proofing system 120 will now be discussed generally with reference to fig5 , followed subsequently by a more detailed explanation with reference to fig7 . at step 520 , the first credential sample acquisition procedure 412 of the identity scoring facility 400 receives a first credential over a first communications channel , and determines a second communications channel provisionally associated with the first credential . the second communications channel is different from the first communications channel , and the first credential is provisionally associated with the user . at step 522 , the second credential sample acquisition procedure 414 of the identity scoring facility 400 receives a second credential over the second communications channel . at step 524 , the identity proofing procedure 416 authenticates the identity of the user in accordance with a verification of the second credential . to authenticate the identity of a user , the user must first register with the identity proofing system 120 . the method by which a user registers with the identity proofing system 120 will now be discussed in detail , with reference to fig6 . a prospective user initiates registration with the identity proofing system 120 by attending at the premises of an authorized human agent , and providing the agent with a first reference credential ( comprising non - biometric credential data and biometric credential data ). initially , the prospective user will be asked to provide the non - biometric credential data , at step 600 . for this purpose , preferably the prospective user provides the agent with the user &# 39 ; s name , mailing address , and one or more network addresses at which the user can be contacted via the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 ( such as the user &# 39 ; s telephone number , e - mail address , dedicated ip address , and / or sms address ). alternately , the prospective user provides the agent with one or more network addresses from which the user will initiate communication with one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 . as will be discussed , each network address will be used to establish a communications channel with the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 over which the prospective user will provide a second credential sample . further , preferably each network address is such that communication between the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 and the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 does not occur at the premises of the authorized human agent , but instead occurs at a location other than the agent &# 39 ; s premises . further , preferably the prospective user also provides the agent with the day / time ( specified either as an absolute time or a relative time ) at which the user can be contacted at each network address ( or from which the user will contact the credential sample acquisition facility 300 ), and the number of contact attempts for each network address , a secret question and answer ( known to the user ). the agent typically inputs this reference data into the credential sample acquisition facility 300 via the keyboard 304 or the smartcard reader 316 . the credential sample acquisition facility 300 then prompts the prospective user to provide the biometric credential data of the first reference credential via one or more of the biometric sample acquisition devices . preferably the biometric credential data includes a digitized human - verifiable biometric . accordingly , at step 602 preferably the credential sample acquisition facility 300 prompts the prospective user to provide the agent with a human - verifiable biometric . typically , the human - verifiable biometric is a picture of the prospective user , which the agent digitally captures using the digital camera 308 , or the optical image scanner 312 ( if the image is provided on a government - issued instrument of identification , such as a driver &# 39 ; s license or passport ). after the credential sample acquisition facility 300 has acquired the human - verifiable biometric , the credential sample acquisition facility 300 prompts the prospective user to provide the agent with a second reference credential ( comprising one or more digitized electronically - verifiable biometrics ). accordingly , at step 604 the credential sample acquisition facility 300 prompts the prospective user to provide the agent with one or more biometrics via one or more of the biometric sample acquisition devices . typically , the electronically - verifiable biometrics include a fingerprint and / or a voice - sample of the prospective user , which the agent digitally captures using the fingerprint scanner 310 and the microphone 314 , respectively . alternately , the user may provide the electronically - verifiable biometric from a communications device over a communications channel that is separate from the data processing unit 306 , but while the user is still in the presence of the agent . for instance , the user may provide a voice sample from the agent &# 39 ; s telephone , which communicates with another credential sample acquisition facility 300 . after the credential sample acquisition facility 300 has acquired the electronically - verifiable biometrics , the credential sample acquisition facility 300 opens a first communications channel with the identity scoring facility 400 via the primary network 104 , and transmits the first and second reference credentials to the identity scoring facility 400 over the first communications channel . in effect , the first communications channel is established between the biometric sample acquisition devices and the identity scoring facility 400 , with the credential sample acquisition facility 300 acting as a buffer or intermediary between the biometric sample acquisition devices and the identity scoring facility 400 . the identity scoring facility 400 then queries the credential management facility 200 to verify that the credential management facility 200 does not include an existing reference credential record 202 for the identified user . to do so , at step 606 preferably the identity scoring facility 400 generates a search key that is uniquely associated with the electronically - verifiable biometrics that were acquired by the credential sample acquisition facility 300 at step 604 . preferably , each search key is generated using a suitable hash algorithm which has , as its inputs , several artifacts ( points of interest ) of the respective electronically - verifiable biometrics . the identity scoring facility 400 then queries the credential management facility 200 with the search key , at step 608 . if credential management facility 200 contains a reference credential record 202 whose index key matches the search key ( i . e . the user has already registered with the identity proofing system 120 ), at step 610 the identity scoring facility 400 notifies the agent accordingly by causing the credential sample acquisition facility 300 to display a suitable message on the display device 302 . however , if the user has not already registered , at step 612 the identity scoring facility 400 then commands the credential management facility 200 to verify that the user &# 39 ; s non - biometric credentials ( e . g . name / address combination and network addresses ) are uniquely associated with the user ( i . e . the credential management facility 200 does not include any credential records 202 having the specified non - biometric credentials ). if one or more of the non - biometric credentials are already included in the credential management facility 200 , the identity scoring facility 400 notifies the agent accordingly , at step 610 . if the user has not already registered , and the specified non - biometric credentials are not already included in the credential management facility 200 , at step 614 preferably the identity scoring facility 400 then opens a second communications channel by causing one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 to initiate communication ( over the secondary network 106 ) with the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 at the network address specified in the non - biometric credential data . alternately , depending on the configuration , the identity scoring facility 400 may configure one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 to accept a communication on the second communications channel ( over the secondary network 106 ) from the personal communications device 102 at the specified network address . for instance , if the network address is the user &# 39 ; s telephone number , the identity scoring facility 400 communicates with the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 either by initiating a telephone call to the specified telephone number , or by receiving a telephone call from the specified telephone number . further , if included in the non - biometric credential data , the credential sample acquisition facility 300 initiates ( or recognizes ) this communication only at the specified day / time or the predetermined elapsed time after the identity scoring facility 400 receives the first and second credential . after the second communications channel is opened ( either by the identity scoring facility 400 or the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 ), a human agent of the identity proofing system 120 ( not necessarily the same agent referenced in steps 600 to 610 ) speaks through the microphone 314 of the credential sample acquisition facility 300 , prompting the user for the user &# 39 ; s name , mailing address , and optionally the answer to the user &# 39 ; s secret question . if correct , the agent inputs a confirmation message into the credential sample acquisition facility 300 via the keyboard 304 , which prompts the user to provide one or more samples of the second credentials via the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 , at step 616 . typically , the user will provide a voice - sample , however if the personal communications device 102 includes a fingerprint scanner , the user may instead provide a fingerprint sample . the credential sample acquisition facility 300 then transmits the electronically - verifiable biometric sample ( received at step 616 ) to the identity scoring facility 400 via the primary network 104 . accordingly , in effect , the second communications channel is established between the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 and the identity scoring facility 400 , with the credential sample acquisition facility 300 acting as a buffer or intermediary between the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 and the identity scoring facility 400 . upon receipt of the electronically - verifiable biometric sample ( s ), at step 618 the identity scoring facility 400 electronically compares the received biometric sample ( s ) against the electronically - verifiable reference biometric ( s ) previously acquired by the credential sample acquisition facility 300 at step 604 . if the received electronically - verifiable biometric sample ( s ) does not correlate with the previously - received electronically - verifiable reference biometric ( s ) within a predetermined tolerance , at step 620 the identity scoring facility 400 notifies the agent by causing the credential sample acquisition facility 300 to display a suitable message on the display device 302 . however , if the received electronically - verifiable biometric sample ( s ) does correlate with the previously - received electronically - verifiable reference biometric ( s ) within the predetermined tolerance , at step 622 the identity scoring facility 400 completes the registration process by transmitting the received first and second credentials data ( acquired at steps 600 to 604 ) to the credential management facility 200 , together with the index key ( if generated ), and causing the credential management facility 200 to create a reference credential record 202 containing the credential data and the associated search key . then , at step 624 , the identity scoring facility 400 notifies the agent that registration was successful by causing the credential sample acquisition facility 300 to display a suitable message on the display device 302 . the method by which the identity scoring facility 400 authenticates the identity of a user of the identity proofing system 120 will now be discussed in detail , with reference to fig7 . at step 700 , a user seeking to initiate or complete a financial lending transaction with the financial transaction authorization system 100 attends at the premises of an authorized human agent of the identity proofing system 120 , and provides the agent with a first credential ( comprising a non - biometric credential data sample and a biometric credential data sample ). at this point , the first credential is only “ provisionally ” associated with the identity of the user , in the sense that subsequent validation steps must be performed to validate the association between the first credential and the identity . initially , the user provides the agent with the non - biometric credential data sample . for this purpose , preferably the user provides the agent with the user &# 39 ; s name , and mailing address . the agent typically inputs this data sample into the credential sample acquisition facility 300 via the keyboard 304 or the smartcard reader 316 . at step 702 , the credential sample acquisition facility 300 then opens a first communications channel with the identity scoring facility 400 via the primary network 104 , and transmits the received non - biometric credential data sample to the identity scoring facility 400 via the first communications channel . at step 704 , the first credential sample acquisition procedure 412 on the identity scoring facility 400 receives the non - biometric credential data sample , and then queries the credential management facility 200 ( typically using the user &# 39 ; s name / address combination ) for an existing reference credential record 202 for the specified user . if the credential management facility 200 does not include a matching credential record 202 for the specified user , at step 706 the identity scoring facility 400 notifies the agent by causing the credential sample acquisition facility 300 to display a suitable message on the display device 302 . however , if the credential management facility 200 includes a matching credential record 202 for the specified user , at step 708 the credential management facility 200 transmits the located credential record 202 to the identity scoring facility 400 . at step 710 , the identity scoring facility 400 transmits a suitable message back to the credential sample acquisition facility 300 via the primary network 104 , which causes the credential sample acquisition facility 300 to prompt the user to provide the biometric credential data sample ( of the first credential ) via one or more of the attached biometric sample acquisition devices . preferably the biometric credential data sample requested from the user includes a digitized human - verifiable biometric . further , preferably the message transmitted from the identity scoring facility 400 to the credential sample acquisition facility 300 , at step 710 , includes the human - verifiable biometric that was stored in the corresponding credential record 202 . the credential sample acquisition facility 300 displays the human - verifiable biometric on the display device 302 , which prompts the agent to ask the user to provide the agent with the human - verifiable biometric . typically , the human - verifiable biometric is a picture of the prospective user . at step 712 , the agent manually compares the human - verifiable biometric displayed on the display device 302 against the corresponding biometric provided by the user attending at the agent &# 39 ; s premises ( typically the user &# 39 ; s face ), and generates a numeric certainty factor indicative of the degree of similarity ( in the opinion of the agent ) between the displayed human - verifiable biometric and the corresponding biometric of the user attending at the agent &# 39 ; s premises . the agent inputs the numeric certainty factor into the credential sample acquisition facility 300 ( via the keyboard 304 ), which in turn transmits the numeric certainty factor to the identity scoring facility 400 . upon receipt of the numeric certainty factor , at step 714 the identity proofing procedure 416 on the identity scoring facility 400 generates a first identity proof score from the numeric certainty factor , and from the degree of correspondence between the non - biometric credential data sample provided by the user at step 702 and the non - biometric credential data received at step 708 . the first identity proof score is indicative of a first correlation level between the first ( non - biometric and biometric ) credential and the first reference credential ( as identified in the located credential record 202 ). after the credential sample acquisition facility 300 transmits the non - biometric credential data sample to the identity scoring facility 400 at step 704 , at step 716 the first credential sample acquisition procedure 412 on the identity scoring facility 400 determines the second communications channel over which it should receive the second credential , and then waits for receipt of the second credential over the second communications channel . step 716 can occur either prior or subsequent to step 714 . however , preferably , the second communications channel is not established contemporaneously with steps 700 to 712 , but is instead established significantly after step 712 ( e . g . at least one hour after step 712 ), as determined by the non - biometric credential data of the credential record 202 that was received at step 708 . further , as discussed above , for enhanced security preferably the communication over the second communications channel does not occur at the premises of the authorized human agent , but instead occurs at a location other than the agent &# 39 ; s premises . to determine the appropriate second communications channel , the first credential sample acquisition procedure 412 extracts the network address from the non - biometric credential data of the credential record 202 that was received at step 708 . as will be apparent , the second communications channel is uniquely associated with the non - biometric credential data of the received credential record 202 . however , at this stage , the second communications channel is only “ provisionally ” associated with the first credential , in the sense that the association between the second communications channel and the first credential is not yet confirmed . preferably , the second credential sample acquisition procedure 414 then opens the second communications channel by causing one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 to initiate communication ( over the secondary network 106 ) with the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 at the specified network address . alternately , depending on the configuration , the identity scoring facility 400 may configure one of the credential sample acquisition facilities 300 to accept a communication on the second communications channel ( over the secondary network 106 ) from the personal communications device 102 at the specified network address . for instance , if the network address is the user &# 39 ; s telephone number , the second credential sample acquisition procedure 414 communicates with the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 either by initiating a telephone call to the specified telephone number , or by receiving a telephone call from the specified telephone number . further , if included in the non - biometric credential data of the located credential record 202 , the credential sample acquisition facility 300 initiates ( or recognizes ) this communication only at the specified day / time or a predetermined elapsed time after the identity scoring facility 400 receives the first credential . after the second communications channel is opened ( either by the identity scoring facility 400 or the user &# 39 ; s personal communications device 102 ), the credential sample acquisition facility 300 prompts the user to provide the second credential . in contrast to the first credential , the second credential includes only a biometric sample . further , in contrast to the human - verifiable biometric of the first credential , the second biometric credential is provided via one or more of the attached biometric sample acquisition devices . therefore , the second biometric credential will be digitized by the biometric sample acquisition devices and will , therefore , by electronically verifiable . typically , the user will provide a voice - sample , however if the personal communications device 102 includes a fingerprint scanner , the user may instead provide a fingerprint sample . at step 718 , the personal communications device 102 transmits the electronically - verifiable biometric sample to the credential sample acquisition facility 300 over the second communications channel . the credential sample acquisition facility 300 then transmits the electronically - verifiable biometric sample ( received at step 718 ) to the identity scoring facility 400 . therefore , in effect , the second communications channel is established between the personal communications device 102 and the identity scoring facility 400 , with the credential sample acquisition facility 300 acting as a buffer or intermediary between the personal communications device 102 and the identity scoring facility 400 . upon receipt of the electronically - verifiable biometric sample , at step 720 the identity proofing procedure 416 on the identity scoring facility 400 generates a second identity proof score from the degree of correlation between the electronically - verifiable biometric sample provided by the user at step 718 and the corresponding digitized reference biometric in the credential record 202 returned at step 708 . the second identity proof score is indicative of a second correlation level between the biometric sample received at step 718 and the reference biometric included in the located reference credential record 202 . the identity proofing procedure 416 on the identity scoring facility 400 then generates an ultimate identity proof score from the first and second identity proof scores , at step 722 . the ultimate identity proof score is indicative of a confidence level in the correlation between the identity of the user , and the first and second received credentials . the ultimate identity proof score can be calculated using any suitable algorithm that provides an indication in the degree of confidence that the located credential record 202 was created for the same user that attended at the premises of the agent at step 700 . suitable algorithms for generation of the ultimate identity proof score include a simple average , and weighted computation involving consideration of the inherent reliability of the first and second identity proof scores . for instance , a fingerprint biometric might be weighted more heavily than a voiceprint biometric , which in turn might be weighted more heavily than a picture biometric . alternately , a voiceprint biometric received by a wired personal communications device 102 might be weighted more heavily than a wireless personal communications device 102 . the identity scoring facility 400 then transmits the ultimate identity proof score to the financial transaction executive facility 500 via the primary network 104 . the financial transaction executive facility 500 then either authorizes or disallows the financial lending transaction , at step 724 , based on at least the received ultimate identity proof score . this invention is defined by the claims appended hereto , with the foregoing description being merely illustrative of the preferred embodiment of the invention . persons of ordinary skill may envisage certain modifications to the described embodiment which , although not explicitly suggested herein , do not depart from the scope of the invention , as defined by the appended claims .	7
the present invention provides a novel blood sample device wherein the double - ended needle is completely sheathed in the device until needed for use . the hands or fingers of the user need never approach the needle either to place it into position for use or for resheathing and disposal . the object of the blood collection device is the protection of medical , hospital and clinical users or others who might come in contact with the device and integrated needle after use but prior to disposal . another object of the invention is to provide a blood collection device , having such safety features , and which is highly simplified and therefore , relatively economical to manufacture , convenient to use , reliable in its operation and construction and operable in such a way that the risk of spreading infection with a used device is significantly reduced . other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled - in - the - art from the following detailed description . referring to the drawings in detail , wherein like numbers designate like parts , two main embodiments of the blood collection device are illustrated : an embodiment without a sleeve , fig1 and 2 ; and an embodiment involving an exterior sleeve , fig4 . although the depicted blood collection devices are particularly useful in vacuum tube phlebotomy , i . e ., the drawing one or more samples of blood into individual evacuated blood collection tubes , it will be appreciated that the safety features of the present invention are also applicable to a syringe with which a fluid is administered to a recipient by means of appropriate injection procedures . referring initially to fig1 a side elevation view of the device is depicted , with the double - ended needle retracted in a safety position for handling , shipping and disposal . the numeral 2 designates the integrated double - ended needle and blood collection device . the tube 4 is an elongated rigid cylindrical body having a central longitudinal tube bore 6 . the tube 4 has a closed forward end 8 and a tube forward end portion 10 . the tube 4 also has a tube rear end 12 and a tube rear end portion 14 , with tube side wall 16 connecting tube rear end 12 and tube forward end 8 . within the tube side wall 16 are one or more longitudinal slots , such as longitudinal external slot 18 and longitudinal external slot 20 which are positioned in opposite geometry . longitudinal slots 18 and 20 both include transverse slot extensions 22 , in the forward end portion 10 , which extensions are positioned circumferentially in the same direction from the longitudinal slots . the longitudinal slots 18 and 20 also have rear end portion transverse slot extensions 24 circumferentially extending from the longitudinal slots in the same direction as regard the rear end portion 14 , but which extend in the opposite direction to transverse slot extensions 22 in the forward end portion 10 . the double - ended tubular needle 26 has a forward end 28 and a rear end 30 . a resealable septum or cover 32 encloses the tubular needle rear end 30 . the double - ended tubular needle 26 is mounted centrally and perpendicularly through rigid disc 34 or a similar support member means having a central axis 3 . the rigid disc 34 , as further illustrated in fig4 has arms 38 and 40 extending through longitudinal external slots 18 and 20 and connected to finger tabs 42 . the finger tabs 42 and connecting arms 38 and 40 enable the positioning of the rigid disc 34 and mounted double - ended tubular needle 26 into a retracted and locked position through locking means 44 , whereby the double - ended tubular needle is totally encased within the device . the finger tabs 42 , through arms 38 and 40 , are used to move the rigid disc 34 and double - ended tubular needle 26 forward from the retracted position . the arms are moved through longitudinal external slots 18 and 20 and into the transverse forward slot extensions 22 . the arm means 38 and 40 lock in place through a detaining means 45 wherein the tubular needle forward end 28 is fully extended outside the tube 4 . the finger tabs , arm means and detention means for positioning and securing the needle support member in a rear or forward position can be comprised of several configurations . the slot extensions 22 and 24 can be constructed with detaining means 45 and 44 , respectively , within the transverse extension slot to hold the finger tabs and connected arms in place , yet the arms can be easily unlocked through an upward or downward pressure on the finger tabs . such a locking means is only one example of a simple yet effective method for securing the needle in its rear or forward position . the detaining means depicted in fig1 and 4 involves a projecting portion 45 and 44 in both the forward and rear slot extensions 22 and 24 , respectively , but could alternatively be an indent or notch which secures the arms within the transverse slot extensions . a handling flange 46 can be positioned at the tube rear end 12 and can be placed surrounding the open tube bore 52 . the flange is convenient for handling the device in general and as an aid for inserting and removing an evacuated phlebotomy tube 68 , as shown in fig5 . the tube 4 has a needle sheath 48 on the tube forward end 8 . fig3 illustrates that the needle sheath 48 can optionally include a holding ring 50 which secures a needle sheath cap or cover 64 to the needle sheath when the double - ended tubular needle 26 is fully retracted . the needle sheath 48 , by means of the holding ring 50 , secures the sheath cap 64 by interlocking with an interior groove 66 in the sheath cap . in addition , fig3 illustrates an optional tube rear end cap 56 locked in place through the operation of a cap securing lip 54 which when combined with the tube rear handling flange 46 fixes the tube rear end cap to the device for handling and / or disposal . optionally , the tube rear end cap 56 is joined to the sheath cap 64 by a flexible connector 60 . the tube rear end cap 56 is shown to be larger in size than handling flange 46 , allowing the tube rear end cap to cover the handling flange and be secured by means of a snap - fit mechanism . in an alternative embodiment , a snap - fit cap , could involve an inside fitting means , not shown . in fig4 a perspective view is shown of the apparatus including an exterior tube sleeve 41 having sleeve longitudinal slots 43 . the sleeve longitudinal slots 43 are coradial and adjacent to and of equal length to longitudinal slots 18 and 20 in the tube side wall 16 . there are no transverse slot extensions present in the exterior sleeve 41 . the double - ended needle forward end 28 is shown as fully extended from the needle sheath 48 . the finger tabs 42 are depicted in an unlocked position , as the exterior sleeve 41 has not been turned to allow the arm into the slot extensions 22 and into contact with the detention means 45 . in one embodiment of the invention , the novel blood collection device includes the rotatable sleeve positioned inside the needle tube bore . an alternative embodiment involves the use of the rotatable sleeve on the outside of the tube . the sleeve , whether inside or outside the tube , presents no change in the function of the needle support member , slot means or detention means . the construction of the device allows the sleeve to freely rotate co - axially to the needle tube , while at the same time preventing the sleeve from sliding in a direction parallel to the central axis of the needle tube . the purpose of the sleeve , as an optional feature of the invention , is to close the longitudinal external slots through which the finger tabs travel during needle sheathing and unsheathing manipulations . when the finger tabs are twisted into the locked position with the needle either fully extended or fully retracted , the sleeve will cover the slots in the tube wall , thereby minimizing the release of aerosol blood or blood droplets created when an evacuated blood collection tube is removed from the double - ended needle . in addition , the sleeve will minimize the leakage of blood drops which may form if the double - ended needle &# 39 ; s self - sealing cover does not close - off the flow of blood when the evacuated blood collection tube is removed . fig5 presents a side elevation view of the integrated double - ended needle and blood collection device 2 , with the hollow needle forward end 28 fully extended from the tube 4 . the figure also shows the use of an evacuated phlebotomy blood collection tube 68 having a rubber septum 70 which seals the evacuated tube . when the tube is placed in position on the tubular needle rear end 30 , and is forced into contact with and over the tubular needle rear end 30 , the resealable needle cover 32 is penetrated as is the septum 70 , thereby allowing communication between the tubular needle forward end 28 , which is in the patient , and the interior of the evacuated tube . by removing filled tubes and inserting new evacuated tubes 68 , multiple samples can be taken without removing the tubular needle forward end 28 from the patient . when the last blood sample has been taken , the double - ended needle forward end 28 is withdrawn from the patient . to prevent an accidental needle injury and the possible spread of contagious disease from a contaminated needle , the user can unlock the finger tabs 42 and slideably retract the double - ended needle 26 into the tube bore 6 . the rear detention means can then be engaged , whereby the double - ended needle is totally enclosed within the device in the retracted position . by grasping the tabs and handling flange as well as the tubular body , the user should never have need for placing fingers in the proximity of the exposed needle . the double - ended needle can be utilized from readily available commercial sources and removably affixed to the needle support member which will allow the reuse of the remainder of the device with a new double - ended needle . the major benefit of the present invention , however , is the concept of an integrated double - ended needle and blood collection device wherein the needle is resheathed totally within the device for disposal . it will be appreciated by one skilled - in - the - art that the selection of any given detention means , component size or appearance is generally not critical to the present invention . the sizes and relative angles of the component pieces are selected to optimize the manipulation of the device . the embodiments described herein are intended as examples rather than as limitations . thus , the description of the invention is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described in detail , but it is intended to encompass all equivalents and subject matter within the spirit and scope of the invention as described above and as set forth in the following claims .	0
in the figures to be discussed , the circuits and associated blocks and arrows represent functions of the method according to the present invention , which may be implemented as electrical circuits and associated wires or data busses , which transport electrical signals . alternatively , one or more associated arrows may represent communication ( e . g ., data flow ) between software routines , particularly when the present method or apparatus of the present invention is implemented as a digital process . in accordance with fig2 , one or more mobile terminals represented by mt 140 communicate through a wlan access point ap and associated computers 120 ( e . g . local servers ) in order to obtain access to a network and associated peripheral devices , such as a database coupled to the network . there is at least one access point . the ap and the local server may be co - located and / or a single unit may perform the functions of both the ap and the local server . the mt communicates with an authentication server 150 for securing access and authentication to the network . it should be understood that the principles embodying the present invention , though described herein with respect to a wireless network such as a wlan , may nevertheless find application to any access network , whether wired or wireless . as further illustrated in fig2 , the ieee 802 . 1x architecture encompasses several components and services that interact to provide station mobility transparent to the higher layers of a network stack . the ieee 802 . 1x network defines ap stations such as access point 130 and one or more mobile terminals 140 as the components that connect to the wireless medium and contain the functionality of the ieee 802 . 1x protocols , that being mac ( medium access control ) and corresponding phy ( physical layer ) ( not shown ), and a connection 127 to the wireless media . typically , the ieee 802 . 1x functions are implemented in the hardware and software of a wireless modem or a network access or interface card . this invention proposes a method for implementing an identification means in the communication stream such that an access point 130 compatible with the ieee 802 . 1x wlan mac layers for downlink traffic ( i . e . from the authentication server to the mobile terminal such as a laptop ) may participate in the authentication of one or more wireless mobile communications devices / client devices 140 a local server 120 and a virtual operator , which includes an authentication server 150 . with reference now to fig3 , a method in accordance with the present invention for improving the security of a mobile terminal 140 in a wlan 124 is generally accomplished by redirecting 210 a http browser request 205 to a local server 120 via message 220 . the method of the present invention includes embedding a session id 215 and randomized number in a user input request to the mobile terminal , inside the http request 205 , authenticating the mobile terminal and including digital signature information along with the session id and randomized number within a redirect request to retrieve data from the wlan , whereby the ap performs a matching of the - digital signature information received from the mt with a locally generated digital signature based on stored mapping data , to determine access to the wlan . more particularly , the method of the present invention processes an access request from a mobile terminal 140 through the wlan 124 , access point 130 ( web request 205 from the mobile terminal 140 ), by embedding in a network address location such as a uniform resource locator ( url ) the session d 215 and randomized number associated with an identifier of the mobile terminal . the address of the client / mt is obtained from the { client , ap } 138 and the local server then generates unique data 215 , which may include a session id and a randomized number . the unique data is forwarded to the ap by the local server where an association mapping is made between the unique data and an identifier of the mt / client . the mt / client identifier is the client / mt address and may be the physical address ( phy ), the mac address or the ip address of the mt / client . the association mapping is stored in the ap . the local server then generates a web page 235 and transmits / forwards the generated web page to the mt / client including embedded information and a request for the mt / client to select an as . the embedded information may include the unique data . upon receipt of the web page , the mr / client transmits an authentication user input message 240 including the session id to the as . the as responds by sending the mt / client an authentication input page 245 requesting authentication information from the mt / client . the mt / client responds to the authentication input request by supplying its credentials to the as 250 . once the as authenticates the mt / client , an authentication message 255 , including a re - direct header is sent to the mr / client . the authentication message may also include an embedded digital signature , authentication parameters and at least a portion of the unique data . the mt / client responds to the authentication message by retrieving and forwarding the re - directed url 265 , including the embedded digital signature , authentication parameters and session id , to the ap . the ap creates a local digital signature 270 using the embedded information from the retrieved re - directed url and the associated mapping and then performs a comparison between the locally generated digital signature and the digital signature generated by the as . if there is a match between the two digital signatures then network access is granted 275 . if there is no match between the two digital signatures then network access is denied . according to an aspect of the invention , with reference to fig3 ( in conjunction with the system of fig1 and 2 ), a method in accordance with the present invention for improving the security of a mobile terminal 140 in a wlan environment 124 ( e . g . public hot spot ) redirects 210 the mobile user &# 39 ; s browser request 205 to the local web server 120 of wlan 124 . the local server 120 receives the redirected browser request 220 and obtains an identifier ( a ) such as the mac address 138 “ a ” associated with the mobile terminal 140 , and generates a unique session id ( sid ) 215 along with a randomized number “ r ”. note that the term randomized number as used herein includes any random numbers , pseudo - random numbers or other such numbers generated in a manner so as to provide at least a minimal degree of randomness . various mechanisms are known to exist for generating such numbers , the details of which are omitted here for brevity . the wlan 124 maintains a mapping between the session id 215 , mac address 138 “ a ” and randomized number “ r ” of the mobile terminal 140 , and stores a mapping m associating the session id 215 , the mac address 138 “ a ” and the randomized number “ r ” in memory ( e . g . lookup table , cache , ram , flat files etc .) the address acts as an identifier for the client and may be a physical address why ), a mac address or an ip address . in one configuration , the local server 120 generates a web page 235 , requesting a user of the mobile terminal 140 to select a virtual operator and embedding the session id 215 and randomized number “ r ” into web page 235 for transmission . this may be accomplished , for example , by embedding the session id and randomized number “ r ” in the url address associated with the submit button to initiate the https session with the authentication server 150 . after the web page 235 is sent to the mt , the user makes an appropriate selection of an authentication server , and an authentication request 240 is sent having user input including the session id ( sid ) 215 and randomized number “ r ” embedded in the request , through https to the selected authentication server 150 . more particularly , the mobile terminal responds by embedding the url associated with a submit button to start an https session with an authentication server 150 , whereby the mt sends the authentication request 240 having the session id 215 embedded in the request , through https to the authentication server 150 . in response , the authentication server 150 processes the request and communicates to the mt an authentication input page 245 requesting authentication information . the user then inputs certain authentication parameters or credentials 250 ( e . g . user name and password ) and submits them to the authentication server 150 through https . the authentication server then receives the authentication credentials 250 from the mt and authenticates the user based on the received information and the trust relationship with the mt . the authentication server then generates a success code 255 including associated information ( e . g . authentication information ) relevant to mt access . this information is provided as a parameter list “ p ” for the access network or wlan . the parameter list “ p ” together with the randomized number “ r ” and session id 215 are then put together ( e . g . concatenated , juxtaposed or otherwise combined ) and digitally signed by the as . such digital signature may be accomplished , for example , by using the authentication server &# 39 ; s private key or with a shared key or hash between the authentication server and the wlan . the resulting digital signature from the as is denoted as “ g ”. the as then returns an http redirect header 260 to the mt to redirect the user browser to a url on the ap wlan . the parameter list “ p ”, session id sid and digital signature “ g ” are embedded in the url from the as and sent to the mr . in one configuration , the redirection header can be an actual http header . in another configuration , the redirection header may be an “ http - equiv ” directive in the returned html page . in response to the http redirection , the user browser mt attempts to retrieve the redirected url 265 with the mt sending the parameter list “ p ”, sid 215 , and digital signature “ g ” to the wlan 124 . in response to the received information ( re - directed url ) 265 from the mr , the wlan then retrieves the randomized number “ r ” and the identifier “ a ” from the stored mapping data using the sid from the stored mapping data . more particularly , the local server 120 receives the sid sent in the redirected url request from the mr , and uses the received sid along with the mapped stored data m , which also contains the sid to determine the corresponding randomized number “ r ” and address or mobile communications device identifier “ a ”. the wlan then puts the received parameter list “ p ” from the mt together with the randomized number “ r ” retrieved from the stored mapping data and the sid following the same method that was used by the as in generating digital signature “ g ”, in order to generate its own digital signature “ g ” ( 270 ). the wlan then compares the digital signatures “ g ” and “ g ”. the parameter list “ p ” will be accepted and access to the wlan enabled only if it is determined that “ g ” and “ g ” are the same ( 275 ). various actions such as changing traffic filtering rules can then be taken with respect to the mt address identifier “ a ”. the above - described access control mechanism enables authentication and network access for a mobile terminal without the need for maintaining two ( or more ) separate secure communications sessions . it is to be understood that the form of this invention as shown is merely a preferred embodiment . for example , while the embodiments described refer to a wlan access system , the aforementioned system and method is applicable for any access network , whether wired or wireless . further , it is understood that the subject invention may reside in the program storage medium that constrains operation of the associated processors ( s ), and in the method steps that are undertaken by cooperative operation of the processor ( s ) on the messages within the communications network . these processes may exist in a variety of forms having elements that are more or less active or passive . for example , they exist as software program ( s ) comprised of program instructions in source code or object code , executable code or other formats . any of the above may be embodied on a computer readable medium , which include storage devices and signals , in compressed or uncompressed form . exemplary computer readable storage devices include conventional computer system ram ( random access memory ), rom ( read only memory ), eprom ( erasable , programmable rom ), eeprom ( electrically erasable , programmable rom ), flash memory , and magnetic or optical disks or tapes . exemplary computer readable signals , whether modulated using a carrier or not , are signals that a computer system hosting or running the computer program may be configured to access , including signals downloaded through the internet or other networks . examples of the foregoing include distribution of the program ( s ) on a cd rom or via internet download . the same is true of computer networks in general . in the form of processes and apparatus implemented by digital processors , the associated programming medium and computer program code is loaded into and executed by a processor , or may be referenced by a processor that is otherwise programmed , so as to constrain operations of the processor and / or other peripheral elements that cooperate with the processor . due to such programming , the processor or computer becomes an apparatus that practices the method of the invention as well as an embodiment thereof . when implemented on a general - purpose processor , the computer program code segments configure the processor to create specific logic circuits . such variations in the nature of the program carrying medium , and in the different configurations by which computational and control and switching elements can be coupled operationally , are all within the scope of the present invention . various other changes may be made in the function and arrangement of parts ; equivalent means may be substituted for those illustrated and described ; and certain features may be used independently from others without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims .	7
preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail herein below with reference to the accompanying drawings . in the following description , well - known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail . the following description of the present invention presupposes use of enhanced uplink transport channels for eudch in a cdma ( cdma ) mobile communication system . as described above in connection with the conventional technology , harq , amc , radio resource scheduling , and short tti are applied to the enhanced uplink transport channel . particularly , the present invention is described in the context of a system supporting the radio resource scheduling and the short tti among the eudch techniques . the short tti is 2 ms , which is shorter than a minimal traditional data channel tti of 10 ms . the use of the short tti requires a smaller data block , that is , a shorter transmission data unit . the shorter transmission data unit in turn enables faster scheduling . scheduling refers to the scheduling of uplink channels that deliver eudch packets in the present invention . there are two types of scheduling : t_rot maintaining scheduling in which the data rates of ues within the same cell are determined to maintain t_rot ; and t_rot determining scheduling in which t_rot is determined for each cell . the conventional scheduling can be the t_rot maintaining scheduling . the scheduling can be considered in two ways depending on who performs the t_rot scheduling . first , a node b schedules uplink channels for eudch as it schedules downlink channels for hsdpa . the node b performs both the t_rot maintaining scheduling and the t_rot determining scheduling . second , instead of the node b , an rnc can schedule eudch uplink channels . in this case , the node b is responsible for the t_rot maintaining scheduling , and the rnc is responsible for the t_rot determining scheduling . according to which one of the above two scheduling methods is selected , only the ues within cells under the node b are scheduled , or the ues within all the cells under each node b within the rnc are scheduled . the latter scheduling is preferred because decision t_rot for a cell considering its neighbor cells make the node b perform the t_rot maintaining scheduling more accurately . the t_rot maintaining scheduling attempts to maintain the m_rot below the t_rot . for the t_rot maintaining scheduling , the node b divides its service area as a plurality of cells and estimates the channel conditions of ues within the cells . these ues support eudch , and the estimated channel conditions can be m_rot from each of the ues . the node b determines resources to be assigned to each of the ues according to the channel conditions , for maintaining t_rot . the resources that the node b schedules include time resources representing a time period for which a ue is allowed to transmit data , and rot resources representing a data rate at which the ue transmits the data . the data rate is proportional to the rot resources . that is , a higher data rate for a ue leads to a stronger reception power in the node b . thus , the rot resources for the ue occupy more of the rot resources available to the node b . however , a lower data rate for the ue leads to a weaker received signal strength in the node b reception . therefore , the rot resources for the ue occupy less of whole rot resources available to the node b . in summary , as the data rate increases , more of the rot resources are used . herein below , a method of increasing whole system performance through an improved t_rot maintaining scheduling in the node b will be described . [ 0045 ] fig1 is a conceptual view of eudch in a cdma mobile communication system . that is , the relationship between an eudch node b 100 and a plurality of ues 110 to 140 within the same eudch cell is illustrated . in fig1 it is assumed that one node b corresponds to one cell . referring to fig1 in the basic concept of eudch , the node b 100 estimates the channel conditions of the ues 110 to 140 supporting eudch and schedules for the ues 110 to 140 . the scheduling is to adjust the data rate of each of the ues 110 to 140 in such a manner that m_rot does not exceed t_rot to improve overall system performance . to do so , t_rot must be set appropriately . as described above , t_rot can be determined by a node b or an rnc . the appropriate determination of t_rot according to the conditions of neighbor cells will be described later in more detail . however , generally , the node b 100 assigns a low data rate for a remote ue and a high data rate for a nearby ue . [ 0047 ] fig2 illustrates signaling for a basic operation between a node b and a ue to service eudch in the cdma mobile communication system . a ue 210 is eudch - enabled , and a node b 200 covers the cell of the ue 210 and provides an eudch service to the ue 210 . referring to fig2 an eudch setup is performed between the ue 210 and the node b 200 in step 220 ( eudch setup ). the eudch setup involves transmission and reception of messages on dedicated transport channels . in step 222 , the ue 210 reports an uplink channel condition to the node b ( channel report ). the uplink channel condition can be represented by the transmission power of an uplink packet channel for the eudch service . the node b 200 then estimates the present uplink channel condition based on the report . for example , if the transmission power of the uplink channel is the uplink channel condition information , the node b 200 , which can measure the received power of the packet channel , estimates the present channel condition by comparing the transmission power with the received power . the node b 200 determines a data rate for the uplink packet channel of the ue 210 based on the channel condition estimation . the node b 200 notifies the ue 210 of the determined data rate in step 224 . the ue 210 transmits packet data at the data rate in step 226 ( ul packet data transmission ). that is , the ue 210 determines a data rate for packet data based on the assigned data rate and transmits the packet data at the determined data rate to the node b 200 in step 226 . as described above , the node b 200 determines the data rate for the ue 210 based on the received uplink channel condition information . in this process , the node b 200 sets appropriate data rats for a plurality of ues supporting eudch . in addition , the node b 200 determines the data rates in the manner that keeps m_rot approximate to t_rot . needless to say , a higher data rate is set for a ue at a good channel condition to improve the whole system performance . [ 0050 ] fig3 illustrates a state where m_rot is maintained equal to or less than t_rot in a specific cell of a node b through t_rot maintaining scheduling . in fig3 a horizontal axis 301 represents time and a vertical axis 302 represents an rot level . referring to fig3 a dotted line 315 denotes t_rot for the cell , determined by t_rot determining scheduling . a reference numeral 311 indicates an rot level contributed by inter - cell interference , and reference numeral 312 denotes an rot level for voice traffic within the cell . reference numeral 313 denotes an rot level for eudch packet traffic within the cell . reference numeral 314 denotes the change of m_rot for the cell , measured by the node b , with respect to time . in other words , m_rot 314 is the sum of the rot 311 caused by signals from ues in neighbor cells , the rot 312 for voice calls in ues within the cell , and the rot 313 for uplink packet transmission from ues supporting eudch within the cell . on the assumption that t_rot maintaining scheduling is performed fast , appropriately in the node b , as illustrated in fig3 m_rot 314 is kept at or below t_rot 315 . however , when a small amount of data is transmitted for a time period 316 , as indicated by reference numeral 314 , m_rot can be below t_rot . thus , m_rot can be said to be the amount of uplink resources in current use . therefore , as the node b schedules downlink packet data using the whole node b power as downlink resources in hsdpa , it schedules uplink packet data using the uplink resources , rot in eudch , to thereby improve system performance . how to perform the t_rot maintaining scheduling efficiently , while maintaining m_rot at a predetermined value will be described in more detail with reference to fig1 . in fig1 the ues 110 to 140 supporting eudch differ in distance from the node b 100 . the ue 130 is nearest to the node b 100 , while the ue 110 is farthest from the node b 100 . as indicated by the length of an arrow 132 , the power that the ue 130 uses for an uplink channel is the least . on the other hand , the ue 110 uses the greatest power for its uplink channel as indicated by the length of an arrow ( 112 ). therefore , scheduling that makes power level reversely proportion to data rate results in the best performance . that is , the highest data rate is assigned to the ue 130 having the least uplink transmission power due to the shortest distance to the node b 100 , and a low data rate is assigned to the ue 110 using great uplink transmission power due to its long distance to the node b 100 . the scheduling is , needless to say , performed so that m_rot does not exceed t_rot . the node b schedules uplink packet channels by the above - described t_rot maintaining scheduling so that m_rot does not exceed t_rot . how t_rot is determined in an embodiment of the present invention will be described below . to determine t_rot through the t_rot determining scheduling in the embodiment of the present invention , information about an rot ratio of eudch to voice call within a specific cell and information about uplink traffic from its neighbor cells can be used . that is , t_rot that leads to the best performance varies according to circumstances . when an eudch service is initiated , the node b needs to know t_rot for the t_rot maintaining scheduling . in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention , a crnc ( controlling rnc ) having the node b within its coverage area is responsible for determining t_rot for each cell under the node b . if the crnc receives channel conditions measurements for cells under each of node bs under the crnc , it may assign resources to the first cell to initiate the eudch service or change resources already assigned to cells according to the reported channel conditions . [ 0056 ] fig4 is a schematic view illustrating the configuration of a cdma mobile communication system supporting eudch according to an embodiment of the present invention , referred to for describing t_rot determining scheduling in a crnc . referring to fig4 a crnc 401 is connected to three node bs 402 , 403 , and 404 , each of which controls three cells . that is , the node b 402 ( node b 1 ) controls first , second , and third cells 411 , 412 , and 413 ( cell 1 , cell 2 , and cell 3 ), the node b 403 ( node b 2 ) controls fourth , fifth , and sixth cells 414 , 415 , and 416 ( cell 4 , cell 5 , and cell 6 ), and the node b 404 ( node b 3 ) controls seventh , eighth , and ninth cells 417 , 418 , and 419 ( cell 7 , cell 8 , and cell 9 ), as in t_rot maintaining scheduling . each of the node bs 402 , 403 , and 404 schedules uplink packet channels from ues using eudch within a cell in the manner that renders m_rot in the cell equal to or less than t_rot set for the cell . for this purpose , the crnc 401 determines t_rot for the node bs 402 , 403 , and 404 . on the assumption that the cell 414 initiates eudch for a particular ue , the node b 403 performs t_rot maintaining scheduling for the cell 414 . as indicated above , the crnc 401 determines t_rot needed for the node b 403 to perform the t_rot maintaining scheduling for the cell 414 in the embodiment of the present invention . that is , upon an eudch setup as illustrated in fig2 in the cell 414 , the crnc 401 determines t_rot for the cell 414 in a manner described later and notifies the node b 403 of t_rot by nbap ( node b application part ) signaling . novel signaling is defined between the crnc and the node b to implement the inventive t_rot determining scheduling . this signaling is divided into signaling upon eudch initiation and t_rot changing signaling . [ 0059 ] fig5 illustrates signaling between the crnc and the node b to determine new t_rot for a particular cell when a ue within the coverage area of the cell requests an eudch service . in fig5 the node b controlling the cell of the ue is the node b 403 and the rnc controlling the node b 403 is the crnc 401 . referring to fig5 when the ue is to initiate the eudch service , the node b 403 and the crnc 401 perform an eudch setup , that is , an eudch initialization by nbap messages in step 510 . during this eudch initiation setup , eudch parameters containing information about the ue are set . the crnc 401 then determines t_rot for the cell and transmits t_rot to the node b 403 by an nbap message in step 520 . alternatively , the t_rot transmission step may be incorporated in the eudch initiation setup in step 510 . [ 0061 ] fig7 illustrates signaling between the crnc and the node b to change existing t_rot for a particular cell during an eudch service . in fig7 the node b 403 controls the cell for which t_rot is changed and the crnc 401 is the rnc controlling the node b 403 . referring to fig7 when the crnc 401 determines that t_rot for the cell under the node b 403 is to be changed in a t_rot determining method described later , it notifies the node b 403 of new t_rot by an nbap message in step 710 ( t_rot change request ). the nbap message contains the new t_rot and the id of the cell . the node b 403 determines a cell whose t_rot is to be changed according to the cell id and substitutes existing rot for the new t_rot for the cell . in step 720 , the node b 403 notifies the crnc 401 of the completed t_rot change by an nbap message ( t_rot change response ). accordingly , the t_rot changing procedure for the cell during the eudch service is terminated . t_rot determination in the crnc must precede the signaling upon eudch initiation and the t_rot changing signaling . in addition , the crnc needs to receive m_rot for each cell from node bs to determine t_rot for a particular cell . a description will be made below of receiving m_rot for cells and t_rot determining based on m_rot in the crnc . as described before with reference to fig2 rot contributed by signal strengths from neighbor cells as indicated by reference numeral 311 of fig3 is involved in m_rot for a particular cell . in other words , uplink data transmission from ues in the neighbor cells can be a factor determining m_rot for the cell . in the present invention , the states of the cell and its neighbor cells are considered in determining t_rot for the cell because rot , one of resources in the cell , is related to uplink channels from ues in the neighbor cells as well as uplink channels from ues within the cell . to determine t_rot for each of the cells under the crnc , the cell needs to report uplink resource information . that is , the crnc collects the resource information about the cells and determines t_rot for the cells according to the resource information . [ 0065 ] fig6 is a diagram illustrating signaling for a node b to report to the crnc cell resource information required for the t_rot determining scheduling according to the embodiment of the present invention . m_rot measured at each cell is used as the resource information in the present invention . in fig6 the node b 403 is at least one of node bs that are providing the eudch service under the crnc , and the crnc 401 performs the t_rot determining scheduling for the node b 403 . referring to fig6 the node b 403 measures m_rot for each of cells under the node b 403 and transmits m_rots to the crnc 401 by an nbap message in step 610 ( m_rot report ). the crnc 401 obtains information ( i . e . m_rots ) about the resources of cells under the crnc 401 and determines t_rot for a particular cell using the m_rots . as described above , a node b reports m_rot for a particular eudch cell within the coverage area of the node b to a crnc controlling the node b in the present invention . the m_rot reporting can be carried out in three ways . one is to report the m_rots periodically , and another is to report m_rots only if the m_rots exceed a threshold or are below the threshold . in the latter case , the m_rot reporting occurs when m_rot is significantly less than t_rot due to transmission of a small amount of uplink data , or m_rot is greater than t_rot by a predetermined value or above due to t_rot maintaining scheduling errors . the third way is a combination of the first and second ways . that is , the third method is a combination of periodical reporting and reporting when necessary . the crnc can determine the uplink conditions of the cells based on the m_rots . if m_rot is substantially less than t_rot , the crnc determines that the amount of uplink data from a corresponding cell is small . however , if m_rot is maintained approximately to t_rot for a long time , the crnc determines that in view of transmission of a large amount of uplink data , a corresponding node b assigns uplink resources to ues through scheduling so that m_rot is approximate to t_rot . the crnc determines new t_rot upon eudch initiation or changes existing t_rot for a particular cell according to reported resource information . how the crnc determines t_rot for a particular cell after receiving m_rot for each cell will be described below . the particular cell is a cell requesting eudch initially , or a cell with t_rot to be changed . in the following description , the particular cell is assumed to be the cell 414 illustrated in fig4 . referring to fig4 the cell 414 is adjacent to the cells 412 , 413 , and 415 . the crnc 401 receives m_rots for the cells 411 , 412 , and 413 from the node b 402 , m_rots for the cells 414 , 415 , and 416 from the node b 403 , and m_rots for the cells 417 , 418 , and 419 from the node b 404 . hence , the crnc 401 obtains m_rot information about the cells 412 , 413 , and 415 adjacent to the cell 414 . the crnc 401 determines t_rot for the cell 414 using the m_rot information about the neighbor cells 412 , 413 , and 415 . this procedure will be described in more detail below . because the crnc having the cell under its control knows t_rots in current use and m_rots for the cell and the neighbor cells , it adjusts t_rot for the cell using the information in the present invention , as expressed in equation ( 2 ): rot0 target ( t + τ )= f ( rot0 measure ( t ), rot1 measure ( t ), rot2 measure ( t ), . . . , rot0 target ( t ), rot1 target ( t ), rot2 target ( t ), . . . ) ( 2 ) where roto represents the particular cell , rot1 , rot 2 , . . . represent its neighbor cells , rot0 meaure ( t ) is reported m_rot for the cell , rot1 meaure ( t ), rot2 meaure ( t ), . . . are reported m_rots for the neighbor cells , rot0 target ( t ) is an existing t_rot for the cell , and rot1 target ( t ), rot2 target ( t ), . . . are existing t_rots for the neighbor cells . as noted from equation ( 2 ), t_rot for the cell at time ( t + τ ) is a function of t_rots and m_rots for the cell and the neighbor cells at time t . with reference to fig8 an embodiment of a method of determining or changing t_rot for a particular cell in the crnc will be described . more specifically , fig8 depicts an algorithm of determining whether t_rot for the particular cell is to be changed . referring to fig8 the crnc receives m_rots for cells from eudch node bs in step 801 . the cells include a target cell of which t_rot is to be changed and its neighbor cells . the crnc has existing t_rots for the cells in a memory . in step 802 , the crnc reads the t_rots from the memory . the crnc compares m_rot with t_rot for the cell in step 803 . if m_rot is less than t_rot , which implies that a basic condition for reducing t_rot is satisfied , the crnc determines whether t_rot for the target cell is to be decreased using the m_rots and t_rots for the target cell and neighbor cells in step 804 . if m_rot is equal to or greater than t_rot , which implies that a basic condition for increasing t_rot is satisfied , the crnc determines whether t_rot for the target cell is to be increased using the m_rots and t_rots for the target cell and neighbor cells in step 806 . according to the determination result in step 804 or 806 , the crnc increase , decreases , or maintains the existing t_rot for the target cell in step 805 . the determination in steps 804 and 806 can be performed in various ways . fig9 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation for a method of performing step 804 and fig1 is a flowchart illustrating a control operation for a method of performing step 806 . referring to fig9 the crnc calculates a period l 1 for which m_rot is maintained less than t_rot in the target cell in step 901 . l 1 is a parameter for verifying reduction of t_rot . if the state where m_rot is less than t_rot lasts for l 1 , the crnc decreases t_rot for the target cell . in step 902 , the crnc compares l 1 with a threshold , threshold_rot — 1 . if l 1 is greater than threshold_rot — 1 , that is , the period of m_rot being less than t_rot lasts substantially , the crnc is more likely to decrease t_rot for the target cell . however , if l 1 is not greater than threshold_rot — 1 , the crnc maintains t_rot in step 910 . the crnc reduces t_rot for the target cell by considering t_rot for neighbor cells in steps 903 to 908 . the crnc sets i and k as 0 in step 903 , wherein the i indicates a count value for counting the neighbor cells . the crnc compares t_rot in an 1 th neighbor cell with a maximum available rot , max_rot in step 904 . if t_rot in the i th neighbor cells is equal to max_rot , that is , uplink data traffic from the i th neighbor cell is great , the crnc increases a variable k , which indicates the number of neighbor cells satisfying the condition of step 904 , in step 905 . the crnc increases a variable i in step 906 . the crnc compares i with the number of neighbor cells ( num_nei_cell ) in step 907 . however , if i is less than the number of neighbor cells ( num_nei_cell ), the crnc returns to step 904 . however , if i is not less than the number of neighbor cells ( num_nei_cell ), the crnc proceeds to step 908 . when the loop has run as many times as the number of the neighbor cells ( num_nei_cell ). the crnc compares with a predetermined threshold , threshold_k in step 908 . the is a ratio of k to the number of the neighbor cells . if is greater than threshold_k , the crnc reduces t_rot for the particular cell by a predetermined value in step 909 . however , if is less than or equal to threshold_k , the crnc maintains t_rot for the target cell in step 910 referring to fig1 , the crnc compares t_rot in the target cell with max_rot in step 1001 . if t_rot is less than max_rot , t_rot is likely to be increased for the target cell and then the procedure goes to step 1002 . however , if t_rot is not less than max_rot , the crnc maintains t_rot for the target cell in step 1005 . in step 1002 , the crnc calculates a period l 2 for which m_rot is maintained greater than t_rot in the target cell . l 2 is a parameter with which to verify an increase of t_rot for the target cell . if m_rot is maintained greater than t_rot in the target cell for l 2 , the crnc may increase t_rot for the target cell . in step 1003 , the crnc compares l 2 with a predetermined threshold , threshold_rot — 2 . if l 2 is greater than threshold_rot — 2 , that is , the state where m_rot is greater than or equal to t_rot lasts for a substantially long time , the crnc increases t_rot for the target cell by a predetermined value in step 1004 . however , if l 2 is less than or equal to threshold_rot — 2 , the crnc maintains t_rot for the target cell in step 1005 . that is , the crnc increases , decreases , or maintains t_rot for the target cell depending on whether the condition of step 1003 is satisfied or not . an embodiment of the method of changing t_rot for a target cell using m_rots and existing t_rots from the neighbor cell and its neighbor cells in the crnc has been described above in connection with fig8 , and 10 . aside from the above algorithm , a crnc may adopt an algorithm of changing t_rot for the target cell using the m_rots and t_rots from the target cell and the neighbor cells as variables as shown in equation ( 2 ). while the crnc is responsible for t_rot determining scheduling in the embodiment of the present invention , it can be further contemplated as another embodiment that a node b performs the t_rot determining scheduling . in the second embodiment of the present invention , the signaling procedures between the node b and the crnc illustrated in fig5 , and 7 are not performed , while the control operations illustrated in fig8 , and 10 are used in the same manner . however , as t_rot is determined considering interference only from cells within the node b , the t_rot determining , scheduling by the node b is not as efficient as the t_rot determining scheduling by the crnc . in accordance with the present invention as described above , a node b reports m_rots in cells under the node b to a crnc , and the crnc determines t_rot for a target cell among the cells using the m_rots . the crnc sets a new t_rot for the target cell when eudch is initiated , or changes the existing t_rot when necessary during eudch . the adaptive t_rot setting according to circumstances improves the performance of an eudch system . while the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	7
a technique for providing html files that use the javascript ™ scripting language to provide formatting information is described . fig1 represents the context in which the html and javascript ™ files are used . client computer systems 110 connect to the internet 120 , to which the server 130 is also connected . the server 130 has stored a source html file 140 and a supporting auxiliary javascript ™ file 150 . in practice , various html files 140 are hosted and can refer to a smaller number ( or even a single ) javascript ™ file 150 . fig2 represents the steps involved in providing a html file 140 with a supporting javascript ™ file 150 . first , the html file 140 is created in step 210 , containing statements necessary for interpretation as an html file . various source variables are defined within the html file 140 , relating to the relevant data conveyed by the html file 140 . a supporting auxiliary javascript ™ file 150 is then created in step 230 . in the javascript ™ file 150 , step 240 includes a single function in which various javascript ™ statements are defined to generate html formatting statements . these statements use source variables defined in the html file 140 . in step 250 , a reference is included in the html file 140 where appropriate to the formatting function earlier defined in the javascript ™ file 150 . the result is that when the html file 140 is interpreted , by a web browser , the html file 140 calls the formatting function of the javascript ™ file 150 to generate regular html statements involving the source variables within the html file 140 . this outcome and the benefits of this arrangement are illustrated by the following example given in fig3 to 5 . fig3 represents in overview the structure and components of the html and javascript ™ files 140 , 150 , as described above . as noted , the html file 140 contains : a reference 342 to the javascript ™ file 150 various defined source variables 344 a function call 346 to the javascript ™ file 150 the javascript ™ file 150 contains a formatting function 352 which uses the defined source variables in the html file 140 . the reference 342 establishes a link between the two files 140 , 150 , while the function call 346 triggers execution of the function 352 defined within the javascript ™ file 150 . the above described architecture of the html file 140 and javascript ™ file 150 , and their interaction with each other , is now described with reference to two particular examples . for both examples , the html file 140 is entitled navjs . html , and the javascript ™ file is entitled idpnav . js . an equivalent file listing is given for both html files 140 , once expanded with the formatting information supplied by the javascript ™ files 150 . though each example is described in turn below , the following comments are made in respect of the differences between these two examples . the first example uses a series of javascript ™ functions in the html file 140 of fig4 , while the second example uses a single , more complicated , javascript ™ function in the html file 140 of fig7 . in the first example , a number of relatively small functions in the javascript ™ file 150 of fig4 have defined functions in the task of information formatting . by contrast , in the second example , the single function of the javascript ™ file 150 of fig7 understands the structure of the ( in this case , three ) arrays which are passed to the javascript ™ file . the first example is now described directly below with reference to fig4 , 5 a and 5 b , and 6 a and 6 b . fig4 illustrates the contents of the html file 140 , which contains html statements . the html statements include source variable definitions , as well as reference to an external file ( the javascript ™ file 150 ) and formatting functions contained within that javascript ™ file 150 . the html file 140 refers to the javascript ™ file 150 , titled idpnav . js , after the first & lt ; script & gt ; tag . this is the auxiliary file . after the second & lt ; script & gt ; tag , a number of source variables 344 are defined as arguments of references 346 to various javascript ™ functions ( in this case , _b ( ); _l ( ); _s ( ); _h ( ); and _e ( )) with which the respective arguments or source variables 344 are associated . fig5 a and 5b jointly list the contents of the javascript ™ file 150 , idpnav . js , as referred to by the html file 140 of fig4 . this javascript ™ file defines various formatting functions 352 , described below , which are referenced by the html file 140 , as noted above . these functions 352 each defines various specific formatting functions which use the source variables 344 which are included in the html file 140 as arguments to these functions . the functions each define includes various document . writeln or output statements that generate strings which are valid html statements for inclusion in the html file 140 . an author of the html file 140 is familiar with the operation of the various ( five ) formatting functions 352 included in the html file 140 . these are : _b ( tm ) for “ begin menu ”. the “ tm ” parameter is the white margin left at the top of the menu . _l ( i , txt , url ) for “ menu link item ”. the “ i ” parameter is the indent ( 1 , 2 or 3 ), the “ txt ” is the text that is displayed in the menu and the “ url ” is the link information — what url is linked to if the user “ clicks ” this menu item . _h ( i , txt ) for “ menu highlighted item ”. the “ i ” is again the indent and the “ txt ” is the text that is displayed — and highlighted . this should represent the current page ( thus there is no link ). _s ( i ) for “ menu spacer ”. the “ i ” is again the indent . this function just leaves a “ blank line ” in the menu . _e ( ) for “ end of menu ”. the javascript ™ file 150 has various other functions ( which can be identified as they are all in lower case rather than upper case ) besides the five main functions 352 referenced by the html file 140 . the only functions that need concern an author of the html file 140 are the formatting functions 352 discussed above that are included in the html file 140 , and which are in upper case in the javascript ™ file 150 . fig6 a and 6b jointly represent the html file 140 of fig4 when the references 346 to the formatting functions 352 is replaced by the equivalent html statements generated by the formatting functions 352 of the javascript ™ file 150 for the particular source variables 344 defined in the html file 140 as arguments to the formatting functions 352 . the second example is now described directly below with reference to fig7 , 8 a and 8 b and 9 a and 9 b , in similar terms as the first example . fig7 illustrates the contents of the html file 140 , which contains various html statements . the html statements include source variable definitions , as well as reference to an external file ( the javascript ™ file 150 ) and the formatting function contained within that file 150 . the html file refers to the javascript ™ file 150 , titled idpnav . js , after the first & lt ; script & gt ; tag . this is the auxiliary file . after the second & lt ; script & gt ; tag , a number of source variables 344 are defined as text strings or text string arrays . standard html statements follow , leading to a reference 346 to the javascript ™ function getnavigator ( ) after the third & lt ; script & gt ; tag . fig8 a and 8b jointly list the contents of the javascript ™ file 150 , titled idpnav . js , as referred to by the html file 140 of fig4 . this javascript ™ file 150 defines a single formatting function 352 , titled getnavigator ( ), which was referenced by the html file 140 , as noted above . the getnavigator ( ) function 352 defines various internal variables or strings based on the source variables of the html file 140 , and includes various document . writeln or output statements that generate strings which are valid html statements for inclusion in the html file 140 . these strings are variously formed from possible combinations involving string text , internal string variables and source variables . such output statements may be provided by repetitive ( for loops ) or conditional ( if statement ) inclusion in the html file 140 . fig9 a and 9b jointly represent the html file 140 of fig4 when the reference to the getnavigator ( ) function 352 is replaced by the equivalent html statements generated by the getnavigator ( ) function 352 of the javascript ™ file 150 for the particular source variables 344 defined in t he html file 140 . the “ expanded ” html listings in fig6 a and 6b , and fig9 a and 9b are essentially equivalent to each other . for the two examples presented , the html file 140 of fig4 and the javascript ™ file 150 of fig5 a and 5b represent html statements that are closely similar to html statements represented by the corresponding combination of html file 140 of fig7 and javascript ™ file 150 of fig8 a and 8b . there are minor differences between fig6 a and 6b and fig9 a and 9b , but these are cosmetic in nature . accordingly , both examples render in a similar manner in a javascript ™- enabled html web browser application such as netscape navigator ™. fig1 represents the html file 140 of fig4 / 7 , when interpreted or rendered by a web browser ( in this case netscape navigator ™) with reference to the javascript ™ file 150 of fig5 a and 5 b / fig8 a and 8b . the web browser is effectively rendering the equivalent html statements of fig6 a and 6 b / fig9 a and 9b . the implementation provided in the first example is generally preferred over that provided in the second example . interpretation of arrays in the javascript ™ file 150 is avoided , and the menu information appears in the html file 140 where it also appears in the rendered document , illustrated in fig1 . in the two examples given , the first example occupies approximately 400 bytes less storage capacity compared with the second example . with reference to the two examples described above , the expanded notional html files of fig6 a and 6b , and fig9 a and 9b can be represented more compactly in the form of the html file 140 of fig4 or fig7 . the html file 140 relies on a single supporting javascript ™ file 150 of fig5 a and 5b , or fig8 a and 8b . this javascript ™ file 150 includes the necessary formatting information to generate expanded notional html statements with reference to information in the html file 140 . by extension from the two examples given above , a family of similar html pages can more conveniently maintained and formatted in a standard manner with reference to a single supporting javascript ™ file of the type described . as web browsers typically cache accessed files for later access , there can be bandwidth savings if the browser does not need to repetitively access similar formatting information for a number of html files that is now conveniently included in a single javascript ™ file . the html and javascript ™ files described in the above examples are used in conjunction with servers 130 and client computer terminals 110 . these devices 110 , 130 are both representative of a general purpose computer system 1100 of fig1 , which is generically described below in relation to a computing system 1100 . the above described process can be implemented using a computer program product in conjunction with a computer system 1100 as shown in fig1 . in particular , the process can be implemented as a computer software program , or some other form of programmed code , executing on the computer system 1100 . as noted , fig1 is a schematic representation of the computer system 1100 which can be used to perform steps in a process which implements the techniques described herein . the computer system 1100 is provided for the purpose of executing computer software which is programmed to assist in performing the described techniques . this computer software executes under a suitable operating system installed on the computer system 1100 . the computer software involves a set of programmed logic instructions that are able to be interpreted by the computer system 1100 for instructing the computer system 1100 to perform predetermined functions specified by those instructions . the computer software can be an expression recorded in any language , code or notation , comprising a set of instructions intended to cause a compatible information processing system to perform particular functions , either directly or after conversion to another language , code or notation . the computer software is programmed by a computer program comprising statements in an appropriate computer language . the computer program is processed using a compiler into computer software which has a binary format suitable for execution by the operating system . the computer software is programmed in a manner which involves various software components , or code means , that perform particular steps in the process of the described techniques . the components of the computer system 1000 include : a computer 1120 , input devices 1110 , 1115 and video display 1170 . the computer 1120 includes : processor 1140 , memory module 1150 , input / output ( i / o ) interfaces 1160 , 1165 , video interface 1145 , and storage device 1155 . the processor 1140 is a central processing unit ( cpu ) that executes the operating system and the computer software executing under the operating system . the memory module 1150 include random access memory ( ram ) and read - only memory ( rom ), and is used under direction of the processor 1140 . the video interface 1145 is connected to video display 1190 and provides video signals for display on the video display 1170 . user input to operate the computer 1130 is provided from input devices 1110 , 1115 consisting of keyboard 1110 and mouse 1115 . the storage device 1155 can include a disk drive or any other suitable non - volatile storage medium . each of the components of the computer 1120 is connected to a bus 1130 that includes data , address , and control buses , to allow these components to communicate with each other via the bus 1130 . the computer system 1100 can be connected to one or more other similar computers via a input / output ( i / o ) interface 1165 using a communication channel 1185 to a network 1180 , represented as the internet . the computer software program may be provided as a computer program product , and recorded on a portable storage medium . in this case the computer software program is accessed by the computer system 1100 from the storage device 1162 . alternatively , the computer software can be accessed directly from the network 1180 by the computer 1120 . in either case , a user can interact with the computer system 1100 using the keyboard 1110 and mouse 1115 to operate the programmed computer software executing on the computer 1120 . the computer system 1100 is described for illustrative purposes : other configurations or types of computer systems can be equally well used to implement the described techniques . the foregoing is only an example of a particular type of computer system suitable for implementing the described techniques . it is understood that various alterations and modifications can be made to the techniques and arrangements described herein , as would be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art .	6
the figure illustrates a circuit diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . an armature 1 is linked via two interconnected changeover switches ( 11 , 12 , 13 ) and ( 14 , 15 , 16 ) to two field coils 2 , 2a and to the connecting terminals 21 , 22 of the current supply . usually a 230 volt a . c . voltage is used as the current supply . alternatively , a battery can be used . if a battery is used , polarization of the connecting terminals 21 , 22 is necessary , since in the event of incorrect polarity , no voltage would be applied through the diode 7 at the coil 5 and at the capacitor 8 . a second switch 18 is arranged between the terminal 21 and the field coil 2 . the changeover switches 11 through 16 , as well as the second switch 18 are controlled by electromagnetic switches 4 or 5 ; the reference numerals 4 , 5 relate to corresponding excitation coils . the coil 4 is connected at one terminal connection to the supply terminal 22 and at its second terminal connection , via a switch 9 , to the terminal 21 . the switch 9 can be designed for two - hand operation , such as a so - called dead man &# 39 ; s switch . furthermore , the switch 9 is connected to one terminal connection of the coil 5 . the second terminal connection of the coil 5 is connected , via a diode 7 and a series resistor 6 , with the second connecting terminal 22 . a braking resistor ( load rheostat ) 3 is connected in parallel to the contacts 13 , 15 of the changeover switches . the braking resistor 3 is used to adjust the braking current . in place of the changeover switches 11 , 12 , 13 or 14 , 15 , 16 and the switch 18 , suitable semiconductor switches could be connected to the coils 4 , 5 . for example , when working with direct voltage ( battery ), transistors could be used or when working with a . c . voltage , thyristors could be used . a capacitor 8 is connected in parallel to the coil 5 . the capacitor 8 , in combination with the resistor 6 and the diode 7 , forms a timing element for the delayed opening of the contact of the switch 18 . the method of operation of this arrangement will now be described . during normal operation , the switches 9 , 18 are closed ( e . g . in a conductive position ). furthermore , the contacts 11 , 13 , 14 , and 16 of the changeover switches are closed . in this operating state , the current flows from the connecting terminal 21 through the switch 18 , the field winding 2 , the armature 1 , and the field winding 2a back to the terminal 22 . in this case , since the coils 4 , 5 are electrically connected to the connecting terminals 21 , 22 , they are excited through the closed switch 9 . furthermore , the capacitor is charged via the timing element 6 , 8 . if the contact of the switch 9 is opened for braking purposes , in that , for example , the operator puts down the portable , motor - operated tool or lets it slide out of his or her hand , then the coil 4 causes the changeover contacts of the changeover switches to be switched over into the position that terminals 11 and 12 are in contact and terminals 14 and 15 are in contact , as shown in the figure . as a result , the polarity of the armature 1 is reversed for the opposite direction of rotation . however , due to the charging of the capacitor 8 , the coil 5 continues to be excited for a specified time , so that the switch 18 remains closed . in the interim , the motor brakes very heavily due to the polarity reversal of the armature , so that the rotational speed is reduced to zero . if the switch 18 is opened ( e . g . in a non - conductive position ) at this point because the time constant of the timing element 6 , 8 of the braking device 4 to 9 has elapsed , then the armature 1 cannot run in the opposite direction , since it is no longer supplied with current . thus , the braking time can be limited to a predetermined value all the way down to standstill . in another embodiment of the present invention , the resistor 6 can be designed as a potentiometer , so that the delay time of a portable , motor - operated hand tool equipped with this universal motor can be adjusted externally . this enables the operator to vary the braking time of his or her portable , motor - operated hand tool within certain limits in order to prevent , for example , a strong counter - torque . by adjusting the resistor 3 , which determines the braking characteristic and the time constant from the resistor 6 and the capacitor 8 , the braking times for specific loads can be so adjusted to one another that the switch 18 opens more or less at the instant of zero rotational speed . this is especially advantageous for hedge trimmers , electric mowers , saws , grinders , planers or the like . to prevent the motor from running in the opposite direction , a reversal preventing device can be installed , such as a commercially available overrunning clutch ( shell ). by this means , the delay time can be selected to be longer , for any case , than the braking duration , since the armature cannot run in the opposite direction because of the reversal preventing device . by providing a certain excess of time , even fluctuating loads , for example , as occurs with partially used grinding disks , can be reliably and quickly braked . it is also advantageous to interrupt the supplied current utilizing a measuring device ( circuit ) 20 . the measuring device 20 can be electrically coupled between the switch 9 and the coil 4 . the measuring device 20 detects a reversal of a rotation direction ( especially during braking of the armature 1 ), and switches off the motor current at approximately zero rotational speed . in another embodiment of the present invention , the relay ( coil ) 4 can also be designed as a mechanical switch for switching the direction of rotation . this changeover switch then has an additional contact , which triggers a time - delay element , discussed above in accordance with the figure , and then opens the switch 18 after expiration of the time constants . of course , the time delay can also be effected mechanically with the help of an appropriate damper . one preferred application of the universal motor according to the present invention is for a portable , motor - operated hand tool , such as a hedge trimmer , an electric mower , a saw , a grinder or stretcher . with the help of the braking element , the braking time following the switching off of the portable , motor - operated tool can be reduced to a minimum value . for the sake of clarity , items such as the main switch or indicators for the voltage supply and the like , have not been shown in the figure .	7
fig1 is a schematic diagram of a computer configuration 100 that represents a suitable operating environment for the invention . the configuration 100 includes two computer systems 110 , 120 , both running a computer server operating system such as novell netware ®. the backup computer system 120 monitors the primary computer system 110 to verify that the primary computer system 110 is operational . should the primary computer system 110 cease to operate , the backup computer system 120 takes over operations . the primary computer system 110 includes a computer 112 connected to a network 101 through an interface 111 and its associated software . the computer 112 is connected to a mass storage device 114 through a mass storage controller 113 and its associated software . in the case of novell netware ®, the computer 112 may be a standard pc - compatible computer , the network 101 may be an ethernet , and the mass storage device 114 may be a scsi or ide magnetic disk . the network interface 111 may be an ethernet network interface and the mass storage controller 113 may be a scsi or ide magnetic disk controller . network 101 could also be implemented using a token ring , arcnet , or any other network technology . the backup computer system 120 has components which can be similar to computer system 110 . for example , a computer 122 can be connected to the network 101 through a network interface 121 , although it is not necessary for computer 122 to be connected to the network 101 as long as there is available some means for communication between the computers 112 and 122 . computer 122 is connected to a backup mass storage device 124 through a mass storage controller 123 . while it is not necessary for the computer system 120 to have identical components to the computer system 110 , many times that will be the case . in other cases , the computer system 120 may be an older , slower system previously used as a filer server but replaced with the computer system 110 . all that is required of computer system 120 is that it be capable of running the file server operating system in case of the failure of computer system 110 , and that its mass memory 124 be of sufficient capacity to hold that data mirrored from the mass storage device 114 . in this description and in the claims , “ primary ” means associated with the primary computer system 110 , and “ backup ” means associated with the backup computer system 120 . the term “ backup ” is used herein to conveniently distinguish certain elements and components from “ primary ” components , and does not necessarily require full , traditional backup capabilities other than those specifically enumerated herein . indeed , in one embodiment , the primary computer system 110 and the backup computer system 120 can be interchangeable , in that backup computer system 120 can be used as desired to provide network services to network 101 and can exhibit the functionality described herein in reference to primary computer system , and vice versa . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 978 , 565 , entitled “ method for rapid recovery from a network file server failure including method for operating co - standby servers ,” is incorporated herein by reference and discloses components that correspond generally to those of fig1 of the present application , and which can be adapted as taught herein to perform the functionality and operations associated with the present invention . the primary and backup mass storage devices 114 , 124 of the invention may include any mass memory capable of handling the read and write requests of the computer systems 110 , 120 . such memories may include optical disks , magnetic tape drives , magnetic disk drives , and the like . a communication means 102 provides a link between the primary computer system 110 and the backup computer system 120 . primary computer 112 is connected to the communication means 102 through a primary communication means attachment 115 , and the backup computer 122 is connected to the communication means 102 through a backup communication means attachment 125 . communication means 102 can be implemented using a variety of techniques , well known to those skilled in the art . in one embodiment , a high - speed serial point - to - point link is used . alternatively , the serial communication ports of the computers 112 , 122 are used after being programmed to run at a high data rate . as another alternative , the parallel ports of the computers 112 , 122 are used . the communication means 102 provides data transfer at rates comparable to the data transfer rate of the mass storage device 124 so that the communication means 102 does not limit the performance of the configuration 100 . the method of this invention is not dependent on the particular implementation of the communication means 102 , although a communication means 102 dedicated only to the method of the invention will generally result in more efficient operation and simpler programs . fig2 shows a more detailed schematic diagram of the configuration 100 of fig1 in which the primary computer 112 includes an i / o module 211 and mirroring code 212 . the primary mass storage device 114 includes a delta queue 213 , a delay buffer 214 , and a memory portion 215 ; and the backup mass storage device 124 includes a delta queue 223 and a memory portion 225 . the interrelationship of these components may best be understood by describing the operation of the network configuration 100 . a read operation is performed by the primary computer 112 issuing a read request through the primary mass storage controller 113 to the primary mass storage device 114 . the corresponding data is transmitted from the primary mass storage device 114 to the primary computer 112 . if the backup computer system 120 is operating instead , the backup computer 122 issues a read request through the backup mass storage controller 123 to the backup mass storage device 124 . a write operation in accordance with the invention may be performed as shown in the flow chart of fig3 . in this description and in the claims , a write operation ( or request ) includes any operation ( or request ) that alters mass memory such as a write , delete , destructive read , or initialization . a method in accordance with the invention will now be described in detail with respect to fig2 and 3 . first , the i / o module 211 of the primary computer 112 provides a write request req to the mirroring code 212 ( step 305 of fig3 ). the mirroring code 212 then duplicates the request req ( step 310 ) and causes a copy of the request req to be forwarded to the primary mass storage controller 113 ( step 315 ). the mirroring code 212 also causes another copy of the request req to be forwarded to the primary communication means attachment 115 ( step 320 ). each copy is to be executed on the corresponding mass storage device 114 , 124 so that mass storage devices 114 , 124 are synchronized . the primary mass storage controller 113 writes the request req to the primary delta queue 213 of the primary mass storage device 114 ( step 325 ). the primary delta queue 213 includes requests that are not confirmed by the primary computer system 110 to have been executed in the backup computer system 120 . if the primary computer system 110 receives confirmation or learns by other means that the request was executed in the backup mass storage device 124 , the request is deleted from the primary delta queue 213 of the primary mass storage device 114 as described further below . the primary mass storage controller 113 also writes the request req to the delay buffer 214 of the primary mass storage device 114 ( also step 325 ). a copy of the request req is forwarded from the primary communication means attachment 115 over the communication means 102 to the backup communication means attachment 125 ( step 330 ). the request req is then forwarded from the backup communication means attachment 125 through the backup mass storage controller 123 ( step 335 ) and to the backup delta queue 223 ( step 340 ). the delta queue 223 includes requests that are not confirmed by the backup computer system 120 to have been executed in the primary computer system 110 . if the backup computer system 120 receives confirmation or learns by other means that the request was executed in the primary mass storage device 114 , the request is deleted from the backup delta queue 223 . as soon as the request req is received in the backup delta queue 223 , the backup computer system 120 sends an acknowledgement signal ack 1 back to the delay buffer 214 in the primary mass storage device 114 ( step 345 ). thus , the acknowledgement signal ack 1 indicates that the backup computer system 120 has properly received the write request req . upon receipt of the acknowledgement signal ack 1 , the primary computer system 110 executes the request req stored in the delay buffer 214 by performing the associated operation in the memory portion 215 of the primary mass storage device 114 ( step 350 ). thus , the primary computer system 110 does not execute a write request until it has confirmation that the backup computer system 120 has received a copy of the write request . hence , there are no synchronization problems caused a primary computer system 110 failure after the write request req has been executed in the primary mass storage device 114 , but before a copy of the write request req has been fully transmitted to the backup computer system 120 . also after a copy of the request req is sent to the backup delta queue 223 ( step 340 ), the request req is executed in the memory portion 225 of the backup mass storage device 124 ( step 355 ). another acknowledgement signal ack 2 is then transmitted from the backup computer system 120 to the primary computer system 110 ( step 365 ) indicating that the copy of the write request req has been executed by the backup computer system 120 . once the primary computer system 110 receives the second acknowledgement signal ack 2 ( step 360 ), the primary computer system 110 deletes the request req from the primary delta queue 213 ( step 370 ). the primary delta queue 213 thus includes all requests that have been sent to the primary mass storage device 114 for execution , but which are not confirmed to have been executed in the backup mass storage device 124 . during normal operation of the backup computer system 120 , write requests in the primary delta queue 213 are steadily deleted as the write requests are executed in the backup mass storage device 124 . should the backup computer system 110 shut down such that the stream of write requests is no longer being executed in the backup mass storage device 124 , the write requests will accumulate in the primary delta queue 213 . when the backup computer system 120 becomes operational again , the accumulated write requests in the primary delta queue 213 are transmitted to the backup computer system 120 for execution to bring the backup mass storage device 124 back into synchronization with the primary mass storage device 114 . after the request req is executed in the primary main memory 215 ( step 350 ), a third acknowledgement signal ack 3 is transmitted from the primary computer system 110 to the backup computer system 120 ( step 365 ) indicating that the request req has been executed by the primary computer system 110 . the request req is then deleted from the backup delta queue 223 . the backup delta queue 223 thus includes all requests that have been sent to the backup mass storage device 124 for execution , but which are not confirmed to have been executed in the primary mass storage device 114 . during normal operation of the primary computer system 110 , write requests in the backup delta queue 223 are steadily deleted as the write requests are executed in the primary mass storage device 114 . should the primary computer system 110 shut down such that the stream of write requests are no longer being executed in the primary mass storage device 114 , the write requests will accumulate in the backup delta queue 223 . when the primary computer system 110 becomes operational again , the accumulated write requests in the backup delta queue 223 are transmitted to the primary computer system 110 for execution to bring the primary mass memory device 114 back into synchronization with the backup mass memory device 124 . thus , synchronization is maintained between the mass storage devices 114 , 124 even should the primary computer system 110 shut down before the request req is transmitted to the backup computer system 120 . furthermore , only the requests in the backup delta queue 223 need to be transmitted upon the primary computer system 110 becoming operational . likewise , only the requests in the primary delta queue 213 need to be transmitted upon the backup computer system 120 becoming operational . thus , complete remirroring of the data after one of the computer systems 110 , 120 becomes operational is avoided . it is noted that the delta queue 213 , the delay buffer 214 and memory portion 215 may all be located within the same memory component or may be implemented in separate memory components as desired . also , the delta queue 223 and the memory portion 225 may also be implemented in the same or different memory component as desired . the foregoing description relates to a method in which each computer system 110 , 120 confirms that the opposite computer system 120 , 110 has executed the request by receiving acknowledgement signals ack 2 and ack 3 , respectively . however , other confirmation methods are possible . fig4 shows a flow chart of an alternate synchronization method in which acknowledgement signals ack 2 and ack 3 are not used . steps 305 , 310 , 315 , 320 , 325 , 330 , 335 , 340 , 345 , 350 and 355 are the same in fig4 as they are in fig3 . in fig4 the primary computer system 110 waits during a predetermined time period ( e . g ., five seconds or any other suitable amount of time ) after the acknowledgement signal ack 1 is received ( step 405 ). during this time period , if no incident report is received by the primary computer system 110 indicating that the backup computer system 120 has failed , then the primary computer system 110 assumes that the backup computer system 120 executed the request req in the backup mass storage device 124 . in this case , the primary computer system 110 deletes the request req from the primary memory queue 213 after the predetermined time period ( also step 405 ). likewise , the backup computer system 120 waits during a predetermined time period after the request req is received ( step 410 ). during this time period , if no incident report is received in the backup computer system 120 indicating that the primary computer system 110 has failed , then the backup computer system 120 assumes that the primary computer system 110 executed the request req in the primary mass storage device 114 . in this case , the backup computer system 120 deletes the request req from the backup delta queue 223 after the predetermined time period ( also step 410 ). thus , confirmation is achieved by assuming that the opposite computer system executed the request if the opposite computer system is still operational after a predetermined time period . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics . the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive . the scope of the invention is , therefore , indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description . all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope .	8
the present invention involves swinging a mobile device to simulate swinging of a golf club in order to evaluate a user &# 39 ; s golf swing for customized golf club fitting . as used herein , a mobile device refers to a hand - held device having a microprocessor , memory , and integrated motion sensors . examples of such mobile devices include the apple iphone , apple ipod and samsung galaxy smartphone . it is to be understood that such mobile devices mentioned herein are meant for illustrative purposes only . as used herein , calibration point refers to the location in time and space of the mobile device in a set - up position prior to the start of the golf swing . as used herein , impact point refers to the location in time and space of impact with a virtual golf ball . as used herein , a display device refers to any internet connected display capable of graphically displaying a web page . fig1 illustrates various types of rotational movement measured by the motion sensors of a mobile device 10 . these sensors include an accelerometer to capture x , y and z acceleration data ( expressed in g &# 39 ; s along a respective axis ), and a gyroscope to measure pitch , roll and yaw of the mobile device 10 as it moves ( expressed in radians with respect to a respective axis ). at present , the motion sensors sample at about 100 times per second ( 100 hertz ), with this data made available ( by either polling or having the data pushed ) to an application loaded on the mobile device 10 . a representative gyroscope useable in conjunction with the present invention is the l3g4200d gyroscope made by stmicroelectronics , inc . however , it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to motion sensor technology currently available . fig2 illustrates how a golf shaft 50 bends during a golf swing where the user 1 is simulating the golf swing motion with a mobile device . the golf club 60 comprises a shaft 50 , a head 51 , and a grip 49 . the goal is to maximize the speed of the head 51 at the impact point so as to maximize the ball flight distance . therefore swing speed , which is related to club head speed , is a primary input to the customized golf club configuration . the golf club 60 variables that impact swing speed include the stiffness of the shaft 50 and flex point , the weight of the shaft 50 , and the weight of the club head 51 . weight is important because a lighter golf club can be swung faster than a heavier one . furthermore , the shaft acts like a spring and imparts an additional kick to the golf ball through impact ( 4 )-( 5 )-( 6 ) in fig2 , which is why the flex point is also important . there are three different possible flex points on a golf shaft that are commonly manufactured : high , medium and low . a high flex point means the bend of the shaft in the swing is close to the grip , typically used by professional players to ensure accuracy of a golf shot with a stiff shaft . a mid flex point is approximately a third of the way up from the club head , and is for average players with moderate swing speeds . a low flex point is close to the club head , and is good for low swing speed golfers as it “ kicks ” the ball into the air . the challenge is if there is too much bending of the shaft during a swing then the club head looses directional control ( accuracy ), and if there is not enough bending at low swing speeds the golfer does not benefit from any shaft kick . hence , the optimal custom golf club component selection is critically dependent on the swing speed of the golfer . once the swing speed is determined , the optimum flex point and optimal weight of the shaft 50 , for a specific club head 51 , can be determined that maximize the club head speed of the assembled fitted golf club with an acceptable accuracy . note that the swing speed defines the optimal shaft stiffness , flex point , and shaft weight . for example , a person with a low swing speed would benefit from a more flexible shaft with a low kick point ( increasing the kick through impact ) and a lighter shaft ( to swing faster thus increasing club head speed ). the linkage between swing speed and the components ( shaft flex point and weight ) is determined by empirical measurements and rules which define the optimal components to use for a particular swing speed . fig3 illustrates three different lie angles at the impact point and how the lie angle of the club head 51 is related to the yaw of the mobile device 10 in each case . the “ correct lie ” is when the clubface is square at the impact point and the difference in yaw of the mobile device 10 from the calibration point and impact point is zero . as depicted , the lie angle 52 is too flat , the lie angle 53 is too upright ; the respective relationships with the difference in yaw angles at the calibration point and the impact point of the mobile device 10 are shown . the optimal lie angle can be determined from the height of the golfer and the difference in yaw of the mobile device at calibration point and the impact point . fig4 ( a ) illustrates the loft angle 55 of a golf club head 51 . for each golf club , the optimal launch angle to maximize ball flight distance is a function of the club head speed and ball spin rate . for example for the driver , various manufactures have shown that for a 100 miles per hour ( mph ) club head speed the optimal drive distance is realized from a 150 mph ball velocity off the club face , an 11 to 13 degree launch angle at impact and a ball spin rate 2500 to 2900 revolutions per minute ( rpm ). thus empirical measurements define the optimal launch angle for a specific golf club type , club head speed and ball type . fig4 ( b )-( d ) illustrate how the loft angle of the mobile device 10 is related to the velocity vector of the mobile device at the impact point with a virtual golf ball 56 . fig4 ( b ) is the backswing motion of the golf club and / or mobile device . fig4 ( c ) illustrates the case where the club head path through impact is the same as the backswing . fig4 ( d ) illustrates the case where the downswing swing path is different from the backswing . the optimal club loft angle is a function of the swing path angle and club head speed through impact . that is , the club head loft should be adjusted so drives have consistent and optimum launch angles . the angle 54 , which is the difference in back swing and downswing velocity vectors through the impact point , is the key variable to optimize the loft angle 55 so as to create a specific launch angle . in an embodiment , the velocity vector in the backswing fig4 ( b ) and through impact fig4 ( d ) can be calculated by integrating the x , y , and z acceleration . fig5 illustrates how the speed of a virtual golf club head 51 can be calculated from the motion of the mobile device 10 . the top graph is the pitch of the mobile device through a complete golf swing where the minimum ( 5 ) is the impact point . the first step is to calculate the swing speed of the mobile device . this is accomplished by timing the motion through two known points , ( 4 ) and ( 6 ) in the pitch curve of fig5 . given the height of the golfer , their arm length ( swing radius ) can be approximated , and similar to a pendulum the mobile device angular velocity calculated by taking the arc length traveled per unit time . the mobile device velocity at the impact point is the angular velocity times the arc length . the mobile device velocity is then scaled by multiplying by the club head &# 39 ; s swing radius divided by the mobile device &# 39 ; s swing radius : this is , a first order approximation of the velocity of the virtual club head assumes the club is swung directly in line with the arms . expert golfers , however , amplify the velocity of the club head by rotating their forearms and hinging their wrists through impact . as depicted in the bottom of fig5 , the device has gone through a 90 ° arc length , the club head has traveled through nearly 180 °. a second set of multipliers are used to account for forearm rotation and wrist hinge . these multipliers were obtained empirically by video taping professional and amateur golfers using a camera shooting at 1000 frames per second . fig6 illustrates pitch and yaw data as a function of time through a complete golf swing . the impact point is the second minimum of pitch , swing position ( 5 ), and from the yaw at this point we calculate the difference in yaw relative to the calibration point . these data are used for the lie angle optimization , see fig3 . fig7 illustrates how the mobile device 10 roll can be used to measure the degrees of hook and slice of the mobile device , the roll difference , which in turn can be used to fit a golf club which custom corrects the accuracy error . in general , consistent hooks and slices can be corrected by modifying the weighting and angle of the club head relative to the shaft . for example , a person who consistently hooks the ball would benefit from a club head angled 2 - 4 degrees open and weighted such that the club head center of mass is as far as possible from the shaft : this weighting increases the moment of inertia around the shaft , and reduces the tendency to hook . one can also vary the thickness of the golf club grip 49 . a thicker grip tends to promote a slice or a fade , which can partially correct a hook , and conversely a thinner grip promotes a draw , which can correct a slice — although a thinner grip only improves the slice if the existing grip is too fat . the optimal adjustment can be determined by comparing roll data from set - up to impact , and applying the appropriate rules for the magnitude of the hook or slice taking into account other factors such as swing speed . in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , the mobile device 10 can be attached to a golf club . in this case , the user swings the golf club with the mobile device 10 attached thereto , instead of holding the mobile device 10 in the user &# 39 ; s hand . fig8 ( a ) to ( c ) show an exemplary mobile device holder 20 to securely mount the mobile device 10 to a golf club 60 . referring to fig8 ( a ) , the mobile device holder 20 comprises a two - piece assembly including a c - shaped coupler 24 and a frame 22 . as shown , the frame 22 is rectangular and includes a pair of grooved sides 25 and an open end 27 . the c - shaped coupler 24 is structured so as to snugly fit around the golf club 30 ( as shown ). as shown , the frame 22 includes hole 23 . the hole 23 is sized to accommodate collar wings 26 of the c - shaped coupler 24 , which can be fitted through the hole 23 such that the frame 22 is positioned perpendicularly relative to the longitudinal axis of the golf club 30 , as shown in fig8 ( b ) . next , the frame 22 is turned 90 degrees such that the open end 27 points away from the club head , as shown in fig8 ( c ) . once turned 90 degrees , the collar wings 26 settle into pockets 28 molded on the inside of the frame 22 . once the collar wings 26 are seated , the mobile device 10 can be slid into the frame , the grooved sides 25 providing a secure friction fit . in an embodiment the materials used for the frame 22 include a hard polycarbonate , most preferably , co - molded silicon together with the polycarbonate for an enhanced friction fit with the mobile device 10 . however , it is to be understood that various other materials may suffice , such as stainless steel , aluminum , or another metal ; polyethylene , acrylonitrile - butyl - styrene ( abs ), polyvinyl chloride , and nylon , or another plastic . further it is to be understood that the particular manner in which the mobile device 10 is mounted to the golf club 60 ( i . e ., using the mobile device holder 20 ) is presented for illustrative purposes , and is not meant to be limiting . fig9 illustrates an exemplary architecture of a virtual golf club fitting lab 100 , with the mobile device 10 in communication with a cloud - based server 110 . the swing data analyzer 130 is executed on the mobile device 10 and the data is passed via the network to the server 110 which uses a rules engine 140 with business rules to determine an optimal customized club built virtually by combining data from three sources : ( 1 ) customer database and user preferences 125 ( male vs . female , left vs . right handedness for example ), ( 2 ) the swing analysis vs . club attribution table 130 ( driver vs . wedge for example ), and ( 3 ) a product component database 120 ( all components such as shafts and heads to select from ). the club recommendation is then passed back to the mobile device user 1 via the mobile device 10 . alternately , the swing data analyzer 130 can also run entirely on the mobile device 10 , with the product component database 120 and analytic engine integrated into the “ app ”. fig9 also illustrates an embodiment with display output on the mobile device 10 . this display includes , but is not limited to , ball flight 85 for various swings and different club configurations , customized club recommendation 65 , which may include graphics , textual data , animations and video clips of professional golfers or instructors , and targeted marketing offers 180 . fig1 illustrates customized marketing 180 delivered to the mobile device with ( 1 ) the customized golf club fitting recommendation 65 , ( 2 ) the mapped location 190 of a golf store with the club ( s ), ( 3 ) a bundled product offering 180 and ( 4 ) a discount offer 185 for purchasing the bundled set . fig1 illustrates an exemplary architecture of a virtual golf club fitting lab 100 where , in an embodiment , the virtual golf club fitting lab also includes a networked web enabled display device 200 . in this embodiment the ball flight 85 and / or product recommendations 65 , and / or target marketing offers 180 and / or 185 are shown on the display device 200 responsive to the user mobile device swing motions and interactions with the system . fig1 illustrates an exemplary method for recommending custom golf clubs to different players a , b and c . each player has very different demographic traits and different swing data captured by their respective mobile devices . the rules engine 140 configures the custom golf club for each user by applying a set of rules , which are essentially filters , to the product component database . the rules are applied to sequentially select the optimal golf club head , shaft and grip , and iterate between possible components to optimize the system with constraints . the output is a recommended custom golf club 65 ( or plurality of clubs ) for each player that are optimized based upon user input data , swing data captured by the mobile device , and other data such as may be stored in a customer relationship management system or other database . these figures and the related methods for analysis are described in greater detail hereinafter . in an embodiment of the present invention , the virtual golf club - fitting lab 100 comprises two options : the mobile device can either be attached to the golf club in a customized holder ( see fig8 ), or simply held in the user &# 39 ; s hands . the former approach is more accurate for lie angle and loft analysis ; however , the latter has the advantage that no specialized holder is necessary and the results are nevertheless accurate for the most golfers . the virtual golf club fitting lab 100 comprises three major components : ( 1 ) the product component database 120 , ( 2 ) a motion sensor analyzer 75 , and ( 3 ) a rules engine 140 . the product component database 120 includes , but is not limited to , information identifying golf club components having specific shaft lengths and diameters , weights , stiffness , club head weights , loft angles , lie angles , etc . the motion sensor analyzer 130 has as inputs the x , y and z acceleration data from the accelerometer ( a x , a y and a z respectively ) and pitch , yaw and roll of the gyroscope in the mobile device 10 , measured during the swings . the motion sensor analyzer 130 takes the accelerometer and gyroscope data and outputs golf swing specific variables that are input to the rules engine 140 . the rules engine 140 analyzes the input gyroscope and accelerometer swing data and selects or builds a recommended customized dynamic golf club for a specific user , based on available component information stored in the component database 120 , the swing analysis vs . club attributes table 130 ( mapping swing motion characteristics for different clubs such as sand wedge , 7 iron or driver , to their respective components ) and using specific rules derived from empirical measurements . the rules engine 140 may be coded to run on the mobile device 10 , or may run on a server in the distributed architecture . the virtual club - fitting process is further clarified in the following example of a preferred embodiment . initially , a user touches an icon on the screen of the mobile device 10 to invoke the virtual golf club fitting lab 100 ( embodied herein as an application on the mobile device 10 ). in an exemplary embodiment , the user interacts with a virtual coach who guides the user through the club fitting process using one or more video clips . via a survey instrument , or voice recognition , the virtual guide collects data such as : gender , handedness ( left or right ), height , type of club to fit , etc . then , holding the mobile device 10 in the user &# 39 ; s hand as if a golf club , the user simulates an actual swing . for data collection , in a preferred embodiment , the user swings at least 20 times , each time holding the mobile device 10 at an address position and waiting for a vibration or audible “ swing ” indication . these multiple swings enable swing data that can be screened for outliers and averaged to smooth the motion data . it is anticipated that future releases of the iphone and android - based devices will include motion sensors that are more accurate , so that only a few swings ( less than 10 ) may suffice . data gathered by the internal gyroscope and accelerometer of the mobile device 10 is then analyzed via the motion sensor analyzer 75 and relevant feedback ( swing speed , orientation , acceleration , estimated ball flight path / distance etc .) can be given . in an embodiment , users can see ball flight simulations 85 on their mobile device 10 following each swing , or can connect to a web - based version built in html , css , and javascript from their personal computer , web - enabled television ( tv ) or tablet computer 200 . in a preferred distributed embodiment , the ball flight simulation is displayed on a web page that can be displayed on any web - enabled tv or computer screen 200 . the distributed application can be accomplished using a comet ( ajax push , http server push ) application that allows the iphone ( or other mobile device 10 ) to push golf swing data to the browser . as a user practices in the virtual golf club fitting lab 100 , their swing data can be added to a cloud - based database where it is accessible at a later “ history ” section of the app . several months after being fitted for new golf clubs , a golfer can then re - evaluate their swing as the optimal fitted clubs may have changed . in the distributed architecture , the user is connected to a server wherein the user has a unique account and identifier . this networked configuration enables the user to swing the mobile device 10 and see the ball flight and related data on any other web - enabled devices 200 such as an apple ipad , personal computer ( pc ), or web - enabled tv . that is , as the user swings the mobile device 10 the ball flight can be animated ( and video clips of the virtual coach displayed ) on a different display 200 from the mobile device 10 . this embodiment is described in detail in co - pending u . s . application ser . no . 13 / 659 , 774 to jeffery et al ., entitled method to provide dynamic customized sports instruction responsive to motion of a mobile device , filed oct . 24 , 2012 . as discussed earlier , the main variables used for club fitting are club head loft and weighting , lie angle , shaft weight , stiffness , and flex point , and ( potentially ) grip thickness . shaft stiffness and flex point is optimized so as to maximize the club head speed given the swing speed of the golf club : the shaft acts like a spring which can store energy and release this energy through impact . however , there is a tradeoff between accuracy and distance . for example , a high swing speed will bend a soft flex shaft past optimal , and this may cause a slice of the ball , which is a loss of accuracy . the optimal shaft stiffness and flex point is derived via a table look up based upon the overall swing speed of the golf club . in general , a high swing speed ( 100 mph or more ) will correspond to a stiff shaft and a low swing speed , of 60 mph or less , a soft shaft flex . however , various manufacturers have different golf club shaft stiffness and flex points that produce the maximum distance at specific speeds . hence , given the accurate measurement of a golfers swing speed , it is possible to select the optimal shaft for a specific golfer . so for example , a golfer with an 85 mph swing speed should be fitted with a shaft flex tuned between stiff and regular , which are possible given a vendor database of many different shafts , and / or by potentially cutting the end of a shaft to change its resonance characteristics . these specific product data are pre - loaded into a product table in the component database 120 to enable the swing speed to specific shaft product look - up . the mobile device swing speed analysis is a critical component of the invention , and is described in detail in the following section . the second major variable is the lie angle of the golf club . this is the angle that the face of the golf club should be adjusted to ensure the head of the club is square at impact , and is directly related to the yaw angle of the mobile device , pre and post impact . the angle of the mobile device 10 and the clubface are directly related so there is a one - to - one correspondence . in an embodiment , the yaw angle is compared at address ( just before starting the swing ) to the yaw angle at impact , see fig3 and 6 . how these two points of the swing are found is described in detail in the following section . we assume that the club at address is placed square to the ball so that the difference in degrees is the angle the club should be adjusted so that at impact it is square to the ball , which is most important . loft is the third major variables for custom club fitting . for the driver , for example , to achieve the maximum ball flight the optimal for a 100 mph club head speed is an 11 to 13 degree launch angle . other swing speeds have different optimal launch angles . the launch angle and loft of the club are related to the angle of approach of the club head to the ball at impact , see fig5 . for example , if the swing path through the ball is horizontal , as the club impacts the ball backspin is imparted to the ball and the ball spins off the clubface . complex physics are at play but experiments have shown for the driver that a 100 mph swing the ball will have a velocity of 150 mph . for maximum distance , the optimal launch angle is 11 to 13 degrees with a ball spin rate of 2500 to 2900 rpm . using a launch monitor , experiments tabulate the loft for each club that provides the maximum distance for various swing speeds . however , if the club head is moving in a steep downward path through the ball , so the velocity vector is pointing downward , for an optimal launch angle the club head loft should be increased by the difference in the angle of the velocity vector and the horizontal path . that is the club head is moving downward through impact so the loft angle should be increased to produce the optimal launch angle . conversely , if the club head is moving upward through impact the loft should be decreased . the calculation of angle through impact is discussed in the following section . in a preferred embodiment to fit the loft of the club , we combine a table look up of the optimal loft for a horizontal swing and a particular swing speed with a correction derived from the angle of approach through the ball , that is , the deviation from the horizontal swing path . finally , if the golfer consistently hooks or slices the golf ball there is an opportunity to at least partially correct the error through a custom fitted golf club . a person who slices the ball has the club head open at impact , whereas a golfer who hooks the ball has the club head closed at impact . the open or closed clubface can be calculated accurately from the roll angle of the mobile device 10 at impact , see fig5 . these data can then be used to select the optimal open or closed angle of the club head , and the weighting for a club head : a weighting with a club head center of mass closer to the shaft will encourage more angular rotation , correcting a slice , and a weighting farther from the shaft will reduce the angular rotation , correcting a hook . again , these data are compiled by vendors and are incorporated into product tables . in an embodiment , the rules engine 140 custom fits a golf club in a four step process given user and motion sensor input : ( 1 ) club head selection ; ( 2 ) shaft selection ; ( 3 ) grip selection ; and ( 4 ) iterative optimization with user input . in order to clarify the club component selection process we illustrate an example for three different users a , b and c custom fitting of a golf driver as follows , see fig1 . user a is a 73 year old male , is left handed , has a 12 handicap , is not price sensitive , and has a preference for ping golf clubs . the mobile device calculated club head speed for player a is 82 mph , with an average “ straight ” at impact , zero difference in lie angle , and zero difference in velocity vector direction from calibration point to impact point . as a first step user a inputs his existing club specifications , the “ base - case ”: a ping g15 driver with 9 . 5 degrees loft , and a stiff shaft with a mid flex point and standard ping grip . the player a next takes swings of his mobile device and the display on the mobile device 10 and / or web - enabled display 200 are ball flights for the base - case club given the swing speed , and other variables . the virtual club fitting lab 100 then presents user a custom club head recommendations by filtering the data base for ping left handed club heads with zero lie angle adjustment and neutral weighting ( no hook or slice ): the ping anser driver head with a 12 . 7 degree loft would be a primary recommendation . shaft recommendations are then given : the rule for a 82 mph swing speed , mid handicap player , will be for a lighter shaft senior ( softer ) stiffness and a low flex point . hence the recommendation would be to filter available ping shafts for a recommendation : a ping tfc 800d 50 gram shaft , senior stiffness , and low flex point . finally standard thickness grips are presented , which are selected predominantly based upon demographic and handicap data , and upon the user a preferences , by filtering the grips in the component database . the relatively high loft angle , lighter shaft and low kick point will maximize the ball flight for user a . total cost : approximately $ 400 . the rules engine 140 iterates between possible outcomes when multiple components are possible , goal seeking for the optimal ball flight distance . the completely assembled golf club ( s ) is / are displayed on the mobile device 10 and / or the display device 200 . as the final step the user a swings the mobile device and the ball flight of the customized virtual club is displayed in comparison to the original base - case club simulated ball flight data . the user then has the option to iterate between club components and compare virtual simulated ball flights before making a selection . marketing messaging and golf store mapping , see fig1 , or links to online purchase options , are presented on the mobile device 10 and / or web enabled display device . user a can see the difference in virtual ball flight , approximately 10 to 15 yards , compared to the base case . user b is a 35 year old male , right handed , 25 handicap player with price sensitivity of less than $ 250 . his swing speed is measured by the mobile device to be 92 miles per hour with an average 6 degree slice and a 3 degree positive lie angle difference . the process is the same as for user a , the rules engine filters club heads , shafts and grips including constraints and iterates resulting in the following recommendation : callaway razr hawk draw driver with 11 degree loft , flat lie angle , 4 degree closed head , with a regular stiffness 60 gram shaft and mid flex point , and standard grip — total cost approximately $ 200 . this custom club is lighter , will partially correct the slice , and will increase the ball flight distance by approx . 5 to 8 yards . user b then has the opportunity to test drive the virtual club and simulate the different ball flight , and will be presented with marketing messaging on where to purchase with promotional offers , online or at a physical store . finally user c is an expert 27 year old golfer with a 2 handicap and no price sensitivity . his swing speed is measured by the mobile device to be 110 miles per hour with an average 3 degree draw and zero lie angle difference , and 3 degree downward impact point velocity vector angle relative to the calibration point vector . the process is the same as for user a and user c : the rules engine filters club heads , shafts and grips including constraints and iterates . the recommendation is as follows : taylormade rbz driver head with 9 degree loft , flat lie angle , 1 degree open head , with a stiff 70 gram graffaloy x shaft with a high flex point , and tour grip — total cost approximately $ 900 . this golf club will maximize ball flight distance and accuracy for user c . note that in all three case examples the user input data , demographic data , and the swing analysis data was different . the process however is the same , as each major component is selected the data base of product components is filtered down and iteratively converging on the optimal golf club which maximizes the desired ball flight with constraints . this example is meant to be illustrative and not limiting . the component model numbers are expected to change over time and additional variables to those illustrated may be used by the rules engine to recommend customized golf clubs . while the method was illustrated for the case of a driver , it is understood that the same method is applicable to selection of multiple clubs , such as irons or wedges . furthermore , the example illustrated had three different users . the number of users is not limited and may be singular if the club fitting lab system 100 is installed locally on a particular user &# 39 ; s mobile device , see fig9 . in the cloud - based embodiment , see fig1 , the system 100 is scalable to millions of concurrent users , each with a simultaneous plurality of custom club fitted recommendations . as mentioned , the virtual fitting can be conducted with the mobile device 10 either held in the user &# 39 ; s hand or attached to a golf club . the methods are substantially similar ; however , the speed multipliers are different since a golf club with the mobile device 10 is heavier than just the mobile device 10 . hitting an actual ball gives confidence to the accuracy of the system , as users can see the actual ball flight . however , using the mobile device 10 alone is surprisingly accurate , and from our experiments , the simulated ball flight matches closely . referring again to fig8 , an exemplary mobile device holder 20 is shown . deficiencies of prior art mobile device holders include ( 1 ) the holder is open at the top so the mobile device can fall out during a full golf swing and ( 2 ) the holder is not easily attached / detached from the golf club . the mobile device holder 20 overcomes these shortcomings and is comprised of an injection molded mobile device case that completely encloses the sides of the mobile device 10 and a small collar that is mounted to the golf club shaft . an important advantage of this design is that the collar can be kept on the golf club , and the mobile device case kept permanently on the mobile device 10 . the mobile device 10 can also be quickly attached / detached to various different golf clubs if they have collars installed . in an embodiment , the virtual golf club fitting lab application can be loaded entirely onto the mobile device 10 , with the rules engine 140 ( comprising computer code ) and the product component database 120 ( comprising data ) downloaded onto the mobile device 10 . in other embodiments , the software of the invention can be run in a distributed application with the rules engine 120 and product component database 140 in the cloud . the cloud - based architecture has the advantage that the product component database 140 and the rules engine 120 can be updated independently of the mobile device application , so that as new product components are introduced , the user does not have to upgrade software on the mobile device 10 . an important element of the present invention is the motion analyzer that uses the accelerometer and gyroscope integral to the mobile device 10 . a particular challenge that the present invention overcomes , is how to accurately analyze a swing without actually hitting a golf ball or holding a golf club . the first challenge with analyzing golf swing data from a mobile device 10 is finding ball “ impact ” so that data around impact can be compared to other parts of the swing . an important component of the present invention is that we define “ zero ” at the start of the swing . specifically for the virtual golf club fitting lab 100 , the user first swipes the screen of the mobile device 10 which tells the app the user is getting ready to swing . the user then holds the mobile device 10 in the address position as if to hit an imaginary ball . when the mobile device 10 is held stationary for a predetermined length of time ( e . g ., one second ) it vibrates and / or emits an audible indicator . this signal is the “ zero ” of the golf swing , and the changes in the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors are relative to this “ zero ”. pitch data , or the rotation around the axis that cuts the mobile device into top and bottom halves when looking at the screen ( x - axis ) is the most telling data stream as a golfer moves through their swing , see fig5 . impact is found at the first major minimum that approaches our starting calibration ( we define zero by taking the average of all mobile device position / orientation data over the course of one second taken prior to the swing when the golfer is in their set - up position ). to bring context , in a golfer &# 39 ; s swing , pitch data rises as the golfer goes into their backswing , returns to calibration as he or she swing through impact , then rises again as he or she moves into their follow through . impact is the pitch position that gets closest to our set - up . this minimum is confirmed by aligning it with a spike in z - acceleration or a maximum in change in yaw ; this is in the event that more than one major minimum in pitch is found , the minimum selected as impact is determined by which point has the greatest z - acceleration . this confirmation helps in cases where a golfer &# 39 ; s backswing or follow - through rotation is so great ( near 360 degree rotation from set - up ) that the gyroscope flips completely and creates extra minimums near calibration . once impact is found , swing accuracy is determined by subtracting roll data at impact from roll data at calibration , see fig7 . roll data , or the rotation around the axis that cuts the mobile device into left and right halves when looking at the screen ( y - axis ) describes “ open and closed ” face positions on the club head . swings that return a negative difference mean that the user over - rotated at impact , this implies a closed face at impact and a resulting draw or hook depending on the amount . swings that return a positive difference mean that the user under - rotated at impact , this implies an open face at impact and a resulting fade or slice . swings that return a near zero value mean the club face very closely matched calibration orientation at impact and imply a straight ball flight . speed is approximated by analyzing pitch data , see fig5 . once we have found impact in pitch data we can look forward and back in pitch data by 45 degrees . these data points , assuming proper wrist hinging , align with positions in the swing . so if impact happens at pitch =− 65 degrees , we can look at pitch =− 25 degrees before and after impact ( 45 degrees in each direction ) and find how much time elapsed between each point . generally , about one tenth of a second passes between these two positions , so given arm length we can find mobile device speed around impact by dividing a 90 degree arc length where the radius = user arm length by time passed : this delivers device / hand speed . we have found , using high speed video clocking , that the driver club head speed can be as slow as 2 . 4 times handspeed ( this is in the case of a user swinging a club with rigid arms , forearms , and wrists ) or as fast as 6 times hand speed ( in the case of a world class professional golfer ). the difference between these two multipliers comes from the combination of forearm rotation and wrist hinge which allow golfers to force the club head to travel through a much greater arclength ( sometimes even close to 180 degrees ) in the time it takes the hands to travel through the 90 degrees of arclength around impact . the multiplier we choose is driven directly by gyroscope acceleration through impact on the z and y axis ( yaw and roll ) which account for wrist hinge and forearm rotation respectively . from our detailed experiments with the apple iphone 4 and 4s , we found that the gyroscope is particularly accurate , so that the roll data is very good to predict hook or slice within approximately half a degree . the accelerometer data from the iphone 4 however is noisy and is not particularly accurate over the entire golf swing , but does work well for measuring forearm rotation rate around impact . this is why we divide the swing into portions and calculate an average velocity , v , of the mobile device through impact through the last portion of the swing prior to ball “ impact ”: where d 2 − d 1 is the distance of the last portion of the golf swing before ball impact ; and t 2 − t 1 is the time taken to cover the distance d 2 − d 1 . this is an approximation of the actual instantaneous velocity of the mobile device , and is only a first order approximation of the speed of the golf club head , since it does not include the wrist hinge or forearm rotation described above . via detailed experiments with a high - speed video camera we were able to find multipliers for these variables , with the result of calculating club head speed within +/− 10 % for a variety of swing types . from club head speed we can predict ball flight distance in ideal conditions . we envision that the data quality output from the accelerometer will improve dramatically in future versions of iphone or android based mobile devices . when this technology becomes available we will more accurately calculate the velocity of the mobile device at impact by integrating the acceleration from the top of the backswing ( t bs ) to the zero ( t 0 ) of the mobile device : v =√{ square root over ( v x 2 + v y 2 + v z 2 )} ( 3 ) where t 0 − t bs is the time between the minimal at the top of the back swing ( t bs ) measured from the pitch data and the zero at the bottom of the swing at impact , t 0 . the integrals are calculating in the software using a fourth order runge - kutta algorithm . see for example , william h . press et al , numerical recipes 3rd edition : the art of scientific computing , 2007 . the velocity component vectors ( 2 ) are difficult to accurately calculate with the current version of the accelerometers , since the internal accelerometer has a noisy output . hence , for club fitting , we average at least 20 swings to obtain these values , and also employ a software - based high - pass filter , see for example william h . press et al , numerical recipes 3rd edition : the art of scientific computing , 2007 . with the current technology and our method we are able to calculate the velocity vector magnitudes and directions at the takeaway from the calibration point and in the region of the impact point , which enables the loft fitting discussed above , see fig4 . the user can also attach the mobile device to their golf club via a cradle and compare actual practice swings to the computed swings for distance and accuracy . we use a similar analysis when the mobile device is attached to the club , but the multipliers are different primarily due to users swinging the golf club slower than the mobile device : the mobile device is lighter than a golf club so ones hands naturally go faster . as an additional example of swing analysis we consider putting , rather than the full swing of a golf club . ping has previously created an iphone app for putting . their prior art has three significant limitations however : ( 1 ) they requires an attachment to a putter , ( 2 ) they require impact with a physical ball , and ( 3 ) their method is not accurate for long puts , greater than approximately 20 feet . our method does not have any of these limitations . similar to the full swing described above , the user holds the mobile device as if it were a putter , and after one second of being held still it vibrates : the mobile device is ready . the user then puts an imaginary ball . compared to the full swing , the pitch data from the mobile device is now a relatively smooth sine wave function with a minimum at impact . the putter stroke is analyzed similar to the full golf swing , but with average velocity calculated from eq . 1 where d 1 and d 2 are the respective maximum distances pull back and stroke through impact with the ball . an advantage of the putter stroke is that the function is smooth and the speed is relatively slow compared to the full golf swing . hence , equations ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) can also be used to calculate an instantaneous velocity at impact — we use both methods , integration of equations ( 2 ) and average velocity from eq . ( 1 ), with a scale multiplier for the length of the putter for speed at the putter head at impact with a ball . for long puts the acceleration method becomes increasingly inaccurate , hence the average velocity method provides better results with a multiplier derived from empirical measurements . from the speed of the putter head the distance the ball travels can be calculated assuming ideal conditions . most important , however , is that we are able to quantify mobile device roll angle differences at impact ( similar to hook or slice for the full swing ). we can also analyze the gyroscope acceleration data for errors such as deceleration through the put , or a left pull or right push ( these last two errors are identified from the combination of the second integral of acceleration , and the roll data ). customized club fitting is then delivered based upon the putting motion analysis . data on swing motion accuracy is also presented to the user and stored , local to the app and on the server in the users account , for longitudinal comparisons of putting consistency improvement . for greater detail , see , u . s . application ser . no . 13 / 655 , 366 to jeffery et al ., entitled method and system to analyze sports motions using motion sensors of a mobile device . one preferred embodiment of the invention provides targeted marketing based upon the swing analyzer data . that is , the user is presented with a display advertisement of a specific golf manufacturer &# 39 ; s product that they can touch to get detailed product information . marketing messages can be displayed on the mobile device 10 or on a device different from the mobile device ( e . g ., a web - enabled device 200 networked to the cloud - based server 110 ). testimonials of the expert golf instructors can further enhance the impact of the advertising , and increase the take rate of users ( the percent of users who accept the offer ). a particular feature of the invention is to combine custom club fitting recommendations with location awareness , so that specific golf stores and / or club fitting facilities are highlighted on a map in the local area , with the component availability . this can be accomplished using global positioning sensor data to provide nearest golf store location information , either displayed on the user &# 39 ; s mobile device 10 or a separate web - enabled device linked to the cloud - based server 110 , for example . we also provide a web - based solution , so that the user can immediately purchase the custom golf club via the internet . golf club fitting is an ideal opportunity for cross - sell and up - sell of high value golf equipment . see , for reference , mark jeffery , data - driven marketing : the 15 metrics everyone in marketing should know , wiley 2010 . for example , a customer selecting a driver is also an ideal candidate to also buy a three wood , or a customer purchasing a custom putter is ideal to target marketing to also buy wedges to enhance their short game , and both customers may need a new golf bag , clothes and golf balls . bundling of products is known to result in significantly increased wallet share and higher margins . see fig9 for an exemplary screenshot of the mobile device displaying these combined elements : ( 1 ) the custom fitted golf club , ( 2 ) mapped location of the nearest store with the product , and ( 3 ) bundling of related products with a marketing offer for purchase of the bundle . in a preferred embodiment , the analytic marketing component is enabled by augmenting the product component database with retail store names and locations , on - line channel options , and inventory data . the analytic rules engine then also includes business logic to target marketing depending upon the golf club that is being fitted , the global positioning sensor data output , and other data that is known about the user . the distributed system is an extension of the architecture described in co - pending u . s . patent application ser . no . 13 / 269 , 534 , filed oct . 7 , 2011 , and entitled “ method and system for dynamic assembly of multimedia presentation threads ”, and in u . s . application ser . no . 13 / 659 , 774 to jeffery et al ., entitled method to provide dynamic customized sports instruction responsive to motion of a mobile device , filed oct . 24 , 2012 . while this invention has been described in conjunction with the various exemplary embodiments outlined above , it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the exemplary embodiments of the invention , as set forth above , are intended to be illustrative , not limiting . various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	0
in the embodiment , a thermal displacement correction device corresponds to a numerical control device . fig1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a main part of a numerical control device of a working machine . a processor ( cpu ) 11 of a numerical control device 10 is a processor that controls the entire numerical control device 10 . the processor 11 reads a system program stored in a rom 12 via a bus 21 and controls the entire numerical control device 10 according to the system program . a ram 13 stores a temporary calculation data item , a display data item , and various data items input from an operator via an lcd / mdi unit 70 . a sram 14 is configured as a non - volatile memory which is backed up by a battery ( not illustrated ) so that a storage state is maintained even when the power of the numerical control device 10 is turned off . thus , the sram stores a program of measuring an initial position , a program of correcting a thermal displacement of a working machine , a processing program read via an interface 15 , which will be described below , and a processing program input via the lcd / mdi unit 70 . further , the rom 12 previously stores various system programs for performing a process of an automatic operation or a process of an editing mode necessary to create and edit the processing program . the interface 15 is an interface for an external device that is connectable to the numerical control device 10 , and is connected to an external device 72 such as an external storage device . a processing program , a thermal displacement correction amount calculation program , a thermal displacement correction precision estimation program , and the like are read from the external storage device . a pmc ( programmable machine controller ) 16 controls an auxiliary device in a working machine by the sequence program stored in the numerical control device 10 . that is , a signal necessary for the auxiliary device is converted by the sequence program in accordance with the functions m , s , and t instructed by the processing program , and is output from the i / o unit 17 to the auxiliary device . by the output signal , an auxiliary device such as various actuators is operated . further , signals for various switches of an operation panel disposed on a body of the working machine are subject to necessary processes , and are transmitted to the processor 11 . image signals such as a current position , an alarm , a parameter , and an image data item for each shaft of the working machine are transmitted to the lcd / mdi unit 70 , and are displayed on a display . the lcd / mdi unit 70 is a manual input data input device that includes a display or a keyboard , and an interface 18 receives a data item from the keyboard of the lcd / mdi unit 70 and transmits the data item to the processor 11 . the interface 19 is connected to a manual pulse generator 71 . here , the manual pulse generator 71 is mounted on the operation panel of the working machine , and is used to precisely position the movable unit of the working machine by the control of each shaft using a distribution pulse based on a manual operation . control circuits 30 to 32 which move a table t of the working machine in the x , y , and z axes receive a movement instruction for each axis from the processor 11 and output an instruction for each axis to servo amplifiers 40 to 42 . the servo amplifiers 40 to 42 receive this instruction and drive the servomotors 50 to 52 for the shafts of the working machine . a position detecting pulse coder is provided in each of the servo motors 50 to 52 for the shafts , and the position signals generated from the pulse coders are fed back as a pulse train to the numerical control device 10 . a spindle control circuit 60 receives a main shaft rotation instruction to the working machine and outputs a spindle speed signal to a spindle amplifier 61 . the spindle amplifier 61 receives the spindle speed signal , and drives a tool by rotating the tool at a rotation speed instructed by a spindle motor 62 of the working machine . a position coder 63 is coupled to the spindle motor 62 through a gear or a belt . the position coder 63 outputs a feedback pulse in synchronization with the rotation of the main shaft . the feedback pulse is read by the processor 11 via the interface 20 . reference numeral 65 indicates a clock circuit which is adjusted to be synchronized with the current time . hereinafter , in the embodiment , a method will be described which estimates correction precision for a thermal displacement correction amount and notifies degradation in correction precision . in the thermal displacement amount monitoring method of the embodiment , a thermal displacement correction amount reference value h n is used as an index value for monitoring the thermal displacement amount . the thermal displacement correction amount reference value h n is a numerical value group used to determine a thermal displacement correction degree . the subscript n is a numerical value which is used as the index value of the correction amount and is an integer value . the values of the thermal displacement correction amount reference value h n are set so as to satisfy a relation of h n − 1 & lt ; h n & lt ; h n + 1 in order from the small degree of the numerical values of the thermal displacement correction amount . in the case of h n ≦ x & lt ; h n + 1 when a thermal displacement correction amount x is estimated by a thermal displacement correction program during the operation of the working machine based on the thermal displacement correction amount reference value h n defined in this way , the correction amount index of the thermal displacement correction amount x may be set as n . in the embodiment , a correction error coefficient is further used . the correction error coefficient is a coefficient that indicates a degree of an allowable error of the thermal displacement correction amount in the correction amount index n , and is set to a different value in a state where a change in thermal displacement amount is steady or unsteady . when a change amount in the thermal displacement amount ( a difference between the precedent thermal displacement amount and the current thermal displacement amount ) is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value d − and is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value d +, the steady state is set . otherwise , the unsteady state is set . a correction error coefficient a n in the steady state and a correction error coefficient b n in the unsteady state are respectively defined by the following equations . in the equation ( 1 ), the se na indicates a standard error between an actual thermal displacement amount and a thermal displacement correction amount obtained by the thermal displacement correction program in the case where the thermal displacement amount is equal to or larger than h n and equal to or smaller than h n + 1 , that is , the correction amount index is n when a change amount in the thermal displacement amount is under steady state . then se na is calculated in advance by the repeated test in the steady state , and is stored in the sram 14 of the numerical control device 10 . the se nb indicates a standard error between an actual thermal displacement amount and a thermal displacement correction amount obtained by the thermal displacement correction program when a change amount in the thermal displacement amount is abnormal . the se nb is calculated in advance by the repeated test in the abnormal state as in the normal state , and is stored in the sram 14 of the numerical control device 10 . the algorithm of the correction precision calculation process during an actual processing operation using the values defined in this way will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of fig2 . when this process is started , a thermal displacement correction amount x ( t ) is first calculated ( s 201 ). a thermal displacement correction amount calculation program is used in the calculation of the thermal displacement correction amount . next , a correction amount index n that satisfies the relation of h n ≦ x ( t )& lt ; h n + 1 is calculated ( s 202 ). when the correction amount index n of the thermal displacement correction amount x ( t ) is calculated , it is determined whether a change amount in the thermal displacement correction amount is under steady state or under unsteady state ( s 203 ). more specifically , a difference between the thermal displacement correction amount x ( t − 1 ) and the thermal displacement correction amount x ( t ) stored in the memory during the execution of the process is obtained . then , it is determined whether the relation of d − ≦ x ( t )− x ( t − 1 )≦ d + is satisfied . in s 203 , when it is determined that a change amount in the thermal displacement correction amount is under steady state , the correction error coefficient a n in the steady state of the correction amount index n is read from the memory ( s 204 ), and the equation of the correction precision e = x ( t )× a n is calculated by using the read value ( s 205 ). meanwhile , in s 203 , when it is determined that a change amount in the thermal displacement correction amount is under unsteady state , the correction error coefficient b n in the unsteady state of the correction amount index n is read from the memory ( s 206 ), and the equation of the correction precision e = x ( t )× b n is calculated by using the read value ( s 207 ). finally , the thermal displacement correction amount x ( t ) is stored in the memory , and the process ends . fig3 is a flowchart illustrating an algorithm of a process of determining the correction precision using the correction precision e calculated by the correction precision calculation process described in fig2 and displaying a notice or the like when the correction precision is degraded . in the embodiment , the process of fig3 is repeated at a predetermined interval in the numerical control device 10 . when this process is started , a process of calculating the correction precision e is first performed ( s 301 ). when the correction precision e is calculated , it is determined whether the value of the calculated correction precision e is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value e th ( s 302 ). in s 302 , when the value of the correction precision e is smaller than a predetermined threshold value e th , it is estimated that the precision of the thermal displacement correction amount is sufficiently maintained . accordingly , the process ends , and the processing operation is continued by using the calculated thermal displacement correction amount . in s 302 , when the value of the correction precision e is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value e th , it is estimated that the precision of the thermal displacement correction amount is not sufficiently maintained . accordingly , a notice for degradation in correction precision is displayed on the lcd / mdi unit 70 of the numerical control device 10 ( s 303 ). when degradation in correction precision is notified , it is determined whether to stop the processing operation by reading a setting value for the stop of the processing operation stored in the memory ( s 304 ). the setting value may be set in advance by an operator before the processing operation starts . in s 304 , when the setting value for the stop of the processing operation is set so as to stop the processing operation , a control of stopping the processing operation is performed ( s 305 ), and the process ends . in s 304 , when the setting value for the stop of the processing operation is set so as not to stop the processing operation , it is determined whether to measure the thermal displacement amount by reading a setting value for the measurement of the thermal displacement amount stored in the memory ( s 306 ). the setting value may be set in advance by an operator before the processing operation starts . in s 306 , when the setting value for the measurement of the thermal displacement amount becomes a value of instructing the measurement , the offset value is automatically adjusted by measuring the thermal displacement amount using a touch probe or a position sensor provided in the working machine in advance ( s 307 ). in s 306 , when the setting value for the measurement of the thermal displacement amount becomes a value of not instructing the measurement , the process ends . as described above , the thermal displacement correction device of the embodiment may improve the reliability of the thermal displacement correction function by estimating the correction precision and automatically determining whether the precision is within predetermined precision . further , since the processing operation is automatically stopped when the thermal displacement correction precision is degraded , the processing operation which does not fall within the predetermined precision may not be performed . furthermore , when the touch probe or the position sensor is used , the automatic adjustment of the offset value and the measurement may be performed only when the correction is not sufficient in the thermal displacement correction function , and hence the number of times of measuring the position may be decreased .	6
fig1 is a diagram of one embodiment of a networked lighting system . the networked lighting system can include a computer 101 , light program design application 103 , a set of controller modules 105 , and a set of lamps 107 a , 10713 . a ‘ set ,’ as used herein , refers to any positive whole number of items including one item . the networked lighting system can also include a set of lamp positioning devices 109 or similar auxiliary components that work in conjunction with the lighting controls . each of these components can be in communication with one another through a network 111 . the network 111 can be any type of communication medium including a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), such as the internet , or similar communication system . the network 111 can be composed of any combination of wired and wireless components and include any number of intermediary networking elements ( e . g ., routers , access points , hubs and similar devices ) between those that are illustrated in the diagram . the computer 101 can be any type of computing device including a desktop computer , handheld computer , laptop computer , console device , server or similar computing device . the computer 101 stores and executes a light program design application 103 . the light program design application 103 enables a user to generate a program for the networked sets of lights 107 a , 10713 , as well as , the other peripheral devices 109 to manage the care of plants for horticultural purposes . the function and interface of the light program design application 103 are described in further detail herein below in regard to fig5 and 6 . the lighting system can include a set of controller modules 105 . the controller modules 105 execute the user defined programs from the light program design application 103 and generate a set of commands or signals to the individual lamps 107 a to adjust their settings in accordance with the program . these changes in settings can include adjusting light intensity for any range of the light spectrum output by the lamps and turning on and off the lamps . the controller modules can individually control each of the lamps in the set of lamps 107 a . the controller modules can control any number of lamps . in some embodiments , the controller modules can be restricted to controlling a fixed number of lights or can have an adjustable number of lamps that they can individually control . any number of controller modules can be utilized in the networked lighting system . the controller modules can execute separate lighting programs or can work in concert to execute a single lighting program or a set of shared lighting programs . in one embodiment , the controller modules can also include a set of manual controls 115 that allows the user to turn on and off the automated settings in the form of the light program received from the light program design application . manual controls can be used to directly adjust the settings of the individual lamps in the set lamps 107 a . these manual controls can include any type of controls including buttons , touch screen displays or similar interactive features that can be used to enable the adjustment of any of the characteristics of the lamps to be adjusted . the controller modules can also be used to adjust the characteristics of other auxiliary devices or peripheral devices such as lamp positioning devices , including vertical light movers and similar devices that affect the use of the lamps . in one embodiment , the controller module functionality can be embedded in each of the lamps 107 b and the other devices 113 b , such as lamp positioning devices . these controller modules 113 b can be embedded within each of the devices or can be shared between devices . the controller modules 113 b can be discrete modules housed within the lamps 107 b and other devices 113 b . in another embodiment , the controller module functionality is integrated into the circuitry of the lamps 107 b or peripheral devices 113 b . one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the controller modules , lamps and peripheral device configurations can be any combination of an external set of controller modules 105 , an internal set of controllers modules 113 a , 113 b and configurations that include both external 105 and internal controllers 113 a , 113 b with shared or divided functionality . the illustrated networked lighting system is provided by way of example and one skilled in the art would understand that the principles and structures described in regard to this example are applicable to other configurations . fig2 is a diagram of one embodiment of the components of the controller module 105 . in one embodiment , the controller module 105 includes a universal serial bus ( usb ) controller 201 or similar physical media port , a network interface 203 , a timer or clock 205 , a data storage unit 207 , manual controls 211 , display 213 , processor 209 and similar components . in some embodiments , either the physical media port such as usb controller 201 or the network interface 203 can be omitted . in one embodiment , the controller module 105 includes a usb controller 201 or similar physical media port controller to receive light programs from a removable media source such as a usb memory stick . the usb controller 201 can work in conjunction with the processor 209 to transfer the light program to the local data storage 207 or can be used to access the light program that is executed directly from a removable storage device connected to the usb controller 201 by the processor 209 . in another embodiment , the controller module 105 can receive light programs from a remote pc through a network interface 203 . the network interface 203 can also be used to communicate with any number of lamps or peripheral devices . the processor 209 generates the commands to be sent to the lights through the network interface 203 by interpretation or execution of the light programs that are stored in the data storage 207 or removable media . the processor 209 can be any type of general purpose or application specific processing device . the processor 209 can be an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ) or general purpose processor . the processor 2009 coordinates the movement of data between the different components of the controller module 105 and interfaces with the manual controls 211 and data display 213 to receive commands directly from the user and to display feedback to the user . the processor 209 loads and executes or interprets light programs stored in the data storage 207 or received through the usb controller 201 and transmits the commands through the network interface 203 . the processor 209 can utilize the functionality of a timer or clock 205 to implement time sensitive aspects of the light programs . for example , changes in lamp settings can be programmed to occur at specified times of day or on specific dates . the network interface 203 can be any type of communication interface including ethernet , fiber optic , wireless or similar communication interface . wireless network interfaces can include 802 . 11 b / g or n , bluetooth , infrared ( ir ) or similar wireless technologies . the controller module 105 can include a single network interface 203 or can include any number of network interfaces 203 to enable communication with additional devices or using different communication mediums . the manual controls 211 can include any combination of buttons , sliders , touch screens or similar physical input controls that enable a user to modify the settings of a set of networked lamps . these settings may be stored in a data storage unit 207 and implemented by the processor 209 as commands that are transmitted to the lamps through the network interface 203 . the processor 209 can generate any type of display as feedback to the user indicating the mode of operation , the current settings and similar information which can be displayed through a display 213 . this display 213 can be a light emitting diode ( led ) display , a set of individual leds , a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) or similar display device . the data storage unit 207 can be any type of persistent storage medium including static random access memory ( ram ), magnetic or optical disk , flash memory or similar storage medium . fig3 is a diagram of one example of an embodiment of an external controller module . the example controller module 105 includes a set of data ports 307 a , 307 b , which are tied to the network interface and a set of manual input devices 301 , 303 and 305 . the controller module 105 can have any form factor or shape . the controller module 105 can include housing 311 to enclose all of the components and protect these components from environmental conditions . the housing 311 of the controller module can be designed to withstand the conditions of a greenhouse or similar horticultural environments to protect the circuitry from humidity and temperature variances . the manual controls 301 , 303 , 305 can include a series of displays 305 that provide feedback regarding the settings of the attached lamps . the settings can include displays of the current intensity of each of the supported range of the light spectrum such as deep red , infra red , white , blue / uv , and similar characteristics of the lamps including overall intensity , on / off status , manual mode or automatic mode . the controller module 105 can include any number of data ports . in one embodiment , a single input port 307 b and a single output port 307 a are provided . the output port 3071 provides direct communication with a single lamp or peripheral device or a router or hub that connects the controller module 105 to numerous lamps or peripheral devices . similarly , the input port 30713 can directly or indirectly couple the controller module 105 with a computer to receive light programs from a light program design application . in other embodiments , the data ports 307 a , 30713 are omitted and wireless technology is utilized to communicate with the lamps and peripheral devices . fig4 is a flowchart of one embodiment of the operation of the controller module . the operation of the controller module can be implemented by the processor , data storage and similar components of the controller module . in one embodiment , the process begins by receiving an input selection to designate the mode of the controller module as being in either an automatic mode or a manual mode ( block 401 ). this setting may be designated by an external computer over a network interface or through the manual input interface . the processor receives this input and determines the appropriate mode ( block 403 ). if a manual mode has been selected , then the processor can receive or load the manual settings from the data storage unit or from the network interface , removable media or from the manual input mechanisms ( block 405 ). if the automatic setting has been selected , then a light program is loaded from the local data storage unit or is received over the network interface or through the physical media port ( block 407 ). the processor can check the local timer or clock to determine a current time for use in executing the program that has been loaded or to the manual settings , which can also rely on time ( block 409 ). based on the input settings for the loaded program , the processor generates a set of time sensitive commands to be provided to the lamps to adjust the settings to those defined by the program or the manual settings ( block 411 ). these commands are then transmitted to the lamps through the network interface or similar communication mechanism ( block 413 ). in the embodiment where the controller module is embedded within the lamps or peripheral devices , then the controller module can directly adjust these characteristics of the light being produced by the lamp . the processor then generates any peripheral commands to control peripheral devices such as lamps positioning devices including vertical light movers and similar devices ( block 415 ). these commands are then communicated to the devices through the network interface or similar communication mechanism ( block 417 ). the processor may then check to see if the manual or automatic settings have been changed either by reception of commands through the network interface , the removable media port or through the manual input mechanism circuitry ( block 419 ). if no change in the settings has occurred then the process continues until all the manual settings have been updated or the light program has been executed over time . if the settings have changed , then the new settings are then detected ( block 401 , 403 ). the operation of the controller module then continues according to the newmanual settings or received program . fig5 is a diagram of one example of an embodiment of a graphical user interface for a light program design application . in one embodiment , the graphical user interface of the light programming design application provides a set of options for setting the time frame 501 , lamp sets 503 , lighting types 505 , location simulation 507 , patterns 521 and similar lighting characteristics or settings . these options are presented as user interface mechanisms that can be buttons , menus or similar user interface mechanisms among a selection of any combination of characteristics and settings . this graphical user interface enables the user to flexibly design any program for the available lighting system , such that each individual lamp can be separately programmed or any grouping of lamps can be programmed for any timeframe and for any range of the light spectrum . in other embodiments , a defined lighting program controls all lamps attached to a controller module or similar restrictions can be imposed on the application of the define lighting program . programming options also include location simulation , where the lighting conditions of a specified location can be simulated . programming option can include any number of pre - defined patterns 521 that can be selected through the graphical user interface . the graphical user interface can provide a menu or set of user interface mechanisms for storing 509 , exporting 511 or sending 523 any lighting programs defined through the graphical user interface . the lighting programs can be exported to a physical storage medium or sent to the controller module over a network . any selected set of lamps , time frame and light spectrum range can be further defined using a drag and drop or similar interface mechanism . for example , a light intensity over time for each of the light spectrum ranges supported by a lamp or set of lamps can be defined by a user selecting an icon 513 a , 513 b , 513 c representing a light spectrum range or similar characteristic and dragging and dropping it over a chart of the intensity over time . the defined path can then be store as an algorithm to be implemented by the controller module . for example , the user can select a red light spectrum and set an on point for 6 : 00 p . m . at a low intensity . a path can be drawn that increases the light intensity until 10 : 00 p . m . and then decreases the light intensity until the red light spectrum is inactivated at 12 : 00 a . m . multiple segments of the light spectrum can be assigned or grouped to single icon , such as red and deep red . each segment of the light spectrum can also have a separate icon and any combination of individual and grouped ranges are possible . the user can set blue / uv and white light spectrums to be activated at 6 : 00 a . m . and 7 : 00 a . m ., respectively , and to increase through the day . both light spectrum ranges decrease in intensity starting at 7 : 00 p . m . and then end at 12 : 00 a . m . as illustrated in fig5 . one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that these are example programs and user interface layouts . one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that similar user interface mechanisms and layouts can be used to affect the same principles and functionality . the drawings are provided by way of illustration not limitation . fig6 is a flowchart of one embodiment of the process of generating a light program design . in one embodiment , the process begins by the user opening the light design application and the application generating a set of options and user interface mechanisms ( block 601 ). these options and user interface mechanism can be used by the user to select a lighting component , which represents a lighting characteristic including time frame , lamp sets , light types , patterns , locations for simulation and similar characteristics . the light program design application receives a selection of one of these lighting components ( block 603 ). the application can then display a lighting component user interface specific to the set of selected characteristics , such as a drag and drop interface or set of menus or similar user interface mechanism allowing the user to define a program for an interrelationship between the selected characteristics ( block 605 ). this set of interrelationships is received as a lighting component definition ( block 607 ). the lighting component definition can be recorded in any type of scripting language or representation including any type of high level executed language or interpreted language . in one embodiment , the definition can be stored as an extensible markup language ( xml ) document or similar type of document . the lighting component definition is then recorded ( block 609 ) as a part of a file that can include any number of other lighting component definitions that can be structured as a set of executable commands that can be tied to any time sequence and executed by a controller to set the attributes of a lamp or set of lamps over time using any type of signaling or any combination of machine instructions . a check is made to determine whether the user defined program has been completed ( block 611 ). if the user has additional definitions to make , then the user interface continues to be updated until all the lighting component definitions have been completed and stored within the program . the completed program is then stored ( block 613 ). the stored program can be stored locally on the computer and can be either transmitted to a controller module or exported . if a selection has been made to transmit ( block 615 ) then the application utilizes available networking and network interface functionality to transmit the program to a selected controller module or lamps ( block 617 ). if the program is to be exported then the data program is stored in a removable medium ( block 619 ). the removable medium then can be taken and joined to the controller module or any number of controller modules , which can then implement the lighting program . once this process has been completed , the application can be closed ( block 623 ). in one embodiment , the programmable light system can be implemented as a set of hardware devices . in another embodiment , any set of the system components can implemented in software ( for example microcode , assembly language or higher level languages ). these software implementations can be stored on a computer - readable medium . a “ computer - readable ” medium can include any medium that can store information . examples of computer - readable medium include a read only memory ( rom ), a floppy diskette , a cd rom , a dvd , a flash memory , a hard drive , an optical disc or similar medium . thus , a method and apparatus for a networked lighting system has been described . it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive . many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading and understanding the above description . the scope of the invention should , therefore , be determined with reference to the appended claims , along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled .	7
referring initially to fig7 - 10 of the drawings , in an illustrative embodiment the replaceable blades for wood chippers , hereinafter referred to as the replaceable blades , of this invention are each generally illustrated by reference numeral 1 . in typical application , multiple replaceable blades 1 are mounted on each of a pair of chipping heads 28 in a conventional log slabber or cantor ( not illustrated ), one of which chipping heads 28 is illustrated in fig7 - 10 . the chipping heads 28 are disposed in spaced - apart relationship with respect to each other on respective rotor head drive shafts ( not illustrated ), and in operation of the log slabber or canter , a log carriage ( not illustrated ) advances a log ( not illustrated ) between the chipping heads 28 in a direction transverse to the rotational axis of the chipping heads 28 , which cut wood chips from the respective side margins of the log that overlap the cutting plane of the chipping heads 28 . each chipping head 28 typically includes a rotor head 29 , fitted with a circular face plate 30 on the inside face thereof , which face plate 30 abuts against the corresponding side of the log as the log is cut by the rotating chipping head 28 . a shaft hub 31 is typically provided on the opposite , outside face of the rotor head 29 , and a key slot 32 located inside a shaft bore 31 a which extends centrally through the shaft hub 31 and the rotor head 29 facilitates keyed attachment of the rotor head 29 to the rotor head drive shaft ( not illustrated ), extending through the shaft bore 31 a , in conventional fashion . the rotor head 29 illustrated in fig7 - 9 is shaped in the configuration of a hexagon and includes six rotor faces 29 a of substantially equal size , although the rotor head 29 may include three , four , or eight or more of the rotor faces 29 a , depending upon the application of the log slabber or cantor . elongated holders 33 extend outwardly from the respective rotor faces 29 a of the rotor head 29 , and each includes a holder base 34 attached to the corresponding rotor face 29 a typically by means of holder mount bolts 37 ; a blade mount portion 35 extending from the holder base 34 ; and an angled bracing portion 36 connecting the holder base 34 to the blade mount portion 35 of the holder 33 . as illustrated in fig1 , the blade mount portion 35 of each holder 33 is typically triangular in cross - section and is provided with a sloped blade mount surface 35 a , through which extend multiple mount bolt openings 35 b which receive respective blade mount bolts 25 that mount the replaceable blade 1 on the corresponding blade mount surface 35 a , as hereinafter described . ( fig1 ) referring next to fig1 - 6 of the drawings , the replaceable blades 1 of this invention can be any desired length depending on the application , wherein a short replaceable blade 1 is shown in fig1 and 5 and a longer replaceable blade 1 is shown in fig3 and 6 . each replaceable blade 1 includes a blade mount base 2 , having a substantially rectangular base plate 2 a , the bottom surface of which is typically provided with a base bevel 3 at the front end thereof . as particularly illustrated in fig5 and 6 , a rectangular base block 5 is mounted on or formed integrally with the upper surface of the base plate 2 a , the rear end of which base block 5 , in combination with an elongated base flange 8 extending upwardly from the rear edge of the base plate 2 a , defines a base channel 4 , typically having a substantially rectangular cross - sectional configuration . the upper surface of the base plate 2 a further defines a blade seat 7 between the front end of the base block 5 and the bevel 3 end of the base plate 2 a . an elongated base slot 6 extends through the base block 5 and the base plate 2 a of the blade mount base 2 , for purposes hereinafter described . in the case of the longer replaceable blades 1 , multiple base slots 6 are typically provided in the blade mount base 2 , as illustrated in fig6 the number of base slots 6 depending upon the length of the replaceable blade 1 . a blade body 18 , having a blade bevel 23 and a blade edge 19 shaped along the front end thereof , is provided with multiple spline notches 22 spaced along the rear end of the blade body 18 for receiving respective babbitt splines 21 of a blade babbitt 20 . a clamp plate 10 of the replaceable blade 1 is mounted on the blade mount base 2 to secure the blade body 18 on the blade mount base 2 , as hereinafter described . a plate bevel 10 a , having a bevel edge 10 b , is typically shaped in the top surface of the clamp plate 10 , at the front end thereof , and a clamp plate lip 12 is typically shaped in the bottom surface of the clamp plate 10 , adjacent to the bevel edge 10 b . the clamp plate 10 is typically further provided with a clamp plate flange 11 which extends downwardly from the bottom surface 13 of the clamp plate 10 , adjacent to the rear end thereof , which clamp plate flange 11 typically has a rectangular cross - section and fits in the companion base channel 4 of the blade mount base 2 , as hereinafter described . the upper portion of each of one or multiple bolt openings 15 extending through the clamp plate 10 is typically flared outwardly to form a bolt seat 14 defining a bolt shoulder 14 a . the bolt opening or openings 15 of the clamp plate 10 match in number the base slot or slots 6 , respectively , of the blade mount base 2 . referring again to fig1 - 8 and fig1 of the drawings , in application the replaceable blades 1 are initially removably attached to the respective holders 33 ( fig1 ) of each chipping head 28 by means of one or multiple blade mount bolts 25 . accordingly , as illustrated in fig1 , the blade mount base 2 is initially positioned on the sloped blade mount surface 35 a of the holder 33 , with the base bevel 3 of the blade mount base 2 overhanging the upper edge of the blade mount surface 35 a , as illustrated in fig4 and the base slot or slots 6 of the blade mount base 2 registering with the respective mount bolt opening or openings 35 b of the holder 33 , as illustrated in fig5 and 10 . the blade body 18 is then positioned on the blade seat 7 of the blade mount base 2 , with the blade babbitt 20 typically in contact with or adjacent to the front end of the base block 5 and the blade bevel 23 and blade edge 19 of the blade body 18 extending beyond the front end of the blade mount base 2 , as further illustrated in fig4 . finally , the clamp plate 10 is rested on the blade mount base 2 , with the bottom surface 13 of the clamp plate 10 disposed slightly above the base block 5 of the blade mount base 2 , the clamp plate lip 12 of the clamp plate 10 resting on the blade body 18 and the clamp plate flange 11 of the clamp plate 10 seated in the companion base channel 4 of the blade mount base 2 . each of one or multiple blade mount bolts 25 , as required , are then extended downwardly through the respective bolt opening or openings 15 of the clamp plate 10 and the respective registering base slot or slots 6 of the blade mount base 2 , and threaded into the respective mount bolt opening or openings 35 b in the blade mount portion 35 of the corresponding holder 33 , as illustrated in fig4 . accordingly , as illustrated in fig8 the blade edge 19 of each blade body 18 protrudes beyond the face plate 30 on the rotor head 29 , to define a circular cutting plane of each chipping head 28 upon rotation of the chipping head 28 . as the chipping head 28 is rotated in the clockwise direction in fig7 the blade edges 19 on the respective blade bodies 18 of the replaceable blades 1 on each chipping head 28 contact the side of a log ( not illustrated ) advanced between the adjacent chipping heads 28 , and cut wood chips from the corresponding side of the log as each chipping head 28 cuts a plane in the corresponding side of the log , in conventional fashion . after a prolonged period of operation of the log slabber or canter , the blade edge 19 on the blade body 18 of each replaceable blade 1 becomes dull and the cutting quality and efficiency of the chipping heads 28 decreases . accordingly , the blade body 18 can be removed from the corresponding replaceable blade 1 and the blade edge 19 thereof sharpened using conventional methods in the art . removal of the blade body 18 is accomplished by unthreading the blade mount bolt or bolts 25 from the respective mount bolt opening or openings 35 b of the holder 33 and removing the blade mount bolt or bolts 25 from the base slot or slots 6 of the blade mount base 2 and the registering bolt opening or openings 15 of the clamp plate 10 ; lifting the clamp plate 10 from the blade mount base 2 ; removing the blade body 18 from the blade seat 7 of the blade mount base 2 ; sharpening the blade edge 19 of the blade body 18 ; and re - assembling the replaceable blade 1 by means of the blade mount bolt or bolts 25 , as heretofore described . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the blade edge 19 of the blade body 18 can be sharpened multiple times until the blade bevel 23 and blade edge 19 encroach upon the area immediately adjacent to the spline notches 22 spaced along the rear edge of the blade body 18 , at which point the blade body 18 is discarded and another blade body 18 is replaced in the replaceable blade 1 . referring next to fig1 - 13 of the drawings , in another embodiment the replaceable blades , each generally illustrated by reference numeral 46 , are adapted for attachment to a conventional chipping head 40 for a brush chipper system ( not illustrated ). such a chipping head 40 typically includes a generally cylindrical rotor head 41 , provided with multiple , longitudinal blade mount channels 42 which define a rotor head body 41 a on one side of each blade mount channel 42 and a rotor head arm 41 b on the opposite side of each blade mount channel 42 . the rotor head 41 is traversed by a central shaft bore 43 which includes a key slot 44 for attaching the rotor head 41 to a rotor head drive shaft ( not illustrated ). as illustrated in fig1 , each replaceable blade 46 typically includes a blade mount base 2 , similar in construction to the blade mount base 2 described above with respect to the replaceable blades 1 illustrated in fig1 - 10 , but typically lacking the elliptical base slot or slots 6 ( fig6 ). the blade body 18 of the replaceable blade 46 is substantially the same in construction to the blade body 18 of the replaceable blades 1 , having the blade bevel 23 , blade edge 19 and blade babbitt 20 . the clamp plate 10 is similar in construction to the clamp plate 10 of the replaceable blades 1 , but typically lacks the bolt opening or openings 15 ( fig6 ) and corresponding bolt seat or seats 14 . as particularly illustrated in fig1 , each replaceable blade 46 is held in place in the corresponding blade mount channel 42 by means of an elongated wedge 47 , with the blade mount base 2 , blade body 18 and clamp plate 10 elements of the replaceable blade 46 interposed between the rotor head arm 41 b and the wedge 47 , and the wedge 47 interposed between the clamp plate 10 and the rotor head body 41 a . accordingly , as illustrated in fig1 , the bottom surface of the blade mount base 2 of the replaceable blade 46 engages the corresponding rotor head arm 41 b of the rotor head 41 , while the upper surface of the clamp plate 10 engages one side of the wedge 47 , and the opposite surface of the wedge 47 engages the corresponding rotor head body 41 a . the blade body 18 is interposed between the clamp plate lip 12 of the clamp plate 10 and the blade seat 7 of the blade mount base 2 , as heretofore described with respect to the replaceable blades 1 of fig1 - 10 , with the blade edge 19 and blade bevel 23 of each blade body 18 extending beyond the outer curvature of the rotor head 41 , as particularly illustrated in fig1 . as further illustrated in fig1 , the wedge 47 is mounted in the corresponding blade mount channel 42 by means of multiple wedge mount bolts 48 , extended through respective bolt openings 47 a provided in the wedge 47 , and threaded into respective threaded bolt openings 47 b , provided in the rotor head 41 at the bottom of each blade mount channel 42 . in use , as the chipping head 40 is rotated under power applied to the rotor head drive shaft ( not illustrated ) in the clockwise direction in fig1 , the blade edges 19 of the respective replaceable blades 46 alternately and repeatedly contact sticks , limbs or brush ( not illustrated ) fed into the brush chipper and cut wood chips from the sticks , limbs or brush , in conventional fashion . removal of the blade body 18 from the replaceable blade 46 is facilitated as needed , for sharpening as heretofore described , by unthreading the wedge mount bolts 48 from the respective bolt openings 47 a of the wedge 47 ; removing the wedge 47 from the blade mount channel 42 ; and removing the blade body 18 from between the blade mount base 2 and the clamp plate 10 for sharpening . the sharpened blade body 18 is replaced on the rotor head 41 by re - positioning the blade body 18 between the blade mount base 2 and the clamp plate 10 and again securing the wedge 47 in the blade mount channels 42 by means of the wedge mount bolts 48 . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the replaceable blades of this invention facilitate tremendous savings in costs associated with operating various types of wood chippers , by enabling each blade to be sharpened and re - used multiple times without the necessity of discarding of the blade after it becomes dull through multiple usages . it will be further appreciated by those skilled in the art that the replaceable blades are capable of use on a variety of wood chippers of various design , including but not limited to log slabbers , canters , brush chippers and chip - n - saws . while the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above , it will be recognized and understood that various modifications can be made in the invention and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications which may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention .	1
embodiments of the present invention enhance the recovery of hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation through the in situ formation of a stabilized foam . with reference to fig1 , embodiments of the present invention inject a dispersion component and a gas component through an injection well 10 into the downhole environment . such injections of the components may be performed substantially simultaneously . the injected components form a stabilized foam 20 configured for transitioning through the subterranean formation 30 . turning to the components used to prepare the stabilized foam , the dispersion may contain water , nanoparticles , and / or other modifying agents selected for the targeted downhole environment . suitable modifying agents may be interfacial - active agents such as , but not limited to , alkyl sulfates , alkyl ether sulfates , sulfonate fluorosurfactants , alkyl benzene sulfonates , alkyl aryl ether phosphates , alkyl ether phosphates , alkyl carboxylates , carboxylate fluorosurfactants , alkyltrimethylammonium salts , zwitterionic salts , amino acids , imino acids , betaines , polyoxyethylene glycol alkyl ethers , polyoxypropylene glycol alkyl ethers , glucoside alkyl ethers , polyoxyethylene glycol alkylphenol ethers , glycerol alkyl esters , polyacrylamide , polyvinylpyrrolidone , polyoxyethylene glycol sorbitan alkyl esters , polysorbates , sorbitan alkyl esters , block copolymers of polyethylene glycol and polypropylene glycol , and / or combinations of thereof . the nanoparticles may provide at least two functions within the foam . first , the nanoparticles have a structure that stabilizes the foam . second , the nanoparticles may carry catalysts suitable for inducing oxygenation and / or hydrogenation reactions of the hydrocarbons located in the subterranean reservoir thereby producing more readily extractible compounds . such nanoparticles , also referred to herein as nanohybrid catalysts , may have a hydrophilic component and a hydrophobic component . the hydrophobic component may be a carbon - based component , such as single wall nanotubes or multi - wall carbon nanotubes . other suitable carbon - based components include , but are not limited to , “ onion - like ” carbon structures ( e . g ., graphitic nano - platelets ), carbon nanofibers , and amorphous carbon ( e . g ., soot ). the particle sizes of the nanohybrid catalysts may be from approximately 10 nm to approximately 2000 nm , in order to produce stable foams . the hydrophobic component may be fused or carried by the hydrophilic component . hydrophilic components include , but are not limited to , sio 2 , al 2 o 3 , mgo , zno , tio 2 , nb 2 o 5 , al ( oh ) 3 , v 2 o 5 , cr 2 o 3 , mno 2 , fe 2 o 3 , feo , fe 3 o 4 , coo , zno , y 2 o 3 , zro 2 , nb 2 o 5 , cdo , la 2 o 3 , sno 2 , hfo 2 , ta 2 o 5 , wo 3 , re 2 o 7 , ceo 2 , cs 2 o , hydrotalcite , zeolites , and mixtures thereof . the catalyst portion may be a metal or metal oxide selected for its ability to catalytically oxygenate or hydrogenate hydrocarbon compounds commonly found in subterranean reservoirs . the catalytic component may be carried on either the hydrophobic or hydrophilic portion . catalytic materials may include metals such as , but not limited to : ti , v , cr , mn , fe , co , ni , cu , zn , y , zr , nb , mo , tc , ru , rh , pd , ag , cd , la , hf , ta , w , re , os , ir , pt , and au . additionally , metal oxides may be incorporated as catalytic material . suitable metal oxides include but are not limited to : tio 2 , v 2 o 5 , cr 2 o 3 , mno 2 , fe 2 o 3 , feo , coo , zno , y 2 o 3 , zro 2 , nb 2 o 5 , cdo , la 2 o 3 , sno 2 , hfo 2 , ta 2 o 5 , wo 3 , re 2 o 7 , al 2 o 3 , ceo 2 , cs 2 o , and mgo . in embodiments , for oxidation reactions , a nanohybrid catalyst may be a multi - wall carbon nanotube fused to alumina with a catalyst of copper on either the hydrophobic nanotubes or the hydrophilic silica depending on the anticipated downhole environment . in embodiments , for hydrogenation reactions , the nanohybrid catalyst may be a multi - wall carbon nanotube fused to alumina with a catalyst component selected from ni or ni - mo on either the hydrophobic nanotubes or the hydrophilic silica depending on the anticipated downhole environment . the catalyst component may be positioned on the hydrophobic portion of the nanohybrid to achieve greater exposure to the hydrocarbons within the subterranean formation . the dispersion may have from approximately 0 . 05 % to approximately 10 % nanohybrid catalysts by weight . the ratio of oil to water within the dispersion may be approximately 1 : 1 . however , the oil to water ratio may range from approximately 1 : 9 to 9 : 1 . alternatively , janus particles may be substituted for the nanoparticles of carbonaceous material and support . janus particles are two - sided particles with one side being hydrophobic and the other side hydrophilic . thus , an alternative nanohybrid is in the form of a janus particle carrying the catalytic metal or metal oxide . foams include a gas phase and a liquid phase . in embodiments of the present invention , the dispersion described above is the liquid phase of the foam . the gas phase of the foam includes gases such as , but not limited to , hydrogen , air , carbon dioxide , carbon monoxide , oxygen , nitrogen oxide , vaporized hydrogen peroxide , hydrazine , ammonia , and mixtures thereof . the gas phase may be a gas selected for its ability to enhance the hydrogenation of the hydrocarbons present at an oil - water interface in the reservoir . for example , the gas for injection with the dispersion may be air for oxidation conditions and hydrogen for hydrogenation conditions . to enhance the stability and mobility of the foams , the dispersion may also include stabilizers and modifiers suitable for tailoring the foam to the targeted subterranean reservoir . the dispersion must have sufficient stability to reach the target zone without loss of the nanohybrid material . to achieve this , the dispersion may utilize from approximately 100 ppm to approximately 2000 ppm multi - wall carbon nanotubes , from approximately 100 ppm to approximately 1000 ppm dispersion stabilizing polymer such as polyvinylpyrrolidone (“ pvp ”) in brine or water . the following discussion describes preparation of a stabilized dispersion . in the following discussion , samples of dispersions were prepared and analyzed according to the following process ( all parameters are approximate ): generate a dispersion by adding the indicated amounts of mwcnt and pvp to either deionized water or brine . sonicate for approximately two hours to produce a dispersion . isolate a supernatant by centrifugation — the supernatant contains the stabilized nanohybrids dispersion . determine concentration of mwcnt in supernatant by comparing the absorbance of the supernatant to a calibration curve ( such as the calibration curve shown in table 1 ). tables 2 - 4 indicate an impact of nanohybrid concentration and centrifugation time on dispersion stability . four samples were prepared with 1000 ppm pvp in di water . concentrations of mwcnt were 500 ppm , 1000 ppm , 2000 ppm , 5000 ppm . following isolation of the supernatant , the samples were further centrifuged for 500 , 1000 , or 2000 rpm . stability of the dispersion was determined by optically determining the loss of mwcnt at 10 , 30 and 60 minutes at each centrifugation speed . the following tables provide the concentration of mwcnt following centrifugation and the percent loss of mwcnt . see tables 2 - 4 , where tables 2a , 3a , and 4a reflect the concentration of mwcnt in the supernatant at 10 , 30 and 60 minutes of centrifugation . tables 2b , 3b , and 4b reflect the percent loss of mwcnt from the supernatant at each time interval . based on percent loss following additional centrifugation , the dispersion initially containing 500 ppm mwcnt / alumina proved to be the most stable at each centrifugation speed . tables 5 - 9 indicate an impact of polymer concentration on dispersion stability . a series of samples were prepared to assess the impact of pvp concentration in brine on dispersion stability . tables 5 - 7 report the change in ppm and percent loss of mwcnt in samples initially containing 2000 ppm mwcnt / alumina and 1000 or 5000 ppm pvp in a brine solution of 8 % wt . nacl and 2 % wt cacl 2 . tables 8 - 9 report the change in ppm and percent loss of mwcnt in samples initially containing 500 ppm mwcnt / alumina and 200 , 2000 or 5000 ppm pvp in the same brine solution . based on the results from both series of samples , pvp concentration provides some degree of dispersion stabilization at low centrifugation speed during the initial test period . thus , the pvp primarily aids in the initial dispersion of mwcnt and only moderately impacts the stability of the resulting dispersion . since brine is a common downhole fluid , the impact of brine on dispersion stability should be known in order to provide a desired delivery of the nanohybrid material to the crude oil . tables 10 - 12 indicate an impact of brine concentration on dispersion stability . dispersions using 2000 ppm mwcnt / alumina and 1000 ppm pvp were prepared with di water and brine . as reflected by tables 10 - 12 , the brine dispersion differed from the di water dispersion at the lower centrifugation speed of 500 rpm . at higher rpm , the difference between brine and di water was not significant . thus , preparation of a dispersion using brine , a material compatible with most operating fluids , will not detrimentally impact the performance of embodiments of the present invention . additionally , the nature of the nanohybrid may determine the degree of dispersion stabilizers needed to maintain the dispersion . therefore , tables 13 and 14 compare dispersion stability using single wall carbon nanotubes to multi - wall carbon nanotubes . to determine the significance of the carbon nanotube material , samples were prepared using single wall carbon nanotubes on silica ( sio 2 ) in brine with pvp . tables 13 and 14 compare the stability of a dispersion containing single wall carbon nanotubes to a dispersion using mwcnt . as reflected by the tables , use of single wall carbon nanotubes did not yield a dispersion . rather , immediately after sonication , the single wall carbon nanotubes were observed to immediately begin settling out of solution . following 10 minutes of centrifugation , no single wall carbon nanotubes remained in dispersion . therefore , additional dispersion stabilizers may be required when using single wall carbon nanotubes . tables 15a and 15b demonstrate the ability of purified multi - wall carbon nanotubes ( mwcnt ) to increase foam stability based on a comparison of the volume of the resulting foam when prepared in brine and de - ionized water solutions over a period of time . foams were generated in de - ionized water using the following formulations : sample 1 ( s1 in table 15a )— 100 ppm mwcnt , 100 ppm polyvinyl pyrrolidone ( pvp ) and 4000 ppm hydroxyethyl cellulose ( hec - 10 , a common drilling fluid viscosifier / fluid loss control agent ); sample 2 ( s2 in table 15a )— 4000 ppm sodium dodecyl benzene sulfate ( sdbs ); sample 3 ( s3 in table 15a )— 4000 ppm hec - 10 . foams were generated in 10 % api brine using the following formulations : sample 4 ( s4 in table 15b )— 4000 ppm hec - 10 ; sample 5 ( s5 in table 15b )— 100 ppm mwcnt , 100 ppm pvp , 4000 ppm sdbs and 4000 ppm hec - 10 ; sample 6 ( s6 in table 15b )— 100 ppm mwcnt , 100 ppm pvp and 4000 sdbs sample 7 ( s7 in table 15b )— 100 ppm mwcnt and 4000 sdbs ; sample 8 ( s8 in table 15b )— 4000 ppm sdbs . tables 15a and 15b depict the volume of foam per total volume of solution ( normalized volume ) used to generate the foam as a function of time . each foam was prepared in a cole parmer mixer operated at 2000 rpm for 5 minutes . as depicted in each figure , foams containing purified mwcnt have an extended life . specifically , samples s1 , s5 , s6 and s7 , each having 100 ppm mwcnt provided significantly longer foam life when compared to foams lacking mwcnt . with continued reference to the above embodiments , the following discloses using the dispersion and gases disclosed herein to form a foam in situ , i . e ., in the downhole environment 30 . with reference to fig1 and 2 , the foregoing dispersion and gaseous components may be injected downhole simultaneously ( though they may be sequentially injected ) through injection well ports 11 and 12 ; however , both components may also be injected through a single port . the injection rates generate sufficient shear to overcome the energetic barrier to forming a foam 20 . typically , the injection rate will be sufficient to generate shear rates between approximately 10 3 and approximately 10 4 sec − 1 . during foam formation within the injection well and subterranean formation 30 , the nanohybrid catalyst particles will align at the resulting gas - liquid interface with the hydrophobic component of the particles extending into the gas phase and the hydrophilic component extending into the liquid phase . this orientation of the particles at the gas - liquid interface stabilizes the foam . following foam formation , either naturally occurring formation flow or enhanced flow provided by injection of fluids through injection well 10 and production of fluids through production well 14 will drive the resulting foam 20 to the desired location ( s ) within subterranean formation 30 . upon delivery of the foam 20 to the oil - water interface ( s ) 32 , the foam 20 destabilizes delivering the catalyst and the gas phase reactants to the oil - water interface ( s ) 32 . upon elimination of the foam &# 39 ; s gas - liquid interface , a “ new gas - water - oil interface ” will form with the solid nanohybrid catalysts adsorbed at the interface . the type of hydrocarbons present within subterranean formation 30 and the nature of the catalysts and reactive gases will dictate the initial reactions . as noted above , the dispersion formulation will vary from formation to formation as needed to maximize , or at least enhance , production from the subterranean formation . improvement in hydrocarbon production during secondary and tertiary recovery processes may require an increase in the capillary number ( nc ) and lowering of the mobility ratio ( mr ). the capillary number nc = vμ / σ , where v is the darcy velocity ( through the pore ), μ the viscosity of the mobilizing fluid ( water ), and σ the interfacial tension ( ift ) between the oil and the water . typical values of nc after water flooding are around 10 − 7 . an increase of two orders of magnitude may be needed to improve oil recovery . the mobility ratio ( mr =( k w / k o )/( μ w / μ o )) is a function of the relative permeability ( k i ) of the porous media towards oil and water , respectively , and the viscosity ( μ i ) of the oil and the mobilizing fluid ( water ), respectively . as used in the mobility ratio formula , k w is the water relative permeability , k o is the oil relative permeability , μ w the sweeping fluid viscosity , and μ o the oil viscosity . to achieve displacement of oil by water , the mr must be lower than the unity . to provide the desired condition , one increases the sweeping fluid &# 39 ; s viscosity . accordingly , a low value of μ o / μ w is favorable for oil displacement . the catalytic partial oxidation of the subterranean hydrocarbons present at the “ new gas - water - oil interface ” will lower the water - oil interfacial tension leading to an increase in the capillary number . additionally , partial hydrogenation by reaction of the gas component delivered as part of the stabilized foam will enhance the viscosity of the oil phase in the subsequently formed emulsion , thus improving the mr of the hydrocarbons within the subterranean reservoir . in addition , the partial hydrogenation of the hydrocarbons can be an effective pre - treatment favoring the subsequent catalytic partial oxidation . the extent of the hydrogenation reaction will be controlled by the concentration of the reducing agent in the reservoir . following formation of the “ new gas - water - oil interface ,” catalytic reactions will occur as dictated by the nature of the dispersion , the gaseous reactants , and the subterranean hydrocarbons . the catalytic partial - oxidation of the hydrocarbons at the gas - water - oil interface will generate polar functional groups ( e . g ., — oh , — cooh , — cho ) on the hydrocarbons . as a result , the capillary number will increase and the interfacial tension will decrease . due to the higher dipole moment of oxygenated compounds , increasing the concentration of oxygenated hydrocarbons has an exponential effect on the interfacial tension and facilitates the self - assembly of water - oil microemulsions in the subterranean formation . the hydrogenation reaction of the residual crude oil 18 ( see fig1 ) at the oil - water interface ( s ) of the subterranean formation 20 increases the flexibility of the polyaromatic molecules present in heavy crude oils ( 10 - 16 ° api ), decreasing the viscosity ( μ ) of the stationary fluid . additionally , the hydrogenation improves the quality of the subterranean hydrocarbons by reducing the concentration of heavy polyaromatic molecules . thus , the catalytic reactions , will reduce the water - oil interfacial tension and increase the viscosity of the flooding fluid . as a result , the combination of oxidation and hydrogenation reactions will enhance the oil recovery by simultaneously increasing the capillary number and reducing the mobility ratio . following the catalytic reactions , the hydrocarbons 18 can be produced ( e . g , by pumping action at the production well 14 ). however , injected fluids , such as water , steam , or carbon dioxide , may be used to enhance the movement of the resulting microemulsion to the production well 14 . alternatively , the in situ formed foam may also act as a sweeping agent driving the reacted hydrocarbons 18 to the production well 14 . other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of this specification or practice of the invention disclosed herein .	2
[ 0048 ] fig1 shows a block diagram of an electronic commerce purchasing system in accordance with the present invention . in fig1 numeral 100 denotes a client computer ( referred to as “ the client ” in subsequent figures ) at a user &# 39 ; s location . it is possible in accordance with the invention to have a plurality of users and client computers at each user location , and each user may operate one or more client computers . numeral 101 denotes a web browser software application ( referred to as “ the browser ” in subsequent figures ) operating in the client computer . numeral 102 denotes a connection between the client computer and a server system . the connection may be made via the internet or via the user &# 39 ; s intranet . numeral 103 denotes the electronic commerce merchant &# 39 ; s server computer system ( referred to as “ the server ” in subsequent figures ). numeral 104 denotes a web server computer , at the electronic commerce merchant &# 39 ; s location , which processes the web pages and transmits them to the client computer 100 . the client &# 39 ; s web browser software 101 interprets the markup language output of the web server 104 . numeral 105 denotes the web page processing software resident in memory within the web server . numeral 106 denotes the catalog display software files resident in memory within the web server . numeral 107 denotes a plurality of web page files resident in memory within the web server . numeral 108 denotes the order processing software files resident in memory within the web server . numeral 110 denotes a database server computer , at the electronic commerce merchant &# 39 ; s location , which contains a database management system 111 ( referred to as “ the dbms ” in subsequent figures ) that processes the data contained in the data files 112 . numeral 109 denotes a third party server computer ( referred to as “ a third party server ” in subsequent figures ) at a location remote from the user or the merchant . the web server 104 receives a user - generated request from the web browser 101 to access a particular web page such as a product selection page . the web page processing software 105 processes the request . if the request requires data input , the web page processing software 105 transmits a request to the server 103 to retrieve data from the database server 110 . the dbms 111 processes the request for data , retrieves the necessary data from the data files 112 , and transmits the data to the web server 104 . the web page processing software 105 accesses a web page file 107 . if data is required by the web page file , the web page processing software 105 incorporates the data into the web page file 107 . the web page processing software 105 transmits the web page to the client computer 100 and the client &# 39 ; s web browser 101 displays the web page . the web server 104 may optionally receive a user - generated request from the web browser 101 to access another web page such as a catalog page . the web page processing software 105 processes the request . the web page processing software 105 accesses the catalog display software files 106 . the web page processing software 105 transmits the catalog page to the client computer 100 and the client &# 39 ; s web browser 101 displays the catalog page . the web server 104 may optionally receive a user - generated request from the web browser 101 to access another web page such as the requisition page . the web page processing software 105 processes the request . the web page processing software 105 accesses the order processing software files 108 . the web page processing software 105 transmits the requisition page to the client computer 100 and the client &# 39 ; s web browser 101 displays the requisition page . a particular web page file 107 may contain links to third party web pages . the user may select such a link within a web page displayed in the client &# 39 ; s web browser 101 and cause the client &# 39 ; s web browser 101 to access a web page at a third party website . the client &# 39 ; s web browser 101 transmits a request to the third party &# 39 ; s website computer 109 via the internet connection 102 . the third party &# 39 ; s website computer 109 transmits the desired third party web page to the client computer 100 and the client &# 39 ; s web browser 101 displays the desired third party web page . [ 0053 ] fig2 shows a flow diagram of an electronic commerce purchasing method and system in accordance with the present invention . the legend 200 shows the functional significance that is assigned to each of the types of arrows that connect the various window diagrams , as relates to the method of the present invention . legend 200 also shows how the window names and web page names that are components of the method of the present invention are pictorially represented in each window diagram . upon an initial user - generated request by the client to access the server , the server causes the client &# 39 ; s browser to designate and recognize the open browser window as the “ product window ” and causes the browser to display a login web page 202 within product window 201 . when the user submits the correct login information , the server transmits a start web page 203 and causes the start web page 203 to be displayed in product window 201 . the end user initiates a request within the start web page 203 which causes the server to transmit the catalog page data to the client and causes the browser to spawn a new window which is designated and recognized by the browser as the “ catalog window ” denoted as catalog window 204 , and to display the catalog web page 205 within catalog window 204 . the user selects a category within the catalog web page 205 which causes the server to transmit a product selection page file to the browser and causes an indirect action 206 which causes the browser to display a product selection web page 207 in the product window 201 . the user may select a link within the product selection web page 207 which transmits a request to the server or to a third party server , which causes the browser to spawn a new window which is specially designated and recognized by the browser as the “ information window ” and is denoted as information window 210 , and to display an information web page 211 within information window 210 . the user may select one or more products from the product selection web page 207 and submit a request to the server to enter the selected products as items into an electronic requisition . the server processes the request and transmits the requisition data to the client , which causes the browser to spawn a new window which is specially designated , and recognized by the browser as the “ order window ” and is denoted as order window 212 , and to display the requisition web page 213 within order window 212 . the user may submit a request to the server to convert the requisition into a purchase order . the server processes the request and transmits purchase order data to the client , which causes the browser to display the shipping and payment info web pages 214 in order window 212 . to complete the purchase order process , the user submits a request to the server to process the shipping and payment data and finalize the purchase order . the server processes the request and transmits the purchase order receipt data to the client , which causes the browser to display the purchase order receipt web page 215 in order window 212 . [ 0055 ] fig3 a through 3e show flow diagrams illustrating overall method and system functionalities , and interrelationships between the system windows and various web pages in a preferred embodiment of the invention . in fig3 a , step 300 , the user begins the online purchasing process by entering into the browser the online address for the electronic commerce merchant &# 39 ; s website . in step 301 , the user logs onto the website by submitting a username and password to the server . in step 302 , the server transmits data to the client and causes the browser to display a start web page in the active window which becomes the product window . in step 303 , the user submits a request for a catalog page to the server . in step 304 , the server transmits the catalog page data to the client and causes the browser to spawn a new browser window which becomes the catalog window , and further causes the browser to display the catalog web page within the catalog window . in step 305 , the user selects a product category link within the catalog web page , which action creates a request by the client to the server for a product selection page . in step 306 , the server retrieves the product data from the dbms and transmits it to the client and causes the browser to display the product selection page within the product window . in step 307 , the user determines if the product selection web page that was retrieved from the server is the one that the user desired . if the product selection web page is not the one desired , then in fig3 b , step 321 , the user determines if the catalog or the search engine will be used to locate another product or product selection page . if the catalog is to be used , then in step 320 , the user will select a link that will cause a return to the catalog window , and the action will cause the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 305 . if in step 321 the user elects to use the search engine , then in step 322 , the user enters the desired product search terms in the appropriate text entry blanks and submits to the server . in step 323 , the server processes the search request , retrieves the product data from the dbms and transmits it to the client and causes the browser to display the search results in the product window . in step 324 , if the user determines that the search result provided the link to the desired product selection page for the desired product , then in step 325 , the user selects the link for the desired product selection page and the server retrieves the product data from the dbms and transmits it to the client and causes the browser to display the product selection page within the product window , allowing the user to continue the purchasing process continuing from step 307 . if in step 324 the user determines that the search result was inadequate , then the user would return to step 321 to determine if the catalog will be used or if a new search 322 will be initiated . if in step 307 the user determines that the product selection web page is the one desired , then in fig3 c , step 340 , the user determines if any additional product information is needed . if additional information is needed , then in step 341 , the user selects a link for the desired information web page which causes the client to submit a request to the server or to a third party server for the desired information web page . in step 342 , the server or third party server transmits the information web page file to the client which causes the browser to spawn a new browser window which becomes the information window , and further causes the browser to display the information web page within the information window . in step 343 , the user determines that the information web page is no longer needed and selects a link that will cause a return to the product window , and the action will cause the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 307 . if in step 340 the user determines that additional information is not needed , then in fig3 d , step 360 , the user selects a product from the product selection page by entering the quantity desired for purchase and submits a request to the server to process the selection . in step 361 , the server transmits the product data to the client , and causes the browser to spawn a new window , which becomes the order window , and display the requisition web page within the order window . if in step 362 the user determines that more items are needed for purchase , then in step 363 , the user will select a link that will cause a return to the product window ; or , in step 364 , the user will select a link that will cause a return to the catalog window , and , in either case , the action will cause the browser to make that window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 307 or step 305 , respectively . if no more items are needed for purchase , then in step 365 , the user inspects the contents of the requisition web page to verify item quantities and that it contains the desired items . if the items or quantities are incorrect , in step 366 , the user submits a request to the server to delete any unneeded items or correct any quantities . the server transmits the corrected data to the client which causes the browser to display the updated requisition in the order window . if in step 365 the user determines that the information in the requisition is correct , then in fig3 e , step 380 , the user submits a request to the server to create a purchase order . the server processes the purchase order request and transmits the purchase order data to the client which , in step 381 , causes the browser to display the shipping information web page in the order window . in step 382 , the user determines if the information in the shipping web page is correct . if the shipping information is incorrect , then in step 383 , the user submits a request to the server to correct the shipping information . the server transmits the corrected data to the client , which causes the browser to display the updated shipping web page in the order window . if the shipping information is correct , then in step 384 , the user submits a request to the server to process the shipping information . the server processes the shipping information and transmits the payment web page data to the client , which causes the browser to display the payment web page in the order window . in step 385 , the user submits the payment information and submits the order to the server for final processing . in step 386 , the server processes the payment information and transmits the purchase order receipt data to the client which causes the browser to display the purchase order receipt web page in the order window . if in step 387 the user determines that more items are needed for purchase , then in step 388 , the user will select a link or click on a button that will cause a return to the product window ; or , in step 389 , the user will select a link that will cause a return to the catalog window , and , in either case , the action will cause the browser to make that window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 307 or step 305 , respectively . in step 390 , if the user determines that further purchasing activity is not required , the user will discontinue the purchasing process . at this step the user may close any or all the browser windows , or leave them open for resumption of purchasing activity at a later time . [ 0060 ] fig4 is a flow diagram illustrating the navigation interactions between the four system windows in one embodiment of the present invention . numeral 400 is a representation of the browser display of the product window . numeral 401 denotes a product selection web page that is displayed in the product window 400 . numeral 404 is a representation of the browser display of the information window . numeral 405 denotes the product information web page that is displayed in the information window 404 . numeral 414 is a representation of the browser display of the order window . numeral 415 denotes a requisition web page that is displayed in the order window 414 . numeral 421 is a representation of the browser display of the catalog window . numeral 422 denotes the catalog web page that is displayed in the catalog window 421 . the system and method of the present invention make it possible for the user to navigate from one system window to another . the system and method is designed so that it is not necessary to follow a prescribed order or navigation sequence to switch from one window to another . navigation , or switching , between any of the four system windows is effected through clicking on a link which may consist of a button , a hypertext link , or a linked graphic . if the user is viewing a product selection web page in the product window , the user can select a product information web page link 402 which causes the browser to transmit a request for a web page to the server or to a third party server computer . the browser processes a command 403 which causes the spawning and / or focus of the information window 404 and the display of a product information web page 405 in the information window 404 . if at any time while on the information window the user wishes to go to the product window , the user clicks on the go - to - product - selection - page link 406 in the product information web page 405 , which causes the browser process a command 407 to focus the product window 400 . if at any time while on the product window the user wishes to view the contents of the requisition without adding products to it , the user can click on the go - to - requisition - page button 409 which causes the browser to process a command 411 to spawn and / or focus the order window 414 and display the requisition web page 415 within the order window 414 . if at any time while on the product window the user wishes to go to the catalog window , the user can click on the go - to - catalog - page button 410 , which causes the browser to process a command 412 to spawn and / or focus the catalog window 421 and display a catalog web page 422 within the catalog window 421 . if at any time while on the product window the user wishes to use the search function , the user enters the desired product search terms in the appropriate text entry blanks and submits to the server by clicking on the search link 413 . if the user has selected products for purchase in the product selection web page 401 , the user clicks the add - to - requisition button 408 which causes the browser to submit a request 411 to the server to add the selected products to the requisition and causes the server to transmit the requisition data to the client which causes the client &# 39 ; s browser to spawn and / or focus the order window 414 and display the requisition web page 415 in the order window 414 . if the user is viewing a requisition web page in the order window 414 and the user has finished selecting products and desires to convert the requisition into a purchase order , the user clicks the create - purchase - order button 420 in the requisition web page which causes the browser to submit a request to the server to process the requisition into a purchase order . if at any time while on the order window 414 the user wishes to go to the product window 400 , the user can click on the go - to - product - selection - page button 416 which causes the browser to process a command 417 to focus the product window 400 . if at any time while on the order window 414 the user wishes to go to the catalog window 421 , the user can click on the go - to - catalog - page button 418 which causes the browser to process a command 419 to focus the catalog window 421 and display a catalog web page 422 in the catalog window 421 . in the catalog web page 422 , the user can click on a product category link 426 which causes the browser to transmit a request to the server for a product category web page and to process a command 424 causes the browser to focus the product window 400 and display a product category web page 401 within the product window 400 . if at any time while on the catalog window 421 the user wishes to go to the product window 400 , the user can click on the go - to - product - selection - page button 423 which causes the browser to process a command 424 to focus the product window 400 . if at any time while on the catalog window 421 the user wishes to view the requisition , the user can click on the go - to - requisition - page button 425 which causes the browser to process a command 427 to focus the order window 414 and display the requisition web page 415 in the order window 414 . [ 0068 ] fig5 a through 5d show flow diagrams illustrating the steps related to the window - to - window navigation functionalities of the method in one embodiment of the present invention . various different actions from various types of input devices can be used to navigate from one system window to another , to effect the selection of categories from the catalog or to effect the submittal for purchase of items within a product selection web page . for example , a voice command may be spoken by the user , a key may be depressed by the user , a button on a remote control device may be depressed by the user , or selection using any pointing device may be effected by the purchaser . in fig5 a , step 500 , the user selects a category link within the catalog web page . in step 501 , the server causes a product selection web page to be opened in the product window . in step 502 , the user determines if additional product information is needed . if in step 502 the user determines that additional product information is needed , then in step 503 , the user creates an action , which causes the browser to open the information window and display the requested information web page . in step 504 , the user determines if the user needs to return to the product selection page to continue the purchasing process . if in step 504 the user determines to not return to the product selection page , then the user terminates the purchasing process as indicated by step 505 . if in step 504 the user determines to return to the product selection web page , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 502 . if in step 502 the user determines that no additional product information is needed , then in step 506 the user determines if the user needs to view / add to the requisition . if the user determines that the user needs to view / add to the requisition , the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 540 . if the user does not need to view / add to the requisition , then in step 507 the user determines if the user needs to view the catalog . if in step 507 the user determines that the user needs to view the catalog , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 560 . if the user does not need to view the catalog , then in step 508 the user determines if the user needs to use the system &# 39 ; s search function . if in step 508 the user determines to not use the system &# 39 ; s search function , then the user terminates the purchasing process as indicated by step 509 . if in step 508 the user determines that the user needs to use the system &# 39 ; s search function , then in fig5 b , in step 520 , the user creates an action which causes the browser to submit a search request to the server which causes the server to display a search results web page in the product window . in step 521 , the user determines if the search results contain a desired product selection web page link . if the search results do contain a desired product selection web page link , the user creates an action which causes the browser to open the desired product selection web page in the product window and allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 501 . if the search results do not contain a desired product selection web page link , then in step 522 the user determines if the user will use the search function again . if in step 522 the user determines to use the search function again , then the user creates an action that causes the browser to submit another search request to the server and allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 520 . if in step 522 the user determines not to use the search function again , then in step 523 the user determines if the user needs to view the requisition . if the user determines that the user needs to view the requisition , the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 540 . if the user does not need to view the requisition , then in step 524 the user determines if the user needs to view the catalog . if in step 524 the user determines that the user needs to view the catalog , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 560 . if the user does not need to view the catalog , then the user determines if the user needs to return to the product selection web page . if the user determines that the user needs to return to the product selection web page , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 502 . if the user determines that the user does not need to return to the product selection web page , then the user terminates the purchasing process as indicated by step 526 . in fig5 c , in step 540 , the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it and display the requisition page in the order window . in step 541 , the user determines if the user needs to return to the product selection web page . if the user determines that the user needs to return to the product selection web page , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 502 . if the user determines that the user does not need to return to the product selection web page , then in step 542 the user determines if the user needs to view the catalog . if in step 542 the user determines that the user needs to view the catalog , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 560 . if the user does not need to view the catalog , then the user , in step 543 , determines if the user needs to convert the requisition into a purchase order . if in step 543 the user determines that the user does not need to convert the requisition into a purchase order , then the user terminates the purchasing process as indicated by step 544 . if in step 543 the user determines that the user needs to convert the requisition into a purchase order , then in step 545 the user creates an action ( or actions ) that cause ( s ) the browser to submit a request to the server to process the requisition and convert it into a purchase order which causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it and display the purchase order receipt web page in the order window . in step 546 , the user determines if the user needs to view the catalog . if in step 546 the user determines that the user needs to view the catalog , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 560 . if the user does not need to view the catalog , then the user determines if the user needs to return to the product selection web page . if the user determines that the user needs to return to the product selection web page , then in step 547 , the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 502 . if the user determines that the user does not need to return to the product selection web page , then the user terminates the purchasing process as indicated by step 548 . in fig5 d , step 560 , the user determines if a desired product selection web page was found in the catalog web page . if in step 560 the user determines that a desired product selection web page was found in the catalog , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to open the desired product selection web page in the product window and allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 501 . if in step 560 the user determines that no desired product selection web pages were found in the catalog , then in step 561 the user determines if the user needs to view the requisition . if the user determines that the user needs to view the requisition , the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 540 . if the user does not need to view the requisition , then in step 562 , the user determines if the user needs to return to the product selection web page . if the user determines that the user needs to return to the product selection web page , then the user creates an action which causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to continue the purchasing process from step 502 . if the user determines that the user does not need to return to the product selection web page , then the user terminates the purchasing process as indicated by step 563 . [ 0073 ] fig6 is a view of a hierarchical arrangement type catalog web page as displayed within the catalog window in a user &# 39 ; s web browser in one embodiment of the present invention . a catalog web page is displayed in the catalog window 600 . the user selects a link 601 to a product selection web page from within the catalog which creates an action that causes the server to submit a request to the server and causes the server to transmit the product selection page data to the browser which causes the browser to display the product selection web page in the product window . if the user does not need to select a catalog link , the user may click the go - to - req - page button 602 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it and display the requisition web page in the order window . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - product - selection - page button 603 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to select products from the current product selection page or to use the search function . [ 0074 ] fig7 is a view of a hierarchical arrangement type catalog web page as displayed within the catalog window in a user &# 39 ; s web browser in another embodiment of the present invention . a catalog web page is displayed in the catalog window 700 . the user selects a link 701 to a product selection web page from within the catalog which creates an action that causes the server to submit a request to the server and causes the server to transmit the product selection page data to the browser which causes the browser to display the product selection web page in the product window . if the user does not need to select a catalog link , the user may click the go - to - req - page button 702 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it and display the requisition web page in the order window . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - product - selection - page button 703 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to select products from the current product selection page or to use the search function . [ 0075 ] fig8 is a view of the product selection web page as displayed within the product window in a user &# 39 ; s web browser in one embodiment of the present invention . a product selection web page is displayed in the product window 800 . the user inspects the products list 801 and optionally selects a link to product information page 802 which causes the browser to request from the server or from a third - party server a product information web page and causes the browser to display the information web page in the information window . alternatively , the user may click the add - to - requisition button 803 which creates an action that causes the browser to submit a request to the server to add one or more products selected from the product selection page to the requisition , and causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it and display the requisition web page in the order window . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - req - page button 804 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it and display the requisition web page in the order window . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - catalog - page button 805 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it and display the catalog web page in the catalog window . alternatively , the user may enter search keywords in the text boxes 806 provided , and click the search button 807 which creates an action that causes the browser to request a search from the server and causes the server to transmit the search results to the client which causes the browser to display the search results web page in the product window . [ 0076 ] fig9 is a view of the search results web page as displayed within the product window in a user &# 39 ; s web browser in one embodiment of the present invention . a search results web page is displayed in the product window 900 . the user selects a link 901 to a product selection web page from the listed search results which creates an action that causes the server to submit a request to the server and causes the server to transmit the product selection page data to the browser which causes the browser to display the product selection web page in the product window . alternatively , the user may re - enter search keywords in the text spaces 902 provided , and click the new - search button 903 which creates an action that causes the browser to request a search from the server and causes the server to transmit the search results to the client which causes the browser to display the search results web page in the product window . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - req - page button 904 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the order window the active window and focus it and display the requisition web page in the order window . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - catalog - page button 905 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it and display the catalog web page in the catalog window . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - product - selection - page button 906 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to select products from the current product selection page or to use the search function . [ 0077 ] fig1 is a view of the requisition web page as displayed within the order window in a user &# 39 ; s web browser in one embodiment of the present invention . a requisition web page is displayed in the order window 1000 . the user inspects the list of requisitioned items list 1001 . if the user needs to continue the purchasing process , the user may click the go - to - product - selection - page button 1002 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to select products from the current product selection page or to use the search function . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - catalog - page button 1003 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it and display the catalog web page in the catalog window . alternatively , if the user determines that the requisitioned items list 1001 contains the proper items , the user may click the create - po button 1004 which creates an action that causes the browser to submit a request to the server to convert the requisition into a purchase order . [ 0078 ] fig1 is a view of the order receipt web page as displayed within the order window in a user &# 39 ; s web browser in one embodiment of the present invention . a purchase order receipt web page is displayed in the product window 1100 . the purchase order receipt web page represents the completion of a cycle of the purchasing process . if the user wishes to initiate another cycle of the purchasing process , the user clicks the go - to - catalog - page button 1101 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the catalog window the active window and focus it and display the catalog web page in the catalog window . alternatively , the user may click the go - to - product - selection - page button 1102 which creates an action that causes the browser to make the product window the active window and focus it to allow the user to select products from the current product selection page or to use the search function . the present invention has been described in terms of various embodiments , and it is not intended that the invention be limited to these embodiments . modification within the spirit of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art . for example , the system can incorporate lists of frequently purchased items that the user has saved as personalized pages and which can be retrieved from the database and displayed and manipulated as product selection pages ; or the system can interface with a separate email server for processing email notifications of orders to users and suppliers ; or the system can interface with a separate communications server to convert the system &# 39 ; s outputs and inputs into code recognizable by users &# 39 ; or suppliers &# 39 ; existing legacy systems ; or the system can interface with a supplier &# 39 ; s inventory system and incorporate into the system the display of real - time inventory data from the supplier &# 39 ; s warehouse . although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding , it may be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the details of this invention that certain changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the appended claims .	6
referring to fig2 a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention is shown . the embodiment is shown comprising three conflict preventing circuits 250 of the present invention connected between the data station 104 shown in fig1 and three peripheral devices 300 . it is pointed out that one of the peripheral devices is illustrated in a rather detailed schematic form while the remaining two peripheral devices are shown in a block form for simplicity of illustration . before entering into detailed description of the conflict preventing circuits 250 , it is believed appropriate to explain the data station 104 in some detail for facility of understanding of the subsequent description as to the circuits 250 . a more detailed block diagram of the data station 104 is shown in fig3 . the data in a form of a bit series signal entering into the data station 104 is demodulated by a demodulator 2 and is fed through a line 3 to a modulator 4 , which again modulates the received data to transmit it to the data bus db . in this manner the data transmitted from the data station 101 is circulating in turn through a series of cascade connected data stations 102 to 107 . a portion of the output from the demodulator 2 is applied to an address check circuit 5 , which detects a data station address to be addressed included in particular bit positions in the series bit signal and compares the detected data station address with data station address of its own data station 104 stored in a station address register 11 . if the former coincides with the latter a coincide output is obtained at a line 7 so that a series - parallel converter 6 is enabled . the coverter 6 stores the data as inputted from the line 3 and , when the coincidence output from the address check circuit 5 is provided , is enabled to provide an output at a line 8 , which output has been converted from the series bit signal at the line 3 to a bit parallel signal . the converter 6 also serves to convert a parallel bit signal received at a line 9 into a bit series signal to provide it to the modulator 4 , which modulates the series bit signal from the converter 6 and transmits it to the data bus db . a clock signal generator 10 generates clock signals in response to the demodulated output of the data from the demodulator 2 , which clock signals are provided to the device 300 through a line cl . a data check answer back circuit 12 receives the data from the demodulator 2 through the line 3 to check the data and provides a resultant output at a line 13 , thereby enabling the converter 6 to rearrange the data stored in the converter 6 such that the address of the receiving station 101 , the address of the transmitting station 104 and the resultant output of the data check may be modulated by the modulator 4 and transmitted to the data bus db . if and when the data has not been properly received , the converter 6 is controlled not to provide the data at the line 8 , thereby to ensure that the device 300 is enabled only if and when the data has been received properly . as described in the section of description of the prior art , the device 300 being controlled either may be one which is operable in response to the data given thereto from a certain computer through exchange of the data , such as a typewriter 301 , a cathode ray tube 303 , a display 304 or the like , or may be one which serves to provide the data obtained thereat back to a certain computer , such as a measuring device 302 , a card reader or the like . for the purpose of further description of the implementation of the present invention , let it be assumed that any one of the computers , say the computer 202 , delivers a data which specifies a particular device 300 , as shown in some detail in fig4 connected to a particular data station 104 , as shown in some detail in fig3 . the data received at the data station 104 is stored in the converter 6 after it is converted into a bit series signal , and is withdrawn through the line 8 . of the data thus stored , only a portion representative of the address of the transmitting data station is withdrawn through the line 3 in a form of parallel bit signal . a plurality of individual device identify signals , each individually representative of the respective device address for specifying a device being controlled , are obtained at lines , generally denoted as l1 . referring to fig2 it is seen that three individual device identify signals are withdrawn as l1 for individually specfying three devices 300 . the converter 6 also provides signals stx and etx , which will be discussed in more detail subsequently . another portion of the data output from the converter 6 , withdrawn from the line 10 , is either a character data to be typewritten by a typewriter , in case where the device is a typewriter , or a point address for specifying a point or points where measurement is to be made by a measuring device , in case where the device is a measuring device . a further output from the converter 6 is an end signal obtained at the line l7 , which is representative of completion of transmitting the data . a data input to the converter 6 through lines l4 and l5 and further through a line 9 will be discussed subsequently . an individual device identify signal l1 is fed to a set input of a delay flip - flop f1 , a set output of which is further fed to the device 300 as an enabling signal . the device 300 is so adapted to generate a busy signal at the line l2 which is representative of a busy or operating state of the device 300 , as to be more fully described hereinafter . the busy signal at the line l2 is supplied through an or gate g1 and further through the line l9 to the data station 104 , while it is fed to an and gate g2 as an inhibiting input . referring again to fig3 the busy signal at the line l9 is applied to the data check answer back circuit 12 to enable the circuit 12 to inform the converter 6 of the busy state of the device 300 , so that a new data may not be received at the converter 6 . as described in the foregoing the flip - flop f1 is of a delay type . a delay input to the flip - flop f1 is supplied from the and gate g2 , inputs of which are conditioned by an inversion of a busy signal at the line l9 , an individual device identify signal at the line l1 and a clock pulse obtained through the line cl from a clock signal generator 10 ( see fig3 ). thus it is understood that when an individual device identify signal l1 is obtained while the device 300 is not busy and thus no busy signal is obtained at the line l9 , an anded output is obtained from the and gate g2 in synchronism with the clock pulse . the output from the and gate g2 enables the flip - flop f1 to be set in response to the individual device identify signal l1 , as described previously . the output from the and gate g2 is also applied to an address register ar to enable it . concurrently with the individual device identify signal l1 , a computer address signal is obtained at the line l3 which is representative of which computer , ( say the computer 202 ) transmitted the data including the abovementioned individual device identify signal l1 and is loaded as a function of the ouput from the and gate g2 . an output from the address register ar is applied to an address generator ag to generate an address signal identifying which computer ( say the computer 202 ) should be communicated with . the output address signal from the address generator ag is applied through the line l4 and further through the line 9 to the converter 6 ( see fig3 ) and will be stored in a register in the data station 102 to be addressed as already described , the device may be classified as of two types from the view point of the function thereof . one is such a device as a measuring device 302 which provides some output such as a measured data obtained in response to the instructions from the computer . the other is such a device as a typewriter 301 , a cathode ray tube or the like which is operable in response to the instructions from the computer but provides no output therefrom . assuming that the device 300 is a measuring device 302 , a point address is obtained at the line l10 from the data station 104 and is applied to the device 300 . a more detailed block diagram of the measuring device 302 is illustrated in fig4 . the point address , as obtained at the line l10 , is fed to a control 13 of the device 302 , which in response thereto generates a busy signal at the line l2 , and further through a line 14 instructs a measurement addressing unit 15 to make specified measurement of the point address as addressed out of the measuring points nl to nn . the resultant measured data is taken out through the line l5 and further through the line 9 back to the converter 6 . the measured data is , after it is converted in a bit series signal and modulated as described previously , returned to the computer 202 , which is identified by the computer address signal at the line l4 . more specifically , the measured date obtained at the line l5 is loaded in the converter 6 through the line 9 ( see fig3 ) and , together with other data loaded therein such as a station address of the transmitting station ( say the station 102 ) a station address of the receiving station ( say the station 104 ), a device address , and a point address , is modulated by the modulator 4 and transmitted again on the data bus db . when all the measured data at the line l5 is transmitted from the data station 104 , a measurement end signal is generated at the line l7 . more specifically , when all the measured data is supplied to the converter 6 through the line 9 ( see fig3 ), the data is transmitted therefrom on the data bus db and in response thereto the measurement end signal is obtained from the converter 6 through the line 8 and further through the line l7 . referring to fig2 the measurement and signal is fed through the line l7 and an or gate g7 to a rest input of the flip - flop f1 to reset it and further to the address register ar to clear it . now let it be assumed that the device 300 is a typewriter 301 . then a data to be printed or typed is supplied through the line l10 to the device 300 . a typical format of such a data is shown in fig5 which comprises a start signal stx at the beginning and an end signal etx at the end and a series of data to be printed 401 therebetween , transmitted simultaneously with the device identify signal and other address signals . the start signal is a coded signal which indicates the start of the character data 401 and the end signal is a coded signal which indicates the end of the character data 401 , which signals are usually added to the data signal , if and when the data is a character data to be printed or typed by a printer or typewriter . referring again to fig2 the start signal stx and the end signal etx are fed to a set input and a rest input , respectively , of a delay flip - flop f2 , while a delay input is applied from an output of an and gate g4 . one input of the gate g4 is an ored output from an or gate receiving the said start and end signals stx and etx as inputs thereto , while the other input is an anded output from the gate g2 . thus it is understood that the flip - flop f2 is set in synchronism with the clock cl only when an individual device identify signal l1 and a start signal are provided while the device is not busy and thus no busy signal is obtained at the line l9 . an input to the address register ar and an output from the address register ar are fed to an exclusive or gate g6 as inputs thereto and an output therefrom is fed to an and gate g5 as one input thereto , another input of which is supplied from a set output of the flip - flop f2 . an output from the and gate g5 is applied to the or gate g1 as a busy signal which is representative of a busy state in which the character data to be printed is being received by the device 300 . the end signal etx resets the flip - flop f2 and a reset output therefrom is applied to an exclusive or gate g6 to enable it . a typewriter 302 by way of the device 300 is so adapted to provide an end signal at the line l6 when a typewriting operation is completed , which end signal is applied to the exclusive or gate g6 as one input thereto . therefore , an anded output is obtained from the and gate g8 if and when the character data is ended and the typewriting operation therefor is over . the output from the gate g8 is applied to the flip - flop f1 to reset it and is applied to the address register ar to clear it . a further means is provided for transmitting a busy signal obtained at the line l9 to another computer corresponding to the address signal therefor , when the device 300 is specified by said another computer while the device 300 is operating under the control of one computer . more specifically stated referring again to fig3 assuming that the data is transmitted from the data station 101 to the device 300 coupled to the station 104 while the said device 300 is operating under the control of the computer 202 through the data station 102 , the new data will be stored in the converter 6 . however , a busy signal l9 has been obtained at the line l9 and applied to the data check answer back circuit 12 , so that the converter 6 transmits through the modulator 4 the data comprising an address of the receiving station 101 , an address of the transmitting station 104 and information to the effect that the device 300 coupled to the station 104 is busy . now operation of the present invention will be described in the following . for this purpose first let it be assumed that the device 300 coupled to the station 104 is a measuring device 302 and the device 302 is specified by the computer 202 . the individual device identify signal is obtained individually only at the corresponding individual line l1 so as to specify the device 302 connected to the station 104 and an address signal identifying the computer 202 is obtained at the line l3 . the individual device identify signal sets the flip - flop f1 as a function of the clock cl to store a state in which the device 302 is specified . similarly the computer address signal is loaded in the address register ar as a function of the clock cl to store the state in which the computer 202 is communicating with the device 302 . a set output from the flip - flop f1 is fed to the device 302 ( the device 300 in fig2 ) to enable it to make measurement of measurement points nl to nn as addressed by the data obtained at the line l10 from the converter 6 and a measured data is withdrawn through the line l5 and further through the line 9 to the converter 6 . while the device 302 is in operation , the busy signal 12 serves to disable the and gate g2 . therefore , the clock signal cl is not supplied to the flip - flop f1 as a delay input any more and thus the flip - flop f1 is latched or kept storing the individual device identify signal l1 individually and uniquely identifying the device 302 until it is reset . similarly , the address register ar is latched or kept storing and thus providing an address signal l8 uniquely identifying the computer 202 . the busy signal l2 is also fed to the computer 202 through the data station 104 , as described previously , so that it is detected thereby that the measuring device 302 is in operation . it is to be pointed out that when the measuring device 300 or 302 is specified no start and end signals stx and etx are generated . therefore the and gate g4 is kept disabled and the flip - flop f2 is kept reset and thus the and gate g5 is kept disabled . accordingly an output from the exclusive or gate g6 is prevented from affecting to the operation of the other circuit components . further let it be assumed that another computer 206 transmits a data to control the same measuring device 302 to make measurement under the instructions therefrom . an individual device identify signal l1 obtained from the data sent from the computer 206 is also ready to be loaded in the flip - flop f1 . however , since the and gate g2 has been disabled as a function of the busy signal l9 , no clock pulse is fed to the delay input of the flip - flop f1 and thus no device identify signal is loaded in the flip - flop f1 any more . as a result , the measuring device 302 ( the device 300 in fig2 ) is not disturbed from a proper operation by another computer 206 , while it is in operation under the control of the computer 202 and thus any problem of conflict between two or more computers may be avoided . the busy signal l9 representative of the busy state of the device 302 is transmitted to the computer 206 through the station 104 , as described previously , so that the operating state of the device 302 may be detected by the computer 206 . the measured output obtained at the line l5 from the measuring device 302 , as specified by the computer 202 , is transmitted through the data station 104 to the computer 202 as a function of the address generated by the address generator ag . when all the measured output 15 has been transmitted through the data station 104 , an end signal l7 is obtained to rest the flip - flop f1 and to clear the address register ar . let it be assumed that the device 300 coupled to the station 104 is a typewriter 301 and the device 301 is specified by the computer 202 . the individual device identify signal is obtained individually only at the corresponding individual line l1 based upon the data from the computer 202 so as to specify and enable the device 301 such as a typewriter connected to the station 104 . at the same time an address signal identifying the computer 202 to be addressed for a return data , if any , is obtained at the line l3 . however , the typewriter 301 does not generate any measured data such as obtained in the measuring device 302 and therefore the address generator ag may be dropped from further consideration of operation of the typewriter 301 in conjunction with the present invention . the character data to be printed which is in the format as shown in fig5 is also obtained at the line l10 from the computer 202 through the data station 104 . the start signal stx thereof sets the flip - flop f1 as a function of the clock signal cl and a set output thereafter from enables the and gate g5 . thereafter a series of the datas to be printed 401 is supplied from the converter 6 of the data station 104 through the line l10 to the typewriter 301 . only if and when the computer 202 specifies the typewriter 301 , the address signal at the input line l3 to the address register ar is the same as the address signal at the output line l8 from the address register ar . therefore , no output is obtained from the exclusive or gate g6 and thus no output is obtained from the and gate g5 . now assume that another computer 206 also specifies the typewriter 301 . then it is clear that the address signal at the line l3 identifies the computer 206 , whereas the address signal at the line 18 remains the same as before . therefore , an output is obtained from the gate g6 to enable the gate g5 , so that the busy signal indicating that the typewriter 301 is receiving the character data is obtained through the gate g1 and through the line l9 , which busy signal disables the gate g2 , thereby latching the flip - flop f1 , the address register ar and the flip - flop f2 . the busy signal at the line l9 is transmitted through the data station 104 to the computer 206 , whereby upon receipt of the said busy signal the computer 206 detects the typewriter 301 being in operation . if the typewriter 301 is of such a type as intermittently operable per each character printing , the busy signal obtainable at the line l2 from the typewriter 301 may be accordingly intermittent . the reason is that the busy signal obtainable from the gate g5 is of continuity and of a constant level , which ensures the receipt of the data only from the computer 202 . as a result a problem of conflict between the computers can be avoided even in case where the typewriter 301 is controlled by any one of the computers . in case where another computer 206 specifies the same typewriter 301 while the typewriter 301 is in operation already under the control of the computer 202 , the flip - flop f1 operates in substantially the same manner as described in conjunction with the measuring device 302 . when transmission of a series of the character data 401 is over , a print end signal is obtained at the line l6 to enable the and gate g8 . at the same time the end signal etx is obtained to reset the flip - flop f2 and a reset output is applied to the gate g8 . therefore , and anded output is obtained therefrom to reset the flip - flop f1 and to clear the address register ar . as described in the foregoing , according to the present invention , any conflict in connection with data communication can be avoided in a so - called data highway system , which conflict is likely to occur when two or more computers connected to a common data bus will be communicating with the same device at a time , since when one computer once starts to communicate with a certain device being controlled any other computer is prevented , by the use of a rather simplified hardware , from communicating with the same device thereafter until the data communication between the communicating computer and the device is over . while specific preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described , it will be apparent that obvious variations and modifications of the invention will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art from a consideration of the foregoing description . it is , therefore , desired that the present invention be limited only by the appended claims .	6
the present disclosure is related to shaped kibbles and their use with inclusions that are coated or uncoated with oil in order to provide a pet food comprising consistently evenly mixed portions of kibble and inclusion . the present application provides a pet food comprising kibbles and one or more oil - coated inclusions , wherein each of the inclusions is coated with a pre - determined weight percentage of oil that increases the density of the coated inclusion . inclusions are the portion of the pet food that is not comprised in the food mixture used to form the kibbles . inclusions and kibbles in one pet food product are physically separable . inclusions are mixed with kibbles to enhance the flavor , nutrition , mouth - feel , consumer appeal , and diversity , among other desirable features . the inclusions may be a whole or part of a fruit or a vegetable , a meat chunk , or a supplement . the inclusions may be fresh , cooked , dehydrated or freeze - dried . the inclusion may be in the form of a piece , bit , nugget , glob , or lump . in one embodiment , the pet food comprises two or more inclusions , which may be selected from different kinds of fruit , vegetable , meat , supplement , and any combinations thereof . suitable fruits for use as inclusions include , but are not limited to , apples , tomatoes , bananas , pears , strawberries , cranberries , blueberries , raspberries , and the like . suitable vegetables for use as inclusions include , but are not limited to , sweet potatoes , potatoes , legumes / beans , pumpkin , peas , zucchini , celery , broccoli , cabbage , carrots , cucumbers , green beans . suitable meat sources include , but are not limited to , hogs , cattle , sheep , goats , deer , buffalo , kangaroo , alligator , snail , chicken , duck , goose , turkey , guinea hen , and the like . suitable supplements for use as inclusions include , but are not limited to , flavor enhancers , vitamins , minerals , nutrient supplements , whole food supplements , prebiotics , probiotics , and any combinations thereof . suitable vitamins for pet food , which may be supplied by various sources , include , but are not limited to sources supplying vitamin b1 , b2 , b3 , b12 , vitamin c , vitamin e , vitamin d , niacin ( also known as b3 or vitamin pp ), biotin ( vitamin h ), menadione ( vitamin k ), folic acid ( vitamin b9 ), pyridoxine ( b6 ), vitamin a , and any combinations thereof . suitable minerals , which may be supplied by various sources , include , but are not limited to , calcium , potassium , magnesium , sodium , iron , phosphorus , zinc , manganese , iodine , selenium , cobalt , and any combinations thereof . in general , vitamins and minerals are combined with a carrier and / or a flavorant and formed into a shape and / or size that is distinguishable from the shape and / or size of the kibble . suitable coating oils for the inclusion include , without limitation , chicken fat , meat tallow , or fish oil or those derived from soy , sunflower , coconut , olive , canola , algae , and other suitable oils of plant , animal or microorganism origins , or any combinations thereof . the coating oil may be raw , refined , powdered , or whole . oils may also be deodorized , non - gmo , organic , free - from antibiotics or hormones , or any combination thereof . oil for coating may be chosen for its flavor , nutrition value , physical properties , and / or its ability to stabilize natural or artificial food color of the product to be coated . the coating oil may further comprise optional additives including , without limitation , flavorings , colorings , vitamins , minerals , nutrient supplements , natural and artificial preservatives , antioxidants , processing aids , and any combinations thereof . in one embodiment , the coating oil is refined and deodorized coconut oil . in one embodiment , the percentage of the coating oil is based on the total weight of the oil when compared to the weight of the pet food product comprising the kibbles and the oil - coated inclusions . in another embodiment , the percentage of the coating oil is based on the total weight of the oil - coated inclusions in the pet food product comprising a mixture of kibbles and oil - coated inclusions . the present disclosure provides that the percentage of the coating oil is determined by the disparity in the densities of the kibbles and non - coated inclusions used in one particular pet food mixture . the percentage of coating oil added should minimally be sufficient to increase the density of the inclusions . a suitable weight percentage of the coating oil is one that increases the density of the post - coating inclusions . in one embodiment , the density of the inclusion is increased by at least 1 lb / cu ft , more preferably by at least 2 lb / cu ft , where increases such as 1 . 1 , 1 . 2 , 1 . 3 , 1 . 4 , 1 . 5 , 1 . 6 , 1 . 7 , 1 . 8 , 1 . 9 , 2 . 1 , 2 . 2 , 2 . 3 , 2 . 4 , 2 . 5 , 2 . 6 , 2 . 7 , 2 . 8 , 2 . 9 , 3 , 1 - 3 , 1 - 5 , 2 - 3 , 4 - 5 lb / cu ft , and higher are envisioned . in another embodiment , the density is increased to a point where it is at least 10 %, more preferably at least 20 %, and still more preferably at least 30 % closer to the density of the kibbles used in the particular pet food mixture . density is defined as the number of mass ( m ) per unit volume ( v ). in the present disclosure , the density of the kibbles and the inclusions may be expressed as pounds per cubic feet or inch ( lb / cu ft or lb / cu in ). in some embodiments , the density of the kibbles is between about 20 and about 40 lb / cu ft . in some embodiments , the density of the kibbles is between about 25 and about 35 lb / cu ft . in some embodiments , the density of the kibbles is between about 27 and about 30 lb / cu ft . in some embodiments , the density of the kibbles is about 28 lb / cu ft . in some embodiments , the density of the inclusion before coating is between about 4 and 8 lb / cu ft , and after coating is between about 6 and about 10 lb / cu ft . in some embodiments , the density of the inclusion before coating is about 6 lb / cu ft , and after coating is 8 lb / cu ft . the weight percentage of the coating oil is calculated into the fat content of the pet food product in compliance with the association of american feed control officials ( aafco ) nutrition requirements or other governing standards . preferably , the portion of the pet food mixture with the lighter density is the inclusions , such that if a certain weight percentage of coating oil is needed to equalize the density of the inclusions and kibbles , the coating oil is to be applied to the inclusions . preferably , the relative size of the kibbles and the inclusions is no more than 4 × ( i . e . the kibble is not more than 4 times larger than the inclusion , or the inclusion is not more than 4 times larger than the kibble ), or no more than 3 ×, or no more than 2 ×. thus , the ratio of the size of the kibble and inclusions can be 1 : 1 , 1 : 2 , 1 : 3 , and 1 : 4 , where the ratio can be either kibble to inclusions or inclusions to kibble . in view of the present disclosure , one skilled in the art can control the size of the inclusions within a desired range , while reducing the density disparity between the kibbles and the inclusions by coating the inclusions with a desired amount of oil . other than making the inclusion heavier in density , another advantage of coating an inclusion is to make the inclusion more pliable to prevent breakage or crushing during handling at any stage . by coating dehydrated or freeze - dried fruits or vegetable , the coating oil makes the inclusions less inflexible , and therefore reduces the breakage of the inclusion into smaller pieces which are even more readily to segregate from the kibbles and settle on the surface of the pet food mixture . in one embodiment , the pet food product comprises up to 50 wt % ( based upon the total weight of the pet food product ; same below and throughout the disclosure , unless otherwise stated ) of one or more oil - coated inclusions . in one embodiment , the pet food product comprises 1 wt % to 10 wt % of oil - coated inclusions . in one embodiment , the pet food product comprises 10 wt % to 20 wt % of oil - coated inclusions . in one embodiment , the pet food product comprises 20 wt % to 30 wt % of oil - coated inclusions . in one embodiment , the pet food product comprises 30 wt % to 40 wt % of oil - coated inclusions . in another embodiment , the pet food product comprises 40 wt % to 50 wt % of oil - coated inclusions . in one embodiment , the coating oil of the inclusions comprises between about 5 wt % to about 30 wt % of the total weight of the oil coated inclusions . in one embodiment , the coating oil of the inclusions comprises between about 10 wt % to about 25 wt % of the total weight of the oil coated inclusions . in one embodiment , the coating oil of the inclusions comprises between about 12 wt % to about 18 wt % of the total weight of the oil coated inclusions . in one embodiment , the pet food product comprises 1 . 5 - 3 wt % of inclusions . in one particular embodiment , the pet food product comprises 1 . 5 - 3 wt % of inclusions , wherein the inclusions are freeze - dried fruits and vegetables , wherein the coating oil of the inclusions is a coconut oil , which comprises 13 - 15 wt % of the total weight of the oil coated inclusions . in addition to increasing the density of inclusions in a pet food mixture by oil coating , the present application provides kibble configurations to further improve the distribution of inclusions in the pet food mixture . additionally , the distribution of the inclusions is retained over time despite movement of the package holding the kibble and inclusions . as disclosed , the present application additionally provides for shaped kibbles having one or more configurations comprising , at the edge ( 200 ) of the kibbles , at least one pocket ( 210 ) formed by a curve ( 220 ) of a predetermined radius ; wherein the shaped kibbles interlock one with another when adjacently placed to form a lattice - like barrier ( 300 ). the configurations of the kibble may be selected from a crescent ( 102 ), a peanut ( 104 ), a star ( 106 ), an x ( 108 ), a flower ( 110 ), a gear ( 112 ), and any other shape capable of interlocking with another shape and / or that has more than 6 curves . fig1 depicts a shaped kibble having a configuration of a crescent ( 102 ). a crescent shaped kibble has one curve of a predetermined radius . fig2 depicts a shaped kibble having a configuration of a peanut ( 104 ). a peanut shaped kibble has two curves of a predetermined radius . fig3 depicts a shaped kibble having a configuration of a star ( 106 ). a star shaped kibble has three curves of a predetermined radius . fig4 depicts a shaped kibble having a configuration of an x ( 108 ). an x shaped kibble has four curves of a predetermined radius . fig5 depicts a shaped kibble having a configuration of a flower ( 110 ). a flower shaped kibble has five curves of a predetermined radius . fig6 depicts a shaped kibble having a configuration of a gear ( 112 ). a gear shaped kibble has six curves of a predetermined radius . the configurations of the shaped kibbles also include any capable of interlocking with another shape and / or those having more than 6 curves at the edge of the kibbles . every curve ( 220 ) at the edge ( 200 ) of the kibbles provides a pocket ( 210 ) that has a caved - in space ; while every two adjacent curves ( 220 ) provide a protruding member ( 212 ) extending out from the center of the kibble ( except for the crescent ( 102 ) shape , the two protruding members ( 212 ) are formed by one curve and the remaining edge of the kibble ). each configuration disclosed herein has at least one pocket and at least one protruding member . when a sufficient number of kibbles having pockets and kibbles with protruding members are placed in a given space , the pockets and the protruding members lock together to fill in the space otherwise left between unshaped kibbles having a round or oval edge . the higher the number of kibbles having pockets and kibbles with protruding members that are placed in a given space , the less of a gap that will remain between the kibbles . this configuration effectively forms a lattice - like barrier ( 300 ) ( fig7 ) that inhibits or prevents the inclusions from shifting through the kibbles and settling to the bottom of a package containing the kibbles and inclusions , thereby increasing the number of inclusions that are the surface or within a top portion of the pet food and reducing the number of inclusions that are at the bottom or in the lower portions of the pet food . according to embodiments herein , kibbles of one or more shapes can be mixed together to provide interlocking barrier . in one embodiment , the pet food mixture has mono - shaped kibbles and inclusions . in one embodiment , the pet food mixture has two shapes of kibbles and inclusions . in another embodiment , the pet food mixture has at least three shapes of kibbles and inclusions . in a pet food mixture having kibbles of more than one shape , there may be any percentage ( in quantity , weight , or volume ) of each . the curve ( 220 ) or the pocket ( 210 ) formed may be described by a predetermined radius and an angle of curvature . the kibble can be configured in any shape having one or more curved portions having a radius of between 0 . 06 and 0 . 25 inches . the kibble preferably has an angle of curvature between 90 and 180 degrees , preferably between 100 and 170 degrees , more preferably between 120 and 150 degrees . for example , for large kibbles , the radius of the pocket can be from about 0 . 108 to 0 . 129 inches in the crescent configuration , about 0 . 172 to 0 . 212 inches in the star configuration , and about 0 . 102 to 0 . 132 inches in the peanut configuration . in another set of smaller kibbles , the radius of the pocket is about 0 . 094 to about 0 . 119 inches in the crescent configuration , about 0 . 118 to about 0 . 15 inches in the star configuration , and about 0 . 077 to about 0 . 095 inches in the peanut configuration . it is understood that the radius is dependent upon the size of the kibble and so such sizes will be determinable by those of skill in the art . a proper radius is one capable of effectively forming an interlocking pocket and protruding member in view of the size of the kibbles that are randomly placed adjacent to each other . the shaped kibbles can be manufactured by any process suitable for producing kibble . preferably , the kibbles are manufactured using a process selected from the group consisting of injection molding , clamshell molding , extrusion , cold forming extrusion , rotary molding , or any combinations thereof . one of skill in the art understands how to apply different processes with proper settings and adjustment to achieve kibbles with certain ingredients having predetermined detention , size , shape , texture , gelatinization level etc . as disclosed herein , the shaped kibbles can be mixed with inclusions with or without an oil coating to provide a kibble / inclusion pet food having improved distribution of each relative to each other within the mixture as compared to a pet food comprising a mixture of conventional kibbles and inclusions . as such , the present application provides for a pet food comprising shaped kibbles having one or more configurations , and one or more inclusions , wherein each configuration comprises , at the edge ( 200 ) of the kibbles , at least one pocket ( 210 ) formed by a curve ( 220 ) of a predetermined radius ; wherein the shaped kibbles interlock with each other when adjacently placed ; and wherein the configurations of the kibble may be selected from a crescent ( 102 ), a peanut ( 104 ), a star ( 106 ), an x ( 108 ), a flower ( 110 ), a gear ( 112 ), and any other shape capable of interlocking with another shape and / or that has more than 6 curves . the interlocking by the curve - comprising edge of the shaped kibbles can form a lattice - like barrier ( 300 ) preventing inclusions , whether of smaller size or lighter density , from settling , or gathering , in a section ( s ), rather than staying evenly mixed in the pet food mixture . the present application further provides for a pet food comprising shaped kibbles having one or more configurations , and one or more oil - coated inclusions , wherein each configuration comprises , at the edge ( 200 ) of the kibbles at least one pocket ( 210 ) formed by a curve ( 220 ) of a predetermined radius ; wherein the shaped kibbles interlock with each other when adjacently placed ; wherein the configurations of the kibble may be selected from a crescent ( 102 ), a peanut ( 104 ), a star ( 106 ), an x ( 108 ), a flower ( 110 ), a gear ( 112 ), and any other shape that has more than 6 curves ; and wherein the densities of the shaped kibbles and oil - coated inclusions are substantially equivalent . the lattice - like barrier ( 300 ) formed by the interlocking kibbles via their curve - comprising edges , in combination with the the increased density of the inclusions after being coated with oil , prevent inclusions and kibbles from separating and settling into different sections in the pet food . the present application further provides for a pet food comprising a mono - shaped kibble having a configuration comprising , at the edge ( 200 ) of the kibble at least one pocket formed by a curve ( 220 ) of a predetermined radius , and one or more oil - coated inclusions , wherein the shaped kibbles interlock with each other to form a lattice - like barrier ( 300 ) when adjacently placed ; wherein the densities of the shaped kibble and oil - coated inclusion are at a ratio between 10 : 1 and 1 : 1 , or any other ratio as desired ; and wherein the configuration of the kibble is selected from a crescent ( 102 ), a peanut ( 104 ), a star ( 106 ), an x ( 108 ), a flower ( 110 ), a gear ( 112 ), as well as any other shape capable of interlocking with another shape and / or that has more than 6 curves . the lattice - like barrier ( 300 ) formed by the interlocking of the shaped kibbles through their curve - comprised edges , as well as the increased density of the inclusions after being coated with oil , prevents or reduces the incidence of inclusions and kibbles from separating , settling , or gathering , in respective sections in the pet food . as disclosed herein , a pet food mixture having shaped interlocking kibbles , and / or oil - coated inclusions resolves the problem of uneven distribution of the portions in the mixture due to density disparity , and thereby delivers consistent and balanced ingredient and nutrition composition in every serving . the following examples are simply intended to further illustrate and explain the present invention . the invention , therefore , should not be limited to any of the details in these examples . example 1 — a pet food mixture having dehydrated vegetables and fruits and mono - shaped kibbles dehydrated or freeze - dried peas , green beans , sweet potato , apple , and cranberry , which are suitable for being used as non - kibble inclusions were tested for texture performance before and after oil coating using bulk shear analysis . the coating oil used was coconut oil . the parameters determining the overall texture characteristics of the samples include : firmness — defined as the maximum / peak force on the graph ( n ); distance — defined as the distance from start to the maximum / peak force ( mm ); shear work — defined as the area under the curve from start to the peak force ( n . sec ); it measures the energy required to shear the product ; adhesive strength — defined as the absolute negative peak force on the graph ( n ); the force is measured as the probe returns to its original position ; and adhesive work — defined as the area under the curve from the start of the negative peak to the absolute negative peak force ( n . sec ). ta hdplus texture analyzer ( texture technologies corporation , hamilton , mass .) was used to carry out the bulk shear analysis . the testing schematic using kramer shear or mini - kramer shear is shown in table 5 . the sample amounts and number of replicates were determined based on the amount of sample received . due to varying size , the green beans , sweet potatoes , and apples were analyzed using the kramer shear cell ( 5 - blade ) while the peas and cranberries were analyzed using a mini - kramer shear cell . the settings for kramer shear analysis were provided in table 6 and 7 : the bulk shear texture analyses were able to demonstrate overall differences between the uncoated and coated samples of green beans , sweet potatoes , apples , and cranberries , but not between uncoated and coated peas . based on anova single factor analysis , the uncoated and coated peas ( table 12 ) were found to be similar in all parameters : firmness , distance to peak force , and shear work ( p & gt ; 0 . 05 ). the uncoated green beans ( table 8 ), sweet potatoes ( table 9 ), apples ( table 10 ), and cranberries ( table 11 ) were all found to be statistically different from their corresponding coated samples ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ). for green beans , sweet potatoes , apples and cranberries , the results for firmness , shear work , adhesive strength and adhesive work were all higher for the uncoated compared to the coated samples . the test results for these samples were consistent with the observation that the uncoated samples were more crunchy , inflexible and prone to crush under force , whereas the oil - coating increased the flexibility , pliability , and resilience of the inclusions and makes them more resistant to breakage . it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein , but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this novel concept as defined by the following claims . further , many other advantages of applicant &# 39 ; s invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the above descriptions and the below claims .	0
the non - volatile semiconductor device relating to a first embodiment will be explained by referring to fig4 a to fig6 . fig4 a is a circuit diagram which shows plural blocks , especially a block b which is in adjacent to blocks a and c , in the non - volatile semiconductor memory device of the first embodiment . fig4 b shows a block diagram of the non - volatile semiconductor memory device of the first embodiment . as shown in fig4 b , the memory device includes a charge pump circuits for generating vpwl , vpuwl , vpnwell from externally supplied vcc ; an address decoders for receiving externally supplied address signals and for decoding them to supply the decoded selection signals ; a wl / sg / sl / well drivers for receiving the decoded selection signals and for driving word lines , selection gates , source lines and wells ; a bit line control circuits for selectively supplying data (“ 0 ” or “ 1 ”) to main bit lines ; and a memory cell array having the blocks described in fig4 a . fig5 a is a cross sectional view along a bit line direction in the non - volatile semiconductor memory device . according to a construction of this non - volatile semiconductor memory device , memory cell transistors ( below simply called memory cells ) mc 00 a , . . . , mcn 0 a , mc 00 b , . . . , mcn 0 b , mc 01 a , . . . , mcna , mc 01 b , . . . , mcn 1 b , . . . which are p channel type transistors , are formed within the n type well region . each of the memory cell transistors has a charge accumulation layer of a floating gate , however it could be possible to replace with a charge accumulation layer made of nano - crystal layer or silicon nitride layer . the n type well region is formed within the p - sub region 11 formed in the p type substrate 10 . selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , st 0 b , st 1 b , . . . which are n type transistors and may be single gate transistors ( when the charge accumulation layer of the memory cell is made of nano - crystal layer or silicon nitride layer , then steps in the covering interlayer insulation film may not appear ), are formed in the p type well regions 13 and 14 . the p type well regions 13 and 14 are formed adjacent to the n type well region and are arranged both ends of the n type well region in the bit line direction . also , in the present embodiment , two blocks ( two n type wells ) which are arranged in a bit line direction share a same p type well region 13 or 14 in which selection transistors for both blocks are formed . as a result , the area which the entire non - volatile semiconductor memory device occupies is reduced . while , in the present embodiment , two sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 1 a , . . . , sbl 0 b , sbl 1 b are connected to each main bit line mbl 0 , mbl 1 within one block , however , the present invention is not limited to this . for example , it is possible to bring out the substantial effects of the present invention with one or even four sub bit lines being arranged . fig5 b and 5c show a plan view of the memory cell array . fig5 b shows a layout pattern of active regions , gate pattern ( the second polysilicon layer , where the first polysilicon layer for floating gate is hidden in the second polysilicon layer ), and contacts for connecting the metal 1 layer and active region . the width of the gate of selection transistors is greater than the width of gates of memory cells , which makes the operation margin better . two selection gates for different blocks ( block a and block b ) share the sources to provide a single contact to main bit line . active regions are arranged at both ends of wells to provide a stable biasing of well , and the active regions are connected to contacts . it should be noted that a number of contacts for well biasing arranged at n well is greater than a number of contact for well biasing arranged at p well for selection transistors . this arrangement of well bias contacts makes more stable operation during programming . fig5 c shows a layout pattern of the metal 1 layer and the metal 3 layer . the wires made by metal 2 layers which run in the direction perpendicular to the main and sub bit lines are not shown in the drawing . it should be noted that metal 1 strips are arranged over the well biasing active regions to provide stable well bias . it is much preferable to have local interconnects at both top and bottom of n wells . the local inter connects may be of n + diffusion layer with refractory metal salicide surface , for example , cobalt salicide . the local inter connection is continuous and therefore provides a active region loop surrounding the memory cell array . fig5 d shows a layout of active regions with the local interconnects . the active region forms a loop . the arrangement of the local interconnects will provide more stable well biasing . next , a timing control at the time of a program operation in the present embodiment is shown in fig6 a and 6b . here , fig6 a shows an operation for programming the memory cell mcn 0 a in fig4 . first , in the operation at the time of programming the memory cell mcn 0 a , at the time t 1 , the word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n & gt ;, the main bit lines mblo , mlb 1 , . . . , a source line sl and the n type well region are applied with a voltage vcc . the selection gates sga , sgb are set at 0v . at this time , the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , st 0 b , st 1 b are all in an off state . as a result of this , all the sub bit lines sbl 0 a , stl 0 b , sbl 1 a , sbl 1 b . . . become a floating state . next , at the time t 2 , the voltage of the selected word line wl & lt ; n & gt ; of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted from vcc to vpwl . the voltage of the non selected word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n 1 & gt ; of the memory cell mcn 0 a are boosted from vcc to vpuwl . the voltage of the n type well region of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted from vcc to vpnwell . further , the voltage of the selection gate sg of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted from 0v to vcc . at this time , the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , . . . , along the selection gate sg are on . the voltages of the sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 1 a , . . . become at vcc - vthn which is dropped by only the threshold voltage vthn of the selection transistor from the voltage vcc of the main bit lines mbl 0 , mbl 1 . then , it becomes αvpnwell by capacitive coupling ( α is a coupling coefficient ). on the other hand , the voltage of the sub bit lines sbl 0 b , sbl 1 b which are connected to the selection transistors st 0 b , st 1 b which are along the unselected selection gate sgb , is boosted by capacitive coupling of the junction between the n type well region and the memory cell drain . the voltage of the drain potential becomes the value αvpnwell where vpnwell is multiplied with α when the coupling coefficient is α . also , the voltage vpuwl of the non - selected word line wl ( unselected word line wl ), is set so that the memory cell in the unselected word line wl does not become on . at the time t 3 , the voltage of the main bit line mbl 0 which is to be programmed with “ 0 ” data drops from vcc to 0v . as a result , the voltage of the sub bit line sbl 0 a which is connected to the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a which is to be programmed , becomes 0v . at this time , the word line of the memory cell mcn 0 a which is to be programmed becomes vpwl . the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a ( which is to be programmed ) becomes 0v . the source line sl of the memory cell mcn 0 a ( which is to be programmed ) becomes vcc . the n type well region of the memory cell mcn 0 a ( which is to be programmed ) becomes vpnwell . therefore , the in the btbt current which occurs near the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a ( which is to be programmed ), electrons are accelerated in the channel direction . electrons are extracted toward the word line which is applied with the positive voltage vpwl . consequently , the extracted electrons are injected into the floating gate . the programming operation of the memory cell mcn 0 a ( which is to be programmed ), is carried out as described above . then , at the time t 4 , the programming operation is completed by the return of the voltage of the main bit line mbl 0 to vcc . at the time t 5 , each voltage of the memory cell mcn 0 a ( which is to be programmed ) are returned to their initial states . in the present embodiment , because the drain voltages applied the memory cells mcn 0 b , mcn 1 a , mcn 1 b . . . ( which are not programmed ) are all the same αvpnwell . the coupling coefficient α is decided by capacitive coupling ratio between the wire capacitance of the sub bit line sbl and the junction capacitance between the n type well region and the drain . for example , in the case where , vpnwell of the memory cell to be programmed is 6v and the coupling coefficient α = 0 . 5 ( capacitive ratio 1 : 1 ), the drain voltage of the memory cell to program is boosted to 3v . assuming that vcc = 1 . 8v , the voltage between the source and the drain of the memory cell to program , becomes 1 . 8v . the voltage between the source and the drain of the non - programming memory cell becomes αvpnwell − vcc = 1 . 2v . in this way , it is possible to increase the drain voltage of the non - programming memory cell to 3v in a state where the voltage between the source and the drain of the memory cell to program is reduced . because the drain voltage depends on the coupling coefficient α and the voltage vpnwell of the n type well region at the time of programming , independent control of the drain voltage of a non - programming memory cell is comparatively difficult . thereupon , alternative control method will be disclosed . fig6 b is a timing diagram which shows a control method at the time of another programming operation in the present embodiment . the difference between the case of fig6 a is the drain voltage application method of the non - programming memory cell . fig6 b shows an operation at the time of programming the memory cell mcn 0 a in fig4 . first , in the operation for programming the memory cell mcn 0 a , at the time t 1 , the word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n & gt ;, the source line sl and the n type well region are applied with the voltage vcc . the selection gates sga and sgb are set at 0v . the selected main bit line mbl 0 is set at 0v in order to program “ 0 ” data into the memory cell mcn 0 a . all the other main bit lines mbl which are not to program “ 0 ” data are set at vcc . at this time , because the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , st 0 b , st 1 b . . . are all in an off state , all the sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 0 b , sbl 1 a , sbl 1 b . . . are floated . next , at the time t 2 , the non - selected word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n - 1 & gt ; of the memory cell mcn 0 a drop from vcc to vnuwl . the source line of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted from vcc to vpinhibit . the n type well region of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted from vcc to vpnwell . the non - selected word line wl level which is vnuwl of the memory cell mcn 0 a is set so that the memory cells along the non - selected word lines wl become all on . at this time , the memory cell along the non - selected word lines wl are all on . at the time t 3 , the non - selected word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n - 1 & gt ; of the memory cell mcn 0 a are boosted from vnuwl to vpuwl . because the word lines are boosted to vpuwl , the memory cells along the non - selected word lines are cut off . then , at the time t 4 , the voltage of the source line sl drops from vpinhibit to vcc . at the time t 5 , the selected word line wl & lt ; n & gt ; of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted from vcc to vpwl . further , at the time t 6 , the selection gate sga of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted from 0v to vcc . as a result , the selection transistor is on . the voltage of the sub bit line sbl 0 a which is connected to the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a which is to be programmed , becomes 0v on the other hand , the main bit line mbl 1 of the memory cell mcn 0 a is vcc . the selection transistor st 1 a connected to the memory cell mcn 1 a is in an off state . as a result , the voltage of the sub bit line sbl 1 a selected by the selection gate sga , is kept at vpinhibit . following this , at the time t 5 , the word line of the memory cell mcn 0 a selected for programming becomes vpwl . at this time , the main bit line mbl 0 of the drain voltage of the memory cell mcn 0 a selected for programming is at 0v . the source line sl of the memory cell mcn 0 a selected for programming is at vcc . the n type well region of the memory cell mcn 0 a selected for programming becomes vpnwell . therefore , in btbt current which occurs near the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a selected for programming , the electrons are accelerated toward the channel direction . electrons are extracted toward the word line which is applied with the positive voltage vpwl . consequently , the extracted electrons are injected into the floating gate . the programming operation of the memory cell mcn 0 a selected for programming is carried out as described above . then , at the time t 7 , each of the voltages for programming are returned to their initial states . in the present programming control , all of the drain voltages of the memory cell transistors mcn 0 b , mcn 1 a , mcn 1 b . . . which are not to be programmed , become the same level of vpinhibit . for example , in the case where vcc = 1 . 8v and vpinhibit = 3 . 6v , the voltage between the source and drain of the memory cell to program becomes 1 . 8v . in this way , in this condition where the voltage between the source and drain of a non - programming memory cells is controlled to vpinhibit − vcc = 1 . 8v , it is possible to increase the drain voltage of the non - programming memory cells to 3 . 6v . the drain voltage of the non - programming memory cells is maintained at a fixed voltage of vpinhibit which is generated by an internal charge pump . as a result , in the present control method , controllability is superior to in the case where voltage is boosted and supplied by capacitive coupling between the n type well region and the drain of a memory cell . next , the non - volatile semiconductor memory device related to the second embodiment will be explained by referring to fig7 to fig9 . the block diagram of the semiconductor memory device of the second embodiment is the same as the one in fig4 b . fig7 is a circuit diagram which shows one block of the non - volatile semiconductor memory device of this embodiment . fig7 shows an embodiment with two rows of pre - charging transistors pcts ( pcta 0 a , pcta 0 b , pcta 1 a . . . and pctb 0 a , pctb 0 b , pctb 1 a . . . ), however the plurality of p type pre - charging transistors pcts may be arranged along one end of the nwell ( only pcta 0 a , pcta 0 b , pcta 1 a . . . ; and pctb 0 a , pctb 0 b , pctb 1 a . . . may be omitted ). fig8 a is cross sectional drawing along a bit line direction of the non - volatile semiconductor memory device of this embodiment . plural arrays of pre - charging transistors ( p channel type transistor ) are arranged to sandwich the word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n & gt ;, which is different from the first embodiment . the memory cell transistors mc 00 a , . . . , mcn 0 a , mc 00 b , . . . , mcn 0 b , mc 01 , . . . , mcna , mc 01 b , . . . , mcn 1 b , . . . are p channel type transistors ( each may be with a floating gate , but it could be with a nano - crystal or silicon nitride charge accumulation layer ) formed in an n type well region 12 . the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , st 0 b , st 1 b , . . . , are n channel type transistors formed in p type well region 13 or 14 . also , two blocks ( n type wells ) which are adjacent in a bit direction , according to the present embodiment , share a p type well region where selection transistors are formed . as a result , the area which is occupied by the whole non - volatile semiconductor memory device is reduced . in the present embodiment , selection gates of the pre - charging transistor pcg are arranged at both the top and bottom ends of a block as shown in fig7 . the selection gate pcg of these pre - charging transistors pcg are electrically shorted , only one row may be placed instead of both rows . as shown in fig8 a , in order to reduce a formation of a step between a memory cell region and pct region , the pre - charging transistors pct and the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , st 0 b , st 1 b , . . . have the same double poly construction as a memory cell . by shorting a control gate and a floating gate through a via - hole , the resultant structure is essentially the same as a single poly ( one layer ) transistor . however , when the memory cell has a nano - crystal or a silicon nitride charge accumulation layer , then the selection transistors and the pre - charging transistors should be single gate transistors . within one block , two sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 1 a are connected to one main bit line mbl 0 , mbl 1 , . . . . further , in the present embodiment , while two sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 1 a are connected to one main bit line mbl 0 , mbl 1 , the present embodiment is not limited to this . for example , the essential effects of this invention can be obtained even with one or four sub bit lines for a main bit line . fig8 b and 8c are plan view of the layout of patterns . also in the second embodiment , it is preferred to have the local interconnections as described in fig5 d . further , as is shown in fig8 a , in the present embodiment , in the memory cells mc 00 a , . . . , mcn 0 a , mc 00 b , . . . , mcn 0 b , mc 01 a , . . . , mcna , mc 01 b , mcn 1 b . . . floating gates are formed on insulation layers above the channel regions . the word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n & gt ; which are control gates , are formed above these floating gates . in addition , in the present embodiment , floating gates are formed on insulation layers above the channel regions of the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , st 0 b , st 1 b . . . further , the selection gates sg 1 a , sg 0 b , sg 1 b , sg 0 c , . . . which also are control gates , are formed above the floating gates . here , as stated above , the floating gates and selection gates in the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , st 0 b , st 1 b are electrically connected . next , a timing control at the time of programming in the present embodiment is shown in fig9 a . here , fig9 a shows an operation for programming the memory cell mcn 0 a described in fig7 . at the time t 1 , the word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n & gt ;, the bit lines mbl 0 , mbl 1 , . . . , the source line sl , the n type well region and the selection gate pcg of the pre - charging transistors are applied with vcc . the selection gates sga , sgb are set at 0v . at this time , the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , sbl 1 a , sbl 1 b , . . . are all in an off state . all the sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 0 b , sbl 1 a , sbl 1 b are floated . at the time t 2 , the selected word line wl & lt ; n & gt ; of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted to vpwl from vcc . the non - selected word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n - 1 & gt ; are boosted from vcc to vpuwl . the n type well region of the memory cell mcn 0 a is boosted from vcc to vpnwell . also , the selection gate sga of the memory cell mcn 0 a is similarly boosted from 0v to vcc . the selection gate pcg of the pre - charging transistor is boosted from vcc to vppcg . at this time , the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , . . . along the selection gate sga are on . as a result , the potential of the sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 1 a becomes vcc - vthn . the potential of the sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 1 a is at a value dropped only by the threshold voltage vthn of a selection transistor from vcc of the potential of the main bit lines mbl 0 , mbl 1 . then , it becomes αvpnwell by capacitive coupling ( α is a coupling coefficient ). on the other hand , the sub bit lines sbl 0 b , sbl 1 b are connected to the selection transistors st 0 b , st 1 b , . . . along the selection gate sgb . the potentials of the sub bit lines sbl 0 b , sbl 1 b are boosted by capacitive coupling between the n type well region and the drain of a memory cell . here , when the coupling coefficient is α , the potential becomes at a value where vpnwell is multiplied by α , ( αvpnwell ). the voltage vpuwl of the non - selected word line wl and the voltage vppcg of the selection gate of the pre - charging transistor are set so that the memory cell along the non - selected word line wl and the pre - charging transistor pcg do not turn on . then , in the time t 3 , the potential of the main bit line mbl 0 supplied with “ 0 ” data . the potential of the main bit line which is to be programmed drops from vcc to 0v . as a result , the potential of the sub bit line sbl 0 becomes 0v . here , the sub bit line sbl 0 is connected to the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a which is to be programmed . at this time , the word line of the memory cell mcn 0 a which is selected for programming becomes to be at vpwl . the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a becomes 0v . the source line sl becomes to be at vcc . the n type well region of the memory cell mcn 0 a which is selected for programming is at vpnwell . therefore , in the btbt current which occurs nears the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a , electrons are accelerated toward a channel direction . the accelerated electrons are extracted toward the word line which is applied with a positive voltage vpwl . the extracted electrons are injected into a floating gate . the programming operation of a memory cell mc 0 na is carried out as stated above . then , at the time t 4 , the programming operation is completed by the returning of the main bit line mbl 0 voltage to vcc . at the time t 5 , each voltages are returned to their initial states . in the present embodiment , all the drain voltages of the memory cells mcn 0 b , mcn 1 a , mcn 1 b . . . which are not to be programmed become at the same αvpnwell . the coupling coefficient α is determined by the ratio between the wire capacitance of the sub bit line sbl and the drain coupling capacitance of the n type well region . for example , when vpnwell = 6v , coupling coefficient α = 0 . 5 ( capacitance ratio 1 : 1 ), the voltage of a memory cell not to be programmed rises to 3v . when vcc = 1 . 8v for example , the voltage between the source and drain of a memory cell to be programmed becomes at 1 . 8v and the voltage between the source and drain of a non - programming memory cell becomes αvpnwell − vcc = 1 . 2v . in this way , it is possible to increase the drain voltage of a non - programming memory cell to 3v while the voltage between the source and drain is reduced . in the present embodiment , because the drain voltage depends on the coupling coefficient α and the voltage vpnwell of the n type well region at the time of programming , independent control of the drain voltage of a non - programming memory cell is comparatively difficult . thereupon , alternative control method will be disclosed . fig9 b is a timing diagram which shows another control method for programming in the second embodiment . what are different from the case in fig9 a is the application method of a drain voltage of a non - programming memory cell . fig9 b shows the operation at the time of programming the memory cell mcn 0 a in fig7 . first , the word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n & gt ;, source line sl , n type well region and the selection gate pcg of the transistor for pre - charging are all applied with vcc , at the time t 1 . in addition , the selection gates sga and sgb are set at 0v . all the other main bit lines mbl which are not to be programmed are set at vcc . at this time , the selection transistors st 0 a , st 1 a , st 0 b , st 1 b . . . are all in an off state . all the sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 0 b , sbl 1 a , sbl 1 b are floated . next , at the time t 2 , the selection gate pcg of the pre - charging transistor connected to the memory cell mcn 0 a drops from vcc to 0v . the non - selected word lines wl & lt ; 0 & gt ;, . . . , wl & lt ; n - 1 & gt ; of the memory cell mcn 0 a rises from vcc to vpuwl . the source line sl rises from vcc to vpinhibit . the n type well region of the memory cell mc 0 na rises from vcc to vpnwell . at this time , the pre - charging transistor is turned on . as a result , the voltage of all the sub bit lines sbl 0 a , sbl 1 a , . . . are charged to the same voltage , vpinhibit , as the source line sl voltage . also , the voltage vpuwl of the non - selected word line wl is set so that the cell above the non - selected word line wl is not switched on by the drain voltage vpinhibit . after this , at the time t 3 , the selection gate pcg of the pre - charging transistor rises from 0v to vppcg . t he selection gate pcg of the transistor for pre - charging rises to vppcg so that pctr is cut off . further , in the present embodiment , at the time t 2 , the selection gate pcg of the transistor for pre - charging drops from vcc to 0v . in the case where the voltage difference is insufficient , the selection gate pcg of the transistor for pre - charging is changed to about vcc − 2v . at the time t 4 , the voltage of the source line sl drops from vpinhibit to vcc . at the time t 5 , the selected word line wl & lt ; n & gt ; of the memory cell mc 0 na rises from vcc to vpwl . further , at the time t 6 , the selection gate sga of the memory cell mc 0 na rises from 0v to vcc . as a result , the voltage of the sub bit line sbl 0 a becomes 0v . further , the selection transistor is turned on . the sub bit line sbl 0 a is connected to the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a . on the other hand , the main memory bit line mbl 1 of the memory cell mcn 1 a is vcc . the selection transistor st 1 a of the memory cell mcn 1 a is in an off state . as a result , the voltage of the sub bit line sbl 1 a which is not to be programmed and which is selected by the selection gate sga is stored at vpinhibit . then , at the time t 5 , the word line of the programming selected memory cell mcn 0 a becomes vpwl . at this time , the main bit line mbl 0 of the drain voltage of the programming selected memory cell mcn 0 a is 0v . the source line sl of the programming selected memory cell mcn 0 a is vcc . the n type well region of the programming selected memory cell mcn 0 a becomes vpnwell . therefore , in the btbt current , electrons generated in the area near the drain of the memory cell mcn 0 a are accelerated toward the direction of the channel . electrons are extracted toward the word line applied with the positive voltage vpwl . as a result , the extracted electrons are injected into the floating gate . the programming operation of a memory cell mc 0 na is performed as stated above . then at the time t 7 , each of the voltages returns to its initial state . in the present control method , the drain voltages of the memory cell transistors mcn 0 b , mcn 1 a , mcn 1 b . . . are the same vpinhibit . for example , in the case where vcc = 1 . 8v and vpinhibit = 3 . 6v , the voltage between the source and drain of the memory cell to program becomes 1 . 8v . in this way , it is possible to increase the drain voltage of a non - programming memory cell up to 3 . 6v while the voltage between the source and drain of the non - programming memory cell is controlled to vpinhibit − vcc = 1 . 8v . the drain voltage of the non - programming memory cell is maintained at a fixed voltage of vpinhibit which is generated by an internal charge pump . as a result , in the present control method , controllability is superior to in the case where voltage is boosted and supplied by capacitive coupling between the n type well region and the drain of a memory cell . furthermore , a floating gate is used in the memory cell transistor in each of the above stated embodiments , however , the present invention is not limited to this . for example , instead of a floating gate , the effects of the present invention can be exhibited by using a charge accumulation layer of a nano crystal layer or a silicon nitride layer . here , the construction of the memory cell transistor which is applied in a non volatile semiconductor memory device stated in the above embodiments will be explained by referring to fig1 . in fig1 , a memory cell transistor is formed in the n type well region which is formed on the p type semiconductor substrate . near the main surface of the substrate a drain 11 and a source 12 are formed with p + regions . a floating gate 14 is formed on the substrate between this drain 11 and source 12 and on an insulation layer 13 , and a control gate 16 is formed above an insulation layer 15 . the region where these stacked insulation layer 13 , floating gate 14 , and insulation layer 15 , and control gate 16 are formed on the main surface of the substrate is defined as a channel region 20 . in addition , a side wall 17 is formed on the drain side 11 and the source side 12 of these stacked insulation layer 13 , floating gate 14 , insulation layer 15 and control gate 16 . in order to make the programming ( electron injection ) of the floating gate 14 by btbt easily , unbalance in diffusions between the drain side 11 and the source side 12 is made . since programming is made more difficult on the side of the source 12 , this memory cell transistor is constructed to exhibit the following characteristics . ( 1 ) the drain 11 is formed well inside the part of the channel region 20 . the drain 11 overlaps with the floating gate 14 . on the other hand the source 12 is formed near the side wall 17 . the source 12 does not overlap with the floating gate 14 . it becomes more difficult for electrons to be injected into the floating gate 14 from the source side 12 . ( 2 ) a region with a low impurity concentration 18 ( lightly doped drain ) is arranged on the end of the side of the channel region on the source side 12 . the electric field near the source side 12 is eased and it becomes more difficult for btbt to occur near the source side 12 . ( 3 ) rather than the n type well 10 , a “ halo layer ” 19 which is an n type region with a high concentration of impurities is formed at the joining part of the n type well 10 and the drain side 11 . the electric field near the drain side 11 becomes stronger and it becomes easier for btbt hot electron injection to occur near the drain 11 . the memory cell transistor which is shown in fig1 is arranged with all the characteristics stated in ( 1 ), ( 2 ), and ( 3 ) above , however , if at least one of these characteristics is arranged in the memory cell transistor it is possible to unbalance the ease of programming to the floating gate 14 by btbt between the drain side 11 and the source side 12 . in the above mentioned embodiments , two sub bit lines are connected to a single main bit line , however it can be modified to be of four sub bit lines connected to a single main bit line . fig1 a shows a circuit diagram of a modification of the first embodiment without pre - charging transistors . fig1 b shows a cross sectional view of the memory cell array and selection transistors , and fig1 c shows pattern layout thereof . fig1 a shows a circuit diagram of a modification of the second embodiment with pre - charging transistors . fig1 b shows a cross sectional view of the memory cell array and selection transistors , and fig1 c shows pattern layout thereof . the width of the gate of selection transistors is greater than the width of gates of memory cells , which makes the operation margin better . when four sub bit lines are connected to a single main bit line , the width of the gate of selection transistors can be greater than the case where two sub bit lines are connected to a single main bit line . two selection gates for different sub bit lines ( sbl 0 a and sbl 0 b ) share the sources to provide a single contact to main bit line . local interconnection for well biasing may be applied to . fig1 a to 14c show alternative examples of connections between the first poly silicon layer and the second poly silicon layer of pre - charging transistors ( pcg ) and selection transistors ( sg ). fig1 a is one example of poly to poly connection viewed by a cross section along the word line direction . as shown in fig1 a , the first poly silicon layer and the second poly silicon layer can be connected at the end of the lines by using the first metal layer ( same as sbl ). pcg is strapped with the second metal layer which is similar to wls . the configuration described in fig1 a has an advantage that fine patterning and additional processes are not necessary . fig1 b is another example of poly to poly connection viewed by a cross section along the word line direction . as shown in fig1 b , each of the pre - charging transistors has a patterned first poly gate which is pattered in similar manner as of memory cells . each of the patterned first poly gates is electrically connected to the second elongated poly silicon layer through via hole formed on the first poly gate . pcg is strapped with the second metal layer which is similar to wls . the configuration described in fig1 b has an advantage that the separation of first poly silicon film is easy because the similar pattern can be used for both memory cells , pre - charging transistors and selection transistors . fig1 a is one example to connect the second poly layer and the first poly layer . as shown in fig1 a , the center of inter poly silicon insulator film is removed to provide a via hole . fig1 b is another example to connect the second poly layer and the first poly layer . as shown in fig1 b , the half of inter poly silicon insulator film is removed to provide a via hole . fig1 c is still another example to connect the second poly layer and the first poly layer . as shown in fig1 c , the whole inter poly silicon insulator film is removed to provide an electrical connection .	6
although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention , the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structure . the scope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto . the automatic compactability tester includes a delivery structure 11 and a testing structure 12 both supported by a frame 15 . sand 13 is brought by a conveyor belt system 14 to the delivery structure 11 which is intended to deliver the sand 13 loose and uncompacted to the specimen tube 50 . as seen in fig1 and 2 , the delivery structure 11 is primarily supported by vertical supports 16 and 17 which are mounted to the frame 15 . shaft 20 is journalled to bearing blocks 21 and 22 which are mounted on vertical supports 16 and 17 , respectively . end 19 of shaft 20 extends beyond bearing block 21 and sprocket 37 is mounted thereon . horizontal supports 23 and 24 and bracket 25 are mounted on shaft 20 . a riddle 30 is mounted between horizontal supports 23 and 24 and the agitator motor 35 is mounted on bracket 25 , with agitator shaft 36 extending downward through bracket 25 and into the riddle 30 . shaft 40 is journalled through bearing block 43 which is mounted on the frame 15 and through bearing block 42 which is mounted on bracket 29 which in turn , is mounted on the frame 15 . end 41 of the shaft 40 extends beyond bracket 29 and pulley 47 is mounted thereon . sprocket 39 is also mounted on shaft 40 and is linked to sprocket 37 by chain 38 . bracket 28 which is mounted on th frame 15 supports motor 45 which turns pulley 49 . pulley 49 is connected to pulley 47 by belt 48 . a pre - determined amount of sand 13 , enough to heapingly fill the specimen tube 50 , is brought by the conveyor belt system 14 and cascades into the riddle 30 where it comes to rest on a screen 31 having a desirable mesh located in the generally conical - shaped funnel portion 32 of the riddle 30 . the sand 13 is sifted when fins 34 on agitator shaft 36 work the sand 13 through the screen 31 . the sand 13 of desired coarseness falls through the cylindrical spout portion 33 of the riddle 30 and into the specimen tube 50 directly below . the specimen tube 50 has a diameter greater than that of the spout portion 33 to insure that no sand 13 is spilled , and is located sufficiently below the riddle 30 to insure that the sand 13 is loose and uncompacted when it falls into the specimen tube 50 . when motor 45 is activated , horizontal supports 23 and 24 rotate 180 degrees around shaft 20 , inverting the riddle 30 ( see fig1 ) and emptying it of any remaining sand or gravel which did not pass through screen 31 . airjets ( not shown ) may be added to aid the removal of such particles . when motor 45 is activated in reverse , the riddle 30 returns to its original position and is ready to deliver another sample . the specimen tube 50 has cylindrical walls 51 and a plate - like floor 52 which fits slideably within the walls 51 . the floor 52 of the specimen tube 50 can be raised or lowered by rods 53 which extends out of and retracts into cylinder 54 . the specimen tube 50 is mounted on a carriage 65 and cylinder 54 extends downwardly therefrom . rod 58 , which extends out of and retracts into cylinder 59 , is fixedly attached to bracket 57 which is mounted on the carriage 55 . the wheels 56 of the carriage 55 ride on flat horizontal rails 26 and 27 which are mounted on the frame 15 and separated to accommodate cylinder 54 which extends downwardly from the carriage 55 . the carriage 55 and hence the specimen tube 50 can , therefore , traverse from under the riddle 30 on the delivery structure 11 to its correct position on the testing structure 12 and vice versa , as shown in fig1 . while in transit , a rubber wiper 60 , which is mounted by post 61 to support 17 so as to pass over the top of the specimen tube 50 , levels the sand 13 therein ( see fig4 ). hereinafter the sand 13 in the specimen tube 50 will be referred to as the &# 34 ; specimen &# 34 ; but still , however , denoted by the numeral 13 . the test structure 12 is primarily supported by support 18 which is mounted to the frame 15 . an encoder 75 is mounted on support 18 with shaft 76 of the encoder 75 having sprocket 77 mounted thereon . shaft 74 , which is mounted on support 18 , has sprocket 79 mounted thereon , and chain 78 joins the two sprockets 77 and 79 . the squeeze cylinder 70 is mounted to support 18 by brackets 66 and 67 . rod 71 , which extends downwardly out of and retracts into the squeeze cylinder 70 , has a plate - like plunger 72 of a size equal to that of the floor 52 of the specimen tube 50 . rod 81 , which extends upwardly out of and retracts into squeeze cylinder 70 , is connected to chain 78 by bar 83 so that movement of rod 81 causes chain 78 to move , sprockets 77 and 79 and hence shaft 76 to turn , thereby activating the encoder 75 . as seen in fig5 when the specimen tube 50 is correctly positioned under the squeeze cylinder 70 , rod 71 extends downwardly and plunger 72 uniformly compresses the specimen 13 until a pre - determined pressure is achieved and maintained for a pre - determined length of time . the downward movement of rod 71 results in an equivalent downward movement of rod 81 . the downward movement of rod 81 causes an equivalent downward movement of bar 83 and , therefore , chain 78 . sprocket 77 and shaft 76 of the encoder are turned and encoder 75 records this movement . the compactability of the specimen 13 is then simply calculated from the value recorded by the encoder 75 . once the measurement is taken , rod 71 retracts into the squeeze cylinder 70 thereby withdrawing the plunger 72 from the specimen tube 50 . the specimen tube 50 then begins to move toward the delivery structure 11 . before reaching the wiper 60 , rod 53 elevates the floor 52 of the specimen tube 50 slightly above the top of the specimen tube 50 as shown in fig6 and rejects the specimen 13 . the wiper 60 then sweeps across the floor 52 of the specimen tube 50 to insure that the entire specimen 13 is removed . by the time the specimen tube 50 is once again correctly positioned under the riddle 30 , the floor 52 is retracted by rod 51 to the bottom of the specimen tube 50 . a commercially available control panel automatically coordinates the above described actions of the automatic compactability tester . the control panel , conveyor belt system and encoder form no part of the present invention and are , therefore , not disclosed in detail herein . they are , however , within the skill of the art to provide in conjunction with the disclosed automatic compactability testing structure 10 .	6
referring now to the drawings , and with specific reference to fig1 , a machine constructed in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure is generally referred to by reference numeral 100 . the machine 100 includes a frame 102 supporting an operator cab 104 . as shown , the machine 100 is depicted as a track - type tractor , but is to be understood that the teachings of this disclosure can be employed with equal efficacy with other heavy industry and construction machines such as , but not limited to , backhoe loaders , wheel loaders , tracked loaders , articulated trucks , off - highway trucks , excavators , motor graders , fork - lifts , skid steers , or any other machine known in the art that includes a cab mounted to a frame . referring now to fig2 , a cross - sectional view illustrates an example of one embodiment of a controllable mount 106 for use with the machine 100 and method disclosed herein . as shown , the controllable mount 106 may include a housing 108 that may be mounted to the frame 102 ( see fig1 ) via a mounting flange 110 . the housing 108 may include a first chamber 112 and a second chamber 114 . as will be described in further detail herein , the first chamber 112 may be filled with a rheological fluid 116 such as a magneto - rheological ( mr ) fluid or an electro - rheological ( er ) fluid . the second chamber 114 may be filled with a compressed fluid 118 such as compressed gas including compressed air . the controllable mount 106 may also include a pin 120 that is partially disposed with the housing 108 and may be attached to the cab 104 at a mounting end 122 . the pin 120 may be attached to the housing 108 by an elastomeric member 124 that permits the pin 120 limited axial movement along axis 126 and radial movement perpendicular to the axis 126 . the elastomeric member 124 may dampen axial as well as radial motion between the pin 120 and the housing 108 . as shown , a damping plate 128 may be attached to the pin 120 and be disposed within the rheological fluid 116 of the first chamber 112 . the damping plate 128 may include a plurality of apertures 130 to permit the rheological fluid 116 to pass through the damping plate 128 . as the damping plate 128 is moved through the rheological fluid 116 , the relative motion between the housing 108 and the pin 120 is damped . the level of damping may be adjusted by applying a magnetic or electric field to the rheological fluid 116 . moreover , by changing the strength of the magnetic or electric field , the apparent viscosity of the rheological fluid 116 is proportionally changed thereby providing a mechanism by which the degree of damping afforded by the controllable mount 106 can be tailored to the needs of the operator . in order to generate the magnetic or electric field , coils 131 are provided proximate the rheological fluid 116 . more specifically , the coils 131 may be mounted on the housing 108 laterally adjacent the first chamber 112 . leads 132 may extend from the coils 131 for connection to a controllable power supply 134 . alternatively , or additionally , the coils 131 may be mounted on the pin 120 and / or the damping plate 128 . the pin 120 may also include a plunger 136 that separates the first chamber 112 from the second chamber 114 . the plunger 136 may include a seal 138 that seals against a shaft 140 of the housing 108 . in such a configuration , the plunger 136 and the second chamber 114 act as a gas spring 142 for positioning the pin 120 at an ideal snubbing height 144 , the importance of which will be described in further detail herein . the pressure of the compressed fluid 118 within the gas spring 142 may be adjusted by way of a valve 146 . by adjusting the pressure of the compressed fluid 118 , the biasing force of the gas spring 142 applied to the plunger 136 is adjusted as well . a first hose or tube 148 may be connected to the valve 146 to supply pressurized fluid 118 to the second chamber 114 . the valve 146 may also include a second hose or tube 150 to return the pressurized fluid 118 within the second chamber 114 to a storage tank 152 , or to be vented to atmosphere . to assist in biasing the plunger 136 toward the ideal snubbing height 144 , a mechanical spring 154 may also be used . the spring 154 may be disposed about a guide extension 156 of the pin 120 and extend between the guide extension 156 and a base 158 of the housing 108 . the guide extension 156 may be positioned to contact the housing 108 and act as a first end stop for the controllable mount 106 . the controllable mount 106 may also include a sensor 160 for generating a signal indicative of the relative displacement between the cab 104 and the frame 102 . in the current embodiment , it does so by determining the relative displacement between the housing 108 and the pin 120 . the sensor 160 may include a strain gauge ( not shown ) disposed in a channel 162 provided in the elastomeric member 124 . alternatively , the channel 162 may be filled with a conductive elastomer 164 having an electrical conductivity and resistance that changes with elongation and contraction . more specifically , the strain placed on the conductive elastomer 164 may be correlated to the resistance exhibited by the conductive elastomer 164 . thus , as the resistance is measured , the relative displacement between the housing 108 and the pin 120 may be calculated . leads 166 may be used to communicate data from the sensor 160 to an electronic control unit 168 ( see fig4 ). the controllable mount 106 may also include a sensor 170 to monitor the pressure of fluid 118 within the second chamber 114 . the pressure sensor 170 may be connected to the electronic control unit 168 as well with leads 172 . in general , the pressure sensor 170 may be used to measure pressure spikes and thus wear on the elastomeric member 124 . in so doing , the remaining life and serviceability of the controllable mount 106 can be calculated . in addition , failure of either sensor 160 or 170 may indicate that the controllable mount 106 needs replacement or repair . as an alternative or addition to the sensor 160 within the elastomeric member 124 , the pressure sensor 170 may also be used to determine the displacement of the pin 120 relative to the housing 108 . more specifically , the displacement may be determined using the formula : v n is the new volume ; p i is the initial pressure ; v i is the initial volume ; and p n is the new pressure . initial pressure and initial volume could be initially calibrated from a known position of the pin 120 and could correspond to the volume and pressure of the second chamber 114 . new pressure and new volume could correspond to the displacement from the initial position . the new position may be determined from the new volume using the formula : d = ( v n − v i )/( π * r 2 ) wherein : d is the change in displacement ; r is the radius of the shaft 140 ; v i is again the initial volume ; and v n is again the new volume . temperature compensation may also be used to increase the accuracy of the displacement measurement . alternatively , the displacement may be determined through stored tables where these calculations have already been determined . this calculated displacement may then be used to provide feedback in a control algorithm executed by the electronic control unit 168 controlling the mount 106 . more specifically , the calculated displacement data may be used to adjust the current applied to the coils 130 of the controllable mount 106 and hence adjust the apparent viscosity of the controllable mount 106 to provide improved performance . in one embodiment , the apparent viscosity of the rheological fluid 116 is changed in direct relation to the displacement of the mount 106 . thus , as the pin 120 moves away from the ideal snubbing height 144 , more current is applied to the coil and the apparent viscosity of the rheological fluid 116 increases to bias the pin 120 away from engagement with the housing 108 . in so doing , the pin 120 and damping plate 128 encounter greater resistance to movement and thus this feedback control may be used to minimize occurrences where the pin 120 reaches an endstop , also known as bottoming or topping out . in another embodiment , statistical analysis of the data from one or more sensors 160 , 170 may be used to interpret the displacement of the controllable mount 106 over time and adapt the control of the controllable mount 106 to changes in weight in the cab , i . e ., the weight of different operators , their tools and accessories , and the like . initial pressure and initial volume may be determined and calibrated at the factory and during machine servicing . this displacement data may also be statistically analyzed and kept for long term storage . the historical data may include average displacements , frequency domain , and power spectral density data . the historical statistical displacement data may be used to determine when to replace a specific mount . for example , if the controllable mount is operating outside of its historical average , the controllable mount would be deemed to need replacement . additionally , the history may be taken over the life of the controllable mount to develop a long historical average . the long historical average may be compared to a medium history and a short history to provide a total error or a point by point error to look for problems in performance . by tracking and maintaining a historical statistical average of displacement , the set and creep of the elastomeric member 124 may also be determined . as used herein , the “ set ” and “ creep ” of the elastomeric member 124 refers to changes in the elasticity of the elastomer . initially , the elastomer will deform predictability and return to the same shape and strength . over time and repetitive motion , however , the elastomer may begin to change at the molecular level so as not to exhibit the same elasticity . in the present application this can cause the elastomeric member 124 to begin to sag over time . in graphical form , this means that as the elastomeric member 124 sags , sets , and begins to creep , the elastomeric member 124 may begin to behave nonlinearly as shown in fig3 . as shown , the elastomeric member 124 may initially behave in a generally linear fashion as indicated by line 174 between the end stops 176 . however , over time , the elastomeric member 124 may take on a set and begin to creep as shown by line 178 . the electronic control unit 168 may be used to compensate for this change in the material properties , as well as , minimize the effects of creep . for example , the electronic control unit 168 may be used to adjust the current applied to the coils 130 and thereby correct for the change in the material properties of the elastomeric member 124 , which is shown as dotted line 180 . thus more current may be applied to the coils 130 when negative displacement is determined and less where positive displacement is determined . in configurations where a pneumatic system is available to increase the gas pressure within the gas spring 142 , the increased gas pressure may be used to compensate further and bias the pin 120 toward the ideal snubbing height 144 . referring now to fig4 , a schematic diagram illustrates a control system 182 for a machine 100 on which the controllable mounts 106 may be used . as shown , the system 182 includes the electronic control unit 168 that is in electrical communication with machine sensors 186 , an operator interface 188 , and a power source 190 . the electronic control unit 168 may include a processor 192 and a computer readable media or memory 194 for storing instructions . machine sensors 186 may include a wide variety of sensors including accelerometers , inclinometers , temperature sensors , pressure transducers , and other sensors known in the art for use on the machine 100 . the operator interfaces 188 may include joysticks , pedals , switches , buttons , touch screens , keypads , and other devices known in the art for receiving operator input . the electronic control unit 168 may also be in electrical communication with a plurality of controllable mounts 106 used to mount the cab 104 to a machine frame 102 . such mounts 106 may include a right front controllable mount 198 , a right rear controllable mount 200 , a left rear controllable mount 202 , and a left front controllable mount 204 . the right front controllable mount 198 , right rear controllable mount 200 , left rear controllable mount 202 , and left front controllable mount 204 may each include the features of controllable mount 106 described above , as well as other features of controllable mounts known in the art . in one embodiment , the controllable mounts 106 may be identical . however , their physical positions on the machine frame 102 and cab 104 may be different and known via a wiring harness 206 provided between the controllable mounts 106 and the electronic control unit 168 . for example , a series of switches 208 may be coded to indicate the position of each controllable mount 106 on the machine frame 102 . if four mounts 106 are used , for example , the following codes of table 1 may be used : the harness codes may provide the switch functionality through two wires and a ground line ( not shown ) being run to each mount location as part of the wiring harness 206 . the switches 208 of the above table are then provided for in each connector by connecting a respective wire to ground to provide a 1 and left open for a 0 . this may be routed through the connector to the controllable mount 106 so that the controllable mount 106 can identify its position on the machine frame 102 . this positional information may be used to tune and more precisely control the controllable mounts 106 on the machine frame 102 . in another embodiment , the controllable mounts 106 may be distinct and be configured to receive a specific connector from the wiring harness 206 . alternatively , a generic wiring harness 206 may be used and each controllable mount 106 may be given its address by a technician to communicate its position to the electronic control unit 168 . optionally and as shown , the controllable mounts 106 may each include the gas spring 142 as discussed above in relation to fig2 . each gas spring 142 may be pneumatically connected to a source of pressurized gas , such as a pump 210 , and a source of low pressure gas , such as the tank 152 . in the depicted embodiment , the electronic control unit 168 is shown as being in communication with the pump 210 , but the control need not be electronic . for example a mechanical valve arrangement can be used . with the electronic embodiment , however , if the pressure of gas within the gas spring 142 of the right front controllable mount 198 is determined to be too low , for example , the electronic control unit 168 may command the pump 210 to provide pressurized gas and command a pneumatic valve ( not shown ) of the right front controllable mount 198 to open and receive the pressurized gas to increase the gas pressure within the gas spring 142 . when the pressure of the gas spring 142 is sufficient , the electronic control unit 168 may close the valve and shut down the pump 210 . alternatively , in situations where the pressure is too high in the gas spring 142 , the electronic control unit 168 may open the valve to the tank 152 and close the valve when the pressure has been sufficiently reduced . accurate mount displacement measurement permits the controllable mounts 106 to be maintained at or near the ideal snubbing height 144 for maximum effectiveness of the controllable mounts 106 . by maintaining each mount at their ideal snubbing height 144 throughout their useful life , excessive loading and bottoming out / topping out of the mount 106 during machine operation may be minimized or prevented . consequently , fewer replacement parts of the cab 104 and mounts 106 may be needed over the life of the machine 100 . the present disclosure and its accommodating of different static loads of the cab 104 may permit different systems and options to be installed at different times without having to replace the mounts 106 , thus providing a high degree of modularity and tailoring of the machine 100 to specific applications over the entire machine life while retaining the same mount package . referring now to fig5 a - d , in addition to the methods and systems discussed above , controllable mount displacement measurement can be achieved with other sensors including through the use of a hall - effect sensor 214 . for example , as shown in fig5 a , a permanent magnet 216 may be positioned on the housing 108 of the controllable mount 106 . a sensor chip 218 may be connected to the cab 104 and positioned to sense the relative position of the magnet 216 . in another embodiment ( fig5 b ), an expandable chamber 220 may house a laser 222 in one end and a receiver 224 in the other end . each end may be attached to one of the cab 104 and the machine frame 102 . as the chamber 220 expands and contracts with the relative movement of the cab 104 and frame 102 , accurate mount displacement measurement may be achieved . in another embodiment , a bar code reader 226 may be positioned to read a stainless steel or other corrosion - resistant material bar code display 228 , as depicted in fig5 c . the display 228 may be attached to the frame 102 and the bar code reader 226 attached to the cab 104 . in yet another embodiment , a rotary sensor 230 with a gear 232 disposed to move up and down a rack 234 ( see fig5 d ) may also be used to determine the displacement . in addition to diagnosing and correcting for creep or set in the elastomeric member 124 , the controllable mounts 106 of the present disclosure also provide a mechanism by which machine feedback may be provided to the operator . for example , the controllable mounts 106 can be hardened and thereby selectively lower damping so as to pass more of the vibration and impact loads to the cab 104 from the machine frame 102 . as indicated above , hardening the controllable mounts 106 occurs when an electrical current is provided to coils 131 and the apparent viscosity of the rheological fluid 116 is increased . conversely , when machine feedback is not as desirable as comfort of the operator , the controllable mount 106 may be softened by removing or reducing the current to thereby decrease damping . the level of damping may be manually selected by the operator , programmed to change during specific intervals of machine operation , and / or based on sensor inputs as described in greater detail below . another feature of the present disclosure is that the operator interface 188 may permit the operator significant control over the controllable mounts 106 . for example , as shown schematically in fig6 , the operator interface 188 may include an on / off switch 236 to enable an operator to turn the controllable mounts 106 off and thereby provide the softest ride at all times . in such a situation , the controllable mounts 106 would function simply as a viscous mount . alternatively , an operator may adjust the control algorithm via an incremented switch 238 , a touch screen 240 , or a keypad 242 to scale the current flow provided by a control algorithm through the controllable mount 106 . for example , the operator may scale the control algorithm to fifty percent ( or other ) in order to obtain a softer ride , which may result in a different dynamic rate and damping characteristics of the control system 182 . in another embodiment , the operator interface 188 may permit the operator to have to direct control over the current being applied to each controllable mount 106 . for example , four slider bars 244 ( or a different number if a different number of controllable mounts are used ) may respectively represent the four respective mounts 106 and allow the operator to move the slider 244 on the operator interface 188 to fit his or her personal preferences . the operator interface 188 may be the touch screen 240 to allow direct control , or a mouse 246 or joystick 248 may be used to move a cursor over the screen 240 to make the desired changes to the controllable mount settings . further , the control of the controllable mounts 106 may be accessible through the menu or operating system 250 of the machine 100 . in some embodiments , control of the controllable mounts 106 may be accessible only to a service technician via password protection or may be preprogrammed as part of an operator identification device 252 that would adjust settings to the specific operator . this may be achieved through the use of an rfid identification card 254 , or operator information stored on such items as a cell phone 256 , flash drive 258 , personal digital assistant 260 , or other computer readable media or device . the operator interface 188 may also permit the operator to input or automatically input the geographical location of the machine 100 as well as road and worksite material conditions . consequently , the electronic control unit 168 may adjust or implement a control algorithm to best compensate for the individual terrain characteristics of the worksite and thereby provide for the best ride . for example , if a rocky worksite is being traversed , the electronic control unit 168 may increase the current flow to the coils 131 to a higher level in each controllable mount 106 in order to provide the more damping to the cab 104 and operator . in one example , the machine 100 may operate at fifty percent of maximum current while traveling over the rocky terrain , and zero percent over a smooth worksite . in a different configuration , and operator may also specify the type of machine task being performed , in which case different control algorithms 262 programmed to best damp vibrations when appropriate and allow feedback at other times may take over . for example , if the selected task is loading trucks from a pile of material , a loading algorithm 264 may be selected . the loading algorithm 264 may provide the controllable mounts 106 with fifty percent ( or other ) maximum current while moving between the truck and the pile , but during bucket loading and when the bucket is raised above a predetermined height , the electronic control unit 168 may increase the current flow to one hundred percent in order to provide machine feedback and thus provide better operator control . in another example , an operator may indicate that the machine 100 is a motor grader and the task to be performed is fine grading . the electronic control unit 168 may then cause the controllable mounts 106 to be hard while the transmission of the machine 100 is in a forward gear , and soft while in a reverse gear . during fine grading , operators desire as much feedback as possible in order to more quickly complete the job within specified tolerances . additionally , or alternatively , the controllable mounts 106 may be tuned to the desire of the operator for selected operational settings . for example , the operator may direct the electronic control unit 168 to pass one hundred percent current during fine grading , zero percent doing roading , and fifty percent during snow removal . in other example , a wheel loader may keep the controllable mounts 106 soft during roading and moving around a worksite , but harden the controllable mounts 106 when the bucket is raised so that the operator can better feel the operation of the machine . in yet another example , the controllable mounts of a track - type tractor may be kept as soft as possible with zero current being passed through the coils 131 while the machine 100 is being moved with the bucket and ripper up . the same machine 100 may be programmed to pass the maximum current when either of those implements is performing a task . similarly , if the machine 100 is an excavator , when a large load is being placed , the controllable mounts 106 may be hardened so as to provide the operator with valuable feedback . in contrast , when the excavator is being moved , zero current can be passed through the controllable mounts 106 to provide a softer , more comfortable ride to the operator . commonly with excavators , the controllable mounts 106 may always be soft , except when transients occur during dumping , digging or other events . the teachings of the present disclosure can also be employed for detecting track slippage in a track - type tractor . by setting the controllable mounts 106 to a high current setting , the operator is provided with increased feedback . this feedback may indicate to the operator that track slippage is occurring . in such an event , the operator may choose to cease operations so that maintenance can be performed and thus minimize undercarriage wear . the control system 182 of the present disclosure may also employ any of the control algorithms 262 to most effectively and expeditiously balance feedback and comfort . in addition to the loading algorithm 264 mentioned above , a predictive algorithm 266 may be used by the electronic control unit 168 to control the controllable mounts 106 . the controllable mounts 106 may be tuned to the specific machine use and task being performed , such as dozing , ripping , grading , or excavating , or to the desired setting such as improved ride , noise reduction or operator comfort . specific machine use and task may be entered by the operator as indicated above , or may be determined from the position of a blade , ripper , bucket or other implements 268 of the machine 100 as sensed by an implement position sensor 269 . alternatively , they may be inferred from the operator interface 188 , hydraulic pressures gauges 270 , worksite maps 272 , global positioning system information 274 , laser grading inputs 276 , topographical maps 278 , inclinometers 280 , determined pitch rates 282 , steering signals 284 , altimeters 285 , articulation joint position 286 , and thermometers 287 . for example , shock loads may be anticipated from the position of a truck in a loading zone and thus the controllable mount 106 may be adjusted accordingly to absorb as much of the impact from loading as possible . alternatively , when the bucket of a wheel loader , tracked loader , excavator or other machine using buckets is lowered and positioned for engagement with a pile , the controllable mounts 106 may be initially softened and then hardened when the hydraulic cylinder pressures exceed a predetermined threshold to provide feedback to the operator while minimizing the impact of the bucket engaging the pile . in addition , speed of the machine 100 can be used to predict the desired settings for the controllable mounts 106 . for example , at higher speeds , as sensed by a speedometer 288 , the controllable mounts 106 may be softer and then hardened when the machine slows 100 . this hardening and softening may also be dependent on a transmission 289 of the machine ( 100 ), specifically a gear in which the machine 100 is operating . in first gear a fifty percent ( or other ) current may be passed through the coils 131 and in a second gear forty percent may be passed . in third gear , twenty five percent current may be passed and in fourth gear zero percent may be passed . harder mounts at lower speeds would provide the operator with a better feedback , while higher speeds would provide greater comfort . the predictive algorithm 266 may also use the sensed speed of the implement to control the controllable mounts 106 . for example , when a blade is lowered the initial contact with the ground can jar the operator . thus , when the blade is being dropped , the controllable mounts 106 may be softened in anticipation of the impact and hardened after contact has been made to improve feedback and control . generally , the control algorithm 262 may also be set up to control the vibrational , heave , pitch , roll and yaw modes as well . the predictive algorithm 266 may also be used to predict that when an implement 268 is not in use and the machine 100 is moving at a relatively high rate of speed , this may mean that roading is taking place and the controllable mounts 106 should be adjusted for maximum comfort . a historical algorithm 290 may also be used . more specifically , a histogram of the performance of each controllable mount 106 may be obtained from the sensors associated with each controllable mount 106 . the histogram may be used to continuously tune each individual controllable mount 106 to current conditions . in other words , the electronic control unit 168 uses the sensor histories to adapt the controllable mount 106 to current performance , thus providing improved performance over time and use . for example , peak pressure and frequency may be kept to develop a history of performance to identify when to harden and soften with decay rate . if the controllable mount 106 undergoes very little movement over a past history , it can soften itself up to avoid unnecessary harshness and wasting of energy . as more motion is seen , the controllable mount 106 can then increase damping . for example , if while the machine is roading , high frequency small displacement vibration is sensed , the controllable mounts 106 can soften up to minimize noise , increase comfort , and save energy . when the machine 100 begins encountering rough terrain , the electronic control unit 168 may increase current to change the damping of the controllable mount 106 to compensate for the larger low frequency displacement . in order to prevent failure of one of the controllable mounts 106 from causing damage to the other controllable mounts 106 and / or other machine systems through continued use , the sensor data collected from sensors associated with the controllable mount 106 may be collected and used by the historical algorithm 290 to provide a history of operation which may then be used to determine operating tolerances . the current sensor data may be used to provide the power spectral density of the controllable mount 106 and determine if the controllable mount 106 should be replaced . for example , and referring to fig7 , the dotted lines 292 may represent the tolerances for acceptable operation for the controllable mount 106 and the solid line 294 may represent the actual running power spectral density . a spike 296 outside of a tolerance zone 298 or an average error which exceeds the tolerance zone 298 may indicate that the controllable mount 106 should be replaced . in an alternative , the displacement and acceleration of the cab 104 relative to the mount 106 or the exact displacement of the mount components could be used to follow the life of the controllable mount 106 and feed the historical algorithm 290 to control the stiffness of the controllable mount 106 . these control algorithms 262 and the others discussed herein may be implemented as stacked algorithms 300 as well . for example , the electronic control unit 168 may use a default algorithm 302 , an end stop algorithm 304 , and a resonant control algorithm 306 . the default algorithm 302 may use the controllable mount history to adjust the current to performance needs . all three algorithms may be calculated together and priority may be given to the algorithm that provides the highest force control over the controllable mount 106 under the current circumstances . for example , and referring to fig8 , the machine 100 may be roading during which the default algorithm 302 may be used to control the controllable mount 106 . if the machine 100 moves over a pothole , that will provide an impulse to the control system 182 which if undamped is represented by line 308 . line 310 represents the effect produced by the stacked algorithms 300 in response to the impulse . the default algorithm 302 may control until the endstop algorithm 304 may then be given priority to control the controllable mount 106 . after the endstop algorithm 304 has acted , the resonant control algorithm 306 may be given priority to dampen out a resonance caused by the impact with the pothole . the default algorithm 302 may resume control of the controllable mount 106 once the resonance has been controlled . in addition to operator selected control and the control to provide operator feedback , the electronic control unit 168 may be used to provide cab 104 leveling and adjustment . specifically , static load adjustment and ride height adjustment may be attained by adjusting the gas spring 142 to bias the pin 120 of each mount 106 away from engagement with the housing 108 and toward its ideal snubbing height 144 . this therefore avoids having the pin 120 engage the housing 108 in “ topping out ” or “ bottoming out ” fashion . the electronic control unit 168 may monitor the relative displacement and adjust the gas spring 142 by adding or releasing gas . if the sensors 160 , 170 indicates that the mount 106 is at or near the ideal snubbing height 144 , no action is taken by the electronic control unit 168 to adjust the pressure within the gas spring 142 . this adjustment of the controllable mount 106 may be beneficial to compensate for different sized operators who may or may not be carrying tools , food and other equipment in the cab 104 . the different loads may move the controllable mounts 106 away from the ideal snubbing height 144 . in some applications , the machine 100 may be operating on a slope and thus the downside controllable mounts may bear a larger portion of the load . thus , the downside controllable mounts may not be located at their ideal snubbing heights 144 . the pneumatic chamber 114 of each mount 106 may thus be individually adjusted to return each mount 106 to the ideal snubbing height 144 . changes in altitude and ambient temperature may also move the controllable mounts 106 from their ideal snubbing heights 144 . for example , a machine 100 that has been operating in zero degree temperatures at sea level and then taken into the mountains and used at six thousand feet above sea level in fifty degree temperatures may have mounts that are no longer disposed at their ideal snubbing heights 144 . the present disclosure may therefore adjust for this change in altitude and ambient temperature to return the mounts 106 to their ideal snubbing heights 144 . a mixed mount arrangement may also be used to provide reduced cost and complexity while providing many of the benefits associated with controllable mounts . for example , as shown in fig9 a - e , controllable mounts 106 may be used at some locations to provide controllability to the cab response while using lower cost mounts to help support / attach the cab 104 at other locations . in one embodiment ( see fig9 a ), where pitching of the cab 104 is desired to be controlled , two passive mounts 312 may be positioned at a front 314 of the cab 104 and two controllable mounts 106 may be positioned at rear locations 316 . thus , through selective hardening of the controllable mounts 106 , the pitch and roll motion may be controlled . the configuration may also be reversed as in fig9 b with two passive mounts 312 positioned at the rear 316 of the cab 104 and two controllable mounts 106 positioned at the front 314 of the cab 104 . as used herein , passive mounts have dampening characteristics that cannot be altered during operation and include , for example , viscous and rubber mounts . alternatively , a three - point system may also be possible with a single passive mount 312 in front 314 and two controllable mounts 106 positioned at the rear 316 of the cab 104 , as shown in fig9 c , so that the structure is less expensive and easier to manufacture for plane and positional alignment . in yet another embodiment ( see fig9 d ), two passive mounts 312 may be mounted near an inertial pitch axis 318 with a third controllable mount 106 being mounted away from the axis 318 . another cab mounting arrangement may be used with machines 100 that include an external roll - over protection structure 320 . for example , as shown in fig9 e ), passive mounts 312 may be mounted between the cab 104 and the frame 102 of the machine 100 . one or more controllable mounts 106 may be disposed above the cab 104 and mounted between the cab 104 and the external roll - over protection structure 320 . in this configuration , the passive mounts 312 provide noise reduction and the overhead controllable mounts 106 may provide ride control . from the foregoing , it can be seen that the teachings of this disclosure have applicability in a variety of industrial situations , particularly with machines to which operator cabs are mounted . such machines may include , but are not limited to , track - type tractors , wheel loaders , track loaders , excavators , motor graders , articulated trucks , off - highway trucks , skid steers , skidders , and the like . the machines may employ a controllable mount so as to isolate the vibrations generated by the undercarriage and engine of the machine from the cab and thus the operator within the cab . in addition , by providing a mount such as that disclosed herein , the ideal snubbing height of the pin within the housing can be maintained . in so doing , excessive loading and bottoming out or topping out of the mount during machine operation can be minimized or eliminated . this in turn can help to extend the serviceable life of the mount . moreover , by monitoring the relative displacement of the pin with regard to the housing , a diagnostic can be generated indicating when an elastomeric member of the mount , or the mount itself , should be replaced . the teachings of the present disclosure may also be used to construct a machine that provides increased feedback to the operator . by stiffening the mounts , the operator will more acutely feel vibrations which can prove valuable in performing tasks , such as fine grading , plowing , or excavating , or sensing conditions such as track slippage . conversely , when roading the mounts can be relaxed to decrease feedback and thus provide better operator comfort . the present disclosure also has applicability in providing a machine mount control system wherein an operator can select a desired hardness or feedback level through an appropriate operator interface . such an operator interface can also allow the operator to select the type of task being performed and the control system can then set the mount accordingly . sensors can also monitor the positions or speeds of the machine or implements to then predict the type of task being performed . once predicted , the appropriate mount settings can be used . such a predictive algorithm approach can not only use machine sensed parameters , but utilize global positioning satellite and other mapping technology as well to predict the task and desired mount settings .	1
as used herein , any “ r ” group ( s ) such as , without limitation , r , r a and r b , is ( are ) independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen , alkyl , alkenyl , alkynyl , cycloalkyl , aryl , heteroaryl ( bonded to the indicated group at a ring carbon atom ) and heteroalicyclyl ( likewise bonded to the indicated group at a ring carbon atom ), as these groups are defined herein . if two “ r ” groups are covalently bonded to the same atom or to adjacent atoms , then they may be “ taken together ” as defined herein to form a cycloalkyl , aryl , heteroaryl or heteroalicyclyl group . when a group of this invention is described as being “ optionally substituted ” that group may be unsubstituted or substituted with one or more of the indicated substituents . likewise , when a group is described as being “ unsubstituted or substituted ,” if substituted , the substituent may be one or more of the indicated substitutents . as used herein , “ c m to c n ,” in which “ m ” and “ n ” are integers , refers to the number of carbon atoms in an alkyl , alkenyl or alkynyl group or the number of carbon atoms in the ring of a cycloalkyl or cycloalkenyl group . that is , the alkyl , alkenyl , alkynyl , ring of the cycloalkyl or ring of the cycloalkenyl can contain from “ m ” to “ n ”, inclusive , carbon atoms . thus , for example , a “ c 1 to c 4 alkyl ” group refers to all alkyl groups having from 1 to 4 carbons , that is , ch 3 —, ch 3 ch 2 — ch 3 ch 2 ch 2 —, ch 3 ch ( ch 3 )—, ch 3 ch 2 ch 2 ch 2 —, ch 3 ch 2 ch ( ch 3 )— and ( ch 3 ) 3 ch —. if no “ m ” and “ n ” are designated with regard to an alkyl , alkenyl , alkynyl , cycloalkyl or cycloalkenyl group , the broadest range described in these definitions is to be assumed . as used herein , “ aryl ” refers to a carbocyclic ( all carbon ) ring or two or more fused rings ( rings that share two adjacent carbon atoms ) that have a fully delocalized pi - electron system . examples of aryl groups include , but are not limited to , benzene , naphthalene and azulene . as used herein , “ heteroaryl ” refers to a ring or two or more fused rings that contain ( s ) one or more heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of nitrogen , oxygen and sulfur in the ring and that have a fully delocalized pi - electron system . examples of heteroaryl rings include , but are not limited to , furan , thiophene , phthalazinone , pyrrole , oxazole , thiazole , imidazole , pyrazole , isoxazole , isothiazole , triazole , thiadiazole , pyran , pyridine , pyridazine , pyrimidine , pyrazine and triazine . as used herein , “ alkyl ” refers to a straight or branched chain fully saturated ( no double or triple bonds ) hydrocarbon group . an alkyl group of this invention may comprise from 1 to 20 carbon atoms , that is , m = 1 and n = 20 . an alkyl group herein may also be of medium size having 1 to 10 carbon atoms . it is presently preferred that an alkyl group of this invention be a lower alkyl having 1 to 5 carbon atoms . examples of alkyl groups include , without limitation , methyl , ethyl , n - propyl , isopropyl , n - butyl , iso - butyl , sec - butyl , tert - butyl , amyl , tert - amyl , hexyl , heptyl , octyl , nonyl , decyl , undecyl and dodecyl . an alkyl group of this invention may be substituted or unsubstituted . when substituted , the substituent group ( s ) is ( are ) one or more independently selected from cycloalkyl , aryl , heteroaryl , heteroalicyciyl , hydroxy , protected hydroxyl , alkoxy , aryloxy , mercapto , alkylthio , arylthio , cyano , halogen , carbonyl , thiocarbonyl , o - carbamyl , n - carbamyl , o - thiocarbamyl , n - thiocarbamyl , c - amido , n - amido , s - sulfonamido , n - sulfonamido , c - carboxy , protected c - carboxy , o - carboxy , isocyanato , thiocyanato , isothiocyanato , nitro , silyl , trihalomethanesulfonyl , — nr a r b and protected amino . as used herein , “ alkenyl ” refers to an alkyl group that contains in the straight or branched hydrocarbon chain one or more double bonds . an alkenyl group of this invention may be unsubstituted or substituted . when substituted , the substituent ( s ) may be selected from the same groups disclosed above with regard to alkyl group substitution . as used herein , “ alkynyl ” refers to an alkyl group that contains in the straight or branched hydrocarbon chain one or more triple bonds . an alkynyl group of this invention may be unsubstituted or substituted . when substituted , the substituent ( s ) may be selected from the same groups disclosed above with regard to alkyl group substitution . as used herein , “ acyl ” refers to an “ rc (═ o )—” group with r as defined above . as used herein , “ cycloalkyl ” refers to a completely saturated ( no double bonds ) hydrocarbon ring . cycloalkyl groups of this invention may range from c 3 to c 8 . a cycloalkyl group may be unsubstituted or substituted . if substituted , the substituent ( s ) may be selected from those indicated above with regard to substitution of an alkyl group . as used herein , “ cycloalkenyl ” refers to a cycloalkyl group that contains one or more double bonds in the ring although , if there is more than one , they cannot form a fully delocalized pi - electron system in the ring ( otherwise the group would be “ aryl ,” as defined herein ). a cycloalkenyl group of this invention may unsubstituted or substituted . when substituted , the substituent ( s ) may be selected from the same groups disclosed above with regard to alkyl group substitution . as used herein , “ heteroalicyclic ” or heteroalicyclyl ” refers to a ring or two or more fused rings having in the ring system one or more heteroatoms independently selected from nitrogen , oxygen and sulfur . the rings may also contain one or more double bonds provided that they do not form a fully delocalized pi - electron system in the rings . heteroalicyclyl groups of this invention may be unsubstituted or substituted . when substituted , the substituent ( s ) may be one or more groups independently selected from the group consisting of halogen , hydroxy , protected hydroxy , cyano , nitro , alkyl , alkoxy , acyl , acyloxy , carboxy , protected carboxy , amino , protected amino , carboxamide , protected carboxamide , alkylsulfonamido and trifluoromethanesulfonamido . an “ o - carboxy ” group refers to a “ rc (═ o ) o —” group with r as defined above . a “ trihalomethanesulfonyl ” group refers to an “ x 3 cso 2 —” group wherein x is a halogen , i . e ., fluorine , chlorine , bromine or iodine . a “ sulfinyl ” group refers to an “— s (═ o )— r ” group with r as defined above . a “ sulfonyl ” group refers to an “ so 2 r ” group with r as defined above . an “ s - sulfonamido ” group refers to a “— so 2 nr a r b ” group with r a and r b as defined above . an “ n - sulfonamido ” group refers to a “ rso 2 n ( r a )—” group with r and r a as defined above . a “ trihalomethanesulfonamido ” group refers to an “ x 3 cso 2 n ( r )—” group with x as halogen and r as defined above . an “ o - carbamyl ” group refers to a “— oc (═ o ) nr a r b ” group with r a and r b as defined above . an “ n - carbamyl ” group refers to an “ roc (═ o ) nr a —” group with r a and r as defined above . an “ o - thiocarbamyl ” group refers to a “— oc (═ s )— nr a r b ” group with r a and r b as defined above . an “ n - thiocarbamyl ” group refers to an “ roc (═ s ) nr a —” group with r a and r as defined above . a “ c - amido ” group refers to a “— c (═ o ) nr a r b ” group with r a and r b as defined above . an “ n - amido ” group refers to a “ rc (═ o ) nr a —” group with r and r a as defined above . the term “ perhaloalkyl ” refers to an alkyl group in which all the hydrogen atoms are replaced by halogen atoms . as used herein , an “ ester ” refers to a “— c (═ o ) or ” group with r as defined above . as used herein , an “ amide ” refers to a “— c (═ o ) nr a r b ” group with r a and r b as defined above . any unsubstituted or monosubstituted amine group of a compound herein can be converted to an amide , any hydroxyl group can be converted to an ester and any carboxyl group can be converted to either an amide or ester using techniques well - known to those skilled in the art ( see , for example , greene and wuts , protective groups in organic synthesis , 3 rd ed ., john wiley & amp ; sons , new york , n . y ., 1999 ). such amides and esters are within the scope of this invention . as used herein , the phrase “ taken together ” when referring to two “ r ” groups means that the “ r ” groups are joined together to form a cycloalkyl , aryl , heteroaryl or heteroalicyclyl group . for example , without limitation , if r a and r b of an nr a r b group are indicated to be “ taken together ,” it means that they are covalently bonded to one another at their terminal atoms to form a ring : it is understood that , in any compound of this invention having one or more chiral centers , if an absolute stereochemistry is not expressly indicated , then each center may independently be r or s or a mixture thereof . in addition it is understood that , in any compound of this invention having one or more double bond ( s ) generating geometrical isomers that can be defined as e or z each double bond may independently be e or z a mixture thereof . as used herein , “ pharmaceutically acceptable salt ” refers to a salt of a compound that does not cause significant irritation to a patient to which it is administered and does not abrogate the biological activity and properties of the compound . pharmaceutical salts can be obtained by reaction of a compound disclosed herein with an acid or base . base - formed salts include , without limitation , ammonium salt ( nh 4 + ); alkali metal , such as , without limitation , sodium or potassium , salts ; alkaline earth , such as , without limitation , calcium or magnesium , salts ; salts of organic bases such as , without limitation , dicyclohexylamine , n - methyl - d - glucamine , tris ( hydroxymethyl ) methylamine ; and salts with the amino group of amino acids such as , without limitation , arginine and lysine . useful acid - based salts include , without limitation , hydrochlorides , hydrobromides , sulfates , nitrates , phosphates , methanesulfonates , ethanesulfonates , p - toluenesulfonates and salicylates . as used herein , a “ prodrug ” refers to a compound that may not be pharmaceutically active but that is converted into an active drug in vivo . prodrugs are often useful because they may be easier to administer than the parent drug . they may , for example , be bioavailable by oral administration whereas the parent drug is not . the prodrug may also have better solubility than the active parent drug in pharmaceutical compositions . an example , without limitation , of a prodrug would be a compound disclosed herein , which is administered as an ester ( the “ prodrug ”) to facilitate absorption through a cell membrane where water solubility is detrimental to mobility but which then is metabolically hydrolyzed to a carboxylic acid ( the active entity ) once inside the cell where water - solubility is beneficial . a further example of a prodrug might be a short peptide ( polyaminoacid ) bonded to an acid group where the peptide is metabolized in vivo to reveal the active parent . as used herein , the term “ complement ” refers to a oligonucleotide or polynucleotide that hybridizes by base - pairing , adenine to tyrosine and guanine to cytosine , to another oligonucleotide . the hybridized oligonucleotides are then said to be complementary . as used herein , to “ modulate ” the activity of par2 means either to activate it , i . e ., to increase its cellular function over the base level measured in the particular environment in which it is found , or deactivate it , i . e ., decrease its cellular function to less than the measured base level in the environment in which it is found and / or render it unable to perform its cellular function at all even in the presence of a natural binding partner . a natural binding partner is an endogenous molecule that is an agonist for the receptor . as used herein , to “ detect ” changes in the activity of par2 or of a par2 sub - type refers to the process of analyzing the result of an experiment using whatever analytical techniques are best suited to the particular situation . in some cases simple visual observation may suffice , in other cases the use of a microscope , visual or uv light analyzer or specific protein assays may be required . the proper selection of analytical tools and techniques to detect changes in the activity of par2 or a par2 sub - type are well - known to those skilled in the art . as used herein , an “ agonist ” refers to a compound that binds to a receptor to from a complex that elicits the full pharmacological response associated with that particular receptor . that is , an agonist for par2 may elicit , without limitation , the following responses : mobilization of intracellular calcium , stimulation of phosphatidyl inositol turnover or stimulation of cellular proliferation . as used herein , “ partial agonist ” refers to a compound that has an affinity for a receptor but , unlike a full agonist , when bound to the receptor it elicits only a small degree of the pharmacological response normally associated with the receptor even if a large fraction of receptors are occupied by the compound . as used herein , “ inverse agonist ” refers to a compound that inhibits the constitutive activity , i . e ., activity that exists in the absence of any agonist , of a receptor such that the compound is not technically an antagonist but , rather , is an agonist with negative intrinsic activity . as used herein , “ antagonist ” refers to a compound that binds to a receptor to form a complex that does not give rise to any response , as if the receptor were unoccupied . an antagonist may bind reversibly or irreversibly , effectively eliminating the activity of the receptor permanently or at least until the antagonist is metabolized or dissociates or is otherwise removed by a biological process . as used herein , a “ subject ” refers to an animal that is the object of treatment , observation or experiment . “ animal ” includes cold - and warm - blooded vertebrates and invertebrates such as fish , shellfish , reptiles and , in particular , mammals . “ mammal ” includes , without limitation , mice ; rats ; rabbits ; guinea pigs ; dogs ; cats ; sheep ; goats ; cows ; horses ; primates , such as monkeys , chimpanzees , and apes ; and , in particular , humans . as used herein , a “ patient ” refers to a subject that is being treated by an m . d . or a d . v . m . to attempt to cure , or at least ameliorate the effects of , a particular disease or disorder or to prevent the disease or disorder from occurring in the first place . as used herein , a “ therapeutically effective amount ” refers to an amount of a compound that elicits the desired biological or medicinal response in an subject . as used herein , a “ pharmaceutical composition ” refers to a mixture of a compound of this invention with other chemical components such as diluents , carriers or other excipients . a pharmaceutical composition may facilitate administration of the compound to a subject . many techniques of administering a compound are known in the art , such as , without limitation , oral , intramuscular , intra - ocular , intra - nasal , parenteral , intravenous and topical . pharmaceutical compositions will generally be tailored to the specific intended route of administration . as used herein , a “ carrier ” refers to a compound that facilitates the incorporation of a compound into cells or tissues . for example , without limitation , dimethyl sulfoxide ( dmso ) is a commonly utilized carrier that facilitates the uptake of many organic compounds into cells or tissues of a subject . as used herein , a “ diluent ” refers to an ingredient in a pharmaceutical composition that lacks pharmacological activity but may be pharmaceutically necessary or desirable . for example , a diluent may be used to increase the bulk of a potent drug whose mass is too small for manufacture or administration . it may also be a liquid for the dissolution of a drug to be administered by injection , ingestion or inhalation . a common form of diluent in the art is a buffered aqueous solution such as , without limitation , phosphate buffered saline that mimics the composition of human blood . as used herein , an “ excipient ” refers to an inert substance that is added to a pharmaceutical composition to provide , without limitation , bulk , consistency , stability , binding ability , lubrication , disintegrating ability , etc ., to the composition . a “ diluent ” is a type of excipient . general synthetic routes to the compounds of this invention are shown in schemes 1 - 8 . the routes shown are illustrative only and are not intended , nor are they to be construed , to limit the scope of this invention in any manner whatsoever . those skilled in the art will be able to recognize modifications of the disclosed synthesis and to devise alternate routes based on the disclosures herein ; all such modifications and alternate routes are within the scope of this invention . disclosed herein is the use of par2 or a par2 subtype as a screening tool to identify compounds effective in treating or preventing diseases and disorders including , but not limited to , diseases and disorders of the lung such as asthma , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , lung cancer and pneumonitis ; diseases and disorders of the stomach , small intestine , and large intestine such as gastric ulcers , colitis , inflammatory bowel syndrome , crohn &# 39 ; s disease , gastric and intestinal motilit , colon cancer , cancer of the stomach , and cancer of the intestine ; diseases and disorders of the joints such as rheumatoid arthritis ; diseases and disorders of the central nervous system such as alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease , encephalitis , meningitis , ischemia and stroke ; diseases and disorders of the skin such as dermatitis , psoriasis , pruritis , dermatitis , eczema , seborrhea , wounds , and melanoma ; diseases and disorders of the cardiovascular system such as hypertension , atherosclerosis , angina , congestive heart failure , myocarditis and cardiac ischemia ; diseases and disorders of the renal ( kidney ) system such as glomerular kidney disease , kidney cancer and renal failure ; diseases and disorders of the hepatic ( liver ) system such as hepatitis and liver cancer ; disease and disorders of the prostatic system such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer ; diseases and disorders of the pancreas such as pancreatitis , pancreatic cancer and diabetes ; diseases and disorders of the eye such as glaucoma , retinitis pigmentosa , cataracts and macular degeneration ; diseases and disorders of the musculoskeletal system such as osteoporosis and paget &# 39 ; s disease ; acute and chronic pain , acute and chronic inflammation ; dry eye ; dry mouth and sjogren &# 39 ; s syndrome . the use of par2 or a par2 subtype may comprise : a ) contacting a recombinant cell with a test compound , where the recombinant cell comprises a recombinant nucleic acid expressing par2 , provided that the cell does not have functional par2 expression from endogenous nucleic acid , and b ) determining the ability of the test compound to affect one or more activities of par2 , and comparing that ability with the ability of the test compound to affect the one or more par2 activities in a cell not comprising the recombinant nucleic acid ; where the recombinant nucleic acid comprises a par2 nucleic acid selected from the group consisting of : i ) nucleic acid of seq id no : 1 , ii ) nucleic acid encoding the amino acid seq id no : 2 , iii ) a derivative of either nucleic acid molecule in i ) or ii ), where the derivative encodes a receptor having one or more activities of par2 and comprises at least 20 contiguous nucleotides which can hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions to the compliment of the nucleic acid of seq id no : 1 . the par2 nucleic acid of this invention encodes the amino acid sequence of a seq id no : 2 derivative comprising at least 20 contiguous nucleotides which can hybridize under stringent conditions to a complement of at least 20 contiguous nucleotides of a polynucleotide that encodes the amino acid sequence of seq id no : 2 . the above derivative can alternatively comprise at least 50 , at least 100 , at least 150 , at least 200 , at least 250 , at least 300 , at least 350 , at least 400 , at least 450 , at least 500 , at least 600 , at least 700 , at least 800 , at least 900 , at least 1000 , at least 1100 , at least 1200 , at least 1300 , at least 1400 , at least 1500 , at least 1600 , at least 1700 , at least 1800 , at least 1900 , at least 2000 , at least 2100 , at least 2200 , at least 2300 , at least 2400 , or at least 2500 , contiguous nucleotides which can hybridize under stringent hybridizations conditions to a complement of contiguous nucleotides encoding the amino acid sequence of seq id no : 2 . the compounds of this invention may be used to treat acute and chronic inflammation by administering to a patient an effective amount of at least one compound of this invention , wherein the compound activates a par2 subtype . likewise , the compounds of this invention may be used to treat or prevent inflammation by administering to a patient suffering from inflammation an effective amount of at least one compound of this invention , whereby one or more symptoms of the inflammation is reduced . the compounds of this invention preferably selectively modulate par2 or a par2 subtype without affecting or minimally affecting other biological pathways . preferably at present , the modulation comprises activation of the par2 or par2 subtype , i . e ., by being an agonist thereof . inflammation may be treated in a patient by administering an therapeutically effective amount of a compound of this invention . an inflammatory response may result , without limitation , from the activation of leukocytes , which comprises leukocyte migration and generation of reactive oxygen species to evoke vascular leakage or edema . the inflammatory response may also result from activation of blood monocytes and neutrophils that infiltrate the affected tissue or organ and in turn activate inflammatory mediators . the inflammatory response may be associated , without limitation , with rheumatoid arthritis , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease , asthma , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , gastric ulcers , colitis , inflammatory bowel syndrome , pancreatitis , hepatitis , encephalitis , dermatitis , physical injury or trauma or radiation exposure . a vasocontractive response may be treated , i . e ., reduced or eliminated ) or prevented by administering to a patient in need thereof a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of this invention . the vasocontractive response or condition may be related to a renal hemodynamic disease such as , without limitation , glomerular disease or to a cardiovascular disease such as , without limitation , hypertension , congestive heart failure , atherosclerosis , myocarditis , myocardial infarction , or myocardial ischemia . likewise , a vasoconstrictive response may be treated , that is , reduced or eliminated , or prevented by administering to a patient in need thereof a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of this invention . the vasoconstrictive response may be associated with a disease or disorder such as , without limitation , asthma , anaphylactic shock , allergic reactions , inflammation , rheumatoid arthritis , gout , psoriasis , allergic rhinitis , adult respiratory distress syndrome , crohn &# 39 ; s disease , endotoxin shock , traumatic shock , hemmorrhagic shock , bowel ischemic shock , renal glomerular disease , benign &# 39 ; prostatic hypertrophy , inflammatory bowel disease , myocardial ischemia , myocardial infarction , circulatory shock , brain injury , systemic lupus erythematosus , chronic renal disease , glomular kidney disease , cardiovascular disease or hypertension . acute or chronic pain may be treated or prevented by administering to a patient a therapeutically effective amount of a compound or compounds of this invention . diseases and disorders of the eye such as , without limitation , glaucoma , cataracts , macular degeneration and dry eye may be treated by administering to a patient in need thereof a therapeutically effective amount of compound of this invention . dry mouth caused by a side effect of a medication or a disease or disorder such as , without limitation , sjogren &# 39 ; s syndrome may also be treated or prevented by administration of a therapeutically effective amount of a compound or compounds of this invention to a patient in need thereof . diseases of the bone , such as osteoporosis and paget &# 39 ; s disease , may also be treated or prevented by administration of a therapeutically effective amount of a compound or compounds of this invention to a patient in need thereof . acute and chronic pain may also be treated or prevented by administering to a patient in need thereof a therapeutically effective amount of a compound or compounds of this invention , whereby one or more symptoms of the pain are reduced . it is presently preferred that a compound of this invention be selective for par2 or a par2 subtype ; that is , that it bind only to par2 or the subtype such that its therapeutic effect can be directly related to modulation of par2 or par2 subtype activity and no other . a method herein of identifying a compound that modulates the activity of par2 or a par2 subtype may comprise contacting par2 with a compound of this invention and detecting any change in the activity level of the par2 . further , a method of identifying a compound which modulates activity of the par2 may comprise , under this invention , culturing cells that express par2 ; contacting the cells with a compound of this invention and detecting any change in the activity of par2 . if desired , the cultured cells may be engineered to over - express par2 . the compounds of this invention may be agonists , partial agonists , inverse agonists or antagonists , preferably at present specific agonists , inverse agonists or antagonists of par2 or a par2 subtype . thus affecting biological processes involving par2 and thereby being useful to further elucidate the manner of participation of par2 in those biological processes . the compounds of this invention can be administered to a human patient per se , or in a pharmaceutical composition containing carrier ( s ), diluent ( s ) or other excipients . they may also be mixed with other active ingredients as a combination therapy . techniques for formulation and administration of the compounds may be found in “ remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences ,” mack publishing co ., easton , pa ., 18th edition , 1990 . suitable routes of administration include , without limitation , oral , rectal , transmucosal , intestinal , parenteral , intramuscular , subcutaneous , intravenous , intramedullary , intrathecal , direct intraventricular , intraperitoneal , intranasal , intraocular and as an aerosol inhalant . it is also possible to administer a compound of this invention locally rather than systemically by , for example , injection directly into the area of pain or inflammation . the compound may be administered as a depot or sustained release formulation . the compound ( s ) may also be administer in a targeted drug delivery system , for example , in a liposome coated with a tissue - specific antibody that will selectively deliver the liposome to the targeted organ . the pharmaceutical compositions disclosed herein may be manufactured by procedures well - known in the art , e . g ., by means of conventional mixing , dissolving , granulating , dragee - forming , levigating , emulsifying , encapsulating , entrapping or tablet - forming processes . pharmaceutical compositions for use in accordance with the present disclosure may be formulated in conventional ways using one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers , diluents and other excipients that facilitate processing of the active compounds into preparations . the formulation will depend on the selected route of administration . any of the well - known techniques and excipients set forth in remington &# 39 ; s as well as novel techniques and excipients as dictated by the particular case may be used . for injection , the agents disclosed herein may be formulated in aqueous solutions , preferably in physiologically compatible buffers such as hank &# 39 ; s solution , ringer &# 39 ; s solution , or physiological saline buffer . for transmucosal administration , penetrants appropriate to the barrier to be permeated are used in the formulation . such penetrants are generally known in the art . for oral administration , the compounds can be formulated by combining the active compounds with pharmaceutically acceptable carriers well known in the art . such carriers enable the compounds disclosed herein to be formulated as tablets , pills , dragees , capsules , liquids , gels , syrups , slurries , suspensions and the like , for oral ingestion by a patient to be treated . pharmaceutical preparations for oral use can be obtained by mixing one or more solid excipient ( s ) with one or more compounds herein , optionally grinding the resulting mixture , and processing the mixture of granules , after adding suitable auxiliaries , if desired , to obtain tablets or dragee cores . suitable excipients are , in particular , fillers such as sugars , including lactose , sucrose , mannitol , or sorbitol ; cellulose preparations such as , for example , maize starch , wheat starch , rice starch , potato starch , gelatin , gum tragacanth , methyl cellulose , hydroxypropylmethylcellulose , sodium carboxymethylcellulose , and / or polyvinylpyrrolidone ( pvp ). disintegrating agents may be added , such as cross - linked polyvinyl pyrrolidone , agar , or alginic acid or a salt thereof such as sodium alginate . dragee cores may be provided with suitable coatings . for this purpose , concentrated sugar solutions may be used , which may optionally contain gum arabic , talc , polyvinyl pyrrolidone , carbopol gel , polyethylene glycol , and / or titanium dioxide , lacquer solutions , and suitable organic solvents or solvent mixtures . dyestuffs or pigments may be added to the tablets or dragee coatings for identification or to characterize different combinations of active compound doses . pharmaceutical preparations , which can be used orally , include push - fit capsules made of gelatin , as well as soft , sealed capsules made of gelatin and a plasticizer , such as glycerol or sorbitol . the push - fit capsules can contain the active ingredients in admixture with filler such as lactose , binders such as starches , and / or lubricants such as talc or magnesium stearate and , optionally , stabilizers . in soft capsules , the active compounds may be dissolved or suspended in suitable liquids , such as fatty oils , liquid paraffin , or liquid polyethylene glycols . in addition , stabilizers may be added . all formulations for oral administration should be in dosages suitable for such administration . for buccal administration , the compositions may take the form of tablets or lozenges formulated in conventional manner . for administration by inhalation , the compounds herein are conveniently delivered in the form of an aerosol spray in pressurized packs or a nebulizer , with a suitable propellant , e . g ., dichlorodifluoromethane , trichlorofluoromethane , dichlorotetrafluoroethane , carbon dioxide or other biocompatible gas . in the case of a pressurized aerosol the dosage unit may be determined by providing a valve to deliver a metered amount . capsules and cartridges of , e . g ., gelatin for use in an inhaler or insufflator may be formulated containing a powder mix of the compound and a suitable powder base such as lactose or starch . the compounds may be formulated for parenteral administration either by bolus injection or continuous infusion . formulations for injection may be presented in unit dosage form , e . g ., in ampoules or in multi - dose containers . a preservative may be added . the composition may take such forms as a suspension , solution or emulsion in oily or aqueous vehicles , and may contain formulatory agents such as suspending , stabilizing and / or dispersing agents . pharmaceutical formulations for parenteral administration include aqueous solutions of water soluble forms of a compound herein . alternatively , the compound may be prepared as an oily suspension for injection . suitable lipophilic solvents or vehicles include fatty oils such as sesame oil , or synthetic fatty acid esters , such as ethyl oleate or triglycerides , or liposomes . aqueous injection suspensions may contain substances that increase the viscosity of the suspension such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose , sorbitol , or dextran . optionally , the suspension may also contain suitable stabilizers or agents , which increase the solubility of the compounds to allow for the preparation of highly concentrated solutions . a compound herein may be in powder form for constitution with a suitable vehicle , e . g ., sterile pyrogen - free water , before use . a compound herein may also be formulated in rectal compositions such as suppositories or retention enemas containing conventional suppository bases such as cocoa butter or other glycerides . the compounds may also be formulated as depot preparations . such long acting formulations may be administered by implantation ( for example subcutaneously or intramuscularly ) or by intramuscular injection . thus , for example , the compounds may be formulated with suitable polymeric or hydrophobic materials ( for example , as an emulsion in an acceptable oil ) or ion exchange resins , or as sparingly soluble derivatives , for example , as a sparingly soluble salt . a pharmaceutical carrier for the compounds disclosed herein may comprise a co - solvent system such as , without limitation , a mixture comprising benzyl alcohol , a nonpolar surfactant , a water - miscible organic polymer , and an aqueous phase . a common co - solvent system used is the vpd co - solvent system , which is a solution of 3 % w / v benzyl alcohol , 8 % w / v of the nonpolar surfactant polysorbate 80 ™, and 65 % w / v polyethylene glycol 300 , made up to volume in absolute ethanol . the proportions of the solvents in the co - solvent system may be varied considerably without deleteriously affecting its solubility and toxicity characteristics . furthermore , the components of the co - solvent system may be varied : for example , other low - toxicity non - polar surfactants may be used instead of polysorbate 80 ™; the fraction size of polyethylene glycol may be varied ; other biocompatible polymers may replace polyethylene glycol , e . g ., polyvinyl pyrrolidone ; and other sugars or polysaccharides may be used . other delivery systems for pharmaceutical compounds may be employed . liposomes and emulsions are well - known examples of delivery vehicles for hydrophobic drugs . certain organic solvents such as dimethylsulfoxide may be employed as carriers , although usually at the cost of greater toxicity . additionally , the compounds may be delivered using a sustained - release system , such as semi - permeable matrices of solid hydrophobic polymers containing the therapeutic agent . various sustained - release materials and techniques have been established and are well known to those skilled in the art . sustained - release capsules may , depending on their chemical nature , release the compounds over a couple of hours up to many months . many of the compounds herein may be provided as salts with pharmaceutically acceptable counterions . pharmaceutically compatible salts may be formed with many acids including , but not limited to , hydrochloric , sulfuric , acetic , lactic , tartaric , malic , and succinic acid . salts tend to be more soluble in aqueous solution than the corresponding free acids or base forms of the compounds herein . pharmaceutical compositions suitable for use in the methods disclosed herein include compositions where the compound herein is contained in an amount effective to achieve its intended purpose . thus , a therapeutically effective amount means an amount of compound effective to prevent , alleviate , ameliorate or cure symptoms of a disease or disorder or to prolong the survival of the patient being treated . determination of a therapeutically effective amount is well within the capability of those skilled in the art , especially in light of the detailed disclosure provided herein . the exact formulation , route of administration and dosage for the pharmaceutical compositions disclosed herein will be selected by the treating physician who is most familiar with the patient &# 39 ; s condition . ( see e . g ., fingl et al . 1975 , in “ the pharmacological basis of therapeutics ”, ch . 1 p . 1 ). typically , the dose range of the composition administered to the patient will be from about 0 . 5 to about 1000 mg / kg , preferably at present from about 1 to about 500 mg / kg , still more preferably at present about 10 to 500 mg / kg or even more preferably at present from about 50 to about 100 mg / kg of body weight . the dosage may be unitary or a series of two or more doses administered over time . where no human dosage is established , as will be the case for newly - discovered pharmaceutical compounds , a suitable human dosage can be inferred from ed 50 or id 50 values , or other appropriate values derived from in vitro or in vivo studies , as qualified by toxicity studies and efficacy studies in animals . although the exact dosage will be determined on a compound - by - compound basis , some generalizations regarding can be made . the daily dosage regimen for an adult human patient may be , for example , an oral dose of between about 0 . 1 mg and about 500 mg of each ingredient , preferably between about 1 mg and about 250 mg or an intravenous , subcutaneous , or intramuscular dose between about 0 . 01 mg and about 100 mg , preferably between about 0 . 1 mg and about 60 mg calculated as the free base , the composition being administered 1 to 4 times per day . alternatively the compositions disclosed herein may be administered by continuous intravenous infusion , preferably at a dose of each ingredient up to 400 mg per day . thus , the total daily dosage by oral administration of each ingredient will typically be in the range 1 to 2000 mg and the total daily dosage by parenteral administration will typically be in the range 0 . 1 to 400 mg . the compounds may be administered as a continuous course of therapy , for example for a week , a month or , in some cases , for a period of years . dosage amount and interval may be adjusted individually to provide plasma levels of the active compound taht are sufficient to maintain a minimum effective concentration ( mec ). the mec will vary for each compound but can be estimated from in vitro data . dosages necessary to achieve the mec will depend on the individual patient and the route of administration . hplc assays or bioassays can be used to determine plasma concentrations . dosage intervals can also be determined using mec value . compositions should be administered using a regimen that maintains plasma levels above the mec for 10 - 90 %, preferably at present between 30 - 90 % and most preferably at present between 50 - 90 % of the time . in cases of local administration or selective uptake , the effective local concentration of the drug may not be related to plasma concentration . the amount of a compound herein administered will depend on the patient being treated , his / her weight and particular biochemistry , the severity of the affliction , the manner of administration and the judgment of the prescribing physician . compositions containing the compounds herein may be presented in a pack or dispenser device , which may contain one or more unit dosage forms containing the active ingredient . the pack may for example comprise metal or plastic foil , such as a blister pack . the pack or dispenser device may be accompanied by instructions for administration . the pack or dispenser may also be accompanied with a notice associated with the container in form prescribed by a governmental agency regulating the manufacture , use , or sale of pharmaceuticals , which notice is reflective of approval by the agency of the form of the drug for human or veterinary administration . such notice , for example , may be the labeling approved by the u . s . food and drug administration for prescription drugs , or the approved product insert . compositions comprising a compound disclosed herein formulated in a compatible pharmaceutical carrier may also be prepared , placed in an appropriate container , and labeled for treatment of an indicated condition . the examples that follow are provided by way of illustration only and are not intended , nor are they to be construed , as limiting the scope of this invention in any manner whatsoever . analyses were performed on a combined prep / analytical waters / micromass system consisting of a zmd single quadropole mass spectrometer equipped with electro - spray ionization interface . the hplc system consisted of a waters 600 gradient pump with on - line degassing , a 2700 sample manager and a 996 pda detector . separation was performed on an x - terra ms c18 , 5 μm 4 . 6 × 50 mm column using two buffers . buffer a was 10 mm ammonium acetate in water and buffer b was 10 mm ammonium acetate in acetonitrile / water 95 / 5 . a gradient was run from 10 % b to 100 % b over 10 min , the eluent held at 100 % b for 1 min and then re - equilibrated for 6 min . the system was operated at 1 ml / min . for some analyses , the gradient used was from 30 % b to 100 % b over 7 min with a hold time at 100 % b of 1 min followed by re - equilibration for 5 . 5 min . again , the system was operated at 1 ml / min . 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid ( 600 mg , 2 . 92 mmol ) was dissolved in etoh ( 5 ml ), conc . h 2 so 4 ( 0 . 2 ml ) was added and the mixture was subjected to microwave radiation ( 120 ° c ., 600 s ). etoac was subsequently added and washed with sat . nahco 3 and brine , dried ( na 2 so 4 ) and concentrated . yield : 498 . 2 mg ( 2 . 14 mmol ). 1 h - nmr ( 400 mhz , cdcl 3 ) d 7 . 40 - 7 . 20 ( m , 5h ), 4 . 23 ( q , 2h , j = 7 . 04 hz ), 4 . 10 ( q , 1h , j = 8 . 5 hz ), 3 . 81 ( t , 1h , j = 9 . 1 hz ), 3 . 55 ( d , 1h , j = 9 . 58 hz ), 3 . 43 ( dd , 1h , j = 9 . 58 hz , 8 . 12 hz ), 1 . 27 ( t , 3h , j = 7 . 04 hz ). 13 c - nmr ( 100 mhz , cdcl 3 ) d 173 . 1 , 169 . 5 , 140 . 1 , 129 . 2 , 127 . 8 , 127 . 2 , 62 . 0 , 55 . 6 , 48 . 0 , 44 . 6 , 14 . 4 . ethyl 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylate ( 498 mg , 2 . 14 mmol ) was dissolved in etoh ( 5 ml ) and hydrazine hydrate ( 0 . 5 ml ) was added . the mixture was subjected to microwave radiation ( 120 ° c ., 1200 s ), concentrated and the resulting white solid was recrystallized from etoac with hot filtration yield : 261 . 3 mg ( 1 . 192 mmol ). 1 h - nmr ( 400 mhz , cd 3 od ) d 7 . 35 - 7 . 24 ( m , 5h ), 4 . 06 ( q , 1h , j = 8 . 8 hz ), 3 . 76 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 43 ( m , 2h ). 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 54 . 0 mg , 0 . 246 mmol ) and 3 - bromoacetophenone ( 98 . 1 mg , 0 . 493 mmol ) was taken up in etoh ( 2 ml ) and acoh ( 0 . 2 ml ) and subjected to microwave radiation ( 120 ° c ., 600 s ). the solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue purified by column chromatography ( silica , 0 - 3 % meoh in dcm ). yield : 70 . 5 mg ( 0 . 176 mmol ). 1 h - nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso - d6 ) ( compound is a mixture of isomers ) d 10 . 8 , 10 . 7 ( 2 × s , 1h ), 8 . 10 , 8 . 00 , 7 . 93 , 7 . 80 ( 4 × s , 2h ), 7 . 73 ( d , j = 8 . 6 hz , 1069 1 / 2h ), 7 . 65 ( d , j = 8 . 0 hz , 1 / 2h ), 7 . 56 ( dd , j = 8 . 0 hz , 1 . 0 hz , 1h ), 7 . 32 ( m , 5h ), 4 . 63 , 3 . 87 ( 2 × d , j = 10 . 5 hz , 1h ), 4 . 01 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 67 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 32 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 23 , 2 . 18 ( 2 × s , 3h ). lc - ms ( ap2 ): purity ( uv / ms ): 100 / 100 , r t 3 . 08 / 3 . 32 min ( two isomers ). 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 2 - acetyl - 5 - bromothiophene ( 41 . 0 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo and the residue purified by column chromatography ( silica , 0 - 3 % meoh in dcm ). yield : 26 . 0 mg . 1 h - nmr ( 400 mhz , cd 3 od ) d 7 . 35 - 6 . 98 ( m , 7h ), 4 . 18 - 4 . 09 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 85 - 3 . 77 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 45 ( q , 1h , j = 9 . 6 hz ), 2 . 23 , 2 . 17 ( 2 × s , 3h ). lc - ms ( ap2 ): purity ( uv / ms ): 98 / 90 , r t 3 . 01 / 3 . 23 min ( two isomers ) 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 2 - acetyl thiophene ( 25 . 4 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo and the residue purified by column chromatography ( silica , 0 - 3 % meoh in dcm ). yield : 20 . 4 mg . 1 h - nmr ( 400 mhz , cd 3 od ) d 7 . 46 - 7 . 00 ( m , 8h ), 4 . 16 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 82 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 44 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 30 , 2 . 24 ( 2 × s , 3h ) 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 2 - acetyl - 4 - bromo - thiophene ( 41 . 0 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo and the residue purified by column chromatography ( silica , 0 - 3 % meoh in dcm ). yield : 19 . 3 mg . 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 5 - bromo - 3 - acetyl pyridine ( 40 . 0 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo and the residue purified by column chromatography ( silica , 0 - 3 % meoh in dcm ). yield : 26 . 6 mg . lc - ms ( ap2 ): purity ( uv / ms ): 99 / 85 , r t 1 . 95 / 2 . 27 min ( two isomers ) 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 4 - bromo acetophenone ( 39 . 8 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . upon cooling the product crystallized and was filtered and washed with cold ethanol . yield : 26 . 0 mg . lc - ms ( ap2 ): purity ( uv / ms ): 98 / 100 , r t 3 . 13 / 3 . 39 min ( two isomers ) 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 2 - bromo acetophenone ( 39 . 8 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo and the residue purified by column chromatography ( silica , 0 - 3 % meoh in dcm ). yield : 28 . 3 mg . lc - ms ( ap2 ): purity ( uv / ms ): 99 / 89 , r t 2 . 77 / 3 . 05 min ( two isomers ) 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 3 - methoxy acetophenone ( 30 . 0 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo and the residue purified by column chromatography ( silica , 0 - 3 % meoh in dcm ). yield : 27 . 0 mg . lc - ms ( ap2 ): purity ( uv / ms ): 100 / 73 , r t 2 . 47 / 2 . 75 min ( two isomers ) 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 3 - methyl acetophenone ( 26 . 8 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo and the residue purified by column chromatography ( silica , 0 - 3 % meoh in dcm ). yield : 19 . 8 mg . lc - ms ( ap2 ): purity ( uv / ms ): 100 / 100 , r t 2 . 72 / 3 . 07 min ( two isomers ) 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid hydrazide ( 21 . 9 mg , 0 . 10 mmol ) and 3 - trifluoromethyl acetophenone ( 37 . 6 mg , 0 . 20 mmol ) was taken up in etoh : acoh ( 9 : 1 , 1 ml ) and refluxed for 10 h . upon cooling the product crystallized and was filtered and washed with cold ethanol . yield : 21 . 5 mg . lc - ms ( ap2 ): purity ( uv / ms ): 100 / 100 , r t 3 . 25 / 3 . 49 min ( two isomers ) 2 - oxo - 4 - phenyl - 3 - pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid [ 1 -( 3 - bromo - phenyl )-( e / z )- ethylidene ]- hydrazide ( 10 . 0 mg , 0 . 025 mmol ) was dissolved in etoh ( 1 ml ) and a few drops of acoh was added followed by nacnbh 3 ( 15 . 7 mg , 0 . 250 mmol ). the mixture was stirred for 2 h at room temperature , etoac was added and the solution washed with sat . nahco 3 , dried over na 2 so 4 , concentrated and the residue run through a plug of silica ( 5 % meoh / dcm ) to give the product . yield : 9 . 4 mg , 0 . 0234 mmol . 1 h - nmr ( 400 mhz , cdcl 3 ) d 7 . 55 - 7 . 12 ( m , 9h ), 4 . 80 - 3 . 91 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 77 - 3 . 71 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 41 - 3 . 30 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 30 , 1 . 28 , 1 . 27 , 1 . 26 ( 4 × s , 3h ). the functional receptor assay , receptor selection and amplification technology ( r - sat ), was used to investigate the pharmacological properties of known and novel par2 compounds . r - sat is disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 707 , 798 , 5 , 912 , 132 , and 5 , 955 , 281 , all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety , including any drawings . briefly , nih3t3 cells were grown in 96 well tissue culture plates to 70 - 80 % confluence . cells were transfected for 16 - 20 h with plasmid dnas using polyfect ( qiagen inc .) using the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocols . r - sats were generally performed with 4 ng / well of receptor and 20 ng / well of β - galactosidase plasmid dna . all receptor constructs used were in the psi - derived mammalian expression vector ( promega inc ). the par2 gene was amplified by pcr from genomic dna using oligodeoxynucleotide primers based on the published sequence ( genbank accession # z49993 and z49994 ). for large - scale transfections , cells were transfected for 16 - 20 h , then trypsinized and frozen in dmso . frozen cells were later thawed , plated at ˜ 10 , 000 cells per well of a 96 half - area well plate that contained drug . with both methods , cells were then grown in a humidified atmosphere with 5 % ambient co 2 for five days . media was then removed from the plates and marker gene activity was measured by the addition of the β - galactosidase substrate o - nitrophenyl β - d - galactopyranoside ( onpg ) in pbs with 0 . 5 % np - 40 . the resulting colorimetric reaction was measured using a spectrophotometric plate reader ( titertek inc .) at 420 nm . all data was analyzed using the xlfit ( idbsm ) computer program . efficacy is the percent maximum activation compared to activation by a control compound ( sligrlm ). pec 50 is the negative of the log ( ec 50 ), where ec 50 is the calculated as a molar concentration ( m ) that produces 50 % maximal activation . these experiments provide a molecular profile , or fingerprint , for each of these agents at the human par2 . as can be seen in table 1 , the compounds tested activated par2 . using the following methods for evaluate the ability of the compounds disclosed herein to bind to the par2 receptors can be readily determined in the following assays : receptor binding assay , determination of changes in cytosolic calcium in transfected cho - k1 cells and determination of changes in inositol phosphates in transfected tsa cells . using the following materials and methods , the ability of the compounds disclosed herein to bind to par2 can be readily determined in a receptor binding assay . 1 . grow par2 - transfected cos cells ( or another transfected cell line that does not endogenously express par2 ) in a suitable growth medium in 24 - well culture plates . 2 . prepare radiolabeled assay solutions by mixing 245 μl of 0 . 25 nm [ 125 l ] sligrl working solution with 5 μl of the following : 50 μm unlabeled sligrl working solution , 0 . 25 nm [ 125 l ] sligrl working solution , hepes buffer only and 50 × test compound . 3 . aspirate medium from 24 - well plates using a pasteur pipette attached to a vacuum source . do not wash cells . 4 . add 250 μl of the radiolabeled assay solution from step 2 to each assay well and incubate plates for 60 min at room temperature (˜ 22 ° c .) on an orbital shaker at low speed . 5 . terminate the incubation by aspirating the radioactive solution with a 24 - well brandel cell harvester . wash the wells three times with 0 . 5 ml ice - cold hepes buffer using the cell harvester . 6 . aspirate the solution from the wells with a micropipette and transfer to 12 × 75 - mm polystyrene test tubes . analyze with a gamma counter ( packard , cobra ii ). 7 . determine specific binding and calculate the ic 50 values . 1 . wash cho - k1 cells transfected with par2 or a control receptor , either at a density of 1 - 3 × 10 6 cells / ml with phosphate - buffered saline . 2 . load cells with 2 μm fura - 2 and analyze with respect to the rise in intracellular calcium in the presence or absence of varying concentration of test compound . 3 . the response is compared to that elicited by the application of the standard reference ligand sligrl at 100 nm . [ ca 2 + ] i = k d ⁡ ( f - f min ) f max - f where k d for fura - 2 is 224 nm , f max is the fluorescence in the presence of 0 . 04 % triton - x100 and f min is the fluorescence obtained after the addition of 5 mm egta in 30 mm tris - hcl , ph 7 . 4 . as shown in table 2 and fig3 the compounds tested act at human par2 to stimulate intracellular calcium mobilization . seed tsa cells ( a transformed hek293 cell line ) at 10 , 000 cells / 0 . 1 ml per well of 96 - well plates and grow overnight at 37 ° c . in a humidified 5 % co 2 incubator in dmem supplemented with 10 % fetal calf serum , penicillin ( 100 units / ml ) and streptomycin ( 100 mg / ml ). transfect the cells with plasmid dnas coding receptors and g - protein helpers when needed using polyfect according to the r - sat protocol described in the above - referenced u . s . patents . at 18 - 20 h post - transfection , remove the medium and label the cells overnight with 2 uci / ml myo -[ 2 - 3h ]- inositol ( 0 . 1 ml / well ) freshly made in the culture medium . remove the medium and wash cells with hank &# 39 ; s balanced salt solutions ( hbss ) containing 1 mm cacl 2 , 1 mm mgcl 2 , 20 mm licl and 0 . 1 % bsa . the cells are then incubated with ligands for 45 min at 37 ° c . ( 0 . 1 ml / well ) and the reaction is stopped by exchanging the buffer with 150 ul / well ice - cold 20 mm formic acid . add 50 ul / well 0 . 2m ammonium and store plates at − 80 ° c . or process samples immediately . separate total [ 3 h ] inositol phosphates ( ips ) by ion - exchange chromatography . the column is loaded with 200 ul of ag 1 - x8 resin suspension ( 50 % resin and 50 % water ) and the cell extracts are applied to the columns . elute the columns with 1 ml 40 mm ammonium hydroxide ( ph9 ) and elute [ 3 h ] ips into the 2 ml deep - well blocks with 0 . 4 ml 2 m ammonium format / 0 . 1 m formic acid . wash the columns with 0 . 6 ml water . transfer the eluants into 7 ml scintillation vials and add 5 ml liquid scintillation cocktail . mix well , leave the vials in the dark for at least 4 h and count on ls 6500 multi - purpose scintillation counter ( 3 min / vial ). this procedure collects ip1 , ip2 and ip3 . the dna sequence encoding par2 ( seq id no : 1 ) and the polypeptide sequence of par2 ( seq id no : 2 ) are : seq id no : 1 ctcgagcggccgccagtgtgatggatatctgcagaattcgccctttgcgtccagtggagctctgagtttcgaatcgg tggcggcggattccccgcgcgcccggcgtcggggcttccaggaggatgcggagccccagcgcagcgtggctg ctgggggccgccatcctgctagcagcctctctctcctgcagtggcaccatccaaggaaccaatagatcctctaaa ggaagaagccttattggtaaggttgatggcacatcccacgtcactggaaaaggagttacagttgaaacagtctttt ctgtggatgagttttctgcatctgtcctcactggaaaactgaccactgtcttccttccaattgtctacacaattgtgtttgt ggtgggtttgccaagtaacggcatggccctgtgggtctttcttttccgaactaagaagaagcaccctgctgtgattta catggccaatctggccttggctgacctcctctctgtcatctggttccccttgaagattgcctatcacatacatggcaac aactggatttatggggaagctctttgtaatgtgcttattggctttttctatggcaacatgtactgttccattctcttcatgac ctgcctcagtgtgcagaggtattgggtcatcgtgaaccccatggggcactccaggaagaaggcaaacattgcc attggcatctccctggcaatatggctgctgattctgctggtcaccatccctttgtatgtcgtgaagcagaccatcttcat tcctgccctgaacatcacgacctgtcatgatgttttgcctgagcagctcttggtgggagacatgttcaattacttcctct ctctggccattggggtctttctgttcccagccttcctcacagcctctgcctatgtgctgatgatcagaatgctgcgatctt ctgccatggatgaaaactcagagaagaaaaggaagagggccatcaaactcattgtcactgtcctggccatgta cctgatctgcttcactcctagtaaccttctgcttgtggtgcattattttctgattaagagccagggccagagccatgtct atgccctgtacattgtagccctctgcctctctacccttaacagctgcatcgacccctttgtctattactttgtttcacatga tttcagggatcatgcaaagaacgctctcctttgccgaagtgtccgcactgtaaagcagatgcaagtatccctcacc tcaaagaaacactccaggaaatccagctcttactcttcaagttcaaccactgttaagacctcctattgagttttccag gtcctcagatgggaattgcacagtaggatgtggaacctgtttaatgttatgaggacgtgtctgaagggcgaattcc agcacactggcggccgtt 1 . hollenberg m d , compton s j . international union of pharmacology . xxviii . proteinase - activated receptors . pharmacol rev . 2002 june ; 54 ( 2 ): 203 - 17 2 . macfarlane s r , seatter m j , kanke t , hunter g d , plevin r . proteinase - activated receptors . pharmacol rev . 2001 june ; 53 ( 2 ): 245 - 82 . 3 . nakanishi - matsui m , zheng y w , sulciner d j , weiss e j , ludeman m j , coughlin s r . par3 is a cofactor for par4 activation by thrombin . nature 2000 404 : 609 - 13 4 . cocks t m , fong b , chow j m , anderson g p , frauman a g , goldie r g , henry p j , carr m j , hamilton j r , moffatt j d . a protective role for protease - activated receptors in the airways . nature . 1999 march 11 ; 398 ( 6723 ): 156 - 60 . 5 . fiorucci s , mencarelli a , palazzetti b , distrutti e , vergnolle n , hollenberg m d , wallace j l , morelli a , cirino g . proteinase - activated receptor 2 is an anti - inflammatory signal for colonic lamina propria lymphocytes in a mouse model of colitis . proc natl acad sci usa . 2001 november 20 ; 98 ( 24 ): 13936 - 41 6 . kawabata a , kinoshita m , nishikawa h , kuroda r , nishida m , araki h , arizono n , oda y , kakehi k . the protease - activated receptor - 2 agonist induces gastric mucus secretion and mucosal cytoprotection . j clin invest . 2001 june ; 107 ( 11 ): 1443 - 50 7 . cocks t m , moffatt j d . protease - activated receptors : sentries for inflammation ? trends pharmacol sci . 2000 march ; 21 ( 3 ): 103 - 8 8 . chow j m , moffatt j d , cocks t m . effect of protease - activated receptor ( par )- 1 , - 2 and - 4 - activating peptides , thrombin and trypsin in rat isolated airways br j pharmacol . 2000 december ; 131 ( 8 ): 1584 - 91 9 . cocks t m , moffatt j d . protease - activated receptor - 2 ( par2 ) in the airways . pulm pharmacol ther . 2001 ; 14 ( 3 ): 183 - 91 . 10 . vergnolle n , wallace j l , bunnett n w , hollenberg m d . protease - activated receptors in inflammation , neuronal signaling and pain . trends pharmacol . sci 2001 march ; 22 ( 3 ): 146 - 52 11 . steinhoff m , vergnolle n , young s h , tognetto m , amadesi s , ennes h s , trevisani m , hollenberg m d , wallace j l , caughey g h , mitchell s e , williams l m , geppetti p , mayer e a , bunnett n w . agonists of proteinase - activated receptor 2 induce inflammation by a neurogenic mechanism . nat med . 2000 february ; 6 ( 2 ): 151 - 8 . 12 . fiorucci s , distrutti e . role of par2 in pain and inflammation . trends pharmacol sci . 2002 april ; 23 ( 4 ): 153 - 5 13 . vergnolle n , bunnett n w , sharkey k a , brussee v , compton s j , grady e f , cirino g , gerard n , basbaum a l , andrade - gordon p , hollenberg m d , wallace j l . proteinase - activated receptor - 2 and hyperalgesia : a novel pain pathway . nat med . 2001 july ; 7 ( 7 ): 821 - 6 14 . mantyh p w , yaksh t l . sensory neurons are partial to pain . nat med . 2001 july ; 7 ( 7 ): 772 - 3 . 15 . nishikawa h , kawai k , tanaka m , ohtani h , tanaka s , kitagawa c , nishida m , abe t , araki h , kawabata a . protease - activated receptor - 2 ( par - 2 )- related peptides induce tear secretion in rats : involvement of par - 2 and non - par - 2 mechanisms . j pharmacol exp ther . 2005 january ; 312 ( 1 ): 324 - 31 . 16 . smith r , ransjo m , tatarczuch l , song s j , pagel c , morrison j r , pike r n , mackie e j . activation of protease - activated receptor - 2 leads to inhibition of osteoclast differentiation . j bone miner res . 2004 march ; 19 ( 3 ): 507 - 16 . 17 . jin g , hayashi t , kawagoe j , takizawa t , nagata t , nagano i , syoji m , abe k . deficiency of par - 2 gene increases acute focal ischemic brain injury . j cereb blood flow metab . 2005 jan . 12 ; [ epub ahead of print ] 18 . napoli c , de nigris f , cicala c , wallace j l , caliendo g , condorelli m , santagada v , cirino g . protease - activated receptor - 2 activation improves efficiency of experimental ischemic preconditioning . am j physiol heart circ physiol . 2002 june ; 282 ( 6 ): h2004 - 10 . 19 . napoli c , cicala c , wallace j l , de nigris f , santagada v , caliendo g , franconi f , ignarro l j , cirino g . protease - activated receptor - 2 modulates myocardial ischemia - reperfusion injury in the rat heart . proc natl acad sci usa . 2000 mar . 28 ; 97 ( 7 ): 3678 - 83 . 20 . steinhoff m , neisius u , ikoma a , fartasch m , heyer g , skov p s , luger t a , schmelz m . proteinase - activated receptor - 2 mediates itch : a novel pathway for pruritus in human skin . j neurosci . 2003 july 16 ; 23 ( 15 ): 6176 - 80 . 21 . sharma a , tao x , gopal a , ligon b , andrade - gordon p , steer m l , perides g . protection against acute pancreatitis by activation of protease - activated receptor - 2 . am j physiol gastrointest liver physiol . 2005 febuary ; 288 ( 2 ): g388 - 95 . 22 . mcguire j j , hollenberg m d , andrade - gordon p , triggle c r . multiple mechanisms of vascular smooth muscle relaxation by the activation of proteinase - activated receptor 2 in mouse mesenteric arterioles . br j pharmacol . 2002 january ; 135 ( 1 ): 155 - 69 .	2
one preferred embodiment of this housetraining aid is similar to a shirt , having an opening for the dog &# 39 ; s head , or collar that fits around the neck , and below that opening or collar , the shirt has two sleeves that are fitted for the dog &# 39 ; s front legs . also , the shirt covers the body of the pet , at least to the extent that it will prevent it from being pulled off or rubbed off by the dog . the shirt is open , at the hindquarters of the pet , when slipped onto the pet , but the housetraining shirt has a flap to be closed over the rear . the shirt has a flap that goes under the rear of the dog &# 39 ; s body and through the rear legs , then is pulled up to meet with the portion of the shirt that extends from the neck hole and down the backbone of the dog . the flap typically has two snaps or closures , which clasp on either side of the tail of the dog . with these snaps or clasps closed , the tail can extend out . this preferred embodiment is more readily understood by reference to the attached fig1 and 2 . the typical embodiment will have a shirt body with a neck band , foreleg sleeves , underbody flap with a training pad and closures to the shirt body which form a tail opening . the parts of the housetraining shirt , more in detail for a preferred embodiment , are a back portion , a neck collar , foreleg sleeves , and a belly portion . the training pad preferably is an absorbent piece of material , which may be joined to the shirt , or integrally woven to it . the pad also may simply define an area of the shirt material , which covers the urination opening of the dog when the shirt is on the animal . in the preferred embodiment , the pad is part of the belly portion , and the back portion extends between a fore part , which fits along the backbone and neck of the animal , and a rear part , which extends back to the tail of the animal ; and , the belly portion extends between a foreleg part , which joins to the foreleg sleeves , and a hindleg part , which runs across the animal &# 39 ; s belly up to its hind area , where closures on it clasp to closures on the rear part of the back portion of the housetraining shirt . typically , there are two closures on the back portion and the belly portion , and the dog &# 39 ; s tail will pass between those . in use , the shirt pulls over the dog &# 39 ; s head , the front legs go into the sleeves , and the shirt is pulled over the dog &# 39 ; s body toward the hindquarters . to close the open bottom of the shirt , the flap is pulled across the belly , then between the hind legs , up around the tail , and typically with closures that snap on either side of the tail to the body of the housetraining shirt . so constructed and fitted , the garment covers the dog &# 39 ; s privates , preferably with the training pad against the urination opening . the shirt is intended to be worn indoors for training . if the dog urinates indoors , the shirt catches that . this prevents damage to home furnishings . also , the wet area makes the dog uncomfortable . the dog is scolded when the wet shirt is removed , and the dog may be put in his crate as punishment . later , the dog is let outside , and when coming back in the house , a fresh shirt is slipped on the dog . when the dog indicates it wants to be let outside the house to relieve itself , the housetraining shirt is slipped off , and when the dog comes back indoors , the shirt is slipped and snapped back on them . by use of the training aid , the dog learns the desired response , and the shirt no longer needs to be used . in addition to being an aid for house training , the shirt is useful on males who wish to “ mark ” their area , as well as for females during heat . the absorbency of the shirt , especially on the flap area of the shirt , prevents damage and odors on household furnishings . the fitted features of the shirt , as shown on the preferred embodiment , can be altered depending on characteristics of the house pet . however , the primary aspect of the fitted features is to keep the garment from being pulled or rubbed off by the pet . thus , features of the invention are a combination of elements that make the garment hard for the dog to remove , that contact parts of the dog &# 39 ; s body for comfort and for training , and that make the invention easy and inexpensive to use effectively for training .	0
the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig2 illustrates a typical example of environment in which the invention is used . an internet terminal ( 201 ) of a company ( belonging to the category of an organization in this context ) is connected to an internet server ( 202 )— of a supplier providing services via internet ( 203 ). functions for membership registration ( on - line sign - up functions ) with an internet server ( 202 in fig2 ) will be described with reference to fig1 . the on - line sign - up functions has a user identification and authentication function ( 101 ); a group registration function ( 102 ); a user registration function ( 103 ) as an example of preliminary work ; a provisional group profile ( 104 ) for temporarily storing , before credit inquiry check , an organization having applied for membership ; a provisional user profile ( 105 ) stored as an output of the preliminary work ; a credit inquiry check function ( 106 ); a profile confirmation function ( 107 ) to make information available for the regular service after completion of the credit standing assessment ; a group profile ( 108 ); a user profile ( 109 ); and a regular service function ( 110 ). the regular service in this context refers to the service available from the internet server ( 202 ) as a full member . the organization accesses from its internet terminal ( 201 ) via internet ( 203 ) the top page of the internet server ( 202 ) of the supplier providing the desired service to sign up for the service on line . the natural person who physically takes charge of the organization &# 39 ; s work for this purpose will be referred to as a representative in tins context . of course , the representative may be a third party entrusted by the organization to take charge of the work . the internet server ( 202 ) transmits to the internet terminal ( 201 ) via internet ( 203 ) the top page that is displayed when a user applies for its service . fig3 illustrates an example of top page that is to be transmitted . in the example of fig3 , there are arranged a sign - up request button ( 301 ) for a person who is to newly apply for the service ( registration as a member ), a log - in id input area ( 302 ) for a person who has already applied for membership and acquired an id , a password input area ( 303 ), a log - in request button ( 304 ) and a cancel button ( 305 ). a representative presses the sign - up request button ( 301 ) on the top page of fig3 displayed on his or her internet terminal ( 201 ), and thereby transmits a request for registration as a member on line ( on - line sign - up request ) to the internet server ( 202 ) via internet ( 203 ). the internet server ( 202 ), upon receipt of the - on - line sign - up request , actuates its group registration function ( 102 ) reads out of a memory unit ( not shown ) the terms of subscription , rules of use and so forth for the service that is opted for by the request ; transmits the information to the internet terminal ( 201 ) from which the on - line sign - up request has come ; and asks the representative of the organization to confirm and consent to the terms and the like . fig4 illustrates an example of screen of the terms of subscription to be transmitted . in this example , the terms of service ( 401 ), a consent button ( 402 ) and a no consent button ( 403 ) are arranged . the representative , after confirming the terms of service ( 401 ) displayed on the internet terminal ( 201 ), presses the consent button ( 402 ) to notify via internet ( 203 ) the internet server ( 202 ) of his or her consent to the terms . the group registration function ( 102 ) of the internet server ( 202 ), upon confirmation of the consent of the organization &# 39 ; s representative to the terms , transmits an actual group profile registration screen to the internet terminal ( 201 ) via internet ( 203 ). fig5 illustrates an example of screen for use in registering a group profile to be transmitted . in this example , as necessary items of group profile for assessing the credit inquiry or identification of or liaison with the requesting organization , inputting of the name , head office address , type of industry , equity capital stock and so forth of the organization using a group profile input area ( 501 ); register button ( 502 ) and cancel button ( 503 ) is requested . other items of the group profile that may be inputted include the date of foundation , sales , proceeds of employees , main bank and method of payment . the representative fills prescribed blanks of the group profile input area ( 501 ) displayed on the internet terminal ( 201 ), presses the register button ( 502 ), and thereby transmits a request for registration of the group profile to the internet server ( 202 ) via internet ( 203 ). an expression “ press a button ” includes that click an icon on the screen by cursor . the information to be transmitted to the internet server may be encrypted by a known encrypting technique before transmission . the group registration function ( 102 ) of the internet server ( 202 ), upon confirming that the representative has entered necessary items of the group profile for group registration and returned the information to the internet server , and , after selecting the group id and provisional password , newly registers the organization into the provisional group profile ( 104 ). the required items for the registration reed not include information on employees , but the items for identifying the requesting organization ( name and head office address ) would be required . the group id and provisional password selected for the group profile are at the same time notified by electronic mail or paper mail to the representative of the requesting organization . the purpose of this parallel notification is to make sure that the representative really exists and that the representative ( either in person or by proxy ) has really applied for subscription . a written contract regarding the use of the service is also mailed . an electronic contract bearing an electronic signature may be substituted for the paper contract . where the group profile registration function ( 102 ) includes a contract generating function , a contract into which registered information is incorporated on the basis of the registered group profile may be generated , and enclosed with a notification of the group id and the like . or an exclusive contract page which can be accessed only with that particular group id and only for a prescribed period may be downloaded . in parallel with these actions , the group registration function ( 102 ) actuates the credit inquiry function , which assesses the credit standing of the organization on the basis of the inputted group profile . finally , the internet server ( 202 ) transmits the top page for subscription to the service ( fig3 ) to the internet terminal ( 201 ) via internet ( 203 ). the representative acquires the group id and provisional password by the above - described means . as the id is immediately usable , the representative enters the group id into the log - in id input area ( 302 ) and the provisional password into the password input area ( 303 ), and transmits a log - in request to the internet server ( 202 ) by pressing the log - in request button ( 304 ). upon receiving the log - in request , the user identification and authentication function ( 101 ) is executed at the internet server ( 202 ) to confirm the transmitted log - in id and password and to control the information to be transmitted . if the service supplier desires to reduce the risk further , it may also examine tin expiration date of the contract set at the time of notifying tin group id and control the information to be transmitted . further , in order to maintain security , it may set the expiration date of the password , also examine that expiration date , notify the expiration of the password in response to the log - in request , and transmit a password change screen to urge changing of the password . in doing so , the internet server ( 202 ) may either control the expiration date of the password for itself or include it in the password for subsequent analysis and examination by the internet server ( 202 ). in this particular case or providing a service , as the group id and provisional password are already transmitted , the internet server ( 202 ) transmits the top page for the representative to his or her internet terminal ( 201 ). fig6 illustrates an example of top page screen for a representative . in the screen of fig6 , there are arranged an area to display a notice from the service supplier ( 601 ), an update request button for the group profile ( 602 ), a register request button for the user profile ( 603 ), a password change request button ( 604 ) and a cancel button ( 605 ). when the user profile register request button ( 603 ) is pressed , there appears a screen for the representative to input the name , post , title , telephone number and e - mail address of a user , i . e . an employee . the representative , when it is desired to revise the group profile of the organization already registered with the internet server ( 202 ), will press the group profile update request button ( 602 ) to register a group profile revision input such as the above - described or the desired date of revision processing . or if is desired to change the already registered provisional or permanent password , the representative will register the change by pressing the password chance request button ( 604 ) the representative of a company , when a prospective user of the regular service is to be registered , presses the user profile register request button ( 603 ) to notify the internet server ( 202 ) of a request to register a user profile . for security considerations , the user profile may be processed by a known encryption technique when it is notified to the internet server . the internet server ( 202 ), receives the request for user profile registration , the user registration function ( 102 ) is executed and a user registration page is transmitted to the company &# 39 ; s internet terminal . fig7 illustrates an example of user registration request screen . in this example of screen , there are arranged a user profile register button ( 701 ) and a user profile update button ( 702 ). the representative of an organization , when a prospective user of the regular service is to be newly registered , presses the user profile register button ( 701 ). where the profile of a user of the regular service is to be updated , the representative presses the user profile update button ( 702 ) to notify the internet server ( 202 ) of a request for user profile registration . the internet server ( 202 ), receives the request for user profile registration or the request for user profile revision , the user registration function ( 102 ) is executed and a page for individually registering a user is transmitted to the organization &# 39 ; s internet terminal . in some cases , a page for collectively registering users may be transmitted instead . in other cases a menu for the representative to choose between collective registration and individual registration may be transmitted . fig8 illustrates an example of screen for individually registering a user profile . in this example of screen , there are arranged a user profile input area ( 801 ) for the name , reference no ., place of employment , job classification , post title , telephone number , e - mail address and so forth of an employee ; a register button ( 802 ) and a cancel button ( 803 ). as mentioned above , a button means an icon on a computer screen . fig9 illustrates an example of screen for collectively registering a user profile . in this example of screen , there are arranged a request button ( 901 ) for downloading a user profile registration data format , an upload registration data designation area ( 902 ), a collective register button ( 903 ) and a cancel button ( 904 ). the representative , using appropriate ones of the abovementioned means , transmits a user profile to the internet server ( 202 ). the internet server ( 202 ), receiving the transmitted user profile , actuates the user registration function ( 102 ), checks prescribed points , and registers the transmitted profile as a provisional user profile into the provisional user profile . after the group profile and the user profile have been registered as described above , the representative or the employee of the company then uses the profile confirmation function ( 107 ) as a preparatory step tar using the regular service . the profile confirmation function ( 107 ) is a function to receive mainly the result of assessment from the credit inquiry check function ( 105 ), check the validity of the result of assessment including the request concerning the processing data from the representative or the user , and generate a group profile ( 108 ) and a user profile ( 109 ) converted from the provisional group profile ( 104 ) and the provisional user profile ( 105 ) into forms demanded by the application services function ( 110 ). preliminary work is not confined to the registration of a user profile . the regular service has a function to develop a customized service out of a variety of service options and a parameter setting function , and may sometimes has a function to register in advance the products of those functions as provisional information to be confirmed and have them reflected in the actual regular service on the desired day of processing or upon approval by the representative . as an example of specific application needing such advance registration , there is a service to make available a benefits plan based on a cafeteria concept . prospective users of this service are registered in advance , and it has to be set how many points can be assigned per employee , how many should be the maximum available points per menu , and how much should be the unit price of each menu in terms of points as tabulated in fig1 . note that such preliminary work can be done at virtually no cost to the supplier of the service , and can be executed irrespective of the assessment or the credit standing of the registering organization . for this reason , if such preliminary work can be done in advance of the start of service , it will be attractive to the prospective users . also for the prospective users , the controllability of the timing at which the registered data are reflected is attractive from the viewpoint of the business activities of the company . as shown in the flowchart of fig1 , if the profile confirmation function ( 107 ) should be notified by the credit standing assessment function ( 106 ) of a negative result of assessment , the profile confirmation function ( 107 ) would make the fact known to the representative of the organization concerned , and invalidate the provisional group profile ( 104 ) and the provisional user profile ( 105 ) managed by the internet server ( 202 ). one of the conceivable methods of invalidation is to delete the information on the organization registered with the server or the id issued to the organization . as a matter of principle , no group id should be issued to such an organization falling to pass the assessment ( unqualified organization ), but where a group id is to be issued to make the service available before the assessment of the credit inquiry of the organization as in the case of the present invention , some precaution should be taken to minimize the risk entailing from the use of the service by an organization which would prove unqualified . this need is met by the possibility to invalidate the group id . the present invention can significantly benefit both the supplier and the users of the service , the former by providing the advantage in building up a large membership and the latter by offering the early availability of an attractive service . the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various changes and modifications can be mane within the spirit and scope of the present invention . therefore , to apprise the public of the scone of the present invention , the following claims are made .	6
fig1 , below , shows the drive apparatus known from [ 5 ] with two drive assemblies 100 a , 100 b which are guided on a running surface 1001 in a guide rail 1 and are connected by means of connecting screws 74 , threaded nuts 75 and sliding blocks 5 to a supporting profile 2 , by means of which a separating element 3 is held . the guide rail 1 which is shown in the section illustration has a center piece 1030 and two side pieces 1010 , 1020 , which form a u - profile . the second side piece 1020 is cut away in fig1 . the first drive assembly 100 a is connected to a drive module 70 , which is arranged within the supporting profile 2 and requires an appropriate amount of free space in it . the drive module 70 has an electric motor 71 , which is controlled by a control unit 40 , and has a transmission 72 ( which may be integrated in it ) as well as an angled transmission 73 , which is connected on the one hand to the motor shaft 78 ( which is aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis of the supporting profile 2 ) of the electric motor 71 , and on the other hand to a hollow - cylindrical drive shaft 76 which surrounds the associated connecting screw 74 and is aligned at right angles to the running surface 1001 . a drive wheel 25 is fitted to the drive shaft 76 and engages in a toothed belt 24 , which is arranged in a drive groove 1011 that is provided in the first side piece 1010 of the guide rail 1 . the second drive assembly 100 b is provided with current collectors 33 , 34 which have contacts 35 to tap the conductors 22 , 23 on a busbar 21 , which is arranged in a busbar groove 1021 that is provided in the second side piece 1020 of the guide rail 1 ( see also fig6 ). the connection of the contacts 35 , which are supported by springs 36 , to the control unit 40 , by means of which signals which are transmitted via the busbar 21 are decoded and are converted in an appropriate form to electrical power , is made via a connecting plate 37 and connecting cables which are laid within the supporting profile 2 ( not shown ). the disadvantages of this apparatus , in particular the requirement for a supporting profile 2 with a corresponding physical volume , the transmission losses caused by the angled transmission 73 and the complex design of the apparatus , have been described in the introduction . as a preferred refinement , fig2 shows a drive apparatus according to the invention for a moveable separating element 3 which can rotate and can be parked , and which is connected by means of mounting apparatuses 80 provided at specific points , as described in [ 6 ], to a first and a second drive assembly 10 a , 90 . the profiled strip 2 that is shown in fig1 is thus not required ; however , it may likewise be used , by way of example , with reduced dimensions ( see fig6 ). the first drive assembly 10 a is , according to the invention , provided with an electric motor 18 which is arranged at right angles between the supporting rollers 11 , 12 , has a stator 181 and a rotor 182 , and whose motor shaft 183 is coupled to a drive shaft 60 such that they rotate together . the body 17 of the first drive assembly 10 a is thus at the same time used to hold supporting and guide rollers 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ( see fig5 ) and as a holder for the electric motor 18 which is arranged at right angles to the running direction of the drive assembly 10 a , thus resulting in the first drive assembly 10 a being physically compact . in the preferred refinement which is shown in fig2 , an electric motor 18 is inserted into the first drive assembly 10 a , in whose motor housing 180 a transmission 19 is integrated , by means of which the torque transmitted to a drive wheel 25 is set as required . the drive wheel 25 in this case engages , as is shown in fig6 , in a toothed belt 24 which is provided within the guide rail 1 . in order to accommodate and to hold the electric motor 18 , the first drive assembly 10 a has two parts 178 , 179 , which can be screwed to one another and between which the electric motor 18 is installed . bearing shells are preferably provided at connecting points between the two parts 178 , 179 and form axial bearings 173 or axial and supporting bearings 174 , which are used to bear the motor shaft 183 and / or the drive shaft 60 . the body of the first drive assembly 10 a may , however , also be manufactured integrally , of course . an attachment apparatus having a helical attachment element 50 ( which is held by the mounting apparatus 80 ) and a connecting part 52 ( which is connected to the drive shaft 60 such that it can rotate ) is provided in order to hold the separating element 3 . for this purpose , the drive shaft 60 has a flange 61 which is held by means of bearing elements 62 within a bearing area 521 , which is provided in the connecting element 52 , such that it can rotate . the separating elements can thus rotate without any impairment , for example when passing over curved rail areas , when folding a separating wall formed by the separating elements , or when parking the separating elements . the load which acts on the drive shaft 60 from the separating element 3 is transmitted to the body 17 of the first drive assembly 10 a by means of a second flange 63 , which is arranged on the drive shaft 60 . for this purpose , the body 17 is provided with a supporting bearing 174 and with bearing elements 64 arranged in it , on which the flange 63 is supported . no forces caused by the separating element 3 that is supported by the drive assemblies 10 a , 10 b are therefore transmitted to the motor shaft 183 of the electric motor 18 , which is coupled by means of its own flange 185 to the second flange 63 of the drive shaft 60 , so that the electric motor 18 can be installed in a simple form , essentially such that it rotates with the shaft . furthermore , it is possible for the motor shaft 183 to be borne underneath the electric motor 18 , analogously to the bearing illustrated for the flange 63 , or above the electric motor 18 , as is particularly advantageous , especially when the motor shaft 183 and the drive shaft 60 are formed integrally . the forces exerted by the separating element 3 are in this case transmitted via the motor shaft 183 to the body 17 of the first drive assembly 10 a . as in the case of the system illustrated in fig1 , the electrical power is supplied to the drive apparatus by means of a busbar 21 , which is provided in the guide rail 1 and is tapped by means of contacts 35 of current collectors 33 , 34 , which are connected to a control unit 40 which , according to the invention , is arranged on the second drive assembly 90 within the guide rail 1 , and is connected to the drive apparatus by means of connecting lines which are routed within the guide rail 1 . this type of electrical power supply is , however , not very suitable for systems with separating elements which can be parked . as is described in the following text in conjunction with fig7 and 8 , the current collectors 33 , 34 are preferably arranged on the first drive assembly 10 a . fig3 and fig6 show a further drive assembly 10 b according to the invention , with an integrally manufactured motor and drive shaft 60 , 183 , which is connected to an attachment element 50 ( which is used to hold the separating element 3 ) by means of a connecting apparatus such that it can rotate . in this preferred refinement of the invention , the drive shaft 60 ( which is provided with a thread 65 ) is screwed to a first hollow - cylindrical flange element 66 , which is used to bear a second hollow - cylindrical flange element 68 , which is provided with an inner flange at one end and can be connected to the attachment element 50 , which is provided with a threaded nut 51 . the external diameter of the first flange element 66 , which is secured by means of a threaded nut 67 , is at least approximately of the same size as the internal diameter of the second flange element 68 , so that the second flange element 68 can rotate with little play , or no play at all , about the first flange element 66 , and is supported by it , by means of the inner flange . in order to avoid friction between them , bearing elements 62 are also provided between the flange elements 66 , 68 . in this case , it is particularly advantageous that this physically simple connecting apparatus can be installed quickly and without any problems . in addition to the supporting rollers , fig3 also shows two guide rollers 13 , 14 , which are mounted on a vane 172 ( which is provided with the body 17 of the first drive assembly 10 a ; 10 b ), and are guided in a first guide groove 1012 ( which is provided in the first side piece 1010 ). the guide rollers 13 , 14 of the second drive assembly 90 are normally guided in a second guide groove 1022 , which is provided in the second side piece 1020 , particularly in the case of separating elements 3 which can be parked . fig4 shows a drive assembly 10 c according to the invention , whose body 17 is connected to the attachment element 50 , which is used to hold the separating element 3 . the body 17 of the drive assembly 10 c is provided with a frame 171 that is used to bear the drive shaft 60 and to bear the drive shaft 60 , and has a mounting ring 176 provided underneath the drive shaft 60 . an insert 53 can be inserted into the mounting ring 176 , and if required can be screwed into it , and is provided axially with a hole that is used to accommodate the attachment element 50 . the attachment element 50 , which is mounted on the insert 53 by means of bearing elements such that it can rotate , is in this case a simple connecting screw , which can be connected without any problems to different types of mounting apparatuses 80 that are attached to the separating element 3 . the attachment element 50 may also be borne in the same way in the mounting apparatus 80 ( see , for example , fig5 ). in the drive assembly 10 e shown in fig5 , the motor shaft 183 , the drive shaft 60 and the attachment element 50 are manufactured integrally and are borne at one end in the mounting apparatus 80 and at the other end in the body of the drive assembly 10 e , in supporting bearings 81 , 174 such that they can rotate , so that the forces which originate from the supporting element 3 are transmitted to the drive assembly 10 e ( see also fig6 ). as described above , the current collectors 33 , 34 which are used for tapping the busbar 21 are preferably arranged on the first drive assembly 10 a , . . . , 10 e , which is provided with the drive apparatus . fig7 shows a drive assembly 10 d according to the invention , whose current collectors 33 , 34 are arranged on the upper face of the body 17 of the drive assembly 10 d and tap a busbar 21 , which is arranged in a busbar groove 1031 provided in the center piece 1030 of the guide rail 1 . this refinement of the drive assembly according to the invention has many advantages . no electrical leads are required between the drive assembly 10 d according to the invention and the further drive assembly 90 which is connected to the separating element 3 , so that the two drive assemblies 10 d , 90 can be moved on curved paths , which may be separated from one another , on the horizontal plane , which is particularly advantageous in the case of systems in which the separating elements 3 can be parked in one area . it is also advantageous that only short connecting lines are required , thus reducing the material costs and the transmission losses . furthermore , installation and maintenance are simplified , since the drive assembly 10 d together with the control unit 40 integrated in it forms an autonomous unit . fig8 shows the drive assembly 10 d with the control unit 40 integrated in it , and comprises a decoding unit 401 and a drive unit 402 . in the refinement shown in fig8 , the control unit 40 is arranged within a vane - like extension 1789 on the body 17 or on the housing 178 , 179 of the drive assembly 10 d , which is designed such that it does not impede the mutual movement between drive assemblies 10 a , 10 b , 10 c , 10 d , 10 e to be parked , or partially overlaps the adjacent drive assembly 10 d . this is possible in particular in the case of drive assemblies in which the supporting and guide rollers 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 are arranged on only one side of the drive assembly , so that there is correspondingly more free space on the other side . in a further preferred refinement of the invention , the control unit 40 as well as the other motor electronics are provided on a flexible circuit , thus making optimum use of the small amount of space available within the guide rail , or making it possible to reduce the dimensions of the drive motor and / or of the drive assembly housing in a corresponding manner . flexible circuits are produced , for example , by sheldahl ( see www . sheldahl . com ). this can be done , for example , using the sheldahl “ density patch ™” product for system and motor control , which can advantageously be integrated in the drive assembly 10 according to the invention . the drive apparatus according to the invention and drive assemblies 10 a , . . . , 10 e provided with this drive apparatus , as well as separating elements 3 , have been described and illustrated using preferred refinements . however , further specialist refinements can be produced on the basis of the teaching according to the invention . in particular , different forms of the body of the drive assembly , different refinements of the motor shaft , of the drive shaft , of the attachment element and of the associated bearing parts are feasible .	8
fig1 is a drawing from the top , right perspective of the preferred embodiment of the invention , showing its top surface [ 20 ], first end [ 1 ] and second end [ 2 ] parallel to each other ; left side [ 3 ], perpendicular to and level with the first end [ 1 ] and second end [ 2 ]; not visible from this perspective is the right side [ 4 ], which is parallel to the left side [ 3 ] and also perpendicular to and level with the first end [ 1 ] and second end [ 2 ]). the device has a long axis [ 6 ] between the first end [ 1 ] and second end [ 2 ], a wide axis [ 7 ] between the left side [ 3 ] and right side [ 4 ], and a central , concave groove [ 8 ] running parallel with and centered in the long axis [ 6 ] from the first end [ 1 ] to the second end [ 2 ], and extending not less than one - fifth and not more than one - third of the distance of the wide axis [ 7 ]. this view is stippled to show some details of the top surface &# 39 ; s convex asymmetric longitudinal curvature along the long axis and complex , symmetric , latitudinal , curvature along the wide axis , each of which are disclosed in more detail below . fig2 a and 2b are drawings of the closest prior art showing its rectangularity of sidewalls [ 11 , 13 ]. these incorporate a rectangular , 90 ° angle at the top linear edges along the left and right sidewalls and the left and right sidewalls of each of the interior structures [ 15 , 17 ]. fig3 a and 3b are drawings of the preferred embodiment of the invention using the same perspectives respectively as for fig2 a and fig2 b , showing the curved and sloping sides [ 12 , 14 ] of the preferred embodiment of the present invention . areas of curvature and thus of decreasing pressure and contact are partially indicated ( for the right side ) by the stippling on fig3 a . [ 16 , 18 ] fig4 is a drawing from the front perspective of the preferred embodiment of the invention , showing the complex , symmetric , latitudinal , and continuously varying curvature to the top surface [ 20 ] along the wide axis [ 21 ]. this curvature begins at the left side [ 22 ] with a shallow convex curvature [ 23 ], increases to a moderate convex curvature [ 24 ], smooths back into a shallow convex curvature [ 25 ], then at the beginning of the central , concave groove shifts through a sharp convex curvature [ 26 ] to a moderate concave curvature [ 27 ] that is centered at a point vertical to the middle of the concave groove , shifts again at the end of the central , concave groove through a sharp convex curvature [ 28 ], smooths back into a shallow convex curvature [ 29 ], increases to a moderate convex curvature [ 30 ], and ends with a shallow convex curvature [ 31 ] at the right side [ 32 ]. the curves [ 23 - 26 ], [ 27 ], and [ 28 - 31 ] thus form a physical palindrome . fig5 is a drawing from the side perspective of the preferred embodiment of the invention , showing the convex asymmetric longitudinal curvature to the top surface [ 20 ] along the long axis [ 41 ] that continuously varies from a relatively small radius of curvature [ 42 ] beginning from the first end [ 43 ] to a relatively large radius of curvature [ 44 ] ending at the second end [ 45 ]. fig6 is a drawing from the top perspective of the preferred embodiment of the invention , showing the complex , symmetric , latitudinal , and continuously varying curvature to the top surface [ 20 ] along the long axis [ 6 ], including the concave indentation at each end [ 1 , 2 ] of the central groove [ 8 ]. the parallel nature of the left side [ 3 ], central groove [ 8 ], and right side [ 4 ] is also made evident . fig7 is a drawing from a top , cross - sectional perspective of a user &# 39 ; s torso on the closest prior art ( including specifically both the stretchmate and trueback ) showing how the user &# 39 ; s shoulders and arms extend beyond the sides of such devices . gravity is indicated by the vector arrow [ 27 ] and is uniform across the horizontal ( surface ) plane . each edge [ 11 , 15 , 17 , 13 ] is a rectangular ( straight vertical ) edge , which in use causes a pressure line down the torso , as the combined vectors of gravity and connective friction compress and pinch the user &# 39 ; s muscles , nerves and skin against the bones ; it is where the abrupt transition of support is most keenly felt . all the prior art &# 39 ; s rectangular edges are where the device ceases to support the body , but particularly the side drop - offs create longitudinal pressure lines [ 31 , 33 ] that not only work against any lateral stretch , but also can negate or diminish beneficial effects of the longitudinal stretch . fig8 is a drawing from the same top , cross - sectional perspective of a user &# 39 ; s torso on the present invention showing how the shoulders and arm extend along and then beyond its curving sides . gravity again is indicated by the vector arrow [ 27 ]. in contrast to the prior art , however , the present invention replaces the sharp pressure lines at the side - drop offs with areas of distributed relative support [ 37 , 39 ], from 100 % ( closest to the spine ), to 0 % ( farthest from the spine ). these are the areas over which the pressure is distributed , geometrically reducing the compression and stress on muscle and other tissues , and enabling the lateral stretch without the discomfortable ( at best ) pressure lines imposed by the prior art . fig9 a and 9b are each a cross - sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the invention with a differential composition , wherein a top layer of a firmly - cushioning substance is attached over a non - yielding harder core . in the first alternative embodiment , shown in fig9 a , on either side of the central groove &# 39 ; s moderate concave curvature [ 27 ], but not within the central groove , the core &# 39 ; s top surface [ 20 ] is covered by a layer of a firmly - cushioning substance such as a rubber or plastic foam or an aerogel . in the second alternative embodiment , shown in fig9 b , the entirety of the core &# 39 ; s top surface [ 20 ] is covered by a layer of a firmly - cushioning substance such as a rubber or plastic foam or an aerogel . because the curvature along the spine varies longitudinally not only from person to person , but within each person &# 39 ; s spine , the provision of an asymmetric longitudinal form with a sharply - convex and a shallowly - convex portion enables a variety of corrective postures to be adapted by the users of the device . length - wise asymmetry enables the apex of the curve to be near the c - 7 vertebrae or around the lower back ( depending on the longitudinal orientation of the sharp convex curve near or far from the user &# 39 ; s head ). the present invention addresses the entirely overlooked second ( lateral ) dimension , that of width . its use of a complex lateral curvature to the top surface of the device provides a gentle , yet effective stretch to the musculature of the back , shoulders , and spine , without creating a series of pressure lines or points , and distributing the pressure over an area instead of focusing it into a line or point the way a distinct rectangular edge will . these two curves in conjunction with the force of gravity make simply lying on the present invention for as little as a few minutes a day is all that &# 39 ; s necessary to provide the user with a thorough thoracic stretch and massage , without creating pressure points or edges that can interfere . the steep roll - off of the lateral curvature helps to open the shoulders and the scapular area without forcing a tensing strain upon the line of contact between the device and the user &# 39 ; s body suspended on its top surface . in a first alternative embodiment of the device , an additional layer of a soft , yet dense cushioning material — a hard - cell , closed foam , or a dense , soft foam , such as cross - linked polyethylene ( commonly available commercially ) along the top surface , will provide additional buffering without compromising the stretching effects , thereby enabling use even when pressure sores or skin sensitivities ( rash , sunburn ) might otherwise limit its use . when combined with the asymmetric longitudinal curvature , a great deal of flexibility ( which end is used closest to the cervical vertebrae , where the user &# 39 ; s thoracic or other vertebrae are positioned longitudinally , whether the shoulders and scapular area are held above the supporting surface or make contact with and are relieved of substantial weight by resting upon the surface after minimal downward movement . in a second alternative embodiment of the device , the top surface of the portion forming the central , concave groove does not have any additional foam layering , to allow deeper flexion laterally and along the central spine of the vertebrae and downward extension of the dorsal tips without supporting contact being made . this combination of a convex asymmetric curve along the length of the spine and a convex symmetric curve along the width of the shoulders and back enable provision of a more complete and thorough thoracic stretch and support , and facilitate the opening of the shoulder area and distribution of the stretching value across the lateral width of the back . the absence of rectangular side edging , blunt - saw - tooth protuberances , or other linear or rectangular points or lines in the top surface [ 20 ] avoids creation of pressure foci that can negate the beneficial effects of the stretch elsewhere , by pinching , stressing , or otherwise creating pain in the supporting muscles and skin pressed against the device by gravity , a definite problem with the prior art . in contrast , this invention designed away as much linearity , angularity and singular points as possibly could be done . the top surface [ 20 ] is virtually all curvature . so not only is the invention aesthetically pleasing , but it &# 39 ; s smoothness also makes it comfortable to use , hence enticing potential users “ back ” again and again , thereby providing repeated and effective therapy . applying the back to a series of convex curves enables a user to take advantage of the forces of gravity to provide a reverse stretch that is diametrically opposed to the direction in which people generally slouch ( head up and forward in conjunction with the rounding of the back length - wise along the spine ). by ‘ diametrically opposed ’, the stretch induced by using this device is one designed to reverse these bad habits that lead to back pain and stress , i . e . the device simultaneously ( 1 ) tilts the head back , ( 2 ) arches the back so the chest is pushed forward , and ( 3 ) helps create some space between vertebrate . because the optimal form for the spine is a column without lateral curvature ( from side to side ), and because the spine has muscles governing each vertebra &# 39 ; s positioning closely adjacent and attaching to the spine , a straight connective column , longitudinally extending through the center of the asymmetric curves , is preferred . the central , concave groove , running parallel with and centered in the long axis and from the first end to the second end , and extending across not less than one - fifth and not more than one - third of the distance of the wide axis , provides a template which the natural pressure of gravity , acting on the body and muscles of the user , uses to establish the optimal non - laterally - deviating spine . because the key muscles for attachment and adjustment of the individual vertebra run closely to the vertebra , attaching to the tips and running through the ‘ trenches ’ paralleling the central spine , the central , concave groove shifts through a sharp convex curvature to a moderate radius of concave curvature that is centered at a point vertical to the middle of the central concave groove , mirrored on the opposite side , to enable pressure to be distributed in a more - closely focused yet still non - linear fashion along and parallel to the spine . the central , concave groove (˜ 1 ″ deep , ˜ 2 ″ wide ) along the length of the device serves multiple purposes . the first is providing open space for protruding vertebrae . a second is to enable pressure to be brought on the musculature adjacent and attaching to the central vertebrae to effect a passive therapeutic massage . a third , mentioned above , is to encourage the maintenance of spinal elongation without lateral curvature . an additional purpose for the central , concave groove is the provision of a channel to place at least one further element to enhance the devices effectiveness . in one alternative embodiment , this additional element is a cold pack running longitudinally ; in a second alternative embodiment , this additional element is a heat pack running longitudinally ; in a third alternative embodiment , this additional element is a vibrating pad or element running longitudinally ; and in a fourth additional alternative embodiment , this additional element is a combination of more than one of the above ( heat , cold , and massage ). while this invention has been described in reference to illustrative embodiments , this description is not to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications and combinations described in the illustrative embodiments , as well as other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon referencing this disclosure . it is therefore intended this disclosure encompass any such modifications or embodiments . the claims stated herein should be read as including those elements which are not necessary to the invention yet are in the prior art and are necessary to the overall function of that particular claim , and should be read as including , to the maximum extent permissible by law , known functional equivalents to the elements disclosed in the specification , even though those functional equivalents are not exhaustively detailed herein . accordingly , it is intended that the appended claims are interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention in light of the prior art . additionally , although claims have been formulated in this application to particular combinations elements , it should be understood that the scope of the disclosure of the present application also includes any single novel element or any novel combination disclosed herein , either explicitly or implicitly , whether or not it relates to the same invention as presently claimed in any claim and whether or not it mitigates any or all of the same technical problems as does the present invention . the applicants hereby give notice that new claims may be formulated to such features and / or combinations of such features during the prosecution of the present application or of any further application derived therefrom .	0
referring to fig1 there is shown a two - bulb , portable fluorescent task lamp according to the present invention , designated generally as 11 . the task lamp 11 includes an elongated housing configured as a two piece plastic housing 13 that may be molded of a thermoplastic material . a transparent portion of the housing is configured as a lens 15 . the lens 15 , which curves approximately half - way around the front half of the upper portion of the housing 13 , is preferably fabricated of a suitable rugged and optically clear acrylic or polycarbonate material . the housing halves 13 may be configured to accommodate circuitry within a handle portion and a pair of twin - tube cfl bulbs 19 disposed within the housing 13 and enclosed behind the lens 15 . a reflector 17 is also positioned within the housing 13 and behind the twin - tube cfl bulbs 19 . the reflector 17 may be fabricated of a thin , aluminum coated , heat resistant material that can be formed into a curved shape to direct backward - emitted light from the twin - tube cfl bulbs 19 in a forward direction through the lens 15 . each of the twin - tube , bi - pin cfl bulbs 19 may be plugged into a corresponding receptacle ( not shown ) to facilitate connecting the bulbs 19 to the ballast circuit ( see fig2 ). the portable task lamp 11 may also include end caps ( not shown ) and a hook ( not shown ) attached to one or both of the end caps , which allows the lamp to be conveniently suspended in a work area . in the example shown , the lamp 11 houses two twin - tube compact flourescent light ( cfl ) bi - pin bulbs 19 , although other arrangements are possible . for example , present commercially available cfl bulbs are typically provided as either a twin - tube standard bulb or a quad - tube standard bulb . the twin - tube types have the advantage that they are less bulky , less expensive and more readily available . however , the twin - tube types are of approximately half the power ( 13 w ) and light output of the quad - tube lamps . while the quad - tube design offers approximately twice the power ( 27 w ) and illumination of a single twin - tube , the quad - tube bulb is typically more complex to produce . it is further more expensive and is not as readily available . in the illustrative embodiment of fig1 and described herein , the pair of twin - tube cfl bulbs 19 ( each being rated at approximately 13 watts ) provides the equivalent illumination of a 100 watt incandescent bulb drop light . just visible in fig1 near the upper portion of the handle portion of the housing 13 on the rear side , is a switch actuator 21 .- it is one of two rocker switches mounted side - by - side in the location described for operating each of the pair of twin - tube cfl bulbs 19 alone or in tandem as will be described herein below . the lamp may be powered by 120 volts ac supplied through power cord 23 . the lamp 11 is readily adaptable to other supply voltages such as 120 volts ac , 50 hz or 240 volts ac , 50 / 60 hz . referring to fig2 there is illustrated a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a ballast or drive circuit for the two - bulb , portable fluorescent lamp 11 according to the present invention . the supply mains lines l and n , 25 , 27 respectively , supply operating current to the circuit . the line l of the supply mains is coupled through a 15 ohm , 1 watt resistor that functions as a fuse f 1 ( 29 ), to a node 32 . the line n ( 27 ) of the supply mains is coupled to a node 43 , which is the common return node of the power supply . diodes d 1 ( 31 ) and d 2 ( 33 ) respectively , are connected in series between a positive supply node 35 and a negative supply node 37 . the diode rectifiers 31 and 33 are joined at node 32 . 22 ufd , 250 volt dc filter capacitors 39 and 41 are connected in series between the supply nodes 35 and 37 . the filter capacitors are joined at the node 43 . the foregoing components comprise a voltage doubler power supply for providing an operating voltage of approximately 270 volts dc to the remaining circuitry to be described . continuing with fig2 the twin - tube cfl lamp bulbs , cfl 1 ( 69 ) and cfl 2 ( 71 ) are connected in parallel lamp circuits between a supply node 59 and the common node 43 . each of the cfl bulbs 69 , 71 include bipin terminals a and b . the cfl bulbs 69 , 71 in the illustrated embodiment are each 13 watt compact fluorescent lamps , nema type cft13 / g23 . the circuit of fig2 may be readily adapted to other ratings and styles of cfl bulbs . the b terminals of the cfl bulbs 69 , 71 are connected to the supply node 59 . connected in series between the a terminal of the cfl 1 bulb 69 and the common node 43 are a spst switch 65 , a node 51 , and an inductor l 1 ( 45 ). connected in series between the a terminal of the cfl 2 bulb 71 and the common node 43 are a spst switch 67 , a node 53 , and an inductor l 2 ( 47 ). the inductors l 1 ( 45 ) and l 2 ( 47 ) function as ballast chokes that limit the current that flows in each respective cfl bulb after the cfl bulb ignites . the inductors l 1 ( 45 ) and l 2 ( 47 ) are specially wound on ee25 cores that include a gap , and have an inductance of 3 . 3 mh . in addition , the inductance of the inductors l 1 and l 2 resonates with the internal capacitance ( not shown ) of the cfl bulbs , whether it is a non - self - starting or self - starting type of cfl bulb . the value of the inductance of l 1 and l 2 must also take into consideration the wattage rating of the cfl bulb being used . a pair of capacitors 55 , 57 , which are connected in series between nodes 51 and 53 , are joined at a node 49 . c 9 ( 55 ) and c 10 ( 57 ) in the illustrative embodiment are 330 pf , 1 kv ceramic capacitors . the anode of a diode rectifier d 3 ( 61 ) and the cathode of a diode rectifier d 4 ( 63 ) are also connected to the node 49 . the cathode of the diode d 3 ( 61 ) is connected to the positive supply voltage terminal pin 2 of ic 1 ( 103 ) and the anode of the diode d 4 ( 63 ) is connected to the voltage supply return terminal pin 8 of ic 1 ( 103 ). rectifier diodes d 3 ( 61 ) and d 4 ( 63 ) are type 1n4148 signal diodes . the pair of spst switches 65 , 67 are part of the switch actuator 21 described herein above in fig1 and are used as on / off switches to independently turn on or off the cfl bulbs 69 , 71 . continuing with fig2 the electrical drive circuit ( an electronic ballast circuit ) of the illustrated embodiment will now be described . the circuit of fig2 is based on an integrated circuit ic 1 ( 103 ) that develops output signals to drive a pair of mosfet transistors q 1 ( 105 ) and q 2 ( 107 ) connected in series across the positive supply at node 35 and the negative supply at node 37 . the ic 1 in the illustrated embodiment , which provides the control portion of the electrical drive circuit , is a type ir2156 manufactured by international rectifier , el segundo , calif . 90245 usa . the mosfet transistors in the illustrated embodiment are type irf720 from the same manufacturer . the type irf720 is rated at 400 volts , 3 . 3 amperes and has an rds on of 1 . 8 ohms . a resistor r 1 ( 73 ) is connected between node 35 and a node 77 . a capacitor c 3 ( 91 ) is connected between the node 77 and the node 37 . the node 77 is also connected to pin 3 of the ic 1 ( 103 ). a resistor r 2 ( 75 ) is connected between the node 35 and a node 83 , which is also connected to pin 2 , the vcc supply voltage terminal of the ic 1 ( 103 ). a capacitor c 8 ( 85 ) is connected between the node 83 and the node 37 . as previously described , the cathode of diode d 3 ( 61 ) is also connected to the node 83 and the anode of the diode d 4 ( 63 ) is connected to the node 37 . as will be described further hereinbelow , the networks c 9 ( 55 ) and d 3 ( 61 ), and c 10 ( 57 ) and d 4 ( 63 ) are charge pump circuits for ensuring sufficient operating voltage for the ic 1 ( 103 ) under certain conditions . continuing with fig2 the anode of a diode d 5 ( 102 ) is connected to the node 83 and the cathode of diode d 5 ( 102 ) is connected to a node 81 , which is connected to pin 14 of the ic 1 ( 103 ). a capacitor c 7 ( 99 ) is connected between a pin 12 of the ic 1 ( 103 ) and the node 81 at pin 14 of the ic 1 ( 103 ). pins 8 ( the vss or return supply terminal ) and 9 of the ic 1 ( 103 ) are connected to the node 37 . a capacitor c 4 ( 95 ) is connected between pin 6 of the ic 1 ( 103 ), which is also designated as a node 79 , and the node 37 . a resistor r 5 ( 113 ) is connected between the node 79 and a pin 4 of the ic 1 ( 103 ). r 5 ( 113 ) is a timing resistor and c 4 ( 95 ) is a timing capacitor . together , r 5 and c 4 determine the run frequency of the oscillator in the ic 1 ( 103 ). a resistor r 6 ( 115 ) is also connected between the node 79 and a pin 5 of the ic 1 ( 103 ). capacitor c 4 ( 95 ) and the resistors r 5 ( 113 ) and r 6 ( 115 ) set the timing values for the oscillator within the ic 1 ( 103 ). r 6 and r 5 , when connected in parallel by a transistor mode switch ( not shown ) within the ic 1 ( 103 ), reduce the rc time constant for the oscillator to increase the oscillator frequency during the preheat mode , as will be described herein below . a high side output drive signal from pin 13 of the ic 1 ( 103 ) is coupled to a gate terminal of the transistor q 1 ( 105 ). a low side output drive signal from pin 11 of the ic 1 ( 103 ) is coupled to a gate terminal of the transistor q 2 ( 107 ). the gate terminals of the transistors q 1 ( 105 ) and q 2 ( 107 ) are driven out of phase with respect to each other by the pulse waveform of the drive signals from the ic 1 ( 103 ). the repetition rate of the drive signals , as set by the rc time constants ( see the previous description for r 5 and r 6 and c 4 ), may be in the range of approximately 30 khz to 50 khz in a typical application . the operating frequencies are also influenced by the characteristics of the particular cfl bulbs used in the circuit . for example , fluorescent bulbs include an internal capacitance that controls the starting behavior of the bulb . the value of this capacitance may vary as to whether the bulb is a non - self - starting or self - starting type . thus , this capacitance is among the frequency determining components of the circuits . as mentioned previously , the transistors q 1 ( 105 ) and q 2 ( 107 ) are connected in series across the positive supply node 35 and the negative supply node 37 to form the output stage of the electronic ballast circuit illustrated in fig2 . the drain terminal of the transistor q 1 ( 105 ) is connected to the node 35 and the source terminal of the transistor q 2 ( 107 ) is connected to the node 37 . the drain terminal of the transistor q 2 ( 107 ) and the source terminal of the transistor q 1 ( 105 ) are connected together at an output node 93 . the output node 93 is connected to the node 59 , which is connected to the b terminals of both cfl lamps 69 , 71 . transistors q 1 ( 105 ) and q 2 ( 107 ) form a half - bridge mosfet drive circuit that alternately drives both cfl bulbs 69 , 71 with a high frequency ac voltage of approximately 120 volts ac . in operation , each twin - tube cfl bulb ( 69 , 71 ) of the illustrated embodiment shown in fig2 may be switched on or off independently according to the condition of the spst switches 65 , 67 . the inductors l 1 , l 2 ( 45 , 47 ) set the operating power and current of the bulbs . operating voltage for the ic 1 ( 103 ) is provided to pin 2 of ic 1 ( 103 ) by the network r 2 ( 75 ), node 83 and c 8 ( 85 ). voltage to operate the high side driver circuit internal to the ic 1 ( 103 ), is provided by a bootstrap network of d 5 ( 102 ) connected to pin 14 of the ic 1 ( 103 ) via node 81 , and c 7 ( 99 ) connected between pins 14 and 12 of the ic 1 ( 103 ). the dc voltage available at node 35 is measured by ic 1 ( 103 ) at pin 3 via the network r 1 ( 73 ) and c 3 ( 91 ) coupled to the node 77 . the networks c 9 ( 55 ) and d 3 ( 61 ), and c 10 ( 57 ) and d 4 ( 63 ) are charge pump circuits for ensuring sufficient operating voltage for the ic 1 ( 103 ) when the second one of the two cfl lamps 69 , 71 is to be ignited . this condition occurs , for example , when both of the switches 65 , 67 are in an on condition , or one of the switches 65 , 67 is switched on after the other of the switches 65 , 67 . the charge pump networks also function to reset the sweep signal generated within the ic 1 ( 103 ) that controls the preheat segment of the ignition sequence for the cfl bulbs 69 , 71 . this sweep signal is adaptive in the sense that its timing automatically adapts to the type of cfl bulb in the circuit , i . e ., whether the bulbs are non - self - starting or self - starting types . continuing with the operation of fig2 the drive signals to the mosfet transistors proceed sequentially through three modes after a first one of the switches 65 , 67 is turned on . the first mode is a preheat mode — about { fraction ( 8 / 10 )} ths of a second — to warm up the filaments in the cfl bulb ( s ) as set by the preheat resistor r 6 ( 115 ) and the preheat capacitor c 5 ( 97 ). the oscillator in ic 1 ( 103 ) runs at a frequency determined by the time constant of r 5 and r 6 ( in parallel ) and c 4 . when the voltage across the preheat capacitor c 5 ( 97 ) ramps upward to and reaches a first predetermined voltage ( starting from zero volts ), the transistor mode switch ( not shown ) within ic 1 ( 103 ) disconnects the preheat resistor r 6 and causes the oscillator frequency to ramp downward toward the run frequency determined by the r 5 , c 4 time constant . as the oscillator frequency ramps downward , the ac output voltage produced at the output node 93 ramps upward to ignite the bulb ( s ). when the voltage across the preheat capacitor c 5 ( 97 ) continues past the first predetermined voltage and reaches a second , higher predetermined voltage , the downward change of the oscillator frequency is halted , the cfl bulb ( s ) ignites because of the higher voltage impressed across the bulb ( s ), and the oscillator begins to operate at the run frequency set by the rc time constant of r 5 and c 4 . the brief period during which the oscillator frequency ramps downward toward the run frequency is called the ignition ramp mode of operation . after the bulb ( s ) ignite , the circuit enters the run mode wherein the output voltage at output node 93 stabilizes at approximately the same level as during the preheat mode . this level is maintained by the voltage developed across the current sense resistor r 4 ( 111 ), a 0 . 56 ohm , 0 . 5 watt resistor , and applied via the rc network of r 3 ( 109 ) and c 6 ( 101 ) to pin 10 of ic 1 ( 103 ). the foregoing is a summary of the operation of the electronic ballast circuit of fig2 . further details of the operation of the integrated circuit ic 1 ( 103 ) may be found in international rectifier data sheet no . pd60182 - i for the ballast control ic , type ir2156 ( s ), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . this ballast control integrated circuit is designed to drive a single , non - self - starting , compact fluorescent lamp ( cfl ) bulb . the wattage rating of the cfl bulb that is chosen may be accommodated by selecting appropriately rated mosfet output transistors and adjusting other component values accordingly , as is well within the capability of persons skilled in the art . in the present invention , however , a way is demonstrated to drive two non - self - starting or self - starting cfl bulbs , together or independently , using a single ballast control circuit . although apparently simple , the modifications necessary to ensure firing of both bulbs , together or in sequence — by providing carefully selected ballast choke ( inductors 45 , 47 ) values , and a charge pump network for each cfl bulb 69 , 71 that also participates in resetting the preheat sequence for the second bulb — is not previously known . a number of advantages are readily apparent in the circuit design of fig2 . the use of the integrated circuit and half - bridge architecture in the circuit design of the invention minimizes the number and size of the inducive devices , and allows a reduction in the overall number of required components and a consequent reduction in cost and circuit board space requirements . further , the configuration provided by the present invention enables the same minimum - parts design to be used with a variety of twin - cfl bulb ratings simply by adjusting the values of several components that affect the current levels , frequencies and the timing sequence of the three modes of operation . in the illustrative example shown , two 13 watt cfl bulbs provide illumination that is approximately equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb in a portable task light that uses much less energy and is much cooler in operation . an addition of two diodes ( e . g ., type in7007 ) across a second line l 2 to form a full - wave bridge rectifier ( not shown , but readily understood by those skilled in the art ) allows an easy conversion from the voltage doubler power supply to accommodate the 120 vac or the full - wave bridge to accommodate the 240 vac input power . moreover , the circuit of fig2 works with either non - self - starting or self - starting bulbs because of the characteristics of the ballast control ic and the particular selection of component values in the charge pump / current limiting networks for each of the cfl bulbs . while the invention has been shown in only one of its forms , it is not thus limited but is susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof . for example , other ballast control integrated circuits designed for use with a single cfl bulb may be used in a circuit adapted for two or more cfl bulbs according to the principles of the present invention , i . e ., providing for a charge pump circuit that operates independently with either bulb . the separate spst switches may be replaced with other configurations , either manually operated switches or remotely - actuated electronic switches or automatic switches controlled by illumination levels , and the like , for the control of the individual lamp elements . the same circuit may be adapted to any of numerous configurations and watt ratings , and light output requirements merely be selecting appropriate component values . in some configurations , for example , the cfl bulbs may be of mixed type and wattage ratings , requiring only the careful selection of component values in the lamp circuits such as the charge pump and current limiting networks . the power supply may be adapted to operate from any world - wide ac mains standard . rechargeable versions of the portable fluorescent lamp disclosed herein may be provided by replacing the ac input power supply with a dc - operated inverter circuit and rectifier to provide the high voltage dc to operate the high frequency drive circuit .	7
[ 0029 ] fig1 a , 1b , and 1 c show three examples of impedance - time curves and deformation - time curves recorded from a wire bonder ; the impedance - time curve is accompanied by a reference curve ( dashed line ) and three reference windows obtained from prior experimental tests . these identify a process that is proceeding satisfactorily and will produce a high - quality bonded connection . it is evident that the impedance - time curve in fig1 a , with a distinct maximum at ca . 5 ms followed by a steep and then less steep decline , is close to the reference curve , within a narrow tolerance range , and passes through all three time windows . in contrast , the peak of the curve in fig1 b does not reach the first window , the next part is also below the second window , and the curve as a whole is relatively far below the reference curve . the curve according to fig1 c does pass through the first reference window but not the second and third , and practically its entire course beyond the 6 - ms point is above the tolerance range of the reference curve . in the sense of the method proposed here , the bonded connection with a time dependence as shown in fig1 a should be evaluated as good , whereas bonded connections , during the production of which the time dependences of impedance according to fig1 b or 1 c were measured , should be judged not good . the impedance curve according to fig1 a is the result of a correctly controlled process . [ 0032 ] fig2 shows typical time dependences of the impedance of the transducer and the deformation of the bonded wire in a synoptic diagram , including a ( controlled ) time dependence of the bond power . the time span t 1 , until the deformation - time curve begins to rise sharply and the impedance - time curve approaches its maximum , is a span during which the transducer - induced oscillation of the wire on the substrate surface causes cleaning of the latter . during the time span t 2 the materials of which the wire and the substrate are made become intermingled ; that is , the actual welding occurs , while the cleaning process continues . in the time span t 3 a tempering of the welded connection occurs under the action of the heat that is generated . hence it is reasonable for the bond power to be controlled in three stages , the first of which involves a stepwise reduction depending on monitoring of the time dependence of the impedance at time point t 1 . the next is a second stepwise reduction depending on the evaluation of the time dependence of deformation at time point t 2 , and at time point t 3 the bonding process can be terminated . [ 0034 ] fig3 is a diagram of an arrangement 1 to carry out a bonding process controlled in dependence on the impedance - time curve , which can be integrated into a wire bonder ( not shown as a whole ). of the usual components of a wire bonder , those represented here are a bonding tool 2 , which is attached to the horn 4 of an ultrasound transducer 6 and serves to produce a bonded connection between a wire 8 and a substrate 10 . associated with the horn 4 of the ultrasound transducer 6 is a deformation sensor 12 that is known per se . integrated into a power supply 14 of the transducer 6 are a device 16 to measure the strength of the electrical current and a device 18 to measure the voltage ; these are connected at their output sides to an impedance - determining device 20 , which calculates the momentary impedance values . another component associated with the transducer 6 is a bonding - head driver 22 , which generates a predetermined pressing force ( bond weight ) that the bonding tool 2 exerts on the wire 8 . to the output of the impedance - determining device 20 is connected an impedance - recording device 24 , to record the time dependence of the impedance , and this in turn is connected by way of an additional input to a timer 26 . the deformation sensor 12 is connected to the input of a deformation - recording device 28 to record the time dependence of the wire deformation , and this device likewise receives a time signal from the timer 26 . the impedance - recording device 24 is connected at its output to an impedance - evaluating device 30 , which by way of another input is connected to a reference database 32 . the output of the deformation - recording device 28 is connected to a deformation - evaluating device 34 . both of the evaluating devices 30 and 34 are together connected on one hand to a bond - weight control unit 36 and on the other hand to a bond - power control unit 38 . the bond - weight control unit 36 acts on the bonding - head driver 22 so as rapidly to control the bond weight , and the bond - power control unit 38 acts on the power supply 14 of the transducer 6 so as rapidly to adjust the bond power ( ultrasound - oscillation energy ). the way in which the measurement and control arrangement 1 functions will be evident from the above general explanations of the proposed method and hence will not be described further here . it should be pointed out that in the evaluating devices 30 and 34 and the control units 36 and 38 , evaluation and control algorithms , respectively , are stored which have been derived from curves for transducer impedance and wire deformation obtained by experiments on a plurality of substrates with various kinds of wires and constellations of procedural parameters , along with the quality studies customarily associated therewith . such measurements and quality tests are familiar to experts in bonding techniques , who can thus find for themselves specific control algorithms for specific structural elements , substrates and bond wires . [ 0038 ] fig4 shows a test arrangement 1 ′, which is considerably simpler than the measurement and control arrangement 1 according to fig3 . here a wire bonder with the customary structure — again , the only elements thereof shown in the drawing are the bonding tool 2 , the horn 4 , the transducer 6 and the bonding - head driver 22 — comprises in addition only the current - measurement device 16 , the voltage - measurement device 18 , and the impedance - determining device 20 plus the impedance - recording device 24 and impedance - evaluating device 30 with associated database 32 . of the elements shown in fig3 those that are no longer present are the means of detecting and evaluating deformation and of controlling the bonding process . instead , the impedance - evaluating device 30 here is connected at its output to a decision stage 36 ′, which sends out a “ good ” or “ bad ” signal to indicate the quality of the bonded connection . again , the function of this test arrangement in accordance with the invention will be evident from the above explanations of the proposed method . the implementation of the invention is not limited to the examples sketched out here but can likewise be achieved in a great many modifications that are within the competence of a person skilled in the art . in particular , the invention also includes control of the bonding process and an apparatus suitable for executing such control , with the provision that either only the bond weight or only the bond power is controlled on the basis of a combined evaluation of the transducer impedance and wire deformation . also within the scope of the invention are a test method and a test apparatus such that these two parameters are monitored and subjected to combined evaluation in order to make the “ good ” vs . “ bad ” decision . furthermore , the invention includes an implementation in which both the bond weight and the bond power are controlled exclusively on the basis of detection and evaluation of the transducer impedance .	7
[ 0013 ] fig1 illustrates an image processing system 100 that includes a general - purpose programmable digital computer system 110 of conventional construction , including a memory 120 and a processor 130 for running an image processing program 140 that includes a perspective change module 150 . image processing system 100 also includes input devices 160 , such as a keyboard , mouse , digitizing pen , digital camera or the like and output devices 170 such as a display monitor . optionally , image processing system 100 also includes conventional communications hardware and software by which computer system 110 can be connected to other computer systems , such as over a network . in one implementation , image processing program 140 is implemented as a general purpose image processing program including image stitching software such as that disclosed in u . s . application ser . nos . 09 / 657 , 949 and 09 / 848 , 017 , which are incorporated by reference herein . [ 0014 ] fig2 illustrates a simple composite image 200 derived from two images 210 and 220 . in fig2 images 210 and 220 are shown as not overlapping , although it will be understood that the methods and apparatus disclosed herein will typically be applied to images that overlap to some degree . suitable images , which are typically rectangular arrays of pixels of known dimensions , may be obtained from any source and can be photographs , drawings or graphics created with or without the use of a computer , or images obtained by other conventional means . preferably , each of the images has a perimeter that defines a set of vertices such as corners 230 . image 210 represents one segment of a view , and is the center of projection in composite image 200 . for example , image 210 can be derived from a photograph captured with a camera pointed in a first orientation , and can correspond to a projection of the corresponding segment of the view onto an image plane 240 that is separated from the camera by a distance corresponding to the focal length of the camera . image 220 represents a second segment of the view , such as an image derived from a photograph captured after the camera is reoriented by rotating it relative to the first segment of the view . as a result of the reorientation of the camera , image 220 corresponds to a projection of the second segment of the view onto a different plane that is rotated relative to the first plane 240 . to correct for perspective distortion in composite image 200 resulting from the different image planes of images 210 and 220 , image 220 is mapped onto the plane 240 of image 210 to form a modified version 250 of image 220 . in one implementation , modified version 250 is generated using known techniques such as the virtual bellows method described in s . mann et al ., “ virtual bellows : high quality stills from video ,” proceedings of the first ieee international conference on image processing , november 1994 , which is incorporated by reference herein . such techniques can transform an original , rectangular image into a modified , trapezoidal image as described in co - pending patent application ser . no . 09 / 848 , 017 , incorporated by reference above . those skilled in the art will recognize that suitable perspective corrected composite images can be obtained from a variety of sources . for example , techniques for preparing composite images are discussed in co - pending u . s . application ser . nos . 09 / 657 , 949 and 09 / 848 , 017 , which are incorporated by reference above . [ 0017 ] fig3 illustrates two such composite images , composite images 300 and 310 , each of which is derived from four images 320 , 330 , 340 and 350 . in composite image 300 , image 340 is the center of projection , and is therefore included in its original , rectangular form . composite image 300 also includes modified versions of images 320 , 330 and 350 ( i . e ., images 320 a , 330 a and 350 a ), each of which is corrected for perspective distortion relative to image 330 . by contrast , in composite image 310 , image 330 is the center of perspective ( and is therefore included in its original , rectangular form ), and the composite image includes modified versions 320 b , 340 b and 350 b of images 320 , 340 and 350 , respectively . these modified versions are corrected for perspective distortion relative to image 330 . [ 0018 ] fig4 illustrates a method 400 for shifting perspective in a composite image derived from multiple component images , such as composite image 300 , which method can be implemented by perspective change module 150 . the method begins when system 100 , which is running an image processing program 140 , receives an input specifying a change in perspective ( step 410 )— for example , an input specifying that the center of projection in composite image 300 ( i . e ., image 340 ) is to be shifted to image 330 ( as in composite image 310 ). in one implementation , the input is a user input selecting an image in composite image 300 that is to become the center of projection in a new composite image . the user can select an image by , for example , employing a mouse or digitizing pen 160 to select the image displayed on a monitor 170 . in one implementation , the user designates which image is to become the new center of projection using a single input , such as one keyboard stroke or one mouse click . optionally , if system 100 determines that the user has selected an image that is the current center of projection of the composite image ( e . g ., by selecting image 340 in composite image 300 ), system 100 interprets the input as indicating that the first image is to remain the center of projection and the method ends . perspective change module 150 determines a transformation that will transform the selected modified , perspective corrected version ( here , image 330 a ) of the image that is to become the center of projection into its original , unmodified form ( i . e ., image 330 ) ( step 420 ). in a preferred implementation , the transformation maps a set of reference points in the selected modified version to a corresponding set of reference points in the original , unmodified image . the set of reference points for each image preferably includes four non - collinear , non - coincident points in the corresponding image , which points can be , but need not necessarily be , corner points or vertices in the image . perspective change module 150 uses the transformation to transform the selected modified version to generate an original , unmodified version of the new center of projection ( step 430 ). in one implementation , this can include transforming vertices of the selected modified version 330 a and transforming the pixels of the selected modified version based on the transformation of the vertices . perspective change module 150 similarly uses the transformation to transform each of the remaining images in composite image 300 ( i . e ., images 320 a , 340 and 350 a ) to generate modified versions of those images that are corrected for perspective distortion relative to the new center of projection ( image 330 ) ( step 440 ). image processing program 140 merges the resulting images 320 b , 330 , 340 b and 350 b to form composite image 310 , in which image 330 is the center of projection ( step 450 ), as discussed in u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 848 , 017 , incorporated by reference above . mathematically , the transformation can be represented as a transformation matrix . in one implementation , the transformation matrix maps coordinates from a distorted , perspective corrected ( e . g ., trapezoidal ) version of an image to an uncorrected , original image according to the method of paul heckbert , “ fundamentals of texture mapping and image warping ,” ms thesis , u . c . berkeley , 1989 , which is incorporated by reference herein . the transformation matrix ( m ) can be given by : m = [ q 4 - q 5  q 7 q 5  q 6 - q 3 q 3  q 7 - q 4  q 6 q 2  q 7 - q 1 q 0 - q 2  q 6 q 1  q 6 - q 0  q 7 q 1  q 5 - q 2  q 4 q 2  q 3 - q 0  q 5 q 0  q 4 - q 1  q 3 ] where  :   [ q 0 q 1 q 2 q 3 q 4 q 5 q 6 q 7 ] = [ u 0 v 0 1 0 0 0 - u 0  x 0 - v 0  x 0 u 1 v 1 1 0 0 0 - u 1  x 1 - v 1  x 1 u 2 v 2 1 0 0 0 - u 2  x 2 - v 2  x 2 u 3 v 3 1 0 0 0 - u 3  x 3 - v 3  x 3 0 0 0 u 0 v 0 1 - u 0  y 0 - v 0  y 0 0 0 0 u 1 v 1 1 - u 1  y 1 - v 1  y 1 0 0 0 u 2 v 2 1 - u 2  y 2 - v 2  y 2 0 0 0 u 3 v 3 1 - u 3  y 3 - v 3  y 3 ] - 1  [ x 0 x 1 x 2 x 3 y 0 y 1 y 2 y 3 ] , ( x 0 , y 0 ), ( x 1 , y 1 ), ( x 2 , y 2 ), ( x 3 , y 3 ) are coordinates of corner points ( or other selected reference points ) in the selected modified , perspective corrected version of the image that is to become the center of projection , and ( u 0 , v 0 ), ( u 1 , v 1 ), ( u 2 , v 2 , ( u 3 , v 3 ) are coordinates of corner points ( or corresponding reference points ) in the original , unmodified version of the selected image . transforming the selected modified version using the transformation matrix essentially resets that image to its original undistorted shape . each of the remaining images in the composite image is corrected for perspective distortion relative to the new center of projection by mapping its corner points through the transformation matrix to produce new corner points . the invention can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry , or in computer hardware , firmware , software , or in combinations of them . apparatus of the invention can be implemented in a computer program product tangibly embodied in a machine - readable storage device for execution by a programmable processor ; and method steps of the invention can be performed by a programmable processor executing a program of instructions to perform functions of the invention by operating on input data and generating output . the invention can be implemented advantageously in one or more computer programs that are executable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor coupled to receive data and instructions from , and to transmit data and instructions to , a data storage system , at least one input device , and at least one output device . each computer program can be implemented in a high - level procedural or object - oriented programming language , or in assembly or machine language if desired ; and in any case , the language can be a compiled or interpreted language . suitable processors include , by way of example , both general and special purpose microprocessors . generally , a processor will receive instructions and data from a read - only memory and / or a random access memory . generally , a computer will include one or more mass storage devices for storing data files ; such devices include magnetic disks , such as internal hard disks and removable disks ; magneto - optical disks ; and optical disks . storage devices suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructions and data include all forms of non - volatile memory , including by way of example semiconductor memory devices , such as eprom , eeprom , and flash memory devices ; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks ; magneto - optical disks ; and cd - rom disks . any of the foregoing can be supplemented by , or incorporated in , asics ( application - specific integrated circuits ). a number of embodiments of the invention 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 , while the steps of the various methods are described as being performed sequentially in a particular order , those skilled in the art will recognize that they can be performed in a different order and still fall within the scope of the invention . accordingly , other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims .	6
fig1 shows a flow sheet of a preferred process according to the invention . the process begins at 100 , wherein flue gases are indicated passing through a conventional horizontal duct of circular cross - section . it is convenient to fabricate the flue gas treatment apparatus of the invention to be of square cross - section ; where a retrofit installation is envisioned , a funnel - shaped gas flow distributor is provided as indicated at 102 to match a horizontal flue gas duct typically of circular cross - section with the square treatment duct according to the invention . as indicated at 104 , the flue gases entering this rectangular duct chiefly comprise n 2 + c0 2 + h 2 0 + 0 2 + s0 2 + n0 x . accordingly to the invention , these flue gases first encounter a first vertical bed 106 of particulates . preferably these particulates are bottom ash removed from the boiler after combustion of coal which has been crushed and sized accordingly , e . g ., to approximately 10 - 80 mesh . sand can also be used . lime in the fly ash in the flue gases reacts with s0 2 and water in the flue gas to form gypsum . the gypsum can be recovered from the particulate bed 106 in a manner discussed below and used for example as a constituent of concrete or in fertilizer . gypsum is thus a valuable byproduct of the process of the invention . the structure of the vertical beds is detailed below in connection with fig2 through 4 ; briefly , each bed comprises means for supporting a quantity of the particulates in a vertically extending layer disposed transverse to the flue gas stream , such that the entire volume of flue gas must pass through each bed and be reacted thereon . each bed is supported at least in part by cooling water pipes which also control its temperature . according to an important aspect of the invention , conditions are maintained in at least one of these beds which encourage sulfuric acid to be formed therein . this is in distinct contradistinction to the typical practices of the prior art of flue gas treatment , which was to keep the flue gas temperature high enough that the sulfuric acid did not condense . while this practice limited corrosion of the flue gas stack assembly , thus benefiting the utility operator , it meant that the sulfuric acid condensed later in the atmosphere , as a principal cause of acid rain , which is a very serious pollutant throughout much of north america and western europe . patents are known which suggest deliberate condensation of sulfuric acid to remove it from flue gases ; see u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 597 , 433 , 4 , 676 , 299 , and u . s . pat . no . 4 , 703 , 794 , all issued to one of the applicants herein after passage of the flue gases through the first bed 106 and removal of the fly ash , the flue gases then pass through a second bed of particulates , as indicated at 108 . the particulates in the second bed are essentially similar to those in the first bed . however , in this case the lime ha been principally removed and the temperature is relatively lower , such that it is possible to condense sulfuric acid out in this bed . again , as indicated , cooling water pipes are provided and are used to control the temperature of the beds such that the sulfuric acid does in fact condense and is removed . preferably the sulfuric acid is removed from the particulates by a vacuum filter , the structure of which is detailed in connection with fig5 - 7 . in the third bed , indicated at 110 , the particulate is preferably an activated aluminous catalyst , that is , an alumina - bearing material wetted with an alkali and dried before use . any remaining sulphur dioxide in the flue gas stream will react with the alkali to form bisulphites and bisulphates . nitrous oxides ( no x ) are also removed in this step . the bisulphates are leached from the catalyst in a vacuum filter apparatus , again discussed in connection with fig5 - 7 below , removing the sulphur dioxide therefrom . this can be returned to the flue gas stream prior to the first bed for reaction to form gypsum and sulfuric acid , all as discussed above . the aluminous catalyst particles can then be recirculated as indicated at 112 ; typically the alkali will remain thereon and is similarly reused . the preferred alkali is ammonia introduced into the flue gas stream between the second and third beds . other catalysts may be employed to condense the s0 2 , with or without the alkali addition . these could include such high surface area materials as activated charcoal or other carbonaceous material , diatomaceous earth , clay , fuller &# 39 ; s earth , or activated silica materials each as silica gel . polar or non - polar materials may be useful . the flue gas stream having thus had the so 2 and nitrous oxides removed therefrom is then returned to the conventional duct at 114 by means of an intermediate funnel shaped flow distributor indicated at 116 . fig2 shows a vertical cross - section of a retrofittable flue gas treatment chamber , that is , a scrubbing assembly , according to the invention . a flue gas duct 20 , which may be of rectangular cross - sectional shape , is inserted between the ends 21 of a conventional cylindrical flue gas exhaust duct . the rectangular duct 20 houses three vertical beds , 1a , 1b and 1c shown in horizontal cross - section . funnel - shaped transition duct members 23 joins the rectangular duct section 20 to the circular ends of the conventional flue gas duct 21 . flue gas distribution vanes 24 ensure that flue gas flows evenly through beds 1a , 1b and 1c . an alkali reagent , typically ammonia , is introduced into the flow stream upstream of the third catalyst bed 1c by a distributor indicated schematically at 40 . a fan 42 is provided between the scrubbing assembly according to the invention and the stack 44 , to ensure high velocity , turbulent flow of the flue gas through the beds 1a - 1c . complete exposure of the gas , entrained particulates , reactants , etc . in the flue gas stream to the particulates of the beds is thus ensured . fig3 is an enlarged vertical cross - section through one of the beds 1a , 1b , and 1c , which are of similar structure . flue gas flow is from left to right in this figure . fig4 is a cross - section orthogonal to fig3 as indicated at 3 -- 3 of fig4 . as shown in fig3 and 4 , a bed 2 of particles is held in upright position on the upstream side by baffles 3 and on the downstream side by a relatively fine screen 4 , e . g ., of 10 - 80 mesh . the bed 2 is formed simply by disposing the particulates between the top of the baffles 3 and the screen 4 . the bed 2 , baffles 3 , and screen 4 are temperature controlled by contact with vertical coolant water tubes 5 and 6 . these tubes are formed of titanium . baffles 3 are welded to tubes 5 ; the screen 4 is confined between the tubes 5 and 6 . this stainless steel screen 4 is removable and is snugly held between the two vertical rows of water - cooled tubes 5 and 6 , which are spaced about a foot apart in each row . thus a tube alternately contacts the screen 4 every six inches . this is shown in the horizontal cross - section through the bed of fig4 . in this manner the particle beds can readily be temperature controlled for example , the second bed lb is controlled to a temperature range of roughly 220 - 370 ° f . to condense the sulfuric acid thereon , one molecule of s0 2 reacting with one or two molecules of water . this process is carefully regulated by conventional thermostats in the beds controlling cooling water flow valves . in this bed 1b n0 x in the flue gas , together with the elements of the particulates , catalyzes the formation of sulfuric acid as well - known in the art of manufacture of sulfuric acid . every cubic inch of flue gas is forced according to this invention to travel through the beds of particulates at high velocity , whereby boundary layers of stagnant gas are removed from the particulates , so that oxidation by h 2 0 , n0 x and 0 2 in the flue gas is instantaneous . according to this invention , the wire screens themselves , properly prepared , assists in the catalyst function typically the louvers 3 of each bed are inclined at between about 10 and about 60 ° to the vertical , and are each between about 1 and about 4 inches wide . the overall thickness of each bed is 1 - 2 inches . fig5 is an isometric projection of a vertical cross - section through the base of one of the beds shown in fig3 and 4 . fig6 is a cross - section through the end of the bed and fig7 is an isometric view comparable to but on a smaller scale than fig5 illustrating the overall structure of this bed . a rotating titanium rod 8 with grooves 7 extending along its length is mounted in the base of the bed . the particles fall into the grooves 7 along the entire horizontal width of the bed , and are withdrawn by a strong vacuum applied to the base by way of a lift - pipe 10 illustrated in fig6 . fig7 shows a vacuum drum filter 13 , to which the lift - pipe 10 delivers the particles for washing . the drum filter 13 extends over the entire breadth of the bed , which may be on the order of 10 feet wide . accordingly the lift - tube 10 is curved at the top of the bed , as shown , and is drilled or slotted to become a horizontal vacuum conveyor of particles to the vacuum drum filter 13 . a conventional vacuum pump or steam ejector ( not shown ), is provided as a source of vacuum applied to the interior of the filter drum 13 . water jets 12 wet the surface of the filter and the particulates which are accumulated thereon . according to an important aspect of the invention , the vacuum force is used in three ways . first , it operates the vacuum drum filter 13 , which is conventional in design except that it preferably uses a porous metal or porous fused ceramic for the drum 15 . that is , vacuum is applied to the interior of the tube , to pull the particulates onto its porous surface , forming a filter cake . second , the vacuum force operates the vacuum conveyor system , to withdraw particles from the length of the bottom of the filter bed , lift the particles to the top of the filter bed and distribute them along the length of the of the top of the filter bed . third , the flue gas drawn through the particles by the vacuum heats the filter cake , and so dries the wetted particles , leaching the absorbed materials from the particulates as fast as they are washed . the acidic filtrate is withdrawn from the interior of the drum in conventional vacuum - drum filtering practice . the lifting and conveying tube 10 may be made of titanium or heavy - wall cast iron pipe , to withstand abrasion as well as acids , since the particles of fly ash may travel at speeds of 5 to 50 feet per second . a conveyor structure comprising a rotating grooved rod 8 may also be employed at the top of the bed , as shown at 8 &# 39 ; in fig7 . the particles are distributed evenly throughout the bed by the rotation of the grooved rod 8 . the vacuum - drum filter 13 is enclosed by casing 14 . as noted , the filter comprises a porous metal or ceramic drum 15 that rotates on hollow shaft 17 . shaft 17 is attached to drum 15 by spokes 16 . vacuum may be applied to the filter and thus to the filter cake 18 of particulates via apertures 19 in the center of tube 17 . the conventional drum filter bearings , motor and vacuum pump which may be employed are not illustrated . to recapitulate , the recirculation of particulates from the bottom of a bed to the top and the leaching of contaminants therefrom is illustrated in fig5 and 7 . the grooved rod 8 at the base of the bed is rotated . particles drop into grooves 7 in rod 8 , and are drawn by vacuum along the breadth of the bed to the lift - tube 10 . the particles are distributed over the length of drum filter 13 , and are wetted by a series of sprays 12 so that a layer of these particles forms a dense filter cake which adheres to the face of the drum . as the drum rotates clockwise , additional sprays apply moisture which passes inwardly through the particles , leaching the acids and salts resulting from flue gas sorption of contaminates by the particles . the liquid filtrate is recovered from inside the drum in the conventional manner . preferably only the aluminous , activated catalyst employed in the third bed according to this invention need be recirculated in an apparatus as shown in fig5 - 7 . the beds preceding the bed containing the aluminous material contain fly ash or crushed and sized bottom ash , as noted . these can be flow - through - once beds with the gypsum output going to concrete clinker production or concrete byproducts . in this case , conventional vacuum conveying apparatus long used by the power plant industry for conveying fly ash may be employed to extract particles from one end of the base of the beds . fig8 is a plan view of beds 1b and 1c showing an exemplary manner in which the cooling water tubes 5 and 6 are joined at their bases beneath the screen 4 to unitize the beds structurally as well as cooling it ; the structure shown allows the bed to be easily removed from duct 20 for maintenance or replacement . at such time the fine screen 4 can be readily lifted from its snug fit between cooling pipes 5 and 6 . the cooling water passed through pipes 5 and 6 may logically be from a boiler plant condenser . cooling water enters near the top of the bed through vertical pipe 26 feeding horizontal distributing pipe 24 and pipes 27 connecting pipe 24 to the tops of vertical pipes 5 . water flows downwardly through pipes 5 to their bottoms , and thence beneath the screen via horizontal connecting pipes 29 to pipes 6 . water flows thence upwardly to the tops of pipes 6 , which are connected via short pipes 30 to a gathering horizontal pipe 25 . preheated feedwater can then be delivered to a boiler from pipe 25 via vertical pipe 28 . an offtake from the system delivers water to the spray pipes 12 of the vacuum drum filter 13 shown in fig7 typically at 200 degree f . thus fig8 illustrates four novel features . first , the structure shown provides positive cooling of filter bed to condense flue gas acids therein . as noted above , the conventional teaching of the art is to avoid cooling the flue gas , to avoid condensation of h 2 s0 4 in the flue . while this avoids corrosion of the piping of the system , it necessarily causes the release of h 2 s0 4 mist into the atmosphere , which is a principal source of acid rain . this is avoided according to the invention . second , fig8 illustrates the manner in which the cooling water tubes provide structural support for the bed , while allowing it to be easily repaired or replaced . third , fig8 shows means to recover the heat energy lost in cooling the flue gases to condense the acids , by preheating the boiler feedwater . fourth , fig8 shows means for supplying very hot water needed to leach particulates . as noted , after leaching the particulates can be recirculated and reused . the preferred activated alumina catalyst used to absorb flue gas contaminates is derived from the skimmings of aluminum melting or holding furnaces . a suitable process for producing this activated alumina is described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 955 , 969 and 4 , 050 , 999 . a specific example which will aid in understanding the invention is set forth hereinbelow . this example estimates the gas flows in a 100 , 000 kw power plant burning kentucky coal having the following typical composition . ______________________________________ analysis analysis moisture coal as lbs of each ingredientcoal ingredient & amp ; ash - free fired per lb of coal fired______________________________________carbon c 79 . 0 63 . 6 0 . 636hydrogen h 5 . 6 4 . 5 0 . 045nitrogen n 1 . 7 1 . 4 0 . 014oxygen o 10 . 1 8 . 1 0 . 081sulphur s 3 . 6 2 . 9 0 . 029ash 11 . 2 0 . 112water h . sub . 2 o 8 . 3 0 . 083 100 . 0 100 . 0 1 , 000______________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ingredient consumedby oxygen per lb of chemical reactions & amp ; lbs of oxygencoal fired in boiler molecular weights burned per lb coal__________________________________________________________________________ 12 32 44 32 / 12 = 2 . 67 1 . 70carbon 0 . 636 c + o . sub . 2 → co . sub . 2 4 32 36 32 / 4 = 8 0 . 36hydrogen 0 . 045 2h . sub . 2 + o . sub . 2 → 2h . sub . 2 o 32 + 32 64 32 / 32 = 1 0 . 03sulphur 0 . 029 s + o . sub . 2 → so . sub . 2total 2 . 09less oxygen in coal 0 . 08oxygen required for reactions 2 . 01add 24 % excess air for complete combustion 0 . 48total lbs oxygen to boiler / lb coal 2 . 49__________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________nitrogen in stack gas above 2 . 49 × ( 79 / 21 ) ( n / o in 9 . 37carbon dioxide 0 . 636 × 44 / 12 ( co . sub . 2 / c ) = 2 . 33 less o . sub . 2 0 . 63water in air needed for combustion including24 % excess over theoretical2 . 49 × ( 100 / 21 ) air / n ) × 0 . 01657 50 % humidity 77 ° f . = 0 . 196water in coal per lb coal fired 0 . 083water from hydrogen combustion 0 . 045 × ( 36 / 4 ) . 405 0 . 684 0 . 68sulphur 0 . 29 × 64 / 32 ( so . sub . 2 / s ) less o . sub . 2 = 0 . 03 0 . 03total pounds of flue gas per lb coal fired 13 . 20total pounds sulphur dioxide per lb coal fired 0 . 058percent of sulphur dioxide 0 . 058 / 13 . 20 × 100 = 0 . 45 % in flue gas______________________________________ ______________________________________btu per lb of coal = 14 , 544 × carbon ## str1 ## 4050 × sulphur = 14 , 544 × 0 . 636 9 , 250 62 , 028 × 0 . 035 2 , 171 4050 × 0 . 029 117 btu per lb coal fired 11 , 538______________________________________ assuming a conservative efficiency of 35 % for the 100 , 000 kw plant the btu converted to kw is 35 %× 11 , 538 × 2 , 000 = 8 , 076 , 600 / ton coal . since 1 kw power is equivalent to 81 , 959 btu / day , the coal needed daily is 100 , 000 × 81 , 959 / 8 , 076 , 600 = 1015 tons or 1410 lbs ./ minute and 23 . 5 lbs . coal / second . since the total lbs flue gas per lb . coal fired is 13 . 20 ( from the above ), the lbs flue gas per minute is ( 1 , 410 × 13 . 2 = 18612 and per second 310 . 2 . calculation of mols . of gas and volumes at elevated temperatures ( based on one mol . of any gas occupying 359 cu . ft . at 32 ° f .) __________________________________________________________________________ volume in cu ft of gas / lb coal lbs / lb coal mol mols of 32 ° f . 212 ° f . 400 ° f . 600 ° f . gas fired weight gas 459r 672r 860r 1060r__________________________________________________________________________n . sub . 2 9 . 37 28 0 . 355 120 175 225 277co . sub . 2 2 . 33 44 0 . 053 19 28 36 44o . sub . 2 0 . 48 32 0 . 015 5 7 9 12h . sub . 2 o 0 . 68 18 0 . 038 24 20 26 32 12 . 86 ave 29 0 . 441flue gas volumes per lb . coal 158 230 296 365and at 23 . 5 lb coal / secthe cu . ft flue gas / sec is : 3 , 713 5 , 405 6 , 956 8 , 578pilot plant test indicatesgas through cascade ofactivated alumina travels40 ft / sec so area required isvolume / 40 . at a reaction temperature of 400 ° f . = 174 ft .. sup . 2hence a 13 × 13 ft square duct will provide adequate reactionarea . __________________________________________________________________________ from the data of example i of this specification the saving is calculated as follows : boiler feedwater is heated as flue gas cools 100 ° f , from 350 ° to 250 ° average specific heat of flue gas at average 300 ° f is 0 . 254 btu / lb . flue gas 12 . 86 lbs . flue gas / lb . coal fired from above calculation of mols of gas and volume at elv . temp . 100 × 0 . 254 × 12 . 86 = 326 btu saved per lb . coal with 11 , 538 btu available / lb . coal fired = 326 / 11 , 538 = 2 . 82 %. if coal costs $ 30 / ton delivered the saving is $ 0 . 85 per ton coal fired or per day $ 0 . 85 × 1015 tons / day =$ 862 / day although the foregoing specification refers generally to treatment of flue gases from coal - fired power plants , it should be understood that the apparatus and process of the invention is suitable for treating practically any type of flue gas whether generated by burning oil ,. natural gas , or waste dump materials , or from mineral smelting or paper manufacturing operations . while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed , those of skill in the art will recognize that other modifications and improvements can be made thereto without departure from its spirit and scope . the invention is therefore not to be limited by the above disclosure , but only by the following claims .	1
in the following description , like reference numerals will be used to refer to like or corresponding elements in the different figures of the drawings . referring now to the drawings and particularly to fig4 there is shown a schematic illustration of a parenteral fluid delivery system 40 embodying features of the invention . the fluid delivery system 40 shown comprises a linear peristaltic pump 42 that exerts pressure in a peristaltic wave - like motion against a fluid delivery conduit such as an administrative set tubing 44 to force fluid from a fluid reservoir 46 through a cannula 48 intravenously to a patient 50 . the peristaltic pump 42 includes a plurality of cams 52 mounted to a cam shaft 54 , the cam shaft being coupled to the output shaft 55 of a drive motor 56 . although numeral 52 only points to two cams in the figure , it is meant to indicate all cams . in this case , the motor comprises a step motor 56 that travels through a plurality of steps in each complete rotation of its drive member . the cams 52 are coupled to respective pumping fig5 for accomplishing the act of compressing the tubing 44 in a wave - like motion . the fingers 58 sequentially occlude adjacent portions of the tubing to establish the wave - like peristaltic motion to drive fluid through the tubing to the patient 50 in response to the rotation of the cam shaft 54 by the motor 56 . a rotation position sensor 60 is connected to the cam shaft 54 so that the rotational position of the cam shaft can be determined . although shown mounted on the proximal end of the camshaft , it may be mounted on the distal end instead , or in other positions . because of the mechanical connections of the drive motor 56 with the cam shaft 54 , the cam shaft with the cams 52 , the cams with the pumping fingers 58 , and the fingers with the tubing 44 , each step moved by the cam shaft and step motor results in a certain step volume of fluid being pumped through the tubing , either in one direction or the other . as shown in fig1 and 2 , the flow pattern is less than uniform even having a segment of negative flow . the amount of fluid flow corresponding to each step of the motor is stored in a memory 64 for later use as described below in detail . the fluid delivery system 40 has a microprocessor 66 that communicates with the memory 64 . the microprocessor also communicates with the position sensor 60 to determine the position of the motor and cams . the microprocessor 66 is provided with an operator input unit or key pad 68 through which an operator may set the desired flow rate and other pumping parameters . the memory 64 may contain in addition to the step volume as described above , alarm thresholds , and other preprogrammed parameters . referring now to fig5 a system for increasing the flow uniformity of a pumping mechanism that provides varying volume increments is shown . the first volume increment 150 is much larger than subsequent volume increments 152 , 154 , and 156 . thus , the spacing 158 of that volume increment to the next increment is larger than the spacing 160 between the second volume increment 152 and the increment subsequent 154 to it . because the third increment 154 is larger than the than the second , the spacing 162 between it and the subsequent increment 156 is larger than the spacing between the spacing between the second 152 and third 154 increments . thus , the spacing is directly proportional to the volume in the increment ; the larger the volume increment , the larger the spacing . viewing each increment from a time viewpoint , it can be seen that the flow may be made uniform because the time between volume increments can be adjusted to compensate for variances in flow . flow uniformity will therefore be increased . referring now to fig6 and 7 , a system for increasing flow uniformity over a pump cycle in accordance with an aspect of the invention is shown . in this aspect , groups of steps are formed to increase flow uniformity . a complete pump cycle period 70 has been divided into a plurality of equal time periods 72 , in this case eight periods . these periods are labeled as &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; 2 &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; 3 &# 34 ;, etc . based on the volumetric flow rate selected by the pump operator , a target volume to be pumped in each time period is calculated . the processor 66 ( fig4 ) then groups a number of sequential motor steps in each time period to result in a volume pumped that is as close to the target volume as possible . the exact number of steps assigned to each step group 74 is dependent on the particular step volume of each step that is available for the group and consequently , the summation of most step group volumes 76 in a time period will go over or under the target volume . as each sequential step is considered , the processor determines if adding that step would cause the group volume 76 to differ more from the target volume than it would if the step were not added . if adding the step would cause a greater difference , that step is not assigned to the present group but becomes the first step of the immediately subsequent group . fig6 present the grouping of a number of steps into discrete groups of steps 74 . as is shown , the first group has five steps , the second group has three steps . the time frame 72 for each group of steps 74 is the same as the time frame for other groups . fig7 presents the volume per step 76 and the summation of the step volumes to equal a group volume 75 . as is shown , the group volumes vary slightly . turning now to fig8 a table of groups of steps is presented . the heading of the table presents target volumes 77 to be pumped by each group of steps . the target volume increases as the flow rate selected increases . as shown , there are four columns of target volumes ranging from five micro - liters to forty micro - liters . the next row 79 shows the number of groups of steps in a pump cycle . the number varies in dependence on the target volume . at the lowest target volume , there are thirty - two groups of steps . at the largest target volume there are only four groups of steps . although not shown , other target volumes may be selected and other numbers of groups of steps . the remainder of each column presents the numbers of subsequent steps in each group . for example , in the column of the five micro - liters target volume , the first group has three steps in it . the second group has four steps . the third to last group of steps contains ninety - four steps , this including the negative flow region . referring briefly to the column for the target volume of forty micro - liters , the first group of steps has twenty - five steps while the last group has one hundred and twenty - seven steps . the processor 66 ( fig4 ) selects the number of time periods 79 or step groups per pumping cycle based on the flow rate selected with the number of time periods selected being inversely proportional to a flow rate selected 77 . also , the larger the target volume , the larger the number of steps in a group of steps . fig9 and 10 , graphically illustrate the more uniform flow rate over a pumping cycle as a result of one embodiment of the invention . in this case , there were eight groups of steps 80 over a complete motor rotation or pump cycle 82 of two - hundred steps . in each step group 80 , the motor steps are moved as shown in the example of fig6 . the resulting flow pattern 84 is much more uniform than those patterns shown in fig1 and 2 . the reference circle / line 86 establishes a zero flow reference . flow plotted outside / above the line is positive flow and flow plotted inside / below the line is negative flow . when pumping in groups in accordance with the invention rather than continuously in incremental pump steps , the flow uniformity increases . the angles given in fig9 and the marks along the horizontal axis 86 in fig1 are approximations and are included for illustration only . the motor steps shown in fig6 and 7 have been exaggerated for clarity in illustration . there may be much more time left between the last step in one group and the first step in the next group than that shown in the figures . depending on the flow rate selected , the number groups of steps , and the number of steps in a group , the step motor may achieve the number of steps assigned to a particular step group in a small fraction of the step group time frame . after moving the assigned number of steps , the motor does not rotate farther , until the beginning of the next group of steps . during this &# 34 ; dead time ,&# 34 ; the pressure sensor may monitor the pressure response waveform in the fluid line and / or other tasks may be accomplished . this approach of grouping of steps also conserves electrical energy because the motor is not always moving . additionally , when it is moving , typically more than one step is moved continuously . thus , the extra power needed for starting the step motor occurs less frequently . such energy conservation becomes important where the pump is operated by battery power . different means are known for determining the volume pumped per motor step . these means include , for example , gravimetric mass measurement and pressure wave integration using the irma method as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 5 , 087 , 245 to doan which determines flow rate by measuring flow resistance at the pump outlet . the system memory 64 may thereafter store each step volume for later use by the processor 66 in establishing step groups 74 ( fig5 ). in an alternative approach , the particular groups of steps and the group volumes may be stored in memory 64 for each flow rate or target volume and later retrieved by the processor 66 once the flow rate has been selected by the operator . referring now to fig1 , a flow chart directed to the process of assigning steps to groups of steps is shown . the process shown divides the pump cycle into time periods and organizes sequential pump step volumes into group volumes per time period for more uniform volumetric flow over the pump cycle . to provide a more uniform pump cycle flow rate , the operator at the start of the routine inputs the number of equal time periods ( groups ) per cycle init - i 100 and then selects a pump cycle flow rate corresponding to a volume per pump cycle 102 . a target volume , target , per time period is then calculated 104 by dividing the selected volume per pump cycle by the number of selected time periods . the step number in the cycle nstart is set in memory ; the step group number i is initialized to one for the first period , and the group volume vola is initialized to zero 106 . the volume of the current step group is calculated 108 . if this is the beginning of a pump cycle , that volume will consist of the volume of the first step . this calculated volume is denoted vola . the volume of the next sequential step is added to vola to result in volb 110 . next , the differences between vola and the target volume ( erra ) and volb and the target volume ( errb ) are calculated 112 and 114 respectively . these differences are then compared to each other 116 . if erra is less than or equal to errb , that step group is considered complete and no more steps , including the step just considered , will be added to the group 118 . the vola is then assigned as the group volume pak ( i ) and the group number is also assigned pn ( n ). the motor position is then evaluated to determine if the pumping cycle is complete 120 . if the pumping cycle is not complete and more pump steps remain in the cycle , the group volume and number are initialized 122 and the process of calculating the volumes and the differences 108 - 116 is repeated for this new step group . in the event that erra was greater than errb , that step will be added to the step group 124 and a determination will then be made as to whether this is the last step in the pumping cycle 126 . if this is not the last step , the process of calculating vola , volb and the above - discussed differences and comparisons 108 - 116 will be conducted . when all steps of the cycle have been used , the process moves to process step &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; to compare the number of group volumes i generated with the number of time periods input by the operator . if the number of group volumes developed is greater than the number of time periods selected 128 , the target volume target is decreased and the process is begun again at &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; if the number of group volumes developed is less than the number of time periods selected 132 , the target volume , target is increased 134 and the process is begun again at &# 34 ; b &# 34 ;. if the number of group volumes developed is equal to the selected number of time periods 136 , the final step groups are saved 136 in memory and the process ends 138 . the processor may then retrieve the step groups as needed during its control of the motor . to inform the processor of the position of the pumping mechanism so that the particular step volumes can be determined , a position location system coupled to the cam shaft or other moving part of the pumping mechanism may be used . one technique for locating the position of the peristaltic mechanism in its cycle is the use of an optical disk mounted to rotate with the mechanism and having markings indicative of the location of the mechanism in that cycle . such a system is shown and described in the patent application entitled &# 34 ; system for determining pumping position while limiting volume of fluid pumped &# 34 ; by charles r . holdaway and eric a . warner having ser . no . 08 / 304 , 582 , now pat . no . 5 , 534 , 692 , incorporated herein by reference . although a step motor has been described above , this is for illustration purposes only . other motors providing incremental movement may be also be used . it will be apparent from the foregoing that while particular forms of the invention have been illustrated and described , various modification can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , it is not intended that the invention be limited , except as by the appended claims .	5
additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows and will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description or recognized by practicing the invention as described in the following description together with the claims and appended drawings . it is to be understood that the foregoing description is exemplary of the invention only and is intended to provide an overview and an understanding of the nature and character of the invention as it is defined in the claims . the accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated and constitute part of the specification . the drawings illustrate various features and embodiments of the invention which , together with their description , serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention . a soot preform 10 , as shown in fig1 is formed from a chemical vapor deposition (“ cvd ”) process . it should be noted that preform 10 can be formed by various cvd processes such as outside vapor deposition (“ ovd ”) process , vapor axial deposition (“ vad ”) process , a modified chemical vapor deposition (“ mcvd ”) process , and a plasma chemical vapor deposition (“ pcvd ”) process . in the example illustrated in fig1 an amount of soot 12 is deposited via an ovd process , from a burner 14 onto a starting member or bait rod 16 and a glass handle 17 to form preform 10 , and is preferably formed in a single deposition step . preferably , the soot 12 being deposited onto starting member 16 is a silica based soot . more preferably , preform 10 may have one or more regions of doped silica soot . dopants utilized within the regions of preform 10 include , but are not limited to , ge , p , al , b , ga , in , sb , er , li , na , k , rb , cs , be , mg , ca , sr , ba , ti , se , te , fr , ra , bi , or combination thereof . preform 10 may also have one or more regions of undoped silica soot . in the present example , it is most preferred that an outer region of preform 10 comprises undoped silica soot . in one preferred embodiment , preform 10 includes a first region or portion 20 , a second region or radial portion 22 surrounding first region 20 , and a third region or radial portion 24 surrounding second region 22 . the refractive index profile of an optical waveguide fiber constructed form preform 10 is shown in fig2 . in the present example , preform 10 is formed by depositing first region 20 of silica soot doped with a refractive index increasing dopant , such as germanium ( e . g ., having a δ 1 ), depositing second region 22 of silica soot doped with a refractive index increasing dopant such as fluorine ( e . g ., having a δ 2 ), and depositing third region 24 of pure silica soot ( e . g ., having a δ 3 ). the refractive index profile of the present example generally follows the relationship of δ 1 & gt ; δ 3 & gt ; δ 2 , however , other profiles may be constructed utilizing the concepts disclosed herein . prior to depositing the soot of second region 22 , the method includes applying heat from a heat source 26 ( fig3 ) to an outer surface of first region 20 , thereby “ fire polishing ” or forming a glass barrier layer 28 that radially surrounds first region 20 . heat source 26 includes a burner system 30 that generates a flame 32 by combusting fuels including , but not limited to , oxygen , methane and oxygen , carbon monoxide and oxygen , deuterium , hydrogen , and combinations thereof . it should be noted that heat source 26 may also include other systems capable of heating the first region 20 to form glass barrier layer 28 , such as co 2 lasers and plasma torches . preferably , glass barrier layer 28 is formed to a thickness within the range of between about 50 μm and about 100 μm . again , referring to fig1 the method for manufacturing preform 10 next includes depositing second region 22 onto glass barrier layer 28 of first region 20 . in the present example , soot 12 utilized to form second region 22 includes fluorine as a dopant therein . more preferably , second region 22 includes at least about 0 . 3 wt . % fluorine therein . however , second region 22 may include various dopants as listed above . the method next includes depositing the third region 24 of silica based soot onto second region 22 . in the present example , third region 24 is preferably substantially free of the fluorine dopant . as illustrated in fig2 the refractive index profile of an optical waveguide fiber resulting from preform 10 subsequent to the deposition of soot 12 to form third region 24 shows a decrease of a between first region 20 and second region 22 , and a increase of δ between second region 22 and third region 24 . it should be noted that the profile as shown in fig2 does not include any migration of fluorine into third region 24 . the soot preform 10 ( fig4 ) is then suspended in a sintering furnace 34 . as illustrated in fig4 a ball joint 36 is attached to handle 17 . perform 10 also includes a center passageway 40 from within which the starting member 16 is removed , and a plug 42 with an optional capillary tube 44 . it should be noted that plug 42 and ball joint 36 are not required to practice the present invention . in a preferred embodiment , soot preform 10 is heat treated in furnace 34 in an atmosphere preferably substantially devoid of any halide containing compound to a first temperature , after an optional drying step , wherein soot preform 12 is introduced to a drying agent , including , but not limited to , chlorine , germanium chloride , germanium tetrachloride , silicate tetrachloride , and combinations thereof . during the drying step , the drying agent is circulated about preform 10 by passing the drying agent through the center passageway 40 as indicated by a directional arrow 35 , and about the exterior of preform 10 as indicated by directional arrows 37 . preferably , the atmosphere after drying comprises an inert atmosphere , such as an atmosphere of helium , argon , nitrogen , or mixtures thereof . initially , soot preform 10 is partially sintered by exposing the preform 10 to a first centering temperature . the first or partially sintering temperature comprises a temperature of within the range of from about 900 ° c . to about 1350 ° c . preferably , the partial sintering temperature is above about 1240 ° c ., more preferably above about 1280 ° c ., and most preferably above about 1300 ° c . it is also preferred that the temperature is not above about 1350 ° c . preferably , preform 10 is maintained at the first sintering temperature for at least about thirty ( 30 ) minutes , and more preferably at least about forty - five ( 45 ) minutes . it is further preferred that the heating step lasts for a sufficient period of time such that preform 10 reaches an isothermal temperature . isothermal temperature as used herein describes a preform without a radial temperature gradient that is greater than about 5 ° c ./ cm , more preferably not greater than about 2 ° c ./ cm , and most preferably about 0 ° c ./ cm . in the illustrated example , as the soot preform 10 is dried and partially sintered , germanium contained within first region 20 is prevented from migrating into second region 22 by glass barrier layer 28 , while fluorine doped within second region 22 is prevented from migrating to within first region 20 by glass barrier layer 28 . during the drying partially sintering steps , fluorine doped within second region 22 migrates into third region 24 , thereby resulting in an approximate profile as shown in fig5 that would be exhibited by an optical waveguide fiber drawn from soot preform 10 subsequent to the partial sintering step . the method next includes ramping the temperature within furnace 34 from the partially sintering temperature to a high or complete sintering temperature of around 1450 ° c ., thereby completely sintering preform 10 . during this final step , a stripping agent is introduced into furnace 34 that strips away the fluorine that has migrated from second region 22 to within third region 24 . the stripping agent utilized to strip the unwanted dopant from within third region 24 of preform 10 , which in the present example is fluorine , comprises a compound including an element selected from a group of va and / or via in the periodic table of elements . group va and via elements form volatile compounds when reacted with fluorine , and can compete effectively with silicon for the fluorine on the basis of very high bond strengths with fluorine . for example , at 1500 ° k , the reaction : ⅓ pocl 3 + ¼ sif 4 + ½ o 2 ⅓ pof 3 + ¼ sio 2 + ½ ci 2 , has a δg of − 8 . 5 kcal per mole . the reaction to form pof 3 goes forward even while stripping fluorine from sif 4 . δg f for species such as sio 3 / 2 f are not readily available , but since the silicon oxyfluorides spontaneously decompose to sif 4 and silica at temperatures above 1300 ° k , it is safe to say that δg 1 ( sio x f y )& gt ; δg f ( sif 4 ) so that the reaction above describes an upper limit for the reaction energy for stripping fluorine from fluorinated silica . in the present example , the stripping agent preferably includes pocl 2 . the approximate refractive index profile an optical waveguide fiber 46 ( fig6 ) resulting from preform 10 after being completely sintered is shown in fig7 . fiber 46 includes a core region 48 , a moat or first radial portion 22 surrounding core region 20 , and an overclad or second radial portion 24 surrounding first radial portion 22 , which correspond to first region 20 , second region 22 and third region 24 of soot preform 10 . it should be noted that the partial sintering temperature utilized to partially sinter soot preform 10 , the specific stripping agent , the complete sintering temperature used to completely center soot preform 10 , as well as the associated dwell times may be chosen to optimize and control the “ penetration depth ” of the stripping agent into third region 24 of preform 10 . the amount of the stripping agent used and the temperature at which the stripping agent is introduced is determined by the location of the moat - overclad interface . these parameters were chosen such that the stripping agent strips only the unwanted fluorine in the overclad and not from the moat . the stripping reaction takes place under conditions where the reaction and sintering rates are much faster than the diffusion rates such that the stripping agent is able to diffuse through only the overclad region of the blank . it will become apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications to the preferred embodiment of the invention as described herein can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	2
a typical section of a wall 10 with a window opening 12 using prior art wood frame construction techniques is shown in fig1 . the wall has a bottom plate 14 connected to top plates 16 and 17 by studs such as 18 . the bottom of the window opening 12 is formed by a plurality of cripple studs 20 , which are capped by a sill 22 . the sides of the window opening 12 are formed by jack studs 24 and king studs 25 . the top of the window opening 12 is formed by a header beam 26 which rests upon the top ends of jack studs 24 and lies beneath the plate 17 and is coupled thereto by cripple studs 27 . such a wall structure is only a small portion of a larger structure or building which typically would have a roof and other construction above the level of plates 16 and 17 . as shown in fig1 there is no loading on the plates 16 , and 17 and header 26 . as construction progresses on the structure , however , the weight of the additional construction causes a loading indicated by arrows 28 in the downward direction upon the plates 16 , 17 and header 26 . such loading will , over a period of time , cause sagging in the plates 16 , 17 and in the header 26 in an amount directly related to the amount of loading as indicated by the arrows 28 . with a wooden header 26 , the sagging does not all appear immediately upon completion of construction , but will subsequently appear over an extended length of time . eventually , the amount of sagging will be approximately , in a typical situation , one millimeter per foot of span of the header 26 . for a six - foot window opening , this would mean 6 millimeters , or approximately 1 / 4 inch of sag in the header 26 . a sag of this magnitude will be visibly apparent , and may cause problems in the free movement of windows , which may be located within the window opening 12 . for purposes of illustration , the sag of the wooden header 26 is indicated by the dashed lines 26 &# 39 ;. the displacement of the sagged header 26 &# 39 ; is , of course , exaggerated for purposes of illustration . the pre - cambered beam of one embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig2 and 3 , fig2 being a side view and fig3 a cross - section of the beam . the pre - cambered beam 30 is curved along its length as shown in exageration in fig2 and is provided with a plurality of holes 32 generally arranged in a line paralleling the curvature of the beam 30 . the pre - cambered beam 30 in cross - section shows a typical one of the holes 32 , and comprises a first flange 34 and a second flange 36 integrally joined by a web 38 . such a beam may be installed as shown in fig4 and 5 to replace the large wooden header 26 , shown in fig1 . this installation requires minor structural changes in the portion of the wood frame wall 10 defining the structure above the window opening 12 . the plates 16 and 17 are now preferably curved slightly to conform to the curvature of the pre - cambered beam 30 , though the minor extent of the curvature allows the curvature to be easily imposed during construction . as shown , preferably upper flange 34 of the pre - cambered beam 30 is located between plates 16 and 17 . a plurality of cripple studs 40 join the curved portion of the plate 17 to a small header 42 which now spans the distance between the jack studs 24 . the lower flange 36 of the beam 30 is located within saw kerfs 44 provided a given distance down the cripple studs 40 . beam 30 is secured in place by a plurality of nails 46 , each passing through a respective hole 32 through the pre - cambered beam 30 , anchoring the beam 30 to the plate 17 and cripple studs 40 . this configuration is most clearly shown in the cross - sectional view of fig5 . the holes 32 may be preformed , or in some instances if the webbing 38 is sufficiently thin to be pierced by nails , may be omitted in favor of piercing at the time of nailing . the structure of the pre - cambered beam 30 together with the plates 16 , 17 , and cripple studs 40 and small header 42 has a number of advantages over the usual large wooden header 26 when installed as shown . the pre - cambered beam 30 of fig4 when subjected to the loading indicated by arrows 28 , will deflect immediately upon loading . this is to be contrasted with the gradual deflection of the large wooden header 26 . because the beam 30 is pre - cambered its deflection will merely cause the beam 30 to deflect to a substantially straight condition . after installation and construction is complete , assuming the proper amount of pre - camber was used , the pre - cambered beam 30 will only deflect to the straight condition , and because the pre - cambered beam is made of steel and will not creep over an extended period of time , no visible sag occurs or later develops . the pre - cambered beam 30 is preferably formed by a roll forming process , using an apparatus functionally illustrated in fig6 . a length of sheet steel 50 , having a longitudinal centerline 51 , is passed through a plurality of rollers 52 , which gradually form the sheet steel 50 into the desired cross - sectional shape . once the desired cross - sectional shape has been achieved , such as at station 53 in fig6 curvature may be provided to the now finally formed beam by passing the beam through a deflection guide 56 . the deflection guide 56 has a longitudinal centerline 66 which is angularly displaced from the longitudinal centerline 51 of the sheet steel 50 . this angular displacement is indicated as the angle alpha ( α ) designated 68 in fig6 . adjustment of the angle alpha 68 will vary the amount of curvature of pre - camber which is provided to the beam 30 . the deflection guide 56 can , of course , be adjusted so that the angle alpha 68 , as appears in fig6 can occur to either side of the longitudinal centerline 51 of the sheet steel 50 . adjustment of the distance d , indicated as 70 in fig6 which distance is the distance between the final roller 52 and the center of the deflection guide 56 , also influences the amount of camber provided to the beam 30 . finally , it should also be noted that the deflection guide 56 may be rotated somewhat about a horizontal axis or about the longitudinal axis as may be required to assure the pre - camber is along the longitudinal axis . this may be particularly important for forming beams of non - symmetrical cross section . a cross - section of the deflection guide 56 is shown in fig6 a . the deflection guide 56 comprises a male portion having a base 58 , a vertical support member 60 , and a cap 62 . these three elements define the male portion which conforms to the interior shape of the desired pre - cambered beam , such as beam 30 . the deflection guide 56 also comprises a cover portion 64 defining the exterior shape of the beam , such as precambered beam 30 . fig7 a and 8 illustrate the progression of the cross - sectional shape of the sheet steel 50 as it progresses through the forming apparatus to become the pre - cambered beam 30 . fig7 is a side view of the sheet steel 50 as it progresses down the forming apparatus in the direction of the arrow 54 . the cross - section of the steel sheet 50 at station 71 , is indicated in fig8 as 81 . the cross - section at stations 72 through 77 are indicated in fig8 as elements 82 through 87 , respectively . it should be noted that the cross - section 84 , taken at station 74 , is the cross - section of the pre - cambered beam 30 shown in fig3 . at station 77 , the final cross - sectional shape has been given to the steel sheet 50 and the formed beam is now ready for passing through the deflection guide 56 so that the desired amount of pre - cambering can be supplied to the beam . for purposes of providing a complete explanation , there is illustrated in fig7 a , a cross - section of the steel sheet 50 as it passes over the male mold 78 and is formed into shape by rollers 52 . at this point , the cross - sectional shape of the steel sheet 50 is the same as indicated in fig8 as 83 . as the steel sheet 50 moves along the apparatus in the direction of arrow 54 from station 73 towards 74 , the next successive pair of rollers 52 gradually causes the steel sheet 50 to be bent into the cross - sectional shape shown as 84 in fig8 . this method of forming the beam such as beam 30 , may also be used to form steel beams which can be used in the steel construction industry . such beams typically will include i beams and the cross - sectional shape of the steel sheet 50 indicated as 84 in fig8 . this c - shaped cross section can be further formed by successive rollers 52 to produce successive cross - sectional shapes 85 , 86 and 87 so that the generally c - shaped cross - section is further provided with a pair of lips 88 and 89 . a steel beam having the cross - sectional shape 87 can be used in conjunction with a second steel beam having a similar cross - sectional shape to form i beams . if a first beam having the cross - sectional shape 87 is passed through the apparatus of fig6 where the angle alpha 68 is to one side of the center line 51 , a first pre - cambered beam will be formed , having a predetermined curvature . such a beam 90 is shown in fig9 and 10 . if a second beam , having the same cross - sectional shape 87 is similarly passed through the same apparatus of fig6 a similarly shaped pre - cambered beam 100 will be formed . if these two pre - cambered beams 90 and 100 are then placed back - to - back , such that their web portions are in contact with one another , and if the first beam is rotated 180 degrees with respect to the second beam , the two beams as viewed , will have a curvature which makes the two beams congruent with one another . if , in this position the two beams are welded , bolted , screwed or otherwise fastened together at their webs , they will form a single i beam 110 , as illustrated in fig1 and in cross - section in fig1 . fig9 illustrates the first beam formed as discussed above , where the flanges 92 and 94 extend to the right as viewed in fig1 . fig1 illustrates the second of the two beams discussed above . the beam 100 has been rotated such that flanges 102 and 104 extend towards the left in fig1 with web 106 joining them . one of the primary advantages of beams such as pre - cambered beam 30 or pre - cambered i beam 110 , is that when placed under load , the loading will deflect the beam to its substantially straight position . thus , if such a beam is used in construction in locations such as at a roof line , the loading on the beam will deflect the beam so that the beam is substantially straight and the roof line then also will appear straight . in contrast , when a straight beam is used on a roof line and loaded , the straight beam will deflect and give the appearance of a sagging roof which gives the viewer the impression that the roof is not structurally sound . by using the pre - cambered i beams 110 , or pre - cambered beams 30 of the present invention in such locations in steel structures such as 120 shown in fig1 , where the beams 122 or 124 are fitted in supporting a roof line , the curvature can be matched with the loading on the pre - cambered beam such that the loading will cause the pre - cambered beam to flex to its straight position ( 122 &# 39 ; or 124 &# 39 ;), thereby giving the appearance of a straight roof line . this not only pleases a viewer , but also gives the viewer the impressions that the structure is more structurally sound . it should be readily apparent that a larger beam and / or additional supporting truss work is necessary in the prior art , in order to withstand a given load without visible deflection than is required in the present invention to support the same load and yet allow a reasonable deflection for the beams . with this in mind , it can be seen that by using a pre - cambered beam such as 124 , a lighter beam can be used to support the same load and still provide esthetically pleasing results , such as a straight roof line . as shown in fig1 , these pre - cambered beams can be used not only at the roof line ( such as 124 ), but also at points intermediate the roof line and the peak of the roof ( such as 126 ), and such as intermediate the ends of other pre - cambered beams to support the lateral network of beams which are used in such structures to support the roofing material which may be galvanized sheet steel or other shell - type roofing material . it should be kept in mind that in the various figures herein , the degree of curvature has been exaggerated for purposes of illustration and the amount of pre - camber provided to the beams actually used in the industry will depend , to a great extent , on the degree of loading required . additional cross - sectional shapes of the beam of the present invention are shown in fig1 through 18 . the l - shaped beam 130 of fig1 is very similar to the beam 30 of fig2 through 5 . it is pre - cambered and provided with a web 138 and a single flange 134 compared to the two flanges 34 and 36 of beam 30 . when beam 130 is installed as shown in fig1 , no kerf 44 is used . rather , the beam 130 is secured in place by a sufficient number of nails 46 . the z - shaped beam 140 of fig1 is also provided with a degree of pre - camber . such a beam may typically have a first flange 144 and a second flange 146 attached to opposite sides of web 148 and extending therefrom on opposite sides . the z - shaped beam 140 is typically installed on a header plate 17 having cripple studs 27 similar to those illustrated in fig1 . while the pre - cambered beams of the present invention and the one method for making the same have been described herein with reference to fig1 through 18 , and the preferred embodiments illustrated therein , it must be kept in mind that various changes and modifications in details of manufacture as well as materials can be made to the present invention by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , the precambered beam may be given the desired cross sectional shape by use of a multi - station punch press machine 150 as functionally illustrated in fig1 . a roll 152 of sheet metal is fed into the punch press 150 by a pneumatic hand and feeder mechanism 154 . within the punch press 150 are a plurality of stations such as stations 156 , 158 , 160 and 162 at each of which a pair of dies 157 , 159 , 161 and 163 respectively are operated by the punch press machine 150 to gradually stamp the sheet steel into the desired cross section . the first die set 157 stamps the sheet steel and slightly changes its shape , the second die set 159 stamps the sheet steel and changes the shape slightly more . the last die set 163 gives the sheet steel its final cross sectional shape as shown at 164 . the precamber may be supplied by a deflection guide 56 as described above , by cambering the dies with respect to each other in the progression , by stamping so as to spank one side of the beam harder than the other , and / or by alternate methods such as illustrated in fig2 and 21 . fig2 shows the beam 200 , after it is formed to its final cross section , with a portion of the beam 200 positioned between a fixed rigid backing member 202 and a pair of rollers 204 and 206 applying substantial pressure to the beam . the pressure exerted by roller 204 is concentrated at that end of the roller 204 which is adjacent the side of beam 200 which is desired to be extruded . thus as shown in fig2 roller 204 applies pressure toward its left end indicated by arrow 205 , and roller 206 applies pressure indicated by arrow 207 . the pressure thus applied tends to cause the beam 200 to extrude slightly on that one side only . this extrusion tends to lengthen that side of the beam 200 and induce camber . by controlling the degree of extrusion ( amount of pressure ) the degree of camber may be controlled . camber may also be induced to a beam 300 having two bends , such as 302 and 304 shown in fig2 , by forming one bend more rapidly and / or sharper than the other . the more rapidly formed bend will tend to stretch the flange at that bend and thus induce camber . this method also produces camber where only one bend is formed if that bend is produced rapidly enough . with this method , the degree of camber is more difficult to control , but is known to be dependent upon the rapidity with which the beam changes from flat to fully formed . if the bend is formed within a sufficiently short distance the stresses induced in the flange stretch the metal in the flange thus producing camber in the finished beam . while the above discussed figures show the typical installation of a single precambered beam , it is contemplated that precambered beams may be installed in pairs as shown in fig2 . in that figure , two beams 30 such as shown in fig2 and 3 are secured to a first plate 17 and a second plate 17 &# 39 ; such as by nails ( not shown ). in such a configuration , depending on physical dimension ( e . g ., distance between 17 and 17 &# 39 ;), the cripple studs 27 ( as in fig1 ) may be omitted . the structure of fig2 may serve as an alternate construction for a header beam such as shown in fig5 . the various figures are provided merely for purposes of illustration and discussion of the various forms of the invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the invention in any way . the scope of the present invention is intended to be defined only by the appended claims .	4
1 ) preparation of slurry in water of the non plastic components like oxide , hydroxides , silicates of metals , a combination of additives , plastic components like aluminosilicates , pore formers as combustible materials , binders and deflocculants . 2 ) casting in the required shapes such as plates of 100 mm length or diameter and about 2 mm thick tubes of about 1 . 5 to 4 . 0 mm wall thickness , 9 to 37 us pores following the burnout of organic fillers causes a problem sometimes bloating , pin - holes , surface waviness also occurs due to excessive emission of gasses through weaker zones during firing and also quick drainage of the slip , defective plaster moulds and such other reasons . presence of fusible impurities causes excessive glass formation thereby disturbing the porous nature of the matrix . the critical features of the present invention is to utilize the theory of packing using narrow sized grains of non - plastic component and filling - up the inter - granular space of the particles without compromising the decrease in porosity and strength . the other parameters include homogenous mixing , control of impurity level and sintering temperature . in the process of the present invention pore forming agents such as flour , saw dust , carbon , charcoal are used in the range of 1 - 15 wt % which creates voids in the matrix after firing at a temperature in the range of 1300 °- 5000 ° c . in the present invention it is necessary to control the ratio of plastic and non - plastic components in the range of 0 . 11 to 1 . 5 and to control the ratio of the average grain size to 0 . 04 to 0 . 53 to produce the aforesaid pore size in the range of 1 - 15 μm according to desired requirements . the porous ceramics are made by mixing 40 to 90 wt % non - plastic powder material such as metal oxides , metal hydroxides and metal silicates or any mixture thereof , 10 to 60 wt % of plastic material powder such as naturally occurring aluminosilicates containing impurities like soda , potash calcium oxide and iron - oxide less than 2 . 5 wt %, 0 to 15 wt % pore forming agents , 0 to 2 % additives such as magnesia , titania , zinc oxide ; deionised water ; adding deflocculants and binders in the concentration range of 0 . 5 to 20 % w / v of water , ageing if required to obtain a casting slip , casting to shape , storing the shaped cast under humid condition for a period of 12 to 48 hours , air drying for a period of 12 to 48 hours , oven drying at a temperature in the range of 40 to 150 ° c . for a period of 12 to 24 hours , subjecting the dried cast to heating at the rate of 60 to 150 ° c . at a temperature in the range 800 to 1000 ° c . for 1 to 6 hours followed by heating at a temperature in the range of 1300 to 150 ° c . for 1 to 6 hours , cooling the resultant cast to room temperature at the rate of 60 to 150 ° c . per hour the metal oxide , hydroxide , silicates used may be such as , alumina , boehmite , zirconia , yttria stabilized zirconia , mullite , calcined kyanite , sillimanite , diaspore , beach sand of rounded and sub - rounded grains in the size range of 1 to 75 μm having a maximum amount of impurities like alkali oxide and iron oxide up to 0 . 5 wt %. the alumninosilicate materials used may be such as kaolinite , montmorillonite , illite containing impurities like soda , potash , calcium oxide , iron oxide less than 2 . 5 wt % the deflocculants and binders used may be such as polyvinyl alcohol , darvan - 7 , sodium salt of carboxy methyl cellulose , sodium alginate , salts of polyacrylic acid , partially hydrolysed polyacrylic amide . the ratio of average grain size of plastic and non - plastic components used may be in the range of 0 . 04 to 0 . 53 to produce the pore size in the range 1 to 15 μm . the proportion of the plastic and non - plastic ingredients used may be in the ratio of 0 . 11 to 1 . 5 in such a way that there are at least 10 to 30 wt % of finer particles of less than 1 . 0 μm size present in the mix . the pore forming agents used may be 0 to 15 wt % combustible materials with not more than 5 wt % ash content such as flour , saw dust , carbon , charcoal , polymeric materials of particle size below 20 μm . mixing is preferably effected in a plastic bottle or alumina lined pot for a period of 4to 24 hours to form a slurry of viscosity in the range of 100 - 1000 cp . the process steps of the present invention are described below . ( a ) preparation of slurry in water of the non plastic components like oxide , hydroxides , silicates of metals , a combination of additives , plastic components like aluminosilicates , pore formers as combustible materials , binders and deflocculants . ( b casting in the required shapes such as plates of 100 mm length or diameter and about 2 mm thick , tubes of about 1 . 5 to 40 mm wall thickness , 9 to 37 us pores following the burnout of organic fillers causes a problem . sometimes bloating , pinholes , surface waviness also occurs due to excessive emission of gasses through weaker zones during firing and also quick drainage of the slip , defective plaster moulds and such other reasons . presence of fusible impurities causes excessive glass formation thereby disturbing the porous nature of the matrix . the critical features of the present invention is to utilize the theory of packing using narrow sized grains of non - plastic component and filling - up the inter - granular space of the particles without compromising the decrease in porosity and strength the other parameters include homogenous mixing , control of impurity level and sintering temperature . the porous ceramics are shaped as required for pressure filtration having controlled pore sizes in the range of 1 to 15 μm . another novelty is that the process is economical as it involves use of cheaper raw materials and firing at lower temperature . the above novel features have been achieved as a direct result of the following steps 1 . use of non - plastic component of rounded or sub - rounded grains , controlled grain size and lower purity . 3 . controlling the rheological properties of the slip made by mixing the components with water addition and adjusting the dose of deflocculants and binders 4 firing the shape at lower temperature in the range of 1300 ° to 1500 ° c . the equipment of the present invention may be cleaned as follows . 1 ) when the fine particles are not able to adsorb arsenic species any more the suspension was pumped through candle filters housed separately under normal atmospheric pressure to entrap the arsenic enriched particles for disposal after cementation within hollow blocks . 2 ) when the dynamic coating of the fine particles over the inner wall of the porous ceramic tubes are also exhausted , the tubes may be allowed to dry out for about a week for detachment of the dried layer due to formation of mud cracks and flushed with clean water prior to application of a fresh coating layer . 3 ) when the porous ceramic tubes due to prolonged usage are blocked it may be necessary to rinse with 0 1 to 5 n solution of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide followed by washing with clean water . the process and equipment of the present invention successfully removes arsenic to a level below 10 ppb from arsenic contaminated ground water to make safe drinking water . the novelty of the invention in achieving below 10 ppb level of arsenic is much better than the prescribed bis limit of 50 ppb arsenic and better than who recommended limit of 10 ppb arsenic in drinking water . the process of removal of arsenic is achieved by the following inventive steps : 1 ) treating arsenic contaminated ground water by mixing with an homogenous suspension of arsenic adsorbing media . 2 ) circulating under pressure the mix of contaminated water and arsenic adsorbing media suspension through porous ceramic pressure filtration tubes which are precoated with the arsenic adsorbing media . the following examples are given by way of illustration and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention . a mixing tank of 10 litre capacity was taken . 600 ml of 1200 ppm suspension of ferric hydroxide of less than 20 μm size in ground water was prepared . the suspension was added to the mixing tank having an outlet connected with a pump of ¼ hp capacity with the discharge rate of 30 litre per minute . the discharge end of the pump was connected with a porous ceramic pressure filtration tube of 10 mm outer diameter and 300 mm length . the other end of the ceramic tube was connected with stainless steel tube through a pressure gauge and a valve which was connected with the mixing tank . the pressure filtration tube was encased with a leak proof transparent plastic tube in such a manner that there is no leakage at the junction points and the filtered water was obtained through the outer surface of the pressure filtration tube . the suspension of ferric hydroxide is passed through the tube for about one hour to form a coating of more then 10 μm thickness of ferric hydroxide in the inner wall of the tube 1200 ml of 7 . 5 ppm arsenic solution in the form of sodium arsenate was added to the ferric hydroxide suspension to maintain 5 ppm arsenic and 400 ppm of ferric hydroxide in the slurry . the slurry was pumped through a pressure filtration tube at a pressure of 2 kg / cm 2 and the filtered water was collected . the arsenic content of the filtered water was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and it was found to be below its detection limit (& lt ; 2 ppb ). the filtration rate was found to be about 500 lit / sq . m ./ hr . a mixing tank of 10 litre capacity was taken 200 ml of 720 ppm suspension of aluminium hydroxide of less than 15 μm size in ground water was prepared . the suspension was added to the mixing tank having an outlet connected with a pump of ¼ hp capacity with the discharge rate of 30 litre per minute . the discharge end of the pump was connected with a porous ceramic pressure filtration tube of 10 mm outer diameter and 300 mm length . the other end of the ceramic tube was connected with stainless steel tube through a pressure gauge and a valve which was connected with the mixing tank . the pressure filtration tube was encased within a leak proof transparent plastic tube in such a manner that there is no leakage at the junction points and the filtered water was obtained through the outer surface of the pressure filtration tube . the suspension of aluminium hydroxide is passed through the tube for about one hour to form a coating of more then 10 μm thickness of aluminium hydroxide layer in the inner wall of the ceramic tube . 1300 ml of 7 ppm arsenic solution in the form of sodium arsenate was added to the aluminium hydroxide suspension to maintain 5 ppm arsenic and 200 ppm of aluminium hydroxide in the slurry . the slurry was pumped through a pressure filtration tube at a pressure of 1 . 5 kg / cm 2 and the filtered water was collected . the arsenic content of the filtered water was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and it was found to be below its detection limit (& lt ; 2 ppb ) the filtration rate was found to be abut 300 lit / sq . m ./ hr . a mixing tank of 10 litre capacity was taken . 400 ml of suspension in ground water containing 200 ml of 2700 ppm ferric hydroxide of less than 20 μm and 200 ml of 2700 ppm aluminium hydroxide of less than 15 μm size was prepared . the suspension was added to the mixing tank having an outlet connected with a pump of ¼ hp capacity with the discharge rate of 30 litre per minute . the discharge end of the pump was connected with a porous ceramic pressure filtration tube of 10 mm outer diameter and 300 mm length . the other end of the ceramic tube was connected with stainless steel tube through a pressure gauge and a valve which was connected with the mixing tank the pressure filtration tube was encased within a leak proof transparent plastic tube in such a manner that there is no leakage at the junction points and the filtered water was obtained through the outer surface of the pressure filtration tube . the suspension of ferric hydroxide and aluminium hydroxide is passed through the tube for about one hour to form a coating of more then 10 μm thickness of layer containing ferric hydroxide and aluminium hydroxide in the inner wall of the ceramic tube . 1400 ml of 6 . 5 ppm arsenic solution in the form of sodium arsenate was added to the suspension of ferric hydroxide and aluminium hydroxide to maintain 5 ppm arsenic and 300 ppm of each of ferric hydroxide and aluminium hydroxide in the slurry . the slurry was pumped through a pressure filtration tube at a pressure of 2 kg / cm 2 and the filtered water was collected . the arsenic content of the filtered water was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and it was found to be below its detection limit (& lt ; 2 ppb ). the filtration rate was found to be about 500 lit / sq . m ./ hr . a mixing tank of 50 litre capacity was taken . 4 litre of 900 ppm suspension of ferric hydroxide of & lt ; 5 μm size in ground water was prepared the suspension was added to the mixing tank having an outlet connected with a pump of ½ hp capacity with the discharge rate of 45 litre per minute . the discharge end of the pump was connected with a porous ceramic pressure filtration tube of 25 mm inner diameter and 200 mm length . the other end of the ceramic tube was connected with stainless steel tube through a pressure gauge and a valve which was connected with the mixing tank . the pressure filtration tube was encased within a leak proof transparent plastic tube in such a manner that there is no leakage at the junction points and the filtered water was obtained through the outer surface of the pressure filtration tube . the suspension of ferric hydroxide is passed through the tube for about 10 mins to form a coating of more then 10 μm thickness of ferric hydroxide layer in the inner wall of the ceramic tube . 14 litres of 1 . 0 ppm arsenic solution in the form of sodium arsenate was added to the ferric hydroxide suspension to maintain 0 . 8 ppm arsenic and 200 ppm ferric hydroxide in the slurry the slurry was pumped through a pressure filtration tube at a pressure of 1 kg / cm 2 and the filtered water was collected the arsenic content of the filtered water was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and it was found to be below 10 ppb . the filtration rate was found to be about 3 . 75 litre per hour . a mixing tank of 1000 litre capacity was taken . 300 litre of 4000 ppm suspension of ferric hydroxide of & lt ; 10 μm size in ground water was prepared . the suspension was added to the mixing tank having an outlet connected with a pump of 2 hp capacity with the discharge rate of 60 litre per minute . the discharge end of the pump was connected with a feed back tube to the mixing tank fitted with stainless steel nozzles to form a spray . the discharge end of the pump was also connected with a filter module consisting of seven nos . of porous ceramic pressure filtration tube of 34 mm outer diameter and 1000 mm length . the other end of the seven element ceramic filter module was connected to the mixing tank and a porous candle filter for entrapment of arsenic enriched sludge . the pressure filtration tubes were encased within a leak proof stainless steel casing in such a manner that there is no leakage at the junction points and the filtered water was obtained through the outer surface of the pressure filtration tube . the suspension of ferric hydroxide is passed through the tube for about 30 mins to form a coating of more then 10 μm thickness of ferric hydroxide layer in the inner wall of the ceramic tube . 700 litre of 0 8 ppm arsenic solution in the form of sodium arsenate and arsenite was added to the ferric hydroxide suspension to maintain 0 . 7 ppm arsenic and 1500 ppm of ferric hydroxide in the slurry . the slurry was pumped through a pressure filtration tube at a pressure of 1 kg / cm 2 and the filtered water was collected . the arsenic content of the filtered water was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and it was found to be below 10 ppb . the filtration rate was found to be about 1 . 5 litre per min . after running the equipment for about three months the suspension was passed through the porous candle filter to entrap the saturated arsenic enriched sludge . the filter module containing ceramic pressure filtration tubes was allowed to air dry and coating layer was washed with deionised water to clean the ceramic tubes and make it ready for reuse . about 60 gm of alumina powder of average particle size 9 . 6 μm and 99 5 % purity was taken . 140 gm of washed china clay containing 1 2 wt % of iron oxide , soda , potash and calcium oxide impurities was added with the alumina . 30 gm of carbon powder containing 3 . 6 wt % ash was added to the aforesaid mix . the powder mix was charged in a plastic bottle with 400 gm alumina ball and 300 cc of deionised water . the materials were mixed for 6 hours and the slurry was unloaded in a flat container . 3 cc of 5 % w / v darvan - 7 was added to the slurry to form a slip of viscosity 300 cp . the slip was poured in a two piece plaster of paris mould of about 16 mm internal diameter , the upper level of the slurry was maintained at a constant level by gradual addition of the slip time to time . the slip was allowed to remain within the mould for 2 minutes to maintain about 2 mm thickness of the cast after which the excess slurry was drained off . the cast body was allowed to remain within the mould for about 1 hour after which the two halves of the mould were separated out and the green cast was allowed to dry under humid condition for 2 days the green tubes were slowly dried in air oven at 120 - 130 ° c . for 24 hours . the average bulk density of green tubes was maintained in the range of 1 . 4 - 1 . 5 gm / cc . the green tubes were heated at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour maintained at 800 ° c . for 1 hour , then at 1500 ° c . for 4 hours and cooled to room temperature at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour . the apparent porosity of fired samples was found to be 44 % with average pore size of 4 . 15 μm and fired mor of about 30 mpa . the clean water permeability of the tubular samples was of the order of 12 , 000 lmh . bar about 80 gm of alumina powder ( 99 . 5 % purity ) of average particle size 2 . 5 μm was mixed with 120 gm of processed and purified plastic clay containing less than 2 . 5 wt % total impurities ( iron oxide , soda , potash and calcium oxide ) and 30 grams of carbon powder containing 3 . 6 % ash . the powder mix was then charged in a plastic bottle with 400 gm alumina ball and 330 cc of deionised water . the materials were mixed for 3 . 5 hours and the slurry was unloaded in a flat container . 3 cc of 5 % w / v darvan - 7 was added to the slurry to form a slip of viscosity 250 cp . the slip was poured in a two piece plaster of paris mould of about 16 mm internal diameter , the upper level of the slurry was maintained at a constant level by gradual addition of the slip time to time . the slip was allowed to remain within the mould for 1 . 5 minutes to maintain about 2 mm thickness of the cast after which the excess slurry was drained off . the cast body was allowed to remain within the mould for about 1 hour after which the two halves of the mould were separated out and the green cast was allowed to dry under humid condition for 1 hours . the green cast tubes slowly dried in air oven at 120 - 130 ° c . for 24 hours . the average bulk density of green tubes was maintained in the range of 1 . 35 - 1 . 4 gm / cc . the green tubes were heated at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour maintained at 800 ° c . for 1 hour , then at 1500 ° c . pc for 4 hours and cooled to room temperature at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour . the apparent porosity of fired samples was found to be 52 % with average pore size of 2 . 8 μm and fired mor of about 26 48 mpa . the clean water permeability of the tubular samples was of the order of 6106 lmh bar . 400 gm of alumina powder ( 91 . 5 % purity ) of average particle size 37 μm was mixed with 600 gm of processed and purified china clay containing 1 . 2 wt % iron oxide , soda , potash and calcium oxide as impurities . the powder mix was then charged in a plastic bottle with 1000 gm alumina ball and 1300 cc of deionized water . the materials were mixed for 3 hours and the slurry was unloaded in a flat container . 7 cc of 5 % w / v darvan - 7 was added to the slurry to form a slip of viscosity 360 cp the slip was poured in a two piece plaster of paris mould of about 16 mm internal diameter , the upper level of the slurry was maintained at a constant level by gradual addition of the slip time to time the slip was allowed to remain within the mould for 1 minute to maintain about 2 mm thickness of the cast after which the excess slurry was drained off . the cast body was allowed to remain within the mould for about 1 hour after which the two halves of the mould were separated out and the green cast was allowed to dry under humid condition for 18 hours . the green cast tubes slowly dried in air oven at 120 - 130 ° c . for 24 hours . the average bulk density of green tubes was maintained in the range of 1 . 6 - 17 gm / cc . the green tubes were heated at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour maintained at 800 ° c . for 1 hour , then at 1500 ° c . for 4 hours and cooled to room temperature at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour . the apparent porosity of fired samples was found to be 55 % with average pore size 5 μm . the clean water permeability of the tubular samples was of the order of 20 , 000 lmh . bar about 80 gm of alumina powder of average particle size 2 . 5 μm and 99 . 5 % purity was taken . 120 gm of washed bikaner clay containing 2 wt % of iron oxide , soda , potash and calcium oxide impurities was added with the alumina . 30 gm of carbon powder containing 3 . 4 wt % ash was added to the aforesaid mix . the powder mix was charged in a plastic bottle with 400 gm alumina ball and 300 cc of deionised water . the materials were mixed for 6 hours and the slurry was unloaded in a container . 4 cc of 5 % w / v darvan - 7 was added to the slurry to form a slip of viscosity 230 cp . the slip was poured in a two piece plaster of paris mould of about 16 mm internal diameter , the upper level of the slurry was maintained at a constant level by gradual addition of the slip time to time . the slip was allowed to remain within the mould for 2 . 5 minutes to maintain about 2 . 5 mm thickness of the cast after which the excess slurry was drained off . the cast body was allowed to remain within the mould for about 1 hour after which the two halves of the mould were separated out and the green cast was allowed to dry under humid condition for 2 days . the green tubes were slowly dried in air oven at 120 - 130 ° c . for 24 hours . the average bulk density of green tubes was maintained in the range of 1 . 4 - 1 . 5 gm / cc . the green tubes were heated at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour maintained at 800 ° c . for 1 hour , then at 1500 ° c . for 4 hours and cooled to room temperature at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour . the apparent porosity of fired samples was found to be 34 % with average pore size of 4 . 04 μm and fired mor of about 28 mpa . the clean water permeability of the tubular samples was of the order of 9160 lmh . bar . 900 gm of alumina powder ( 99 . 5 % purity ) of average particle size 2 . 5 μm was mixed with 100 gm of processed china clay containing less than 2 . 5 wt % total impurities ( iron oxide , soda , potash and calcium oxide ) and 100 grams of carbon powder containing 3 . 6 % ash . the powder mix was then charged in a plastic bottle with 1000 gm alumina ball and 1500 cc of deionised water . the materials were mixed for 5 hours and the slurry was unloaded in a flat container 8 cc of 5 % w / v darvan - 7 and 5 cc of 2 % w / v polyvinyl alcohol was added to the slurry to form a slip of viscosity 380 cp . the slip was poured in a two piece plaster of paris mould of about 16 mm internal diameter , the upper level of the slurry was maintained at a constant level by gradual addition of the slip time to time . the slip was allowed to remain within the mould for 2 . 5 minutes to maintain about 2 mm thickness of the cast after which the excess slurry was drained off . the cast body was allowed to remain within the mould for about 2 hour after which the two halves of the mould were separated out and the green cast was allowed to dry under humid condition for 24 hours . the green cast tubes slowly dried in air oven at 120 - 130 ° c . for 24 hours . the green tubes were heated at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour maintained at 800 ° c . for 1 hour , then at 1500 ° c . for 4 hours and cooled to roots temperature at the rate of 100 ° c . per hour . the fired bulk density of the tubes was 2 . 9 gm / cc . the apparent porosity of fired samples was found to be 20 % and fired mor of about 250 mpa . the clean water permeability of the tubular samples was of the order of 150 lmh . bar 48 kg of alumina powder ( 99 . 5 % purity ) of average particle size 37 μm was mixed with 72 kg of processed and purified china clay containing 1 . 2 wt % iron oxide , soda , potash and calcium oxide as impurities . the powder mix was then charged in a alumina lined ball mill with charge ball ratio of 3 . 1 and dry ground for 6 hours . 180 litres of deionised water was added to it and the slurry was wet ground for 17 hours . the slurry was unloaded in a flat container . 1800 cc of 5 % w / v darvan - 7 and 600 cc of 2 % w / v polyvinyl alcohol were added to the slurry to form a castable slip of viscosity 360 cp . the slip was poured in two piece plaster of paris mould of about 36 mm internal diameter and 1200 mm in length , the upper level of the slurry in the mould was maintained at a constant level by gradual addition of the slip from time to time . the slip was allowed to remain within the mould for 3 minutes to maintain about 3 mm thickness of the cast after which the excess slurry was drained off . the cast body was allowed to remain within the mould for about 1 . 5 hour after which the two halves of the mould were separated and the green cast was allowed to dry under humid condition for 20 hours , the green cast tubes slowly dried in air oven at 120 - 130 ° c . for 24 hours . the average bulk density of green tubes was maintained in the range of 16 - 1 . 7 gm / cc . the green tubes were fired in an oil fired furnace at 1400 ° c . with a total firing schedule of 14 hours and cooling schedule of 10 hours . the apparent porosity of fired samples were found to be 56 %, bulk density 1 . 32 - 1 . 5 gm / cc and water absorption of 40 %. the clean water permeability of the tubular samples was of the order of 16 lph at a pressure of 2 kg / cm 2 of cut piece of 200 mm length , 26 . 6 mm internal diameter and 32 . 8 mm outer diameter .	1
in the following detailed description of the present invention , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . however , it will be obvious to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details . in other instances , well - known methods , procedures , and components have not been described in detail so as to not unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention . referring to fig1 - 5 , a chest compression detection device 10 is depicted . device 10 includes a signal transmitter 14 , a signal receiver 16 , and a processor 18 . in one embodiment , device 10 comprises an ultrasonic transducer . transmitter 14 and receiver 16 are integrated into device 10 . processor 18 is operably coupled to both transmitter 14 and receiver 16 . processor 18 instructs transmitter 14 to send out an ultrasonic pulse 20 , then counts the elapsed time for pulse 20 to reach receiver 16 . processor 18 can then calculate the distance of an object from device 10 . device 10 further includes an audio speaker 26 , a power source 28 , and may include a communicator 30 . power source 28 provides electrical power to all components in device 10 . device 10 is placed on a victim &# 39 ; s chest 22 , in the location where chest compressions are to be administered . in one embodiment , device 10 is preferably located on the victim &# 39 ; s sternum , generally between the victim &# 39 ; s nipples , and in line with a victim &# 39 ; s spine 24 . a rescuer places his hands over device 10 and begins to administer chest compressions . processor 18 instructs transmitter 14 to emit ultrasonic pulses 20 . pulses 20 are directed towards victim &# 39 ; s spine 24 , reflected , and received by receiver 16 . processor 18 counts the time it takes for pulse 20 to travel from transmitter 14 to receiver 16 . knowing the velocity at which sound waves travel , processor 18 can then calculate the distance that pulse 20 traveled . by collecting data of the distance traveled by many successive pulses , processor 18 can determine the amount that a chest 22 is being compressed by a rescuer . in one embodiment , the number of pulses 20 emitted per second is sufficient to give processor 18 sufficient data to accurately calculate chest compression depth . once processor 18 has calculated chest compression depth , processor 18 compares that depth to a desired range of compression depth . in order for cpr to be effective , chest compressions are preferably between one and one half ( 1 . 5 ) inches and two ( 2 ) inches . in the event that processor 18 determines chest 22 is not being compressed enough , processor 18 is adapted to provide feedback to the rescuer preferably through speaker 26 . similarly , if processor 18 determines that chest 22 is being over - compressed , processor 18 uses speaker 26 to provide feedback to the rescuer . such feedback may be in the form of a voice prompt stating “ push harder ” in the event of under - compression of chest 22 , or “ push softer ” in the event of over - compression of chest 22 . such feedback may also be some other audible prompt , such as beeps , or may include visual instructions , tactile feedback , or any combination thereof . processor 18 is also adapted to monitor the rate at which compressions are given and provide feedback to a rescuer if the rate of chest compressions falls outside of a predetermined range of rates . if the rate of chest compressions being delivered by the rescuer is less than the desired range , processor 18 causes speaker 26 to provide feedback to the rescuer , such as with a voice prompt stating “ push faster ,” or other feedback prompt . if the rate of chest compressions being delivered by the rescuer is greater than the desired range , processor 18 causes speaker 26 to provide feedback to the rescuer , such as with a voice prompt stating “ push slower ,” or other feedback prompt . it should be apparent that audio speaker 26 may be supplemented with , or replaced by , various indicators such as lights , a visual display , vibrating mechanism , and so on . in another embodiment of the present invention depicted in fig2 , device 10 does not include a speaker , rather device 10 includes a communicator 30 . communicator 30 is adapted to communicate chest compression data to automatic external defibrillator ( aed ) 12 , using wireless means such as acoustic signals , optical signals , bluetooth , ir , or rf . aed 12 includes an audio speaker 32 and / or a visual display 34 . audio speaker 32 and visual display 34 are each adapted to provide feedback to a rescuer in response to the chest compression data received from communicator 30 of device 10 . in such an embodiment , device 10 may comprise part of a rescue kit 36 , depicted in fig5 . rescue kit 36 may include basic first aid items such as a face shield , rubber gloves , scissors , and so on , in addition to a chest compression detection device . because aed units are relatively expensive , it may be cost prohibitive to equip a large building or area with a sufficient number of aeds to ensure the close proximity of an aed to a cardiac arrest victim . however , a large building or area may be outfitted with many lower cost rescue kits 36 . in the case of a rescue attempt on a victim , a first rescuer can quickly obtain a rescue kit 36 and begin cpr with device 10 while a second rescuer can retrieve an aed 12 from a central location in the building or area . as aed 12 gets into communication range with device 10 , device 10 and aed 12 begin communicating via communicator 30 . aed 12 can then immediately begin providing prompts to a first rescuer using audio speaker 32 and / or visual display 34 . once first electrode 38 and second electrode 40 of aed 12 are attached to a victim , aed 12 may also prompt a rescuer using audio speaker 32 and / or visual display 34 to momentarily cease chest compressions while a defibrillation shock is administered . in another embodiment of the present invention depicted in fig6 , a chest compression detection device 110 is provided as part of an aed 112 . device 110 is removably coupled to aed 112 with wires 140 . aed 112 includes a first electrode 115 , a second electrode 117 , and a processor 118 as depicted in fig8 . device 110 includes a transmitter 114 and a receiver 116 , whereby device 110 is adapted to emit ultrasonic pulse 20 from transmitter 114 into a patient &# 39 ; s chest 122 and receive pulse 20 at receiver 116 subsequent to pulse 20 being reflected off a patient &# 39 ; s spine 24 , as shown in fig4 . the time elapsed between the transmitting and the receiving of a pulse 20 is used by processor 118 to calculate the distance traveled by pulse 20 . by collecting data of the distance traveled by many successive pulses , processor 118 can determine the distance that a chest 122 is being compressed . in one embodiment , the number of pulses 20 emitted per second is sufficient to give processor 18 sufficient data to accurately calculate chest compression depth . once processor 118 has calculated chest compression depth , processor 118 compares that depth to a desired range of compression depth ( ideally between one and one half ( 1 . 5 ) inches and two ( 2 ) inches .) if processor 118 determines that chest 122 is not being compressed enough , processor 118 causes aed 112 to provide feedback to a rescuer performing chest compressions . the prompt may be a voice prompt stating “ push harder ,” or other feedback prompt using an audio speaker 126 , or may be a visual prompt using visual display 128 , or both . if processor 118 determines that chest 122 is being compressed too much , feedback may be provided to the rescuer with a voice prompt stating “ push softer ” using speaker 126 , or a visual prompt using visual display 128 , or both . processor 118 is also adapted to monitor the rate at which chest compressions are given , and provide feedback to a rescuer if the rate of chest compressions falls outside of a predetermined range of rates . if the rate of chest compressions being delivered by the rescuer is less than the desired range , processor 118 causes aed 112 to provide feedback to the rescuer to increase the rate of compressions . such feedback may be a voice prompt stating “ push faster ,” or other audible prompt from speaker 126 , a visual prompt provided by visual display 128 , or other feedback . if the rate of chest compressions being delivered by the rescuer is greater than the desired range , processor 118 causes aed 112 to provide feedback to the rescuer to decrease the rate of compressions . such feedback may be a voice prompt stating “ push slower ,” or other audible prompt from speaker 126 , a visual display provided by visual display 128 , or other feedback . in an alternative embodiment depicted in fig7 , device 110 lacks wires 140 , but includes a wireless means for transmitting data to aed 112 , such as , for example , a wireless communicator 130 , wherein said wireless means may employ acoustic signals , optical signals , bluetooth , ir , or rf . in one embodiment , aed 112 includes an electrical system such as that disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 125 , 299 to groenke et al ., which is hereby incorporated by reference . fig8 is a block diagram of electrical system 70 of aed 112 . a digital microprocessor - based control system 72 is used for controlling overall operation of aed 112 and for delivering a defibrillation shock pulse through electrodes 115 and 117 via connector 67 and lead wires . the electrical control system 72 further includes an impedance measuring circuit for testing the interconnection and operability of electrodes 115 and 117 to detect several faults . control system 72 includes a processor 118 interfaced to program memory 76 , data memory 77 , event memory 78 and real time clock 79 . the operating program executed by processor 118 is stored in program memory 76 . electrical power is provided by the battery 80 which is removably positioned within the battery compartment of aed 112 and is connected to power generation circuit 84 . power generation circuit 84 is also connected to lid switch 90 , watch dog timer 92 , real time clock 79 and processor 118 . lid switch 90 such as , for example , a hall - effect or magnetic read relay switch , provides signals to processor 118 indicating whether the lid of aed 112 is open or closed . data communication port 64 is coupled to processor 118 for two - way serial data transfer using an rs - 232 protocol . rescue switch 63 , maintenance indicator 61 , the indicator lights of diagnostic display panel 62 , the voice circuit 94 and piezoelectric audible alarm 96 are also connected to processor 118 . voice circuit 94 is connected to speaker 126 . in response to voice prompt control signals from processor 118 , circuit 94 and speaker 126 generate audible voice prompts for consideration by a rescuer . high voltage generation circuit 86 is also connected to and controlled by processor 118 . circuits such as high voltage generation circuit 86 are generally known , and disclosed , for example , in the commonly assigned persson et al . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 405 , 361 , which is hereby incorporated by reference . in response to charge control signals provided by processor 118 , high voltage generation circuit 86 is operated in a charge mode during which one set of semiconductor switches ( not separately shown ) cause a plurality of capacitors ( also not shown ), to be charged in parallel to the 12v potential supplied by power generation circuit 84 . once charged , and in response to discharge control signals provided by processor 74 , high voltage generation circuit 86 is operated in a discharge mode during which the capacitors are discharged in series by another set of semiconductor switches ( not separately shown ) to produce the high voltage defibrillation pulses . the defibrillation pulses are applied to the patient by electrodes 115 and 117 through connector 67 connected to the high voltage generation circuit 86 . impedance measuring circuit 66 is connected to both connector 67 and real time clock 79 . impedance measuring circuit 66 is interfaced to processor 118 through analog - to - digital ( a / d ) converter 69 . impedance measuring circuit 66 receives a clock signal having a predetermined magnitude from clock 79 , and applies the signal to electrodes 115 and 117 through connector 67 . the magnitude of the clock signal received back from electrodes 115 and 117 through connector 67 is monitored by impedance measuring circuit 66 . an impedance signal representative of the impedance present across electrodes 115 and 117 is then generated by circuit 66 as a function of the ratio of the magnitudes of the applied and received clock signals ( i . e ., the attenuation of the applied signal ). for example , if electrodes 115 and 117 within an unopened electrode package are connected by the lead wires and connector 68 is properly connected to connector 67 on aed 112 , a relatively low resistance ( e . g ., less than about 10 ohms ) is present across electrodes 115 and 117 . if the hydrogel adhesive on electrodes 115 and 117 is too dry , or the electrodes 115 and 117 are not properly positioned on the patient , a relatively high resistance ( e . g ., greater than about two hundred fifty ohms ) will be present across the electrodes 115 and 117 . the resistance across electrodes 115 and 117 will then be between about twenty - five and two hundred fifty ohms when fresh electrodes 115 and 117 are properly positioned on the patient with good electrical contacts . it should be noted that these resistance values are given as exemplary ranges and are not meant to be absolute ranges . the impedance signal representative of the impedance measured by circuit 66 is digitized by a / d converter 69 and provided to processor 118 . impedance measuring circuit 65 is connected to connector 67 and real time clock 79 , and is interfaced to processor 118 through analog - to - digital ( a / d ) converter 69 . impedance measuring circuit 65 receives a clock signal having a predetermined magnitude from clock 79 , and applies the signal to chest compression detection device 110 through connector 67 . the magnitude of the clock signal received back from device 110 through connector 32 is monitored by impedance measuring circuit 65 . an impedance signal representative of the impedance present across device 110 is then generated by impedance measuring circuit 65 as a function of the ratio of the magnitudes of the applied and received clock signals ( i . e ., the attenuation of the applied signal ). the impedance signal representative of the impedance measured by circuit 65 is digitized by a / d converter 69 and provided to processor 118 . referring now to fig9 , the present invention may also incorporate a pulse oximetry sensor 142 . sensor 142 is operably coupled to aed 112 , and is placed on a victim &# 39 ; s fingertip , earlobe , or other relatively thin part of a victim &# 39 ; s body . sensor 142 utilizes selected wavelengths of light to noninvasively determine the saturation of oxyhemoglobin ( spo 2 ) in a victim &# 39 ; s blood . based on spo 2 levels , an estimate of the oxygen content of a victim &# 39 ; s blood can be determined . sensor 142 is utilized while chest compressions are administered by a rescuer . processor 118 receives information from sensor 142 , and compares oxygen level readings to a desired range of oxygen levels . low oxygenation may be due to not compressing the chest of a victim far enough , or at a fast enough rate . in the event that oxygen levels from sensor 142 are too low , processor 118 causes aed 112 to provide feedback to the rescuer to increase the depth of , or rate of compressions . such feedback may be a voice prompt from speaker 126 stating “ push harder ” or “ push faster ,” a visual prompt provided by visual display 128 , or other feedback . conversely , high oxygenation may be due to compressing the chest of a victim too far , or at too fast of a rate . in the event that oxygen levels from sensor 142 are too high , processor 118 causes aed 112 to provide feedback to decrease the depth of , or rate of compressions . such feedback may be a voice prompt from speaker 126 stating “ push softer ” or “ push slower ,” a visual prompt provided by visual display 128 , or other feedback . referring now to fig1 , a further embodiment of the present invention is shown . rescuers may be reluctant to conduct chest compressions while putting their hands on an electric device , out of fear of electrocution . although accidental electrocution is highly improbable , the embodiment depicted in fig1 does not require a rescuer to conduct chest compressions while pushing on an electronic chest compression detection device . rather , first electrode 115 is adapted to include a signal transmitter 114 , and second electrode 117 is adapted to include a signal receiver 116 . first electrode 115 and second electrode 117 are operably coupled to processor 118 in aed 112 . pulse 20 ( not shown ) is emitted from transmitter 114 in first electrode 115 , triangulated off of spine 124 , and received by receiver 116 in second electrode 117 . electrodes 115 and 117 may be placed on a victim &# 39 ; s chest 122 as shown in fig1 . alternatively , one electrode may be placed on a victim &# 39 ; s chest 122 generally over the heart , while the other electrode is placed on a victim &# 39 ; s back , such that the two electrodes and the heart are inline , as shown in fig1 . in such an arrangement , transmitter 114 in electrode 115 directs a pulse 20 towards receiver 116 in electrode 117 , and pulse 20 is not reflected before being received . further , those skilled in the art will readily recognize that electrodes 115 and 117 and / or chest compression detection device 110 may be placed in locations on a patient other than those explicitly shown in the figures or described herein without deviating from the spirit or scope of this invention . in order to enhance the reflectivity of pulse 120 , a reflector pad may be used in conjunction with all embodiments of the present invention . the reflector pad may be placed generally proximate the victim &# 39 ; s back and is adapted to increase the reflectivity of pulse 120 , and thereby increase the ability of receiver 116 to receive the reflected pulse 120 . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential attributes thereof ; therefore , the illustrated embodiments should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive , reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention .	0
the preferred embodiment will be discussed in relation to a fourteen inch flat tension mask ( ftm ) cathode ray tube ( crt ) with a pressed glass faceplate of 0 . 520 inch thickness and a known funnel with a seal land thickness of 0 . 460 inch as may be found on a ftm crt computer monitor model # 1492 sold by zenith electronics corp ., the assignee hereof . as seen in fig2 ., the funnel 15 , when affixed to the panel 13 , closely surrounds the mask support structures 14 . such an arrangement gives the largest viewing screen area for the smallest overall envelope size . the mask support structures 14 , in turn , closely surround the screen 20 . due to the unique flatness of the panel 13 and the attachment of the rigid mask support structures 14 to the panel , the flat tension mask ( ftm ) envelope is susceptible to stress - induced failures at the funnel - to - panel seal area , hereinafter funnel seal area 26 . during thermal processing , such failures are especially likely to originate at the seal area corners 29 , as further explained below . during the exhaust cycle &# 34 ; up - shock &# 34 ;, i . e . rising temperature phase , the panel stresses are primarily driven by the thermal gradient through the panel . as seen in fig3 ., this gradient causes the panel 13 to deform spherically . if the panel 13 were unrestrained , this deformation would not be accompanied by high panel stresses . however , the funnel 15 tries to resist the panel deformation , thereby applying a bending moment to the panel 13 . the bending moment produces tensile stresses on the inside surface 31 of the panel . these panel surface stresses are highest in the corners 29 , because the funnel 15 is stiffest in the corners 29 , thereby presenting the most resistance to panel deformation . because the funnel 15 is less stiff along the sides , the stresses of the panel inner surface 31 quickly decrease in all directions going away from the corners 29 . the mask supports , or rails 14 , are attached to the inside surface of the panel 13 , with frit 17 . the edge of the frit &# 34 ; bead &# 34 ; meets the panel surface 31 at a re - entrant angle 42 , creating substantial stress concentrations . the stress concentration magnifies the already high stresses produced by the funnel restraining the panel &# 39 ; s thermal deformation . the location of these stress concentrations coincides with the point where failure initiates during accelerated thermal upshock . therefore the thermal stresses during evacuation on the crt envelope 11 may be lessened by providing more compliant funnel corners 33 to decrease the resistance to panel deformation at the sensitive corner areas . as seen in fig4 & amp ; 5 this compliance can be achieved by reducing the thickness of the funnel seal area funnel wall 35 at the funnel corners 33 , until sufficient compliance is achieved for rapid upshock without adversely affecting the evacuated envelope pressure strength . typically , as seen in fig5 for a known 14 &# 34 ; diagonal measure ftm , the seal area wall 35 ( as shown in phantom ) is substantially equal in width to the thickness of the front panel 13 at its end 37 , or junction , with the panel . the seal area funnel wall 35 must therefore taper from a thickness of approximately two hundred mils ( hundredths of an inch ) in the upper wall area 39 to a thickness of four hundred to five hundred mils a its end 37 . according to the present invention , the funnel wall 35 would be made thinner at the corners 33 , for example retaining a constant thickness of two hundred to three hundred mils from the upper wall area 39 through the lower wall area 40 all the way to the end 38 . as seen in fig4 the normally designated axes of a crt envelope are indicated for descriptive purposes . as seen in fig5 the funnel wall 35 should be adequately faired along the z axes from the upper wall area 39 into the lower wall area 40 to avoid abrupt transitions . likewise in fig4 the transitions from the corner walls 33 to the side walls 41 should also be adequately faired in the x - y plane . narrowing the funnel wall thickness at the funnel corners 33 will not adversely effect evacuated bulb strength as long as the side walls 41 are left substantially the same thickness as in the known funnel . such a funnel construction has the further advantage of easier funnel fabrication in that less glass must be forced to the far reaches of the funnel mold during fabrication . further advantages of the present invention include the provision of extra clearance space between the funnel and the mask support structure . the need for such clearance may be entirely spatial , if as shown in fig2 the mask support structure is a closed frame 12 , or also may be needed to move the funnel corners away from the stress - riser points of the mask support frames . this advantage derives from radiusing the corners on the interior surface of the funnel wall corners 33 , as best seen in fig4 rather than leaving the wall interior corners square and radiusing the walls from the outside as shown in phantom in the upper right hand corner of fig4 . it will therefore be seen that by appropriately thinning the funnel walls at the funnel corners , this more compliant funnel will allow the facepanel to undergo less thermal stress during evacuation , whereby crt throughput may be increased during the exhaust cycle , thus providing economies in the manufacturing process . while the present invention has been illustrated and described in connection with the preferred embodiments , it is not to be limited to the particular structure shown , because many variations thereof will be evident to one skilled in the art and are intended to be encompassed in the present invention as set forth in the following claims :	7
codispersant agent is understood to mean organic compounds capable of giving rise to anions . among these compounds , organic compounds which react with the ferric salt present in the reaction medium , or which have already reacted with a ferric salt before introduction into the reaction medium , are preferred . in general , alkyl or aryl sulphates or sulphonates , acids such as benzoic acid , ammonium salts or alkali metal salts such as ammonium or sodium laurate , trichloroacetate , phenylphosphonate or ( glycerol 2 - phosphate ) are employed . salts such as sodium salts of trifluoromethanesulphonic , lauric , trichloroacetic , phenylphosphonic , glycerol - 2 - phosphonic , octylsulphonic , pentadecylsulphonic , hexadecyl - sulphonic , polyvinylsulphonic , polystyrenesulphonic , para - toluenesulphonic , dodecylbenzenesulphonic , para - hydroxy benzenesulphonic , 4 - dimenthylaminobenzenesulphonic , 1 , 3 - benzene - disul - phonic and dodecyl sulphuric acids . preferably , compounds containing a dodecyl sulphuric sulphate group are employed . it is especially preferable to employ sodium dodecyl sulphate . in the reaction medium , a polyvinyl alcohol or a derivative of this alchol such as , in particular , an acetate is employed also , as a dispersant agent . a hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate is usually employed , and preferably a hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate having a degree of hydrolysis of between 72 and 96 % and an average molecular weight of between 50 , 000 and 200 , 000 . good results have been obtained with a hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate having a degree of hydrolysis of between 86 and 90 % and an average molecular weight of between 100 , 000 and 140 , 000 . in the reaction medium , a ferric salt is employed also , as an oxidizing and doping agent , causing polymerization . in general , an organic or inorganic ferric salt is employed . usually , a chloride , sulphate or nitrate is employed as an inorganic ferric salt , and compounds of the following type are employed as an organic ferric salt : iron trichloroacetate , iron phenylphosphonate , iron ( glycerol 2 - phosphate ), iron pentadecylsulphonate , iron hexadecylsulphonate , iron polyvinylsulphonate , iron polystyrenesulphonate , iron dodecylbenzenesulphonate , iron tosylate , iron trifluoromethanesulphonate and iron dodecyl sulphate . preferably , ferric chloride is employed . finally , the reaction medium contains a pyrrole derivative , which is understood to mean pyrrole , n - methylpyrrole , pyrroles substituted at the 3 - position and mixtures of these compounds . preferably , unsubstituted pyrrole is employed . the quantity of codispersant agent employed in the process according to the invention can vary according to its chemical nature . when sodium dodecyl sulphate is used , 0 . 01 to 7 . 5 moles per mole of pyrrole monomer , usually 0 . 05 to 3 moles and preferably 0 . 1 to 2 moles , are generally employed . good results have been obtained with concentrations of between 0 . 3 and 1 moles of sodium dodecyl sulphate per mole of pyrrole monomer . the quantity of polyvinyl alcohol , or of the derivative of this alcohol , employed can vary within wide limits , and depends on its solubility in water . when a hyydrolysed polyvinyl acetate is used , 0 . 1 to 8 g per gram , of pyrrole monomer , and usually 0 . 2 to 5 g are generally employed . good results have been obtained with concentrations of between 0 . 3 and 2 g of hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate per gram pyrrole monomer . in order for the process to show a good yield , the quantity of ferric salt to be employed is large . when ferric chloride is used , 0 . 3 to 3 moles of ferric chloride are generally employed per mole of pyrrole . good results have been obtained with concentrations of between 2 and 2 . 7 moles of ferric chloride per mole of pyrrole . the process according to the invention is preferably performed in an aqueous medium , but the quantity of water needed can vary within wide limits , and depends chiefly on the other components . the process according to the invention can advantageously be carried out according to the following stages : in a first stage , water , the ferric salt , the polyvinyl alcohol or the derivative of this alcohol and the codispersant agent are introduced into the reactor to form the reaction medium ; in a second stage , pyrrole or the pyrrole derivative is added with stirring to this reaction medium in the presence of water . the latex finally obtained after these two stages is concentrated by centrifugation or ultrafiltration or by any known method . it is then washed with water . the concentrated latex is washed and then redispersed in an aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol or of a derivative of this alcohol . this aqueous solution usually contains from 0 . 1 to 50 g of polyvinyl alcohol or of the derivative of this alcohol per 100 ml of water , and preferably from 0 . 5 to 10 g . in general , the chemical compound already used in the first stage is employed . the temperature at which the process is carried out is generally between 0 ° and 50 ° c ., and preferably between 5 ° and 40 ° c ., when working at atmospheric pressure . the pressure at which the process is carried out is not in itself critical . it is generally between 0 . 1 and 10 bar , and is preferably equal to atmospheric pressure . the process according to the invention can be carried out in any apparatus or any reactor permitting the combination of the working conditions described above . the present invention also relates to the use of the latex obtained to form a conducting film . in effect , the process according to the invention makes it possible to obtain stable latices , composed of conducting polymers , capable of forming adherent , homogeneous and highly conductive films in a wide range of thickness . the films obtained are homogeneous and , as a result , do not laminate spontaneously . it is hence possible to obtain very thin layers such as , in particular , submicronic layers , films of 0 . 2 to several tens of microns , but also layers of several hundred microns . the conducting polymers obtained can , in particular , be used as active or passive electrode materials , a binding agent in electrodes , electromagnetic screening , components of batteries , accumulators or capacitors , electrochemical and electrochromic devices , paints for electromagnetic absorption and also , depending on the thickness of the films obtained , for display , for data recording and as materials for electronic components and circuits . the latices obtained according to the invention can be deposited on any support such as , in particular , glass , metals , metallized glasses , glass fibres , textiles plastics . 150 ml of water , ferric chloride ( fecl 3 . 6 h 2 o ) and polyvinyl acetate , 88 % hydrolysed and of average moleecular weight 120 , 000 , are introduced into a 500 - ml round - bottomed flask ; the quantities of these products are noted in table 1 . to the reaction medium thereby obtained , pyrrole , dissolved in 50 ml of water , is added dropwise and with stirring . the flask is maintained for 2 hours at 20 ° c . the product obtained is spread on metallized glass ( ito glass ) and on nickel , and then dried at room temperature overnight . after this drying , the film obtained is washed with ethanol one or more times until the ethanol is clear . the characteristics of the films obtained are collated in table 1 : the films obtained are poorly homogeneous and have low adhesion , and their conductivity is low . table 1__________________________________________________________________________products employed hydrolysed characteristics of the films obtainedexamplefecl . sub . 3 . 6h . sub . 2 o polyvinyl adhesion * thickness obtained conductivityno . ( g ) acetate ( g ) pyrrole ( g ) homogeneity to ito glass to nickel only 1 spreading ( s · cm . sup .- 1 ) __________________________________________________________________________1r 29 . 7 1 3 very poor 2a 2a 50 10 . sup .- 2 to 12r 17 . 2 1 . 2 1 . 6 very poor 2a 2a 6 0 . 33r 32 . 1 2 . 25 3 poor 2a 2a 75 10 . sup .- 14r 95 . 1 6 . 75 9 poor 2a 2a 100 3 × 10 . sup .- 3__________________________________________________________________________ * the adhesion is measured according to astm standard d 335978a , which employs a test with 3m scotch tape no . 710 ( american national standard ). 150 ml of water , 29 . 7 g of ferric chloride fecl 3 . 6 h 2 o and 1 g of polyvinyl acetate , 88 % hydrolysed and of average molecular weight 120 , 000 , are introduced into a 500 - ml round - bottomed flask , and 3 g of pyrrole , dissolved in 50 ml of water , are then added dropwise and with stirring . the flask is maintained for 2 hours at 20 ° c . the product obtained is centrifuged for 30 minutes at 15 , 000 rpm and washed twice with water . either in a solution of 2 g of 88 % hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate in 100 ml of water ( ex . 5r ); or in a solution of 5 . 6 g of 88 % hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate in 200 ml of water ( ex . 6r ). the product obtained is spread on metallized glass ( ito glass ) and on nickel and then dried at room temperature overnight . the characteristics of the films obtained are collated in table 2 . table 2__________________________________________________________________________ adhesion * thickness obtained after conductivityexample no . homogeneity on ito glass on nickel only 1 spreading ( μm ) ( s · cm . sup .- 1 ) __________________________________________________________________________5r good 4a 4a 50 - 100 0 . 096r good 4a 4a 80 10 . sup .- 4__________________________________________________________________________ * the adhesion is measured according to astm standard d 335978a , which employs a test with 3m scotch tape no . 710 ( american national standard ) 150 ml of water , 29 . 7 g of ferric chloride fecl 3 . 6 h 2 o , 4 g of polyvinyl acetate , 88 % hydrolysed and of average molecular weight 120 , 000 , and 6 . 3 g of sodium dodecyl sulphate are introduced into a 500 - ml round - bottomed flask . 3 g of pyrrole , dissolved in 50 ml of water , are then added dropwise and with stirring . the latex obtained is centrifuged for 30 minutes at 15 , 000 rpm and washed twice with water . it is then dispersed in a solution of 2 g of 88 % hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate in 100 ml of water for example 7 , and 2 g of 88 % hydrolysed polyvinyl acetate in 300 ml of water for example 8 . the latex obtained is spread on metallized glass ( ito glass ) and on nickel , and then dried at room temperature overnight . the characteristics of the films obtained are collated in table 3 : the films obtained have high conductivity and good adhesion . table 3__________________________________________________________________________ adhesion * thickness obtained after conductivityexample no . homogeneity to ito to glass to nickel only 1 spreading ( μm ) ( s · cm . sup .- 1 ) __________________________________________________________________________7 good 4a 4a 50 - 100 108 good 4a 4a 10 12__________________________________________________________________________ * the adhesion is measured according to astm standard d 335978a , which employs a test with 3m scotch tape no . 710 ( american national standard ).	7
in referring to fig1 a low - glare light is shown and indicated generally by the number 10 . the light has a housing made up of a front 11 , a rear 13 and opposing ends 15 and 17 . the housing would normally have a top 18 to complete the enclosure and to protect the inside from random dust and dirt . the housing can be made of aluminum , steel or polymeric materials . a switch 19 for turning the light on and off is positioned near one corner of the housing . a fluorescent tube 21 extends substantially the full length of the housing near the rear thereof . a ballast transformer 23 for the fluorescent tube is positioned adjacent the switch 19 . the light emitting opening 20 in the low - glare light is closed by a transparent diffuser 27 , fig1 and 2 , which is held by supports 29 at each end of the light fixture and by supports 31 on the sides of the light fixture . as shown in fig2 one end socket 33 is shown for supporting the fluorescent tube 21 . as is well - known , there is a substantially identical socket 33 at the remote end of the fluorescent tube . a reflector 35 is positioned behind the fluorescent tube to direct the light toward the opening 20 in the light fixture . the reflector can be a white or mirror - like surface or a piece of scotchlamp film with the prisms away from the tube and perpendicular to the tube . no wiring is shown for connecting the fluorescent tube 21 , the socket 33 , the transformer 23 and the switch 19 so as not to clutter the drawing . the light diffuser 27 , referring to fig4 is made from a sheet of transparent polymeric material 30 having a prism - like surface on one side 32 and a plano surface 34 on the other . each prism of the prism - like surface joins the adjacent prism at a 90 ° angle . each individual prism has a face at a 45 ° angle to a line perpendicular to the plano surface and passing through the trough of the prism . in the preferred embodiment , the diffuser is positioned in the light fixture with the prism - like ridges and grooves 26 perpendicular to the fluorescent tube light source 21 as shown in a partial view in fig1 with the plano surface 28 removed to reveal the prismatic surface . while a 90 ° angle is preferred , the angle can be varied to suit particular lighting requirements . as the angle of the prisms relative to the fluorescent tube is decreased , the number of light spots appearing in the diffuser increase until , when the prisms are parallel to the fluorescent tube , the diffuser is equivalent to a conventional diffuser which would suffer from having a long light spot . the light fixtures can be made in many different lengths to suit the commercially available fluorescent light tubes . also incandescent bulbs with or without an internal reflector can be used as a point source of light with the inventive diffuser . as the length or configuration of the housing changes , an option is presented of using either a self - supporting sheet of prismatic material or a thin film of the prismatic material can be employed , as shown in fig3 where the film 36 is sandwiched between two clear pieces of glass or polymeric material 38 , 40 . the thin film material is available , as previously mentioned , from the 3m corporation under the trademark scotchlamp . the film is also available from licensees of the 3m corporation . the prismatic material , whether self - supporting or in the form of scotchlamp film , is preferably made of optical grade polycarbonate material . other polymeric materials with substantially similar optical and physical properties can also be used . the preferred material is scotchlamp film in combination with at least one supporting sheet as shown in fig3 . the film is commercially available with a thickness of 0 . 020 &# 34 ;± 0 . 003 and in many different lengths . obviously , other film thicknesses can be used that have the same optical properties . a preferred application for the low - glare light of the present invention is as a task light to illuminate a workspace , such as a desktop . the low - glare light is particularly useful in applications where modular furniture is employed , referring to fig5 having a work surface 41 below a storage cabinet 43 . a task light 45 with a prismatic diffuser 47 of the size needed to fit above the workspace can be suspended from the bottom 49 of storage cabinets 43 to provide uniform illumination of the working surface substantially free of bright spots which are so common with current light diffusers . though the invention has been described with respect to specific preferred embodiments thereof , many variations and modifications will immediately become apparent to those skilled in the art . it is , therefore , the intention that the appended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of the prior art to include all such variations and modifications .	5
preferred embodiments will be explained with reference to accompanying drawings . note that the invention is not limited to the following embodiments . fig1 is a functional block diagram of a configuration of a mapping device according to an embodiment . as illustrated in fig1 , a mapping device 1 receives xbrl data 21 before a change and xbrl data 22 after the change , and associates items included in the xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change with each other . the xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change define respective taxonomies . “ taxonomy ” defines a system of items ( hereinafter , called “ item ”) used in xbrl , and includes a schema and a linkbase . “ schema ” is a list of items and defines a name and a data type of each item . “ linkbase ” defines link information for each item , and includes , for example , a presentation link , a label link , and a reference link . “ presentation link ” defines a parent - child relationship and a display order ( order information ) between items , and the like . “ label link ” defines a label of an item ( e . g ., “ assets ” as a label of an item name “ assets ”). “ reference link ” defines document information as grounds for defining the item ( e . g ., “ regulation of financial statements , form a ” as document information of the item name “ assets ”). in other words , the mapping device 1 associates items before and after the change with each other even if , for the items included in the xbrl data 21 before the change , an item name is changed , a label name is changed , a document information name is changed , and an order of a child item is changed . in the embodiment , “ schema ” corresponds to a schema 41 . “ linkbase ” corresponds to a linkbase 42 . each configuration example of the schema 41 and the linkbase 42 will be explained later . the mapping device 1 includes a storage unit 2 and a control unit 3 . the storage unit 2 corresponds to a storage device being a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device or the like such as a flash memory and fram ( registered trademark ) ( ferroelectric random access memory ). the storage unit 2 includes the xbrl data 21 before the change and the xbrl data 22 after the change . the xbrl data 21 before the change and the xbrl data 22 after the change are stored in the storage unit 2 by a structural analysis unit 31 which is explained later . each of the xbrl data 21 before the change and the xbrl data 22 after the change includes the schema 41 and the linkbase 42 . moreover , the linkbase 42 includes a presentation link 421 , a label link 422 , and a reference link 423 . each data structure of the schema 41 and of the presentation link 421 , the label link 422 , and the reference link 423 included in the linkbase 42 will be explained herein with reference to fig2 to fig5 . fig2 is a diagram of an example of the data structure of a schema . fig3 is a diagram of an example of the data structure of a linkbase ( presentation link ). fig4 is a diagram of an example of the data structure of a linkbase ( label link ). fig5 is a diagram of an example of the data structure of a linkbase ( reference link ). as illustrated in fig2 , the schema 41 stores an item name 41 b and a data type 41 c associated with each other for each id ( identification ) 41 a . the id 41 a is an identifier of an item used in the xbrl data . the item name 41 b indicates a name of an item . the data type 41 c indicates a data type of a value associated with an item . as one example , when the id 41 a is “ 1 ”, “ assets ” as the item name 41 b and “ amount - of - money type ” as the data type 41 c are stored . as illustrated in fig3 , the presentation link 421 stores a parent - child relationship 421 a . the parent - child relationship 421 a defines a parent - child relationship between items using identifiers of the items and an arrow . in the example of fig3 , when an identifier “ 1 ” of an item is parent and an identifier “ 2 ” of an item is child , the parent - child relationship 421 a is expressed by “ 1 → 2 ”. when there is a plurality of children with respect to the same parent , and , for example , if a child is in an upper position in the parent - child relationship 421 a , a display order ( order information ) of the child precedes display orders of any other children . in the example of fig3 , there are identifiers “ 2 ” and “ 3 ” of the child items with respect to the identifier “ 1 ” of the parent item . in this case , the child with the identifier “ 2 ” in the upper part is assigned with order information “ 1 ”, and the child with the identifier “ 3 ” in the lower part is assigned with order information “ 2 ”. the parent - child relationship 421 a is not limited to a relation between a parent and a child , and may be a relation of offspring , or may be a relation from a grandchild to a great - grandchild . as illustrated in fig4 , the label link 422 stores a label name 422 b associated with each id 422 a . the id 422 a is an identifier of an item , and corresponds to the id 41 a illustrated in fig2 . the label name 422 b represents a label of an item . as one example , when the id 422 a is “ 1 ”, “ current assets ” is stored as the label name 422 b . as illustrated in fig5 , the reference link 423 stores a reference name 423 b associated with each id 423 a . the id 423 a is an identifier of an item , and corresponds to the id 41 a illustrated in fig2 . the reference name 423 b indicates document information as grounds for defining the item . as one example , when the id 423 a is “ 1 ”, “ regulation of financial statements , form a ” is stored as the reference name 423 b . the control unit 3 includes an internal memory used to store programs and control data that specify various processing procedures , and thereby performs various processing . the control unit 3 corresponds to an integrated circuit such as asic ( application specific integrated circuit ) and fpga ( field programmable gate array ), or to an electronic circuit such as cpu ( central processing unit ) and mpu ( micro processing unit ). the control unit 3 further includes the structural analysis unit 31 , a mapping unit 32 , and an output unit 33 . moreover , the mapping unit 32 includes a tree - structure mapping unit 321 and an item mapping unit 322 . the structural analysis unit 31 uses the xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change to perform structural analysis and create tree structures before and after the change . for example , the structural analysis unit 31 receives the xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change and stores the received xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change in the storage unit 2 . as one example , the structural analysis unit 31 is implemented by input / output of the xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change which are files to / from a storage device . the structural analysis unit 31 creates a tree structure of items described in the schema 41 before the change using a parent - child relationship and a display order represented in the presentation link 421 before the change . moreover , the structural analysis unit 31 adds a label name represented in the label link 422 and a reference name represented in the reference link 423 to the created tree structure . the structural analysis unit 31 creates a tree structure of items described in the schema 41 after the change using the linkbase 42 after the change . the mapping unit 32 includes the tree - structure mapping unit 321 and the item mapping unit 322 . the tree - structure mapping unit 321 maps a tree related to the parent item after the change ( comparison destination ) with respect to a tree related to the parent item before the change ( comparison source ) based on the tree structures before and after the change created by the structural analysis unit 31 . here , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 maps a comparison - destination tree being closest , in structure , to a comparison - source tree . for example , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 compares item names with each other and compares pieces of auxiliary information with each other between top - level parent items in the comparison - source tree and the comparison - destination tree . the auxiliary information includes , as one example , a label name , a reference name , and the number of child items hanging from a parent item . mapping of tree structures before and after the change ( comparison source / destination ) will be explained herein with reference to fig6 . fig6 is a diagram of an example of the mapping of tree structures before and after the change . as illustrated in fig6 , there is a tree with “ assets ” set as a parent item in the comparison - source tree structure , in which “ assets ” is described as label information of the parent item , “ regulation of financial statements , form a ” is described as reference information thereof , and “ 3 ” is described as the number of child items thereof . in fig6 , the label information , the reference information , and the number of child items are auxiliary information . the tree - structure mapping unit 321 compares item names , pieces of label information , pieces of reference information , and the numbers of child items , respectively with each other , between the parent item as the comparison source and each of parent items as candidates for the comparison destination . the tree - structure mapping unit 321 compares herein the item names between the parent item as the comparison source and each of the parent items as candidates for the comparison destination , and determines that candidate 1 in which a last character “ s ” is deleted from the item name of the comparison source is similar to that of the comparison source . the tree - structure mapping unit 321 then compares the label information , the reference information , and the number of child items as the candidates for the comparison source and the comparison destination , and determines that candidate 1 matches the comparison source . accordingly , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 can map the tree of the parent item “ asset ” indicated by comparison - destination candidate 1 in the tree of the comparison - source parent item “ assets ”. referring back to fig1 , the comparison is performed by the tree - structure mapping unit 321 , as a specific example , by using a matching rate between item names of the parent items and a matching rate between pieces of auxiliary information of the parent items . a matching rate between character strings such as an item name , a label name , and a reference name is calculated , as one example , by the following equation ( 1 ). a matching rate a 0 , 1 , 2 of character strings ={( maximum number of characters − number of mismatched characters )/ maximum number of characters }× 100 (%) ( 1 ) where a 0 is a matching rate between item names , a 1 is a matching rate between label names , and a 2 is a matching rate between reference names . the maximum number of characters indicates the number of characters larger than the other one between a comparison - source character string and a comparison - destination character string . the number of mismatched characters is calculated , as one example , by using levenshtein distance ; however , the method is not limited thereto if it is a method capable of calculating a similarity of character strings . a matching rate a 3 between the numbers of child items is calculated by the following equation ( 2 ). a matching rate a 3 between the numbers of child items ={( maximum number of items − difference between the numbers of items )/ maximum number of items }× 100 (%) ( 2 ) the maximum number of items indicates the larger one of the number of child items owned by the comparison - source parent item and of the number of child items owned by the comparison - destination parent item . a difference between the numbers of items indicates an absolute value of a difference between the number of child items owned by the comparison - source parent item and the number of child items owned by the comparison - destination parent item . the tree - structure mapping unit 321 calculates an average of calculated matching rates to thereby calculate a matching rate between parent items . the matching rate between parent items is calculated by the following equation ( 3 ). the tree - structure mapping unit 321 maps trees of two parent items with a highest matching rate between the parent items , determined as the trees closest to each other in structure . thereafter , the item mapping unit 322 , explained later , maps the child items in these trees . when the trees of the parent items are mapped , the item mapping unit 322 calculates matching rates between the child items respectively hanging from the mapped parent item of the tree before the change and from the mapped parent item of the tree after the change . for example , the item mapping unit 322 creates a plurality of patterns between the child items included in the respective trees before and after the change . the item mapping unit 322 calculates a matching rate between the child items included in a pattern of each of the created patterns . the matching rate between child items is calculated by using the matching rate between the item names of the child items and the matching rate between the pieces of auxiliary information of the child items . the auxiliary information mentioned here includes , as one example , a label name , a reference name , and order information ( display order ). a matching rate between character strings such as an item name , a label name , and a reference name is calculated by the equation ( 1 ) similarly to the matching rate between parent items . a matching rate between pieces of order information is calculated by the following equation ( 4 ). a matching rate a 3 between orders ={( maximum order number − difference between order numbers )/ maximum order number }× 100 (%) ( 4 ) the maximum order number indicates the larger one of the order number of a comparison - source child item and of the order number of a comparison - destination child item . the difference between the order numbers indicates an absolute value of the difference between the order number of the comparison - source child item and the order number of the comparison - destination child item . the item mapping unit 322 calculates an average of the calculated matching rates to thereby calculate a matching rate between the child items . the matching rate between child items is calculated by the following equation ( 5 ). where n expressed in the equation ( 5 ) indicates 4 , a 0 is a matching rate between item names , a 1 is a matching rate between label names , a 2 is a matching rate between reference names , and a 3 is a matching rate between orders . when a matching rate between child items included in a pattern is calculated , the item mapping unit 322 calculates an average of matching rates between child items included in patterns to thereby calculate a matching rate of the entire tree for each pattern . the matching rate of the entire tree is calculated by the following equation ( 6 ). where m expressed in the equation ( 6 ) indicates the number of child items included in a pattern , and e k indicates a matching rate between the child items included in the pattern . if an entire matching rate e is higher , a matching rate between the child items included in the pattern , in which the entire matching rate is calculated , is assumed to be higher . the item mapping unit 322 maps the child items of the patterns between which the highest matching rate is calculated . this enables the item mapping unit 322 to optimally map items before and after the change even if a plurality of pieces of information , related to items , among the item names and the auxiliary information are changed . for the parent items mapped by the tree - structure mapping unit 321 and the child items mapped by the item mapping unit 322 , the output unit 33 outputs the items whose matching rate is not a perfect match ( 100 %). this enables the output unit 33 to represent a result such that items before and after the change are optimally mapped even if pieces of information among item names and auxiliary information related to the items are changed . mapping of child items based on the tree structures before and after the change ( comparison source / destination ) will be explained herein with reference to fig7 and fig8 a to fig8 c . fig7 is a diagram of an example of tree structures before and after the change . fig8 a to fig8 c are diagrams of pattern examples of combinations between child items before and after the change . fig7 depicts the tree of the comparison - source parent item and the tree of the mapped comparison - destination parent item . three child items are described respectively in the comparison - source tree and in the comparison - destination tree . for example , a comparison - source item name “ deferrdassets ” is changed to a comparison - destination item name “ deferrdasset ” and the order information is also changed from 2 to 3 . in this case , the item mapping unit 322 creates a plurality of patterns of combinations between child items respectively included in the comparison - source tree and in the comparison - destination tree . for example , as illustrated in fig8 a , pattern 1 includes a combination of a comparison source “ currentassets ” and a comparison destination “ currentasset ”, a combination of a comparison source “ deferredassets ” and a comparison destination “ noncurrentasset ”, and a combination of a comparison source “ noncurrentassets ” and a comparison destination “ deferredasset ”. as illustrated in fig8 b , pattern 2 includes a combination of the comparison source “ currentassets ” and the comparison destination “ currentasset ”, a combination of the comparison source “ deferredassets ” and the comparison destination “ deferredasset ”, and a combination of the comparison source “ noncurrentassets ” and the comparison destination “ noncurrentasset ”. as illustrated in fig8 c , pattern 3 includes a combination of the comparison source “ currentassets ” and the comparison destination “ deferredasset ”, a combination of the comparison source “ deferredassets ” and the comparison destination “ noncurrentasset ”, and a combination of the comparison source “ noncurrentassets ” and the comparison destination “ currentasset ”. the item mapping unit 322 calculates a matching rate between child items included in a pattern of each of the patterns 1 to 3 using the item names of the child items and using the auxiliary information such as the label names , the reference names , and the order information . the item mapping unit 322 calculates an average of the matching rates between all the child items included in the pattern to thereby calculate a matching rate of the entire tree in each of the patterns 1 to 3 . the item mapping unit 322 then selects a pattern whose entire matching rate is the highest . it is assumed herein that the item mapping unit 322 can select pattern 2 . as a result , it is found that the child item name “ currentassets ” is changed to “ currentasset ”, the child item name “ deferredassets ” is changed to “ deferredasset ”, and the child item name “ noncurrentassets ” is changed to “ noncurrentasset ”. in this manner , the item mapping unit 322 can optimally map the child items before and after the change even if the item name of a child item or the display order of a child item is changed . that is , the item mapping unit 322 can optimally map items before and after the change even if a plurality of pieces of information among item names and auxiliary information related to the items are changed . patterns of combinations between child items before and after the change and their matching rates will be further explained with reference to fig9 a and fig9 b . fig9 a and fig9 b are diagrams for explaining specific examples of the patterns of combinations between child items before and after the change and of their matching rates . fig9 a depicts a tree of a comparison - source parent item “ assets ” and a tree of a mapped comparison - destination parent item “ asset ”. three child items are described respectively in the comparison - source tree and in the comparison - destination tree . the order information as the auxiliary information is described in each of the child items . an item number corresponding to an item is assigned to each item for convenience of description . hereinafter , a content in parentheses after an item name indicates an item number . a sign “′” is assigned to an item number of a comparison destination with respect to a comparison source . as illustrated in fig9 a , a comparison - source item name “ currentassets ” ( 2 ) is changed to a comparison - destination item name “ currentasset ” ( 2 ′). a comparison - source item name “ noncurrentassets ” ( 3 ) is changed to a comparison - destination item name “ noncurrentasset ” ( 3 ′). a comparison - source item name “ deferrdassets ” ( 4 ) is changed to a comparison - destination item name “ deferrdasset ” ( 4 ′). as illustrated in fig9 b , the item mapping unit 322 creates a plurality of patterns of combinations between child items respectively included in the comparison - source tree and in the comparison - destination tree . in fig9 b , pattern p1 includes a combination of the comparison source “ currentassets ” ( 2 ) and the comparison destination “ currentasset ” ( 2 ′), a combination of the comparison source “ noncurrentassets ” ( 3 ) and the comparison destination “ noncurrentasset ” ( 3 ′), and a combination of the comparison source “ deferrdassets ” ( 4 ) and the comparison destination “ deferrdasset ” ( 4 ′). the patterns will be explained below using only item numbers without each item name . pattern p2 includes a combination of the comparison source 2 and the comparison destination 2 ′, a combination of the comparison source 3 and the comparison destination 4 ′, and a combination of the comparison source 4 and the comparison destination 3 ′. pattern p3 includes a combination of the comparison source 2 and the comparison destination 3 ′, a combination of the comparison source 3 and the comparison destination 2 ′, and a combination of the comparison source 4 and the comparison destination 4 ′. pattern p4 includes a combination of the comparison source 2 and the comparison destination 3 ′, a combination of the comparison source 3 and the comparison destination 4 ′, and a combination of the comparison source 4 and the comparison destination 2 ′. pattern p5 includes a combination of the comparison source 2 and the comparison destination 4 ′, a combination of the comparison source 3 and the comparison destination 2 ′, and a combination of the comparison source 4 and the comparison destination 3 ′. pattern p6 includes a combination of the comparison source 2 and the comparison destination 4 ′, a combination of the comparison source 3 and the comparison destination 3 ′, and a combination of the comparison source 4 and the comparison destination 2 ′. the item mapping unit 322 calculates matching rates each between child items included in a pattern of each of the created patterns p1 to p6 . the matching rate between child items is calculated herein by using , in certain child items , a matching rate between item names of child items and a matching rate between pieces of order information as auxiliary information of the child items . specifically , the matching rate between item names of child items in certain child items is calculated by equation ( 1 ). the matching rate between pieces of order information of child items in certain child items is calculated by equation ( 4 ). the matching rate between child items is calculated by equation ( 5 ). in fig9 b , a percentage following a combination of child items is a matching rate between the child items . herein , for example , a matching rate between the child items in the combination of the comparison source 2 and the comparison destination 2 ′ is 92 . 3 %. a matching rate between the child items in the combination of the comparison source 3 and the comparison destination 3 ′ is 93 . 80 %. a matching rate between the child items in the combination of the comparison source 4 and the comparison destination 4 ′ is 92 . 30 %. furthermore , the item mapping unit 322 calculates an average of the matching rates each between child items included in a pattern , to thereby calculates a matching rate of an entire tree in each of the patterns p1 to p6 . specifically , the matching rate of the entire tree in each pattern is calculated by equation ( 6 ). herein , for example , a matching rate of the entire tree in pattern p1 is 92 . 80 %. a matching rate of the entire tree in pattern p2 is 55 . 80 %. a matching rate of the entire tree in pattern p3 is 78 . 80 %. a matching rate of the entire tree in pattern p4 is 48 . 40 %. a matching rate of the entire tree in pattern p5 is 50 . 30 %. a matching rate of the entire tree in pattern p6 is 56 . 90 %. the item mapping unit 322 then selects a pattern with a highest entire matching rate . herein , the item mapping unit 322 selects pattern p1 with a highest value of 92 . 80 %. as a result , it is found that the child item name “ currentassets ” ( 2 ) is changed to “ currentasset ” ( 2 ′). it is found that the child item name “ noncurrentassets ” ( 3 ) is changed to “ noncurrentasset ” ( 3 ′). it is found that the child item name “ deferredassets ” ( 4 ) is changed to “ deferredasset ” ( 4 ′). one example of outputs by the output unit 33 will be further explained with reference to fig1 . fig1 is a diagram of an example of outputs by the output unit . in the example of fig1 , output examples in pattern p1 selected in fig9 b are displayed . a main processing procedure in mapping processing according to the embodiment will be explained next with reference to fig1 . fig1 is a flowchart of a main processing procedure in mapping processing according to the embodiment . first of all , the control unit 3 determines whether there has been a mapping request ( step s 11 ). when it is determined that there has been no mapping request ( no at step s 11 ), the control unit 3 repeats the determination processing until a mapping request is received . meanwhile , when it is determined that there has been a mapping request ( yes at step s 11 ), the structural analysis unit 31 reads the xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change from the storage unit 2 ( step s 12 ). the structural analysis unit 31 may receive the xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change from the outside instead of reading them from the storage unit 2 . then , the structural analysis unit 31 uses the xbrl data 21 and 22 before and after the change to perform structural analysis and create tree structures before and after the change ( step s 13 ). for example , the structural analysis unit 31 creates a tree structure , related to items described in the schema 41 before the change , using the linkbase 42 before the change . the structural analysis unit 31 also creates a tree structure , related to items described in the schema 41 after the change , using the linkbase 42 after the change . subsequently , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 performs the mapping processing on the tree structures before and after the change ( step s 14 ). thereafter , the item mapping unit 322 performs the mapping processing on the items in the tree structures before and after the change having been subjected to the mapping processing ( step s 15 ). then the main processing in the mapping processing is ended . the mapping processing procedure at step s 14 illustrated in fig1 will be explained next with reference to fig1 . fig1 is a flowchart of the mapping processing procedure of tree structures before and after the change . it is assumed that the tree - structure mapping unit 321 receives the tree structures before and after the change created by the structural analysis unit 31 . then the tree - structure mapping unit 321 extracts one information ( target information ) of the tree structure including the parent item and the child items before the change ( comparison source ) ( step s 21 ). the tree - structure mapping unit 321 then extracts one information of the tree structure as a target for comparison after the change ( comparison destination ) ( step s 22 ). subsequently , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 calculates a matching rate between parent items from the item names of the parent items and the auxiliary information ( step s 23 ). the auxiliary information includes label information , reference information , and the number of child items hanging from a parent item . for example , a matching rate between parent items is calculated using equation ( 1 ) to equation ( 3 ). then the tree - structure mapping unit 321 determines whether there is still information as a target for comparison ( step s 24 ). when it is determined that there is still information as a target for comparison ( yes at step s 24 ), the tree - structure mapping unit 321 proceeds to step s 22 in order to extract information as next target for comparison . meanwhile , when it is determined that there is no information as a target for comparison ( no at step s 24 ), the tree - structure mapping unit 321 determines a target for comparison with a highest matching rate ( between parent items ) among targets for comparison , for the extracted target information ( step s 25 ). then , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 maps the determined target for comparison in the extracted target information , and outputs the mapped information ( step s 26 ). in other words , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 maps the tree structure related to a parent item , as a target for comparison in which a matching rate of the target information with the parent item is the highest , in the tree structure of the target information related to the parent item . that is , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 maps the tree structures of parent items with a highest matching rate between the parent items , which are determined as the tree structures closest to each other in structure . subsequently , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 determines whether extraction and mapping of all the target information have been terminated ( step s 27 ). when it is determined that extraction and mapping of all the target information have not been terminated ( no at step s 27 ), the tree - structure mapping unit 321 proceeds to step s 21 in order to extract next target information . meanwhile , when it is determined that extraction and mapping of all the target information have been terminated ( yes at step s 27 ), the tree - structure mapping unit 321 ends the mapping processing of the tree structures . mapping processing of items in tree structures before and after change the mapping processing procedure at step s 15 illustrated in fig1 will be explained next with reference to fig1 . fig1 is a flowchart of the mapping processing procedure of items in the tree structures before and after the change . it is assumed that the item mapping unit 322 receives a set of tree structures before and after the change mapped by the tree - structure mapping unit 321 . then the item mapping unit 322 receives one set of the tree structures before and after the change ( target information ) mapped by the tree - structure mapping unit 321 ( step s 31 ). the tree structure includes a parent item and child items . the item mapping unit 322 then creates patterns inclusively combined by using the child items in the target information before and after the change ( step s 32 ). subsequently , the item mapping unit 322 extracts one pattern from all the patterns ( step s 33 ). the item mapping unit 322 then calculates a matching rate between child items included in the extracted pattern from the item names and the auxiliary information of the child items ( step s 34 ). the auxiliary information includes label information , reference information , and order information . for example , a matching rate between child items is calculated by using equation ( 1 ), equation ( 4 ), and equation ( 5 ). then the item mapping unit 322 calculates an average of matching rates of all the child items included in the extracted pattern ( step s 35 ). the calculated result indicates a matching rate of an entire tree structure related to the extracted pattern . for example , a matching rate of an entire tree structure is calculated by equation ( 6 ). the item mapping unit 322 determines whether there is still other pattern ( step s 36 ). when it is determined that there is still other pattern ( yes at step s 36 ), the item mapping unit 322 proceeds to step s 33 in order to extract a next pattern . meanwhile , when it is determined that there is no other pattern ( no at step s 36 ), the item mapping unit 322 determines a pattern with a highest matching rate of the entire tree structure ( step s 37 ). the item mapping unit 322 then maps the child items within the target information before and after the change based on the determined pattern , and outputs the mapped information ( step s 38 ). in other words , the item mapping unit 322 maps the child items included in the pattern with the highest matching rate of the entire tree structure . the item mapping unit 322 then ends the mapping processing of the items in the tree structure . according to the embodiment , the mapping device 1 calculates a matching rate between top - level parent items , in a parent - child relationship between items of the xbrl data 21 before the change and in a parent - child relationship between items of the xbrl data 22 after the change , using item information ( e . g ., item name and auxiliary information ) related to the parent items . the mapping device 1 maps the parent items of the xbrl data 21 before the change and of the xbrl data 22 after the change based on the calculated matching rate between the parent items . according to the configuration , the mapping device 1 maps the parent items based on the matching rate between the parent items using the item information related to the parent items . consequently , the mapping device 1 can optimally map a parent item in which a plurality of pieces of item information are changed and a parent item before the change by using a matching rate between the parent items using the item information for the mapping between the parent item in which the pieces of item information are changed and the parent item before the change . according to the embodiment , the mapping device 1 calculates a matching rate between item names of parent items , and also calculates a matching rate between pieces of auxiliary information related to each parent item of the parent items . then the mapping device 1 calculates an average of the calculated matching rates , to thereby calculate a matching rate between the parent items . according to the configuration , because the matching rate between the parent items is used for mapping of the parent items before and after the change , the mapping device 1 can optimally map the parent item in which a plurality of pieces of information are changed and the parent item before the change even if the item name of a parent item and the auxiliary information related to the parent item are changed . according to the embodiment , the mapping device 1 calculates a matching rate between item names of parent items , a matching rate between pieces of auxiliary information related to each parent item of the parent items , and a matching rate between the numbers of child items hanging from each parent item of the parent items . the mapping device 1 calculates an average of the calculated matching rates and thereby calculates a matching rate between the parent items . according to the configuration , the mapping device 1 uses the matching rate between the parent items including the number of child items hanging from the parent item for mapping of the parent items before and after the change , even if a plurality of pieces of information related to the parent item are changed . consequently , the mapping device 1 can optimally map the parent item in which the pieces of information are changed and the parent item before the change . according to the embodiment , when the parent items are mapped , the mapping device 1 calculates matching rates between child items hanging from the mapped parent item of the xbrl data 21 before the change and from the mapped parent item of the xbrl data 22 after the change by using the item information related to the child items . then the mapping device 1 maps the child items of the xbrl data 21 and the xbrl data 22 based on the calculated matching rates between the child items . according to the configuration , the mapping device 1 maps child items based on the matching rate between the child items using the item information related to the child items . consequently , the mapping device 1 can optimally map child items whose pieces of item information are changed and a child item before the change by using the matching rate between the child items using the item information for mapping of the child items whose pieces of item information are changed and of the child item before the change . for example , the mapping device 1 can optimally map the changed child item and the child item before the change by using the matching rate between the child items including the item names and the display order even if the item names and the order information of the child items are changed . according to the embodiment , the mapping device 1 creates a plurality of patterns of combinations between child items hanging from the mapped parent item of the xbrl data 21 before the change and from the mapped parent item of the xbrl data 22 after the change . the mapping device 1 then calculates a matching rate between the child items in each of the created patterns . furthermore , the mapping device 1 maps the child items of the xbrl data 21 before the change and of the xbrl data 22 after the change based on the matching rate between the child items calculated for each pattern . according to the configuration , the mapping device 1 maps the child items based on the matching rate , between the child items using the item information related to the child items , calculated for each pattern of combinations between the child items . therefore , the mapping device 1 can efficiently map the changed child item and the child item before the change . the mapping device 1 can be implemented by mounting the functions such as the control unit 3 and the storage unit 2 on an information processing device such as known personal computer and work station . the illustrated components of the mapping device 1 are not necessarily configured as physically illustrated ones . in other words , specific modes of how the components are distributed or integrated in the mapping device 1 are not limited to the illustrated ones , and the whole of or part of the components can be configured by functionally or physically distributing or integrating them in arbitrary units according to various loads , usages , and so on . for example , the tree - structure mapping unit 321 and the item mapping unit 322 may be integrated as one unit . on the other hand , the item mapping unit 322 may be distributed into a creating unit that creates a pattern of combinations between child items included in the comparison - source tree and in the comparison - destination tree , and into a mapping unit that maps the child items using the created pattern . the storage unit 2 storing the xbrl data 21 before the change and the xbrl data 22 after the change may be configured as an external device of the mapping device 1 so as to be connected to the mapping device 1 via a network . the various types of processing explained in the embodiment can be implemented by a computer such as a personal computer or a work station executing previously prepared programs . therefore , an example of a computer that executes a mapping program for implementing the same functions as these of the mapping device 1 illustrated in fig1 will be explained below . fig1 is a diagram of an example of a computer that executes a mapping program . as illustrated in fig1 , a computer 200 includes a cpu 203 that executes various types of arithmetic processing , an input device 215 that receives an input of data from a user , and a display control unit 207 that controls a display device 209 . the computer 200 also includes a drive device 213 that reads a program or the like from a storage medium and a communication control unit 217 that performs data transfer with other computer via the network . the computer 200 further includes a memory 201 that temporarily stores various pieces of information and an external storage device 205 . the memory 201 , the cpu 203 , the external storage device 205 , the display control unit 207 , the drive device 213 , the input device 215 , and the communication control unit 217 are connected to each other through a bus 219 . the drive device 213 is a device for , for example , a removable disk 211 . the external storage device 205 stores a mapping program 205 a and mapping related information 205 b . the cpu 203 reads the mapping program 205 a and loads it to the memory 201 . the mapping program 205 a functions as a mapping process 201 a . for example , the mapping process 201 a corresponds to the function units of the control unit 3 . the mapping related information 205 b corresponds to the xbrl data 21 before the change and the xbrl data 22 after the change . the mapping program 205 a does not necessarily have to be stored in the external storage device 205 from the beginning . for example , the program is stored in a “ portable physical medium ” such as a flexible disk ( fd ), a cd - rom , a dvd disc , a magneto - optical disc , or an ic card , which is inserted into the computer 200 . then the computer 200 may read the mapping program 205 a from one of these mediums and execute it . according to one aspect , even if a plurality of pieces of information related to items in xbrl data are changed , the items before and after the change can be associated with each other . all examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes of aiding the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventors 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 and inferiority of the invention . although the 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
as used throughout this specification , the term “ nitrile rubber ” is intended to have a broad meaning and is meant to encompass a copolymer having repeating units derived from at least one conjugated diene , at least one α , β - unsaturated nitrile and optionally further one or more copolymerizable monomers . the conjugated diene may be any known diene , preferably a c 4 - c 6 conjugated diene . preferred conjugated dienes include butadiene , isoprene , piperylene , 2 , 3 - dimethyl butadiene or mixtures thereof . more preferred c 4 - c 6 conjugated diene include butadiene , isoprene and mixtures thereof . the most preferred c 4 - c 6 conjugated diene is butadiene . the α , β - unsaturated nitrile may be any known α , β - unsaturated nitrile , preferably a c 3 - c 5 - α , β - unsaturated nitrile . preferred c 3 - c 5 α , β - unsaturated nitriles include acrylonitrile , methacrylonitrile , ethacrylonitrile or mixtures thereof . the most preferred c 3 - c 5 α , β - unsaturated nitrile is acrylonitrile . preferably , the copolymer contains in the range of from 40 to 85 weight percent of repeating units derived from one or more conjugated dienes and in the range of from 15 to 60 weight percent of repeating units derived from one or more α , β - unsaturated nitriles . more preferably , the copolymer contains in the range of from 60 to 75 weight percent of repeating units derived from one or more conjugated dienes and in the range of from 25 to 40 weight percent of repeating units derived from one or more α , β - unsaturated nitriles . most preferably , the copolymer contains in the range of from 60 to 70 weight percent of repeating units derived from one or more conjugated dienes and in the range of from 30 to 40 weight percent of repeating units derived from one or more α , β - unsaturated nitriles . optionally , the copolymer may further contain repeating units derived from one or more copolymerizable monomers , such as unsaturated carboxylic acids . non - limiting examples of suitable unsaturated carboxylic acids include fumaric acid , maleic acid , acrylic acid , methacrylic acid and mixtures thereof . repeating units derived from one or more copolymerizable monomers will replace either the nitrile or the diene portion of the nitrile rubber and it will be apparent to the skilled in the art that the above mentioned weight percents will have to be adjusted to result in 100 weight percent . in case of the mentioned unsaturated carboxylic acids , the nitrile rubber preferably contains repeating units derived from one or more unsaturated carboxylic acids in the range of from 1 to 10 weight percent of the copolymer , with this amount displacing a corresponding amount of the conjugated diolefin . other preferred optionally further monomers are unsaturated mono - or di - carboxylic acids or derivatives thereof ( e . g ., esters , amides and the like ) including mixtures thereof . the process of the present invention is conducted in the presence of one or more compounds of the general formulas i , ii , iii or iv , r and r 1 are , independently , hydrogen or a hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of c 2 - c 20 alkenyl , c 2 - c 20 alkynyl , c 1 - c 20 alkyl , aryl , c 1 - c 20 carboxylate , c 1 - c 20 alkoxy , c 2 - c 20 alkenyloxy , c 2 - c 20 alkynyloxy , aryloxy , c 2 - c 20 alkoxycarbonyl , c 1 - c 20 alkylthio , c 1 - c 20 alkylsulfonyl and c 1 - c 20 alkylsulfinyl ; l and l 1 are independently any neutral ligand , such as phosphines , amines , thioethers or imidazolidines or any neutral carbine , optionally , l and l 1 can be linked to one another to from a bidentate neutral ligand ; r 2 and r 3 are , independently , hydrogen or a hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of c 2 - c 20 alkenyl , c 2 - c 20 alkynyl , c 1 - c 20 alkyl , aryl , c 1 - c 20 carboxylate , c 1 - c 20 alkoxy , c 2 - c 20 alkenyloxy , c 2 - c 20 alkynyloxy , aryloxy , c 2 - c 20 alkoxycarbonyl , c 1 - c 20 alkylthio , c 1 - c 20 alkylsulfonyl and c 1 - c 20 alkylsulfinyl ; l 2 is a neutral π - bonded ligand , preferably arene , substituted arene , heteroarene , independent of whether they are mono - or polycyclic ; l 3 is a ligand selected from the group consisting of phosphines , sulfonated phosphines , fluorinated phosphines , functionalized phosphines bearing up to three aminoalkyl -, ammoniumalkyl -, alkoxyalkyl -, alkoxylcarbonylalkyl -, hydrocycarbonylalkyl -, hydroxyalkyl - or ketoalkyl - groups , phosphites , phosphinites , phosphonites , phosphinamines , arsines , stibenes , ethers , amines , amides , imines , sulfoxides , thioethers and pyridines ; n is an integer in the range of from 0 to 5 ; r 4 , r 5 are , independently , hydrogen or a hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of c 2 - c 20 alkenyl , c 2 - c 20 alkynyl , c 1 - c 20 alkyl , aryl , c 1 - c 20 carboxylate , c 1 - c 20 alkoxy , c 2 - c 20 alkenyloxy , c2 - c 20 alkynyloxy , aryloxy , c 2 - c 20 alkoxycarbonyl , c 1 - c 20 alkylthio , c 1 - c 20 alkylsulfonyl and c 1 - c 20 alkylsulfinyl ; r 6 and r 7 are independently selected from any unsubstituted or halo - substituted alkyl , aryl , aralkyl groups or silicon - containing analogs thereof ; r and r 1 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen , substituted or unsubstituted alkyl , and substituted or unsubstituted alkyl l and l 1 are independently any neutral ligand , such as phosphines , amines , thioethers or imidazolidines or any neutral carbine , optionally , l and l 1 can be linked to one another to from a bidentate neutral ligand . compounds of formula i are preferred . compounds of formula i wherein l and l 1 are trialkylphosphines , x and x 1 are chloride ions and m is ruthenium are more preferred . the amount of compounds will depend upon the nature and catalytic activity of the compound ( s ) in question . typically , the ratio of compound ( s ) to nbr is in the range of from 0 . 005 to 5 , preferably in the range of from 0 . 025 to 1 and , more preferably , in the range of from 0 . 1 to 0 . 5 . the metathesis reaction is carried out in the presence of a co - olefin , which is a c 1 to c 16 linear or branched olefin such as ethylene , isobutene , styrene or 1 - hexene . where the co - olefin is a liquid ( such as 1 - hexene ), the amount of co - olefin employed is preferably in the range of from 1 to 200 weight %. where the co - olefin is a gas ( such as ethylene ), the amount of co - olefin employed is such that it results in a pressure in the reaction vessel in the range of from 1 × 10 5 pa to 1 × 10 7 pa , preferably in the range of from 5 . 2 × 10 5 pa to 4 × 10 6 pa . the metathesis reaction can be carried out in any suitable solvent , which does not inactivate the catalyst or otherwise interfere with the reaction . preferred solvents include , but are not limited to , dichloromethane , benzene , toluene , tetrahydrofuran , cylcohexane and the like . the more preferred solvent is monochlorobenzene ( mcb ). in certain cases the co - olefin can itself act as a solvent ( for example , 1 - hexene ), in which case no other solvent is necessary . the concentration of nbr in the reaction mixture is not critical but , should be such that the reaction is not hampered if the mixture is too viscous to be stirred efficiently , for example . preferably , the concentration of nbr is in the range of from 1 to 20 % by weight , more preferably in the range of from 6 to 15 % by weight . the process of the present invention usually is carried out at a temperature in the range of from 20 to 140 ° c . ; preferably in the range of from 60 to 120 ° c . the reaction time will depend upon a number of factors , including cement concentration , amount of catalyst used and the temperature at which the reaction is performed . the metathesis usually is complete within the first two hours under typical conditions . the progress of the metathesis reaction may be monitored by standard analytical techniques , for example using gpc or solution viscosity . whenever referenced throughout the specification the molecular weight distribution of the polymer was determined by gel permeation chromatography ( gpc ) using a waters 2690 separation module and a waters 410 differential refractometer running waters millennium software version 3 . 05 . 01 . samples were dissolved in tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) stabilized with 0 . 025 % bht . the columns used for the determination were three sequential mixed - b gel columns from polymer labs . reference standards used were polystyrene standards from american polymer standards corp . the mooney viscosity of the rubber was determined using astm test d1646 . the nitrile rubber of the present invention is very well suited for the manufacture of a shaped article , such as a seal , hose , bearing pad , stator , well head seal , valve plate , cable sheathing , wheel , roller , pipe seal or footwear component . bis ( tricyclohexylphosphine ) benzylidene ruthenium dichloride ( grubb &# 39 ; s metathesis catalyst ), 1 - hexene and monochlorobenzene ( mcb ) were purchased from alfa , aldrich chemicals , and ppg respectively and used as received . the metathesis reactions were carried out in a parr high - pressure reactor under the following conditions : the reactor was heated to desired temperature and 60 ml of a monochlorobenzene solution containing grubb &# 39 ; s catalyst was added to the reactor . the reactor was pressurized to the desired ethylene pressure for examples 1 - 3 or to 100 psi of nitrogen for example 4 . the temperature was maintained constant for the duration of the reaction . a cooling coil connected to a temperature controller and a thermal sensor was used to regulate the temperature . the progress of the reaction was monitored using solution viscosity measurements for the 6 % cements . at higher cement concentration , the reaction was assumed to be complete after 18 hours . 75 g of rubber was dissolved in 1175 g of mcb ( 6 wt .-% solid ). the cement was then charged to the reactor and degassed 3 times with c 2 h 4 ( 6 . 9 × 10 5 pa ) under full agitation . 200 g of rubber was dissolved in 1133 g of mcb ( 15 wt .-% solid ). the cement was then charged to the reactor and degassed 3 times with c 2 h 4 ( 6 . 9 × 10 5 pa ) under full agitation . 450 g of rubber was dissolved in 2550 g of mcb ( 15 wt .-% solid ). the cement was then charge d to the reactor and degassed 3 times with c 2 h 4 ( 6 . 9 × 10 5 pa ) under full agitation . 75 g of rubber was dissolved in 1175 g of mcb ( 6 wt .-% solid ). the cement was then charged to the reactor . 150 g of 1 - hexene was added to the reactor and the mixture was degassed 3 times with dry n 2 under full agitation . for a typical product the mn is 30 kg / mole ( compared to 85 kg / mole for the starting polymer ) while the mw is 55 kg / mole ( compared to 300 kg / mole for the starting polymer ). as can be seen from table 2 , however , higher molecular weights ( mw ) can also be obtained by manipulation of the experimental conditions ( for example by lowering the catalyst loading ). as expected , the molecular weight distribution falls from 3 . 5 for the substrate ( starting polymer ) to 2 . 0 for the metathesized product . this is consistent with a more homogeneous range of polymer chain lengths and molecular weights . a summary of the polymer properties for selected samples is shown in table 2 . the gpc results show up to a fivefold reduction in mw and a narrowing of the polydispersity index to 2 . 0 . although the invention has been described in detail in the foregoing for the purpose of illustration , it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that variations can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention except as it may be limited by the claims .	2
with reference to fig1 - 4 , microcontroller u 1 comprises a plurality of timers each with different functions . microcontroller u 1 uses an external crystal x 1 to produce the master clocks for these timers . from this , the clock signal of first timer 1 is divided down to produce an initial square wave 2 with a frequency of less than 9 khz , and most preferably with a frequency in the range of 1 . 5 khz and 1 . 75 khz , in order to reduce potential electromagnetic interference with other nearby devices not associated with the detector . initial square wave 2 is fed to power supply 13 wherein initial square wave 2 is buffered and inverted by inverter / buffer u 2 to produce first square wave 3 and second square wave 4 that are 180 degrees out of phase from each other . each of first square wave 3 and second square wave 4 then feeds to an appropriate transistor q 1 and q 2 configured as a class b amplifier 5 driving push / pull transformer t 1 . a class b amplifier is preferable to other amplifier types for this application due to the stability of the output and the lack of thermal drift . class a amplifiers require excessive power to produce the same level of drive . a self - oscillating colpitts oscillator experiences thermal drift with aging and produces a wave of varying amplitude which is unacceptable in a sensitive radiation detector . the output of transformer t 1 is a sine wave 7 of a much higher voltage which is fed through a walton cockroft multiplier 6 made up of diodes d 1 through d 6 and capacitors c 2 through c 7 of which c 7 acts as a final filter capacitor . this produces a high voltage direct current ( dc ) which is required by radiation sensor 8 . radiation sensor 8 may consist of a geiger - muller tube , a photomultiplier tube with a scintillation crystal , or other radiation - sensing elements known in the art of radiation detection . all radiation sensors known in the art require the stable high voltage fed by first timer 1 . radiation sensor 8 produces an electrical signal pulse 9 when struck by a nuclide that has been emitted from a radioactive material . in the case where radiation sensor 8 consists of a geiger - muller tube , pulse 9 is output from the cathode of the tube . in the case where radiation sensor 8 consists of a photomultiplier tube with a scintillation crystal , pulse 9 is output from the anode of the tube . the present invention works equally well with pulses output from these or other devices known in the art . signal conditioner 10 attenuates the amplitude of raw pulse 9 and squares off the ascending and descending voltage of raw pulse 9 to produce a clean voltage change that is identifiable by microcontroller u 1 as a countable radiological event . raw pulse 9 enters signal conditioner 10 via resistor r 5 where it is divided down by resistor r 6 and clamped by diode cr 3 . the junction of diode cr 3 , resistor r 5 , and resistor r 6 is fed to the base of npn transistor q 3 which has a pull - up resistor r 4 from its collector . the collector of transistor q 3 and the junction of resistor r 4 is fed as conditioned pulse 18 to the schmidt trigger input ra 4 of microcontroller u 1 which clocks the input to second timer 11 . second timer 11 acts as an event counter and is incremented upon every conditioned pulse 18 . third timer 12 receives its clock signal from external crystal x 1 . this clock signal is divided down within third timer 12 to produce a software interrupt at predetermined , convenient intervals . typically the time interval between interrupts is one - second , although other values such as ten seconds , one minute , or one hour may be equally employed . alternatively , by using an external real time clock ( not shown ), it is possible to generate an equivalent hardware interrupt without using microcontroller u 1 . the hardware or software interrupt , when serviced , will read the value of the software register located in second timer 11 and subsequently reset the register in second timer 11 to zero . this register value correlates to the number of pulse counts per time interval , and hence , the number of events per time interval . counts per second is typically the value of interest . first timer 1 , second timer 11 , and third timer 12 may be efficiently run using a single microcontroller . suitable types include , for example , the microchip ™ pic 16c or 18f series . however , it may also be advantageous to use a plurality of microcontrollers to perform these functions in parallel . in one such embodiment , multiple , remotely - located radiation sensors 8 might each include its own first timer 1 and associated power supply circuitry 13 while second timer 11 and third timer 12 might reside together in a single master microcontroller , which is in turn connected to all remotely - located radiation sensors 8 . in order to function properly , first timer 1 , power supply 13 , radiation sensor ( s ) 8 , signal conditioner 10 , and second timer 11 must be capable of passing a signal between each other either through hard or wireless interfaces . the number of counts per time interval 17 is provided as an output from microcontroller u 1 . counts per time interval 17 may be outputted as raw data through one or more communication interface 15 . the raw data may require additional processing by processor 14 . processor 14 function may be performed within microcontroller u 1 or by a separate stand - alone component . communication interface 15 may comprise rs - 232 , rs - 485 , universal serial bus ( usb ), 10 / 100 mbps ethernet , radio frequency ( rf ), ieee 802 . 11 wireless fidelity network ( wifi ), infra - red data ( ird ), inter - integrated circuit - bus ( i 2 c - bus ), ieee 1394 ( firewire ) or other interfaces common in the art of electronic data communication . alternatively , the number of counts per time interval 17 may be further processed by processor 14 and presented through one or more audio / visual display 16 . again , processor 14 function may be performed within microcontroller u 1 or by a separate stand - alone component . in a first embodiment , the number of counts per time interval 17 may be processed to illuminate a series of colored light emitting diodes ( led ) depending upon predetermined threshold values . the colors green , blue , yellow , amber , and red are commonly used to represent ascending threat levels based on such predetermined threshold values . in a second embodiment , the number of counts per time interval 17 , using the same microprocessor u 1 or another microprocessor , may be processed using a predetermined threshold value to trigger a piezo - electric buzzer , another audible device such as a siren , or a visual device such as a strobing light . in a third embodiment , the number of counts per time interval 17 may be converted using the same microprocessor u 1 or another microprocessor for output to a seven - segment led display . in a fourth embodiment , the number of counts per time interval 17 may be processed using the same microprocessor u 1 or another microprocessor for alphanumeric or graphical output to a liquid crystal display ( lcd ). in a fifth embodiment , the number of counts per time interval 17 may be integrated with the output from a video camera such that the number of counts per second is superimposed on the video signal using on - screen display ( osd ). while various embodiments of the present invention have been described above , it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only , and not limitation . thus , the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents .	6
there has thus been outlined , rather broadly , the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated . there are , of course , additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto . in this respect , before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings . the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways . also , it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting . referring to fig1 , in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , a dimensionally and topographically exact protective film with liner 2 , for vehicles headlights and fog lights includes a low density or high density polyethylene liner 4 ( depending upon the size , contouring , and application of the finished product ), an acrylic adhesive 6 , and an aliphatic thermoplastic urethane layer 8 . the polyethylene liner 4 preferably has a thickness in the range between 0 . 005 and 0 . 030 inches , and has a first textured surface 12 and a generally parallel second textured surface 14 . the acrylic adhesive 6 is mixed with a highly aromatic thinning agent and sprayed on one side of the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane layer 8 . the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane layer 8 preferably has a thickness in the range between 0 . 005 and 0 . 030 inches . it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the specific type of adhesive , thinning agent , and spray technique ( airless , hvlp , etc ) may vary . the thickness of this layer of acrylic adhesive 6 after the thinning agent vaporizes is between 0 . 001 and 0 . 010 inches thick ( preferably 0 . 0025 inches thick .) the polyethylene liner 4 resides adjacent to and in contact with the adhesive layer 6 . fig2 illustrates the preferred embodiment 2 thermally molded to the exact dimensions and topography of an headlight . cut - away application tabs 16 are included to facilitate the process of removing the formed film 10 from its polyethylene liner 4 . the formed film 10 is the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane layer 8 removed from the polyethylene liner 4 after thermal forming . these tabs 16 are extensions of the urethane layer 8 and the polyethylene liner 4 where the polyethylene liner 4 and urethane layer 8 has score marks ( not pictured ) for their removal . in addition to the cut - away application tabs 16 , the textured second surface 14 of the polyethylene liner 4 on the tabs 16 aids in the removal of the formed film 10 from the polyethylene liner 4 , by providing a textured surface for the installer &# 39 ; s grip . the contouring acquired during the thermal molding of polyethylene liner 4 , the acrylic adhesive 6 and the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane layer 8 is visible in fig3 . fig4 is a isometric view of the preferred embodiment 2 . additionally , fig5 illustrates the formed film 10 applied to a vehicle headlight 18 , while fig6 illustrates the application of the formed film 10 to a vehicle &# 39 ; s headlight 18 with a squeegee 17 . the method for making the thermally formed , dimensionally and topographically exact protection film with liner 2 includes the steps of : ( 1 ) spraying the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane film 8 with an acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive 6 ( the adhesive has been reduced with a volatile solvent to allow thinning sufficient to enable a 0 . 0025 inch thick layer of adhesive 6 to be applied ); ( 2 ) flash drying the acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive 6 applied onto the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane film 8 ; ( 3 ) affixing the first textured surface 12 of the high density or low density polyethylene liner 4 onto the pressure sensitive adhesive 6 by pressure rolling through a calendering machine ; ( 4 ) cutting the resultant , generally planer laminate of the urethane film 8 and polyethylene liner 4 into workable sized pieces sized for the specific application ; ( 5 ) putting the generally planar laminate onto a clamp frame and oven heating the generally planar laminate to a temperature between 300 ° and 400 ° f . ; ( 6 ) removing the heated generally planar laminate from the oven and vacuum molding the generally planar laminate about a cast aluminum mold ( formed from a laser scan of a vehicle part , such as a headlight ; ( 7 ) removing the now contoured laminate from the vacuum mold and the clamp frame , when the contoured laminate has cooled to approximately 100 ° to 150 ° f . ( 8 ) trimming any excess laminate to obtain a thermally formed , dimensionally and topographically exact protective film with liner 2 . in step ( 1 ) the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane layer 8 has performed suitably ; however it should be appreciated that any number of thermoplastics , including vinyl with a ultraviolet light resistant coating could be used without departing from the scope of the invention . the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane film 8 is both optically clear ( as per department of transportation standards ) and filters the destructive uv rays ( which haze and cloud some polymer and glass headlights with the passage of time .) in step ( 3 ) the high density or low density polyethylene liner 4 has also performed suitably . however , it should be appreciated that any number of thermoplastics could be used without departing from the scope of the invention . in step ( 6 ) the laser scan of the headlight / fog light is increased by 0 . 008 inches per inch +/− 0 . 005 inches in both the x and y dimensions of the cartesian coordinate system to account for shrinkage of the contoured laminate during the cooling process . this increase to account for the shrinkage of the contoured laminate , is of course translated to the cast aluminum mold . it has been determined that the preferred aliphatic thermoplastic urethane film 8 thickness is ( 0 . 005 − 0 . 030 inches , depending on application ), and the preferred acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive 6 thickness is 0 . 001 and 0 . 010 inches thick , and the preferred thickness of the high density or low density polyethylene liner 4 is ( 0 . 005 − 0 . 030 inches , depending on application ), shrinkage of all the components of the dimensionally and topographically exact protective film with liner 2 is uniform such that no distortions are introduced . the choice of using high density or low density polyethylene liners 4 rests with the size of the vehicle component for which the protective film with liner 2 is being fabricated to protect . larger components such as bumpers lend themselves better to high density polyethylene use ( to retain the shape with little distortion when storing , shipping , and applying ) while smaller components such as headlights and mirrors lend themselves better to low density polyethylene use . the heat formation of the dimensionally and topographically exact protective film with liner 2 in the specific manner and with the specific elements discussed above renders an optically clear , formed film 10 that retains the three dimensional topography of the mold it was heat formed about , minus the 0 . 008 inches per inch of x and y dimensional shrinkage . a uv retardant layer or coating may be optionally applied to the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane film 8 as is well know in the industry ; however , this is often offered directly from the urethane manufacturer . the level of heat used in this process has been selected so as to anneal the aliphatic thermoplastic urethane film 8 and remove the residual stresses therein , such that when topographically formed , will result in a formed film 10 that holds its contoured shape . thus , when installed , the formed film 10 being structurally relaxed , will not “ fight ” to return to a planar film . thus formed film 10 will avoid over - stretching , dimpling , wrinkling , overlapping , blistering , visible seams , peeling , sliding , lifting and cupping , resulting in a truly “ invisible ” product when applied . this is a feature heretofore not seen in the industry . installation of the formed film 10 onto a vehicle &# 39 ; s exterior surface is accomplished in the following manner ( see fig6 ): 1 . remove the formed film 10 from the polyethylene liner 4 . 2 . wet application of the formed film 10 is required ; 3 . in order to freely move the formed film 10 about the vehicle &# 39 ; s headlight 18 a solution of soap and water must be applied to the vehicle headlight 18 , the adhesive side of the formed film 10 , and the installer &# 39 ; s fingers . this soap and water solution is easily formed with two drops of a commercially available liquid soap combined with 8 ounces of water . 4 . in order to secure the formed film 10 to the vehicle &# 39 ; s headlight 18 a solution of isopropyl alcohol and water is used . lift ½ of the formed film 10 off of the headlight &# 39 ; s 18 surface and spray both the adhesive side and non - adhesive side of the formed film 10 with the alcohol and water solution . using this solution helps wash the soap and water solution away and allows the squeegee 17 to easily slide over the formed film 10 to remove any remaining soap and water solution and bubbles . now , the remaining ½ of the formed film 10 , can be removed from the headlight &# 39 ; s 18 surface and sprayed in the manner above with the alcohol and water solution . the alcohol and water solution is easily formed with 4 ounces of commercially available isopropyl alcohol combined with 12 ounces of distilled water . 5 . spray the entire formed film 10 ( now in place on the vehicle &# 39 ; s headlight 18 ) again with the alcohol and water solution . 6 . squeegee the formed film 10 such that any remaining soap and water solution and / or air bubbles are removed . the above description will enable any person skilled in the art to make and use this invention . it also sets forth the best modes for carrying out this invention . there are numerous variations and modifications thereof that will also remain readily apparent to others skilled in the art , now that the general principles of the present invention have been disclosed . as such , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception , upon which this disclosure is based , may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures , methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention . it is important , therefore , that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention .	2
fig1 is a top perspective view of a combat tank 1 equipped with a number of high dynamics sensor devices requiring stabilization . the tank 1 , including a turret 2 , functions as a relatively low - dynamics support . a number of devices requiring stabilization are mounted to the turret 2 including a gun 4 that functions as the main tank weapon , a ( commander &# 39 ; s ) periscope 5 and a ( gunner &# 39 ; s ) sighting device 6 . a central sensor block 3 , mounted as a complete unit in the turret 2 , measures the comparatively slow turret movements relative to a navigation co - ordinate system that is fixed with respect to the earth . fig2 is a block diagram of device stabilization apparatus for utilization with a combat tank system in accordance with fig1 . as shown , the central sensor block 3 ( e . g . a strapdown set ) supplies the support ( turret 2 ) setting and setting change data via a data line 12 to a junction point 13 of a closed control loop 10 that serves to stabilize one of the devices ( 4 , 5 or 6 ) mounted in the turret 2 . the support setting data supplied at the junction point 13 serve as an infraposed guide quantity or reference value in the control loop 10 . the ( relative ) setting data of the control loop 10 ( actual data ) are supplied by angle pickups such as resolvers 14 . the reference value that determines the setting of the support is superposed and supplied to one or more device control elements 15 at the junction point 13 . the operation of the invention is advantageously illustrated with reference to an example in which a mechanically rigid support is presumed . an armored combat vehicle or tank is assumed to be the support . accordingly , the movably fitted devices include , for example , the gunner &# 39 ; s main telescopic sight 6 , the commander &# 39 ; s periscope 5 , and the main tank weapon 4 . stabilization is required for the lines of sight of the gunner &# 39 ; s and commander &# 39 ; s sighting devices 6 and 5 , respectively , as well as for the setting of the weapon 4 . in accordance with prior stabilization methods , a pair of single - axis rate gyros with associated control systems is required per device . as such , stabilization ( with respect to bearing and elevation ) occurs separately for each device . thus , the gyros and the control systems of the stabilized devices must , in each instance , exhibit a sufficiently wide bandwidth to detect fully and to stabilize the movements of those devices in space . for example , a known combat tank currently requires six single - axis rate gyros . this solution becomes particularly costly when several devices must be stabilized on a common support as a set of gyros is required for each device . in contrast and as an improvement thereto ( c . f . the system set forth in the above - mentioned patent , the method of this invention permits the mounting of a central sensor block at a protected position that is fixed in relation to the vehicle while , at the same time , permitting a simple method of stabilization of the higher - dynamics devices . a technical distinction exists between two cases , each set forth below . the central sensor block consists of a single set of gyros . in this arrangement , the set of gyros includes a sufficient number of gyros to measure quantities with respect to three independent measurement axes . thus , for example , when double - axis gyros are utilized , at least two are required , whereas , in the case of single - axis gyros , at least three gyros are necessary . in this case , the devices may only be stabilized with respect to inertial space . this is similar to the above - described prior art systems for combat tanks . however , only a single set of gyros is necessary for the stabilization of all of the high dynamics devices . the inertial sensor block includes not only a set of gyros as in the prior case , but also a sufficient number of accelerometers to measure along three independent axes . such a set of sensors is available , for example , in a strap - down system or analytical platform . that type of a system may provide data concerning the position , speed , acceleration , setting ( and change of setting ) of the support relative to a navigation co - ordinate system with respect to earth . thus , in this case , device stabilization may be undertaken in relation to a navigation co - ordinate system with respect to the earth . in both of the above - referenced cases , the inertial sensor block senses movements of the turret co - ordinate system . the outputs of the sensor block are utilized as reference values by the individual device stabilization control systems . each device ( e . g . weapon , visual device , sighting device or the like ) is provided with its own control system having a device - specific bandwidth . the settings of the devices relative to the support ( turret of the combat tank ) are determined by angle pickups , the outputs of which control setting mechanisms ( at the devices ) by means of high bandwidth closed control loops . accordingly , changes of setting and turret movements are utilized as guide quantities by the device control loops . the inventors have found that the angles of disturbance that occur in a comparatively massive support ( e . g . tank turret ) decrease rapidly with increasing frequency . indeed , to stabilize a tank &# 39 ; s gun in accordance with the above - referenced patent requires a bandwidth that is approximately three times greater than the measured bandwidths of the angles of disturbance at the tank turret . the stabilization of line - of - sight devices can require regulating systems and sensors having bandwidths that are approximately fifteen times greater . the above findings are reasonable as a tank turret which weighs several tons moves with relatively great inertia . a lighter gun exhibits higher dynamics , and the relatively light deflecting mirrors of optical sighting devices ( telescopic sight of the gunner , periscope of the commander ) exhibit very high dynamics . the invention takes advantage of the foregoing by means of a two - step process wherein the individual high - dynamics devices are stabilized with the required large bandwidth with respect to the support and the lesser movement of the support determined and compensated by means of a superposed control loop of smaller bandwidth . by employing the teachings of the invention , it is possible , by employing a conventional set of inertial sensors ( e . g . strapdown system ) on the support and angle pickups , or rotational speed pickups , such as tachogenerators , and angle measuring devices , such as resolvers , respectively at the devices , to stabilize the high - dynamics devices . in this regard , it is highly significant that the bandwidth of the set of inertial sensors need only be sufficiently large to permit accurately known movements of the low - dynamics support . this bandwidth is , in general , markedly smaller than those of the devices to be stabilized . when an analytical platform is employed for the set of inertial sensors , the platform invariably supplies the position and the setting of the support and quantities derived therefrom for additional functions , such as those utilized by a central firing control . the number of devices which may be stabilized and their bandwidths are in principle , unlimited . the method permits an optimum modular construction and is suitable for varying types of vehicles ( regardless of the number of devices to be stabilized ). for example , the gunner &# 39 ; s sighting device requires the greatest stability in a combat tank . therefore , the control systems and angle pickups for that device exhibit the greatest bandwidth . the other devices to be stabilized ( e . g . commander &# 39 ; s periscope , weapons ) can then be equipped with control systems whose bandwidths are individually coordinated with the dynamics of those devices . in contrast to prior stabilization methods , especially those for use with combat tanks , the following advantages are achieved : ( a ) inertial sensors of the central sensor block ( analytical platform ) may be located at a protected unexposed position ; ( b ) size and weight restrictions of the central sensor block are not applicable ; ( c ) the central sensor block is of standardized form , readily accessible and easily maintained ; ( d ) an arbitrary number of devices may be simultaneously stabilized by the inertial sensor block ; ( e ) the central sensor block , or more precisely , the electronics system ( 17 ) associated with it , can be constructed in digital technology , and requires only sufficient processing speed to correctly describe the movements of the support . at the same time , the device control systems may be constructed as rapid analog control systems , permitting a low cost solution by employing standard systems in the central sensor block ; ( f ) a set of high - quality gyros may be employed in the inertial sensor block . a higher degree of system reliability and availability is achieved since strapdown gyros have a markedly greater service life than the rate gyros which are customarily employed for armored weapons stabilization ; and ( g ) navigation quality strapdown gyros exhibit lower drift ( by a number of orders of magnitude ) than conventional rate gyros . accordingly , high accuracy of navigation data is obtained . when an inertial sensor block with accelerometers ( e . g . strapdown system ) is employed , additional advantages are achieved : ( h ) the earth &# 39 ; s rotation is taken into consideration and compensated during stabilization as stabilization is undertaken with respect to a coordinate system that is fixed with respect to earth . as a result , the observation and monitoring of portions of terrain by optical sighting systems are enhanced ; ( i ) the speed of the support can be compensated , resulting in a drift - free image ( even during travel ) when an observation or sighting device , for example , is stabilized in accordance with the invention ; ( j ) three - axis stabilization may be accomplished without additional inertial sensors . as a result , image rotation about the support tilt axis is prevented , permitting steady image presentation on viewing devices ; ( k ) the vertical sensor formerly required to compensate tilt angle is dispensed with , as its function is carried out by the central sensor block . as the invention is based upon the application of an inertial central sensor system including accelerometers , data are provided with respect to the location , setting and movement of the support . as a result , additional useful functions may be performed in an armored vehicle . as the central sensor block ( analytical platform ) supplies the position of the vehicle with respect to a navigation system that is fixed in relation to the earth , the vehicle &# 39 ; s orientation in unknown terrain , poor visibility or other difficult environmental conditions is facilitated . moreover , the strapdown system supplies data concerning the speed and angular velocity of the turret for improved firing control as , for example , correction of the muzzle velocity of the projectile of the gun 4 . all data are made available via the data bus 12 . furthermore , with the aid of range - finding measurements from the armored vehicle to the target , point stabilization dynamic aiming - off allowance computations can be performed with accuracy . while this invention has been described with reference to its presently preferred embodiment , it is by no means limited thereto . rather , its scope is limited only insofar as defined by the set of claims which follows and it includes all equivalents thereof .	5
a variety of different arrangements of wells and antennae may be employed to apply radiofrequency energy to heavy crude oil in situ , thereby enhancing oil recovery and achieving in situ upgrading of the oil . the proper structure and arrangement for any particular application depends on a variety of factors , including size of field , depth , uniformity , and nature and amount of water and gases in the field . fig1 is a perspective view of a basic in situ radiofrequency reactor . heavy oil is present in oil field 10 . oil / gas production well 20 is drilled into the oil field for recovery of heavy oil and other materials . at least a portion of oil / gas production well 20 is drilled horizontally through the oil field . horizontal oil / gas production well 21 is positioned to receive oil and other gas that are moved or generated by the action of the radiofrequency reactor . a second well , radiofrequency well 30 , is drilled into the oil field in proximity to oil / gas production well 20 . at least a portion of radiofrequency well 30 is drilled horizontally through the oil field in proximity to and above horizontal oil / gas production well 21 . horizontal radiofrequency well 31 is used to apply radiofrequency energy to the surrounding heavy crude oil field , thereby heating the oil and reducing its viscosity . due to gravity , the reduced heated heavy crude oil drains , where it may be captured by and pumped out through oil / gas production well 20 to storage or processing equipment . radiofrequency energy is generated by a radiofrequency generator . it is transmitted via radiofrequency transmission line 40 through radiofrequency well 30 and horizontal radiofrequency well 31 to radiofrequency antenna 41 . radiofrequency antenna 41 applies radiofrequency energy to the surrounding heavy crude oil , thereby heating it and reducing its viscosity so that it may be collected by and recovered through oil / gas production well 20 . the oil / gas production well 20 may also act as a parasitic antenna to redirect radiation in an upward direction toward the formation to be heated by the radiofrequency energy , thereby increasing efficiency . for purposes of in situ processing and upgrading of the heavy crude oil , horizontal oil / gas production well 21 may be embedded in catalytic bed 50 . horizontal radiofrequency well 31 may be strongly electromagnetically coupled to horizontal oil / gas producing well 21 so that the temperature of horizontal oil / gas producing well 21 may be precisely controlled , thereby allowing for upgrading of the heavy oil in horizontal oil / gas production well 21 over a wide range of temperatures . the upgrading can be based on several different known technologies , such as visbreaking , coking , aquathermolysis , or catalytic bed reactor technology . radiofrequency antennae may be placed in an oil field in numerous configurations to maximize oil recovery and efficiency . fig2 shows a perspective view of an alternative arrangement of an in situ radiofrequency reactor . radiofrequency antennae 41 may be placed in proximity to one another in oil field 10 . radiofrequency energy is supplied to the antennae 41 by a radiofrequency generator and then applied to the oil field 10 . the resulting heating reduces the viscosity of the oil , which drains due to gravity . horizontal oil / gas production well 21 is positioned below the antennae 41 to collect and recover the heated oil . as with the rfr in fig1 , this arrangement may also be used to process the heavy oil in situ . a horizontal radiofrequency well 31 with horizontal radiofrequency antenna 42 may be placed in proximity to horizontal oil / gas producing well 21 below antennae 41 to control the temperature of the oil . horizontal oil / gas production well 21 may be embedded in catalytic bed reactor 50 . the oil may thereby be upgraded in situ . fig3 shows a top view of another arrangement for an in situ radiofrequency reactor for use in large oil fields . in this radial configuration , one central and vertical radiofrequency heating well 32 with radiofrequency antenna 41 is used for larger volumes of oil . radiofrequency antenna 41 applies radiofrequency energy to area 11 , thereby heating the oil in that area . the heated oil drains to horizontal oil / gas production wells 21 for collection and recovery . parallel horizontal radiofrequency wells 31 may also be used to heat the oil . in addition , radiofrequency antennae 43 may be placed in vertical radiofrequency wells 33 to assist with in situ upgrading of the heavy crude oil . the radiofrequency antennae used in the rfr system of the present invention may be any of those known in the art . fig4 shows a perspective view of a radiofrequency applicator that may be used with the rfr of the invention . applicator system 45 is positioned within radiofrequency well 30 . applicator system 45 is then used to apply electromagnetic energy to heavy crude oil in the vicinity of radiofrequency well 30 . applicator structure 46 is a transmission line retort . radiofrequency energy is supplied to applicator 46 by an rf generator ( not shown ). the radiofrequency generator is connected to applicator 46 via radiofrequency transmission line 40 . the radiofrequency transmission line 40 may or may not be supported by ceramic beads , which are desirable at higher temperatures . by this means , the radiofrequency generator supplies radiofrequency energy to applicator 46 , which in turn applies radiofrequency energy to the target volume of oil . although one specific examples of an applicator structure is given , it is understood that other arrangements known in the art could be used as well . uniform heating may be achieved using antenna array techniques , such as those disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 065 , 819 . the present invention also has application in oil shale fields , such as those present in the western united states . large oil molecules that exist in such oil shale have been heated in a series of experiments to evaluate the dielectric frequency response with temperature . the response at low temperatures is always dictated by the connate water until this water is removed as a vapor . following the water vapor state , the minerals control the degree of energy absorption until temperatures of about 300 - 350 degrees centigrade are reached . in this temperature range , the radiofrequency energy begins to be preferentially absorbed by the heavy oil . the onset of this selective absorption is rapid and requires power control to insure that excessive temperatures with attendant coking do not occur . because of the high temperature selective energy absorption capability of heavy oil , it is therefore possible to very carefully control the bulk temperature of crude oil heated by radiofrequency energy . the energy requirement is minimized once the connate water is removed by steaming . it takes much less energy to reach mild cracking temperatures with radiofrequency energy than any other thermal means . kasevich has published a molecular theory that relates to the specific heating of heavy of oil molecules . he found that by comparing cable insulating oils with kerogen ( oil ) from oil shale , a statistical distribution of relaxation times in the kerogen dielectric gave the best theoretical description of how radiofrequency energy is absorbed in oil through dielectric properties . with higher temperatures and lowering of potential energy barriers within the molecular complex a rapid rise in selective energy absorption occurs . in use , a user of an embodiment of the present invention would drill oil / gas production wells and radiofrequency wells into a heavy crude oil field . at least a portion of the wells would be horizontal . the radiofrequency wells would be placed in proximity to and above the oil / gas production wells . the user would install a radiofrequency antenna in each radiofrequency well and supply such antennae with radiofrequency energy from a radiofrequency generator via a radiofrequency transmission cable . the user would then apply radiofrequency energy using the radiofrequency generator to the antenna , thereby applying the radiofrequency energy to the heavy crude oil in situ . the radiofrequency energy would be controlled to minimize coking and achieve the desired cracking and upgrading of the heavy crude oil . the resulting products would then be recovered via the oil / gas production well and transferred to a storage or processing facility . although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments , persons 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 .	4
referring now to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views , fig1 shows a slightly modified , but otherwise typical cautery pencil , which is designated generally at 10 . cautery 10 is modified by having a constricted portion 11 a slight distance back along stem 12 from blade 13 . the purpose for constricted portion 11 will be explained later . in all other respects , cautery 10 is quite typical having a power source 14 attached at an end opposite its blade , a neck portion 16 for thumb and finger control , and a base member 17 to support blade 13 . referring now to fig2 and 4 , the cleaning device of this invention is designated generally at 20 and is shown in its cleaning position along blade 13 . cleaning device 20 is tethered to cautery 10 by flexible tethers 18 and 19 which extend from anchor collar 21 ( see fig2 and 3 ). anchor collar 21 is sized so as to cooperate with constricted portion 11 and is made of a semielastic material which enables it to be forced over any enlargement along stem 12 which may be between blade 13 and constricted portion 11 of stem 12 and then be seated into constricted portion 11 . as can be seen in fig5 and 7 , cleaning device 20 has blade guide 22 centered longitudinally through its support member 23 . to mount cleaning device 20 onto cautery 10 , blade 13 is entered first through anchor collar 21 and then through guide 22 so that anchor collar 21 may be forced over stem 12 and seated in constricted portion 11 . referring now to fig5 and 7 , it can be further noted that guide 22 has a cross - section with conforming and slightly larger dimensions than those of the cross - section of blade 13 . thus , support member 23 is generally limited to longitudinal orientation as it slides along blade 13 . this limitation is designated as general because support member 23 is made of rubber , a plastic with rubber - like physical properties or any similar material in terms of its flexibility and elasticity , thus permitting some variation from a strictly longitudinal orientation . the degree and nature of such properties are to be similar to those of a rubber pencil eraser . these properties are important for several reasons which will be appreciated and explained as support member 23 is further described below . plastics which have suitable characteristics are well known . such materials which are also amenable to being sanitized for re - use are also well known , and it is suitable for collar 21 , tethers 18 and 19 , and support member 23 to be formed in one injection molding process . referring again to fig5 and 7 , the bottom of support member 23 , which will be adjacent base member 17 when cleaning device 20 is mounted as aforesaid , is shaped and sized to conform to said base member 17 . support member 23 , being of rubber - like material , may thus be forceably and operably seated onto base member 17 when the surgeon is using cautery 10 for sealing or cutting . likewise , it may be easily removed from base member 17 and manually slid allong blade 13 for cleaning purposes . imbedded and anchored into support member 23 is scraping member 24 which is comprised of two identical half - portions 26 ( see also fig4 ). in cross - section each half - portion 26 is an inverted l , one a mirror - image of the other , ( see fig7 ) when support member 23 is mounted as aforesaid on blade 13 and the cautery 10 is oriented vertically . in this position , half - portions 26 can each be seen to have a stubby projection 27 which anchors them into a conforming and cooperating recess in support member 23 . vertical leg 28 is also within a conforming and cooperating recess which , however , is slightly shorter than vertical leg 28 in order that horizontal leg 29 will be spaced away from and above the top of support member 23 . half - portions 26 are located equidistant from and longitudinally centered with respect to blade 13 . due to the rubber - like properties of support member 23 , each half - portion 26 can be forcibly inserted into support member 23 by inserting its end which bears projection 27 through the upper end of the conforming and cooperating recess for retaining vertical leg 28 until projection 27 drops into its conforming and cooperating recess . as can be seen in fig7 horizontal segment 29 of the inverted l of each half - portion 26 is of such a length that it will have a scraping edge in contact with blade 13 when so inserted and when cleaning device 20 is mounted as aforesaid . in order that scraping member 24 can contact all four sides of blade 13 each half portion 26 has a horizontal u - shaped notch 31 for contact with its adjacent one - half of the cross - sectional perimeter of blade 13 . to further promote the effectiveness of scraper 26 a pointed horizontal edge is formed by the intersection of the upper side 32 of horizontal segment 29 and the shallow vertical side 33 which forms notch 31 . shallow side 33 is at an angle to the vertical in order that it will form with upper side 32 an acute angle of approximately 70 °. see also fig7 a and 7b . referring once again to fig7 a and 7b , the full value of the flexibility and elasticity of main body 23 can be appreciated . note how the angle of contact of scraper 24 with blade 13 can be varied in the plane depicted in said fig7 a and 7b . fingertip control is further enhanced by a plurality of horizontal ribs 34 which are formed as part of support member 23 and located on its sides . by a squeezing and rocking motion aided by the fulcrum effect of the varying area of contact between guide 22 and blade 13 , a great degree of scraping force can be generated against all four sides of blade 13 . the application of this force can also be varied as to degree and angle due to the rubber - like properties of support member 23 . as scraper 24 is worked up and down blade 13 and made to contact any of its four sides with the desired force and at the desired angle , the debris clinging to blade 13 is pushed and popped free thereof . obviously , many 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 practiced otherwise than as specifically described .	0
the present embodiment will be described in case the concept of chaos of the present invention is applied to a ‘ pachinko ’ machine . fig1 is a schematic diagram showing the pachinko machine of the present embodiment . reference numeral 1 designates a ball shooting grip , and numeral 2 designates a playing board face , which is equipped therein with rewarding catchers 4 , 6 , 7 and 8 , a game indicator 5 , rewarding catchers 3 having functions to start the game unit , and a great - hit catcher 9 . the pachinko balls shot by the shooting machine are bounced in various directions to fly downward over the board face 2 by nails arranged in the board face 2 . when the pachinko ball lands in any of the rewarding catchers 3 , 4 , 6 , 7 and 8 , reward balls are supplied to a ball feed / reserve chute 12 . especially when a ball lands in the rewarding catcher 3 , the game unit is started in addition to the supply of reward balls . this game unit changes indications of three figures in the game indicator 5 and interrupts the changes after lapse of a predetermined time period . the game unit commands the opening of a control valve for the great - hit catcher 9 if a predetermined combination of figures is achieved at the interruption . if this special condition is attained , the great hit causes the pachinko machine to open the great - hit catcher 9 thereby to establish a situation in which the player takes an advantage of catching more pachinko balls . as shown in fig1 the pachinko machine is generally identical without any substantial change in appearance to those used in the prior art . [ 0057 ] fig4 is a flow chart for applying the concept of chaos of the present invention to the pachinko machine . the pulse wave data fetched from a sensor 40 for collecting the information of the player are converted into a chaos attractor by a numerical operator 41 . the chaos attractor thus converted is then compared with a predetermined defining condition of the chaos , and an index calculated by a calculator 42 from the ljapunov index indicating the degree of satisfying that condition is fed to a computer 43 for controlling the pachinko machine . the indication or information of this computer 43 is fed to changing means 44 for changing the content of the game . thus , this game content is changed according to the situation of the player at that time . the computer 43 may be fed with the data from the pachinko machine itself as other data . these data are enumerated by the reward data of balls to the rewarding catchers , the great - hit data of the game unit or the situation of the control valve of the great - hit catcher 9 . the computer 43 enables the pachinko machine to cope with the various situations by processing those data and sending the commands or data for the various changes to the changing means 44 . in the present embodiment , the chaos attractor obtained from the pulse waves of the player is utilized to change the responses for meeting the pachinko machine . in order to get informed - about the psychosomatic state of the player , according to the present embodiment , the ball shooting grip 1 is equipped with a pulse wave sensor for measuring the pulse waves at the fingertip of the player . the ball shooting grip 1 is schematically shown in an enlarged scale in fig2 . this grip 1 can be turned to command the shot itself of the pachinko balls and the shooting intensity . the grip 1 is equipped at its outer circumference with a knob 20 having a function to aid the turning motion . the pachinko balls are usually shot by turning the grip i to the right . for this shooting action , the player actuates the grip 1 by applying his fingertip 22 to the lower side 21 of the knob 20 . thus , the pulse wave sensor 25 is fitted in that portion of the knob 20 , at which the fingertip 22 abuts against the lower side 21 . in the present embodiment , the pulse wave sensor is composed of an infrared - emitting diode and a photosensor so that the reflection of the infrared ray emitted from the diode may be sensed by the photosensor to acquire the information of the pulse waves of the player . in an alternative mode of embodiment , the knob of the grip is formed with a finger hole 24 , in which the pulse wave sensor 25 is fitted , as shown in fig3 . in this modification , the sensor can be held in complete contact with the fingertip so that the pulse waves of the player can be acquired more reliably . in another structure , the pulse wave sensor can be disposed in at least such a portion of the ball shooting grip as is grasped by the player . moreover , the sensor to be used should not be limited to that using the photo - coupler but can also utilize a pressure sensor . the pulse wave information thus achieved from the player is converted into the chaos attractor by the arithmetic operation means so that it is recognized as the chaos attractor information indicating the present psychosomatic state of the player . next , the chaos attractor recognized is compared with the chaos attractor which has already been classified and registered . then , the ljapunov number responding to a predetermined level is achieved by the arithmetic operating means so that the responses to be taken by the pachinko machine is changed according to that numerical value . the changes in the responses of the pachinko game and its machine will be specifically described in the following . if the prevailing psychosomatic state of the player is in an “ unexcited ” situation so that this situation is recognized through the arithmetic operator by arithmetically processing the data obtained from the aforementioned sensor , the rewarding catcher 6 , for example , other than the ordinary game unit starting chucker catcher 3 is set to a concurrent game unit starting chucker catcher . the game unit is also started when a pachinko ball lands in the reset rewarding catcher 8 . the subsequent responses are identical to the ordinary ones so that the great hit is rewarded if the specific combination is obtained among the figures . otherwise , a predetermined number of more balls are returned . thus , the psychosomatic state of the player obtained from the sensor mounted in the shooting grip is arithmetically processed to assign the game to the level under the predetermined condition , e . g ., the “ unexcited ” level as in this case . then , a command is issued to take a response different from that of the ordinary pachinko machine so that the gate unit can be unintentionally started to attract the interest of the player . in the present embodiment , the unexpected game is started by the pachinko machine so that the game can be changed from that of the ordinary pachinko to make variations . in the embodiment described above , the response of the pachinko game is changed in the game but should not be limited thereto . for example , the circumstances of the player such as the air conditioning , illuminations or musics can also be changed to prevent the player from losing his or her interest . the present embodiment is exemplified by applying the concept of chaos of the present invention to a rotary drum type game machine . if the prevailing psychosomatic state of the player is in the “ excited ” situation , this situation is recognized through the machine or the numerical operator by arithmetically processing the data obtained from the aforementioned sensor . then , the turning velocity of the rotary drum type game machine can be accelerated to make the player enthusiastic in the game so that he or she may be kept hot . moreover , the content of the game can be changed by making the time period for the turning of the game machine to halt shorter than the ordinary one so that the player may see the game result earlier . the present embodiment is exemplified by applying the concept of chaos of the present invention to the facilities of a game parlor equipped with a plurality of game machines . specifically , the game parlor is usually arranged with a number of game machines in a block or matrix shape . these game machines are wholly or partially changed into those capable of grasping the prevailing psychosomatic states of the players . the data of these game machines are processed by another computer disposed in the game parlor to grasp the distribution of the games in specific psychosomatic situations . if the distribution of the “ unexcited ” players is grasped , for example , the kind of music to be served to the parlor is changed to provide the circumstances for the players to get “ excited ” or “ thrilled ”. this changing method can fit the prevailing situations of the players by changing the parlor entirely or partially according to the distribution of the players in a specific state . in all the three embodiments described above , the concept of chaos is applied , but this application should not be limitative . even if the application of the concept of chaos is impossible , the conditional level is determined in advance to classify the players so that the game machines can be given the change in the response like the case of applying the concept of chaos . in this modification , various responses can be achieved by changing the predetermined level and the kinds of information from the players . according to the construction of the present invention , as has been described hereinbefore , it is possible to provide the contents and circumstances conforming to the prevailing psychosomatic situations of the players . moreover , the contents , responses and circumstances of the games can be changed according to the situations of the players so that the players can continue their interests in the games for a long time without any loss . the game contents are not limited to one pattern but can be changed according to the psychosomatic situations of the players or any of the levels predetermined by the players . thus , it is possible to realize a novel game stressed on the players .	0
the following detailed description of implementations consistent with the principles of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings . the same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements . also , the following detailed description does not limit the invention . instead , the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents . systems and methods consistent with the present invention provide a dual ip / mpeg ts system in which ip packets can be converted into mpeg ts packets , and vice versa . in an exemplary implementation , a cmts converts ip packets to smaller mpeg ts packets and transmits these packets to cms and set top boxes , resulting in a significant savings in downstream bandwidth . fig1 illustrates an exemplary network 100 in which systems and methods consistent with the principles of the present invention may be implemented . as illustrated , network 100 may include a cm 120 and a set top box 130 that connect to ip services 140 and mpeg services 150 via a cmts 110 . the number of devices illustrated in fig1 is provided for simplicity . a typical network 100 may include more or different devices than illustrated in fig1 . cmts 110 provides an interface that allows cm 120 and set - top box 130 to receive data transmissions from ip services 140 and mpeg services 150 . in one implementation consistent with the principles of the present invention , cmts 110 may receive mpeg ts packets from mpeg services 150 and transmit these packets to cm 120 and set top box 130 for processing . cmts 110 may also receive ip packets from ip services 140 , convert these ip packets to mpeg ts packets by performing deep packet header suppression ( dphs ) processing , and transmit these packets to cm 120 and set top box 130 for processing . data may also flow from set top box 130 and cm 120 to ip services 140 and mpeg services 150 . cm 120 may include one or more cms capable of receiving mpeg ts packets . in one implementation consistent with the principles of the present invention , cm 120 may convert received mpeg ts packets to ip packets for transmission to , for example , a customer &# 39 ; s computer or other device ( not shown ). set top box 130 may include one or more conventional set top boxes available from a number of manufacturers . set top box 130 may receive mpeg ts packets from cmts 110 and process the packets in a well - known manner to allow for the packet &# 39 ; s content to be played on a television or other device ( not shown ). ip services 140 may include any ip data source or sink , such as a movie database capable of providing or receiving streaming video and / or audio . mpeg services 150 may include mpeg video and / or audio data sources or sinks . as described above , cmts 110 may communicate ip packets with ip services 140 and mpeg ts packets with mpeg services 150 . fig2 illustrates an exemplary configuration of cmts 110 of fig1 in an implementation consistent with the principles of the present invention . as illustrated , cmts 110 may include mpeg interface logic 210 , ip interface logic 220 , classifier logic 230 , dphs logic 240 , and output interface logic 250 . cmts 110 may further include other components ( not shown ) that aid in the reception , transmission , and / or processing of data . mpeg interface logic 210 may include one or more memory devices that temporarily store mpeg ts packets received from mpeg services 150 . similarly , ip interface logic 220 may include one or more memory devices that temporarily store ip packets received from ip services 140 . classifier logic 230 may include logic that receives ip packets from ip interface logic 220 and decides , for each packet whether dphs processing should be applied to the packet . in one implementation consistent with the present invention , classifier logic 230 may determine that dphs processing should be applied when an ip packet is associated with mpeg data . as will be described in detail below , dphs logic 240 may include logic that converts an ip packet into an mpeg ts packet by compressing one or more fields in the ip packet when classifier logic 230 identifies the packet as being associated with mpeg data . output interface logic 250 may include logic that transmits packets to the appropriate destination ( s ) in a well - known manner . output interface logic 250 may transmit mpeg ts packets to cm 120 and / or set - top box 130 . fig3 illustrates an exemplary configuration of cm 120 of fig1 in an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention . as illustrated , cm 120 may include input interface logic 310 , classifier logic 320 , inverse dphs logic 330 , timing logic 340 , and output interface logic 350 . cm 120 may also include other components ( not shown ) that aid in the reception , transmission , and / or processing of data . input interface logic 310 may include one or more memory devices that temporarily store mpeg ts packets received from cmts 110 . classifier logic 320 may include logic that receives mpeg ts packets from input interface logic 310 and decides , for each packet , whether inverse dphs processing should be applied to the packet . in one implementation consistent with the present invention , classifier logic 320 may determine that inverse dphs processing should be applied based on an mpeg value contained in the packet . as will be described in detail below , inverse dphs logic 330 may include logic that converts an mpeg ts packet into an ip packet by adding those fields removed by dphs logic 240 in cmts 110 . timing logic 340 may include logic that adds a timing signal , such as a time stamp , to ip packets to ensure that the ip packets are processed in the correct order at a destination device . output interface logic 350 may include logic that transmits ip packets to the appropriate destination ( s ) in a well - known manner . output interface logic 350 may , for example , transmit ip packets to computer devices associated with one or more customers . fig4 illustrates an exemplary process , performed by cmts 110 , for transmitting signals in a network in an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention . processing may begin with cmts 110 receiving one or more packets from another device , such as a device associated with ip services 140 or mpeg services 150 ( act 410 ). cmts 110 may receive the packets via mpeg interface logic 210 or ip interface logic 220 . cmts 110 may then determine whether the packet is an mpeg ts packet ( act 420 ). cmts 110 may , for example , determine that a packet is an mpeg ts packet when the packet is received at mpeg interface logic 210 . alternatively , cmts 110 may determine that a packet is an mpeg ts packet by inspecting the fields of the packet . if cmts 110 determines that a packet is not an mpeg ts packet ( e . g ., because it was received at ip interface logic 220 ), cmts 110 may classify the packet to determine whether dphs processing should be applied to the packet ( act 430 ). for example , cmts 110 may determine that dphs processing should be applied to the packet when the packet includes mpeg data . in alternative implementations , cmts 110 may determine that dphs processing should be applied to all ip packets . if cmts 110 determines that dphs processing should not be applied , cmts 110 transmits the packet to the appropriate destination ( act 440 ) and processing may return to act 410 . if , on the other hand , cmts 110 determines that dphs processing should be applied , cmts 110 may suppress header fields of the received packet to form an mpeg ts packet ( act 450 ). fig5 illustrates an exemplary configuration of an ip packet 500 in accordance with the principles of the present invention . as illustrated , ip packet 500 may include a payload field 510 , a real - time protocol ( rtp ) field 520 , a user datagram protocol ( udp ) field 530 , an ip field 540 , a media access control ( mac ) field 550 , an extended header field 560 , and an mpeg header field 570 . it will be appreciated that a typical ip packet may include additional ( or different ) fields than illustrated in fig5 . payload field 510 may include the data transported by packet 500 . this data may include , for example , audio and / or video data . payload field 510 may also include an mpeg header 515 as well - known in the art . mpeg header 515 may include , for example , a synchronization byte , transport error indication information that indicates whether the packet is associated with at least one uncorrectable bit error , payload unit start indication information , transport priority information , information identifying the type of data in the payload ( pid ), information identifying the scrambling mode of the packet , information indicating whether the packet header is followed by an adaptation field and / or a payload field , and a continuity counter field that increments with each packet of the same pid . rtp field 520 may include rtp header information that includes , among other things , payload type data and possibly a time stamp . the payload type data may , for example , identify that ip packet 500 includes mpeg data . udp field 530 may include udp header information that includes , for example , source and destination port identification information . ip field 540 may include ip header information that includes , for example , source and destination ip addresses . mac field 550 may include mac header information that includes , for example , mac source and destination addresses . extended header field 560 may include data that aids in data link security , fragmentation , and payload header suppression . in one implementation consistent with the principles of the invention , extended header field 560 may include a payload header suppression sub - field that includes , for example , information identifying whether payload header suppression is being performed in the upstream or downstream , a length value that identifies the length of a payload header suppression index , and the payload header suppression index . mpeg header field 570 may include mpeg header information . fig6 illustrates an exemplary configuration of an mpeg ts packet 600 in accordance with the principles of the present invention . as illustrated , mpeg ts packet 600 may include a payload field 610 that includes an mpeg header 620 . it will be appreciated that a typical mpeg ts packet may include additional ( or different ) fields than illustrated in fig6 . payload field 610 may include the data transported by packet 600 . this data may include , for example , audio and / or video data . mpeg header 620 may include , for example , a synchronization byte , transport error indication information that indicates whether the packet is associated with at least one uncorrectable bit error , payload unit start indication information , transport priority information , a pid , information identifying the scrambling mode of the packet , information indicating whether the packet header is followed by an adaptation field and / or a payload field , and a continuity counter field that increments with each packet of the same pid . in one implementation consistent with the principles of the present invention , mpeg header 620 indicates the headers suppressed by cmts 110 . to convert a received ip packet , such as packet 500 , into an mpeg ts packet , such as packet 600 , cmts 110 may suppress that portion of rtp field 520 , udp field 530 , ip field 540 , and mac field 550 that does not change from packet to packet and replace the pid with a value that corresponds to those suppressed fields . once the initial payload header suppression processing is performed , cmts 110 may suppress the remaining portion of rtp field 520 , extended header field 560 , and mpeg header field 570 into a field in mpeg header 515 to thereby convert the original ip packet 500 into an mpeg ts packet , having , for example , the configuration illustrated in fig6 . similar to the initial payload header suppression processing described above , cmts 110 may create an index corresponding to the suppressed header information and store this index in a field of mpeg header 515 ( or 620 in fig6 ). for example , in ip telephony , voice samples may be transported using ip packets , via the rtp protocol . a voice packet that is transported using the rtp / ip protocol may resemble the ip packet configuration illustrated in fig5 , with the exception that instead of payload field 510 and mpeg header 515 , these fields contain the voice samples . assuming a 20 millisecond framing interval and g . 711 codec , the total length of the docsis downstream channel packet becomes : crc : 4 bytes voice samples : 160 bytes rtp header : 12 bytes udp header : 8 bytes ipv4 : 20 bytes 802 . 3 : 14 bytes bpi : 5 bytes docsis mac : 6 bytes . the above packet may be transported within the 13 bit docsis pid , which adds 5 ( i . e ., 4 mpeg + 1 payload unit start indicator ( pusi )) additional bytes for every 183 bytes of data . since the total docsis packet length is 225 bytes , more than one docsis payload should be used . all this information can be encoded into a downstream unique pid value . upon receipt of the ip telephony packet , cmts 110 strips the udp / ip / 802 . 3 header and , instead of using the docsis mac , it encodes the suppressed header into a downstream unique pid value ( say 555 ) and sends the packet as : padding : 8 bytes crc : 4 bytes voice : 160 bytes rtp header : 12 bytes mpeg header : 4 bytes ( the pid is set to 555 ). in the docsis payload header suppression method defined in data - over - cable service interface specifications ( docsis ), radio frequency interface specification , sp - rfiv1 . 1 - i09 - 020830 , aug . 30 , 2002 the packet would be transported as : crc : 4 bytes voice : 160 bytes rtp header : 12 bytes bpi : 5 bytes docsis mac : 6 bytes , which makes the length of the packet 187 bytes . this amount of data would not fit into one mpeg payload , which is 5 bytes for the docsis . as illustrated in the above example , the use of dphs is more advantageous than phs as defined by docsis . another example is the transport of mpeg video packets . these packets may be include : crc : 4 bytes mpeg payload : 184 bytes mpeg header : 4 bytes rtp header : 12 bytes udp header : 8 bytes ipv4 : 20 bytes 802 . 3 : 14 bytes bpi : 5 bytes docsis mac : 6 bytes . the above packet may be transported within the 13 bit docsis pid , which adds 5 ( 4 mpeg + 1 pusi ) additional bytes for every 183 bytes of data . the total length of mpeg payload is , therefore , 257 bytes plus the 5 byte docsis mpeg header making the total length more than 263 bytes . if cmts 110 sends the mpeg packets timely . using a unique pid value , this packet becomes 188 bytes , resulting in tremendous savings in bandwidth . once the received ip packet has been converted to an mpeg ts packet , cmts 110 may transmit the packet to cm 120 and / or set top box 130 ( act 460 ). since the size of payload field 510 is 60 percent of the total size of ip packet 500 , the result of the above dphs processing is a packet that is 40 percent smaller than the originally received ip packet . accordingly , this dphs processing provides increased bandwidth efficiency in that part of network 100 between cmts 110 and cm 120 and / or set top box 130 . fig7 illustrates an exemplary process , performed by cm 120 , for converting an mpeg ts packet into an ip packet in accordance with the principles of the invention . processing may begin with cm 120 receiving an mpeg ts packet , such as mpeg ts packet 600 , from cmts 110 ( act 710 ). upon receiving the packet , cm 120 may determine whether the packet includes dphs ( act 720 ). cm 120 may make this determination by , for example , examining the index in mpeg header 620 and determining whether the mpeg header includes a pid that is assigned to a header suppression . if the received packet does not include dphs , cm 120 may drop the packet ( act 760 ). it on the other hand , the received packet includes dphs , cm 120 may add the appropriate header fields back to the packet ( act 730 ). in essence , cm 120 acts to restore the packet to the form in which it was received by cmts 110 . cm 120 may extract the index from mpeg header 620 and use this index , along with other information , such as a stream identifier , to restore the rtp field portion 520 , extended header field 560 , and mpeg header field 570 . cm 120 may restore these headers via , for example , a lookup operation . cm 120 may then restore the remaining portion of rtp field 520 , udp field 530 , ip field 540 , and mac field 550 from the index stored in extended header field 560 by using , for example , a lookup operation . in the ip telephony example given above , cm 120 may perform a lookup operation for the pid value of 555 and may determined , based on the lookup operation , that is associated with specific values for the following fields : rtp header : 12 bytes udp header : 8 bytes ipv4 : 20 bytes 802 . 3 : 14 bytes bpi : 5 bytes docsis mac : 6 bytes . cm 120 may then process the packet according to docsis rules . in another implementation consistent with the principles of the invention , the suppressed headers may correspond to only the ip layer : for the mpeg example set forth above , a set - top box , such as set - top box 130 may receive the mpeg data stream and process this data stream as a normal mpeg data stream . alternatively , a cm , such as cm 120 , may receive the same data stream and use the suppressed headers set forth below . in this situation , some of the rtp fields may be filled by cm 120 and crc may be appended by cm 120 using the real time information that cm 120 has since the packet is received in - time by cmts , 110 . the suppressed headers may include : rtp header : 12 bytes udp header : 8 bytes ipv4 : 20 bytes 802 . 3 : 14 bytes bpi : 5 bytes docsis mac : 6 bytes . cm 120 may then process the packet according to docsis rules . in an alternative implementation , the suppressed headers may correspond to only the ip layer : once the header fields have been restored , cm 120 may add timing information to the packet ( act 740 ). the timing information may include , for example , a time stamp that allows a destination device to reorder packets that are received out of order . in one implementation , cm 120 adds the timing information to rtp field 520 . cm 120 may then transmit the ip packet to a destination device , such as a customer &# 39 ; s computer . systems and methods consistent with the principles of the present invention provide a dual ip / mpeg ts system in which ip packets can be converted into mpeg ts packets , and vice versa . in an exemplary implementation , a cmts converts ip packets to smaller mpeg ts packets and transmits the mpeg ts packets to cms and set top boxes . as a result , a bandwidth savings of approximately 35 bytes per packet can be achieved over conventional payload header suppression techniques . the foregoing description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention provides illustration and description , but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention . for example , although described in the context of a cable routing system , concepts consistent with the principles of the invention can be implemented in any system , device , or chip that communicates with another system , device , or chip via one or more buses . moreover , although described in a cmts - to - cm direction , dphs techniques consistent with the principles of the present invention can also be performed in the cm - to - cmts direction . in addition , systems and methods have been described as processing packets . in alternate implementations , systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may process other , non - packet , data . in this regard , a data unit may include packet data or non - packet data . while series of acts have been described with regard to fig4 and 7 , the order of the acts may be varied in other implementations consistent with the present invention . moreover , non - dependent acts may be implemented in parallel . further , certain portions of the invention have been described as “ logic ” that performs one or more functions . this logic may include hardware , such as an application specific integrated circuit , software , or a combination of hardware and software . no element , act , or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such . also , as used herein , the article “ a ” is intended to include one or more items . where only one item is intended , the term “ one ” or similar language is used . the scope of the invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents .	7
an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 shows an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention . a case 10 is provided with an air intake 11 which is vertically elongated along a substantially middle portion on a front face of the case 10 , for example . on both sides of a rear face of the case 10 , exhaust openings 12 are also provided , which are vertically elongated . the air intake 11 is located between the exhaust openings 12 . a filter member 13 is provided on the air intake 11 as shown in fig2 . the air for cooling an exterior is taken into the case 10 through the filter member 13 . electronic circuits including power amplifiers 14 are stacked in two columns in the case 10 . the air intake 11 is located between the columns . one column of the power amplifiers 14 is communicated with one of the exhaust openings 12 via a duct 15 , which provides an exhaust channel . the other column of the power amplifiers 14 is also communicated with the other of the exhaust openings 12 via another duct 15 , which provides another exhaust channel . it should be noted that another configuration of the air intake 11 and the exhaust openings 12 is possible in the case 10 . in the ducts 15 , exhaust fans 16 are provided in association with the power amplifiers 14 . in one exhaust channel , evaporation units 17 are positioned between an exhaust opening 12 and an exhausting side of an exhaust fan 16 . also in another channel , evaporation units 17 are positioned between an exhaust opening 12 and an exhausting side of an exhaust fan 16 . the evaporation units 17 in one channel are opposed to the evaporation units 17 in another channel . each of the evaporation units 17 is individually configured . an internal air is discharged from the ducts 15 through the exhaust fans 16 and blown on the evaporation units 17 . the evaporation units 17 cause thermal exchange between the internal air and a circulating working medium to cool the internal air . the evaporation units 17 guide the internal air to be discharged from the exhaust openings 12 . for example , as shown in fig3 , outdoor units 18 which include condensing units are connected to the evaporation units 17 via pipelines 19 . the outdoor units 18 are driven by inverter control . according to the inverter control , an effective voltage and a frequency of an alternating - current power output can be arbitrarily controlled . when the inverter control is conducted at a low frequency , power consumption of the outdoor units 18 can be suppressed . each of the outdoor units 18 includes a compressor 181 , a condenser 182 , and a pressure reducing valve 183 , as shown in fig4 . the working medium is vaporized in the evaporation unit 17 and supplied to the compressor 181 via the pipeline 19 . the compressor 181 compresses the working medium to raise the pressure , and the condenser 182 liquidizes the working medium . the pressure reducing valve 183 reduces the pressure in the working medium , and then , the working medium is circularly supplied to the evaporation unit 17 . thus , the evaporation unit 17 causes the thermal exchange between the internal air , which is blown from the exhaust fans 16 , and the working medium , the pressure of which is reduced by the pressure reducing valve 183 , to cool the internal air . the wind power of the exhaust fans 16 ejects the cooled internal air through the evaporation units 17 and the exhaust openings 12 . in the present embodiment , the inverter control is employed in order that cooling the air is driven at a high frequency to assure a high cooling performance and at a low frequency to provide a lower cooling performance . cooling operation at a low frequency allows the power consumption to be reduced . the cooling operation may be performed at a high frequency as well to provide a higher cooling performance , if necessary . in the above configuration , the case 10 is provided in a room 20 such as a base station . as shown in fig5 , the front face of the case 10 is opposed to a stationary air conditioner 21 . the power amplifiers 14 are used for a desired operation . the air conditioner 21 ejects air having a temperature ( 28 ° c ., for example ) which is lower than the temperature of the room 20 from an ejection opening 211 . the ejected air is mixed with the air in the room 20 , and the temperature of the room 20 is adjusted . the exhaust fans 16 are driven to take the air conditioned by the air conditioner 21 into the air intake 11 of the case 10 . the air is guided to the power amplifiers 14 and absorbs heat which is generated by driving of the power amplifiers 14 . thus , the air rises in temperature up to 45 ° c ., for example . accordingly , the power amplifiers 14 are cooled down . the temperature of the air which has absorbed the heat from the power amplifiers 14 comes to rise up . the air is blown on the evaporation units 17 by the wind power of the exhaust fans 16 . the evaporation units 17 cool the air down ( to 33 ° c ., for example ) by the thermal exchange with the working medium which is circularly supplied form the outdoor units 18 . the air is ejected from the exhaust openings 12 to the room 20 . a suction opening 212 of the air conditioner 21 sucks the cooled air ( 33 ° c ., for example ) which is expelled from the exhaust openings 12 . the air conditioner 21 further cools the air down toward 28 ° c . the air is ejected from the ejection opening 211 to the room 20 , to condition the temperature of the room 20 . thus , when the electronic apparatus is provided with the evaporation units 17 and the outdoor units 18 having a small air conditioning performance , and when the air conditioner 21 is provided with cooling availability which cools the air by 5 degrees , the high - efficiency thermal control is possible and a cooling mechanism which assumes low power can be achieved . the cooling mechanism may be preferable to the electronic apparatus system . the temperature of the air taken in the case 10 is maintained at about 30 ° c . due to air conditioning by the air conditioner 21 . therefore , in comparison with the case where the air is not conditioned , the thermal control for the power amplifiers 14 can be performed with the low cooling performance by the evaporation units 17 and the outdoor units 18 . the air taken in the case 10 is warmed up by the power amplifiers 14 , passes through the evaporation units 17 to be subjected to the thermal exchange , and is cooled . the humidity of the air is also reduced and the air is ejected from the exhaust openings 12 to the room 20 . the air conditioner 21 takes in the low humidity air from the room 20 and performs latent heat cooling and sensible heat cooling to condition the air in the room 20 . if the humidity of the air taken in the air conditioner 21 is low , the heat processing is performed under a condition where necessity of the latent heat cooling is decreased and the air conditioner 21 mainly performs sensible heat cooling . therefore , the cooling performance is improved . thus , the latent heat cooling need not to be performed and requirement for the cooling performance is relieved . therefore , the lower cooling performance can sufficiently condition the air in the room 20 . that is , the electronic apparatus is configured as follows . the air intake 11 in the case 10 takes in air from the room 20 that is conditioned by the air conditioner 21 by the exhausting fans 16 . the air absorbs heat generated by driving of the power amplifiers 14 . the air is cooled by the thermal exchange with the working medium of the evaporation units 17 . the cooled air is forced to be ejected from the exhaust openings 12 by the wind force of the exhaust fans 16 . the conditioned air is taken in the air intake 11 and warmed up by the heat emitted from the power amplifiers 14 . the wind power of the exhaust fans 16 guides the air to the evaporation units 17 . the air is cooled by the evaporation units 17 and ejected out of the case 10 . thus , minimum temperature control for the internal air of the room 20 which is to be taken in the air intake 11 realizes the high - efficient thermal control for the power amplifiers 14 housed in the case 10 . as a result , the air - conditioning performance required to condition the air in the room 20 where the case 10 is set need not be so high . power - saving in the electronic apparatus system can be improved . for example , in the case of maintaining the electronic apparatus system including repairing the compressor 181 and condenser 182 in any of the outdoor units 18 , a cooling system required to be checked is stopped , while keeping the thermal control for the power amplifiers 14 to be in operation utilizing other cooling systems ( or other combinations of the evaporation units 17 and the outdoor units 18 ). thus , the electronic apparatus system can operate continuously . therefore , the outdoor units 18 , which require frequent maintenance , can be readily maintained while continuing the operation of the electronic apparatus system . in addition , when the air conditioner 21 breaks down , for example , only the evaporation units 17 and outdoor units 18 may be used to provide a higher cooling performance by the inverter control . thus , thermal control for the power amplifiers 14 is continuously conducted , and also the electronic apparatus system can operate continuously . according to the embodiment , the evaporation units 17 share the exhausting fans 16 having a long durable period , as a wind power source , which work as the forced cooling means to force heat emission . the exhausting fans 16 compulsory blows wind on the power amplifiers 14 which are continuously driven . thus , the thermal exchange system is configured . accordingly , while keeping the case 10 to be in a small size , a durable period of the thermal exchange system utilizing the evaporation units 17 can be prolonged so that the thermal exchange system can be continuously used for substantially the same durable period as the exhausting fans 16 . for example , the exhausting fans 16 are produced , in general , to be operational for a long period which is corresponding to the durable period of the power amplifiers 14 . when the thermal exchange system is established using the evaporation units 17 , which share the exhausting fans 16 that is improved in durability , the thermal exchange system which is durable for a period corresponding to the power amplifiers 14 can be provided readily . in the above embodiment , the exhausting fans 16 of the forced cooling means are provided on the side where the exhausting openings 12 are attached in the case 10 . however , the invention is not so limited . the exhausting fans 16 may be arranged on the side where the air intake 11 is provided , and similar effect to the above embodiment will be achieved . in the above embodiment , the evaporating units 17 are provided in association with the exhausting fans 16 . however , the invention is not so limited . for example , a plurality of evaporating units 17 may be arranged in association with an exhausting fan 16 , and similar effect to the above embodiment will be achieved . in the above embodiment , the evaporating units 17 are housed in the case 10 . however , the invention is not so limited . the evaporation units 17 may be arranged outside of the exhausting openings 12 . in the above embodiment , the air intake 11 in the case 10 is opposed to the ejection opening 211 and the suction opening 212 of the air conditioner 21 which is placed in the room 20 . however , the arrangement is not so limited . for example , as shown in fig6 , the exhausting openings 12 in the case 10 may be opposed to the ejection opening 211 and the suction opening 212 of the air conditioner 21 . in addition , the air conditioner 21 is not limited to the stationary type . another configuration of air conditioning devices may be employed to present similar effect . additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art . therefore , the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein . accordingly , various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents .	7
the present invention is more particularly described in the following examples and embodiments that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art . various embodiments of the invention are now described in greater detail . as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow , the meaning of “ a ”, “ an ”, and “ the ” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . also , as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow , the meaning of “ in ” includes “ in ” and “ on ” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . moreover , titles or subtitles may be used in the specification for the convenience of a reader , which are not intended to influence the scope of the present invention . additionally , some terms used in this specification are more specifically defined below . without intent to limit the scope of the invention , exemplary instruments , apparatus , methods and their related results according to the embodiments of the present invention are given below . note that titles or subtitles may be used in the discussion of exemplary embodiments of the present invention for convenience of a reader , which in no way should limit the scope of the invention . moreover , certain theories are proposed and disclosed herein ; however , in no way they , whether they are right or wrong , should limit the scope of the invention so long as the invention is practiced according to the invention without regard for any particular theory or scheme of action . turning first to fig1 , a high level overview 100 of the steps undertaken to harvest , process , and prepare placental material for later use as an allograft is disclosed . more detailed descriptions and discussion regarding each individual step will follow . at a high level , initially , the placenta tissue is collected from a consenting patient following an elective cesarean surgery ( step 110 ). the material is preserved and transported in conventional tissue preservation manner to a suitable processing location or facility for check - in and evaluation ( step 120 ). gross processing , handling , and separation of the tissue layers then takes place ( step 130 ). acceptable tissue is then decontaminated ( step 140 ), dehydrated ( step 150 ), cut and packaged ( step 160 ), and released ( step 170 ) to the market for use by surgeons and other medical professionals in appropriate surgical procedures and for wound care . the recovery of placenta tissue originates in a hospital , where it is collected during a cesarean section birth . the donor , referring to the mother who is about to give birth , voluntarily submits to a comprehensive screening process designed to provide the safest tissue possible for transplantation . the screening process preferably tests for antibodies to the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and type 2 ( anti - hiv - 1 and anti - hiv - 2 ), hepatitis b surface antigens ( hbsag ), antibodies to the hepatitis c virus ( anti - hcv ), antibodies to the human t - lymphotropic virus type i and type ii ( anti - htlv - i and anti - htlv - ii ), cmv , and syphilis , using conventional serological tests . the above list of tests is exemplary only , as more , fewer , or different tests may be desired or necessary over time or based upon the intended use of the grafts , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art . based upon a review of the donor &# 39 ; s information and screening test results , the donor will either be deemed acceptable or not . in addition , at the time of delivery , cultures are taken to determine the presence of , for example , clostridium or streptococcus . if the donor &# 39 ; s information , screening tests , and the delivery cultures are all negative ( i . e ., do not indicate any risks or indicate acceptable level of risk ), the donor is approved and the tissue specimen is designated as initially eligible for further processing and evaluation . human placentas that meet the above selection criteria are preferably bagged in a saline solution in a sterile shipment bag and stored in a container of wet ice for shipment to a processing location or laboratory for further processing . if the placenta tissue is collected prior to the completion or obtaining of results from the screening tests and delivery cultures , such tissue is labeled and kept in quarantine . the tissue is approved for further processing only after the required screening assessments and delivery cultures , which declare the tissue safe for handling and use , are satisfied . upon arrival at the processing center or laboratory , the shipment is opened and verified that the sterile shipment bag / container is still sealed and intact , that ice or other coolant is present and that the contents are cool , that the appropriate donor paperwork is present , and that the donor number on the paperwork matches the number on the sterile shipment bag containing the tissue . the sterile shipment bag containing the tissue is then stored in a refrigerator until ready for further processing . all appropriate forms , including a tissue check - in form , such as that shown in fig2 , are completed and chain of custody and handling logs ( not shown ) are also completed . when the tissue is ready to be processed further , the sterile supplies necessary for processing the placenta tissue further are assembled in a staging area in a controlled environment and are prepared for introduction into a critical environment . if the critical environment is a manufacturing hood , the sterile supplies are opened and placed into the hood using conventional sterile technique . if the critical environment is a clean room , the sterile supplies are opened and placed on a cart covered by a sterile drape . all the work surfaces are covered by a piece of sterile drape using conventional sterile techniques , and the sterile supplies and the processing equipments are placed on to the sterile drape , again using conventional sterile technique . processing equipment is decontaminated according to conventional and industry - approved decontamination procedures and then introduced into the critical environment . the equipment is strategically placed within the critical environment to minimize the chance for the equipment to come in proximity to or is inadvertently contaminated by the tissue specimen . next , the placenta is removed from the sterile shipment bag and transferred aseptically to a sterile processing basin within the critical environment . the sterile basin contains , preferably , 18 % nacl ( hypertonic saline ) solution that is at room or near room temperature . the placenta is gently massaged to help separate blood clots and to allow the placenta tissue to reach room temperature , which will make the separation of the amnion and chorion layers from each other , as discussed hereinafter , easier . after having warmed up to the ambient temperature ( after about 10 - 30 minutes ), the placenta is then removed from the sterile processing basin and laid flat on a processing tray with the amniotic membrane layer facing down for inspection . the placenta tissue is examined and the results of the examination are documented on a “ raw tissue assessment form ” similar to that shown in fig3 . the placenta tissue is examined for discoloration , debris or other contamination , odor , and signs of damage . the size of the tissue is also noted . a determination is made , at this point , as to whether the tissue is acceptable for further processing . next , if the placenta tissue is deemed acceptable for further processing , the amnion and chorion layers of the placenta tissue are then carefully separated . the materials and equipments used in this procedure include the processing tray , 18 % saline solution , sterile 4 × 4 sponges , and two sterile nalgene jars . the placenta tissue is then closely examined to find an area ( typically a comer ) in which the amniotic membrane layer can be separated from the chorion layer . the amniotic membrane appears as a thin , opaque layer on the chorion . with the placenta tissue in the processing tray with the amniotic membrane layer facing down , the chorion layer is gently lifted off the amniotic membrane layer in a slow , continuous motion , using care to prevent tearing of the amniotic membrane . if a tear starts , it is generally advisable to restart the separation process from a different location to minimize tearing of either layer of tissue . if the chorion layer is not needed , it may be gently scrubbed away from the amniotic membrane layer with one of the sterile 4 × 4 sponges by gently scrubbing the chorion in one direction . a new , sterile 4 × 4 sponge can be used whenever the prior sponge becomes too moist or laden with the chorion tissue . if the chorion is to be retained , then the separation process continues by hand , without the use of the sponges , being careful not to tear either the amnion layer or the chorion layer . care is then taken to remove blood clots and other extraneous tissue from each layer of tissue until the amniotic membrane tissue and the chorion are clean and ready for further processing . more specifically , the amnion and chorion tissues are placed on the processing tray and blood clots are carefully removed using a blunt instrument , a finger , or a sterile non - particulating gauze , by gently rubbing the blood until it is free from the stromal tissue of the amnion and from the trophoblast tissue of the chorion . the stromal layer of the amnion is the side of the amniotic membrane that faces the mother . in contrast , the basement membrane layer is the side of the amnion that faces the baby . using a blunt instrument , a cell scraper or sterile gauze , any residual debris or contamination is also removed . this step must be done with adequate care , again , so as not to tear the amnion or chorion tissues . the cleaning of the amnion is complete once the amnion tissue is smooth and opaque - white in appearance . if the amnion tissue is cleaned too much , the opaque layer can be removed . any areas of the amnion cleaned too aggressively and appear clear will be unacceptable and will ultimately be discarded . the amniotic membrane tissue is then placed into a sterile nalgene jar for the next step of chemical decontamination . if the chorion is to be recovered and processed further , it too is placed in its own sterile nalgene jar for the next step of chemical decontamination . if the chorion is not to be kept or used further , it can be discarded in an appropriate biohazard container . next , each nalgene jar is aseptically filled with 18 % saline solution and sealed ( or closed with a top . the jar is then placed on a rocker platform and agitated for between 30 and 90 minutes , which further cleans the tissue of contaminants . if the rocker platform was not in the critical environment ( e . g ., the manufacturing hood ), the nalgene jar is returned to the critical / sterile environment and opened . using sterile forceps , the tissue is gently removed from the nalgene jar containing the 18 % hypertonic saline solution and placed into an empty nalgene jar . this empty nalgene jar with the tissue is then aseptically filled with a pre - mixed antibiotic solution . preferably , the premixed antibiotic solution is comprised of a cocktail of antibiotics , such as streptomycin sulfate and gentamicin sulfate . other antibiotics , such as polymixin b sulfate and bacitracin , or similar antibiotics now available or available in the future , are also suitable . additionally , it is preferred that the antibiotic solution be at room temperature when added so that it does not change the temperature of or otherwise damage the tissue . this jar or container containing the tissue and antibiotics is then sealed or closed and placed on a rocker platform and agitated for , preferably , between 60 and 90 minutes . such rocking or agitation of the tissue within the antibiotic solution further cleans the tissue of contaminants and bacteria . again , if the rocker platform was not in the critical environment ( e . g ., the manufacturing hood ), the jar or container containing the tissue and antibiotics is then returned to the critical / sterile environment and opened . using sterile forceps , the tissue is gently removed from the jar or container and placed in a sterile basin containing sterile water or normal saline ( 0 . 9 % saline solution ). the tissue is allowed to soak in place in the sterile water / normal saline solution for at least 10 to 15 minutes . the tissue may be slightly agitated to facilitate removal of the antibiotic solution and any other contaminants from the tissue . after at least 10 to 15 minutes , the tissue is ready to be dehydrated and processed further . next , the now - rinsed tissue ( whether it be the amniotic membrane or chorion tissue ) is ready to be dehydrated . the amniotic membrane is laid , stromal side down , on a suitable drying fixture . the stromal side of the amniotic membrane is the “ tackier ” of the two sides of the amniotic membrane . a sterile , cotton tipped applicator may be used to determine which side of the amniotic tissue is tackier and , hence , the stromal side . the drying fixture is preferably sized to be large enough to receive the tissue , fully , in laid out , flat fashion . the drying fixture is preferably made of teflon or of delrin , is the brand name for an acetal resin engineering plastic invented and sold by dupont and which is also available commercially from werner machines , inc . in marietta , ga . any other suitable material that is heat and cut resistant , capable of being formed into an appropriate shape to receive wet tissue and to hold and maintain textured designs , logos , or text can also be used for the drying fixture . the tissue must be placed on the drying fixture so that it completely covers as many “ product spaces ” ( as explained hereinafter ) as possible . in one embodiment , similar to that shown in fig5 , the receiving surface of the drying fixture 500 has grooves 505 that define the product spaces 510 , which are the desired outer contours of the tissue after it is cut and of a size and shape that is desired for the applicable surgical procedure in which the tissue will be used . for example , the drying fixture can be laid out so that the grooves are in a grid arrangement . the grids on a single drying fixture may be the same uniform size or may include multiple sizes that are designed for different surgical applications . nevertheless , any size and shape arrangement can be used for the drying fixture , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art . in another embodiment , instead of having grooves to define the product spaces , the drying fixture has raised ridges or blades . within the “ empty ” space between the grooves or ridges , the drying fixture preferably includes a slightly raised or indented texture in the form of text , logo , name , or similar design 520 . this textured text , logo , name , or design can be customized or private labeled depending upon the company that will be selling the graft or depending upon the desired attributes requested by the end user ( e . g ., surgeon ). when dried , the tissue will mold itself around the raised texture or into the indented texture — essentially providing a label within the tissue itself . preferably , such texture / label can be read or viewed on the tissue in only one orientation so that , after drying and cutting , an end user ( typically , a surgeon ) of the dried tissue will be able to tell the stromal side from the basement side of the dried tissue . the reason this is desired is because , during a surgical procedure , it is desirable to place the allograft in place , with basement side down or adjacent the native tissue of the patient receiving the allograft . fig5 illustrates a variety of marks , logos , and text 520 that can be included within the empty spaces 510 of the drying fixture 500 . typically , a single drying fixture will include the same design or text within all of the empty spaces ; however , fig5 shows , for illustrative purposes , a wide variety of designs that can be included on such drying fixtures to emboss each graft . in a preferred embodiment , only one layer of tissue is placed on the drying fixture . in alternate embodiments , multiple layers of tissue are placed on the same drying fixture to create a laminate - type allograft material that is thicker and stronger than a single layer of allograft material . the actual number of layers will depend upon the surgical need and procedure with which the allograft is designed to be used . once the tissue ( s ) is placed on the drying fixture , the drying fixture is placed in a sterile tyvex ( or similar , breathable , heat - resistant , and sealable material ) dehydration bag and sealed . such breathable dehydration bag prevents the tissue from drying too quickly . if multiple drying fixtures are being processed simultaneously , each drying fixture is either placed in its own tyvex bag or , alternatively , placed into a suitable mounting frame that is designed to hold multiple drying frames thereon and the entire frame is then placed into a larger , single sterile tyvex dehydration bag and sealed . the tyvex dehydration bag containing the one or more drying fixtures is then placed into a non - vacuum oven or incubator that has been preheated to approximately 35 to 50 degrees celsius . the tyvex bag remains in the oven for between 30 and 120 minutes , although approximately 45 minutes at a temperature of approximately 45 degrees celsius appears to be ideal to dry the tissue sufficiently but without over - drying or burning the tissue . the specific temperature and time for any specific oven will need to be calibrated and adjusted based on other factors including altitude , size of the oven , accuracy of the oven temperature , material used for the drying fixture , number of drying fixtures being dried simultaneously , whether a single or multiple frames of drying fixtures are dried simultaneously , and the like . an appropriate dehydration recordation form , similar to that shown in fig4 , is completed at the end of the dehydration process . once the tissue has been adequately dehydrated , the tissue is then ready to be cut into specific product sizes and appropriately packages for storage and later surgical use . first , the tyvex bag containing the dehydrated tissue is placed back into the sterile / critical environment . the number of grafts to be produced is estimated based on the size and shape of the tissue on the drying fixture ( s ). an appropriate number of pouches , one for each allograft , are then also introduced into the sterile / critical environment . the drying fixture ( s ) are then removed from the tyvex bag . if the drying fixture has grooves , then the following procedure is followed for cutting the tissue into product sizes . preferably , if the drying fixture is configured in a grid pattern , a # 20 or similar straight or rolling blade is used to cut along each groove line in parallel . then , all lines in the perpendicular direction are cut . if the drying fixture has raised edges or blades , then the following procedure is followed for cutting the tissue into product sizes . preferably , a sterile roller is used to roll across the drying fixture . sufficient pressure must be applied so that the dehydrated tissue is cut along all of the raised blades or edges of the drying fixture . after cutting , each separate piece or tissue graft is placed in a respective “ inner ” pouch . the inner pouch , which preferably has a clear side and an opaque side , should be oriented clear side facing up . the tissue graft is placed in the “ inner ” pouch so that the texture in the form of text , logo , name , or similar design is facing out through the clear side of the inner pouch and is visible outside of the inner pouch . this process is repeated for each separate graft . each tissue graft is then given a final inspection to confirm that there are no tears or holes , that the product size ( as cut ) is within approximately 1 millimeter ( plus or minus ) of the specified size for that particular graft , that there are no noticeable blemishes or discoloration of the tissue , and that the textured logo or wording is readable and viewable through the “ inner ” pouch . to the extent possible , oxygen is removed from the inner pouch before it is sealed . the inner pouch can be sealed in any suitable manner ; however , a heat seal has shown to be effective . next , each inner pouch is separately packaged in an “ outer ” pouch for further protection , storage , and shipment . it should be noted that the above process does not require freezing of the tissue to kill unwanted cells , to decontaminate the tissue , or otherwise to preserve the tissue . the dehydrated allografts are designed to be stored and shipped at room or ambient temperature , without need for refrigeration or freezing . before the product is ready for shipment and release to the end user , a final inspection is made of both the inner and outer pouches . this final inspection ensure that the allograft contained therein matches the product specifications ( size , shape , tissue type , tissue thickness (# of layers ), design logo , etc .) identified on the packaging label each package is inspected for holes , broken seals , burns , tears , contamination , or other physical defects . each allograft is also inspected to confirm uniformity of appearance , including the absence of spots or discoloration . appropriate labeling and chain of custody is observed throughout all of the above processes , in accordance with accepted industry standards and practice . appropriate clean room and sterile working conditions are maintained and used , to the extent possible , throughout the above processes . in practice , it has been determined that the above allograft materials can be stored in room temperature conditions safely for at least five ( 5 ) years . when ready for use , such allografts are re - hydrated by soaking them in bss ( buffered saline solution ), 0 . 9 % saline solution , or sterile water for 30 - 90 seconds . amnion membrane has the following properties and has been shown to be suitable for the following surgical procedures and indications : guided tissue regeneration ( gtr ), schneiderian membrane repair , primary closure , and general wound care . laminated amnion membrane has the following properties and has been shown to be suitable for the following surgical procedures and indications : gtr , reconstructive , general wound care , neurological , ent . chorion tissue grafts have the following properties and have been shown to be suitable for the following surgical procedures and indications : biological dressing or covering . laminated chorion tissue grafts have the following properties and have been shown to be suitable for the following surgical procedures and indications : gtr , reconstructive , general wound care , neurological , ent . laminated amnion and chorion combined tissue grafts have the following properties and have been shown to be suitable for the following surgical procedures and indications : advanced ocular defects , reconstructive , general wound care , biological dressing . although the above processes have been described specifically in association with amnion membrane and chorion recovered from placenta tissue , it should be understood that the above techniques and procedures are susceptible and usable for many other types of human and animal tissues . in addition , although the above procedures and tissues have been described for use with allograft tissues , such procedures and techniques are likewise suitable and usable for xenograft and isograft applications . in view of the foregoing detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention , it readily will be understood by those persons skilled in the art that the present invention is susceptible to broad utility and application . while various aspects have been described in the context of screen shots , additional aspects , features , and methodologies of the present invention will be readily discernable therefrom . many embodiments and adaptations of the present invention other than those herein described , as well as many variations , modifications , and equivalent arrangements and methodologies , will be apparent from or reasonably suggested by the present invention and the foregoing description thereof , without departing from the substance or scope of the present invention . furthermore , any sequence ( s ) and / or temporal order of steps of various processes described and claimed herein are those considered to be the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention . it should also be understood that , although steps of various processes may be shown and described as being in a preferred sequence or temporal order , the steps of any such processes are not limited to being carried out in any particular sequence or order , absent a specific indication of such to achieve a particular intended result . in most cases , the steps of such processes may be carried out in various different sequences and orders , while still falling within the scope of the present inventions . in addition , some steps may be carried out simultaneously . accordingly , while the present invention has been described herein in detail in relation to preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the present invention and is made merely for purposes of providing a full and enabling disclosure of the invention . the foregoing disclosure is not intended nor is to be construed to limit the present invention or otherwise to exclude any such other embodiments , adaptations , variations , modifications and equivalent arrangements , the present invention being limited only by the claims appended hereto and the equivalents thereof .	0
throughout this specification , color names beginning with a small letter signify that the name of that color , as used in common speech is aptly descriptive . color names beginning with a capital letter designate values based upon the r . h . s . colour chart published by the royal horticultural society , london , england . the descriptive matter which follows pertains to 7 year old ‘ suplumthirtynine ’ plants , grown in the vicinity of wasco , kern county , calif ., during september 2008 , and is believed to apply to plants of the variety grown under similar conditions of soil and climate elsewhere . tree : general : ( measurements taken on 7 year old tree unless otherwise noted .) size .— medium . normal for most plum varieties . reaches a height of approximately 3 meters with normal pruning . spread .— normal for most plum varieties . approximately 3 meters . vigor .— moderately vigorous . growth .— semi - upright . productivity .— very productive . fruit set is usually two or more times desired amount for marketable size fruit . form .— vase formed . bearer .— regular . fertility .— unknown . canopy density .— medium - dense . hardiness .— half - hardy in all fruit growing areas of california . disease resistance / susceptibility .— no specific testing for relative plant disease resistance / susceptibility has been undertaken . under close observation in kern county , calif ., no particular plant / fruit disease resistance / susceptibility has been observed . diameter .— approximately 22 cm , varies with soil type , fertility , climatic conditions and cultural practices . texture .— medium shaggy , increases with age of tree . trunk color .— about grey - green 198a to grey - orange 166d ; becomes darker with age . size .— diameter ranges from approximately 7 to approximately 9 cm . texture .— smooth on first year wood , increasing roughness with tree age . color .— branches vary from about grey - brown 199b to brown 200b . number of lenticels .— medium . lenticels density .— approximately 1 - 4 per cm 2 . lenticels color .— about 198a . lenticels size .— medium . lenticels length .— approximately 4 mm . lenticels width .— approximately 2 mm . flowering shoots : ( data taken in july at midpoint of 2 - year old flowering shoots .) size .— average diameter approximately 5 mm . color .— topside : about grey - green 198b to brown 200d . underside : about grey - orange 165b to brown 200d . internode length .— medium ; approximately 25 mm . midway on flowering shoot . flowering shoot lenticels .— plentiful , minute . color : about grey - orange 177a . diameter : approximately 0 . 2 mm . flowering shoot leaf buds .— shape : obovate . width : approximately 2 mm . length : approximately 2 . 5 mm . color : about grey - orange 165a . flowering shoot flower buds .— shape : obovate , borne on short spurs , approximately 14 - 40 mm long . width : approximately 2 mm . length : approximately 2 . 5 mm . color : about grey - orange 165a . number per node : usually 2 . position : free . flower bud distribution .— generally 2 or more , on spurs . ratio of wood ( leaf ) buds to flowering buds .— 1 / 2 . size .— medium . average length .— medium ; approximately 94 - 117 mm . average width .— medium ; approximately 42 - 45 mm . thickness .— medium . color .— upper surface : about 137b . lower surface : about 138b . form .— elliptic . tip .— acuminate . base .— v - shaped . margin .— crenate . venation .— pinately net veined . vein color .— about 147c on lower surface . surface texture .— smooth . leaf blade ( ratio of length to width ).— medium . shape in the cross section .— convex . profile .— flat . leaf blade tip .— curved downward . undulation of margin .— slight . average length .— medium ; approximately 16 mm . average diameter .— approximately 2 mm . color .— about 147d . number per leaf bud .— rare on flowering shoots in july . typical length .— approximately 5 mm . color .— about 199b . persistence .— falls off . form .— globose . average number .— most leaves have none . where they exist about two / leaf . position .— on leaf base . average size .— small ; approximately 0 . 5 mm . color .— about 199b . flower blooming period .— first bloom : approximately march 1 . full bloom : approximately march 6 . time of bloom .— medium . duration of bloom .— medium ; approximately 12 days . diameter of fully opened flower .— medium , approximately 24 mm . flower aroma .— slight aroma . shape .— rosaceous . length .— medium ; approximately 10 mm . diameter .— medium ; approximately 1 mm . color .— about yellow - green 144b . pubescence .— absent . number .— 5 . arrangement .— overlapping slightly . length .— approximately 10 mm . diameter .— approximately 10 mm . shape .— circlular . apex shape .— rounded . base shape .— narrows at point of attachment . color .— white . surface texture .— smooth . margins .— slightly undulating . claw length .— medium . margin waviness .— medium . base angle .— narrow . division of upper margin .— entire . pubescence of inner surface .— absent . pubescence of outer surface .— absent . number .— 5 . length .— approximately 3 mm . diameter .— approximately 2 mm . shape .— elliptic . color .— about yellow - green 144a . surface texture .— smooth . margins .— entire . positioning .— adpressed or touching petals . pubsencence of inner surface .— absent . pubescence of outer surface .— absent . number .— ranges from approximately 20 to approximately 30 . average length .— approximately 7 mm . filament color .— about white . anther color .— about grey - orange 167a . flower pollen color .— about grey - orange 167a . position .— perigynous . number .— usually one , occasionally two . average length .— approximately 9 mm . ovary diameter .— approximately 0 . 8 mm . pubescence .— none . stigma extension in comparison to anthers .— usually below . frequency of supplementary pistils .— few . style pubescence ( of base ).— absent . fruit : general : ( description taken at the sun world research and development center near wasco , kern county , calif .). harvest .— date of first pick .— approximately september 10 . date of last pick .— approximately october 5 . maturity when described : firm . season ripening : very late . position of maximum diameter : towards the middle . symmetry about the suture : nearly symmetric . size : length ( stem end to apex ).— approximately 60 mm . diameter perpendicular to suture plane .— approximately 64 mm . average weight .— approximately 160 gm . viewed from apex .— rounded , nearly symmetrical . viewed from side , facing suture .— rounded , nearly symmetrical . viewed from side , perpendicular to suture .— rounded , nearly symmetrical . shape .— flaring , rounded . depth .— approximately 0 . 5 cm . breadth .— approximately 1 cm . width .— medium . thickness .— medium . adherence to flesh .— medium . surface texture .— medium . pubescence .— none . bloom .— medium . ground color .— about 161 c . overcolor .— about 183a . taste .— mild . reticulation .— absent . roughness .— absent . tendency to crack .— slight in wet season . ripens .— evenly . texture .— firm , juicy . fibers .— few . flavor .— sweet - mild . brix .— approximately 20 °. juice .— abundant to moderate . aroma .— noticeable when ripe . color .— about 161c . anthocyanin color under skin .— absent . anthocyanin color of flesh .— absent . anthocyanin color around stone .— absent . acidity .— medium - low . sugar content .— high . eating quality .— good . stone / flesh ratio .— 1 / 28 . firmness .— medium - firm . length ( diameter in line with suture plane ).— approximately 16 mm . diameter perpendicular to suture plane .— approximately 10 mm . color .— about 161a . fruit use : fresh market . fruit shipping and keeping quality : good , holds well in cold storage and maintains good firmness and eating quality , minimal bruising and scarring in packing and shipping trials . suture line : inconspicuous . stone : ( measurements taken on dried stones .) stone freeness .— semi - free to free . degree of adherence to flesh .— weak . stone size .— size compared to fruit : small . length ( diameter in line with suture plane ): approximately 16 mm . diameter perpendicular to suture plane : approximately 10 mm . width of stalk end : medium ; approximately 2 - 4 mm . angle of stalk end : obtuse . hilum : somewhat broad . stone form .— viewed from side : nearly oval , somewhat asymmetric . viewed from ventral side : nearly oval . viewed from stem end : nearly oval . stone shape .— base shape : nearly straight . apex shape : obtuse with somewhat pointed tip . stone surface .— somewhat irregularly furrowed and pitted throughout . stone halves .— nearly equal . stone ridges .— rounded and continuous . stone outgrowing keel .— partially developed . stone tendency to split .— slight in wet season . stone color .— about 165c . position of maximum .— toward middle . pits .— irregular .	0
for purpose of demonstration and not limiting by it , tpc - r is used to refer to storage management server . also , the example uses three tpc - r servers , however , the invention is just as applicable to two or more storage management servers in ha environment . the basic ha environment will continue to work the same way . the only difference is when the tpc - r servers lose connection with one another to be able to continue in the usual ha environment , they will check with the storage devices to see if either tpc - r server still has a connection so they can still continue to communicate . if tpc - r servers still have a connection with the storage device , they will then be able to continue in the ha environment by sending any ha notifications through the storage device rather than sending them directly to each other . tpc - r servers # 2 and # 3 won &# 39 ; t need to have a communications path between each other in most cases . there are some cases where they will need to have a communications path . the ha environment would determine which connections would be needed . fig1 depicts the normal operation of normal ha operation . server 1 communicates with server 2 and 3 through bi - directional channels ( 100 and 110 respectively ). the bi - directional communication channel 120 between server 2 and server 3 is optional . fig2 depicts the operation of the ha servers through a storage device . tpc - r server 1 ( 200 ) communicates with tpc - r server 2 ( 220 ) and tpc - r server 3 ( 230 ) through storage device a ( 210 ). moreover , tpc - r server 2 ( 220 ) and tpc - r server 3 ( 230 ) also communicate through storage device a ( 210 ). if there are multiple storage devices connected to the tpc - r servers in the ha environment , then any storage device could be used for the ha communications path . as a result , if one of the storage devices went down for any reason or a tpc - r server lost connection with another one , the ha communications could be redirected to the connection to a storage device that is still running and accessible . fig3 depicts the operation of ha servers through multiple storage devices . tpc - r server 1 and tpc - r server 2 communicate with tpc - r server 2 and trc - r server 3 respectively , through storage device x where storage device x can represent any of storage devices a , b or c . ( as shown by 300 , 310 , 320 , 330 ) the tpc - r servers in the ha environment don &# 39 ; t have to use the same storage device for ha communications ; it is preferred to use different connections to decrease the load on a single storage device where multiple storage devices are available . fig4 depicts the operation of ha servers with load balancing where tpc - r server 1 is connected to tpc - r server 2 through storage device a and where tpc - r server 1 is connected to tpc - r server 3 through storage device b and tpc - r server 2 is connected to tpc - r server 3 through storage device c specifically . ( as shown by 400 , 410 , 420 , 430 , 440 , 450 ) the tpc - r servers would need to have a connection with the storage devices for this method of ha to work properly . this is the normal case of operation unless there is a disaster scenario . this basically adds another layer of protection onto the ha environment so there isn &# 39 ; t a single point of failure for losing a single communications path between the tpc - r servers . the connection to the storage devices would use a different communication line , in order to provide for higher redundancy . in order for the storage device to know which tpc - r server to route the ha communications to , each tpc - r server will need to have a unique identifier associated with it so that the storage device will know where to send the request ; especially when there are multiple tpc - r servers connected to it . each of these ids would be setup in the initial ha communications and all tpc - r servers would be aware of unique ids . 1 . tpc - r server 1 ( sending command to tpc - r id — 2 through storage device a ) 2 . storage device a ( finds tpc - r id — 2 and sends the command if connected ; error sent back to tpc - r id — 1 if not connected ) 3 . tpc - r server 2 ( receives command from tpc - r id — 1 and sends acknowledgment and / or results if requested from tpc - r id — 1 ) the tpc - r server will know which storage device to send the ha communications through , by querying this information from the storage device itself . this will allow for the tpc - r server that is sending the communication to use load balancing , so it doesn &# 39 ; t use the same storage device server for communication to all tpc - r servers in the ha environment . an embodiment of the invention is a method of providing a redundant communication path in a high availability storage environment , the method is comprised of : a first storage management server queries a first storage device server to determine a set of storage - connected management servers that the first storage device server is connected to and the first storage management server and the set of storage - connected management servers are in a plurality of storage management servers . the first storage device server is in a plurality of storage device servers and the plurality of storage management servers and the plurality of storage device servers are in the high availability storage environment . each of the plurality of storage management servers is identified by a corresponding unique identifier . the unique identifier is established at an initial high availability communication between the plurality of storage management servers . moreover , a second storage management server is in the set of storage - connected management servers . the first storage device server routing a high availability message sent from the first storage management server to the second storage management server , based on a header of the high availability message . this header indicates a unique identifier of the first storage management server and a unique identifier of the second storage management server . in case the first storage device server fails to route the high availability message to the second storage management server , then the first storage device server notifies the first storage management server about the failure , the first storage management server determines an alternate communication path to the second storage management server via a second storage device server , wherein the second storage management server is connected to the second storage device server , and the second storage device server routes the high availability message from the first storage management server to the second storage management server . the first storage management server communicates with multiple storage management servers of the plurality of storage management servers , via multiple storage device servers of the plurality of storage device servers to load - balance the communication with the multiple storage management servers . a system , apparatus , or device comprising one of the following items is an example of the invention : storage device server , storage management system , server , client device , pda , mobile device , cell phone , storage to store the messages , router , switches , network , communication media , cables , fiber optics , physical layer , buffer , nodes , packet switches , computer monitor , or any display device , applying the method mentioned above , for purpose of storage device server and storage management system . any variations of the above teaching are also intended to be covered by this patent application .	7
the display arrangement to be described is arranged to promote the sale of display shells . as shown in fig1 the display arrangement comprises a body shell in the form of a female torso . the body shell is of rigid plastics material and is in two separate halves ; an upper display half 2 and a lower display half 4 . the upper half 2 is provided with a j - shaped recess 6 in the region adjacent the neck . the lower half 4 is secured to a support bracket 8 which in turn is secured to a block 16 of wood or other material so as to support the lower half 4 in an upright manner from the ground . an elongate support member 10 of u - shaped cross - section is secured to the bracket 8 and the lower half 4 at least in the lower and upper regions thereof . the upper end of the member 10 is pivotally connected to a lower region of the upper half 2 by means of a nut , a bolt and a washer so that the upper half 2 can sway or oscillate from side to side with respect to the lower half 4 . when the upper and lower halves are enveloped in a one piece swim - suit this gives the impression of the torso dancing . the support member 10 carries a motor 12 having a shaft supporting a rotary disc 24 . a pin 22 projects from the disk 24 . another pin 26 projects from the upper half 2 to a location spaced from the point at which the support member 10 is pivotally connected . a lift rod 14 interconnects the two pins . in operation when the motor 12 is energize , the lift rod 14 , because it is connected to disk at a location spaced from the rotary axis , rises and drops as the disk rotates . this in turn tilts the upper half 2 from side to side to effect the dancing motion . the motor 12 operates under the control of an electric circuit encased in a housing 18 . the circuit includes an acoustic detector which responds to ambient noise to energize the motor 12 . a bulb 20 on the housing 18 is illuminated whenever the motor 12 is energised . fig2 shows the connection of the support member 10 and the lift rod 14 to the upper half in more detail . as shown the pin 26 is in the form of a bolt . the upper end of the lift rod 14 , which is profiled like a question mark , is hooked around the bolt 26 . a washer 27 lies between the rod 14 and the upper half , and a nut 29 holds the rod 14 captive on the bolt 26 . similarly the support member 10 is secured to the upper half 2 by a bolt 11 . a washer 13 lies between the upper half 2 and the support member 10 , and a nut 15 holds the support member 10 captive to the bolt 11 . also as shown , the support member 10 has two bolt holes 7 and 9 through which an upper portion of the lower half 4 is secured to the support member 10 . as shown in fig3 the bracket 8 has a central section 8c which is secured to the support member 10 by two bolts 30 and 32 . two legs 8a depend from the central section 8c and a foot 8b extends from each leg . the legs 8a are bent about bend lines 34 and 36 with respect to the central section 8c and the feet 8b are bent about ben lines 38 and 40 with respect to the legs 8a . the central section 8c thus lies in a vertical plane , the feet 8b lie in a horizontal plane and the legs 8a lie in intermediate planes . the feet 8b have threaded openings 42 and 44 by means of which they can be secured to the wooden block 16 and to a flange ( not shown ) extending from the base of the lower shell half 4 . the control circuit shown in fig4 includes a power supply comprising a transformer 50 , a full wave rectifier 52 , a filter 54 , a voltage regulator 56 and a smoothing circuit 58 . the operative part of the circuit includes a microphone 60 which is coupled by a coupling capacitor 62 to a pre - amplifier circuit 64 . a voltage divider 66 provides a reference voltage . the output of the pre - amplifier 64 and the reference voltage are compared by a differential amplifier circuit 68 . the differential amplifier has a filter 68a in its feedback circuit so that the amplifier circuit 68 will only generate an output in response to signals in the frequency range of from 20 to 94 hz . the output of the amplifier circuit 68 is fed through a wave shaping circuit 70 to a drive circuit 72 . the output of the drive circuit is fed through the series combination of a light emitting diode ( which forms the lamp 20 ) and an opto - coupler 74 . the output of an opto - coupler feeds a transistor 76 which controls the energization of the motor 12 in the motor block 78 . a second transmitter 80 acts to short circuit the motor 12 when the motor is deenergized to reduce undesirable voltage spikes . in operation the motor 12 is only energised when the microphone 60 senses bass signals of a certain magnitude in the frequency range of from 20 to 94 hz . the circuit is thus particularly responsive to the noise of approaching feet as opposed to higher pitched sounds . while in the foregoing description we have disclosed details of the invention for purposes of illustration it will be understood that many of these details may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	6
a method for ensuring the accuracy of medical patient intake data has been developed . the present invention involves using a computer software program to “ audit ” or check the accuracy of patient data entries and identify errors . it can be deployed on a single user computer or on a shared network for simultaneous multi - user access . the checking for errors or “ edits ” is done periodically by a “ batch ” of patient entries . a batch is defined as a group of more than one patient . for example , the present invention could audit all of the entries for each patient processed by a registrar once a day . other embodiments of the invention may audit at different intervals as dictate by the needs of the user . however , audits should take place on the “ front end ” or before the bills are produced to be sent out for payment . by conducting periodic audits of 100 % of all registrations , registrars are allowed to self - correct their errors prior to billing . additionally , the present invention can provide managers with statistical data regarding the error rate of patient data entries . such error rates may be monitored according to employee , error type , or location , etc . this provides management with an objective basis for effective identification of problem areas and subsequent training for employees . additionally , the registrars may be provided with ongoing feedback of their performance . the figures show examples of displays used by one version of the present invention called “ accureg ”. fig1 - 3 each show display menus in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . these menus are used to access utilize the various features of the invention . fig4 a and 4b show displays of a manager report by error type in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . the report categorizes the errors by description , type ( e . g ., compliance , operational , or financial ), raw number of a particular error , error rate of a particular error , and cost to correct all errors of a particular type . fig5 a shows a screen for specifying the parameters of an error report . also shown in fig5 b is an example of an error report generated by a periodic audit for a registrar . this is used to correct errors . fig6 shows displays of additional detailed error reports provided to the registrars . fig7 - 13 show displays of reports for managers that detail number of errors by individual employees along with their error rate . also shown is are reports that break down error trends and productivity by individual employee , employee group , and overall performance . as clearly shown , the present invention provides a great deal of flexibility to managers in the way information regarding error rates are collected . it should be understood that alternative embodiments of the present invention may utilize the reporting capability in a variety of ways according to the needs of the user . some additional features of the invention may include the use of “ eligibility edits ”. this is a particular type of edit that uses data from a hospital &# 39 ; s electronic eligibility system to identify registration errors . an electronic eligibility system returns demographic and insurance information to the registrar for the purpose of verifying coverage , benefits and co - pay information . since the source of this eligibility information is insurance company or other payer databases , it is arguably the most accurate storehouse of information regarding the patient and subscriber . it is also the information that insurance companies require on the claim forms in order for them to reimburse the providers without delay or denial . fig9 shows examples of these edits . however , due to the time constraint during registration and the complexity of the information , many hospitals do not take full advantage of this information . the use of eligibility edits allow the hospital to identify errors by comparing specific data elements keyed by the registrar to the same data elements according to the payer &# 39 ; s database . for example , the social security number keyed by the registrar is compared to the social security number according to the insurance eligibility transaction file for that patient . if the registrar mis - keyed even one out of the expected nine digits , the invention will identify the error and report it to the clerk in the registrar &# 39 ; s daily error report along with other errors . the report will show registrars what was keyed incorrectly as well as what should have been keyed according to the payer , allowing them to efficiently make corrections so that the billing cycle is not impacted . this new capability significantly improves the invention &# 39 ; s ability to positively impact the revenue cycle of a hospital by enforcing the use of eligibility data that the hospital is already paying for but not using . another feature of the invention may include the use of “ second pass reporting ”. this feature is a double check that insures errors reported will be corrected . the present invention will re - audit accounts that were audited 2 to 3 days before to make sure the errors were corrected during that period of time . if the same error appears at a specified interval ( e . g ., 3 days ) after it was first reported to the employee , the supervisor and employee are made aware of it with “ second pass reports ”. it is a second pass , or second opportunity to be identify and correct errors . supervisors will be able to view summary statistics to identify employees who routinely fail to correct errors on the first pass . furthermore , accounts that were improperly corrected are identified ; insuring even greater accuracy and employee accountability . this reporting capability is unique and adds an enforcement aspect to insure hospital managers that errors will be corrected . it also insures that the invention will produce results for the hospital in terms of denials prevention and reduction of rework . some embodiments of the invention allow a supervisor to select an employee , choose a time frame , select one or more of that employee &# 39 ; s top errors for that period , and then choose to print or email a detailed retrospective list of those errors . this provides the supervisor with the ability to quickly produce select detailed error information for any employee for management or retraining purposes . a screenshot of the setup form is shown in fig1 , followed by a sample report shown in fig1 . other embodiments of the invention utilizes “ double - check ” edits . these edits involve particular situations where an error type is difficult to consistently and accurately identify ( e . g ., a misspelled name , incorrect zipcode , incorrect area code ). in this embodiment , the invention can set any edit to “ double - check ” status , meaning that the edit will report the possible error to the employee on their error report with instructions to double check the entry . this indicates to the employee that they should conduct a second review of the data and correct it if necessary . additionally , the invention allows managers to set any edit to be reported but not counted against the employee &# 39 ; s statistics or affect their accuracy rates . this is useful to managers in cases such as “ double - check ” edits , where the managers can enforce errors to be reported and reviewed but not necessarily counted . embodiments of the present invention include a wide variety of formats for the presentation of data . for example , the reports generated by the invention may be accessed only by managers in some configurations . because the registration employees do not need access to the software to obtain reports and demonstrate accountability , there is no need to train and re - train dozens or hundreds of registrars to use it . this adds an important accountability step to the process where the employee receives their daily error report from their supervisor . in certain embodiments , a manager would prefer to get a particular edit or error type reported to them as a “ worklist ” rather than to the employee for correction . for example , duplicate medical record numbers can be a patient safety risk so a manager may choose to report that particular error separately for only the manager to correct . a “ worklist edit ” allows a manager to keep such errors from reporting to the employees for correction , and allows the manager a way to find and fix the error with full knowledge of which employee made the error , but report and correct it in a different way than normal edits . other embodiments of the invention will contain full color bar and line charts within the generated reports . this significantly improves the readability of the reports and makes interpretation and decision making more efficient for managers . the invention may also produce a report to demonstrate to hospital managers the financial return on their investment ( roi ). for example , the roi may be calculated by determining the labor expense saved due to reduction of rework or the denials prevented due to early detection and correction . the present invention results in a significant reduction in the error rate of patient admissions . additionally , management is provided with statistical tools to identify and correct problem areas as they occur . while the embodiments of the present invention have been described with respect to admission of patients to a hospital , the invention could apply to admission to other medical facilities such as a doctor or dentist office . further , the invention could also be applied to any non - medical organizations where the intake of customer data is critical to administrative functions . in summary , the advantages of the present invention include : front - end auditing of patient intake data in periodic batches ; allowing for employee accountability and improvement of employee competency ; and reporting of errors to management in a format that allows for analysis of error statistics . 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 here . accordingly , the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims .	6
referring now to the drawings , there is illustrated in fig1 a hydraulically actuated friction clutch 10 , preferably the low / reverse clutch of an automatic transmission , which is located in a transmission housing . a connecting member 12 , secured to and rotating with a component of a planetary gear set , having an inner surface on which spline teeth 14 , directed parallel to an axis 16 , are formed . the clutch is arranged substantially symmetrically about axis 16 . pressure plates 18 , spaced mutually along the axis 16 , have teeth 20 located at a radially outer periphery and engaging the spline teeth 14 . located between each pressure plate 18 is a clutch disc 22 having teeth 24 located at a radially inner periphery and engaging axially directed spline teeth 26 formed on a member connecting 28 , which is secured to and rotates with another component of a planetary gearset . a backing plate 30 , similarly splined to the internal splines 14 , is secure to the housing against displacement . as is conventional , each discs 22 carries friction material , which contacts and frictionally engages the adjacent pressure plate when the clutch 10 is applied . in this way , the clutch alternately driveably connects and releases the components secured to connecting members 12 and 28 . a piston 34 is supported on a hydraulic cylinder 36 for axial displacement relative to the discs 22 and pressure plates 18 . the piston is sealed on the cylinder preferably by o - rings 38 , 40 , 42 or another type of dynamic seal , against the passage of hydraulic fluid . the seals , divide the piston into two hydraulically separated zones . a primary , dynamic piston surface area 44 is located in one zone between seals 38 and 40 ; a secondary static piston surface area 46 is located in the other zone between seals 40 and 42 . a check ball 41 , located behind the piston area 46 , opens to admit air into the cylinder space adjacent the secondary , static piston area 46 when piston 34 is displaced by pressure applied to the primary , dynamic piston area 44 area . this opening through the check valve 41 prevents a vacuum from forming in that portion of the cylinder as the piston moves in response to di pressure . the check valve seats and closes when hydraulic pressure is applied to piston area 46 . as an alternative to the check valve 41 , any suitable device , such as a dynamic seal that responds to a pressure differential , can be used for this purpose . a return spring 50 , preferably a belleville spring , is resiliently preloaded in contact with a snap ring 52 , which is secured in a groove 54 on the cylinder 36 , and with the piston 34 . a force developed in the spring 50 , as the piston moves rightward from the position of fig1 , opposes such displacement and tends to return the piston to the disengaged position of fig1 . the piston is displaced rightward to engage the clutch when hydraulic pressure is applied to one or both of the spaces between the cylinder piston areas 44 and 46 . before fully engaging the clutch , the clutch is first stroked by applying regulated pressure to the primary area 44 , thereby taking up clearances between clutch components principally spaces between the clutch discs and pressure plates . preferably , the stroke displacement of the clutch is performed with close control so that it is completed without excess displacement or pressure . after the clutch is stroked , the clutch becomes fully engaged by applying pressure to the secondary piston area 46 . the clutch must have torque capacity sufficient to produce and hold a force between the pressure plates 18 and discs 22 such that the clutch can transmit between the connecting members 12 and 14 the magnitude of torque required in the oncoming gear ratio . fig2 illustrates a system 60 for controlling the staged application of hydraulic pressures and fluid flow , which first stroke and then fully engage clutch 10 . the system 60 includes a valve controlled by a variable force solenoid ( vfs ) 62 that responds to a command signal produced by an electronic transmission control unit 63 ( tcu ), which controls operation of the transmission and its gear ratio changes . the vfs 62 controls a hydraulic valve , whose output pressure varies inversely with the magnitude of electric current supplied to the vfs 62 . in the non - limiting example discussed here , the current control signal applied to vfs 62 varies in the range 850 – 50 ma . in response to the control current , the vfs - controlled valve produces pressure , which is applied to the end surface of a land on each of a d 1 regulator valve 64 , a d 1 latch valve 66 , and a d 2 latch valve 68 . fig3 illustrates the variation of d 1 clutch apply pressure and d 2 clutch apply pressure produced by system 60 as the magnitude of the vfs current changes . when vfs current is in the range of about 250 – 675 ma , the forces on the spool regulator valve 64 include the force of vfs pressure on land 70 , the force of spring 72 on land 76 , and the force of d 1 feedback pressure on land 76 . these forces regulate d 1 pressure at clutch area 44 causing it to increase linearly and inversely with vfs current while vfs current is between about 250 ma and 675 ma , as illustrated in fig3 . subject to these forces , regulator valve 64 alternately increases the magnitude of d 1 pressure by opening a connection between line pressure feed 78 and line 80 and closing exhaust port 82 to line 80 when the spool of the valve moves upward , and decreases the magnitude of d 1 pressure by closing a connection between line pressure feed 78 and line 80 and opening exhaust port 82 to line 80 when the spool of valve 64 moves downward . d 1 latch valve 66 has potential both to control d 1 feedback pressure and to have no control over feedback pressure in line 74 , depending on the magnitude of vfs current and vfs pressure . when vfs current is greater than about 250 na and vfs pressure is relatively low , land 84 opens a connection between d 1 feedback line 74 and line 86 , which communicates with d 1 area 44 . when vfs current is equal to or less than about 250 ma , vfs pressure forces spool 88 of the d 1 latch valve 66 rightward against the force of control spring 90 , thereby closing line 86 and opening a connection between feedback line 74 and exhaust port 92 . this eliminates feedback regulation of d 1 regulating valve 64 and fully opens line pressure feed 78 to d 1 area 44 . fig3 illustrates the step increase in d 1 clutch apply pressure carried to area 44 through line 80 when vfs current reaches its latching pressure current . the d 2 latch valve 68 is continually connected to vfs pressure , which is applied to land 94 . an orificed line pressure feed line 96 connects line pressure to d 2 latch valve 68 through an orifice 98 , which is sized to produce a desired flow rate of hydraulic fluid to d 2 area 46 . when pressure is applied to the d 2 area 46 , that pressure seats the check ball 41 located behind piston 34 , thereby sealing the area 46 and allowing pressure to build in the d 2 volume . that flow rate is preferably established such that the relatively large volume of fluid required to fill area 46 does not exceed the capacity of the transmission pump required to supply adequately other portions of the transmission hydraulic circuit . when vfs current is about 250 ma , pressure on land 94 forces the spool 98 of d 2 latch valve 68 upward against the force of spring 100 , thereby allowing land 102 to open a connection between orificed line pressure feed line 96 and line 104 , through which d 2 clutch area 46 is filled with fluid and pressurized at a rate determined by the size of orifice 98 . the vfs current and the corresponding vfs pressure at which d 1 and d 2 are latched may be substantially equal . the clutch torque capacity continues to increase until the commanded vfs current reaches about 70 ma and pressure at d 1 area 44 and d 2 area 46 are about 15 . 5 bar . the clutch disengages in response to vfs pressure increasing to 250 ma , which delatches the latch valves 66 , 68 allowing the d 2 volume to drain through line 104 and exhaust port 106 , and the check ball 41 then opens to atmospheric pressure . as vfs pressure declines , d 1 latch valve 66 again controls feedback pressure in line 74 , thereby linearly reducing d 1 pressure until vfs current increases to about 850 ma . in this way the clutch is engaged and disengaged in stages . first during an early , dynamic phase of clutch engagement , the clutch is quickly stroked with low gain control producing linearly increasing d 1 pressure that is applied to the relatively small d 1 area 44 and the corresponding clutch cylinder volume . after the dynamic phase , the area d 1 44 is rapidly pressurized to line pressure . the full torque capacity of the clutch is developed upon filling and pressurizing the relatively large d 2 area 46 and its corresponding clutch cylinder volume with fluid from a source of line pressure through orifice 98 . both d 1 area 44 and d 2 area 46 are pressurized at relatively high pressure , during the static phase of clutch engagement . fig4 is a cross section of a clutch 110 for use with a system according to this invention , the clutch including nested actuating pistons 112 , 114 , displaceable in a hydraulic cylinder 116 , rather than a single piston . the first piston 112 is sealed at the cylinder surface by o - rings 118 , 120 , or another type of dynamic seal , against the passage of hydraulic fluid , the seals 118 , 120 providing a boundary for a primary , dynamic pressure area 122 on the face of the piston 112 between the seals . the second piston 114 is sealed at the cylinder surface by o - rings 124 , 126 , against the passage of hydraulic fluid , the seals 124 , 126 providing a boundary for a secondary , static pressure area 128 on the face of the piston 114 between those seals . the pistons 112 , 114 are actuated by hydraulic pressure supplied through lines ( not shown ) connected to the outputs of the system of fig2 , i . e ., clutch areas d 1 and d 2 . piston 112 moves rightward to engage the clutch in response to hydraulic pressure applied to the clutch area 122 ( d 1 ). before the clutch 110 is fully engaged , the clutch is first stroked by applying pressure to the primary area 122 , thereby taking up clearances between clutch components , principally spaces between the clutch discs and pressure plates 20 , 24 . preferably , the stroke displacement of the clutch is performed with close control so that it is completed without excess displacement or pressure . after the clutch is stroked , the clutch becomes fully engaged by applying pressure to the secondary piston area 46 . the clutch must have torque capacity sufficient to produce and hold a force between the pressure plates 18 and discs 22 such that the clutch can transmit between the connecting members 12 and 14 the magnitude of torque required in the oncoming gear ratio . a check ball 41 , located behind the piston area 46 , opens to admit air into the cylinder space adjacent the secondary , static piston area 46 when piston 34 is displaced by pressure applied to the primary , dynamic piston area 44 area . this opening through the check valve 41 prevents a vacuum from forming in that portion of the cylinder as the piston moves in response to di pressure . the check valve seats and closes when hydraulic pressure is applied to piston area 46 . the piston is actuated for rightward displacement to engage the clutch when hydraulic pressure is applied to one or both of the spaces between the cylinder piston areas 44 and 46 . before fully engaging the clutch 110 , the clutch is first stroked by applying regulated pressure to the primary area 122 , the d 1 area , thereby taking up clearances between clutch components , principally spaces between the clutch discs and pressure plates 18 , 22 . after the clutch 110 is stroked , the clutch becomes fully engaged by applying pressure to the secondary piston area 128 , the d 2 area . the force applied by hydraulic pressure to secondary piston 114 adds to the force applied to primary piston 112 because the pistons are in mutual contact at both extremities of their travel in the cylinder 116 . therefore when both pressure areas , both when the clutch is disengaged as shown in fig4 , and by the in accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes , the principle and mode of operation of this invention have been explained and illustrated in its preferred embodiment . however , it must be understood that this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically explained and illustrated without departing from its spirit or scope .	5
three embodiments of the invention are disclosed . the first embodiment relates to a system control processor interface ( scpi ), illustrated in fig2 - 9 . the second embodiment relates to a mouse keyboard interface ( mki ), illustrated in fig1 - 19 . the third embodiment relates to a human user - input interface ( hui ), illustrated in fig2 . it should be noted that the representation of the hui in fig2 - 35 is merely conceptual and that the actual hardware description is contained in the verilog code , attached as appendix i . all three embodiments of the invention emulate an intel 8042 bus as well as provide relatively faster control of the gate a20 signal . the mki , in addition to providing relatively faster control of the gate a20 signal than the scpi by eliminating the need for service from the scp in order to set the gate a20 signal . the hui integrates the scpi and the mki interfaces into a single device along with an interface for a common memory device accessible by a central processing unit ( cpu ) and a system control processor ( scp ). referring to the drawing and in particular fig1 a portion of a known pc / at compatible personal computer is illustrated . an scp 20 acts as an interface between a cpu ( not shown ) and various peripherals , such as a keyboard 22 . in such an application , the scp 20 monitors the keyboard 22 and communicates with the cpu . in known newer type pc / at machines , an intel 8042 is used as the scp 20 while either an intel 80286 , 80386 or an 80486 is used as a cpu . an intel 8042 is relatively slow and can decrease the overall system performance . however , in order to remain ibm pc / at - compatible , any change in the scp requires emulation of the intel 8042 . the scpi allows the scp 20 ( fig1 ) to be replaced with a relatively faster scp 26 , such as an intel 8051 or any microprocessor that emulates an intel 8042 . the scpi , generally identified with the reference numeral 28 , is connected between a pc / at system bus 40 and the scp 26 . the scp 26 and the scpi 28 emulate the intel 8042 to maintain system compatibility . an internal block diagram of the scpi 28 is provided in fig3 . as will be discussed in detail below , the scpi 28 allows communication between the scp 26 and the cpu , as well as communication between the cpu and the scp 26 by way of three registers ( fig3 ); an input buffer 30 , an output buffer 32 and a status register 34 . the scpi 28 further includes scp 26 address decoding logic 36 , cpu decoding logic 42 , slow reset logic 44 , external random access memory ( ram ) control logic 48 , interrupt logic 46 and a20 signal logic 50 . another important aspect of the scpi relates to control of the a20 signal which allows memory access above the one megabyte boundary . this signal is set virtually immediately after the command / data sequence and data are received . in known systems , a command to control a20 signal is written by the cpu to an input buffer . in order to allow time for the scp to read the data and set the gate a20 , a delay is incorporated to allow the scp to read the data and set the a20 signal . since some of the new microprocessors run much faster than the application software program allows , a time - out can occur long before the a20 signal is set , resulting in the computer running code out of the wrong memory space . the system in accordance with the present invention solves this problem . the scpi 28 is a 44 pin integrated circuit as illustrated in fig1 , which may be formed as a gate array , such as by vlsi technologies , inc . pin descriptions are provided in table i . table i______________________________________scpi pin descriptionpin no . type name pin description______________________________________cpu interface29 i reset hardware reset of scpi41 iiow cpu i / o write strobe40 iior cpu i / o read strobe39 iscpcs decode of sa 9 : 0 provide an active signal when an access to 062h - 06eh ( even ) happens38 i sa2 system address bus bit 24 , 5 , 8 , 9 , b sdo : 7 system data bus bits26 , 27 , 30 , 31 0 - 737 0 irq1 keyboard interrupt22 0 a20gate enable access to the memory above 1 megabyte15 0slowrst system processor resetscp interface18 i scpa15 a15 from the scp processor2 , 3 , 10 , 11 , b scpado : 7 multiplexed address24 , 25 , 32 , 33 data bus from scp16 i scpale address latch enable for scpado : 76 iscprd memory read strobe7 iscpwr memory write strobe17 ipsen program store enable read strobe to external program memory19 0ibf input buffer full interrupt to scp when the cpu has written to the input bufferexternal ram control42 0ramcs ram chip select44 0ramoe ram output enable43 0 ramale ram address latch enableexternal port control14 0p4wr port 4 write . used to clock scpado : 7 into 8 external flip - flops . provides 8 extra outputs for the scp13 0p4rd port 4 read . output enable a buffer to scpad 0 : 7 to provide 8 inputs20 0p5wr port 5 write . used to clock scpado : 7 into 8 external flip - flops . provides 8 extra outputs for the scp21 0p5rd port 5 read . output enable a buffer to scpad 0 : 7 to provide 8 inputs36 0p6wr port 6 write . used to clock scpado : 7 into 8 external flip - flops . provides 8 extra outputs for the scp35 0p6rd port 6 read . output enable a buffer to scpad 0 : 7 to provide 8 inputspower and ground28 iisolate in the event the scp is operating while the rest of the unit is not powered , this signal will isolate the rest of the signals1 , 34 vcc power supply12 , 23 gnd ground______________________________________ the required output current driving capability of the pins is listed in table ii . table ii______________________________________current driving ability of outputsthe output pins of the scpi should have the following currentdriving abilities : ______________________________________ scpad 0 : 7 12 ma sd 0 : 7 16 ma irq1 4 ma slowrst 4 ma a20gate 12 ma ibf 2 ma ramcs 2 ma ramoe 2 ma ramale 8 ma p4wr 8 ma p5wr 8 ma p5rd 8 ma p6wr8 ma p6rd8 ma______________________________________ it is to be understood that , as used herein , an &# 34 ; h &# 34 ; at the end of a number indicates that the number is a hexadecimal number . it is also to be understood that a minus sign (-) in front of a signal name , such as - iow , indicates the logical complement of the signal and is identical to the format io . the scp 26 can address the scpi 28 , as well as external ram that is local only to the scp 26 . a signal scpa15 determines if it is a ram access or an scpi access . if external ram 48 is not used , the signal scpa15 can be tied low , thus allowing all external memory accesses to be to the scpi 28 . the ram control circuitry 48 is illustrated in detail in fig4 . thirty - two kilobytes of external ram 48 can be addressed by the scp 26 at addresses 8000h to ffffh for program storage . more particularly , the scpi 28 generates a ram chip select signal (- ramcs ), a ram output enable signal (- ramoe ) and a ram address latch enable signal ( ramale ) for external ram control . the ram chip select signal (- ramcs ) is available at the output of a tristate device 49 . the signal (- scpa15 ) is applied to the input of the tristate device 49 indicating a ram access . the tristate device 49 is controlled by an isolate signal ( discussed below ), which enables the tristate device 49 except under certain conditions such as when the scp 26 is operating with no power available to the other components . the ram address latch enable signal ( ramale ) is available from another tristate device 51 , also controlled by the isolate signal . the input to the tristate device 51 is a signal ( scpale ), an address latch enable for the scp external address data bus ( scpad0 - scpad7 ). the ram output enable signal (- ramoe ) is generated by a nand gate 53 and a nor gate 55 . the output of the nor gate 55 represents the signal (- psen ), program memory enable , is applied to an inverting input of the nor gate 55 . a ram read signal (- ramrd ) is applied to another inverting input of the nor gate 55 . the signal (- ramrd ) is available at the output of a nand gate 53 . the nand gate 53 receives two inputs . one input is an scp read signal (- scprd ). the other signal is (- scpa15 ) which represents a ram access . the scp interface to the scpi is accomplished through a memory mapping scheme identified by the logic block 36 and illustrated in detail in fig4 . the scheme utilizes intel 8051 external memory address data lines ( scpad0 - scpad7 ) connected as inputs to an 8 - bit register 52 , which may be a motorola type 74ac373 . during a memory access , a lower address byte is latched into the register 52 using an scp latch enable signal ( scpale ), applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the register 52 . the addresses from the scp external address data lines ( spcad0 - scpad1 ) are available at the output of the register 52 forming an 8 - bit internal address bus ( scpa0 - scpa7 ). the upper 4 - bits of the internal address bus ( scpa4 - scpa7 ) are decoded by three nand gates 54 , 56 and 58 . more specifically , bits scpa4 and scpa5 are applied to inverting inputs of the nand gate 54 . bits scpa6 and scpa7 are applied to inverting inputs of the nand gate 56 . the outputs of the two nand gates 54 and 56 are applied to inverting inputs of the nand gate 58 . the nand gate 58 generates a signal (- scpahn ) which indicates that the upper address bits ( scpa4 - scpa7 ) are low . this signal (- spahn ) is applied to an inverting enable input of a decoder / demultiplexer 60 and to an inverting input enable of a decoder / demultiplexer 62 . the decoder / demultiplexers 60 and 62 may be motorola model no . 74ac138 . the lower 4 - bits ( scpa0 - scpa3 ) of the internal address bus ( scpa0 - scpa7 ) are also applied to the input ( a0 - a2 ) of the decoder / demultiplexers 60 and 62 . since the bit scpa3 is low for addresses a0000h through a0007h and high for addresses a00008h through a0000ch , it is applied to an inverting enable input of the decoder / demultiplexer 60 to generate address signals a0000h through a00007h . the signal (- scpa15 ), indicating an scpi access available at the output of an inverter 59 , is applied to a noninverting enable input of the decoder / demultiplexer 60 . thus , address signals a0000h through a00007h are generated at the output of the decoder 60 in response to the address bus bits scpa0 through scpa2 . the signals (- scpahn ) and (- scpa15 ) are also applied to non - inverting and inverting enabling inputs of the decoder / demultiplexer 62 , respectively . the bit scpa3 is applied to an inverter 64 to produce an (- scpa3 ) signal which is low for addresses above a0007h . the signal (- scpa3 ) is applied to an inverting enable input of the decoder / demultiplexer 62 . since the signal (- scpa3 ) is low for addresses a00008h through a000ch , the decoder / demultiplexer 62 can also decode these addresses from the address lines scpa0 - scpa2 . address signals (- a0000h through - a000ch ) are generated at the output terminals ( y0 - y7 ) of the decoder / demultiplexers 60 and 62 . these address signals are further combined with other signals to generate memory mapped control signals . more specifically , the address signal - a0000h is applied to an inverting input of a nand gate 64 along with a system control processor write signal (- scpwr ) to generate an output buffer write signal (- obufwr ). the output buffer write signal (- obufwr ) allows the scp 26 to write a byte to the output buffer 32 at the address a0000h . the address signals - a0000h and - a0001h are also applied to a nor gate 66 . the output of the nor gate 66 is applied to an inverting input of a nand 5 gate 68 . a system control processor read signal (- scprd ) is applied to nand gate 68 along with the output of the nor gate 66 to produce an input buffer read signal (- inbufrd ). the input buffer read signal (- inbufrd ) allows the scp 26 to read the contents of the input buffer 30 at address a0000h or a0001h . the address signal - a0001h is also applied to a nand gate 70 along with an scp write signal (- scpwr ) to generate a status register write signal (- statwr ). the status register write signal (- statwr ) 15 allows the scp 26 to write to the status register 34 at address a0001h . the address signals - a0002h through - a0004h allow the scp 26 to access external ports p4 - p6 . these address signals are applied to inverting inputs of six nand gates 72 , 74 , 76 , 78 , 80 and 82 , along with system control processor write (- scpwr ) or system control processor read (- scprd ) signals as shown in fig4 to enable the scp 26 to read and write to the external ports p4 - p6 at addresses a0002h , a0003h and a0004h . each external port can provide 8 additional input pins and 8 additional output pins for the scp 26 . the address signal - a0005h is used as an scp / cpu interface to generate a keyboard interrupt ( irq1 ) logic 46 . more specifically , the address signal - a0005h is applied to an inverting input of a nand gate 84 . an scp write signal (- scpwr ) is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 84 . the output of the nand gate 84 is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of a d - type flip - flop 86 . one bit scpad0 of the external scp address bus is applied to the d input of the flip - flop 86 . the output from the nand gate 84 is used to strobe the bit scpad0 into the flip - flop 86 to generate an ireqg signal . this signal ( ireqg ) is applied to the input of a nand gate 88 , along with an output buffer flag full signal ( obf ). when bit scpad0 is high , the keyboard interrupt signal ( irq1 ) is enabled when the scp 26 writes to address a0005h . during such a condition , when bit scpad0 is low , the keyboard interrupt signal ( irq1 ) is disabled . during such a condition , the nand gate 88 allows an interrupt signal ( irq1 ) to be generated by the scpi 28 when the output buffer 32 is full . the address signal (- a0006h ) is applied to an inverting input of a nand gate 90 along with an scp read signal (- scprd ). the output of the nand gate 90 is an output buffer read signal (- obufrd ), which allows the scp 26 to read the output buffer 32 at address a0006h . the address a0007h is applied to an inverting input of a nand gate 92 along with an scp read signal (- scprd ). the output of the nand gate 92 is a status register read signal (- statrd ) which allows the scp 26 to read the status register 34 at address a0007h . the address signals a008h , a0009h , and a000ch relate to the slow reset system . the address signals a000ah and a000bh are used to generate the a20 signal . these address signals will be discussed in detail below . communication between the cpu and the scp 26 is by way of an input buffer 30 , an output buffer 32 and a status register 34 . the input buffer 30 is an 8 - bit register with tristate outputs ( q1 - q7 ), such as a motorola type 74ac374 . in such a device , a clock input ( clk ) and output enable input ( 0c ) are common to all 8 - bits . the output buffer 32 and the status register 34 are also 8 - bit registers . these registers 32 and 34 may be octal d - type flip - flops having separate d - type inputs ( d0 - d7 ) and separate tristate outputs ( q0 - q7 ), such as a motorola type 74ac273 . such devices contain a clock input ( clk ) and a clear ( clr ) input , common to all eight flip - flops . the input buffer 30 may be written to only by the cpu and read only by the scp 26 . the cpu writes to the input buffer 30 at addresses 60h or 64h by writing to the system data bus ( sd0 - sd7 ). the system 10 data bus ( sd0 - sd7 ) is applied to the data inputs ( d007 ) of the input buffer 30 . the address is decoded by a cpu logic circuit 42 which does not form part of the present invention . a signal (- scpcs ) is generated by the cpu decode logic circuit 42 if the address is either 60h or 64h . the signal (- scpcs ) is applied to an inverting input of a nand gate 94 . a cpu input / output write signal (- iow ) is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 94 to produce a signal (- ibclk ), which indicates that the cpu is writing to the input buffer 30 at either address 60h or 64h . the signal (- ibclk ) is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the input buffer 30 . thus , any time the cpu writes to address 60h or 64h , data on the system data bus 40 ( sd0 - sd7 ) is strobed into the input buffer 30 . the cpu can either write data or a command to the input buffer register 30 . any time the cpu writes to the input buffer 30 , a command data flag ( cmd / data ) is set in the status register 34 ( bit 3 ). this lets the scp 26 know that a byte containing either a command or data is in the input buffer 30 . a write to 64h represents a command ( command data flag high ), while a write to 60h represents data ( command data flag low ). the command data flag ( cmd / data ) is set by way of a flip - flop 96 . more particularly , bit sa2 of the system address bus is applied to a d input of a flip - flop 96 . bit sa2 , depending on whether it is high or low , determines whether cpu addressed 60h or 64h . the signal (- ibclk ) is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the flip - flop 96 . the output signal ( cmd / data ) from the flip - flop 96 , depending on whether it is high or low , enables the scp 26 to determine whether the last byte written to the input register 30 by the cpu was command or data . each time the cpu writes to the input buffer 30 , an input buffer full flag ( ibf ), bit 1 of the status register 34 , is set as well as the cmd / data flag , as discussed above . the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) acts as an interrupt to the scp 26 to let it know there is a byte in the input register 30 from the cpu which has not yet been read . the command / data flag tells the scp 26 whether the last byte written by the cpu was a command ( written to address 64h ) or data ( written to address 60h ). a d type flip - flop 98 having its d input tied high is used for the input buffer full flag ( ibf ). a signal (- ibclk ) is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the flip - flop 98 . thus , the input buffer flag ( ibf ) will be set each time the cpu writes to input buffer 30 . once the scp 26 determines whether the byte in the input buffer 30 is command or data , it reads the byte in the input buffer 30 and the input buffer flag ibf is cleared by the scpi 28 . more particularly , the scp 26 reads the byte out of the input buffer 80 by reading addresses a000h or a001h . more specifically , an input buffer read signal (- inbufrd ) is applied to a nand gate 100 along with a reset signal . the (- inbufrd ) signal is a decode of addresses aooooh and a0001h and is active any time the scp 26 is attempting to read these addresses . the output of the nand gate 100 is an input buffer / output enable signal (- inbufoe ) which is applied to the enable input ( oc ) of the input buffer 30 which allows the byte to appear on the multiplexed system control processor address data bus scpad0 - scpad7 to be read by the scp 26 . prior to this state , the input buffer output 26 is in a high impedance state . after the scp 26 reads the input buffer 30 , the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) is cleared automatically by a flip - flop 102 . more particularly , the input buffer enable signal (- inbufoe ) is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the flip - flop 102 . the d input of this flip - flop is tied to system ground . thus , once the byte in the input buffer 30 is placed on the system control processor address data lines ( scpad0 - scpa07 ) and read , an input buffer clear signal (- ibfclr ) is generated by the flip - flop 102 and applied to the clear input ( clr ) of a flip - flop 98 . this clears the input buffer full flag ( ibf ). in order to avoid writing over a byte in the input buffer 30 , the cpu should check the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) in the status register 34 prior to writing to the input buffer 30 . the system control processor scp communicates back to the cpu through the output buffer 32 and the status register 34 . the output buffer 32 is read only by the cpu at address 60h and read and written to by the scp 26 . during normal operation , the scp 26 can only write to the output buffer 32 . in order to avoid overwriting a byte in the output buffer 32 that has not yet been read by the cpu , the scp 26 should read the status register 34 before writing to the output buffer 32 . the status register 34 is an 8 - bit register consisting of 8 d - type flip - flops with a common clock and an asynchronous reset , such as a motorola type 74ac223 . the status register 34 may be written to and read by the scp 26 . the read capability enables the scp 26 to read the output buffer full flag ( obf ) and the command data flag ( cmd / data ). the status register 34 may be read any time by the cpu . bit definitions for the status register 34 are provided in table iii . the scp 26 can write to the output buffer 32 by writing to address a0000h . as previously discussed , this generates an output buffer write signal (- obufwr ) which is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the output buffer 32 . the external scp address data lines ( scpad0 - scpad7 ) are applied to the inputs of the output buffer 32 . the output bits of the output buffer ( ob00 - ob07 ) are applied to inputs of registers 104 and 106 , which may be octal buffer and line drivers having tristate outputs , such as a motorola type 74ac244 . the output lines of the register 106 are tied to the system data bus sd0 - sd7 to allow the cpu to read the output buffer 32 . more specifically , the cpu reads the register 106 at address 60h . this is accomplished with three nand gates 108 , 110 and 112 . a signal (- scpcs ), indicative of an address 60h or 6411 , and a signal (- ior ), indicative of a read operation by the cpu , are applied to inverting inputs of the nand gate 108 . the output of the nand gate 108 is applied to an inverting input of the nand gate 110 . the output of the nand gate 108 is a signal representing that the cpu is reading address 60h or 64h . a signal sa2 , indicating whether the address is 60h or 64h , is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 110 . if the address is 60h , an enable data signal (- endata ) is generated at the output of the nand gate 110 . this signal (- endata ) is applied to an inverting input of the nand gate 112 to produce a data enable signal (- daten ). the signal (- daten ) is then applied to the enable inputs ena / enb of the register 106 . this allows the cpu to read the register 106 which is representative of the byte contained in the output buffer 32 . each time the scp 26 writes to the output buffer 32 , the output buffer full flag ( obf ) is set automatically . the output buffer full flag ( obf ) is available at the output of a flip - flop 114 . this flag is set by applying an output buffer write signal (- obufwr ) to the clock input ( clk ) of the flip - flop 114 . the (- obufwr ) signal is generated any time the scp 26 writes to the output buffer 32 . more specifically , a d input of the flip - flop 114 is tied high . thus , an output buffer full flag ( obf ) will be generated any time the scp writes to the output buffer 32 . once the cpu reads the output buffer 32 , the output buffer full flag ( obf ) is cleared by a flip - flop 116 . more particularly , the data enable signal (- daten ) from the nand gate 112 is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the flip - flop 116 . the (- daten ) signal represents that cpu is reading the output buffer 32 at address 60h . by applying this signal to the flip - flop 116 , an output buffer full flag clear signal (- obfclr ) is generated at the output of the flip - flop 116 each time the cpu reads the register 106 . this signal (- obfclr ) is applied to the clear clr input of the flip - flop 114 to clear the output buffer full flag ( obf ) each time the cpu reads the output buffer 32 . a register 104 allows the scp 26 to read the byte in the output buffer 32 . more specifically , the output of the register 104 is connected to the scp address data lines ( scpad0 - scpad7 ). the scp 26 reads the register 104 at address a0006h by producing an output buffer read signal (- obufrd ). this signal (- obufrd ) is applied to enable inputs ena / enb of the register 104 to place the byte in this register on the scp address data lines ( scpa00 - scpa07 ) to be read by the scp 26 . the scp 26 can write to the status register 34 at address a0001h which generates a signal (- statwr ). this signal (- statwr ) is applied to the clock input clk of the status register 34 to enable the scp 26 to write to the status register 34 by way of the internal scp address data lines ( scpad0 - scpad7 ). this data is then available on the status register output bus sr00 - sr07 which is applied to registers 114 and 116 . the registers 114 and 116 may be of the same type as registers 104 and 106 . the register 116 allows the scp 26 to read the status register 34 . more specifically , the status register 34 may be read by the scp 26 at the output of the register 116 on the scp address data bus ( scpad0 - scpad7 ) any time the scp 26 reads address a0007h . during this condition , a status read signal (- statrd ) is generated and applied to the enable inputs ena and enb of register 116 , which allows the scp 26 to read this register 54 . the cpu can read the output of the status register 34 at register 114 . more specifically , the output of the register 56 is connected to the system data bus sd0 - sd7 . the cpu reads the output of the register 56 at address 64h by applying a status enable signal (- staten ) to the enable inputs ena and enb of the register 114 . the signal (- staten ) is generated by three gates 118 , 120 and 122 , and an inverter 124 . more particularly , an scp chip select signal (- scpcs ) is applied to an inverting input of the nand gate 118 . this signal represents that the cpu is addressing either a60h or a64h . an i / o write signal (- ior ) is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 118 . the output of the first nand gate 118 represents that the cpu is reading at an address 60h or 64h . the output of the nand gate 118 is applied to an inverting input of the nand gate 120 . a signal sa2 is applied to the inverter 122 to generate a signal - sa2 . the - sa2 signal indicates whether the address is a60h or a64h . the output of the inverter 122 is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 120 . the output of the nand gate 120 is applied to an inverting input of the nand gate 124 which generates a status enable signal (- staten ) any time the cpu is reading at an address a64h . table iii______________________________________status register bit definitionthe status register 34 is an 8 - bit register . three bits aregenerated by the scpi 28 , while 5 - bits are written by the scp26 . specifically , the output buffer full flag ( obf ), the inputbuffer full flag ( ibf ) and the command data flag ( cmd / data ) are generated by the scpi 28 . the remainingbits are written by the scp 26 . definitions for the 7 bits are as follows : bit number definition______________________________________bit 7 parity errorbit 6 receive time outbit 5 transmit time outbit 4 inhibit switchbit 3 command / databit 2 system flagbit 1 input buffer full flag ( ibf ). bit 0 output buffer full flag ( obf ) ______________________________________ the command / data bit indicates whether the last byte written by the cpu was a command or data . the ibf signal indicates when the cpu has written a byte to the input buffer but the system control processor scp has not yet read the byte out of the input buffer 30 . it can also be used by the cpu as a flag to indicate that the system control processor scp is ready to receive a byte . the obf signal indicates when the scp 26 has written a byte to the output buffer 32 which has not yet been read by the cpu . the obf signal can also be used by the scp 26 as a flag to indicate that the cpu is ready to receive a byte . the slow reset signal (- rc ) is an active low output signal to reset the cpu . it can be set by the cpu or set and cleared by the scp 26 . it is cleared when the scpi 28 is reset by the reset pin . the scp 26 can control the slow reset signal (- rc ) by writing to addresses a0008h or a0009h . a write to address a0008h forces the slow reset signal active while a write to a0009h forces the slow reset signal (- rc ) inactive . the data written to either location is ignored . all that is relevant is that a write takes place at the proper memory location . more specifically , the address signal (- a0008h ) is applied to a nand gate 126 , along with a scp write signal (- scpwr ). the output of the nand gate 126 is a slow reset active signal (- scpsrc ). this signal (- scpsrc ) is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of a flip - flop 128 . the d input of a flip - flop 128 is tied to system ground . thus , any time the address a0008h is written to by the scp 26 , a slow reset signal ( ssetrc ), is generated at the output of the nand gate 128 . this signal ( ssetrc ) along with input buffer read signal (- inbufrd ), is applied to inverting inputs of a nand gate 130 . the output of the nand gate 130 is applied to an inverting input of a nor gate 132 . the output of the nor gate 132 is applied to a preset input ( pre ) of a flip - flop 134 to set the slow reset signal (- rc ). the slow reset signal (- rc ) can be cleared by the scp 26 by writing to the address a0009h . more specifically , the address signal (- a0009h ) is applied to an inverting input of a nand gate 136 . the output of the nand gate 136 is applied to the clear ( clr ) input of the flip - flop 128 . the cpu can also set the slow reset signal (- rc ) with a single write command unless it is prevented from doing so by the scp 26 , as discussed below . specifically , the cpu can set the slow reset signal active by writing an even byte from foh to feh to address 64h . nand gates 138 and 140 decode these bytes from the cpu . more specifically , system data bits sd4 , sd5 , sd6 and sd7 are applied to the nand gate 138 . the output of the nand gate 138 is applied to the nand gate 140 . system data bit sd0 is applied to an inverting input of the nand gate 140 . the output of the nand gate 140 is a signal (- cpurc ) representative of an even data byte between foh and feh . this signal (- cpurc ) is applied to a nand gate 142 . a signal (- enrc ) is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 142 . as will be discussed later , the signal (- enrc ) indicates whether cpu control of the slow reset signal has been disabled by the scp 26 . the output of the nand gate 142 is applied to the d input of the slow reset flip - flop 134 . a command clock signal ( cmd / clk ), which represents that the cpu addressed the address 64h , is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the slow reset flip - flop 134 . the output of the flip - flop 134 is a signal representative of a slow reset signal (- rc ). this signal (- rc ) is applied to the input of a tristate device 144 which indicates the status of the slow reset signal (- rc ) to be read by the scp . more particularly , the output of the tristate device 144 is applied to a system control processor data line scpad0 . the tristate device 144 is controlled by a nand gate 146 . an scp read signal (- scprd ), along with an address signal - a0008h , is applied to inverting inputs of the nand gate 146 . the nand gate 146 generates an enable signal (- rdrcoe ) which enables the tristate device 144 . thus , whenever the scp 26 reads address a0008h , the tristate device 144 is enabled to place the output of the slow reset flip - flop 134 on the system control address data bit scpad0 . a logical 0 indicates that the slow reset is active , while a logical 1 indicates that the slow reset signal is inactive . the scp 26 can also disable the cpu control of the slow reset by writing to address a000ch . more specifically , a signal representative of the address a000ch is applied to a nand gate 146 ( fig4 ), along with the system control processor write signal (- scpwr ). the output of the nand gate 146 is applied to a clock input ( clk ) of a flip - flop 148 . the scp data bit scpad1 is applied to a d input of the flip - flop 148 . if the data bit scpad1 is high , the slow reset will be enabled . if the data bit scpad 1 is low , the slow reset will be disabled . the output of this flip - flop 148 is an enable reset signal (- enrc ) which is applied to the nand gate 142 ( fig7 ) to either enable or disable the cpu from controlling the slow reset signal . the a20 signal allows memory above one megabyte to be accessed . this a20 signal can be set by the scp 26 directly or by the scpi 28 in response to a cpu command . the cpu controls the gate a20 with a 2 - byte sequence . the first byte d1h is a command byte written to the address 64h . the second byte is a data byte written to the address 60h . the system data bit sd1 determines whether the a20 is to be set or cleared . the data bit sd1 is applied to the d input of an a20 signal flip - flop 168 . the output of the flip - flop 168 is the a20 signal . the cpu command signal ( command ) is available at a command flip - flop 150 . the cpu command signal is generated when the cpu writes a byte d1h to address 64h . the command byte d1h is decoded by seven of nand gates 152 , 154 , 156 , 158 , 160 , 162 and 164 ( fig6 ). these nand gates decode the system data bits sd0 through sd7 to provide a command data signal ( cmdd1 ) when the cpu writes a command d1 to address 64h . more specifically , the system data bits ( sd0 - sd7 ) are applied to inverting inputs of the nand gates 152 , 154 , 156 and 158 , as shown in fig6 . the outputs of nand gates 152 and 154 are applied to a nand gate 160 . the outputs of the nand gates 156 and 158 are applied to the nand gate 162 along with a signal ( ena20 ). the outputs of the nand gates 160 and 162 are applied to a nand gate 164 which generates a command signal ( cmddl ) any time the byte d1h is written to address 64h . the signal ( ena20 ) is generated by a flip - flop 163 . this flip - flop 163 enables scp 26 to disable the a20 signal . more specifically , a bit scpad1 is applied to the d input of the flip - flop 163 . if bit scpad1 is high , the a20 signal is enabled . if bit scpad1 is low , the a20 signal is disabled . the signal ( cmdd1 ) is applied to a d input of the command flip - flop 150 . another signal , command clock (- cmdclk ) is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the command flip - flop 150 . the command clock signal (- cmdclk ) is generated by a nand gate 166 which receives signal (- ibclk ) and an input signal sa2 . the ib clock signal (- ibclk ) represents that the address written to by the cpu is either 60h or 64h . the signal - sa2 identifies that the address is 64h . the output of the nand gate 166 is the command clock signal ( cmdclk ). in order to better understand the system , a state diagram for the a20 signal logic is provided in fig8 . the states refer to the states of the command flip - flop 150 , the a20 signal flip - flop 168 and a dummy flip - flop 170 , respectively . the dummy flip - flop 170 is required because of the number of states . the states in fig8 are numbered for the states of these flip - flops . for example , state 7 ( binary 111 ) represents that the flip - flops 150 , 168 and 170 are all set . the system starts in state 0 where the flip - flops 150 , 168 and 178 are all clear . the system then proceeds to state 4 where the command flip - flop 150 is set as discussed above . once the command flip - flop 166 is set , the system waits for the data byte from the cpu to either set or reset the gate a20 . when the system data byte is received and the gate a20 is set as discussed above , the system proceeds to state 6 . in this state , both the command flip - flop 150 and the gate a20 flip - flop 162 have previously been set . an important feature of the invention relates to the fact that there was no waiting from the time the data byte was received from the cpu to set the gate a20 . this greatly enhances the speed at which the gate a20 is set by the cpu . the output of a nand gate 172 is representative of state 6 . the nand gate 172 receives a signal ( command ) from the command flip - flop 150 and an a20 signal from the a20 signal flip - flop 168 . also applied to the nand gate 172 is a signal vcc and a signal from the dummy flip - flop 170 , which is clear at state 6 . after state 6 , the system can only proceed to state 2 wherein the command flip - flop 150 is cleared . the command flip - flop 150 is cleared once the scp 26 reads the data out of the input buffer 30 . this is accomplished by nand gates 174 and 176 and nor gates 178 and 180 . more specifically , a signal representative of state 6 (- state6 ) is applied to an inverting input of the nand gate 174 . an input buffer read signal (- inbufrd ) is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 174 . the output of the nand gate 174 indicates that the scp 26 has read the data in the input buffer 30 . the output of the nand gate 174 is applied to an inverting input of a nor gate 178 . the output of the nor gate 178 is applied to an inverting input of the nor gate 180 . the output of the nor gate 180 is representative of a command reset signal (- cmdrst ) which is applied to the clear input ( clr ) of the command flip - flop 150 . this signal ( cmdrst ) thus resets the command flip - flop 150 once the scp 26 has read the data byte in the input buffer 30 . once this occurs , the system proceeds to state 2 . in state 2 , the command flip - flop 166 and the dummy flip - flop 170 remain clear and the a20 signal flip - flop 168 remains set . the system sits in state 2 waiting for another command from the cpu . if another command is received , the system proceeds to state 7 where the command flip - flop 150 is set . in state 7 , the system waits for a data byte from the cpu to indicate what is to be done with gate a20 . once the data is received , the dummy flip - flop 170 is set . more specifically , a command signal ( command ) from the command flip - flop 150 is applied to an and gate 182 representing that the command flip - flop 156 has been set . a signal (- sa2 ) is applied to another input of the and gate 182 . the (- sa2 ) signal represents that a cpu command was written to address 64h . a signal (- sd1 ) is also applied to the and gate 182 generated by way of an inverter 184 . the output of the and gate 182 is applied to one input of the or gate 184 . the output of the or gate 184 is applied to the d input of the dummy flip - flop 170 . an (- ibclk ) signal is applied to the clock input ( clk ) of the dummy flip - flop 170 . the (- ibclk ) signal is a decode and indicates that the cpu has written to either address 60h or 64h . thus , the dummy flip - flop 170 is set in state 7 after a command has been written by the cpu to the command flip - flop 150 . the dummy flip - flop 170 may also be set by an and gate 186 . more specifically , the output of the and gate 186 is applied to another input of the or gate 184 . the and gate 186 has three inputs . one input is from the a20 signal flip - flop 168 . a second input is from the nand gate 164 which indicates that the cpu has written a command d1 . the last input is an sa2 signal which indicates that the command was written to address 64h . thus , the and gate 186 will be enabled any time the gate a20 has been set and a command has been written to address 64h by the cpu . once the system is in state 7 , if data is received indicating that the gate a20 flip - flop 168 is to be disabled , the system proceeds to state 5 . in state 5 , the command flip - flop is cleared , the dummy flip - flop remains set and the a20 signal flip - flop 168 is cleared . a signal representative of state 5 is generated by a nand gate 188 . signals from the dummy flip - flop 170 , the a20 signal flip - flop 168 (- a20 gate ), the command flip - flop 150 ( command ) and vcc are applied to the input of the nand gate 188 . the output of the nand gate 188 is a signal (- state5 ) which is applied to the nand gate 176 to clear the command flip - flop 150 when the system is in state 5 . the a20 signal flip - flop 168 is cleared by the system data bit sd1 which is applied to the d input of the flip - flop 168 . if the sd1 signal is low , the a20 signal flip - flop 168 is cleared . the bit sd1 is strobed into the flip - flop 168 by a nand gate 190 . a signal (- command ) is applied to an inverting input of the nand gate 190 from the command flip - flop 150 . a signal (- dataclk ) is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 190 . the (- dataclk ) is generated by a nand gate 192 . a signal sa2 is applied to one inverting input of the nand gate 192 while a signal (- ibclic ) is applied to another inverting input to strobe the a20 signal flip - flop 168 any time the cpu writes data to address 60h . after state 5 , the system proceeds back to state 0 where the command flip - flop 150 and the dummy flip - flop 170 are cleared . the command flip - flop 150 is cleared automatically in state 5 when the input buffer flag ibf is cleared . more specifically , once the scp reads the input buffer 30 , an input buffer read signal (- inbufrd ) is generated . this signal ( inbufrd ) and a state 5 signal (- state5 ) are applied to inverting inputs of the nand gate 176 . the output of the nand gate 176 is applied to an inverting input of the nor gate 178 which clears the command flip - flop 150 . the output of the nand gate 176 is also applied to an inverting input of a nor gate 208 . the output of the nor gate 208 is applied to the clear input ( clr ) of the dummy flip - flop 170 . thus , the command flip - flop 150 and the dummy flip - flop 170 will be cleared in state 5 and the system will return to state 0 where the command flip - flop 150 , the a20 gate flip - flop 168 and the dummy flip - flop 170 are all clear . the scp 26 can also gain control of the gate a20 flip - flop 168 through memory map . specifically , a write to address 000ah by the scp 26 can clear the a20 signal flip - flop 168 . more specifically , a signal representative of these addresses (- 000ah ) is applied to an inverting input of nand gate 194 . a scp write signal (- scpwr ) is applied to another inverting input of the nand gate 194 . the output of the nand gate 194 is applied to the clear input ( clr ) of the a20 signal flip - flop 168 to enable the scp 26 to clear the signal . the scp 26 can set the a20 signal by writing to address 000bii . specifically , the address signal (- 000bh ) is applied to an inverting input of a nand gate 196 along with an scp write signal (- scpwr ). the output of the nand gate 196 is applied to an inverting input of a nor gate 198 whose output is tied to the present input ( pre ) of the a20 signal flip - flop 168 . the scp 26 can also read the status of the gate a20 flip - flop 168 by reading address 000ah . specifically , a signal representative of the system control processor read signal (- scprd ) is applied to an inverting input of a nand gate 202 . a signal representative of an address signal (- 000ah ) is applied to another inverting input . the output of the nand gate 202 is applied to a tristate device 204 to allow the data from the gate a20 flip - flop to be placed on the system control processor address data bus bit scpad 1 to be read by the scp 26 . the gate a20 can also be set active by the scpi 28 when a command is received to set slow reset active or the scpi is reset by the reset pin . more specifically , a reset signal and a slow reset signal (- rc ) are applied to a nor gate 206 . the output of the nor gate 206 is applied to an inverting input of the nor gate 208 which clears the dummy flip - flop 170 . the output of the nor gate 206 is also applied to one input of the nor gate 198 which sets the gate a20 flip - flop 168 . the output of the nor gate 206 is also applied to an inverting input of the nor gate 178 which , in turn , is connected to the nor gate 180 which clears the command flip - flop 150 . an scp write to either address 000ah or 000bh clears the command flip - flop 150 . more specifically , the output of the nand gates 194 and 196 are applied to inverting inputs of a nor gate 200 . the output of the nor gate 200 is applied to an inverting input of the nor gate 180 . the output of the nor gate 180 is applied to the clear input ( clr ) of the command flip - flop 150 . a reset signal (- reset ) from the cpu is used to reset the system . specifically , the reset signal is applied to an inverting input of the nor gate 206 which clears the command flip - flop 150 , the a20 signal flip - flop 168 and the dummy flip - flop 120 . the reset signal is also applied to the clear input ( clr ) of the flip - flop 86 to clear the interrupt signal irq1 . reset signals are also used to clear the input buffer 30 , output buffer 32 , the status register 34 , the input buffer full flag flip - flop 98 and the output buffer full flag flip - flop 114 . an isolate signal is an active low input signal to tristate certain signals on the scpi 28 in the event that the scp 26 and scpi 28 are used in a manner where the rest of the system is not powered , for example , during battery charging of a portable battery powered converter . tristating the pins identified in table iv below can avoid problems to the scp 26 . table iv______________________________________the pins in the scpi that get tristated are as follows : ______________________________________scpad 0 : 7 irq1 p4wribf a20 gate p4rdsd 0 : 7 slowrst p5wrramoeramcs p5rdramale p6wr p6rd______________________________________ an important distinction between the scpi 28 and the mki is that the mki does not need to interrupt the scp 26 to allow the cpu to control the a20 signal . consequently , the mki allows for relatively faster switching of the a20 signal than the scpi 28 . more specifically , as described above , the cpu controls the a20 signal with a 2 - byte sequence from the cpu to the input buffer 30 . the first byte is a command byte d1 written to the address 64h . in the previous embodiment utilizing the scpi 28 , after the cpu writes the command byte , the input buffer full ( ibf ) flag is set in the status register 34 . this ibf flag is used to interrupt the scp 26 . after the scp 26 reads the command byte d1h , the ibf full flag is cleared , which allows the cpu to write the second byte to the input buffer 30 which also requires processing by the scp 26 . as discussed above , the bit sd1 in the second byte determines whether the a20 signal is to be set or cleared . with such a system , there is inherently a certain amount of delay after a byte is written to the input buffer 30 until the scp 26 can retrieve the command data bytes . the mki allows for faster switching of the a20 signal by recognizing the command and data bytes from the cpu , thus eliminating the need to interrupt the scp 26 which may be busy with other tasks . since no interrupt is generated after the command byte d1h , the cpu can immediately send the data byte without waiting for the scp 26 to read the input buffer 30 . the mki can also recognize the data byte , thus eliminating the processing time of the scp 26 . as illustrated in fig1 , the mki , generally identified with the reference numeral 300 , also allows the scp 20 ( fig1 ) to be replaced with a relatively faster scp 26 , such as an intel 8051 or other microprocessor that emulates a type intel 8042 microprocessor to maintain ibm compatibility with type pc / at machines . the mki 300 is connected between the pc / at system bus 40 and the scp 26 . similar to the scpi 28 , the mki 300 allows communication between the cpu and the scp 26 by way of three registers ; an input buffer , an output buffer and a status register ( fig1 ). as shown in fig1 and discussed below , the mki 300 further includes address decode and ram control logic 308 ( fig1 - 14 ), cpu interface logic 310 ( fig1 ), gate a20 control logic 312 ( fig1 ), slow reset logic 314 ( fig1 ) and ir12 control logic 316 ( fig1 ). the mki 300 is a forty - four pin integrated circuit as illustrated in fig1 - 19 , which may be formed as a gate array , such as by vlsi technologies inc . pin descriptions are provided in table v . table v______________________________________pin no . type name pin description______________________________________cpu interface29 i reset hardware reset of mki41 iiow cpu i / o write strobe40 iiior cpu i / o read strobe39 iscpcs decode of sa & lt ; 9 : 0 & gt ;. provide an active signal when an access to 062h - 06eh ( even ) happens38 i sa2 system address bus bit 24 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 26 , b sdo : 7 system data bus bits 0 - 725 , 27 , 30 , 3137 0 irql keyboard interrupt35 0 irq12 auxiliary keyboard interrupt22 0 a20 gate enable access to the memory above 1 megabyte15 0slowrst system processor resetexternal ram control42 0ramcs ram chip select44 0ramoe ram output enable43 0 ramale ram address latch enablescp interface18 i scpa15 a15 from the scp processor2 , 3 , 10 , 11 b scpado : 7 multiplexed address data24 , 25 , 32 , 33 bus from the scp16 1 scpale address latch enable for scpado : 76 iscprd memory read strobe7 iscpnm memory write strobe17 ipsen program store , enable . read strobe to external program memory19 0ibf input buffer full . interrupt to scp when the cpu has written to the input bufferexternal port control14 0p4wr port 4 write . used to clock scpado : 7 into 8 external flip - flops . provides 8 extra outputs for the scp13 0p4rd port 4 read . output enable a buffer to scpad & lt ; 0 : 7 & gt ; to provide 8 inputs20 0p5wr port 5 write . used to clock scpado : 7 into 8 external flip - flops . provides 8 extra outputs for the scp21 0p5rd port 5 read . output enable a buffer to scpad & lt ; 0 : 7 & gt ; to provide 8 inputs36 0p6wr port 6 write . used to clock scpado : 7 into 8 external flip - flops . provides 8 extra outputs for the scp . power and ground28 iisolate in the event the scp is operating while the rest of the unit is not powered , this signal will isolate the rest of the signals1 , 34 vcc power supply12 , 23 gnd ground______________________________________ the required output current driving capabilities of the pins are listed in table vi . table vi______________________________________scpad & lt ; 0 : 7 & gt ; 12 masd & lt ; 0 : 7 & gt ; 16 mairq1 4 mairq12 4 maslowrst 4 maa20 gate 12 maibf 2 maramcs 2 maramoe 2 maramale 2 map4wr 8 map4rd 8 map5wr 8 map5rd 8 map6wr 8 ma______________________________________ referring to fig1 , a vlsi top level block diagram is shown . as shown , pins 6 , 7 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 28 , 29 , 38 , 39 , 40 and 41 are unidirectional input pins connected to the control logic , generally identified with the reference numeral 318 by way of buffers 320 . pins 13 , 14 , 15 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 42 , 43 and 44 are unidirectional output pins with tristate outputs connected to the control logic 318 by way of tristate devices 322 . the tristate devices 322 are controlled by an isolate signal which places the output pins in a high impedance state during a test mode . pins 1 and 34 are power supply pins while pins 12 and 23 are for ground . the remainder of the pins 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 30 , 31 , 32 and 33 are bidirectional . pins 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 26 , 27 , 30 , 31 relate to the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ], while pins 2 , 3 , 10 , 11 , 24 , 25 , 32 and 33 relate to the scp address / data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ]. each of these buses are split into two buses , internal to the mki 300 , to provide the bidirectional capability . more specifically , as shown in fig1 , within the mki 300 , the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] is comprised of input bus sdin [ 0 : 7 ] and an output bus sdout [ 0 : 7 ]. the internal system data output bus sdout [ 0 : 7 ] is connected to the system data bus output pins sd [ 0 : 7 ] ( e . g ., pins 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 26 , 27 , 30 and 31 ) by way of tristate devices 324 . the tristate devices 324 are under the control of an or gate 326 and an and gate 328 . the or gate 326 is a two input or gate . an isolate signal is applied to one input to place the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] in a high impedance state during a certain mode of operation . more specifically , the isolate signal is an active low input signal to tristate certain signals on the mki 300 during certain conditions , such as during battery charging in a portable . during all other modes of operation , the tristate devices 324 are under the control of the and gate 328 . two signals endatyk and staten , discussed below , which are generated during read operations by the cpu , are used to enable the system data output bus sdout [ 0 : 7 ] by way of a plurality of buffers 330 . the internal system data input bus sdin [ 0 : 7 ] is connected to the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] by way of buffers 332 . similarly , the system control processor address / data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ], available at pins 2 , 3 , 10 , 11 , 24 , 25 , 32 and 33 , is split into two internal buses scpadout [ 0 : 7 ] and scpadin [ 0 : 7 ]. the internal scpadout [ 0 : 7 ] bus is connected to the pins 2 , 3 , 10 , 11 , 24 , 25 , 32 and 33 by way of tristate devices 334 . more specifically , bits scpadout [ 2 : 7 ] are applied directly to the tristate devices 334 , while bits scpadout [ 0 ] and scpadout [ 1 ] are tied to the tristate devices 334 by way of buffers 336 and 338 , respectively . the tristate devices 334 are under the control of an or gate 340 whose output is tied to the tristate device 334 by way of a plurality of buffers 342 . one input to the or gate 340 is the isolate signal to tristate the scpadout [ 0 : 7 ] bus during certain modes of operation , as discussed above . in all other modes of operation , the tristate devices 334 are under the control of an and gate 344 whose output is applied to the input of the or gate 340 . the and gate 344 is a six input and gate 344 . the signals - rdrcoe ( fig1 ), - a20rd ( fig1 ), - statusrd ( fig1 ), - outbufrd ( fig1 ), - inbufoe ( fig1 ) and - enfests ( fig1 ) are applied to the and gate 344 to control the tristate devices 342 during read operations of the scpadout [ 0 : 7 ] bus , as will be discussed below . the scpadin [ 0 : 7 ] bus is tied to the output pins by way of the buffers 346 . the scp 26 interface to the mki 300 is accomplished through a memory mapping scheme using the intel 8051 microprocessor external address / data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ]. the mki 300 allows the scp 26 to communicate with the cpu , as well as external ports through memory mapping . additionally , the scp 26 is adapted to control the gate a20 signal , as well as the slow reset and interrupt signals irql and irq12 . an scp memory map is illustrated in table viii . a description of the scp memory map is provided in table vii . table vii______________________________________scp memory - map description______________________________________0000h : scp to cpu interface : output buffer / input bufferwrite : the scp can write a byte to the output buffer at this location . the output buffer full signal ( obf ) is pulled active at the end of the write cycle . read : the scp can read the contents of the input buffer at this location . the input buffer full signal ( ibf ) is cleared at the end of the read cycle . 0001h : scp to cpu interface : output buffer / input bufferwrite : the scp can write a byte to the status register at this location . bits 0 ( obf ), 1 ( ibf ) , and 3 ( cmd / data ) are not written by the scp , but are generated internal to the mki . read : the scp can read the contents of the input buffer at this location . the input buffer full signal ( ibf ) is cleared at the end of the read cycle . this is the same as a read to 0000h . 0002h : scp to external port interface : ( p4 . 0 - 4 . 7 ) write : a byte can be written to external flip - flops at this location to provide eight more output pins for the scp . read : a byte can be read from an external buffer at this location to provide eight more input pins to the scp . 0003h : scp to external port interface : ( p5 . 0 - 5 . 7 ) write : a byte can be written to external flip - flops at this location to provide eight more output pins for the scp . read : a byte can be read from an external buffer at this location to provide eight more input pins to the scp . 0004h : scp to external port interface : ( p6 . 0 - 6 . 7 ) write : a byte can be written to external flip - flops at this location to provide eight more output pins for the scp . read : not used . 0005h : scp to cpu interface : irq1write : irqi can be enabled or disabled with a write to this location using the scp data bit 0 . scpad0 = 1 =& gt ; enable irq1 scpado = 0 =& gt ; disable irq1read : not used . 0006h : scp to scp interface : output bufferwrite : not used . read : the value that the scp wrote into the output buffer can be read back here . 0007h : scp to scp interface : status registerwrite : not used . read : the value that the scp wrote into the status register can be read back here . bits 0 , 1 and 3 are the signals obf , ibf , and cmd / data respectively ; they were not written by the scp but are generated internally . 0008h : scp to cpu interface : slow resetwrite : a write to this location forces the slow reset signal low ( active ). read : the slow reset signal can be read back at this location in the scp data bit 0 ( scpad0 ). 0009h : scp to cpu interface : slow resetwrite : a write to this location forces the slow reset signal high ( inactive ). read : not used . 000ah : scp to cpu interface : gate a20write : a write to this location forces the gate a20 signal low ( inactive ). read : the gate a20 signal can be read back at this location in the scp data bit 1 ( scpad1 ). 000bh : scp to cpu interface : gate a20write : a write to this location forces the gate a20 signal high ( active ). read : not used . 000ch : scp to cpu interface : gate a20 & amp ; slow resetwrite : the automatic mki generation of gate a20 and slow reset can be enabled or disabled at this location . the default on reset is both enabled . scpad1 = 1 =& gt ; enable gate a20 scpad1 = 0 =& gt ; disable gate a20 scpad0 = 1 =& gt ; enable slow reset scpad0 = 0 =& gt ; disable slow resetread : not used . 000dh : scp to cpu interface : auxiliary output buffer writewrite : when the scp writes to this address the data will be written into the output buffer and the auxiliary output buffer full ( aobf ) bit ( bit 5 ) and the obf bit ( bit 0 ) of the status register will be set . the obf is cleared when the cpu reads the output buffer , and the aobf stays set until the scp writes to the output buffer through the address 0000h . read : the scp can read back some of the flip - flops in the mki here . this support is added to help with any suspend / resume function that is active in the computer . the byte reads back as : scpad7 =& gt ; command d1 received . scpad6 =& gt ; irq1 enable . scpad5 =& gt ; irq12 enable . scpa04 =& gt ; mouse output buffer full . scpad3 =& gt ; auxiliary output buffer full . scpad2 =& gt ; mki function enabled . scpad1 =& gt ; not used . scpado =& gt ; not used . 000eh : scp to cpu interface : irq12write : irq12 can be enabled or disabled with a write to this location using the scp data bit 0 . scpad0 = 1 =& gt ; enable irq12 scpad0 = 0 =& gt ; disable irq12read : not used . 000fh : scp to cpu interface : mki enablewrite : this address is used to enable or disable the mki features . when enabled the mki scpi will not generate an ibf on a cpu write of the command &# 34 ; d1 &# 34 ; or the following data . when disabled the chip will function the same as the scpi , with an ibf generated on all cpu writes of the input buffer . the default on reset is disabled . scpad0 = 1 =& gt ; enable mki feature . scpad0 = 0 =& gt ; disable mki feature . read : not used . 8000h - ffffh : scp to external ram interface . write : write external ram ( program & amp ;/ or data ). read : read from external program / data memory . ______________________________________ table viii______________________________________scp memory map______________________________________ i0000hexternal ram for program / date storage . 32k bytes 8000hmax . mki feature : enable / disable generation of ibf for a 000fhcpu write of command ` d1 ` and the data . scpad0 = 1 =& gt ; enablescpad0 = 0 =& gt ; disableir012 : enable / disable ir012 000ehscpad0 = 1 =& gt ; enablescapd0 = 0 =& gt ; disableauxiliary output buffer : write a byte to the output 000dhbuffer and set the auxiliary output buffer full , and obf bits of the status register . read backinformation from the chip flip - flops . gate a20 & amp ; slow reset : enable / disable automatic 000chgeneration of the gate a20 and slow reset signals . gate a20 : a write to this location forces the 000bha20 signal high ( active ). gate a20 : a write to this location forces the 000aha20 signal low ( inactive ). a read at this locationreturns the value of a20 in scpad1 . slow reset : a write to this location forces the 0009hrc signal high ( inactive ). slow reset : a write to this location forces the 0008hrc signal low ( active ). a read at this locationreturns the value of - rc in scpad0 . status register : the status register can be 0007hνread back at this location . scpad & lt ; 0 : 7 & gt ;. output buffer : the output buffer can be read 0006hback at this location . scpad & lt ; 0 : 7 & gt ;. irq1 : enable / disable irq1 . 0005hscpad0 = 1 =& gt ; enablescpad0 = 0 =& gt ; disableport 6 : write external port # 6 ( 6 . 0 - 6 . 7 ) 0004hport 5 : read / write external port # 5 ( 5 . 0 - 5 . 7 ) 0003hport 4 : read / write external port # 4 ( 4 . 0 - 4 . 7 ) 0002hstatus register : write a byte to the status register 0001hinput buffer : read the byte out of the input buffer . output buffer : write a byte to the output buffer . 0000hinput buffer : read the byte out of the input buffer . ______________________________________ thirty - two kilobytes of external - ram 348 ( fig1 ) can be accessed by the scp 26 between addresses 8000h - ffffh . since the scp address bit scpa 15 will only be high or a logical 1 for addresses 80000h and above , this bit scpa 15 is used to determine whether the scp 26 access is a mki 300 access or a ram 348 access . if external ram 348 is not used , the bit scpa [ 15 ] can be tied low , thus allowing all external memory accesses by the scp 26 to be to the mki 300 . the address decode and ram control logic 308 is illustrated in fig1 and 14 . as previously mentioned , thirty - two kilobytes of external ram 348 can be addressed by the scp 26 at addresses 8000h - ffffh for program storage . more particularly , the mki 300 generates a ram chip select signal (- ramcs ), a ram output enable signal (- ramoe ) and a ram address latch enable signal ( ramale ) for external ram control . these signals , along with scp read and write signals ( scprd , scpwr ), allow the scp 26 to read and write to the ram 348 . thus , as discussed above , the scp address bit scpa 15 determines whether the access is a ram 348 access or a mki 300 access . more particularly , the bit scpa 15 is inverted by way of an inverter 350 and applied to a buffer 352 to generate the ram chip select signal (- ramcs ) during a ram 348 access . the ram chip select signal (- ramcs ) is active low and will be active any time the address lines 8000h - fffh are placed on the scp 26 address data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ]. the address on the scp address data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ] is latched by a ram address latch enable signal ( ramale ). the ram address latch enable signal ( ramale ) is generated by the mki 300 and is derived from the scp address latch enable signal ( scpale ) available from the scp 26 . more specifically , the scp address latch enable signal ( scpale ) is applied to a buffer 354 . the ram address latch enable signal ( ramale ) is available at the output of the buffer 354 . in order for the scp 26 to write a byte to the external ram 348 , an scp write signal ( scpwr ) is brought low . the scp 26 can read a byte from the ram 348 by way of the ram output enable signal (- ramoe ). more specifically , the ram output enable signal (- ramoe ) is generated by the mki 300 by oring an scp read signal (- scprd ) with the ram access control signal scpa 15 by way of an or gate 356 . the output of the or gate 356 , which indicates a read by the scp 26 of the ram 348 , is nanded with a control signal (- psen ) by way of a nand gate 358 . the signal psen relates to a program store enable and provides a strobe for accessing external memory stored in the ram 348 . since the ram output enable signal (- ramoe ) is active low , the output of the nand gate 358 is applied to an inverter 360 . the rafi output enable signal (- ramoe ) is available at the output of the inverter 360 . in addition to accessing the ram 348 , the scp 26 can also access various external input / output ports ( port p4 , port p5 and port p6 ) as well as communicate with the cpu by way of an input buffer 362 , an output buffer 364 , a status buffer 366 and an auxiliary output buffer 368 through memory mapping . the scp 26 can both read and write to ports p4 and p5 , while port p6 is a write only port relative to the scp 26 . the output ports ( p4 , p5 and p6 ), as well as the input buffer 362 , output buffer 364 , status register 366 and an auxiliary output buffer 368 are located at addresses 0000h through 000fh as delineated in table viii . as previously mentioned , the scp 26 address bit scpa [ 15 ] is low for addresses in this range and is active high only for addresses 8000h and above , indicative of a ram access . thus , the bit scpa 15 may be applied to a decoder 370 ( fig1 ) for decoding addresses between 0000h and 0000fh . more specifically , the lower 8 - bits of an scp address are applied to latches 372 through 386 by way of the scp internal address data bus scpadin [ 0 : 7 ]. the latches 372 to 386 are enabled by an scp address latch enable signal (- scpale ), which is active below and available at the output of an inverter 388 . the signal (- scpale ) is applied to an enable input ( en ) of the latches 372 - 386 . the latches 372 - 386 are reset by a signal (- reset ), available at the output of a buffer 391 . the outputs of the address latches 372 to 386 are applied to the 4 × 16 address decoder 370 by way of an internal address bus spa [ 0 : 7 ]. more specifically , the upper nibble ( e . g ., spa [ 7 : 4 ]) is nored with the scpa 15 by way of a nor gate 389 signal to enable the address decoder 370 any time the scp 26 is not accessing the ram 348 . for addresses 0000h through 000fh , the bits spa [ 7 : 4 ] in the upper nibble will all be low . these bits , spa [ 7 : 4 ] are applied to the nor gate 389 , which is used to enable the decoder 370 . the lower nibble ( e . g ., spa [ 3 : 0 ]) is applied to the address inputs a3 , a2 , a1 , a0 , respectively , of the address decoder 370 . the output of the address decoder 370 is then used to generate read and write signals for the various input output ports ( p4 , p5 and p6 ), as well as for the input buffer 362 , output buffer 364 and status register 366 buffers . additionally , the address decoder 370 generates address control signals a a000 [ 15 : 8 ] and a000 [ 5 ], as will be discussed below . more specifically , the address decoder 370 provides sixteen outputs sel0 - sel15 , which are all active low . the decoder 370 output signals are ored with scp write (- scpwr ) and scp read (- scprd ) signals to generate read and write signals for the various input output ports , as well as the input buffer 362 , output buffer 364 and status register 366 by way of the or gates 388 to 406 . moreover , since the input buffer 362 can be read at either address 0000h or address 0001h , the select outputs (- sel0 ) and (- sel1 ) are anded by way of an and gate 408 and applied to the or gate 398 to generate the input buffer read signal (- inbufrd ). the address decoder 370 is illustrated in fig1 . the 4 × 16 decoder 370 includes four address inputs a3 , a2 , a1 and a0 , as well as an enable input ( available at the output of the nor gate 389 ) to provide sixteen outputs sel0 - sel15 . as previously discussed , the lower nibble of the internal address bus spa [ 3 : 0 ] is applied to the address inputs a3 , a2 , a1 and a0 . the enable input is connected to the output of the nor gate 389 which indicates an address range between 0000h and 000fh . sixteen select outputs are provided sel0 - sel15 which are active low . the select outputs , (- sel0 ) to (-- sel15 ), are available at the output of nand gates 410 through 440 . the 4 × 16 address decoder 370 also includes a buffer 442 and four inverters 444 , 446 , 448 and 450 . the enable signal is applied to the input of the buffer 442 . a buffer enable signal ( benable ), available at the output of the buffer 442 , is applied to the inputs of each of the nand gates 410 through 440 . the address inputs a3 , a2 , a1 and a0 are applied to various of the nand gates 410 through 440 , as well as to inverters 444 , 446 , 448 and 450 as shown in fig1 . the outputs of the nand gates 410 through 440 are select inputs (- sel0 ) to (- sel15 ) which are used to form various read and write signals , as well as address control signals as previously discussed . communication between the cpu and the scp 26 is by way of an input buffer 362 , the output buffer 364 , a status register 366 and an auxiliary output buffer as illustrated in fig1 and discussed below . the input buffer 362 is an 8 - bit register comprised of flip - flops 452 , 454 , 456 , 458 , 460 , 462 , 464 and 466 . this 8 - bit register 362 is write only to the cpu and address 60h or 64h , and is read only to the scp 26 . more specifically , the cpu system data bus ( sd [ 7 : 0 ]), which is connected to the internal system data in bus sdin [ 0 : 7 ] by way of pins 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 26 , 27 , 30 and 31 , is applied to d inputs of the flip - flops 452 , 454 , 456 , 458 , 460 , 462 , 464 and 466 in order to enable the cpu to write to the input buffer 362 . data is clocked into the flip - flops 452 , 454 , 456 , 458 , 460 , 462 , 464 and 466 by an input buffer clock signal (- ibclk ). more specifically , the input buffer clock signal (- ibclk ) is applied to the clock ( cp ) inputs of the flip - flops 452 , 454 , 456 , 458 , 460 , 462 , 464 and 466 . the input buffer clock signal (- ibclk ) is generated by oring a cpu write signal (- iow ) with a system control processor chip select signal (- scpcs ), both active low , by way of an or gate 468 . these signals io write (- iow ) and system control processor chip select (- scpcs ) are generated by the cpu whenever the cpu writes to the mki 300 . these signals are applied to pins 39 and 42 of the mki 300 . an important aspect of the invention , as will be discussed below , relates to the availability of the mki 300 to recognize a 2 - byte sequence from the cpu for control of the gate a20 signal without interrupting the scp 26 . this feature is available whenever the mki 300 is placed in a mki mode . when the mki 300 is not in the mki mode , the control of 30 the gate a20 signal will be similar to the scpi 28 , which requires the scp 26 to read the input buffer 362 and clear the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) for each of the bytes in the two byte sequence to control the gate a20 signal . except for control of the gate a20 signal when the mki feature is enabled , as discussed above , any time the cpu writes to the input buffer , an input buffer full flag ( ibf ) is set and a command / data flag is set . the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) is provided by a pair of flip - flops 470 and 471 . the input buffer clock signal (- ibclk ) is applied to the clock input ( cp ) of the flip - flop 470 . an input buffer data signal inbufdata ( fig1 ) is applied to a d input of the flip - flop 470 . as will be discussed below , the input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ) is under the control of a mki enable signal ( mkien ) which only generates an input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ) when the mki feature is disabled . the signal inbufdata indicates that the input buffer contains a byte which is either command or data . the input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ) is clocked into the input buffer full flag flip - flop 470 by the input buffer clock signal (- ibclk ). the output of the flip - flop 470 is applied to bit 1 of a status register output bus sro [ 1 ] to indicate to the scp 26 that a byte is contained in the input buffer 362 . once the system scp 26 initiates a read of the input buffer 362 , an input buffer output enable signal (- inbufoe ) is generated at the output of an or gate 472 . an input buffer read signal (- inbufrd ) is ored with a reset signal by way of the or gate 472 to generate the input buffer output enable signal (- inbufoe ). the input buffer output enable signal (- inbufoe ) is applied to an output enable input ( oe ) of the flip - flops 452 - 456 by way of inverters 474 , 476 , 478 , 480 , 482 , 484 , 486 and 488 to enable the outputs of the flip - flops 452 to 466 to be connected to the internal scp address data output bus scpadout [ 0 : 7 ], which , in turn , is applied to the scp system data output bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ]. when the mki feature is disabled , once the scp 26 reads the data from the input register 362 , the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) is cleared automatically by the mki 300 . more specifically , the input buffer output enable signal (- inbufoe ) is applied to a clock input of the flip - flop 471 whose d input is tied low . thus , the input buffer output enable signal (- inbufoe ) clears the flip - flop 471 once the scp 26 reads the byte from the status register 362 . the q output of the flip - flop 471 is applied to a clear input ( cdn ) of the flip - flop 470 to clear the input buffer full flag ( ibf ). in order to prevent the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) from being cleared prior to the scp 26 reading the byte from the input buffer 362 , the flip - flop 471 is preset by an input buffer clock signal (- ibclk ) which is applied to a preset ( sdn ) input of the flip - flop 490 . this sets the flip - flop 471 to prevent the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) from being cleared until the scp 26 reads the byte from the input register 362 . in addition to setting the input buffer flag ( ibf ), a command data flag ( cmdata ) is also set whenever the cpu writes a byte to the input buffer 362 . the command data flag ( cmdata ) is used to set bit 3 of the status register 366 to indicate to the scp 26 that the input register 362 contains either command or data . more specifically , an address bit sa2 from the cpu bus is used to decode whether the cpu wrote to address 60h or 64h . a write to 64h indicates a command while a write to 60h indicates data . the address bit sa2 will be high for 64h and low for 60h . this bit sa2 is applied to a d input of a flip - flop 492 , which is used as a command data flag . this signal sa2 is clocked into the flip - flop 492 by the input buffer clock signal (- ibclk ), which is applied to the clock input ( cp ) of the flip - flop 492 . the output of the flip - flop 492 indicates whether command or data was written by the cpu to the input buffer 362 . this output is used to set bit 3 of the status register 366 . the output buffer 364 is an 8 - bit register which includes the flip - flops 494 through 508 . the output buffer 364 is read only to the cpu at address 60h and is written to by the scp 26 . the scp 26 can also read the output buffer 364 . the scp internal address data bus scpadin [ 0 : 7 ] is applied to the d inputs of the flip - flops 494 - 508 . the data on the bus scpadin [ 0 : 7 ] is clocked into the flip - flops 494 , 508 by an output buffer clock signal (- obufclk ) which is applied to the clock inputs ( cp ) of the flip - flops 494 to 508 . the output buffer clock signal (- obufclk ) is active low to enable the scp 26 to write a byte to the output buffer 364 at address 0000h . the flip - flops 494 - 508 also act as the auxiliary output buffer when the scp addresses 000dh . more specifically , an address decode signal (- 00013 ) from the address decoder 370 is ored with an scp write signal (- scpwr ) by way of an or gate 510 ( fig1 ). the output of the or gate 510 indicates that the scp 26 initiated a write to the address 000dh . the flip - flops 494 - 508 are clocked by an output buffer clock signal (- obufclk ). more specifically , the output of the or gate 510 is anded with an output buffer write signal (- obufwr ) by way of an and gate 512 which is active low any time the scp writes to address 0000h . the output of the and gate 512 is the signal output buffer clock signal (- obufclk ), which represents that the scp 26 address either 0000h or 000dh . any time the scp 26 writes to the output buffer 364 , an output buffer full flag ( obf ) is set in the status register 366 . a pair of flip - flops 511 and 513 are used to set the output buffer full flag ; bit 0 of the status register 366 . the output buffer full flag ( obf ) is set by the flip - flop 511 . more particularly , an output buffer write signal (- outbufwr ) is applied to a clock input of the flip - flop 511 . the d input of the flip - flop 511 is tied high . thus , whenever the scp 26 writes to the output buffer 364 , the flip - flop 511 will be set indicating an output buffer full flag ( obf ); which is tied to an internal status register bus bit sro [ 0 ]. the mki 300 also resets the output buffer full flag ( obf ) whenever the cpu reads the byte in the output buffer 364 . this is accomplished by the flip - flop 513 . more specifically , the flip - flop 513 is set by the output buffer write signal (- outbufwr ) which is applied to the set input ( sdn ). the q output of the flip - flop 513 is applied to a clear input ( cdn ) of the flip - flop 511 . the d input of the flip - flop 513 is tied low . an enable data signal (- endata ) is applied to the clock input ( cp ) of the flip - flop 513 . the enable data signal (- endata ) represents that the cpu has read the byte in the output buffer 364 at address 60h . more specifically , an io read signal (- ior ), which indicates that the cpu has initiated a read operation , is ored with a cpu address signal a2 which is low for address 60h . these signals , along with an scpcs signal , which indicates that the cpu addressed either address 60h or 64h , are applied to an or gate 514 along with a reset signal . the output of the or gate 514 is applied to a buffer 516 . the output of the buffer 516 is the enable data signal (- endata ) which indicates that the cpu has initiated a read to address 60h . this enable data signal (- endata ) is applied to the clock input ( cp ) of the flip - flop 513 , whose d input is tied low in order to clear the flip - flop 513 . since the q output of the flip - flop 513 is connected to the clear input ( cdn ) of the flip - flop 511 , the flip - flop 511 can thus be cleared any time the cpu reads the byte from the output buffer 364 . the enable data signal (- endata ) is also used to control tristate devices 514 to 528 , used to connect an internal output buffer bus obo [ 0 : 7 ] to the q output of the flip - flops 484 through 508 to the system data output bus sdout [ 0 : 7 ]. the scp 26 can read the output of the output buffer 364 by way of tristate devices 537 - 551 . more particularly , the q outputs of the flip - flops 494 - 508 are tied to the internal spadout [ 0 : 7 ] by way of the tristate devices 537 - 551 . the tristate devices 537 - 551 are under the control of an output buffer read signal (- outbufrd ), a decode signal , available at the output of the or gate 404 ( fig1 ), which indicates the scp read address 0001h . the status register 366 is an 8 - bit register and includes the flip - flops 530 , 532 , 534 and 536 . the status register 366 is read only to the cpu at address 64h and written to by the scp 26 . the scp 26 can also read the status register 366 in order to determine the status of the output buffer full flag ( obf ) and the command data flag ( cmdata ). five of the bits of the status register are written by the scp 26 , while three are generated by the mki 300 ( ibf , obf ) command data . the status register bit definition is provided in table ix . table ix______________________________________status register bit definitionstatusregister bit definition : ______________________________________bit 7 parity errorwritten by the scp . bit 6 receive time - outwritten by the scp . bit 5 transmit time - outwritten by the scp when mki features are disabled . auxiliary outputgenerated by the mki when the mkibuffer full features are enabled and the scp writes to the auxiliary output buffer . bit 4 inhibit switchwritten by the scp . bit 3 command / datagenerated by the mki . this signal indicates whether the last byte written by the cpu was a command ( written to address 64h ) or data ( written to address 60h ). bit 2 system flagwritten by the scp . bit 1 input buffer fullgenerated by the mki . this signal indicates when the cpu has written a byte to the input buffer but the scp has not yet read the byte out of the latch . it can be used by the cpu as a flag to indicate that the scp is ready to receive a byte . bit 0 output buffer fullgenerated by the mki . this signal indicates when the scp has written a byte to the output buffer but the cpu has not yet read the byte out of the latch . it can be used by the scp as a flag to indicate that the cpu is ready to receive a byte . ______________________________________ as noted in table ix , the scp 26 writes bits 2 , 4 , 6 and 7 to the status register 366 , while bits 0 , 1 and 3 are generated by the mki 300 . bit 5 can either be written by the scp or generated by the mki depending on whether the mki 300 is enabled . accordingly , bits 2 , 4 , 6 and 7 of the system control processor address data input bus scpadin [ 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 ] are applied to the d input of the flip - flops 530 , 532 , 534 and 536 . these bits are clocked into the flip - flops 530 through 536 by a status write signal (- statuswr ). the status write signal (- statuswr ) is a decoded signal from the address decoder 370 ( fig1 ) which indicates that the scp is writing to the status register 366 at address 0001h . the q output of the flip - flops 530 , 532 , 534 and 536 are applied to an internal status register output bus sro [ 0 : 7 ]. as previously discussed , the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) from flip - flop 470 and the output buffer full flag ( obf ) from the flip - flop 511 are applied to the status register output bus bits 0 and 1 , respectively . as indicated in table ix , bit 5 is a dual function bit and is either written by the scp 26 or generated by the mki 300 , depending upon whether the mki feature is enabled . more specifically , when the mki feature is disabled , the scp 26 can write bit sro [ 5 ] by way of bit scpadin [ 5 ], applied to d input of a flip - flop 537 ( fig1 ). this bit scpadin [ 5 ] is clocked into the flip - flop 537 by a status write signal (- statuswr ). the status write signal (- statuswr ) is a decode signal from the address decoder 370 and is active low whenever the scp 26 writes to address 0001h . the output of the flip - flop 537 is a status register bit 5 signal ( srb5 ), which is applied to an or gate 539 ( fig1 ) to generate a status register output bit sro [ 5 ], which , in turn , is applied to the internal status register bus sro [ 0 : 7 ] ( fig1 ). when the mki feature is enabled , the status register bit sro [ 5 ] is generated by the mki 300 . more specifically , during such a condition , the status register bit sro [ 5 ] is generated by a flip - flop 541 ( fig1 ) whose output is applied to the or gate 539 to generate the bit sro [ 5 ], as discussed above . a d input of the flip - flop 541 is tied high . the flip - flop 541 is clocked by the output of the or gate 510 which indicates that the scp 26 addressed the auxiliary output buffer by writing to address 000dh . since the status register 366 may be read by either the scp 26 or the cpu , the status register output bus sro [ 0 : 7 ] is connected to the system control processor address data output bus scpadout [ 0 : 7 ] by way of tristate devices 538 - 552 and to the system data output bus sdout [ 0 : 7 ] by way of tristate devices 554 - 568 . more particularly , the q outputs of the flip - flops 530 , 532 , 534 and 536 are applied to bits sro [ 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 ], respectively . the bits sro [ 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 ] are written by the scp 26 , as discussed above . the remainder of the bits ( e . g ., sro [ 0 , 1 , 3 , 5 ]) are generated by the mki 300 as illustrated in table ix . these bits sro [ 0 , 1 , 3 , 5 ] are available , as discussed below . more specifically , bit sro [ 0 ] which indicates that the output buffer 364 is full , is available at the output of an or gate 553 ( fig1 ). the or gate 553 is a two input or gate . one input is an output buffer full signal ( obf ), available at the flip - flop 511 ( fig1 ). the output of the flip - flop 668 is applied to the other input , which indicates that scp wrote a byte to the output buffer 364 . bit sro [ 5 ] is written by the scp 26 when the mki feature is disabled and generated by the mki 300 when the mki features are enabled . this bit sro [ 5 ] is available at the output of an or gate 555 ( fig1 ). the or gate 555 is a two input or gate . one input is a status register bit 5 signal ( srb 5 ), available at the output of the flip - flop 368 ( fig1 ) which indicates that the auxiliary output buffer full flag is set . this signal ( srb 5 ) is ored with the output of a flip - flop 557 ( fig1 ) whose d input is tied high . the flip - flop 557 is clocked by the output of the or gate 510 which indicates the scp 26 addressed the auxiliary output buffer 368 . the flip - flop 557 is cleared by an and gate 557 which resets sro [ 5 ] on system reset by an output buffer write signal (- obufwr ), available at the output of an or gate 400 ( fig1 ), which indicates that the scp 26 initiated a write to the output buffer 364 at addressed 0000h . bit sro [ 3 ] is available at the output of the flip - flop 492 , which indicates that a command / data byte was written by the cpu . the tristate devices 538 to 552 are under the control of a status read signal (- statusrd ), which is a decoded signal from the address decoder 370 which allows the scp 26 to read the contents of the status register 366 at address 0007h . the tristate devices 554 to 568 are under the control of a status enable signal ( staten ). the status enable signal ( staten ) allows the cpu to read the contents of the status register 366 at address 64h . the status enable signal (- staten ) is generated at the output of an or gate 570 . an scp chip select signal (- scpcs ), which indicates that the cpu addressed either 60h or 64h , is applied to one input . an io read signal (- ior ) is applied to another input along with an address decode signal which indicates that the address 64h was addressed . the output of the or gate 570 is applied to a buffer 572 . the output of the buffer 572 is the enable data signal (- endata ). the output buffer 364 , status register 366 , as well as the input buffer flag ( ibf ), output buffer flag ( obf ), auxiliary output buffer flag ( aobf ) and the command data flag ( cmdata ) may all be reset by the cpu . more specifically , a reset signal (- reset ), available at the output of an inverter 74 , is applied to the clear inputs ( cdn ) of the flip - flops 490 , 512 , 368 and 492 to reset the input buffer flag ( ibf ), output buffer flag ( obf ), auxiliary output buffer flag ( aobf ) and the command data flag ( cmdata ), respectively . the reset signal (- reset ) is also applied to the clear input ( cdn ) of the flip - flops 494 through 508 to reset the output buffer 364 , as well as to the clear input ( cdn ) of the flip - flops 530 through 536 to reset the status register ( 366 ) bits which are written by the scp . the gate a20 signal is an active high output signal from the mki 300 to allow the system to access memory above the 1 megabyte boundary . it can be set or cleared by both the cpu and the scp 26 . an important aspect of the invention relates to eliminating the need for an scp interrupt for processing of the 2 - byte sequence from the cpu to control the gate a20 signal when the mki 300 is enabled . rather than interrupt the scp 26 for the command byte d1 and the data byte , these bytes are decoded by the mki 300 , thus eliminating the need for processing by the scp 26 . by eliminating the need to interrupt the scp 26 for the 2 - byte sequence , the switching of the gate a20 signal is relatively faster with the scpi 28 . the cpu can control the gate a20 with a 2 - byte sequence . the first byte is a command d1h written to the address 64h . the second byte is a data byte written to the address 60h . the mki 300 will automatically set or clear the gate a20 for the cpu unless this feature is disabled by the scp 26 . more specifically , the scp 26 can disable the generation of the gate a20 signal by the mki 300 by writing to address a000ch . more specifically , bit scpad1 , which is applied to the internal scp address data bus scpadin [ 0 : 7 ], is used to control whether the automatic generation of the a20 signal is enabled or disabled . a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; enables the feature , while a &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; disables the feature . the bit scpadin [ 1 ] is applied to a d input of a latch 576 ( fig1 ). a decoded address signal (- a000 [ 12 ]), which indicates that the scp has addressed 0000ch , is applied to one input of the or gate 577 . an scp write signal (- scpwr ) is applied to the other input of the or gate 577 . the output of the or gate 577 indicates that the scp has written to address a000ch . if the bit scpadin [ 1 ] is a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, an enable 20 signal (- ena20 ) which is active low , will be available at the output of the latch 576 . if the bit scpadin [ 1 ] is low , the automatic generation of the gate a20 signal will be disabled . the command d1 is decoded by circuitry which includes a nor gate 578 and two and gates 580 and 582 . the enable signal (- ena20 ) is applied to the nor gate 578 ( fig1 ). the system data bus sd [ 7 : 0 ], sd [ 7 , 6 , 4 , 0 ] bits are applied to the and gate 580 , while the bits sd [ 5 , 3 , 2 , 1 ] are applied to the nor gate 578 along with the enable signal (- ena20 ). the output of the nor gate 578 , as well as the output of the and gate 580 , is applied to a two input and gate 582 . the output of the and gate 582 is a decode of the command d1 . the decoded d1 command signal from the and gate 582 is applied to a command latch 584 . this signal is clocked into the latch 584 by a command clock signal (- cmdclk ). the command clock signal (- cmdclk ) is available at the output of the or gate 586 . an sa2 signal is applied to one input of the or gate 586 . the sa2 signal indicates whether the cpu wrote to address 60h or 64h . the ib clock signal (- ibclk ) is applied to the other input of the or gate 586 . the ib clock signal (- ibclk ) indicates that the cpu initiated a write to the address 60h or 64h . the sa2 signal (- sa2 ) is available at the output of an inverter 586 ( fig1 ) which indicates that the cpu addressed 64h . the command clock signal (- cmdclk ) is applied to the clock input ( cp ) of the flip - flop 584 to latch the command signal d1 on the output . circuitry , which includes a flip - flop 585 and and gates 587 and 589 , is used to reset the command latch 584 . more specifically , the output of the and gate 587 is applied to the clear input ( cdn ) of the command latch 584 . the and gate 587 is a three input and gate . one input to the and gate 587 is a signal available at an output of an and gate 608 which , as discussed below , is active low during a reset and slow reset condition to reset the command latch during these conditions . the other input to the and gate 587 is an output of an and gate 589 which , as will be discussed , indicates that the scp 26 has taken control of the gate a20 signal by writing to either address 000ah or 000bh . lastly , a q output of the flip - flop 585 is applied to the and gate 587 . the d input of the flip - flop 585 is tied low . the output of an or gate 602 ( discussed below ) is applied to the clock input ( cp ) of the flip - flop 585 to clear the command latch 584 when a data byte is written by the cpu . bit 1 of the data byte , the second byte in the 2 - byte sequence , determines the state of the gate a20 . the gate a20 signal is set active if bit sdin [ 1 ] is set and will be disabled if this bit is low . the mki 300 will automatically set or clear the gate a20 signal unless this feature is disabled by the scp 26 at address 000ch . more specifically , the a20 gate signal is available at the output of a latch 598 . bit 1 from the system data bus is applied by way of the system data internal bus sdin [ 1 ] to the d input of the latch 598 . bit 1 is clocked into the latch by an a20 clock signal which is applied into the clock input ( cp ) of the latch 598 . the a20 clock signal is available at the output of an or gate 600 . one input to the or gate 600 is the output of an or gate 602 which indicates that the cpu has written to either address 60h or 64h . more particularly , an sa2 signal is applied to one input of the or gate 602 . an ib clock signal (- ibclk ) is applied to the other input of the or gate 602 . the ib clock signal (- ibclk ) further indicates that the cpu has written to either 64h or 60h . the sa2 signal indicates that a command was written to 64h . the other input signal to the or gate 600 is a (- command ) signal from the latch 584 qn output . this allows the gate a20 latch 598 to be set when the second data byte is written by the cpu . the input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ) controls whether the input buffer full flag ( ibf ) is set when the cpu writes to the input buffer 364 . as discussed below , the input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ) is under the control of a mki enable signal ( mkien ). more specifically , when the mki feature has been enabled , the input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ) will be inhibited such that the mki 300 can process the 2 - byte sequence from the cpu for the gate a20 control without interrupting the scp 26 . when the mki feature is disabled , the system processes the bytes , similar to scpi 28 , by setting an input buffer full flag ( ibf ) each time the cpu writes to the input buffer 364 . the input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ) is generated at the output of a nor gate 588 . the nor gate 588 is a two input nor gate . the output of an and gate 590 is applied to one input while the output of another and gate 592 is applied to the other input . when the mki feature is disabled ( e . g ., mkien low ), the outputs of the and gates 590 and 592 will be low which , in turn , will enable the input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ). thus , the input buffer flag ( ibf ) will be set each time the cpu writes to the mki 300 . when the mki feature is enabled ( mkien is set ), one or the other of the and gates 590 , 592 will be high while the other is low causing the nor gate 588 to be low . more specifically , a command byte d 1 , written by the cpu to address 64h , will cause the output of the and gate 592 to be high since the d1 input ( from the and gate 582 ), the sa2 input ( indicating a cpu write to address 644 ) and the mki enable signal ( mkien ) to the and gate 592 will all be high during this condition . however , the (- sa2 ) input to the and gate 590 will cause the output of the and gate 590 to be low and , thus , the output of the nor gate 588 to be low , which , in turn , disables the input buffer flag ( ibf ). similarly , when the data byte is written by the cpu , the and gate 590 will be high and the and gate 592 will be low , disabling the input buffer data signal ( inbufdata ). the mki enable signal is available at the output of a latch 594 . this signal mkien is active high and is applied to the inputs of the and gates 590 and 592 . when the mki enable signal is low , this will disable the and gates 590 and 592 such that the input buffer data signal will be active during the command / data 2 - byte sequence . the mki enable signal mkien is controlled by the scp 26 . more specifically , the scp 26 can write to address 000fh to either enable or disable the mki enable latch 594 . bit scpad [ 0 ] of the scp address data bus , which is applied to the internal scp address data bus scpadin [ 0 ], controls whether the mki 300 is enabled or disabled . if scpadin [ 0 ] is 1 , the mki enable ( mkien ) is set . when the scp 26 writes a 0 to scpadin [ 0 ], the mki feature is disabled . the scpadin [ 0 ] is applied to the d input of the latch 594 . a decode signal , available at the output of an or gate 596 is applied to the clock inputs ( cp ) of the address latch 594 . a decode signal (- a00015 ) from the address decoder 370 is applied to one input of the or gate 596 , along with an scp write signal ( scpwr ). the output of the or gate 596 will indicate any time the scp 26 initiates a write to the address 000fh . the scp 26 can also control the gate a20 signal by writing to either address 000ah or 000bh . more particularly , an address decode signal (- a00010 ) from the address decoder 370 indicates that the scp address a00ah is applied to one input of a two input or gate 604 along with an scp write signal (- scpwr ). the output of the or gate 604 is applied to a clear input ( cdn ) of the a20 latch 598 to force the gate a20 signal low or inactive . the scp can also force the gate a20 signal high by writing to address a00bh . more specifically , a decoded address signal a000 [ 11 ], which indicates that the scp 26 wrote to the address a00bh , is applied to an or gate 606 , along with an scp write signal (- scpwr ). the output of the or gate 606 is applied to a preset input of the a20 latch 598 by way of an and gate 606 . in order to initialize the mki 300 during a reset or slow reset condition , a reset (- reset ) is applied to one input of the and gate 608 by way of a buffer 610 . a slow reset signal (- rc ), discussed below , is applied to the other input . the output of the or gate 608 sets the gate a20 signal ( a2ogate ) high on reset and slow reset . the scp 26 can also read the status of the gate a20 latch 548 by reading address a000ah . more particularly , the output of the gate a20 latch 598 is applied to the system control processor address data output bus scpadout [ 1 ] by way of a tristate device 611 to enable the scp 26 to read the status of the gate a20 signal . the tristate device 611 is under the control of an a20 read signal (- a20rd ), which is available at the output of an or gate 612 . the or gate 612 is a two input or gate . one input is from the scp read signal (- scprd ). the other input is a decoded address signal (- a00010 ) from the address decoder 370 which indicates that the scp wrote to address a000ah . irq1 is an active high output signal that informs a cpu that the output buffer is full . it can be enabled by either the scp or the cpu . the default on reset is disabled . when the mki feature is enabled , the cpu can enable / disable the irq1 with a write output port command . more specifically , the write output port command is the 2 - byte sequence by the cpu when the cpu writes a command d1 to the input buffer 362 at address 64h followed by a byte of data to the input buffer at address 60h . the data byte is used to control the cpu interrupt irq1 when the output buffer is full , as well as control the setting of the gate a20 signal . table x indicates the bit definitions for the data byte . table x______________________________________write output command data bit definitions______________________________________bit 7 keyboard data ( output ) bit 6 keyboard clock ( output ) bit 5 input buffer emptybit 4 output buffer fullbit 3 reservedbit 2 reservedbit 1 gate a20bit 0 system reset______________________________________ the cpu interrupt irq1 is available at the output of an and gate 613 . one input to the and gate 613 is an output buffer flag ( obf ) available from the flip - flop 510 ( fig1 ). the other input to the and gate 613 is an enable irq1 signal ( enirq1 ). the enable signal ( enirq1 ) is available at the output of the latch 614 . as indicated in table x , bit sdin [ 4 ], which indicates that the output buffer is full , is used to control the enablement of the interrupt signal ( irq1 ). this bit sdin4 is applied to the d input of the latch 614 and is clocked into latch 614 by the output of an or gate 616 applied to the clock ( cp ) input . one input to the or gate 616 is from the qn output of the latch 594 , which indicates that the mki feature is disabled . this signal (- mkien ) enables the interrupt irq1 when the mki feature is disabled . the other input to the or gate 616 is the output of the or gate 600 which is used to clock the a20 signal . the interrupt irq1 can also be controlled by the scp 26 . more specifically , the scp can write to address 0005h to enable or disable irq interrupt . more particularly , a decode signal a0005 is applied to an or gate 618 along with an scp write signal (- scpwr ). the output of the or gate 618 indicates that the scp has written to address a005h . the output of the or gate 618 is applied to the clock input of latches 620 and 622 . the latch 620 is used to enable the irq1 interrupt while the latch 622 is used to disable it . more particularly , a qn output of the latch 620 is applied to a preset input of the latch 614 , while the q output of the latch 620 is applied to the clear ( cdn ) input of the latch 614 by way of an and gate 624 , wherein the output of the latch 614 is anded with a reset signal , which causes the latch 614 to be reset during a system reset by the cpu . an and gate 625 is used to preset the latch 622 and clear the latch 620 . the and gate 625 is a two input and gate . a reset signal (- reset ) is applied to one input to clear the interrupt irq1 during a reset condition . the other input to the and gate 625 is the output of the or gate 616 which clears the latch 620 when the command byte is written , as long as the mki feature is enabled . bit scpad [ 0 ] is used to enable or disable the irq1 interrupt . this bit scpad [ 0 ] is applied to the d input of the latches 620 and 622 by way of the internal scpa address data bus scpadin [ 0 ]. if scpad [ 0 ] equals 0 , then the interrupt irq1 is enabled . otherwise the interrupt is disabled . the slow reset signal (- rc ), illustrated in fig1 is an active low output signal to reset the cpu . it can be set by the cpu or set and cleared by the scp 26 . it is cleared when the mki 300 is reset by the reset pin . the scp 26 can gain control of slow reset through the memory map . a write to location 0008h forces the slow reset signal active while a write to address 0009h forces the slow reset signal inactive . more specifically , the decoded address signals a0008h and a0009h , from the address decoder 370 , are applied to or gates 630 and 632 , and ored with an scp write signal (- scpwr ). the output of the or gate 630 is applied to a clock input of a flip - flop 634 whose d input is grounded . the q output of the flip - flop 634 is applied to a clear input ( cdn ) of a flip - flop 636 . the output of the flip - flop 636 is a slow reset signal (- rc ). thus , any time the scp 26 writes to address a008h , the output of the flip - flop 634 will go low which , in turn , clears the flip - flop 636 to generate the active low slow reset signal (- rc ). an scp 26 write to address 0009h forces the slow reset signal to go inactive . more specifically , the output of the or gate 632 is anded with a system reset signal (- reset ) by way of the and gate 638 which allows the scp to clear the system reset signal , and , additionally , allows the slow reset signal to be cleared on system reset . the output of the and gate 638 is applied to a preset input ( sdn ) of the flip - flop 634 , as well as to an and gate 640 . thus , any time the scp 26 writes to address 0009h or there is a reset signal from the cpu , the flip - flop 634 will be preset . this causes the qn output from the flip - flop 634 to be low , which is ored with an input buffer read signal in an or gate 642 . the output of the or gate 642 is applied to the other input of the and gate 640 whose output is applied to a preset input of the flip - flop 636 . the scp 26 can also read the status of the slow reset signal by initiating a read to address 0008h . more particularly , an scp read signal (- scprd ) is ored with a decoded address signal (- aooo8 ) by way of the or gate 642 . the output of the or gate forms a read rc operate enable signal 642 . this control signal (- rdrcoe ) is used to control a tristate device 644 which is connected to the q output of the flip - flop 636 on one end and to the system control processor address data output bus bit scpadout [ 0 ]. the cpu can also set the slow reset signal active with a signal command write . more particularly , reset is set active by the cpu when an even byte between f0 and fe is written to address 64h . the circuitry which includes the nand gate 646 and the inverter 648 decodes even bytes between f0h and feh . more particularly , the internal system data bus internal bits sdin [ 7 : 4 ] are applied to inputs of the nand gate 646 . these bits will all be high for the addresses f0h through feh . bit sdin [ 0 ], which is low for even bytes between f0 and fe , is applied to the inverter 648 whose output , in turn , is applied to the nand gate 646 . two interlock signals are also applied to the nand gate 646 to disable the slow reset (- rc ) during certain situations . first , the scp can disable the slow reset feature by writing to address 000ch . more particularly , the decoded address signal a00012 , available at the output of an or gate 576 ( fig1 ) which indicates an scp write to address 000ch , is applied to a clock input of a latch 650 ( fig1 ). bit 0 of the scp internal address data bus is used to either enable or disable the slow reset . thus , bit spadin0 is applied to the d input of the latch 650 . if bit scpadin [ 0 ] equals 1 , the slow reset will be enabled , while a 0 will disable the slow reset . the qn output of the latch 650 is an enable rc signal ( enrc ), which is applied to one input of the and gate 646 ( fig1 ) by way of an inverter 652 to either enable or disable the slow reset signal . to accommodate an established firmware unlocking scheme to enable the slush , the automatic setting of the slow reset signal by the cpu write of a command f8 is disabled for one command write after the command b8 is written by the cpu . the slush enable consists of a 4 - byte sequence , the first two bytes being b8 and f8 . the mki 300 will , thus , disable the automatic generation of the slow reset signal for one command byte after it receives a command byte b8 . the circuitry for decoding the command byte d8 includes the and gate 654 , the inverters 656 , 658 , 660 , 662 and the latch 664 . for the command byte b8 , bits sdin [ 6 , 2 , 1 , 0 ] will be low . these bits are applied to the inverters 656 , 658 , 660 and 662 . the output of the inverters 656 , 658 , 660 and 662 are applied to the and gate 654 . the bits sdin [ 7 , 5 , 4 , 3 ], which are high for the command signal b8 , are also applied to the inputs of the and gate 654 . the output of the and gate 654 represents a decoded b8 command signal , which is applied to a d input of the latch 664 . the command clock signal ( cmdclk ) is used to clock the flip - flop 664 . as previously discussed , this signal indicates that the cpu wrote to address 64h . thus , the qn output of the latch 664 will indicate that the byte b8 was written to the address 64h by the cpu . this output is applied as a permissive to the nand gate 646 . the output of the nand gate 646 is applied to a d input of a latch 636 , while the command clock signal (- cmdclk ) is applied to the clock input cp to enable the cpu to control the slow reset signal , unless this feature has been disabled by the scp or the command byte b8 has been received by the system . after the scp reads the byte from the input buffer , the slow reset signal is cleared . the flip - flop 664 is also reset on system reset . the mki 300 allows a type ps / 2 mouse to be interfaced with the scp 26 by way of an auxiliary device connector ( e . g ., a 6 - pin mini din connector ). data from the mouse is sent by the scp 26 to the cpu by way of the output buffer 364 . this data sets the output buffer full bit of the status register 366 just like normal data from the scp 26 and , additionally sets the auxiliary output buffer full flag ( e . g ., bit of the status register 366 ). when enabled , an irq12 interrupt is set by an auxiliary output full flag ( mobf ). when the output buffer 364 is read by the cpu , output buffer full signal is cleared ; however , the auxiliary output buffer full signal ( mobf ) is left active until the scp 26 writes a non - mouse byte to the output buffer 364 . the interrupt irq12 , an interrupt to the cpu for type ps / 2 mouse , is available at the output of an and gate 666 ( fig1 ). this interrupt irq12 will be enabled unless it is disabled by the scp or the mki is disabled . more particularly , a mouse output buffer full flag ( mobf ) is applied to one input of the and gate 666 . the mouse output buffer full flag ( mobf ) is generated by circuitry which includes the flip - flop 668 and 670 . any time the scp 26 writes to the auxiliary output buffer at address 000dh , the flip - flop 670 will be set by way of the output of the or gate 510 . this signal is also applied to a clock input of the flip - flop 668 whose d input is tied high to generate the mouse output buffer full flag at the q output of the flip - flop 668 . after the cpu reads the status register 366 , an enable data signal (- endata ) clears the mouse output buffer full flag ( mobf ). more particularly , the enable data signal (- endata ) is applied to the clock input ( cp ) of the flip - flop 670 . the d input is tied low . the q output of the flip - flop 670 is applied to the clear input ( cdn ) of the flip - flop 668 . thus , as the cpu reads the status register 366 , the output of the flip - flop 670 will go low and , in turn , clear the mouse output buffer full flag which is tied to one input of the and gate 666 . the scp 26 can disable the interrupt irq12 by writing to address 000eh . thus , a decoded output signal a000 [ 14 ], which indicates a scp write to the address a000eh , is ored with a scp write signal by way of an or gate 672 . the output of the or gate 672 is applied to a clock input ( cp ) of an enable latch 674 . bit 1 of the scp address data bus is used to control whether the interrupt irq12 is enabled or disabled . more specifically , scpad [ 0 ] equal &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; will enable the interrupt , while scpad [ 0 ] equal &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; will disable the interrupt . thus , the scapdin [ 0 ) is applied to the d input of the flip - flop 674 . the q output of this flip - flop 674 is applied to the and gate 666 to either enable or disable the interrupt irq12 , depending on the status of the bit scpad0 . the flip - flop 674 is reset by system reset . the circuitry also supports a suspend resume feature whereby certain data may be read back by the scp 26 should the processing be suspended . the signal commands , enirq1 , enirq12 , mobf , aobf and mkien are applied to tristate devices 676 through 686 . two unused tristate devices 688 to 690 are tied to ground . the output of these tristate devices 676 - 690 are applied to the system control processor address data output bus scapout [ 0 : 7 ]. the tristate devices 676 - 690 are under the control of the signal enable flip - flop status (- enfests ). this signal (- enffsts ) is available at the output of an or gate 692 . a scp read signal (- scprd ) is ored with a decoded address signal a000 [ 13 ] to enable these bits to be read any time the scp reads to address 000dh . the hui is an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ) which integrates the scpi and mki interfaces discussed above into a single device along with an interface for a common memory device , which may be reprogrammable , for a central processing unit ( cpu ) and a system control processor ( scp ). the common memory device enables the basic input / output system ( bios ) for the cpu , as well as the firmware for the scp to be stored in the same memory device . as such , the number of external memory devices in the computer system can be reduced in order to simplify the design of the system , as well as reduce the costs of the computer system . more particularly , in known computer systems , the bios for the cpu is stored in a separate read only memory ( rom ) or flash memory device , while the firmware for the scp is normally stored in a separate memory device , which may be onboard the microcontroller for the scp depending on the particular microcontroller selected for the scp or in a separate memory device . for example , intel type 80c51 microcontrollers are known to be used for the scp . such microcontrollers have on - board internal rom for storing the firmware for the scp and are relatively more expensive and considerably more difficult to field upgrade . alternatively , other microcontrollers , such as an intel type 80c31 are known to be used which do not contain on - board rom . in such cases , an external memory device is used which increases the cost of the system . in such embodiments , both alternatives increase the cost of the computer system . the hui solves this problem by providing an interface to enable both the scp and the cpu to share a common memory device and , additionally , incorporates the scpi and mki interfaces , as well as several other features , as discussed below . a system block diagram for the hui , generally identified with the reference numeral 700 , is illustrated in fig2 . the hui 700 acts as an interface to enable a cpu 702 to communicate with a common memory device 704 , as well as an scp 706 , by way of a cpu register file 712 , connected to an 18 - bit system address bus sa [ 0 : 17 ] and an 8 - bit system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ]. similarly , the hui 700 allows the scp 706 to communicate with the cpu 702 and the common memory device 704 by way of an scp register title 714 , connected to an 8 - bit multiplexed scp address / data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ] and a 4 - bit address bus scpa [ 8 : 11 ]. the scp address data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ] is demultiplexed to form an 8 - bit address bus scpa [ 0 : 7 ]. the system address bus sa [ 0 : 17 ] is multiplexed with the scp address buses scpa [ 0 : 7 ] and scpa8 : 11 ] by way of an address multiplexer ( mux ) 716 to form an 18 - bit memory address bus fa [ 0 : 17 ] to enable the cpu 702 and the scp 706 to address a common memory device 704 up to 256k bytes . similarly , the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] is multiplexed with the scp data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ] by way of a data mux and latch 718 to form an 8 - bit memory data bus fd [ 0 : 7 ]. reads and writes by the cpu 702 to the hui 700 are under the control of various cpu control signals including an i / o read strobe n -- iorc , an i / o write strobe n -- iowc , a memory data read strobe n -- mrdc and a memory data write strobe n -- mwtc . the i / o read n iorc and i / o write n -- iowc strobes enable the cpu 702 to communicate with the scp 706 . the memory read strobe n -- mrdc and the memory write strobe n -- mwtc enable the cpu 702 to communicate with the common memory device 704 . communication between the scp 706 and the cpu 702 , and between the scp 706 and the common memory device 704 is under the control of various control signals including a memory read strobe n -- scprd , a memory write strobe n -- scpwr , and address latch enable n - scpale and a program store enable n -- cppse , similar to the scp read scprd but indicates a code rather than data fetch . transfer of data to and from the common memory device 704 is under the control of the hui 700 . in particular , reads of the common memory device 704 are under the control of a memory read signal n -- frd ; an output signal from control logic 720 ( discussed in more detail below ) that qualifies the reads with signals from either the cpu register file 712 or the scp register file 714 . the read signal n -- frd is typically connected to the output enable ( oe ) of the common memory device 704 . writes to the common memory device 704 are under the control of a memory write signal n -- fwr ; another output signal from the control logic 720 that qualifies the writes with a signal from either the cpu register file 712 or the scp register file 714 . the memory write signal n -- fwr is normally connected to a write enable ( we ) input on the common memory device 704 . the hui 700 also includes a programmable hardware timer 722 . the programmable hardware timer 722 is used to provide a programmable reference time interval for various purposes including use by the bios . an important aspect of the programmable hardware timer 722 is that it can be used with computer systems having various operating speeds and is adapted to be autoconfigured by the bios to provide a suitable time interval based on the operating speed of the computer system in which it is used . the hui 700 has two methods of communicating with the cpu 702 through the system i / o bus . in the first method , the cpu i / o reads and writes to addresses that are decoded by the hui 700 . examples of this method include system i / o reads and writes to addresses 60h and 64h ; the addresses of the cpu / scp communication registers described below . the second method is through an indexing scheme . in this method , the index of the desired register is first written to the system i / o address e6h . in addition to the cpu / scp interface at the system i / o addresses 60h and 64h , the hui 700 has the capability to enable cpu / scp communication through an alternate set of addresses to allow access to special scp command sequences that might be intercepted by operating systems that monitor accesses to standard ports . table ix is a summary of the registers associated with the system data bus i / o space and identified in fig2 as the cpu register file 712 . table xi__________________________________________________________________________cpu register summarymnemonic location read / write function__________________________________________________________________________cpu . sub .-- out ( r ) 60h r / w read of scp data byte ; write of data to scp . cpu . sub .-- data ( w ) cpu . sub .-- stat ( r ) 64h r / w read of scp status ; write of command to scp . cpu . sub .-- cmd ( w ) cpu . sub .-- index e6h r / w selects register to read / write through cpu . sub .-- value . cpu . sub .-- value e7h r / w portal to one of several registers - see next section . fast . sub .-- a20 eeh r / w read clears fast . sub .-- a20 signal ; write sets fast . sub .-- a20 signal . fast . sub .-- rc efh ro read sets fast . sub .-- rc signal . privy . sub .-- act fbh wo activate internal privy signalprivy . sub .-- inact f9h wo deactivate internal privy signaleisaid . sub .-- 1 c80h ro eisa / isa identification register 1 . eisaid . sub .-- 2 c81h ro eisa / isa identification register 2 . eisaid . sub .-- 3 c82h ro eisa / isa identification register 3 . eisaid . sub .-- 4 c83h ro eisa / isa identification register 4 . __________________________________________________________________________ table xii______________________________________scp / cpu communication registers______________________________________mnemonic : cpu . sub .-- out ( r ) cpu . sub .-- data ( w ) address : 60haccess nonerestrictions : description : read : the scp ` output ` buffer containing data written by the scp write : byte for the scp ` input buffer ` to be read by the scp as ` data ` scp output buffer ( cpu . sub .-- out ( read - only )) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield output buffernameread / write read - onlyscp input buffer ( cpu . sub .-- data ( write - only )) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield input buffernameread / write write - only______________________________________ note : this address actually communicates with 2 different registers writing sends data from the cpu to the scp ( input buffer ), and clears the cmd / data flag , while reading accesses the data sent by the scp to the cpu table xiii__________________________________________________________________________scp status register__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : cpu . sub .-- stat ( r ) cpu . sub .-- cmd ( w ) address : 64haccess restrictions : nonedescription : read : status from the scp ( see below ) write : byte for scp ` input buffer ` to be read by scp as ` command ` scp status register ( cpu . sub .-- stat ( read - only )) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0statefield pe gto tto / inhibit cmd / sysflag ibf 0bfname aobf dataread / write r r r r r r r rpe : parity error - written by scpgto : general time out - written by scptto / aobf : transmit time out - or - auxiliary output buffer full when mki register is clear , tto is written by scp . when mki register is set , this bit is set when scp writes to aux . sub .-- out , cleared when scp writes to scp . sub .-- out ( i . e ., aobf indicates that data is from the aux device , which is normally the mouse ). inhibit : inhibit switch - written by scpcmd / data : command / data flag - indicates source of last byte from cpu as follows : 0 = data ( cpu wrote to cpu data address ) 1 = command ( cpu wrote to cpu . sub .-- cmd address ) sysflag : system flag - written by scp . ibf : input buffer full - indicates cpu has written a byte to cpu . sub .-- data or cpu . sub .-- cmd , which is then available to be read by the scp at scp . sub .-- in . obf : output buffer full - indicates scp has written a byte to scp . sub .-- out or aux . sub .-- out , which is then available to be read by the cpu at cpu . sub .-- out . scp input buffer ( cpu . sub .-- cmd ( write - only )) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset state ? ? field name input bufferread / write write - onlystatus register bit definition summarybit 7 parity errorwritten by the scp . bit 6 receive time - outwritten by the scp . bit 5 transmit time - outwritten by the scp when mki features are disabled . auxiliary outputgenerated by the mki when the mki features are buffer fullenabled and the scp writes to the auxiliary outtput buffer . bit 4 inhibit switchwritten by the scp . bit 3 command / datagenerated by the mki . this signal indicates whether the last byte written by the cpu was a command ( written to address 64h ) or data ( written to address 60h ). bit 2 system flagwritten by the scp . bit 1 input buffer fullgenerated by the mki . this signal indicates when the cpu has written a byte to the input buffer but the scp has not yet read the byte out of the latch . it can be used by the cpu as a flag to indicate that the scp is ready to receive a byte . bit 0 output buffer fullgenerated by the mki . this signal indicates when the scp has written a byte to the output buffer but the cpu has not yet read the byte out of the latch . it can be used by the scp as a flag to indicate that the cpu is ready to receive a byte . __________________________________________________________________________ table xiv______________________________________index register______________________________________mnemonic : cpu . sub .-- indexaddress : e6haccess restrictions : privydescription : selects register to be read or written via the cpu . sub .-- value port . index register ( cpu index ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield indexnameread / r / wwrite______________________________________ table xv______________________________________value register______________________________________mnemonic : cpu . sub .-- valueaddress : e7haccess restrictions : privydescription : contains the data for the register selected by the cpu . sub .-- index register . see the ` cpu indexed registers ` section for details of each register . value register ( cpu . sub .-- value ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield valuenameread / r / wwrite______________________________________ table xvi______________________________________zbios fast a20 control______________________________________mnemonic : fast . sub .-- a20address : eehaccess restrictions : privydescription : holds a place in system i / o space where zenith bios can directly control the state of the fast a20 signal generated by hui . writing to this i / o location sets the fast . sub .-- a20 signal , while reading from this i / o location clears the fast . sub .-- a20 signal . the actual data written is irrelevant , and data read is undefined . fast . sub .-- a20 control register ( fast . sub .-- a20 ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ` a20gate inactive ` statestatefield xnameread / r / wwrite______________________________________ table xvii______________________________________zbios fast . sub .-- rc control______________________________________mnemonic : fast . sub .-- rcaddress : efhaccess restrictions : privydescription : holds a place in system i / o space where zenith bios can directly control the state of the fast rc signal generated by hui . reading from this i / o location sets the fast . sub .-- rc signal . the actual data read is undefined . fast . sub .-- rc control register ( fast . sub .-- rc ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ` privy active ` statestatefield xnameread / wowrite______________________________________ table xviii______________________________________prviy activate register______________________________________mnemonic : privy . sub .-- actaddress : fbhaccess restrictions : nonedescription : writing to this port activates the internal privy signal which is used to qualify access to certain other registers . the data value during the write is ignored . privy activate ( privy . sub .-- act ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ` privy active ` statestatefield xnameread / wowrite______________________________________ table xix______________________________________privy deactivate______________________________________mnemonic : privy - inactaddress : f9haccess restrictions : nonedescription : writing to this port de - activates the internal privy signal . the data value during the write is ignored . privy deactivate ( privy . sub .-- inact ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ` privy active ` statestatefield xnameread / wowrite______________________________________ table xx______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 1______________________________________mnemonic : eisaid . sub .-- 1address : c80haccess restrictions : nonedescription : this register contains bits 0 through 7 of the 32 - bit eisa / isa identification register . eisa / isa identification register 1 ( eisaid . sub .-- 1 ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield eisaid . sub .-- 1nameread / rowrite______________________________________ table xxi______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 2______________________________________mnemonic : eisaid . sub .-- 2address : c81haccess restrictions : nonedescription : this register contains bits 8 through 15 of the 32 - bit eisa / isa identification register . eisa / isa identification register 2 ( eisaid . sub .-- 2 ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield xnameread / rowrite______________________________________ table xxii______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 3______________________________________mnemonic : eisaid . sub .-- 3address : c82haccess restrictions : nonedescription : this register contains bits 16 through 23 of the 32 - bit eisa / isa identification register . eisa / isa identification register 3 ( eisaid . sub .-- 3 ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield xnameread / rowrite______________________________________ table xxiii______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 4______________________________________mnemonic : eisaid . sub .-- 4address : c83haccess restrictions : nonedescription : this register contains bits 24 through 31 of the 32 - bit eisa / isa identification register . eisa / isa identification register 4 ( eisaid . sub .-- 4 ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield xnameread / rowrite______________________________________ table xxiv is a register summary of the index registers accessed through the cpu index register ( cpu -- index ) at address e6h and the cpu value register ( cpu -- value ) at address e7h , described in table xi . tables xxv through xlii provide detailed descriptions of the registers identified in table xxiv . table xxiv__________________________________________________________________________index register summary read / mnemonic location write function__________________________________________________________________________version 00h ro chip version . clkcnt . sub .-- l 20h worm low byte -- number of scp clocks to count for 1 millisecond . clkcnt . sub .-- h 21h worm high byte -- number of scp clocks to count for 1 millisecond . millisecs 22h r / w loadable millisecond down - counter . hwstrap . sub .-- 1 23h ro hardware strap values on flash data bus at reset . hwstrap . sub .-- 2 24h ro hardware strap values on scp data bus at reset . flash . sub .-- ctrl 25h r / w controls flash interface . scp . sub .-- base 26h r / w selects location of scp code within shared flash memory . fast . sub .-- ctrl 27h r / w enables for fast hui generation of a20 and rc signals . hui . sub .-- stat 28h r / w various fields indicating current hui status . wboot . sub .-- en 2fh worm enable for warm boot vector fast recovery . wboot . sub .-- 1 30h worm first byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 2 31h worm second byte in warm boot vectorwboot . sub .-- 3 32h worm third byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 4 33h worm fourth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 5 34h worm fifth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 6 35h worm sixth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 7 36h worm seventh byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 8 37h worm eighth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 9 38h worm ninth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 10 39h worm tenth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 11 3ah worm eleventh byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 12 3bh worm twelfth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 13 3ch worm thirteenth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 14 3dh worm fourteenth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 15 3eh worm fifteenth byte in warm boot vector . wboot . sub .-- 16 3fh worm sixteenth byte in warm boot vector . alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- out ( r ) 60h r / w alternate location to access cpu . sub .-- out / cpu . sub . -- data . alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- data ( w ) read of scp data byte ; write of data to scp . alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- stat ( r ) 64h r / w alternate location to access cpu . sub .-- stat / cpu . sub .-- cmd . alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- cmd ( w ) read of scp status ; write of command to scp . eisaid . sub .-- 1 80h worm eisa / isa identification register 1 . eisaid . sub .-- 2 81h worm eisa / isa identification register 2 . eisaid . sub .-- 3 82h worm eisa / isa identification register 3 . eisaid . sub .-- 4 83h worm eisa / isa identification register 4 . __________________________________________________________________________ table xxv______________________________________mnemonic : version . sub .-- regindex : oohaccess restrictions : nonedescription : returns version code for this chip . version ( version . sub .-- reg ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield version regnameread / rowrite______________________________________ table xxvi______________________________________8scp clock count low byte______________________________________mnemonic : clkcnt . sub .-- lindex : 20haccess restrictions : nonedescription : this register holds the low byte of the 16 - bit number representing the number of scp clock pulses to count before one millisecond has passed and the millisecs register is decremented . scp clock count low byte ( clkcnt . sub .-- l ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield clkcnt . sub .-- lnameread / wormwrite______________________________________ table xxvii______________________________________scp clock count high byte______________________________________mnemonic : clkcnt . sub .-- hindex : 21haccess restrictions : nonedescription : this register hoids the high byte of the 16 - bit number representing the number of scp clock pulses to count before one millisecond has passed and the millisecs register is decremented . scp clock count high byte ( clkcnt . sub .-- h ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield clkcnt . sub .-- hnameread / wormwrite______________________________________ table xxviii______________________________________millisecond down - counter______________________________________mnemonic : millisecsindex : 22haccess restrictions : nonedescription : loaded by system bios , this register will decrement every millisecond . stops decrementing when the zero count is reached . millisecond down - counter ( millisecs ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield countnameread / r / wwrite______________________________________ table xxix__________________________________________________________________________hardware configuration strap register 1__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : hwstrap . sub .-- 1index : 23haccess restrictions : nonedescription : this register holds the state that the flash memory data bus was held in by pull - up and / or pull - down resistors on the pcb . it is latched on the falling edge of the system reset signal . the contents are used as control for several parameters of the flash memory interface . hardware configuration strap register 1 ( hwstrap . sub .-- 1 ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset depends on hardwarestatefield flshsize passtrap erasetrap bootblknameread / rowritefield definitions : flshsize : flash memory part size - indicates size of flash memory that the hui is controlling 0 = 256k byte 1 = 128k bytepasstrap : flash password area access trap - controls whether or not the hui allows system memory reads and writes to the lowest 256 bytes in the flash memory space where the scp can store the system password 0 = protect flash password storage area 1 = no password protectionerasetrap : flash software erase sequence trap - selects the flash software erase sequence standard that the hui will intercept before it reaches the flash memory . bit & lt ; 5 & gt ; is reserved for future chip erase sequences . xo = jedec flash software erase standard xl = no software erase trapbootblk : flash boot - block size to emulate - selects the size of the flash memory boot - block at the top of the flash memory space that the hui will emulate and protect from system memory writes 0000 ( 0h ) = 2k byte boot block 1000 ( 8h ) = 12k byte boot block 0001 ( lh ) = 3k byte boot block 1001 ( 9h ) = 14k byte boot block 0010 ( 2h ) = 4k byte boot block 1010 ( ah ) = 16k byte boot block 0011 ( 3h ) = 5k byte boot block 1011 ( bh ) = 20k byte boot block 0100 ( 4h ) = 6k byte boot block 1100 ( ch ) = 24k byte boot block 0101 ( 5h ) = 7k byte boot block 1101 ( dh ) = 28k byte boot block 0110 ( 6h ) = 8k byte boot block 1110 ( eh ) = 32k byte boot block 0111 ( 7h ) = 10k byte boot block 1111 ( fh ) = no boot block protection__________________________________________________________________________ table xxx______________________________________hardware configuration strap register 2______________________________________mnemonic : hwstrap . sub .-- 2index : 24haccess restrictions : nonedescription : this register holds the state that the scp address / data bus was held in by pull - up and / or pull - down resistors on the pcb . it is latched on the falling edge of the system reset signal . the contents are intended for use by system software to derive configuration information from the hardware . there are no field definitions . hardware configurationstrap register 2 ( hwstrap . sub .-- 2 ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset depends on hardwarestatefield hwstrap . sub .-- 2nameread / rowrite______________________________________ table xxxi__________________________________________________________________________flash interface control__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : flash . sub .-- ctrlindex : 25haccess restrictions : nonedescription : controls the flash interface features of hui . flash interface control ( flash . sub .-- ctrl ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 1statefield x vppen cpuexcl scpresetnameread / write r / w ro r / wfield definitions : vppen : controls state of vppen output pin . is cleared and becomes unalterable when in secure mode . cpuexcl : flag for when scp has reguested exclusive access to flash memory for a write and cpu is disallowed from reading and writing the flash - this bit can be cleared immediately if a ` 1 ` is written to scpreset . 0 = scp sharing flash 1 = scp holding flash exclusivelyscpreset : 0 = share flash with scp ; let scp run 1 = flash exclusive to system cpu ; scp is held in__________________________________________________________________________ reset table xxxii______________________________________flash scp base address______________________________________mnemonic : scp . sub .-- baseindex : 26haccess restrictions : nonedescription : determines base address of scp code within shared flash memory - this 6 - bit value is used as bits 17 : 12 ( bits 11 : 0 come directly from the scp ) of the scp address to determine the flash address . this means that the scp code may be placed on any 4k boundary within the 256k flash address space . flash scp base address ( scp . sub .-- base ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield scp . sub .-- basenameread / r / wwrite______________________________________ table xxxiii______________________________________zenith bios fast signal control______________________________________mnemonic : fast . sub .-- ctrlindex : 27haccess restrictions : nonedescription : zenith bios fast signal control ( fast . sub .-- ctrl ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0statefield x enfrc enfa20nameread / r / w r / wwritefield definitions : enfrc : enable zbios fast rc control at system i / o address efh 0 = control at efh disabled 1 = control at efh enabled enfa20 : enable zbios fast a20 control at system i / o address eeh 0 = control at eeh disabled 1 = control at eeh enabled______________________________________ table xxxiv______________________________________miscellaneous hui status______________________________________mnemonic : hui . sub .-- statindex : 28haccess restrictions : nonedescription : contains miscellaneous hui status bits . miscellaneous hui status ( hui . sub .-- stat ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0statefield x powerup securenameread / r / w rowritefield definitions : powerup : system boot status flag . bios should set this bit during the cold boot sequence . during a warm boot , this bit will remain set and bios can use this flag to select which of the cold boot or warm boot code to execute . 0 = current boot is a cold boot 1 = current boot is a warm bootsecure : hui secure mode status . this bit is r / w by the scp . when the scp puts the hui in secure mode by setting this bit , cpu system memory writes to the flash memory are ignored . 0 = hui is not in secure mode 1 = hui is in secure mode______________________________________ table xxxv______________________________________warm boot vector register file enable______________________________________mnemonic : wboot . sub .-- enindex : 2fhaccess restrictions : nonedescription : enable for the warm boot vector fast recovery register file . this register becomes read - only after the first write . the first write to this register also locks out all writes to the warm boot vector register file . warm boot vectorregister file count ( wboot . sub .-- en ) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0statefield x wboot . sub .-- ennameread / write wormfield definitions : wboot . sub .-- en : enable for warm boot vector fast recovery . 0 = warm boot vector fast recovery feature disabled 1 = warm boot vector fast recovery feature enabled______________________________________ table xxxvi______________________________________warm boot vector register file______________________________________mnemonic : wboot . sub .-- 1 through wboot . sub .-- 16index : 30h - 3fhaccess nonerestrictions : description : register file in which the data to be returned to the cpu on memory reads from flash memory starting at address 3fffoh ( 256kb part ) or 1fffoh ( 128kb part .) these registers are read / write until the first time that index wboot . sub .-- en is written , at which time they become read . sub .-- only . ______________________________________warm boot vector register file ( wboot . sub .-- 1 through wboot . sub .-- 16 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield wboot . sub .-- 1 through wboot . sub .-- 16nameread / write worm______________________________________ table xxxvii______________________________________alternate scp / cpu communication registers______________________________________mnemonic : alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- out ( r ) alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- data ( w ) index : 60haccess nonerestrictions : description : read : the scp ` output ` buffer containing data written by the scp write : byte for the scp ` input buffer ` to be read by the scp as ` data ` ______________________________________alternate scp output buffer ( alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- out ( read - only )) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield output buffernameread / write read - only______________________________________alternate scp input buffer ( alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- data ( write - only )) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield input buffernameread / write write - only______________________________________ note : this address actually communicates with 2 different registers writing sends data from the cpu to the scp ( input buffer ), and clears the cmd / dat flag , while reading accesses the data sent by the scp to the cpu . table xxxviii__________________________________________________________________________alternate scp status register__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- stat ( r ) alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- cmd ( w ) index : 64haccess restrictions : nonedescription : read : status from the scp ( see below ) write : byte for scp ` input buffer ` to be read by scp as ` command ` __________________________________________________________________________alternate scp status register ( alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- stat__________________________________________________________________________ ( read - only )) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0statefield pe goto tto / aobf inhibit cmd / data sysflag ibf obfnameread / write r r r r r r r r__________________________________________________________________________pe : parity error - written by scpgto : general time out - written by scptto / aobf : transmit out - or - auxiliary output buffer full when mki register is clear , tto is written by scp . when mki register is set , this bit is set when scp writes to aux . sub .-- out , cleared when scp writes to scp . sub .-- out ( i . e ., aobf indicates that data is from the aux device , which is normally the mouse ). inhibit : inhibit switch - written by scpcmd / data : command / data flag - indicates source of last byte cpu as follows : 0 = data ( cpu wrote to cpu . sub .-- data address ) 1 = command ( cpu wrote to cpu . sub .-- cmd address ) sysflag : system flag - written by scp . ibf : input buffer full - indicates cpu has written a byte to cpu . sub .-- data or cpu . sub .-- cmd , which is then available to be read by the scp at scp . sub .-- in . obf : output buffer full - indicates scp has written a byte to scp . sub .-- out or aux . sub .-- out , which is then available to be read by the cpu at cpu . sub .-- out . __________________________________________________________________________alternate scp input buffer ( alt . sub .-- cpu . sub .-- cmd ( write - only )) bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield input buffernameread / write write - only__________________________________________________________________________ table xxxix______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 1______________________________________mnemonic : eisaid . sub .-- 1index : 80haccess nonerestrictions : description : loaded by system bios , usually after a cold boot , this register holds bits 0 through 7 of the 32 - bit eisa / isa identification register . it is always readable , and is writable until the first write to eisaid . sub .-- 4 , at which time it is read - only . the contents of this register can also be read at system i / o address 0c80h . a simple way to remember this is to simply prepend a ` c ` to the value of this register &# 39 ; s index number . ______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 1 ( eisaid . sub .-- 1 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 1 00statefield enasysio eisaid . sub .-- 1nameread / write worm______________________________________ field definitions : enasysio : enable system i / o this bit controls whether or not the hui wil respond to system i / o reads at addresses c80h through c83h . the function of this bit is defined in section 4 . 10 . 1 of the eisa specification . 0 = enable ( the hui will respond to system i / o reads at addresses c80h through c83h ) 1 = disable ( the hui will not respond to system i / o reads at addresses c80h through c83h ) table xl______________________________________fisa / isa identification register 2______________________________________mnemonic : eisaid . sub .-- 2index : 81haccess nonerestrictions : description : loaded by system bios , usually after a cold boot , this register holds bits 8 through 15 of the 32 - bit eisa / isa identification register . it is always readable and is writable until the first write to eisaid . sub .-- 4 . at which time it is read - only . the contents of this register can also be read at system i / o address oc81h . a simple way to remember this is to simply prepend a ` c ` to the value of this register &# 39 ; s index number . ______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 1 ( eisaid . sub .-- 2 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield eisaid . sub .-- 2nameread / write worm______________________________________ table xli______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 3______________________________________mnemonic : eisaid . sub .-- 3index : 82haccess nonerestrictions : description : loaded by system bios , usually after a cold boot , this register holds bits 16 through 23 of the 32 - bit eisa / isa identification register . it is always readable , and is writable until the first write to eisaid . sub .-- 4 , at which time it is read - only . the contents of this register can also be read at system i / o address 0c82h . a simple way to remember this is to simply prepend a ` c ` to the value of this register &# 39 ; s index number . ______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 1 ( eisaid . sub .-- 3 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield eisaid . sub .-- 3nameread / write worm______________________________________ table xlii______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 4______________________________________mnemonic : eisaid . sub .-- 4index : 83haccess nonerestrictions : description : loaded by system bios , usually after a cold boot , this register holds bits 24 through 31 of the 32 - bit eisa / isa identification register . it is always readable , and is writable only once . after the first write to this register , all four of the eisa / isa identification register ( all 32 bits ) become read - only . the contents of this register can also be read at system i / o address 0c83h . a simple way to remember this is to simply prepend ` c ` to the value of this register &# 39 ; s index number . ______________________________________eisa / isa identification register 1 ( eisaid . sub .-- 4 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield eisaid . sub .-- 4nameread / write worm______________________________________ as mentioned above , the hui 700 provides an interface that enables the scp 706 to communicate with the cpu 702 and the common memory device 704 by way of an scp register file 714 . table lxiii is a register summary of the registers that comprise the scp register file 714 identified in fig2 . tables xliv through lxx provide detailed information for the registers identified in table lxiii . table xliii__________________________________________________________________________register summary read / mnemonic location write function__________________________________________________________________________scp . sub .-- in ( r ) 0000h r / w communication with system cpu - write sends ascp . sub .-- out ( w ) byte to cpu , read accesses byte sent from cpu . scp . sub .-- in . sub .-- alt ( r ) 0001h r / w alternate way to read byte sent from cpu ; stat . sub .-- out ( w ) status ( readable by cpu , or by scp at ` stat . sub .-- in `). irq1 0005h r / w controls generation of system irq1 when keyboard data is sent from scp to cpu . last . sub .-- io ( r ) 0006h ro read - back of last data byte sent to cpu . stat . sub .-- in 0007h ro read - back scp of status register . rc . sub .-- stat ( r ) 0008h r / w controls ` slow reset `. rc . sub .-- act ( w ) rc . sub .-- inact ( w ) 0009h wo controls ` slow reset `. a20gate ( r ) 000ah r / w controls ` gate a20 `. a20 . sub .-- inact ( w ) a20 . sub .-- act ( w ) 000bh wo controls ` gate a20 `. fun . sub .-- ctrl 000ch r / w controls generation of ` slow - reset ` and ` gate a20 `. fun . sub .-- stat ( r ) 000dh r / w read - back of various scp status bits ; writeaux . sub .-- out ( w ) ` auxiliary device ` ( mouse ) data to be read by cpu . irq12 000eh r / w controls generation of system irq12 when mouse data is sent from scp to cpu . mki 000fh wo controls special handling of ` d1 ` commands . isr 0012h r / w interrupt status register . ier 0014h r / w interrupt enable register . auto . sub .-- serial 0026h r / w controls ` automatic mode ` for serial interface to keyboard / mouse . kbd . sub .-- comm 0027h r / w provides direct control of keyboard ( and mouse ) clock / data lines . kbd . sub .-- ctrl 0029h r / w control / status of keyboard when in automatic mode . kbd . sub .-- data 002ah r / w keyboard data byte - writing initiates transfer if in automatic mode . kbd . sub .-- xdata 002bh r / w stop / parity bits for keyboard interface . aux . sub .-- ctrl 002ch r / w control / status of mouse when in automatic mode . aux . sub .-- data 002dh r / w mouse data byte - writing initiates transfer if in automatic mode . aux . sub .-- xdata 002eh r / w stop / parity bits for mouse interface . secure 0040h r / w secure mode status and control . huicfg . sub .-- 1 0041h ro reset state of flash memory data bus . huicfg . sub .-- 2 0042h ro reset state of scp address / data bus . flash . sub .-- grab 0043h r / w scp control of flash memory . __________________________________________________________________________ tables xliv through lxx describes the registers in the scp register file 714 in detail . table xliv______________________________________scp / cpu communication registers______________________________________mnemonic : scp . sub .-- in ( r ) scp . sub .-- out ( w ) address : 00haccess nonerestrictions : description : read : byte written by the cpu to cpu . sub .-- data / cpu . sub .-- cmd address ( scp input buffer ) . . . write : byte for scp output buffer , to be read by the cpu as keyboard data - sets obf and clears aobf in scp status register . ______________________________________scp input buffer ( scp . sub .-- in ( read - only ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield input buffernameread / write read only______________________________________scp output buffer ( scp . sub .-- out ( write - only ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield output buffernameread / write write - only______________________________________ note : this address actually communicates with 2 different registers writing sends data from the scp to the cpu ( output buffer ), and clears the aobf flag , while reading accesses the data sent by the cpu to the scp . table xlv__________________________________________________________________________scp status register__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : scp . sub .-- in . sub .-- alt ( r ) stat . sub .-- out ( w ) address : 01haccess restrictions : nonedescription : read : alternate read method for scp input buffer ( scp . sub .-- in ) write : status bits ( see below ) __________________________________________________________________________scp input buffer ( scp . sub .-- in . sub .-- alt ( read - only )) __________________________________________________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 10numberreset ? ? statefield input buffernameread / write read only__________________________________________________________________________scp status register ( stat . sub .-- out ( write - only )) __________________________________________________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0statefield pe gto tto / inhibit cmd / sysflag ibf obfname aobf dataread / write w w w / x w x w x x__________________________________________________________________________ note : this register is written here , but is read back by the scp at stat . sub .-- in , and by the cpu at cpu . sub .-- stat . see the description of cpu . sub .-- stat for a complete description of the bit fields . table xlvi______________________________________keyboard interrupt enable______________________________________mnemonic : irq1address : 05haccess nonerestrictions : description : controls whether or not the scp writing to the ` output buffer ` causes an interrupt to the cpu on irq1 . if the mode bit is 0 , the interrupt will be driven active throughout the time that the interrupt source ( obf ) is on i . e ., it will be driven low as soon as the scp writes to the output buffer , and released only when the cpu reads the data . if the mode bit is 1 , the interrupt will be ` pulsed ` low for the duration of the scp memw pulse during the scp write to the output buffer . this will allow ` sharing ` of irq1 with other compatible sources . ______________________________________keyboard interrupt enable ( irq1 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0statefield x mode enablenameread / r / w r / wwrite______________________________________ field definitions : mode : 0 = normal ( driven low when interrupt source is active ) 1 = sharable ( pulsed low when interrupt source goes active ) enable : 0 = disabled 1 = enabled table xlvii______________________________________last i / o______________________________________mnemonic : last . sub .-- io ( r ) address : 06haccess nonerestrictions : description : read : value last written to scp . sub .-- out write : not allowed______________________________________scp output buffer ( last . sub .-- io ( read - only )) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield output buffernameread / write read only______________________________________ note : this register is read here , but is written by the scp at scp . sub .-- out . table xlviii__________________________________________________________________________scp status register__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : stat . sub .-- inaddress : 07haccess restrictions : nonedescription : read : status bits ( see below ) write : not allowed__________________________________________________________________________scp status register ( stat . sub .-- in ) __________________________________________________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0statefield pe gto tto / inhibit cmd / sysflag ibf obfname aobf dataread / write ro ro ro ro ro ro ro ro__________________________________________________________________________ note : this register is read by the scp here , but is written by the scp at stat . sub .-- out . it is read by the cpu at cpu . sub .-- stat , which is also where the bit fields are fully described . table xlix______________________________________slow reset activate / status______________________________________mnemonic : rc . sub .-- stat ( r ) rc . sub .-- act ( w ) address : 08haccess nonerestrictions : description : read : current status of slow reset signal ( 0 = active ) write : set slow reset active ( low ) - data is ignored . ______________________________________slow reset status ( rc . sub .-- stat ( read - only )) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 1statefield x slow resetnameread / write r______________________________________field definitions : slow reset : 0 = active1 = inactive______________________________________slow reset status ( rc . sub .-- act ( write - only )) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberresetstatefield xnameread / write______________________________________ note : slow reset is also know as ` rc ` for some strange reason reset cpu , maybe table l______________________________________slow reset de - activate______________________________________mnemonic : rc . sub .-- inact ( w ) address : 09haccess nonerestrictions : description : read : not allowed write : set slow reset inactive ( high ) data is ignored . slow reset de - activate ( rc . sub .-- inact ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberresetstatefield xnameread / write______________________________________ table li______________________________________gate a20 de - activate / status______________________________________mnemonic : a20gate ( r ) a20 . sub .-- inact ( w ) address : 0ahaccess nonerestrictions : description : read : current status of gate a20 signal ( 1 = active ) write : set gate a20 inactive ( low ) - data is ignored . ______________________________________gate a20 status ( a20gate ( rem - only )) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 1statefield x gate a20 xnameread / write r______________________________________field definitions : gate a20 : 0 = inactive1 = active______________________________________gate a20 de - activate ( a20 . sub .-- inact ( write - only ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberresetstatefield xnameread / write______________________________________ table lii______________________________________gate a20 activate______________________________________mnemonic : a20 . sub .-- act ( w ) address : 0bhaccess nonerestrictions : description : read : not allowed write : set gate , a20 active ( high ) - data is ignored . ______________________________________gate a20 activate ( a20 . sub .-- act ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberresetstatefield xnameread / write______________________________________ table liii______________________________________function control______________________________________mnemonic : fun . sub .-- ctrladdress : 0chaccess nonerestrictions : description : controls the automatic generation of slow reset ( rc ) and gate a20 - if enabled , the hui will generate , the signal without scp intervention ; otherwise , the scp is responsible for generating the signal by decoding the commands and writing to the appropriate register . ______________________________________function control ( fun . sub .-- ctrl ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 1 1statefield x gate a20 slow resetnameread / write r / w r / w______________________________________ field definitions : gate a20 : 0 = automatic generation disabled 1 = automatic generation enabled slow reset : 0 = automatic generation disabled 1 = automatic generation enabled table liv__________________________________________________________________________function status__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : fun . sub .-- stat ( r ) aux . sub .-- out ( w ) address : 0dhaccess nonerestrictions : description : read : function status ( see below ) write : mouse ( aux device ) data from scp is written here , to by cpu at cpu . sub .-- out . the data goes into the ` output buffer `, just as when writing keyboard data to scp . sub .-- out . the difference is that writing here sets both obf ( output buffer full ) and aobf ( auxilliary output buffer full ) in the scp status register , and also the mobf bit in the fun . sub .-- stat register . obf is cleared , as usual , when the cpu reads the data from cpu . sub .-- out . mobf is also cleared at this time , but aobf remains set until the scp sends keyboard data by writing to scp out . note that aobf is visible in both the scp status register and here at fun . sub .-- stat . __________________________________________________________________________function status ( fun stat ( read - only )) __________________________________________________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberresetstatefield d1cmd irq1en irq12en mobf aobf mkien xnameread / write__________________________________________________________________________d1cmd : set when cpu writes ` d1 ` commands to cpu . sub .-- cmd . cleared when cpu writes any other value to cpu . sub .-- cmd . irq1en : alternate read method for irq1 register value . irq12en : alternate read method for irq12 register value . mobf : set when scp writes mouse ( aux device ) date to aux . sub .-- out ; cleared when cpu reads data from cpu . sub .-- out . aobf : set when scp writes mouse ( aux device ) date to aux . sub .-- out ; cleared when scp writes keyboard data to scp . sub .-- out . mkien : alternate read method for mki register value . __________________________________________________________________________scp output buffer ( aux . sub .-- out ( write - only ) __________________________________________________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset ? ? statefield output buffernameread / write write - only__________________________________________________________________________ table lv______________________________________mouse interrupt enable______________________________________mnemonic : irq12address : 0ehaccess nonerestrictions : description : controls the generation of irq12 when the scp writes mouse data to aux out . if the mode bit is 0 , the interrupt will be driven active throughout the time that the interrupt source ( obf ) is on - i . e ., it will be driven low as soon as the scp writes to the output buffer , and released only when the cpu reads the data . if the mode bit is 1 , the interrupt will be ` pulsed ` low for the duration of the scp memw pulse during the scp write to the output buffer . this will allow ` sharing ` of irq1 with other compatible sources . ______________________________________mouse interrupt enable ( irq12 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0statefield x mode enablenameread / r / w r / wwrite______________________________________ field definitions : mode : 0 = normal ( driven low when interrupt source is active ) 1 = sharable ( pulsed low when interrupt source goes active ) enable : 0 = disabled 1 = enabled table lvi______________________________________mnemonic : mkiaddress : 0fhaccess nonerestrictions : description : when this feature is disabled , the hui will always set ibf and generate an interrupt to the scp when the cpu writes to cpu . sub .-- cmd or cpu . sub .-- data . if enabled , these actions will not be performed for the command value ` d1 `, the data following the ` d1 ` command , or an ` ff ` command immediately following either the ` d1 ` command or the ` d1 ` command data . the status of this bit is read back at register fun . sub .-- stat bit & lt ; 2 & gt ; ( 0dh . ) ______________________________________mki ` d1 ` feature control ( mki ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0statefield x mkiennameread / write wo______________________________________ field definitions : mkien : 0 = generate ibf / scpint on allcpu writes 1 = special mode enabled ( see above ) table lvii______________________________________interrupt status register______________________________________mnemonic : israddress : 12haccess nonerestrictions : description : contains currently pending scp interrupt source indicator . ______________________________________interrupt status register ( isr ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 0statefield x mouse key - x ibfname boardread / r / w r / w rowrite______________________________________ field definitions : mouse : automatic mode ( bytemode ) enabled : set when byte from mouse is received and ready to be read by the scp ; cleared when the scp reads the data . automatic mode disabled : set when the mouse pulls the datain line low ; cleared when the scp writes a zero to this bit . keyboard : automatic mode ( bytemode ) enabled : set when byte from keyboard is received and ready to be read by the scp ; cleared when the scp reads the data . automatic mode disabled : set when the keyboard pulls the datain line low ; cleared when the scp writes a zero to this bit . ibf : set when the cpu writes a byte to the scp input buffer at cpu . sub .-- data or cpu . sub .-- cmd ; cleared when the scp reads the data at scp . sub .-- in or scp . sub .-- in . sub .-- alt . table lviii______________________________________mnemonic : ieraddress : 14haccess nonerestrictions : description : selects interrupt sources that are enabled to generate the scp interrupt signal . disabled sources still appear in the isr but do not generate an interrupt . for descriptions of interrupt sources , see isr register , above . ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 0statefield x mouse key - x ibfname boardread / r / w r / w r / wwrite______________________________________ field definitions : mouse : enable isr ` mouse ` bit . keyboard : enable isr ` keyboard ` bit . ibf : enable isr ` ibf ` bit . table lix______________________________________auto - serial register______________________________________mnemonic : auto . sub .-- serialaddress : 26haccess nonerestrictions : description : controls ` automatic mode ` for keyboard / mouse interfaces . ______________________________________auto - serial register ( auto . sub .-- serial ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0statefield x mouse key - name boardread / r / w r / wwrite______________________________________ table lx__________________________________________________________________________keyboard / mouse clock / data register__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : kbd . sub .-- commaddress : 27haccess restrictions : nonedescription : provides direct control of keyboard ( and mouse ) clock / data lines . __________________________________________________________________________keyboard / mouse clock / data register ( kbd . sub .-- comm ) __________________________________________________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0statefield mdatao mclko mdatai mclki kbdatao kbclko kbdatai kbclkinameread / write r / w r / w ro ro r / w r / w ro ro__________________________________________________________________________ table lxi__________________________________________________________________________keyboard control / status register__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : kbd . sub .-- ctrladdress : 29haccess restrictions : nonedescription : provides read - back of status for keyboard interface during automatic - mode transfers ; also , allows writing of hold bit to interrupt a transfer , and rcv bit to wait for a transfer . __________________________________________________________________________keyboard control / status register ( kbd . sub .-- ctrl ) __________________________________________________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0statefield count8 count4 count2 count1 linectrl hold xmit rcvnameread / write ro ro ro ro ro r / w ro r / w__________________________________________________________________________ field definitions : count8421 : allows readback of bitcounter during transfer ( will start at decimal 11 , and count down to 0 ). linectrl : contains status returned by external device during final clock of a transmission to the device . hold : set active automatically at the end of a transmission or receipt ; can also be set manually by writing to the register . cleared when rcv bit is set , or when transmission starts . xmit : set when transmission is started by writing to the kbd . sub .-- data register ; cleared when the transmission is complete . rcv : set by writing to this bit ; release hold mode and causes the chip to wait for a transmission from the external device . cleared when the device starts transmitting . table lxii______________________________________keyboard data register______________________________________mnemonic : kbd . sub .-- dataaddress : 2ahaccess nonerestrictions : description : contains received from keyboard , or ( in automatic mode only ) data to be sent to keyboard . ______________________________________keyboard data register ( kbd . sub .-- data ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield kbdatanameread / r / wwrite______________________________________ table lxiii______________________________________keyboard extended data register______________________________________mnemonic : kbd . sub .-- xdataaddress : 2bhaccess nonerestrictions : description : contains stop / parity bits for keyboard interface . ______________________________________keyboard extendeddata register ( kbd . sub .-- xdata ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 1 0statefield x stop paritynameread / write r / w r / w______________________________________ field definitions : stop : stop bit value . parity : parity bit value . table lxiv__________________________________________________________________________mouse control / status register__________________________________________________________________________mnemonic : aux . sub .-- ctrladdress : 2chaccess restrictions : nonedescription : provides read - back of status for mouse interface during automatic - mode transfers ; also , allows writing of hold bit to interrupt a transfer , and rcv bit to wait for a transfer . __________________________________________________________________________mouse control / status register ( aux . sub .-- ctrl ) __________________________________________________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0statefield count8 count4 count2 count1 linectrl hold xmit rcvnameread / write ro ro ro ro ro r / w ro r / w__________________________________________________________________________ field definitions : count8421 : allows readback of bitcounter during transfer ( will start at decimal 11 , and count down to 0 ). linectrl : contains status returned by external device during final clock of a transmission to the device . hold : set active automatically at the end of a transmission or receipt ; can also be set manually by writing to the register . cleared when rcv bit is set , or when transmission starts . xmit : set when transmission is started by writing to the aux . sub .-- data register ; cleared when the transmission is complete . rcv : set by writing to this bit ; release hold mode and causes the chip to wait for a transmission from the external device . cleared when the device starts transmitting . table lxv______________________________________mouse data register______________________________________mnemonic : aux . sub .-- dataaddress : 2dhaccess nonerestrictions : description : contains received from mouse , or ( in automatic mode only ) data to be sent to mouse . ______________________________________mouse data register ( aux . sub .-- data ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 00statefield auxdatanameread / r / wwrite______________________________________ table lxvi______________________________________mouse extended data register______________________________________mnemonic : aux . sub .-- xdataaddress2 : ehaccess nonerestrictions : description : contains stop / parity bits for mouse interface . ______________________________________mouse extended data register ( aux . sub .-- xdata ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 210numberreset 10statefield x stop paritynameread / write r / wr / w______________________________________ field definitions : stop : stop bit value . parity : parity bit value . table lxvii______________________________________secure mode status______________________________________mnemonic : secureaddress : 40haccess nonerestrictions : description : controls state of secure mode in the hui . ______________________________________secure mode status ( secure ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 210numberreset 0statefield x securenameread / write r / w______________________________________ field definitions : secure : secure mode status 0 = secure mode disabled 1 = secure mode enabled table lxviii______________________________________hui hardwareconfiguration straps register 1______________________________________mnemonic : huicfg . sub .-- 1address : 41haccess nonerestrictions : description : contains the state of the flash memory data bus latched at system reset . ______________________________________hui hardware configurationstraps register 1 ( huicfg . sub .-- 1 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0num - berreset depends on hardwarestatefield flshsize passtrap erasetrap bootblknameread / rowrite______________________________________ field definitions : flshsize : flash memory part size indicates size of flash memory that the hui is controlling 0 = 256k byte 1 = 128k byte passtrap : flash password area access trap controls whether or not the hu allows system memory reads and writes to the lowest 256 bytes in the flas memory space where the scp can store the system password 0 = protect flash password storage area 1 = no password protection erasetrap : flash software erase sequence trap enable the hui to intercep the jedec flash software chip erase standard sequence before it reaches the flash memory . bit & lt ; 5 & gt ; is reserved for future chip erase sequences . x0 = jedec flash software chip erase standard x1 = no software erase trap bootblk : flash bootblock size to emulate selects the size of the flash memory bootblock at the top of the flash memory space that the hui will emulate and protect from system memory writes 0000 ( 0h ) = 2k byte boot block 0001 ( 1h ) = 3k byte boot block 0010 ( 2h ) = 4k byte boot block 0011 ( 3h ) = 5k byte boot block 0100 ( 4h ) = 6k byte boot block 0101 ( 5h ) = 7k byte boot block 0110 ( 6h ) = 8k byte boot block 0111 ( 7h ) = 10k byte boot block 1000 ( 8h ) = 12k byte boot block 1001 ( 9h ) = 14k byte boot block 1010 ( ah ) = 16k byte boot block 1011 ( bh ) = 20k byte boot block 1100 ( ch ) = 24k byte boot block 1101 ( dh ) = 28k byte boot block 1110 ( eh ) = 32k byte boot block 1111 ( fh ) = no boot block protection table lxix______________________________________hui hardwareconfiguration straps register 2______________________________________mnemonic : huicfg . sub .-- 2address : 42haccess nonerestrictions : description : contains the state of the scp address / data bus latched at system reset . ______________________________________hui hardwareconfiguration straps register 2 ( huicfg . sub .-- 2 ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset depends on hardwarestatefield huicfg . sub .-- 2nameread / rowrite______________________________________ table lxx______________________________________scp control of flash memory______________________________________mnemonic : flash . sub .-- grabaddress : 43haccess restrictions : nonedescription : ______________________________________scp control of flash memory ( flash . sub .-- grab ) ______________________________________bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0numberreset 0 1statefield x vppen cpuexclnameread / r / w r / wwrite______________________________________ field definitions : vppen : controls state of vppen output pin . is cleared and becomes unalterable when in secure mode . cpuexcl : flag for when scp requests exclusive access to flash memory for write and cpu is disallowed from reading and writing the flash this bit can be cleared immediately if a ` 1 ` is written to scpreset in the cpu indexed register flash . sub .-- ctrl . 0 = scp sharing flash 1 = scp holding flash exclusively the interfaces , as well as the functional capability of the hui 700 are described in detail below . the mouse / keyboard interface of the hui 700 is virtually identical to the mki 300 described in detail above . in particular , the hui 700 provides the three main functions of the mki 300 ; bidirectional communication between the cpu 702 and the scp 706 , as well as hardware generation of the cpu slow reset and hardware generation of the gate a20 signal . in addition , the hui 700 provides automatic hardware control of the mouse and keyboard interface to relieve the scp 706 of the task of shifting data into and out of the common memory device 704 . the hui 700 enables the cpu 702 to communicate with the scp 706 by writing a command to the command and / or data port 64h and 60h , respectively . the scp 706 is automatically interrupted after each byte is written and reads the byte at the scp input buffer scp -- in address . command and data bytes are distinguished by reading the status registers stat -- in to check the value of the command / data flag ( 0 = data ; 1 = command ). the status register stat -- in also contains an input buffer flag full bit ibf which indicates that the source of the current interrupt was the system cpu communication port . both the interrupt line and the input buffer flag ibf are automatically cleared when the scp reads the scp input buffer scp -- in . the scp 706 sends data ( i . e ., key codes , mouse data , etc .) to the cpu by writing to an scp output buffer scp -- out to send the keyboard data or to an auxiliary output buffer aux -- out to send mouse data . whenever keyboard data or mouse data is written to the output buffer scp -- out , the hui 700 generates an interrupt to the system cpu ( irq1 for keyboard , irq12 for mouse ), which signals the cpu 702 to read the data at address 60h . port 64h may also be read by the cpu 702 and will contain status bits indicating the source of the data . in particular , the output buffer full flag obf is set for keyboard data , and both the output buffer flag obf and an auxiliary output buffer full flag aobf are set for the mouse data . the output buffer flag obf is always cleared when the cpu reads the data byte at address 60h . however , the auxiliary output buffer flag aobf bit remains set until the next time the scp 706 sends keyboard data by writing to the scp output buffer scp -- out . if the scp 706 sends more mouse data by writing to the auxiliary output buffer aux -- out , the aobf bit will remain set and the obf bit will be set . the appropriate interrupt is cleared by way of the obf bit . the system &# 39 ; s interrupt signals irq that the hui 700 generates to the cpu 702 can be in one of two modes . the mode is selected in bit 1 of the enable registers , irqms -- en for the irqms interrupt and irqkb -- en for the irqkb interrupt . the output pin on the hui 700 for the interrupt irq1 is a tri - state , open drain output . the output pins for the irq lines must be pulled up by a pull up resistor . as such , the hui 700 can only drive the signal low and must let a signal float to generate a high . in the first mode of operation , when an interrupt is enabled ( bit 0 ) and bit 1 is low in the enable register irqms -- en or irqkb -- en , the hui 700 has full control of the interrupt line irq . in this mode , the hui 700 will hold interrupt line irq low until the scp 706 writes to the output buffer scp -- out or the auxiliary output buffer aux -- out , and sets the output buffer flag obf flag . when this occurs , the hui 700 will let the line tri - state to enable an external pull up resistor to pull the signal high to indicate to the cpu 702 that an interrupt has been generated . once the cpu 702 services the interrupt and reads the scp output buffer scp -- out , the output buffer full flag obf is cleared and the interrupt line irq is pulled low . in a second mode of operation , when the interrupt is enabled ( bit 0 is set ) and bit 1 is high in one of the enable registers irqms -- en or irqkb -- en , the interrupt line irq will be shared between the hui 700 and another device . in this mode , the hui 700 allows the interrupt line irq to float high by tri - stating its output pin . when the scp 706 writes to the output buffer , scp -- out or the auxiliary output buffer aux -- out , the hui 700 will pull the interrupt line irq low as long as the scp write signal n -- scpwr is in an active low state . when the scp write signal n -- scpwr returns to an inactive state , the hui 700 releases the interrupt line irq to float at its tri - state level . as mentioned above , the hui 700 also incorporates the slow reset signal rc generation feature of the mki 300 . in particular , the slow reset signal is normally generated when the cpu 702 sends a command byte , normally of any even value between foh and ffh , to the scp 706 . in known systems , this command byte is normally decoded and the command is executed in software . in order to speed up the generation of the slow reset rc signal , the hui 700 interprets the command byte and hardware , and , thus , is able to generate a slow reset signal rc relatively quicker than the scp 706 . the slow reset generation function can be disabled by writing to a function control register fun -- ctrl . in particular , bit 0 of the function control register fun -- ctrl is used to control the automatic generation of the slow reset signal rc . when bit 0 is set , the hui 700 will automatically generate the slow reset signal rc . when bit 0 is not set , the slow reset signal rc is under the control of the system control processor 706 . in this mode of operation , the scp 706 can control the generation of the slow reset signal rc by writing to the slow reset status register rc -- act and the slow reset deactivate register rc -- inact . the hui 700 also can decode the command to control the gate a20 signal directly . as discussed above , the gate a20 signal is set by a command byte d1 and a data byte . however , in some known software systems , an extra command byte ffh is sent after the command byte and the data byte form a part of the gate a20 control . in order to avoid misoperation of the system , the ffh command that follows the command and data byte is ignored . an ffh command which does not follow a command data sequence for the hardware generation of the gate a20 signal will be passed on to the scp 706 in the normal way . the hardware control of the gate a20 signal may be disabled by writing to the function control register fun -- ctrl . once the automatic feature is disabled , the scp 706 can control the gate a20 signal by writing to either the gate a20 deactivate register ( a20 -- inact ) or the gate a20 activate register ( a20 -- act ). as mentioned above , the gate a20 and the fast reset rc signals are controlled by the hui 700 through direct decoding of commands from the cpu 702 or through direct control of the scp 706 by writing data to the associated registers in the register files 712 or 714 . in addition , the gate a20 and fast reset rc signals can also be controlled by way of the system i / o bus . by enabling these signals , gate a20 and fast reset rc , to be controlled by the system i / o bus , the bios is able to directly control these signals by reading and writing to system i / o addresses , such as eeh and efh . the bios control of the gate a20 signal is performed through the system i / o address of eeh . more particularly , writing to address eeh sets the gate a20 signal , while reading eeh clears the gate a20 signal . in either case , any data written or read is ignored and undefined . as will be discussed in more detail below , both operations are protected operations and are under the control of the privy protection , discussed in detail below . the bios control of the gate a20 signal can be enabled or disabled at a cpu index register identified as fast -- ctrl . as will be discussed in more detail below , the index registers are accessible by way of the cpu -- index and cpu -- value registers at addresses e6h and e7h . bios control of the fast reset signal rc is performed through a system i / o address of efh . in particular , a write to the address efh has no effect on the fast reset signal rc . however , reading address efh sets the fast reset signal rc for the duration of the i / o read pulse plus 2 to 3 scp clock pulses , after which the rc signal is released . the rc signal is an active low signal and is under the control of the privy protection to be discussed below . similar to the gate a20 signal , the bios control of the fast reset signal rc can be enabled or disabled by way of the cpu index register fast -- ctrl . as mentioned above , the hui 700 includes a programmable hardware software timer 722 in order to provide a convenient way for the firmware to assess when a specific time interval has elapsed . the programmable hardware timer 722 has many functions including enabling the firmware to determine when a computer system is not functioning properly . more particularly , in known computer systems , the firmware , normally stored in non - volatile memory , such as rom , eprom or eeprom , is executed immediately after power - up and performs various functions including testing and initializing the hardware within the computer system , configuring the operating environment and other general housekeeping functions . while such operations are being carried out , the firmware must be able to track the amount of time elapsed between operations for various reasons , including interrogating the hardware to determine whether there has been a device failure . more particularly , when hardware devices are initialized , a response from the device is normally returned within a specific period of time . if a response from the device is not returned in the predetermined time period , the device is considered to have failed . in known systems , software timing loops have been used for providing such time intervals . such software timing loops normally use an integer variable that is initialized with a specific value . the value is tested , decremented and looped until the value goes to zero . although such a method provides adequate performance in most situations , certain problems have developed with such methods which can result in system failure . in particular , such software timing loops are known to be incorporated within the firmware . since the system firmware is normally designed to operate across a relatively wide range of performance levels -- commonly done to amortize the development cost of the firmware across product lines -- it can be difficult , if not impossible , to precisely tune the timing loops to meet all requirements . for example , a software timing loop will execute considerably faster on a 66 mhz intel type 80486 cpu than it will on a 25 mhz intel type 80386 cpu . such discrepancies can lead to system failure . the programmable hardware timer 722 in accordance with the present invention solves this problem by providing programmable hardware to allow predetermined time intervals to be programmed and be relatively consistent over a relatively wide range of performance levels . more particularly , with reference to fig2 , the programmable hardware timer 722 includes a downcounter 724 driven by an scp clock , normally 14 mhz . the downcounter 724 counts predetermined time intervals such as 1 millisecond intervals as a function of the input clock frequency . the output of the downcounter 724 is applied to the millisecond downcounter register ( millisecs ), which stores the number of 1 millisecond loops counted by the downcounter 724 . in order to account for the specific clock frequency of the scp 706 written to the personal computer in which the programmable timer 722 is installed , the number of clock pulses per predetermined time interval , for example , 1 millisecond , based upon the clock frequency of the scp 706 , is programmed into an scp clock count low byte register ( clkcnt -- l ) and an scp clock count high byte register ( clkcnt -- h ). these registers , ( clkcnt -- l ) and ( clkcnt -- h ), are write once read many ( worm ) registers , which enable the programmable hardware timer 722 to be configured based upon the clock frequency of the particular scp 706 used in the computer system to count a specific time interval . for example , if the clock frequency of the scp 706 is 14 mhz and the desired time interval is , for example , 3 milliseconds , the downcounter 724 would count 14 , 000 clock cycles per millisecond . thus , the scp clock count low byte ( clkcnt -- l ) and scp clock count high byte ( clkcnt -- h ) registers would be set for the hexadecimal equivalent of 14 , 000 or $ 36b0 . these hex values are loaded into the registers clkcnt -- l and clkcnt -- h , index registers at addresses 20h and 21h , respectively . the registers , clkcnt -- l and clkcnt -- h are accessed through index registers cpu -- index and cpu -- value at addresses e6h and e7h , in the manner as discussed above . the value from the registers clkcnt -- l and clkcnt -- h is downloaded to the downcounter 724 by way of a 16 - bit local bus whenever the load input on the downcounter 724 is active . since the zero flag zf goes active whenever the downcounter 724 counts to zero , the zero flag signal zf is fed back to the load input by way of an or gate 726 . such an arrangement causes the data from the clkcnt -- l and clkcnt -- h registers to be loaded into the downcounter 724 every time the downcounter counts down to zero ( i . e ., counts the specified time interval ). for example , if the clock input to the down counter 724 is 14 mhz and the desired time interval is 1 millisecond , the zero flag signal zf would go active every 14 , 000 clock cycles , which , in turn , is applied to load input of the downcounter 724 to cause the value of the registers clkcnt -- l and clkcnt -- h to be loaded into the downcounter each time the downcounter 724 counts to zero . the millisecond downcounter register ( millisecs ) is configured as a downcounter to enable a multiple of the programmed time interval counted by the downcounter 724 to be generated . more specifically , the millisecond downcounter millisecs is initially programmed with a predetermined value , for example , 3 . thus , if the downcounter 724 is configured to generate a active zero flag signal zf every 1 millisecond , the millisecs downcounter will generate a zero flag signal zf at 3 milliseconds . thus , the output of the zero flag signal zf of the downcounter 724 is applied as a clock input to the millisecs downcounter . as such , every time the downcounter 724 counts the specified time interval , for example , 1 millisecond , and generates an active zero flag zf , the millisecs downcounter will be decremented . after the millisecs downcounter counts down to the specified time interval , its zero flag signal zf will go active . the millisecs downcounter can be read by the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] under the control of a low read signal applied to its output enable terminal oe . in order to restart the downcounter 724 every time the millisecond downcounter is loaded with a new value , the load signal of the millisecond downcounter is ored with the zero flag output of the downcounter by way of the or gate 726 . thus , any time the millisecs downcounter is loaded with a new value , the downcounter will be reloaded with the value in the registers clkcnt -- l and clkcnt -- h . in order to prevent the millisecond downcounter millisecs from counting below zero , the output of the zero flag signal zf from the millisecs downcounter is anded with the output of the zero flag signal zf on the millisecond downcounter by way of a and gate 728 and an inverter 730 . thus , while the millisecs downcounter is counting down , the zero flag output signal zf from the downcounter 724 strobes the clock input of the millisecond downcounter millisecs by way of the and gate 728 . once the count of the millisecond downcounter millisecs goes to zero , its zero flag signal zf disables the and gate 726 which , in turn , disables the clock input to the millisecond downcounter millisecs , thus , preventing the millisecond downcounter millisecs from counting below zero . personal computers built to an ibm type at standard have standardized ports for various standardized functions including ports 60h and 64h , used for communication between the cpu and the scp for execution of a standard set of commands , primarily related to keyboard and mouse control coordination . over time , more and more functions are being added to the scp . for example , in portable personal computers , programs to conserve the power of the battery ( known as power management programs ) have been relegated to the scp . in addition , various security functions are also handled by the scp with other than standard commands to the standard cpu / scp command ports 60h and 64h . unfortunately , various software programs , such as the microsoft windows ® program , examine accesses to the various standard ports , such as the cpu / scp standard ports , to verify the accesses to these ports . more particularly , such software programs , in an attempt to guarantee the standard functionality of the ports , limit accesses to the standard ports to standard functions . in so doing , such software creates conflicts with non - standard functionality assigned to such ports . in particular , when non - standard commands are written to standard ports , such as 60h and 64h , the non - standard functions can be excluded . more particularly , in a computer system using an 80 × 86 microprocessor , the operating environment software places the microprocessor into a virtual mode . in such a mode , the i / o port accesses are configured to force a processor exception any time various standard ports , such as 60h and 64h , are accessed . when such a processor exception occurs , the exception handler examines the code at the time of execution and determines if such operations are valid for the particular port according to the industry &# 39 ; s standard definitions . if not , the code is ignored ; preventing non - standard commands from being executed by way of the standard ports . thus , in the case of the power management software normally relegated to the scp , non - standard commands used in conjunction with the power management would not be executed in a windows ® environment . as such , hardware designers are forced into developing completely new subsystems for any non - standard system functionality which includes the allocation of new ports and additional hardware when the existing ports have both the capability and the bandwidth to support such functions . the method in accordance with the present invention solves this problem by allowing the standard ports to be accessed in a computer system through an alternate method of access . as such , standard ports , such as the ports allocated to the cpu / scp communication can be expanded in functionality without additional software or hardware while , at the same , obviating the problem that any non - standard commands will be ignored . more particularly , with reference to fig2 , both the cpu 702 and scp 706 are adapted to access the standardized ports in two ways . in a normal access ( i . e ., standardized commands ), the cpu / scp communicates by way of accesses to the port addresses 60h and 64h . as illustrated above , there are actually two registers at each of the port addresses 60h and 64h . in particular , the scp output buffer ( cpu -- out ), as well as the scp input buffer ( cpu -- data ) are located at port address 60h . the scp output buffer ( cpu -- out ) is a read - only buffer by the cpu 702 to read data written by the scp 704 . the scp input buffer ( cpu -- data ) is a write - only buffer which enables the cpu 702 to write to the scp 704 . thus , writes to the port address 60h write data to the scp input buffer ( cpu -- data ), while reads to the port address 60h enable the cpu to read data written to the scp output buffer ( cpu -- out ). the port address 64h is likewise used for two registers ; the scp status register ( cpu -- stat ) and the scp input buffer ( cpu -- cmd ). the scp status register ( cpu -- stat ) is a read - only register which allows the scp status register ( cpu -- stat ) to be read by the cpu . the scp input buffer ( cpu -- cmd ) is a write - only register which allows the cpu 702 to write commands to the scp 704 . as such , writes to the port address 64h will access the scp input buffer ( cpu -- cmad ), while reads to the port address 64h will allow the scp status register ( cpu -- stat ) to be read . in order to prevent non - standard commands to standard ports 60h and 64h from generating interrupts and not being executed , an alternate access path is provided to the registers stored at the port addresses 60h and 64h within the hui 700 . in particular , as illustrated in simplified form in fig2 , the registers at port addresses 60h and 64h within the hui 700 can be accessed by way of an index register ( cpu -- index ) and a value register ( cpu -- value ) at non - standardized addresses e6h and e7h . in particular , the value written to the index register ( cpu -- index ) selects one of the index registers identified in table xxiv , while the value register ( cpu -- value ) is used for the data for the register selected by the index register ( cpu -- index ). with reference to tables xxxvii and xxxviii , an alternate scp output buffer address ( alt -- cpu -- out ), as well as an alternate scp input buffer address ( alt -- cpu -- data ) are mapped to the same registers as the scp output buffer ( cpu -- out ) and the scp input buffer ( cpu -- data ). similarly , an alternate scp status register address ( alt -- cpu -- state ), as well as an alternate scp input buffer address ( alt -- cpu -- cmd ) are mapped to the same registers as the scp status register ( cpu -- stat ) and scp input buffer ( cpu -- cmd ). by defining the indexed registers ( alt -- cpu -- data ); ( alt -- cpu -- out ); ( alt -- cpu -- cmd ) as the same registers as the standard port addresses 60h and 64h , additional functionality can be added to the ports while obviating the possibility of non - standard commands to such standard ports generating software interrupts and possibly being ignored . more particularly , standard functions , such as keyboard and mouse control , are accessed through normal port accesses addresses , such as 60h and 64h . however , non - standard functionality such as power management can be executed by way of the alternate access paths to allow the scp to perform additional functions . as such , such indexed accesses will not be examined as long as the port addresses are non - standard ports normally not monitored by the operating environment . as mentioned above , known ibm type at pc - compatible personal computers utilize an scp 706 with an internal rom for program storage . it is also known that the bios is stored in a separate memory device . the hui 700 allows both the cpu 702 and the scp 706 to share a common memory device 704 . as such , the bios , as well as the scp code , can be stored in a single memory device ; thus eliminating the need for additional devices . as will be discussed in more detail below , the arbitration scheme is relatively straight forward and prevents the scp 706 from gaining access to the common memory device 704 during periods when the cpu 702 has exclusive control since , during such conditions , the scp 706 is held in reset . full access is provided to both the cpu 702 , as well as the scp 706 , utilizing a time based interleaving method as illustrated in fig2 and described in more detail below . in this method , the scp 706 normally has priority to the common memory device 704 in a shared mode of operation . in order for the scp 706 to gain exclusive control , the cpu 702 may be forced into a wait state by the hui 700 by pulling the input / output channel ready signal iochrdy inactive . in particular , exclusive use of the common memory device 704 can be given to the scp 706 by asserting a cpu excluded signal by way of the scp 706 control of a flash memory register , flash -- grab , at address 43h in the scp register file 714 ; read by the cpu 702 as bit 1 of a flash interface control register flash -- ctrl ; read - only by the cpu 702 . during conditions when the scp has exclusive access of the common memory device 704 , the cpu 702 can gain control by forcing the scp 706 into reset by setting bit 0 of the flash interface control register flash -- ctrl . alternatively , the cpu 702 can gain exclusive control of the common memory device 704 by placing the scp 706 into a reset state by setting bit 0 of the flash interface control register flash -- ctrl . in a shared mode , bits 0 and 1 of the flash interface control register flash -- ctrl are deasserted . turning now to fig2 , a block diagram shows how the hui 700 multiplexes access to the common device between the cpu 702 and the scp 706 . several signals within the control block 720 are conceptually represented in fig2 for clarification to perform the below - described functions . the actual signals are generated within the verilog code ( appendix i ) for the hui 700 . the correlation between the signals identified in fig2 and the actual signals within the verilog code are as follows : memory data output enable 2024 = fd -- oen ; cpu excluded 2030 = cpuexcl ; data output enable 2026 = sd -- oen ; scp data output enable 2028 = scpad -- oen ; scp reset 2022 = scpreset ; and cpu access 2020 = sysaccess . exclusive access by the cpu 702 is required to write to the common memory device 704 . this access is provided by the data multiplexer 718 which multiplexes both the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] and the scp data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ] under the control of a cpu excluded signal 2030 ; available as bit 1 of the flash interface control register flash -- ctrl . as mentioned above , when this bit is set , the cpu 702 has exclusive access to the common memory device 704 to enable the cpu 702 to write to the common memory device 704 . during such conditions , the scp 706 is prevented from writing to the common memory device 704 since the scp is held in a reset state during such conditions . the scp 706 can only write to the common memory device 704 when it has exclusive access . as mentioned above , the scp 706 can gain exclusive access to the common memory device 704 by asserting a cpu excluded signal ( i . e ., setting bit 1 of the flash interface control register flash -- ctrl ). during such a condition , the data multiplexer 718 blocks the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] from the path of the memory data bus fd [ 0 : 7 ]. during shared conditions when both the scp 706 and the cpu 702 are given full access to the common memory device 704 , the common memory device 704 is configured as a read only memory by way of an 8 - bit tri - state device 2014 under the control of a memory data output enable signal 2024 . more particularly , as mentioned above , writes to the common memory device 704 are by way of either the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] or the scp data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ]. these data buses sd [ 0 : 7 ] and scpad [ 0 : 7 ] are multiplexed by the data multiplexer 718 under the control of the cpu excluded signal flash -- ctrl [ 1 ] such that only one or the other of the cpu 702 or the scp 706 can write to the common memory device 704 . in order to enable the cpu 702 and the scp 706 to read the common memory device 704 , an 8 - bit system data latch 2002 and an 8 - bit scp data latch 2004 are connected to the memory data bus fd [ 0 : 7 ]. the q outputs of the system data latch 2002 are connected to the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] by way of an 8 - bit tri - state device 2010 . the tristate devices 2010 are under the control of a system data output enable signal . similarly , the q outputs of the scp data latches 2004 are connected to the scp data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ] by way of an 8 - bit tri - state device 2012 . the tristate devices 2012 are under the control of an scp data output enable signal . data is latched in both the system data latches 2002 and the scp data latches 2004 under the control of a cpu access signal . the cpu access signal provides for interleaved access to the common memory device 704 , as shown in fig2 . whenever the scp 706 is in reset or the cpu access signal is asserted , the common data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] will be latched into the 8 - bit system data latch 2002 . thus , the scp reset signal is ored with the cpu access signal by way of the or gate 2006 , applied to the g inputs of the system data latches 2002 . in order to prevent the scp data latches 2004 from latching data during a condition when the signal cpu access is asserted , the output of the or gate 2006 is inverted by way of an inverter 2008 and applied to the g inputs of the scp data latches 2004 . thus , when the cpu access signal is asserted , data on the memory data bus fd [ 0 : 7 ] will be latched by the system data latches 2002 . similarly , when the cpu access signal is deasserted , data on the memory data bus fd [ 0 : 7 ] will be latched by the scp data bus 2004 . as will be discussed in connection with fig2 , during all modes of operation , the system address bus sa [ 0 : 17 ] and the eighteen bit scp address bus scpa [ 0 : 17 ] are time multiplexed by way of an address multiplexer 716 to access the common memory device 704 via the 18 - bit memory address bus fa [ 0 : 17 ]. the scp address bus scpa [ 0 : 17 ] is formed from the scp multiplexed address / data bus scpad [ 0 : 11 ], concantenated to an scp base address system register scp -- base [ 0 : 7 ] discussed below . as mentioned above , during a shared mode , multiplexing of the common memory device 704 provides for interleaved access to the common memory device 704 by the cpu 702 and the scp 706 . with reference to fig2 , the timing of various control signals , as well as the interleaving of the cpu 702 and scp 706 , accesses are illustrated . the scp clock scpclk , scp state signals scpstate , scp address latch enable scpale and program store enable psen signals are standard control signals for an intel type 8031 / 51 type microprocessor , which may be used as the scp 706 . these signals are described in detail in a handbook entitled embedded microcontrollers and processors , vol . i , copyright 1993 by intel inc ., hereby incorporated by reference . the timing diagram illustrated in fig2 also shows the states of the scp address data bus scpad [ 8 : 11 ] and scpad [ 0 : 7 ], as well as the state of the cpu system access signal described above . in operation , with reference to fig2 , at the falling edge of scp address latch enable scpale , indicating that the scp address is valid , memory control is given to the scp 706 . the scp 706 has control for about 2 . 5 through 3 . 5 scp clock periods , after which time the cpu 702 is given control . the cpu access signal 2020 , used as the select line to the address multiplexer 716 , determines which address is sent to the common memory device 704 . the cpu access signal 2020 is generated as follows . access is granted to the scp 706 as soon as the scp address latch enable signal scpale occurs ( start of an scp cycle ) and switched to the cpu 702 after two rising and one falling edges of the scp clock scpclk are detected . this timing is dictated by scp address latch enable signal scpale timing relative to scp clock scpclk in the 8031 / 51 -- scp address latch enable signal scpale changes anywhere from 25 to 125 nanoseconds after the falling edge of scp clock scpclk , even though the cycle time of the scp clock scpclk is only 70 nanoseconds . note , however , that if it is assumed that the timing of scp address latch enable signal scpale relative to scp clock scpclk is consistent from cycle to cycle , the delay over a single clock period will not present a problem . delays longer than a single clock period are the same as shorter delays from the next clock edge . the situation is believed to be the worst possible would occur if the delay is almost exactly one clock cycle ( approximately 70 nanoseconds ), in which case the sampling of the scp address latch enable signal scpale might catch the transition on one cycle but miss the transition on the next cycle . however , waiting for two rising edges and one falling edge of scp clock scpclk guarantees the worst - case timing will be available to the scp 706 for access . switching , according to the cpu system access signal 2020 , from the scp 706 to the cpu 702 , not only switches the address bus , but also latches the data from the common memory device 704 into latches 2002 and 2004 or the scp 706 data bus since the scp 706 cycle is not complete at the time switching occurs . the interleaved access discussed above is under the control of the interface circuitry illustrated in fig2 . in particular , turning to fig2 , a schematic diagram of the hui 700 address bus interface circuitry is shown for the common memory device 704 . the scp 706 address is concentrated with the highest 6 - bits from a multiplexer 2032 , the middle 4 - bits from a multiplexer 2034 and the lower 8 - bits via latch 2040 . an scp read signal scprd and an scp write signal scpwr are ored by way of an or gate 2038 to provide a select signal for the multiplexers 2032 and 2034 on scp 706 read and write operations . the upper 6 - bits of an scp base register scp -- base , utilized as a page register or pointer ( discussed below ), may relocate and point to the scp 706 address space as an scp pointer , allowing the allocation of 4 kilobytes of code within a 256 kilobyte space associated with the common memory device 704 . alternatively , for data accesses , logic 0s are provided in the upper 6 - bits locating the scp 706 data space in the lowest 4 kilobytes , as explained in conjunction with the password storage . the scp address lines scpa [ 11 : 8 ] defining the middle of the selected bits of the indexed scp 706 address are selectable via multiplexer 2034 providing a decrement 2036 which effectively substitutes 256 bytes as discussed in conjunction with password storage . the full 18 - bit scp address scpa is then multiplexed with system address sa [ 17 : 0 ] from the cpu 702 via multiplexer 2042 under the control of the system access signal 2020 . the multiplexer 2044 further multiplexes the addresses according to cpu exclusive signal 2030 and an scp reset providing the exclusive cpu 702 or scp 706 access to the common memory part 704 , as discussed above . the hui 700 provides non - volatile sector protection allowing a standard electrically erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom ) to be used as the common memory device 704 and utilized as a functional equivalent to a protected &# 34 ; boot block &# 34 ; memory device . in effect , the hui 700 acts as front - end to the common memory device 704 . as such , it captures protected address ranges to block data writes . and , since the hui 700 is hardware strapped , it does not allow software reconfiguration of memory protection . thus , as described below , where the programmable memory provides for global erasure , the hui 700 front - end hardware traps the command , rendering it inoperable . moreover , the software is completely disabled from writing to define non - volatile sectors . in particular , the memory address bus fa [ 0 : 17 ] is compared in a boot block protect decoder 2050 ( fig2 and 26 ), part of the control logic 720 , with a predetermined address range forming the protected boot block . the boot block size bit huicfg -- 1 [ 0 : 3 ] and flash size bit huicfg -- 1 [ 7 ] may be specified in a configuration register huicfg -- 1 [ 0 : 17 ] to define the non - volatile sector . in order to block writes to the protected sector , the output of the comparator 2052 is ored by way of an or gate 2054 with a write enable signal we to create a non - volatile sector . various sector sizes are possible as illustrated in table lxviii . and , several of the bits in the huicfg -- 1 [ 0 : 3 , 7 ] may be configured in hardware with either pull - up or pull - down resistors ( not shown ) to provide any of the sizes shown in the table lxviii . in operation , during a system reset , the hui 700 will read the state of the memory data bus fd [ 0 : 7 ] by way of the scp address / data bus and latch 718 on the falling edge of the reset signal . in particular , hardware configured hui configuration straps register 1 , huicfg -- 1 [ 0 : 7 ] are read . this data can be read by both the cpu and the scp 706 through the indexing scheme described above . the data read from the memory data bus fd [ 0 : 7 ] is used to configure several parameters of the hui 700 interface : ( 1 ) size of boot block to emulate as indicated in table lxviii , ( 2 ) software chip erase sequence to trap , ( 3 ) enable of protection or password addresses in the memory as discussed below and ( 4 ) the size of the memory device 704 . the data latched from the scp 706 address / data bus is not used to directly control the hui , but can be read and used by the cpu 702 or scp 706 software as configured . thus , as described , the hui 700 can be configured to emulate boot block protection to enable memory devices such as the common memory device 704 which do not have built - in boot block protection capability to be used for storage of the boot block protected code non - volatile sector . when the boot block protection feature is enabled , the hui 700 will intercept all writes to the selected upper range of memory , thus rendering the address range as read - only to protect the system boot code . the protected boot block range should start on a 1 kilobyte memory boundary and finish at the top of memory as shown in fig2 . the size ( as defined by table lxviii ) and , therefore , the starting address of the protected range can be determined from the hardware configuration register huicfg -- 1 [ 0 : 7 ] described above . in addition , fig2 also shows 4 kilobytes of scp non - protected areas used for various purposes such as 4 kilobytes of scp code defined by a page register scp -- base ( described below in more detail ), utilized for relocating the scp code . the remaining memory space in the common memory device 704 may be utilized for the bios software . the hui 700 can be configured to monitor and trap various erase commands including the standard japanese electronics device standard ( jedec ), standard &# 34 ; chip erase &# 34 ; command sequence recognized by many electronically programmable memory devices , such as the advanced micro devices am28f10 . the &# 34 ; chip erase &# 34 ; command performs a global erasure command sequence of any memory device in software and , thus , would undermine the non - volatile sectoring described above . to obviate this problem , the hui 700 monitors and traps global erasure command sequences ahead of the common memory device 704 to prevent global erasures which would erase the entire memory 704 including the protected sector . turning now to fig2 , a schematic diagram of the hui 700 data bus interface circuitry is shown which includes a software chip erase trap 2060 ( part of the hui control block 720 ), which monitors the system data bus sd [ 0 : 7 ] and the scp data bus scpad [ 0 : 7 ] for global chip erase command sequences . such command sequences are trapped under the control of an enable signal huicfg -- 1 [ 4 ] from the hui configuration register huicfg -- 1 which enables the software chip erase sequence trap 2060 to enable the hui 700 to intercept global chip erase command sequences before they reach the common memory device 704 . the global chip erase function is initiated by writing the following address and data sequences to the common memory device 704 : ( 1 ) write aah to 5555h , ( 2 ) write 55h to 2aaah , ( 3 ) write 80h to 5555h , ( 4 ) write aah to 5555h , ( 5 ) write 55h to 2aaah , and ( 6 ) write 10h to 5555h ( see fig3 ). the hui 700 recognizes the last three writes , ( 4 ) through ( 6 ) as the trigger for the &# 34 ; chip erase &# 34 ; command and , when this sequence is detected , the erase trap bit huicfg -- 1 [ 4 ], which enables the chip erase trap function , is set , the 10h data in write ( 6 ) is changed to foh data before the memory write pulse n -- fwr goes into its active low state . this has the effect of replacing the &# 34 ; chip erase &# 34 ; command with a &# 34 ; read / reset &# 34 ; command . the trap 2060 ( fig2 ) includes a three - step state machine 2062 ( fig2 ) for tracking the first three bus write cycles of all address / data command sequences to the common memory device 704 . the chip erase trap 2060 , including the state machine 2062 , effectively intercepts global chip erase command sequence and renders it inoperable . in particular , as shown in the command sequence table in fig3 , the first three cycles of a command sequence are used to identify the chip erase function which results from writing aah to address 5555h in the first write cycle , 55h to address 2aaah in the second write cycle and 10h to address 5555h in the third write cycle . if this sequence is detected , the software chip erase trap 2060 ( fig2 ) assumes a global chip erase command sequence . subsequently , the state machine 2062 selects an alternate data path to the multiplexer 2064 to allow the foh data byte , to force a read / reset condition in lieu of a chip erase command . it should be appreciated that the tracking , capture , and subsequent substitution of the command sequences by the hui 700 is applicable to virtually any peripheral device and virtually any command sequences . as such , the hui 700 can be used in multiuser systems to prevent conflicts , inadvertent operations or intentional malicious operations . the hui 700 provides for faster warm booting of a computer system by revectoring system control volatile memory , thus eliminating the need to access the common memory device 704 during such a condition . in particular , computers have several modes of reset in operation . these modes include ( 1 ) reset on power - up ( also referred to as &# 34 ; cold boot &# 34 ;), ( 2 ) reset due to warm boot , and ( 3 ) reset from protected mode operations . each of the three modes has a specific set of requirements depending upon the state of the computer system . the three modes of reset may be viewed as having a hierarchy , however , it should noted that a cold boot , a superset of the warm boot , also includes instructions that can affect the configuration set up by the warm boot subset since a cold boot performs functions not applicable to a warm boot process . for example , on a cold boot , a cold boot vector points to code which , inter alia , initializes the system . in addition , memory is normally , and , in many known systems , the bios is swapped from the top of the memory map to another area of memory . since these functions are both time consuming and do affect program configuration settings of the system , warm boots are known to execute after the system has been operational since many of the functions mentioned above are not necessary during such a condition . in accordance with the present invention , during a warm boot condition , the cpu 702 can directly access a unique code execution vector provided within the hui 700 without having to access the common memory device 704 . the need for memory sharing during the warm boot is , therefore , avoided allowing the scp 706 exclusive access to the common memory device 704 during the warm boot . on warm boot reset , the warm boot vector is not directed to the address 3fffoh in the common memory device 704 as is the cold boot vector . rather , revectoring is provided through the hui 700 on warm boot directly to volatile memory ; thus , eliminating the need to access the common memory device 704 ; greatly reducing the time for such a warm boot process . with reference to fig3 , the basic components of the warm boot revectoring integrated within the hui 700 are illustrated . the hui 700 contains the control logic and warm boot vector file register wboot -- 1 through wboot -- 16 , table xxxvi , within cpu register file 712 at locations 30h through 3fh to support warm boot vectoring . the last 16 bytes of the common memory device 704 , 3fffoh to 3ffffh , are effectively mapped to the warm boot vector registers wboot -- 1 through wboot -- 16 in the cpu register file 712 , the location for the warm boot reset vector . initially , the cpu 702 undergoes a cold boot operation . the warm boot flag of the cpu hui status register , hui -- . stat ( address 28h ) bit 1 &# 34 ; power - up ,&# 34 ; provides the system boot status ; set by the bios during the cold boot sequence . during a warm boot , this bit will remain set so that the bios can refer to the hui status register , hui -- stat to select which of the cold boot or warm boot codes to execute . the 16 bytes of the warm boot vector register file wboot -- 1 through wboot -- 16 are intended to correspond to the uppermost 16 bytes of the common memory device 704 , in particular , addresses 3fffoh through 3ffffh . advantageously , the first warm boot vector is located on a zero boundary allowing the addresses to be indexed with the lower 4 - bits of the address bus . with a 80 × 86 family cpu as the cpu 702 , a 16 byte prefetch is required , however , typically only the first 3 - 6 bytes are used to jump to the boot code . for example , 3 bytes have been used in the boot vector including the e9 op code which is a &# 34 ; jump relative &# 34 ; followed by a 16 - bit offset occupying the next 2 bytes . enabling of the warm boot vector register fie within the hui 700 is accomplished with the warm boot vector register file enable wboot -- en ( address 2fh ). bit 0 in this register is used to enable and disable the warm boot vector fast recovery feature . this bit is write once , read many worm memory which permanently enables or disables warm boot . during a normal warm boot sequence , the cpu 702 will start to fetch data from the top 16 bytes of addressable memory which , in turn , are mapped to the top 16 bytes of the common memory device 704 , requiring accesses to go through the hui 700 . if , however , software already running on the system requires frequent warm boots , a great deal of the time is saved by allowing a warm boot to be controlled out of the cpu register file 712 , obviating the need for memory sharing exchanges through the hui 700 and copying of the bios to volatile memory ; thus providing a faster recovery from a warm boot since during conditions when the hui 700 returns data out of the hui internal cpu register file 712 , there is no need for the cpu to assert input - output channel ready , iochrdy , while waiting for the scp 706 to finish with the common memory device 704 . furthermore , the cpu register file 712 is static random access memory sram instead of the slower programmable read only memory devices utilized for the common memory device 704 . there are two steps to programming the hui 700 for warm boot vectoring . the first step is to load the cpu register file 712 in the hui 700 . this register file is accessed through the cpu system i / o indexing scheme ( described above ). when the warm boot feature is enabled , the byte loaded into index warm boot register , wboot -- 1 , will be returned when the cpu 702 reads data from addresses 3ffffoh for a 256k byte common memory device 704 . the warm boot index register wboot -- 2 will be returned on a system memory read to flash address 3ffff1h , and so on up to the index wboot -- 16 . the second step in programming the hui 700 for warm boot vector fast recovery is to enable the feature and lock the register file 712 by writing a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to bit 0 of the warm boot enable register , wboot -- en . writing a &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to bit 0 of register wboot -- en disables the feature and causes all system memory reads to be taken from the top 16 bytes of the common memory device 704 and , thus , go through the hui 700 unaccepted , as described above . the reset state of the warm boot enable register wboot -- en is &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, i . e ., warm boot vector fast recovery is disabled . the first time that this register is written to after a system reset , the entire file and enable register are locked and cannot be altered thereafter because , as described the register is a write once , read only worm device . thus , it is important that the register file be loaded before the enable register is set . the described locking can only be cleared upon the system reset . since the lock on the warm boot register file ( wboot -- 1 through wboot -- 16 ) can only be cleared on system reset , an update to the top 16 bytes of the common memory part 704 can create an inconsistency with the data stored in the cpu register file 712 , which can only be corrected by a system reset after the update . also , since all 16 bytes of the warm boot register in the cpu register file 712 are locked and enabled together , it is desirable to load all 16 bytes by bios on a cold boot prior to enabling the warm boot feature . the warm boot registers ( wboot -- 1 through wboot -- 16 ) in the cpu register file 712 are enabled upon three ( 3 ) conditions , namely ( 1 ) address bits a4 through a17 being all ones , ( 2 ) warm boot being enabled and ( 3 ) selection of the common memory device 704 . when these three conditions are met , the warm boot vector is substituted by the hui 700 . advantageously , this process is transparent to the user providing an automatic configuration for the warm boot feature . it should be appreciated that the substitution described herein is applicable generally where a transparent or automatic configuration of a computer system is desired . to this end , the 16 bytes set up as the warm boot vector within the cpu register file 712 are more than sufficient for the typical reset vector which , as described , is usually 3 bytes but may be as long as 6 bytes possibly . the additional registers can be used to store system information representing data and configuration information valid only during warm boots , while the same address range could contain similar information valid only during cold boots , thus providing for transparent automatic configuration during boot up procedures . hardware protection of a password or other critical system data is provided by designating a segment of the common memory device 704 as a restricted segment . in the preferred embodiment , the lowest 256 bytes of the common memory device 704 fall may within the restricted segment . all passwords or the critical system data are stored in the lowest 256 bytes of the shared memory device 704 . the circuitry of this invention selectively blocks access by the cpu 702 to the restricted segment . the scp 706 continues to have access to the restricted segment of the common memory device 704 . since the scp can only run programs stored in the common memory device 704 , only programs in the common memory device 704 can control the password or other critical system data stored within the restricted segment of the common memory device 704 . in the preferred embodiment , the protection of critical information can be turned off or on . the protection of critical data is enabled at system boot - up by setting pin 6 of the hui 700 . pin 6 is also used as system address line 5 ( sa5 ). this is accomplished by latching the value on pin 6 at the falling edge of the reset signal . the value is set to a logical 1 by use of a pull up resistor tied to pin 6 , or to a logical 0 by use of pull down resistor on pin 6 . the state of pin 6 at reset is stored in the 6th bit of the hardware configuration strap register 1 ( hwstrap -- 1 ). latching a logical 1 on pin 6 at reset enables protection of critical data , while latching a logical 0 on pin 6 at reset disables the protection of critical data . this allows a system designer to elect to use the present invention or not without changing the design of the hui 700 and preventing software control of this feature . the hardware control of the restricted segment of the common memory device 704 is shown in fig3 . the state of pin 6 at reset is latched in the 6th bit of the hardware configuration strap register ( hwstrap -- 1 ) in the register file 712 . that information is provided to a critical data control circuit 2102 on an enable signal line 2104 . when the cpu 702 addresses the common memory device 704 , the address from the cpu 702 , is first received by the hui 700 on address lines sa [ 0 : 17 ]. a decoder 2108 decodes the signals on the address lines sa [ 0 : 17 ] for an address within the restricted segment of the common memory device 704 . if the decoder 2108 decodes an address within the restricted segment of the shared memory device 704 , it produces a decode signal 2110 to a nand gate 2112 . if critical data protection is enabled and the decoder 704 decodes an address within the restricted segment of the common memory device 704 , the nand gate 2112 provides a not -- locked signal 2114 to and gates 2116 and 2118 . the cpu provides a write -- in signal 2120 to the and gate 2116 . if the not -- locked signal 2114 is active , the write is not locked and the and gate 2116 provides a write -- out signal 2122 to the write enable pin of the shared memory device 704 . if the not -- locked signal 2114 is not active , the write -- out signal is blocked and no write operation is made to the shared memory device 704 . data reads work in the same manner . if the not -- locked signal is active and the cpu provides a read -- in signal 2124 to an and gate 2118 , the and gate 2118 provides a read -- out signal 2126 to the read enable pin of shared memory device 704 . if the not -- locked signal is not active , and gate 2118 blocks a read -- out signal 2126 and no read operation is made to the shared memory device 704 . method to allow a primary cpu to control the relocation of code blocks for subsidiary cpus the hui 700 provides an scp base address register scp -- base , part of the register file 712 , which acts as a page register for address paging . the scp base address register scp -- base is in the i / o address space of the cpu 702 . in the preferred embodiment , the scp base address register scp -- base is an indexed i / o address . one i / o address contains the actual data and another holds an index into a group of indexed i / o addresses . the scp base address register scp -- base is index 26 at i / o address e6 . the data is at i / o address e7 . indexed registers allow the cpu to expand the number of available i / o addresses . the cpu can set the scp base address register scp -- base to any value , thereby determining which section of common memory device 704 , the scp 706 will be able to access . the address relocation circuit 2202 is shown in fig3 . cpu addresses are provided to a mux 2204 on the system bus sa [ 0 : 17 ] provided that the control line cpu access 2020 is set for cpu addressing ; the cpu addresses are unaltered by mux 2204 and directly address shared memory device 704 on real address lines 2210 . however , scp address lines scpa [ 0 : 17 ] are combined with index address lines of the page register scp -- base and are provided to the mux 2204 provided the cpu access 2020 is set for scp addressing , the mux 2204 provides the index address as the higher 6 bits and the scp address as the lower 12 bits to common memory device 704 on real address lines 2210 . index address lines receive their signal from scp base page register scp -- base . since the hui 700 passes 12 bits of the scp address , the scp 706 can address 4096 ( 4k ) bytes . the scp 706 will address the code at the value in the page register as its address 0 and will be able to address the 4096 bytes at and above that address . as an example , if the index register is set to 4096 , the scp will obtain data from the common memory device 704 at real address 4096 as its address 0 . the scp will obtain the data at real address 8191 in the common memory device 704 as its address 4095 . note that in this example , the scp 706 does not address code between addresses 4096 and 8191 in the common memory device 704 . in the preferred embodiment , the scp 706 is an intel 8051 which has separate program and data address spaces . it should be noted that both the program address space and the data address space of the scp 706 can be contained in the same common memory device 704 . hence , relocation of the program address space does not affect addressing of a protected password or other system critical data as described above . while in the preferred embodiment the cpu 702 is controlling access by the scp 706 to the common memory device 704 , the invention can be used in other applications . as an example , an scp 706 can be used for multiple purposes by relocating its code to different areas in the common memory device 704 . the cpu 702 can determine the current function of the scp 706 by changing the page value of the scp &# 39 ; s base register scp -- base . although this embodiment shows two processors , the cpu 702 can control multiple peripheral processors . in the hui 700 , data can be set by firmware which cannot be changed by other applications . this is accomplished with a write - once read - many ( worm ) register 2302 . when the cpu 702 is reset , it is controlled by its firmware and , thus , other application can gain control of the cpu 702 before the firmware gives it control . the circuit shown in fig3 is a worm register that is cleared at system reset . it can be written to only one ( 1 ) time after each system reset . once this worm register 2302 has been written , it cannot be re - written until the cpu 702 is reset again . a system reset is a hardware state occurring only during system power - on . it should not be confused with a cpu reset which will occur also at warm boot . since firmware has control of the system after a reset , the firmware can write to the worm register before relinquishing control of the system . once the worm register has been written to by the firmware , it can not be altered by any other program . the worm register 2302 includes two d - type flip - flops 2304 and 2306 . both flip - flops are set to a logical 0 at system reset . it is understood that there are many structures equivalent to a d - type flip - flop , including dram , which could replace the d - type flip - flop in this embodiment . the worm register 2302 also includes two and gates 2308 and 2310 . when the decoder 2312 decodes the address of the worm register 2302 on address lines sa [ 0 : 17 ], it sends a decode signal 2316 to and gate 2308 . if the worm register is being addressed for a write , write signal 2318 is also active . when the and gate 2308 receives a write signal 2318 and decode signal 2316 , it provides a write signal 2320 to and gate 2310 and flip - flop 2306 . on the next clock , the write signal 2320 will set flip - flop 2306 to a logical 1 . however in the current clock , flip - flop 2306 is a logical 0 , hence its not q output is a logical 1 . when the and gate 2310 receives the inverted output of flip - flop 2306 ( a logical 1 ) and the write signal 2320 , is sent to flip - flop 2304 . the flip - flop 2304 locks the then current data . any attempt to write on a subsequent cycle will result in a logical 0 being sent to flip - flop 2304 from and gate 2310 . the and gate 2310 will block any further write signal to flip - flop 2304 . the worm register 2302 is useful for storing configuration information that should not be altered by user applications . examples include eisa identification numbers , board revision numbers , or firmware revision numbers . the information can only be changed by a change to the firmware . thereafter , the firmware loads the data into the worm register after each power - on . while only the firmware can set the worm register in the preferred embodiment , there are many other uses for a worm register such as a flag to indicate that a system has been tampered with . the hui 700 may be implemented as a 100 pin integrated circuit and , more specifically a toshiba model tc160g application specific integrated circuit ( asic ) which utilizes 0 . 8 micron gate array technology . a pin diagram is illustrated in fig3 . the verilog hardware description logic which describes the hardware within the asic is attached as appendix a . the descriptions for the hui 700 are sorted by category and are provided in table lxxi . table lxxi______________________________________the following representsa pin reference of the hui 700 sorted by category : symbol type name and function______________________________________flash i / ffa [ 17 : 0 ] o flash address . address bus connected to flash memory device . fd [ 7 : 0 ] i / o flash data bus . used to read scp code via scp , or to read / write cpu code ( and write scp code ) via cpu . n . sub .-- frd o flash read . . sub .-- memr qualified by internal register signal , normally connected to flash ` output enable ) ( oe ). n . sub .-- fwr o flash write . . sub .-- memw qualified by internal register signal , normally connected to flash ` write enable ` ( we ). vppen o flash vpp enable . connected to external analog logic which will drive the appropriate programming voltage ( usually 12v ) to the flash device . controlled by writing to an internal register from the system cpu . scp i / fn . sub .-- scpint o scp interrupt . generated whenever keyboard , mouse , or system cpu sends data to scp . scp will read internal register to determine source . n . sub .-- scppse i scp code fetch . similar to . sub .-- scprd , but indicates code rather than data fetch . n . sub .-- scprd i scp read . memory read strobe from scp . n . sub .-- scpwr i scp write . memory write strobe from scp . scpa [ 11 : 8 ] i scp address . system control processor high - order address bus . only bits 8 - 11 are required , since the maximum allowed address space for the scp code is 4k bytes . scpad [ 7 : 0 ] i / o scp address / data . system control processor multiplexed address / data bus . scpale i scp address latch enable . de - mux signal for scp a / d bus . sscpclk i scp clock . maximum frequency 16 mhz ( usually 14 . 3181bmhz ). used to mux flash address / data buses from scp to cpu at appropriate time . scpreset od scp reset . reset signal to the scp , controlled by writing to an internal register from the system cpu . scpia20gate o scp gate a20 . gate a20 signal from scp interface logic . n . sub .-- fastrc o scp rc . reset signal for the system cpu from scp interface logic . serial i / firqkb od keyboard interrupt . activated on receipt transmission from the external keyboard . irqms od mouse interrupt . activated on receipt of a transmission from the external mouse . kbclk i / o keyboard clock ( input ). clock signal from d keyboard . kbdata i / o keyboard data ( input ). data signal from d keyboard . msclk i / o mouse clock ( input ). clock signal from d mouse . msdata i / o mouse data ( input ). data signal from d mouse . systemi / faen i address enable . active level indicates dma cycle in - progress . iochrdy od i / o channel ready . de - asserted whenever an scp cycle is in progress and the system attempts to read ( or write ) the flash memory . n . sub .-- csflsh i rom chip select . system decode of physical rom space ( top 128 / 256k of 4g processor address space ). n . sub .-- iorc i i / o read . system i / o read strobe . n . sub .-- iowc i i / o write . system i / o write strobe . n . sub .-- mrdc i memory read . system memory read strobe . n . sub .-- mwtc i memory write . system memory write strobe . n . sub .-- reset i system reset . restores all registers to default values . sa [ 17 : 0 ] i system address . 80 × 86 main processor address bus . sd [ 7 : 0 ] i / o system data . 80 × 86 main processor data bus . used to read / write the internal registers and the external flash . ______________________________________ pin assignments of the hui 700 by pin number are identified in table lxxii . table lxxii______________________________________pinno . symbol______________________________________ 1 sa0 2 sa1 3 sa2 4 sa3 5 sa4 6 sa5 7 sa6 8 sa7 9 sa810 sa911 sa1012 sa1113 sa1214 sa1315 vss3 . sub .-- 116 sa1417 sa1518 sa1619 sa1720 vdd321 aen22 n . sub .-- reset23 n . sub .-- csflsh24 n . sub .-- mrdc25 n . sub .-- mwtc26 n . sub .-- iorc27 n . sub .-- iowc28 n . sub .-- scprd29 n . sub .-- scpwr30 n . sub .-- scppse31 scpale32 scpad033 scpad134 scpad235 scpad336 scpad437 scpad538 scpad639 scpad740 vss3 . sub .-- 241 vdd1342 scpa843 scpa944 scpa1045 scpa1146 n . sub .-- scpint47 scpreset48 scpclk49 msdata50 msclk51 kbdta 76fd352 kbcix 77fd453 fa0 78fd554 fa1 79fd655 fa2 80fd756 fa3 81vsst57 fa4 82vppen58 fa5 83n . sub .-- fwr59 fa6 84n . sub .-- frd60 fa785n . sub .-- fastrc61 fa886a20gate62 fa987sd063 fa1088sd164 fa1189sd265 fa1290vss66 vss1 . sub .-- 191vdd67 vdd192sd368 fa1393sd469 fa1494sd570 fa1595vss1 . sub .-- 271 fa1696sd672 fa1797sd773 fd098irqms74 fd199irqkb75 fd2100iochrdy______________________________________ the identifications for the input / output buffers for each pin for the toshiba asic are identified in table lxxiii . the naming convention for the pad i / o buffer each pin is identified in the column identified as &# 34 ; pad type &# 34 ; in table lxxiii and identified as follows : table lxxiii__________________________________________________________________________pin / pad definitions ( sorted by pin name ): pin / paddefinitions ( sorted by pin name ) pin pad cap . symbol category no . active type type load enable__________________________________________________________________________a20gate scpi 86 high o bt4 15aen system i / f 21 high i tlcht -- fa0 flash i / f 53 high o bt4r 15fa1 flash i / f 54 high o bt4r 15fa10 flash i / f 63 high o bt4r 15fa11 flash i / f 64 high o bt4r 15fa12 flash i / f 65 high o bt4r 15fa13 flash i / f 68 high o bt4r 15fa14 flash i / f 69 high o bt4r 15fa15 flash i / f 70 high o bt4r 15fa16 flash i / f 71 high o bt4r 15fa17 flash i / f 72 high o bt4r 15fa2 flash i / f 55 high o bt4r 15fa3 flash i / f 56 high o bt4r 15fa4 flash i / f 57 high o bt4r 15fa5 flash i / f 58 high o bt4r 15fa6 flash i / f 59 high o bt4r 15fa7 flash i / f 60 high o bt4r 15fa8 flash i / f 61 high o bt4r 15fa9 flash i / f 62 high o bt4r 15fd0 flash i / f 73 high i / o bd4rtu 15 fd . sub .-- oenfd1 flash i / f 74 high i / o bd4rtu 15 fd . sub .-- oenfd2 flash i / f 75 high i / o bd4rtu 15 fd . sub .-- oenfd3 flash i / f 76 high i / o bd4rtu 15 fd . sub .-- oenfd4 flash i / f 77 high i / o bd4rtu 15 fd . sub .-- oenfd5 flash i / f 78 high i / o bd4rtu 15 fd . sub .-- oenfd6 flash i / f 79 high i / o bd4rtu 15 fd . sub .-- oenfd7 flash i / f 80 high i / o bd4rtu 15 fd . sub .-- oeniochrdy system i / f 100 high od bt24od 85irqkb serial i / f 99 high od bt4od 15irqms serial i / f 98 high od bt24od 15kbclk serial i / f 52 high i / od bd16rstu 10000kbdata serial i / f 51 high i / od bd16rstu 10000msclk serial i / f 50 high i / od bd16rstu 10000msdata serial i / f 49 high i / od bd16rstu 10000n . sub .-- csflsh system i / f 23 low i tlchn -- n . sub .-- fastrc scpi 85 low o bt4 15n . sub .-- frd flash i / f 84 low o bt4 15n . sub .-- fwr flash i / f 83 low o bt4 15n . sub .-- iorc system i / f 26 low i tlchn -- n . sub .-- iowc system i / f 27 low i tlchn -- n . sub .-- mrdc system i / f 24 low i tlchn -- n . sub .-- mwtc system i / f 25 low i tlchn -- n . sub .-- reset system i / f 22 low i tlchn -- n . sub .-- scpint scp i / f 46 low o bt4 15n . sub .-- scppse scp i / f 30 low i tlchn -- n . sub .-- scprd scp i / f 28 low i tlchn -- n . sub .-- scpwr scp i / f 29 low i tlchn -- sa0 system i / f 1 high i tlchtu -- sa1 system i / f 2 high i tlchtu -- sa10 system i / f 11 high i tlchtu -- sa11 system i / f 12 high i tlchtu -- sa12 system i / f 13 high i tlchtu -- sa13 system i / f 14 high i tlchtu -- sa14 system i / f 16 high i tlchtu -- sa15 system i / f 17 high i tlchtu -- sa16 system i / f 18 high i tlchtu -- sa17 system i / f 19 high i tlchtu -- sa2 system i / f 3 high i tlchtu -- sa3 system i / f 4 high i tlchtu -- sa4 system i / f 5 high i tlchtu -- sa5 system i / f 6 high i tlchtu -- sa6 system i / f 7 high i tlchtu -- sa7 system i / f 8 high i tlchtu -- sa8 system i / f 9 high i tlchtu -- sa9 system i / f 10 high i tlchtu -- scpa10 scp i / f 44 high i tlcht -- scpa11 scp i / f 45 high i tlcht -- scpa8 scp i / f 42 high i tlcht -- scpa9 scp i / f 43 high i tlcht -- scpad0 scp i / f 32 high i / o bd4tu 50scpad . sub .-- oenscpad1 scp i / f 33 high i / o bd4tu 50scpad . sub .-- oenscpad2 scp i / f 34 high i / o bd4tu 50scpad . sub .-- oenscpad3 scp i / f 35 high i / o bd4tu 50scpad . sub .-- oenscpad4 scp i / f 36 high i / o bd4tu 50scpad . sub .-- oenscpad5 scp i / f 37 high i / o bd4tu 50scpad . sub .-- oenscpad6 scp i / f 38 high i / o bd4tu 50scpad . sub .-- oenscpad7 scp i / f 39 high i / o bd4tu 50scpad . sub .-- oen scp i / f 31 high 1 tlcht -- scpalescpclk scp i / f 48 high i drvt8 -- scpreset scp i / f 47 high o dbt8od 15sd0 system i / f 87 high i / o bd24rtu 85sd . sub .-- oen system i / f 88 high i / o bd24rtu 85sd1sd . sub .-- oen system i / f 89 high i / o bd24rtu 85sd2sd . sub .-- oen system i / f 92 high i / o bd24rtu 85sd3sd . sub .-- oen system i / f 93 high i / o bd24rtu 85sd4sd . sub .-- oen system i / f 94 high i / o bd24rtu 85sd5sd . sub .-- oen system i / f 96 high i / o bd24rtu 85sd6sd . sub .-- oen system i / f 97 high i / o bd24rtu 85sd7sd . sub .-- oen power 91vefdvdd1 power 67vdd13 power 41vdd3 power 20vppen flash i / f 82 high o bt8 15vss power 90vss1 . sub .-- 1 power 66vss1 . sub .-- 2 power 95vss3 . sub .-- 1 power 15vss3 . sub .-- 2 power 40vsst power 81__________________________________________________________________________ obviously , many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in fight of the above teachings . thus , it is to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically designated above . ## spc1 ##	6
the present invention is an apparatus for use in retail stores or the like . one typical application for the invention is in shoe or sneaker stores , in which hundreds of shoe and / or sneaker designs may be on display at any given time . while the invention will be described with respect to a retail store for shoes and / or sneakers , it will be appreciated that the invention is applicable to any appropriate retail store and to any other appropriate application , including warehouse applications . as shown in fig1 located on the sales floor of the store is a sales computer 2 which is preferably an ibm tm compatible computer with an svga monitor . sales computer 2 is preferably on a novell . sub .™ or other computer network 3 running microsoft windows . sub .™ 95 and is attached via the network to an ibm pc ™ compatible server computer 4 which is preferably located in an area remote from the sales floor . the server computer 4 preferably operates the ms - dos operating system , but may operate using any other appropriate operating system . sales floor computer 2 preferably includes a data entry device , e . g ., a keyboard , track ball , mouse and / or a touch screen , and a video card that enables the display of true color , i . e ., greater than 16 million colors . the aforementioned hardware configuration is not intended to limit the scope of the invention , and those skilled in the art will appreciate modifications thereof . operating on server computer 4 is a database that is preferably programmed in foxpro . sub .™. sales floor computer 2 communicates with the database on server computer 4 via the computer network , and operates its own database also programmed in foxpro . sub .™. while these databases will be described in detail below , the structure of the overall database is not intended to limit the scope of the invention . it is foreseen that databases having different structures could be implemented which perform the same functions as those described herein . it will be appreciated that in addition to the database fields described below , each database may contain other fields which are not part of the invention . as shown in fig2 the database includes a size database which has the fields sku , which is a seven - digit number that is unique to each style of item in the store , receive00 . . . receive14 , and sold00 . . . sold14 , wherein 00 . . . 14 represent the 15 available sizes that have been programmed into the system that are available for each sku . sizes 00 . . . 14 are not literal sizes but are representative of actual sizes that may be determined from a product database and a size conversion database , as discussed below . if a particular item has more than 15 sizes , it will be assigned a separate sku for the additional sizes . it is foreseen that the size database could include literal sizes , if desired . the size database includes the inventory for each item in the store . the inventory for each size of each item may be determined by looking up the sku of the item and by subtracting the number of items sold for a particular size , e . g ., sold00 , from the number of items received for that size , e . g ., receive00 . the product database includes fields for sku , size range , description , vendor code , location and other fields that describe or are otherwise pertinent to each item in inventory . the size range field identifies the actual sizes to which the sizes 00 . . . 14 correspond using the size conversion database , as shown in fig3 . for example , for a particular sku which utilizes size range 01 , size 04 may represent an actual size 3 , whereas for a sneaker using size range 02 , size 04 may represent an actual size 9 . the description field contains a brief description of the item , and the vendor code field contains a vendor number for each vendor , e . g ., nike , reebok , etc . the location field specifies the location of the item in the stockroom . as shown in fig4 in operation , once a customer has selected a sneaker style from the sneaker displays on the sales floor , the customer will show this style to the sales person , who will then determine the size of the customer &# 39 ; s foot . the sales person reads the sku from the selected style and enters this information into sales computer 2 along with the desired size . sales computer 2 accesses the product database to determine the size range used for that sku , accesses the size conversion database to determine the size 00 . . . 14 that corresponds to the customer &# 39 ; s actual size , and accesses the size database to determine whether there is inventory in the store for the selected sneaker style in the desired size . if there is inventory of the selected style , the selected pair of sneakers is retrieved from the stockroom of the store as discussed in more detail below . if the selected size of the selected style is out of stock , an alternative sneaker selection system is activated . as previously discussed , each item in the store includes a 7 - digit sku number that identifies the item . in a preferred embodiment , the first three digits of the sku are referred to as the &# 34 ; class &# 34 ; of the item . all items in the store are categorized into classes by the type of item . table i______________________________________class no . style______________________________________127 men &# 39 ; s running shoe128 women &# 39 ; s running shoe129 children &# 39 ; s running shoe140 men &# 39 ; s high - top basketball shoe150 children &# 39 ; s high - top basketball shoe160 women &# 39 ; s walking shoe170 women &# 39 ; s running shoe200 sandals225 low - top canvas sneakers______________________________________ it will be appreciated that the various classes may be further sub - categorized to any extent desirable . for example , the classes may be sub - categorized by manufacturer . table ii shows a sample of possible class definitions using such categorization . table ii______________________________________class no . style______________________________________120 nike men &# 39 ; s low - top sneaker121 nike men &# 39 ; s high - top sneaker122 nike children &# 39 ; s low - top sneaker123 nike high - top children &# 39 ; s sneaker124 nike women &# 39 ; s walking shoe150 reebok men &# 39 ; s low - top sneaker151 reebok men &# 39 ; s high - top sneaker170 la gear men &# 39 ; s low - top sneaker171 la gear men &# 39 ; s high - top sneaker______________________________________ if desired , the classes of goods could be even further sub - categorized such as by price and product description , e . g . nike men &# 39 ; s low - top white - on - white budget priced , nike men &# 39 ; s low - top white - on - white moderate priced , etc . as shown table iii , a look - up table is included on server computer 4 which groups related classes of goods , i . e ., classes of goods that it is believed a consumer would consider as reasonable alternatives to the other classes in the group . for example , assuming that classes 124 , 134 , and 144 represent white - on - white , black - on - white , and black - on - black men &# 39 ; s high - top basketball sneakers respectively , and class 122 represents men &# 39 ; s white - on - white low top sneakers , the latter three classes could be grouped as alternatives to the first in the look - up table because consumers interested in white - on - white men &# 39 ; s high - top basketball sneakers would likely be interested in black - on - white and black - on - black high - tops and white - on - white low tops as well . assuming that class 140 represent black - on - black men &# 39 ; s low - top sneakers , this class would also be included as an alternative to class 144 , i . e ., black - on - black men &# 39 ; s high - top basketball sneakers , because consumers interested in black - on - black men &# 39 ; s high - top basketball sneakers would likely be interested in black - on - black low - tops as well . other classes of goods , e . g . women &# 39 ; s walking shoes , sandals , children &# 39 ; s high - top , children &# 39 ; s low - top , etc ., are similarly grouped . table iii______________________________________class no . alternative classes______________________________________124 122 , 134 , 144144 124 , 134 , 140______________________________________ once a size and style have been selected by the customer , and it has been determined that the selected item is not in stock , sales floor computer 2 or server computer 4 searches the lookup table of alternative classes , which is preferably a foxpro . sub .™ database , to determine alternative styles for the customer &# 39 ; s selection . the alternative styles that are displayed may be determined using any desired search criteria , such as the vendor . in a preferred embodiment , only items from the same vendor are displayed as alternatives . to perform such a search for alternative items , the computer accesses the inventory database using the sku for the selected item , and determines the vendor code for the item , which represents the name of the vendor of the item . the computer then uses the class number for the selected item and determines related classes from the look - up table . using the inventory database , the computer then searches for those items in the same class as the selected item with the same vendor code as the selected item and for those items in the alternative classes that have the same vendor code . the resultant list of items is sorted by price . the sorted list of alternative items appears on the sales floor computer 2 with the cursor positioned nearest to the price of the selected item that was out of stock . thus , what appears on the sales floor computer is a list of alternative styles by the same vendor sorted by price . stored on a mass storage device 10 on server computer 4 , in jpeg format , is an image of each item for sale in the store . mass storage device 10 may be a magnetic disk , magnetic tape , optical media , or any other appropriate storage medium . the video images may be compressed using any appropriate compression software , if desired . using the data input device on the sales floor computer , e . g ., mouse , touch screen , etc ., the user may browse the alternative styles listed on the computer screen and view each style . sales floor computer 2 accesses server computer 4 to retrieve and display an image of the selected item . in a preferred embodiment , the server computer sorts the alternative styles so that those styles displayed are from the same manufacturer , of the same size , in the same class or related classes , and in the same price range . if desired , the system may be programmed with a preferred or alternative vendors and / or a preferred price so that alternative styles listed are not necessarily from the same manufacturer and are not necessarily in the same price range as the selected item . also , if desired , styles from any vendor may be displayed , and these may be required to be in the same class / related class and / or in the same price range . the system may also be programmed with , or may prompt the user for , a secondary vendor to search in addition to the vendor of the style that was out of stock . it will be appreciated that various alternatives exist as to how the alternative styles are sorted and / or displayed . as discussed above , the alternative style selection system is activated only if a selected style is out of stock . if the selected style is in stock , a request database is accessed which includes fields for request number , sku , vendor code , size requested , salesperson , status , date , request time , location , price , time delivered , time returned and time sold . when an order for a particular style is entered into sales floor computer 2 by a sales person , information on the sku , size requested , and salesperson are entered into the computer . using this information , the order is assigned a request number , and the request database is updated with the information that the sales person entered and other information from the inventory database for the item ordered . an order or pick ticket is printed at a stockroom computer . a typical pick ticket , as shown in fig5 includes the salesperson , i . e ., beverly p ., the name of the vendor , i . e ., nike , inc ., which is derived from the vendor code , the location , i . e ., i - 44 - 45 , the sku , the size requested , i . e ., 13 , the date , the request time , and the request number , i . e ., 491570 . this information is all stored in the request database . a stock person takes the pick ticket and retrieves the desired item . the stockroom is equipped with a scanning computer 6 , preferably an ibm pc . sub .™ compatible computer equipped with a bar code scanner 8 , such as the metrologic . sub .™ ms700 or the symbol technologies . sub .™ ls9100 . before delivering the ordered item to the sales floor , the stock person scans the bar code on the pick ticket , which updates the time delivered field . if desired , each stockroom worker may be assigned an id number or their own computer , so that the computer stores the id of the stock worker in a database . in this manner , the duration between the request time and the time delivered may be recorded and may be used to measure the productivity of the individual stock person based upon , for example , the average duration that it takes for the worker to retrieve an ordered item . when the item is either sold or returned to the stockroom , the request number is scanned again , at which time the time returned or time sold is recorded in the request database . if the item is sold , the size and inventory databases are updated to reflect the sale . the request database also includes a status field which may be either 01 , to indicate that an item has been requested , 02 to indicate that a pick ticket has been printed , 03 to indicate that an item has been delivered , 04 to indicate that an item has been returned , 05 to indicate that an item is out of stock , or 06 to indicate that an item has been sold . the status for each item is updated each time the status changes . for example , once a pick ticket has been generated for a requested item , its status will change from 01 to 02 . as shown in fig6 a request status report menu may be accessed by the store manager from which a number of different types of reports may be generated using the request database on the various aspects of the operation of the sales floor and stockroom . generally speaking , each of the reports described herein may be generated for any desired period of time . fig7 shows a report that may be generated showing the items that were requested during any desired time frame . as indicated above , when an item is out of stock the alternative style selection system is activated . nonetheless , when the initial request for the item out of stock is entered into the computer , this request is recorded in the request database . in this manner , customer interest in out - of - stock items may be recorded . therefore , even though the size database indicates that an item is out of inventory , the items requested report ( fig7 ) will indicate customer interest in such items for cross - checking , ordering and inventory control purposes . fig8 shows an items delivered report . normally , items that are delivered should be either returned or sold within a period of less than one hour or some other predetermined period . the del . age column in this table indicates the amount of time elapsed since the item was delivered . a store manager reviewing this report and seeing too large an elapsed time in the del . age column for a particular item would attempt to locate the item on the sales floor , since it may have been misplaced or shoplifted . the del . lapse column indicates the amount of time that it took the requested item to be delivered , which is useful to ensure a prompt response to customer requests . fig9 shows an items returned report in which the return lapse column indicates the amount of time that the requested item was on the sales floor . fig1 shows an items sold report which details the items that were sold during a selected time period . if desired , the store manager may wish to gauge customer interest in particular items by reviewing the number of requests for a particular item by sku . fig1 shows a requests list searched by sku report which details the request activity for a particular sku , and the outcome of the request , e . g ., sold , returned , etc . fig1 and 13 are reports that detail the productivity of the sales force . fig1 shows a sales person report , which details the sales of an individual sales person for a selected period of time . fig1 shows a comparison of all of the sales persons and includes , amongst others , columns for total items requested ( tl . req . ), quantity sold ( qty . sold ), and ratio ( ratio of sales to requests ). the ratio field shows how effective the sales person is at converting requests to sales . fig1 shows a time of requests analysis report and fig1 shows a time of sales analysis report . these reports outline the number of requests and the number of sales made per hour for each day of a selected week . the content of these reports is useful for determining whether staffing is proper for each time period ( e . g ., the number of people working in the store should reflect the quantity of requests in each time period ), and , if many requests are received in the opening or closing hours of the store , whether the store hours should be extended ( or reduced if a low volume of request is received ). it will be appreciated that the particular database structure and the particular reports described herein are not intended to limit the scope of the invention since other database structures may be implemented which perform functions identical to those described herein , and different types of reports may be generated using the databases described . more generally , although the present invention has been described in detail with respect to certain embodiments and examples , variations and modifications exist which are within the scope of the present invention as defined in the following claims .	6
the circuit arrangement in fig1 illustrates a principal embodiment of the invention . the purpose of the drawing is to reflect the essential idea of the invention . it is explicitly noted that fig1 merely illustrates an exemplary embodiment for the realization with the means in accordance with the invention , which naturally implies other circuit arrangements also , which essentially are structured the same but have a different circuit configuration . the exemplary embodiment illustrated in fig1 includes a microcomputer 1 for generating a pulse - width modulated signal , a system having an integrated logic 2 , a semiconductor component 3 , and an illuminating device 4 . the microcomputer 1 includes an oscillator 5 as a time basis for clock generation . both pulse - width modulated signals ( pwm ) are thereby generated on the same time basis . by way of the frequency generated in oscillator 5 , a first pulse - width modulated signal 6 for the locator illumination , and a second pulse - width modulated signal 7 for the function illumination are generated in microcomputer 1 . in addition , the microcomputer 1 includes an interface with outputs 8 , through which the operator is able to alternately switch the illuminating device 4 between a locator illumination and a function illumination . in order to further improve the comfort level and for tuning the brightness of illuminating device 4 , a photo - sensitive sensor 9 is connected to microcomputer 1 , whereby the use of an incident light sensor with signal processing is preferred . with the photo - sensitive sensor 9 , the brightness of a function illumination can be adaptively adjusted to the ambient brightness , for example . such a photo - sensitive sensor 9 is practical , for example , when the control element , in which the illuminating device 4 is integrated , is exposed to direct incident sunlight . when the function illumination is turned on , direct incident solar radiation can make it very difficult for the operator of a control element in a motor vehicle to detect the function illumination . in this case , an adaptive post - adjustment of the brightness of the illuminating device 4 with the incident light sensor 9 can be performed to make the selected function recognizable to the operator . connected downstream of the microcomputer 1 is the system 2 with an integrated logic . in this exemplary embodiment with the illustrated circuit arrangement , system 2 is formed of an and gate 10 and an or gate 11 , via which the two signals 6 , 7 , as well as the output signal for the operator control 8 are linked to the input signal of the semiconductor component 3 . the illuminating device 4 is wired via the semiconductor component 3 . in turn , the illuminating device 4 is connected to the electrical distribution system of the vehicle , for example , to clamp 30 , on the one hand , and to the semiconductor component 3 on the other hand so that in an on position , the illuminating device 4 can emit light l . as an option , a series resistor 12 can be inserted upstream of the illuminating device 4 . depending on the semiconductor component 3 used , a voltage regulator 13 can be inserted in the supply line between clamp 30 in the electrical supply system in the vehicle and illuminating device 4 . if , for example , the semiconductor component 3 used is a semiconductor switch , for example , a transistor , a voltage regulator 13 in the supply line to the illuminating device 4 can be provided in order to eliminate voltage variations of the electrical supply system of the vehicle at clamp 30 . if a semiconductor current source 3 is used , the voltage regulator 13 is not needed ; merely a series resistor 13 can be inserted as an option . from the clock pulse generated by oscillator 5 , which in addition can be split if necessary , a pwm signal 6 corresponding to the locator illumination is generated in the microcomputer , and is transmitted as voltage u s to the or connective 11 of the logical system . in fig2 , a pwm signal u s corresponding to the locator illumination is illustrated in time progression . if only the locator illumination is activated , a current i led for illuminating device 4 is adjusted via the or gate by the pwm signal 6 , or voltage u s , via the semiconductor component 3 . the time - progressive course of current i led up to instant t 1 is illustrated in a diagram in fig2 . a second pwm signal 7 for the function illumination is generated via oscillator 5 in microcomputer 1 . the time - progressive behavior of generated voltage u f for the function illumination is also illustrated in fig2 . the logical and gate 10 is subjected to voltage u f for the function illumination on the one hand , and is connected to an output 8 of the microcomputer 1 on the other hand . if the operator of a motor vehicle activates a control device , which up to instant t 1 was operating a locator illumination , the corresponding output of microcomputer 1 is subjected to a voltage u z via interface 8 , and thus , two voltages are present at the inputs of and connectives 10 at instant t 1 so that at its output , the and connective 10 also generates a signal . with this signal at the output of and connective 10 , the locator illumination signal u s is overwritten by the function illumination signal u f with the assistance of or gate 11 . as is shown in fig2 , the illuminating device 4 is subjected to a current i led , which corresponds with the behavior of the voltage for function illumination u f . as a result of the longer turn - on time of the illuminating device 4 , which in particular can also be an led , brighter luminosity and thus a display as function illumination is obtained . the diagram in fig2 illustrates the adjustment of the brightness of the illuminating device 4 solely via the duty cycle . however , the brightness of illuminating device 4 can also be determined by the value of the rectangular current flowing through illuminating device 4 . the concept of using an identical current for locator and function illumination has the advantage that nonlinearities in the control , which can occur due to temperature fluctuations , for example , are thus avoided . in fig3 , the concept is shown using a current commutation . at instant t 1 , a signal u z is sent to the logic , also via output 8 , and likewise , a switch is made between locator illumination and function illumination until instant t 2 is reached , at which time another switch is made from the function illumination to the locator illumination . in both figures , instant t 2 is equal to the instant , when the operator again activates the control element , and the function is turned off . in fig3 , not only is the duty cycle of current i led flowing through illuminating device 4 altered , but the current value is also increased . it is thus possible to utilize the brightness of the illuminating device 4 , that is , its adjustability , across the entire area . in the concept of current commutation , current i led varies at a ratio of about 3 : 1 to 10 : 1 . preferably , the current commutation is adjusted to a ratio of 5 : 1 . the current flow during the locator illumination is thereby about 5 ma and 25 ma . the adjustment of the current commutation ratio can also be controlled via the photo - sensitive sensor 9 , for example . signal u z , with which the switch between locator and function illumination of the illuminating device 4 is made , can be tapped off directly at microcomputer 1 , or , if a very large number of illuminating devices are used in a control device , in which case a very large number of outputs would have to be provided at microcomputer 1 , a shift register 14 can be connected to microcomputer 1 . it is not mandatory to use a shift register 14 for this purpose . a demultiplexer , a bit - addressable register , or a scaler with or without pickup register can also be used . the register 14 would then have a corresponding number of outputs , which in turn would be separately connected to the input of a separate and gate . each and gate 10 would then be also subjected to voltage u f for the function illumination , as is illustrated in principle in fig1 for an led . thus , to each output of the and gate , a corresponding input of a separate or gate is linked . each or gate 11 simultaneously comprises a second input for voltage u s of the locator illumination . depending on the number of illuminating devices 4 used , a corresponding number of logical units 10 , 11 , and also semiconductor components 3 are thus available so that each illuminating device 4 can be controlled separately . it goes without saying that not all possible circuit concepts can be described here ; however , it is particularly noted that for system 2 , for example , a discrete logic , or a diode network , or a programmable logic can be used . to increase the resolution of the locator illumination , only every x th cycle of the locator illumination signal u s can be enabled for activation . for this purpose , an external circuitry comprised of one , or a plurality of , bi - stable scanning stages or dividers are used , which respond to each rising edge of the locator illumination signal u s , for example , and after x of such events in one cycle , either enables or blocks the locator illumination signal u s via a gate circuit . it is conceivable , for example , to use an and gate for this purpose . this circuit arrangement can also be integrated in a programmable logic or in an application - specific integrated circuit ( asic ). however , in this case , the cycle duration for the function and the locator illumination signals u f , u s , has to be increased by the factor x so that a visible flickering of the locator illumination , which starts at about 80 hz , is avoided . to provide display contrast even with incident light , the photo - sensitive sensor 9 is integrated in the surface of the dash board in a suitable location , for example , where there is no control knob shading . via the microcontroller 1 , the duty cycle of the pwm signals u s , u f , can then be adjusted to incident light by way of a correction table or the like , thus adjusting the illuminating device 4 to a higher brightness . with a similar measure , the brightness can also be corrected , depending on the temperature of illuminating device 4 . for example , a correction may be required in the event that the ambient temperature is increasing , or when the components heat up due to current - generated heat . optimally , a temperature sensor can also be connected to the microcomputer . it is essential for the invention to make it possible to realize the locator and the function illumination via one single illuminating device 4 each by using the suggested circuit arrangement of the present invention . furthermore , it is possible to provide , in combination with a freely rotatable control knob , personalized operation . if the motor vehicle is used by several people , for example , it is possible that after the start of the motor vehicle , or during the operation thereof , a personalized adjustment , including the display of the individual functions of the motor vehicle , can be preprogrammed . 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
the invention consists of a judicious choice of the design of the non - circular blank , optimised in two steps : a first step for compensating for the earing properties according to the prior art : it consists of compensating for the effect of the earing properties of the metal by varying the blank diameter according to the orientation thereof with respect to the rolling direction , typically , and schematically , by increasing the radius of the blank along the directions corresponding to hollows on the cup profile , due to the earing properties of the metal during the first deep drawing step , and reducing same along the directions corresponding to ears or bumps on said profile . such a typical design is described perfectly particularly in the article “ convolute cut - edge design for an earless cup in cup drawing ” by r . e . dick , j . w . yoon and f . barlat , cp778 volume a , numishet 2005 . a second step during which at least four ears beyond and from said perimeter are added , by increasing the radius of the blank in the zones beyond the blanks with no additional ears and inside the corresponding hexagon , along four symmetrical directions with respect to the rolling direction , as indicated in fig3 ( zones f , g , h and i ). more specifically , if the metal strips from which each blank is taken is split virtually into two identical regular hexagons wherein two opposite sides are substantially perpendicular to the rolling direction , thus forming a plane compact hexagonal system , as shown in fig2 , the four ears are added beyond and from said perimeter , in the zones of the hexagon left free , either wherein the primary axis forms an angle respectively of substantially 35 °, 145 °, 215 ° and 325 ° with the rolling direction , as shown in fig3 , each having a relative height of 0 . 3 to 0 . 8 % with respect to said initial concentric circle , and a maximum width in view of the space available , or typically corresponding , at the mid - height of said ear , to a minimum angular sector of substantially 25 ° having the centre of the blank as the vertex thereof . more specifically , the typical width at mid - height is equal to the length of the segment perpendicular to the radius joining the centre of the blank and the vertex of the ear , and defined by the intersection of the ear with a sector having an angle of substantially 30 ° from the centre of the blank . the applicant observed that this optimisation had a very repetitive effect of minimising the risk of defects known to those skilled in the art as “ earing ” and folds , in order to prevent any breakage during subsequent ironing . in the details thereof , the invention will be understood more clearly using the examples hereinafter , which are however not limiting in nature . a type 3104 alloy ingot was cast by vertical continuous casting . it was scalped and then homogenised at a temperature of approximately 580 ° c . for approximately 3 hours before undergoing hot rolling followed by cold rolling up to the final thickness of 0 . 264 mm i . e . the h19 metallurgic state . “ cups ” were produced from this sheet with a cup deep drawing punch diameter of 88 . 9 mm using blanks having a plate profile according to the variants hereinafter , all cut by laser : variant 1 corresponds to a constant blank radius of 69 . 3 mm as represented with a solid line in fig4 , i . e . a circular blank without any optimisation . variant 2 corresponds to a so - called “ optimal ” blank , i . e . compensating “ perfectly ” for the earing properties of the metal , according to a method known to those skilled in the art , such as that mentioned above reported in the article “ convolute cut - edge design for an earless cup in cup drawing ” by r . e . dick , j . w . yoon and f . barlat , cp778 volume a , numishet 2005 . it is represented in said fig4 by a dotted - line curve . variant 3 corresponds to a blank according to the invention , designed by adding to variant 2 above four ears at 35 °, 145 °, 215 ° and 325 °, having a relative height equal to 0 . 35 % of the radius of said variant 2 and a mid - height width corresponding to a sector of 30 °. it is represented in fig5 by a continuous - line curve with added x patterns . variant 1 is still represented therein with a solid line and the so - called optimal blank according to the prior art with dotted lines as in fig4 . variant 4 corresponds to a blank according to the invention , designed by adding to variant 2 above four ears at 35 °, 145 °, 215 ° and 325 °, having a relative height equal to 0 . 57 % of the radius of said variant 2 and a mid - height width corresponding to a sector of 30 °. it is represented in fig6 by a continuous - line curve with added x patterns . variant 1 is still represented therein with a solid line and the so - called optimal blank according to the prior art with dotted lines as in fig4 . using these four blank variants , we produced cups by deep drawing with a deep drawing punch diameter of 88 . 9 mm for a mean cup height of 32 mm . fig7 shows the profile curves of the cups obtained using the 4 blank variants : the solid - line curve represents the profile of the cups obtained with a uniform circular blank having a radius equal to 69 . 3 mm . the dotted - line curve represents the profile of the cups with a so - called “ optimal ” non - circular blank according to the prior art . the curve with x patterns represents the profile of the cups with an optimised non - circular blank according to the invention with 4 ears at 0 . 35 % according to variant 3 . the curve with dots represents the profile of the cups from an optimised non - circular blank according to the invention with 4 ears at 0 . 57 % according to variant 4 . it is clearly seen therein that the so - called “ optimal ” blank according to the prior art ( dotted - line curve ) compensates for the earing properties of the metal since the amplitude of the profile curve falls from 0 . 9 mm approximately to less than 0 . 2 mm . on the basis of the optimised profiles according to the invention , the 4 additional ears are clearly visible on the profile curves with x patterns and with dots . the difference in height of the additional ears is correctly correlated with the difference in height of the initial ears . it is also observed that the height of the artificial ears , in the case of the ear profile at 0 . 57 % ( curve with dots ), largely exceeds the height of the ears associated with the earing properties ( solid - line curve ) and joins same also in the case of the ears at 0 . 35 % ( curve with x pattern ). in this way , the risk of seeing the emergence of a 2 - ear system , which is more susceptible to the “ earing ” phenomenon , is clearly reduced , including with respect to case corresponding to the dotted curve of the optimisation according to the prior art , but also , negative values ( hollows of upper cup profile ) are not recorded .	1
fig1 is an illustration of a physician wearing a stethoscope of the present invention showing the position of the ear piece 10 attached to the metal tube portion 11 , which connects to plastic lumen 12 . fig2 shows a close up cutaway view of the ear 4 and ear canal entrance 3 with ear piece 10 ( of fig1 ) in position . note the distortion of ear piece 10 &# 39 ; s ear tip portion 20 at the entrance of the ear canal 3 . this is normal for soft ear tips to affect proper sealing of the ear tip 20 to the ear canal entrance 3 . note also the angle of entry of the ear piece 10 relative to the horizontal plane . this entry angle ( in the vertical plane of fig2 which is parallel to the xz plane of fig3 ) can vary depending on the ear canal 3 entrance variations . fig3 is a diagram of the top view of the physician &# 39 ; s head 1 showing ear pieces 10 ( of fig1 and 2 ) in place . axes x and y ( in a horizontal plane ) are clearly shown in fig3 , whereas the vertical z axis is perpendicular to the plane of fig3 . note that the ear piece 10 is oriented ( as is typical ) about 10 degrees off the y axis ( in the xy plane ) towards the back of the physician &# 39 ; s ear 4 and thus his head 1 . this angle ( in the horizontal xy plane ) is not the angle discussed with reference to fig2 ( fig2 is in a plane parallel to the xz plane of fig3 ) but is another angle . since the ear canal 3 is not perfectly round and the ear tip 20 is deformed in the canal 3 , it is evident that the ear tip 20 needs to be free of movement and to sit in its position during use , while the body of the ear piece 10 with its tube 11 move both rotationally ( typically 0 - 50 degrees from chest to top of head or so ) about the earpiece axis and tangentially off axis some 5 to 10 degrees or so . this is limited freedom of motion is achieved in accordance with the present invention . fig7 illustrates an exemplary , typical stethoscope which includes an embodiment of the inventive ear pieces 10 ( also shown in above - described fig1 - 3 ). the stethoscope comprises a head piece ( comprising two ear pieces 10 mounted on sound tubes 11 ), a tube assembly ( hollow flexible plastic lumens 12 , transition 13 , and lumen 14 ), and chest piece 15 . sound tubes 11 are over molded with lumens 12 . the two lumens 12 join in a “ y ” transition 13 which then tapers to a single lumen 14 . the single lumen 14 finally fastens to the chest piece 15 which is used for detecting body sounds by the physician . in some embodiments , the invention is a head piece ( e . g ., the stethoscope head piece of fig7 , or another stethoscope head piece , or audio headphones , or a telephone headset , or another non - stethoscope head piece ) including at least one ear piece designed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . fig8 shows a complete ear piece assembly 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention . it comprises a soft ear tip 20 , a main body 22 and a rear cover section 25 . rear cover section 25 is rigidly fastened to sound tube 11 . other parts of assembly 10 are not visible externally . fig9 is a half sectional view of assembly 10 of fig8 , showing the internal parts of the assembled ear piece 10 . fig1 shows the parts of fig9 in an exploded view . referring to fig9 and fig1 , the structure of the ear piece 10 is shown . the entire assembly comprises the following : sound tube 11 , rear cover section 25 ( through which sound transducer vent hole 32 extends , as shown in fig1 ), sound transducer 24 ( with wires 31 attached to transducer terminals 30 ), and gasket 23 . optionally , transducer 24 is omitted . additionally , the assembly of fig9 and 10 includes ball joint unit 28 ( with central through hole 26 ), ear tip 20 , and main body 22 . optionally , a hole restrictor plug 29 is mounted in hole 26 to modify bass response of sound transducer 24 . hole restrictor plug 29 is generally not used if the speaker ( sound transducer ) 24 is omitted as in the case of a passive acoustic stethoscope . at least one hole 32 is formed through the rear cover section 25 if a speaker is used . this is for purposes of back sound pressure venting . this is standard practice in the art and will not be shown in any of the other drawings although it may be present . during assembly , the sound tube 11 is inserted and bonded into rear cover section 25 , while wires 31 are passed through rear cover section 25 and sound tube 11 . then , sound transducer 24 is fitted to the front portion of cover section 25 . now ball joint unit 28 and gasket 23 are fitted against the front side ( the side facing right in fig1 ) of cover section 25 . next , all these are then inserted into rear section of main body 22 as shown by the dotted line and arrow facing right in fig1 . finally , ear tip 20 is inserted onto the protruding ball of ball joint unit 28 . preferably , spring clip 21 is positioned around ear tip 20 as shown , for increasing ear tip 20 &# 39 ; s capability to remain in a held position against unit 28 &# 39 ; s ball portion . as mentioned before the complete unit is shown in fig9 . fig1 and 12 illustrate the off axis movement of the ear tip 20 . the off axis pivoting movement of the ear tip 20 can be in the up direction , as shown in fig1 , or in the down direction , as shown in fig1 . note that the proximal end portion ( shroud section ) of main body 22 defines a tubular cavity in which ear tip 20 can rotate (“ on axis ”) or pivot (“ off axis ”), but that the shroud section limits ear tip 20 &# 39 ; s off axis movement at point 40 in fig1 and at point 42 in fig1 . note also that ear tip 20 has a large diameter portion , and that the shroud section of main body 22 is configured to limit off axis angular movement of ear tip 20 relative to body 22 by engaging ear tip 20 &# 39 ; s large diameter portion . the range of pivoting motion of ear tip 20 ( relative to the ear piece assembly &# 39 ; s longitudinal axis , labeled “ x ” in fig1 and 12 ) is limited to approximately ± 10 degrees ( the absolute magnitude of angle θ in fig1 and 12 , and also in fig1 , 22 and 24 , is approximately 10 degrees ). allowing the ear tip 20 limited freedom to move ( pivot ) off axis and yet not too far so as to be cumbersome to insert into the ear canal ( or to rub off , etc .) is a key feature of a class of embodiments of the present invention . fig1 shows the internal structure of a second embodiment ( ear piece 100 ) of the present invention . the entire assembly 100 comprises the following elements : sound tube 11 , a rear cover section ( corresponding to rear cover section 25 of fig1 ), a sound transducer and gasket ( corresponding to transducer 24 and gasket 23 of fig1 ), ball joint unit 128 ( with a central through hole ), ear tip 320 , and main body section 122 . ear piece 100 of fig1 is similar to ear piece 10 of the first embodiment , but with its ball joint unit 128 having a hollow protrusion 129 ( from its proximal end ), said protrusion having a proximal opening 126 . the ear tip 320 has also been provided with a larger opening 130 ( larger than the corresponding opening of ear tip 20 of fig1 ) to allow room for protrusion 129 to act as an off axis limiter for ear tip 320 . the main body section 122 can now be shorter in length or remain the same ( relative to main body section 22 of fig1 ). in the fig1 embodiment , the off axis motion limitation is provided by both the main body section 122 and the protrusion 129 . the proximal end portion ( shroud section ) of main body section 122 defines a tubular cavity in which ear tip 320 can rotate (“ on axis ”) or pivot (“ off axis ”), but the shroud section limits this off axis movement ( e . g ., at point 146 in fig1 ). as shown in fig1 , protrusion 129 also limits the off axis movement of ear tip 320 ( e . g ., at point 46 in fig1 ). the range of off axis pivoting motion of earpiece 320 ( relative to the ear piece assembly &# 39 ; s longitudinal axis , labeled “ x ” in fig1 ) is limited to approximately ± 10 degrees ( the absolute magnitude of angle θ in fig1 is approximately 10 degrees ). fig1 , 16 , and 17 show various configurations of the ear tip included in various embodiments of the invention . fig1 shows ear tip 20 ( also shown in fig9 and 10 ) with outer ( proximal ) opening 50 , inner opening 51 , partially spherical ball joint socket opening 52 ( whose proximal side tapers toward opening 51 ), and a distal opening 53 ( defined by angled entry surface 54 ) for receiving a ball joint . ear tip 20 will typically be made of a soft material such as silicone so as to deform when placed into the ear canal . because it is soft it is prone to falling off if handled roughly . to assist retention on an earpiece ball joint , tip 20 has a slot for receiving a split spring metal collar or hard plastic ring 21 which may be round in cross section . fig1 shows an ear tip 120 with outer opening 60 , inner opening 61 , partially spherical ball joint socket opening 62 ( whose proximal side tapers toward opening 61 ), and a distal opening 63 ( defined by angled entry surface 64 ) for receiving a ball joint . this ear tip 120 will typically be made of a soft material such as silicone so as to deform when placed into the ear canal . because it is soft it is prone to falling off if handled roughly . to assist retention on an earpiece ball joint , tip 120 has a slot for receiving a split spring plastic or metal collar 121 which is rectangular in cross section . fig1 shows an ear tip ( 220 and 221 ) with outer opening 70 , inner opening 71 , partially spherical ball joint socket opening 72 ( whose proximal side tapers toward opening 71 ), and a distal opening 73 ( defined by angled entry surface 74 ) for receiving a ball joint . portion 220 of this ear tip will typically be made of a soft material such as silicone so as to deform when placed into the ear canal . the ear tip of fig1 is a two part mold with a proximal portion 220 and a distal portion 221 ( molded of a harder plastic material than is portion 220 ) to provide better holding on an earpiece ball joint . fig1 , 19 , and 20 show various configurations of the ear tip distal openings 73 , 83 and 93 of ear tips 420 , 320 , and 220 / 221 , respectively . referring to fig1 , the preferred diameter of the partially spherical ball joint socket opening 82 of ear tip 420 should generally be of the same diameter as the ball of the ball joint unit 28 . the smallest - diameter portion of opening 83 should generally be 0 . 7 times the diameter of the ball of unit 28 ( illustrated as “ x ” dimension in fig1 ). this creates a ball joint that is easy to push on and is adequate . referring to fig1 , the preferred diameter of the partially spherical ball joint socket opening 92 of ear tip 320 should generally be of the same diameter as the ball of the ball joint unit 328 ( unit 328 differs from ball joint unit 28 by having a smaller diameter neck portion 330 and a smaller diameter central passage . the smallest - diameter portion of opening 93 can be 0 . 5 times the diameter of the ball of unit 328 ( illustrated as “ x ” dimension in fig1 ). this creates a ball joint that is harder to push on and has better retention . however , the neck portion 330 of ball joint unit 328 can be rather flimsy and prone to breaking unless it is made of metal . the preferred material for all the ball joint units is plastic . metal is more expensive . referring to fig2 , the preferred diameter of the partially spherical ball joint socket opening 102 of ear tip 220 , 221 should generally be of the same diameter as the ball of the ball joint unit 28 . the smallest - diameter portion of opening 73 should generally be 0 . 7 times the diameter of the ball of unit 28 . however as previously shown in fig1 this ear tip unit 220 , 221 is molded with a harder distal portion 221 . in this case the dimension of the opening 73 is determined experimentally depending on the material used for distal portion 221 . also the lubricity of the plastics used determines the ease of rotation and swiveling of the ball and socket assembly . teflon for the ball portion has shown the best results . fig2 and 22 show a cross sectional view of a third embodiment ( ear piece assembly 200 ) of the present invention . ear piece assembly 200 includes main body section 522 ( whose proximal end portion 522 a defines a generally cylindrical shroud ), bearing element 529 within section 522 , and ear tip 520 fitted onto element 529 . ear piece assembly 200 uses neither a relatively long sleeve nor a ball and socket joint . it does use element 529 , which has a rather short hollow neck 530 and a hollow , partial conical ( truncated conical ), support portion 528 at its proximal end , in place of a ball joint unit . referring to fig2 , ear tip 520 of assembly 200 is designed to both rotate ( rotate “ on axis ” about the assembly &# 39 ; s longitudinal axis ) and swivel ( flex “ off axis ” relative to the assembly &# 39 ; s longitudinal axis ) relative to element 529 . the sound seal is by a snug fitting of the ear tip &# 39 ; s distal portion 524 to the neck 530 of element 529 . the ear tip 520 is ribbed at portion 550 ( between distal portion 524 and the rest of ear tip 520 ). the ribbed shape of portion 550 provides further ease of flexing off axis . referring to fig2 , ear tip 520 is shown in an off axis position . off axis flexural pivoting movement of ear tip 520 ( relative to element 529 ) is provided both by movement of ear tip 520 &# 39 ; s flexible distal portion 524 relative to element 529 and by flexing of ribbed portion 550 . end portion 522 a of ear tip housing 522 defines a tubular cavity in which ear tip 520 can rotate (“ on axis ”) or pivot (“ off axis ”), but limits this off axis pivoting ( e . g ., as shown by shroud 522 a &# 39 ; s engagement with ear tip 520 at location 560 ). cavity 523 within housing 522 is shown empty in fig2 and 22 . it can house a sound transducer assembly for active stethoscopes or be fitted with an appropriate plastic bushing if a passive acoustic stethoscope is used . in variations on the fig2 - 22 embodiment , element 529 is replaced by another bearing element having a rotationally symmetric support portion ( e . g ., a rotationally symmetric support portion having a shape other than the shape of partial conical end portion 528 of element 529 ), said bearing element being configured to support an ear tip that has been fitted onto it such that the ear tip has freedom to rotate (“ on axis ,” where “ axis ” here denotes the axis of symmetry of the support portion ) relative to the support portion . the ear tip should also have freedom to flex (“ off axis ”) relative to the support portion ( and relative to an ear tip housing in which the bearing element is positioned ). fig2 and 24 show a cross sectional view of a fourth embodiment ( ear piece assembly 300 ) of the present invention . ear piece assembly 300 includes main body 322 ( whose proximal end portion 324 defines a generally cylindrical shroud ), element 628 rotatably mounted within body 322 , and ear tip 620 attached ( fastened or molded ) onto element 628 . fig2 shows a one piece molded housing 322 with a partial socket 323 . element 628 has a ball shaped proximal end , and is hollow ( with an elongated shaft extending through it ). when the ball shaped end portion of element 628 is pressed into the socket portion 323 , it forms a rotating and swiveling ear piece assembly . if desired , an optional sealing “ o ” ring 360 provides a better acoustic seal between element 628 and main body 322 . although this sample embodiment is useful in an acoustic stethoscope , those in the art will appreciated that it could also be designed for provision of an acoustic transducer ( e . g ., for use in an active stethoscope ). fig2 shows ear piece assembly 300 with ear piece 620 in an off axis position . limitation of off axis pivoting of ear tip 620 is provided by shroud 324 of body 322 ( as shown by shroud 324 &# 39 ; s engagement with ear tip 620 at location 350 ). fig2 , 26 and 27 show a cross sectional view of a fifth embodiment ( ear piece assembly 500 ) of the present invention . ear piece assembly 500 includes main body ( housing ) 422 ( whose distal end is attached to sound tube 11 and whose proximal end portion defines a generally cylindrical shroud ), and ball joint unit 428 and ear tip 120 rotatably mounted within body 422 ( with ear tip 120 attached to the ball end of unit 428 ). fig2 shows a cross sectional exploded view of ear piece assembly 500 . in this exemplary embodiment , housing 422 is a one piece unit ( once again having a capability of also housing a sound transducer ). as shown , however , plastic bushing 421 is shown within housing 422 in a position for engaging distal flange 449 of unit 428 , so as to allow on axis of rotation of unit 428 ( with ear tip 120 fixedly attached thereto ) relative to bushing 421 and housing 422 . ear tip housing 422 is provided with an inclined , inner very slight conical surface 447 for engaging the distal end portion of ear tip 120 . this conical incline is preferably only about 2 to 3 degrees ( relative to assembly 500 &# 39 ; s longitudinal axis ). immediately distal to surface 447 is a slightly larger diameter portion 448 of housing 422 , designed to receive flange 449 of ball joint unit 428 ( to snap unit 428 into housing 422 ). portion 448 has an edge surface 451 at the intersection of portion 448 with surface 447 . fig2 shows assembly 500 when it has been assembled . note that sharply stepped edge surface 451 of housing 422 retains the ball joint unit 428 . ear tip 120 has been inserted over the ball end of unit 428 ( with the ball end of unit 428 retained within a corresponding inner socket portion of ear tip 120 as shown in fig2 . operation of assembly 500 is identical to that of other ear piece assemblies described and shown herein . limitation of off axis pivoting of ear tip 120 is provided by the proximal shroud portion of housing 422 ( the shroud engages ear tip 120 at the each limit of the off axis pivoting ). fig2 shows a cross sectional view of a sixth embodiment ( ear piece assembly 600 ) of the invention . assembly 600 includes a fully molded housing and ball unit 622 . unit 622 functions as both an ear tip housing and a ball section , with the ear tip housing and ball sections integrated together as one unit . ear tip 120 is simply pushed on to the ball end of unit 622 . this is the simplest unit designed for passive acoustic applications . electronic , or active , stethoscopes can also use ear piece assemblies of this design if a sound transducer is placed elsewhere in the sound path , such as in the area 13 of fig7 for example . this has been done many times in the art . with appropriate plastic injection molding techniques , this one piece unit could be designed to hold a sound transducer also ( e . g ., if sound tube 11 , for example , is modified for a larger diameter at its proximal end ). in this case , unit 622 could have a distal portion with a hole large enough to hold a sound transducer and the modified tube 11 . operation of assembly 600 is identical to that of other ear piece assemblies described and shown herein . limitation of off axis pivoting of ear tip 120 is provided by the proximal shroud portion of unit 622 ( the shroud engages ear tip 120 at the each limit of the off axis pivoting ). fig2 shows a cross sectional view of a seventh embodiment ( ear piece assembly 700 ) of the invention . assembly 700 can be employed for retro - fitting a common type of commercial stethoscope . referring to fig2 , assembly 700 includes ear tip housing 722 fitted with a threaded distal portion 723 configured to receive threaded proximal portion 724 of sound tube 111 ( so that housing 722 can be screwed onto the proximal end of tube 111 ). fitted into the proximal end of housing 722 is ball joint unit 28 which receives ear tip 120 . limitation of off axis pivoting of ear tip 120 is provided by the proximal shroud portion of housing 722 ( the shroud engages ear tip 120 at the each limit of the off axis pivoting ). fig2 shows a cross sectional view of an eighth embodiment ( ear piece assembly 800 ) of the invention . assembly 800 can be employed for retro - fitting a second common type of commercial stethoscope . referring to fig2 , assembly 800 includes ear tip housing 822 fitted with a second style portion 823 configured to receive second style proximal portion 824 of sound tube 211 ( so that housing 822 can be attached onto the proximal end of tube 211 ). fitted into proximal end of housing 822 is ball joint unit 28 which receives ear tip 120 . limitation of off axis pivoting of ear tip 120 is provided by the proximal shroud portion of housing 822 ( the shroud engages ear tip 120 at the each limit of the off axis pivoting ). fig3 shows a cross sectional view of a ninth embodiment ( ear piece assembly 900 ) of the invention . assembly 900 can be employed for retro - fitting a third common type of commercial stethoscope . referring to fig3 , assembly 900 includes ear tip housing 922 fitted with a third style portion 923 configured to receive third style proximal portion 924 of sound tube 311 ( so that housing 922 can be attached onto the proximal end of tube 311 ). proximal ball joint portion unit 928 of housing 922 receives ear tip 120 . limitation of off axis pivoting of ear tip 120 is provided by the proximal shroud portion 929 of housing 922 ( shroud 929 engages ear tip 120 at the each limit of the off axis pivoting ). fig3 shows a cross sectional view of a tenth embodiment ( ear piece assembly 1000 ) of the invention . assembly 1000 can be employed for retro - fitting a fourth common type of commercial stethoscope . referring to fig3 , assembly 1000 includes ear tip housing 1022 fitted with a fourth style portion 1023 configured to receive fourth style proximal portion 1024 of sound tube 411 ( so that housing 1022 can be attached onto the proximal end of tube 411 ). proximal ball joint portion unit 1028 of housing 1022 receives ear tip 120 . limitation of off axis pivoting of ear tip 120 is provided by the proximal shroud portion 1029 of housing 1022 ( shroud 1029 engages ear tip 120 at the each limit of the off axis pivoting ). the materials available for the present invention are many . for example typical embodiments of the ear piece housing can be metal ( e . g ., aluminum ) or plastic ( e . g ., polycarbonate or nylon ). typical embodiments of the ear tip can be silicone or polyurethane or another soft material . typical embodiments of the ball joint can be made of any suitable plastic or metal . teflon has been used successfully for the ball joint . typical embodiments the rotating and swivel unit ( e . g ., element 529 of fig2 and 22 ) are preferably made of plastic for cost reasons , but could alternatively be made of metal . in embodiments in which the ear piece housing has a main housing section , the main housing section can be made as one uniform piece , or as several pieces coupled together , and can be made of any of various materials ( e . g ., plastic , metal , or a composite material . some embodiments of the invention are or include a ball joint unit , said ball joint unit including : a flange shaped distal section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation ; a short cylindrical shaft center section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation ; and a ball proximal section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation , where the holes from the distal end of said flange section through to the proximal end of said ball section are generally one through hole . some embodiments of the invention are or include a ball joint unit , said ball joint unit including : a flange shaped distal section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation ; a short cylindrical shaft center section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation ; a ball central section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation ; and a tubular section affixed to said proximal end of ball central section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation , wherein the holes from the distal end of said flange section through to the proximal end of said tubular section are generally one through hole . some embodiments of the invention are or include a conical ( e . g ., blunt or truncated conical ) ended shaft unit , said conical ended shaft unit including : a flange shaped distal section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation ; a short cylindrical shaft center section with a hole through axial center for sound propagation ; and a blunt conical proximal section with the lesser diameter of said conical section facing the proximal direction with a hole through axial center for sound propagation , wherein the larger diameter conical section faces in the distal direction , the larger diameter conical section is substantially larger in diameter than the shaft section , the smaller diameter conical section is approximately the same diameter as the shaft section , and the holes from the distal end of said flange section through to the proximal end of said conical section are generally one through hole . the present invention is universally applicable to most existing stethoscopes and dictation headsets on the market , and is also useful to implement ear piece assemblies of other headsets . in terms of limiting the off axis movement of the ear tip ( of the inventive assembly ) and its tendencies to be rubbed off during use or stuffing into a pocket on a surgical gown , for example , the present inventor has not limited his scope of possible design variations . rather he has presented in this teaching some of the most practical designs . key to the teaching of this disclosure is ear tip &# 39 ; s freedom to undergo limited “ off axis ” movement ( and preferably also , free “ on axis ” rotation ). those of ordinary skill in the art could readily devise other means to limit “ off axis ” movement and provide ear tip retention , given the teaching of this disclosure . although the descriptions above contain many specificities , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention . thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples provided .	0
fig1 illustrates a microscope fluid applicator 2 according to one aspect of the invention . the microscope fluid applicator 2 includes an immersion fluid reservoir 4 for storing immersion fluid 6 such as oil , water , or glycerin . an applicator tip 8 is coupled to the immersion fluid reservoir 4 . the applicator tip 8 may be tapered in the shape of a “ beak ” or the like that terminates in a distal tip 10 . for example , the “ beak ” may comprise a long , thin tube that is designed to minimize air bubbles in the system . in addition , the “ beak ” may be formed to control the flow rate and to control the fluid drop size that emerges from the applicator tip 8 . of course , the applicator tip 8 need not necessarily have a beak - like shape . other geometrical shapes and cross - sectional profiles are contemplated to fall within the scope of the invention . the distal tip 10 may be a pressure - sensitive tip such as those that operate in ball point or gel - type pens . in this regard , a ball valve 12 or the like may be located in the distal tip 10 to modulate the flow of immersion fluid 6 from the applicator tip 8 . for example , contact of the ball valve 12 ( or the like ) with a sample holder 20 ( as shown in fig2 a - c ) will cause immersion fluid 6 to flow ( either due to one or more of : gravitational forces , pressure , capillary forces , or other wicking force ) onto the sample holder 20 . other delivery modalities can also be realized . for example , the delivery of fluid 6 may be initiated by contact of the distal tip 10 with , for example , a cover slip on the sample holder 20 . in one optional aspect of the invention , the applicator 2 may be moveable relative to the sample holder 20 . for example , the applicator 2 and / or sample holder 20 may be moveable in a vertical ( or substantially vertical ) direction such that size of the gap between the applicator tip 8 and the sample holder 20 may be adjusted . either one or both of the sample holder 20 or applicator 2 ( or turret 16 as described below ) may be coupled to an adjuster that controls the size of the gap . for example , the adjuster may be a manually adjuster such as a knob , slide , or the like . alternatively , the adjuster may be an automatically controlled motor or driver . the applicator 2 may include a location sensing mechanism that identifies the proximity of , for example , the microscope stage or cover slip . for example , a precision encoder , laser - based sensor , or the like may detect the presence or position of the distal tip 10 with respect to the sample holder 20 . when the distance between the distal tip 10 of the applicator 2 and the sample holder 20 ( or cover slip or stage ) reaches a certain threshold distance , a pump or similar dispensing device may be actuated to dispense immersion fluid 6 . in an alternative configuration , the immersion fluid 6 is pressurized , for example , by a pressurized gas or liquid which is located behind or proximal to the immersion fluid 6 . when the distal tip 10 ( or valve contained therein ) comes into contact with the surface of sample holder 20 ( shown in fig2 b ), immersion fluid 6 is delivered to the surface of the sample holder 20 to replenish immersion fluid 6 to the gap or space formed between the sample holder 20 and any objective lens ( described below ). it should be understood that the sample holder 20 may include a slide , cover slip , or array of wells ( e . g ., a 96 well plate or the like ). alternatively , the immersion fluid 6 is pressurized only when the distal tip 10 of the applicator 2 engages with a sample holder 20 . in this regard , the pressure is self - generated by the applicator 2 upon engagement with the holder 20 . for example , plunger ( not shown ) or the like situated within the immersion fluid reservoir 4 may be coupled to an actuator that is depressed or otherwise triggered when the distal tip 10 of the applicator 2 is adjacent to the sample holder 20 . for example , the actuator may physically touch the sample holder 20 . further movement of the actuator may trigger the release of immersion fluid 6 from the immersion fluid reservoir 4 . the microscope fluid applicator 2 further includes an interface for securing the microscope fluid applicator 2 to a moveable turret 16 on a microscope ( shown in fig2 a - 2c ). in one aspect of the invention , the immersion reservoir 4 contains threads 18 such that the microscope fluid applicator 2 may be screwed into the objective lens port ( s ) of the microscope turret 16 . of course , other means to secure the microscope fluid applicator 2 may also be used such as clips or other retaining members . still referring to fig1 , the microscope fluid applicator 2 may optionally include a fluid collector 30 for collecting excess immersion fluid 6 that may be ejected from the applicator 2 . the fluid collector 30 may take the form of a lumen , dam , well or the like ( a dam is shown in fig1 ) that prevents immersion fluid 6 from contacting other areas of the microscope . for example , excess immersion fluid 6 may run down the side of the applicator tip 8 to be collected in the fluid collector 30 . in another aspect , a port or lumen 32 may drain back into an internal reservoir . in another example , the microscope fluid applicator 2 may contain multiple fluid reservoirs . for example , one reservoir may contain immersion fluid 6 while another reservoir contains a rinsing fluid which can flow out of the applicator 2 and pick - up excess oil from the sample holder 20 and flow back into the fluid collector 30 . in one aspect of the invention , the microscope fluid applicator 2 may contain two lumens or chambers , one of which houses the immersion fluid reservoir 4 or cartridge and a second which collects any excess immersion fluid 6 which may flow from the applicator tip 8 . the microscope fluid applicator 2 may be used on either an upright or inverted microscope . one or more portions of the microscope fluid applicator 2 may be disposable . for example , the applicator 2 may include a housing or the like which includes threads 18 for engaging a microscope turret 16 . a disposable bottle or cartridge ( e . g ., fluid reservoir 4 ) may be screwed or otherwise inserted into the housing . the disposable bottle or cartridge may incorporate an applicator tip 8 which may or may not be disposable . alternatively , the entire microscope fluid applicator 2 may be disposable . during operation of the microscope fluid applicator 2 , a user may load the applicator 2 into an existing objective lens port 15 on a turret 16 of a microscope . fig2 a - 2c illustrate one such microscope fluid applicator 2 loaded on a turret 16 containing an immersion fluid objective 22 and an air objective 24 . in this configuration , the air objective 24 may be used to first scan a sample or specimen loaded onto a sample holder 20 at a low resolution . prior to switching to the higher resolution fluid objective 22 , the air objective 24 is rotated away from the sample holder 20 to bring the microscope fluid applicator 2 adjacent to the sample holder 20 ( as shown in fig2 b ). immersion fluid 6 is then dispensed from the applicator 2 onto the sample holder 20 using one of the techniques described above . after immersion fluid 6 has been dispensed , the turret 16 is rotated once again to place the fluid objective 22 adjacent to the sample holder 20 such that immersion fluid 6 is interposed between the fluid objective 22 and the sample holder 20 ( shown in fig2 c ). the sample or specimen can now be viewed at higher resolution . it should be understood , however , that the invention described herein is not limited to applications having a first low - resolution air scan followed by a later higher - resolution immersion scan . the microscope fluid applicator 2 takes advantage of the low tolerance engineering common to laboratory grade microscopes . in these microscopes , particularly automated designs , each objective in the turret 16 can be rotated into place with high precision and repeatability of alignment so that the specimen stays centered each time the objective ( e . g ., turret 16 ) is rotated out of place and returned to its original position . as best seen in fig2 a - 2c , the microscope fluid applicator 2 takes the immersion fluid bottle ( or dropper ) out of the hands of the user . with the microscope fluid applicator 2 , the user only needs to rotate the turret 16 containing the microscope fluid applicator 2 into position . in one aspect of the invention , the microscope fluid applicator 2 is then raised / lowered to dispense the immersion fluid 6 onto the sample holder 20 . this may be done either manually or by automatic actuation using , for example , the microscope &# 39 ; s existing focus system . the turret 16 is then lowered ( or raised as the case may be ) and rotated to place the immersion fluid objective 22 into position ( see fig2 c ). for automated microscopes , the focus position of the turret 16 at which the microscope fluid applicator 2 will deliver a drop ( or more ) of immersion fluid 6 can be programmed into the hardware , firmware , or software of the associated controller ( e . g ., a computer control system ). in addition , in one aspect of the invention , the delivery of immersion fluid 6 can be automated with a push of a button or switch . for example , in a computer - controlled system , a click of the mouse ( or other input device ) may trigger delivery of the immersion fluid 6 . alternatively , a macro or algorithm may be employed in which the fluid delivery is done independent of any additional user input . for example , a computer control system may detect the proximity of the sample holder 20 relative to the distal tip 8 of the microscope fluid applicator 2 and automatically dispense the appropriate amount of immersion fluid 6 . still referring to fig2 a - 2c , in one aspect of the invention , an air objective 24 is used for low - resolution scanning of the specimen . when it is desirable to switch to an immersion fluid objective 22 such as an oil immersion objective 22 , the microscope fluid applicator 2 is rotated below the specimen ( or sample holder 20 ) and an aliquot of immersion fluid 6 is applied to the sample holder 20 . finally , the immersion fluid objective 22 is rotated under the sample holder 20 and raised to make contact with the immersion fluid 6 . the present invention may be incorporated into microscopes including , for example , research microscopes . this includes microscopes utilized for micro - fabrication , biomedical research , biotech research , cellular biology research , and bioengineering research . while embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described , various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention . the invention , therefore , should not be limited , except to the following claims , and their equivalents .	6
referring to fig1 , a front perspective view of a dehumidifier system 100 is shown in accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention . the dehumidifier system 100 generally comprises a main body 102 , a remote control and sensing device 104 , and a receiver board 105 . in one example , the remote control and sensing device 104 may be removably attached to the main body 102 . in another example , the remote control and sensing device 104 may be an entirely separate device that cannot be attached to the main body 102 . the receiver board 105 is coupled to the main body 102 and is located behind the remote control and sensing device 104 . the main body 102 has a mechanical dehumidification system contained within the main body 102 , which may include a fan , a compressor , and other components , as will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art . referring to fig2 , a front plan view of the remote control and sensing device 104 is shown . the remote control and sensing device 104 generally comprises a display 106 and a number of buttons 108 , individually indicated as 108 a , 108 b , . . . , 108 n . in one example , the buttons 108 comprise a power button 108 a , a mode button 108 b , an up button 108 c , and a down button 108 n . the display 106 may be a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) or any other suitable display known in the art . the display 106 shows the user information about an operating mode of the dehumidifier system 100 ( fig1 ), a humidity level or temperature sensed at either the main body 102 ( fig1 ) or the remote control and sensing device 104 , a fan speed of the dehumidifier system 100 , a relative humidity set - point as set by the user using the remote control and sensing device 104 , an ambient humidity level as sensed at either the remote control and sensing device 104 or the main body 102 , a bucket full indicator for the dehumidifier system 100 , and / or a buzzer indicator to alert a user of the dehumidifier system 100 to any number of important conditions . additionally , the remote control and sensing device 104 may include a number of sensors or transducers ( described later in connection with fig5 ) that provide information regarding ambient environmental conditions . in one embodiment , the remote control and sensing device 104 includes an ambient humidity sensor and an ambient temperature sensor . in one embodiment , the remote control and sensing device 104 allows the user to select an operating mode for the dehumidifier system 100 . example operating modes may include : using the remote control and sensing device 104 , the user may cause the dehumidifier system 100 to enter a power - off mode . in this mode of operation , power is not supplied to the mechanized dehumidification system , including the fan and compressor , the display 106 is off , and any displays and / or outputs on the receiving controller 105 ( fig1 ) are also shut off . in a power - on or operating mode , the display 106 is on and ambient temperature and ambient relative humidity information is displayed . the display 106 may include a relative humidity setting bar showing the user a user modifiable humidity set - point , initially set at , for example , 35 %. the user may set the desired relative humidity set - point using the remote control and sensing device 104 . a fan speed display on the display 106 shows the previous fan speed and the initial power - on fan speed ( e . g ., the fan speed may initially be set to high ). in the power - on mode , the compressor and the fan of the dehumidifier system 100 are on if the ambient relative humidity is , for example , 5 % higher than the set - point set by the user . once the ambient relative humidity reaches , for example , 3 % below the user &# 39 ; s set - point , the compressor and fan are turned off sequentially . if the receiver board 105 determines that either the ambient humidity sensor or the ambient temperature sensor in the remote control 104 has failed to work properly , then the receiver board 105 my cause the dehumidifier system 100 to enter a fail - safe mode . in the fail - safe mode , the fan runs with a user selected fan speed and the compressor may cycle with a predetermined duty cycle . in one example embodiment , the predetermined duty cycle may be a sequence of fifty - two minutes on and eight minutes off . the dehumidifier system 100 may operate in a setup mode while the user enters changes to various settings . the setup mode is activated by pressing the mode button 108 b while the dehumidifier system 100 is in the operating mode . any icons on the display 106 are turned off except for the selected fan speed icon , which will flash . in a setup mode , the remote control and sensing device 104 may automatically return the dehumidifier system 100 to the operating mode if the setup process is not completed within 2 minutes . a number of settings of the dehumidifier system 100 may be set from within the setup mode : when the dehumidifier system 100 initially enters the setup mode , the display 106 shows the selected fan speed icon . the up button 108 c and the down button 108 n may be used to change the fan speed . if the user presses the mode button 108 b again , the relative humidity setting bar with numbers is displayed . the up button 108 c and the down button 108 n may be used to change the relative humidity set - point . relative humidity blocks in the setting bar are shown as solid and flash on the display 106 according to the selected relative humidity set - point chosen by the user . if the relative humidity set - point is being increased and the relative humidity bar attains the highest number of blocks possible , the dehumidifier 100 system switches to a fan - only mode and the compressor shuts down . if the relative humidity set - point is being decreased and the relative humidity bar attains the lowest number of blocks possible , the dehumidifier system 100 switches to a continuous mode and the compressor remains on at all times subject to any preprogrammed maximum duty cycle to avoid freezing . if the user presses the mode button 108 b again , a temperature reading is displayed in either degrees celsius or degrees fahrenheit . the up button 108 c and the down button 108 n may be used to toggle the displayed unit between celsius and fahrenheit . if the user presses the mode button 108 b again , buzzer setup is activated . the up button 108 c and the down button 108 n may be used to set the buzzer on or off and to select which alarms , if any , are enabled . pressing the mode button 108 b again returns the dehumidifier system 100 to the operating mode . the remote control and sensing device 104 may also provide for operation of the dehumidifier system 100 in a yard mode and / or a self - testing mode . the remote control and sensing device 104 may have two additional operating modes . in one example , the remote control and sensing device 104 may be configured to control either a single dehumidifier system 100 or multiple dehumidifiers similar to the dehumidifier system 100 , simultaneously . these two modes of operation are referred to as “ one to one ” ( e . g ., a single remote control and sensing device 104 controlling a single dehumidifier system 100 ) and “ one to all ” ( e . g ., a single remote control and sensing device 104 controlling a multiple dehumidifier systems ). the remote control and sensing device 104 may be toggled between one to one mode and one to all mode with an easy program change using a combination of the buttons 108 on the remote control and sensing device 104 and the switches 120 on the receiver board 105 . the one to all mode may be entered when the remote control and sensing device 104 and the receiver board 105 are off . if the user presses the up button 108 c and the mode button 108 b at the same time on the remote control and sensing device 104 followed by the power button 108 a , the remote control and sensing device 104 enters the one to all mode . in the one to all mode , all receiver boards 105 within range of the remote control and sensing device 104 will receive commands and be controlled by the remote control and sensing device 104 . the one to one mode may be entered when the remote control and sensing device 104 and the receiver board 105 are off . if the user presses the up button 108 c and the mode button 108 b at the same time on the remote control and sensing device 104 followed by the fan speed switch 120 n on the receiver board 105 , the receiver board 105 emits a beep . the remote control and sensing device 104 and the receiver board 105 are now in one to one mode . in the one to one mode , the remote control and sensing device 104 will only control this specific receiver board 105 . to facilitate the one to all and one to one modes , the receiver board 105 may be designed so that the manufacturing process repeats a unique unit code every 500 units in the numbering process . as such , every remote control and sensing device 104 that is manufactured may have the ability to control any dehumidifier system 100 ( e . g ., the remote control and sensing device 104 is capable of addressing all 500 unique unit codes stored in different receiver boards 105 ). in one example , a 315 mhz carrier signal may be employed by the remote control and sensing device 104 in both of the one to one and the one to all modes . instructions emitted from the remote control and sensing device 104 to the receiver board 105 comprises 2 parts : ( i ) an address code that indicates either the one to one mode or the one to all mode ; and ( ii ) a string indicating a unique unit code . in the one to one mode , the remote control and sensing device 104 emits a set of instructions including the address code indicating the one to one mode and the unique unit code . once the receiver board 105 receives the set of instructions , the receiver board 105 compares the unique unit code received with the unique unit code stored in the receiver board 105 . if the two unique unit codes are equal , control information in the set of instructions transmitted by remote control and sensing device 104 is processed by the receiver board 105 . in the one to all mode , the remote control and sensing device 104 emits instructions including the address code that indicates one to all mode . once one of the receiver boards 105 ( e . g ., many receiver boards 105 may be receiving the instructions ) receives the address code , the receiver board 105 automatically processes the control information and operates accordingly . the receiver board 105 does not operationally respond to the instructions emitted from the remote control and sensing device 104 unless the instructions include either the one to all address code indicating the one to all mode or the unique unit code equal to the unique unit code stored in the receiver board 105 . referring to fig3 , a front perspective view of the receiver board 105 is shown . referring to fig4 , a front plan view of the receiver board 105 is shown . the receiver board 105 generally comprises a number of switches 120 , individually indicated as 120 a , . . . 120 n , and a number of lights or light emitting diodes ( leds ) 122 , individually indicated as 122 a , 122 b , . . . 122 n . in one embodiment , the switches 120 may include a power switch 120 a and a fan speed switch 120 n . the leds 122 may include a power on led 122 a , a bucket - full and / or low temperature indicator led 122 b , a high fan speed led 122 c , and a low fan speed led 122 n . in one embodiment , the receiver board 105 serves a multitude of functions . the receiver board 105 functions as a rudimentary control device that allows the user of the dehumidifier system 100 to control the dehumidifier system 100 by entering settings on the main body 102 if the remote control and sensing device 104 is not convenient , has been misplaced , or has failed to function . additionally , the receiver board 105 may serve as a docking station for the remote control and sensing device 104 should the user wish to place the remote control and sensing device 104 directly on the main body 102 . as shown in fig3 , the receiver board 105 has a contoured housing with an elliptically shaped plateau in the center . the back of the remote control and sensing device 104 has a complementary recess for receiving the elliptically shaped contour of the housing . the remote control and sensing device 104 may snap into place on top of the receiver board 105 . the receiver board 105 may also include a number of sensors or be connected to a number of sensors such as an ambient humidity sensor , an ambient temperature sensor , and / or a coil - temperature sensor . the receiver board 105 may also generate a full bucket alarm that asserts itself through the buzzer . in one embodiment , the receiver board 105 may control the operating mode of the dehumidifier system 100 . the mode of operation may be selected by the user or may be selected automatically by the receiver board 105 in response to the operating conditions of the dehumidifier system 100 and any settings set by the user . example modes of operation may include the following : the dehumidifier system 100 may enter a normal mode of operation when first powered on . in this mode of operation , the receiver board 105 begins to function with the power led 122 a illuminated according to an instruction from the remote control and sensing device 104 . if the remote control and sensing device 104 communicates an error for thirty minutes or more , the power led 122 a flashes and an audible alarm ( e . g ., the buzzer ) is generated . after such a communications error , the user may press the power switch 120 a and the fan speed switch 120 n at the receiver board 105 . the fan will then run at a speed according to the selection made with the fan speed switch 120 n . in one example , the compressor may default to a pre - programmed duty cycle ( e . g ., the compressor remains on for fifty - two minutes and switches off for eight minutes each hour ). when the fan speed is set to high on the remote control and sensing device 104 and no communications error exists , the high fan speed light 122 c is on and the fan runs at high speed . when the fan speed is set to low on the remote control and sensing device 104 , the low fan speed light 122 n is on and the fan runs at low speed . in one example , the compressor is programmed to lag behind the fan by four minutes during the power - on sequence . once the compressor quits running , a four minute interval may be needed before the compressor can be switched back on again . if a full bucket condition is detected for two seconds , the compressor and fan are turned off sequentially , the full bucket light 122 b is illuminated , and the audible alarm ( e . g ., the buzzer ) is generated once every hour . the user is able to toggle the buzzer on and off such that the buzzer is only able to sound if the buzzer is enabled from the remote control and sensing device 104 . this mode of operation is triggered if the ambient temperature at the main body 102 is below four degrees celsius for four minutes or more . in this mode of operation , the fan and compressor shut down and the four leds 122 flash until the ambient temperature is above five degrees celsius for at least eight consecutive minutes . when the ambient temperature is lower than fifteen degrees celsius and lasts for more than ten continuous minutes at the dehumidifier body 102 , the receiver board 105 automatically enters low temperature mode and the low temperature light 122 b begins to flash . in the low temperature mode , two conditions exist : if the ambient humidity level does not become low enough to reach the set - point set by the user , the compressor runs at a predetermined duty cycle . in one example , the predetermined duty cycle may include a sequence of fifty - two minutes on followed by eight minutes off . at the end of the predetermined duty cycle , the receiver board 105 checks the coil temperature . if the coil temperature is above five degrees celsius , the compressor continues to operate at this duty cycle until the humidity level reaches the set - point set by the user . if the coil temperature is below five degrees celsius , the compressor will remain stopped and the defrost fan runs to defrost the coil for another eight minutes . at the end of the cycle , coil temperature is checked again . if the ambient humidity level reaches the set - point set by the user within fifty - two minutes , the compressor stops , the defrost fan turns on , and the receiver board 105 runs the defrost cycle for four minutes . at the end of the four minutes , the coil temperature is checked . if the coil temperature is above five degrees celsius , the compressor remains stopped and the defrost fan stops unless the ambient humidity level increases beyond the set - point set by the user . if the coil temperature is below five degrees celsius , the receiver board 105 runs the defrost cycle for another four minutes and then checks the coil temperature again . once the ambient temperature is above eighteen degrees celsius for ten minutes , the receiver board 105 enters the normal mode . when the coil temperature falls below two degrees celsius for more than ten minutes , the receiver board 105 will automatically enter defrost mode . in defrost mode , the compressor will be turned off and the fan will continue running with the selected fan speed . the compressor remains off until the coil temperature rises to , for example , nine degrees celsius or higher for more than ten minutes . if the coil temperature sensor and the ambient temperature sensor fail to work properly , the receiver board 105 will operate the dehumidifier system 100 in a fail - safe mode . the fan will run at the speed selected by the user and the compressor will cycle with a predetermined duty - cycle . a self - test mode may be entered while the dehumidifier system 100 power is off by pressing the fan - speed switch 120 n and the power switch 120 a at the same time for three seconds or more . all leds 122 will illuminate and the buzzer alarms for one second indicating that the receiver board 105 has entered the self - test mode . various parts of the receiver board 105 may then be tested individually . for example , the user may use the fan - speed switch 120 n to set the fan speed and then verify that the appropriate fan speed light 122 c or 122 n illuminates and the fan acquires the appropriate speed . the self - test mode is exited at any time by pressing the power switch 120 a . referring to fig5 , a block diagram is shown illustrating a circuit topology of a remote controlled dehumidifier system 200 in accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention . the remote controlled dehumidifier system 200 generally comprises a dehumidifier 202 , a remote control 204 , and a receiver board 205 . the remote control 204 generally comprises a transmitting controller 206 , a transmitter 208 , a number of sensors or transducers 210 , individually indicated as 210 a , . . . 210 n , a number of buttons 212 , individually indicated as 212 a , . . . 212 n , and a display 214 . the sensors 210 and the buttons 212 provide inputs to the transmitting controller 206 . the transmitting controller 206 controls the transmitter 208 to transmit control signals to the dehumidifier 202 . the control signals include operating instructions for the dehumidifier 202 determined by the transmitting controller 206 so as to achieve a certain comfort level at the location of the remote control 204 , as set by a user of the remote control 204 . in one embodiment , the buttons 212 include a power button 212 a , a mode button 212 b , an up button 212 c , and a down button 212 n . the sensors or transducers 210 comprise an ambient temperature sensor 210 a and an ambient relative humidity sensor 210 n . the display 214 is connected to one or more outputs of the transmitting controller 206 . the remote control 204 communicates with the receiver board 205 of the dehumidifier 202 wirelessly , using infrared communications , radio frequency ( rf ) communications , or any other method of wireless communication known in the art . in one aspect of the present invention , rf communications is used so that a line - of - sight does not have to be maintained between the remote control 204 and the receiver board 205 . a control signal transferred between the transmitter 208 and the receiver board 205 is indicated by a dashed line 218 . in another example , the control signal 218 may be a wifi compatible signal ( e . g ., compliant with the 802 . 11b or 802 . 11g wireless networking standards ) such that the dehumidifier 202 is controllable by any wifi enabled device . any wifi enabled device may be able to control or retrieve operating information from the dehumidifier system 200 . alternatively , the control signal 218 may be a wireless bus protocol signal such as a bluetooth compatible signal enabling the dehumidifier 202 to be controllable by any bluetooth enabled device ( e . g ., a pda or cell phone ). any bluetooth enabled device may be able to control or retrieve operating information from the dehumidifier system 200 . the dehumidifier 202 generally comprises a receiver 220 , a control circuit 222 , a processor 224 , a number of sensors or transducers 226 , individually indicated as 226 a , . . . 226 n , a number of switches 228 , individually indicated as 228 a , . . . 228 n , a number of light emitting diodes ( leds ) 230 , individually indicated as 230 a , . . . 230 n , a number of relays 232 , individually indicted as 232 a , . . . 232 n , a compressor 234 , and a fan 236 . the receiver 220 receives the control signal 218 from the transmitter 208 . the control circuit 222 includes the processor 224 , which may be , in one example , an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), a microcontroller , or any other suitable control circuit known in the art . the control circuit 222 is connected to the receiver 220 , the sensors or transducers 226 , the switches 228 , the leds 230 , and the relays 232 . in one example , the sensors or transducers 226 comprise an ambient temperature sensor 226 a and an ambient relative humidity sensor 226 n located on the receiver board 205 . however , the sensors 226 may also be positioned on the dehumidifier 202 . the switches 228 may comprise a power switch 228 a and a fan speed switch 228 n . the leds 230 may comprise a power on led 230 a , bucket - full and / or low temperature indicator led 230 b , a high fan speed led 230 c , and a low fan speed led 230 n . in one embodiment of the present invention , the receiver 220 , the sensors 226 , the switches 228 , and the leds 230 are located on the receiver board 205 . however , any of the receiver 220 , the sensors 226 , the switches 228 , and the leds 230 may be moved off of the receiver board 205 and placed on the dehumidifier 202 according to the design criteria of a particular application . the relays 232 may comprise a compressor relay 232 a and a fan relay 232 n . the compressor relay 232 a controls the dehumidifier compressor 234 and the fan relay 232 n controls the dehumidifier fan 236 . the dehumidifier 202 may have more than one compressor and / or fan . for example , the dehumidifier 202 may have one fan for normal operation and a second fan for defrosting the coil . in one embodiment , in operation the remote control 204 senses the ambient relative humidity in the area where the remote control 204 is positioned . the remote control 204 commands the dehumidifier 202 to operate until the relative humidity set - point set at the remote control 204 by the user is attained at the location of the remote control 204 . the remote control 204 remotely programs the dehumidifier fan settings , relative humidity set - point , and audible full bucket alarm buzzer . the remote control 204 displays ambient relative humidity and temperature readings in the vicinity of the remote control 204 and / or the vicinity of the dehumidifier 202 . the remote control 204 may have an option of displaying the temperature in either degrees celsius or fahrenheit . in one example , the remote control 204 also provides a compressor start delay for every cycle when the compressor 234 is required to start . the dehumidifier 202 may sense the dehumidifier 202 coil temperature and respond with deicer cycles if needed . the remote control 204 has built in dehumidifier function diagnostics routines . the remote control 204 also has an integrated program to operate specifically with the particular receiver board 205 . alternatively , the remote control 204 may be designed to operate with any receiver board , as described above . the remote control 204 also senses low temperatures ( e . g ., less than five degrees celsius ) and stops the dehumidifier 202 operation and flashes related information on the display 214 until the temperature increases . once the temperature has increased , the remote control 204 commands the dehumidifier 202 operation to resume . the receiver board 205 is installed in the front grille of the dehumidifier 202 . during normal operation , the receiver board 205 receives the rf control signal 218 from the remote control 204 in periodic intervals ( e . g ., every fifteen minutes ). the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or characteristics thereof . certain adaptations and modifications of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art . therefore , the presently discussed embodiments are considered to be illustrative and not restrictive , the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description , and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein .	5
an example communication system in which video coding may be employed is illustrated schematically in the block diagram of fig2 . the communication system comprises a first , transmitting terminal 12 and a second , receiving terminal 22 . for example , each terminal 12 , 22 may comprise a mobile phone or smart phone , tablet , laptop computer , desktop computer , or other household appliance such as a television set , set - top box , stereo system , etc . the first and second terminals 12 , 22 are each operatively coupled to a communication network 32 and the first , transmitting terminal 12 is thereby arranged to transmit signals which will be received by the second , receiving terminal 22 . of course the transmitting terminal 12 may also be capable of receiving signals from the receiving terminal 22 and vice versa , but for the purpose of discussion the transmission is described herein from the perspective of the first terminal 12 and the reception is described from the perspective of the second terminal 22 . the communication network 32 may comprise for example a packet - based network such as a wide area internet and / or local area network , and / or a mobile cellular network . the first terminal 12 comprises a storage medium 14 such as a flash memory or other electronic memory , a magnetic storage device , and / or an optical storage device . the first terminal 12 also comprises a processing apparatus 16 in the form of a cpu having one or more cores ; a transceiver such as a wired or wireless modem having at least a transmitter 18 ; and a video camera 15 which may or may not be housed within the same casing as the rest of the terminal 12 . the storage medium 14 , video camera 15 and transmitter 18 are each operatively coupled to the processing apparatus 16 , and the transmitter 18 is operatively coupled to the network 32 via a wired or wireless link . similarly , the second terminal 22 comprises a storage medium 24 such as an electronic , magnetic , and / or an optical storage device ; and a processing apparatus 26 in the form of a cpu having one or more cores . the second terminal comprises a transceiver such as a wired or wireless modem having at least a receiver 28 ; and a screen 25 which may or may not be housed within the same casing as the rest of the terminal 22 . the storage medium 24 , screen 25 and receiver 28 of the second terminal are each operatively coupled to the respective processing apparatus 26 , and the receiver 28 is operatively coupled to the network 32 via a wired or wireless link . the storage medium 14 on the first terminal 12 stores at least a video encoder arranged to be executed on the processing apparatus 16 . when executed the encoder receives a “ raw ” ( unencoded ) input video stream from the video camera 15 , encodes the video stream so as to compress it into a lower bitrate stream , and outputs the encoded video stream for transmission via the transmitter 18 and communication network 32 to the receiver 28 of the second terminal 22 . the storage medium on the second terminal 22 stores at least a video decoder arranged to be executed on its own processing apparatus 26 . when executed the decoder receives the encoded video stream from the receiver 28 and decodes it for output to the screen 25 . a generic term that may be used to refer to an encoder and / or decoder is a codec . fig3 is a high - level block diagram schematically illustrating an encoder such as might be implemented on transmitting terminal 12 . the encoder comprises : a discrete cosine transform ( dct ) module 51 , a quantizer 53 , an inverse transform module 61 , an inverse quantizer 63 , an intra prediction module 41 , an inter prediction module 43 , and a subtraction stage (−). the encoder also comprises a switch 47 and mode selection module 49 . each of the modules or blocks is preferably implemented as a portion of code stored on the transmitting terminal &# 39 ; s storage medium 14 and arranged for execution on its processing apparatus 16 , though the possibility of some or all of these being wholly or partially implemented in dedicated hardware circuitry is not excluded . each of the switch 47 and mode selection module 49 is arranged to receive an instance of input video stream comprising a plurality of macroblocks mb . the mode selection module 49 is arranged to select a coding mode “ o ” for each macroblock and is operatively coupled to the multiplexer 47 so as to control it to pass the output of the inverse quantizer 63 to the input of either the intra prediction module 41 or inter prediction module 43 as appropriate to the selected mode . the mode selection module 49 may also be arranged to indicate the selected mode “ o ” to the relevant prediction module 41 , 43 ( e . g . to indicate a 4 × 4 partition mode , 8 × 8 mode , skip mode , etc ). the output the intra prediction module 41 or inter prediction module 43 is then coupled on to an input of the subtraction stage (−) which is arranged to receive the unencoded input video stream at its other input and subtract the predicted blocks from their unencoded counterparts , thus generating the residual signal . the residual blocks are then passed through the transform ( dct ) module 51 where their residual values are converted into the frequency domain , then to the quantizer 53 where the transformed values are converted to discrete quantization indices . the quantized , transformed signal is fed back though the inverse quantizer 63 and inverse transform module 61 to generate a predicted version of the blocks ( as would be seen at the decoder ) for use by the selected prediction module 41 , 43 . an indication of the predictions used in the prediction modules 41 , 43 , the motion vectors generated by the inter prediction module 43 and the quantized , transformed indices of the residual as generated by the transform and quantization modules 51 , 53 are all output for inclusion in the encoded video stream , typically via a further , lossless encoding stage such as an entropy encoder ( not shown ) where the prediction values and transformed , quantized indices may be further compressed using lossless encoding techniques known in the art . as mentioned , a problem with the algorithm in zhang et al . is that it does not take into account the impact of a potential distortion into the future , but according to the disclosure herein it is believed that even a small but persistent potential expected error propagation distortion should eventually trigger a selection of intra coding mode . in the following described embodiments it is exemplified how to include temporal integration into the expression of expected error - propagation distortion in order to facilitate this . fig4 shows an example of typical remaining artifacts after frame / slice losses using the algorithm by zhang et al . the expected potential error - propagation distortion from ( 3 ) in the region marked by the circle was not high enough to trigger ultra coding and as a result artifacts will remain present until next intra frame or scene change . instead , if the potential error - propagation is integrated over time it is likely that an intra coding will be triggered and the remaining artifacts vanish over time . an example embodiment of how this can be implemented is presented in the next section . a particular embodiment of the invention is based on a modification to the algorithm by zhang et al . that incorporates temporal integration to the expected error - propagation distortion . it makes the following modification to equation ( 3 ) for the update of the error propagated distortion map : d ep ( m ( k ), n + 1 )= α ( 1 − p ) d ep - ref ( m ( k ), n , o opt )+ p ( d ec - rec ( m ( k ), n , o opt )+ d ec - ep ( m ( k ), n )), ( 4 ) where α denotes a temporal integration factor ( α & gt ; 1 ). a sufficiently large factor α and a nonzero d ep - ref results in d ep growing even in conditions where the error concealment reconstruction distortion d ec - rec is zero , and thus , eventually triggering an intra coding . the selection of α is subject to tuning and it could be beneficial to have different values of α for different bitrates and channel conditions . the encoder is similar to that described in relation to fig3 , but with a modified mode selection module 49 configured to integrate the effect of distortion over time . it may be used to encode a video stream of the kind illustrated fig1 , and implemented in a communication system such as that of fig2 . the meaning of equation ( 4 ) and the temporal integration factor α will now be discussed in more detail . as mentioned , mode selection may involve optimizing ( e . g . minimizing ) a lagrangian type function : where j represents the lagrange function , d represents a measure of distortion ( a function of mode o and macroblock m or macroblock sub - partition ), r is the bitrate , and λ is a parameter defining a trade - off between distortion and rate . in a conventional case the distortion term d only takes into account the source coding distortion , i . e . due to imperfections in the encoder such as the distortion introduced by quantization . it does not take into account the distortion that may be introduced due to loss of data over the channel , e . g . due to packet loss in transmission over a packet - based network 32 . on the other hand , loss adaptive techniques such as those of the present invention and zhang et al . attempt to define a measure of “ end - to - end ” distortion taking into account both the source encoding and the distortion due to loss of data over the channel . the end - to - end distortion for a given ( target ) block may be described as : where d arrival is an estimate of the distortion that will be experienced if the target block does arrive at the decoder , and d loss is an estimate of the distortion that will be experienced if the target block does not arrive at the decoder due to packet loss over the channel , e . g . due to loss of a packet comprising that block over a packet - based network 32 . the parameter p is an estimate of the probability of a loss event occurring over the channel that results in the block in question being lost , e . g . an estimate of the probability of a packet loss . d arrival represents not only the source coding distortion but also the distortion that will be introduced due to distortion of a block &# 39 ; s past , i . e . distortion in one or more reference blocks from which the target block is to be predicted . therefore d arrival comprises both a source coding distortion term d s and an error propagation distortion term d ef - ref which represents a distortion in the predicted target block &# 39 ; s history ( i . e . distortion in the target blocks &# 39 ; reference block which will carry forward into the target block ): d loss comprises a loss due to concealment . if a target block is not received then the decoder will apply a concealment algorithm which could involve freezing a previously decoded block , or interpolating or extrapolating from one or more successfully decoded blocks ( either from the current frame and / or a previous frame ). therefore d loss can be identified as the distortion due to this concealment process : so examining equation ( 5 ), the term d s represents an estimate of the distortion that will be experienced if there is no loss at all , the term d ec represents an estimate of the an estimate of the distortion that will be experienced if the target block is lost , and the term d ep - ref represents an estimate of the distortion that will be experienced if the target block is successfully received but something in its history is lost ( if the target block &# 39 ; s reference block is lost , or the reference block &# 39 ; s reference block is lost , etc .) d s and d ep - ref are functions of encoding mode selection o . d ec is not a function of mode selection o and so is dropped from the lagrange expression ( it does not matter how a lost block was encoded — it is still lost ). hence the optimization can be written as : d s is deterministic as it is based on information that can be known at the encoder , for example based on the difference between the raw input samples values s and the reconstructed sample values ŝ . the encoder runs a parallel instance of the decoder at the encoder side ( or an approximation of it )— see the inset detailing the inter prediction module 43 in fig3 . the inter prediction module 43 comprises a motion compensation prediction ( mcp ) block 44 and addition stage (+) arranged to determine the reconstructed samples ŝ by combining the predicted samples ŝ pred and the reconstructed residual { circumflex over ( r )}, i . e . ŝ i +{ circumflex over ( r )} i + ŝ pred for each sample index i . in the case of inter encoding , at the encoder the predicted samples ŝ pred may be the same as the samples of the reference block ŝ ref ( the reference block in the reference frame just being offset by the motion vector relative to the target frame — see fig1 c , to be discussed again shortly ). hence the encoder can determine the difference between the actual samples s and the reconstructed samples ŝ as seen at the encoder and ( this so far ignores the possibility of loss which will introduce further distortion experienced at the decoder ). the difference in samples may be calculated for example as the sum square difference ( ssd ) error over all sample indices i of the target block in question : however , d ep - ref remains to be estimated , which will be based on making some estimation concerning the channel over which the encoded data is to be transmitted ( e . g . over packet - based network 32 ). to achieve this , the mode selection module 49 in the encoder may be configured to maintain an error propagation distortion map d ep , describing the distortion of each macroblock or partition of a macroblock within the most recently encoded frame . the mode selection module 49 is also arranged to determine a probability p that the packet containing the reference block from which a target block is to be predicted will be lost over the channel ( and therefore also to implicitly or explicitly determine a probability 1 − p that the packet does arrive ). in a preferred embodiment the probability p is predetermined at the design stage based on statistical modeling , in which case the mode selection module 49 determines p by retrieving a value from memory 14 . however , another possibility would be that the mode selection module 49 determines p based on feedback from the receiver 22 . the error propagation map d ep comprises a distortion estimate for macroblock m or more preferably for each sub partition ( block ) m ( k ) within the most recently encoded frame . hence it may be more explicitly written as : d ep ( m ( k ))=( 1 − p ) d ep - arrival ( m ( k ))+ pd loss ( m ( k )) ( 10 ) where m ( k ) denotes the k th sub - partition ( e . g . block ) of macroblock in and p the probability of packet loss . d loss is equal to d ec as discussed above . d ep - arrival represents the differences over the channel , i . e . the difference between the reconstructed samples at the encoder and the reconstructed at the decoder . for example this could be quantified in terms of the sum of squared differences ( ssd ): where { tilde over ( s )} i are the samples ( of indices i ) received at the decoder taking into account both the source coding distortion and the distortion due to the channel . i . e . s i are the raw unencoded input samples , ŝ i are the reconstructed samples at the encoder taking into account the source coding distortion ( e . g . due to quantization ), and { tilde over ( s )} i are the samples taking into account the total end - to - end distortion including the lossy effect of the channel ; s i → ŝ i →{ tilde over ( s )} i . d ep - arrival = ∑ i ⁢ ⁢ ( ( s ^ ref + r ^ i ) - ( s ~ ref + r ^ i ) ) 2 ( 12 ) where { circumflex over ( r )} i are the samples of the reconstructed residual . therefore : so substituting into equations ( 9 ) and ( 1 ), the error propagation map can be rewritten as : d ep ( m ( k ))=( 1 − p ) d ep - ref ( m ( k ))+ pd ec ( m ( k )) ( 15 ) d ep ( m ( k ), n + 1 )=( 1 − p ) d ep - ref ( m ( k ), n , o opt )+ pd ec ( m ( k ), n , o opt ) ( 16 ) where n is the frame number , i . e . d ep ( n + 1 ) is the error propagation map to be used for making the mode selection for frame number n + 1 given the existing decision o opt and distortion d ep ( n ) map for frame n . as in zhang et al ., the d ec term may be also expanded : d ep ( m ( k ), n + 1 )=( 1 − p ) d ep - ref ( m ( k ), n , o opt )+ p ( d ec - rec ( m ( k ), n , o opt )+ d ec - ep ( m ( k ), n )), ( 3 ) where d ec - rec denotes the ssd between the reconstructed and error concealed pixels in the encoder , and d ec - ep the expected ssd between the error concealed pixels in the encoder and decoder . examining equation ( 3 ), as explained above , the term d ep - ref represents the distortion that will be experienced if the target block is successfully received but something in its history is lost ( if the target block &# 39 ; s reference block is lost , or the reference block &# 39 ; s reference block is lost , etc .). further , d ec - rec represents an estimate of the distortion due to the nature of the concealment algorithm itself ( somewhat analogous to the intrinsic source coding distortion d s for prediction ). d ec - ep then represents an estimate of the distortion that will be experienced if both the target block is lost ( and so needs to be concealed at the decoder ) and something in the concealed target block &# 39 ; s history is lost ( if the block from which concealment is done is lost , or the block from which that block is predicted or concealed is lost , etc .). so the distortion map d ep comprises a contribution due to new loss , resulting from d ec - rec and in part from d ec - ep ; and a contribution due to past loss , resulting from d ep - ref and in part also from d ec - ep . for the first frame in a sequence the frame will be coded with intra coding , in which case d ep - ref = 0 and therefore d ep = pd ec . the error concealment distortion d ec is calculated by the mode selection module 49 . the term d ec - rec is based on knowledge of the concealment algorithm , and may depend on the particular error concealment algorithm used . d ec - ep is calculated based on the existing ( most recent ) distortion map in a manner analogous to d ep - ref , e . g . by copying the distortion of a co - located block in the case of a basic concealment algorithm or calculating a weighted sum of the distortions from multiple previously encoded blocks b 1 - b 4 if a more sophisticated concealment is used that attempts to extrapolate motion ( by analogy see discussion in relation to fig1 c below ). other ways of calculating d ec could be used — this could be any estimation of a difference between the reconstructed samples in the encoder and the error concealed samples as would be seen ay the decoder ( i . e . the samples copied , interpolated or extrapolated from a previous received frame or a received region of the same frame to conceal the lost frame or region ). the mode selection module 49 then maintains the error propagation map for each subsequent inter predicted frame by updating it following each mode selection decision , now including a calculation of d ep - ref from knowledge of the existing error map using the motion vectors for the frame in question . an example of inter prediction ( motion estimation ) is illustrated in fig1 c . four example blocks b 1 , b 2 , b 3 and b 4 are shown in a reference frame f t ( number n ), the reference frame having already been encoded . the blocks of the target frame f t + 1 ( number n + 1 ) are to be predicted from the reference frame f t . for example consider a target block b 1 ′ in the target frame f t + 1 . to this end the motion prediction module 44 determines a motion vector defining an offset between the target block in the target frame f t + 1 and a reference block ( shown by the dotted line ) in the reference frame f t , such that when the reference block is translated from the offset position in the reference frame f t into the position of the target block b 1 ′ in the target frame f t + 1 it provides a best estimate of the target block b 1 ′. note therefore that the dotted reference block is not necessarily an indexable block in the reference frame f t , i . e . is not necessarily a predetermined subdivision of the reference frame , and may be offset by any arbitrary amount ( and in fact may even be offset by a fractional number of pixels ). hence the reference block is made up of a contribution from four actual indexable blocks b 1 , b 2 , b 3 and b 4 . accordingly , the calculation performed by the mode selection module 49 to determine d ep - ref for use in the update of the error propagation map d ep ( n + 1 ) comprises calculating a weighted sum of the distortions recorded for blocks b 1 to b 4 in the existing map d ep ( n ): d ep - ref = ∑ i = 1 4 ⁢ ⁢ w i ⁢ d ep ⁡ ( i ) ( 17 ) where w i is the weight representing the contribution from block b i and d ep ( i ) is the error propagation map entry for block b i . the above describes a process of determining an initial error propagation map d ep , using the error propagation map to select an optimal coding mode decision o opt for a subsequent coding , using the coding decision to update the map d ep , then using the updated map in the next coding decision , and so forth , wherein the error propagation map represents an end - to - end distortion including an estimated effect of loss over the channel . e . g . reference is made again to zhang et al . this may be referred to herein as loss - adaptive rate - distortion optimization ( lardo ). however , there is a problem with existing lardo techniques in that they do not take into account the impact of past distortion due to loss propagating into the future , particularly in circumstances where there is little or no motion such as a static background or approximately static background . in such circumstances the inventors have noted that : in a basic concealment algorithm this is because the concealed block is copied from a preceding co - located block , and in the case of a static background the preceding co - located block will be the same as the current concealed block . that is , the error concealed and reconstructed samples in the encoder will be the same ; or put another way , the concealment algorithm itself does not intrinsically introduce any distortion . a similar effect will also occur in a more sophisticated concealment algorithm . this is because , in absence of any intrinsic distortion from the concealment , the difference between the error concealed samples at the encoder and those as estimated to be seen at the decoder will only be copied from the existing error propagation map . substituting ( 18 ) and ( 19 ) into equation ( 3 ), it can be seen that this means : d ep ( n + 1 )≈( 1 − p ) d ep ( n )+ pd ep ( n )≈ d ep ( n ) ( 20 ) that is , in circumstances where the contribution from new loss is zero or negligible , the updated propagation map reduces to a contribution only from past loss ( loss in the history used for prediction and / or concealment ). looked at another way , in the case of little or no motion , e . g . a substantially static background , the effect of any further loss over a channel and the associated concealment at the decoder will in itself have no intrinsic effect on the distortion , because a block copied or extrapolated from one frame to the next should in principle be identical ( or in the case of a spatial concealment algorithm , a block which is copied , extrapolated or interpolated from one or more nearby blocks of a large , static region of uniform background will be very similar ). the result is that d ep will remain the same indefinitely and not grow over time . however , in reality the distortion will become increasingly relevant from a perceptual point of view , because the duration of an error is important in the perception of the error . that is to say , it is not just the magnitude of distortion that is relevant from a perceptual point of view , but also its duration . a problem therefore exist in that , using existing techniques such zhang et al ., the distortion map which forms a basis for the making coding mode decisions will not always trigger intra coding early enough to prevent perceptually relevant artifacts . e . g . see the circled region in fig4 . in zhang [ 2 ] the error propagation map may increase over time , but only due to a contribution to the distortion that arises from continued ongoing loss over the channel , i . e . only due to new loss and associated concealment . to address this problem , the present invention proscribes the use of an error propagation map which , in circumstances such as a static background where the contribution from new loss is zero or negligible , reduces to an expression which accumulates the contribution from past loss into the future : where α & gt ; 1 . this may be considered as a temporal integration of the contribution from past loss over time . for example , modifying zhang et al . the formula for the distortion map would become : d ep ( m ( k ), n + 1 )= α ( 1 − p ) d ep - ref ( m ( k ), n , o opt )+ p ( d ec - rec ( m ( k ), n , o opt )+ d ec - ep ( m ( k ), n )), ( 4 ) where α & gt ; 1 . as mentioned , a sufficiently large factor α and a nonzero d ep - ref will result in d ep growing even in conditions where the error concealment reconstruction distortion d ec - rec is zero , and thus , eventually triggering an intra coding . that is , the effect of historical loss is amplified increasingly as more time passes , giving this distortion a greater weight in the optimization problem . even if the actual distortion estimated in terms of difference between samples is not necessarily growing , the perception of the distortion becomes more significant with time and so older distortion should be given a greater weight when choosing whether to use inter or intra coding to encode the next frame or region . the parameters λ and α above may be tuned by the system designer . there is no right or wrong value for these parameters — the preferred values will depend on the particular quality the system designer decides to tolerate and the bitrate that can be supported by the channel . by way of example , in one embodiment α may be in the range 1 . 003 to 1 . 005 . a particular value of λ is suggested by h . 264 though this may also be tuned according to system design . in a particularly beneficial embodiment , the mode selection module 49 may be configured to use different values of α may be used for different bitrates and / or channel conditions . in this case α may be adapted dynamically based on the currently detected channel condition ( s ), e . g . as reported in feedback from the decoder ; and / or based on a dynamic setting or change of bitrate , e . g . based on a requested bitrate from the decoder or based on a user setting . note again that where a contribution due loss is mentioned in this application , or anything stating what happens “ if ” data lost over the channel or such like , this only relates to a probabilistic assumption ( e . g . p ) made by the encoder about what might be experienced by the decoder — the encoder of course does not know what will happen . the probabilistic assumption may be predetermined at the design stage based on statistical network modeling , and / or could even be determined dynamically based on feedback from the decoder . it will be appreciated that the above embodiments have been described only by way of example . while the above has been described in terms of slices , macroblocks and blocks , these terms are not intended to be limiting and the ideas described herein are not limited to any particular way of dividing or subdividing a claim . further , the distortion map may cover a whole frame or a region within a frame , and coding decision process may be applied over the whole frame or only for a region within a frame . the sum of squared differences ( ssd ) is often preferred as measure of difference since it results in higher quality compared to sum of absolute differences ( sad ), but the latter possibility or other possibilities are not excluded and generally the invention could be implemented using any measure of difference between samples as a basis for quantifying distortion . commonly , the measure of rate also accounts for coding of all needed parameters , including parameters describing prediction and quantized transform coefficients . this kind of optimization may be referred to herein as full rate - distortion optimization ( rdo ) [ 4 ]. in lower complexity embodiments however , the distortion and / or rate term may be approximated by only taking into account the effect of some but not all processing stages , e . g . only taking into account the effect of prediction . further , where the present invention is described in terms of two frames n and n + 1 , according to certain embodiments of the invention it is not necessary for these to refer to two adjacent frames ( though that may be the case in existing codecs ). in some embodiments it is possible that inter prediction could be performed relative to an even earlier frame , and as such n and n + 1 may be used in relation to the present invention to refer respectively to any previously encoded frame or image portion and a subsequent frame or portion to be predicted from it . it should be understood that the block , flow , and network diagrams may include more or fewer elements , be arranged differently , or be represented differently . it should be understood that implementation may dictate the block , flow , and network diagrams and the number of block , flow , and network diagrams illustrating the execution of embodiments of the invention . it should be understood that elements of the block , flow , and network diagrams described above may be implemented in software , hardware , or firmware . in addition , the elements of the block , flow , and network diagrams described above may be combined or divided in any manner in software , hardware , or firmware . if implemented in software , the software may be written in any language that can support the embodiments disclosed herein . the software may be stored on any form of non - transitory computer readable medium , such as random access memory ( ram ), read only memory ( rom ), compact disk read only memory ( cd - rom ), flash memory , hard drive , and so forth . in operation , a general purpose or application specific processor loads and executes the software in a manner well understood in the art . other variants may become apparent to a person skilled in the art given the disclosure herein . the scope of the invention is not limited by the described embodiments but only by the appendant claims .	7
in fig1 - 3 , a multifunction bedside care and therapy apparatus 10 comprising a wheeled cart 20 for bedside use with a temperature controlled cooled liquid 31 circulated through a cooled liquid pack 35 placed on a patient and a separate temperature controlled heated liquid 41 circulated through a heated liquid pack 45 placed on a patient ; thereby providing a multi - function bedside care and therapy system having a cooled liquid pack and heated liquid pack with cooled and heated liquid , respectively , continually circulating through them to maintain the proper temperature at all times without changing the packs . the wheeled cart 20 comprises a means 30 for cooling a liquid , which is preferably an ice cube maker communicating with the liquid 31 in the tank 21 , to create a temperature controlled cooled liquid 31 in the tank 21 with a cover 22 . in fig1 and 2 , a cooled liquid pack 35 with a serpentine circulating internal cooling liquid tube 36 is applied to a patient . a means 32 for re - circulating the cooled liquid 31 through the cooled liquid pack 35 preferably comprises cooling liquid pump 32 in the cooling liquid tank 21 . a thermostat 19 on the cooled liquid pack 35 or located elsewhere in the system preferably serves as a means for monitoring the temperature of the cooled liquid and for controlling the means 30 for cooling the liquid to maintain the cooled liquid at a desired temperature . the cooled liquid pump 32 communicates with the tank 21 for holding the temperature controlled cooled liquid and a cooled liquid input hose 33 transporting the temperature controlled cooled liquid from the cooled liquid pump to the cooled liquid pack 35 on the patient and a return cooled liquid hose 34 transporting the cooled liquid from the cooled liquid pack back into the tank 21 for holding the temperature controlled cooled liquid . a separate means 40 for heating a liquid , preferably a liquid heater , creates a temperature controlled heated liquid 41 in a tank 25 for holding the temperature controlled heated liquid . in fig1 and 3 , a heated liquid pack 45 with a serpentine circulating internal cooling liquid tube 46 is applied to a patient . a means 40 for re - circulating the heated liquid through the heated liquid pack 45 preferably comprises a heated liquid pump . a thermostat 19 an the heated liquid pack 45 serves as the means for monitoring the temperature of the heated liquid and for controlling the means 40 for heating the liquid to maintain the heated liquid at a desired temperature . a first interior space , a cooled water tank 21 , within the wheeled cart 20 houses the means 30 for cooling the liquid 30 and temperature controlled cooled liquid 31 . a second interior space , a heated liquid tank 25 within the wheeled cart 20 houses the means 40 for heating the liquid and the temperature controlled heated liquid 41 . the first and second interior tank spaces 21 and 25 are separated by an insulation means 23 for thermally insulating the two interior tank spaces 21 and 25 from each other . the heated liquid pump 40 communicates with the liquid 41 in the second tank 25 and a heated liquid input hose 43 transporting the temperature controlled heated liquid 41 from the heated liquid pump 40 to the heated liquid pack 45 on the patient and a heated liquid return hose 44 transports the heated liquid from the heated liquid pack back 45 into the second tank 25 for holding the temperature controlled heated liquid . the apparatus preferably further comprises a coiled hose 50 and a shower head 51 housed within the wheeled cart 20 for washing patients , a storage compartment 27 within the cart 20 for housing patient care supplies including at least one towel 70 for drying the patient , a back - up battery 65 in case of a power failure , and coiled extension cords 60 with electrical plugs 61 and 62 to plug into external electrical outlets to power the ice maker 30 and the water heater 40 . in use , patients in hospitals , nursing care facilities , physical therapy facilities , doctor &# 39 ; s offices , in homes or anywhere else requiring cooled or heated liquid packs can benefit by the present invention . encased in a compact preferably stainless steel cabinet , the rolling cart 20 that rolls up to the patient or client or other user . inside the tanks 21 and 25 may be filled with water or other liquid . a small plastic water pump or other pump 32 and 42 can be used in each tank to pump the cooled and heated liquids to the packs . a small ice maker 30 may be used to cool the cooled water 31 and a small instant water heater 40 may be used to heat the heater water 41 . flexible tubing 33 , 34 , 43 , and 44 may be used to take the water through the tubing up to the inflatable body cooling liquid pack 35 and heating liquid pack 45 . the input hoses 33 and 43 or tubing preferably becomes smaller as it travels closer to the packs 35 and 45 . small serpentine tubes 36 and 46 inside the packs circulate the water around in the packs . the return hoses 34 and 44 or rubber tubes allow the cooled and heated liquids 31 and 41 to drain back down from the packs into the tanks . the cooled liquid packs 35 are generally used to reduce a fever , reduce edema in different parts of the body , and reduce pain , and swelling from post surgery clients . the heated liquid packs 45 are generally used to increase circulation , to help in healing infections , bring relief to sore muscles , and arthritis . bathing and cleansing using the hose 50 and shower head 51 greatly facilitate cleaning hygiene for bedridden patients . it is understood that the preceding description is given merely by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention and that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed .	0
fig1 illustrates a system implementation of the present invention incorporating the object - oriented rendition algorithm , which can be used for displaying color images on a low - cost color monitor . an input color image 12 is digitized by any well known technique to provide red , green and blue signals each having a depth of 8 bits and representing a pixel of the original image . the three 8 - bit code values are operated upon by an object - oriented rendition algorithm 14 which provides as outputs an 8 - bit output to a monitor frame buffer 16 and an image - dependent lookup table that has 256 entries , each of which is 24 - bits deep . the image - dependent lookup table is loaded into the monitor colormap lookup table 18 which is used to map the 8 - bit code value of a pixel from the monitor frame buffer 16 into a 24 - bit output value . the 24 - bit output of the monitor colormap lookup table 18 is comprised of the red , green , and blue signals , each 8 - bits in depth . these signals are converted from digital form to analog form by the d / a converters 22a , 22b and 22c and are directed to the control electrodes of a crt color monitor 20 . the 8 - bit code value of a pixel in the monitor frame buffer 16 is used as an index to the colormap lookup table 18 to retrieve the 24 - bit information that determines the color of the pixel displayed by the monitor 20 . the 24 - bit output from the monitor colormap lookup table 18 is divided into the three 8 - bit signals that are converted to the analog voltages for driving the monitor 20 . referring to fig2 which is a block diagram that illustrates an implementation of the invention , the input color image 12 is first converted into an ( l , s , t ) color space in block 210 , which will be explained later . the ( l , s , t ) image is then segmented into regions of different colors in block 220 . each image region corresponds roughly to an object . the next step , represented by block 230 , is to determine how many colors should be allocated to an image region for coloring . in order to achieve good visual effect , the input image is converted into the output metric , block 230 . for example , if the image is to be printed on paper , the output metric can be the status a density . if the image is to be displayed on a monitor , then the image can be in gamma - corrected space to compensate for the non - linear distortion in the cathode - ray - tube . for each image region , the color - allocation algorithm computes indices that measures its dynamic range , busyness , area , and tone visibility . based on these indices , the algorithm decides on the quota of colors that each image region is to be rendered . the color allocation is performed in the step color allocation , referenced as block 240 . the shading algorithm then decides how an image region should be colored with its quota of colors as referenced by block 250 to then produce the output image of block 260 . fig3 shows a block diagram of the segmentation algorithm . the input color image 12 is first calibrated to be in log exposure space . by definition r , g , b is the red , green , and blue log exposures of a pixel in the input image . a neutral point estimation is provided by block 310 as an input to the conversion block 210 . the neutral point estimation algorithm can be implemented by any of the existing methods , such as the large area transmission densitometry ( latd ), as described by r . m . evans , u . s . pat . no . 2 , 571 , 697 , oct . 16 , 1951 , or the discriminatory transmission density , as described in &# 34 ; automatic color printing techniques &# 34 ; by j . hughes and j . k . bowker , image technology , pp . 39 - 43 , apr ./ may , 1969 . in the current implementation , the latd method is used . however , the segmentation result is not sensitive to the error in the estimation of the neutral point , based on the observations from many experimental tests . the luminance - chrominance space , ( l , s , t ,), is defined as : ## equ1 ## the input color image is converted from the ( r , g , b ) space to the ( l , s , t ) space , in block 210 , for the following reasons : 1 . the two chrominance components , ( s , t ), are independent of variations in light - source intensity , i . e ., a proportional increase in the red , green , and blue exposures by a constant factor does not change the ( s , t ) coordinates . for example , if the light source intensity is increased by a factor of two , then the values of the red log exposure , the green log exposure , and the blue log exposure will all be increased by the same amount , i . e ., log 2 = 0 . 3010 . since the coefficients of r , g , b for s and t both sum up to zero , the values of s and t do not change . furthermore , if the effect of changing surface orientation is mainly in changing the surface irradiance , the ( s , t ) components will only be weakly dependent on the lighting geometry ( the specular highlight is one of the exceptions ). as a result of this intensity - invariant nature , the ( s , t ) chrominance coordinates represent material types much better than the raw sensor signals , r , g , b . 2 . the s component also captures the major portion of the variation of light source color temperature . for a daylight scene , surfaces are illuminated by direct sunlight and diffuse sky light . this mixture of illuminations of different spectral compositions tend to produce a wider spread of chrominance coordinates along the s ( red - blue ) direction than along the t ( green - magenta ) direction . different weights can thus be applied to s and t to define color difference . 3 . the luminance component , l , dominated by the variation of surface orientation and illumination gradient , can be discounted by giving it a smaller weighting factor when computing color difference between two pixels . once the input color image 12 has been converted into the ( l , s , t ) space , a three - dimensional histogram in that space is accumulated for the entire image as reflected by block 330 . the 3 - d color histogram in the ( l , s , t ) space for the input color image is constructed by quantizing the luminance - axis , l , into 32 bins , with a quantization interval of 0 . 1732 . it is found that 100 bins for the s - axis and 100 bins for the t - axis are sufficient to cover most color gamuts . the quantization interval is 0 . 02 for s and t . the image segmentation is achieved by partitioning the 3 - d color histogram . first , the histogram is smoothed by a 3 × 3 × 3 convolution kernel with the following coefficients in block 340 : ## equ2 ## the smoothed histogram is divided by 28 , the sum of all the coefficients in the smoothing kernel . the local maxima ( peaks ) in the smoothed histogram are then detected in block 350 . referring to fig4 in conjunction with fig3 the local peaks , ( for example , peak m ) are used as the centers for clustering . the entire color histogram is then partitioned into separated volumes ( one for each peak ) in block 360 such that each point c in a volume has a shorter distance to the peak m in that volume than to any other peaks . ( the meaning of &# 34 ; shorter distance &# 34 ; will be discussed below .) each pixel in the input color image is then labeled , in block 370 , according to the volume that contains its color . there are two major considerations in defining the color distance between a peak m and a color c : 1 . the chrominance difference between m and c is a more reliable indicator of material change than the luminance difference . therefore , the difference in chrominances should be weighted more in the computation of color distance than the difference in luminance . 2 . because of the presence of specular ( or surface ) reflection , the magnitudes of natural color variations tend to be larger along the saturation direction than along the hue direction . for example , specular highlight tends to reduce the color saturation to the point that highlight areas look almost white . therefore the difference in saturation should be weighted less than that in hue because saturation variation often does not signal any change of material . referring to fig4 the color distance between a color c and a peak m is defined as : where ( δl ) c - m , ( δp ) c - m , and ( δq ) c - m are the differences , between a color c and a peak m , in luminance , &# 34 ; saturation &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; hue &# 34 ;, respectively , after they have been quantized into histogram bins . it should be noted that the above coefficients are dependent on the quantization intervals used in forming the 3 - d color histogram . the definition of ( δp ) c - m and ( δq ) c - m are as follows : if we connect each peak with the neutral point , we will form one radial line for each peak . the distance from any point , c , to a peak , m , is decomposed into two components : one parallel and the other perpendicular to the radial line of that peak . the parallel component is ( δp ) c - m and the perpendicular , ( δq ) c - m . remember that we have quantized the luminance much coarser than the two chrominance components ( 0 . 1732 v . s . 0 . 02 ). the weighting factor 2 . 0 of ( δl ) c - m 2 still represents a significant discounting in the luminance difference . appendix a , attached hereto , is a program listing for performing the segmentation portion of the present invention . this program is written in c language and is designed to run on a sun workstation ( sun microsystems ). once the input color image is segmented into regions , the coloring algorithm is used to render each image region with proper color and shades . since we have only 256 colors ( including the luminance and the chrominances ) to color all the segmented image regions , the major decisions are ( 1 ) how to distribute them among the image regions ? and ( 2 ) how to use the allocated number of colors to paint an image region ? the method used to distribute color quota is called the color - allocation algorithm , and the method to render the image regions is called the shading algorithm . after the input color image is segmented into regions of different colors , it is mapped through the tone reproduction curve of the output device . it is important that the number of colors allocated to an image region be determined on the output metric so that the limited number of colors can be used to the best visual effects . it should also be pointed out that image segmentation should be performed in the ( l , s , t ) color space , but not the output metric , because the physical signals used in segmentation should not be further distorted by the output tone - scale mapping . since the segmentation algorithm partitions the input color image according to color attributes ( luminance and chrominances ), all the pixels of an image region will have roughly similar colors . furthermore , the color distribution in a region is most likely unimodal , i . e ., no big gaps between colors . there are mainly four factors that have to be considered for the good rendering of an image region : ( 1 ) its dynamic range , ( 2 ) its busyness , ( 3 ) its area , and ( 4 ) its tone - scale visibility . firstly , if the luminance dynamic range of a region is large , it needs more luminance levels to render the details well . secondly , quantization errors are less visible in a busy , textured , region than in a uniform region . if the image region consists of subtle , gradual shadings , it needs more luminance levels to avoid contouring . thirdly , if the area of an image region is large , the contouring effect can be seen easily . it requires more levels of shades to look right . fourthly , if the image region is too dark or too light on the tone scale curve , its details are lost in the reproduction process , and therefore , need not be rendered accurately . the color - allocation algorithm computes an index for each of the above four factors and then combines them to produce a weighting factor for each image region . the number of colors allocated to an image region is proportional to its weighting factor . the dynamic range , range , of an image region is the difference between the maximum green log - exposure ( or code value ) and the minimum green log - exposure ( or code value ). the green signal is used in the present embodiments because it is closer to the visual luminance than the red or blue signal is . in order to reduce the effects of noise , the minimum and the maximum are determined above a threshold , for example , the histogram cell must contain more than 3 pixels . the busyness , busy , is measured by the standard deviation of the green log exposures ( or code value ) of the image region . the area , area , is simply the number of pixels in the image region . the tone - scale visibility , visi , is determined by first mapping the averaged green log - exposure through the tone reproduction curve of the output device and then looking up its visibility measure in a tone - visibility table . the tone - visibility table provides a flexible means for optimizing the shading algorithm according to the characteristics of the output device . this tone - visibility table can either be determined by measuring the subjective luminance contrast between two consecutive brightness levels on the output device , or constructed by inference from statistical distribution of signals from the important objects , such as human faces . another alternative is simply to use weber &# 39 ; s law to construct the table . for example , if the monitor 20 can produce 256 levels of gray ( say , 0 to 255 ) and each level of gray gives luminance of y l , l = 0 , . . . , 255 , then the visibility of output level l can be computed as : visibility ( l )=( y l + 1 - y l - 1 )/ y l for l = 1 , . . . , 254 . visibility ( l = 0 ) can be set equal to visibility ( l = 1 ). visibility ( l = 255 ) can be set equal to visibility ( l = 254 ). let s be the number of image regions from the segmentation . s is limited by the segmentation algorithm to be less than 256 . the weighting factor , w i , of an image region , i , 1 ≦ i ≦ s , is computed by the following formula : the number of colors , n i , initially allocated to image region i is : ## equ3 ## the formula allocates at least one color to each segmented image region . n i is compared to v i , the number of discrete green values in the image region i . if the region contains only 10 discrete values , there is no point to allocate more than 10 colors to it . the number of colors , m i , that is actually allocated to an image region , thus , is always limited by its number of discrete values , v i , i . e ., m i ≦ v i . the number of colors in excess of this limit , n i - v i , is given back to the pool of colors for re - distribution . the order of the re - distribution is from the larges area to the smallest and then starts from the largest region again until all 256 colors are used up . regions which have been allocated as many colors as their number of discrete values are not allocated any additional colors . because subtle chromatic variations within an object surface are often ignored when an image is viewed this invention colors each image region with only one chromaticity , i . e ., that of the peak cell in the color histogram . alternatively , one can use the averaged chromaticity of the image region . since the chromaticity is computed from the image region , the number of colors allocated to the region determines the number of luminance levels of that region . since there are only a few levels of luminance allocated to render the shadings , it is most important to use them to their best effect . an exact minimization of visual quantization errors requires precise specifications of the input and output devices , and a model of supra - threshold visual error model . for a specific application , this type of optimization should be performed to obtain the best results . aiming at general applications , this invention uses a simple but relatively effective quantization method , which will be called the recursive partition method . the method is described as follows : the histogram of the luminance ( or green ) signal of an image region i , is first accumulated . let the total number of pixels in the image region be p i . if we are to render the shading with m i output levels , we divide the total dynamic range of the image values into m i intervals , each contains p i / m i pixels ( this is called the partition size ). within each partitioned interval , its mean level is used as the representation level . fig5 shows an example of how this is done . however , there is some complication in the digital implementation because one image value in the histogram may contain more than p i / m i pixels in the region . if the partition size is fixed at p i / m i pixels and if the pixels of the same image value are not to be mapped to different output levels , then there may not be m i intervals . in order to fully use the allocated m i levels , the algorithm reduces the partition size by 10 % and repeats the partition process . if the m i levels are not used up , then the algorithm reduces the partition size again . since m i is always less than or equal to the number of discrete values , v i , in the histogram of the image region i , this recursive process is guaranteed to stop , with the minimum possible partition size equal to 1 . appendix b , attached hereto , is a program listing for performing the coloring portion of the present invention . this program is written in c language and is designed to run on a sun workstation ( sun microsystems ). while there has been shown what is considered to be the preferred embodiments of the invention , it will be manifest that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the essential spirit of the invention . it is intended , therefore , in the annexed claims , to cover all such changes and modifications as may fall within the true scope of the invention . ## spc1 ##	6
the invention is a new and improved pressure swing adsorption cycle for separating two or more components of a gas mixture . the process is carried out in two or more adsorption vessels operated in parallel , and provides the advantage over conventional adsorption cycles of making it possible to produce a nonadsorbed product gas of higher purity . the cycle is particularly well adapted for practice in a two bed system operated 180 degrees out of phase . the cycle includes a step in which one bed is in production , i . e . adsorption , while the second bed is being regenerated ; a countercurrent vent step ; at least two bed - to - bed pressure equalization steps ; and a bed repressurization step . the novel cycle of the invention includes a countercurrent vent step following the adsorption step , which enables practitioners to produce higher purity nonadsorbed product gas than can be obtained with conventional cycles , because a portion of the least pure gas contained in the adsorption vessel at the end of the adsorption cycle , i . e . gas whose composition is not very different from that of the feed gas , is removed from the adsorption system . the countercurrent vent step is preferably carried out at a time when the feed end of the adsorption vessel which has just completed its cycle contains the most impure gas composition ( with respect to the nonadsorbed product gas purity ). in this regard , the vent step is carried out before the gas in the inlet end of the adsorption vessel undergoes substantial change in composition or is transferred to the second adsorption vessel . thus , it can be carried out immediately after completion of the adsorption step , i . e . before any bed equalization step takes place , or it can be conducted in a manner such that it at least partially overlaps the first bed equalization step of the half - cycle of the invention . additionally , the duration of the vent step may be shorter , longer or equal to the duration of the first bed equalization step . the results obtained from each of the alternatives will vary since the bed pressure decreases as the vent step and the bed equalization step proceeds . in the preferred embodiment , the vent step and the first bed equalization step start simultaneously and the vent step is shorter than or equal to the first equalization step . the process of the invention can be applied to the separation of any gas mixture . it is particularly useful for the separation of nitrogen from oxygen in a gas mixture such as air , using an adsorbent which more strongly adsorbs nitrogen than oxygen , or using an adsorbent which more strongly adsorbs oxygen than nitrogen . the adsorbent used in the process of the invention may be any adsorbent which more strongly adsorbs the component that it is desired to adsorb than the one or more other components of the gas mixture that it is desired to not adsorb . typical of the adsorbents useful in the invention include silica gel , activated alumina , activated carbon , molecular sieves , such as carbon molecular sieve ( cms ), and natural and synthetic zeolites . natural zeolites include mordenite , faujasite , erionite , clinoptilolite , chabazite , etc ., and synthetic zeolites include type a zeolites , such as zeolites 3a , 4a , 5a , etc ., type x zeolites such as zeolites 10x , 13x , etc ., and type y zeolites . the particular adsorbent used in the process of the invention will depend upon the components of the gas mixture that it is desired to separate , and the selection of the adsorbent forms no part of the invention . when it is desired to adsorb oxygen from an oxygen - nitrogen gas mixture , such as air , it is preferred to use cms or zeolite 4a as the adsorbent , and when it is desired to adsorb nitrogen from the same or a similar mixture , it is preferred to use zeolites 5a , 10x or 13x as the adsorbent . to simplify the discussion , the invention will be described in detail as it applies to the adsorption of oxygen from air using cms as the adsorbent . this adsorption is conducted under kinetic adsorption conditions , and the effectiveness of the process depends upon the difference in the rates of adsorption of the various components of the gas being treated . since oxygen is adsorbed much more rapidly than nitrogen by cms , the short duration of the adsorption step makes it possible to selectively adsorb oxygen from an oxygen - nitrogen gas mixture . the invention is further illustrated in the attached drawings . various flow lines have been included in the figures as an aid to the explanation of the several aspects of the invention . associated processing equipment , valves , gages , etc . that are not directly related to the invention and which are not necessary for an understanding of the invention have been omitted from the figures for the sake of simplicity . the same reference numerals have been used to represent the same or similar parts in the various drawings . turning now to the embodiment illustrated in fig1 there is illustrated therein an adsorption system adapted to handle each of the above - discussed embodiments of the invention . the major vessels illustrated in fig1 are parallel adsorption vessels a and b and nitrogen - enriched gas buffer vessel c . for purposes of this description vessels a and b are filled with cms . the adsorption system is provided with air feed line 2 , which is connected to the inlet end of adsorber a through line 4 and to the inlet end of adsorber b through line 6 . gas flow from line 2 to adsorbers a and b is controlled by valves 8 and 10 , respectively . on their nonadsorbed product gas outlet ends adsorption vessels a and b are connected to nitrogen product line 12 through nonadsorbed product gas discharge lines 14 and 16 , respectively . flow through lines 14 and 16 to line 12 is controlled by valves 18 and 20 , respectively . line 12 , on its downstream end , is joined to vessel c . line 22 connects buffer vessel c to downstream storage or an end application . outlet end equalization cross - connection line 24 connects lines 14 and 16 . flow through line 24 is controlled by valves 26 and 28 . backfill / purge cross - connection line 30 joins lines 14 and 16 to backfill / purge line 32 , which , in turn , is joined to the inlet end of vessel c . valves 34 and 36 control flow through line 30 to vessels a and b , respectively . inlet end equalization cross - connection line 38 connects lines 4 and 6 . valves 40 and 42 control flow through line 38 . outlet - to - inlet equalization line 44 at its upper end is connected to line 24 at a point between valves 26 and 28 , and at its lower end to line 38 at a point between valves 40 and 42 . flow through line 44 is controlled by valve 46 . vent cross - connection line 48 connects lines 4 and 6 to vent line 50 . valves 52 and 54 control flow from line 4 to line 50 and from line 6 to line 50 , respectively . line 50 is connected to atmospheric vent line 56 and the inlet to vacuum pump 60 . valve 58 controls flow through line 56 . line 62 discharges exhaust gas from vacuum pump 60 to the atmosphere . fig2 illustrates the various steps in the first preferred embodiment described above , i . e . the embodiment in which the bed equalization procedure comprises a first equalization step in which vessels a and b are equalized outlet - to - outlet and a second equalization step in which the two vessels are equalized inlet - to - inlet and outlet - to - outlet . the first preferred embodiment will be described beginning with the first step of the half cycle , in which the adsorption bed in vessel a is in adsorption service and the bed in vessel b is undergoing regeneration . this step is illustrated in fig2 a . valves 8 , 18 , 36 ( when a purge step is included in the cycle ), and 54 are open during the entire step , valve 58 is open for a first part of this step and all other valves remain closed during the entire step . air , compressed to the desired adsorption pressure by means of a compressor ( not shown ) enters vessel a through lines 2 and 4 . as the air passes through vessel a , oxygen is adsorbed by the cms and nitrogen passes through the bed . a nitrogen - enriched nonadsorbed product stream exits vessel a through line 14 and passes through line 12 to buffer vessel c . during this period oxygen - rich gas that was adsorbed by the bed of cms in vessel b is desorbed from the cms and evacuated countercurrently through line 6 . vessel b is preferably first depressurized to about atmospheric pressure by permitting it to vent to the atmosphere through line 56 and then further evacuated by closing valve 58 and activating vacuum pump 60 . the desorbed oxygen - rich gas stream is drawn through lines 6 , 48 and 50 by vacuum pump 60 , and is discharged to the atmosphere through line 62 . during the evacuation of vessel b , this vessel is preferably purged by passing low pressure nitrogen - enriched gas therethrough via lines 32 , 30 and 16 . after vessel b is evacuated and the adsorption front in vessel a reaches the desired point , the adsorption step is terminated and the first vent and first equalization steps , illustrated in fig2 b , are begun . this vent step is referred to as the &# 34 ; first vent &# 34 ; since the described cycle includes a second atmospheric vent step just prior to vacuum pump evacuation of the adsorption vessels . for this step , valves 8 , 18 , 36 , and 54 are closed and valves 26 , 28 , 52 and 58 are opened . gas contained near the nonadsorbed product gas outlet of vessel a is transferred to vessel b through lines 14 , 24 and 16 , thereby partially pressurizing vessel b ; and gas contained in the inlet section of vessel a is vented to the atmosphere through lines 4 , 48 , 50 , and 56 . as noted above the duration of the vent step may be shorter or longer than , or equal to the duration of the first equalization step . upon completion of the first equalization step , valves 52 and 58 are closed and valves 40 and 42 are opened and the second equalization step is carried out . during this step , illustrated in fig2 c , additional gas contained in the nonadsorbed product outlet end of vessel a is transferred to vessel b via lines 14 , 24 and 16 , and gas is transferred from the inlet end of vessel a to the inlet end of vessel b via lines 4 , 38 and 6 , thereby further pressurizing vessel b . when the desired quantity of gas is transferred from vessel a to vessel b , valves 26 , 28 , 40 and 42 are closed and the nonadsorbed product backfill step is started . this is effected by opening valve 36 and permitting nitrogen - enriched gas to flow at product pressure into vessel b via lines 32 , 30 and 16 , thereby further increasing the pressure in this vessel . at the same time , valves 52 and 58 are opened and vessel a is permitted to vent substantially to atmospheric pressure through lines 4 , 48 , 50 and 56 . this step , illustrated in fig2 d , completes the first half cycle of the process . the second half - cycle of the process includes all of the above steps , except that vessel b undergoes adsorption and depressurization and vessel a is regenerated and repressurized . in the first step of the second half - cycle , illustrated in fig2 e , valves 10 , 20 , 34 and 52 are open during the entire step , valve 58 is open for a first part of the step , and all other valves are closed during the entire step . air at superatmospheric pressure flows into vessel b while nitrogen - enriched product gas flows from vessel b to vessel c , and vessel a is evacuated , preferably with purging , in the manner described above . upon completion of the first step , the first vent / equalization step , illustrated in fig2 f , takes place , during which valves 26 , 28 , 54 and 58 are open , and all other valves are closed . void space gas from the top of vessel b flows to vessel a through lines 16 , 24 and 14 , while void space gas is vented from the inlet end of vessel b to the atmosphere through lines 6 , 48 , 50 and 56 . next , the second equalization step of the second half - cycle , illustrated in fig2 g , takes place . during this step , only valves 26 , 28 , 40 and 42 are open , and equalization gas flows from the top of vessel b to the top of vessel a through lines 16 , 24 and 14 ; and from the bottom of vessel b to the bottom of vessel a through lines 6 , 38 and 4 . when the desired quantity of equalization gas flows from vessel b to vessel a , the second equalization step is terminated and the last step of the second half - cycle is carried out , during which vessel a is further pressurized with nitrogen - enriched gas at nonadsorbed product gas storage pressure and vessel b is vented substantially to atmospheric pressure . this is effected by closing valves 26 , 28 , 40 and 42 and opening valves 34 , 54 and 58 . this step is illustrated in fig2 h . the second preferred embodiment described above is illustrated in fig3 a through 3h . in this embodiment , the steps shown in fig3 a , 3c , 3d , 3e , 3g and 3h are identical to the steps shown in fig2 a , 2c , 2d , 2e , 2g and 2h , respectively . the only difference in the processes of the two embodiments appears in the steps illustrated in fig3 b and 3f , i . e . the first equalization steps of the cycle . during the first equalization of the first half - cycle of this embodiment , void space gas is transferred from the outlet end of vessel a to both the inlet end and the outlet end of vessel b . this is accomplished by opening valves 26 , 28 , 42 and 46 . meanwhile a part of the void space gas in the lower part of vessel a is permitted to vent to the atmosphere by opening valves 52 and 58 for the desired period of time . all other valves remain closed during this step . during the first equalization of the second half - cycle of this embodiment , void space gas is caused to flow from the outlet end of vessel b to both the inlet end and the outlet end of vessel a by opening valves 26 , 28 , 40 and 46 ; and a part of the void space gas in the lower part of vessel b is permitted to vent to the atmosphere by opening valves 54 and 58 , all other valves remaining closed . as a variation of the second preferred embodiment , the first equalization steps may be carried out in two stages , with valve 46 being closed during the first stage and open during the second stage . during the second stage the valve connecting the outlet of the vessel being depressurized to the outlet of the vessel being repressurized can , if desired , be closed . this permits the most pure gas to flow from the vessel being depressurized to the outlet end of the vessel being repressurized . the advantage of this variation is that the purest gas flows to the top of the vessel being repressurized , and then somewhat less pure flow gas flows to the bottom of the receiving vessel . in any event , the second equalization step , in which both outlet - to - outlet and inlet - to - inlet equalization occurs , follows the first equalization step . it will be appreciated that it is within the scope of the present invention to utilize conventional equipment to monitor and automatically regulate the flow of gases within the system so that it can be fully automated to run continuously in an efficient manner . the invention is further illustrated by the following example in which , unless otherwise indicated , parts , percentages and ratios are on a volume basis . this example consists of four experimental runs , each having a total half - cycle time of 120 seconds and each conducted for a period of time sufficient to ensure steady state conditions . the experimental runs were carried out in a pair of vertical parallel - arranged cylindrical adsorption vessels 76 cm in diameter and approximately 2 . 1 meters high . each vessel was packed with approximately 530 liters of commercial grade carbon molecular sieve pellets having a diameter of about 2 mm . the adsorption vessels were equipped with lines and valving sufficient to conduct experiments in accordance with the preferred embodiments of the invention . the beds were operated 180 ° out of phase with one vessel in adsorption service while the other vessel underwent bed regeneration . all venting of the beds was through the feed gas inlets of the vessels . the feed gas was air , compressed to a pressure of about 8 . 4 bar . during bed regeneration pressure in the vessel undergoing bed regeneration was reduced to about 1 bar by venting the bed to the atmosphere . the adsorption processes were carried out at a temperature of about 18 ° c . runs 1 and 2 were conducted in accordance with the process of the invention and runs 3 and 4 were comparative runs . during the regeneration step of each half - cycle the bed being regenerated was countercurrently purged with low pressure nonadsorbed product gas . each half - cycle of run 1 comprised a 115 second feed pressurization and adsorption / bed regeneration step , a 1 sec . vent / equalization step with the beds being equalized by outlet - to - outlet connection and the bed undergoing depressurization being vented to the atmosphere , a 2 sec . inlet - to - inlet and outlet - to - outlet equalization step , and a 2 sec . countercurrent nonadsorbed product backfill step . each half - cycle of run 2 comprised a 115 sec . feed pressurization and adsorption / bed regeneration step , a 1 sec . vent / equalization step with the beds being equalized by flowing gas from the outlet end of the bed being depressurized to both the inlet and the outlet ends of the bed being repressurized , a 2 sec . inlet - to - inlet and outlet - to - outlet equalization step and a 2 sec . countercurrent nonadsorbed product backfill step . each half - cycle of run 3 comprised a 116 sec . feed pressurization and adsorption / bed regeneration step , a 2 sec . vent / equalization step with the beds being equalized by inlet - to - inlet equalization , and a 2 sec . countercurrent nonadsorbed product backfill step . each half - cycle of run 4 comprised a 116 sec . feed pressurization and adsorption / bed regeneration step , a 2 sec . vent / equalization step with the beds being equalized by both inlet - to - inlet and outlet - to - outlet connection , and a 2 sec . countercurrent nonadsorbed product backfill step . the results of the above - described four runs are tabulated in the table . table______________________________________run n . sub . 2 yield , % o . sub . 2 impurity level , ppm______________________________________1 18 . 5 672 18 . 6 633 17 . 2 1194 18 . 0 72______________________________________ inspection of the results tabulated in the table show that the runs conducted in accordance with the preferred embodiments ( runs 1 and 2 ) produce better results than those obtained in the comparative runs . runs 1 and 2 have better nonadsorbed product yields than either of the comparative runs . furthermore , the impurity level of the best comparative run , run 4 , is 7 % higher than that of run 1 and 14 % higher than that of run 2 . although the invention has been described with particular reference to specific equipment arrangements , to specific adsorption cycles , and to specific experiments , these features are merely exemplary of the invention and variations are contemplated . for example , the adsorption cycle may include more than two bed equalization steps , and the purge step and / or the nonadsorbed product backfill step may be included or eliminated , as desired . furthermore , the duration of the individual steps and the operating conditions may be varied . the scope of the invention is limited only by the breadth of the appended claims .	1
fig1 shows a device 1 according to the invention with a screw shaft or body 2 and screw flighting 3 , where the shaft 2 is driven via the drive shaft 4 . the material to be dewatered , such as wood chips , is fed into the screw 3 through an input opening 5 . in the dewatering section 6 adjoining the inlet area , the diameter of the screw shaft 2 &# 39 ; increases continuously in order to thus reduce the flow cross - section and generate higher pressure for dewatering . in this section , the screw shaft 2 &# 39 ; is surrounded by a screen casing 7 through which the water can drain off . the material in its compacted condition at the maximum diameter of the screw shaft 2 &# 39 ; directly enters the defibrating section 8 without expansion , and remains in a highly compacted condition as it passes through the defibrating section . the defibrating section 8 adjoins this dewatering section 6 . here , a cone 9 , which is rigidly connected to the screw shaft 2 &# 39 ; and fitted with conveyordefibrator ribs 10 &# 39 ;, rotates in a conical shell 11 , which also has defibrating ribs 10 &# 34 ; on the side of the shell facing the cone . the diameter of the defibrating cone 9 decreases in the direction of material flow . as shown in fig1 a further dewatering section 12 adjoins this defibrating section 8 . in this further dewatering section , a second screw shaft 13 rigidly extends from the defibrating element 9 . the screw flighting 14 presses more liquid out of the loosened and partly defibrated material , with the water draining off through the openings in the screen shell 15 . at the exit end 16 , the device can be connected , for example , to a material silo , where the material plugs formed at the exit end , prevent any steam that may be in the silo from escaping back into flighting 14 . the entire screw unit ( shaft 2 , 2 &# 39 ; , cone 9 , shaft 13 ) can be built such that it can be moved in the direction of the arrow 17 . thus , the gap between the cone 9 and the conical shell 11 , and with it the degree of compaction and thus the defibrating efficiency , can be carefully set and controlled . fig2 shows a section through the line ii -- ii in fig1 . here , the defibrating ribs 10 &# 39 ; on the cone 9 and the defibrating ribs 10 &# 34 ; on the conical shell 11 are shown clearly . fig2 a and 2b show a developed view of possible patterns for the defibrating ribs 10 &# 39 ; and 10 &# 34 ;. the crossing rib pattern in fig2 a generates a greater shearing effect and thus , better defibration , while the obliquely parallel pattern in fig2 b provides better loosening of fibers and conveying of the material . thus , the more suitable design can be selected depending on the application and requirements . fig3 illustrates a variant of the invention where the steam generated by the pressure is fed through bore holes 18 at the shaft surface into a hole 24 drilled as a blind bore into the center of the shaft 13 of the further screw . this bore hole 24 connects with central bores 24 &# 39 ;, 24 &# 34 ; which run through the cone 9 into the shaft 2 &# 39 ; in the dewatering section 6 of the first screw , from where the steam is fed through appropriate bore holes 19 into the material , which is under lower pressure than in dewatering section 12 , thus pre - heating the material . this results in better dewaterability in the dewatering zone 6 and the temperature causes the fiber bundles to break down , which leads to lower energy consumption for defibrating . fig4 shows an alternative to the arrangement in fig3 where the steam generated here is collected in a pressure casing 20 mounted above the area containing the further screw 13 , 14 , the defibrating element 9 and the end of the first screw , and then fed through a pipe 21 to pre - heat material before it enters the overall device . the water squeezed out of the material is drained out of the pressure casing 20 through a pipe 22 . as an alternative , the steam can also be distributed along grooves in the conical parts , thus preventing any heat loss . one such alternative to the arrangement in fig4 is shown in fig5 where the steam is re - circulated along grooves 23 in the conical casing 11 . the invention is not limited to the examples shown . on the contrary , it covers , for example , rounded cross - sections on the defibrating ribs , as well as angular cross - sections . it would also be possible to use a shaft with a constant diameter , rotating in a screen basket which converges in a conical shape .	1
referring to fig1 - 3 , a laser cutter plate conveyor 10 according to the present invention includes a frame structure 12 . the frame structure 12 can include at least one , and preferably two spaced apart , horizontally extending frame members or rails 14 . a trolley or shuttle 16 is supported on the frame members or rails 14 for movement along a fixed path of travel defined by the frame members or rails 14 . drive means 18 is provided operably connected to the shuttle 16 for moving the shuttle 16 between first and second end limits of travel along the horizontally extending frame member or rail 14 . by way of example and limitation , the drive means 18 can include a reversible electric motor 20 for driving the shuttle 16 between the first and second end limits of travel along the fixed path defined by the horizontally extending frame member or rail 14 . control means 22 can be provided operably connected to the drive means 18 of the shuttle 16 for controlling movement of the shuttle 16 along the fixed path of travel defined by the horizontally extending frame member or rail 14 . appropriate signal generators , such as switches or sensors , can be provided as required along the fixed path of travel for indicating the location of the shuttle 16 as the shuttle 16 moves along the fixed path allowing the control means 22 to control the speed and the position of the shuttle 16 along the fixed path of travel for stopping at either the first or second end limit of travel , or any workstation defined in between the end limits of travel . the shuttle 16 includes at least one vertically extending support member 24 . a carriage 26 is supported for movement along the vertically extending support member 24 . lift means 28 is provided for moving the carriage 26 vertically along the vertically extending support member 24 between a lowest position and a highest position . the lift means 28 can include one or more nylon or polyester straps or belts extendable and retractable with respect to a drum or spool with a reversible drive motor controlled by the control means 22 . appropriate signal generators , such as sensors or switches , can be provided for identifying various vertical positions along the vertically extending support member 24 allowing the control means 22 to control the speed and position of the carriage 26 as the carriage 26 moves along the vertical path defined by the vertically extending support member 24 . the carriage 26 can include a plurality of horizontally extending support members 30 . a plurality of workpiece engaging members 32 are connected to the horizontally extending support members 30 . the workpiece engaging members 32 can be of any known configuration suitable for lifting relatively large , heavy , metal plates . by way of example and not limitation , the workpiece engaging members 32 can include magnetic and / or vacuum suction cup forms of engagement members . the magnetic and / or vacuum actuation can be controlled in response to appropriate signals from the control means 22 in order to engage and lift a workpiece from the vertically extending storage rack 34 for movement along the fixed path of travel to the workpiece bed or support nest 36 of the laser cutting apparatus . in the illustrated embodiment , the vertically extending storage rack 34 can be connected to and form part of the frame structure 12 . the storage rack 34 can include a plurality of vertically spaced shelves 38 . each shelf 38 can support a vertical stack of workpieces to be processed as best seen in fig3 . each shelf 38 is defined by a plurality of horizontally spaced shelf members 40 . the horizontally shelf members 40 define openings in between one another at the ends facing the side of approach by the carriage and associated plurality of horizontally extending support members 30 . the spacing defined by the horizontal shelf members 40 is complementary allowing entry of the horizontally extending support members 30 of the carriage 26 permitting direct engagement with the upper - most workpiece in the stack supported on that particular shelf as best seen in fig3 . this complementary configuration eliminates the need for additional shuttle units to move each individual plate from the storage location to a position accessible by the overhead conveyor system . in operation , the vertically extending storage rack 34 is loaded with workpieces to be processed . the shelves can support a stack of identical workpieces on each shelf , or each shelf can be allocated a workpiece of a particular material or thickness to be processed . the particular location of the workpiece to be processed can be programed into the control means 22 . when the laser cutting apparatus calls for a new workpiece to be processed , the control means 22 determines the shelf location of the appropriate workpiece to be retrieved , and moves the carriage 26 to the appropriate elevation for entry above the shelf unit containing the workpiece to be retrieved . after the appropriate elevation of the carriage 26 has been set , or simultaneously while moving the carriage 26 , the shuttle 16 can be activated to move from the present or current position toward the vertical storage rack 34 . if necessary , the shuttle 16 can be stopped prior to entering into the vertical storage rack 34 if the carriage 26 has not reached the appropriate elevation for entry into the shelf holding the workpiece to be retrieved . when the carriage 26 is in the appropriate elevation to enter the shelf supporting the workpiece to be retrieved , the shuttle 16 continues toward the storage rack 34 inserting the horizontally extending support members 30 within the complementary open spaces of the horizontally spaced shelf members 40 . when fully inserted , the carriage 26 is lowered into engagement with the upper - most workpiece supported on the shelf in response to appropriate signals by the control means 22 . the control means 22 , then activates the engaging members 32 to attach to the workpiece to be transferred . the carriage 26 is then raised slightly to lift the engaged workpiece from the stack supported by the shelf and the shuttle 16 is then sequentially , or simultaneously , moved along the fixed path of travel defined by the horizontally extending frame members or rails 14 of the frame structure 12 . after reaching the laser cutter workstation position , the shuttle unit 16 is stopped in response to appropriate signals from the control means 22 . the carriage 26 is then actuated to lower the engaged workpiece to the workpiece bed or support nest 36 of the laser cutter apparatus . after the workpiece is engaged with the workpiece bed or support nest 36 , the control means 22 sends the appropriate signal to disengage the engaging members 32 , ending the transport cycle . the carriage is then moved vertically away from the workpiece that has been transported , and sequentially or simultaneously , the shuttle 16 is operated to remove the conveyor away from the laser cutter workstation allowing the processing to begin . 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 embodiments but , on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims , which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures as is permitted under the law .	1
a method of transferring a fixed volume of water while continuously controlling the air pressure and the volume of water by utilizing instruments and sensors is explained as follows . for better understanding , a liquid of specific gravity 1 . 0 is used . as for the compressed gas , air is used . the transfer is conducted in an alternate added pressure operation . the supplement of objects or material for continuous transfer is conducted in a natural pressure operation or together with an added pressure operation . now the method is explained according to fig1 . utilizing pressure tanks a and b , an alternate added pressure operation is conducted with the compressed air of a fixed pressure . in order for the alternate added pressure operation to be conducted continuously with high effectiveness and strength , the addition or filling of objects or material is conducted through pressure tanks c and d , which are specially prepared . the material is pushed into the tanks a and b alternately from the tank c . as for the addition , a natural added pressure operation is conducted with the compressed air of a fixed pressure between the tanks c and d . if necessary , an added pressure operation is also used . the process of adding material in the natural pressure operation , or in the joint use thereof with the added pressure operation , strengthens the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b , and obtains a high effectiveness - of the transfer . the object or material ( liquid of the specific gravity 1 . 0 ) is transferred continuously to a place at a level of 100 m above the ground , or to a place 5 , 000 m away and parallel to the ground with compressed air at a pressure of 11 . 0 atm . gauge in an alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b . for smooth and highly effective continuous transfer , the addition of material is conducted in natural pressure operation with 8 . 33 - 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure , and added pressure operation is jointly used , if necessary . in fig1 the capacity of the tank a and the tank b are both 1 , 100 liters . the unit transfer of the objects is 1 , 000 liters , so that even when the total amount of liquid is pushed into each tank , there still remains a space of 100 liters in each tank a and b . the capacity of the tank d is 500 liters . the tank b is filled with 1 , 000 liters water , and at an upper portion , in which the 100 liter space remains , the compressed air of 2 . 0 atm . gauge pressure is stored . the tank a with the capacity of 1 , 100 liters is filled with compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . provided that the tank a and the tank b are regarded as an integral structure , a pv constant is pv = 13 , 500 , wherein the value is unchanged . the tank c and the tank d are both filled with compressed air of 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . provided that the tank c and the tank d is regarded as an integral structure , pv = 5 , 600 , wherein the value is unchanged . the reason the 100 liter space is preserved at the upper portion of each of tanks a , b , and c is that , by making an allowance of 10 % per 1 m 3 , control is considered to be fully maintained over the operation . if the control is conducted more precisely , then the space allowance can be decreased , and the effectiveness of transfer becomes greater . all valves to be used are electric valves . in a first step , an alternate added pressure operation is conducted between the tanks a and b by the compressor c1 , while the compressor c2 also acts on the air in the tank c to draw the air up into the tank d . a fixed volume of liquid , e . g . 337 . 5 liters of liquid , is transferred to a transfer place , while the air in the tank c is drawn up between the tank c and the tank d , then the pressure inside of the tank c drops , whereby 1 , 000 liters of supplementary liquid is filled into the tank c . thus , the first step is completed . here , an alternate added pressure operation conducted between the tank a and the tank b is explained . a valve 1 and a valve 2 of the tank b are opened . the compressor c1 acts on the compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank a to be pushed into the tank b . then the valve 3 of the tank b is opened , and the 1 , 000 liters of liquid in tank b is transferred to a transfer place . accordingly , as the liquid in the tank b is transferred to a transfer place , the level of the liquid comes down , and the upper space of the tank b enlarges more than a 100 liter volume . the pressure of the upper space is initially 2 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , and then the pressure rises to 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure while the added pressure operation is continued . on the other hand , the compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank a gradually lowers as the compressed air of the tank a is transferred into the tank b . sensing with a level switch 4 in the tank b the instant when 337 . 5 liters of liquid , out of the initial volume of 1 , 000 liters in the tank b , has been transferred , or sensing by utilizing an applicable control means the instant when a pressure gauge at the tank a indicates 6 . 5 atm . gauge pressure , the first stage is finished . according to the added pressure operation between the tanks a and b , 337 . 5 liters out of the 1 , 000 liters in the tank b is transferred to a transfer place . within the time the pressure inside the tank a drops to 6 . 5 atm . gauge pressure , namely , prior to the completion of the first stage , the following process , i . e ., an addition of 1 , 000 liters liquid to fill the tank c , is conducted . to do so , first the operation of having the tank d draw up the air in the tank c is conducted with the concurrence of alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b . in more detail , at the same time the added pressure operation between the tanks a and b with the compressor c1 starts , the valve 5 of the tank c and the valve 6 of the tank d are opened . then the compressor c2 operates to push the compressed air of 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure in the tank c into the tank d . the pressure of the tank c drops rapidly . when the pressure from the outside caused by supplementary liquid , which is supported by the pressure valve 7 , exceeds the pressure inside the tank c , the pressure valve 7 is pushed downward and the supplementary liquid flows into the tank c . the compressor c2 continues to draw up the air inside the tank c , while the inflow of the supplementary liquid pushes up the air inside of the tank c from the bottom to the upper portion . accordingly , the operation of the compressor c2 for pushing the air in the tank c into the tank d becomes more and more effective . sensing with a level switch 8 the instant when the 1 , 000 liters of supplementalary liquid for the tank c starts to flow , the compressor c2 stops its operation . at the same time , when the valve 5 and the valve 6 are closed , a valve 9 of the tank c and a valve 10 of the tank d are opened . then the high pressure air in the tank d flows rapidly into the upper space of the tank c . immediately the pressure valve 7 is pushed upward , so that the inflow of supplementary liquid is prevented . as a result , an upper space with a 100 liter volume of the tank c and the tank d are both filled with compressed air having 8 . 33 atm . gauge pressure . if necessary , from the viewpoint of control , pressure gauges of the tank c and the tank d may sense this instant . 1 , 000 liters of supplementary liquid is already in the tank c , the upper space of which is pressured with 8 . 33 atm . gauge pressure , as explained above . the 337 . 5 liters of liquid in the tank b , in the added pressure operation , has been transferred to a transfer place , and ,, in the tank a , the initial 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure due to added pressure operation has dropped to 6 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . sensing this instant , the valve 11 at the bottom of the tank a is then opened . the supplementary liquid in the tank c is strongly pushed into the tank a through the bottom of the tank a with the compressed air of 8 . 33 atm . gauge pressure , preserved in the upper space of 100 liters volume in the tank c and in the tank d of a capacity of 500 liters volume . it is , of course , possible to transfer the liquid in the tank b to a transfer place with only the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b . to accelerate the operational speed thereof , however , the supplementary liquid is used , pushing the liquid with 8 . 33 atm . gauge pressure through the valve 11 at the bottom of the tank a into the compressed air in the tank a , which becomes decreased 6 . 5 atm . gauge pressure below . the natural pressure operation between the tanks c and d for pushing the supplementary liquid to the tank a is explained . the initial 8 . 33 atm . gauge pressure in the tanks c and d decreases as the supplementary liquid of 1 , 000 liters in the tank c is pushed into the tank a through the valve 11 . at the point that the 1 , 000 liters of supplementary liquid has all been pushed out and the tank c becomes empty , the pressure of the tanks c and d drops to 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . this instant can be sensed by a level switch 12 at the tank c and a level switch 13 at the tank a . pressure gauges at the tanks c and d also can sense this instant . sensing this instant , the valve 11 at the tank a is then closed . the pressure changes with respect to the tanks c and d is as follows . accordingly , by natural pressure operation between the tanks c and d , 1 , 000 liters of supplementary liquid is pushed into the tank a , initially with 8 . 33 atm . gauge pressure and finally with 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . on the other hand , the efficiency of the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b becomes greater due to the addition of the supplementary liquid conducted in natural added pressure operation between the tanks c and d , so that 662 . 5 liters of liquid remaining in the tank b is pushed up to a transfer place with an accelerated speed . the level switch at the tank b senses the instant that the liquid and the valve 3 at the tank b is closed . it is needless to say that the pressure inside the tank b is 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , since the added pressure operation with 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure has been completed . the tank a is filled with 1 , 000 liters of supplementary liquid , and , at the upper portion thereof , the space with the capacity of 100 liters is 2 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . the pv value of the tanks . a and b is ; accordingly , it is clear , in this second stage , that the natural pressure operation between the tanks c and d supports the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b , initially with ( 8 . 33 - 6 . 5 )= 1 . 83 atm . gauge pressure , and finally with ( 2 . 5 - 2 . 0 )= 0 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . consequently , the tank a is filled with 1 , 000 liters of liquid material , and the upper space , with the capacity of 100 liters is filled with compressed air at 2 . 0 atm gauge pressure . the tank b is filled with compressed air with 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . both the tank c and the tank d are filled with compressed air of 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . this indicates that the tanks a and b have been effectively completely replaced with each other from the preparatory stage . the tanks a and b have pipes for conducting the added pressure operation at the stage when the above replacement is completed . valves and level switches are also provided . accordingly , by repeating such processes , alternate pressure operation between the tanks a and b is conducted while the supplementary liquid is transferred in a natural pressure operation between the tanks c and d . thus , a continuous operation can be conducted with a high efficiency . in the above case , an added pressure operation between the tanks c and d is also possible . the process until the first stage is the same . in the second stage , however , if the pipe connected between the valve 9 at the tank c and the valve 10 at the tank d is sufficiently large , and , in addition , natural pressure operation can fully conduct the process , without the need for the compressor c2 , arranged for supporting the added pressure operation between the tanks a and b , then there is no need to adopt such an added pressure operation . therefore , the adoption of an added pressure operation depends on the type of and properties of the liquid material or on the need for greater efficiency . if an added pressure operation between the tanks c and d is adopted , then the piping is as illustrated in fig1 by dotted lines . the valve 10 is closed in the manner of conducting the natural pressure operation between the tanks c and d . the compressed air in the tank d is strongly pushed into the tank c through the compressor c2 , from the opened valve 6 to the valve 9 at the tank c . the gauge pressure of the tank d drops further and , in inverse proportion thereto , the gauge pressure of the tank c rises , and thus the added pressure operation between the tanks a and b is accelerated . the operation of the tank d with a negative ( less than atmospheric ) pressure decreases the operational efficiency , so that the pressure of the tank d is controlled to drop only to the atmospheric level . in the case of the natural pressure operation between the tanks c and d , the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b is initially supported with 1 . 83 atm . gauge pressure and finally with 0 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . on the other hand , in the case of the added pressure operation between the tanks c and d , the initial gauge pressure supporting the alternate pressure operation between the tanks a and b is 1 . 83 , as in the case of natural pressure operation between the tanks c and d , but the final gauge pressure rises up to ( 3 . 64 - 2 . 0 )= 1 . 64 . as a result , it is possible that the added pressure operation can consistently support the alternate added pressure operation with 2 . 0 atm . gauge pressure or less . the final pv value of tank c + tank d is the present method applies a receiver tank g to the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b . the method is explained with reference to fig2 . the compressor used in the above method 1 is a booster compressor which draws up compressed air and discharges it as well as the atmospheric air . both the inlet pressure and the discharge pressure of the booster compressor are controlled to be 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in method 1 . however , in actuality , the discharge pressure of the booster compressor is 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure as a maximum , and the inlet pressure is lower than that of the discharge pressure . for example , in general , the inlet pressure of a booster compressor is 6 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . in the present method , the booster compressor c1 has an inlet pressure of 6 . 0 atm . gauge pressure as a maximum and a discharge pressure of 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure as a maximum . the tank a , of a capacity of 600 liters , is filled with compressed air of 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . the tank b , having the same capacity as the tank a , is filled with 550 liters of liquid . the upper portion of the tank b has compressed air of 1 . 0 atm . gauge pressure preserved therein . the receiver tank g , with a capacity of 600 liters , is filled with compressed air of 1 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . provided the tanks a , b and g are regarded as an integral structure , pv constant is 7 , 900 , which is unchanged . as for the tank c , with a capacity of 600 liters , and the tank d , with a capacity of 400 liters , provided both the tanks c and d are filled with compressed air of 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure , their pv constant is 3 , 500 , which is unchanged . in this first stage , a valve 15 of the tank a and a valve 16 of the tank g are opened , so that the tank a and the tank g are connected . then a valve 17 of the tank g and the valve 2 of the tank b are opened . through the compressor c1 , the compressed air in the tank b is drawn up to act on the upper space of 50 liters in the tank b for transfer , while the compressor c2 is also actuated , and compressed air of 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure in the tank c is drawn up into the tank d . first , an alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b is explained . the compressor c1 draws up the compressed air of 1 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank g . the compressed air with 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure the tank a flows into the tank g , so that the pressure inside the tank g rises within a range not exceeding 5 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . on the other hand , the pressure inside the tank a also drops rapidly . at the moment the gauge pressure indicates 5 . 5 atm . gauge pressure , the valves 15 and 16 , which connect the tank a and g , are closed . the valve 1 at the tank a is opened , and the compressed air in both of the tanks a and g , both of which are below 5 . 5 atm . gauge pressure , is pushed into the tank b in added pressure operation . the pressure of the compressed air of 1 . 0 atm . gauge pressure at the upper portion of the tank b rises rapidly . when the pressure exceeds 9 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , the valve 3 at the bottom of the tank b is opened , and 550 liters of liquid is pushed into a transfer place with 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , at maximum . in the present method , there is no need to sense the inflow of 337 . 5 liters , which is a measure indicating the point of addition of supplementary liquid . alternate added pressure operation between the tank a and the tanks g and b begins , and at the same time the addition of supplementary liquid starts . now the process of adding the supplementary liquid is explained . first , the vale 5 at the tank c and the valve 6 at the tank d are opened . the compressor c2 is actuated to push the compressed air of 2 . 5 atm . gauge pressure in the tank c into the tank d . the pressure inside the tank c drops rapidly . when the atm . gauge pressure in the tank c is 0 . 2 atm . gauge pressure , the valve 7 of the tank c is opened , and supplementary liquid flows into the tank c . as soon as the level switch 8 senses the instant 550 liters of supplementary liquid has flowed into the tank c , the valve 7 is closed and the operation of the compressor c2 ceases . then the valves 5 and 6 are closed , and the valve 9 at the tank c and the valve 10 at the tank d are opened . the high pressure air in the tank d flows into the upper portion of the tank c . at this point , the upper portion of the tank c , with the capacity of 50 liters , and the tank d are both filled with compressed air of 6 . 78 atm . gauge pressure . immediately after the pressure gauge at the tank c senses the above instant , the valve 11 at the bottom of the tank a is opened , and supplementary liquid flows into the tank a through its bottom . in the case of the alternate added pressure operation between the tank a and the tanks g and b , the initial gauge pressure of the tank a , as a drawing up tank , and the inlet pressure from the tank g , are both 5 . 5 atm . gauge pressure . accordingly , when the supplementary liquid of 550 liters flows with a 6 . 78 atm . gauge pressure from the tank c , the pressure of the tanks a and g both drop down below 5 . 5 atm . gauge pressure within a proper range . then the supplementary liquid addition process operates to promote the alternate added pressure operation between the tank a and the tanks g and b . at the point that the supplementary liquid rises and the amount reaches 550 liters , the level switch 14 senses that instant , and the valve 3 at the tank b is closed , while a valve 18 at the bottom of the tank a is opened . at this point , the air pressure of the upper portion , with the capacity of 500 liters , of the tank a and the tank g are both 1 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . thus , the first stage is completed and the second stage starts . at the point when the first stage is completed , the contents of the tanks a and b have been switched from the preparatory stage . nothing has changed in other points . in this second stage , the valve 19 at the tank b and the valve 16 at the tank g are opened to connect the tank b and the tank g . the valve 17 at the tank g and the valve 20 at the tank a are opened . through the compressor c1 , the compressed air in the tank g is taken to act on the upper portion having the capacity of 50 liters in the tank a . while conducting the alternate added pressure operation , the compressor c2 also operates as in the case of the first stage . an added pressure operation between the tanks c and d is also available . in this third stage , the operations return to the first stage , and the aforesaid process are repeated continuously for transfer of the material . it is noted that the valve disposed at the intermediate point of the top of each tank is an inlet valve , which is used when the pressure drops down below a fixed point due to , e . g ., blow - by . in this method , both transfer and addition of material are conducted in an alternate added pressure operation . now this method is explained according to fig3 as follows . addition of liquid in the alternate added pressure operation can be conducted with the same method as in the above method of transferring between the tanks a and b . but here , a transformed alternate added pressure operation utilizing the three tanks c , d and e is explained . the material ( a liquid of a specific gravity of 1 . 0 ) is transferred continuously to a place at a level of 100 m above the ground or to a place 10 , 000 m distant parallel to the ground with compressed air of 1 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b . to conduct a continuous transfer smoothly and highly effectively , the addition of the material is conducted with an atm . gauge pressure of 11 . 0 in a transformed alternate added pressure operation between the tanks c , d and e . each of the tanks a , b , c , d and e have a capacity of 1 , 100 liters , respectively . the unit of transfer is to be 1 , 000 liters , so that at the upper portion of each tank a space with a capacity of 100 liters remains . the tank b is filled with 1 , 000 liters of liquid . at the upper portion thereof , there remains compressed air of 2 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . the tank a with the capacity of 1 , 000 liters is filled with compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . the pv constant of tank a + tank b is 13 , 500 . the tank c is filled with 1 , 000 liters of liquid , and at the upper portion thereof , there remains a space at atmospheric pressure , i . e . an atm . gauge pressure of zero . the tank d is filled with compressed air at atmospheric pressure , and the tank e is filled with compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . the piping from a tank f to the bottom of each tanks c , d and e is provided for adding the liquid material . in the first stage , alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b uses the compressor c1 , and at the same time the compressor c2 is actuated to add 1 , 000 liters of liquid to the tank a in added pressure operation and to supply additional liquid from the tank f to the tank d . first the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b is explained . as explained previously , the valve 1 at the tank a and valve 2 at the tank b are opened . utilizing the compressor c1 , the compressed air with 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank a is pushed up into the tank b . the valve 3 at the bottom of the tank b is opened and 1 , 000 liters of liquid is transferred to a transfer place in added pressure operation . each of the tanks a and b has a level switch for measuring an upper boundary , but there is no level switch provided for measuring a low boundary and a level of 337 . 5 liters at an intermediate point in the transfer . namely , the inflow amount of 337 . 5 liters is not sensed , and the total amount of 1 , 000 liters is directly transferred in the first stage . next , the process of adding supplementary liquid between the tanks c , d and e , which is conducted at the same time as the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b , is explained . alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b starts , and , at the same time , the valve 21 and 22 at the tank d and the valve 23 at the tank c are opened and the compressor c2 starts to operate . the additional liquid in the tank f flows easily by natural flow . but , since the valve 21 at the tank d is opened and the compressed air of atmospheric pressure in the tank d is pushed up through the compressor c2 into the upper portion having the 100 liter space in the tank c , the pressure of the narrow upper space originally at atmospheric air pressure rises rapidly to 10 . 0 arm . gauge pressure . sensing that instant , the valve 21 at the tank d is closed and the valve 24 at the tank e is opened . the compressor c2 acts on the compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank e to push air into the tank c , and at the same time , the valve 25 at the bottom of the tank c is opened to transfer the supplementary liquid to the tank a in added pressure operation . a chain of processes is now explained for each tank . first , the valve 21 at the tank d is opened . through the compressor c2 , the air at atmospheric pressure in the tank d is pushed into the upper portion of the tank c . the pressure of the tank d would drop , but as the valve 22 at the bottom of the tank d is opened at the moment the valve 21 is opened , the supplementary liquid in the tank f flows by natural flow into the tank d , through the bottom , thereby pushing up the air above . then the air pushed up is moved through the compressor c2 into the upper portion of the tank c . as a result , the inflow speed of the supplementary liquid is quite rapid . before the succeeding added pressure operation between the tanks c and e starts , 1 , 000 liters of supplementary liquid flows into the tank d . depending on the type of supplementary liquid , e . g . highly viscous substances which will delay the inflow speed , it may be necessary to promote the inflow by pressurizing the upper portion of the tank f . sensing the instant the upper space of the tank c reaches 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure with the pressure of the air of atmospheric pressure in the tank d , the valve 21 at the tank d is closed . if there occurs no blow - by , at that point , 1 , 000 liters of supplementary liquid flows into the tank d , and an upper boundary level switch at the tank d senses that instant . at this time the upper space , with the capacity of 100 liters , in the tank d is at atmospheric pressure . but , if the pressure gauge at the tank d senses that the upper portion of the tank d is at slightly less than atmospheric pressure due to blow - by , etc ., a valve 27 at the tank d is opened to draw in the atmosphere . when the pressure gauge senses atmospheric pressure , the valve 27 is closed . at this point , the phase of the tank d is the same as the tank c in the preparatory stage . as for the tank c , when the air of atmospheric pressure in the tank d is pushed up and moved through the compressor c2 into the tank c through the valve 23 , the pressure of the upper space of the tank c rises rapidly . at the moment the pressure gauge senses 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , the valve 21 at the tank d is closed , and the valve 24 at the tank e and the valve 25 at the tank c are opened so as to transfer the compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank e in added pressure operation . as for the tank e , the compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank e is transferred in added pressure operation through the compressor c2 , from the valve 24 at the tank e to the valve 23 at the tank c , to act on the 1 , 000 liters of liquid in the tank c . since the upper space , with the capacity of 100 liters , has already reached 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , and the valve 25 is opened , the supplementary liquid flows , with the gauge pressure exceeding the air pressure inside the tank a , into the tank a through the bottom of the tank a . at this point , let us check the progress regarding the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b . the upper space with the capacity of 100 liters in the tank b is initially compressed at 2 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . then the compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge in the tank a flows in , and the pressure of the upper space rises immediately up to 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . 1 , 000 liters of liquid is transferred to a transfer place through the valve 3 . in proportion to the volume of the transferred liquid , the pressure inside the tank a drops from 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , and the speed of the added pressure operation decreases according to the decreasing air pressure . to avoid this , the supplementary liquid is pushed up , with the gauge pressure not below 11 . 0 atm . from and into the bottom of the tank a in order to support the added pressure operation between the tanks a and b . this resembles the following : passenger cars a and b are full of passengers and ascend a slope with full rotation of engine , while passenger cars c and e , with no passengers , having more efficiency support of the above a and b with full rotation of engine . as in the case of the tanks c and d in methods 1 and 2 , the tanks c , d and e in this method can be regarded perfectly as a closed cycle . namely , in the first stage , the tank d is full of air at atmospheric pressure , and then the tank d succeeds to , under compression of the atmospheric pressure or full of the atmospheric air , the phase of the tank c in the preparatory stage . thus , there is no difference with the phase conversion within a closed cycle . when the upper boundary level switch 13 at the tank a senses the instant the total volume of 1 , 000 liters in the tank c has been added to the tank a , the valve 25 at the tank c is closed . at that point , the tank c is filled with compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , and the pressure of the tank e drops to the level of the atmospheric pressure . and in the tank a , 1 , 000 liters of liquid is filled therein , and the upper space thereof , with the capacity of 100 liters , is pressurized by compressed air of 2 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . the tank b is filled with compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . this means that the contents of the tanks a and b in the preparatory stage are replaced with each other . likewise , replacements take place between the tanks c , d and e : the tank c replaces the tank e , and the tank c is filled with compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure ; the tank d replaces the tank c , and the tank d is filled with 1 , 000 liters of liquid with the exception of an upper space of a capacity of 100 liters ; and the tank e replaces the tank d , and the tank e is filled with atmospheric air . the second stage is conducted with the tanks replacing each other as discussed above , and the process proceeds similar to the first stage . when the second stage is completed , the operational process between the tanks a and b returns to the first stage . however , the operational process between the tanks c , d and e enters into a third stage , under these conditions : the tank c is filled with atmospheric air ; the tank d is filled with compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure ; and the tank e is filled with 1 , 000 liters of liquid , with the exception of an upper space with a capacity of 100 liters . when the third stage is completed , the process at last returns to the conditions of the preparatory stage . the subsequent fourth stage operates similarly to the first stage . in this method , compressed air used for transfer by pressure is utilized , travelling a long distance , as an active power source . the compressed air is circulated between the origin of the transfer material and a transfer place to which the material is being transferred through a pipe connecting the two points . the process is explained with reference to fig4 . by pressurizing the atmospheric air , compressed air as an active power source is obtained . it is not economical that the active power source disperses to the atmosphere after being used as a power source . the air pressure is wave motion travelling with a velocity 340 m per second , so that the effectiveness of the active power can be promoted if the used active power source is returned immediately from the transfer place to the origin of the transfer for further continuous use in repetition . in this method , the principle is such that the liquid material is transferred from a tank c to the tanks a and b alternately . to support the transfer , the liquid material and compressed air are transferred to the transfer place alternately . the tanks a and b are both of a capacity of 1 , 100 liters . the tanks are provided with upper boundary level switches 28 and 29 , and lower boundary level switches 30 and 31 , respectively . when 1 , 000 liters of liquid is pushed into the tank a , the volume reaches the upper boundary , so that at the upper portion thereof , a space witch a capacity of 100 liters remains . the upper space is occupied with atmospheric air . the tank b is filled with compressed air at 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . valves 32 and 33 at the tank a and a valve 34 at the tank b are opened . the compressed air at 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank b is moved utilizing the compressor c1 , and the 1 , 000 liters of liquid in the tank a is transferred through the valve 33 to a transfer place ( a tank d ) 5 , 000 m distant . at the same time , the compressor c2 starts to operate , and gas ( atmospheric air ) is drawn up and pushed into the tank a through the valve 35 . accordingly , as the liquid in the tank a is discharged into the tank d , the air pressure inside the tank b drops . at the moment a pressure gauge senses , e . g ., 0 . 4 atm . gauge pressure , then a valve 36 is opened and supplementary liquid flows into the tank b from the tank c . when the supplementary liquid reaches the upper boundary , the level switch 29 senses that instant and the valve 36 is closed . when the air pressure of the upper space in the tank b reaches atmospheric pressure , the valve 34 is closed . thereafter , the compressor c1 continues to draw in atmospheric air and push it into the tank a through the valve 32 at the tank a . the air pressure in the tank d rises , and the compressor c2 draws up the pressurized air so that the inside of the tank d is kept at atmospheric pressure , and then the compressed drawn - up air is pushed into the tank a . thus , a fixed volume of compressed air is pushed into the pipe , through the tank a , pushing the 1 , 000 liters of liquid . the control of the volume of compressed air can be accomplished utilizing the operating time of the compressors . after pushing a fixed volume of compressed air from the tank a to the tank d , the valve 33 is closed . at the same time , the valve 32 at the tank a , the valve 34 at the tank b and the valve 35 at the tank a are closed . then the valve 37 at the tank a and the valves 38 and 39 at the tank b are opened , and the compressors c1 and c2 start to operate . the compressed air of nearly 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure filled in the tank a and the compressed air in the tank d are pushed into the tank b . the valve 40 at the tank b is opened , and the liquid in the tank b is pushed out . accordingly , as the level of liquid of the tank b descends , the pressure of the tank a also drops . when the pressure in the tank a reaches , e . g ., 0 . 4 atm . gauge pressure , the pressure gauge at the tank a senses that instant and the valve 41 at the tank a is opened . then the supplementary liquid in the tank c flows into the tank a . at the moment the level switch 28 at the tank a senses the liquid , the valve 41 is closed . when the 100 liters of air occupying the upper space of the tank a reaches atmospheric pressure , the valve 37 is closed , and the compressor c1 continues to draw up atmospheric air and push it into the tank b . after completing the discharge of 1 , 000 liters of liquid through the valve 40 , an atmospheric pressure operation for a certain time , and an added pressure operation , acting on the air in the tank d and utilizing the compressor c2 , are conducted continuously . after a fixed amount of compressed air has been pushed into the tank b , the valve 40 is closed . the tank b then returns to the preparatory stage having the conditions prior to the first stage . repeating the above transfer steps to the tank d is conducted alternating liquid -- compressed air -- liquid -- compressed air through the inside of the long pipe leading to the tank d . in the tank d , the liquid occupies the lower portion of the tank and the compressed air is at the upper portion of the tank d . the compressed air at the upper portion is drawn out by the compressor c2 so as to keep the upper portion of the tank d at atmospheric pressure . as a result , the pressure difference between the origin of transfer and the tank d can be kept at nearly 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . since the transfer to the tank d is conducted by the chain of liquid -- gas -- liquid -- gas , the atmospheric pressure operation with the compressor c1 is no longer needed , and the effectiveness of the transfer becomes great . the compressor c1 , after completion of the alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b , draws out the gas in the tank d in cooperation with the compressor c2 , instead of the atmospheric pressure operation , to push the gas into the tank a or the tank b . thereafter , the transfer operation is conducted in added pressure operation . in this method , the distance between the origin of transfer and the tank d is set to be 5 , 000 m . if the diameter of the pipe transferring the chain of liquid -- gas is 200 mm , the inside volume of the pipe becomes 157 m 3 . liquid and compressed air are transferred through the inside of the pipe alternately . provided the volume ratio between the two substances is 2 : 1 , 105 m 3 of the liquid in total and 52 m 3 of compressed air in total reaches the tank d alternately . in more detail , the length of 1 , 000 liters of liquid in the pipe having the diameter of 200 mm becomes 32 m , so that the length of the compressed air becomes half the length of the liquid , i . e ., 16 m . accordingly , first liquid with a length of 32 m is transferred , and next compressed air with a length of 16 m follows thereafter , and further liquid with the length of 32 m follows . thus , a chain of liquid and compressed air extending 5 , 000 m is transferred to the tank d . of course , the above volume of the liquid and compressed air inside the pipe is merely divided by simple mathematical calculation . actually , as the gas approaches the tank d , the pressure of the air drops , and the volume of the gas expands to more than 16 m in length in inverse proportion to the air pressure drop . after the above process , the added pressure operation acts on the tanks a and b of 1 . 1 m 3 each ( 1 , 100 liters ) and the compressed air of 52 m 3 inside the pipe . during that time , if the air pressure decreases due to blow - by , etc ., the compressed air is supplemented according to the circumstances so as to maintain a continuous and repeated smooth transfer , whereby a highly effective operation is attained . there are cases where , after completion of a transfer of a liquid material which includes solid substances of a high specific gravity , or highly viscous liquids , to a very distant place , a further transfer to a higher place or to an even more distant place is needed , or the transferred liquid is to be further divided and transferred to other places . the following method may be applied to such cases . the process is explained with reference to fig5 . while any one of the aforesaid methods is available , in this case three tanks are utilized . a liquid transferred in an alternate added pressure operation from the tanks a and b , which are placed at the origin of transfer , is further transferred into the tank c from the direction of arrow a in fig5 . the tank c is filled with 1 , 000 liters of liquid and at the upper portion , a 100 liter space is occupied with atmospheric air . the tank d is filled with 1 , 100 liters of atmospheric air . the tank e , with a capacity of 1 , 100 liters , is filled with compressed air at 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure ( if necessary , the pressure may be varied ). an upper valve 42 and a lower valve 43 at the tank d , and an upper valve 44 and a lower valve 45 at the tank c , are opened . then the compressor c3 starts to operate . the liquid from the direction of arrow a , transferred from the origin of transfer , flows into the tank d through the opened valve 43 at the bottom of the tank d . on the other hand , the atmospheric air in the tank d is drawn up by a compressor c3 and is pushed into the upper space of the tank c . before the pressure inside the tank d becomes negative , liquid is pushed up through the valve 43 at the bottom of the tank d in atmospheric pressure operation between the tanks c and d with an efficiency nearly as in the case of alternate added pressure operation , so that the inside of the tank d reaches atmospheric pressure or more . the 1 , 000 liters of liquid in the tank c is transferred through the valve 43 to the next transfer place or to a place from where the transferred liquid is divided . in need of spreading the transferred liquid at the transfer place or the place to be diverged , the valve 45 at the tank c is closed until the air pressure of the upper space in the tank c becomes 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . when the liquid pushed in to the bottom of the tank d reaches the level of 1 , 000 liters , a level switch 46 senses that instant , and the valves 42 and 43 are closed . then a valve 47 at the tank e is opened , and compressed air of 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure is transferred from the tank e to the tank c in added pressure operation . if the air pressure of the upper space , with the capacity of 100 liters , in the tank d becomes negative , the valve 48 is opened until the upper space reaches atmospheric pressure . the valve 45 is closed by sensing the instant of the completion of transfer of the 1 , 000 liters of liquid in the tank c with a level switch 49 at the bottom of the tank c . at that point , if the pressure of the tank c does not reach a gauge pressure of 11 . 0 atm ., an alternate added pressure operation is conducted until the pressure in the tank c reaches 11 . 0 atm . gauge pressure . such a reduction of pressure occurs in the tank c because the pressure of the compressed air used for the alternate added pressure operation is higher than required . accordingly , the initial gauge pressure of the tank e should be decreased to the extent of necessary and sufficient for transfer . the first stage is completed through the above processes . the tank c thus replaces ; the phased the tank e , and the tank e replaces the phase of the tank d . the second stage starts by repeating the same process , whereby a transfer distance can be further extended , and the division of the material can be attained with a high effectiveness . the continuous operation in this method is conducted in two systems . the one system includes the tanks a and b , or the tanks a , b and c , which are for the transfer operation . the other system includes the tanks c and d , or the tanks c , d and e , which are for continuous supplement . these tanks are controlled by computers such as micro - computers or micro - processors utilizing a fuzzy function . particulars of the liquid material such as the specific gravity , the viscosity , the forms of the substances included in the liquid and the content ratio thereof , the values of friction and resistance , etc ., are calculated in accordance with hydrodynamics and experiments . after that , the values obtained are memorized in the computers . when the liquid flows into the supplement system , the sensor senses the properties and forms of the liquid . according to the memory and operation of the computers , the pressure and the volume of transfer of each tank in the two systems are controlled so as to be best suited for the liquid material . a change in the volume of the liquid during a continuous operation over an extended period of time is also able to be properly dealt with by utilizing developed software . in this method , however , there still remains the problem of blow - by due to the compressor operation . the blow - by problem can be settled , provided the compressor is contained in a suitable pressure box and operated under the same pressure as that of the added pressure operation . but it is necessary to prepare a large - sized pressure box . recently the abilities of a compressors have become quite great , and as a result the amount of blow - by is small . so it seems more economical , by sensing the instant the amount of the blow - by reaches a fixed value , to supplement the loss instead of preparing a pressure box for containing the compressor . on the contrary , however , when various kinds of liquid material are transferred to higher places or very distant places by large - sized mechanisms , a plurality of large - sized compressors contained in a large - sized pressure box of steel or in a hermetical rc or src structure box with high stability may be considered . the pressure inside of the pressure box can be controlled by computers so as to eliminate blow - by , which is practically possible and economical ,, newtonian fluids and slurries of non - newtonian fluids as well may be transferred by this method . solid substances can be included in the fluid in this method as long as the size of the solid substances is smaller than the diameter of the valves and pipes . accordingly , stirring is required for some kind of liquid in transfer . as for stirring , this process is described in the aforesaid international publication no . wo 90 / 03322 , wherein compressed air is pushed through a plurality of divergent pipes from the bottom of a tank where stirring is conducted . bubbles rising up from the bottom of the tank crush the precipitated or coagulated substances , and then compressed air preserved at the upper portion of the tank pushes the stirred liquid into another pipe connected to the bottom of the tank . further explanation of stirring is made with reference to fig7 which is a basic drawing with respect to an alternate added pressure operation . when compressed air of 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure in the tank a is pushed into the tank b and acts on the liquid in the tank b so that the liquid is transferred in a d direction , the valve b 3 is opened before the valve b 4 is opened . the liquid in the bank b is then returned to the tank c , where the precipitated or coagulated substances are crushed and stirred . whether all the liquid in the tank b is returned to the tank c , or the liquid is returned partly for stirring , can be adjusted by a position sensor . for stirring , natural pressure operation is enough , but an added pressure operation may be used if necessary . there are several steps to be taken after stirring . one step is that , in the case of the total amount of liquid in the tank b being returned to the tank c , the inside of the tank is filled with compressed air of 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , and the stirred liquid is returned to the tank a , and in the next stage an alternate added pressure operation is conducted . another step is that the compressed air in the tank b is again returned to the tank a so that the inside of the tank is filled with compressed air of 10 . 0 atm . gauge pressure , and the stirred liquid is pushed from the tank c to the tank b , and then the alternate . added pressure operation is for the first time , conducted . the alternate added pressure operation can also be conducted after stirring two times . by utilizing a sequence control or a computer memory , the most effective method may be selected . a water supply system for ultra - multi - stored building requires many pumps and receiver tanks . pumps and tanks are connected with may pipes , the piping of which is complicated . accordingly , the cost and energy consumption both become great . for this reasons , a continuous added pressure operation as described above is applied to the water supply system of ultra - multi - storied buildings . besides , according to the principle of air pressure as already described , the air pressure , which is wave motion traveling at a velocity of 340 m per second and free from gravity , can be fully utilized . fig8 shows a water supply system in a building with scores of stories , in which a receiver tank is placed at every ten stories , e . g ., such as 1st floor , 11th floor , 21st floor . the remaining stories between the above stories are supposed to be supplied by the natural flow of the water . the water in the receiver tank c is transferred to the receiver tank f in alternate added pressure operation between the tanks a and b . the water in the receiver tank f is transferred to the receiver tank i in alternate added pressure operation between the tanks d and e , and the water in the receiver tank i is transferred to the receiver tank k in alternate pressure operation between the tanks g and h . as shown in the figure , at floor 31 and 41 , a single pressure tank is provided instead of two , which means an alternate added pressure operation over a long span is conducted . the water is introduced from the receiver tank k to the pressure tank j , and compressed air is pushed into the pressure tank j from any one of the pressure tanks ab , de , gh . next , the compressed air is pushed into the receiver tank m to act on the water in the receiver tank m and transfer the water to the pressure tank l , and then the compressed air in the pressure tank j ( compressed air in the other tank , may be available ) is pushed into the pressure tank l for transfer to a higher place . the height of each story is 3 m , so that the height of ten stories is 30 m . accordingly , with 4 atm . gauge pressure , which exceeds 3 atm . gauge pressure by 1 atm . gauge pressure , transfer at an ultra - multistoried building of 200 m - 300 m is possible within a second . this water supply method is a milestone both in speed and energy saving . the methods described above can be operated continuously without man &# 39 ; s help under the control of a sequence control or computers . explanation with respect to the present invention has been made with reference to 1 m 3 of water with a specific gravity of 1 . 0 so that the explanation may be understood well . however , the methods according to the present invention enable transferring such objects as fluid concrete , liquid including solid substances , sludge - like mud and high viscous liquids to a very distant place with high effectiveness . accordingly , water supply for every story of a multistoried building and other matters which have not been carried out due to excessive cost or low effectiveness , can be conducted in accordance with the methods of the present invention . namely , the present invention has improved the transfer method previously provided by me and provided a transfer method that can be conducted continuously and repeatedly with high effectiveness and is available for many kinds of objects .	1
in fig1 the furnace chamber is indicated by 1 . a feed pipe 2 rotatable about its vertical axis and with its lower end bent to the side , has been fitted centrally through the top of the furnace chamber 1 . in the floor of the furnace chamber there is , furthermore , an outlet 3 for withdrawing the roasted solid from the furnace chamber 1 and in its upper section there is an outlet 4 for discharging the selenium - bearing gases produced during the sulfatizing roasting , for the recovery of selenium . in addition , two circular trays 5 and 5 &# 39 ; have been fixed in the furnace chamber 1 at two horizontal planes , one above the other . there is also a vertical rotatable shaft 9 centrally fitted through the floor of the furnace chamber . the shaft 9 extends through the center of the trays to above the upper tray 5 , and scrapers 6 , 6 &# 39 ; and 10 have been mounted on the shaft at various levels so that the topmost scraper 6 scrapes the floor of the topmost tray 5 , the middle scraper 6 &# 39 ; scrapes the floor of the lower plate 5 &# 39 ;, and the lowest scraper scrapes the floor of the furnace chamber 1 . the lower end of the slurry feed pipe 2 , rotated concentrically with the shaft 9 , has been attached to the scraper 6 scraping the upper tray 5 , in order to feed slurry onto the upper tray 5 on the trailing side of the scraper 6 . the scraper 6 consists of one or more parts and it curves spirally towards the outer edge of the tray in order to transfer slurry towards the peripheral edge of the upper tray 5 , the edge being at some distance from the inner wall of the furnace chamber 1 in order to form openings 8 between the upper tray 5 and the inner wall of the furnace chamber 1 , so that the batch treated on the upper tray 5 can fall onto the tray 5 &# 39 ; below , the diameter of which is greater than that of the upper tray 5 . for its part , the scraper 6 &# 39 ; of the lower tray 5 &# 39 ; curves forwards spirally towards the outer edge of the tray in order to transfer the batch falling close to the periphery of the lower tray 5 &# 39 ; towards the center , the lower tray 5 &# 39 ; having a large centered aperture 8 &# 39 ; for dropping the roasted solid to the floor of the furnace chamber . the scraper 6 &# 39 ; has been divided into two ( or more ) scraper parts , the inner one leading , and their sweeping areas overlapping to some extent . the lowest scraper 10 finally transfers the roasted solid which has fallen onto the furnace of the furnace chamber into the outlet 3 , and from there on out through a cooling double - gate device 18 . for heating the slurry the trays 5 and 5 &# 39 ; have been provided with resistor elements 7 , which have been connected to outside sources of power ( not in the figure ) through inlets fitted in the supports 11 of the trays 5 and 5 &# 39 ;. the trays 5 and 5 &# 39 ; are heated by the electric resistors 7 and thereby the layer to be roasted on top of them is also heated effectively . furthermore , several bar - like electric resistors 12 for heating the gas chamber have been fitted through the wall of the furnace chamber , as have temperature sensors 15 . in fig1 reference numeral 13 indicates an observation window and 14 the maintenance hatches . the direction of rotation of the shaft 9 and the scrapers 6 , 6 &# 39 ; and 10 is indicated by an arrow in fig1 . the motion of the rotating mechanism of the shaft 9 and the scrapers 6 , 6 &# 39 ; and 10 can be produced hydraulically , mechanically or by other similar means ( in the figure it is with a hydraulic cylinder ). the power of the electric resistors 7 in the upper tray 5 is preferably about 0 . 6 kwh / 1 kg and in the lower plate 5 &# 39 ; preferably half of it , i . e . about 0 . 3 kwh / 1 kg slurry in order to heat the trays 5 and 5 &# 39 ; to about 700 ° c . by means of the electric resistors 12 it is ensured that the temperature of the gas phase remains at about 500 ° c . above the tray 5 , at about 600 ° c . above the lower tray 5 &# 39 ;, and at about 450 ° c . above the floor of the furnace chamber . the mutual positions of the scrapers 6 , 6 &# 39 ; and 10 have been graduated so that the upper scraper drops roasted slurry or solid to the trailing side of a lower scraper . the movement of the scrapers 6 , 6 &# 39 ; and 10 can be continuously progressive or periodical , for example in sequences of about 30 °, in which case the period of rotation can advantageously be adjusted between 4 and 12 minutes . the reference numerals used in fig2 are the same as in fig1 . the apparatus depicted in fig2 deviates from the embodiment shown in fig1 mainly in that its trays 5 and 5 &# 39 ; have been fitted so that they are rotatable but the scrapers 6 and 6 &# 39 ; are fixed . the upper tray 5 has been fitted to rotate about a vertical shaft 9 passing through the top of the furnace chamber 1 . at the upper end of the shaft 9 there are devices 16 for rotating the shaft 9 and the tray 5 attached to its lower end and for leading the current to the resistor elements 7 in the tray . the lower tray 5 &# 39 ; has been mounted respectively at the upper end of the rotatable shaft 9 running through the floor of the furnace chamber 1 . the upper end of the shaft 9 is concentric with the shaft 9 mentioned above and at its lower end there are respective devices 16 . the upper and the lower trays 5 and 5 &# 39 ; can thus be rotated either at the same speed or at different speeds . in addition , a fixed pipe 2 has been fitted through the top of the furnace chamber in order to feed slurry to the trailing side of the fixed scraper of the upper tray 5 . the scraper 6 is curved in the rotational direction of the tray 5 towards the periphery in order to remove slurry to be roasted over the edge of the tray 5 into the shaft 8 formed in the inner wall of the furnace chamber 1 in order to drop the batch and direct it to the lower tray 5 &# 39 ; to the trailing side of the scraper 6 &# 39 ; scraping the lower tray 5 &# 39 ;, but in front of the scraper 17 fitted at the distance of the desired layer thickness from the tray 5 &# 39 ; above the tray 5 &# 39 ; in order to spread the batch dropped onto the lower tray evenly on this tray . the removing scraper 6 &# 39 ; of the lower plate 5 &# 39 ; transfers the roasted solid over the peripheral edge of the lower tray 5 &# 39 ; into the outlet shaft 8 &# 39 ; situated at this point ; this shaft 8 &# 39 ; continues as an outlet 3 , whereafter the solid is cooled in a double - gate withdrawing device 18 . by regulating the rotational velocity of the reaction trays 5 and 5 &# 39 ; and respectively the retention time , the desired selenium removal degree is achieved . it has been shown that a retention time of 12 - 36 min at a reaction temperature of 600 ° c . is sufficient for removing & gt ; 99 % of the selenium of the product . at the same time it has been observed that the degree of purity of the selenium precipitated in absorption devices is the same as in a batch process performed in the muffel furnace described above . the advantage of the apparatus according to the invention over previously known apparatus consists of its substantially higher capacity . the selenium treatment capacity of a muffel furnace with outer dimensions corresponding to the tray furnace in question is at maximum 80 t / a , expressed as the dry weight of the feed slurry . the respective capacity of a continuous - working tray furnace is 300 t / a . this means that the largest known purification plants treating raw materials of selenium , a quantity of 800 - 1000 t / a , would require only 3 - 4 tray furnace units for their selenium production , whereas the number of muffle furnaces required is currently 10 - 12 furnaces in parallel . the apparatus is described below in more detail by means of an example : a continuous - working roasting furnace , with a roasting tray diameter of 1200 mm and a rotational velocity 10 r / h , produced by a periodically working hydraulic piston . the regulatable power of the electric resistors on the trays was 45 kw and in the gas chamber 13 kw . a mixture of noble - metal slurry and strong sulfuric acid was transferred into the roasting furnace by means of a membrane pump . the slurry contained 1 part by weight of noble - metal slurry , 0 . 4 part by weight of 93 % sulfuric acid , and 0 . 03 part by weight of diatomite . the composition of the feed slurry was : 20 % ag , 8 % se , 0 . 8 % ni and 1 . 8 % cu . the slurry was fed onto the upper tray at 50 kg / h , the layer thickness on the tray being 2 mm . when the tray had rotated 9 / 10 of a rotation from the slurry feed point , a scraper blade detached the calcine from the tray and dropped it onto the lower tray , where its retention time corresponded to about two rotations . the total retention time on the trays was about 16 min , at 450 °- 600 ° c . the average yield of roasted product was 49 kg / h , of which selenium & lt ; 0 . 05 %.	5
referring first to fig1 , there is shown a configuration of a hologram apparatus in the form of a hologram recording and reproduction apparatus to which the present invention is applied . the hologram recording and reproduction apparatus includes a laser light source 1 such as a semiconductor layer , a shutter 2 , a half - wave plate 3 , a phase beam splitter ( pbs ) 4 , another shutter 5 , a mirror 6 , a spatial filter 7 , a collimate lens 8 , another mirror 9 , a spatial light modulator ( slm ) 10 , and a fourier lens 11 . the hologram recording and reproduction apparatus further includes another spatial filter 12 , another collimate lens 13 , a further mirror 14 , a rotating mirror 15 , another fourier lens 16 , an image sensor ( image pickup device ) 17 , and a removable hologram recording material 60 . now , operation of the hologram recording and reproduction apparatus of the present embodiment is described . upon recording , the shutters 2 and 5 are open , and a laser beam emitted from the laser light source 1 is introduced to the phase beam splitter 4 through the half - wave plate 3 . the phase beam splitter 4 splits the incoming laser beam into signal light 100 and reference light 200 . the signal light 100 is diverted by the mirror 6 and passes through the spatial filter 7 , whereafter it is converted into substantially parallel light by the collimate lens 8 . the signal light 100 in the form of substantially parallel light is diverted by the mirror 9 and optically spatially modulated with a data page displayed on the spatial light modulator 10 , whereafter it is condensed on the hologram recording material 60 ( which is sometimes referred to merely as recording material ) by the fourier lens 11 . meanwhile , the reference light 200 passes through the spatial filter 12 and is converted into substantially parallel light by the collimate lens 13 , whereafter it is diverted by the mirror 14 and comes to the rotating mirror 15 . the reference light 200 is diverted by an angle determined from a rotational angle of the rotating mirror 15 and then comes to the hologram recording material 60 . thereupon , if the rotational angle of the rotating mirror 15 changes , then the incoming angle of the reference light 200 to the hologram recording material 60 changes . consequently , interference fringes by the signal light 100 and the reference light 200 are recorded in an angle multiplexing method in the hologram recording material 60 . upon reproduction , the shutter 2 is open while the shutter 5 is closed . consequently , the reference light 200 is irradiated as reproduction illumination light on the hologram recording material 60 , and reproduction signal light 300 is generated by the hologram recording material 60 . the reproduction signal light 300 is converted into substantially parallel light by the fourier lens 16 and received by the image sensor 17 . the image sensor 17 photoelectrically converts the received optical image into a reproduction image signal . the hologram recording and reproduction apparatus of the present embodiment has a function of automatically correcting a positional displacement between the spatial light modulator 10 ( hologram reproduction image ) and the image sensor 17 on the pixel level . the function is described below . in a basic idea of automatic correction , for example , a marker for calibration formed from an alternate pattern of white and black ( for example , as pixel values on the spatial light modulator 10 , 255 and 0 ) as seen in fig2 is considered . it is to be noted that the marker shown in fig2 is a mere example , and any marker may be used only if it is formed from an alternate pattern . a plurality of images on each of which the marker is disposed are displayed at scattered places on the spatial light modulator 10 as shown in fig3 , and an image of signal light spatially optically modulated by the spatial light modulator 10 is picked up directly by the image sensor 17 ( in this instance , the hologram recording material 60 is removed ). then , positioning ( hereinafter referred to as pixel matching ) on the pixel level is performed between the spatial light modulator 10 ( hologram image ) and the image sensor 17 based on the resulting picked up image . it is to be noted that , where the compatibility ( removability ) between different drives is take into consideration , it is realistic to record such a calibration image ( pixel matching pattern ) as described above in the hologram recording material 60 . fig4 a and 4b illustrate a manner of positioning between the spatial light modulator 10 and the image sensor 17 . the image sensor 17 has a resolution as high as twice that of the spatial light modulator 10 such that the image sensor 17 receives light emitted from the spatial light modulator 10 in an oversampling manner . at this time , if the positioning is performed correctly as seen in fig4 a , then also an image of the calibration pattern whose image is picked up by the image sensor 17 is ideally picked up with a substantially fixed luminance value ih corresponding to 255 and with a substantially fixed luminance value il corresponding to 0 similarly to the pattern display on the spatial light modulator 10 . thus , the received light signal of the image sensor 17 exhibits a simple rectangular waveform . however , if the positioning is not performed correctly as seen in fig4 b , then some pixel on the image sensor 17 receives a reduced amount of light and therefore exhibits a luminance of an intermediate value im between pixel values corresponding to 0 and 255 of the spatial light modulator 10 . therefore , the received light signal of the image sensor 17 exhibits a stepped rectangular waveform and assumes three values of the luminance value ih , intermediate value im , and luminance value il . thus , this fact is utilized in the following manner . in particular , where received light values of successive pixels of the image sensor 17 are represented by p 0 , p 1 , p 2 and p 3 as seen in fig5 , the sum of squares of differences between neighboring pixel values represented by {( p 0 + p 1 )−( p 2 + p 3 )} 2 is determined as an evaluation function ( since the received light values are obtained by the oversampling , differences between the sums of adjacent pixels ). then , positioning between the spatial light modulator 10 and the image sensor 17 on the pixel level can be performed using the evaluation function to search out the position at which the sum total of the differences . the evaluation function can be represented , by generalization , by the following expression : ∑ k ⁢ { ( p 4 ⁢ k + p 4 ⁢ k + 1 ) - ( p 4 ⁢ k + 2 + p 4 ⁢ k + 3 ) } 2 it is to be noted that , where such an evaluation function as described is incorporated , if the speed of calculation takes precedence , a form of the expression above which does not involve squaring , that is , an expression of ( p 0 + p 1 )−( p 2 + p 3 ) which is a difference between received light values of successive pixels , may be used . thus , the generalized form represents the sum total of differences between received light values of successive pixels . further , image pickup is preferably performed by a plural number of times in order to suppress an influence of random noise and so forth of the image sensor 17 such that a sum mean image is produced from the plural images and used for positioning . fig6 shows an example of a data page in which markers for automatic positioning displayed on the spatial light modulator 10 are incorporated and particularly markers for pixel matching are embedded in modulation codes . the image example uses markers having a shape different from that of the marker shown in fig1 . in particular , as seen in an enlarged view of fig7 , markers 30 for rough positioning are provided at the four corners , and pixel matching markers 40 are disposed in the horizontal and vertical directions between the rough positioning markers 30 . each of the pixel matching markers 40 is formed from an alternate pattern of two values . fig8 shows a control system for automatic positioning incorporated in the hologram recording and reproduction apparatus shown in fig1 . referring to fig8 , the control system shown includes an image sensor moving mechanism 21 for mechanically moving the image sensor 17 , a frame memory 18 for storing an image signal outputted from the image sensor 17 , and an image processing section 19 for processing an image stored in the frame memory 18 . the control system further includes an actuator controller 20 for outputting a control signal based on a result of the processing of the image processing section 19 , and an actuator driver 22 for driving the image sensor moving mechanism 21 in accordance with the control signal outputted from the actuator controller 20 . now , an automatic positioning control process is described with reference to a flow chart shown in fig9 . first , such a data page as shown in fig6 is displayed on the spatial light modulator 10 and recorded into the hologram recording material 60 , whereafter it is reproduced so that an image thereof is picked up by the image sensor 17 ( step s 1 ). then , the image processing section 19 automatically recognizes the positioning markers 30 in accordance with an image recognition algorithm therefor to detect the positions of the positioning markers 30 ( step s 2 ). then , the image processing section 19 takes a plurality of line profiles in the horizontal and vertical directions between the markers 30 to produce a plurality of profiles ( step s 3 ). thereafter , the image processing section 19 integrates the profiles ( step s 4 ). the image processing section 19 calculates an evaluation value in accordance with the evaluation function given hereinabove using the integrated profile and moves the image sensor 17 in the horizontal and vertical directions so that the evaluation value may have a maximum value ( steps s 5 , s 6 , and s 7 ). then , the image processing section 19 fixes the image sensor 17 at the position at which the evaluation value exhibits the maximum value to perform pixel matching . thereafter , positioning and cutting out of modulation codes , which represent the data , are performed to read out the data while the bit error rate is suppressed low . fig1 shows a picked up image involving some positional displacement while fig1 shows an example of the picked up image whose positional displacement has been corrected by performing pixel matching . fig1 is an enlarged view of part of an image cut out from the image of fig1 by the image sensor 17 . from among the pixel matching markers 40 shown in fig6 , those arrayed in the horizontal direction have a width coinciding with the size of the modulation codes , and those arrayed in the vertical direction have a height coinciding with the size of the modulation codes . for example , if the minimum unit of the modulation codes is 2 × 2 pixels , then the minimum width and the minimum height of the markers are 2 pixels . the alternate patterns of 2 values , which form the markers , are disposed cyclically with the reference width or with the reference height , and can be observed always in the same cycle also on a picked up image if the picked up image does not involve distortion arising from the optical system or the medium . however , it is difficult to actually suppress distortion arising from an optical system or a medium , and where an image involves some distortion , the cycle of the markers on the image varies depending upon the place . also in this instance , the distortion of the image can be corrected by positively making use of the variation . also it is possible to measure the inclination of the markers and correct the inclination of the image . according to the hologram recording and reproduction apparatus of the present embodiment , a pixel matching image is picked up by the image sensor 17 having a resolution as high as twice that of the spatial light modulator 10 to produce a plurality of line profiles , and an evaluation value is calculated in accordance with an evaluation function from profiles obtained by integrating the line profiles . then , the image sensor 17 is moved to a position at which the evaluation value exhibits a maximum value to automatically correct any positional displacement between the spatial light modulator 10 and the image sensor 17 on the pixel level . further , since such pixel matching as described above is performed to cut out the picked up image , a reproduction image signal whose bit error rate can be suppressed low can be obtained . it is to be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above but can be carried out in various modified forms in terms of the particular configuration , function , action , and effect without departing from the subject matter of the present invention . for example , in the embodiment described above , a pixel matching pattern is displayed on the spatial light modulator 10 and an image of signal light optically spatially modulated with the displayed pixel matching pattern is picked up directly by the image sensor 17 to perform positioning between the spatial light modulator 10 and the image sensor 17 . however , also if a pixel matching pattern is reproduced from a hologram material in which the pixel matching pattern is recorded in advance and resulting reproduction signal light is received by the image sensor 17 , the positional displacement between the spatial light modulator 10 and the image sensor 17 on the pixel level can be corrected automatically . further , while , in the embodiment described above , the image sensor 17 is moved with respect to the spatial light modulator 10 , under certain circumstances , the spatial light modulator 10 may alternatively be moved with respect to the image sensor 17 . further , while the hologram apparatus of the embodiment described above adopts an angular multiplexing method , similar effects can be achieved also if the present invention is applied to hologram apparatus of any other multiplexing method such as , for example , the shift multiplexing method . while a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described using specific terms , such description is for illustrative purpose only , and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims .	6
in fig1 , an intubating laryngeal - mask ( ilm ) device 10 of the invention is shown installed in and self - retained by relevant features of a patient &# 39 ; s oral anatomy . an anatomically curved rigid tube portion 11 of device 10 is suitably of bent stainless - steel tubing which may be of 13 - mm minimum internal diameter , in order to accept insertion of a cuffed 8 - mm endotracheal tube ( et ). the curved portion 11 is suitably conformed to a circular arc a of preferably 130 °± 5 °, extending from a proximal limit 12 of tube curvature to a distal limit 13 of tube curvature , the curvature being along a central axis 14 of airway passage and in a first ( or vertical ) geometric plane of symmetry ; the maximum or outer radius r 1 of tube ( 11 ) curvature is suitably 41 . 5 mm , for use by a large fraction of the adult population , for whom the minimum or inner radius r 2 of curvature is about 27 mm . at the proximal limit 12 of curved portion 11 , a straight proximal end portion 15 is an integrally formed part of the same tubing , having tangential connection to the proximal end of the arc at location 12 , which is in register with substantially the longitudinal mid - point of the patient &# 39 ; s hard palate , labeled hp in the drawing . the outer radius r 1 of curved portion 11 is shown to substantially conform to concave curvature of the patient &# 39 ; s soft palate ( sp ), as also labeled in the drawing ; and the inner radius r 2 of curved portion 11 will be understood to conform to convex curvature of the back of the patient &# 39 ; s tongue ( not shown ). at the distal end 13 of the curved portion 11 of the rigid tube , the central axis 14 of the airway path determined by the tube is directed toward the laryngeal inlet and is in the above - noted first or vertical plane of symmetry , said distal - end limit being at the upper region of the pharynx and at considerable offset from the intended target of et entry into the glottic aperture , but laryngeal - mask structure 20 carried by the distal end of the rigid tube is internally configured to extend and laterally stabilize the guidance of an inserted et , for greater assurance of the targeted entry . the laryngeal - mask structure 20 is of flexibly yieldable elastomeric material , wherein relative thickness determines the relative stiffness or weakness of compliant deformability . basically , structure 20 comprises a relatively stiff backing plate formation 21 having an inlet - air counterbore formation ( shown , but not marked ) of arcuately curved extent δ which accounts for telescopic reception and bonding of mask structure 20 to the distal end of tube 11 . as shown , the arcuate extent δ of telescopic fit is 20 ° to 25 °, which is sufficient to assure a circumferentially sealed fit and also to fully provide enclosure of a truncated radially inner - end portion of the rigid tube , the truncation being identified 22 in the drawing . as with prior laryngeal masks , the backing plate will be understood to terminate in a generally elliptical rim of attachment to a peripherally continuous and softly compliant ring formation which , in the preferred form shown is an inflatable ring 23 having means 24 of control connection for air - inflation / deflation purposes . the elliptical rim and ring 23 will be further understood ( a ) to have lateral symmetry about the vertical plane of symmetry and ( b ) to lie generally in a second geometric plane 25 which is normal to the first or vertical plane . within the backing plate 21 , the airway passage of the rigid tube 11 is seen to be effectively extended by a ramp formation 26 of v - section and of progressively increasing depth , beginning at substantially tangential relation to the adjacent end of the tube bore at the outer radial limit ( r 1 ) of rigid tube curvature ; by reason of its sectional symmetry about the above - noted first geometric plane of symmetry , ramp formation 26 will be seen to serve the dual purpose of stabilizing an et in the course of its insertional advance beyond the distal end of tube 11 , while at the same time providing a substantially shortened offset distance for otherwise unsupported projection of the distal end of an et , beyond the distal end of ramp formation 26 , for better - controlled targeting of et entry into the glottic opening . fig3 schematically illustrates stabilizing support for an insertionally advancing et , wherein the vee of ramp 26 is seen to provide side walls 26 ′ which symmetrically diverge from the central plane of symmetry , the included angle of vee spread between the walls of ramp formation 26 being suitably in the range 150 ° to 165 °. the thus - extended advancing guidance of et insertion is also seen in the drawing to involve et encounter with a compliantly and effectively hinged tongue formation 27 which may be an integral formation of backing plate 21 , but which has been shown with a different direction of cross - hatching , for better identification of parts in the drawing . tongue formation 27 will be understood to have lateral symmetry about the first geometric plane of symmetry and to be of lateral extent which is less than the bore diameter of tube 11 , thus permitting free airway communication to the glottis and through device 10 , once ring 23 has been inflated to develop a seal around the laryngeal inlet . however , the compliant hinging of tongue 27 at 28 , on an effective hinge axis in plane 25 and perpendicular to the first geometric plane , enables an advancing et to drive tongue 27 ( clockwise , in the sense of the drawing ) for deflecting the patient &# 39 ; s epiglottis 30 out of the path of the et as it advances toward the targeted glottic opening . it will be seen that in general terms , the fact of et clearance within the inside diameter of the rigid airway tube necessarily means that at exit from the rigid tube , the et may be at minor misalignment with resepct to the orientation of the central axis 14 at the distal or exit end of the rigid tube ; however , the existence and action of the described ramp 26 are such not only to assure et - centering between opposed ramp walls 26 , but also to effect such a ramped deflection of the et ( at et exit from the ramp ) as to substantially offset , minimalize , or correct for the minor misalignment noted at et exit from the distal end of rigid tube 10 . thus , at launch from the exit end of the ramp , the et can be more assuredly projected for targeted entry into the glottic opening . description of the device of fig1 is completed by identification of a rigid handle 35 , secured to the externally projecting proximal end portion 15 of the rigid airway tube 10 ; handle 35 ( preferably sufficiently malleable to enable a technician to adjust handle orientation to suit his individual preference ) serves for manual manipulation of tube 10 and its distal mask structure 20 ; and it will be understood that the open proximal end of portion 15 is adapted by means of an inwardly tapered contour 15 ′ to fit standard ventilating or anaesthetizing equipment for accessing the patient &# 39 ; s lungs , as needed . further preference is indicated for an elastomeric cladding or coating of tube 10 , as suggested by cross - hatching 36 in fig1 . in use , the device 10 is grasped via handle 35 , and the inflatable ring 25 is deflated to define a suitably flexible lip which will smoothly adapt to the patient &# 39 ; s airway , as device 10 is being inserted . once the flexible lip enters the mouth , it naturally and flexibly adapts to hard - palate and soft - palate curvatures on its way to the pharynx , and the truncation 22 of the distal end of the rigid tube enables flexed compression of the mask / tube junction for ease of passage through a narrowed inter - dental gap . in the course of such insertion , it will be appreciated that manipulation of the straight proximal end 15 undergoes a bodily angular displacement ( clockwise , in the sense of fig1 ) about the center c of arcuate portion 11 , as said portion 11 is sensed to be in very substantial conformance with the patient &# 39 ; s oral anatomy , all the way to the pharynx , thus positioning the distal orientation of tube - 11 exit in near - register with the glottic opening . the limit of such angular displacement occurs when the straight proximal end 15 abuts upper tooth structure , e . g ., the patient &# 39 ; s incisors ( 33 ). this event will be recognized as a stop whereby to know that insertion has been completed as far as needed , and ring 23 may be immediately inflated , to establish a peripherally sealed adaptation at and surrounding the laryngeal inlet , with ramp ( 26 ) oriented for immediate insertion of an et device , it being noted that , once ring 23 has been inflated to establish its seal to and around the laryngeal inlet , airway access to the patient &# 39 ; s lungs has been provided . on exit from ramp ( 26 ) guidance , further displacement of the et device encounters the compliantly hinged tongue 27 , to assure that the epiglottis is lifted out of possible encounter with the advancing et device , as seen in fig2 for the et device 32 . when the et device has entered the glottic opening , it can pass the vocal cords and be sealed by inflation of its cuff , as is customary . after the et has been sealed in its installed position , the et can accommodate all patient - ventilating / anaesthetizing purposes . in some clinical circumstances , the intubating laryngeal mask ( ilm ) can be left in place during the procedure . when the patient has had all use that is needed for the et , and after its seal cuff has been deflated , et removal is then a simple matter of extraction via the guide passage established by mask 20 . after et extraction , the device of fig1 and 2 may then resume its patient - ventilating function , with the hinged tongue 27 compliantly returning to its position of fig1 , whereby to avoid epiglottis blocking of the airway ; and a resumed intermediate airway can be established for patient ventilation . this procedure may be appropriate when extubation is judged to be best performed while the patient is still under deep anaesthesia . however it is also possible and sometimes desirable to remove the ilm while the et remains in place . in this case , the et cuff remains inflated and the ilm cuff is deflated prior to removing the device , following the same circular arc as is followed for insertion . to prevent accidental et dislodgement , the et is meanwhile held in place by counterpressure supplied by a short flexible rod abutting against the outer end of the et as the metal tube is slid over it . it has been indicated above that , for most cases , a single rigid tube 10 may well serve patients for whom different elastomeric distal - mask components may be fitted , thus serving patients having different oral - cavity geometries and proportions . in some cases , however , and in particular for a patient who can be readily recognized as having an unusually long neck , it is recommended to follow the described rigid - tube configuration of fig1 to 3 , subject to a single modifying departure , at the tube location at which a tangent to the convex outer profile of the tube is locally parallel to ( or near - parallel to ) the alignment of the patient &# 39 ; s vertebrae . such a condition is illustrated in fig4 , wherein the arcuate extent α of rigid tube 10 is seen to have been divided into a first and larger proximal arc α 1 about a first center c 1 , and a second and shorter distal arc α 2 about a second center c 2 . radius of curvature is the same for both arcs α 1 and α 2 , and the centers c 1 and c 2 are on a geometric alignment that is essentially parallel to the alignment of locally adjacent vertebrae . thus , a straight section 37 is effectively aligned essentially parallel to the alignment of adjacent vertebrae , and this straight section 37 is integrally and tangentially united with the adjacent ends of the arcs α 1 and α 2 . in fig4 , all other structural features of fig1 and 2 apply , as described above . it is noted that the laryngeal opening into and through which the described intubating laryngeal mask provides guided entry is a relatively tolerant anatomical feature for the human adult , in that in terms of a geometric direction suggested by downward extension of line 12 in fig1 and 2 , there is a span between an upper limit established by the epiglottis and a lower limit associated with arytenoid cartilages , wherein said span may extend , typically approximately 20 - mm , for target acceptance by the laryngeal opening of an et launched from the described mask structure . what is accomplished by the structure of fig4 is a predetermined ( illustratively 10 - mm ) further downward offset of the et - launch point , for the case of a person having a recognized longer - than - usual neck , it being understood that such recognition can be readily deduced from external observation of the patient &# 39 ; s “ adam &# 39 ; s apple ” in relation the patient &# 39 ; s maxillary structure . the described intubating laryngeal - mask devices will be seen to meet all stated objects . mask removal follows deflation of ring 20 , followed by an extraction manoeuver wherein the straight proximal portion undergoes counterclockwise bodily displacement about the center c . as long as the patient has first been supported in supine position , as with a suitable pillow to assure a “ neutral ” orientation of the upper region of his spine ( i . e ., adjacent regions of his head , neck and body ), there is no need to manipulate the spine , i . e ., the patient &# 39 ; s head with respect to his body , either in the course of mask insertion / removal or in the course of et insertion / removal , thus assuring minimum risk to a patient whose spine has been injured , and thus also removing the major cause of difficulty in intubation of the trachea when immobility of the neck makes it difficult to use a laryngoscope to locate the glottis . a significant feature of the present invention is the fact that a single manufactured size of the rigid airway tube 10 , of bent tubing having a minimum inner diameter of 13 - mm , with its arcuate extent in the range 130 ° plus or minus 5 °, and at a minimum outer radius ( r 1 = 41 . 5 mm ) about a common center ( c ), can be assembled with a selected one of three standardized distally fitted lma inflatable - mask sizes , namely , a selected one of the sizes 3 , 4 and 5 which have become standardized on the following basis : size 3 , for children and small adults , weighing in the range 30 to 50 kg ; size 4 , for adults weighing in the range 50 to 70 kg ; and size 5 , for adults weighing more than 70 kg . from the point of view of manufacturing economy , this circumstance portends satisfying anatomy requirements of the vast majority of patient &# 39 ; s requiring intubation , all using the same size rigid tubing , but fitted with different selected distal inflatable mask sizes , selected from the indicated grouping . it is also possible that similar economies of rigid airway tube ( 10 ) construction can be achieved for remaining standardized lma sizes , namely , sizes 1 , 1 . 5 , 2 , and 2 . 5 .	0
the best mode for carrying out the invention is presented in terms of its preferred embodiment , herein depicted within the figures referring now to fig1 , a pet toy for holding consumable treats 10 is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the toy 10 comprises a spherical body 12 having an ring 14 , the ring 14 having an upper rib 16 and an lower rib 18 , the ribs 16 and 18 forming an interstitial space 20 therebetween for holding a consumable pet treat “ t ”. the upper rib 16 is a single , continuous rib circumscribing the innermost portion of the ring 14 . the lower rib 18 is a single , continuous rib circumscribing the outermost portion of the ring 14 . the interstitial space 20 formed between the ribs 16 and 18 is likewise a single , continuous space circumscribing the area between the ribs 16 and 18 . the space 20 accommodates the placement of at least one treat “ t ” and may accommodate a plurality of treats “ t ” along the circumference of the ring 14 . the toy 10 may also include a plurality of nodules 20 along the surface of the body 12 . the nodules 20 provide improved grasping of the toy 10 by pet and owner . the toy 10 is preferably manufactured via molding techniques used for plastics and rubbers , from an elastomeric product ( such as thermoset or thermoplastic high tear strength material , thermoplastic elastomers and / or natural rubber ). it is envisioned that the toy 10 is manufactured from a material having a specific gravity less than 1 . 0 so that the toy 10 is buoyant in an aqueous liquid . an aroma , oil or juice may be molded with or impregnated into the material during manufacture , thereby providing olfactory stimulation to the pet . either separately , or in combination with the consumable treat “ t ”, the aroma , oil or juice functions as an attractant to the pet to engage in chewing , chasing and retrieving exercises . the toy 10 is an effective training device for a pet , especially canines . the toy 10 may be employed as a retrieval toy that the canine may chase , retrieve and return to the owner . because of the ribs 16 and 18 and interstitial space 20 provided , consumable treats “ t ” ( such as appropriately proportioned food , kibble or treats ) may be inserted therein , thus providing an incentive and reward to retrieve and / or obey commands . by impinging the treats “ t ” within the ribs 16 and 18 and space 20 , the pet must exert energy to retrieve the treats “ t ”, exercise jaw and head muscles , using the teeth and gums , thus the exercise in extracting the treat “ t ” from the toy 10 exercises muscles of the head and neck , and strengthens teeth and gums , and removes harmful plaque from the teeth and gumlines . the toy 10 is envisioned as being adaptable for manufacture directed to variously sized animals , including the various breeds of canines . thus , the toy 10 may be manufactured in sizes for small breeds , medium size breeds and large breeds , respectively . it is envisioned that the diameters may vary in a range from four inches to twelve inches . likewise , the toy 10 is envisioned as being manufactured in a variety of colors and / or with a variety of design configurations on the surface of the toy 10 . the toy 10 may have a solid structure or a hollow interior , depending upon the cost effectiveness and ease of manufacturing the toy 10 . furthermore , the toy 10 may have a solid structure for greater durability . the toy 10 may have a hollow structure for greater flexibility and pliability , appropriate for chewing and gnawing by a pet . referring now to fig2 , one aspect of the present invention is depicted in accordance with a first alternate embodiment in which a pet toy 10 comprises an inner body 112 having a polygonal shape , an open - cell exoskeleton 114 enclosing said inner body 112 , and at least one channel 116 formed in the open - cell exoskeleton 114 for retaining a consumable treat “ t ”. in conjunction with fig3 and fig4 , an alternate aspect of the present invention is depicted in accordance with a second and third alternate embodiments in which a pet toy 10 comprises an inner body 112 having a polygonal shape , a sound module 118 enclosed in the inner body 112 , a plurality of apertures 120 formed in the inner body 112 for transmitting sound “ s ” generated by the sound module 118 , an open - cell exoskeleton 114 enclosing the inner body 112 , and at least one channel 116 formed in the open - cell exoskeleton 114 for retaining a consumable treat “ t ”. generally , the pet toy 10 may have one of many polygonal shapes or forms , including spherical , prolate ( cigar or football shaped ), orthogonal , pentagonal , hexagonal , etc . it is envisioned that the preferred form or shape has the ability to roll or tumble when urged by the pet owner or the pet . in the case of the orthogonal , pentagonal , hexagonal or other similar shapes or forms , it is envisioned that the ability to roll or tumble will be enhanced if the corners or edges of the pet toy 10 ) are rounded so that less force is required to urge the pet toy 10 into a rolling or tumbling course . as indicated in reference to the pet toy 10 above , the inner body 112 may have one of the polygonal shapes or forms identified . the inner body 112 may be manufactured from a variety of materials , including any suitable polymer / elastomer ( such as polyolefin elastomers ), plastic , rubber and other similar materials that are durable , resilient and flexible . the inner body 112 may be provided in a variety of colors . it is envisioned that the inner body 112 should be a color differing from the open - cell exoskeleton 114 , discussed below , so that as the pet toy 10 is rolled , an optical stimulant or attractant is provided . the pet toy 10 is envisioned as being provided in a range of sizes to accommodate small pets to very large pets . particularly , the diameter of the pet toy 10 is envisioned as being in a range so that the smallest diameter of the pet toy 10 cannot be swallowed by the intended pet , and the largest diameter of the pet toy 10 is not too large for the intended pet to enjoy or engage . thus , the diameter of the pet toy 10 is considered to be in the range of one inch to twenty inches , and will typically be in the range of four inches to twelve inches . it is further envisioned that the inner body 112 houses a sound module 118 within a space formed in the interior of the inner body 112 . the sound module 118 generates sound in response to movement of the pet toy 10 . in one embodiment the sound module 118 has a sound chip and a source of electrical power ( such as an integral battery ), and the sound chip emits a prerecorded sound in response to the commencement or movement and / or the continuation of movement of the pet toy 110 having the prerecorded sound chip housed therein . obviously , other mechanical versions of the sound module 118 are contemplated , such as a sound module 118 that generates sound via mechanical means , such as tumbling or shifting of the sound module 118 or its contents ( such as beads or metal balls ) within the interior space of the inner body 112 . other variations of the sound module 118 are envisioned , thus the particular nature of the sound module 118 is not considered a limitation on the spirit and scope of the present invention . it is further envisioned that the inner body 112 has a plurality of apertures 120 formed in the inner body 112 for transmitting the sound generated by the sound module 118 from the interior of the inner body 112 to the exterior of the inner body 112 so that the sound is more easily perceived by the pet during use . the sound module 118 and apertures 120 cooperatively provide an audible stimulant to the pet during usage , thereby enhancing the attractiveness of the pet toy 10 generally , and stimulating engagement of the pet to the pet toy 10 . it is envisioned that a minimum number of apertures 120 are provided to sufficiently transmit the sound from the sound module 118 . the size and placement of the apertures 120 ) is variable , so long as the aperture 120 number and / or size sufficiently transmits the sound generated by the sound module 118 . in one envisioned embodiment , the sound module 118 may include a prerecorded sound chip of the form and function found in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 371 , 053 , issued in the name of the present inventor , the patent specification and claims being incorporated by reference herein as if fully rewritten in its entirety the prerecorded sound chip thereby emits a prerecorded sound in response to one or both of the commencement and continuation of movement of the pet toy 10 . referring now to fig4 , a third alternate embodiment of the present invention is disclosed in which the open - cell exoskeleton 114 is anticipated as having a general form complimentary to the inner body 112 . for example , if the inner body 112 is spherical in form , the open - cell exoskeleton 114 is generally spherical in form , excepting the portions of the open - cell exoskeleton 114 that are identified as the open - cell 114 b portion , discussed in greater detail below . the open - cell exoskeleton 114 comprises an exoskeleton 114 a portion and an open - cell 114 b portion . as depicted , and by way of example only , the exoskeleton 114 a may be described as having three planes ( 114 c , 114 d and 114 e , respectively ). arbitrarily assigning the inner body 112 ( here , spherical in shape ) a north pole ( n ), a south pole “ s ” and an equator ( e ), one may observe that two planes ( 114 c and 114 d ) are longitudinally oriented , are spaced approximately ninety - degrees in the longitudinal orientation at “ e ” and intersect at ( n ) and “ s ”. the third plane 114 e is latitudinally oriented , com “ rising the equatorial plane “ e ”, and intersecting with the other planes ( 114 c and 114 d ) about “ e ” approximately every ninety - degrees . the exoskeleton 114 a generally encompasses , encircles , encloses or otherwise circumscribes the inner body 112 . in this respect , the relationship of the inner body 112 to the open - cell exoskeleton 114 , and particularly to the exoskeleton 114 b may be thought of as the inner body 112 being the “ inner portion ” of the pet toy 10 and the open - cell exoskeleton 114 being the “ outer portion ” of the pet toy 10 , respectively . the open - cell 114 b portion is provided for several purposes , which includes providing unfettered audible access to the apertures 120 formed on the inner body 112 , and allowing for non - linear movement of the pet toy 10 when used by the pet . the open - cell exoskeleton 114 , and the exoskeleton 114 a portion in particular , has at least one channel 116 formed in the exoskeleton 114 a portion for retaining a consumable pet treat “ t ”. in a single channel 116 embodiment , the channel 116 may be formed at any portion of the open - cell exoskeleton 114 . it is envisioned that a multi - channel embodiment ( 116 a and 116 b , for example ) may be desirable as well , positioned specifically or randomly along the exoskeleton 114 a portion . in the embodiment depicted , by way of example only , a channel is formed along each of the three planes ( 114 c , 114 d and 114 e ), so that a single channel 116 c corresponds to the plane 114 c , a single channel 116 d corresponds to the plane 114 d , and a single channel 116 e corresponds to the plane 114 e . it is envisioned that the single channels ( 116 c , 116 d and 116 e , respectively ) circumscribe the individual planes ( 114 c , 114 d and 114 e , respectively ). the use of a plurality of consumable pet treats “ t ” is envisioned with the multi - channel embodiment , or in the tri - channel embodiment described in which the channels circumscribe the planes . it is further envisioned that either the inner body 112 or the open - cell exoskeleton 114 , or both elements , may be provided with a scent and / or flavor component to provide an olfactory attractant . for instance , a scent and / or flavor may be impregnated into the inner body 112 and / or the open - cell exoskeleton 114 . as the pet engages or chews the toy , scent and / or flavor may be released from the inner body 112 and / or open - cell exoskeleton 114 . other methods for imparting a scent or flavor into the inner body 112 or open - cell exoskeleton 114 are also contemplated . in operation , the present invention is used as an otherwise conventional pet toy , but engages additional senses of the pet to provide more entertainment to the pet and the owner . insertion of the treats into cavities within the toy are held until extracted by the pet . the audible stimulus is engaged by movement of the toy . the physical stimuli of an embedded food item utilizes sight , smell and taste to ultimately provide exercise to the muscles , strengthens teeth and gums , and extracts harmful plaque from the teeth of a pet , as well as . the audible stimuli of sound can be used additionally to engage the instinctive response from many breeds of cats or dogs . the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed , and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application , to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents . therefore , the scope of the invention is to be limited only by the following claims .	0
a program counter portion 10 of a digital processor control providing the single - cycle branch capability of the present invention is illustrated in block diagram form in fig1 . an instruction register , not shown in fig1 contains the instruction which is currently being executed by processor 10 . if this instruction calls for a branch to be executed , a branch condition will be stored in a predetermined bit position within a general - purpose register , not shown in fig1 where it will be treated by the processor 10 as an instruction operand . during the instruction decode cycle of the processor 10 , when a branch instruction is being decoded , the branch condition will be retrieved from the general - purpose register and used during the instruction execution cycle of processor 10 . the branch condition and a target address , described below , are used to determine the location of the instruction to be executed next by processor 10 . the simple logic illustrated in fig1 permits an instruction pipeline to operate without disruption even in the case of an instruction calling for conditional branching . the processor 10 executes branch instructions which can specify one of three branch destinations ; a &# 34 ; relative or absolute branch address &# 34 ;, an &# 34 ; indirect branch address &# 34 ;, or a &# 34 ; trap address &# 34 ;. a fourth &# 34 ; continue address &# 34 ; is simply that of the next - following instruction which will be executed if a branch is not undertaken . the paths illustrated in fig1 show only the data flow between the indicated elements and are capable of conducting several signals in parallel . control signal paths are also required , as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , but are not shown in fig1 because it is well known by those skilled in the art how to effect control of the various illustrated elements . with reference to fig1 processor 10 includes a branch target address ( brn tgt ) multiplexer / register 12 which receives from a general - purpose register file , not shown in fig1 via a data path 14 an address which contains the location to which a branch is to be made by processor 10 , the so - called &# 34 ; indirect branch address &# 34 ;. a second type of branch address , the so - called &# 34 ; relative or absolute branch address &# 34 ; is determined by an adder 16 which at a first input receives from the instruction register a branch displacement value via a data path 18 . this value can be added to the address of the presently - executed instruction received at a second input to adder 16 via a data path 20 , resulting in the relative branch address . should an addition not be performed , only the branch displacement address will be generated by the adder 16 , resulting in the absolute branch address . the address generated by adder 16 is conducted via a data path 22 to a second input of brn tgt register / multiplexer 12 . the branch target address selected by brn tgt register / multiplexer 12 as determined by a control signal generated by processor 10 in accordance with the branch instruction executed by processor 10 is generated at an output thereof and conducted via data path 24 to a first input of a multiplexer ( mux ) 26 which has an output terminal connected via a data path 28 to an input terminal of an instruction cache 30 . the instruction cache 30 contains a set of storage locations , 512 in the preferred embodiment , for storing sets of contiguous instructions which constitute a portion of the program being currently executed by processor 10 . application of an address at the input terminal of cache 30 causes the instruction stored at that address to be conducted to the instruction register of processor 10 to become the next instruction to be executed thereby . also receiving the address generated by mux 26 is a program counter ( pc ) stack 32 comprising a decode pc register 34 to which is conducted via data path 28 the address generated by mux 26 , an execute pc register 36 to which is conducted via a data path 38 the contents of the decode pc register 34 , and a store pc register 40 to which is conducted via a data path 42 the contents of the execute pc register 36 . the pc stack 32 implements a four - stage instruction address pipeline , as will be described below in connection with fig2 . also receiving the address generated by mux 26 is an address incrementer (+ 1 ) 44 which generates at an output the address applied to it via data path 28 incremented by 1 , i . e ., the continue address . a program counter ( prog cnt ) register 46 receives the continue address generated by increment 44 via a data path 48 and stores this address . the continue address is generated at an output of the prog cnt register 46 and conducted via data path 20 to the second input of adder 16 and a second input of mux 26 . the mux 26 receives a control signal based on the branch condition , described above , to determine whether the branch target address applied on data path 24 or the continue address applied on data path 20 will be applied to the instruction cache 30 to fetch the next instruction to be executed by processor 10 . an instruction calling for a branch will be processed by processor 10 so that the branch does not occur until the instruction following the branch instruction is executed . in this manner , the instruction pipeline , implemented by the pc stack pipeline 32 , operates without interruption even when a branch instruction enters the pipeline , since no replacement of the instruction which normally follows the branch instruction need be made in the pipeline . accordingly , the branch occurs within the single cycle of the pipeline allocated to it , as will be described in connection with fig2 . a four - stage pipeline is used by the processor 10 of the instant invention ; an instruction fetch stage , an instruction decode stage , an instruction execution stage , and a data storage stage . the various stages of the instruction pipeline employed by processor 10 are shown in fig2 illustrating the execution of a branch instruction . by employing a so - called &# 34 ; delayed branching &# 34 ; technique , the processor 10 can effect execution of a branch instruction in a single processor cycle without requiring complex logic circuitry . the space between the vertical dashed lines in fig2 corresponds to a single processor cycle , each cycle having an equal duration . shown extending from t 0 to t 1 during the first cycle of the processor 10 is &# 34 ; branch 1 &# 34 ; in which a branch instruction is fetched from instruction cache 30 and stored in the instruction register of processor 10 . shown extending from t 1 to t 2 during the second cycle of the processor 10 &# 34 ; branch 2 &# 34 ; is the decoding of the branch instruction stored in the instruction register . the branch condition needed by the instruction is retrieved from the general - purpose register described above and the branch target address specified by the instruction is determined , as described above , and conducted on data bus 24 to the first input of mux 26 . during the execution cycle of the branch instruction extending from t 2 to t 3 &# 34 ; branch 3 &# 34 ;, the condition causes processor 10 to generate a control signal which , in turn , causes mux 26 to select either the branch target address or the continue address to be conducted to the instruction cache 30 for use in fetching the next ( logical ) instruction . during the storeback cycle , extending from t 3 to t 4 , the instruction ( physically ) following the branch instruction is in the execute stage of processor 10 . as shown in fig2 a branch delay instruction &# 34 ; delay &# 34 ; physically follows the branch instruction and is always executed ; the branch itself not occurring until after the branch delay instruction , whereupon the instruction to which the branch instruction passes control &# 34 ; target &# 34 ; executes . in this manner , the processor 10 can always fetch the next instruction during the execution of the current instruction , i . e ., operate in a pipeline mode without the need to interrupt the pipeline nor retract the fetching of an instruction . accordingly , fig2 indicates that during the second cycle &# 34 ; delay 1 &# 34 ; processor 10 fetches from cache 30 the instruction physically following the branch instruction whose fetching , decoding , execution and storeback cycles were just described . this instruction thus occupies the stage in the pipeline immediately following the branch instruction which preceded it . hence , the decoding , execution and storeback cycles for the branch delay instruction &# 34 ; delay 2 &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; delay 3 &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; delay 4 &# 34 ; will occur during the third , fourth and fifth cycles of processor 10 as shown in fig2 . the instruction to which control passes by virtue of the branch instruction , &# 34 ; target &# 34 ;, will occupy the stage in the pipeline immediately following the delay instruction , as shown in fig2 . thus the fetching , decoding , execution and storeback cycles for the target instruction &# 34 ; target 1 &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; target 2 &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; target 3 &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; target 4 &# 34 ;, will occur during the fourth , fifth and sixth cycles of processor 10 as shown in fig2 . the serial connection of the decode pc register 34 , the execute pc register 36 and the store pc register 40 , clocked at the intervals t 0 , t 1 , ..., t 6 implement the pipeline described above by storing the addresses of instructions associated with the corresponding pipeline stages . the processor 10 of the instant invention can execute a branch which is called for by a call subroutine instruction by a modification of the delayed branching technique described above in connection with fig2 . the call subroutine instruction is fetched from the cache 30 and stored in the instruction register during the first cycle of processor 10 extending from t 0 to t 1 ; denoted as &# 34 ; branch 1 &# 34 ; in fig2 . during the second cycle of the processor 10 , the call subroutine instruction , &# 34 ; branch 2 &# 34 ;, is decoded and the contents of the prog cnt register 46 is generated on data path 20 , and via mux 26 , onto data path 28 for entry into a data path pipeline , not shown in fig1 . during the third cycle of the processor 10 &# 34 ; branch 3 &# 34 ;, the contents of the prog cnt register are increased by four in an arithmetic logic unit of the processor 10 , not shown in fig2 to establish a return address from the subroutine . during the fourth cycle of the processor 10 &# 34 ; branch 4 &# 34 ;, the return address is saved in a general - purpose register . in all other respects , the technique for executing a call subroutine instruction is as described above in connection with fig2 for executing a branch instruction , where the instruction to which control passes by virtue of the call subroutine instruction , &# 34 ; target &# 34 ;, wil be the first instruction of the subroutine . as the processor 10 of the present invention is capable of servicing interrupts and traps , special consideration must be given to the occurrence of an interrupt or trap between a branch or a call subroutine instruction and the delayed - branch instruction which follows it . in this case , the processor 10 must cause the delayed - branch instruction to be executed after return from the interrupt or trap routine , in addition to the target instruction to which control passes by virtue of the branch or call instruction . to assure this result when returning from an interrupt or trap routine , processor 10 must execute two branches : a first branch causes execution of the branch delay instruction which was pre - empted by the occurrence of the interrupt or trap , and a second branch which causes execution of the target instruction which followed the delayed - branch instruction . the various stages of the instruction pipeline employed by processor 10 to effect execution of an interrupt or trap routine occurring between a branch or subroutine call instruction and the delayed - branch instruction which follows it are illustrated in fig3 a . the pipeline stages employed by processor 10 to effect return from the interrupt or trap routine are illustrated in fig3 b . with reference to fig3 a , the operation of processor 10 is illustrated by an interrupt occurring at time t 1 . modifications to the latter procedure will not be described herein as they can be provided by those skilled in the art . for purposes of illustration , a shift instruction is shown as fetched from instruction cache 30 in the preceding cycle extending from t 0 to t 1 . the pipeline also contains , for purposes of illustration , a jump instruction , followed by an add instruction , followed by the shift instruction . since the jump instruction was executed just before occurrence of the interrupt and the add and shift instructions had yet to be executed , it will be necessary for processor 10 to return from the interrupt routine and then execute the add and shift instructions . the addresses of these instructions must be saved before transfer to the interrupt routine . accordingly , a &# 34 ; save -- pc -- jump &# 34 ; instruction is indicated in fig3 a as fetched during the cycle extending from t 1 to t 2 , following occurrence of the interrupt . this will cause processor 10 to save the address of the branch delay instruction , namely the add instruction which was to execute during the cycle extending from t1 to t 2 following occurrence of the interrupt . the contents of the execute pc register 36 ( fig1 ) portion of the pc stack 32 will accordingly be saved . also , the &# 34 ; save -- pc jump &# 34 ; instruction will cause processor 10 to generate the contents of the brn tgt multiplexer / register 12 onto data path 24 , and via mux 26 , onto data path 28 and therefrom to instruction cache 30 . these contents being the address of the first instruction of the interrupt routine . as shown in fig3 a , processor 10 will fetch during the cycle extending from t 2 to t 3 a &# 34 ; save -- pc &# 34 ; instruction , which will cause processor 10 to save the addresss of the target instruction , namely , the shift instruction , which would have normally followed the add instruction . the first instruction of the interrupt routine , designated the &# 34 ; interrupt handler &# 34 ; in fig3 a , will then be fetched by processor 10 during the cycle extending from t 3 to t 4 . the decoding and execution of the shift and add instructions , respectively , are accordingly aborted as indicated in fig3 a by the designations &# 34 ;( add )&# 34 ; and ( shift )&# 34 ; during the decoding and execution stages . during subsequent store back stages , the &# 34 ; save -- pc -- jump &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; save -- pc &# 34 ; instructions cause processor 10 to save the addresses of the add instruction and the shift instruction , as indicated in fig3 a . with reference to fig3 b , the interrupt routine will complete by causing the processor 10 to fetch two jump indirect instructions , which are shown in fig3 b as being decoded during the cycles extending from t 0 &# 39 ; to t 1 &# 39 ; and t 1 &# 39 ; to t 2 &# 39 ;. to return from the interrupt routine then , processor 10 will perform an indirect jump via the value saved by the &# 34 ; save -- pc &# 34 ; instruction described in connection with fig3 a and will accordingly fetch the add instruction from cache 30 during the cycle extending from t 1 &# 39 ; to t 2 &# 39 ; and will perform an indirect jump via the value saved by the &# 34 ; save -- pc -- jump &# 34 ; instruction and will accordingly fetch the shift instruction from cache 30 during the cycle extending from t 2 &# 39 ; to t 3 &# 39 ; as shown in fig3 b . thus , the processor 10 will execute these instructions in their order of occurrence in the pipeline just prior to the occurrence of the interrupt .	6
the following detailed description includes many specific details . the inclusion of such details is for the purpose of illustration only and should not be understood to limit the invention . throughout this discussion , similar elements are referred to by similar numbers in the various figures , for ease of reference . in addition , features in one embodiment may be combined with features in other embodiments of the invention . intellectual property information regarding intellectual property documents by a customer , intellectual property service provider , government entity or other source has been collected . likely such information is extracted and deposited into one or more databases . ultimately at least a portion of such intellectual property information is presented to an end user on behalf of a customer , such as via an intellectual property application , which may be executing locally , or via a web site over the world wide web , i . e ., the internet . for ease of description , such a collection of information will be referred to herein as “ database ”, although it should be recognized that the information might collected in other formats as well , and that an intellectual property application might not be restricted to data stored in a database . the association between selected intellectual property information is realized and optionally annotated . the annotation enables users to annotate images and text in intellectual property , such as , e . g ., patent drawings . those annotations are saved and optionally categorized . for example , annotated drawings or images are saved in the context of projects in order that notes and other thoughts of the user are memorialized and tied to a project . fig1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a system architecture providing for annotating intellectual property documents and data , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention . in the illustrated example , the system is realized as an intellectual property portal 111 on a general purpose computer , communicating with a network , e . g ., the internet 105 . a user 107 accesses the portal 111 via the internet 105 . a document workspace 109 is provided on a computer for the user 107 . applications for locating , viewing and annotating intellectual property documents and data are provided on the portal 111 . in the present example , the applications include an editing view 119 , an annotation view 117 , a map view 115 , a report view 113 , a search application 101 , and a browse application 103 . any application program useful for searching or browsing intellectual property documents may be utilized to implement the search application 101 or the browse application 103 . intellectual property documents and data may be stored in any appropriate manner . in the present example , the intellectual property documents and data are stored in a patents database 131 , a trademarks database 125 , a copyrights database 127 , a licenses database 129 , and an opinions database 123 . in this example , the opinions database 123 is separate from the portal 111 . the system also includes storage of the annotations in an annotations database 121 . the user accesses one or more of the intellectual property documents together with any annotations , e . g ., by searching or browsing for the selected document . the user may manipulate , annotate , and / or link one or more selected documents via one or more of the applications . the annotated and / or linked document ( s ) are stored into the appropriate databases by the user . access to annotations and / or annotated documents optionally is limited , e . g ., by corporate affiliation of the user and annotation , by user , by express permission to one or more users , etc . a system design for use in connection with one or more embodiments of the present invention , as illustrated in fig2 , may advantageously comprise a number of interconnected components . each component may focus on a specific task , and advantageously provides and / or utilizes as application programming interface ( api ) to communicate with other components within the system , according to the illustrated realization of one example system . components may include , for example , one or more data servers 205 - 211 , a data manager 201 , one or more analyzer views 113 , 115 , 117 , 119 , a management console 221 , and / or a watch agent 223 . components and / or functions thereof may be omitted , replaced , subdivided and / or combined and still remain within the scope of the invention . the data servers 205 - 211 provide access to the data representing the intellectual property documents ; the data analyzer 203 provides user interfaces to obtain , analyze and / or traverse intellectual property documents ; and the data manager 201 breaks down documents into storable units and builds up documents for the user interfaces . in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention , scalability may be provided by the logical and / or physical separation of data server 211 functionality from the data manager 201 . for example , the data manager may reside with one ( or more ) data server on e . g ., a single machine storing all patent , licensing , and annotation data . as one of many alternatives , the data manager may connect to multiple data servers , each running on a separate machine , and each storing only a portion of the data . according to one or more optional realizations of the present invention , offline storage and / or operation may be provided for example , by a document manager , discussed below , which stores some or all working data locally on the - user &# 39 ; s machine ; and / or by api functionality to retrieve and store documents from the data manager 201 . fig2 illustrates one or more embodiments of a general overall architecture for use in connection with the present invention . this figure illustrates internal architecture , useful for illustrating the concepts in relation to the invention . portions of the architecture may be omitted and / or replaced and / or combined when used in connection with certain embodiments of the present invention . this example of one or more embodiments of the present invention illustrates an optional 3 - tier architecture , including the data server tier , the data manager tier , and the data analyzer tier . more or fewer tiers may be utilized , in other embodiments of the present invention . the data server ( or multiple data servers ) 205 - 211 , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , may provide for storage , versioning , indexing and / or searching of ( possibly a subset of ) document data ( e . g ., xml ) annotation data , and / or image data . optionally , there may be provided one or more data servers 205 a - e , 207 , 209 , 211 amongst which the data server functions may be divided . in the present example , several data servers are provided . optionally , a multiple data server format may house one or more sets of related information . in this illustration , one data server might contain the entire united states patent and trademark office (“ uspto ”) database ; and / or one data server might contain multiple databases . according to one example alternative , the related information ( in this case , the uspto database ) may be spread over multiple data servers 105 a - e . according to a convenient realization , for example , one data server may contain only the patents ending in “ 1 ”, another server might contain patents ending in “ 2 ”, a third might contain patents ending in “ 3 ”, and so on ; according to this example , there are 10 servers , across which is distributed , preferably in a logical manner , preferably the entire uspto database . by distributing the data servers and functions , one or more embodiments of the present invention may provide for a scalable solution for storing generalized data used by the system . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the data may be stored in its original format . alternatively , it may be reformatted at some point or points prior to storage . the format for the data that the uspto currently provides data for patents is xml , a mark - up language which is fairly similar to html . xml is a generalized syntax for creating a document structure and tags , unlike html , which has predefined tags . xml essentially leaves the meaning of those tags to the developer of the dialect . in this case , the uspto has defined the individual tags that exist within this language and the meaning tag of each . the system may use the syntax as provided by one or more patent / trademark offices , government , and / or commercial data providers , or optionally , the syntax may be converted , e . g ., into one or more standard formats . in the illustrated example , the uspto patent database ( both text ( xml ) and image data ) is distributed across three data servers 205 a , b and c . similarly , one or more embodiments of tire present invention may accommodate other data and / or other formats , e . g ., an xml schema for license agreements . such a schema for a license agreement may accommodate , e . g ., typical , usual , optional and / or advanced elements that are available within the license agreement , e . g ., a preamble , definition section , individual definitions , paragraphs , clauses , sections , articles , etc . in the illustrated example , license documents are stored on the data server 209 . as illustrated in the example of fig2 , each data server in a multi - data server embodiment within the system may contain all , a subset and / or a portion of the information that is available to the user . data server 5 209 stores . in the present example , license data , copyright data , and trademark data , these databases are likely to be much smaller than the uspto patent database . hence , a single server may store more than one type of data . optionally , non - uspto data is included . according to the illustrated example , data server 4 207 stores annotation data ( discussed below ), e . g ., having annotations corresponding to some of the patents and / or licenses . the annotation data may include , e . g . electronic mark - ups that attorneys or other users would make , e . g ., in connection with a document . further in this example , data servers 1 through 3 store the patent text and image data of the uspto patent database ( or a portion thereof ). the optional data manager 201 may pull together the data feat may be distributed across one or more servers . the data manager advantageously provides a single cohesive and comprehensive management of a given database . the data manager , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , provides for the seamless distribution , coordination , and searching , of documents ( e . g ., xml ), or merging of annotation data ( e . g ., xml ), and image data across one or more data servers . it optionally may support caching of search requests and / or results , and / or replication of data to and / or from remote servers . reference is made to fig3 , providing one or more example embodiments of the data manager 201 architecture . the data manager may provide an object api 319 having services to receive requests and / transmit information to / from the data analyzer 323 , e . g ., to insert , update , delete , and / or request document data , e . g . xml data . the object api may have and / or retrieve binary data , such as for images and / or sound , for example . xml data requests may be further processed within the data manager ; and , if appropriate , passed to a data server 321 ; binary requests may be passed on through to the underlying data server 321 . consider for example that documents are provided in xml format , and that annotations for each document are provided as annotation data entities therein . when an xml data insertion or update occurs , the xml data is first parsed by an xml parser 308 . this parser maybe driven by a mark - up schema 317 , which identifies xml tags within the document for annotation data entities , and the relationship of the xml tags to the document data entities . the annotation data entities are extracted from the xml document . they may be used to create an annotation xml data stream . the remainder of the xml data , that is , the potentially revised document without the annotations , may be used to create a document xml data stream . where multiple data servers are provided , an optional connection manager 301 may be provided , to identify which data server ( s ) stores the data at issue if distributed , e . g ., the document data , the annotation data and / or the image data , such as by maintaining a mapping . image data may be stored on the same data server as the document data or may be stored elsewhere . continuing with the above example of xml documents , when an xml request occurs , the data manager 201 retrieves the document xml data and the annotation xml data from their respective one or more data servers . it then parses both these xml data streams with one or more xml parsers 308 . using the mark - up schema 317 , it embeds the annotations from the annotation xml data within the corresponding tagged elements of the document xml data , and with annotation merge logic 307 , merges both streams into a single xml document . when a search request occurs , search and result merge logic 303 optionally looks up each keyword in the one or more thesauri of the data server ( s ), and any match is added to a search keyword list . the search request may contain a list of searchable fields appropriate to the documents being searched ( e . g . abstract , inventor , claims , etc . for patents ), and / or the scope of the search ( e . g . patent , copyright , annotation , etc .). the search is then executed on the relevant data servers , the results are collected , and they are returned to the caller . search results optionally may be returned from the data server in partial result groupings , such as of a specified fixed size ; this permits the data manager 201 to satisfy a search request quickly , while deferring much of the processing overhead for result fetching until actually needed . if a user is browsing back and forth through a number of items returned from a search , it is likely that they will request the same document repeatedly within a short period of time . an optional cache manager 311 maintains a mapping of client search requests to search results . if a request is repeated while the result is cached , the result may be returned from an image and xml cache 313 through the cache manager 311 , instead of generating a new data server search request . when the optional change notification event is received from a data server , it is passed in to the change notification handler 309 , then through to the object api 319 . it may be passed to an optional replication service , which maintains a list of registered downstream data managers . one or more data managers may be registered for replication of information , as identified e . g ., by data server and item type , and will be notified of such changes . a notified data server may request the information . the replication service 315 maintains a queuing 316 of notifications for those registered data managers that are unreachable or are flagged for queuing . the optional change notification event may provide the basis for a subscription service , in order to provide customers with updated latest patent and trademark information . the optional change notification event and replication service may be used for enabling a system to distribute to multiple data servers , even if distributed around the world , while maintaining synchronization between them . the optional change notification event may be provided to the cache manager 311 , which may be used to enable it to flush an image and xml cache 313 of outdated items . reference is made hack to fig2 . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , an optional search engine locates stored documents by performing searches on phrases and / or individual words . for example , the search engine interface may provide a column for proceeding word and another for following word . as a further example , to access intellectual property patent data , when doing a search , a search request may result in a hit to ail three of the data servers 205 a , b , c in parallel . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the data manager 201 is responsible for coordinating among the distributed data servers where multiple data servers have potentially relevant data , and for being aware of the range of specific data on each data server . if a search request is received , the data manager 201 may broadcast that request to ail of the relevant data servers ( three in the illustrated example ), receive the search request results returned from those data servers , and then merge the results back together again and create a single common results set . the advantage of distributing a search is that one may speed up the search , average - out the effect of multiple users , and / or numerous requests being received , and load - level the users working with an individual patent and its image data . the data manager 201 thus provides an optional second logical level , where it pulls together the content of the data servers , and / or provides among other things a view into a company &# 39 ; s intellectual property database . an optional third logical level is the data analyzer 203 . the data analyzer 203 performs , inter alia , formatting of information into a representation that is user friendly , so that a user may read and / or edit . the data analyzer 203 may include prompting the user for annotations , for accepting annotation data , for displaying data , for creating reports , for creating a document map which demonstrates the relationships of one set of information to another , etc . reference is made to fig4 - 8 , illustrating several example windows 401 , 501 , 601 , 701 , and 801 , open within a user interface according to one or more embodiments of the present invention . one or more aspects of the present invention assist in working with relationships between documents and / or portions thereof . the user interfaces to the intellectual property documents are optionally enabled by the data analyzer 203 , illustrated in fig .- 2 . reference is made to fig1 and 4 - 7 . in this example , the license in the editing window 401 ( fig4 ) correlates to the editing view 119 ( fig1 ). a report window 701 ( fig7 ) demonstrates the report view 113 ( fig1 ), a map window 801 ( fig8 ) demonstrates the map view 115 ( fig1 ) and a mark - up window 501 ( fig5 ) represents the annotation view 117 ( fig1 ). reference is now made to fig4 . the user in this example has retrieved an intellectual property document to edit and / or annotate , e . g ., a license , into an editing window 401 . one or more aspects of the present invention provide that the user may logically subdivide that document into sections . those sections may then be related to sections within that or another document . the relationship between one document and another , and / or between one section in one document and a section in another document ( or the document itself ) may be annotated . the annotation allows a user , e . g ., an attorney who is analyzing this information , to indicate within a document , for example , an issue , the result of an analysis , how this portion of this document relates to that portion of that document , etc . referring again to fig4 , the intellectual property document 403 ( in this example , the license ) is displayed in the editing window 401 . the editing window 403 presently displays that portion of the document encompassing “ article 1 ,” “ section 1 . 1 ,” which in the example is entitled “ trade secret license .” in one or more embodiments of the present invention , one or more active portions 405 , e . g ., “ trade secret license ”, may be outlined , and / or highlighted such as in red on the screen , in order to indicate that this is an active portion 405 of the document being viewed . a further indication , e . g ., a special highlight or color , e . g ., optionally may be used to indicate that there is an annotation associated therewith , e . g . a possible conformance issue or a failed conflict . by way of example of a possible use of one aspect of the invention , if a user is performing , e . g . evaluation of a license against a patent or a product against a patent , for each of the claims in the patent , the user may be viewing parts of the license and the claims one at a time and indicating that a certain aspect of this product , license , or document fails to conform to some aspect of this patent claim . the user may select one of several standard notations reflecting , for example , a standard , system provided relation , and / or a super - user - customized attribute concerning the respective , documents , e . g . that a product or license , etc , is in violation of this patent claim , or may be in violation of this patent claim , or is not in violation of this patent claim . the user may wish to add other text , annotations , references to other documents or url &# 39 ; s or files , etc . to the document being viewed . those thoughts , however they may be phrased or indicated , are important to capture . an attorney or other user going through an intellectual property document , such as a patent , may indicate that a product , license , etc . does not violate this patent , claims 1 , 2 , 3 , etc . because of annotated reasons , or indicate the need to look into this further , and / or indicate the need for a second opinion or any other indication as desired . multiple users may each provide separate annotations . the attorney or other user may review , edit and / or annotate an agreement or other intellectual property document in the editing window 401 for example by selecting a section , or traverse the document section by section . ( the document may be subdivided previously , currently , and / or subsequently into sections automatically ( e . g ., within the xml format ) manually , and / or semi - manually .) in the present example , beginning , e . g ., with section 1 . 1 the user may select a portion of the document in the editing window 401 to add an annotation or mark - up data . reference is now made to fig5 , showing an example mark - up window 501 , to interact with the user to obtain annotations . the mark - up window 301 pops up in response to a user indication that he wishes to annotate a document ( or portion thereof ). in the present example , the user may select one or more type of pre - defined notations , e . g ., “ conformance ” 503 , view “ notes ” 507 , view a history 509 of changes to this section , and / or view some user - defined attributes 511 , and / or categories or links to images or web pages , etc . in the illustrated example , “ harvey wallenbarger ” is the user and selects section 1 . 1 in the editing window 401 ( shows in fig4 ). in response to the selection , the system obtains the user &# 39 ; s annotation via the mark - up window 501 . in the mark - up window 501 , in “ conflicts ” under the “ conformance ” tab 503 , the user selects “ possible ” indicating that there is a possible conformance violation ; the user may alternatively or in addition type in text comments , e . g ., to memorialize concerns about the possible conformance violation . by selecting at the top of the mark - up window 501 , one or more embodiments of the present invention includes a drop down list box or chooser 505 that provides a mechanism for choosing a related intellectual property document , for example one of several documents that the user may be working with , thereby relating the section and / or its annotation to a section of another ( or the same ) intellectual property document . in the illustrated example , the user notes a relationship between the annotated license section 1 . 1 to a section of another intellectual property document . optionally , the other document or other section of the same document is displayed in an optional further editing window 601 , shown in fig6 . optionally , a selected section 603 of the related document is highlighted . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , annotation is realized as a manually - driven approach . for example , a user goes through a document one item at a time and performs an annotation . the process of annotating is preferably a manually - driven process , for several reasons . for example , one person may use the term “ cup ” but another person may choose to use the designation “ a liquid containing dispensing container ” for the same object . to create an automated mapping between those two designations may be possible , using for example a thesaurus , where the user may add synonyms that expand the scope of the search , etc . nevertheless , to be able to parse - out the complex language that tends to appear in intellectual property documents , and to be able to accurately perform an analysis against similarly complex wording by a completely different person is , may be better done manually or semi - automatically . reference is now made to fig7 . one or more embodiments of the present invention optionally provide for a report window 701 . the report window 701 provides a summary of the mark - ups to , e . g ., the selected document . in this example , the report window 701 includes a summary 709 of mark - ups including a count of sections and types of mark - ups . optionally , each section 703 and sub - section 705 also is summarized . a section or subsection summary optionally includes a mark - up summary 707 , with , e . g ., the standard notation type , any reference ( s ), author , date , and / or other annotation data . the present example indicates that one or more users has reviewed this license ( or other document ), checked it against a particular document or documents , and summarized some or all of the mark - up data and associated portions of the document that have been annotated . the optional map window 801 illustrated in fig8 provides a map of the sections of the mark - up document 809 and the related intellectual property documents noted in annotations . in the present example , the map window 801 includes a visual representation 803 of each document section and a summary 805 of each related document noted in a mark - up . a map line 807 indicates a relation between document sections and subsections , and a connection 808 is indicated between documents and sections / subsections . other components , plug - ins , reports , and / or tools may be provided to view , search , edit , annotate , link and / or mark - up intellectual property documents , in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention . the view and window functionality , for example , may be combined , omitted , and / or replaced and / or implemented in an alternative user interface in alternative embodiments of the present invention . reference is again made to fig1 . the mark - up data optionally is stored logically and / or electronically embedded within the original document , e . g ., as an annotation . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the system may host most or all of the databases 121 , 125 , 127 , 129 , 131 on web servers , for use by any of a large number of users . according to one or more embodiment of the present invention annotated documents are stored , e . g ., locally and / or remotely . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , intellectual property documents are linked to annotations , and the documents are shared . if the users are unaffiliated with each other , however it would be undesirable to have these unrelated users accessing , e . g ., the same patent , marking it up , and physically embedding additional information therein . it would not be suitable to make that information available to all of those users . consequently , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the mark - up data is maintained so that the separate and / or unrelated users are protected from disclosure to each other . accordingly , the mark - up data optionally is separately maintained from the document data and is correlated to a user and / or group of users . further , the mark - up data preferably is seamlessly associated with the document information , and according to one or more embodiments of the present invention is preferably presented to the user as a unitary document . despite the unitary appearance , when the user is finished working on this document , the document and mark - up information optionally is broken into components , optionally each being stored in the appropriate and / or separate storage . optionally , the document and mark - ups are stored together . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , there are provided two ( or more ) streams of data , corresponding respectively to the mark - up ( s ) and the documents ). these data streams are merged together into a single document , and that merged document is presented to the user and / or worked on as a single logical document . when that work is complete or the user otherwise is done , then the document is split up into two ( or more ) different streams corresponding to the mark - up ( s ) and the documents ). preferably , the document is in xml format , but could be in other formats . reference is made again to fig3 , a block diagram for one or more embodiments of a data manager 201 , also showing communications to / from a data server 321 and to / from a data analyzer 323 . the data manager 201 may , in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention , provide for splitting and merging annotations and documents . in the illustration of fig3 , a document with annotations is split into data streams via annotation split 305 , and merged into an annotated document via annotation merge 307 . consider an example data flow through the data manager 201 ; an “ xml request ” from the data analyzer communications 323 is received by an object api 319 . the “ xml request ” indicates a particular xml intellectual property document ( optionally with annotations ) to be retrieved , e . g ., to be accessed by the data analyzer . the request is received by annotation merge component 307 in the data manager 201 . the data manager 201 determines that it needs to obtain one ( or more ) xml document corresponding to the document data for the intellectual property document , and also one ( or more ) xml document corresponding to the annotation data . the annotation merge component 307 issues a request to retrieve these two ( or more ) documents . consider feat one of these , for illustration purposes , is a patent document and the other is annotation data marking up the patent . the annotation data includes , within the set of its information , an association between one or more individual annotations , and . the location of the item or section within the patent document ( the “ entity ”) that the annotation refers to , for example , specific claims in a patent . so , if ( as in this example ) the user has annotated a particular claim in the specified patent , then the annotation includes a reference corresponding to the identifier for the entity corresponding to that claim . ( there area number of ways by which an “ entity ” within a document could be uniquely identified , e . g ., offset from document start , logical division , etc .) according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the annotation merge component 307 processes document data and annotation data ( e . g ., with an xml parser 308 ), identifies the one or more entities , within the document with a particular annotation , extracts the annotation ( e . g ., as an xml mark - up fragment ), and embeds the annotation within the section of the document ( e . g ., an xml section ) for the referenced entity within the document . in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention , there are provided two ( or more ) different documents , one containing annotations and the other containing the document , both including a respective series of entities . the annotation document ( s ) is broken up into the individual entities ; the documents are parsed and it is determined where the annotation entities go in the document ; and the document is fattened into a marked - up document . the fattened mark - up document is then returned to the data analyzer as the document in the proper format ( e . g ., xml ) via data analyzer communication 323 . the data analyzer then may , at that point , work with the mark - up document as if it is a single document . that the marked - up document originated from two or three or more different sources , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , is transparent to the data analyzer . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the data analyzer receives , processes , and / or acts on the marked - up document as a unitary document , and when done , returns it as a unitary document . optionally , the data analyzer works with the document encompassing more than one file , e . g ., separate document and annotation data , multiple files for document sections , etc . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the data manager 201 includes one or more annotation split components 305 , optionally driven by a mark - up schema 317 . the mark - up schema 317 identifies which types of entities belong in a document ( e . g ., a patent ) and which types of entities belong in an annotation . in scanning through the mark - up or expanded document , the system may identify the one or more entities mat are an annotation entity . the schema identifies the annotation entities , such as in xml . further , the system can identify that a particular annotation entity is related to a particular parent document ( or entity within a parent document ) and may obtain the unique identifier for that parent associated back with the annotation entity . it may then start building a new annotation document . so , in this way the system then supports the collapsing of the expanded mark - up document from the analyzer back into its normal form , extracting the annotations , building another annotation document , and then inserting data for the annotation and / or document back into the data server . in the case of a patent , for example , the original document may be marked as read only , so the user cannot edit the original document . optionally , the annotation split logic determines whether the document is read - only , thereby avoiding the need to examine edits to the original document , e . g . the original patent document . consequently , for a read - only document , the annotation split logic 305 may review the mark - up document to extract the annotation information . reference is now made to fig9 , illustrating an example block diagram of one potential embodiment of the data server 205 . according to one , or more embodiments of the present invention , one or more data servers 105 retrieve / store documents and / or annotation data . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the intellectual property documents are stored separately from the annotation data . if desired , stored documents may be further subdivided , e . g ., by intellectual property type ( e . g ., patent , license , trademark ), or file format , ( e . g ., xml , . tiff , . doc ) each data server may advantageously provide an object api 319 which , inter alia receives communications to / from a data manager 927 , to insert , update , delete , and / or request data in a format appropriate to the document ( s ), annotation and / or image data , e . g ., xml . hence , where documents and annotations are stored as , e . g ., xml formatted data streams , the data server may act as a repository for document and / or annotation data . when an xml data insertion or update occurs , the xml data advantageously may he stored within an xml repository 905 , e . g ., as a new revision of the document . the data server 205 receives the document or documents for storage , e . g ., through as xml update request . an xml update request is received through the object api 319 and is optionally sent to a data versioning manager 917 to handle version updates . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , revisions may be managed by a data versioning manager 917 . for example , when a data request occurs , the specified data may be retrieved from the data versioning manager 917 , the default optionally being to retrieve the latest changes ; however , a prior version may be specified within the data request . the changed document , for example the annotation document , is inserted into , e . g ., a data versioning manager 917 , to accomplish version control . there are several appropriate varieties of commercially available version control software . a version control program generally compares the revised document against the prior copy , makes a list of the changes , and associates a new revision with those changes . optionally , upon changing or updating a document , a change notification 923 may be initiated for use by other processes . the object api 319 may provide for services , e . g ., to insert , update , delete , and / or retrieve binary data ( such as for images ). such binary data advantageously may be managed by the data versioning manager 917 , and optionally a new revision may be created on update . the binary data type may be stored advantageously with the binary data when inserted or updated , e . g ., in image data files 907 . the various standard image types ( e . g ., jpeg , gif , tiff , etc ) optionally may be known to the system as predefined data types . optionally if an image is requested in a different known format than it is stored , conversion to the requested format may be performed , e . g ., during retrieval ; the may - be done advantageously by one or more format converters 925 . one of the other aspects of the optional version control system is that it is possible to label a particular version as having a given name . the label then readily allows the system to associate a version of the annotation data with a version of the document data . ( the annotations and the document may be changing at different rates .) one or more embodiments of the present invention provide the ability to create an associated name with a revision , and the version control allows the system to then associate the various into version streams that are changing at different rates . the document being edited and / or marked up , e . g ., a license agreement , may be changing at a very rapid rate initially but then those versions may slow down as the license matures . conversely , the annotations may start to grow rapidly or there may be a period when a company is working with a particular sub - licensing arrangement where those changes are occurring rapidly as well . the xml document received from the data analyzer is then fit into the data versioning manager , 917 . relevant information optionally is stored into a repository 905 and that reflects one part of the life cycle of that document . the optional xml repository 905 provides the data versioning manager &# 39 ; s log file storage , for change records . it may use a form of data compression feat is typically used in version control systems where storing the changes that have happened from one revision to the next of the document . when xml data is inserted or updated in an xml document , it may be parsed by an xml parser . optionally , a configuration data section 919 may be used to identify document structure . an index schema 913 , for example , may be used to identify xml tags that the xml parser 308 uses to break up the document into major sections ; and a separate index may be generated , e . g . by an index generator 915 , and may be maintained for each such section . during parsing , the various elements of the xml data stream may be identified . their contents further may be parsed to extract the individual words within each element . these extracted words may be compared against a table of unimportant words . if not matched in the table , the word , together with the unique ( fully qualified ) xml document name , plus its new revision number , if any , are may be stored in an index sql database 903 . each entry ( e . g . row ) in the table may be identified ( via e . g ., primary key ) by the word , the document name , and the revision , or in any other appropriate way . this table may contain a separate field ( e . g ., column ) for each section of the xml document , which may contain a count of the number of times ( e . g . frequency ) the word appears within that section . this realization may enable an index searcher 911 to place the most likely candidates at the beginning of the search results . other realizations are possible , and will be appreciated by one of skill in the art . the data server optionally includes a thesaurus 909 , which may reference and / or manage a table of synonyms to be used , inter alia , in broadening the field of search . thesaurus 909 may maintain relevant data in any appropriate form , such as thesaurus sql data 901 . when xml or binary data or other data is inserted , updated , or deleted in a document , a change notification 923 event optionally may be generated . this may be broadcast to registered listeners ( typically one or more data managers ). the change notification event may advantageously provide underlying support for replication , and / or may be used for notifying a user of modifications to a document that they may be reviewing . reference is made to fig1 , a block diagram of one embodiment of an architecture for the data analyzer 203 . the data analyzer communicates via the data manager to one or more data servers on the backend of the system . from a user &# 39 ; s perspective , one optionally is interacting with the data analyzer 203 via a user interface , e . g ., looking at a directory and / or search view 1001 in order to locate , edit , or annotate a document . for example , a user interface may present a directory as a navigable tree , allowing them to see one or more data managers in connection with respective data servers . optionally , a data manager may then be responsible for presenting a relevant part of the navigable tree . other means of displaying documents are equally appropriate , e . g ., the data analyzer may show a list of the patents by year issued , by classification , etc . an interface is provided so that the user can identify a document they want to work with . for example , a user may do a search , e . g . for all documents containing the term “ cup ”, and be presented with a list of search results , in order to access documents . in any event , the user identifies the document of interest , and a request for the document is sent by the data analyzer to the version manager 1003 , e . g ., for the latest version . in some cases , especially if the user is interested in looking at historical changes , then they may want to obtain a prior version of that document . the version may be important if there is an association between the version of annotation data and the version of the document data . optionally , the system retrieves multiple versions , e . g ., to illustrate a particular moment in the history of that document . the “ xml request ” may be sent as a data manager communication 1021 to a document manager 1005 , and the requested xml document may be returned . the document manager 1005 reads and then stores feat document into the document workspace 1007 according to one or more embodiments of the present invention . in the document worked on by the data analyzer 203 , the annotation data preferably is already merged with the original document data . the merged document may be optionally stored into a document workspace 1007 . the purpose of the document workspace 1007 is so that a user may remotely work on a document , such as on a notebook computer not connected to a network . the data may be local in the workspace . hence , if there is a disconnect from the original data sources , it is irrelevant in terms of working with the document . when the remote user finishes edits or annotations on those one or more documents , they may then check those documents back into the data - server through the data analyzer and the data manager . when a document is to be worked with , it may be extracted from the document workspace 1007 . optionally , the document to be worked on is broken down into elements , if any . the document workspace 1007 may be , for example , a file in a directory or a set of directories on a disk . to break the document into elements , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the document is extracted from the document workspace , and fed into the xml parser 308 within a document object model 1011 . the document object model 1011 may be , e . g ., standard binary representation or object representation of xml . an annotation schema 1017 may be referred to within either the xml parser 308 and / or an xml generator 1013 , for example in the process of conversion to and from the object model 1019 . once the xml data is broken down into an internal object representation , it is possible to look at an individual element , and determine , e . g . what is the content of that element in terms of text , name of the tag , text of the entity , tag name for the entity , and / or parent entity for it . the merged or annotated document advantageously may be provided in xml format . the xml document is a structure with a balanced mark - up tag ; each tag specifies a start and end of the section , and inside a section there may be nested one or more start / end of another section one . each one of these start / end blocks may be a node . each entity within that becomes a sub - node of a tree , creating an in - memory representation of the document tree that can be traversed to the parent node , child node , siblings , etc . the xml object model 1019 then contains the document data and child nodes for each one of the paragraphs or items that have been annotated . an annotation node contains the annotation data . it contains the type of a mark - up , e . g ., “ conformance ”, link to another document ; textual node , etc . optionally , the user is provided one or more views in order to assist with analysis of the document . each of the different views 113 , 115 , 117 , 119 works with the merged document , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention . the views 113 , 115 , 117 , 119 may determine document format , e . g ., by a reference to a document schema 1009 . the user selects the function he wishes to perform on a document , e . g ., view a report of the document 113 ; view a map of the document , links and mark - ups 115 ; view annotations 117 ; and / or edit the document 119 . reference is made to both fig4 and 10 . the editing view 119 , and editing window 201 illustrate one example of editing an intellectual property document , here , the license . the editing view examines the tree structure of the document or a nesting of levels within a document . here , there are articles at the outermost levels , sections within that , and perhaps each section has clauses with sub - clauses . they may be , broken down separately . in this case , there is an article at the outer - most level , which is at the same level as the preamble , nested within that article 1 , “ grant of licenses ”, there is article 1 . 1 “ trade secret license ”. the entire text for “ trade secret licenses ” may be contained within one node in the document object model . the “ trade secret license ” tag may be contained elsewhere within that node and embedded therein ; “ 1 . 1 trade secret license ” is a node , the child node of that is the text of the paragraph , etc . at mother child node of section 1 . 1 , there is provided a conformance mark - up ( displayed as illustrated in fig5 in the mark - up window 501 ). the data and / or attributes within the conformance mark - up would indicate that there is a possible conflict , together with the contents of the text within that child node or within a further child node thereof . this mark - up information for the illustrated conformance item may be associated with section 1 . 1 as a separate node . with regard to the illustrated section 1 . 1 , the user may select the node indicated as selected , e . g ., by a frame 405 , e . g . by a double click or click inside the frame 405 . the view may change to an editing view such as a frame with scroll bars . the user may modify the content of the selected information . the system automatically updates the original document information . reference is again made to both fig5 and 10 , illustrating an example mark - up window 501 and annotation view 117 within one or more embodiments of a data analyzer architecture . the annotation view 117 and mark - up window 501 display the mark - up associated with document , and / or documents to which the document has been linked . for example , the systems traverse the object - model tree in memory , locate annotations feat exist within that tree , and locate the particular corresponding annotation ( s ) for items at a given level within the tree . it is also aware of the document object model in this example . reference is again made to both fig8 and 10 , illustrating the map view 115 together with the map window 801 . the map view 115 reviews each of the nodes within the selected document and displays them for example , within a tree or a snap format . in the present example , it displays a tree of boxes representing nodes within the document , nodes of other documents connected from tire selected document , and / or annotations associated with the document ; and lines connecting the boxes together , representing links from the document ( or nodes therein ) to other documents ( or nodes therein ) and / or associated annotations . it is working off of the object model in this example . reference is again made to both fig7 and 10 . the report view 113 and report window 701 look at different elements of the document , nodes , and annotations and pull them together into a textual representation and / or summary . advantageously , each of the views 113 , 115 , 117 , 119 is provided as a plug - in to the system architecture , or similar fashion , to enable views to be added , omitted , supplemented and / or combined . other views may be provided , and the examples herein are provided merely for illustration of the underlying principals . further , although it is advantageous for the views and / or data analyzer to work on one document as a whole , the document could be provided in multiple parts and / or with separate annotations . reference is now made to fig1 showing an example embodiment of an optional data flow for splitting an annotated document . in this conceptual illustration , the annotation data stream 1123 is separate from the document data stream 1121 , and the annotations and documents are stored separately . the annotated document 1127 is received by the annotation split logic 1111 and is brokers apart into document output data stream 1121 and annotation output data stream 1123 , e . g ., for storage , e . g ., in an xml document repository 1101 and an xml annotation repository 1103 . the document is parsed , e . g ., by an xml parser 308 , and a document mark - up schema 1115 is used to help identify nodes within the document and / or annotations . if implemented using xml , tags are associated with the document , and the tags that are associated with the annotation . optionally , multiple versions of the document and / or annotation are managed , e . g ., by respective versioning data management systems 1105 , 1107 . preferably , any kind of annotation data , and / or any kind of document data , and / or format may be accepted . they are advantageously converted into xml , and then converted from xml into their native format . fig1 further illustrates that there may be two or more input data streams 1203 , 1205 , retrieved from the xml document repository 1101 and xml annotation repository 1103 , for a particular marked - up document , which are merged together in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention . at least one set of the input data streams contains document data 1203 , and at least one other set of the input data streams contains the annotation data 1205 to be applied to such document data 1203 . annotation merge logic 1201 identifies locations in the document into which to associate annotation data . if the document is xml , e . g ., an xml parser 308 may utilize the document mark - up schema 1115 to identify appropriate locations . if more than one document is embedded within a stream , the system may extract that document from multiple documents embedded within a single stream , in order to obtain a single - document stream in any event . the document data may optionally be provided in multiple document streams . in the case of the uspto database , data from 1976 to 2000 is stored in a formatted character mode , which is non - standard and awkward to handle . this information is stored as provided by the uspto , in multiple files per patent . those files contain the abstract information , information about the inventor , a brief description of the claims , drawings , etc ., so there are several documents for a given patent . optionally , all of the annotations that relate to one other document could be stored in one annotation stream , and all of the annotations relating to yet a different document optionally may be stored in a separate annotation data stream . there is no requirement that all annotations for a document come from or be stored into a single annotation file . annotation merge logic 1201 inputs the input data streams 1203 , 1205 , and creates a mark - up representation of the document data , containing , referencing or including the annotation data , whether by structure or reference for associating the annotation data with its corresponding elements within the document data . fig1 further illustrates a document input data stream 1203 containing document data , and an annotation input data stream 1205 containing annotation data . the annotation merge logic 1201 outputs the result of the merge , i . e ., a marked - up output data stream 1207 . the representation of marked up output data can reference the annotation information in many different ways . xml is fairly flexible and one advantageously may define the annotations at the top of the document as entities . accordingly , one may take text as written , paste it into the xml document and then re - parse the document , to further evaluate the xml structure . the xml element is a macro that may he cut , pasted and inserted into another section of the document by reference . hence , one alternative according to one or more embodiments of the present invention is to take the annotation data , define each one of them as elements at the top of the file , and then simply embed a reference to that element within each of the paragraphs where it needs to be expanded . that provides the mark - up copy , and it is semantically equivalent to embedding the actual mark - up entities within the entities that they refer to in the original document . there are several alternative ways to include the annotations , e . g ., write the annotation to a separate xml file , and use an include statement to include the contents of that xml file . the concept of the different ways of expanding into the mark - up document may be realigned in different ways , whether by inclusion of an element , the macro - type element , by doing an include to pull it in from another document , or by expanding out the xml code for such representation further containing , referencing or including the annotation data . there are a number of alternative ways in which the data may be provided . the data stream could be , for example , a named pipe , data from a firewall , data from a disk , or data from a database , etc . according to one or more alternative embodiments of the invention , the document data and / or the annotation data are stored in multiple data servers , and may be accessed via one or more data managers . for example , data might , be distributed among servers physically located , e . g ., at a global headquarters of an information service , a corporate headquarters of a company , of a small law office , and / or a personal computer . according to one or more alternative embodiments , the document data and / or annotation data and / or marked up document are provided as data streams . if a data stream contains image data or other binary data , one of the data streams may include data for associating the image or binary data with the annotation data and / or document data . this is useful if , for example , mere are images that are associated with many of the patents , trademarks , etc . the image / binary data stream is not necessarily - distinct from the document data stream or , if appropriate , the annotation data stream . the document itself may contain a reference to an image , and / or the annotation itself may contain the reference . in one or more embodiments of the present invention , on the other hand , the image / binary data stream might or might not be distinct from the document data or the annotation data . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , annotation data may contain an association of an external data stream of , e . g . document data . the annotation data may have an association to external data , e . g ., a hyperlink to a url web page , a fully - qualified file name on a network server , the document , a name of a program , a name of a command string mat can be executed through a command shell to start , e . g ., a computer aided design ( cad ) system with a particular cad file , etc . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , associations may be formed between the version of an annotation with a version of the document . preferably , one or more of the input data streams is from a versioning system , where there is provided a version control system , with multiple versions of a document and / or annotation . the system and / or user selects one of those document versions and / or annotation data , from the versioning system . where both document data and annotation data are provided from a versioning system , there may be one or multiple versioning systems . marked up input data streams may contain annotation text , or may be related to a stream that contains annotation text . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , a marked up document may be received as an input data stream or marked up document coming in to an input data stream . annotation data may be included that is associated with , embedded in , or connected with the input data stream . the input data streams may include , inter alia , annotation data , and / or a marked up document representation . the system is capable of parsing such marked up document representation . the system may extract from such marked up document representation the annotation data which may be placed into one or more output data streams . the annotations are optionally stripped out , and made separate and distinct from the marked up data stream . the system can review the marked up document , and may extract the relationship between the annotation data and the elements of the document . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , there - is provided a user interface . when the user selects a different kind of annotation or when the content of the annotation changes , for example , the user may dynamically change how a particular user interface displays the information that it is working with . depending on the type of the annotation , e . g . a conformance test , one or more parts of the user interface may display themselves differently than for history of the document . consider that something is displayed in a user interface window . the user selects one of several different annotations that they want to work with . the screen displays the information they are working , as it changes , in one form or another . fig1 illustrates an example of an annotated xml document 1301 , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention . the annotated xml document 1301 includes one or more document elements 1303 embedded therein or otherwise associated therewith , with document data . one or more annotations 1305 are embedded or otherwise associated therewith . the annotation 1305 includes one or more annotation elements 1307 , which reference data , a document , an external data source , etc . the annotation element 1307 may have a link 1309 to zero , one or more external data streams . in this example , a link 1309 is provided to data streams including a document element data 1313 within another document 1311 ; a url 1315 , e . g ., “ http :// www . www . xyz / page ”; and other external data source 1317 , e . g ., as executable shell script , image file , diagram , text file , document , or other file ( voice , audio , video , binary , etc .) reference is now made to fig1 a - b , illustrating an example flow chart for merging document data together with annotation data to produce a marked - up representation of the document . at step 1401 , the user selects a document to be marked - up . at step 1403 , the system determines whether the currently located document is the correct document for marking - up . if not , at step 1405 , the system searches for the correct document . once the correct document is obtained , at block 1407 the system determines whether the current version is the correct version . if not , the system searches for the current version of the document at block 1409 . once the correct version of the current document is obtained , at block 1411 , the system determines whether there is any annotation data for the selected document , for the particular user . if the current annotation data is not the correct annotation data , at block 1413 , the system continues to search for the annotation data corresponding to the selected document , block 1417 . at block 1415 , if the current version of the annotation data is not the correct version of annotation data , then at block 1419 the system continues to search for the correct version of the annotation data . at block 1421 , the system has the correct version of bother the selected document and the annotation data , and the system proceeds to place the document data into a mark - up representation of the document . at block 1423 , the system loops to check for additional items of annotation data . for another item of annotation data , at block 1425 the system locates the corresponding element within the mark - up representation of the document , and at block 1429 , the system , associates the annotation data with the corresponding element of the document . when there are no further items of annotation data , at block 1427 the system provides the user with a marked - up representation of the document . processing ends at block 1431 . reference is now made to fig1 , illustrating one example of splitting of a marked - up representation of a document into annotation data and document data . at block 1501 , the system obtains a marked - up representation of the document . in blocks 1503 , 1507 , 1511 , 1515 and 1517 , the system loops to obtain each element in the marked - up representation of the document , determine the annotation ( s ) in the element , and split out and store the annotations . in blocks 1505 and 1509 , the system separately stores the document data and annotation data . hence , in block 1503 , the system , determines whether there is another element in the document . if so , the system obtains the next element in the marked - up representation of the document at block 1507 . at block 1511 , the system checks whether the element includes one or more annotations . if so , the system stores the annotation ( s ) in the annotation data at block 1515 . at block 1517 , the system stores the element in the document data . the system loops back to block 1503 for the next element in the document . once done processing elements in the document , the system stores the document data , as a new version , for this user , at block 1505 ; aid stores the annotation data , as a new version , for this user , at block 1509 . at block 1513 , the system returns from processing . fig1 is a baked diagram illustrating an example of linked , annotated intellectual property documents and data , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention . here , one or more users has linked together several related intellectual property documents , in this example including a text document 1601 ( titled “ power projects ”), technical description documents 1603 , 1605 ( titled “ jet engine ” and “ turbine engine ”), a patent infringement analysis 1607 , and several patents 1609 a - h . in this example , associations between two documents are illustrated by links 1613 . a document may be linked one way or both ways . a link may be to / from the document generally , or a specific location in the document . each link may include an annotation 1611 . preferably , the annotation includes any user comments , user - supplied text , other user - supplied digital data , user - defined attributes ( e . g ., company &# 39 ; s patent , competitor &# 39 ; s patent , project name ), history , etc . in the present example , a user could select the “ power projects ”, view the links and embedded annotations regarding the “ jet engine ” and “ turbine engine ” documents . the user could select one or more of the links to linked other intellectual property documents . the process continues throughout the chain of linked documents . the user optionally may select yet another intellectual property document and create a link with optional annotation . an intellectual property document may be multiply - linked , and may link to itself if desired . fig1 is a linked diagram illustrating another example of annotated intellectual property documents and data , according to one or more embodiments of the present invention . the subject of this example is a license 1701 including multiple terms 1713 . the license generally is linked both ways to a related product document 1715 . the license includes annotations with internal notes 1705 , 1707 on two terms ; an annotation of a term with multiple versions of proposed changes to a license term 1709 ; an annotation relating to two terms with a digitized voice recording of a negotiation 1711 ; and a link both ways to a related patent , trademark or other intellectual property document 1703 , with annotations 1611 . fig1 a - b is an example flow chart illustrating an interaction with the user to obtain annotations and links for an intellectual property document , in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention . at step 1801 , the document to be marked - up is provided to the user , for example via a display . the document may have been previously obtained , for example via a search , browse , or other retrieval component , tool or function . at step 1802 , the system interacts with the user to determine a portion of the document to be marked - up . the document may have been previously divided into sections and / or subsections , for example , that are candidates for marking up . alternatively , the user may , e . g ., perform a click - and - select function to selected a portion . at step 1804 , the system optionally indicates the determined portion , for example , by highlighting the portion , via a pop - up - window , via special color , etc . at step 1806 , the system interacts with the user to obtain a mark - up for this portion of the document . for example , the system may provided a pull - down menu , a pop - up window , a particular font , etc . the permissible contents of mark - up to be applied may be customized by an administrative user , may be free - form , and / or may have a check - list of pre - defined elements , etc . according to one or more embodiments of the present invention , the user may select and / or enter the mark - up information . at step 1808 , the system determines whether the mark - up is to include one or more references to an intellectual property document . if so , then at step 1810 , the system provides that the user can locate and / or link from the present document to the intellectual property document . in the present example , the system provides a search and / or browse tool to locate the document . at step 1814 , the system interacts with the user to indicate a selected portion of the document to be linked to . the selected portion may be some or all of the current document , and / or another document . at step 1818 , the system saves a reference , e . g ., a link , pointer , identifier , for the other document and any selected portion , together with the associated mark - up . at step 1812 , the system saves the mark - up , together with any optional reference to another document and / or the indicated portion thereof , into , for example , temporary storage . at block 1816 , the system checks whether there are any further mark - ups to be applied to the current document , and if so , loops back to step 1802 . if there are no further mark - ups and if the document and mark - ups are to be saved , then at block 1820 , the system determines whether the marked - up document was edited and / or was editable . if so , the document is stored at step 1822 . at step 1824 , the system determines whether there is one or more saved mark - ups to be applied to the document . if not , then the system exits . if there are mark - ups , then at step 1826 , the system determines whether the mark - ups are stored separately from the document . if not , then at step 1828 the system stores the saved mark - ups together with the document . otherwise , at step 1830 , the system stores the saved mark - ups separately from the document , and at step 1832 stores data representative of the mark - up locations within the document . the function then exits processing . fig1 is a flow chart illustrating one example of traversing from intellectual property document to intellectual property document via links associated with the document and / or sections thereof , optionally having annotations . at step 1901 , the system obtains the document , and displays the document together with annotations ( or indications thereof ). at step 1903 , the system loops for the user to select an annotation and / or section of the document associated with a link . at step 1905 , the system displays the annotation information , if any . at step 1907 , the system determines whether the annotation ( or selected section ) includes or is associated with one or more links . if not , the system loops back to step 1903 . if there is at least one link associated with the annotation ( or selected section ), step 1907 , then the system loops at step 1909 until the user selects a link . when the user selects a link , then at step 1911 , the system determines the location of the linked document ( or section thereof ) via reference information , for example , stored or associated with the annotation , obtains the linked document ( or section thereof ), and displays the just - obtained document , optionally together with any annotation indications . the system then loops back to step 1903 , enabling the user thereby to continue to traverse the related linked documents . reference is now made to fig2 , illustrating an example architecture for use in connection with one or more embodiments of the present invention . in the present example , a computer 2001 hosts one or more annotations components 2003 and one or more linkages components 2005 . the annotations component has one or more of the following ; a component to apply an annotation 2013 to a document ; a component to edit an annotation 2015 ; and a component for document and / or section selection 2017 . the apply annotation component 2013 interacts with the user to create an annotation , e . g ., using menus , free form text , cut - and - paste of text , web pages and / or hyper links ; and to apply that annotation to the document ( or to the selected section of the document ). the annotation may be applied , e . g ., by inserting the annotation into the document , by saving the annotation separately in an annotations database 2011 and inserting a reference to the annotation into the document , and / or by saving metadata associating the reference and the document ( or selected section thereof ), etc . the edit annotation component 2015 interacts with the user to edit an existing annotation , e . g ., using means , free form text , cut - and - pate , etc ., and optionally to save the edited annotation . the edited annotation may be saved , e . g ., by saving the edited annotation with the document , by saving the edited annotation separately and optionally updating a reference to the annotation into the document , and / or by updating metadata associating the reference and the document ( or selected section thereof ), etc . the document and / or section selection component 2017 interacts with the user to determine a portion , portions or the entirety of the document to be associated with the annotation . the linkages component ( s ) 2005 include one or more of ; a component to establish , indicate and / or remove one or more links 2019 , a component to allow the user to traverse one or more links 2021 , and a component for document and / or section selection . the document and / or section selection component 2023 interacts with the user to determine a portion , portions or the entirety of one or more documents to be associated with a link . a link may be between one or more documents or sections thereof . a document may be linked back to itself or a section therein . the component to establish , indicate and / or remove a link 2019 interacts with the user to determine the document and / or section to link from , and the document and / or section to link to . the link may be established or indicated , e . g ., by inserting a link ( e . g ., reference , pointer , etc .) into the document , by saving the links separately in a links database 2009 and inserting a reference to the link into the document , and / or by saving metadata associating the link and the document ( or selected section thereof ), etc . optionally , links and annotations are stored in association . optionally , links are stored within the associated annotations , or vice versa . the component to traverse links 2021 determines one or more links , if any , associated with a selected document and / or selected portions thereof , optionally one or more annotations associated therewith , and optionally the document title or description at the node of the link . further , the links component 2021 interacts with the user to determine which link to traverse ; to obtain the link ( pointer , reference , etc ,) to the linked document ; and to retrieve the linked document and provide to the user . with the retrieved document , the user may traverse further links therefrom . according to one or more embodiments of me present invention , one or more users 2027 are local communicating with the computer 2001 , and / or are connected over a network , e . g ., the internet 1005 . in the illustrated example , the documents database 2007 , links database 2009 , and annotations database 2011 are local to the computer 2001 ; a further documents database 2025 is accessed via the internet 1005 . fig2 is an illustration of a computer 58 used for implementing the computer processing in accordance with a computer - implemented embodiment of the present invention . the procedures described above may be presented in terms of program procedures executed on , for example , a computer or network of computers . viewed externally in fig2 , computer 48 has a central processing unit ( cpu ) 68 having disk drives 69 , 70 . disk drives 69 , 70 are merely symbolic of a number of disk drives that might be accommodated by computer 58 . typically , these might be one or more of the following : a floppy disk drive 69 , a hard disk drive ( not shown ), and a cd rom or digital video disk , as indicated by the slot at 70 . the number and type of drives varies , typically with different computer configurations . disk drives 69 , 70 are , in fact , options , and for space considerations , may be omitted from the computer system used in conjunction with the processes described herein . computer 58 also has a display 71 upon which information may be displayed . the display is optional for the computer used in conjunction with the system described herein . a keyboard 72 and / or a pointing device 73 , such as a mouse 73 , may be provided as input devices to interface with central processing unit 68 . to increase input efficiency , keyboard 72 may be supplemented or replaced with a scanner , card reader , or other data input , device . the pointing device 73 may be a mouse , touch pad control device , track ball - device , or any other type of pointing device . alternatively , referring to fig2 , computer 58 may also include a cd rom reader 95 and cd recorder 96 , which are interconnected by a bus 97 along with other peripheral devices 98 supported by the bus structure and protocol . bus 97 serves as the main information highway interconnecting other components of the computer . it is connected via an interface 99 to the computer 58 . fig2 illustrates a block diagram of the internal hardware of the computer of fig2 . cpu 75 is the central processing unit of the system , performing calculations and logic operations required to execute a program . read only memory ( rom ) 76 and random access memory ( ram ) 77 constitute the main memory of the computer . disk controller 78 interfaces one or more disk drives to the system bus 74 . these disk drives may be floppy disk drives such as 79 , or cd rom or dvd ( digital video / versatile disk ) drives , as at 80 , or internal or external hard drives 81 . as previously indicated these various disk drives and disk controllers are optional devices . a display interface 82 permits information from bus 74 to be displayed on the display 83 . again , as indicated , the display 83 is an optional accessory for a central or remote computer in the communication network , as are infrared receiver 88 and transmitter 89 . communication with external devices occurs using communications port 84 . in addition to the standard components of the computer , the computer may also include an interface 85 , which allows for data input through the keyboard 86 or pointing device , such as a mouse 87 . conventional processing system architecture is more fully discussed in computer organization and architecture , by william stallings , macmillan publishing co . ( 3d ed , 1993 ). conventional processing system network design is more fully discussed in data network design , by darren l . spohn , mcgraw - hill , inc . ( 1993 ). conventional data communications is more fully discussed in data communications principles , r . d . gitlin , j . f . hayes , and s . b . weinstain , plenum press ( 1992 ), and in the irwin handbook of telecommunications , by james harry green , irwin professional publishing ( 2d ed . 1992 ). each of the foregoing publications is incorporated herein by reference . the foregoing detailed description includes many specific details . the inclusion of such detail is for the purpose of illustration only and should not be understood to limit the invention . in addition , features in one embodiment may be combined with features in other embodiments of the invention . various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims . as one example , the information system may include a general purpose computer , or a specially programmed special purpose computer . it may be implemented as a distributed computer system rather than a single computer . similarly , a communications link may be world wide web , a modem over a pots line , and / or any other method of communicating between computers and / or users . moreover , the processing could be controlled by a software program on one or more computer system or processors , or could even be partially or wholly implemented in hardware . this invention is not limited to particular types of intellectual property . it is intended for use with any type of intellectual property , e . g ., patents , trademarks , trade secrets , designs , sui generis protection , copyrights , licenses , litigations , and / or other sights . further , various aspects of one or more embodiments of the present invention are useful with documents including those not related to intellectual property . further , the invention is not limited to particular protocols for communication . any appropriate communication protocol may be used . the report may be developed in connection with html display format . although html is the preferred display format , it is possible to utilize alternative display formats for displaying a report and obtaining user instructions . the invention has been discussed in connection with particular examples . however , the principles apply equally to other examples and / or realizations . naturally , the relevant data may differ , as appropriate . further , this invention has been discussed in certain examples as if it is made available by a provider to a single customer with a single site . the invention may be used by numerous customers , if preferred . also , the invention may be utilized by customers with multiple sites and / or agents and / or licensee - type arrangements . this invention has been described in connection with example data formats , for example xml and uspto defined xml . however , the invention may be used in connection with other data formats , structured and / or unstructured , unitary and / or distributed . the system used in connection with the invention may rely on the integration of various components including , as appropriate and / or if desired , hardware and software servers , applications software , database engines , server area networks , firewall and ssl security , production back - up systems , and / or applications interface software . the configuration may be , preferably , network - based and optionally utilizes the internet as an exemplary primary interface with the customer for information delivery . the system may store collected information in a database . an appropriate database may be on a standard server , for example , a small sun sparc or other remote location . the database is optionally an msql , mysql , mini sequel server minisql , or oracle . information is stored in the database , and optionally stored and backed up by a back - up server , periodically or aperiodically , for example , every night along with all other data in the servers that axe behind the corporate firewall into a back - up storage facility . back - up storage facility comprises , for example , one or more tape silos that are also used to back up the entire network every night . data security and segregation of the various customers &# 39 ; data is advantageously maintained . the information , for example , will eventually get stored , for example , on a platform that may , for example be unix - based . the various databases may be in , for example , a unix format , but other standard data formats may also be used . windows nt , for example , is used , but other standard operating systems may also be used . optionally , the various databases include a conversion system capable of receiving data in various standard formats . from the user &# 39 ; s perspective , according to some embodiments the user may access the public internet or other suitable network and look at its specific information at any time from any location as long as is has internet or other suitable access . for example , the user opens its standard web browser , goes to the address that is specified for its load data , and optionally fills out a user id to log on , and a password to identify it as the specific user or the specific customer of that particular information . optionally , security of the networks is as tight as possible such that the data , not only customer data , but any information that is beyond the firewall is always protected against any kind of potential intrusion . the user , and , indeed , multiple users concurrently can look at the same information . advantageously , having this system on the internet enables users at various locations throughout the country or the world , to visit the same site at the same time and enter into a discussion or talk group as to what they are seeing , what it means , and maybe what they can do with that information .	8
referring now in detail to the figures of the drawings , in which components corresponding to one another are identified by the same reference numerals , and first , particularly , to fig1 thereof , there is seen a highly conducting silicon substrate 1 , which acts as a source s that can be grounded in the fet . the silicon substrate 1 can optionally also be formed of a plurality of layers , which are created by epitaxy or diffusion . a metallizing 2 which can also be provided with a cooling lug or vane is applied over a lower surface of the silicon substrate 1 , as is seen in fig1 . in the present exemplary embodiment as well as in ensuing exemplary embodiments , the silicon substrate 1 is n +- conducting , or in other words has a first conductivity type . it is understood that the conductivity types can also be reversed . a semiconductor layer 3 is applied on a surface of the silicon substrate 1 opposite the metallizing 2 by wafer bonding . this semiconductor layer 3 is also referred to as a first semiconductor wafer , while the silicon substrate 1 is referred to as a second semiconductor wafer . the semiconductor layer 3 has an n - conducting silicon region 4 , in which n + - conducting drain zones 5 are made in the surface opposite the silicon substrate 1 . a p - conducting drain zone 6 , which may be provided with a p + - conducting zone 7 , is located opposite the silicon substrate 1 . trenches 8 are made by etching from the surface of the semiconductor layer 3 into the silicon of the semiconductor layer 3 and are filled with an insulating layer 9 of silicon dioxide as well as n + - conducting polycrystalline silicon 10 . this polycrystalline silicon 10 forms a gate electrode g . it is seen that n + - conducting source zones 11 are provided in a region below the trenches 8 , so that the p - conducting semiconductor zone 6 forms a &# 34 ; body &# 34 ; region of the fet . the drain zones 5 are connected to a metallizing 12 , which represents a drain electrode d . the metallizing 12 protrudes through an insulating layer 25 disposed on the semiconductor layer 3 . a highly conductive layer 13 acting as a short - circuit layer between the source zones 11 and the p + - conducting regions 7 and as a bonding layer with the silicon substrate 1 , is applied to a plane surface of the source zones 11 and the p + - conducting region 7 or the p - conducting semiconductor zone 6 . this highly conductive layer preferably is formed of a silicide or titanium nitride . the layer 13 thus makes a nearly full or full ohmic contact with the n 30 - conducting and p 30 - conducting or p - conducting zones , such as the source zones 11 , the p 30 - conducting region 7 and the silicon substrate 1 . the layer 13 is resistant to high temperature so that it can survive process steps subsequent to its application and it enables the wafer bonding between the first semiconductor wafer , which in particular is formed of the silicon semiconductor layer 3 , and the silicon substrate 1 . it is also possible to select n 30 - conducting polycrystalline silicon for the highly conductive layer 13 , or a material that is similar in its properties to silicide , titanium nitride , and n 30 - conducting polycrystalline silicon . fig2 shows a second exemplary embodiment of the fet of the invention with a source - substrate connection , but in this case the p 30 - conducting region 7 has been left out . the highly conductive layer 13 has surfaces 14 and 15 which are possible bonding surfaces for the direct wafer bonding . if the surface 14 is chosen , then the highly conductive layer 13 is applied to the first semiconductor wafer having the semiconductor layer 3 , and direct wafer bonding is then performed to the silicon substrate 1 . if conversely the surface 15 is chosen , then the highly conductive layer 13 is initially applied to the silicon substrate 1 , and the wafer bonding to the first semiconductor wafer or semiconductor layer 3 is then performed . fig3 shows how an adjustment of the fet of the invention can be performed : pyramid - shaped trenches 16 are made in the first semiconductor wafer by anisotropic etching before the wafer bonding of the first semiconductor wafer , in particular of the silicon semiconductor layer 3 . these trenches 16 are then filled entirely or partially with n 30 - conducting polycrystalline silicon 17 . peaks 18 of the pyramid , which appear after the wafer bonding of the first semiconductor wafer 3 to the semiconductor substrate 1 and thin grinding of the first semiconductor wafer , then serve as adjustment marks for an ensuing making of the trenches in a so - called trench process block . it should be noted that in fig3 these trenches 8 are shown as already being provided with the insulating layer 9 and the fillings 10 even though the corresponding structures are not made until after the direct wafer bonding has been carried out ( see the double arrow 19 ). in the production of the fet , the first semiconductor wafer of n - conducting silicon is provided with the p - conducting semiconductor zone 6 by epitaxy or diffusion . next , the n 30 - conducting source zones 11 are made , and then the surface , which is highly polished before hand , is provided with the highly conductive layer 13 acting as the short - circuit layer . this is followed by the wafer bonding , and it should be noted once again that the highly conductive layer 13 may also be applied to the silicon substrate 1 . after the wafer bonding , the semiconductor wafer , that in particular is formed of the semiconductor layer 3 , is thinned and smoothed , which is necessary for the trench etching and further preparation . the trenches 8 are then made along with the insulating layer 9 and the polycrystalline silicon 10 . finally , the drain zones 5 are also made , and the metallizing 12 for the drain zones 5 is applied . fig4 shows a third exemplary embodiment of the fet of the invention . in this case the trench gates 8 are deeply etched , which is expedient particularly for operation at higher voltages . the following values can be indicated both for this exemplary embodiment and for the other exemplary embodiments as expedient dimensions : a layer thickness of the semiconductor substrate 1 of approximately 200 μm ; a layer thickness of the highly conductive layer 13 of approximately 0 . 01 μm ; a thickness of the source zone 11 below the trench 8 of approximately 1 to 3 μm ; a layer thickness of the semiconductor zone 6 of the second conductivity type of approximately 2 to 5 μm ; a layer thickness of the semiconductor layer 3 with the n - conducting region and the p - conducting semiconductor zone 6 of approximately 5 to 10 μm ; a thickness or penetration depth of the drain zone 5 of less than 1 μm ; and a layer thickness of the metallizing 12 of approximately 3 μm . a spacing between the individual trenches 8 can be approximately 5 μm . the above - mentioned values are merely guideline variables and are not intended to limit the present invention in any way . on the contrary , these values may be exceeded or undershot in both directions . fig5 shows a fourth exemplary embodiment of the fet of the invention , which has a strongly short - circuited &# 34 ; body &# 34 ; zone . in this case the semiconductor zone 6 is highly doped with p + in one region 20 and has lower doping in an actual channel region 21 . otherwise , this exemplary embodiment is equivalent to the exemplary embodiment of fig2 . fig6 shows a fifth exemplary embodiment that is similar to fig5 but in which a plurality of fets are interconnected with their gate electrodes , while one gate electrode is connected to ground in order to increase voltage strength of an edge . the parallel - connected fets in this case have a common source s . fig7 shows a sixth exemplary embodiment that is similar to fig2 in which the polycrystalline silicon 10 above the trenches 8 has a hat - like structure 22 , so that the polycrystalline silicon 10 extends past the edge of the trenches 8 due to this structure 22 . a field line distribution which is thus attained improves the voltage strength of the fet . while in the exemplary embodiments of fig1 through 7 silicide or titanium nitride is preferably used for the highly conductive layer 13 , exemplary embodiments will be presented below that preferably use n 30 - conducting polycrystalline silicon for the highly conductive layer 13 , which will now be referred to as a layer 23 . however , it must be emphasized that in the exemplary embodiments of fig1 through 7 as well , n 30 - conducting polycrystalline silicon can be used for the layer 13 , while it is also understood that the following exemplary embodiments of fig8 through 10 may be provided with silicide or titanium nitride for the highly conductive layer 23 . fig8 thus shows a seventh exemplary embodiment that is similar to fig1 but in which instead of the highly conductive layer 13 of silicide or titanium nitride or some similar material , an n 30 - conducting polycrystalline silicon 23 is provided , with which the direct wafer bonding to the silicon substrate 1 is performed ( see the double arrow 19 ). fig9 shows an eighth exemplary embodiment that is similar to fig8 in which in addition , an edge termination similar to fig6 is provided through the use of a grounded gate electrode . the possible bonding surfaces 14 and 15 are also shown , corresponding to the exemplary embodiment of fig2 . finally , fig1 shows a ninth exemplary embodiment that is similar to fig8 . it is shown in this case that the p 30 - conducting region 7 is preferably so highly doped that a pn junction 24 , which is formed by outward diffusion during the production process , extends in the vicinity of the polycrystalline silicon of the highly conductive layer 23 . highly doped pn junctions and polycrystalline silicon in fact have an ohmic - characteristic , which is advantageous in the present case .	7
fig2 illustrates a delivery device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention . the delivery device comprises an oral exhalation unit 20 and a substance delivery unit 22 . in this embodiment the oral exhalation unit 20 and the delivery unit 22 are provided as separate components , but alternatively could be detachably coupled , for example by means of velcro ™ fasteners , connected , for example by means of screws and / or rivets , or even integrally formed . the oral exhalation unit 20 comprises a tubular section 24 and a mouthpiece 26 attached to one end of the tubular section 24 . the mouthpiece 26 , which in use is gripped in the lips of a user , is formed separately of the tubular section 24 to allow for replacement , but could alternatively be integrally famed . in this embodiment the mouthpiece 26 is a snap fit on the tubular section 24 , but could equally be a screw fit . the tubular section 24 includes a flow resistor 28 , in this embodiment a fixed baffle plate , configured to provide a sufficient resistance to exhalation therethrough by a subject as to cause the generation of a positive pressure in the oral cavity of the subject and the closure of the velum on exhalation by the subject . in alternative embodiments the flow resistor 28 could be a movable member , such as a biased flap , a resilient membrane or a damped wheel . the delivery unit 22 comprises a nosepiece 30 , in this embodiment formed of a resilient material such as a polymeric material , for providing a tight sealing fit in one of the nostrils of the subject , a medicament supply unit 32 for supplying a gas flow entraining medicament at a predetermined pressure sufficient to open a flow path beyond the posterior margin of the nasal septum when delivered into one of the nasal cavities of the subject , and a tubular section 34 coupling the nosepiece 30 and the medicament supply unit 32 . in a preferred embodiment the nosepiece 30 can include an external olive or be shaped to cause the anterior region of the nasal cavity into which the nosepiece 30 is inserted to be enlarged . in a particularly preferred embodiment the nosepiece 30 can be shaped , for example by including swirl - inducing projections , to provide the exiting gas flow with an optimal flow pattern and particle size distribution . the nosepiece 30 is formed separately of the tubular section 34 to allow for replacement , but could alternatively be integrally formed . in this embodiment the nosepiece 30 is a snap fit on the tubular section 34 , but could equally be a screw fit . the medicament supply unit 32 can comprise an aerosol spray generator for generating an aerosol spray of liquid droplets containing medicament , such as provided by a pressurized metered dose inhaler , or a pressurized gas source for entraining a metered dose of a dry powder containing medicament loaded thereinto , which powder could alternatively be loaded into a compartment in the tubular section 34 . in use , a subject grips the mouthpiece 26 in his or her lips and fits the nosepiece 30 into one of his or her nostrils . the subject then exhales through the mouthpiece 26 , the flow of which exhaled air is resisted by the flow resistor 28 in the tubular section 24 such as to develop a positive pressure in the oral cavity of the subject , with the positive pressure being such as to develop a pressure differential across the velum sufficient to cause closure of the velum of the subject . the applicant has established that a positive pressure differential between the oral cavity and the nasal airway of about 5 cmh2o is required to maintain the velum in the closed position . the applicant has further established that a subject should be able to maintain a flow rate of about 3 to 30 liters per minute for about 1 to 20 seconds , with flow rates of about 10 to 20 liters per minute and delivery times of about 2 to 5 seconds being considered as optimal . after closure of the velum , the medicament supply unit 32 is then actuated to deliver a gas flow entraining medicament through the nosepiece 30 and into the nasal airway of the subject . as mentioned above , this gas flow is at such a pressure as to open a communication path beyond the posterior margin of the nasal septum such that the gas flow flows through the one nasal cavity , around the posterior margin of the nasal septum , in effect being redirected through an angle of 180 degrees , and out of the other nasal cavity . again , as already described , this bidirectional flow provides for a much enhanced deposition of the medicament in the posterior region of the nasal airway . in one modification , the medicament supply unit 32 can be omitted from the delivery unit 22 , and instead a metered dose of dry powder loaded into a compartment in the tubular section 34 , with the delivery air flow being provided by another person , such as the parent of a paediatric subject , blowing into the distal end of the tubular section 34 . fig3 illustrates a delivery device in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention . the delivery device comprises the oral exhalation unit 20 and the delivery unit 22 of the above - described first embodiment , and an outlet unit 36 for fitting to the other nostril of a subject to which the delivery unit 22 is fitted . the outlet unit 36 comprises a tubular section 38 and a nosepiece 40 , in this embodiment formed of a resilient material such as a polymeric material , attached to one end of the tubular section 38 for providing a tight sealing fit in the other nostril of the subject . the nosepiece 40 is formed separately of the tubular section 38 to allow for replacement , but could alternatively be integrally formed . in this embodiment the nosepiece 40 is a snap fit on the tubular section 38 , but could equally be a screw fit . as with the nosepiece 30 of the delivery unit 22 , in a preferred embodiment the nosepiece 40 can include an external olive or be shaped to cause the anterior region of the other nasal cavity into which the nosepiece 40 is inserted to be enlarged . the tubular section 38 includes a flow resistor 41 , in this embodiment a baffle plate , configured to provide a sufficient flow resistance to an exhalation flow therethrough as to cause the generation of a dynamic positive pressure in the nasal airway . in a preferred embodiment the flow resistor 41 is adjustable to allow for adjustment of the level of the resistance and hence provide control of the dynamic pressure in the nasal airway . in alternative embodiments the flow resistor 41 could be a movable member , such as a biased flap , a resilient membrane or a damped wheel . in a preferred embodiment the outlet unit 36 includes an indicator for providing at least one of a visual or audible signal on achieving a predetermined positive pressure upstream thereof , that is , in the nasal airway . preferably , the indicator comprises a whistle . in this way , the subject is provided with positive feedback of proper use of the device . use of the delivery device of this embodiment is the same as for the above - described first embodiment . however , as mentioned above , by the provision of the flow resistor 41 in the outlet unit 36 downstream of the outlet nostril of the subject , a positive dynamic pressure is maintained in the nasal airway . this positive pressure advantageously acts to dilate the various ostia in the nasal airway , such as the sinus ostia and the tubal ostia , and the associated tubes , namely the sinus tubes and the auditory tubes , so as to promote the delivery of medicament thereto . further , this positive pressure acts to improve deposition on the adenoid which can often obstruct the tubal ostia , the middle meatus which is a common location of nasal polyps , and the cleft to the olfactory cells . fig4 illustrates a delivery device in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention . the delivery device is very similar to that of the delivery device of the above - described second embodiment , and thus , in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of description , only the differences will be described in detail , with like parts being designated by like reference signs . this delivery device differs only in further comprising a pressure sensor 43 , in this embodiment a pressure - sensitive spring or membrane , located in the tubular section 34 of the delivery unit 22 downstream of the medicament supply unit 32 , and a control unit 44 coupled to the sensor 43 and the medicament supply unit 32 . the control unit 44 is configured to control the flow rate of the delivery gas supplied by the medicament supply unit 32 in order to optimize the particle deposition efficiency in the nasal airway regardless of the degree of nasal congestion . as mentioned hereinabove , by maintaining an optimum flow rate in the nasal airway , the deposition efficiency of the medicament - containing particles is increased , referred to as the particle deposition efficiency . if , ordinarily , a flow rate of about 15 liters per minute is required to maximize the particle deposition efficiency , then in a congested nasal airway a lower flow rate , possibly 10 liters per minute , would be required and in an open nasal airway a higher flow rate , possibly 20 liters per minute , would be required . operation of this delivery device is otherwise the same as that of the above - described second embodiment . fig5 illustrates a modified oral exhalation unit 20 for the delivery devices of the above - described embodiments . this modified oral exhalation unit 20 differs in that the tubular section 24 includes a lateral opening 45 upstream of the flow resistor 28 and in further comprising , as an indicator , an inflatable fig4 connected to the lateral opening 45 , which fig4 when inflated assumes a prominent position in the field of vision of the subject . in fig4 , the fig4 is shown inflated . by providing such a display feature , subject compliance , particularly in paediatric subjects , should be improved . the oral exhalation unit 20 further comprises an inflation line 48 connected to the fig4 which allows the fig4 to be further inflated by another person , typically the parent of a paediatric subject , or a pump . in an alternative embodiment , instead of being inflatable , the fig4 could be of any kind which is brought into a prominent position on exhalation by the subject , typically a mechanically or electrically - operated figure . in a preferred embodiment the fig4 can be configured so as to be inflated on the subject achieving an optimum exhalation flow rate . in this way , the fig4 acts as an indicator . use of the delivery device of this embodiment is the same as that of the abovedescribed first embodiment . however , on exhaling through the mouthpiece 26 , the developed pressure causes the fig4 to be inflated and assume a prominent position in the field of vision of the subject . this appearance of the fig4 is particularly appealing for paediatric subjects as the fun element of inflating the fig4 can alleviate any unnecessary anxiety . fig6 illustrates a delivery device in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention . the delivery device comprises a chamber 50 which includes an inlet 52 and an outlet 54 , a mouthpiece 56 connected to the inlet 52 and a nosepiece 58 connected to the outlet 54 . the nosepiece 58 is configured to provide a tight sealing fit in one of the nostrils of a subject . the chamber 50 includes a flow resistor 60 , in this embodiment a plurality of baffle plates , and a medicament - receiving compartment 62 downstream of the flow resistor 60 for containing a metered dose of a dry powder containing medicament to be delivered to the nasal airway of a subject . in this embodiment the nosepiece 58 is formed of a resilient material such as a polymeric material . in a preferred embodiment the chamber 50 may include a desiccant . in a preferred embodiment the flow resistor 60 can be provided by a moisture - absorbing filter . in use , a subject grips the mouthpiece 56 in his or her lips and fits the nosepiece 58 into one of his or her nostrils . the subject then exhales through the mouthpiece 56 , the flow of which exhaled air is resisted by the flow resistor 60 in the chamber 50 and the resistance of the nasal airway such as to develop a positive pressure in the oral cavity of the subject sufficient to cause closure of the velum . the exhaled air , after passing the flow resistor 60 , then entrains the powdered medicament in the medicament receiving compartment 62 , and this air flow entraining medicament then passes through the nosepiece 58 into the nasal airway of the subject . the exhaled air entering the nasal airway is at a pressure sufficient to open a communication path beyond the posterior margin of the nasal septum such that the air flow flows through the one nasal cavity , around the posterior margin of the nasal septum , in effect being redirected through an angle of 180 degrees , and out of the other nasal cavity . again , as already described , this bidirectional flow provides for a much enhanced deposition of the medicament in the posterior margin of the nasal airway . in a preferred embodiment the delivery device includes a pressure - triggered valve , preferably located in the mouthpiece 56 , which is configured to open only when a predetermined positive pressure has been developed by the exhalation of the subject , typically at a positive pressure of about 10 cm h 2 o . this configuration advantageously avoids the possibility of medicament being delivered to the nasal airway with the velum in the open position and thereby reduces the risk of undesirably depositing medicament outside the nasal airway . in another preferred embodiment , similarly to third - described embodiment , the delivery device can include an outlet unit for providing a flow resistor downstream of the other nostril of the subject such as to maintain a positive dynamic pressure in the nasal airway . fig7 illustrates a delivery device in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the present invention . the delivery device comprises an oral exhalation unit 70 through which a subject exhales to close his or her velum and a medicament delivery unit 72 for supplying an air flow entraining medicament to the nasal airway of the subject . the oral exhalation unit 70 comprises a tubular section 74 and a mouthpiece 76 attached to one end of the tubular section 74 . the mouthpiece 76 , which is gripped in the lips of the subject , is formed separately of the tubular section 74 to allow for replacement , but could alternatively be integrally formed therewith . in this embodiment the mouthpiece 76 is a snap fit on the tubular section 74 , but could equally be a screw fit . the tubular section 74 includes a flow resistor 78 , in this embodiment a gearwheel , configured to rotate on exhalation by the subject and yet provide sufficient resistance to the exhalation flow as to cause the generation of a positive pressure in the oral cavity of the subject sufficient to maintain the required positive pressure differential between the oral cavity and the nasal airway and thereby maintain the velum in the closed position . the delivery unit 72 comprises a tubular section 80 and a nosepiece 82 , in this embodiment formed of a resilient material such as a polymeric material , for providing a tight sealing fit in one of the nostrils of the subject , attached to one end of the tubular section 80 . the nosepiece 82 is formed separately of the tubular section 80 to allow for replacement , but could alternatively be integrally formed therewith . in this embodiment the nosepiece 82 is a snap fit on the tubular section 80 , but could equally be a screw fit . in a preferred embodiment the nosepiece 82 can include an external olive or be shaped to cause the anterior region of the nasal cavity , into which the nosepiece 82 is inserted , to be enlarged . in a particularly preferred embodiment the nosepiece 82 can be shaped , for example by including swirl - inducing projections , to provide the exiting air flow with an optimal flow pattern and particle size distribution . the tubular section 80 includes an impeller 84 coupled to the gearwheel 78 in the tubular section 74 of the oral exhalation unit 70 , such as to be rotated on rotation of the gearwheel 78 to draw air into the tubular section 80 and provide an air flow therethrough at a pressure sufficient to open the flow path beyond the posterior margin of the nasal septum when delivered into one of the nasal cavities of the subject . the delivery unit 72 further comprises a dispensing unit 86 for dispensing a metered dose of a dry powder containing medicament to the tubular section 80 upstream of the impeller 84 . in this embodiment the dispensing unit 86 is manually actuated to supply a metered dose of dry powder containing medicament into the tubular section 80 , but could alternatively be configured to the driven by the gearwheel 78 so as to avoid the need for any manual intervention on the part of the subject . in use , a subject grips the mouthpiece 76 in his or her lips and fits the nosepiece 82 into one of his or her nostrils . the subject then exhales through the mouthpiece 76 , the flow of which exhaled air is resisted by the gearwheel 78 such as to develop a positive pressure in the oral cavity of the subject sufficient to cause the velum of the subject to close . the exhaled air causes rotation of the gearwheel 78 which in turn causes rotation of the impeller 84 , and the rotation of the impeller 84 develops an air flow through the tubular section 80 which entrains the metered dose of dry powder containing medicament and delivers the same through the nosepiece 82 to the nasal airway of the subject . as mentioned above , this air flow is at a pressure sufficient to open a communication path beyond the posterior margin of the nasal septum such that the air flow flows through the one nasal cavity , around the posterior margin of the nasal septum , in effect being redirected through an angle of 180 degrees , and out of the other nasal cavity . again , as already described , this bidirectional flow provides for a much enhanced deposition of the medicament in the posterior region of the nasal cavity . in a preferred embodiment the gearwheel 78 is configured such that rotation thereof is prevented until a predetermined flow rate has been developed which is sufficient to ensure that the entraining gas flow developed by the impeller 84 is optimal . this configuration advantageously ensures an optimal particle deposition efficiency and avoids the possibility of medicament being delivered to the nasal airway with the velum in the open position so as to reduce the risk of undesirably depositing medicament outside the nasal airway . fig8 illustrates a delivery device in accordance with a sixth embodiment of the present invention . the delivery device comprises a housing 90 for housing a blister pack element 92 which includes a plurality of blisters 94 therein , each containing powder containing medicament , and a tubular section 96 in communication with one of the blisters 94 when open , one end of which tubular section 96 provides a mouthpiece 98 which in use is gripped in the lips of a subject . the tubular section 96 includes an element 100 movably disposed therein between a first , normally closed position and a second , open position . in this embodiment the element 100 comprises a propeller or the like rotatably mounted on a threaded shaft and normally biased to the closed position by a compression spring . the element 100 is configured both to function as a flow resistor and a valve . in this embodiment the element 100 is configured to move to the medicament - releasing open position by rotation along the threaded shaft against the bias of the compression spring , with the powder being entrainable by an air flow only when the exhalation flow exceeds a predetermined flow rate . the flow rate , preferably in the range of about 5 to 20 liters per minute , at which the powder containing medicament is entrained by the air flow is a function , in inverse relation , to the driving pressure which is itself a function of the nasal resistance as described hereinabove . as will be understood , this configuration advantageously provides for an optimal particle deposition efficiency in releasing the powder containing medicament at the optimal flow rate , and avoids the possibility of medicament being delivered to the nasal airway with the velum in the open position . the delivery device further comprises a nosepiece 102 , in this embodiment formed of a resilient material such as a polymeric material , for providing a tight sealing fit in one of the nostrils of the subject attached to the other end of the tubular section 96 downstream of the element 100 . the nosepiece 102 is formed separately of the tubular section 96 to allow for replacement , but could alternatively be integrally formed therewith . in this embodiment the nosepiece 102 is a snap fit on the tubular section 96 , but could equally be a screw fit . in a preferred embodiment the nosepiece 102 can include an external olive or be shaped to cause the anterior region of the nasal cavity into which the nosepiece 102 is inserted to be enlarged . in a particularly preferred embodiment the nosepiece 102 can be shaped , for example by including swirl - inducing projections , to provide the exiting air flow with an optimal flow pattern and particle size distribution . the delivery device further comprises a blister opening mechanism 104 for opening the blister 94 in communication with the tubular section 96 . in this embodiment the blister opening mechanism 104 is manually operated by the subject prior to delivery . in use , a subject grips the mouthpiece 98 in his or her lips and fits the nosepiece 102 into one of his or her nostrils . the subject then exhales through the mouthpiece 98 , the flow of which exhaled air is resisted by the element 100 until a predetermined flow rate has been achieved . once this predetermined flow rate has been achieved , at which flow rate the velum is in the closed position , the element 100 is in the open position and the exhaled air flow entrains the powdered medicament in the blister 94 and delivers the same through the nosepiece 102 to the nasal airway . the driving pressure of this air flow is at a level sufficient to maintain a communication path beyond the posterior margin of the nasal septum such that the air flow flows through the one nasal cavity , around the posterior margin of the nasal septum , in effect being redirected through an angle of 180 degrees , and out of the other nasal cavity . again , as already described , this bidirectional flow provides for a much enhanced deposition of the medicament in the posterior margin of the nasal cavity . in a preferred embodiment the delivery device includes a blister pack advancement mechanism , operated by movement of the mouthpiece 98 , for rotating the blister pack element 92 such that another unused blister 94 is located at the delivery position . in a particularly preferred embodiment the blister pack advancement mechanism can be coupled to the blister opening mechanism 104 such as automatically to open the blister 94 , and thereby avoid the need for any further intervention by the subject . in one modification , similarly to the above - described modification of the first embodiment as illustrated in fig3 , the delivery device can include an outlet unit for providing a flow resistor downstream of the other nostril of the subject such as to maintain a positive dynamic pressure in the nasal airway . in another modification , the blister pack element 92 can be omitted and the housing 90 instead provided with a chamber which is in communication with the tubular section 96 and into which a metered dose of dry powder containing medicament can be loaded . with this configuration , the powder in the chamber is entrained on the element 100 being driven to the second position and the blister pack advancement mechanism is configured to meter a dose of powder containing medicament into the chamber on operation thereof . as will be understood , in essence , the present invention can be broadly based on any dry powder inhaler , such as the turbuhaler ™ as manufactured by astrazeneca plc , the accuhaler ™ as manufactured by glaxo plc or the twisthaler ™ as manufactured by schering ag , where the usual mouthpiece is replaced by a nosepiece and a mouthpiece is provided in communication with the air inlet of the inhaler such as to utilize the air exhaled by a subject as the entraining delivery air . fig9 illustrates a delivery device in accordance with a seventh embodiment of the present invention . the delivery device comprises a housing 110 and a tubular section 112 extending through the housing 110 , one end of which provides a mouthpiece 114 which in use is gripped in the lips of a subject . the tubular section 112 includes an element 116 movably disposed therein between a first , normally closed position and a second , trigger position . in this embodiment the element 116 comprises a propeller or the like rotatably mounted on a threaded shaft and normally biased to the closed position by a compression spring . the element 116 is configured to function as a flow resistor , a valve and a trigger for the delivery of an aerosol spray into the tubular section 112 as will be described in detail hereinbelow . in this embodiment the element 116 is configured to move to the medicament - releasing open position , by rotation along the threaded shaft against the bias of the compression spring , only when the exhalation flow exceeds a predetermined flow rate . the flow rate at which the medicament is released , preferably in the range of about 5 to 20 liters per minute , is a function , in inverse relation , to the driving pressure which is itself a function of the nasal resistance as described hereinabove . as will be understood , this configuration advantageously provides for an optimal particle deposition efficiency in releasing the medicament at the optimal flow rate , and avoids the possibility of medicament being delivered to the nasal airway with the velum in the open position . the tubular section 112 further includes a nozzle block 117 for providing an aerosol spray through the tubular section 112 along the longitudinal axis thereof . as will be described in detail hereinbelow , the nozzle block 117 receives the valve stem 122 of an aerosol canister 120 . the delivery device further comprises a known aerosol canister 120 used to deliver metered volumes of a propellant , preferably a hydrofluoroalkane ( hfa ) propellant or the like , containing medicament , either as a suspension or as a solution . the aerosol canister 120 comprises a main body 121 which contains a volume of propellant under pressure containing medicament , a valve stem 122 through which the propellant containing medicament is in use delivered on relative movement of the main body 121 and the valve stem 122 , and a metering valve 124 for metering a predetermined volume of propellant containing medicament to the valve stem 122 on movement thereof . the delivery device further comprises a trigger mechanism 126 for relatively moving the main body 121 and the valve stem 122 of the aerosol canister 120 to effect the delivery of a metered volume of propellant containing medicament through the nozzle block 117 . in this embodiment the trigger mechanism 126 comprises a resilient element 128 for loading the main body 121 with an actuation force , and a lever assembly 130 coupled to the movable element 116 to cause the release of the actuation force provided by the resilient element 128 on movement of the movable element 116 from the closed position to the trigger position . the delivery device further comprises a nosepiece 132 , in this embodiment formed of a resilient material such as a polymeric material , for providing a tight sealing fit in one of the nostrils of the subject , attached to the other end of the tubular section 112 downstream of the movable element 116 . the nosepiece 132 is formed separately of the tubular section 112 to allow for replacement , but could alternatively be integrally formed therewith . in this embodiment the nosepiece 132 is a snap fit on the tubular section 112 , but could equally be a screw fit . in a preferred embodiment the nosepiece 132 can include an external olive or be shaped to cause the anterior region of the nasal cavity into which the nosepiece 132 is inserted to be enlarged . in a particularly preferred embodiment the nosepiece 132 can be shaped , for example by including swirl - inducing projections , to provide the exiting air flow with an optimal flow pattern and particle size distribution . in use , a subject primes the trigger mechanism 126 , grips the mouthpiece 114 in his or her lips and fits the nosepiece 132 into one of his or her nostrils . the subject then exhales through the mouthpiece 114 , the flow of which exhaled air is resisted by the movable element 116 until a predetermined flow rate has been achieved . once this predetermined flow rate has been achieved , at which flow rate the velum is in the closed position , the movable element 116 lain the open position , triggering the movement of the lever assembly 130 and hence the relative movement of the main body 121 and the valve stem 122 of the canister 120 to deliver a metered volume of propellant containing medicament to the nozzle block 117 to generate an aerosol spray of liquid droplets containing medicament through the nosepiece 132 to the nasal airway . this aerosol flow is at a pressure sufficient to maintain a communication path beyond the posterior margin of the nasal septum such that the flow flows through the one nasal cavity , around the posterior margin of the nasal septum , in effect being redirected through an angle of 180 degrees , and out of the other nasal cavity . again , as already described , this bidirectional flow provides for a much enhanced deposition of the medicament in the posterior margin of the nasal cavity . as will be understood , in essence , the present invention can be broadly based on any breath - actuated pressurized metered dose inhaler , where the usual mouthpiece is replaced by a nosepiece and a mouthpiece is provided in communication with the air inlet of the inhaler such as both to trigger the triggering mechanism and utilize the air exhaled by a subject as the entraining delivery air . finally , it will be understood that the present invention has been described in its preferred embodiments and can be modified in many different ways without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	0
the present invention will be described in combination with ultrasonic instruments as described herein . such description is exemplary only , and is not intended to limit the scope and applications of the invention . fig1 illustrates one embodiment of an ultrasonic system 10 for coagulating and / or cutting tissue . ultrasonic system 10 may comprise an ultrasonic signal generator 50 , an ultrasonic transducer 20 , ultrasonic surgical apparatus 30 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 , ultrasonic surgical apparatus 30 is configured as ultrasonic shears for cutting and coagulating tissue . a torque tool 40 which may be used to secure ultrasonic shears 30 to ultrasonic transducer 20 is also shown in fig1 . fig2 and 3 further illustrate one embodiment of ultrasonic shears 30 . ultrasonic shears 30 comprise a housing 65 , which may include a right housing 60 and a left housing 70 . proximal of said housing is a movable thumb lever 110 , the thumb lever distal motion 420 of which is shown . rotational movement 630 is also shown allowing for alignment of the end effector 176 during use . clamp arm closing motion 620 is illustrated and is resultant of said thumb lever distal motion . fig4 is a partial section view of ultrasonic shears 30 , illustrating the securing of ultrasonic transducer 20 onto the ultrasonic shears . in the embodiment shown , ultrasonic blade 220 is secured to transducer 20 using a threaded connection . this permits the transmission of ultrasonic vibration from ultrasonic transducer 20 to ultrasonic blade 220 . alternative connection means providing a secure interface between ultrasonic transducer 20 and ultrasonic blade 220 may also be used . fig5 illustrates the handle portion of shears 30 with left housing 70 hidden to reveal the inner workings . shown is the right housing 60 of the ultrasonic shears 30 , which includes finger grip 112 . finger grip 112 and thumb lever 110 create a scissor grip movably located on the under side of the right handle housing 60 . said thumb lever 110 connects to a linkage 80 operably connected to a yoke assembly 90 that engages the actuating outer tube 230 , thereby allowing proximal lever motion 410 and distal lever motion 420 of the thumb lever 110 to slide the outer tube with a proximal motion 510 and distal motion 520 respectively ( see fig6 ). the yoke assembly 90 may include a force - opposing member 100 that engages a pre - loaded force - limiting spring 130 . drive flange 140 transfers force from said yolk assembly to the outer actuating tube 230 . spline knob 180 acts as a means of rotating shaft assembly 240 and thus ultrasonic blade 220 to achieve desired alignment . sleeve 200 houses and compresses the distal portion of said spline knob 180 . washer 190 acts as a rotation and thrust bearing for shaft assembly 240 and prevents backlash . fig6 is a side view of the ultrasonic shears 30 , illustrating the relationship between the motion 400 of thumb lever 110 relative to the outer actuating tube 230 , clamp arm 150 , tissue pad 170 and the ultrasonic blade 220 . proximal motion 410 of thumb lever 110 results in proximal motion 510 of outer actuating tube 230 , which results in the opening motion 610 of the clamp arm 150 relative to the ultrasonic blade 220 . conversely , distal motion 420 of said thumb lever 110 results in distal motion 520 of said outer actuating tube 230 , which results in the closing motion 620 of said clamp arm 150 and tissue pad 170 relative to said ultrasonic blade 220 . fig7 is a side closeup view of the end - effector 176 of the ultrasonic shears 30 . outer actuating tube 230 operably connects to clamp arm 150 via actuating pin 232 . non - actuating inner tube 160 is shown extending distally from inside said outer actuating tube 230 . inner tube 160 remains stationary with respect to ultrasonic blade 220 and blade seal 222 ( see fig8 a ). tissue pad 170 is shown connected to said clamp arm 150 to operably contact with ultrasonic blade 220 and tissue therebetween when in surgical use . furthermore , said tissue pad 170 may comprise one or more tissue stop pads 172 located proximally from the blade engaging surface 174 of the tissue pad 170 . the tissue stop pads 172 may curve from a direction parallel to the blade engaging surface 174 of said tissue pad 170 to a direction between 30 degrees and substantially perpendicular to the orientation of the ultrasonic blade 220 and act to position and manipulate tissue and may act as an initial barrier to prevent tissue from engaging undesired portions of the blade 220 or clamp arm 150 during surgical use . blade engaging surface 174 may be convex and / or conformal to blade end effector 178 . in one embodiment , tissue stop pads 172 may engage tissue while clamp arm 150 is in the open position . as clamp arm 150 closes , tissue stop pads 172 force the tissue in contact with the tissue stop pads 172 distally and downward against ultrasonic blade 220 . this stretches tissue across ultrasonic blade 200 , creating tension in the tissue for use when cutting and / or coagulating . tissue tension aids in the speed of cutting and coagulation . fig8 a and 8b are side partial section views of the end effector 176 of the ultrasonic shears . fig8 a shows the end effector 176 with the clamp arm 150 in the open position . fig8 b shows the end effector 176 with clamp arm 150 in the closed position . clamp arm 150 rotatably attaches via pivot pin 152 to non - actuating inner tube 160 . the axis of pivot pin 152 may be positioned above , below , or passing through the axis of ultrasonic blade 220 . clamp arm 150 pivots about pivot pin 152 when outer actuating tube 230 slides distally or proximally , engaging actuating pin 232 which is mounted at the substantially distal end of the outer actuating tube 230 and extending through cam slot 154 and operably engaging cam surface 156 . ultrasonic blade 220 extends through the interior of tube 160 and is engaged by tissue pad 170 which is connected to clamp arm 150 to facilitate clamping tissue between tissue pad 170 and ultrasonic blade 220 . if tissue stop pads 172 are positioned near ultrasonic blade 220 , they may perform a wiping action , clearing said ultrasonic blade of tissue upon opening and closing of clamp arm 150 . the profile and location of cam slot 154 and cam surface 156 may be selected to provide constant or variable mechanical advantage as actuating pin 232 moves distally or proximally . as clamp arm 150 rotates , the contact angle between cam surface 156 and actuating pin 232 provides a quantifiable mechanical advantage that can be chosen to meet the requirements for manipulating tissue for the position of clamp arm 150 . the profile of cam surface 156 may be straight , contain one or more curves , or any combination thereof . cam surface 156 may also include indentions or protuberances to give sensory feedback as actuating pin moves along the surface . cam slot 154 may be placed distal or proximal to pivot pin 152 . in one embodiment , a steeper angle with respect to the motion of actuating pin 232 will provide faster clamp arm 150 closing speed with lower mechanical leverage , while a shallower angle will provide slower clamp arm 150 closing speed with higher mechanical leverage . when outer actuating tube 230 is positioned as shown in fig8 a , the contact angle is steep , providing faster closing speed than when outer actuating tube 230 is positioned as shown in fig8 b . however , the mechanical advantage is greater in fig8 b , allowing significant clamping force to be applied to tissue . in one embodiment , actuating pin 232 may be mounted at the substantially distal end of an inner actuating tube and extending through cam slot 154 and operably engaging cam surface 156 . clamp arm 150 rotatably attaches via pivot pin 152 to non - actuating outer tube . clamp arm 150 pivots about pivot pin 152 when inner actuating tube slides distally or proximally , engaging actuating pin 232 . fig9 a , 9 b , 10 a , and 10 b are alternate partial sectional views of said end effector 176 of said ultrasonic shears 30 . shown is blade seal 222 , which does not move with respect to blade 220 and inner tube 160 . blade seal 222 may be bonded to ultrasonic blade 220 or inner tube 160 . alternately , blade seal 220 may be held in place through mechanical means . reducing or eliminating the relative motion of blade seal 222 with respect to ultrasonic blade 220 and inner tube 160 allows for a tighter seal and reduces wear . this further reduces potential fluid migration along the shaft of blade 220 inside inner tube 160 . fluid along the shaft of blade 220 can produce unwanted and potentially dangerous heat as ultrasonic energy is damped out by the fluid . reducing fluid migration reduces parasitic diversion of ultrasonic energy from blade 220 into waste heat , which can result in patient injury in some circumstances . by moving actuating tube 230 rather than inner tube 160 , the risk of patient injury can be reduced . seal integrity is further enhanced by locating blade seal 222 with respect to blade 220 and inner tube 160 during manufacture of ultrasonic shears 30 . fig1 a and 11b illustrate partial section views of the ultrasonic shears 30 . the clamp arm 150 is actuated by a scissor - like grip created by a thumb lever 110 movably located on the under side of the right handle housing 60 and finger grip 112 located at the proximal end of the ultrasonic blade 220 . said thumb lever connects to a linkage 80 operably connected to yoke assembly 90 that engages the actuating outer tube 230 , thereby allowing proximal and distal sliding movement of the thumb lever to slide the outer tube proximally and distally respectfully , resulting in the opening and closing movement of said clamp arm . fig1 a and 12b further illustrate the actuating motion of the ultrasonic instrument . said elements described above actuate upon living tissue 300 in the manner described . relative motion of finger grip 112 with respect to lever 110 produces motion in clamp arm 150 with respect to blade 220 . in the embodiment shown , distal motion 420 of thumb lever 110 results in distal motion 520 in outer actuating tube 230 producing closing motion 620 of clamp arm 150 and tissue pad 170 , thereby compressing tissue 300 against blade 220 . fig1 a and 13b further illustrate the yoke assembly 90 which includes a force - opposing member 100 that engages a pre - loaded force - limiting spring 130 . when slideable thumb lever 110 moves distally , moving said clamp arm 150 into a clamped position , linkage 80 engages the force - opposing member , engaging the force - limiting spring , thus preventing adverse forces from being applied to the clamp arm or the tissue 300 shown clamped between said clamp arm and said ultrasonic blade . continued distal motion 420 on thumb lever 110 results in spring compression 132 , limiting the force applied to tissue 300 . by careful selection of the point of farthest travel by the said actuating tube and the preload of the said force - limiting spring 130 , the tissue can be compressed and transected with a clamping force within a desirable range . in one embodiment , force - limiting spring 130 is a helical spring . force limiting spring 130 may also be any of the following types of springs : a cantilever , coil , conical , volute , leaf , v - spring , belleville , disc , constant - force , gas , mainspring , elastomeric , washer , torsion , extension , wave or other deformable component . fig1 a illustrates the shaft assembly 240 of one embodiment of the ultrasonic shears apparatus . drive flange 140 transfers force from the above - described yolk assembly to the outer actuating tube 230 . spline knob 180 acts as a means of rotating said shaft assembly , and thus ultrasonic blade 220 to achieve desired alignment . sleeve 200 houses and compresses the distal portion of said spline knob . torque tab 210 engages the torque tool 40 to secure or disconnect the ultrasonic shears instrument to the ultrasonic transducer 20 . compliance feature 234 is created by notches which allow the outer actuator tube 230 to compress when significant axial load is applied . notches may alternate or form a spiral pattern . by careful selection of the point of farthest travel by the said actuating tube and the preload of the said compliance feature 234 , the tissue can be compressed and transected with a clamping force within a desirable range . fig1 b and 14c are a perspective view and a side view , respectfully , of one embodiment of the spline knob assembly with washer 190 , sleeve 200 , blade 200 , and one half of the spline knob 180 removed , showing torque tabs 210 . tabs 182 located on the inside of a spline knob engage inner tube openings 186 and outer tube openings 188 on the non - actuating inner tube 160 and outer actuating tube 230 and recesses 184 on the ultrasonic blade 220 to ensure rotational alignment of the said inner tube and outer tube with the blade . said spline knob serves as a means of rotating said blade to achieve desired alignment . said tabs and recesses are oriented with respect to the blade end - effector 178 to adjust the orientation of the blade end effector 178 to the clamp arm . sleeve 200 acts to house said spline knob and the blade and tube assembly as well as secure washer 190 , which acts to securely locate said shaft assembly within the ultrasonic shears instrument handle assembly . sleeve 200 compresses said spline knob , compressing tabs 182 into recesses 184 , substantially aligning the features . cross section 242 intersects the assembly for purposes of illustration in fig1 a and 15b . fig1 a and 15b illustrate cross sectional views of the spline knob assembly with outer actuating tube 230 in different positions . fig1 is an exploded view of the ultrasonic shears apparatus showing some of the previously described components and subassemblies of one embodiment . fig1 is an exploded view of one embodiment of the ultrasonic shears shaft assembly showing components and features unobstructed by outer components of one embodiment . fig1 a , 18 b , and 18 c illustrate one embodiment of a clamp arm 150 having integral tissue grip features 158 . clamp arm 150 and tissue pad 170 may be made from a metal and a polymer respectively . tissue grip features 158 are designed to prevent tissue from slipping while being manipulated . said tissue grip features may be any non - smooth surface , including but not limited to teeth , bumps , ridges , holes , and knurls . tissue grip features 158 made from metal will withstand wear and damage better than equivalent features on a polymer tissue pad 170 . tissue pad 170 may be attached to said clamp arm and may or may not be designed to provide additional gripping force on tissue . the width of blade engaging surface 174 of tissue pad 170 may be the same or less than the width of clamp arm 150 . fig1 a and 19b illustrate an embodiment of clamp arm 150 which includes an integrated compliance member 134 . said compliance member is operably connected to an actuator such as the outer actuating tube 230 and to said clamp arm . said compliance member deforms when force is applied by said outer actuating tube , reducing the closing motion 620 when resistance is met . said outer actuating tube is prevented from traveling beyond a set point , limiting the force that may be applied to said clamp arm . said compliance member may be preloaded to prevent deformation until the said applied force is above a threshold . by careful selection of the point of farthest travel by the said actuating tube and the preload of the said compliance member 134 , the tissue can be compressed and transected with a clamping force within a desirable range . fig2 a and 20b illustrate an embodiment of an end effector 176 with a clamp arm 150 with a tissue pad 170 connected to said clamp arm via one or more tissue pad rivets 350 extending through the cross - sectional area of said clamp arm , terminating on the side opposite of tissue interaction of said tissue pad of said clamp arm . said tissue pad rivets , for example , can be molded or inserted through said clamp arm and then heat processed so that said tissue pad rivets form a substantially larger , opposing surface on said side opposite of tissue interaction . fig2 a through 21c illustrate an embodiment of clamp arm 150 which includes tissue pad rivets 350 . cross section 352 is shown in fig2 c . fig2 a through 22c illustrate an embodiment of clamp arm 150 which includes a tissue pad 170 including tissue pad connection member 360 extending substantially longitudinally along the length of said clamp arm and through the cross - sectional area of said clamp arm , terminating on the side opposite of tissue interaction of said tissue pad of said clamp arm . said tissue pad connection member forms an enlarged , substantially flattened , opposing surface on said side opposite of tissue interaction . cross section 362 is shown in fig2 c . fig2 a and 23b illustrate an embodiment of clamp arm 150 which includes a tissue pad 170 including clamp arm projections 370 located on the surface of clamp arm 150 . said clamp arm projections project through tissue pad 170 and may secure it through friction or mechanical interference . said clamp arm projections also may interact with tissue creating an improved means of gripping tissue . fig2 a and 24b illustrate an embodiment of clamp arm 150 which includes a tissue pad 170 secured to said clamp arm via one or more opposing tissue pad securing tabs 380 located along the length of said clamp arm . said tissue pad securing tabs also may interact with tissue creating an improved means of gripping tissue . fig2 a and 25b illustrate an embodiment of clamp arm 150 which includes tissue pad 170 located between tissue grip features 158 located along the length of said clamp arm . fig2 shows cross section 392 . the width of blade engaging surface 174 of tissue pad 170 may be the same or less than the width of clamp arm 150 . tissue pad 170 is held in place by means of a slot feature 390 . fig2 is a list of all elements described herein . thus , the described embodiments are to be considered in all aspects only as illustrative and not restrictive , and the scope of the invention is , therefore , indicated by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description . all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope .	0
in fig1 the side view of the hand carrying basket of the present invention , the relative steepness of the sides ( small draft ) which may be achieved with the present invention is apparent . the basket , indicated generally at 10 , has a bottom wall 12 and side walls 14 . as dimension a shows , the side walls have a three degree draft , or inclination from the vertical , to allow separation of the core die from the basket and the basket from the cavity die upon conclusion of the injection molding process . this small draft allows base 12 to have a comparatively large area in relation to the opening at the top of the basket , and in consequence of this , the interior volume of the basket is large . the side wall visible in fig1 is seen to be formed with six cross - members , numbered 16 through 26 . in addition , at the top of side wall 14 , a rolled top edge 28 is provided for strength and smoothness . the uppermost cross - member 16 extends downwardly from rolled edge 28 to cross - member 18 below it . cross - member 16 contains slots 30 to decrease the weight of the basket and ribs 33 , integrally formed with rolled edge 28 , to strengthen both cross - member 16 and edge 28 . below cross - member 16 are , in order , unslotted cross - member 18 , slotted cross - member 20 , unslotted cross - member 22 , slotted cross - member 24 , and unslotted cross - member 26 . slotted members 20 and 24 contain slots 32 , also to reduce the weight of the basket . as shown in fig1 slotted members 20 and 24 are each bounded at their upper and lower edges by an unslotted cross - member ( e . g ., 18 , 22 ); this arrangement maintains the strength of the basket &# 39 ; s side walls . on top of two opposite side walls of the preferred embodiment , a pair of eyelets 34 are integrally formed with the basket . eyelets 34 serve as attachment points for the carrying handles ( not shown ) which enable this basket to be used for the hand carrying of articles such as groceries . beneath eyelets 34 , a portion of side wall 14 is left unslotted and serves as an identification space 36 . here , the owner of the baskets ( such as a supermarket chain ) may have its name embossed in order to reduce the possibility of theft . bottom wall 12 of the basket , as shown in fig3 is of lattice construction to further reduce the basket &# 39 ; s weight . the lattice is formed of a plurality of intersecting ribs 38 defining a plurality of spaces 40 between them . also visible in fig3 is rolled top edge 28 extending around the entire periphery of basket 10 to reinforce the top edge of the basket . in fig3 the details of the side walls are omitted for the sake of clarity . the special side wall construction which strengthens the slotted cross - members of the sidewalls is shown in fig4 . a portion of basket 10 is illustrated in an injection mold consisting of core die 42 and cavity die 44 together defining the space which , when filled with plastic , becomes basket 10 . this section through a slotted cross - member of two side walls 14 clearly depicts the corrugation of the side walls which gives them their strength . the corrugated cross - members have exterior panels 46 alternating with interior panels 48 in which are formed slots 32 . exterior panels 46 contain exterior slots 32 &# 39 ;, while interior panels 48 contain interior slots 32 &# 34 ;. it can be seen from fig4 that exterior slots 32 &# 39 ; are formed by the cavity member 44 of the injection molding dies , whereas interior slots 32 &# 34 ; are formed by the core member 42 of the dies . fig5 a and 5b show how the various cross - members of the side walls 14 are joined to form a strong wall having a small draft . top cross - member 16 is formed integrally with ribs 33 and rolled edge 28 to provide increased strength to compensate for the formation of slots 30 . cross - member 16 overlaps , at its lower edge , with the upper edge of unslotted cross - member 18 . member 18 , in addition to being unslotted , is substantially planar and provides strength between slotted cross - members 16 and 20 . overlapping with the bottom edge of cross - member 18 is the top edge of slotted cross - member 20 . because member 20 is slotted , added strength is provided by corrugating it in the manner shown in fig4 . exterior slots 32 &# 39 ; are formed in exterior panels ( not shown ) of slotted cross - member 20 , while interior slots 32 &# 34 ; are formed in interior panels ( not shown ) of member 20 . the bottom edge of member 20 is overlapped with the top edge of unslotted cross - member 22 . like unslotted cross - member 18 , member 22 is substantially planar and provides strength between adjacent slotted cross - members . the bottom edge of cross - member 22 overlaps with the top edge of slotted cross - member 24 . like slotted cross - member 20 , member 24 is corrugated to provide additional strength to compensate for its slots . cross - member 24 also has exterior slots 32 &# 39 ; in the exterior panels of its corrugations and interior slots 32 &# 34 ; in the interior panels . finally , the bottom edge of member 24 overlaps with the top edge of unslotted cross - member 26 . member 26 is a substantially planar , unslotted cross - member which is integrally formed with bottom wall 12 of the basket . fig5 a and 5b illustrate how the design of the present invention facilitates mold separation . slots formed by the cavity die have a top edge but no bottom edge ( i . e ., they are open - ended at the bottom ). because of this , the basket may simply be raised from the cavity , and the slot - forming portion of the cavity die can slide out of the bottom of the slot . for example , substantially planar unslotted cross - member 22 forms the top edge of slot 32 &# 39 ; in slotted cross - member 24 ; however , no member forms a bottom edge of slot 32 &# 39 ;, so that it is open - ended at its bottom . in contrast , slots formed by the core die have a bottom edge but no top edge ( are open - ended at the top ). because of this , the core may simply be raised from the basket , and the slot - forming portion of the core die can slide out of the top of the slot . for example , substantially planar unslotted cross - member 22 forms the bottom edge of slot 32 &# 34 ; in slotted cross - member 20 ; however , no member forms a top edge of slot 32 &# 34 ;, so that it is open - ended at its top . from fig5 a and 5b , it can also be seen that the overlapping of side wall cross - members is done in such a manner that upper cross - members always overlap the outer face of lower cross - members . fig6 illustrates , in exagerated form , the draft of the side edges of slots 32 . the side edges of all slots are tapered one degree from the vertical . the edges of exterior slots 32 &# 39 ; are tapered so that the slot is wider at the bottom than at the top because slots 32 &# 39 ; will be lifted from the cavity die . slots 32 &# 34 ;, on the other hand , are tapered so that the top is wider than the bottom because the core die will be raised from slots 32 &# 34 ;. the draft of the edges of slots 32 need only be one degree , shown as dimension b in fig6 . by means of the above - described construction , the hand carrying basket of the present invention accomplishes the stated objectives in a manner which is unobvious over the prior art . the strength of the basket &# 39 ; s side walls is maintained both by including a corrugated cross - member and by overlapping the corrugated cross - member , above and below , with an unslotted , substantially planar cross - member . weight reduction results from thinning the side walls and from forming slots in them . this also tends to reduce the cost of the baskets . notwithstanding the thinness of the side walls , a basket having a large interior volume may be molded , using walls of relatively shallow draft , by means of the present invention .	1
while a segmented nozzle 18 , provided in accordance with the present invention , may be used in a variety of systems , it is shown in use with an abrasive fluidjet system 10 in fig1 , for purposes of illustration . it will be understood , however , that the nozzle has equal applicability to fluidjet systems that do not use abrasives , or that form a fluidjet or abrasive fluidjet in ways other than those shown in the illustrations . the overall construction and operation of abrasive fluidjet systems is well known and the details need not be described herein . one available abrasive fluidjet system , for example , is shown in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 643 , 058 , assigned to flow international corporation , the assignee of the present invention . briefly , however , in an abrasive fluidjet system 10 as shown in fig1 and 2 , a volume of abrasive particles is fed from an abrasive bulk hopper 11 into a feed line 12 and then into a mixing chamber 14 of a cutting or cleaning head 16 . the abrasive is entrained into a high - pressure jet of fluid , preferably water , generated by forcing a quantity of fluid from a high - pressure fluid source 13 through orifice 40 . the abrasive particles and high - pressure fluidjet mix as they pass down the length of mixing tube or nozzle 18 , leave nozzle 18 as a high - pressure abrasive fluidjet 20 . traditionally , mixing tubes have a length to bore diameter ratio ( l / d ratio ) around 100 . for example , a nozzle using conventional construction techniques may be three inches long with an inner bore diameter of about 0 . 03 inch . it is believed that even higher l / d ratios are desirable ; however , manufacturing limitations of drilling a bore in a unitary nozzle make increased ratios challenging to near impossible . it is a unique feature of the present invention that the nozzle 18 is made from multiple segments 22 , as best shown in fig2 - 5 . each segment 22 has an internal bore 24 . the segments 22 are stacked with their bores 24 all axially aligned to provide a continuous fluid passage 26 through the nozzle 18 , the continuous fluid passage 26 having an entry 28 and an exit 30 . the segments can be coupled together by several methods . one preferred technique is to shrink fit a metal sleeve 50 , using commonly known shrink - fitting techniques , around the stacked segments . while various metals may be used , in a preferred embodiment , the sleeve 50 is formed of steel or aluminum . another method is to slide the segments into a slide - fit tube and use an adhesive such as epoxy to keep them in place . also , the segments can be mounted on a tensioned wire and sprayed with a metal coating to coat an outside surface of the segments , thus bonding them together . the metal sleeve will hold the segments in a tight stack and will also protect the nozzle from damage that can occur if the nozzle hits an object . because the drilling of a bore in a short segment can be done more accurately than in a long segment , the size of the bore can be reduced , allowing either the overall length of the nozzle 18 to be reduced for a given l / d ratio , or the l / d ratio to be made greater , as desired . as discussed previously , it is believed that system performance is improved by increasing the l / d ratio , for example by improving jet coherency and nozzle service life . however , the maximum attainable l / d ratio was previously limited by the manufacturing constraints of drilling a small bore through a long nozzle . by forming the nozzle from segments , drilling accuracy is improved , allowing smaller diameter bores to be formed . thus , the present invention allows nozzles to have an improved l / d ratio previously not possible . for example , a conventional mixing tube may have a length of 3 inches and an internal bore diameter of 0 . 03 inch . in accordance with the present invention , the nozzle 18 is formed of multiple segments , each having a length of 0 . 125 - 0 . 75 inch , and an inner bore diameter of 0 . 005 - 0 . 030 inch . it will be understood that the length , outside diameter and bore diameter of the segments may be varied , as desired . table 1 below illustrates several possible geometries provided in accordance with the present invention . it will be understood , however , that these are merely illustrative of many different possible geometries provided in accordance with the invention . also , by forming the nozzle from shorter segments , the external diameter or dimension of the segments 22 may be reduced , providing a significant savings in material costs . for example , a typical unitary nozzle may be 0 . 25 inch in external diameter . in accordance with the present invention , given the increased accuracy and ease of machining , the external dimension of each segment can be reduced to less than 0 . 25 inch , for example to 0 . 125 inch , providing reduced material costs . in an alternative nozzle 18 a shown in fig4 , the size of the internal bore 24 a of each segment 22 a can be varied to obtain more flexibility in the construction of the nozzle and the performance of the fluidjet 20 . while fig4 shows the diameters of the bores 24 a getting smaller from the entry 28 a of the nozzle to the exit 30 a to form a converging fluid passage 26 a , the diameters of the holes can also by made smaller to larger from entry to exit to form a diverging fluid passage . alternatively , any other combination of hole diameters can be used to achieve a selected performance of the fluidjet 20 . the inner bore diameter or dimension of the segments may also vary from segment to segment . for example , the inner diameter of the uppermost segment may be made larger than the inner diameter of the remaining segments . this may be advantageous for several reasons . for example , having the upper section be of larger inner diameter will facilitate the abrasive entrainment process . also , a nozzle geometry provided with a larger bore at the top is likely not to change or wear over time as quickly as a single , small bore nozzle . the overall length of the nozzle may also be selected by coupling a selected number of standardized segments together , in accordance with the invention . the segmented nozzle 18 may also be formed together with the orifice 40 , as shown in fig2 , to provide a single assembly . this will provide better alignment of the waterjet stream inside the mixing tube and reduce the number of components . if desired , the segments 22 can also be manufactured from different materials , for example , a first segment 54 and / or a last segment 56 can be made from diamond or other hard material to achieve a desired wear performance . other segments can be made of tungsten carbide or tungsten carbide composites . a material sold by kenna metal ( boride products division ), under the trade name roctec ®, may also be used . as best shown in fig5 , some or all of the segments 22 can be spaced axially from one another as at chambers 32 to provide for auxiliary ports 34 . the nozzles can be spaced in many ways . for example , the segments 22 may be spaced apart by washers . alternatively , the segments 22 may be press - fit into a tube to known distances . ports 34 can vary in size and be used for introducing other material into the nozzle , such as air , water , other fluids or abrasives . the ports can also be used for housing sensors 36 , such as a pressure or temperature sensor . from the foregoing it will be appreciated that , although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration , various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims .	1
single molecule identifier adaptors and methods for their use are provided herein . according to the embodiments described herein , a single molecule identifier ( smi ) adaptor molecule is provided . said smi adaptor molecule is double stranded , and may include a single molecule identifier ( smi ) sequence , and an smi ligation adaptor ( fig2 ). optionally , the smi adaptor molecule further includes at least two pcr primer binding sites , at least two sequencing primer binding sites , or both . the smi adaptor molecule may form a “ y - shape ” or a “ hairpin shape .” in some embodiments , the smi adaptor molecule is a “ y - shaped ” adaptor , which allows both strands to be independently amplified by a pcr method prior to sequencing because both the top and bottom strands have binding sites for pcr primers fc1 and fc2 as shown in the examples below . a schematic of a y - shaped smi adaptor molecule is also shown in fig2 . a y - shaped smi adaptor requires successful amplification and recovery of both strands of the smi adaptor molecule . in one embodiment , a modification that would simplify consistent recovery of both strands entails ligation of a y - shaped smi adaptor molecule to one end of a dna duplex molecule , and ligation of a “ u - shaped ” linker to the other end of the molecule . pcr amplification of the hairpin - shaped product will then yield a linear fragment with flow cell sequences on either end . distinct pcr primer binding sites ( or flow cell sequences fc1 and fc2 ) will flank the dna sequence corresponding to each of the two smi adaptor molecule strands , and a given sequence seen in read 1 will then have the sequence corresponding to the complementary dna duplex strand seen in read 2 . mutations are scored only if they are seen on both ends of the molecule ( corresponding to each strand of the original double - stranded fragment ), i . e . at the same position in both read 1 and read 2 . this design may be accomplished as described in the examples relating to double stranded smi sequence tags . in other embodiments , the smi adaptor molecule is a “ hairpin ” shaped ( or “ u - shaped ”) adaptor . a hairpin dna product can be used for error correction , as this product contains both of the two dna strands . such an approach allows for reduction of a given sequencing error rate n to a lower rate of n * n ( ⅓ ), as independent sequencing errors would need to occur on both strands , and the same error among all three possible base substitutions would need to occur on both strands . for example , the error rate of 1 / 100 in the case of illumina sequencing [ 32 ] would be reduced to ( 1 / 100 )( 1 / 100 )( ⅓ )= 1 / 30 , 000 . an additional , more remarkable reduction in errors can be obtained by inclusion of a single - stranded smi in either the hairpin adaptor or the “ y - shaped ” adaptor will also function to label both of the two dna strands . amplification of hairpin - shaped dna may be difficult as the polymerase must synthesize through a product containing significant regions of self - complementarity , however , amplification of hairpin - shaped structures has already been established in the technique of hairpin pcr , as described below . amplification using hairpin pcr is further described in detail in u . s . pat . no . 7 , 452 , 699 , the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein . according to the embodiments described herein , the smi sequence ( or “ tag ”) may be a double - stranded , complementary smi sequence or a single - stranded smi sequence . in some embodiments , the smi adaptor molecule includes an smi sequence ( or “ tag ”) of nucleotides that is degenerate or semi - degenerate . in some embodiments , the degenerate or semi - degenerate smi sequence may be a random degenerate sequence . a double - stranded smi sequence includes a first degenerate or semi - degenerate nucleotide n - mer sequence and a second n - mer sequence that is complementary to the first degenerate or semi - degenerate nucleotide n - mer sequence , while a single - stranded smi sequence includes a first degenerate or semi - degenerate nucleotide n - mer sequence . the first and / or second degenerate or semi - degenerate nucleotide n - mer sequences may be any suitable length to produce a sufficiently large number of unique tags to label a set of sheared dna fragments from a segment of dna . each n - mer sequence may be between approximately 3 to 20 nucleotides in length . therefore , each n - mer sequence may be approximately 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 nucleotides in length . in one embodiment , the smi sequence is a random degenerate nucleotide n - mer sequence which is 12 nucleotides in length . a 12 nucleotide smi n - mer sequence that is ligated to each end of a target nucleic acid molecule , as described in the example below , results in generation of up to 4 24 ( i . e ., 2 . 8 × 10 14 ) distinct tag sequences . in some embodiments , the smi tag nucleotide sequence may be completely random and degenerate , wherein each sequence position may be any nucleotide . ( i . e ., each position , represented by “ x ,” is not limited , and may be an adenine ( a ), cytosine ( c ), guanine ( g ), thymine ( t ), or uracil ( u )) or any other natural or non - natural dna or rna nucleotide or nucleotide - like substance or analog with base - pairing properties ( e . g ., xanthosine , inosine , hypoxanthine , xanthine , 7 - methylguanine , 7 - methylguanosine , 5 , 6 - dihydrouracil , 5 - methylcytosine , dihydouridine , isocytosine , isoguanine , deoxynucleosides , nucleosides , peptide nucleic acids , locked nucleic acids , glycol nucleic acids and threose nucleic acids ). the term “ nucleotide ” as described herein , refers to any and all nucleotide or any suitable natural or non - natural dna or rna nucleotide or nucleotide - like substance or analog with base pairing properties as described above . in other embodiments , the sequences need not contain all possible bases at each position . the degenerate or semi - degenerate n - mer sequences may be generated by a polymerase - mediated method described in the example below , or may be generated by preparing and annealing a library of individual oligonucleotides of known sequence . alternatively , any degenerate or semi - degenerate n - mer sequences may be a randomly or non - randomly fragmented double stranded dna molecule from any alternative source that differs from the target dna source . in some embodiments , the alternative source is a genome or plasmid derived from bacteria , an organism other than that of the target dna , or a combination of such alternative organisms or sources . the random or non - random fragmented dna may be introduced into smi adaptors to serve as variable tags . this may be accomplished through enzymatic ligation or any other method known in the art . in some embodiments , the smi adaptor molecules are ligated to both ends of a target nucleic acid molecule , and then this complex is used according to the methods described below . in certain embodiments , it is not necessary to include n - mers on both adapter ends , however , it is more convenient because it means that one does not have to use two different types of adaptors and then select for ligated fragments that have one of each type rather than two of one type . the ability to determine which strand is which is still possible in the situation wherein only one of the two adaptors has a double - stranded smi sequence . in some embodiments , the smi adaptor molecule may optionally include a double - stranded fixed reference sequence downstream of the n - mer sequences to help make ligation more uniform and help computationally filter out errors due to ligation problems with improperly synthesized adaptors . each strand of the double - stranded fixed reference sequence may be 4 or 5 nucleotides in length sequence , however , the fixed reference sequence may be any suitable length including , but not limited to 3 , 4 , 5 or 6 nucleotides in length . the smi ligation adaptor may be any suitable ligation adaptor that is complementary to a ligation adaptor added to a double - stranded target nucleic acid sequence including , but not limited to a t - overhang , an a - overhang , a cg overhang , a blunt end , or any other ligatable sequence . in some embodiments , the smi ligation adaptor may be made using a method for a - tailing or t - tailing with polymerase extension ; creating an overhang with a different enzyme ; using a restriction enzyme to create a single or multiple nucleotide overhang , or any other method known in the art . according to the embodiments described herein , the smi adaptor molecule may include at least two pcr primer or “ flow cell ” binding sites : a forward pcr primer binding site ( or a “ flow cell 1 ” ( fc1 ) binding site ); and a reverse pcr primer binding site ( or a “ flow cell 2 ” ( fc2 ) binding site ). the smi adaptor molecule may also include at least two sequencing primer binding sites , each corresponding to a sequencing read . alternatively , the sequencing primer binding sites may be added in a separate step by inclusion of the necessary sequences as tails to the pcr primers , or by ligation of the needed sequences . therefore , if a double - stranded target nucleic acid molecule has an smi adaptor molecule ligated to each end , each sequenced strand will have two reads — a forward and a reverse read . adaptor 1 ( shown below ) is a y - shaped smi adaptor as described above ( the smi sequence is shown as x &# 39 ; s in the top strand ( a 4 - mer ), with the complementary bottom strand sequence shown as y &# 39 ; s ): following ligation of both adaptors to a double - stranded target nucleic acid , the following is structure is obtained : when melted , the product will be of the following form ( where “ linker ” is the sequence of adaptor 2 ): read 2 ( note that read 2 is seen as the complement of the bases sequenced :) the sequences of the two duplex strands seen in the two sequence reads may then be compared , and sequence information and mutations will be scored only if the sequence at a given position matches in both of the reads . this approach does not strictly require the use of an smi tag , as the sheared ends can be used as identifiers to differentiate unique individual molecules from pcr duplicates . thus the same concept would apply if one used any standard sequencing adaptor as “ adaptor 1 ” and the u - shaped linker as “ adaptor 2 .” however described below , there are a limited number of shear points flanking any given genomic position and thus the power to sequence deeply is increased via inclusion of the smi tag . a hybrid method using a combination of sheared ends and a shorter n - mer tag ( such as 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or more degenerate or semi - degenerate bases ) in the adaptor may also serve as unique molecular identifiers . another design may include use of any sequencing adaptor ( such as one lacking an n - mer tag ) in conjunction with an n - mer tag that is incorporated into the u - shaped linker molecule . such a design would be of the following form ( where x and y represent complementary degenerate or semi - degenerate nucleotides ): synthesis of such a design may be obtained in a number of ways , for example synthesizing a set of hairpin oligonucleotides in which each individual oligonucleotide encodes a complementary n - mer sequence , or alternatively by using a dna polymerase to carry out extension from the following product ( where x &# 39 ; s represent degenerate nucleotides ): inclusion of the smi tag is also extremely useful for identifying correct ligation products , as the assay uses two distinct adaptors . this will yield multiple possible ligation products : adaptor 1 --------- dna --------- adaptor 1 . this will result in the dna being amplified as two separate strands , i . e . as occurs in the dcs approach described elsewhere in this document ( the second copy of adaptor 1 is shown below with the smi as aaa - bbb to emphasize that every dcs adaptor has a distinct smi sequence ) adaptor 2 --------- dna --------- adaptor 2 . this will result in a non - amplifiable circular product shown below : product iii is non - amplifiable , given the absence of primer binding sites and thus will not be present in the final dna sequences . thus only product ii needs to be avoided . the formation of product ii can be minimized in the ligation step by using an excess of adaptor 2 ( relative to adaptor 1 ). then primarily products i and iii will be obtained , with minimal formation of product ii . additionally , a variety of biochemical means of enriching for products containing adaptor 2 are possible such as using affinity probes that are complementary to the hairpin loop sequence itself . product i results in the same smi sequence in both the read 1 and read 2 sequence reads . in the example depicted above , product i sequences can thus be identified by virtue of having matching smis of the form xxxx in read 1 and xxxx in read 2 . by contrast , in the case of product ii , the smi sequences on either end of the sequenced molecule will arise from distinct dcs adaptors having different smi sequences . in the example shown above , product ii sequences yield smis of the form xxxx ( read 1 )- bbb ( read 2 ) upon sequencing of the top strand , and bbbb ( read 1 )- xxxx ( read 2 ) upon sequencing of the bottom strand . thus product ii sequences can be easily identified and computationally removed from the final sequence data . data resulting from product ii is useful , because product ii corresponds to the product analyzed under the approach detailed in the example below . product i contains a self - complementary hairpin sequence that can impair polymerase extension during amplification , however , this type of amplification has already been enabled in the technique of “ hairpin pcr ” [ 50 ] which involves linking of the two strands followed by amplification with gene - specific primers . amplification conditions that are compatible with amplification of hairpin dna are thus already established . moreover , ligation and amplification with circularizing “ linkers ” ( i . e . hairpin linkers affixed to both ends of a fragment ) has been demonstrated as a step in the pacific biosciences sample preparation workflow [ 49 ]. as the sequence of the linker itself does not matter in the workflow , the published linker sequences from either of these references would be adequate for use in the assay . in some aspects of some embodiments , deliberate ligation of “ u - shaped ” adaptors or hairpin linkers containing 1 ) a double - stranded n - mer ( or other form of degenerate or semi - degenerate double - stranded tag as enumerated above ) plus 2 ) primer binding sites to both ends of a captured fragment may be desirable . producing closed circles of captured material may help facilitate removal of non - captured dna by exonuclease digestion given that circularized dna will be protected from digestion by such enzymes . additionally , closed circles may be pre - amplified using rolling circle amplification or serve as the substrate for continuous loop sequencing [ 49 ]. recognition sites for restriction endonuclease digestion could be engineered into these adaptors to render closed loops open once again if more convenient for subsequent steps . in another embodiment , flow cell sequences or pcr binding sites , again denoted as fc1 and fc2 , may be included in both the pcr primers and the hairpin linker adaptor , as well as a ligatable sequence on the end of the hairpin linker ( denoted as l below ). the hairpin linker adaptor may additionally include one or more cleavable sequences , denoted as r in the example below ( the r may be any appropriate restriction enzyme target sequence , or any other cleavable sequence ). such a hairpin linker design is shown below : the target dna with ligation site denoted as l is as follows : following ligation of the linker , the product may be amplified with pcr primers as follows : after amplification of the product , the cleavage sites r may be cleaved to result in the following sequencable products : these products may then be sequenced directly . this design has the advantage of allowing for targeted sequencing of a specific region of the genome , and furthermore avoids the need to sequence a hairpin product , as sequencing of a hairpin will be less efficient due to the self - complementarity present within the hairpin molecule . in one embodiment , a single - stranded smi sequence is incorporated into the single - stranded portion of the hairpin loop ( regions of sequence complementarity are denoted as “=”). the smi sequence is shown as four nucleotides in length in the following examples , but in practice an nmer of any length , including approximately 3 to 20 nucleotides , will suffice . ligation of the hairpin linker and a y - shaped sequencing adaptor ( with pcr primer binding sites labeled as fc1 and fc2 ) yields the following product : melting and pcr amplification of this product yields the following dna product : following pcr duplication of the product and formation of consensus reads based upon the shared smi sequence among all the pcr duplicates , the sequences of the two strands ( denoted dna and dna ′) can then be compared to form a duplex consensus sequence . in another embodiment , a single - stranded smi is incorporated into a modified “ y - shaped ” sequencing adaptor in which pcr primer binding sites are located at the sites labeled fc1 and fc2 ( regions of sequence complementarity are depicted as “=”) it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that a single - stranded smi sequence tag can be located in any of several positions within either the sequencing adaptor or the hairpin linker . the single - stranded smi sequence tag can be synthesized as a random oligonucleotide sequence , or can be sequenced as a set of fixed sequences by synthesis on an array , or by any other suitable method known in the art . methods for synthesis of complementary or partially complementary double stranded smi tags smi adaptors molecules containing a double - stranded , complementary , degenerate or semi - degenerate smi tag can be made by any of a number of methods , including copying of a single - stranded smi sequence by a dna polymerase as described above or synthesis and annealing of two oligonucleotides containing complementary smi sequences . an additional method involves synthesizing a set of linear oligonucleotides which will self - anneal into the appropriate form . inclusion of a cleavable linker in each oligonucleotide will then allow for conversion of a “ hairpin shaped ” smi adaptor molecule into a “ y - shaped ” smi adaptor molecule . for example , an oligonucleotide may be prepared of the following form : in this schematic , x and y represent complementary nucleotides , and u indicates a cleavable linker , such as uracil ( which can be cleaved by combined treatment with uracil dna glycosylase and apurinic endonuclease ), although any other cleavable linker will suffice . the oligonucleotide may be designed with appropriate regions of self - complementarity to anneal into the following form : the linker ( e . g . uracil ) may then be cleaved , yielding a dcs adaptor : a double - stranded smi hairpin linker can be constructed by an analogous method but without the need for a cleavable linker . for example , a set of nucleotides of known sequence where x and y represent the complementary smi sequences can be synthesized on an array , or by any other suitable method known in the art : this oligonucleotide can then self - anneal to form a hairpin linker with complementary smi sequences . any of the oligonucleotides described above can also include any ligatable sequence as overhangs on either the 5 ′ or 3 ′ end , or can be used for blunt end ligation . dcs smi adaptor molecules may include sequences to allow for targeted dna capture dcs smi adaptor molecules contain ligatable ends to allow attachment of the adaptor to a target dna molecule . in some embodiments , the ligatable end may be complementary to a dna overhang on the target dna , for example , one generated by digestion of target dna with a restriction endonuclease . selective ligation of the adaptor to the targeted dna containing the matching single - stranded overhanging dna sequence will then allow for partial purification of the targeted dna . a non - limiting example of this embodiment is shown above . in some embodiments , the dcs smi adaptor molecule , or a hairpin linker smi adaptor molecule , may additionally contain modifications such as biotin to facilitate affinity purification of target dna that has ligated to the adaptor . in another embodiments , specific pcr primers can selectively amplify specific regions of genome when the adaptor that is ligated to the other end of the molecule is a hairpin ( or “ u - shape ”). alternatively , this method may be used with or without the need for this cleavable hairpin sequence . preparation of dna for duplex consensus sequencing may be performed by pcr amplification in a hairpin structure another embodiment involves fragmentation of dna at defined regions , for example by treatment of dna with a site - specific restriction endonuclease or a mixture of such endonucleases , followed by annealing of a hairpin oligonucleotide linker , and amplification of the hairpin complex with pcr primers sufficient for amplification of the desired dna sequence . annealing of the hairpin linker to only one of the two ends of the dna duplex could be accomplished by using different restriction enzymes to cut on either end of the target duplex , and then having the hairpin linker ligation adaptor being ligatable to only one of the two resultant ligatable ends . the example shown below indicates forward and reverse pcr primers ( labeled 1 and 2 ) in conjunction with a hairpin linker to allow linked amplification of both complementary strands of duplex dna . such amplification , in conjunction with a single - stranded or double - stranded smi sequence , would allow for targeted amplification and high accuracy deep sequencing of a specific sequence of interest . in the schematic shown below , a single - stranded smi sequence is incorporated into pcr primer fc1 . it would be apparent to one skilled in the art that the smi sequence could also be incorporated in primer fc2 , or in the hairpin linker . this product can then be subjected to consensus sequencing analysis . the smi sequence allows one to group together products of pcr amplification arising from a single molecule of duplex dna . the sequences of the two dna strands can then be compared for error correction . the smi adaptor molecules described herein have several uses . in some embodiments , the smi adaptor molecules described herein may be used in methods to obtain the sequence or other sequence - related information of a double - stranded target nucleic acid molecule . according to the embodiments described herein , the term “ double - stranded target nucleic acid molecule ” includes a double - stranded dna molecule or a double - stranded rna molecule . thus , the smi adaptor molecules and methods of use described herein are applicable to genotyping and other applications related to sequencing of dna molecules , but are also applicable to rna sequencing applications such as for sequencing of double - stranded rna viruses . methods for sequencing rna may include any of the embodiments described herein with respect to dna sequencing , and vice - versa . for example , any double stranded target nucleic acid molecule may be ligated to an smi adaptor molecule which includes a double - stranded rna or dna n - mer tag and an rna or dna ligation adapter as described above . methods exist for directly sequencing rna [ 51 ]; alternatively , the ligated product may be reverse transcribed into dna , and then sequenced as a double - stranded target dna molecule . in one embodiment , the double - stranded target nucleic acid molecule may be a sheared double - stranded dna or rna fragment . the sheared target dna or rna molecule may be end repaired and a double - stranded target nucleic acid sequence ligation adaptor may be added to each end of the sheared target dna or rna molecule . the double - stranded target nucleic acid sequence ligation adaptor may be any suitable ligation adaptor that is complementary to the smi ligation adaptor described above including , but not limited to a t - overhang , an a - overhang , a cg overhang , blunt end or any other ligatable sequence . in some embodiments , the double - stranded target nucleic acid sequence ligation adaptor may be made using a method for a - tailing or t - tailing with polymerase extension ; adding an overhang with a different enzyme ; using a restriction enzyme to create a ligatable overhang ; or any other method known in the art . methods to obtain the sequence or other sequence - related information of a double - stranded target nucleic acid molecule may include a step of ligating the double - stranded target nucleic acid molecule to at least one smi adaptor molecule , such as those described above , to form a double - stranded target nucleic acid complex . in one embodiment , each end of the double - stranded target nucleic acid molecule is ligated to an smi adaptor molecule . the double - stranded target nucleic acid complex is then amplified by a method known in the art ( e . g ., a pcr or non - pcr method known in the art ), resulting in a set of uniquely labeled , amplified smi - target nucleic acid products . these products are then sequenced using any suitable method known in the art including , but not limited to , the illumina sequencing platform , abi solid sequencing platform , pacific biosciences sequencing platform , 454 life sciences sequencing platform , ion torrent sequencing platform , helicos sequencing platform , and nanopore sequencing technology . in certain embodiments , a method of generating an error corrected double - stranded consensus sequence is provided . such a method , also referred to as duplex consensus sequencing ( dcs ), allows for a quantitative detection of sites of dna damage . dcs analysis facilitates the detection of dna damage signatures , in that single stranded dna mutations that are not present in the complementary strand can be inferred to be artifactual mutations arising from damaged nucleotides . not only can one correct for these erroneous mutations , but the ability to indirectly infer that damage is present on the dna could be a useful biomarker ( e . g . for cancer risk , cancer metabolic state , mutator phenotype related to defective damage repair , carcinogen exposure , chronic inflammation exposure , individual - specific aging , neurodegenerative diseases etc ). the ability to use different polymerases during the first round ( s ) of pcr to mis - incorporate at damage sites could potentially add even more information . besides polymerases , other dna modifying / repair enzymes could be used prior to amplification to convert damage of one sort that doesn &# 39 ; t give a specific mutagenic signature into another sort that does with whatever polymerase is used . alternatively , dna modifying / repair enzymes could be used to remove damaged bases , and one could sequence both strands of dna both with and without the enzymatic treatment . mutations in single - stranded dna that are seen to be removed by the enzymatic treatment can thus be inferred to be arising due to dna damage . this could be useful on human nuclear or mtdna but also might also be useful with model organisms ( mice , yeast , bacteria etc ), treated with different new damaging agents , facilitating a screen for dna damaging compounds that would be analogous to the widely used ames test [ 52 ]. the method of generating an error corrected double - stranded consensus sequence may include a first stage termed “ single strand consensus sequencing ” ( sscs ) followed by a second stage of duplex consensus sequencing ( dcs ). therefore , the method includes steps of tagging individual duplex dna molecules with an smi adaptor molecule , such as those described above ; generating a set of pcr duplicates of the tagged dna molecules by performing a suitable pcr method ; creating a single strand consensus sequence from all of the pcr duplicates which arose from an individual molecule of single - stranded dna . each dna duplex should result in two single strand consensus sequences . the work through these three steps conclude the first stage and is termed sscs . the method of generating an error corrected double - stranded consensus sequence further comprises the second stance that is termed dcs . the dcs stage includes steps of comparing the sequence of the two single strand consensus sequences arising from a single duplex dna molecule , and further reducing sequencing or pcr errors by considering only sites at which the sequences of both single - stranded dna molecules are in agreement . the method that includes the first stage and the second stage termed duplex consensus sequencing ( dcs ). the step of tagging of both strands of individual duplex dna may be accomplished by ligation of degenerate or semi - degenerate complementary dna sequences ; as the complementary nature of the two strands of such a tag sequence allows the two molecules to be grouped together for error correction . alternatively , as described above , the two duplex dna strands may be linked by ligation of a u - shaped smi adaptor molecule , and the two dna strands can thus both be tagged with a single - stranded smi tag . in the method described above , a set of sequenced smi - dna products generated in the methods described above may be grouped into families of paired target nucleic acid strands based on a common set of smi sequences . then , the paired target nucleic acid strands can be filtered to remove nucleotide positions where the sequences seen on both of the paired partner dna strands are not complementary . this error corrected double - stranded consensus sequence may be used in a method for confirming the presence of a true mutation ( as opposed to a pcr error or other artifactual mutation ) in a target nucleic acid sequence . according to certain embodiments , such a method may include identifying one or more mutations present in the paired target nucleic acid strands that have one or more nucleotide positions that disagree between the two strands , then comparing the mutation present in the paired target nucleic acid strands to the error corrected double - stranded consensus sequence . the presence of a true mutation is confirmed when the mutation is present on both of the target nucleic acid strands and also appear in all members of a pared target nucleic acid family . the accuracy of current approaches to next - generation sequencing is limited due to their dependence on interrogating single - stranded dna . this dependence makes potential sources of error such as pcr amplification errors and dna damage fundamentally limiting . however , the complementary strands of a double - stranded dna molecule ( or “ dna duplex ”) contain redundant sequencing information ( i . e ., one molecule reciprocally encoding the sequence information of its partner ) which can be utilized to eliminate such artifacts . limitations related to sequencing single - stranded dna ( e . g ., sequencing errors ) may therefore be overcome using the methods described herein . this is accomplished by individually tagging and sequencing each of the two strands of a double - stranded ( or duplex ) target nucleic acid molecule and comparing the individual tagged amplicons derived from one half of a double - stranded complex with those of the other half of the same molecule . duplex consensus sequencing ( dcs ), significantly lowers the error rate of sequencing . in some embodiments , the dcs method may be used in methods for high sensitivity detection of rare mutant and variant dna as described further below . as described above , one approach that has previously been reported for dna sequencing involves incorporation of a random tag sequence into a pcr primer [ 36 ]. this approach results in an improvement in accuracy relative to standard illumina sequencing , but is fundamentally limited in that it is based upon amplification and sequencing of single - stranded dna and thus cannot overcome limitations in sensitivity owing to single - stranded dna damage events . in the methods described herein , pcr duplicates are generated from a single strand of dna , and the sequences of the duplicates are compared . mutations are scored only when they are present in multiple replicates of a single starting molecule . the dcs approach overcomes the limitation of previous approaches by considering both dna strands . dna damage should not be a limiting factor in dcs , because miscoding damage events at a single base - pair position occur essentially exclusively on only one of the two dna strands . for dna damage to result in an artifactual mutation in dcs , damage would need to be present at the same nucleotide position on both strands . even if complementary nucleotides in a duplex were both damaged , the damage would need to result in complementary sequencing errors to result in mis - scoring of a mutation . likewise , spontaneous pcr errors would need to result in complementary mutations at the same position on both strands ; with a first - round mutation frequency of taq polymerase of approximately 10 − 5 and three possible incorrect bases that could be mis - inserted , the probability of two complementary pcr errors occurring would be 10 − 5 × 10 − 5 × ⅓ = 3 . 3 × 10 − 11 according to some embodiments , the sequencing method may be performed using the illumina or similar platforms including those enumerated above without the use of smi adaptor molecules , but instead by using the random shear points of dna as identifiers . for a given dna sequence seen in sequencing read 1 with a specific set of shear points , the partner strand will be seen as a matching sequence in read two with identical shear points . in practice , this approach is limited by the limited number of possible shear points that overlap any given dna position . however , according to some embodiments , shear points of a target nucleic acid molecule may be used as unique identifiers to identify double - stranded ( or duplex ) pairs , resulting in an apparent error frequency at least as low as that seen with traditional sequencing methods , but with a significantly lower loss of sequence capacity . in other embodiments , dcs based on shear points alone may have a role for confirmation that specific mutations of interest are true mutations which were indeed present in the starting sample ( i . e . present in both dna strands ), as opposed to being pcr or sequencing artifacts . overall , however , dcs is most generally applicable when randomized , complementary double - stranded smi sequences are used . a 24 nucleotide double - stranded smi sequence was used in the example described below , which may yield up to 4 24 = 2 . 8 × 10 14 distinct double - stranded smi sequences . combining information regarding the shear points of dna with the smi tag sequence would allow a shorter smi to be used , thus minimizing loss of sequencing capacity due to sequencing of the smi itself . in certain embodiments , the smi adaptor molecules may also be used in methods of single - molecule counting for accurate determination of dna or rna copy number [ 38 ]. again , since the smi tags are present in the adaptors , there are no altered steps required in library preparation , which is in contrast to other methods for using random tags for single - molecule counting . single - molecule counting has a large number of applications including , but not limited to , accurate detection of altered genomic copy number ( e . g ., for sensitive diagnosis of genetic conditions such as trisomy 21 [ 47 ]), for accurate identification of altered mrna copy number in transcriptional sequencing and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments , quantification of circulating micrornas , quantification of viral load of dna or rna viruses , quantification of microorganism abundance , quantification of circulating neoplastic cells , counting of dna - labeled molecules of any variety including tagged antibodies or aptamers , and quantification of relative abundances of different individual &# 39 ; s genomes in forensic applications . in another embodiment , the smi adaptor molecules may be used in methods for unambiguous identification of pcr duplicates . in order to restrict sequencing analysis to uniquely sequenced dna fragments , many sequencing studies include a step to filter out pcr duplicates by using the shear points at the ends of dna molecules to identify distinct molecules . when multiple molecules exhibit identical shear points , all but one of the molecules are discarded from analysis under the assumption that the molecules represent multiple pcr copies of the same starting molecule . however sequence reads with identical shear points can also reflect distinct molecules because there are a limited number of possible shear points at any given genomic location , and with increasing sequencing depth , recurrent shear points are increasingly likely to be seen [ 48 ]. because the use of smi tags ( or “ double - stranded smi sequences ”) allows every molecule to be uniquely labeled prior to pcr duplication , true pcr duplicates may be unambiguously identified by virtue of having a common ( i . e ., the same or identical ) smi sequence . this approach would thereby minimize the loss of data by overcoming the intrinsic limitations of using shear points to identify pcr duplicates . importantly , once smi - containing adaptors are synthesized by a straightforward series of enzymatic steps or are produced through synthesis of a set of oligonucleotides containing complementary tag sequences , they may be substituted for standard sequencing adaptors . thus , use of dcs does not require any significant deviations from the normal workflow of sample preparation for illumina dna sequencing . moreover , the dcs approach can be generalized to nearly any sequencing platform because a double - stranded smi tag can be incorporated into other existing adaptors , or for sequencing approaches that do not require adaptors , a double - stranded smi tag can be ligated onto duplex dna sample prior to sequencing . the compatibility of dcs with existing sequencing workflows , the potential for greatly reducing the error rate of dna sequencing , and the multitude of applications for the double - stranded smi sequences validate dcs as a technique that may play a general role in next generation dna sequencing . the following examples are intended to illustrate various embodiments of the invention . as such , the specific embodiments discussed are not to be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention . it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various equivalents , changes , and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of invention , and it is understood that such equivalent embodiments are to be included herein . further , all references cited in the disclosure are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety , as if fully set forth herein . example 1 : generation of smi adaptor molecules and their use in sequencing double - stranded target dna oligonucleotides were from idt and were ordered as page purified . klenow exo - was from neb . t4 ligase was from enzymatics . genomic dna was isolated from normal human colonic mucosa by sodium iodide extraction ( wako chemicals usa ). the two adaptor strands were annealed by combining equimolar amounts of each oligo to a final concentration of 50 micromolar and heating to 95 ° c . for 5 minutes . the oligo mix was allowed to cool to room temperature for over 1 hour . the annealed primer - template complex was extended in a reaction consisting of 40 micromolar primer - template , 25 units klenow exo - dna polymerase ( new england biolabs ), 250 micromolar each dntp , 50 mm nacl , 10 mm tris - hcl ph 7 . 9 , 10 mm mgcl 2 , and 1 mm dithiothreitol ( dtt ) for 1 hour at 37 ° c . the product was isolated by ethanol precipitation . due to the partial a - tailing property of klenow exo -, this protocol results in a mixture of blunt - ended adapters and adapters with a single - nucleotide a hverhang . a single - nucleotide a overhang was added to residual blunt fragments by incubating the adapters with 25 units klenow exo -, 1 mm datp , 50 mm nacl , 10 mm tris - hcl ph 7 . 9 , 10 mm mgcl2 , and 1 mm dithiothreitol ( dtt ) for 1 hour at 37 ° c . the product was again ethanol precipitated and resuspended to a final concentration of 50 micromolar . 3 micrograms of dna was diluted into 130 microliters of te buffer ( 10 mm tris - hcl , ph 8 . 0 , 0 . 1 m edta ) and was sheared on the covaris afa system with duty cycle 10 %, intensity 5 , cycles / burst 200 , time 20 seconds × 6 , temperature 4 ° c . dna was purified with 2 volumes of agencourt ampure xp beads per the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocol . after end - repair with the neb end - repair kit per the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocol , dna fragments larger than the optimal range of ˜ 200 - 500 bp were removed by adding 0 . 7 volumes of ampure xp beads and transferring the supernatant to a separate tube ( fragments larger than 500 bp bind to the beads and are discarded ). an additional 0 . 65 volumes of ampure xp beads were added ( this step allows fragments of approximately 200 bp or greater to bind to the beads ). the beads were washed and dna eluted . dna was then t - tailed in a reaction containing 5 units klenow exo -, 1 mm dttp , 50 mm nacl , 10 mm tris - hcl ph 7 . 9 , 10 mm mgcl2 , 1 mm . the reaction proceeded for 1 hour at 37 c . dna was purified with 1 . 2 volumes of ampure xp beads . the custom adaptors were ligated by combining 750 ng of t - tailed dna with 250 pmol adaptors in a reaction containing 3000 units t4 dna ligase , 50 mm tris - hcl ph 7 . 6 , 10 mm mgcl2 , 5 mm dtt , 1 mm atp . the reaction was incubated 25 c for 15 minutes , and purified with 1 . 2 volumes of ampure xp beads . 375 ng adaptor - ligated dna was pcr amplified with primers aatgatacggcgaccaccgag ( seq id no : 3 ) and gtgactggagttcagacgtgtgc ( seq id no : 4 ) using the kappa high - fidelity pcr kit for 8 cycles with an annealing temperature of 60 c . the product was purified with 1 . 2 volumes of ampure xp beads . target capture was performed with the agilent sureselect system per the manufacturer &# 39 ; s recommendations , except that capture volumes were performed at one - half of the standard volume . the capture set targeted an arbitrary 758 kb region of the genome consisting of both coding and noncoding sequences . capture baits were 120 nt in length , and were prepared with the agilent earray tool with 3 × tiling . captured dna was amplified with pcr primers aatgatacggcgaccaccgag ( seq id no : 3 ) and caagc agaagacggcatacgagatxxxxxxgtgactggagttcagacgtgtgc ( seq id no : 5 ) where xxxxxx indicates the position of a fixed multiplexing barcode sequence ). 2 0 fmol of dna was used per lane for sequencing on an illumina hiseq 2000 . reads with intact smi adaptors include a 12 nucleotide random sequence , followed by a 5 nucleotide fixed sequence . these reads were identified by filtering out reads that lack the expected fixed sequence at positions 13 - 17 . the smi sequence from both the forward and reverse sequencing reads ( i . e ., the first and second degenerate n - mer sequences ) was computationally added to the read header , and the fixed sequence removed . the first 4 nucleotides located following the adaptor sequence were also removed due to the propensity for ligation and end - repair errors to result in an elevated error rate near the end of the dna fragments . reads having common ( i . e ., identical ) smi sequences were grouped together , and were collapsed to generate a consensus read . sequencing positions were discounted if the consensus group covering that position consisted of fewer than 3 members , or if fewer than 90 % of the sequences at that position in the consensus group had the identical sequence . reads were aligned to the human genome with the burrows - wheeler aligner ( bwa ). the consensus sequences were then paired with their strand - mate by grouping each 24 nucleotide tag of form ab in read 1 with its corresponding tag of form ba in read 2 . resultant sequence positions were considered only when information from both dna strands was in perfect agreement . an overview of the data processing workflow is as follows : 1 . discard reads that do not have the 5 nt fixed reference ( or “ spacer ”) sequence ( cagta ; seq id no : 6 ) present after 12 random nucleotides . 2 . combine the 12 nt smi tags from read 1 and read 2 , and transfer the combined 24 nt smi sequence into the read header . 3 . discard smis with inadequate complexity ( i . e ., those with & gt ; 10 consecutive identical nucleotides ). 4 . remove the 5 nt fixed reference sequence . 5 . trim an additional 4 nt from the 5 ′ ends of each read pair ( sites of error prone end repair ). 6 . group together reads which have identical 24 nt smis . 7 . collapse to smi consensus reads , scoring only positions with 3 or more smi duplicates and & gt ; 90 % sequence identity among the duplicates . 8 . for each read in read 1 file having smi of format ab , group with corresponding dcs partner in read 2 with smi of format ba . 9 . only score positions with identical sequence among both dcs partners . 10 . align reads to the human genome . code for carrying out the workflow may be pre - existing or may involve programming within the skill of those in the art . in some embodiments , however , the python code , which is illustrated in fig1 , may be used for carrying out the pairing and scoring of partner strands according to steps 8 and 9 of the workflow described above . to overcome limitations in the sensitivity of variant detection by single - stranded next - generation dna sequencing , an alternative approach to library preparation and analysis was designed , which is known herein as duplex consensus sequencing ( dcs ) ( fig1 ). the dcs method described herein involves tagging both strands of duplex dna with a random , yet complementary double - stranded nucleotide sequence , which is known herein as a double - stranded single molecule identifier ( smi ) sequence . the smi sequences ( in this case , double stranded smi sequences ) are incorporated into the smi adaptor molecules by introducing a single - stranded randomized nucleotide sequence into one adapter strand and the extending the opposite strand with a dna polysmerase to yield a complementary , double - stranded smi sequence ( fig2 ). the individually tagged strands are then pcr amplified . every duplicate that arises from a single strand of dna will have the same smi , and thus each strand in a dna duplex pair generates a distinct , yet related population of pcr duplicates after amplification owing to the complementary nature of the smis on the two strands of the duplex . comparing the sequence obtained from each of the two strands comprising a single molecule of duplex dna facilitates differentiation of sequencing errors from true mutations . when an apparent mutation is , due to a pcr or sequencing error , the substitution will only be seen on a single strand . in contrast , with a true dna mutation , complementary substitutions will be present on both strands ( see fig4 c ). following tagging with a double - stranded smi and pcr amplification , a family of molecules is obtained that arose from a single dna molecule ; members of the same pcr “ family ” are then grouped together by virtue of having a common ( i . e ., the same ) smi tag sequence . the sequences of uniquely tagged pcr duplicates are subsequently compared in order to create a pcr consensus sequence . only dna positions that yield the same dna sequence in a specified proportion of the pcr duplicates in a family , such as 90 % of the duplicates in one embodiment , are used to create the pcr consensus sequence . this step filters out random errors introduced during sequencing or pcr to yield the pcr consensus sequences , each of which derives from an individual molecule of single - stranded dna . this set of pcr consensus sequences are called single strand consensus sequences ( sscss ). next , pcr consensus sequences arising from two complementary strands of duplex dna can be identified by virtue of the complementary smis ( fig3 ) to identify the “ partner smi .” specifically , a 24 - nucleotide smi consists of two 12 - nucleotide sequences that can be designated xy . for an smi of form xy in read 1 , the partner smi will be of form yx in read 2 . an example to illustrate this point is given in fig4 . following partnering of two strands by virtue of their complementary smis , the sequences of the strands are compared . sequence reads at a given position are kept only if the read data from each of the two paired strands is in agreement . in order to label or tag each of the strands of duplex dna with unique complementary tags , adaptors which contain the standard sequences required for the illumina hiseq system were synthesized , but with addition of a double - stranded , complementary smi sequence ( or “ tag ”) of 12 random nucleotides ( or a random “ degenerate sequence ”) per strand . target dna molecules having a random smi sequence n - mer that is 12 nucleotides in length on each end will therefore have a unique 24 nucleotide smi sequence . the adaptors were prepared ( fig2 ) from two partially complementary oligonucleotides , one of which has a single - stranded 12 nucleotide random nucleotide sequence ( i . e . a first random degenerate nucleotide n - mer sequence ) followed by a single stranded fixed reference sequence that is 4 nucleotides in length . the single - stranded random nucleotide tag was converted to a double - stranded , complementary smi tag by extension with klenow exo - dna polymerase and the extended adaptor was purified by ethanol precipitation . due to the partial a - tailing property of klenow exo -, this protocol results in a mixture of blunt - ended adaptors and adaptors with a single - nucleotide a overhang ( data not shown ). a single - nucleotide a - overhang was added to the residual blunt fragments by incubating the adaptors with klenow exo - dna polymerase and a high concentration of datp ( 1 mm ), and purified the adaptors again by ethanol precipitation . dna for sequencing was sheared and end - repaired by standard methods , with size - selection for fragments in the range of ˜ 200 - 500 bp by size - selective binding to ampure xp beads . standard illumina library preparation protocols involve ligating a - tailed dna to t - tailed adaptors . however , because a - tailed adaptors were used , the dna was t - tailed by incubating the end - repaired dna with klenow exo - dna polymerase and 1 mm dttp . the adaptor - ligated library was pcr amplified and subjected to sureselect capture , with targeting of an arbitrary 758 kb portion of the genome ( dna coordinates available upon request ). the efficiency of adaptor ligation , pcr amplification , dna capture , and sequencing were comparable to those seen with standard library preparation methods ( data not shown ). although agilent sure select probes are used in this example , any suitable method of dna selection may be used to capture particular target double - stranded dna sequences . for example , selection and capture may be accomplished by any selection by hybridization method ( e . g ., agilent sureselect , primer extension capture , exploitation of biotinylated pcr amplicons as bait , agilent haloplex ) wherein probes that target the desired double - stranded dna sequence may be recovered by an in - array capture ( using probes immobilized on glass slides ) or by affinity using magnetic beads in an in - solution capture . in addition , mitochondrial and some other forms of dna may be isolated by size selection . alternatively , in some embodiments , no enrichment is performed . this protocol was used to sequence dna isolated from normal colonic mucosa . mutations were initially scored without consideration of the smi sequences . pcr duplicates were filtered out with samtools rmdup , a standard tool which uses the shear points of dna molecules to identify pcr duplicates , as molecules arising from duplicated dna will have shared shear points . in order to focus specifically on non - clonal mutations , only those positions in the genome with at least 20 × coverage and at which fewer than 5 % of reads differed from the hg19 reference sequence were considered . this approach resulted in 70 . 9 million nucleotides of sequence data and 56 , 890 mutations , indicating an overall mutation frequency of 8 . 03 × 10 − 4 , in accord with the error rate of illumina next - generation sequencing of ˜ 0 . 1 - 1 % [ 32 ]. next , the smi tags were used to group together pcr duplicates that arose from individual single - stranded dna molecules and to create a consensus sequence from the family of duplicates . at least 3 pcr duplicates were required , with at least 90 % agreement in sequence among all duplicates , to consider a site for mutations . scoring the mutation frequency as above , again considering only sites with a minimum of 20 × coverage and with & lt ; 5 % of reads differing from reference , resulted in 145 million nucleotides of sequence with 6 , 508 mutations and an overall mutation frequency of 4 . 47 × 10 − 5 , consistent with prior reports [ 36 ]. notably , far more nucleotides of dna sequence were obtained in this approach ( 145 million ) than in the standard illumina sequencing approach ( 70 million ) detailed above which is dependent on use of the shear points of single - ended reads to identify pcr duplicates . the improved sequence coverage arose from use of the smi to identify pcr duplicates , because identifying pcr duplicates by consideration of uniquely sheared dna ends is fundamentally limited by the small number of possible shear points that overlap a given position of the genome and the propensity for specific genomic regions to be more readily undergo shearing . thus filtering pcr duplicates by using shear points resulted in discarding a large portion of the reads . finally , the complementary nature of the double - stranded smi sequences was used to identify pairs of consensus groups that arose from complementary dna strands . sequence reads were considered only when the read data from each of the two strands is in perfect agreement . in a pilot experiment , after grouping of pcr duplicates as above , 29 , 409 smi partner pairs were found , indicative that fewer than 1 % of tags had their corresponding partner tag present in the library . the low recovery of tag pairs was most likely due to inadequate amplification of the starting dna library . among these tag - pairs , 24 , 772 duplex consensus strands were identified with an average strand length of 82 nucleotides , resulting in 2 million nucleotides of dna consensus sequence . the sequences of the paired duplex strands disagreed at 3 , 585 of the nucleotide positions , indicative of single - stranded errors ( i . e . pcr or sequencing errors ); these sites of disagreement were removed , leaving only bases at which the sequence of both duplex strands were in perfect agreement . next , as above , analysis of mutation frequencies was restricted to sites with at least 10 × coverage and at which fewer than 10 % of reads disagreed from the hg19 reference sequence . because the 2 million nucleotides of read data were spread across a 758 kb target , our average depth was only ˜ 3 ×. thus only 14 , 464 nucleotides of dna sequence corresponded to sites with at least 10 × depth . among these sites , zero mutations were seen . to increase the number of tag pairs considered , analysis described above was repeated , but pcr duplicates were grouped with a minimum of only 1 duplicate per site . this resulted in 28 , 359 nucleotides of dna sequence with at least 10 × depth . again , no mutations were detected . current experiments are being performed on vastly smaller target dna molecules ( ranging from ˜ 300 bp to ˜ 20 kb in size ). use of smaller dna targets will allow for much greater sequencing depth , and far more accurate assessment of the background mutation rate of the assay . in addition , the protocol has been modified to incorporate a greater number of pcr cycles initiated off a smaller number of genome equivalents , which will increase the fraction of tags for which both of the partner tag strands have been sufficiently amplified to be represented in the final sequence data . indeed , among the 3 . 6 million smis present in our initial library which underwent pcr duplication , 1 . 5 million of the smis were present only once , indicating insufficient amplification of the dna due in part to the low number of pcr cycles used . in addition to those described in example 1 above , the following materials and methods were also used . the entire human genome sequence ( hg19 ) was used as reference for the mitochondrial dna experiment , and reads that mapped to chromosomal dna were removed . reads sharing identical tag sequences were then grouped together and collapsed to consensus reads . sequencing positions were discounted if the consensus group covering that position consisted of fewer than three members or if fewer than 90 % of the sequences at that position in the consensus group had the identical sequence . a minimum group size of three was selected because next - generation sequencing systems have an average base calling error rate of ˜ 1 / 100 . requiring the same base to be identified in three distinct reads decreases the frequency of single - strand consensus sequence ( sscs ) errors arising from base - call errors to ( 1 / 100 ) 3 = 1 × 10 − 6 , which is below the frequency of spontaneous pcr errors that fundamentally limit the sensitivity of sscss . the requirement for 90 % of sequences to agree to score a position is a highly conservative cutoff . for example , with a group size of eight , a single disagreeing read will lead to 87 . 5 % agreement and the position will not be scored . if all groups in an experiment are of size nine or less , this cutoff will thus require perfect agreement at any given position to score the position . further development of our protocol may allow for less stringent parameters to be used to maximize the number of sscs and duplex consensus sequence ( dcs ) reads that can be obtained from a given experiment . having established the methodology for duplex sequencing with m13mp2 dna , which is a substrate for which the mutation frequency and spectrum are fairly well established , it was desired to apply the approach to a human dna sample . thus , mitochondrial dna was isolated from human brain tissue and sequenced the dna after ligation of duplex sequencing adapters . a standard sequencing approach with quality filtering for a phred score of 30 resulted in a mutation frequency of 2 . 7 × 10 - 3 , and sscs analysis yielded a mutation frequency of 1 . 5 × 10 - 4 . in contrast , dcs analysis revealed a much lower overall mutation frequency of 3 . 5 × 10 - 5 ( fig5 a ). the frequency of mutations in mitochondrial dna has previously been difficult to measure directly due in part to sources of error in existing assays that can result in either overestimation or underestimation of the true value . an additional confounder has been that most approaches are limited to interrogation of mutations within a small fraction of the genome [ 56 ]. the method of single - molecule pcr , which has been proposed as an accurate method of measuring mitochondrial mutation frequency [ 56 ] and is considered resistant to damage - induced background errors [ 57 ], has resulted in a reported mitochondrial mutation frequency in human colonic mucosa of 5 . 9 × 10 - 5 ± 3 . 2 × 10 - 5 [ 56 ], which is in excellent agreement with our result . likewise , mitochondrial dna sequence divergence rates in human pedigrees are consistent with a mitochondrial mutation frequency of 3 - 5 × 10 - 5 [ 58 , 59 ]. when the distribution of mutations throughout the mitochondrial genome is considered , the quality filtered reads ( analyzed without consideration of the tags ) have many artifactual errors , such that identification of mutational hotspots is difficult or impossible ( fig5 b ). dcs analysis removed these artifacts ( fig5 c ) and revealed striking hypermutability of the region of replication initiation ( d loop ), which is consistent with prior estimates of mutational patterns in mitochondrial dna based upon sequence variation at this region within the population [ 60 ]. sscs analysis produced a strong mutational bias , with a 130 - fold excess of g → t relative to c → a mutations ( fig5 d ), consistent with oxidative damage of the dna leading to first - round pcr mutations as a significant source of background error . a high level of oxidative damage is expected in mitochondrial dna , due to extensive exposure of mitochondria to free radical species generated as a byproduct of metabolism [ 61 ]. dcs analysis ( fig5 e ) removed the mutational bias and revealed that transition mutations are the predominant replication errors in mitochondrial dna . the dcs mutation spectrum is in accord with prior estimates of deamination events [ 62 ] and t - dgtp mispairing by the mitochondrial dna polymerase [ 63 ] as primary mutational forces in mitochondrial dna . furthermore , the mutation spectrum of our mitochondrial data are consistent with previous reports of heteroplasmic mutations in human brain showing an increased load of a → g / t → c and g → a / c → t transitions , relative to transversions [ 64 , 65 ]. a similar spectral bias has also been reported in mice [ 62 , 66 ] and in population studies of drosophila melanogaster [ 67 ]. example 3 : demonstration of error - correction by dcs using randomly sheared dna ends as single molecule identifiers in addition to those described in the examples above , the following materials and methods were also used to demonstrate the capability of dcs analysis to remove sequencing errors genomic dna was isolated from a derivative of saccharomyces cerevisiae strain sc288 by standard methods . the dna was randomly sheared by the covaris afa system , followed by end - repair , a - tailing , and ligation of illumina truseq dna sequencing adaptors , all by standard library preparation methods . the resultant sequence data consisted of an average 32 . 5 fold depth of the 12 megabase s . cerevisiae genome . the first 10 nucleotides of each sequencing read pair , corresponding to the randomly sheared dna ends , were combined , such that the first 10 nucleotides of read 1 , referred to as a , was combined with the first 10 nucleotides of read 2 , referred to as b , to yield an smi tag of form ab . reads were grouped according to smi sequence , and nucleotide reads were considered only if they agreed among at least 90 % of family members sharing a given tag sequence . for dcs analysis , a tag of form ab1 is partnered with the corresponding tag of form ba2 , and nucleotide positions are considered only when the sequence is in agreement among read pairs with matching tags ab1 and ba2 . in order to demonstrate the capability of dcs analysis to remove sequencing errors , a sequencing library was prepared under standard conditions with commercially available sequencing adaptors , and the randomly sheared dna ends were used as smi &# 39 ; s . first , reads were grouped by smi with a minimum family size of 1 member . considering only sites with a minimum of 20 × coverage and with & lt ; 5 % of reads differing from reference , this analysis resulted in 644 . 8 million nucleotides of sequence data and 2 , 381 , 428 mutations , yielding an overall mutation frequency of 3 . 69 × 10 − 3 . the data was then subjected to dcs analysis with the smi tags , searching for tags of form ab1 that have partner tags of form ba2 , and considered only positions at which the sequence from the two strands was in perfect agreement . 3 . 1 % of the tags had a matching partner present in the library , resulting in 2 . 9 million nucleotides of sequence data . the sequences of the duplex strands were not complementary at 40 , 874 nucleotide positions ; these disagreeing positions , representing likely sequencing or pcr errors , were removed from analysis . again considering positions with at least 20 × coverage and & lt ; 5 % of reads differing from reference , 3 . 0 million nucleotides of sequence data and 157 mutations were obtained , with an overall mutation frequency of 5 . 33 × 10 − 5 , indicative of removal of & gt ; 98 % of mutations seen in raw analysis and thereby demonstrating the capability of dcs to lower the error rate of dna sequencing . to compare this result to the method of kinde et al . [ 36 ], reads were grouped into families by smi tag as before but filtered for families with a minimum of 3 members . this resulted in 1 . 4 million nucleotides of sequence data and 61 mutations , with an overall mutation frequency of 4 . 25 × 10 − 5 . thus , the method of kinde et al ., with a minimum family size of 3 , resulted in less than half as much resultant sequence data after filtering than was obtained by dcs with a minimum family size of 1 . thus , dcs lowered the error rate of sequencing to a comparable degree to a method considered state - of - the - art , but with less loss of sequencing capacity . it was demonstrated that dcs analysis , using sheared dna ends as unique molecular identifiers , results in a lowering of the apparent error rate of dna sequencing . as this proof - of - concept experiment was performed on a library that was not optimized to maximize recovery of both strands , there were not sufficient strand - pairs recovered to perform dcs analysis with a minimum family size of & gt ; 1 member . requiring family sizes & gt ; 1 is expected to further reduce sequencing errors . moreover , this analysis was limited in that it did not include ligation of degenerate smi tag sequences ; owing to the limited number of shear points flanking any given nucleotide position , use of shear points as smis limits the number of unique molecules that can be sequenced in a single experiment . the use of shear points as smis in conjunction with an exogenously ligated smi tag sequence would allow for increased depth of sequencing at any given nucleotide position . in addition to those described in examples 1 and 2 above , the following materials and methods were also used . m13mp2 gapped dna encoding the lacz a fragment was extended by human dna polymerase δ [ 2 ] and the resultant products were transformed into escherichia coli and subjected to blue - white color screening as previously described [ 3 ]. mutant plaques were sequenced to determine the location of the mutation resulting in the color phenotype . a series of mutants , each differing from wild type by a single nucleotide change , were then mixed together with wild - type m13mp2 dna to result in a single final mixture with distinct mutants represented at ratios of 1 / 10 ( g6267a ), 1 / 100 ( t6299c ), 1 / 1 , 000 ( g6343a ), and 1 / 10 , 000 ( a6293t ). induction of dna damage was performed by minor modifications to a published protocol [ 5 ]: 300 ng of m13mp2 double - stranded dna was incubated in 10 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 7 . 0 , in the presence of 10 μm iron sulfate and 10 μm freshly diluted hydrogen peroxide . incubation proceeded for 30 min at 37 ° c . in open 1 . 5 - ml plastic microcentrifuge tubes . m13mp2 dna was isolated from e . coli strain mc1061 by qiagen miniprep . to allow for greater sequencing depth at a defined region of the m13mp2 genome , an 840 - bp fragment was enriched by complete digestion with the restriction enzymes bsu36i and naei ( new england biolabs ), followed by isolation of the fragment on an agarose gel by the recochip system ( takara bio ). the spontaneous mutation rate of m13mp2 dna has been well established by a number of exquisitely sensitive genetic assays to be 3 . 0e - 6 [ 53 ], that is , an average of one spontaneous base substitution error for every 330 , 000 nucleotides . thus this substrate is well suited as a control for determining the background error frequency of dna sequencing . m13mp2 dna was sheared and ligated to adaptors containing double - stranded complementary smi sequences by standard protocols , and was subjected to deep sequencing on an illumina hiseq 2000 followed by consensus sequencing analysis ( fig6 ). analysis of the data by standard methods ( i . e ., without consideration of the double stranded smi sequences ) resulted in an error frequency of 3 . 8e - 03 , more than one thousand fold higher than the true mutation frequency of m13mp2 dna . this indicates that & gt ; 99 . 9 % of the apparent mutations identified by standard sequencing are in fact artifactual errors . the data were then analyzed by single strand consensus sequencing ( sscs ), using the unique smi tag affixed to each molecule to group pcr products together in order to create a consensus of all pcr products that came from an individual molecule of single - stranded dna . this resulted in a mutation frequency of 6 . 4e - os , suggesting that − 98 % of sequencing errors are corrected by sscs . next , the data were subjected to duplex consensus sequencing ( dcs ), which further corrects errors by using the complementary smi tags to compare the dna sequence arising from both of the two strands of a single molecule of duplex dna . this approach resulted in a mutation frequency of 2 . se - 06 , in nearly perfect agreement with the true mutation frequency of m13mp2 dna of 3 . 0e - 06 . the number of nucleotides of dna sequence obtained by a standard sequencing approach , and after sscs and dcs analysis , may be found in table 1 below . initial nucleotides represent raw reads that contain the expected fixed adapter sequence following 12 degenerate nucleotides and map to the reference genome . apparent nucleotide loss in converting initial reads to sscss occurs because many of the initial reads intentionally represent identical pcr duplicates of single - stranded dna molecules to allow for removal of sequencing and pcr errors by comparison of the sequence among the duplicates . a minimum of three initial reads are required to produce one sscs ; however , a greater average number is necessary to ensure that most dna fragments have at least this number of duplicates . under fully optimized conditions , each dcs read would arise from exactly two sscs reads ( one arising from each strand of the initial molecule of duplex dna ). an sscs : dcs ratio greater than 2 indicates that the strand partner of some sscss was not recovered . for an artifactual error to be scored by dcs , complementary artifactual errors must occur on both strands of a molecule of duplex dna . thus the background ( artifactual ) error frequency of dcs may be calculated as : ( probability of error on one strand )( probability of error on other strand )( probability that both errors are complementary ). as the background error frequency of sscs in this experiment was − 6e - s , the background error frequency of dcs can be calculated as 6e - s 6e - s *( ⅓ )= 1 . 2e - 9 . this represents a greater than 3 million fold improvement over the error rate of 3 . se - 03 that was obtained by a standard sequencing approach . m13mp2 dna was sequenced as detailed above , with dcs adaptors containing double - stranded complementary smis . the spectrum of mutations obtained with sscs was determined . data was filtered to consist of forward - mapping reads from read 1 , i . e . sequencing of the reference strand , and reverse - mapping reads from read 1 , i . e . sequencing of the anti - reference strand . true mutations would result in an equal balance between mutations on the reference strand and their complementary mutation on the anti - reference strand . however , sscs analysis revealed a large number of single - stranded g → t mutations on reads mapping in the forward orientation to the reference genome , with a much smaller number of c → a mutations mapping to the reverse orientation . the spectrum of mutations identified by both sscs and dcs analysis were examined relative to literature reference values [ 53 ] for the m13mp2 substrate ( fig7 a ). sscs analysis revealed a large excess of g → a / c → t and g → t / c → a mutations relative to reference ( p & lt ; 10 - 6 , two - sample t test ). in contrast , dcs analysis was in excellent agreement with the literature values with the exception of a decrease relative to reference of these same mutational events : g → a / c → t and g → t / c → a ( p & lt ; 0 . 01 ). to probe the potential cause of these spectrum deviations , the sscs data were filtered to consist of forward - mapping reads from read 1 ( i . e ., direct sequencing of the reference strand ) and the reverse complement of reverse - mapping reads from read 1 ( i . e ., direct sequencing of the antireference strand .) true double - stranded mutations should result in an equal balance of complementary mutations observed on the reference and antireference strand . however , sscs analysis revealed a large number of single - stranded g → t mutations , with a much smaller number of c → a mutations ( fig7 b ). a similar bias was seen with a large excess of c → t mutations relative to g → a mutations . base - specific mutagenic dna damage is a likely explanation of these imbalances . excess g → t mutations are consistent with the oxidative product 8 - oxo - guanine ( 8 - oxo - g ) causing first round pcr errors and artifactual g → t mutations . dna polymerases , including those commonly used in pcr , have a strong tendency to insert adenine opposite 8 - oxo - g [ 45 , 54 ], and misinsertion of a opposite 8 - oxo - g would result in erroneous scoring of a g → t mutation . likewise , the excess c → t mutations are consistent with spontaneous deamination of cytosine to uracil [ 47 ], a particularly common dna damage event that results in insertion during pcr of adenine opposite uracil and erroneous scoring of a c → t mutation . to determine whether the excess g → t mutations seen in sscss might reflect oxidative dna damage at guanine nucleotides , before sequencing library preparation m13mp2 dna was incubated with the free radical generator hydrogen peroxide in the presence of iron , a protocol that induces dna damage [ 55 ]. this treatment resulted in a substantial further increase in g → t mutations by sscs analysis ( fig8 a ), consistent with pcr errors at sites of dna damage as the likely mechanism of this biased mutation spectrum . in contrast , induction of oxidative damage did not alter the mutation spectrum seen with dcs analysis ( fig8 b ), indicating that duplex consensus sequences are not similarly susceptible to dna damage artifacts . furthermore , relative to the literature reference values , dcs analysis results in a lower frequency of g → t / c → a and c → t / g → a mutations ( fig7 a ), which are the same mutations elevated in sscs analysis as a probable result of dna damage . notably , the m13mp2 lacz assay , from which reference values have been derived , is dependent upon bacterial replication of a single molecule of m13mp2 dna . thus , the presence of oxidative damage within this substrate could cause an analogous first - round replication error by escherichia coli , converting a single - stranded damage event into a fixed , double - stranded mutation during replication . the slight reduction in the frequency of these two types of mutations measured by dcs analysis may , therefore , reflect the absence of damage - induced errors that are scored by the in vivo lacz assay . a series of m13mp2 variants were constructed which contain known single base substitutions . these variants were then mixed together at known ratios , and the mixture was prepared for sequencing with dcs adaptors with double - stranded complementary smis and was sequenced on an illumina hiseq 2000 . the data was then analyzed by consensus sequencing ( fig9 ). with conventional analysis of the data ( i . e . without consideration of the smi tags ), variants present at a level of & lt ; 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[ 53 ] thomas d c , roberts j d , sabatino r d , myers t w , et al . fidelity of mammalian dna replication and replicative dna polymerases . biochemistry . 1991 ; 30 : 11751 - 9 . [ 54 ] kasai h , et al . ( 1993 ) formation , inhibition of formation , and repair of oxidative 8 - hydroxyguanine dna damage . basic life sci 61 : 257 - 262 . [ 55 ] mcbride t j , preston b d , loeb l a ( 1991 ) mutagenic spectrum resulting from dna damage by oxygen radicals . biochemistry 30 : 207 - 213 . [ 56 ] greaves l c , et al . ( 2009 ) quantification of mitochondrial dna mutation load . aging cell 8 : 566 - 572 . [ 57 ] kraytsberg y , nicholas a , caro p , khrapko k ( 2008 ) single molecule pcr in mtdna mutational analysis : genuine mutations vs . damage bypass - derived artifacts . methods 46 : 269 - 273 . [ 58 ] howell n , kubacka i , mackey d a ( 1996 ) how rapidly does the human mitochondrial genome evolve ? am j hum genet 59 : 501 - 509 . [ 59 ] parsons t j , et al . ( 1997 ) a high observed substitution rate in the human mitochondrial dna control region . nat genet 15 : 363 - 368 . [ 60 ] stoneking m ( 2000 ) hypervariable sites in the mtdna control region are mutational hotspots . am j hum genet 67 : 1029 - 1032 . [ 61 ] kennedy s r , loeb l a , herr a j ( 2011 ) somatic mutations in aging , cancer and neurodegeneration . mech ageing dev . [ 62 ] vermulst m , et al . ( 2007 ) mitochondrial point mutations do not limit the natural lifespan of mice . nat genet 39 : 540 - 543 . [ 63 ] song s , et al . ( 2005 ) dna precursor asymmetries in mammalian tissue mitochondria and possible contribution to mutagenesis through reduced replication fidelity . proc natl acad sci usa 102 : 4990 - 4995 . [ 64 ] lin m t , simon d k , ahn c h , kim l m , beal m f ( 2002 ) high aggregate burden of somatic mtdna point mutations in aging and alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease brain . hum mol genet 11 : 133 - 145 . [ 65 ] jazin e e , cavelier l , eriksson i , oreland l , gyllensten u ( 1996 ) human brain contains high levels of heteroplasmy in the noncoding regions of mitochondrial dna . proc natl acad sci usa 93 : 12382 - 12387 . [ 66 ] khaidakov m , heflich r h , manjanatha m g , myers m b , aidoo a ( 2003 ) accumulation of point mutations in mitochondrial dna of aging mice . mutat res 526 : 1 - 7 . [ 67 ] haag - liautard c , et al . ( 2008 ) direct estimation of the mitochondrial dna mutation rate in drosophila melanogaster . plos biol 6 : e204 .	2
referring now to fig1 a typical torpedo 10 is at the end of its run with its propellers 11 stopped . this stoppage could be occasioned by any one of several causes such as the expiration of a predetermined duty cycle , the exhaustion of an on - board fuel supply , et cetera , so that a torpedo engine 12 no longer turns the propellers . when the engine stops , an interconnected on - board alternator in a power supply circuit 13 stops turning so that it no longer provides ac power for a transformer - rectifier network included in the power supply circuit . prior to the stoppage of the engine , the power supply circuit delivers two levels of dc power at output leads 13a and 13b for a control circuit module 14 . the primary purpose of the control circuit is to actuate a squib 15 when power stops coming from circuit 13 . when the dc power no longer comes from circuit 13 , the squib is initiated ( explodes ) and weight 16 , usually lead , is dropped or ejected from the torpedo . since the torpedo is positively buoyant without this weight , recovery of the floating torpedo is a simple matter by a torpedo recovery craft . looking now to fig2 control circuit 14 receives a first level of dc input power from power source 13 at first input terminals 14a and 14b and dc power at a second level at an input terminal point 14c . these two dc power levels are transmitted to the control circuit via output leads 13a and 13b , respectively . as mentioned above , the dc power comes from a suitable transformer and rectifier arrangement associated with an alternator that is coupled to torpedo engine 12 . the exact details of the alternator - transformer - rectifiers are not shown since such arrangements are well known in the art and their inclusion is omitted so as not to belabor the obvious . a first charge storage circuit 20 receives dc power at terminal 14b and accumulates an initiating charge on a capacitor c3 . a field effect transistor ( fet ) circuit 30 has a fet q2 and serves to couple the initiating charge to squib 15 when certain conditions are present , as will be explained below . upon detonation of the squib , weight 16 is released and the torpedo can rise to the surface . a second charge storage circuit 40 is appropriately coupled to input terminal 14a and provides a predetermined charge on capacitor c2 which acts as a biasing source to inhibit the actuation of a transistor circuit 50 . the transistor circuit has a bipolar junction transistor ( bjt ) q1 , and functions in conjunction with the field effect transistor circuit to inhibit actuation of squib 15 until the torpedo engine stops or runs at a very low speed . a third charge storage circuit 60 receives the second level of dc power via terminal 14c and stores an accumulating charge on a capacitor c4 that is held there until the torpedo engine stops . a feedback loop 70 interconnects transistor circuit 50 and field effect transistor circuit 30 in such a manner as to further assure the appropriate actuation of squib 15 when the torpedo engine stops . as torpedo engine 12 provides rotational power for propellers 11 , power source 13 provides two levels of dc power , the first level at 40 volts dc at output lead 13a and the lower level at 15 volts dc on lead 13b . a - 15 volt level is coupled to a resistor r7 , if desired , for the purpose to be explained below . optionally , the power supplied at input terminal 14c can be delayed approximately 10 seconds to insure that full torpedo power is reached before third charge storage circuit 60 is activated . + 40 volt dc power is applied at terminal 14b and an initiating charge is stored in capacitor c3 , via diode d1 and resistor r3 to a + 40 volt dc value . resistor r4 prevents occasional high voltage spikes from integrating and accumulating an excessive charge on capacitor c3 . second charge storage circuit 40 has a resistor r1 and zener diode d2 to provide a simple + 20 volt dc voltage source which is filtered by capacitor c1 , resistor r2 and capacitor c2 . the charge of circuit 40 is applied to the base electrode of transistor q1 in circuit 50 to keep the transistor turned off until power fails at the end of a test or a practice run when the torpedo engine stops . when + 15 volts dc is applied at input terminal 14c of the third charge storage circuit 60 , capacitor c4 is charged through diode d3 and resistor r5 the capicator is in parallel with resistor r6 . resistor r6 prevents occasional high voltage spikes from integrating and accumulating excessive charge on capacitor c4 as well as providing an automatic discharging path for convenience in testing . when the torpedo engine quits , the + 40 volts dc appearing at input terminals 14a and 14b drops to zero volts dc . this condition causes the voltage at the base electrode of transistor q1 to fall until transistor q1 turns on . as transistor q1 turns on , capacitor c4 discharges through transistor q1 to the gate electrode of field effect transistor q2 and capacitor c5 . capacitor c5 charges rapidly and field effect transistor q2 starts to slowly turn on causing current to flow from its drain electrode to its source electrode which slightly raises the voltage of its source electrode . this small voltage increase is fed back through resistor r9 and capacitor c6 of feedback loop 70 and increases the voltage at the emitter of transistor q1 . this slight voltage increase is amplified by transistor q1 to increase the rate of rise of the field effect transistor q2 gate electrode voltage . in this manner , when field effect transistor q2 starts to turn on , the positive feedback creates a rapid clamping effect which switches field effect transistor q2 very quickly for low energy dissipation during switching . with field effect transistor q2 turned on , capacitor c3 dumps large currents through field effect transistor q2 to the one ohm squib 15 . the limiting factor is the gate electrode voltage which is limited to + 15 volts which causes the device to turn off if the source electrode voltage exceeds approximately + 10 volts . squib 15 current thus is limited to approximately 10 amperes . empirical data has demonstrated that as squib 15 fires , its resistance drops to virtually zero ohms . when this happens , squib 15 shorts the source electrode of field effect transistor q2 to ground but capacitor c5 prevents gate - to - source electrode voltage from changing instantaneously . current is also drawn through resistor r9 and capacitor c6 which reduces the voltage on capacitor c4 and turns off transistor q1 briefly . as a result , during the instant the squib is firing , current through field effect transistor q2 is held constant in spite of the reduced squib resistance . resistor r8 keeps field effect transistor q2 gate electrode voltage low when power is off and acts with resistor r7 and a - 15 v source to form a voltage divider when power is applied and transistor q1 is off . this pulls the gate electrode voltage even lower for an increased safety margin . from the foregoing , it is seen that both positive and negative feedback are selectively employed to create rapid turn on but to limit current during the firing of squib 15 . electro - mechanical relays always have contact bounce which would otherwise limit the turn on speed and create arcing and corrosion . contact currents exceeding 23 amperes were common in the electro - mechanical relay circuits and always exceeded the specifications of associated elements . the disclosed control circuit not only limits the current to approximately 10 amperes but uses a switch , a 2n6796 , field effect transistor q2 which is rated at 32 amperes . as a consequence , reliability is improved considerably . conceivably a similar circuit could be built using scr &# 39 ; s but such a circuit could be irreversibly triggered by a noise spike . this undesirable event can not occur with the disclosed circuit since it can be turned off after triggering to prevent squib 15 from inadvertently firing . typical component value in first charge storage circuit 20 include a 1n4148 diode d1 , a 3 . 9 kilohm resistor r3 , a 1 megohm resistor r4 and an 86 microfarad capacitor c3 . field effect transistor circuit 30 can include a 2n6796 field effect transistor q2 and a 0 . 01 microfarad capacitor c5 . second charge storage circuit 40 can include a 100 kilohm resistor r1 and 1n5540 20 volt zener diode d2 , a 0 . 01 microfarad capacitor c1 , a 100 kilohm resistor r2 and a 0 . 1 microfarad capacitor c2 . the transistor circuit 50 might include a 2n2946a transistor q1 , a 1 megohm resistor r7 and a 1 megohm resistor r8 . third charge storage circuit 60 can include a 1n4148 diode d3 , a 100 ohm resistor r5 , a 10 megohm resistor r6 and a 10 microfarad capacitor c4 . feedback circuit 70 has a one microfarad capacitor c6 and a 100 ohm resistor r9 in association with a 1 kilohm resistor r10 . any or all of the components enumerated above optionally are replaced by similar components with slightly different values . r1 , r2 , d2 , c1 and c2 may be replaced by any means of 20 vdc generation compatable with the circuit requirements . r4 , r6 , r10 and r7 could be eliminated with a reduction in safety margin and the output could drive other than the explosive squib if a particular application so requires . obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings it is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described .	5
a breeding program was initiated in 1990 at davis , calif ., to provide a group of rootstocks with broad and durable resistance to the nematodes found in california vineyards . this program commenced with an evaluation of selections that remained from breeding efforts in the late 1960s and early 1970s . these selections from the late 1960s and early 1970s were previously screened against two root knot nematode species ( meloidogyne incognita acrita and m . arenaria thamsei ), the lesion nematode ( pratylenchus vulnus ), and the dagger nematode ( xiphinema index ). in 1990 , these selections were evaluated for their ability to root and for growth habits such as brushy growth , internode length and the degree of lateral shoot production . in 1993 and 1994 , the best of these selections were crossed to species chosen for their ability to reduce scion vigor or improve the rooting of the progeny . the parentage and species composition of the ‘ 8905 - 05 ’ and other crosses are listed in table 1 . about 5 , 000 progeny were planted in the vineyard and their evaluation for nematode resistance was initiated in 1996 . the first phase of the selection process examined the progeny for their general vigor and horticultural characters such as internode length and the degree of lateral shoot formation . the best 1 , 000 progeny , selected from as many families as possible , were advanced to a rooting assay . in december of 1996 , ten 2 - node dormant cuttings of the best 1 , 000 were tested for their ability to form roots . rootstocks that root well generally graft well , thus this evaluation was a key indicator of their future success as rootstocks . one hundred of the progeny were selected , again with an effort to get a broad representation from the large number of families . the second phase of the selection process involved testing these 100 selections for resistance to m . incognita i3 . this root - knot nematode isolate is capable of feeding on many rootstocks , but does not feed on rootstocks that derive their resistance from v . champinii (‘ freedom ’, ‘ harmony ’, ‘ dog ridge ’ and ‘ ramsey ’). all of the nematode testing in this breeding program utilized potted plants under greenhouse conditions with optimized soils and irrigation techniques to promote nematode feeding . resistance to this isolate of root - knot nematode was evaluated by assaying the number of galls on the roots after inoculation with 1 , 000 j2 larvae ( the free - living infectious stage of this nematode ). resistance was also evaluated by extracting the j2 nematodes in the pots after the root galls were counted . later phases of the root - knot nematode screening evaluated resistance by counting the number of egg masses formed using a technique developed by cousins and walker ( cousins and walker 2001 plant disease 85 : 1052 - 1054 ). there were no root galls on 33 of the 100 selections and the 33 selections were advanced to the next phase of screening . the third phase of the selection process tested the 33 root - knot nematode resistant selections against two aggressive strains of root - knot nematode and against the dagger nematode , x . index . the two aggressive strains were selected from soils from a declining vineyard of ‘ harmony ’ rootstock . root - knot nematodes were extracted from this soil and the larvae were placed onto tomato plants with high susceptibility to root - knot nematodes . two egg masses were collected from these infested plants and j2 larvae from each mass were put on a separate uninfested tomato plant to create new strains from a single egg mass ( root - knot nematodes are parthenogenic ). these new strains were multiplied on tomato and were then used to inoculate potted plants of ‘ harmony ’ rootstock to verify their ability to feed aggressively on this resistant rootstock . these two strains were named harma and harmc . later investigations determined that harma was a strain of m . arenaria while harmc was a strain of m . incognita . the dagger nematodes were collected from several vineyards in the napa valley of california , which were known to have fanleaf degeneration . the 33 selections were then inoculated with each of the three nematode strains independently . the root - knot nematode screens used 1 , 000 j2 larvae to inoculate plants growing in 1 , 000 cm 3 plastic pots with a coarse sand / clay loam soil mix . the dagger nematode screens were done in the same pots and soils , but used 200 adult x . index as the inoculum . fourteen selections did not produce egg masses when inoculated with the three root - knot nematode strains nor did they produce root tip galls after inoculation with x . index ( table 2 ). in the fourth phase , the 14 selections were subjected to a series of tests . the first was a combined inoculum of all four nematodes at once to determine the impact of simultaneous nematode feeding on resistance ( table 3 ). they were also tested against the four nematodes over a range of temperatures , 24 , 27 , 30 and 32 ° c . there was some erosion of resistance to harma ( the most aggressive strain of root - knot nematode ) at this temperature , but 6 of the selections performed very well ( table 4 ). root - knot nematode resistance is known to fail at about 28 ° c . in a wide range of species including tomato , pepper and plum . the 14 selections were also evaluated for resistance to lesion ( pratylenchus vulnus ), citrus ( tylenchulus semipenetrans ) and ring ( mesocriconema xenoplax ) nematodes ( table 3 ). from this series of tests a number of six rootstock selections were made , including ‘ 9365 - 85 ’. a summary of the ‘ 9365 - 85 ’ characteristics is presented below . grape phylloxera are capable of feeding and producing galls ( nodosities ) on the young roots of virtually all grape rootstocks and species . in order to gauge the phylloxera hosting ability of the final six selections , they were tested for the ability to support phylloxera on nodosities and compared to a set of commercial rootstocks . three sets of young root pieces from each selection were inoculated with 10 phylloxera eggs collected from ‘ 101 - 14 mgt ’ rootstock roots . over a 21 - day period , the number of eggs and juveniles that were produced were summed and divided by 10 ( the original inoculum ) to produce the average rate of increase . table 5 presents these results for the six selections . nodosity galling on young roots does not appear to damage grapevines , only feeding and galling on mature roots ( tuberosities ) leads to vine death . the high rate of phylloxera feeding , galling and reproduction on ‘ 101 - 14 mgt ’ ( 7 . 98 average rate of increase ) has been observed in past tests . most of the values were very low , although this ‘ 101 - 14 mgt ’ strains is well adapted to ‘ 9407 - 14 ’. three of the selections were very resistant : ‘ 8909 - 05 ’, ‘ 9363 - 16 ’, and ‘ 9449 - 27 ’. the low values for axr # 1 demonstrate that the results of this test do not reflect field level or tuberosity level feeding and damage , and that phylloxera adapt independently to rootstock hosts . it will take years to determine which sites each of these rootstock selections are best suited to , but they have unparalleled levels of resistance to nematodes and should excel in sites with single and mixed nematode species infestations . four of the selections (‘ 9365 - 43 ’, ‘ 9365 - 85 ’, ‘ 9407 - 14 ’ and ‘ 9449 - 27 ’) were grafted to ‘ fiesta seedless ’ and planted in a ‘ fresno ’ rootstock trial in 2004 . that year two of these selections (‘ 9365 - 43 ’ and ‘ 9365 - 85 ’) were also included in a ‘ chardonnay ’ rootstock trial in santa maria , calif . the six rootstock selections in large pots using soils with nematode pressure from root - knot , lesion , ring and xiphinema americanum , is known to be severe and chronic . this test was conducted to evaluate these selections under “ field conditions ” using infested soil without added inoculations . all of the selections performed very well against root - knot nematodes ( table 6 ) and two , ‘ 9407 - 14 ’, and ‘ 8909 - 05 ’, also performed very well against ring nematode ( fig1 ). each of the selections was repeatedly asexually reproduced to provide testing materials for nematode resistance evaluations . the cuttings were taken from the original seedling vine planted in davis , calif . on jun . 7 , 2002 the original seedlings were asexually reproduced to provide more cuttings for greenhouse and eventual field testing . the variety ‘ 9365 - 85 ’ was first asexually reproduced for distribution in davis , calif . from woody and herbaceous cuttings . rootstock ‘ 9365 - 85 ’ is a staminate flowered vine with leaves that appear more like v . riparia with longer teeth , more prominent lobing , and thinner more puckered texture . its resistance to root - knot and dagger nematodes in the combined testing was very good , and it resists citrus and lesion nematode , but is susceptible to ring nematode ( table 3 ). the resistance of ‘ 9365 - 85 ’ to m . arenaria harma was the most severely impacted by higher temperatures compared with the other five selections , although it is not statistically different from ‘ 9365 - 43 ’ and ‘ 9363 - 16 ’ ( table 4 ). ‘ 9365 - 85 ’ is an excellent mother vine with long canes , good internode lengths and few lateral shoots . preliminary propagation results indicate it has moderately deep rooting angles . shoot tips .— the variety has shoot tips which are e enclosed in expanding leaves , typical and observed color - green ( 5gy ⅚ ), and sparsely covered with arachnose tomentum . young leaves .— the variety has young leaves with typical and observed color green ( 5gy ⅚ ), and typical and observed shape - three lobed glabrous leaves with fine arachnose tomentum and relatively long sharply pointed teeth . mature leaves .— the variety has a typical and observed size — medium sized ( 8 . 7 × 11 cm ), typical and observed upper surface color - dark green upper ( 5gy 4 / 4 ) and typical and observed lower surface color - dark green ( 5gy 5 / 4 ), slightly 3 - lobed , broad cuneiform - shaped leaves with medium - sized angular to convex teeth , and medium - sized petioles . the upper surface is glabrous , broadly rugose with some indented puckering near the petiole . the lower surface has scattered arachnose tomentum , fine bristles along the main vines and small tufted bristles ( domatia ) at the intersection of the main veins . the petiolar sinus is a narrow u to lyre shape . petioles .— typical and observed length 4 to 5 cm , typical and observed diameter — 3 to 4 mm , and color is similar to the upper leaf surface ( 5gy 4 / 4 ). canes .— typical and observed color .— dark brown ( 5yr ⅝ ), typical and observed internodes length — 15 to 20 cm , and relatively limited lateral development , nodes have short pointed buds . canes are oval in cross - section , have thin diaphragms and medium sized pith . flowers .— typical and observed flowers are staminate and do not produce berries .	0
the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings . in the drawings , like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout . referring to fig1 it can be seen that an active region 48 of a field effect transistor 10 of this invention includes a channel region 26 , a source region 28 , and a drain region 30 . in the exemplary embodiment of this invention , the channel region 26 is preferably p - conductivity silicon while the source region 28 and the drain region 30 are each n - conductivity silicon to form two semiconductor junctions 40 and 42 . however , in accordance with known silicon technology , the channel region 26 may be n - conductivity silicon while each of the source region 28 and the drain region 30 are p - conductivity silicon . the active region is isolated by an insulating trench 32 which has side walls 16 forming the perimeter 22 of the active region 48 of the fet 10 . the insulating trench 32 insulates the active region 48 from other structures formed in the silicon substrate 12 . the insulating trench 32 includes under cut regions 20 which form the bottom surface 24 of the active region 48 and form the sidewalls 14 of a bridge region 36 which electrically couples the channel region 26 of the active region 48 to the bulk silicon substrate 12 . the active region 38 and the bridge region 36 together form the body 34 of the fet 10 of this invention . it should be appreciated that because the bridge region 36 electrically couples the channel region 26 to the bulk silicon substrate 12 , the channel region 26 potential will always remain at the potential of the silicon substrate 12 and can not accumulate a charge , or float , based on historical operation of the fet 10 . it should also be appreciated that because the insulating trench 32 includes undercut regions 20 , the cross sectional area of the bridge region 36 is significantly smaller than the cross sectional area of the active region 48 and therefore there is no semiconductor junction , or minimal sized semiconductor junction , between either the source region 28 or the drain region 30 and the silicon substrate 12 thereby reducing junction capacitance . the first step in fabricating the fet of this invention a silicon nitride layer 18 approximately 1 , 500 - 2 , 000 angstroms thick is formed on top of a thin layer of oxide ( not shown ) approximately 150 - 200 angstroms thick on the top surface of the bulk silicon substrate 12 as shown in fig2 . in a second step , the silicon nitride 18 is patterned and etched to form a silicon nitride mask over the active region 48 while exposing the silicon substrate in the areas where insulating trench 32 is to be formed as shown in fig3 . patterning and etching the silicon nitride 18 to form the silicon nitride mask is performed using conventional photolithography techniques wherein 1 ) a layer of a uv sensitive photoresist layer is applied to the surface of the silicon nitride 18 ; 2 ) a uv illumination source and reticle provide collimated light to expose and pattern the photoresist ; 3 ) a developer solution hardens the unexposed areas of the photoresist while the uv light dissolves and the developer washes away the exposed portions thereby leaving the exposed portions as a mask on the surface of the silicon nitride 18 ; and 4 ) a dry etch with an etching compound that etches silicon nitride while not etching the photoresist removes the silicon nitride layer 18 in the areas that are not masked with the photoresist thereby creating the silicon nitride mask . in a third step in the fabrication of the fet of this invention the unmasked portions of the silicon substrate 12 ( e . g . the portions where the silicon nitride mask has been etched away in the second step ) are etched away to a depth of approximately 2 , 000 - 4 , 000 angstroms to form an open trench 38 as shown in fig4 . the open trench 38 will later be filled with silicon dioxide to become the insulating trench 32 described in the discussion of fig1 . the etching process for the silicon substrate is typically an anisotropic dry etch using hydrogen bromide ( hbr ) which has selectivity characteristics such that it etches the silicon substrate 12 but not the silicon nitride 18 . a fourth step in the fabrication of the fet 10 of this invention includes depositing a layer of silicon dioxide 44 , approximately 500 - 1 , 000 angstroms in depth , across all exposed surfaces of the wafer including the across the top of the silicon nitride layer 18 and on the sidewalls and bottom of open trench 38 as shown in fig5 . depositing the layer of silicon dioxide 44 is typically performed using a conventional chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) process with a gas such as sih4 . following the deposit of the silicon dioxide 44 , a vertical anisotropic etch of the silicon dioxide layer 44 removes such silicon dioxide from all horizontal surfaces , including the top surface of the silicon nitride 18 and the bottom of open trench 38 . an example of a vertical anisotropic etch includes a plasma etch using chf3 . it should be appreciated that such an etching technique removes an even thickness of the silicon dioxide layer in a vertical dimension such that the net result of the vertical etch is that a layer of silicon dioxide remains on the side walls 16 of the open trench 38 while the bottom of trench 38 is exposed silicon substrate 12 . in the sixth step in the fabrication of the fet 10 of this invention an isotropic etch of the bulk silicon at the bottom of the open trench 38 is performed to remove approximately 1 , 000 - 2 , 000 angstroms of material in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions to form an open undercut 46 which in a subsequent step will be filled with silicon dioxide to form the undercut region 20 of the insulating trench 32 as shown in fig7 . this isotropic etching step is preferably a known koh wet etch . it should be appreciated that such an etching compound must be chosen with selectivity characteristics such that it will rapidly etch the exposed silicon substrate 12 but will not materially etch the silicon dioxide coating 44 on the sidewalls of the open trench 38 . note that undercut regions 20 define the bottom surface 24 of the active region 48 and the side walls 14 of the bridge region 36 . following the creation of the undercut regions 20 , the open trench 38 is filled with silicon dioxide to form insulating trench 32 . filling the open trench 38 preferably uses a known cvd process using a gas such as sih4 or teos . after filling the open trench 38 , the surface of the wafer is polished using a chemical mechanical polish ( cmp ) to remove any excess silicon dioxide layer and the remaining silicon nitride mask as shown in fig8 . in a seventh step , a layer of silicon dioxide 50 , serving as the gate oxide layer , and a polysilicon gate 52 are formed on the top surface of the substrate . the silicon dioxide 50 is typically grown on the surface of the active region 48 using a thermal oxidation process and the polysilicon layer is deposited on top of the silicon dioxide layer 50 using a low pressure chemical vapor deposition ( lpcvd ) process . the polysilicon layer is then patterned and etched using the photolithography method discussed earlier to define and mask the channel region of the fet 10 in a known self aligning gate , source and drain process as shown in fig9 . in the eighth step , the portions of the silicon substrate on opposing sides of the p - type silicon in the channel region of the fet 10 that are not masked by the gate applied in the 7 th step are doped into n - type silicon . doping is typically performed using ion implantation techniques . ions of dopant such as arsenic 54 are accelerated to a high velocity in an electric field and impinge on the target wafer . because the ions cannot penetrate the poly - silicon gate , the poly - silicon gate effectively operates as a mask which results in doping only the exposed source region 28 , the drain region 30 , and the polysilicon gate 52 as shown in fig1 . although the invention has been shown and described with respect to certain preferred embodiments , it is obvious that equivalents and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of the specification . for example , in the exemplary embodiment , two masking steps are used to mask and etch the open trench regions 38 . a photoresist mask is used to create a silicon nitride mask which in turn effects the etching of the open trenches 38 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that if a compound is selective between the photoresist and the silicon substrate ( e . g . etches the silicon substrate while not materially effecting a photoresist mask .) the photoresist mask may be used to directly etch the open trenches in the silicon substrate . the present invention includes all such equivalents and modifications , and is limited only by the scope of the following claims .	7
fig1 is a simplified circuit diagram of a generic motor control module 10 , in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure . the generic motor control module 10 is connectable to a motor 14 that can be any one of a plurality of motors used in any one of a plurality of applications . the motor 14 can be an ac motor , as illustrated in fig1 or a dc motor as illustrated in fig3 . the generic motor control module 10 is also referred to herein as the universal control module 10 because it is universally applicable such that it is capable of controlling any of the plurality of motors , such as motor 14 , in any of the plurality of motor applications or implementations . more specifically , the generic motor control module 10 is capable of controlling motors of differing size , ratings and / or types , wherein the motors can be utilized in any of a plurality of applications or implementations without altering components , component values , and / or hard coded control software . preferably , the generic motor control module 10 is a digital control module that includes a digital control circuit , generally indicated at 18 . for example , the generic motor control module 10 can be used to control the motor of a heavy duty half - inch drill that has a high gear ratio and generates a high degree of torque , or to control the motor of a quarter - inch drill that has a relatively low gear ratio and generates only a small degree of torque . similarly , the generic motor control module 10 can be utilized to control a motor used in a plurality of applications . for example , if a specific model of motor were used in both a power saw application and a drill press application , each with different operational parameters , the generic motor control module 10 can be used to control the motor in both the power saw and the drill press without the need to change any electrical components , component values , or to alter control software associated with the module 10 . for simplicity , the generic motor control module 10 will be referred to hereinafter as simply the motor control module 10 . in an ac implementation , as shown in fig1 , the motor control module 10 is connectable to an ac power source , via the power cord ( not shown ), at an ac mains node 20 a and a neutral node 20 b . the control circuit 18 of the motor control module 10 includes a power supply 22 that supplies power to a controller 26 , e . g . a microcontroller . the controller 26 includes a processor 30 , e . g . a microprocessor , programmed to control an electronic valve 34 , such as a triac , a field effect transistor ( fet ), an insulated gate bipolar transistor ( igbt ), a silicon - controlled rectifier ( scr ), or various voltage and / or current control devices . the controller 26 can be any suitable controller or microcontroller . one microcontroller especially well suited for use with control circuit 18 is an attiny26 microcontroller commercially available from atmel , inc . of san jose , calif . to control operation of the motor 14 , the controller 26 controls the amount of current , and therefore voltage , applied to the motor 14 by controlling the operation of the electronic valve 34 . the control circuit 18 further includes a shunt resistor 38 and a voltage divider circuit 42 comprised of resistors 46 , 48 , 50 and clamping diodes 52 and 54 . the controller 26 includes an amplifier 56 used to amplify the voltage across the shunt resistor 38 used by the controller 26 to measure the current flowing through the electronic valve 34 and the motor 14 . the voltage divider circuit 42 is coupled via a circuit line 62 to the controller 26 . the resistors 46 , 48 and 50 divide the ac source voltage to a voltage level usable by the controller 26 , and the clamping diodes 52 and 54 protect the controller 26 from damage if a voltage spike occurs in the ac source voltage . the controller 26 senses an ac zero crossing by measuring the divided voltage from the ac power source via the voltage divider circuit 42 . alternatively , the controller 26 can sense an ac zero crossing by monitoring a digital signal provided by a subsystem , wherein the digital signal would represent a zero crossing of the ac voltage . the control circuit 18 also includes a pair of pull - up resistors 58 and 60 used to condition the voltage input at a ‘ port 1 ’ and a ‘ port 2 ’ of the controller 26 . generally , the motor control module 10 controls the operation of the motor 14 by switching the motor current on and off at periodic intervals in relation to the zero crossing of the ac current or voltage waveform , via the controller 26 and control signals applied to a control input 34 a of the electronic valve 34 . these periodic intervals are caused to occur in synchronism with the ac waveform and are measured in terms of a conduction angle , measured as a number of degrees . the conduction angle determines the point within the ac waveform at which the electronic valve 34 is fired , i . e . turned on , thereby delivering electrical energy to the motor 14 . more specifically , the conduction angle determines the point at which the electronic valve 34 is fired within a selected period of the ac waveform for which operation of the electronic valve 34 is based , for example , a half - cycle of the ac waveform . the electronic valve 34 turns off at the conclusion of the selected period . thus , the conduction angle is measured from the point of firing of the electronic valve 34 to the point of extinguishing at the end of the selected period . the point at which the electronic valve is fired is also referred to in the art , and will alternatively be referred to herein , as the firing angle of the electronic valve 34 . the firing angle is measured from the beginning of the selected period to the point within the selected period at which the electronic valve 34 is fired . numerically , the conduction angle and the firing angle are complements of one another . generally , the conduction angle and firing angle are measured in units of degrees , but could also be measured in radians , or in unitless fractions of the selected period . for example , a conduction angle of 180 ° per half cycle of the ac cycle corresponds to a condition of full conduction , in which electronic valve 34 is fired such that the entire , uninterrupted alternating current is applied to the motor 14 . that is , the electronic valve 34 is fired such that current flows through the electronic valve 34 for the entire half cycle of the ac input signal . similarly , a 90 ° conduction angle corresponds to developing the supply voltage across the motor 14 commencing in the middle of a given half cycle , and thus the electronic valve 34 is fired so that approximately half of the available energy is delivered to the motor . conduction angles below 90 ° correspond to firing of the electronic valve 34 later in a given half cycle so that even lesser quantities of energy are delivered to the motor 14 . the motor control module 10 controls the operation of the motor 14 when a motor control switch 64 , e . g . a tool on / off switch , is placed in a closed ( i . e . ‘ on ’) position , thereby allowing current to flow through the motor 14 . although motor control switch 64 is illustrated as being located between the node 20 a and the motor 14 , alternatively , the motor control switch 64 can be located between the node 20 a and the ac mains . in one embodiment , the control circuit 18 determines a firing angle solution for the electronic valve 34 for each half cycle of the ac line voltage . alternatively , the control circuit 18 could determine the firing angle solution for each full cycle , each one and a half cycle , each two cycles , or any other predetermined periodic interval of the ac line voltage signal based on multiples of the half cycle . although the present disclosure will be described herein as determining the firing angle solution based on a half cycle , it should be understood that the determination of the firing angle solution could be based on any multiple of the half cycle and remain within the scope of the present disclosure . to determine the firing angle solution for each half cycle such that the motor 14 will operate in a desired manner , various pertinent inputs , i . e . motor operating criterion , are measured during operation of the motor 14 . the various pertinent inputs are referred to herein as “ dynamicisms ” and include , but are not limited to , such things as a closed loop dial , an open loop dial , an amount of current flowing through the motor 14 during operation , the voltage across the motor 14 during operation , an amount of torque provided by the motor 14 , and a speed of the motor 14 . for example , a first input 58 a could be a closed loop dial signal , or a tachometer signal or any other dynamicism signal . likewise , a second input 58 b could be a motor speed signal , or an open loop dial signal or any other dynamicism signal . dynamicisms include any motor operational value or parameter that has an effect on the calculation of the firing angle solution . as the dynamicisms change during operation , the firing angle solution for each subsequent half cycle , or other periodic interval based on half cycles , will also change . to generate a timing solution for the electronic valve 34 , i . e . the timing and duration for which the electronic valve 34 is turned on , the processor 30 executes a universal generic control algorithm stored in a memory device 66 included in the controller 26 . more specifically , the firing angle solution for each half cycle , or multiple thereof , of the ac line during operation of the motor 14 , the processor 30 executes a universal generic firing angle control algorithm . alternatively , the memory device 66 could be included in the motor control module 10 external to the controller 26 . in various embodiments the memory device 66 is a functionally non - volatile , non - alterable memory device . for example , memory device 66 can be a read only memory ( rom ) device , a flash memory device or a one time programmable ( otp ) device . in one embodiment , the generic firing angle algorithm is hard - coded in the memory device 66 during manufacturing of the motor control module 10 . that is , the generic algorithm is stored in non - volatile memory device 66 as part of the process for manufacturing the motor control module 10 and can not be altered or modified once it is stored in the memory device 66 . thus , the generic algorithm is applicable to determine the firing angle solution for any of a plurality of motor applications in which any of a plurality of motors , such as motor 14 , are controlled by the motor control module 10 . more specifically , the generic algorithm determines the firing angle solution for any motor 14 in which the motor control module 10 is installed , such that the motor 14 operates according to parameters specifically required for the particular motor application . in various alternative embodiments the generic algorithm can be stored in alterable memory that allows data to be stored , read and altered such as flash memory , erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom ) or electrically erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom ). the processor 30 executes the generic algorithm utilizing the dynamicisms as inputs , thereby determining a firing angle solution specific to the particular motor 14 and the specific motor application . generally , the generic algorithm can be expressed by the following equation : it should be understood that the notation ‘ f ( )’ means ‘ a function of ( )’, where the contents of the parentheses are the argument of the function f . for example , in one embodiment , the generic algorithm could be more specifically expressed by the following equation . firing angle solution = f ( f ( switch position )+( f ( dial setting 1 )+ f ( dial setting 2 )+ f ( current )+ f ( voltage )+ f ( tachometer )+ . . . f ( dynamicism n )+ k )+ m ; where ‘ switch position ’ refers to the position of the motor control switch 64 , ‘ dial setting 1 ’ refers to closed loop desired speed , ‘ dial setting 2 ’ refers to open loop firing angle clamp , ‘ current ’ refers to the amount of current flowing through the motor 14 , ‘ voltage ’ refers to a voltage value across the motor 14 , ‘ tachometer ’ refers to a tachometric period or rate of rotational speed of the motor , and k and m are offsets or constants to bias the firing angle into the correct working range of operation for the particular implementation of the motor 14 . the tachometer period is the time period that is directly proportional to the inverse of the speed of the motor 14 . the motor control switch 64 controls the operational status of the motor 14 . that is , if the motor control switch 64 is in an open position , the motor 14 is in an ‘ off ’ operational status , while if the motor control switch 64 is in a closed position , the motor 14 is in an ‘ on ’ operational status . the controller 26 samples the dynamicisms using appropriate sensors or sensing circuits ( not shown ) for each dynamicism and utilizes the processor 30 to execute the generic algorithm to determine the proper firing angle solution for the electronic valve 34 for each half cycle of the ac line voltage . additionally , the generic algorithm utilizes at least one motor function coefficient stored in a memory device 68 to determine the firing angle solution such that the motor 14 functions in accordance with motor operational parameters specific to the particular application of the motor 14 . generally , the motor operational parameters of a given application will require the use of more than one function coefficient in the execution of the generic algorithm . in various embodiments , the motor function coefficient is a soft - coded function coefficient and the memory device 68 is an alterable memory device that allows data to be stored , read and altered such as flash memory , erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom ) or electrically erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom ). alternatively , the memory device 68 can be a functionally non - volatile , non - alterable memory device , such as a read only memory ( rom ) device , a flash memory device or a one time programmable ( otp ) device . in one embodiment , the function coefficient ( s ) are stored in the alterable memory device 68 subsequent to the manufacturing of the motor control module 10 and subsequent to the motor control module 10 being implemented in a particular application . for example , if the control module 10 is utilized to control the motor 14 of a hammer drill , the function coefficient ( s ) specific to the motor operational parameters of the hammer drill are not stored in the alterable memory device 68 until after the hammer drill has been assembled including the motor control module 10 . thus , after the exemplary hammer drill is assembled including the motor control module 10 , an external device ( not shown ) capable of communicating with the controller 26 is used to program ( i . e . store ) the function coefficient ( s ) in the alterable memory device 68 . the external device communicates the function coefficient ( s ) to the alterable memory device 68 over any suitable means for data transmission . for example , the function coefficient ( s ) can be transmitted from the external device to the alterable memory device 68 over the power cord of the tool , e . g . the hammer drill . the external device can be any computer - based device capable of transmitting data , such as a laptop computer , a hand - held computer or any other programming device . alternatively , the module 10 could be programmed after its manufacture but before being implemented in a particular application . a further derivation of the generic algorithm incorporating the function coefficient ( s ) can be expressed by summing the products of the dynamicism ( s ) and associated function coefficient ( s ), as illustrated by the following equation . firing angle solution = f (( switch position * c 0 )+(( dial setting 1 * c 1 )+( dial setting 2 * c 2 )+( current * c 3 )+( voltage * c 4 )+( tachometer * c 5 )+ . . . ( dynamicism n * c n )+ c n + 1 )+ c n + 2 ); where the value for ‘ switch position ’ equals one ( 1 ) if the motor control switch 64 is in a closed ( i . e . ‘ on ’) position and zero ( 0 ) if the motor control switch 64 is in an open ( i . e . ‘ off ’) position . additionally , c 0 , c 1 , c 2 , c 3 , c 4 , c 5 . . . c n , c n + 1 , c n + 2 are function coefficients specific to a particular application of the motor 14 , so that the motor 14 operates in accordance with desired motor operational parameters of the particular application . thus , if a particular dynamicism is to have no impact on the firing angle solution for the electronic valve 34 in a given application , the function coefficient of that particular dynamicism would be zero ( 0 ). for example , if the motor control module 10 is implemented in an application where open loop control is desirable , c 2 , c 3 , c 4 and c 5 , in the above generic algorithm , would be zero ( 0 ). however , if the motor control module 10 is implemented in an application where closed loop control is desirable , but there is no tachometer utilized in the application , then c 1 , c 2 , c 3 and c 4 would have values calculated to operate the motor 14 in accordance with desired motor operational parameters , and c 5 would be zero ( 0 ). therefore , in one embodiment , the processor 30 executes the generic algorithm during each half cycle of the ac power source , implementing the function coefficient ( s ), stored in alterable memory device 68 , as a constant value ( s ) in the algorithm , and utilizing the dynamicism ( s ) as an input variable ( s ) to determine the firing angle solution for the electronic valve 34 , for each given half cycle . alternatively , the controller 26 could execute the generic algorithm based on multiples of the half cycle , as opposed to executing the generic algorithm during each half cycle . in this instance each firing angle solution calculated will be used to fire the electronic valve 34 for two or more consecutive half cycles . that is , although the electronic valve 34 will be fired during each half cycle based on the firing angle solution generated by execution of the generic algorithm , the generic algorithm will not be executed during each half cycle . since the dynamicism ( s ) is a variable , the calculated firing angle solution will change during operation of the motor 14 due to variations in load requirements for the motor 14 during operation and changes in function settings of the device in which the motor 14 is installed . for example , if the load requirement of the motor 14 changes during operation , the dynamicism for the current and / or the voltage being used by the motor 14 will change leading to a change in the firing angle solution to compensate for the change in power needed by the motor 14 . additionally , if a user changes the speed setting on a power drill , the associated dynamicism ( s ) will change , thereby altering the firing angle solution generated by the generic algorithm . although , in the various embodiments described herein , the motor control module 10 has been described to execute the generic algorithm shown above , it should be appreciated that the particular algorithm described is exemplary only . as such the description of the exemplary algorithm does not exhaust all possible algorithms for use in implementing the motor control module 10 , in accordance with the present disclosure . accordingly , changes in the algorithm described above may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the disclosure . for example , the generic algorithm could utilize a look - up table as a transfer function to generate firing angle solutions , as described below . fig2 is flow chart 100 illustrating the general operation of the motor control module 10 ( shown in fig1 ), in accordance with one preferred ac embodiment of the present disclosure . in a practical application of the motor control module 10 , on each given half cycle , or multiple thereof , the controller 26 initially synchronizes with the zero cross of the ac voltage source to acquire a reference for firing of the electronic valve 34 , as indicated at step 104 . next , the controller 26 utilizes the processor 30 to sample any one , or all , dynamicism ( s ), as indicated at step 108 . the processor 30 then retrieves the soft - coded function coefficient ( s ) from the alterable memory device 68 , as indicated at step 112 . after retrieving the function coefficient ( s ), the processor 30 executes the generic algorithm , incorporating the dynamicism ( s ) and the function coefficient ( s ), to determine the firing angle solution for the electronic valve for the given predetermined periodic interval , e . g . a half cycle , as indicated at step 116 . the processor 30 then fires the electronic valve 34 for the given periodic interval at the calculated firing angle , thereby operating the motor 14 in accordance with motor operational parameters of the specific application of the motor 14 , as indicated at step 120 . although the generic algorithm has been described above to be hard - coded in memory device 66 , in an alternate embodiment , the generic algorithm is soft - coded in an alterable memory device , such as memory device 68 . thus , in this embodiment , the generic algorithm can be programmed into the motor control module 10 subsequent to the manufacturing of the motor control module 10 . additionally , by storing the generic algorithm in an alterable memory device , the generic algorithm could be modified using an external programming device , any time it is desirable to do so . in an alternate embodiment , the firing angle solution , or duty cycle solution , described below with reference to fig3 , is determined using at least one look - up table stored in either the alterable or non - alterable memory devices 68 and 66 . that is , look - up table ( s ) are used as transfer functions to control any of the plurality of motors , such as motor 14 , in any one of the plurality of applications . an address , or index , of the look - up table ( s ) is any one of , or any combination of , the dynamicisms suitably scaled or modified to accommodate the range of possible look - up table addresses , i . e . inputs . that is , the dynamicisms are not generally suitable to be used directly as indexes to the look - up table ( s ). the dynamicisms must be adjusted to accommodate the input range of the addresses to the look - up table ( s ). for example , the electronic valve 34 has firing angle range of 0 ° to 180 ° for normal sinusoidal ac power . therefore , the dynamicisms must be modified or scaled to generate firing angle solutions within the range of 0 ° to 180 °. similarly , the motor 14 may have some specified speed range , e . g . 0 to 5000 revolutions per minute ( rpm ). therefore , the dynamicisms must be modified or scaled to generate firing angle solutions that will operate the motor 14 within the specified speed range . thus , the firing angle solution is still determined as a function of the dynamicisms , generally expressed by the equation : for example , on one embodiment , the generic algorithm could be more specifically expressed by the following equation . look - up table address = k n * dynamicism n + k 2 * dynamicism2 + k 1 * dynamicism1 + k 0 ; where k is an offset or constant to bias the firing angle into the correct working range of operation for the particular implementation of the motor 14 . the address generated by the generic algorithm is input to the look - up table ( s ) and thereby utilized to output a corresponding firing angle solution stored in the look - up table ( s ). the content of the look - up table comprises a plurality of predetermined firing angles for the electronic valve 34 . thus , based on the input address , the corresponding firing angle contained in the look - up table is output to control the timing of the electronic valve 34 . the content of the look - up table ( s ) is predetermined based upon empirical data . in a preferred implementation , the empirical data used to determine the content of the look - up table ( s ) is the same data used to determine the generic firing angle control algorithm and all necessary constants c 0 to c n + 2 , as described above . the look - up table ( s ) can be permanently programmed into the non - alterable memory device 66 or the alterable memory device 68 prior to , or subsequent to , the control module 10 being implemented into the specific tool . for example , 130 , or 256 , or 512 firing angle solutions for the electronic valve 34 could be stored in the look - up table ( s ) to be accessed by 130 , or 256 , or 512 addresses , or indexes , computed from the dynamicisms . in a dc implementation wherein the motor 14 is a dc motor , as described below , the look - up table ( s ) are utilized to determine a pulse width modulated ( pwm ) duty cycle , or some other suitable control function for the motor 14 . the address , or index , of the look - up table ( s ), as generated by the generic algorithm , is any one of , or any combination of , the dynamicisms suitably scaled or modified to accommodate the range of possible look - up table addresses , i . e . inputs . for example , the electronic valve 134 ( shown in fig3 ) has a duty cycle of 0 % to 100 for normal dc power . therefore , the dynamicisms must be modified or scaled to generate duty cycle solutions within the range of 0 % to 100 %. similarly , the motor 14 may have some specified speed range , e . g . 0 to 5000 revolutions per minute ( rpm ). therefore , the dynamicisms must be modified or scaled to generate duty cycle solutions that will operate the motor 14 within the specified speed range . thus , the duty cycle solution is also determined as a function of the dynamicisms , generally expressed by the equation : for example , on one embodiment , the generic algorithm could be more specifically expressed by the following equation . look - up table address = k n * dynamicism n + k 2 * dynamicism2 + k 1 * dynamicism1 + k 0 ; where k is an offset or constant to bias the duty cycle into the correct working range of operation for the particular implementation of the motor 14 . the address generated by the generic algorithm is input to the look - up table ( s ) and thereby utilized to output a corresponding duty cycle solution stored in the look - up table ( s ). the content , i . e . output , of the look - up table is the duty cycle solution , or other control function , for the electronic valve 34 . as in the ac implementation , the look - up table ( s ) can be permanently programmed into the non - alterable memory device 66 or the alterable memory device 68 prior to , or subsequent to , the control module 10 being implemented into the specific tool . for example , 130 , or 256 , or 512 duty cycle , or other control function , solutions for the electronic valve 34 could be stored in the look - up table ( s ) to be accessed by 130 , or 256 , or 512 addresses , or indexes , computed from the dynamicisms . the look - up tables can be multidimensional wherein the scaled or modified dynamicisms are used as x - coordinates , i . e . inputs , of a first look - up table and the y - coordinate , i . e . output , of the first look - up table is then used as an x - coordinate , i . e . input , of a second look - up table . the y - coordinate , i . e . output , of the second look - up table then yields the operational timing of the electronic valve 34 , e . g . the firing angle or duty cycle solution . it is envisioned that the use of a look - up table ( s ) as transfer functions could provide greater flexibility , significantly greater speed , and conserve space in the applicable memory device 66 or 68 than the use of the mathematical algorithm described above . more particularly , the computational burden would be removed from the real - time operation of the controller 26 having been transferred to the prior development of look - up table ( s ). the controller 26 need only look - up the correct firing angle or duty cycle , based on one or more of the plurality of dynamicisms , rather than compute the correct firing angle solution every full cycle , or multiple thereof . in another embodiment , non - motor function tool operational parameters , e . g . tool features , can be programmed into the control module 10 using soft - coded coefficients . such tool operational parameters control different tool operating features for different tool applications . for example , the tool operational coefficients can control such tool operating features as ‘ no - volt ’ tool operation , electronic clutch operation , thermal overload protection and brush wear indication . the tool features can be enabled and disabled within the particular tool , via execution of the generic control algorithm incorporating the soft - coded tool operational coefficients or utilizing the look - up table ( s ), as described above . alternatively , the tool features can be enabled and disabled within the particular tool utilizing state diagrams , wherein the tool features can be sequenced between an operational state and a non - operational state depending on conditions defined by soft - coded tool operational coefficients . furthermore , the tool features can be enabled and disabled within the particular tool to control the operation features of the tool without affecting the motor performance , i . e . function , coefficients . the tool operational coefficients can be stored in the alterable memory device 68 or the non - alterable memory device 66 subsequent to the manufacturing of the motor control module 10 and can be either permanently resident within the control module 10 or uploaded as needed . more specifically , the tool operational coefficients can be programmed into the non - alterable memory device 66 prior to the control module 10 being installed into the tool or uploaded to the alterable memory device 68 , via an external communication device , subsequent to the control module 10 being implemented in the tool . the external communication device could be any computer - based device capable of transmitting data , such as a laptop computer , a hand - held computer or any other programming device . fig3 is a simplified circuit diagram of a generic motor control module 100 that is effectively the same as the motor control module 10 , described above , utilized in a dc implementation . for clarity and simplicity , components of the motor control module 100 that are substantially the same as components of the motor control module 10 are identified in fig3 using the reference numerals of fig1 incremented by 100 . the motor control module 100 is connectable to a dc power source 190 , such as a battery , at dc terminals 120 a and 120 b . the control circuit 118 includes a power supply 122 that supplies power to a controller 126 , e . g . a microcontroller . the controller 126 includes a processor 130 , e . g . a microprocessor , programmed to control an electronic valve 134 , such as a bipolar transistor , a field effect transistor ( fet ), an insulated gate bipolar transistor ( igbt ), or various voltage and / or current control devices . to control operation of the motor 114 , the controller 126 controls the amount of current , and therefore voltage , applied to the motor 114 by controlling the operation of the electronic valve 134 . the control circuit 118 additionally includes a shunt resistor 138 . the controller 126 includes an amplifier 156 used to amplify the voltage across the shunt resistor 138 used by the controller 126 to measure the current flowing through the electronic valve 134 and the motor 114 . the control circuit 118 also includes a pair of pull - up resistors 158 and 160 used to condition the voltage input at a ‘ port 1 ’ and a ‘ port 2 ’ of the controller 126 . generally , the motor control module 100 controls the operation of the motor 114 by switching the motor current on and off at periodic intervals , via the controller 126 and control signals applied to a control input 134 a of the electronic valve 134 . these periodic intervals are based on a pulse width modulated ( pwm ) duty cycle calculated by the controller 126 . the duty cycle stipulates the time and duration that the electronic valve 134 is fired , thereby delivering electrical energy to the motor 114 . the motor control module 100 controls the operation of the motor 114 when a motor control switch 164 , e . g . a tool on / off switch , is placed in a closed ( i . e . ‘ on ’) position , thereby allowing current to flow through the motor 114 . although motor control switch 164 is illustrated as being located between the node 120 a and the motor 14 , alternatively , the motor control switch 164 can be located between the node 120 a and the dc power source 190 . to determine the duty cycle , the dynamicisms are measured during operation of the motor 114 . as described above , the dynamicisms include , but are not limited to , such things as a closed loop dial , an open loop dial , an amount of current flowing through the motor 114 during operation , the voltage across the motor 114 during operation , an amount of torque provided by the motor 114 , and a speed of the motor 114 . for example , a first input 158 a could be a closed loop dial signal , or a tachometer signal or any other dynamicism signal . likewise , a second input 158 b could be a motor speed signal , or an open loop dial signal or any other dynamicism signal . dynamicisms include any motor operational value or parameter that has an effect on the calculation of the duty cycle for the electronic valve 134 . as the dynamicisms change during operation , the duty cycle will also change . to generate a timing solution for the electronic valve 134 , i . e . the timing and duration for which the electronic valve 134 is turned on , the processor 130 executes a universal generic control algorithm stored in a functionally non - volatile memory device 166 included in the controller 126 . more specifically , to generate the duty cycle for the electronic valve 134 the processor 130 executes a universal generic duty cycle control algorithm . for example , memory device 166 could be a read only memory ( rom ) device , a flash memory device or a one time programmable ( otp ) device . alternatively , the memory device 166 could be included in the motor control module 100 external to the controller 126 . in one embodiment , the generic duty cycle algorithm is hard - coded in the memory device 166 during manufacturing of the motor control module 100 . that is , the generic algorithm is stored in non - volatile memory device 166 as part of the process for manufacturing the motor control module 100 and can not be altered or modified once it is stored in the memory device 166 . thus , the generic algorithm is applicable to determine a timing solution , i . e . a duty cycle solution , for the electronic valve 134 for any of a plurality of motor applications in which any of a plurality of motors , such as motor 114 , are controlled by the motor control module 100 . more specifically , the generic algorithm determines a duty cycle solution for any motor 114 in which the motor control module 100 is installed , such that the motor 114 operates according to parameters specifically required for the particular motor application . the processor 130 executes the generic algorithm utilizing the dynamicisms as inputs , thereby determining a duty cycle solution specific to the particular motor 114 and the specific motor application . generally , the generic algorithm can be expressed by the following equation : for example , in one embodiment , the generic algorithm could be more specifically expressed by the following equation . duty cycle solution = f ( f ( switch position )+( f ( dial setting 1 )+ f ( dial setting 2 )+ f ( current )+ f ( voltage )+ f ( tachometer )+ . . . f ( dynamicism n )+ k )+ m ; where ‘ switch position ’ refers to the position of the motor control switch 64 , ‘ dial setting 1 ’ refers to closed loop desired speed , ‘ dial setting 2 ’ refers to open loop firing angle clamp , ‘ current ’ refers to the amount of current flowing through the motor 114 , ‘ voltage ’ refers to a voltage value across the motor 114 , and ‘ tachometer ’ refers to a tachometric period or rate of rotational speed of the motor . the motor control switch 164 controls the operational status of the motor 114 . that is , if the motor control switch 164 is in an open position , the motor 114 is in an ‘ off ’ operational status , while if the motor control switch 164 is in a closed position , the motor 114 is in an ‘ on ’ operational status . the controller 126 samples the dynamicisms using appropriate sensors or sensing circuits ( not shown ) for each dynamicism and utilizes the processor 130 to execute the generic algorithm to determine the proper duty cycle solution for the electronic valve 134 . additionally , the generic algorithm utilizes at least one soft - coded function coefficient stored in a non - volatile alterable memory device 168 to determine the duty cycle solution such that the motor 114 functions in accordance with motor operational parameters specific to the particular application of the motor 114 . generally , the motor operational parameters of a given application will require the use of more than one function coefficient in the execution of the generic algorithm . alterable memory device 168 can be any suitable memory device that allows data to be stored , read and altered such as flash memory , erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom ) or electrically erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom ). in one embodiment , the function coefficient ( s ) are stored in the alterable memory device 168 subsequent to the manufacturing of the motor control module 100 and subsequent to the motor control module 100 being implemented in a particular application . an external device ( not shown ) capable of communicating with the controller 126 is used to program ( i . e . store ) the function coefficient ( s ) in the alterable memory device 168 . the external device communicates the function coefficient ( s ) to the alterable memory device 168 over any suitable means for data transmission . for example , the function coefficient ( s ) can be transmitted from the external device to the alterable memory device 168 over battery terminals , e . g . terminals 20 a and 20 b , of the associated power tool . alternatively , the module 100 could be programmed after its manufacture but before being implemented in a particular application . a further derivation of the generic algorithm incorporating the function coefficient ( s ) can be expressed by summing the products of the dynamicism ( s ) and associated function coefficient ( s ), as illustrated by the following equation . firing angle solution = f (( switch position * c 0 )+(( dial setting 1 * c 1 )+( dial setting 2 * c 2 )+( current * c 3 )+( voltage * c 4 )+( tachometer * c 5 )+ . . . ( dynamicism n * c n )+ c n + 1 )+ c n + 2 ); where the value for ‘ switch position ’ equals one ( 1 ) if the motor control switch 64 is in a closed ( i . e . ‘ on ’) position and zero ( 0 ) if the motor control switch 64 is in an open ( i . e . ‘ off ’) position . additionally , c 0 , c 1 , c 2 , c 3 , c 4 , c 5 . . . c n , c n + 1 , c n + 2 are function coefficients specific to a particular application of the motor 114 , so that the motor 114 operates in accordance with desired motor operational parameters of the particular application . thus , the processor 130 executes the generic algorithm , implementing the function coefficient ( s ) stored in alterable memory device 168 , as a constant value ( s ) in the algorithm , and utilizing the dynamicism ( s ) as an input variable ( s ) to determine the duty cycle solution for the electronic valve 134 . since the dynamicism ( s ) is a variable , the calculated duty cycle solution will change during operation of the motor 114 due to variations in load requirements for the motor 114 and changes in function settings of the device in which the motor 114 is installed . for example , if the load requirement of the motor 114 changes during operation , the dynamicism for the current and / or the voltage being used by the motor 114 will change leading to a change in the duty cycle solution to compensate for the change in power needed by the motor 114 . additionally , if a user changes the speed setting on a power drill , the associated dynamicism ( s ) will change , thereby altering the duty cycle solution generated by the generic algorithm . although , in the various embodiments described herein , the motor control module 100 has been described to execute the generic algorithms shown above , it should be appreciated that the particular algorithm described is exemplary only . as such the description of the exemplary algorithm does not exhaust all possible algorithms for use in implementing the motor control module 100 , in accordance with the present disclosure . accordingly , changes in the algorithm described above may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the disclosure . for example , the generic algorithm could utilize a look - up table as a transfer function to generate duty cycle solutions , as described above . additionally , although the dc implementation of the control module 118 has been described above utilizing a pwm duty cycle to determine the timing of the electronic valve 134 , it should be understood that any suitable discrete control function could be utilized and remain with the scope of the disclosure . additionally , although various embodiments described herein disclose a controller , e . g . a microcontroller , implementation of the motor control module 10 , it should be understood that the motor control module 10 may also utilize other forms of digital circuitry . that is , the control circuit 18 of the motor control module 10 can include any electrical and semiconductor devices suitable to sample the dynamicism ( s ) and execute the generic algorithm , as described above . for example , control circuit 18 could be a discrete digital logic integrated circuit , or an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), or a combination of digital and analog circuitry , or any combination thereof . fig4 is flow chart 200 illustrating the general operation of the motor control module 100 ( shown in fig2 ), in accordance with one preferred dc embodiment of the present disclosure . in a practical application of the motor control module 100 , the controller 126 utilizes the processor 130 to sample any one , or all , dynamicism ( s ), as indicated at step 204 . the processor 130 then retrieves the soft - coded function coefficient ( s ) from the alterable memory device 168 , as indicated at step 108 . after retrieving the function coefficient ( s ), the processor 130 executes the generic algorithm , incorporating the dynamicism ( s ) and the function coefficient ( s ), to determine the duty cycle solution for the electronic valve 134 , as indicated at step 112 . the processor 130 then fires the electronic valve 134 in accordance with the duty cycle solution , thereby operating the motor 114 in accordance with motor operational parameters of the specific application of the motor 114 , as indicated at step 116 . while the disclosure has been described in terms of various specific embodiments , those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the claims .	7
the diazo resin in the present invention is that in which a quaternary ammonium salt is introduced into a resin skeleton . the diazo resin is obtained by polycondensating an aromatic diazonium compound with a quaternary ammonium salt - containing aromatic compound , using an active carbonyl compound , and / or at least one compound of the general formula : wherein k is an integer of 1 to 4 , r 9 is a residue produced by the splitting off of hydrogen atoms from a diphenyl ether , diphenyl methane , piperazine , acyclic or aromatic compond , r 10 is an alkyl group with 1 to 4 carbon atoms , said condensation product containing , on the average , 0 . 25 to 0 . 75 unit derived from r 9 (-- ch 2 -- or 10 ) k per diazo group . the aromatic diazonium compound used in the present invention is not specifically limited , and examples thereof include 4 - diazo - 4 &# 39 ;- methoxydiphenylamine hexafluorophosphate , 4 - diazo - 4 &# 39 ;- methoxydiphenylamine hydrogensulfate , 4 - diazo - 4 &# 39 ;- ethoxydiphenylamine hexafluorophosphate , 4 - diazo - 4 &# 39 ;- propoxydiphenylamine tetrafluoroborate , 4 - diazo - 3 - methoxydiphenylamine hexafluoroborate , 4 - diazo - 3 - diphenylamine tetrafluoroborate , 4 - diazo - diphenylamine hexafluorophosphate , 4 - diazodiphenylamine hydrogensulfate and the like . particularly preferred aromatic diazonium compounds are 4 - diazo - 4 &# 39 ;- methoxydiphenylamine salt , 4 - diazo - 4 &# 39 ;- ethoxydiphenylamine salt , 4 - diazo - 3 - methoxydiphenylamine salt , a salt of 4 - diazo - diphenylamine with hydrogensulfate and the like . as the quaternary ammonium salt - containing aromatic compound used in the diazo resin of the present invention , for example , there are n - methylanilinium trifluoroacetate , 2 - phenacyl - 2 - thiopseudourea hydrochloride , benzyldimethylammonium hexafluoroarsenate , phenyltrimethylammonium bromide , phenyltrimethylammonium tribromide , phenyltrimethylammonium hexafluorophosphate , benzyldimethylammonium hexafluorophosphate , benzyltrimethylammonium tribromide , benzyltrimethylammonium chloride , benzyltrimethylammonium dichloroiodide , benzyltrimethylammonium hydrogendifluoride , phenyltrimethylammonium mesosulfate , ( β - chlorocinnamylidene ) dimethylammonium perchlorate , benzoylcholine chloride , ( 2 - benzoylethyl ) trimethylammonium iodide , benzyltrimethylammonium methylcarbonate , benzyltriethylammonium tetrafluoroborate , benzyltriethylammonium chloride monohydrate , diethylmethyl ( 2 -( 3 - methyl - 2 - phenylyaleryloxy ) ethyl ) ammonium bromide , diethylmethyl ( 2 -( 1 - phenyl - 2 - propionyloxy ) ethylthio ) ethyl ) ammonium methylsulfate , benzyltributylammonium bromide , benzyltributylammonium chloride , benzyltributylammonium iodide , ( 2 -( 2 - butyloxy - 1 - phenylethylthio )- ethyl ) diethylmethylammonium methylsulfate , benzyldimethyldodecylammonium bromide , domiphen bromide , (-) - n - dodecyl - n - methylephedrinium bromide , benzyldimethyltetradodecylammonium chloride dihydrate , benzyldimethyl ( 2 - dodecyloxyethyl ) ammonium chloride , benzyldimethyl ( tetradodecylcarbamoylmethyl ) ammonium chloride , benzyldimethylhexadecylammonium bromide , benzylbis ( 2 - hydroxyethyl )( 2 - dodecyloxyethyl ) ammonium bromide , benzylcetyldimethylammonium chloride monohydrate , benzylbis ( 2 - hydroxyethyl )( 2 - dodecyloxyethyl ) ammonium chloride , benzyldimethyl ( hexadecylcarbamoylmethyl ) ammonium chloride , benzyldimethylstearylammonium chloride monohydrate , benzyldimethylhexadecylammonium dichromate , benzalkonium chloride and the like . particularly , a quaternary ammonium salt - containing aromatic compound such as benzyltrimethylammonium chloride , phenyltrimethylammonium bromide , benzoylcholine chloride , benzyltriethylammonium chloride , benzyltributylammonium chloride , benzyldimethyldodecylammonium chloride , benzyldimethylhexadecylammonium chloride and the like is preferred . further , a tertiary amino group - containing compound which functions as a compound forming a quaternary ammonium salt - containing group may also be added to the reaction system . examples of the tertiary amino group - containing organic compound include 1 - methyl - 1 - phenyl - 2 - thiourea , n , n - dimethyl - n &# 39 ;- phenylformamidine , n , n - dimethylbenzylamine , n , n - dimethylbenzylamine - n - oxide , n - ethyl - n - phenylglycinonitrile , n - allyl - n - methylaniline , n - allyloxy - n - methylaniline , 2 -( n -( 2 - bromoethyl ) anilino ) ethanol , n -( 2 - chloromethyl )- n - methylbenzylamine hydrochloride , 3 - benzyl - 1 , 1 &# 39 ;- dimethyl - 2 - thiourea , ( s )-(-)- n , n &# 39 ;- dimethyl - 1 - phenethylamine , ( r )-(+)- n , n - dimethyl - 1 - phenethylamine , n - benzyl - n - methylethanolamine , 3 -( n - methylanilino )- 1 - propanesulfonic acid , n , n - dimethylanilinechrominiumtricarbonyl , n -( 2 - cyanoethyl ) - n - phenylglycine , n - methyl - n - propagylbenzylamine hydrochloride , n - methyl - n - propalgylbenzylamine , 3 - dimethylamino - 1 - phenyl - 2 - propan - 1 - one , n - benzyliminodiacetic acid , 3 -( n - ethylanilino )- propionitrile , n - allyl - n - methylbenzylamine , n , n - dimethyl - 3 - phenyl - 2 - propaneamine hydrochloride , 3 - dimethylaminopropiophenone hydrochloride , n , n - dimethyl - l - phenylalanine , n -( 2 - chloroethyl )- n - ethylbenzylamine hydrochloride , n -( 3 - chloropropyl )- n - methylbenzylamine hydrochloride , 2 - dimethylaminoethyl - n - phenylcarbamate , ( 1r , 2s )-(-)- n - methylephedrine , ( 1s , 2r )-(-) - n - methylephedrine , ( 1r , 2r )-(+)- n - methylpseudoephedrine , ( 1s , 2s )-(+)- n - methylpseudoephedrine , 3 -( n - benzyl - n - methylamino )- 1 - propanol , (+)- 3 -( dimethylamino )- 1 - phenylpropanol , 3 -( n - benzyl - n - methylamino )- 1 , 2 - propanediol , 2 , 2 &# 39 ;-( benzylimino )- diethanol , n - methyl - 1 - phenyl - 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- iminodietanol , ( 1s , 2s )- 2 -( dimethylamino )- 1 - phenyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol , 2 , 2 &# 39 ;-( benzylimino )- diethanol - n - oxide , 2 -( n - benzyl - n - ethylamino )- ethanethiol , n &# 39 ;- benzyl - n , n &# 39 ;- dimethylethylenediamine , n - benzyl - n , n &# 39 ;- dimethylethylenediamine , 3 , 3 &# 39 ;-( phenylimino ) dipropionitrile , n - benzyl - n -( 2 - chloroethyl ) propagylamine hydrochloride , α -( 2 - dimethylaminoethyl )- benzylcyanide , 3 - dimethylamino - 2 - methylpropiophenone hydrochloride , 3 - dimethylamino - 2 - metylpropiophenone , 2 -( n - ethylanilino )- ethylacetate , 1 - dimethylamino - 2 - propylbenzoate hydrochloride , 2 - chloro - n , 1 &# 39 ;- dimethyl - 2 &# 39 ;- phenoxydiethylamine hydrochloride , n -( 2 - chloroethyl )- n -( 2 - methoxyethyl )- benzylamine hydrochloride , n , n - di - n - propylaniline , diethyl ( 1 - phenylethyl ) aminepicrate , 2 -( diethylamino )- 1 - phenyletanol , β -( phenoxy ) triethylamine , β -( 2 - dimethylaminoethylthio )- phenethylalcohol , 1 -( 3 - dimethylamino )- propyl )- 3 - phenylurea , 3 -( n - butylanilino )- propionitrile , 2 -( dimethylaminoethyl ) butylophenone hydrochloride , n - benzyl - n -( 2 - dimethylaminoethyl )- acetoamide , 2 -( dietylamino ) ethyl - n - phenylcarbamate , 2 -( diethylamino ) ethyl - n - phenylcarbamate hydrochloride , n - benzyl - n -( trimethylsilylmethyl ) aminoacetonitrile , α -(( diethylamino ) methyl ) phenethylalcohol , 1 -( diethylamino )- 3 -( phenylthio )- 2 - propanol , n &# 39 ;- benzyl - n , n - diethylethylenediamine , 1 -( 2 -( n - ethylanilino )- ethylamino )- isopropylphosphinic acid , 3 -( n - ethyl - n - methylamino )- n -( 2 - phenoxyethyl )- propionamide , β -( 2 -( diethylamino )- ethylthio ) phenethylalcohol , α -( 2 -( diethylamino )- ethylthiomethyl )- benzylalcohol , 2 -( 2 -( diethylamino ) ethylthio )- 1 - phenylethanol , 2 -( 2 -( diethylamino ) ethoxy )- 1 - phenylethanol , n , n - bis -( 2 - ethylthio ) ethylaniline , n &# 39 ;- benzyl - n , n &# 39 ;- diethyl - 1 , 3 - propanediamine , 2 , 2 , 2 - trichloroethyl - 3 -( n -( 2 - propinyl ) - benzylamino )- propionate , n - benzyl - n -( 3 - cyanopropyl ) - glycineethyl ester , dimethyl - 3 , 3 &# 39 ;-( benzylimino ) dipropionate , 2 -( 2 ( dimethylamino ) ethyl )- 2 -( 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl )- 2 - phenylacetonitrile , 4 - dimethylamino - 2 -( 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl ) 2 phenylbutylonitrile hydrochloride , 2 - diethylamino - n -( α - methylphenethyl ) acetoamide , n - benzyl - 3 -( n - butyl - n - methylamino )- propionamide , 2 -( 3 -( diethylamino ) propylthio )- 1 - phenylethanol , 2 -( diethylamino )- ethyl - 2 - phenylbutylate citrate , ethyl - α -( 2 -( diethylamino )- ethylthio )- phenylacetate citrate , 2 - diethylamino - n - methyl - n -( α - methylphenethyl ) acetamide , n , n - bis ( 2 - carbetoxyethyl ) benzylamine , n -( 2 - carbetoxyethyl )- n -( 2 - carbetoxypropyl ) benzylamine , n - octyl - n -( 3 - sulfopropyl ) aniline , diethyl - 3 , 3 &# 39 ;-( phenethylimino ) dipropionate , 2 -( 2 -( diethylamino )- ethyl )- 3 - methyl - 2 - phenylvaleronitrile , 2 -( diethylamino )- ethyl - 2 - phenylhexanoate hydrochloride , 1 -( 3 -( dibutylamino ) propyl )- 3 - phenyl - 2 - thiourea , 2 - diethylamino - n - methyl - n -( 2 - methyl - 1 - phenylbutyl )- acetamide hydrochloride , 3 -( diethylamino ) propyl - 3 - methyl - 2 - phenylvalerate hydrochloride , 2 - diethylamino - n - methyl - n -( 3 - methyl - 2 - phenylpentyl )- acetamide hydrochloride , diethyl ( 2 -( n - benzyl - n - methyamino )- ethyl )( 2 -( methylthio )- ethyl )- malonate hydrochloride , 2 -( 2 - diethylaminoethoxy )- ethyl - 2 - ethyl - 2 - phenylbutyrate citrate , n - ethyl - n - phenyldodecylamine , n - phenylhexadecylamine , ethyl - 4 -(( n - dodecyl ) anilino ) butyrate , n - hexadecyl - n - methylthiobenzamide , n -( 2 -( n - hexadecylanilino )- ethyl )- methanesulfonamide , dimethylaminonaphthalene and the like . particularly , a tertiary amino group - containing organic compound such as n , n - dimethylbenzylamine , n - benzyl - n - methylethanolamine , n - benzyliminodiacetic acid , n - aryl - n - methylbenzylamine , 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- benzyliminodiethanol , n - diethylamino - 1 - phenylethanol , β - phenoxytriethylamine , 1 - diethylamino 3 - phenylthio - 2 - propanol and the like is preferred . as the active carbonyl compound which is used as the crosslinking agent for polycondensation reaction in the present invention , for example , there are aldehydes ( e . g . paraformaldehyde , formaldehyde , acetoaldehyde , butylaldehyde , benzaldehyde , etc . ), ketones ( e . g . acetone , acetophenone , etc . ), vinyl compounds , vinyl ester compounds , vinyl ether compounds and sulfur derivatives thereof . the reaction for preparing the diazo resin of the present invention is well known in the art . for example , it may be conducted according to a method described in photo . sci . eng ., vol . 17 , pages 33 ( 1973 ), or a method described in british patent no . 1312725 . in that case , an aromatic diazonium compound , a quaternary ammonium salt - containing aromatic compound and an active carbonyl compound are subjected to a polycondensation reaction in sulfuric acid , phosphoric acid , hydrochloric acid or methanesulfonic acid at 5 ° to 70 ° c . for 30 minutes to 72 hours under a normal pressure to obtain a diazo resin . the ratio of the aromatic diazonium compound to the quaternary ammonium salt - containing aromatic compound is 30 to 99 / 1 to 70 , preferably 50 to 95 / 5 to 50 . the molecular weight of the resulting diazo resin can be adjusted by changing the ratio of the total molar number of the aromatic diazonium compound and the quaternary ammonium salt - containing aromatic compound to that of the active carbonyl compound to be added , a reaction temperature and a reaction time . normally , the ratio of the aromatic diazonium compound and the quaternary ammonium salt - containing aromatic compound to the active carbonyl compound is 0 . 6 to 1 . 5 / 1 , preferably 0 . 7 to 1 . 4 / 1 . a weight - average molecular weight of the diazo resin thus obtained is 400 to 50 , 000 , preferably 600 to 20 , 000 , more preferably 800 to 4 , 500 . the diazonium group in the diazo resin of the present invention can optionally take the salt form by exchanging with various counter anions . the exchange reaction can be conducted by adding the counter anion to the diazo resin . the diazonium group may be converted into a double salt of a hydrogen sulfate with a zinc chloride , or it may be converted into a salt by exchanging with the other anion . when a water - soluble diazo resin is required , it is preferably to converted into a double salt , hydrogen sulfate , methanesulfonate or phosphate . the amount of the counter anion varies depending upon a kind of the counter anion and an equivalent of the diazo group of the diazo resin . generally , the molar ratio of the diazo group to the counter anion group is preferably 100 / 50 to 120 , more preferably 100 / 70 to 110 . as the counter anion , for example , organic acid or salt thereof , inorganic acid , other compounds and the like may be used . examples of the organic acid or salt thereof which can be used as the counter anion include an organic acid or salt thereof containing a skeleton described in the following item ( i ) or an acid group described in the following item ( ii ): ( i ) aromatic skeltons ( e . g . benzene , toluene , naphthalene , etc .) and aliphatic skeltones ( e . g . polymer described in japanese patent no . 5700542 , sulfonated polymer , etc . ); ( ii ) acid groups ( e . g . carboxylic acid , decanoic acid , phophonic acid , phosphinic acid , phenylphospholic acid , sulfonic acid , etc .). examples thereof include paratoluenesulfonic acid , mesitylenesulfonic acid , naphthalenesulfonic acid , dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid and a salt thereof . as the inorganic acid used as the counter anion , for example , there are halogenated lewise acid ( e . g . pf 6 , bf 4 , etc . ), perhalogen acid ( e . g . clo 4 , io 4 , etc .) and the like . further , a hydroxyl group - containing aromatic compound ( e . g . phenolic acid , etc .) and a polymer containing a carboxyl group or an anhydride group may also be used as the counter anion . examples of the preferred counter anion include p - toluenesulfonic acid , mesitylenesulfonic acid , dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid , 2 - methoxy - 4 - hydroxybenzophenone - 5 - sulfonic acid , pf 6 , bf 4 , sb 6 and the like . the diazo resin of the present invention per se can be polymerized by subjecting to a polymerization reaction upon irradiation , which results in formation of an image . however , from a viewpoint of cost , physical properties of film , workability , etc ., it is preferred to use the diazo resin as a photosensitive resin composition in combination with a binder resin having excellent solvent - developability , which forms a matrix of a printing plate . for example , by using the diazo resin of the present invention in combination with a water - soluble resin ( e . g . pva , etc . ), a water - developable photosensitive composition is prepared . such a binder resin may have a reactivity with the diazo resin of the present invention . as the binder resin used in the photosensitive resin composition , for example , there are acrylic resin , polyester resin , alkyd resin , phenol resin , epoxy resin , polyvinyl resin , polyurethane resin , polyether resin , polyamide resin and a modified resin thereof . the resin having a dissolution and disperson property to water or alkali solution is preferred , and an alkali solution - soluble acrylic resin and phenol resin are particularly preferred . at least two sorts of binder resins may be used in combination . as the preferred alkali solution - soluble acrylic resin , for example , there is an acrylic resin having an acid value of 10 to 150 , a hydroxyl group value of 1 to 250 and a molecular weight of 2 , 000 to 500 , 000 , more preferably an acrylic resin having an acid value of 10 to 40 , a hydroxyl group value of 40 to 200 and a molecular weight of 5 , 000 to 40 , 000 . the resin per se may have photosensitivity . the acrylic resins is an acrylic polymers which is normally used in a paint industry . further , the acrylic resin is obtained by polymerizing an ester monomer of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid alone , or copolymerizing the ester monomer with the other ethylenically unsaturated monomer . such a polymerization operation is conducted by a method well known in the art . in japanese patent application no . 3 - 20919 , there are described a polymerization initiator , a solvent and reaction conditions which can be used for polymerization . monomers which can be used for preparing a preferred acrylic resin are as follows : ( i ) acidic group - containing monomers ( e . g . acrylic acid , methacrylic acid , crotonic acid , itaconic acid , maleic acid , anhydrous maleic acid , fumaric acid , sodium vinylsulfonate , styrene - p - sodium sulfonate , 2 - acrylamide - 2 - methylpropanesulfonic acid , 2 - amidephosphoxyethyl methacrylate , etc . ); ( ii ) hydroxyl group - containing monomers ( e . g . 2 - hydroxyethyl acrylate , hydroxypropyl acrylate , 2 - hydroxyethyl methacrylate , hydroxypropyl methacrylate , hydroxybutyl acrylate , hydroxybutyl methacrylate , allyl alcohol , metaallyl alcohol , n -( 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) acrylamide or n -( 4 hydroxyphenyl ) methacrylamide , o -, m - or p - hydroxystyrene , o -, m - or p - hydroxyphenyl acrylate or methacrylate , etc . ; ( iii ) alkyl acrylates or methacrylates ( e . g . methyl ( meth ) acrylate , ethyl ( meth ) acrylate , n - butyl ( meth ) acrylate , propyl ( meth ) acrylate , acyl ( meth ) acrylate , cyclohexyl ( meth ) acrylate , octyl acrylate , 2 - chloroethyl acrylate , etc . ; ( iv ) polymerizable amides such as acrylamides or methacrylamides ( e . g . acrylamide , methacrylamide , n - methylolacrylamide , n - methylolmethacrylamide , n - ethylacrylamide , n - hexylacrylamide , n - cyclohexylacrylamide , n - hydroxyethylacrylamide , n - phenylacrylamide , n - nitrophenylacrylamide , n - ethyl - n - phenylacrylamide , etc . ); ( v ) nitrogen - containing alkyl acrylates or methacrylates ( e . g . dimethylaminoethyl acrylate , dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate , etc . ); ( vi ) vinyl ethers ( e . g . ethyl vinyl ether , 2 - chloroethyl vinyl ether , hydroxyethyl vinyl ether , propyl vinyl ether , butyl vinyl ether , octyl vinyl ether , phenyl vinyl ether , etc . ; ( xv ) compounds obtained by reacting the above monomers with compounds having a functional group which is chemically reactive with the monomers ( e . g . reaction produced monomer of a hydroxyl group - containing monomer ( ii ) with an isocyanate compound , reaction produced monomer of a carboxyl group - containing monomer ( i ) with a glycidyl group - containing compound , etc .). in the present invention , examples of the other preferred binder resin which is formulated together with the diazo resin include an alkali - soluble novolak resin . examples thereof include phenol - formaldehyde resin , cresol - formaldehyde resin , p - t - butyl phenol - formaldehyde resin , phenol - modified xylene resin , phenol - modified xylene mesitylene resin and the like . examples of the other useful alkali - soluble resin include copolymers of polyhydroxystyrene , polyhalogenated hydroxystyrene and ( meth ) acrylic acid with the other vinyl compounds ( e . g . methyl methacrylate , etc .). further , if necessary , polyvinyl butyral resin , poluurethane resin , polyamide resin , polystyrene - maleic acid resin , epoxy resin , natural resin and modified resin or water - solubilized modified resin thereof may be used . the photosensitive composition of the present invention is prepared by formulating a diazo resin in an amount of 5 to 30 parts by weight , preferably 6 to 20 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the binder resin . when the amount of the diazo resin is smaller than 5 parts by weight , resolution of the resulting photosensitive plate and durability of the printing plate are lowered . when the amount of the diazo resin exceeds 30 parts by weight , sensitivity of the photosensitive composition and developability of the photosensitive plate are lowered . the photosensitive resin composition of the present invention further contains image colorants such as dyes pigments and the like . the image colorant is formulated so as to improve image distinguishability and handling characteristic of the printing plate , and a basic dye and an oil - soluble dye are preferred . examples thereof include basic dyes such as victoria pure blue boh , victoria blue bh , methyl violet , aizen malachite green ( hereinabove , manufactured by hodagaya chemical k . k . ), patent pure blue vx , rhodamine b , methylene blue ( hereinabove , manufactured by sumitomo chemical industries k . k . ), etc . and oil - soluble dyes such as sudan blue ii , victoria blue f4r ( hereinabove , manufactured by b . a . s . f . ), oil blue # 603 , oil blue bos , oil blue iin ( hereinabove , manufactured by orient chemical industries k . k . ), etc . the colarant is contained in the photosensitive composition of the present invention in an amount of 0 . 1 to 5 parts by weight , preferably 0 . 2 to 4 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the binder resin . when the amount of the colorant is smaller than 0 . 1 parts by weight , visibility of the image area is not obtained . when the amount of the colorant exceeds 5 parts by weight , sensitivity of the photosensitive composition of the present invention is lowered and , therefore , resolution of the resulting photosensitive plate is lowered . the photosensitive resin composition of the present invention may further contain additives , if necessary , such as solvents , fillers , pigments , photo - degradatable acid generators , surfactants for improving application property , anti - foaming agents and organic or inorganic fillers . as the organic filler , for example , microgel ( particle size of 0 . 01 to 5 μm ) of which inside is gelatinized is preferred , and examples thereof are disclosed in japanese patent application no . 3 - 36029 . by using the photosensitive resin composition of the present invention , a photosensitive plate for lithographic printing is made by a normal method . for example , the photosensitive resin composition of the present invention may be coated on a suitable substrate . examples of the substrate include paper , paper on which a plastic ( e . g . polyethylene , polypropylene , polystyrene , etc .) is laminated , aluminum ( containing aluminum alloy ), plate of metals ( e . g . zinc , copper , etc . ), plastic film ( e . g . cellulose diacetate , cellulose triacetate , cellulose propionate , cellulose acetate , cellulose methyl acetate , cellulose ethyl acetate , cellulose nitrate , polyethylene terephthalate , polyethylene , polystyrene , polypropylene , polycarbonate , polyvinyl acetal , etc . ), paper or plastic film on which the above metal is laminated or deposited and the like . among these substrates , an aluminum plate has excellent dimensional stability and is comparatively lightweight and inexpensive , and it is preferred . a composite sheet wherein an aluminum sheet is bound to a polyethylene terephthalate film as described in japanese patent kokoku no . 48 - 18327 is also preferred . it is preferred that the substrate having the surface of metal , particularly aluminum is subjected to a hydrophilization treatment . the method of coating is not specifically limited , for example , coating is conducted using a bar coater , followed by drying at 40 ° to 80 ° c . for 1 to 10 minutes . the amount of coating after drying is about 0 . 5 to 2 . 5 g / m 2 . if necessary , the resin which is soluble in an alkali developer ( e . g . polyvinyl alcohol , hydroxylpropyl methylcellulose , etc .) can be further coated , followed by drying to provide an overcoat layer . the dried coat thus obtained is covered with a negative or positive film , exposed to light and then developed according to a normal method to obtain a lithographic printing plate . as the light source used for exposure , for example , there are carbon - arc lamp , mercury vapour lamp , xenon lamp , metal halide lamp , tangusten light , ultraviolet rays , ultraviolet - laser rays , visible - laser rays and the like . it is preferred that developing is conducted using an alkali developer . as the alkalinizing agent formulated in the alkali developer , for example , there are inorganic alkalinizing agents ( e . g . sodium silicate , potassium silicate , potassium hydroxide , sodium hydroxide , lithium hydroxide , sodium tertiary phosphate , sodium secondary phosphate , ammonium tertiary phosphate , ammonium secondary phosphate , sodium metasilicate , sodium bicarbonate , ammonia , etc .) and organic amine compounds ( e . g . monomethylamine , dimethylamine , trimethylamine , monoethylamine , diethylamine , triethylamine , monoisopropylamine , n - butylamines , monoethanolamine , diethanolamine , triethanolamine , monoisopropanolamine , disopropanolamine , triisopropanolamine , ethyleneimine , ethylenediamine , pyridine , etc .) as the solvent for the alkalinizing agent , for example , there can be used water ( particularly , deionized water ) and the like . if necessary , benzyl alcohol , phenyl cellosolve , ethyl cellosolve and the like are further used . the concentration of the alkalinizing agent may be appropriately selected . the dizao resin of the present invention has remarkably high sensitivity and crosslinkability with the binder resin formulated and the mechanism related to such high reactivity of the present diazo resin is not known for certain , but it is considered that a quaternary ammonium group acts as amine and attributes to decomposition of a diazo group and reaction of a generated radical , whereby , crosslinkability of the diazo resin with the binder resin is remarkably enhanced . further , it is considered that the diazo resin containing a salt comprising the quaternary ammonium group and a counter cation in a skeletone of the present invention has a surplus counter anion and , therefore , stability of the resin is increased . the effect of the quaternary ammonium base is not sufficiently obtained by merely adding a quaternaly ammonium group - containing compound to a conventional diazo resin and no remarkable effect can be obtained without introducing the quaternaly ammonium group in the skeleton of the diazo resin . as described above , by introducing a quaternary ammonium group into a skeleton of a diazo resin , a novel diazo resin for lithographic printing having excellent sensitivity and stability , of which range of dissolution to organic solvento is wide . thereby , a printing plate having excellent resolution , storage stability , developability and durability can be provided and , at the same time , a photosensitive plate and a photosensitive resin composition for lithographic printing wherein the amount of an aromatic diazonium compound to be used is reduced can be provided . the following examples and comparative examples further illustrate the present invention in detail but are not to be construed to limit the scope thereof . in the examples and comparative examples , all &# 34 ; parts &# 34 ; are by weight unless otherwise stated . in examples 1 to 6 , preparation of a diazo resin will be explained . 4 - diazo - diphenylamine sulfate ( 16 . 6 parts , 0 . 057 moles ) and benzyltrimethylammonium chloride ( 8 . 1 parts , 0 . 043 moles ) were dissolved in concentrated sulfuric acid ( 100 parts ) under ice cooling . to the reaction solution was slowly added paraformaldehyde ( 3 parts , 0 . 1 moles ) and the reaction temperature was maintained at 10 ° c . or less . after the reaction was conducted for 2 hours , the reaction mixture was poured into ethanol ( 1 liter ) under ice cooling and the precipitate formed was filtered off . the precipitate was completely washed with ethanol and dissolved in deionized water ( 200 ml ). by adding an aqueous solution containing zinc chloride ( 13 . 6 parts ) to the resulting aqueous solution , a precipitate was formed . the precipitate was filtered off , washed with ethanol and dried to obtain a diazo resin 1 . the resulting diazo resin 1 was dissolved again in deionized water ( 200 ml ), and to the aqueous solution was added an aqueous solution containing sodium hexafluorophosphate ( 16 . 8 parts ) to conduct the anion exchange reaction . the resulting precipitate was filtered off , washed with deionized water and dried at room temperature for 24 hours to obtain a diazo resin 2 . the molecular weight of the diazo resin was measured by gpc . as a result , the weight - average molecular weight was 2400 . the organic solvent - solubility of the diazo resin 2 was evaluated . as a result , it was completely dissolved in dmf , methyl cellosolve and methoxypropanol . according to the same manner as that described in example 1 except that 4 - diazo - 4 &# 39 ;- methoxyphenylamine sulfate ( 18 . 5 parts , 0 . 057 moles ) was used in place of 4 - diazo - diphenylamine sulfate , benzoylcholine chloride ( 10 . 5 parts . 0 . 043 moles ) was used in place of benzyltrimethylammonium chloride , paraformaldehide ( 2 . 7 parts , 0 . 09 moles ) was used and paratoluenesulfonic acid was used in place of sodium hexafluorophospahte , a dizao resin 3 was obtained . the weight - average molecular weight of the diazo resin 3 was 1800 . the organic solvent - solubility of the diazo resin 3 was evaluated . as a result , it was completely dissolved in dmf , methyl cellosolve and methoxypropanol . according to the same manner as that described in example 1 except that 4 - diazo - 4 &# 39 ;- diphenylamine sulfate ( 23 . 3 parts , 0 . 08 moles ) was used , domiphen bromide ( 8 . 0 parts , 0 . 02 moles ) was used in place of benzyltrimethylammonium chloride , acetoaldehide ( 4 . 4 parts , 0 . 1 moles ) was used in place of paraformaldehide and 2 - methoxy - 4 - hydroxy - 5 - benzoylbenzenesulfonic acid was used in place of sodium hexafluorophosphate , a dizao resin 4 was obtained . the weight - average molecular weight of the diazo resin 4 was 3600 . the organic solvent - solubility of the diazo resin 4 was evaluated . as a result , it was completely dissolved in dmf , methyl cellosolve and methoxypropanol . according to the same manner as that described in example 1 except that phenyltrimethylammonium bromide ( 9 . 3 parts , 0 . 043 moles ) was used in place of benzyltrimethhylammonium chloride and potassium hexafluorophosphate was used in place of sodium hexafluorophosphate , a diazo resin 5 was obtained . the weight - average molecular weight of the diazo resin 5 was 2700 . the organic solvent - solubility of the diazo resin 5 was evaluated . as a result , it was completely dissolved in dmf , methyl cellosolve and methoxypropanol . according to the same manner as that described in example 1 except that benzyltributylammonium bromide ( 15 . 3 parts , 0 . 043 moles ) was used in place of benzyltrimethylammonium chlorideammonium chloride , a dizao resin 6 was obtained . the weight - average molecular weight of the diazo resin 6 was 2400 . the organic solvent - solubility of the diazo resin 6 was evaluated . as a result , it was completely dissolved in dmf , methyl cellosolve and methoxypropanol . according to the same manner as that described in example 1 except that β -( phenoxy )- triethylamine ( 8 . 3 parts , 0 . 043 moles ) was used in place of benzyltrimethylammonium chloride , a dizao resin 7 was obtained . the weight - average molecular weight of the diazo resin 7 was 3100 . the organic solvent - solubility of the diazo resin 7 was evaluated . as a result , it was completely dissolved in - dmf , methyl cellosolve and methoxypropanol . according to the same manner as that described in example 1 except that 4 - diazo - diphenylamine sulfate ( 29 . 1 parts , 0 . 1 moles ) was used in place of benzyltrimethylammonium chloride , a dizao resin 8 was obtained . the weight - average molecular weight of the diazo resin 8 was 2400 . the organic solvent - solubility of the diazo resin 8 was evaluated . as a result , it was dissolved in dmf but was not dissolved in methyl cellosolve and methoxypropanol . in examples 7 to 9 , preparation of a printing plate using the diazo resin of the present invention will be explained . by using the diazo resin prepared in example 1 , a photosensitive composition of a formulation shown in table 1 was prepared . table 1______________________________________ ( formulation ) component amount ( parts ) ______________________________________polyvinyl alcohol . sup . 1 ) 8 . 8diazo resin 1 1 . 2deionized water 100______________________________________ . sup . 1 ) polyvinyl alcohol having a molecular weight of 20 , 0000 , a part of which is modified with sulfonic acid a photosensitive composition obtained by sufficiently mixing was coated on a roughened aluminum plate such that the coating weight became 4 g / m 2 after dring at 70 ° c . for 10 minutes to obtain a negative type photosensitive plate for lithographic printing . then , this photosensitive plate was exposed with a high pressure mercury vapour lamp through a negative film and developed with deionized water to obtain a printing plate . by using the diazo resin 2 prepared in example 1 , a photosensitive composition of a formulation shown in table 2 was prepared . table 2______________________________________ ( formulation ) component amount ( parts ) ______________________________________alkali - soluble acrylic resin 1 . sup . 1 ) 9 . 2diazo resin prepared in example 1 0 . 8victoria pure blue boh 0 . 25methoxypropanol 40 . 00dimethylformamide 49 . 75______________________________________ . sup . 1 ) acrylic resin having a molecular weight of 25 , 0000 prepared using 100 parts of 2hydroxyethyl methacrylates , 40 parts of acrylonitrile , 53 parts of isobutyl methacrylate and 7 parts of methacrylic acid the resulting photosensitive composition solution was charged in a container and allowed to stand for 3 days . as a result , no sedimentation and separation was observed and it showed excellent stability . further , the photosensitive composition solution was coated on an aluminum plate which had been roughened and subjected to a hydrophilization treatment by a bar coater and then dried at 80 ° c . for 4 minutes to obtain a negative ps plate having the coating weight of 2 g / m 2 . the application property of the composition was excellent and the composition can be uniformly coated . no paint defect such as seediness , dewetting and the like was observed . then , the photosensitive plate was exposed with a vacuum printer hvp - 22h manufactured by sakaguchi seiwa kogyo k . k . ( 3 kw idlefin metal halide lamp manufactured by eye graphics k . k .) through the negative film at a distance of 1 . 2 m for 1 minutes and 30 seconds . then , the exposed plate was developed with a diluted solution ( developer for negative plate of automatic process / water = 1 : 1 ) at a developing rate of 80 cm / min and coated with a gumming solution to obtain a lithographic printing plate . the non - developed part was not observed in the resulting printing plate . the number of steps was 3 to 11 and it showed excellent reproductivity . thereafter , durability and printing properties of the printing plate were evaluated . for the surface of the printing plate taken out from an automatic developing device , a rubbing test ( 100 times ) was conducted using an absorbing wadding impregnated with water . as a result , no abrasion wear of the printing area and exposure of the substrate part due to abrasion wear was observed in the printing plate of the present invention even after rubbing , and it showed sufficient image area resistance . then , the printing plate was mounted on a small lithographic printer hamadaster 700cdx ( manufactured by hamada insatsuki seisakusho k . k .) and a high quality paper was printed using a commercially available ink . as a result , 150 , 000 sheets of paper were satisfactorily printed without scumming the non - image area . particularly , reproductivity of the halftone was excellent . according to the same manner as that described in example 8 except that the diazo resin 8 prepared in comparative example 1 in place of the diazo resin 2 , a lithographic printing plate was obtained . for the resulting printing plate , a similar absorbing wadding rubbing test was conducted . abrasion wear and exposure of the substrate were observed in the part of the printing area after rubbing . in a printing test , the same results were obtained when 100 , 000 sheets of paper were printed . however , when 150 , 00 sheets of paper were printed , deterioration of reproductivity of the halftone was observed . according to the same manner as that described in example 8 except that 0 . 44 parts of the diazo resin 2 and 0 . 36 parts of benzyltrimethylammonium hexafluorophosphate were used in place of the diazo resin 2 , a lithographic printing plate was obtained . for the resulting printing plate , a similar absorbing wadding rubbing test was conducted . abrasion wear and exposure of the substrate were observed in the part of the image area after rubbing . in a printing test , productivity of the halftone was inferior in comparison with example 8 when 100 , 000 sheets of paper were printed . this fact showed that the same effect as that of the diazo resin of the present invention can not be obtained by merely adding a quaternary ammonium salt - containing compound . by using an alkaline - soluble acrylic resin 2 having an acid value of 54 . 6 , a hydroxyl group vale of 199 and a molecular weight of 22 , 000 of a formulation shown in table 3 and the diazo resin 6 obtained in example 5 , a photosensitive composition of a formulation shown in table 4 was prepared . table 3______________________________________ ( formulation ) components amount ( parts ) ______________________________________2 - hydroxypropyl methacrylate 46acrylonitrile 15isobutyl methacrylate 28 . 9spe . sup . 1 ) 2 . 5methacrylic acid 7 . 6______________________________________ . sup . 1 ) n , ndimethyl - n - methacrylamidepropyl - n -( 3 - sulfopropyl ) ammonium betain , mn = 292 table 4______________________________________components amount ( parts ) ______________________________________alkali - soluble acrylic resin 2 8 . 7microgel . sup . 1 ) 0 . 46diazo resin 6 0 . 8victoria pure blue boh 0 . 25methoxypropanol 69 . 75isopropanol 20______________________________________ . sup . 1 ) microgel having a particle size of 0 . 24 μm obtained by mixing polymer emulsifier / ethylene glycol dimethacrylate / methyl methacrylate / nbutyl acrylate in a ratio of 10 / 30 / 10 / 45 and subjecting the mixture to an emulsion polymerization according to the same manner as that described in example 8 except that the resulting resin was used in place of the diazo resin 2 , a photosensitive plate and a lithographic printing plate were obtained . for the printing plate obtained after developing , a similar durability test and print properties test were conducted . as a result , the printing plate showed the same property as that of the printing plate of example 8 .	6
fig1 and 2 are described above with reference to the state of the art . it appeared to the inventors that the stereolithographic apparatus shown in fig2 could be used advantageously for manufacturing fractal objects . since the model of the industrial part is built up layer by layer , it is possible to shape the inside of any object , the minimum thickness of an arbitrary point of the object being a function of the diameter of the laser beam . therefore , the smaller the diameter of the beam , the thinner a polymer layer and the higher the resolution . a correctly - focused laser beam therefore makes it possible to polymerize very small regions of liquid monomer , and it is then possible for small daughter objects to be physically constructed . this characteristic is advantageous for a fractal object insofar as a theoretical fractal object ( a fractal structure ) includes an infinite number of sub - patterns ( daughter structures ) of ever smaller size . a narrow laser beam makes it possible to obtain three - dimensional definition of the order of 100 μm . the method of the invention is described below with reference to fig3 to 8 which show the various steps of generating daughter objects from a parent generator constituted by a pyramid . below , a parent generator is defined as being the three - dimensional starting object from which all the daughter objects are created . the method of the invention uses three - dimensional definition software for defining a fractal object three - dimensionally . the purpose of the software is to supply data defining the shape of the fractal object , which object is made up of a plurality of daughter objects themselves obtained by performing scaling reduction on a parent generator . the first step of the method consists in defining a parent generator constituted , in the example in question , by a square - based pyramid , such as shown in perspective in fig3 . the parent generator has four sides referenced a , b , c , and d , and a vertex e . certain portions of fractal object definition software , written in pascal , are given below to supplement the description of the figures . the creation procedure for creating the parent generator is as follows : the variable pointr3d is a point defined by three coordinates . three coordinates are allocated to each of the points a to e to enable the points to be situated in a three - dimensional space . the numerical values correspond , for example , to centimeters , and the pyramid defined in this way has a square base with sides of 10 cm , and has a height of 10 cm . interfile is a file in which all the coordinates of the three - dimensional structures defined by the software are stored . once the parent generator has been defined , a procedure for defining the fractal object is run . this procedure is referred to a process -- pyramid : procedure process -- pyramid ( p : pyramid ; vat h : hdlitem ); ta , tb , tc , td , te , tf , tg , th , ti , tj , tk , tl , tm , tn : pointr3d ; this portion of procedure which uses the seg -- middle function ( sequence of instructions no . 1 ), and calculates the coordinates of the points situated in the middles of the straight - line segments present between two points of the parent generator constituted by the pyramid shown in fig3 . the scaling reduction ratio for the generator is therefore 1 / 2 . naturally , this ratio may be different . this procedure also uses a createpyramidshape procedure ( sequence of instructions no . 2 ) which makes it possible to store the shape of an inverted pyramid and the position thereof relative to the parent generator , in fact relative to the intersection between the x , y , and z axes in fig3 in the interfile memory . in this embodiment , only the inverted pyramids are actually manufactured , and therefore only data concerning such pyramids are stored . the createpyramidshape procedure is described below . sequence of instructions no . 3 is a test on which the continuation of scaling reduction depends . in the present example , it is verified that the distance along the x - axis between the vertex of the inverted pyramid and the point a serving as a reference is greater than a predefined threshold value epsilon . therefore epsilon corresponds to a minimum distance to be kept between any two points of the fractal object in the plane xy . at best , when a laser is used to polymerize a monomer liquid as shown in fig2 the value of epsilon corresponds to the area presented by the laser radiation . if the stereolithographic apparatus is of the same type as those in above - described french patent applications 85 . 09054 and 85 . 09055 , epsilon corresponds to the diameter of the injector . the pitch in the z direction is set by the cad software contained in the control device for controlling the generation means for generating the object . for example , the pitch may be 50 μm . however the generation means are preferably constituted by a laser beam illuminating a monomer liquid , since this manufacturing technique is tried and tested . processing steps 4 to 8 constitute processing loops whose purpose is to define the coordinates of all the inverted pyramids that are calculated by recursion and that satisfy the condition imposed by the value of epsilon . each parent object is subjected to an internal scaling reduction so as to generate a daughter object , each daughter object being subjected to the same processing until the value epsilon is reached . the procedure then moves on to the inverted pyramid that is situated next to the last - processed pyramid , which is the last daughter pyramid , i . e . the smallest pyramid . naturally , it is possible to use a different method to calculate the coordinates of each daughter object , e . g . the coordinates of all the daughter objects ( five in all ) from the same parent object can be calculated . at the end of processing steps 4 to 8 , the coordinates of all the inverted pyramids , regardless of their size , are stored in interfile . in the present example , given the shape of a pyramid , five processing steps are necessary since each parent pyramid is constituted by five daughter pyramids . fig5 is a front view of the pyramid shown in fig4 . the face delimited by points a , b , and e is shown . the three other faces of the object defined in this way are identical . therefore , this object is a fractal object . for example , pyramids 41 , 43 , and 45 may be empty with only their edges being made by the stereolithographic apparatus . they may alternatively be provided with solid faces . in a preferred embodiment , the five pyramids that are generated are hollow , and they do not have solid faces . this configuration may be achieved by the cad means splitting up the object shown in the form of point coordinates into successive slices . under pyramid 45 there is an inverted pyramid 46 . pyramid 46 is shown in perspective in fig6 . it has solid faces connecting its base to its vertex , and it is hollow inside . since its base is directed towards the vertex e of the fractal object , said inverted pyramid forms what can be likened to an antenna . in a preferred embodiment of the method of the invention , all the pyramids which are to be actually made by the stereolithographic apparatus are inverted pyramids . the scaling reductions are performed on the daughter structures of the parent structure shown in fig3 but with each iteration , only the inverted pyramid that is situated between the five pyramids obtained is stored so as to be physically constructed . naturally other embodiments are possible . this embodiment of the method of the invention amounts to considering the largest inverted pyramid as being a parent generator . to this extent , defining the inverted pyramid - shaped parent generator is not part of the method of the invention , and the data enabling it to be defined is input in the same way as the data making it possible to indicate the shape of the pyramid 40 shown in fig3 . in this embodiment , the fractal object manufactured is used for electromagnetic wave absorption testing , for example , since the shape of the resulting antenna lends itself to this use . therefore , it is possible to consider that the parent generator is constituted by a pyramid such as that shown in fig5 including an inverted pyramid having solid faces . however , since only the inverted pyramids are physically constructed after scaling reduction , the generator is in fact constituted by the inverted pyramid having solid faces that is shown in fig6 . furthermore , when defining a fractal object that is to be manufactured by stereolithographic apparatus , it is necessary to ensure that all the elements that are defined , i . e . all the daughter objects , are connected together . if one of the daughter objects defined by calculation is not physically linked to another object , it cannot be part of the final fractal object . therefore , the daughter objects are linked together by link means constituted , for example , by straight - line segments made by the stereolithographic apparatus . for example , the straight - line segments may be included automatically in the fractal object by the cad software when the object is being manufactured . in particular , the cad software constituting the control device for controlling the generation means , makes such straight - line segments prior to manufacturing the fractal object , so that the fractal object stands on a support plate on the bottom of the tank containing the monomer liquid . the support is constituted , for example , by a grid including a first set of parallel segments intersecting a second set of parallel segments at right angles . in the embodiment of the invention , such a grid is present under pyramid 40 and at each level where the vertices of the smallest daughter pyramids stand . more precisely , each vertex of an arbitrary one of the pyramids stands on a right - angle intersection between two straight - line segments . the link means may also be defined by the software of the present invention , e . g . by using the following procedure : therefore , the vertices of the inverted pyramids stand on the intersections between straight - line segments , which intersections are physically constructed by the generation means for generating the fractal object , the straight - line segments forming a grid provided by the software of the method of the present invention . the maintaining means may also be constituted by straight - line segments that are part of the parent generator . this embodiment is represented by the right - angle cross - pieces 47 and 48 shown in fig6 . the scaling reductions of this structure , then considered as being a parent generator , supply daughter objects whose cross - pieces are disposed end - to - end so as to form a continuous grid also giving the fractal object a certain amount of mechanical strength . naturally , the cross - pieces must be long enough for two cross - pieces adjacent to daughter objects to be connected together while the object is being manufactured , i . e . arrive at the same point . the process -- pyramid procedure also uses an allocatepyra procedure which is as follows : procedure allocatepyra ( var p : pyramid ; a , b , c , d , e : pointr3d ); the seg -- middle function used is as follows : function seg -- middle ( a , b : pointr3d ): pointr3d ; in this way , this function calculates the middle of each segment connecting together two points under consideration . here to the scaling reduction ratio is 1 / 2 . the scaling reduction is always 1 / n , where n is an integer ( n = 2 , 3 , 4 . . . ). the process -- pyramid procedure also uses a createpyramidshape procedure : procedure createpyramidshape ( var f : shape ; a , b , c , d , e : pointr3d ); this procedure portion allocates a number to each of the points a to e . it continues as follows : each pair of instructions allocates an edge number to each segment connecting two points on the base of the pyramid . in this way , edges a , b ; b , c ; c , d ; and a , d have respective numbers 0 , 1 , 2 , and 3 . this operation is also performed for the edges including to the vertex e of the pyramid : it is possible to store the shapes and the positions of the daughter objects by using data corresponding to points , straight - line segments and / or planes . in a preferred embodiment , only points are stored , and the cad software contained in the stereolithographic apparatus automatically generates straight - line segments or solid planes on the basis of the data constituted by point coordinates . for example , interfile corresponds to the memory 21 in fig2 . fig7 and 8 are two front views of two fractal objects obtained for different values of epsilon . fig7 shows the results obtained for one recursion ( scaling reduction ) of a daughter pyramid of the object shown in fig5 and fig8 shows the result obtained for one additional recursion . the edges of the parent generator are represented by dashed lines because they cannot be physically constructed . in this example , only the inverted pyramids are physically constructed , with their vertices standing , for example , on cross - pieces such as described with reference to fig6 . laboratory tests using laser radiation which polymerizes a monomer liquid present in a tank , make it possible to obtain fractal objects of this type having sides of 10 cm and being 10 cm high , the objects being constituted by daughter pyramids resulting from five successive recursions of the largest inverted pyramid , which may therefore be considered to constitute a parent generator . naturally , the method of the invention also applies to manufacturing other fractal objects , e . g . those resulting from a generator such as that shown in fig9 . fig9 is a front view of a parent generator 90 constituted by a &# 34 ; brick &# 34 ; provided with a rectangular central orifice 91 which is hatched in the figure . fig1 shows an example of a fractal object obtained after scaling reduction has been performed on the parent generator 90 , the daughter objects being staggered relative to the orifice 91 . naturally the daughter objects could be placed in locations 92 to 95 ( fig9 ). therefore , each daughter object has the same shape as the parent generator 90 , and the successive scaling reductions of the daughter objects can be continued , until the definition limit imposed by the stereolithographic apparatus is reached . naturally shape generator may also be performed by using silk screen printing , e . g . by means of a &# 34 ; cubital &# 34 ; ( protected name ) machine . in which case , the generation means is constituted by a screen - printing tool .	6
referring now to fig1 there is shown there a cross - section through a partially completed integrated circuit 1 . a metal layer 2 ( which has been etched into the shape of a line and shown edge on ) has been deposited on the surface of 1 . this has been followed by a layer of oxide deposited through plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition ( pe oxide ). said pe oxide covers both the metal layer 2 and the main body of the integrated circuit 1 . as can be seen , the metal layer 2 protrudes above the plane of the main surface making for unevenness or non - planarity . such non - planarity will reduce the accuracy and alignment of masks that have yet to be used to complete the manufacture of the integrated circuit . in order to restore the surface of the integrated circuit to a condition of planarity it has been coated with a siloxane solution which , after drying , was heated in nitrogen at a temperature of 420 ° c . for 30 minutes . this process converted the siloxane layer to a silicon dioxide , or spin - on glass ( sog ), layer . the thickness of the original siloxane layer was chosen so that the resulting sog was thick enough to fully cover metal layer 2 ( and any others like it on the surface of 1 ), creating a surface for the integrated circuit that is now close to planar again . the sog coating either filled in the concave portions of the surface or lay above the metal layer . the appearance of the structure is therefore as shown in fig1 . the excess sog was now be etched back to the level of layer 3 , to remove the sog that remained above the metal layer , so as to achieve better electrical stability and performance . this was accomplished by using a standard etchant such as , for example , cf 4 / chf 3 . after the desired degree of etch - back had been achieved the structure now had the appearance shown in fig2 . also shown in fig2 is an area 5 which is meant to represent a layer of polymer formed as a result of chemical reaction between the cf 4 / chf 3 etchant and free radicals of ch 3 that were left behind inside the sog during the conversion of the siloxane to sio 2 . this layer of polymer is not a uniform coating on the sog surface but is , rather , an irregular scum that forms on selected areas of the post etch surface in an unpredictable fashion . unless this polymeric scum is removed , subsequently deposited layers will not adhere well to the surface of the sog , giving rise to problems of blistering and peeling . an example of peeling , if the polymeric scum is not removed , is illustrated in fig3 . the structure of fig2 was coated with a layer of pe oxide 6 followed by an additional layer of metal 7 . because the scum 5 was not removed ( in this example ) adhesion between the second pe oxide layer 6 and the surface of the sog 4 was poor so that the film 6 lost contact with the surface of 4 leaving behind a void , or blister , 8 . in order to achieve the end result illustrated in fig4 wherein the layers 6 and 7 adhere uniformly to the surface of sog 4 , it is essential to remove the polymeric scum deposits 5 ( as exemplified in fig2 and 3 ). it should also be noted that removal of 5 needs to be accomplished without , at the same time , causing the integrity of sog 4 to be degraded . in particular , the scum removal must be accomplished without introducing a level of porosity into the sog . such a side - effect of the scum removal process would increase the degree of moisture absorption by the sog . we have found the following method to be highly effective for the removal of the polymeric residue formed on the surface of the sog after etch - back . the method has the important advantage of not affecting the moisture absorption properties of the sog : the surface of the sog is exposed to a glow discharge ( plasma ) in nitrous oxide ( n 2 o ) under the following conditions : ______________________________________duration 15 - 45 seconds , preferablypressure 4 . 5 - 5 . 1 torr , preferablyrf power 250 - 350 watts , preferablytemp . 380 - 420 ° c ., preferablyelectrode 590 - 620 mils , preferablyspacinggas flow 1000 - 2200 sccm , preferably______________________________________ in a second embodiment of the invention , pure nitrogen gas is used as the ambient gas , under the same conditions as detailed above for nitrous oxide . the following table shows the effectiveness of these two methods of scum removal when compared with current methods : ______________________________________ amount of moisturetreatment amount of scum absorption______________________________________none large nonecurrent large nonepracticen . sub . 2 o none nonen . sub . 2 none nonehigh power o . sub . 2 none large______________________________________ 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
a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig1 and 2 . a mold carriage 10 according to the invention carries thereon a bending mold 12 on which a glass sheet ( not shown ), or a stack of two sheets of glass to constitute laminated glass , is placed horizontally . in a furnace 50 the mold carriage 10 can be transferred along a predetermined path by means of , for example , a chain conveyor 11 . the body of the carriage 10 is a frame 14 . the furnace 50 is provided with heaters ( not shown ) for entirely and uniformly heating the glass sheet placed on the mold 12 to a temperature sufficient to bend the glass sheet . a heater holder 16 is attached to the frame 14 of the mold carriage 10 at a location below the mold 12 to hold a heater element 18 such as a metal ribbon heater . this heater element 18 is for locally intensely heating the glass sheet in a predetermined area from the downside . the holder 16 includes a ceramic terminal 20 attached to the carriage frame 14 , a plate 22 which is attached to the frame 14 and has a vertically elongate slot - like aperture , a male screw 24 horizontally inserted in the aperture of the plate 22 , nuts 26 for fixing the male screw 24 to the plate 22 and a ceramic bobbin - like guide roll 26 which is fixed to a tip of the male screw 24 . an end of the ribbon heater 18 is connected to the terminal 20 . the position of the guide roll 28 is adjusted by moving the male screw 24 inserted in the elongate aperture of the plate 22 upward or downward and / or axially and then fixing the male screw 24 to the plate 22 with nuts 26 . the other end of the ribbon heater 18 is held in the same manner . a terminal plate 30 is fixed , with insulation , to a side member of the carriage frame 14 , and a lead wire 32 for the ribbon heater 18 extends from this terminal plate 30 to the terminal 20 . to connect the terminal plate 30 to a power supply ( not shown ) a conductor rod 52 penetrates into the furnace 50 through its side wall , with insulation . the conductor rod 52 can be moved axially to bring its tip into tight contact with the terminal plate 30 . a heater support 40 is attached to the carriage frame 14 to support thereon a heater element 56 which is provided in the furnace 50 to intensely heat the aforementioned predetermined area of the glass sheet on the mold 12 from the upside . in this embodiment the heater element 56 is a rod - shaped ceramic heater disposed horizontally to extend above and parallel to the above described ribbon heater 18 . a plate 42 having a horizontally elongate slot - like aperture 43 is fixed to the carriage frame 14 , and an inverted l - shaped bracket 46 having a vertically elongate slot - like aperture 47 is attached to the plate 42 by inserting a bolt 48 through the apertures 47 and 43 at the intersection of the crossing apertures 47 , 43 and fixing the bolt 48 by nuts ( not shown ). the heater holder 40 is horizontally swivellably mounted on the horizontal arm part of the bracket 46 . the position of the holder 40 is adjusable by varying the position of the bracket 46 relative to the fixed plate 42 before fixing the bolt 48 . a terminal of the rod - shaped heater 56 is held by a holder 58 . a lowermost part of the holder 58 is v - shaped in vertical sections , and the upper surface of the heater support 40 is formed with a cross - sectionally v - shaped groove 40a conforming to the v - shaped part of the holder 58 . therefore , the holder 58 stably rests on the support 40 even though there is some disagreement of lateral positions of the holder 58 and the support 40 . the opposite terminal of the rod - shaped heater 56 is held by a similar holder ( 58 ), and that holder rests on another support ( 40 ) attached to the carriage 10 . as shown in fig1 according to need the furnace 50 is provided with another rod - shaped heater 56 &# 39 ; to locally intensely heat the glass sheet in a predetermined second area from the upside . as indicated at 40 &# 39 ; and 58 &# 39 ; each terminal of the heater 56 &# 39 ; is held and supported in the manner illustrated in fig2 . beneath the rod - shaped heater 56 &# 39 ; another heater ( not shown ) corresponding to the heater 18 in fig2 may be installed on the carriage frame 14 to intensely heat the second area of the glass sheet from the downside . numerals 30 &# 39 ; and 52 &# 39 ; indicate another terminal plate and another power feeding conductor rod for the heater to heat the glass sheet from the downside . the rod - shaped heaters 56 , 56 &# 39 ; are suspended from a hanger frame 60 , which is a bottom part of a cage - like framework 64 suspended from an upper structure of the furnace 50 by belts 80 stretched vertically . the framework 64 is disposed in that zone of the furnace 50 where the predetermined areas of the glass sheet on the mold are to be intensely heated . the framework 64 can be moved downward and upward by operating a motor 86 to run belts 84 to thereby turn 82 around which the belts 80 are stretched . for example , the framework 64 includes vertical members 66 each angled at the lower end , and the hanger frame 60 is suspended from these vertical members 66 by angled brackets 68 fixed to the frame 60 and hooked to the angled ends of the vertical members 66 . the extent of the ascent and descent of the framework 64 is set by limit switches ( not shown ). for each terminal holder 58 to hold the rod - shaped heater 56 , a bracket 70 having a l - shaped lower part is fixed to an insulator band 72 attached to the hanger frame 60 . the horizontal tongue of the l - shaped part of the bracket 70 has a slot , and an angled strip 74 is inserted into the slot to extend downward . the terminal holder 58 is fixed to the lower end part of the strip 74 . instead of the combination of the l - shaped bracket 70 and the angled strip 72 it is possible to use a flexible and heat - resistant string or the like . for each terminal holder 58 a conductor rod 90 is attached to the framework 64 to extend vertically , and at the lower end the conductor rod 90 is fixed to ceramic insulators 92 attached to the hanger frame 60 . at the upper end the conductor rod 90 is connected with a power supply ( not shown ) by a lead wire 94 . at the lower end the conductor rod 90 is connected with the terminal of the rod - shaped heater 56 by a lead wire 96 . in preparation for a glass sheet bending operation , the mold 12 is mounted on the carriage 10 outside the furnance 50 , and the glass sheet ( or a stack of two glass sheets to be lamiated after bending ) is horizontally placed on the mold 12 . the positions of the supports 40 for the heaters 56 , 56 &# 39 ; in the furnace are adjusted in conformance with the areas of the glass sheet to be intensely heated , and the position of each holder 16 for the lower heater 18 is adjusted similarly , and the lower heater 18 is installed on the carriage 10 . after that the carriage 10 is introduced into the furnace and moved on the conveyor 11 to gradually heat the glass sheet . when the carriage 10 arrives at the zone where the framework 64 is disposed , the framework 64 is lowered until the heater terminal holders 58 rest on the supports 40 on the carriage 10 , respectively . then the upper heaters 56 are energized , and at the same time the lower heaters 18 are energized by thrusting the power feeding rods 52 against the respective terminal plates 30 . by the heaters provided on the side walls of the furnace 50 the glass sheet is entirely heated up to a shaping temperature such as about 630 ° c ., and by the additional and local heating by the upper and lower heaters 56 and 18 the predetermined areas of the glass sheet are heated to a temperature higher than the aforementioned shaping temperature by tens of degrees centigrade but lower than the softening point of the glass . consequently the glass sheet bends in accurate conformance with the curved shape of the mold 12 , and the bending is completed in a short time . in the case of bending a stack of two glass sheets , the bending is accomplished without producing any difference in curvature between the two glass sheets .	8
in the following description , the biomarker / biomarkers , the corresponding embodiments of the detection / validation / identification / quantification methods are set forth as preferred examples . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications , including additions and / or substitutions , may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . specific details may be omitted so as not to obscure the invention ; however , the disclosure is written to enable one skilled in the art to practice the teachings herein without undue experimentation . in the present invention , the set of liver tumor biomarkers for detection and quantification of liver cancer is first identified by two - dimensional / mass spectrometry resolving the difference in the pattern of proteins expression between the paired patients &# 39 ; biopsies ( tumor biopsy versus juxtaposed normal tissue ) ( fig1 ). the biomarkers are validated by immunohistochemical staining on paraffin - sectioned hcc blocks , and western blotting in hcc patients &# 39 ; sera . this results in a finalized list of 15 biomarkers to be evaluated in the present invention for the liver cancer diagnosis purpose ( fig2 ). based on the amino acid sequences of the targeted biomarkers , commercially synthesized cdna clones are employed for the expression of the biomarker set ( fig3 ). proteins expressed from the cdna clones are then subjected to a series of steps of purifications ( fig4 ). the purified biomarkers are subsequently conjugated via stable amide bonds with bioplex beads ( fig5 , 6 ), a type of fluorescent microsphere beads and available in a panel which give unique fluorescent signals individually for identification at a multiplex set up . the biomarkers on the beads are recognized by the specific primary antibodies , which are subsequently bound by an anti - human secondary antibody conjugated with pe ( fig7 ). thus the bioplex machine simultaneously measures two signals from the complex . the fluorescence given by the bioplex beads serves as an identifier , while the signal from the pe indicates the presence of the biomarker in the complex . this also helps differentiating the biomarker - bead conjugates bound by the anti - body cascade from those with no immuno - reactivity with antibodies . to prove the significance of the biomarkers in the present invention , the cdna clones are confirmed by restriction enzyme cut ( fig8 ). the transformed bacteria is induced by iptg to express the biomarker proteins . the protein expression verified by sds - page and coomassie blue staining reveals the protein bands ( fig9 a - e ). the his - tagged bmi1 , sod1 and il - 17a proteins are purified by akta ( fig1 a - c ) and then verified by sds - page and coomassie blue staining ( fig1 a - c ). sensitivity of the test is measured by spiking in a serial dilution of the antibodies . the lowest concentration of the antibody added that can give signal suggests the sensitivity of that particular biomarker . meanwhile a standard curve is constructed showing the fluorescence intensity of the pe against the serial dilutions of the antibodies ( fig1 ). the standard curve will be used for estimating the concentration of the biomarker specific auto - antibodies in the patient sera by comparing the pe intensity . in the present invention , a multiplex of 15 different bioplex beads individually giving unique fluorescence are conjugated with the biomarker set and preloaded in the wells of a plate ( fig1 ). to a well , patient serum containing auto - antibodies is loaded and allowed to interact with the biomarker conjugates . the pe - conjugated secondary antibodies are then added and bind to the auto - antibodies . in the machine , the excess secondary antibodies are washed away , the complex comprising the biomarker - bead conjugate and cascade of antibodies are measured individually . the unique fluorescence signal of the bioplex bead identifies the biomarkers , while the pe signal from the same complex indicates the presence of the auto - antibodies as the primary antibody ( fig7 ). taken together , the measurement will suggest the presence of auto - antibodies and the relative concentration in the presents &# 39 ; sera . in a standard randomized trial design , the mean of the relative level of auto - antibodies between the healthy group and patients diagnosed with liver cancer is compared . student t test is used to analyze the variation significance . the significant difference indicates that the biomarker is specific for liver cancer . after the verification trials , ranges of the concentration of biomarker specific auto - antibodies will be obtained for the liver cancer positive and negative patients and serve as reference point for the future diagnosis . meanwhile , expression pattern of the auto - antibodies is also compared between liver cancer patients of different stages . the signature patterns of the biomarker expressions will indicate the hcc staging . taken together , the measurement of the relative auto - antibodies level and the expression pattern of the biomarkers , the present invention represents a different avenue to complement conventional liver cancer diagnosis . the present invention further enables non - invasive detection of auto - antibodies against the validated targets in patients &# 39 ; sera of the present invention , identifying the extent and the characteristics of the disease . apart from early detection for stage i liver cancers , the present invention also enables the generation of signature patterns for staging , and the detection of recurrences during a monitoring period of post - mastectomy or post - chemotherapeutic treatment . the following examples are provided by way of describing specific embodiments of this invention without intending to limit the scope of this invention in any way . 500 mg of the paired patients &# 39 ; biopsies ( tumor biopsy versus juxtaposed normal tissue ) are collected and washed with pbs . the tissues are frozen by submerging into liquid nitrogen and immediately homogenized with pestle and mortar . to the homogenized samples , lysis solution ( 8m urea , 4 % chaps , 2 % ipg buffer , 0 . 2 mg / ml pmsf ) is added , then vortex for at least 5 min until the tissues are completely dispersed . the lysates are then clarified by centrifugation at 14 , 000 rpm for 10 minutes at 4 ° c . the supernatants are further cleaned up by 2d clean up kit ( amersham ) to remove the salt and impurities . the pellets are resuspended with minimum volume of rehydration solution ( no dtt & amp ; ipg buffer added ). the protein concentrations are then measured by bio - rad protein assay and aliquots of 200 g / per tube are stored at − 70 ° c . to 1 ml rehydration stock solution , 2 . 8 mg dtt , 5 μl pharmalyte or ipg buffer , and 2 μl bromophenol blue are added . 50 - 100 μg of protein sample is added to the 13 cm immobiline drystrip ( ipg strip ) containing 250 μl of rehydration solution . after removing the protective cover , the ipg strip is positioned in the strip holder with the gel side facing down , and overlaid with cover fluid to prevent dehydration during electrophoresis . the strip is then placed on to ettan ipgphor ( amersham ) for isoelectric focusing ( first dimensional electrophoresis ). after the first - dimensional electrophoresis , the ipg strip is equilibrated with equilibrate solution ( 6 m urea 2 % sds , 50 mm tris hcl ph 6 . 8 , 30 % glycerol , 0 . 002 % bromophenol blue , 100 mg dtt per 10 ml buffer and 250 mg iaa per 10 ml buffer ), and then washed with 1 × sds running buffer for 4 - 5 times . the ipg strip is placed on top of the second - dimension gel and overlaid with sealing solution ( 0 . 5 % low melting agarose , 0 . 002 % bromophenol blue in 1 × sds running buffer ). the second - dimensional electrophoresis is then carried out at 30 ma for first 15 min followed by 60 ma for 3 - 4 h . upon the completion of the second dimensional electrophoresis , the gel is removed from the cassette , fixed and stained with silver nitrate . 15 spots representing 15 up - regulated proteins are identified ( fig1 ). to identify the proteins ( fig2 ), the silver stained gel slices are destained and trypsinized to release the protein from the gel for maldi - tof analysis . his tagged plasmids containing cdna inserts encoding the biomarker set is transformed into dh5 competent cells ( 301 , fig3 ). single colony is picked and allowed to grow in bacterial culture ( 302 ). the number of plasmid is expanded and extracted from the bacteria by miniprep . the plasmid is further transformed into bl21de3 or bl21de3plyss competent cells . transformed bacteria are selected and grew in 2 × 100 ml lb medium . when the bacterial culture reaches the optical density of 0 . 06 , 200 μm of iptg is added to 100 ml bacterial culture ( 303 ). another 100 ml of bacterial culture without iptg is used as negative control . the bacterial cultures are incubated at 30 ° c . with shaking 500 μl of the bacterial cultures are saved and stored at − 20 ° c . 3 h after the incubation and in the next morning after incubating overnight . bacterial cultures with and without iptg induction are mixed together in a 500 ml centrifuge bottle . bacterial cells are collected by centrifugation at 9000 rpm for 20 min at 4 ° c . ( 304 ). 500 μl of supernatant is saved as another negative control and the remaining supernatant is discarded . the bacterial cultures and negative controls collected in different points are run on a sds - page to resolve the protein ( 305 ). the gel is then stained with coomassie blue overnight . after destaining the gel , the protein induction can be confirmed by checking the size and comparing with the negative controls . the bacterial cell pellets are resuspended in 10 ml solubilization buffer by vortex at room temperature . keeping the resuspended cells in 50 ml centrifuge tube on ice , the cells are completely lysed by sonication at amplitude 70 % 10 rounds of 30 s with interval of 30 s ( 401 , fig4 ). the lysed cells are centrifuged at 10 , 000 rpm for 1 h at 4 ° c . ( 402 ). supernatants are transferred into dialysis tubing and submerged in 1 l unfiltered starting buffer for 4 - 6 h at 4 ° c . with constant stirring ( 403 ). dialysis is continued with another 1 l starting buffer overnight . the supernatant is further filtered with 0 . 22 μm filter disc and syringe . to the akta machine equipped with 0 . 1m nickel sulfate charged hitrap chelating column ( 404 ), filtered samples are loaded ( 405 ). a program is set at the akta machine that the eluent is collected in fractions automatically ( 406 ). proteins purified from different fractions are checked by sds - page analysis ( 407 ). the purified proteins of the biomarker set are coupled with bio - plex beads ( bio - rad ) ( 501 ) according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s manual . in brief , uncoupled bead is vortexed for 30 s and then sonicated for 15 s . 1 , 250 , 000 beads are collected in a reaction tube by centrifugation of 100 μl bead at maximum speed for 4 min . after washing with 100 μl bead wash buffer by centrifugation , the beads are resuspended in 80 μl bead activation buffer . to the beads 10 μl 50 mg / ml freshly prepared s - nhs and 10 μl 50 mg / ml freshly prepared edac are added , followed by 20 min incubation in dark at room temperature ( fig6 ). the beads are then washed with 150 μl pbs twice . to the washed beads , 10 μg proteins are added and the total volume is topped up with pbs to 500 μl , and allowed to incubate for 2 h with shaking in dark . supernatant is removed after centrifugation at maximum speed for 4 min . 250 μl blocking buffer is added to the beads and shook in dark for 30 min , followed by centrifugation at maximum speed for 4 min and removal of supernatant . the beads are briefly washed and then resuspended in the storage buffer for storage at 4 ° c . the numbers of the beads are counted with a hemocytometer . to a hts 96 well plate , 50 μl of conjugated bio - plex beads ( 100 beads / μl ) is added to react with primary followed by secondary antibodies ( 502 ). a serial dilution of the commercially available primary anti - bodies against the biomarker set is prepared as 8 , 000 , 4 , 000 , 1 , 000 , 250 , 62 . 5 , 15 . 625 , 3 . 906 , 0 . 977 , 0 . 244 and 0 . 061 ng / ml . 50 μl of each dilution is added to each well . two negative controls are performed by excluding the primary antibodies , and both primary and secondary antibodies in the wells . the plate is then sealed with a foil and kept on a shaker for 30 min at 350 rpm , avoiding exposure to light . after incubation , the beads are washed three times with 150 μl pbs . 50 μl of pe - conjugated secondary antibody ( 8 , 000 ng / ml ) is added into each well except negative controls . the plate is sealed again and incubated in dark for 30 min with shaking . excess antibodies are then washed away by pbs . the bio - plex machine is calibrated with the calibration kit and validation kit . after the hts plate is loaded to the machine , signals from both the bio - plex beads and the pe conjugated at the secondary antibodies ( 503 ) are measured ( schematic diagram is shown in fig7 ). a calibration curve is generated by logistic - 5pl . whole - blood samples are clotted by standing at 37 ° c . for 1 h . sera containing the auto - antibodies is collected at the supernatant after centrifugation at 1000 g room temperature for 10 min . the serum samples are diluted with pbs when necessary . to a hts plate preloaded with bioplex beads conjugated with biomarker set , the serum samples are loaded and incubated for 30 min with shaking ( fig1 ). similar to the steps described in example 4b , to the pbs washed beads , 50 μl of pe - conjugated secondary antibody ( 8000 ng / ml ) is added , followed by shaking for another 30 min . after three rounds of washing , the plate is loaded to the bio - plex machine and the fluorescence signal is measured ( 504 ). the concentration of the auto - antibodies can then be calculated from the standard curves . the foregoing description of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed . many modifications and variations will be apparent to the practitioner skilled in the art . the embodiments are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application , thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with various modifications that are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalence . the presently claimed method and kit comprising the 15 identified biomarkers can not only be used to identify and quantify the presence of auto - antibodies in the patents &# 39 ; sera in order to detect and / or stage the liver cancer , but are also useful in drug development targeting these markers for specifically treating the liver cancer .	6
personalization of a wide variety of devices is a common pastime . more specifically , sports enthusiasts often put a great deal of effort into showing off pride in a favorite team or player . accordingly , the disclosed device is designed for individuals who desire the ability to adorn their vehicle to show their support as fans . this device allows individuals to customize a vehicle seat with a covering that not only shows team loyalty by displaying authentic sports memorabilia , but that protects the vehicle seat as well . reference is now made to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout . in the following description , for purposes of explanation , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding thereof . it may be evident , however , that the novel embodiments can be practiced without these specific details . in other instances , well known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate a description thereof . the intention is to cover all modifications , equivalents , and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter . referring initially to the drawings , fig1 illustrates a seat cover 100 for covering a backrest 104 of a seat 102 . the seat 102 is preferably an automobile bucket seat , however the seat cover 100 may also be used with any type of seating fixture such as but not limited to a vehicle seat , a recliner , a chair , a beach chair , a child &# 39 ; s car seat , a child &# 39 ; s booster seat , an outdoor chair , or the like . the seat 102 typically comprises the backrest 104 , a separate headrest 106 , and a sitting portion 108 . the seat cover 100 is generally constructed of a pliable material , such as a stretchable fabric for example . typically , the pliable material is polyester , however this is not intended as a limitation , as any other suitable durable material such as spandex , elastane , cotton , fabric mesh , plastic , and the like may be used without affecting the overall concept of the invention . preferably , the pliable material comprises or simulates materials commonly used for professional and amateur sports team jerseys and uniforms , such as a team jersey from the nfl , nba , nhl , ncaa , and the like . this is advantageous as it allows for a high quality form fitting covering that is customizable to support a user &# 39 ; s preference in promoting or displaying a favorite sports team and / or player . an additional benefit provided by the seat cover 100 is the physical protective barrier provided to keep the seat 102 unstained and in good condition . similarly , an additional protective coating ( not shown ), such as a stain guarding or waterproofing spray may be applied to increase protection . the seat cover 100 comprises a backrest portion 110 , a headrest portion 134 , and a plurality of decorative elements 140 . the backrest portion 110 comprises a front panel 112 and a rear panel 116 . the front and rear panels 110 , 112 may be constructed by using a sports team jersey ( not shown ) or a sports team uniform ( not shown ) already in existence . the sports team jersey may be split apart so that it is separated into a front and a back , which in turn become the front panel 112 and the rear panel 116 . preferably , the back of the sports team jersey becomes the front panel 112 , and the front of the sports team jersey becomes the rear panel 116 . however , as the invention is customizable , this is not meant as a limitation as the reverse could be true , more than one sports team jerseys could be used , or any combination of sports team jerseys suiting the user &# 39 ; s preference is acceptable . similarly , the front and rear panels 110 , 112 may be constructed by using separate material that is not from , but is similar to that used in official sportswear . as illustrated in fig2 , the seat cover 100 further comprises a first side panel 120 and a second side panel 122 . the first and second side panels 120 , 122 are typically made from the same or similar material as the front and rear panels 112 , 116 . the seat cover 100 is constructed by attaching and / or connecting the front and rear panels 112 , 116 with the first and second side panels 120 , 122 so that seat cover 100 becomes a single assembled uniform piece . in other words , the first and second side panels 120 , 122 are sewn or otherwise affixed to the front and rear panels 112 , 116 so that there are no arm holes , but where there is a top opening 124 and a bottom opening 130 . in an alternative embodiment , a hook and loop or zippered fastening system could be employed to make the seat cover 100 adjustable . similarly , a version of the seat cover 100 where the first and second side panels 120 , 122 were not present to accommodate a small seat is envisioned . likewise , the seat cover 100 is customizable so as to size to fit a variety of different sized or shaped seats . once assembled , the bottom opening 130 of the seat cover 100 simply slides over the backrest 104 of the seat 102 and the top opening 124 slides over the separate headrest 106 . therefore , the backrest 106 is substantially covered or encapsulated by the seat cover 100 until removed . the seat cover 100 is typically oriented so that the front panel 112 is adjacent to a front of the backrest 114 , and the rear panel 116 is adjacent to a rear of a backrest 118 . for example , a front side ( not shown ) of the sports jersey would face a rear of a vehicle so that an observer from the front of the vehicle would typically view the rear of the sports jersey . as seen in fig3 and 4 , the top opening 124 is typically a neck hole of the sports team jersey . while the top opening 124 is typically v - shaped , the shape may be oval , circular , square , rectangular , trapezoidal , elliptical , and the like , without deviating from the scope of the invention . additionally , the seat cover 100 further comprises at least one adjustable element 126 . the at least one adjustable element 126 comprises a top stretchable element 128 . the top stretchable element 126 substantially encompasses the perimeter of the top opening 124 . the at least one adjustable element 126 is generally flexible and comprises elastic material . however , any stretchable material such as rubber , an elastic band , a drawstring , a cinchable strap , a waist band , a hook and loop fastener , and the like may be employed . this flexibility allows the top opening 124 to slide over the separate headrest 106 and helps hold the seat cover 100 in position on the backrest 104 . the at least one adjustable element 126 further comprises a bottom stretchable element 132 which substantially encompasses the perimeter of the bottom opening 130 in a similar manner as the top stretchable element 128 , as discussed supra . the bottom stretchable element 132 is similarly adjustable and helps hold the seat cover 100 in position on the backrest 104 without the seat cover 100 bunching up around the backrest 104 . as illustrated in fig5 , the headrest portion 134 encapsulates and substantially covers the separate headrest 106 . preferably the headrest portion 134 is separate from the backrest portion 110 of the seat cover 100 , but is constructed of similar or identical form - fitting flexible material . however , the inventor contemplates an alternative embodiment where the headrest portion 134 is selectively attached to the backrest portion 110 , such as by an attachment element 138 comprising a velcro ® strap for example . additionally , the headrest portion 132 comprises an elastic element 136 similar in material and function to the at least an adjustable element 126 as discussed supra . therefore , the headrest portion 134 fits over the separate head rest 106 and is held in place by the elastic element 136 whether facing toward the front or the rear of the vehicle . also , the user need not utilize the entire embodiment . for example , the backrest portion 110 may be used by itself independent of the headrest portion 134 if desired . as illustrated in fig1 - 5 , the plurality of decorative elements 140 typically comprise numbers , decals , sports logos , a sports team name , designs , patches , names , mascots , slogans , nameplates , and the like . additionally , the plurality of decorative elements 140 may be custom designed to include any decorative type element desirable , the owners name for example . preferably , the plurality of decorative elements 140 are consistent with the appearance of a sports team jersey . the plurality of decorative elements 140 may be affixed by sewing , ironing on , radio - frequency welding , and the like , or by any method known by one of skill in the art for attaching similar materials . similarly , the plurality of decorative elements 140 may be oriented anywhere on the backrest portion 110 and the headrest portion 134 . what has been described above includes examples of the disclosed device . it is , of course , not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components and / or methodologies , but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible . accordingly , the novel device is intended to embrace all such alterations , modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims . furthermore , to the extent that the term “ includes ” is used in either the detailed description or the claims , such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “ comprising ” as “ comprising ” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim .	1

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